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

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
19:43 GMT -5

Artemis looks mildly confused. "Bournville is an actual place?"

"Yes. It was the top of the line Victorian town built by the Cadbury brothers for their workers. It's also the place the dark chocolate brand I resurrected is named after."

Wallace arranges more of the names Edward Mackensen provided us with on the hologram display. Faces, employment history, and… I'm not sure whether I should be worried or relieved that we've got this much information on known associates. And when they're all in place, he looks decidedly unsatisfied. "We've got a problem."

"Someone's been making drugs in a company town when I'm the one who owns the company."

"Not that." He gestures at the display. "Why would any of these guys know anything about alchemy?"

He's got a point. A few drivers, a depot manager, a welder… Yes, some of them have something obvious to add to the enterprise, while others…

"This chap." I point. "Charles Andrews."

Artemis frowns, calling up his expanded history. "The… Homeless guy?"

"'No fixed address' doesn't mean homeless. Did I ever tell you about The Tate Club?"

"The place in London where the wizards hang out?"

I nod. "Criminal record. A couple of speeding tickets, both in London. And he didn't have the same hair style, but I'm pretty sure that I remember seeing him in the club on one of my visits."

Wallace raises his eyebrows. "What happened to perfect memory?"

"Wizards. There are plenty of ways for them to disguise themselves. Altering my memory would be difficult, but changing their own face a little would be easy. What else do you notice about his record?"

"He's been unemployed… His whole life."

"Good suit for an unemployed man. Unemployment benefits in Britain aren't that good."

Wallace nods. "Street magician?"

"That's my guess." I have my ring quickly review Cadbury's records. "Never applied for a job with Cadbury or KordTech."

Artemis nods. "Guess he's not a joiner."

"Could be that. Or it could be that he's not good enough."

Wallace looks sceptical. "I don't know, Oh El. This isn't something a guy who knows nothing could have come up with."

I call up the mass spectrometry results.

"Look, each of the patches contains basically the same thing. The only difference is the… Tiny amount that can't be properly analysed with conventional equipment. That looks to me like he found a potion recipe somewhere and adapted it."

Wallace nods. "So he can follow a recipe but doesn't know enough to create things outside of that."

"It's a thing in Britain. We've actually got lots of magicians, technically, but they're usually weak and ignorant. They get by on cunning and the greater ignorance of the people around them. One or two good tricks they parlay into wider significance."

Alright, London's the most surveilled city in the world… And we have access to all of their records. Again, not… Totally comfortable with that, but… Facial recognition-. Ring, that query's going to take too long. Do the processing yourself.

Compliance. Results available.

And suddenly I know nearly everywhere he's gone in central London for the last twenty years. Any one particular place-.

"Here." The Grand Hotel, of course. "I think he's been living here."

Artemis frowns. "Do magicians earn enough to live full-time in fancy hotels?"

"Not usually, but it's easy to nudge a few minds so that they think you're a guest. Put up a glamour so that they're only selectively aware that the room you're occupying actually exists. There are all sorts of ways to manipulate people with magic if they can't defend themselves at all." There's a reason why the Metropolitan Police put up with John Constantine, and it's not just because of that Watford mess. They needed someone with his skills. "I'll get in touch with my old friends at The Tate Club and see if they're prepared to talk to me."

Wallace calls up a London street map. "Think it's safe for me and Arte to check out his hotel?"

"Probably. I suspect that it's booby trapped… If he's planning on ever coming back, which given that he's moved to Bournville, he may well not be."

Artemis nods. "Like, an explosive..?"

"Probably not. Probably some sort of curse, or maybe a minor demon. If it's the first, your spell eaters should be able to take it… Unless it's indirect. But again, I don't get the impression that he's particularly powerful. It would probably be bound to an object-. You've got your-?"

Artemis and Wallace both pull out their rune stones.

"Good, good. I've got silver-plated iron daggers if you want them, but honestly you should be able to handle a minor demon without special measures."

Artemis holds out her hand, so I fabricate a knife with a sheath that will fit on her harness.

Wallace frowns thoughtfully. "How smart would a demon be?"

"Uh… This is a pile of assumptions we're making here, but I'd guess that if it attacks you then it's probably as intelligent as a feral animal, and if it holds off and waits then it's probably as intelligent as… My old praexis demons."

"Could we bargain with-" Artemis glares at him and slaps his upper right arm. "-with-. I don't mean like that."

"You necessarily do. It's a demon. Even just freeing it from bondage would just free it to inflict misery on other people. If you want to try and get information from it, give it a choice of having its physical form destroyed by either physical trauma or Essence of Vitriol. Your super acid will cause lasting harm. If there's a demon there at all, which I emphasise we don't know."

Artemis nods. "We sweep the place, find where he's been hiding, and go through his stuff and see if there's anything magical there."

"You and Wallace will."

"Okay." Wallace raises an eyebrow. "And where are you going?"

"Bournville. It's not strange for me to visit; I own the company. I'll walk around, monitor our suspects remotely and see if I see any problems. If you turn out to need me I can be back in London in a few seconds, but I'm still hopeful that we can end this without a violent confrontation."

Artemis frowns. "Did you miss the part where they tried to kill a guy to keep him quiet?"

"Frankly, I don't think a magician like this is skilled enough to pull that off. I'm not sure why it happened, but that's why I'm going to go in softly. Anything else?"

They shake their heads.

"Alright." I generate a zeta tube construct. "Let's go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

September 1st, 2013
14:49 UK Time

Okay.

Okay.

No rush. Just remember-

"Recognized, Artemis, B zero eight."

-what Dad and Uncle Barry and Jay told you. Apologise, talk about what you're going to do like rational people, and then let her talk herself out while making sympathetic noises because that's something women need even if they've agreed with you about what you're going to do next.

Arte looks around the abandoned lot where London's zeta tube is stationed these days.

This whole idea was a lot less scary when I thought they were joking. And when it wasn't Artemis.

Okay, Wally, time to man-

"So, this way?"

-up-?

"Huh?" She's pointing-. The hotel, right. "Oh, yeah. Ah, you want me to carry you?"

She taps her belt and.. floats into the air-. Because she's got an inertia belt. "You want me to carry you?"

Hm. It's mid-afternoon here, so there shouldn't be all that many people on the street. None of the people in Britain with superspeed live in London, so unless Lord Malvolio is still around-. Should have checked that. I start tapping on my arm computer. There's no reason not to run except that Artemis can't keep up, and she'll be flying directly anyway-.

Oh, that's not why-.

"You know what?" I shrug, smiling my most winning smile. "Sure."

"Really?" Hah! Didn't expect that, did you?

"Yeah. I've never gone flying with you before-" Let's not mention what happens when I try using superspeed with an inertia belt. Should have learned my lesson from trying to vibrate through a wall. "-and it's not like a hotel room's going anywhere."

Okay, she knows this is some sort of game, but she never backs down, so-.

"And up we go!"

I… Should have seen this coming. She just put me over her shoulder, because she's got superstrength and I'm not that heavy. We're flying at about ten stories up, and I'm getting a great view of London's streets-

And her ass.

-but we can't really have a conversation…

Ah, it can wait.

"You okay back there?"

"Just taking the time to appreciate how great your ass looks in these pants."

She tightens her grip around my waist just a little. "Well, you-."

I feel her turn her head towards me, but that's just putting her face in my hip, so…

"Would you prefer a bridal carry?"

"Nah babe, I'm good."

My wrist computer beeps-. No, looks like Lord Malvolio only comes back for a few days each month. Still think it's kinda weird how he looks like a juiced-up Alan Scott… I wonder if they're related or something-.

And I'm not on Arte's shoulder any more! She dropped-. No, she tosses me and I'm starting to come down-! Okay, I should be able to run down that wall-.

She catches me under the arms. "How about this?"

Okay, breathe, breathe, try and ignore the fact that your feet are hanging ten stories up-.

Wait, what's that against the back of my h-?

Oh.

Okay, not complaining any more.

"Fine, babe."

"Didn't look like you were f-." She pauses, then shifts position so she's not cushioning my head any more and I'm just dangling. "How about now?"

"Less fine. Ah, look, babe, I know you're pissed about the whole dropping-out-of-college thing, but it was just an idea."

"An idea."

"Yeah. Y'know, getting feedback-."

"That you brought up with Paul, and not with me."

"He-."

"Paul. The cake guy."

"He's also the richest guy in the world right now."

"He is?"

"Kinda. Rob explained it. Basically, rich people don't have a lot of cash just sitting around, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Right, so between dollars not being worth much and most shares not being worth much, Paul just flat out owning a huge logistics company with magic portals… And the only chocolate company still trading internationally, and having a whole load of gold in a vault somewhere… I mean, once the economy starts working again then whoever got shares in the companies that are still working will probably be richer on paper, but… Yeah."

"Do you think he knows?"

"Ah… Could go either way."

"Do you think he did it on purpose?"

"Again, could go either way. I mean, he was trying to keep vital infrastructure working, and right now that's just about the most vital thing there is, so…"

But we're talking around the problem.

"Look, I've kinda been thinking about it for a while, and he was just there, so I thought I'd ask. Obviously, I'd have talked it over with you before deciding anything."

"So?"

"So we haven't talked it over yet. And… Okay, they're not making me redo the first semester, so I've got a couple of months to put a business plan together. We already know there's a market for healing potions, and I can come up with something to extend their shelf life." Which honestly isn't great right now. "And there's a bunch of other potions I've tested that are just like things that are already on the market but better, cheaper, and without the side effects. Ted says he's fine with helping with marketing and Paul already said he can handle shipping."

"So..?"

"So… What do you think?"

She breathes out slowly, my head cushion deflating even further. "Do you really wanna do this?"

"I don't know..? I think… Yeah? I think putting stuff together and making stuff happen is kinda why I got into chemistry in the first place, and… Uncle Barry's great and all, but ninety percent of his actual job is running the same couple of tests about a million times a week."

"Okay. Work on that business plan, and… Show me when it's done, I guess."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Huh. That wasn't so-.

"But you understand how I felt when you talked about it with Paul instead of me, right?"

"Oh, totally!"

"Because…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
14:45 GMT

There's something about being here that I find extremely relaxing.

Britain isn't any better defended than other European countries. Decades of spending cuts on the armed forces and a high level of restrictions on citizen weapon ownership combined with a dense population and plentiful processed resources should have made it a good target for the sheeda. In fact, the high number of low level magicians made disrupting sheeda invisibility spells relatively easy, and allowed both the military and the few civilian weapon owners to fight regular sheeda soldiers. Combine that with a sizeable small arms industry which switched to supplying local militias immediately, it… Was bad, but not as bad as it was in a lot of places.

"Orange Lantern!"

I wave back with a smile.

Which means that the physical and psychological scars the Harvest caused in most places… Aren't quite as bad here. Especially in places like Bournville, which with a little light industry and a relatively dispersed population didn't have anything to draw sheeda attention. One chocoholic highborn was about it, and they dealt with that by just handing him chocolate until enough force could be brought to bear to kill him.

I see a young woman communicate to her nervous daughter that it's perfectly acceptable to wave at me, which causes her to wiggle her windmill in my general direction. I give her a little wave back.

And with the anti-life… Good community networks did a lot to keep people alive all over the world. There was a sweet spot between high density faceless neighbours and low density isolationism where there's a measurable drop off in the death count, and Bournville's right in the middle of it. No Justifiers and no Finality Man ever visited here, because… Why would they? Heck, the nearest anti-life broadcaster was in London. The biggest problem they had was in maintaining food supplies, but a lot of places in the Birmingham area were already creating new allotments and bringing land back into agricultural use, so it was more a matter of restricted diets rather than actual starvation like in some places.

Oh, and there's the fact that the rate of employment is very high, thanks largely to me vanquishing the fake cheese merchants of Kraft, and I can feel justifiably proud of that bit.

Well. Nothing looks like it's on fire. And scans don't show anyone using the emotion drugs here. It does look like some enterprising individual is growing a few plant troughs worth of cannabis, but… Eh, fine. It's probably less dangerous than moonshine. I'd be more worried about the electricity consumption if I hadn't given Cadbury a bleed torsion generator to lower their fuel costs, which resulted in them selling the considerable excess to the national grid.

Anyway, someone's learned not to shit where they eat. Or make drugs, in this case. Scans aren't coming back with anything helpful. C.C.T.V. isn't anything like as all-encompassing here as it is in London, so I can't meaningfully use the same technique. Tracking shipments of the raw materials isn't really possible because either they're bringing in low quantities in the driver compartments of their lorries or the official manifest is otherwise being altered. Wallace thought that some of the raw materials are probably being acquired locally, but… Looking at power consumption only really returns the cannabis grower as using significantly more power than is otherwise explicable.

I take out a rune stone, but… No. Far too large an area to cover. Unless I'm right over where they're doing the magic part of the work, that's not going to show anything. It's not good at picking up alchemical products at the best of times.

Empathic vision…

Huh. Nothing useful. In fact, everything's a little blurry. That… Shouldn't-.

Ah. Probably deliberate. I wouldn't notice from a distance or if I was visiting headquarters, but now that I'm here… Yeah. Alright, there are only so many places in Bournville -or even wider Birmingham- that an alchemical laboratory could be hidden, but me being here and floating menacingly is probably enough to stop anyone doing anything foolish, and it's probably best if I wait until Wallace and Artemis can back me up before making an attack. Mostly for the intimidation factor. With three of us they're much less likely to say 'I can take 'em'.

And in the meantime…

The universe flickers as I appear over the main portal park and depot. Eighty large-sized portals positioned around a tarmacked area about the size of ten football fields, lorries coming in and out, men in high visibility vests checking identities and directing drivers to the appropriate warehouses, crews loading and unloading pallets… And the lorries being directed away from the complex and towards the Cadbury factory directly.

What was the series called-? The Commonwealth Saga, that was it. Mass transit was undertaken not by spacecraft but by a massive network of giant railways connected by wormhole portals, all based on planets owned by a megacorp founded by the portal technology's inventors. I don't know, I should probably get someone to assess whether moving to a system like that would actually be better. I wasn't planning for this to be permanent-.

I wasn't really planning for this at all.

No, no, it wouldn't work for how we're using it. We've been moving the portals around, and it's not practical to lay tracks like that. But once things go back to normal, then… Maybe?

Trying not to get further distracted, I descend towards the management offices and phase through the wall. Once inside, I head towards the logistics office and knock on the door.

"Yeah!"

I push it open and stroll inside, prompting eyes to widen and mouths to drop. "Good afternoon. Need access to your computers for a moment."

"I mean… They're your computers?"

"Yes, but just grabbing them-" I connect to the closest with a construct cable. "-would be rude."

Due to the magical nature of our logistics train, our computer systems are warded, so no remote access for me. Plugged in, however, I can access transportation logs…

Ah. Mr. Mannheim is here… Somewhere. Not sure why, what he's learned… Patterns of lorry movement-. Shipments from source locations-. Good.

I disconnect. "Thank you. All yours again."

"Is there something-?"

I

step out, returning

to the depot. Where is-? Ah, there. Transition down, because even if there's been a network shutdown it would take a while for everyone to be notified.

"Davidson-"

The man flinches, turns around to see me, and flinches more.

"-Oyebe. I can't see your desires. Why would that be?"

"What-? What you mean, man?"

"It means that you're under arrest under suspicion of smuggling and such other offences as may be discovered by a full investigation. You may find me more-." He turns and sprints away from me. "Where are you going?"

Other people working in the depot turn and stare as I fly after a man attempting to flee from me. Why would-?

Oh gosh darn it. I grab him with a construct just as he simultaneously has a stroke and a heart attack, and this time I take out the planar jammer immediately. Remove the patches -and if one of these isn't fear then it's certainly stupid- and repair the physical damage. Ongoing symptoms..? None, good.

"Mister Oyebe."

He doesn't move for a moment, then focuses on me. "He just-. Crazy fucking wizard. I should have known this was going to happen."

"You really should. But I may be lenient with you if you tell me where he is. Now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

September 1st, 2013
14:56 UK Time

Why did Artemis just stab the wall with an arrow?

"Artemis, why'd you do that?"

She shrugs and walks a little further down the corridor. "Because I was paying attention? Spell eaters don't work on everything, but so long as I-" She stabs the wall again. "-keep stabbing at the same interval, my anti-magic arrow will mess up the spell even if I don't know it's there."

"That… Makes sense. Except that if it's a glamour, we'll both walk past it and not even realise that you've taken more steps than normal, because glamours mess with all your perceptions."

"Oh." She looks disappointed. "You sure?"

"I mean…" I shrug. "If it's just an illusion then your idea would work fine. Or if the guy's actually using optical camouflage-"

She snorts.

"-then you'd poke a hole in it, but fairy-stuff's supposed to be popular with the street magicians who don't just use demons."

"And what if it's a demon?"

"If it was demon magic..? Demon magic doesn't just make you think something's true when it isn't, it messes with everything. If there was something like that on a hotel there'd be records of the guests and staff going crazy. And there isn't, I checked."

She lowers her arrow. "So what do we do?"

"Well, I already checked the plans and nothing stood out to me."

"But it wouldn't."

"Right. Buuuut, this guy's supposed to be pretty weak. Right?"

"If you've done something clever-"

"Ah, yeah."

She puts her hands on her hips. "-then just tell me what it is."

I pull two vials out of my potion pouch. I mean, it's more of a bandoleer, but that's three syllables. "See, normal wizards could just brute force something like this if they were powerful enough, so I was wondering… Can I make anyone that powerful?"

"You've got a potion that makes people wizards?"

"No, but it kind of makes the magic around you treat you as if you are."

"And it's safe?"

"Thanks for having confidence in me, babe."

"Is it-?"

"I already tested it!"

"On humans?"

"Yes. And… Okay, according to Zatanna it only made me about twenty percent harder to affect, but she's a lot more powerful than most street magicians."

"Uh." She takes the vial I offer her, staring at the dull green contents. "What does it taste like?"

I wince a little. It's a pain, but that's alchemy. You can't just stick it in a clay tablet and then coat it in sugar, it messes everything up. "Maybe just… Swallow it fast."

Cap off, bottom up-. Ouh, yeah, that's it. It's not bad exactly, because… The human sense of taste and smell are there to tell you what's good to eat and what isn't, so it doesn't really react to things that aren't food. You just get left with an impression that you just put something in your body that really wasn't meant to be there.

Artemis makes a face, then puts the stopper back on and hands me back the vial. "Does it do anything to how fast you go?"

"No, that's not based on raw magical strength or anything. Maybe if I was using chi-based speed or something…"

"So is it going to do anything to how strong I am?"

Uh.

"It shouldn't, the Danner Formula alters your body tissue, it doesn't have-"

She's scowling. "You didn't test it."

"-an ongoing effect." I raise my hands slightly. "But if you feel anything weird happening, tell me, because I've got another potion that should stop it."

"Did you test that?"

"Yes."

I look around the corridor. Nothing looks different, but I won't know-.

"So what now?"

"Okay, so we might be able to see through it right away, or it might kind of shimmer..?" I look towards the stairs. "If I run through the place-."

"Where's the penthouse?"

"Ah." I look at my arm computer. "The largest rooms I can see are… Top two floors?"

"No one's gunna do all this for a box room." She thinks for a moment. "And Paul said it's all about presentation, right? He's not gunna take anything but the best."

"Okay." I nod. "Makes sense." And then I grin-

"Wait."

-and pick her up in a bridal carry and run down the corridor, into the stairwell, up the stairs and up to the second-to-top floor.

She pushes me back as she gets back on her feet. "Ass."

"Okay. Look for-."

Artemis walks… Down the corridor. "Does this place have a history of fire alarms going off?"

"I have no idea. Do you want me to ask?"

"Just thinking he might use the fire exit to go in and out, but-" She shakes her head. "-that wouldn't fit. Elevator this way?"

"Yeah? You don't think doing this right next to the elevator might be a little difficult?"

"If he were smart he'd hide out in a janitor's closet and make everyone forget about it. He's gunna be living here like he's meant to live here, like being able to do a little magic makes him the greatest thing since sliced bread. I thought he might use the fire escape, but that's too much effort."

"Makes sense." I nod as we round the corner. "Okay, there's the elevator, and-."

Artemis walks along the corridor, left hand trailing along the opposite wall. I dash past her, reaching the other end of the corridor before turning around and walking back-.

She stops, smiling. "There's something under my hand, but I can't see it."

I look-. "Yeah, the wallpaper looks wrong. Like the pattern's turned clockwise ten degrees."

"You wanna try vibrating through it?"

I take out the skeleton keycard the receptionist gave us. "He won't have rewired it. So the panel should be…" I swipe the keycard against nothing, and there's a faint click. "Here." I grip the handle I can't see and push the door open, stepping through the wall…

"Huh."

Artemis steps through after, then stops just behind me. "Weird poster. You take his workshop, I'll check in here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
14:58 GMT

"…whatever they're doing, I just move stuff for them."

I look out of the side window of his lorry towards the aging industrial unit, the sort of light industrial rental property designed to house a number of small businesses. From the signs on the walls and on the entrance to the courtyard car park I'd have assumed that it still did, but… Apparently not.

Infrared scans can't tell whether there's anyone inside or not, and empathic vision isn't doing much better.

"Thank you, Mister Oyebe. Assuming that you're telling the truth, you've been most helpful."

"So, can I go?"

I glance back at him. "Mister Oyebe."

"So, no."

"No, but I will let the judge know that you cooperated with my enquiries. If I may ask, why 'fear'?"

"Works better than coffee for keeping me awake. Keeps me alert." He flops back into his seat. "I can't believe that piece of shit tried to kill me."

"You're surprised that a drug dealer tried to kill you before you could talk to the authorities?"

"Yeah-. Yeah, I guess I am."

I raise my left eyebrow. "W-why?"

"'cause… We weren't hurting nobody. Weren't competing with nobody. Fuck, this stuff isn't even illegal."

"Not specifically, no."

"Huh?"

"While it's true that narcotics have to be specifically prohibited in law in order to be illegal, there are a number of other lesser offences which a person who deals in them may be charged with. Poisoning, for example. Illegal monitoring, if the spell components track the user."

"I am not a wizard!"

"And? Are you not familiar with British joint enterprise laws? If nothing else, you should realise that involvement in a group willing to kill you was unwi-"

The skylight of one of the buildings opens up, and someone-. Bruno Mannheim pulls himself out, pausing to kick someone's hand off him-.

"-se-. Excuse me."

I transition into the space next to him as he pulls out his telephone and starts hammering the buttons.

"Problem?"

He jerks his head around, then pointedly steps away from the skylight. "Shit that was fast. I didn' think I even pressed the buttons!"

"You didn't. More than one way to skin a cat."

A pale skinned blonde man pulls himself out of the skylight, sees me and then freezes.

"F-uck."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm taken. I would strongly recommend-"

"Yeah-yeah." He pulls himself onto the roof, and then turns around with his hands behind his back. "I'm not a fucking idiot, mate."

"Congratulations." I form manacles around his wrists and ankles before giving Mr. Mannheim my attention. "Situation?"

"This is where they're mak'n the stuff, but it's more than that. One of the ingredients, they're suck'n it out of a guy. Got a bunch o' toobs in'm."

"Oh dear. That won't do. Did you recognise him?" He shakes his head. "You were spotted?"

"Yeah." He shrugs awkwardly. "It's not a big place. Not a lotta room for hid'n."

"Not to worry. Any guns?"

He shakes his head. "I did'n see none."

"Right." I place my right hand on his left shoulder, fly us both up until the fuzziness is no longer blocking my view of him, and then transition us to his lorry. "Thank you for your assistance. If you wish, you may remain employed with Cadbury Logistics, or you may return to your previous work with my thanks."

"Gotta finish up my shift. I'll let yah know."

I nod, then transition back into the air above the drug manufacturing centre, and then fly down.

"I thought you left."

I shrug. "Just needed to drop my friend off in case some of your colleagues are less enlightened than you are. Please do not attempt to leave."

He glances down at his anklets. "…yeah, I wasn't gunna."

"Good man!"

I float down the hole in the roof and-

"Gary?"

"Gentlemen."

-wreath the colleagues of 'Gary' in chains, causing them to collapse to the floor.

"You're under arrest and you're fired, do not resist."

It's never entirely wise to blunder around somewhere a wizard has had time to prepare, so I release my thrall constructs and send them down the corridor ahead of me. Naturally the building doesn't have an intercom system, so I can't just announce that I want them to surrender. Oh, I'm sure that they'll work it out. But just in case I release three hydra heads and send them to patrol the perimeter.

Useful things, soul bound slaves.

Okay, scans are being disrupted… How about sonics? Ah, good, I can see where someone's added in denser material than a… Cloth printing business would need-. They also wouldn't need a reinforced door with a broken lock. I pull it open.

"Did you find-?" The woman in the lab coat on the other side blinks at me. I give her a little wave. "Ah, fuck."

"Is there something about me which suggests that I cheat on my girlfriend?"

"… What?"

"Hands behind your back, and the only reason I'm not binding your legs is because I want you to take me to whoever-."

"Yep! Yep." She puts her hands behind her back and I cuff them. "No problem. This way."

"Thank you. You know, you don't get this level of politeness from American drug dealers."

"Ah, you're welcome?"

"You see? Just-."

I see the clean room in the next room, partitioned off by plastic drapes. And I see the man strapped to a bench within, shuddering against his bonds, eyes unfocused.

"Roger Hayden. I wondered where you'd gotten to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

September 1st, 2013
15:11 UK Time

I finish going through the last of the Andrews guy's drawers and turn around to look at the mess we've made of his room. Just regular guy-stuff, as far as I can tell. Okay, a guy who's more worried about his appearance than most guys, but there's no… I don't know. Magic drugs or whatever. Guess he doesn't try his own supply. Or maybe he moved to Bournville before that all started? There isn't really any dust, but… If the room's sealed-.

Is there some sort of magical house-cleaning spell?

Wally's looking through his herb collection and typing things on his computer. I step over the perfectly regular clothes I've thrown on the floor and head over to the workroom. Huh. Just realised that people having supervillain names makes it a lot easier to talk about them. 'Charles Andrews' is kind of… Not that memorable. And it's like two first names, so are you talking about some guy called 'Andrews'-. Paul would probably call him 'Mister Andrews', but that makes it sound like I'm respecting him.

I look over Wally's shoulder and… Yeah, that's dried… Dirt? "Find anything?"

"Ah, maybe?" He moves the pot of dirt over to one side and takes out a packet of dried leaves. "Most of this is stuff any alchemist would have. Just about all the stuff he'd need to make… Like, a prototype potion is here… But not everything."

"Okay, is-." What the-? "Does this guy have one of those posters in every room in this place?"

It's a yellow smiley face on a white background. There was one in the living room, in the kitchen, in his bedroom and there's one behind his chemistry bench. This one has 'Smile! You're my number one guy!' written on it.

"Yeah. There's even one in the bathroom."

"Is it a magic thing?"

He frowns at me-. What?

"What?"

"Putting up weird motivational posters?" He shakes his head. "No, that's not a magic thing." He goes back to sorting through the bench compartments. "Except… Ah, Jay told me about this one magic poster that kinda did a reverse Picture of Dorian Grey, where a wizard stuck it to a wall and a demon came out and killed people."

"I don't remember that. Was it recent?"

"No, it was about twenty years ago in Opal. Starman… Ah… Four? He destroyed the poster. The wizard got a life extension for everyone the demon killed. He'd already been doing it for over a hundred years. No one really picked up on it."

"Think this guy gets a life extension every time someone sends a text message?"

Wally pushes the… Leaves aside and pulls a book off a stand.

"Shouldn't think so. He'd have to go to wherever the main servers are, do a bunch of stuff and hope that Hephaestaean didn't notice. And he'd have to stay there, or bind some kinda demon to the system-."

I raise my left eyebrow.

"Oh, joke, right." He sighs as he opens the book. "Sorry. It's just, we kinda have to think about this stuff now. You find anything?"

"A lotta clothes that looked like they got worn, like, once." Huh. I fold my arms across my chest. "Does this kinda thing happen a lot?"

"What kinda thing?"

"This guy isn't that powerful, right?"

"Seeing how we're here? Wouldn't think so."

"And he's been living in this hotel for years."

"Oh. Yeah. Ah, maybe? I mean… How would we know?"

Huh. He's got a… Point. I try reading the book over his shoulder, but… I don't understand… Whatever language that is. Something on my chest itches and I scratch it without looking away.

"Can you actually read that?"

"Uhh, not all of it. I'm just-" He turns the page. "-looking for names. Ingredients. Or if he's been making some kind of deal with a demon or something."

"You haven't… Done that, right?"

"No? For me, this is, like, chemistry with extras. The reason why I like it is because I'm… Working out how the world really works. By myself, not just doing what some demon's telling me. And, y'know, those kinda deals are always messed up anyway." He scratches his chest. "Uh. Babe?"

"What?"

"Are you using a new detergent or something? 'cause we're both scratching ourselves, and if we're both alergic…"

"Uh, no? Same old-."

There's something… On my chest. I can feel it. But I can't remember what it is. It feels warm, whatever it is. And it wasn't warm earlier.

Something's stopping me thinking about it. Magic-.

I grab Wally and throw myself towards the closest window, smashing through it and falling towards the parking lot at the back of the hotel! Wally's eyes widen as we slam into the ground, and I bend my legs a little to absorb the energy.

Huh, the asphalt only cracked a little bit.

"Ah, babe? What.. the heck..?"

It's-. A spell eater. And it's warm, because it's been absorbing something. I put Wally down, take hold of my spell eater and wave it at him.

"I was wearing it, but I couldn't think about it. How 'bout you?"

"I-." His eyes widen. "No! I forgot I even had it."

"There wasn't anyone up there, right?"

"No." He shakes his head. "If we were that distracted, whoever it was would have attacked us."

"And the freakiest thing up there was those posters, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. Definitely."

"Okay." I hold out my right hand. "Gimme your spell eater and all the magic acid you got."

"Artemis… That would melt the hotel."

Huh? "How much do you carry?"

"Not… That much. It's powerful."

"You got something to neutralise it?"

"Kinda defeats the point of 'super acid'. But if they're magical..?" He thinks for a moment. "Alright, just… Throw me up there. I can pull 'em off the walls…" He looks around. "Yeah, it shouldn't matter too much if this parking lot gets a bit melted." He carefully passes me one capsule, and I stick it in a pouch very carefully. "Use this on the first one and put it on the ground. That'll make a hole for you to put the rest in."

"Right. And that'll do it?"

"If they're where it's coming from, sure. If not, eh, we destroyed some weird posters."

"Right." I bend down and make a stirrup with my hands.

He… Hesitates. "Is that the best way to do this?"

I glare at him. "Do you wanna practice or do you wanna get the evil posters?"

"Okay-" He climbs on, and thanks to the Danner Formula I barely feel his weight. "-then, Ar-"

Check the sight line and throw!

"-teeeee-!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
15:04 GMT

I pull out my rune stone-. And it shines like a sparkler. High level ambient magic, constantly active. In fact… It's more than that. I didn't think Charles Andrews was powerful enough to make something like this using his own efforts, which… Means that he's made a deal. A deal with something powerful.

"Madam, I would appreciate an explanation."

"I-I don't know who he is."

"His name is Roger-."

"Yeah, you said, I meant… Before you said it. Uh."

"Put it this way. You are a party at the very least to kidnapping and false imprisonment, just based on what I've seen so far. You are already going to prison for a long time. However, I have some familiarity with Mister Andrews' social circle, and the only way I can see him creating a spell this powerful is by having a demon do the heavy lifting."

"So he sold his soul?"

"Probably not. Tell me, have any of your co-workers just… Not come back to work without an explanation? Did you maybe sign a contract when you started working here and maybe not read the details too closely?"

"He said it was-. Oh shit!"

"Oh shit indeed." She looks at me in horror as I grin. "Fascinating case in London a few decades ago. Stockbroker made a deal with a demon called Triskele. He got success in all his financial dealings, and she got his soul. Except the deal only lasted five years, didn't it? Then he got dragged off bodily to Hell… Unless he found some innocent soul -he used his own baby daughter- and gave them to Triskele instead. One baby, another five years. Do you think for a moment that your employer isn't someone who would happily sacrifice the rest of you?"

"A-ah-! A-ah-!"

"Fortunately for you, I'm here to wipe your arse for you. Tell me what's going on."

"And-? Ahgdhuh, ah, whoever he-? The thing-."

Ah, a little too much.

"I've beaten every demon I've fought so far."

"He-. He was here, like this, when I started working here. He hasn't moved or said anything-. We have cameras!" She points upwards-. Ah, I see. "I never saw Charles do any magic or anything on him. I just-. I'm a nurse. I basically just make sure that he stays healthy."

I check-. Catheter, colostomy bag…

"Does Mister Andrews need to do anything to make it safe for you to approach Mister Hayden?"

"No? I mean, he didn't. Did-did he need to?"

Check the bed, check the floor, check the equipment…

"I can't see anything binding a spell to this location, which means that crossing into the space probably wouldn't create a problem. However, I'll ask an actual magician to check you over before handing you off to the police. No drugs in these tubes?"

"I mean… Some paink-. Mild painkillers and anti-inflammatories. I'm not drugging him unconscious. He just-. Hasn't woken up."

"Not.. seeing anything to monitor his brain activity."

"No?"

I nod. "I suppose you weren't trying to help him get better. Were there any visible injuries on him?"

"No. Some bruising around the cannulae… Nothing else."

"Hm." While there are a whole range of stimulants I could inject him with, I don't want to do anything too radical while he's under the influence of a powerful spell. And while he should be pretty powerless without the Medusa Mask, he started his criminal career before he made it. And he made it; he didn't find it or get given it. "Alright. Is Mister Andrews in today?"

"Yeah, he-. He's down in Production."

I release Gary from my ring.

"You, guard them both, and don't kill anyone."

"Yes, Master."

"Is that a demon?"

"Ah… Technically, no."

"Then what is it?"

"It used to be a rot elemental. Now it's technically a minor avarice elemental."

"What's the difference?"

"It won't eat your soul unless I specifically instruct it to. Excuse me."

I phase through the wall, drifting out of the building and over the car park, where my Construct Lanterns have corralled the employees. No Charles Andrews so far, but brainwashed thralls and giant lizard heads aren't really the best at conducting searches.

"Excuse me!"

Everyone looks up.

"The first one to tell me where Charles Andrews is gets me telling the judge at their trial that they were cooperative."

There's a brief delay, and a quick 'what's-everyone'else-doing' look around, and then almost as one they point towards… A laboratory with no one in it.

"If he's supposed to be in there, I can't see him."

An hairy overweight man shrugs. "That's where he went. Didn't see him when your… Things chased us all out."

Right. No reason why he'd just hide his hotel room.

Ring, call local police.

Compliance.

And in I go, through the wall-

Warning! Spell Eater temperature increasing!

-and into… A fairly standard series of chemistry workstations. I've seen drug labs, and this place isn't so different. Nothing sticks out as magical, and-.

The western wall shimmers, and a locked door appears.

Temperature stabilising.

Right. I'm all out of patience. I stride over to the door, form a crumbler gauntlet around my right fist and punch first the lock and then the hinges. The door falls… Looks like some stairs leading down to a basement.

"…me my master! Orange Lantern's here, and I'm fucked! I know it! I-."

I transition down, form a construct gauntlet around Mister Andrews and gag the fool.

"You should thank me for that. Demons always screw you on desperate pacts."

"Mrhh!"

Which demons was he trying to-?

I look at his shrine.

And the crudely drawn yellow face in the centre.

Which looks back at me with a smile.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
15:08 GMT

I risk tearing my attention away from the living image of Boss Smiley to glare at Mister Andrews. "Oh, you idiot."

"Hey Paul, last name unknown! How have you been?"

I fire an incendiary round at his face, enveloping the entire shrine in white fire. That sets off the fire alarm and sprinklers. I generate a construct wall around the shrine and shut off the alarm and I keep watching the shrine.

And while I do that, I remove the gag.

"Explain. Now."

"I think I want to talk to a lawyer-" I apply electrical current. "-ghah!"

"I wish to be very clear, Mister Andrews. You have used my company, a company which I bought to ensure the provision of quality mid-market chocolate to the masses and expanded to ensure that vital supplies would reach those who needed them, for selling narcotics. I have had to intervene to prevent your work killing people, and where Boss Smiley is concerned I am not inclined towards generosity. You are participating in an ongoing attack on the human species and if the next words out of your fetid piehole are not the whole and unabridged truth I'm going to rewrite your soul so that you can do naught but what I want and do my level best to render you permanently incapable of using magic, am I clear?"

He gazes at me with the expression of a career gambler who just got his bluff called, then considers the burning shrine for a moment.

"Yes."

"Boss Smiley. What?"

"Look, he's not a demon, he-."

"He's a spirit-. Or god of, political corruption and social decay, I know. Did you contact him or did he contact you?"

"I was… Looking for a patron, and he made contact. His terms-."

"And Roger Hayden?"

"He was in a coma already when my lord showed me where to find him. Something about him losing his mask did something to his brain, but since it wasn't magic I can't tell you anything about it."

"'My Lord'?"

"It pays to be polite with individuals that powerful. But I'm not a cultist! I don't.. worship him."

"What has he given you?"

"He taught me the ritual that makes the patches, powers it, and guided me in getting this far. I can't compete with your level of brute force. Have you encountered him before?"

"I think you misunderstand how interrogations work. How do the patches convey the emotional content? What is Mister Hayden's involvement?"

"His body can be induced to produce a sort of extra-planar fluid."

"What, you're draining his blood?"

"No, nothing so crude. It merely created a connection to the possible reality where the user is experiencing the desired emotion. Most of the rest of the potion is just binding that effect to the user, though I had to work out that portion myself."

"And there's no backup plan if Mister Hayden's not available?"

"There's probably some other way to make it work, but it would be impractical without him."

"Alright. Why did you try to kill-?"

My construct wall shatters as a white-gloved and sleeved arm punches through it!

What the heck?

"You know-" The fire dies, the core of the shrine unburned and a second arm now extruding from it, taking a firm grip on the ground. "-something, I can't help but feel that I'm being disrespected."

"That's because I don't respect you."

"No." Arms gripping, he pulls, and his face pulls outwards from the shrine and into the room. If his proportions hold up he'll be far taller than a normal human, though not as tall as he was when he used the Statue of Liberty as his focus. "You don't like me. No, you actively dislike me. But I always got the impression that you respected my power."

Torso out of the shrine and yet somehow not pressing against us in what appears to have been a small storage cellar.

"But fire?" He pulls his legs out. "Not even a-?"

I shoot him in the face with a mage slayer round.

He catches it. "Exactly! Now I feel better."

You know, seeing him up close like this emphasises his size in a way that him sitting back on a throne didn't.

"Paul, do you understand what this is about?"

"I tried to improve the world, you tried to mess it up. It's what you do."

He shakes his weird round yellow head. "Let me show-"

A volley of crumbler rounds do nothing… Somehow. Crumblers and x-ionised knives similarly fail to achieve-.

Ghk!

He grabs both of us around the chests, my external constructs vanishing at once!

"-you."

He walks… Up the stairs, which are now somehow big enough to accommodate him. I'm in his right hand, Mister Andrews is in his left.

"How is-? Ah, my lord, how are you doing this?"

"I'm not a demon, Charlie. I'm a part of the world. I can't be bound or warded against." The door opens ahead of him and he strides out into the car park. "I'm just here."

"You already tried to get me onboard. I'm not more interested now."

"Did Charlie tell you why this happened?"

"You told him where to find Mister Hayden and how to use him."

"Did you not notice how he skipped the first part?"

"What, his squatting in a hotel using magic? We spotted that without him telling us."

"That he was already looking for an angle, for a way to profit."

"And you gave it to him."

"I made him aware of this particular one after he asked for it. You see, after I played our conversation back in my head, I realised that you came down with the wrong idea. Corruption doesn't happen because of me. Yes, I encourage certain kinds in the name of stability, but I also discourage others. I am not, or have I ever claimed to be, the source and creator of all human vice. If it wasn't this, then it would have been something else."

"So? You're making the situation worse and not making it better."

"Aren't I?" He looks down at the crowd gathered in the car park, and then back at me. "Are you sure that you're making a fair comparison? How confident are you that Batman is making things better?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
15:12 GMT

"My confidence that Batman is being a net positive to humanity is about eighty-five percent, and most of that fifteen is due to the difficult to foresee long term consequences of our actions."

Mr. Andrews looks down at the… Distant car park where his employees are looking up at us. "My lord… Could you please tell me what you want me to do?"

The round yellow head orientates on him. "Oh? Do you worship me now, Charlie?"

"Ah-I.. can be practical?"

"So, yes."

"What?"

Boss Smiley raises his left hand to chin level. "You see, Charlie, I'm not a demon. I don't need a written contract signed in blood. I need deliberate intent. And I have to say that your actions are both deliberate and intentional. You want to make your own life better and you don't care what you have to do to pull it off. And that makes you one of my people."

"Then..?" He glances at me.

"Him?" Boss Smiley keeps smiling. "I'm not your personal saviour, Charlie. I have my own interests. I held up my end of our bargain, and that's all you get. Unless you've got a better proposal?"

He thinks for about half a second.

"Transfer me into his body. I can expand my operations without worrying about being detected by the owner."

"Come on, Charlie, I know you're smarter than this. You don't know enough to trick his friends into believing that you're him."

"I can-."

"Charlie, not a lot of people are out of my reach, but members of the Justice League are screened by Nommo Balewa and J'onn J'onzz and he is screened by Hinon Hee Hannanan."

"I.. don't know who that is."

"Exactly. Charlie, you're a bit-player. You had a decent scheme but you rushed the implementation. And since I'm not a demon I'm going to be straight with you: the best thing you can do is take a fall and rebuild later, older and wiser."

Hm. "And you're saying that because you don't think he's constitutionally capable of changing, so 'wiser' just means 'do the same basic thing with more foresight'."

"Ah, Paul." He raises his right hand up higher, level with his eyes. "That's all anyone can do. That's what I find frustrating about you. What exactly do you think is inhuman about Charlie here?"

"He seems like the sort to make pacts with demons, so it wouldn't exactly shock me to learn that he's got a bit of demon in him."

"No, he's clean. His niche is using fey magic." Boss Smiley turns his head left and then right, implying that he's checking for eavesdroppers while being about two hundred metres tall before sharing something in confidence with me. "He thinks it's less risky."

I take a moment to consider what I've learned about the fey. The regular fey, not the future-sheeda. It's… Technically true that they're less dangerous than demons, but the sort that it's useful to make pacts with tend to be a lot more intelligent and it's easier for them to interact with the Earth. And their customer service is worse. It… Might be worth taking time to find out exactly what he offered them in exchange for tuition.

"Okay. You tried corrupting my company-. Or revealing human nature to me or whatever you think this is-."

"You are hard work, do you know that?"

"It has been commented on before."

"I am trying to communicate to you that his graft was harmless and benefited people in a way that it didn't occur to you to try and do. You can't control everything, and that means that not everything that happens will be enacted in accordance with your desires."

"I'm-"

"Kid Flash to Orange Lantern."

…

That was on my internal communication system.

"-not sure I understand where you're going with this. Plus it's hard to gel that claim with the attempted murder." Internal. "Orange Lantern here. Found anything?"

"A whole lot of low grade magic paraphernalia and some cursed posters. Arte's dealing with them now. What are you doing?"

"Talking to his sponsor, Boss Smiley."

"Like… Metaphorically..?"

"He's literally holding me right now."

"Oh El, you made the news. You're on T.V.. You're just floating there."

"Murder? Murder who?"

External. "Several people who were using his products."

"Charlie, I don't remember anything about murdering people."

"I did not order any murders. But I don't control what everyone who buys from me does with the product."

Ring, spell eater temperature?

Normal.

I look down again, and… People aren't fleeing in terror. And my Construct Lanterns aren't reacting. Alright, but-.

Internal. "Kid Flash, am I making a construct sphere right now?"

"No? Are you trying to?"

"Yes. Can you see my environmental shield?"

"The camera's not that close, dude."

Okay. I'm not being affected by magic but something is removing my ability to make constructs. Actually removing, not just making me think it is. For a moment I wonder if this whole thing is a glamour from Mr. Andrews, but… That shouldn't work this well on me, and his reactions don't look feigned. Boss Smiley doesn't appear to be lying, but…

He told me that he doesn't exist.

I saved Timothy by disrupting the drug's magic, but I saved Mr. Mackensen and Mr. Oyebe using-.

I activate my armour's short-ranged planar jammer, and get the pleasure of seeing Boss Smiley recoil for a moment before shimmering out of existence.

A short distance from me, Mr. Andrews falls-.

I grab him with a construct.

"What?" He stares around. "Where did he go?"

"I'm not completely sure that he was completely here. It shouldn't be that easy for something like him to move around the material-."

"A glamour? But we were actually picked up-. Unless it was your constructs really doing it?"

"I don't think so. And I think I need to see where Mister Hayden is right now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
15:18 GMT

"I think this is a little excessive."

Bound hand and foot in my magic suppression chains, Mr. Andrews shuffles ahead of me as we walk towards the room where Mr. Hayden is being contained.

"Yes, you're probably right. But I don't know that Boss Smiley can't possess you or drag you to some sort of dark dream dimension, so they stay on."

Along with a larger and more powerful planar shield. I don't know why it worked but I know that it did work.

"I didn't know that he could do that."

"He did it to me, once. Possessed the Statue of Liberty and shoved me and a few friends through. I had to fight manifestations of the worst aspects of the American psyche to get out."

He thinks about that for a moment as he pushes the door open. And I should have really thought more about why there wasn't mass panic about the State of Liberty's head turning into a yellow sphere at the time.

"Why did you tell me that?"

"Because the British government might put you in prison or set you to work, but they're not going to kill you. And I don't consider what you've done serous enough to warrant an extra-judicial killing, no matter how annoyed I am about it. That means that one day you'll be free, and I'd like to provide you with information about your patron that will lead you to decide to break off your relationship."

"Is a minor corruption god really worth that much effort?"

The fungoid and the nurse are still here, along with the recumbent Mr. Hayden. She looks at her chained up boss for a moment and then gives me her full attention instead. Quick check on Mr. Hayden… He looks fine. And this close he's well within the affect area of my planar jammer.

That's… One theory looking increasingly less likely.

I return my attention to the somewhat attentive Mr. Andrews.

"I don't suppose you saw my lecture two years ago, did you?"

"No."

"Well, short version, humans have a lot of highly advanced technology, but we barely use it. I didn't understand 'why' so I decided to fix it."

He nods. "The dolmen gates and the reglaciation project."

"Among other things. The first time I confronted-. Was confronted by Boss Smiley, he claimed to be responsible for those technologies not coming to wider use, because it was convenient to him for humanity to remain limited. He offered me a pact wherein I would introduce some and not others at his discretion."

"Did you take it?"

"No, of course not. If he was telling the truth, then he has a vested interest in keeping us small and stupid. Trying to make a deal was him admitting that he couldn't stop us any longer while attempting to retain as much control as he could. Even if I didn't care about his past misdeeds -which I do- I couldn't trust him. I can't trust him."

"Alright, but what's that got to do with me? I don't care about advancing human civilisation."

"Alright, let me put it this way. Do you like eating bread?"

He frowns, clearly not knowing where I'm going with this. "I… Eat bread?"

"Do you like knowing that it's made of flour and not chalk?"

"What?"

"Chalk. Chalkies were a working class Victorian staple, and one of the causes of our first food anti-adulteration laws. Chalk was cheaper than actual flour, so bakers would add some to the dough to bulk it up."

"Then… Yes?"

"You like breathing air that's not full of lead compounds?"

"Yes?"

"That's what Boss Smiley is about, as far as I can tell. Making things just a bit worse so that he can act like he's in control. It's not like the baker has to eat the chalkies. And it's not like they'll actually kill you. Lead won't kill you either, not quickly, and making alternatives is just so expensive."

"So your argument is that by encouraging him, I'd be allowing him to encourage others in ways that would impact me?"

"That's my first approach. The next is that demons are at least somewhat predictable. I've bargained with demons before. And you know how to fight demons. Neither of us know what he actually is, or what he really wants, or how far his control goes when you make deals with him. We don't know how to fight him. Do you want to take that risk?"

"I… Suppose not. What demons, exactly?"

"Mammon, mostly. Though when the Host tried to kill me, most of the Lords of Hell turned up to give them a bloody nose. Oh, and Mazikeen, but she's kind of my daughter so that's really more of an exchange of late Christmas presents."

"Y-? Seriously?"

"Yes." I take out a rune stone and point it at Mr. Hayden. Looks like something we did removed the spell, but that wasn't what was keeping.. him… "Alternately, I can give you a book on Atlantean magical practice, you can improve your arcane strength until you don't need that sort of support, and then you can get a job in the rapidly expanding thaumaturgical sector." Hm. "After you are released from custody, of course."

"I'm just trying to get my head around the idea of you making pacts with demons."

"Oh, not like that. It was more 'Mammon, you're the least malevolent guy down here, I'm alright with you being in charge, don't make me regret that decision'."

"In that case, could I make a pact with you?"

"Uh, technically, you can make a pact with Ophidian the Temptress through me, but I'd need to see a record of good behaviour before I consider enabling that."

Still can't see Mr. Hayden's desires, and while his chest is moving, it's-. Completely regular.

I reach out and touch-.

His chest crumbles under my fingers, the membrane flaking into the nothing inside his chest. As the outer surface continues to collapse his eyes open long enough for him to glare triumphantly at me-.

And he's gone, decayed to nothing.

My rune stone's not glowing. And the planar jammer is… Still active.

What?

Scan whatever-. No, it's gone.

I'll… Try and get Mr. Scott to take a look, because that was an impressive escape.

"Right then. You have the right to remain silent…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th September 2013
10:12 GMT -5

"…adding inspectors to cut down on contraband." I nod as Oliver goes through the initial report. "And I gotta resign right after."

Huh. "Ah. If you… Want to. May I ask 'why'?"

He smiles. "You can ask..."

"Okay. Why?"

He sighs, slumping slightly in his seat, his eyes drifting away from me. "Look, I took this job because you wanted someone to keep an eye on Cadbury when you weren't around. Non-exec director, sure, I can do one day a week without it cutting into my-." He takes a moment to consider where we are. "LARPing time, but this… This isn't just me keeping tabs on things. You need someone who can do this full time, and that's not me."

I nod. "Yeah, that's fair enough. Would you agree to keep doing the Cadbury Chocolate side of things, so long as I get someone else for the Logistics side?"

"Yeah, I appreciate the offer, but the thing is? I wanted to increase my LARPing time anyway. The chocolate-. Okay, I admit you're right about the chocolate quality, but it's not really…"

"It's not so good that it's vital to the wellbeing of the planet."

He nods. "So I was justifying sticking around because the logistics stuff is, but…"

He shrugs, and I nod.

"Yeah. Do you have any suggestions on your successor?"

"Not… Really. Your representative on the board should be someone you've got a good working relationship with. Or at least someone you trust with that authority. If you don't know anyone, I can give you the name of a few reliable commercial law firms who could get someone for you."

"Do you think Alan could do it?"

He looks confused for a moment. "Alan… Scott..?"

"He used to run the Gotham Broadcasting Company."

"Isn't he… About a hundred years old?"

"Ninety-. Yes."

"The business world has changed a little since he was-. When did he retire?"

"About twenty years ago."

"Right. And I got the feeling that he'd rather spend all his time 'LARPing', too."

"Probably. So…"

"I don't think it's a great idea, but you could always talk to him about it. No one else you could ask?"

"How many experienced former company chairmen do you think I know? Apart from you and Alan… Alexander Luthor?"

"Lex-with-hair? I think he's busy. Whatever happened to that… Lord-Lantern-?"

I cringe. "Don't even joke about that. I'll-. I'll think about it. I assume that the rest of the board will be fine with the increased security?"

"Given the number of Justice League contracts we've got, I asked the League to send a request to our security department instead. I'll explain things to the rest of the board during the next meeting."

"Okay." I lean back slightly. "And that pretty much shuts it down, because there aren't alternate routes. And as far as I can tell from the people going through detox, it isn't chemically addictive."

"Sure, you said that the guys you arrested weren't the original creators, right? So what's to stop someone picking up Hayden and starting it all up again? Or him doing it himself?"

"The answer is nothing, except that they've already lost the ability to transport their product long distance. It wouldn't make sense."

"You have met supervillains, right? And drug pushers."

I nod. "I take your point, which is why the investigation will continue until we find him."

"You don't wanna hold off on the increased security while you work? Might make it a bit easier to find things, if they just wait for the heat to die down and then try setting up again with new patsies."

"No. Because if something like this was being smuggled, I'm sure that other things were as well. We should probably have done something like this a while ago."

"We needed to expand. You know what things were looking like-."

"Yes, but things haven't been 'desperate' for a few months. We've had time…"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess…"

"Cocaine production is way down, but heroin is still moving around, along with things like fentanyl and other synthetics. We can't do much to stop fentanyl production, but we can at least stop suppliers moving things around using us." Heh. "Honestly, I suspect drug dealers are extremely eager for transportation networks to go back to normal."

"And… What about other stuff?"

"Other stuff? You mean like L.S.D.?"

"I was thinking of weed."

"Honestly, I don't really care about it beyond the fact that us deciding to transport it further undermines the governments which have banned it. And the obvious problem with it suddenly becoming 'Justice League approved weed'. " He snorts, but nods. "We've only just gotten to the point where we can start building new dolmen gates, I don't want to put effort into moving recreational substances over vital ones."

"Is that why you're not going too hard on these patches?"

"Wallace West isn't interested in producing them, but I think there's potential in a side effect free pick me up. If we can work out how to produce them without the exotic side effects, and without sucking juice out of Mister Hayden. Alright. Unless there's anything else, I need to start interviewing for your replacement."

4th September 2013
18:02 GMT

The former High Conciliator of Emana glances up at me as I appear in her office, bypassing the force fields and guards. She takes me in for a moment, then looks mildly disappointed. "I was hoping for an assassin."

"Why?"

"Deposed leaders tend not to last long in Vega."

I frown. "You did all you could-."

"And sometimes that's not enough. The surviving consortia-alliances have agreed to a peace deal with the Vega Alliance, but there are a great many former corporate leaders who are now nearly powerless and such people are not prone to rationality. After all the damage that happened I couldn't remain in office, especially not if the Alliance forces us to reform our government." She relaxes slightly. "Why are you here, Orange Lantern?"

"What are your future employment opportunities here like?"

"Non-existent. I was lucky they agreed to pension me off."

"Then how would you like to work for me?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Replanting

6th September 2013
09:36 GMT

Dr. Mist looks at the place where Roger Hayden once lay.

"Anything?"

"Yes. Nothing thet would explain…" He holds up a vial of Hayden Juice and frowns at it for a moment. "This, but I can feel the remains of the spell thet was used."

"Anything outside?"

"No. I think it may be an issue of non-arcane dimensional… Interference."

"How'd you work that one out?"

"Eh, basic logic. Your machine should heff prevented him moving to a parallel universe. If he hed used magic, it is almost impossible that I could not feel it while I em standing here. But, I cannot feel it when Mirror Master opens a portal through two mirrors. It is a strange phenomenon, but it is not magic."

"Uh-uuuuuuuugh…" Marvellous. Weird knotholes in reality that technically aren't magic. One of the few areas left that I don't know anything about, and don't know anyone who knows anything about. "McCulloch just bought the Mirror Master equipment and Scudder's dead. Charles Halstead's dead, so if he ever had anything to do with the second Psycho Pirate -which was never proven- we can't easily ask him."

"You could simply ask Charles Andrews."

"I did. He claims that he thought Mister Hayden was in a persistent vegetative state and that he has no idea how he vanished."

"Did you confirm thet?"

"I mean, he turned his defensive spells off and I got a good look at him. I-." I sigh, shrugging. "I know what my reputation's like, but I.. don't really want to resort to extreme measures to triple check an answer when the crime is relatively minor. Hayden doesn't even have any significant outstanding warrants, even if I suspect him of trying to kill the people I was investigating. I'd check that he was physically healthy before trying to arrest him."

"It is good thet you do not resort to extremes all of the time. But do I need to remind you thet the King of Tears is from such a place?"

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Apparently, yes. I thought it was just from a parallel universe with different physical laws to ours?"

"Mister Miracle checked the site where Johnny Sorrow originally left the material universe. Apparently, there were enough resonances there thet he was able to determine what happened."

"So we need him to take a look at this?"

"Mister Miracle has a great deal of work. All of us do. Do you think it is necessary for him to make this a priority?"

"No, I suppose not. It's just a little frustrating. Do you want to see where the shrine was?"

"Yes, I think thet is best."

I lead the way down the corridor and then down the stairs, past the police arcane hazard warning notice and down into the basement proper. Not much here now, other than the blackened and charred concrete where the shrine used to be.

"You used incendiaries?"

"Yes. Mage slayers drain magical energy to disrupt spells, but there's a finite amount of energy they can absorb. I felt that physically destroying the shrine was a better bet than trying to drain something that might not be a delicately structured spell and might just be a site of raw power."

"Ah." He nods. "And of course you could not be completely sure thet what you saw was really there."

I nod. "I don't know how Boss Smiley works. Is dimensional manipulation inherently disruptive to magic?"

"Do you know, I do not know?" He glances at me before giving the carbonised patch of floor his full attention. "Joining the Justice League is giving me so many novel experiences."

"Happy to help. Getting anything, or-."

"Yes… And no. The spell architecture is clearly an elemental binding thet was adapted for something else, but it is… Solipsistic? A shrine to a shrine, excluding all other influences. It is like the box on the internet, where activating the mechanism sends forth an armature to deactivate the mechanism. It would work, but it should not do anything."

"He told me that he doesn't exist."

"If something told you thet, then it was a lie. Spirits are not demons; they can lie freely."

"I was… Thinking. About how computers store data."

"I can use a word processor."

"Ah-. The important point is that the term 'cloud' is nonsense. All data is stored in a physical location. Right?"

"Yes?"

"Now, with older forms of data storage, connecting to where the data storage existed in the physical world required things to move around. I remember reading about a computer where they couldn't work out how data was getting from one point to another, because according to the design of the system it shouldn't be able to. It turned out that two locations were close enough together that the data reader could be made to jump across from one-." He gives me a blank look. "Ah, like a record player with two records, and you hit the needle to make it jump to the other record."

"Ah! I understend now."

"So… Is there a way-?" His eyes widen. "There i-?"

"An indirect evocation, made by-." His mouth slowly forms into a smile. "Thet is brilliant."

"My knowledge of magic is slightly better than your knowledge of server architecture, but-."

"You can evoke the God of Lies by evoking the God of Lies. But you can also evoke the God of Lies by lying a great deal."

"Yes?"

"I… Think this… Do you have an image of the shrine?"

"Yes, but I've seen Boss Smiley manifest through-."

"Show me images of the individual elements."

I nod, taking out a hologram projector and carefully going through each object one after the other.

"Yes. See, this? I believe thet these objects are related to his nature. Corruption, governance, and concealed power."

A parking ticket, a police identification badge, a postal ballot… A few other items whose significance escapes me.

"So he links the corruption to the corruption, and that's enough?"

"It could be. I will need to think about this. Well done, Orange Lantern. We may finally have eh lead on him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th February 2284
15:36 GMT -6

My father-in-law Chief Balm-Upon-Wounds smiles down fondly at my son as he in turn stares bleary-eyed at the unfamiliar adults around him. After a moment he decides that as long as his mother keeps holding him it's probably alright and lays his head on her chest. Balm-Upon-Wounds gently offers his grandson his right forefinger, and is rewarded with the boy instinctively grasping it. For a moment he looks surprised, then he turns to me.

"What did you name him?"

"Adam, in the Canaanite fashion. But it literally means 'Son-Of-Red-Earth', if that sounds better to you."

"Ah." He smiles, nodding as he carefully reclaims his finger and steps back to allow his-. Ah, Tear's mother and her… Fellow wife? Access to their daughter. "A name that both of our peoples can use. That sort of solution is one that you prefer in all of your dealings."

I nod, because it's true. With the wars which have wracked North America petering out, I've been able to turn my attention to political work. The State of Nevada isn't back yet, but between what's left of New Reno, Vault City, the Ranger Citadel and New Vegas there's a gradual acceptance that something like that is going to happen at some point. New Reno was on the cusp of becoming either an N.C.R. state or merging with Redding State, which is the preferred solution of that.. pesky git Anton Flynn and the Brahmin Barons he lobbies for, but then Anderson happened... So we're holding off on any definitive steps until the war with the Legion is over.

That actually… Caused an argument between Ranger General Hernán 'Snake' Vargas and President Grant Columbus Hayes of the N.C.R. because… The Rangers would quite like their home back when the Legion finally dies, while Hayes would rather annex the whole area to the N.C.R.. Which he really shouldn't do, because the Ranger Unification Treaty says that the Desert Rangers get it. When I asked former N.C.R. president Wendell Peterson about that particular clause in the Ranger Unification Treaty, he told me that he only agreed to it because he didn't think it would ever be put into effect. Which is a pretty unhelpful answer, but at least no one can claim that they misunderstood the provision.

"Let us…" He smiles as the women laugh about something I wasn't paying attention to. "Leave them to it. There are matters where I would seek your advice."

I nod. "Of course."

I lead the way out of the nursery and towards… Yes, I think that the living room is the appropriate venue. This is my father-in-law, not a merchant or lobbyist. I take a seat, while he takes a moment to admire our entertainment setup; a cabinet containing a radio and a functioning widescreen television. Not a lot to watch on the latter yet other than restored pre-War films, but Christopher Wright reopened a film studio recently so hopefully New Reno will start producing non-pornographic entertainment eventually.

"In my youth, I could not have imagined such a thing."

"In mine, I'd have found it strange to be in a house without one."

He makes an amused snort and then sits down opposite me, sitting… A little awkwardly on the soft cushions. He then looks at the television and then back at me, shaking his head. "It is like a black window in the corner of my eye…"

I nod, get up, walk across the room and close the cabinet door. "Better?"

He nods. "Yes. You must think it foolish…"

"It's not something that you're used to." I return to my seat. "Accepting that a thing exists isn't quite the same as wanting it in your home."

"It is not. Young… Adam. He has your strength."

I nod. "He does. The changes the F.E.V. makes to a person's body are genetic. In the blood. All of my children will have it."

"But… Not…" He raises his right hand to the side of his head and gestures towards it.

"No. While there are people who are born with those abilities, they're usually fairly weak. We felt it best not to grant mental powers to small children."

"You continue to demonstrate your wisdom."

I do. Adam's a fairly calm child and Tears and I can both calm him down telepathically, either by learning from his mind what he wants or by reassuring him with our mental presence. But he's had a few screaming fits and I'm jolly glad that the Sky Walkers have collectively decided that none of us want small children screaming in our minds as well as our ears.

"What is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"The men of the N.C.R. want to… Discuss how our alliance will proceed after the death of the Legion. I know that there is to be a meeting of Chiefs once the war is over, but they want to talk about things before it begins. Are they trying to secure an agreement without our other allies being involved?"

"Ah, they might be, but it's actually fairly common for everyone involved to agree to how a lot of things should be before the actual summit, and then to discuss the last few details in person. I've been doing a fair bit of the running around for that myself, but it's a lot easier for the N.C.R. to send someone to New Canaan than to New Demon City."

Because apparently 'Des Moines' is supposed to be pronounced like that and the Enclave enlisted found it funny. They actually go out in their spare time and 'correct' the surviving signage.

"Their messenger spoke of rebuilding the 'United States of America'."

"Yes, both President Hayes and Governor Autumn are in agreement on that point."

"What is it?"

"Oh." Ah. Huh. "Wasn't.. Daniel able to explain it?"

"I know that it was the great confederation of tribes which ruled these lands until the day they were burned. I know little else. The man from the N.C.R. called my lands 'Utah', but the Mormons call them 'Deseret'. I had thought that Deseret was the old American name for them, but when I saw your maps it was indeed called Utah. Why does it have two names?"

"Ah. I might not be the best person to ask about that, but the short version…" I get up again and walk over to the bookshelf. A newly printed world atlas was a present from Diana last Christmas, and I open it to the page showing the entire world before putting it down on the table and sitting down next to Balm-Upon-Wounds. "Alright." I point to Siberia. "The very oldest tribes in North America like the Navajo and the Choctaw trace their lineage back to people who travelled across from here-" I move my finger to Alaska. "-to here when the sea froze solid."

He looks disturbed. Balm-Upon-Wounds has seen the sea a grand total of once in his life, and he wasn't very keen on it then. "It can do that?"

"It was a very long time ago. The world was much colder back then than it is now. Anyway, from there they spread out across America, north and south. Then about… Seven hundred years ago? The first people from Europe-" I point to my tiny continent. "-sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and began settling the east coast. They were far more technologically advanced than the people who were there already, and even with the long supply line were gradually able to conquer them. I'm simplifying a lot."

"How long ago did the people from..?" He peers at Siberia. "Russia? Come to America?"

"I don't know. They didn't keep written records and there wasn't anyone to see them arrive. A long time before the Europeans got here, certainly."

"I see."

"The main religion of the Europeans is called 'Christianity'-."

"Yes, I know Christianity. It is the religion of the Mormons."

I wince faintly, remembering Reverend Robinson's rather pointed off-the-cuff lecture on the subject. "Sort of. The Mormons actually added… Quite a lot to the religion, to the point where people who practice the more traditional forms of the religion say that they're a new religion rather than part of Christianity. That was certainly the attitude amongst the rulers of the United States when the first Mormons went to settle this part of America. Them settling it was fine, but they refused to recognise the name 'Deseret' which they took from the Book of Mormon because they considered it an insult to their God. I'm not sure exactly where the name 'Utah' came from, but that was chosen as the official name and that was what this region was called until the Great War."

"Do men like Hayes and Autumn consider it an insult to their god today?"

"No, they just consider it to be factually incorrect."

"Good. I do not want to insult their gods, but they say that I am supposed to be attending the gathering as 'Governor of Utah', and I do not know what that is."

I frown. 'Governor'..? "Did they give you anything written down? Because this sounds like something I need to read."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th September 2013
20:32 GMT

Jade looks around the foyer of the thanagarian Imperial Ministry of Culture and Doctrine as we sit waiting patiently on our decidedly perch-like seats.

"You bring me to the nicest places."

"It's cultural. It's like going to a museum. In fact, we can probably visit one of their museums while we're here."

Thanagarians have been… Comprehensive, in their cultural shift. While the cities all predate the Equalizing Plague, there are no government buildings which do. And not because they were torn down during the… I'm not sure what to call it, exactly. Putsch? Is it a putsch if you don't kill your ruler, just kick them out? 'Uprising' suggests an improvised mass movement, and… Looking at the official history and Bleez's family's private records, I'm not.. sure how much support the coup actually had. Palace coup, then.

Not that it was unpopular, exactly. It was more that most people were recovering from the Plague and were kind of indifferent to what form the government took-.

"Huh."

Jade looks at me from the corner of her eye. "Thinking about politics?"

"Yes. Have to ask Bleez-." Bleez swoops down from one of the upper offices. I raise my right hand and wave.

She smiles as she lands. "Yeah, so the woman you need to talk to can see you in, like, ten minutes?"

"Excellent, thank you. I've got a question about Thanagarian history."

She straightens her wings slightly, indicating the space around her. "You're in the right place."

"The Equalizing Plague really messed everyone up, right?"

"Uh-huh. I didn't ever get it myself, and I… Don't think there are any samples left, but, yeah."

"And… Most of the work done on trying to fix it happened in the colonies?"

"I mean… We tried, but it didn't work like a normal disease at all and we couldn't risk getting infected and there was that Equalizer guy hanging around trying to spread the infection..."

"So how come the colonial leadership didn't push for a controlling position in Thanagarian society afterwards? I mean, kicking Hyathis out was an option because… That's what happened. But given how messed up everyone on Thanagar was, the colonial leadership could probably have taken over, but… As far as I'm aware-"

Bleez looks a little uncomfortable.

"-they didn't even try. How come?"

"Be-cause the new government had everything under control. Heh."

Jade pokes me in the side. Ah, right.

I make eye contact with Bleez as she ruffles her wings, and then look pointedly at the privacy scrambler on the bench next to us.

"Yeah, well, some things you don't even think out loud." One more calming ruffle and she takes a perch opposite us. "Do you know what happens when flying infantry try fighting actual starships?"

"Depends… But in the case of Thanagar, it would be rather hard for the infantry to win."

"Right. And the colonies never had big armies, and their populations aren't that big compared with Thanagar? And then there was the chance of Hyathis coming right back if there was a civil war going on, and that wouldn't go well. So… We didn't. I mean, maybe some people liked the High Council and maybe some people just didn't even think about fighting other thanagarians..? I dunno. I don't think the people who settled the colonies were really all that… Political?"

Jade nods. "They chose to move away from the centre of your civilisation's power. They wouldn't do that if they wanted power themselves."

"Yeah, exactly. Well, not.. lots of power. They still had their estates. And a lot of the first generation colonists weren't exactly… Important people back on Thanagar?"

I nod. "I've seen the under city. I'd rather move to a new colony, too."

"So… So I guess maybe the.. idea that Thanagar is in charge kinda stuck? Or whoever's in charge of Thanagar? I know we definitely weren't planning on rebelling against Hyathis and the whole thing was a big surprise when it happened. Hey, um. Is Lantern Dul around?"

"Ah. Ring?"

"Lantern Dul is presently located in the Reach Periphery."

"So, no. Trying to get rid of us?"

"No, it's just-. The High Mor would probably want her here while you're here if she was here. So ah, what's with you and Hyathis, anyway?"

"Ugh, nothing?" Jade pointedly looks away. "Look, with the mercenaries, I was only vaguely aware of the whole conflict. And the rest… I just like it when the universe works better, and if that involves sharing technology great, everyone benefits."

"Okay, so I get that's all just about possible, but she's kind of a big deal for us-."

"Hub City."

"Yeah?"

"Why am I putting so much effort into Hub City? I know one guy who lives there. It doesn't have a good geographic location, natural resources or human resources."

"I thought we weren't supposed to call them that?"

What does-? Oh. "It's context-sensitive. The point is, picking Hub was a spur of the moment thing because I was there and there was something I could do. The way of the orange light is not a way of carefully thought out long term plans."

Jade nods. "I can confirm that."

I turn to her. "Me specifically, or Orange Lanterns in general?"

She regards me levelly. "Both."

"You'd be better at it anyway." I turn back to Bleez. "Honestly, if I'd known, I'd have… I don't know if I would have chosen not to do it, but I'd have been a lot more careful about the whole thing."

"Like..? Not talk to her..?"

I smile warmly. "A lot more careful. Though honestly, it's been a while since I've spoken to her. I-."

My ring twinkles.

"Excuse me. Yes?"

No one appears, but I feel a data transmission waiting to be absorbed. Okay, go?

"Ah."

Jade raises her eyebrows. "Trouble?"

"No, it's just… The… Blades of Alstair have cancelled their contract and left Vega."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, not really. Tamaran has built back up to the point where they can protect themselves, and Vega's a lot more peaceful now anyway. They might even downgrade their interdiction fields. Komand'r is just keeping me in the loop. It just-."

Bleez's personal organiser beeps.

"Ooh! That's us!"