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

[Mr Zoat]

12th January
19:42 GMT -5

"Welcome Zatanna Zatara. Welcome, Orange Lantern."

A decidedly worried-looking Giovanni Zatara is standing in the Shadowcrest smoking room as I carry his recumbent daughter through. She's still out of it from Robert's drain spell, but she appears to be sleeping normally. He makes momentary eye contact with me and then takes her from me.

"Wohs em tahw si gnorw."

"The dragon Karfang had some sort of mind altering orange power ring powered airborne chemical spell. Cornwall Boy-."

"Drained her reserves, yes, I see."

"The spell created a certain mental fixation. She was willing to counter it on others, but one of the things it did was convince the user that they are fine, and she… Wasn't cooperating."

He nods. "I.. have encountered situations like that before. Against a creature such as an ancient dragon, it would be unreasonable for me to expect your preparations to be perfect. She will be fine in a day or so." He frowns slightly. "What has become of her staff?"

"Yeah… I need to talk to you about that. And.. her, actually."

He nods slowly. "Please, go down to the living room. I will join you after I have put Zatanna to bed."

I nod and he turns and walks out of the room, heading for the bedrooms. I follow him out, then turn and head down the stairs. This is very far from the first time I've been here, and I notice a.. few differences. A vase of fresh flowers-. No, two. A newspaper on a rack besides a leather recliner. Giovanni's chair. And a half-drunk mug of cocoa on a side table.

I sigh quietly as I take a seat on the settee. This is going to be awkward. But it's not going to be awkward until he gets back, so I may as well do this now.

I raise both hands, the late Lantern Karfang's ring on my left middle finger, and my personal lantern appears before me.

"This is my cause, this is my fight,
Shine through the void with orange light.
I've claimed all within my sight.
To keep what is mine, that is my right."

Streams of orange light connect the three of them to my lantern, and I watch them begin to glow brighter as they recharge. Should I introduce myself to Mr Machin this evening? I'm pretty sure that he'd take it in his stride, but… This isn't a ring I'd want anyone in the Corps to use. If I concentrate I can hear the would-be Citadelian Emperor who believed that the bar on travel to the Forbidden Forest of Weeds didn't apply to him. When I recruit someone I'd like to have a ring on hand which didn't obviously mark me out as an evildoer.

"Charge at one hundred percent." / "Charge at one hundred percent." / "Charge at one hundred percent."

I lower my hands as my lantern returns to subspace. Have to ask Hinon if she's made any progress on turning these things back into people. I'm not sure that I'd want to return a high ranking Citadelian to Vega, but I don't think that eternal torment is a reasonable punishment for any crime. At the very least we could execute him.

I look up as Giovanni walks into the room. He smiles faintly before taking his seat.

"Is the situation in Switzerland under control?"

"Kaldur and Robert are talking things over with the surviving gnomes. They're pretty shaken up. Apparently, Karfang started by eating their leaders. I left once the injured were healed."

He nods. "It would be interesting to see a gnome warren. I have read about them, but it is another thing entirely to walk through their halls in person."

"I think Kaldur intends to pass the decision on whether to notify the local authorities over to Batman. I suspect that the gnomes would rather return to the status pro bellum, but since they were living as petty thieves I don't think that's a good idea."

"No, that is something we should try to avoid."

"Might be a useful alternate source of Dolmen Gates…" I shake my head. "But I.. didn't come to talk to you about that."

He nods. "No."

Where to start..? "The jewel on the top of Zatanna's staff-."

"Is the Star Sapphire, yes, I know. One of the first things I did when I regained the capacity to use my own magic was to make sure that the spells binding it worked as well as Zatanna told me that they did."

"And..?"

"I couldn't find any weakness." He hesitates. "Was it..? John Constantine's work?"

"Ah, no, no. Myself, Professor Sephtian and Io. Ah, you haven't.. met her, she's one of the palace blacksmiths on Themyscira."

"I see."

"Using it as an external power source dramatically increased the amount of power she has at her disposal, at the cost that she has to be focusing on those she loves at the time." I sigh. "The problem there is that while we were able to avoid the Star Sapphire flat out mind controlling her, we-. I didn't take into account more subtle things."

"Such as?"

"It's been talking to her. Trying to talk her around to Zamaron philosophy. I only found that out today… But, perhaps more importantly, having to focus on love to use the Staff resulted in her.. focusing on the emotion pretty much full time. Specifically, her love for me."

"Mm." He looks away awkwardly for a moment. "Yes, I… From the way she spoke about you, I had thought…"

"We… Were the only people on the team who knew what we were doing, we were working closely together… With.. you absent she came to depend on me." I shrug awkwardly. "I told her on New Year's Day twenty eleven that.. I didn't think that a romantic relationship was appropriate, I didn't… Change that position. But we put the staff together in late February and… Between learning to use it and the stress she was under…"

"She grew attached to you anyway."

I nod. "I… Thought that… Given that I'd turned her down that… She'd get over it. Particularly after I left the planet." I exhale. "But that hasn't happened. And my starting a relationship with Jade hasn't put her off either. Today… Today was the result of Karfang getting a mind altering spell past her defences, but her behaviour didn't come out of nowhere."

"What did she do?"

I shake my head. "I'm taking her effort to mind control me into leaving Jade as a plea for help. Robert's got the Staff, and it's going in a warded case in a.. location she can't get to just as soon as I get back. Giovanni, I… I don't know how to handle this."

"No, I don't suppose that you do." He leans back, bows his head and rubs his forehead with his right hand. "You can see people's emotions, can you not?"

"Yes. But that doesn't mean I know exactly what the resulting behaviour will be or how to… Control it."

"No, no, this… Situation is the result of a great many people making poor decisions. You intend to discuss this with her when she awakens?"

"Yes. I like Zatanna, but I don't love her. The only question is how blunt to be. With you back, I can afford to be blunter than before… If that's a good idea..?"

He sighs. "I think, in this situation, that would be best."

I nod and get to my feet. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January
08:08 GMT -5

I walk up the path to Shadowcrest. If Zatanna's not up by-.

Incoming communication.

I take a holoprojector out of subspace. Answer.

Jade appears, dressed in a Darkstar exo-mantle. She looks calmly at me as I smile.

"Sorry, I'm not.. dragging you away from anything important, am I?"

That gets a minor eye-roll and a head-shake. "As strange as it sounds, I actually like hearing from you. What's going on?"

"Are you..? Getting on alright with the other recruits?"

She turns the camera at her end a little to the side, and a mauve-skinned humanoid in a Darkstar uniform performs a sort of double-fisted salute. I raise my right hand in a wave.

"We're tutoring each other."

"Not having any… Problems?"

"None I can't manage." Ah, how do I-? "A few have commented on my relationship with you, but they're mostly… Curious."

"Without wishing to intervene in your new career-."

"I survived Dad. I can survive a hazing." Her eyes narrow slightly. "What are you calling about?"

"There was an incident with Zatanna."

She blinks. "Someone mind controlled her into finally coming onto you."

"A dragon, yes. I wasn't-. To be clear, we weren't ever-."

"You weren't ever dating, you think she's too young for you and the only reason why you spent so much time with her was because of Nabu."

I nod.

"And it appears that the Star Sapphire was talking to her. I.. called you because.. I think this is the sort of thing I should keep you informed about."

"From what Artemis said, I should be more worried about you hitting on my Mom."

"Yes-." She smiles smugly. "By which I mean-."

"She's an adult, and Zatanna isn't. I don't actually think that you're going.. cougar-hunting."

I smile. "And I mean no disrespect to your mother when I say that. Because if I was-."

"I'm sure she'd be relieved to know that she was your first choice."

"If she doesn't know already. I mean, I go jogging with her and Artemis most mornings now, and her-."

Her face loses the air of humour. "Getting awkward."

"Sorry." One of the great things about communicating like this is that empathic vision doesn't work and I'm forced to respond to outward cues like a normal person. "So I'm going to go and tell a hero-besotted teenaged girl who's been under the influence of a mind control dragon and a mind control alien love crystal that it is never going to happen."

"Would you?"

I frown. "Would I what?"

"Before we got together. If she was older."

"If she was older, I doubt that she'd have become quite so dependent. But… Maybe?" I shake my head. "No, not while we were still working on Nabu. And the Star Sapphire would have made me uncomfortable about it. Maybe afterwards?" I frown. "Wwwwwwwhy?"

"Just curious."

"If you want to know about all of the women I struck out with before-."

"Like my ex-landlords?"

"I didn't 'strike out' with them. I politely declined." I shake my head. "Anyway, that was what I wanted to tell you. And that I miss you. And that I love you."

She smiles faintly, her head bowing slightly. "I love you too." She glances off to the side. "There's a rumour going around that Orange Lanterns aren't allowed to feel love."

"A rumour, or do I need to talk to Dox?"

"Just a rumour."

"Good, because it's stupid, but not so stupid that I couldn't see him doing it. Orange constructs are given strength by avarice. By want and need and desire. Intense impulses of love disrupt that, but I doubt that it would come up much in combat."

She raises her eyebrows, smiling faintly. "You're saying I make you weak?"

"It's not a problem for enlightened Lanterns, as I'm sure that you and Tora are glad to hear." I glance at the door. Nice as it would be to put that off, it needs to be done. "Jade, I need-."

She nods. "Go. I'll talk to you later."

I nod, and return the hologram projector to subspace. Then I sigh, and walk up the path to the front door. I raise my right hand and knock twice on the door. A few moments pass, then Giovanni opens it and then steps back.

"She's in the living room. I will leave you alone."

"Thank you."

He nods, and I head further into the house. Zatanna looks up as I walk into the living room and then looks away, her hands on her knees balling into fists as she sees me.

"Zatanna-."

"I'm-. I'm sorry I tried to mind control you." She's cringing. I hate seeing her like that. "And-."

"Zatanna." She looks up again, her eyes watering. "I don't care about that. But I do care about the fact that I haven't been clear enough, and it's having an adverse effect on you. You are my friend. I like you. I do not love you. I love Jade." She nods jerkily. "And that isn't. Going. To change. Am I being completely clear about this?"

"Y-yes."

It would be nice to apologise for being this hard on her. But at this point I can't risk saying anything that moderates the point I'm making.

"And I'm going to be avoiding you for a while. Not because I hate you, but because this isn't healthy for you. And the Star Sapphire is going in a very secure place."

Another jerky nod, her head remaining bowed as she sniffs.

And I turn around and leave the building.

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January
Probably
And it's too early

I awaken to find myself rolling onto my front, into the warm hollow left in the mattress by..? Veronica, yes, I'd know the scent of her perfume and sweat anywhere. I may be perfectly capable of waking up instantly, but there's something enjoyably indolent about just being able to lie here while my faculties boot up. I close my eyes, breathing in her pillow. But.. indulging that drive would deprive myself of what might be the best part of my morning.

I raise my right shoulder and turn, looking over the duvet to where my… What's the term? Primary paramour, is bending down to recover her clothes, displaying her arse to its best advantage, bare but for the tail of her dragon tattoo. She hears the sheets rustling, and turns her head just far enough to confirm that I'm actually awake.

"Are you working today?"

Oh, it is delicious to watch her move around the room, her perfectly sculpted body taut and taunting, utterly confident in her nudity. But she gets snitty when I just stare at her.

What… Am I doing today? No, my sleep-fogged brain isn't suggesting anything. Best just bunt.

"Probably. Are you working right now?"

She picks up her knickers and then checks her hanger-hung dress, running her eyes over it to check for tears or dried fluids. Finding nothing, she deigns to look me in the eye. "Now, I'm going to shower, then I'm working."

"As you will."

"Our company isn't going to achieve its performance targets if we stay in bed all the time, Sybarite." She adds her underwear to the hanger then turns away to walk towards the en suite shower. "Do I need to check your diary for you, or are you actually going to wake-"

I transition myself right in front of her, naked and good enough to eat.

"-up."

She nearly walks into me but gets her hands up, pressing them against my chest to stop herself.

"Nothing I do is time-sensitive, you know that. But if it buys you half an hour, I don't mind-."

She exhales somewhat sharply as she walks around me and pushes the bathroom door open. I knew she was.. driven when I first sought her out, but I'm… A little concerned…

"Veronica, you are..? You know that our continued cooperation is in no way contingent on you fucking me, right? If you're.. unhappy with-."

"You sought me out for my business skills. This is the schedule I need to keep to do the job. Do you want me to stop doing the job?"

"No, of course not."

"Then don't take it so personally." She reaches into the cubicle and turns the shower on. "I enjoy our time together perfectly well. It's just not the only thing that gives me satisfaction."

I nod. "Understood."

She steps into the cubicle, and I turn and walk out of the bathroom and towards the apartment… No, the suite's main windows. What a way to start a morning. But that's the point, isn't it? Wake up in space with nothing but the pyjamas on my back and a power ring… If your starting resources include 'power ring', you're not exactly under equipped, are you? Rather, you're somewhere completely new. No one has any expectations of you, you haven't entered into any agreements which bind you. You can do whatever you want.

I walk over to the… It's ridiculous, really. To the button which pulls the curtains back. If I'd actually followed through on my initial impulse to speak to Alan Scott when I first arrived, things might have gone rather differently. As it was, pretty much tripping over an incubus mid-hunt provided me with a perfect opportunity to try plan B first.

I press the button, the curtains smoothly retracting and revealing a panoramic view of the Nairobi National Park. I find it mildly amusing that this pinnacle of luxury is literally called The Pinnacle. Not exactly imaginative…

The whole thing has turned out that it works pretty well. So far. Once I was sure that eating demons was a viable way to fuel the ring, I implanted it in my chest to prevent myself being separated from it and to make it harder for potential enemies to work out where my power actually came from.

I etherealise, floating past the window and out into the morning Nairobi sunshine. Plenty of work for a high-end super… Super person in Africa. And plenty of grateful governments happy to sign off on schizo tech research and development. Which is where Veronica comes in. Someone like Ted Kord or Bruce Wayne would rather gallivant around in a primary coloured costume than knuckle down to the real work of fixing the planet. Luthor has that distracting Superman fixation, Alva… Doesn't even bear thinking about. Veronica 'Roulette' Sinclair on the other hand has a delightfully pure motivation: money.

With no stake in the energy supply market she was perfectly happy to manage the development of Theodore Knight's cosmic converter as a new form of civil power generation. With no stake in Africa's existing political setup she was perfectly happy for me to violently dispense with the most violent and corrupt parts, and perfectly happy to forge links with the beneficiaries of my purges. With no stake in the pharmaceuticals industry, she was perfectly happy to use xenotechnology to massively undercut the continent's major suppliers. With-.

I'm naked, aren't I?

Huh. No, it's no problem. I'm high enough up that I doubt anyone can-.

"Sybarite. Did you forget something this morning?"

I turn slightly to my left… And smile at Wonder Woman.

"That's right! I was going to nag you about the purple healing ray again today, wasn't I?"

"You expressed an interest in pleading your case once more. Should I come back when you're…" She runs her eyes over me, then returns them to my face, where she gives me a look of mild matronly disapproval. "Better prepared?"

I shrug, and fabricate a pair of swimming trunks. "There. Now we're equal."

She appears to decide to let that pass. "You have insisted -repeatedly and emphatically- that you should be given access to the design specifications for the purple healing ray. Why?"

"Because it's exactly the sort of amazing technology I'm making it my business to ferret out, and because you're clearly not using it. I'm perfectly happy to give whoever invented it full credit, but it needs to be put into-."

Her face hardens slightly. "Are you aware that you're trying to mentally influence me?"

"A bit or a lot?"

"That isn't an answer."

"I don't think I mind control people, but I have noticed that they can seem a bit… Agreeable, sometimes." Her eyes narrow slightly. "And if you can honestly tell me that you're not using your demigoddess powers to tell whether or not I'm being honest right now, then you can berate me for it."

"While I might be prepared to trust someone with the use of the purple ray, your personal conduct -using your abilities to affect my judgement- does not lend itself to such faith. To say nothing of all of the people you-"

"Ah-."

"-are reputed to have killed."

"But it's convenient, isn't it, for certain people to disappear in a way not at all attributable to the Justice League?" She regards me levelly. Maybe taking a picture of Vandal Savage flying into the sun was a bit much. "How about we spend the day together, so you can have the opportunity to better assess my character?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January
Morning
Early… Ish..?

"…of the seventeen court cases for sexual harassment."

"I thought that you might bring those up. And I'll tell you what I told the jury: I'm not an employee. I'm an investor and sometimes a consultant. Even if I was an employee, one member of staff flirting with or hitting on another member of staff isn't against our code of conduct and God this is boring." I gaze at her despondently as we continue drifting over the Nairobi skyline. "Did you really come all this way to hassle me about my sex life?"

"Ordinarily, no, but yours resulted in you spending time in court. That is something I am concerned about."

"Acquitted on all counts, because it turns out, hitting on someone and being happy to take no for an answer is not a criminal offence, and if you're asking me then you know that already. Come on, there's no point asking me a question when you already know the answer, what are you hoping to get out of this?"

"To get a better impression of you as a person."

"Princess, I'm shallow as a puddle! I didn't decide to call myself 'Sybarite' by accident."

"You would not be the first hero to disguise his nature."

"Oh, like a reverse Batman? Libidinite by night, corporate crusader by day? I wouldn't have time."

"So you say. But you would not have relentlessly requested access to a device which few outside Themyscira have heard of if personal gratification was your sole concern."

"Yeaaaaah… No. There's a gap between 'true altruism' and 'basic decency'. As far as I can see, the only reason for someone not sharing that technology is if they were deliberately sabotaging the human species."

"That is a strong statement."

"And you know that I mean it. I mean… I'm not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just a… Guy. But if someone was on fire right in front of me and I had a bucket of water in my hands… I'd throw it."

"And I imagine that it would help the recovery rate of the participants in your gladiatorial contests."

An obvious reference to one of Veronica's older business, Meta-Brawl. Which was actually only illegal due to the ban on metahumans participating in professional sports. But that ban wasn't in force on Madagascar, and it turns out that satellite and internet pay-per-view exist. Really, Veronica just needed a little investment and a slightly more international range of attractions in order to make a go of the thing. Not that she spends much time running it now, but it still turns a profit and I hear that some criminal gangs are using metahuman 'champions' to settle disputes there.

People are such fascinating creatures.

"And in boxing matches, Penultimate Fighting Championship… Mountaineering…" My usually detached demeanour momentarily vanishes. "Car crashes. Stabbings. Major chirurgery. Jack Knight wasn't this difficult and his stuff was designed to be weaponised."

"I see you've stopped playing the fool."

"I like.. enjoying myself. I hate being serious. Life is to be enjoyed. It's just-" I wave my hands around my head. "-you should be doing that why aren't you doing that is there a reason you're doing that I don't think there's a reason why you're doing that. I don't want to have to care but I have to care, because…" I wave my arms at her instead. "Gahh! The world needs things other than people in costumes hitting each other! Anything outside an actual doomsday attack, car crashes still kill more people than supervillains by far. Why am I, of all people, the one pointing this out!?"

"I couldn't have learned that you felt like that by studying your public profile. Despite your outburst, it actually improves my opinion of you."

"So can we have it?"

"I still have other-"

"Ohcomeon!"

"-other concerns."

"Like what?" Hm. "If it's about all the supervillains Veronica hired, they're committing a lot less crimes now."

She nods. "I am aware of that. I was talking about the source of your power."

Hmmm. Normally I'd just shrug that off, but… Nascent Truth Goddess, so that's not an option. "What about it?"

"Doctor Fate has told me that you reek of demon magic."

Oh yeah, that. Giovanni Zatara steps down from the Justice League the day someone starts wearing the Helm of Fate. Do they really think that's fooling anyone?

"Well he reeks of mothballs."

"Do you use demon magic?"

"As I understand it, no."

"Are you a demon?"

"Aaaaaaaahh… I don't.. think so? I didn't start as one, but things get a bit fuzzy after a while."

"Then how do you explain it?"

"I power myself by eating demons." My rib cage splits open, my chest cavity glowing orange as it chomps at her before closing. "My first was an incubus, which may have impacted my subsequent behaviour a little. And if you'd like a demonstration of that…"

"That would explain your libido."

"I don't know. I mean, you're hot, but I wasn't practising for a year and a half just for you. I don't actually have that much experience with super strong women."

Tuppence insisted on turning every assignation into a test of strength. She called it off after I ate a malumi and could handle her without burning power at a ludicrous rate. Apparently she likes her men on the verge of panic.

"I was referring to you consuming an incubus."

"I don't know. I've eaten more demons since, and my behaviour didn't change afterwards. And anyway, I don't see it as a problem." It's a bit of a risk, but I create a glowing orange sword in my right hand. "Does that feel demonic to you?"

She holds up a small stone marked with an ankh. The mark shimmers gold for a moment, but doesn't otherwise react. She checks it, then nods.

"If you were to be granted use of the designs for the purple healing ray, how would you use it?"

"I wouldn't. I have no head for business. Veronica would." I frown. What was it..? "We work on high volume production, since any country who deals with us risks a trade embargo and we need to be able to completely replace other suppliers. We won't be trying to create artificial scarcity-. Or rather more artificial scarcity."

She nods slowly. "I.. will.. want to see her business plan and consult with my mother before I agree to anything. But I am at least willing to continue exploring the matter."

"The business plan, the sex, or both, because honestly-."

"The business plan."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Wing and Dagger

15th January
07:05 GMT -5

Kon's already up when I stroll into the kitchen area. The television is switched on to a news program, but it's background noise. He isn't paying it any attention. There's a pad of paper next to his empty plate and a school textbook next to that, but all he's doing with that is drumming his pen against it.

"Up early, aren't-" His head jerks around. "-you?"

"Couldn't sleep." His eyes return to his homework, then with a small shake of his head he closes the textbook and puts the pad on top of it. "Jor-El called Superman yesterday. He says that Match is… Pretty much ready. In a few weeks he'll have done everything he can to fix how Cadmus made him."

I nod. "Excellent. Will he be coming here once he's out?"

"I… Didn't ask. I just said I wanted to be there when he wakes up." I pull out the chair next to him and sit down. "I didn't ask Mom about it. I don't know…" He hesitates. "I know Superman still feels kinda bad about.. how he handled.. me. He might want to adopt Match."

I look at him carefully, but there's no real sign of jealousy or envy.

"It would be a bit hard to explain why the mild mannered Clark Kent suddenly had a son he would have had to have sired while in High School."

Kon shakes his head. "I don't think… I don't think that would stop him. Now. I was.. a shock, but.. now? I think Mister and Missus Kent would like it if he did."

"How are you getting on with them?"

"They're… Nice, I guess." He shrugs. "Comparing myself to Superman just used to upset me. Whenever I visit them they do it."

"There's always the Luthor part of the family."

He glances at me, a small smile on his lips as he decides not to take the suggestion seriously. "Yeah, let me think about that."

"You've got an aunt and a cousin. It wouldn't be too hard to put you in contact without Lex finding out."

"I've got an island full of aunts." He shrugs. "But maybe it's a good thing if we don't live together? I had a huge chip on my shoulder about Superman for months, but I got over it. Is he.. going to be in my shadow if we were living together?"

"I wouldn't have thought so. You were programmed to want to be Superman. The impression I've been getting is that Match's programming didn't take. So if he doesn't want the same things that you do, he probably wouldn't feel that way about it."

"I guess…" He frowns. "Then what.. does he want? You know, right?"

"Whenever I've looked at him before, all I've seen is a confused mess of jagged red lines. But I haven't been visiting him. I might see something if I looked at him now, but…" I shake my head. "He's physically an adolescent without any life experience. You had programming, sets of things you valued. Your personality grew out of that. Match will have.. whatever programming Jor-El gave him, if anything." I frown. "What programming did Krypton used to give clones?"

"Loyalty and training for whatever job they were getting made for." He shrugs. "They weren't supposed to be people. Jor-El's giving Match a full education program."

I nod. "Is Kara going to be there?"

"Yeah. I mean, Match is probably going to have more in common with her than anyone else."

"How's she getting on? I haven't seen her since KordTech New York got levelled."

"She's doing okay? She's actually been living in Superman's Fortress."

I frown. "Is that.. sensible?"

"She doesn't.. spend all her time there. But…" He shrugs. "I slept in Wally's closet on my first night out of the pod. I guess she just feels more at home there."

"Kryptonians… Did go for a Spartan aesthetic? But their homes didn't look like the Fortress. That's an emergency habitation setup, not a place for living long term." I frown. I don't.. remember what comic Kara did for a place to live, or what she did while not being Supergirl. And since this one doesn't want to be Supergirl… "I'll talk to her about it."

He nods, and… I'm a little touched that as far as he's concerned that's the problem dealt with.

"You wanna come?"

"Yes, of course. Assuming that I won't.. be crowding him."

"You're the one other guy he might recognize. What are you doing today?"

"Visiting both sets of Hawks. I told Lantern Dul that I'd visit Thanagar, and I want to try and talk the four of them into coming with me."

"How are the old Hawks… I mean, Mister Cantrell and Miss Parker… How are they handling suddenly being thousands of years old?"

"It isn't actually that big a change. Sometimes they.. do a thing and it triggers a memory, but for the most part they're still themselves. It's like… You remember how before the genomorphs fully integrated your memories, you did that thing where-."

"I went onto autopilot." He nods. "But they're starting to change, right? Most of my programming only did that to me once."

"As they recall events, that extra knowledge will work its way into how they think now. But it's gradual. They didn't suddenly become new people."

He frowns thoughtfully. "And Miss Parker is the one who was actually thanagarian, right?" I nod. "Has she been back before? Since she died?"

"No. Shiera Hall died before Shayera Thal and Katar Hol arrived on Earth, and the tools to fix her spaceship didn't exist on Earth while she was active. And… Given the reincarnation, she's been human for longer than she was thanagarian anyway. I'm not sure how attached she is to the place."

"Huh." His frown deepens.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Reincarnation. I mean, that's gotta be weird for their son."

"I suppose?"

"Thana said that.. people who worship the Olympians can choose to get reincarnated."

I nod. "I don't see the appeal of a form of rebirth that strips you of everything that makes you you, but Hades does allow it."

"So how do we know if..? If our past lives chose it?"

"Well, mine definitely didn't."

He looks at me, nodding. "Yeah, but… You're kinda unusual."

"True. Well… We wouldn't. Most of the methods for reincarnation suppress or remove memories of previous lives. And if you end up practising a faith that doesn't allow reincarnation that's it. Off to a permanent afterlife you go. I suppose that if you really wanted to know, you'd have to petition the death gods of every faith that allowed reincarnation and persuade them to check their records. Why, are you having some sort of flashback?"

"No, I just thought it would be kinda weird. Or…" He frowns thoughtfully. "Not. I knew I was programmed by Cadmus, but other people might have stuff in their heads from dead people."

"Thinking about Match?" He nods. "While that's an interesting idea… And a me solution-" He smiles, nodding. "-I think perhaps we should just let him be his own person."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th January
08:59 GMT -7

Daniel Hall and I watch as his parents and his reincarnated grandfather work on their spaceship in their driveway, neighbours and people driving by doing their best not to look too obvious in their rubbernecking.

"How..? Do you feel about all of this?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. Mom and Dad pretty much gave up being superheroes when I was born, but this stuff was always around the house. Guess I thought it was like their 'hippy phase' or whatever."

A section of the ship's exterior armour comes free, Lyta catching it effortlessly as it falls and setting it on the ground. Interestingly, the powers the Erinyes granted her mother and which she inherited aren't actually dependent on her either pursuing the guilty or being generally vengeful. Ironically, the fact that she can lose control if she does behave like that positively incentivises her not to.

Hector clambers out of the rear hatch, looks briefly at me and then to his wife. He's wearing a slightly updated version of his old plate armour Silver Scarab costume. With his mother restored to life and… A mid-life crisis in full swing, he swapped out the solid plates of the original for smaller plates held in place by a tough silver-coloured fabric. At least he's not wearing the weird insect mask at the moment.

"Lyta, could you pass-?"

She hands him the orichalcum sheet they're using to replace the Nth metal alloy which the ship was originally designed to use. As far as we can tell it won't make much difference, at least not to its regular flight. The faster than light drive was wrecked millennia ago, to the point that we're not sure if it was destroyed on impact or by whatever put the ship onto its collision course with North Africa in the first place. The Nth Metal we're extracting from the removed hull pieces is being used to rebuild the systems Hector scavenged for the Nth metal to build his Silver Scarab armour.

"Thanks. Dad?"

Mr Cantrell brings a thanagarian molecular bonder to bear, a muttered prayer-incantation to Ptah just audible over the hum of the device.

"That's weird, though."

"Meeting your paternal grandparents?"

"Grandma and Grandpa being younger than Mom and Dad. I mean, I get it, they're reincarnated… But it's weird."

"Yeah, it's a funny old world. Not interested in joining in?"

He shrugs. "I don't know anything about Thanagarian engineering. I'm a history major." He pauses. "It's been interesting, talking to Grandpa about Ancient Kahndaq. You don't usually get primary sources for stuff like that."

"And..? Your grandmother?"

"Grandma was an alien. She's fine talking about her other lives, but she still says she didn't get-."

"I was an outsider on Kahndaqi society." Ms Parker walks out of the house, a tray of drinks in her hands. "I can tell you what I saw, but I didn't really understand it like Khufu did." Unlike her previous incarnation's son but like her daughter-in-law, she's dressed in normal clothing. "Are you here to drop off more metal?"

"No. Actually, I was wondering if you were interested in taking a trip to Thanagar."

"Oh." She puts her tray down on the garden table. "Any special reason?"

"Thanagar doesn't know anything about magic. You do, and they're looking for someone with that knowledge whom they can trust. And I need to head over that way anyway, and I thought that you might appreciate a chance to visit… I suppose it's not 'home' anymore, but… The old homeworld."

She frowns. "No one on Thanagar uses magic."

"Except the Seven Devils."

She lets out a sudden exhalation which sounds like the beginning of a dismissive laugh. Then she spots my expression. "You're serious."

"Yes."

"I've talked to Shayera and Katar a few times. We're not sure if I'm from a parallel universe, the future or the past."

I frown. "If it's time travel, shouldn't you be able to tell from historical events? The Equality Plague alone was a big deal."

"What do you know about King Henry the Third?"

"Nothing." I raise my left hand. "I can find out really quick..?"

She shakes her head. "If I come from before the Equality Plague, I wouldn't have heard of it. If I come from after the Plague, I'll only have heard about it if it was still considered important in my era. I could tell you all kinds of things about Henry the Third, but I know next to nothing about the history of South America."

"What about their technology?"

"They haven't been too keen on letting me see that."

"Do you..? Are you up to date on modern Thanagarian politics?"

"I know that the planet is governed by a military council. It wasn't in my day, but I'm afraid that Chay-ara wasn't really interested in political history. I don't know when one form of government became another."

Huh. I had been assuming 'future', but now I'm leaning towards 'past'. "I'm sorry, it's just that the Plague, and the resulting confrontation with Hyathis is such a big part of Thanagarian modern history. I'm struggling to think of how it could have happened without you knowing about it."

"How many Crusades were there?"

I nod. "Fair enough. I suppose it could happen."

"Or maybe not at all. I remember one of the scientists who was on the ship with me saying that the drive might open a portal to a parallel universe. At the time I thought it was one of those 'one in a million, theoretically possible but practically impossible' things." She shrugs. "But that could be what happened."

Which would be pretty interesting for me…

"So… Are you interested?"

"Of course I am!" She turns back to the ship. "Simon! Paul wants us to visit Thanagar!"

Mr Cantrell turns off the bonder, and a moment later appears in the cockpit. "The FTL system is still busted, and I doubt the Other Hawks will lend us theirs."

"I can build faster than light drives myself, you know. It probably won't perform quite as well as the original, but it'll function. Particularly since you're stripping most of the Nth metal out of the outer hull."

"And…" Daniel looks at me, then at his grandmother. "You know he's a Lantern, right grandpa? Towing spaceships is something they do."

"Oh." Mr Cantrell looks at Ms Parker. "Khufu did always want to see Chay-ara's homeworld."

"And what do you want?"

"I want what you want. Thanagar was your planet. Even if this isn't the right Thanagar."

She nods. "Can we get the ship ready by next weekend?"

"Ah… If Paul doesn't mind helping out..?"

"Happy to."

Hector drops down from the side of the ship. "We're coming too, right? I've wanted to visit Thanagar since I was a boy."

"Oh no." Lyta holds up her right hand. "I've read about modern Thanagar. I'll be staying here."

"Oh. Okay. Daniel?"

"I don't speak Thanagarian, Dad. And I can't fly."

"Okay then." He looks at Mr Cantrell. "Just me then, I guess."

His reincarnated father looks around the cockpit. "Be a bit of a squeeze, but if we're just using this as a taxi service… Sure."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th January
13:37 GMT -5

I knock on the door of one of the offices KordTech New York is temporarily working out of. Ted is rushing the construction and keeping as many people working as he can, but some of the arcane engineering simply can't be done anywhere else. The company's insurance policy allows him to effectively give anyone who can't go back to work a year off with pay -something I suspect that his insurance provider is seriously regretting- but Kara appears to be happy with a computer and an office.

On her own.

"Kara?"

"Come in!"

I push open the door as she turns back to her monitor.

"I see you've fully embraced isolationism."

"What?" She looks up again and I fan out my hands to gesture to the room. "Oh, no, it's just that-"

"Empath."

"-I…" She sags slightly.

I walk across to her desk, generate a construct chair opposite her and sit down, leaning forwards. "Talk to me, Kara."

"Did.. Kal..?"

"Kon, actually. It came up when we were talking about Match."

Her eyes dart away. "He needs a different name. How do you think he'd feel about Mon-El?"

"I think he'd feel that it was displacement activity. Kara, why are you living in the Fortress? If you want something that reminds you of Krypton I can-."

"Could you..?" Her eyes come back to my face for a moment. "Switch to English?"

Ring.

Compliance.

"Is this okay?"

She nods, then looks away again. "I don't.. want to be reminded of Krypton." I frown. "Kal's Fortress isn't what Kryptonian houses look like."

"I know, it's a prefab or a military bunker."

"I'm not… Krypton's gone. I know that. But…" She pushes her chair back, stands and then slowly flies over to the window and looks down on the street below. "You all look so much like us. Sometimes, when-. Someone.. talks to me, and it takes me a moment to remember why they're not speaking Kryptonese."

"Given how much of the spectrum you can see now, don't we look different?"

"If I'd spent any time under a yellow sun on Krypton you probably would. And… Honestly?" She turns around, pulling a pendant out from under her blouse. She opens the clasp and.. reveals a lead inner surrounding a small piece of gold kryptonite which causes her to drop to the ground. "Batman made it for me while I'm learning to control my powers-."

"I could make a device to filter the sunlight to block the wavelengths which give you powers. It would be safer than carrying a radioactive rock around with you."

"Then how would I get vitamin D?" Ah-. "That was a.. joke." She closes it. "I keep my 'powers' off most of the time-"

Ring, detailed medical scan. Is she causing herself long term damage?

"-because hearing and seeing.. everything-"

"I could make something to-"

"-is too much, it's too distracting."

"-reduce that."

The results of my medical scan appear in my brain. Unlike green kryptonite which will give you cancer if you get enough exposure, gold kryptonite barely interacts with organic bodies at all. Though she's not otherwise unwell, the predictable reduction in organelles has occurred in many tissues. While short term exposure just stops them working, she's actually killing them across large parts of her body. Not every one in every cell, but after a certain point…

"Kara, I strongly advise you to stop using that. If you keep using it, it will no longer be safe for you to ever be exposed to Earth's sunlight."

She nods, her attention returning to the street. "What about if I keep it on permanently?"

"That will kill you more slowly, but those organelles are a functioning part of your body. They work all the time, not just when you charge your powers."

"Okay." She turns back to me, pulls the chain over her head and bunches it up in her right hand. "I wasn't.. actually trying-."

"It's risk-taking behaviour, Kara. Not just being human-level squishy, but carrying around a piece of radioactive rock."

I hold out my right hand and she passes it over. Subspace for you.

"Okay, new plan."

"Hm?"

"I suggested that you could use your higher maths qualifications here. I thought it might help you find a place in human society, but clearly that's.. the problem. You fit in.. too well. And also not well enough."

"If-" She shrugs. "-you say so."

"This weekend, a few friends and I are going to Thanagar. And while thanagarians do look like.. kryptonians with wings, about a quarter of Thanagar's population are lizarkons, which is a species of humanoid reptiles. Now, we both know that your father wanted to send you to Xudar…" I shrug. "Perhaps he was right, and being somewhere with more advanced technology would be better."

"I don't.. think it's that simple."

"And then there's socialisation. Did you study art on Krypton?"

"No. Kryptonian aesthetics was more about function than-."

"Perfect. How do you feel about starting now?"

"I don't…" She shakes her head. "Know?"

"You said that things were too familiar. I'm hoping that things becoming a little more unfamiliar will help. Also: Thanagar?"

"Are you going to let me say 'no'?"

"Maybe. Are you going to?"

"I…" She looks back at her monitor. "When, exactly..?"

"Either Friday evening or Saturday morning, all being well."

She bows her head slightly as she thinks it over. Then she looks up. "Okay. Yes, I'd like to go."

I beam. "Excellent. Now, come along. We've got to visit the Hawks and get a cultural briefing pack."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"But-. Okay." She nods. "Let's go."

"One thing first." I walk up to her, wrap my arms around her and pull her to my chest. For a moment she tenses. "When you feel like this, don't keep it to yourself. Alright?"

She relaxes. Slightly. "Okay."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th January
15:49 GMT -6

"A.. duel?" Kara frowns at me as we fly over St Roch in the direction of the rebuilt residence of the Hawks. "Are you sure that asking her to come is a good idea?"

"We need someone to introduce us. And I'm sure there are visa requirements that-."

"I meant… Are you sure that it's a good idea for you to be the one who asks her?"

We land, and I pat her on the back. "Why do you think I invited my meat shield along?"

I head towards the door as she frowns at my back. "I won't be back to full toughness for.. hours."

"It's a joke, Kara." I ring the bell, though I'd be astonished if they didn't already know that I'm here. "And it's months, not hours. You've caused significant organelle die off."

"Oh, I-. Oh."

"You didn't notice.. any difference in your flying?"

"Not.. really. Once I learned to fly well enough that I wasn't a risk to nearby buildings, I… I've tended to walk."

"You don't get… Stopped in the street? People don't recognise you?"

She shakes her head, her hair briefly falling over her face. "No. Many people on Earth wear the sigil of House El. In a.. way which.. would actually be illegal for aliens on Krypton. I don't think people recognise me as Kara Zor-El. Which…" She brushes her hair out of her face. "Which is not to say that people don't stop me to.. talk to me."

I nod encouragingly. "Making friends, that's good."

"Friends-? No, I mean… I get hit on. Usually, fairly crudely. I had thought maybe that was how humans did things, but I asked around the office and apparently I'm just an 'asshole magnet'."

"Oh. Um, sorry." What single non-arseholes of roughly the right age do I know? Gosh, it's all… Team members, Atlanteans she's almost certainly already met due to working at KordTech… The Sivanas? No. "If you-."

The door opens and Ms Hol stands before us, mace at her hip. Which is progress, I suppose. "Orange Lantern. Kara Zor-El. What brings you here?"

"I'm finally getting around to taking that trip to Thanagar. Hawkman One, Hawkgirl and Silver Scarab are repairing their ship for interstellar travel, I'll be picking up Lantern Dul and Kara let me twist her arm into coming as well. Are you interested in a trip home?"

She regards me carefully for a moment. "Who is Lantern Dul?"

"Orange Lantern Paran Dul. She's doing the same job as you: keeping tabs on dangerous aliens and reporting back to Thanagar. Only she drew the short straw and got assigned to the Reach. I think she's more than due some time back on the homeworld."

"She's thanagarian?"

"Yes. But since she's posted further away, she has even less contact with Thanagar than you do. I doubt that she's up to date on the relevant protocols."

Her arms tense slightly. Irritation with someone not present. "Then why is she going at all rather than doing her duty?"

"Because everyone they sent with her died and she's been on her own for years." There's a slight change in her posture. Thanagarians expect a lot from their long term operatives, but they're not supposed to be stationed somewhere without any friendly contact. Especially the ones on long distance postings. "And because the Orange Lantern Corps didn't exist when she was dispatched and she needs new orders."

A nod. The gesture still doesn't appear to come completely naturally to her, but she has been on Earth for eight years. Unlike Lantern Dul or the members of the Blades of Alstair, she knows human body language.

"Do you want me to write you an introduction?"

"Lantern Dul has mentioned to me that the government of Thanagar is concerned about magic. As a result of your time on Earth you are your species' leading… Government-loyal expert on the issue. I strongly suspect that your superiors would appreciate having you on hand to consult when I offer them my aid."

"Do you know why the Thanagarian government has an interest in magic?"

"A combination of your report on the human use of it, your historical contact with the Seven Devils and your conflict with Queen Hyathis."

She stares at me for a moment. "You hired an Alstairian mercenary company."

"No, Tamaran hired an Alstairian mercenary company. And they would still have hired them if they'd been High Council-affiliated rather than Hyathis-loyalists."

A slight tremor in her wings as I refer to followers of Queen Hyathis as being the loyal ones.

"We received word that Hyathis is undertaking a major shipbuilding effort."

"There's a four-way war going on in her home system. It would be more strange if she wasn't building ships."

"These are a new design, different to anything she's built before. And we know full well that you visited Alstair shortly before she started. What are you playing at, Orange Lantern?"

Huh. I suppose the people of J would share the Dominion computer specifications with their new trade partner, wouldn't they? And with that… All sorts of design opportunities open up. And it might let them bridge the gap between the technology of her thanagarian subjects and the platforms she commands.

"I needed Green Lantern Medphyll's help, and thought that improving his planet's technology was a good way to warm him up to the idea. Since I was doing a post run for the Blades anyway, I raised the idea of an information exchange with Queen Hyathis. She approved it and sent a guy."

"We think she's planning a new attack on the Thanagarian Empire with the information you helped her get. If she does, millions of thanagarians will die."

"Because… The Thanagarian Empire totally wouldn't invade Alstair if it thought that it could?" I shrug. "And can't come to peaceful terms due to… What was the reason again?"

"Self-determination."

"Yeah, I do know how much self-determination alien residents of the Thanagarian Empire get. Especially when compared to the alien residents of Alstair." She doesn't really react. "I'm not Thanagarian. I have no obligation to your government. Out of my desire to improve technology and make sure that your government doesn't do something stupid while fixing its ignorance problem, I've offered my assistance with this matter. You don't have to accept… But you probably should."

More deliberate staring. "Earth to Thanagar is a four week journey each way at my ship's best speed."

"Unless you're being towed by a sufficiently capable Lantern. In which case it's.. maybe half an hour. Come on, you can try pumping Ms Parker for information on her ship's primary drive specifications again."

"Maybe I just don't want to spend time around you."

"Reasonable enough, but ask yourself this." I lean forward, smiling. "Do you really want me to be on Thanagar unsupervised?"

Her face goes a little blank, then she leans back into her house.

"KATAR! WE'RE VISITING HOME!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th January
19:02 GMT +1

I look around the entrance to the Altdorf gnome warren, which is now an armed camp. The Swiss military do not dawdle when they're informed that the only thing preventing a dragon roasting their cities-. Ah, towns, was a group of teenagers. Not a single superhero in the country, but they have conscription of all able bodied men and a very high standard of training and equipment.

And they're towering over the poor bewildered gnomes whose isolation has been permanently violated.

To be fair, the soldiers aren't being dicks about it. Batman's message to their government was extremely clear that Karfang was responsible for the mutants, and that the threat of violence was what kept the regular gnomes in line. And they're accepting that as true. They aren't lashing out, they're being polite to the gnomes and now that they've firmly established that there isn't an ongoing threat they're scaling back the military presence and bringing in civil servants.

But the reason why they're bringing in civil servants is that the gnomes are being issued with identity cards and all of the related paperwork that comes with modern nationality. Because while Greece can't claim Themyscira due to the threat of divine intervention, absolutely nothing was going to stop the Swiss claiming the interior of a mountain that is already part of their country.

And while they're not blaming the gnomes for the dragon, they aren't exactly happy about nine hundred years of petty theft.

I think there are citizenship classes in their future. Interestingly, I think this means that once they're finished Switzerland will have the largest official non-human population of any country on Earth. Certainly in terms of percentage of the total population they're leading by a mile.

"Orange Lantern?"

I look around as my escort approaches, trailed by an awkward-looking gnome. He's wearing breeches, a smock and pointy toed shoes, and is cringing, hands rubbing each other in nervous activity. His skin is a pale earthy-brown, wispy black hair sticks up from the top of his head, his ears are pointed and extend to be level with the top of his head and most weirdly of all his eyes are solid black.

"This is Elmen. He's.. sort of in charge."

"I'm not." The gnome straightens up slightly, though he's still only a metre tall. "It's just that everyone else is less in charge than me."

"What happened to the gnomes who were in charge?"

"The dragon ate most of them. The rest were amongst the first to be transformed and had longest to grow. Um. So you and the witch girl probably killed them."

I nod. "I'm sorry for your loss. Our original plan was to sneak in, but Zatanna was affected by Karfang's breath and… The plan no longer seemed important. We also didn't know that Karfang existed until she showed herself, and we didn't know how to bypass her invulnerability until she'd already broken out of the warren."

Elmen nods, still downcast. "No one knew what the dragon could do. If we'd known what she could do we wouldn't have woken her up. We remembered that she was strong, and forgot what her being strong meant for everyone else." He looks up at me. "The gnomes who survived fighting you said you healed them the instant they started turning back. A lot more would have died if you hadn't, so… Thank you. I'd be more effusive, but it's all just so horrible."

"I'm sorry I killed as many as I did."

"Were you affected by the dragon breath?"

I shake my head. "No. But between what it did to my team mates and how powerful it made the.. mutant gnomes, I couldn't… Pull my punches."

"Mutant?" He frowns. "Oh, drakunomes, we call them drakunomes." I nod. "And… They attacked you. I know they were.. powerful. I'm grateful that you could afford to leave any of them alive." He turns to look at the military camp. "What a mess."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Can you turn back time?"

"The best information I have is that altering time is a very bad idea. But no, not easily."

"What do we do, what do we do?"

He sniffs as if only just withholding his tears, and wipes his right hand across his eyes.

"I understand that you generally haven't had much direct contact with humans to date. Is there an.. extra problem I'm not seeing?"

"We can't… Cope with it. Laws and rules. Machinery. All the bits that make humans human and us not. We're creatures of flesh so wrought iron doesn't hurt us, but we can't understand… We've got piles of bottle caps because they're shiny and piles of credit cards because we like the colours. They're… Status symbols, not… Currency. And now… We can't live like gnomes-. We can't be gnomes any more. And I don't know what to do."

"In the old days, when you lived under Karfang and her kin. Did you collect trinkets then?"

"I don't know."

"Did the drakunomes fight for the dragons?"

"Yes." He looks a little puzzled. "You saw them."

"But you regular gnomes didn't. If we assume that the drakunomes in the old days behaved a lot like the modern ones did, that's very different to regular gnomes. At some point in the past, your forebears stopped acting like drakunomes and started acting like gnomes."

"Did they?" He slumps, shaking his head. "I suppose they might have."

"So you know that your people are capable of change. Even major change."

He looks a.. little less dejected. "Really?"

"Believing that you can is better than believing that you can't, isn't it?" He nods uncertainly. "Do you have a concept of trade?"

"We have a concept of making a trade. I-give-you-thing-you-give-me-thing?"

"Can you make dolmen gates?"

"Ah… Yes? Not just anywhere, but… Yes?"

"Can you make big ones?"

"It would take a while."

"But you could do it?"

"I've seen one big enough for a cart and two draught horses."

"I believe that skill would be very valuable for humans. Would you be prepared to use it in exchange for other things?"

"I couldn't make many."

"I mean 'you' collectively. The gnomes of this warren."

"I don't know."

We look at each other for a moment. "I'm afraid.. finding things like that out is part of leading. Did the late leaders of your warren do things for the community as a whole?"

"Well… Yes."

"Then I'm afraid that someone needs to step forward, and since everyone else has stepped backwards, you need to get on it. The essence of trade is finding something someone else wants, and dolmen gates are valuable."

"Okay, but… How does that work?"

I nod, and generate a zeta tube construct.

"Recognised, Dubbilex, A Six Zero."

"I believe that my colleague can help you with that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th January
19:02 GMT +1

"…not expecting any visitors from Mars in the medium term." Queen Clea's expression makes it clear that she isn't sure what to make of the situation. "Which is a little disappointing, but I suppose that they have more immediate concerns at present. Is there any chance that they will join us in the future?"

I shrug. "Impossible to say. The situation on Mars is… Salvaged, but those Sorcerer Priests who are prepared to work with King J'emm-" Technically inaccurate, but actually pretty accurate. "-are busy removing the Guardians' restrictions from each other and their fellow citizens as a show of good faith. And the rest are either isolating themselves or hunting for Karmang. J'emm doesn't place any blame on me, and has stated that he would like more contact with Earth…"

"But nothing concrete."

I shake my head. "No. And.. he rebuffed my offer of help with the restriction removal, either personally or by hiring human magicians."

Circe arches her right eyebrow. "Would it be worth my time to go hunting for this… Karmang?"

"No." Adom leans forward slightly. "I understand the position of King J'emm. It does not do for a ruler to appear too tied to foreigners. His task now is to convince people that they are safe from Karmang and from one another. There will already be suspicion at his survival of the attack which slew his peers. Grayven retaliating for an attack against his person is one thing, but for J'emm to be shown depending on foreign aid to hunt down a criminal would undermine him."

I nod. "I tend to agree. Unless you or-" I look at Richard. "-Richard could do it so easily that we could say we were just being good neighbours or if he threatens Earth… I'd say 'no' for now."

"A sorcerer even older than myself?" Circe shakes her head. "I doubt that it would be easy."

Richard removes his glasses and looks at the left lens for a moment. Then he pulls his handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wipes it. "I'm rather… Out of the criminal-killing business. Unless no humane alternative presents itself. Has Karmang been seen since your exercise in capriccio geology?"

"Not by anyone in communion with either the Martian government or the White Rights movement." Richard stops wiping and looks at me. "And I haven't spotted him either."

"Then if you'll excuse me, I think I'll give it a miss." His handkerchief returns to its pocket and his glasses to his face. "Entertaining as it might be."

I nod. "Very well. And in any case, in my analysis, there's little risk to Earth. Little extra risk, I should say."

Lex's monitor blinks. "I have concerns about members of one of their more violent extremist groups acquiring spacecraft. The Earth is the only other inhabited world in the region."

I shake my head. "I see where you're coming from, but while the Martians have 'spaceships', they don't have faster than light travel. And given their need for strong telepathic contact, their ships would have to undergo a major refit in order to incorporate animation suspension units, and.. then they'd be sitting ducks for the entire journey. I have sensor nodes throughout this system, and unless they have an unusually skilled magic user who also has the capacity to endure the absence of other conscious minds I don't think the risk is significant."

"Unt zhe zeta rays? Or teleportation?"

Circe shakes her head. "Planet to planet teleportation is exceedingly hard. Merely seeing us use it wouldn't be enough without a sound grounding in the theory behind it. And naturally I have already placed wards around the Earth to inform me whenever anyone travels here using such a technique. It's quite distinctive."

I nod. "And it would be very difficult to generate zeta rays with Martian biotechnology. If someone did, we would have less warning, but my sensors should detect that as well." I look around. "Any other questions on the subject of Mars?"

No one replies.

"Very well. On to happier news, then. Richard." He makes a demi-bow from his seat. "Congratulations on your appointment."

He smiles. "Yes, I got your bouquet. And-" He looks around the semicircle. "-those of our other colleagues as well. And I'm proud to announce that so far none of my fellow Justice League members have died on my watch."

"Glad to hear it. Keep up the good work. Adom? Your new accommodations meet with your satisfaction?"

"It is a little extravagant. My tastes are somewhat simpler than those of leaders of the previous regime." He smiles. "But the location is excellent."

"Black Manta's people performed as expected."

He nods. "They are capable men. They cut communications to the Heliopolis Palace as directed. No alert was sent out before I entered the building, nor during my attack. The criminal pretenders who ruled my country are dead."

Lex's screen blinks again. "While there is a certain clarity in hanging their bodies from the walls, I feel obliged to point out that… For the international media, the optics were… Not ideal."

"That image was for domestic consumption. I want my people to see that my justice is swift and absolute. And given the trade embargos which Kahndaq is under, I do not believe that my purification of government will worsen life within my country."

I nod. "How is the power consolidation process going?"

"Slow but steady. Your g-gnomes have been invaluable in allowing me to divine who is worthy of their office and who is not, who is criminal and who is merely misguided. Those parts of the country furthest from Cairo were most eager to treat with me. Central government officers were a.. little slower, though that was mostly due to them going into hiding."

Clea raises her eyebrows slightly. "Is there any danger of a civil war?"

"Any senior army officers who might have felt inclined to fight me have already been dealt with. So long as I provide strong and clear leadership, it is now only a matter of time."

I smile. "Good show. Let us know if you need any further support. Once things settle down, I'll start working on President Horne." He nods. "Circe?"

She smiles. "I've managed to retain the services of a number of ex-SHADE employees." I shift uncomfortably in my seat. "Though a little… Frustrating, it has allowed me to create a curriculum more appropriate to the needs of law enforcement officials than the general one I have produced for trainee magicians. Mister Constantine has been surprisingly helpful in creating practical exercises."

I sit back slightly. "SHADE?"

"They've already been cleared of any wrongdoing. Formally, at least. Understandably, their host organisations aren't best pleased with them."

"Then I'm glad that they've found a new home. When will you start taking students?"

"I've started casual demonstrations already. Classes for law enforcement officials are being filled now, while I envisage our first students of the arcane will begin attending over the summer. Unfortunately, the American public are simply too ignorant of magic for it to be worth trying to teach anything beyond the most basic lessons. Once I know whether any of the summer school students have any promise, I'll know what sort of teaching schedule to create for the next scholastic year."

"Unt for zhe regular subjects?"

"I'm… Torn. Clearly, few parents would be prepared to send their children to a school which teaches magic and nothing else, but by the time they reach college age it's a little late. I suspect that I will be spending years teaching police during the day and adolescents at night, at least until a generation with some skill reach college age."

"We have a school in Aberrance. We could… Extend zhe day? Zhey study science unt mathematics wizh us, unt magic wizh you..?"

"Thank you Cranius. That is a most generous offer, but it's simply too early for me to commit to anything. How is your own work doing?"

"Zhe first generation wizh zhe enhanced liver are doing well. No side effects, no rejections unt zhe poison unt disease immunity works as intended. General Lane has been most effusive in his praise. I am already designing new bio-augmetics based upon zhe demands of zhe market, unt Janus is meeting wizh zhe insurance companies regarding offering our product to zheir customers."

I nod. "Excellent news. To finish up then: Lex's first factory is nearing completion and LexPower have finished transitioning over to cosmic power generation. Their share of the energy supply market in the US is nearing sixty percent, and will probably reach eighty before the end of the year. Doctor Metcalf's team has completed designs for the corvette and destroyer vessels, and work will begin on building the first generation of ships early next month. Work is still ongoing on the plans for the battlecruiser, and I doubt that construction will begin much before August."

I smile. "All in all, I'd say that things are going pretty well. Any matters arising?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th January
13:34 GMT -6

I stroll back towards the living area of the Mountain. I'm spending the evening with the children, overseeing and participating in the play of my brood. I hadn't really thought about it in these terms before, but a definite drawback to having a lot of children isn't just that you don't get as much time interacting with each of them individually, it's that… Well, they don't need you to play with. They've got each other. With Lynne we bonded over a lot of shared activities early on, but the others… Okay, the hybrids are used to making their own entertainment, but I don't feel…

I'm not being fatherly enough. No, I'm not being daddy enough. Certainly not to the younger children.

Which is a problem, because the US Presidential Election is getting into gear. Senator Knight was the Republican Party's only viable candidate, having wormed his way into being the opposition lead on the metahuman-related legal reforms President Horne pushed through on a tide of popular and governmental support. Which is good for him, except that that same popular support resulted in the Democratic Party rubber stamping Horne as their candidate and there's barely any clear air between them on the issue.

Knight's been trying to describe his desire to boost military spending as an 'anti-supervillain' measure, but even Jon saw that one off. The press conference where he was asked about it actually got quite a lot of coverage. Being Horne, he didn't just throw a condescending sound bite at it as a more polished political operator would. It was clear as he blinked in bewilderment at the journalist who asked the question that he could barely comprehend a link between the two ideas. In the end, him reciting sections from a briefing document General Lane gave him on the effectiveness of modern American firearms against high-end supervillains was a far more effective counter than anything more straightforwardly derisory.

My personal favourite part was where he said 'while firing ten times as many rifles at a guy who's immune to bullets does achieve ten times as much, that's still ten multiplied by zero'.

And I think the country is with him on this one. Jon's handling of the whole Klarion mess has earned him a good deal of respect, especially with people who aren't normally Democrat-voters. On the opposite side of the aisle, Knight's unfunded spending commitments and spotty record on social issues don't have anything like the wide-ranging appeal he'll need in order to win. But because of my impact on American politics and my closeness to the incumbent, I'm being asked to do more public appearances. And if I want my agenda advanced, I'll have to do at least some of them. Which means less time for the children.

Anyway, I've got a couple of hours until school ends. I can accept a few interviews, read up on the subjects… Maybe have Jean throw some awkward-.

The door to the living room is open and Magnificus is sitting in the middle of the settee, staring at the television. He's wearing silk pyjamas and a furry purple dressing gown, and is sort of.. slumped. He doesn't look around as I enter the room and sit down in my accustomed chair.

He looks a bit rough. And he hasn't moved since I left.

"Doctor Sivana? Are you.. well?"

"While it's true that Danner enhanciles are not by default significantly more resistant to disease than the average person, I assure you that father ensured that both myself and B-." He closes his eyes for a moment and slumps a little further. "Beautia received immune system enhancing genetic… Sequences, genetic expression triggers and inoculations."

"That.. wasn't exactly what I asked."

"Father is…" He sighs. "I can't.. face.. working. Today."

"You're not seeing-?"

"No, that.. creature isn't back." He breathes in and out. "But my mother, my brother and my sisters are still dead. For Father, revenge is motivation enough. For me, it-. I'm not as ruthless as he is. And…" I see him make an effort to turn his head my way. "The creature attacked me.. before I.. heard. About Venus. Using psychological weaknesses I already possessed. Those haven't repaired themselves just… Because it's gone."

"You knew about those weaknesses?"

He nods, looking away again. "My.. preferred.. technique for dealing with it… Them, was to work to acquire legitimate renown. To develop technologies with market applications, as Father did before he.. went… Before he became a criminal." Another slow inhalation and exhalation. "But… Some days, I…"

"You're depressed?"

"Yes. Not… Bipolar-depressed. There's no manic cycle. Father wouldn't have.. tolerated the relevant genes any more than he would have tolerated disease susceptibility. It's just…" He closes his eyes slowly and then opens them again. "I can't…"

"If you want to.. talk about it, I'm here. Or I can.. get a professional, if that's better?"

"I'm jealous-. I was jealous, of Thaddeus-. Junior." He shakes his head. "It disgusts me.. now, but…"

"Without intending any disrespect to your late brother… Why?"

"Mrn." He breathes in and out again. "Father is an excellent.. teacher. But.. you've.. seen him." I nod. "I learned more about science, engineering… Even economics at home than I ever did at school. What I didn't do was play.. catch. Or.. anything physical. Beautia and I would… When we were on holiday, we'd.. run cross county or.. swim out into the middle of the ocean…" He chuckles quietly. "But while Father was very good at setting us intellectual challenges, we never really had any.. physical ones. And then… Despite being nearly two years younger, Thaddeus and Georgia were able to work at the same intellectual level as us. And then… They'd been designed to be mentally quicker. They're both-. They.. were both.. more intelligent than me. And.. since.. my.. satisfaction-. I was most satisfied by intellectual achievement, that was a…" He slumps back again. "I didn't resent them, but I wished that Father had done for me what he did for Thaddeus."

"You'd give up your strength, toughness and.. at least fifty years of life expectancy?"

"My strength isolated me socially, and I never really did anything with it. My sense of.. self-value is tied up in my intellectual achievements. And extending a human life isn't that hard. You can buy basic senolytics commercially, and Father hasn't stayed as spry as he has through good diet and exercise."

"So… Um… Just so I understand… You're unhappy because you consider your intellectual achievements to be insufficient, despite all of the commercial applications of the circuitry fabrication techniques you invented and pioneered. And the fact that you're a physical Adonis doesn't make you feel better…"

"I.. know how it sounds. This is why I didn't.. talk about it."

"I can't even call it a First World problem. It's a Zeroth World problem. People would quite literally kill for either your intelligence or your strength." Hm. Ah! "And while it's not something I can really relate to, I believe I know someone who can."

Mother Box, hush tube to wherever Sunset is.

Ping.

I get up and walk through the hush tube to… Sunset's laboratory. She looks up from her computer as I come through. "Grayven? How did the meeting go?"

"Pretty well. Sunset, I've got a problem for you."

She perks up slightly. "You found a new magic artefact you need me to analyse?"

"No. A friendship problem."

The perk vanishes, and she shakes her head. "I don't handle that kind of problem."

"Well, either today you do… Or you can start paying rent."

She huffs. "Fine." She gets up and follows me back through the tube.

Magnificus doesn't turn his head as we reappear, but he does move his eyes our way.

"Sunset, this is Magnificus. He's depressed because he feels like an underachiever due to his IQ being a mere two hundred rather than two twenty. Magnificus, this is Sunset Shimmer. After her superlative display of magic talent in early childhood attracted the demigoddess ruler of her nation to select her as her personal acolyte, she got so annoyed about the focus of the curriculum that she decided that she would rather storm off to a parallel universe with just the fur on her back rather than put up with it for a couple of years, graduate and then study whatever she wanted."

"I feel that the two of you have a great deal in common, and I'm going to leave you to talk about it. Have fun."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January
20:01 GMT -5

I look around at the eager-. At the faces of my team mates. And at Mr Hol, who is lurking in the background having said that he's interested in getting an alien's perspective on his society. Ah, my first lecture. Kaldur did say he wanted senior team members to take a greater role in teaching, and after he saw the amount of time I was spending on reviewing information on Thanagar I suppose that it's only natural that I was volunteered. At least they look a little more attentive than they did when Major Adams gave his lecture back when we first started. I don't.. think that Thanagarian culture will ever become an important part of a team mission, but I suppose that you never know.

Kara's come along as well, and I only had to niggle her a little. Zatanna hasn't, which...

Yeah.

I dim the lights with a thought, and use the lecture room's hologram projector to bring up an image of the Milky Way galaxy.

"Thanagar."

A green line points to it. And -given the scale- about fifty other systems which are sort of nearby. I open a new window and bring up a slowly rotating image of the world itself.

"Population four point eight billion sophonts. Leading exports: farming equipment and computer equipment. Leading imports: agricultural products and art. Government type: military oligarchy. Politically unified, and the capital world of the Thanagarian Empire. Perhaps most relevant to us, it's the homeworld of Hawkman, Hawkwoman and.. Hawkgirl, in her original incarnation. It's also the largest and most powerful stellar nation in our region of space, having six colonies with populations of over half a billion as well as twenty smaller colonies, and a total military strength greater than any other stellar nation until you reach the Crown Imperium near Vega."

A blue line appears, pointing to Kranaltine. At this scale they look like they're pretty much next door to each other, though the distance is actually much greater than that. Thanagar quite pointedly isn't expanding in their direction, though whether that's because of the Crown Imperium or because they don't want anything to do with Vega I have no idea.

"That's pretty important, because it means that they're the largest major stellar nation near to us."

A yellow line, again almost right next to the other two.

"According to the testimony of Nylor Truggs, they end up conquering the Earth some time in the next five hundred years. They're expansionist, militant, and not exactly shy about conquering nearby systems and settling worlds that already have someone living on them."

Given that the idea the Blades of Alstair had of working as mercenaries for training purposes wasn't exactly novel, it's a little hard to tell exactly how big the Thanagarian military actually is. There's essentially no dividing line between private military companies that get conscripted in times of war, and state military groups which sometimes take external contracts. That's why I gave short shrift to Ms Hol's complaints last year when I did an assessment of the League's ability to fight Thanagarian 'corporate security'.

"Thanagar's population is split between two species, with no other group having statistically significant representation. The largest group are the dominant-" I gesture to Mr Hol with my right hand. "-bird-winged humanoids, commonly referred to as 'thanagarians'. The word 'Thanagar' itself comes from an older form of their most widely used language, Quarish, and means something along the lines of 'defensible home base'. They make up about two thirds of the population, and virtually the entirety of the government is drawn from their species."

"The remaining third is comprised of lizarkons."

I generate a construct image of what looks like a standard issue dinosaur man.

"The name sounding like the English word 'lizard' is a coincidence. The actual etymology of the word indicates that it come from an old Quarish word meaning 'from the ground' or 'restricted to the ground'. As you can see, they don't have wings, which put them at a fairly major disadvantage when competing with the thanagarians."

Though it's more than that. Without Nth metal throughout their bodies, they're actually weaker and -despite the scales- less resilient. They also were far slower in developing Nth metal based technologies. Early fights between the two groups were painfully one-sided. Never let it be said that diabolism doesn't pay.

Raquel frowns. "Quarish is a bird-thanagarian language, right?"

"It's spoken by pretty much everyone on the planet these days, but it was originally a small 't' thanagarian language."

"So it's not what they call themselves."

"It is these days. Standardised compulsory education, all government communications and all official records are in Quarish, and in some cases it's actually illegal to put them in other languages. Plekesh -the second most common language- only really survives because it's common in the older colonies, but again, their populations are virtually all small 't' thanagarian."

"So the.. government is stamping out their culture?"

"Oh yes, quite deliberately. Since the current form of government seized power, there's been a deliberate effort at social engineering. The lionisation of the military, universal national service, standardised everything, the requirement for at least ten years in the military for anyone who wants a senior government position and the generous grants given to demobbed soldiers who want to move to a colony. Part of that comes from how they came to power in the first place, and the rest is from the sheer social trauma the Equality Plague caused. Essentially, they want near total social unity and they feel the best way to get that is to force a monoculture."

Raquel realises that all eyes that aren't on me are on her. "What's the Equality Plague?"

"The Equality Plague is… The historical significance it has in their culture is roughly equal to the scope of the First and Second World Wars on Earth. Essentially, the plague itself was… Probably an engineered disease which eroded a sufferer's sense of self as well as creating a low level telepathic field between all sufferers. Thanagarians and lizarkons alike had no resistance to it, and it infected the entire planet about… Seventy years ago. Sufferers lost all personality, all personal drive and gained the ability to transfer skills and memories between them. The result was near total societal collapse, as people literally couldn't know who they were or which of the memories in their heads were their own."

"As a result, there were a massive number of deaths and the world was taken over by an individual calling himself the Lord High Equaliser. He ruled for about nine years, before being killed by a strike force of uninfected thanagarians from one of the colonies." Probably. Commander Andar told me that Queen Hyathis led the attack herself, and while that's possible -the colonies were in negotiations with her at the time- I haven't been able to find evidence from the colonial side that she was involved. Which doesn't mean that she wasn't. "Of course, that didn't cure the disease, it just removed the one man the infected instinctively obeyed. The colonies were trying to find a cure, but they weren't having much luck and people started dying again."

"That's when Queen Hyathis of Alstair enters the story. At this point the situation on Thanagar was pretty desperate and the colonial authorities were looking for help anywhere they could get it. Hyathis claimed that she could cure it, but in return she wanted Thanagar's territory to be added to what she already controlled. The colonial authorities agreed, and she got to work. Alstair's sophont life forms are plant-based, and Hyathis is very good at floramancy. Everyone on Thanagar got a injection of cultured algae, and she used that to remove the disease from their bodies. The total time from the first cases of the disease to the cure was about eleven years."

"In the aftermath… A substantial number of thanagarians weren't all that happy to find themselves part of the Alstair Empire. While the exact proportion is.. pretty much impossible to find out now… As in, if you question the official line on Thanagar you will get arrested. What is agreed upon is that Hyathis took possession of the Lord High Equaliser's fleet, crewed it with thanagarians who were definitely loyal to her, and then returned to her home system with the intent of conquering her immediate neighbours. While she was away, there was a revolt -again, it's hard to get reliable numbers on exactly how big it was- which resulted in a military junta coming to power. Every Zaredian in Thanagarian space was killed -along with a lot of loyalist Thanagarians- and the new government was able to build up their defences enough that Hyathis couldn't recapture Thanagar. They're still technically at war, though there hasn't been any direct armed conflict recently."

"Ah…" Wallace glances back at Mr Hol. "You get arrested for… What's the official version?"

"That only a tiny coterie of traitors ever supported Hyathis and that she probably created the plague herself to extort Thanagar's compliance."

"And… Is that true?"

I shrug. "At this point, it's rather difficult to say."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
14:32 GMT

Lantern Dul floats in interstellar space a short distance from her current stop on the Orange Lantern Corps Goodwill Tour. From the looks we were getting as we headed into orbit I'd say that she was at least reasonably well received by the locals, who to me looked disconcertingly like a cross between crabs and lictors.

Sometimes being able to interpret non-humanoid body language is weird.

"Got everything you need?"

She blinks slowly at me, the thanagarian equivalent of a puzzled frown. She's wearing… Slightly heavier armour than she wore to the conference. Not sure whether she's used the time since to put it together or if she didn't consider it necessary. Heh, but now she knows me better. One mace, two side arms, one glowing ring…

"I mean, no personal effects? You mentioned that you weren't the only one assigned to your original mission. Among humans, we would customarily return their personal effects to their next of kin."

"We didn't have much. I left everything with their bodies on what's left of our ship." She notices as my eyes widen. "Almost all thanagarians are materialists. None of them thought what happened to their bodies after they died was important."

"Um. If you give me the coordinates I can pick the ship up and return it to Thanagar." I place my right hand over my heart. "My oath to Gaea that I will not access its data storage or perform detailed scans of the ship or of its contents."

"Why? What do your people do with the remains of dead spacefarers?"

"My people go into space on rockets. We don't have enough spacefarers to have a tradition. Water warships that sink are left alone, but that's on a living world. In.. space… Take it from someone who's died, that's.. not a good place to leave them."

"You believe that their souls are trapped there forever."

"I don't have enough magic researchers to task them with studying the process in detail, but based on what I know…" I nod. "It's a distinct possibility."

She regards me sceptically for a moment, but apparently decides that there's no harm in humouring me. "I'll refer your request up my chain of command."

I nod. "Thank you. Now, for the journey to Earth we've got a couple of options. I can teleport us-" I raise my right hand to my forehead. "-there instantly, but Hinon tells me that unless your control is excellent you could risk physical and psychological damage." I lower my right hand. "I could get around that by suppressing your mental activity or connection to the orange light, but those options have their own problems. Alternatively, I can fly us there, which will take a few hours, or create a large zeta beam emitter construct to send you there in a few seconds."

"If your people have controllable zeta beam transportation then why do you still fly in space with chemical rockets?"

"We'd use zeta beams for that too, but we've only recently got the power generation capacity to keep them running. And of course we can't go anywhere safely without a receiver station. As it is, it's a fast but expensive way for getting around one planet, and… Not very useful otherwise. I'd basically be firing you at an upgraded version of the zeta beam generator invented… Fifty seven years ago. It's still the only one configured for long ranged travel."

"And it's safe?"

I nod. "Tested it yesterday. The people studying it are quite enthusiastic about getting a live subject through."

"Zeta beam."

"Rightyho."

I fly away from her to give myself space, then generate the large interstellar zeta tube. Not just the actual tube bit; even with it looking more like Dr Erdel's original version than the more streamlined modern version that part still isn't particularly large. I've also got the exotic radiation generating equipment, the generator and the capacitors. And a cartoony-looking control panel with one of those u-shape levers you can wrap your fist around, because why not?

I wrap my right fist around it. "Ready?"

"Yes."

I pull the lever down. The interior of the construct glows for a moment, then Lantern Dul is gone.

One. Two. Three…

"Illustres to Lantern Dul."

"I've arrived. I'm heading to Officer Hol's place of residence."

"Good show. I'll meet you in orbit."

I dismiss my construct, focus on Mr Cantrell and raise my right hand to my forehead once again.

21st January
07:34 GMT -7

I appear a mile or so above his house, then move my right hand to my right ear.

"Call Richard Grayson."

"Compliance."

A few seconds of dial tone…

"Hey."

Not 'hey, Oh El'. Which means that he's not 'Robin' at the moment.

"How is she?"

"Not… Great." He breathes out slowly. "And not just because of you. She's having nightmares about what happened to the little people in Switzerland."

"Yes, I'm not surprised. I'd have tried saying something, but I was more worried about her staff. And I didn't want to sound too sympathetic in case I inadvertently gave the impression that my rejection wasn't entirely earnest."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. She's pretty convinced."

"You've… Had contact with people who've done.. things under the influence, haven't you?"

"Yeah. Nothing.. quite like this. I'll.. keep visiting her."

"Has she-? She could talk to her friends about it. Her.. normal friends. Her identity isn't a secret-."

"This isn't really something most people have a whole lot of contact with. I'm not sure if they'd actually help or… If they'd get scared off."

I nod sombrely. "Any ideas?"

"I do actually know a good trauma counsellor. I'm going to talk to Zatara about arranging a meeting."

I nod. "Switzerland was quite a bit… More than she is used to. That might well be for the best. Though… If they ask why she started using the Star Sapphire in the first place-."

"Then she'll just have to tell them."

"I suppose she will. Thank you for talking to her."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

I hang up and lower my hand. Oh, hang on. I hold my left hand out in front of me. Ring, call Hinon.

Compliance.

Her face appears, floating over my ring.

"I'm heading to Thanagar. Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No." She doesn't bother actually looking at me. "I should be finished with my survey by the time you get back. We can talk about it then."

"Alright. See you when I see you."

She looks up, frowning. "That's a tautol-."

I hang up, and fly down towards the Halls' garden.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
14:55 GMT

Light from the Halls'-. Late.. Halls..? They're not called 'Hall' any more and they're not married, and I can hardly call them 'the Hawks' when I'm about to visit a planet of hawk people. Old Hawks? Whatever, their short range teleporter lights up and deposits Mr Hall into space. He turns his helmeted head around and raises his right hand to hail me.

I smile and wave back. "Seals holding?"

He shifts his arms and legs around to test his mobility. The Nth metal lets him fly under his own power far more easily than gas thrusters would, though it's still not completely instinctual. Completing his test, he taps his belt to activate his radio.

"Confirmed. No leaks, movement good." He floats back from the ship slightly. "Beginning a visual inspection of the ship exterior."

With the ship's shields set to low power, I can see through the canopy as Ms Parker makes eye contact with her son and raises her right hand in acknowledgement. Naturally I checked all of this before we left the ground, but it's sensible for them to get into good habits, and I'm not surprised that Ms Parker née Chay-ara taught him to do it that way.

"Orange Lantern to Hawkwoman. We have made Earth-orbit. Ship looks good." Orichalcum might not do everything Nth metal can, but it serves just as well for hull plating. I'll keep recording what it does so that I can report back to Hephaestus and Vulcan about it.

"Yes, we watched your ascent. We'll be with you in.. two minutes."

I turn and look back towards the horizon. Yes, I see them. The contrast between the two ships is interesting. The forward sweeping wing design is a point of commonality, but in the case of the modern Hawks' ship it's clearly a functional wing, designed to be able to keep the vessel flying through lift when the main booster is active. With the Halls' ship, the design looks more decorative. Its wings would allow it to undergo a controlled crash, but it's designed to be kept aloft purely by Nth metal flight systems rather than the mix of Nth metal and conventional space aged engineering.

I suppose that the Thanagarian government didn't want too much Nth metal ending up in alien hands just in case something happened to the Hawks.

The new ones.

"I see you. Lantern Dul, do you want to transport your ship, or shall I do it?"

"The aim is to get to Thanagar as fast as possible. You are far faster than me."

"Very well. I'll warp us there once you arrive." I turn back to Mr Hall. "Silver Scarab, is the hull in one piece?"

He looks my way. "Silver Scarab, huh? Guess it goes with the costume." He turns his attention back to the hull. "Looks good. No warping, no sign of heat build up or cracking. No sign of escaping gas. Dad?"

"Confirmed. Internal sensors show green across the board."

"Sorry, do you.. not want me to call you Silver Scarab?"

"I don't know. I haven't been Silver Scarab for over a decade. And it's not like I'm hiding my identity from anyone, least of all Mom's side of the family."

"It's been seven thousand years. I doubt we'll meet any of my relatives. Not without a gene clinic doing a comparison."

"Do you remember your original family? Your first incarnation was a while ago."

"I… Think I do. I can't promise that I'm not confusing them with one of my other sets of parents, but they were the only ones with wings."

"Have you..? Either of you, told your current parents about this?"

Mr Cantrell lets out a huff-laugh. "Yeah, we did. Mine aren't sure whether I've gone crazy or not, and Joe and Megan Parker are pretty sure we have."

"Mom was happy that we're getting married, at least."

"We've spent more of our lives married than not. The only question is, do we have a church service or get Adom to marry us?"

"Shouldn't we ask Rama? We do reincarnate, after all. And anyway, if you're thinking of Kahndaq in the old days you know full well your people didn't have a marriage ceremony. Dad will kill us if we have a civil ceremony."

"Mom? Dad? Can I come back on board?"

"Oh! Sorry." There's a flicker of light as the teleporter activates once more.

"So was that a 'no' to Silver Scarab?"

"Yeah, Hector's fine. And are you sure you're not still married?"

Through the canopy I see Mr Cantrell and Ms Parker look at each other. Mr Cantrell shrugs. "We did die, son. I'm pretty sure that's an 'honorable discharge'."

"Marriage law hasn't really kept up with the impermanence of death. Though I suspect that Lord Rama would either say that you should marry other people in order to move towards spiritual liberation, or that you've already demonstrably transcended the wheel and so are married permanently regardless of what face you wear in any particular life."

"Wait, if Kahndaq didn't have a wedding…" Mr Cantrell sits back in his chair. "No, you're right, it didn't… But we had a ceremony. I don't remember every detail-."

Ms Parker smiles fondly at him. "That was because you left them up to me; your beautiful winged bride from the heavens."

"That was a Thanagarian ceremony?"

"Why do you think you wore your wing harness?"

"Oh! No, you're right, I remember now! And we had an argument because I didn't want to disturb their bodies…"

"Ah… Dad? What bodies?"

"The other thanagarians, the ones who died during the crash, or… Just after. Chay-ara thought the Kahndaqi reverence for the physical remains of the dead was… Bizarre."

"I've had dozens of lifetimes to get used to it now."

Hector takes his mask off, clearly not understanding what they're talking about. "Alright, but why did you need them for the wedding?"

Mr Cantrell shrugs, his wing harness moving as he does so. "Son, I'm human, and unlike your mother I always have been. Where did you think these wings came from?"

…

Huh. I suppose that makes sense.

"You cut-? They're from one of the other..?

"Where did you think I got wings that let me fly?"

"I thought it was the Nth metal in the harness! And.. birds. For the.. feathers!"

Ms Parker shakes her head. "We were active as Hawkman and Hawkgirl for seven years before we found where Adom put this ship after Hath-Set murdered us. Finding our bodies to reclaim our grave goods was far easier."

"Speaking of… Any luck finding this generation's Hath-Set? I realise that reincarnation takes some of the sting out of being murdered, but I'm sure you'd rather avoid it."

Mr Cantrell shakes his head. "Helene Astar and Rajak Darkraven are both dead, we checked that. Which is in line with what usually happens." Hector's jaw tightens at the mention of the people who murdered his parents. "Whoever's coming after us, it's someone new."

"Of course, if you stay on Thanagar long term… It won't be a problem."

"Huh." He and his fiancée look at each other. "I suppose it wouldn't. That might be worth considering."

"We'll see how things go. I'm going to get more of Chay-ara's memories back when we start visiting places, but I've been human longer than I've been thanagarian."

"Illustres."

I look around as the Modern Hawks' ship matches our velocity, raising my right hand in the direction of the command module. Alright then, Thanagar that way.

"Stand by for warp. Warping in three, two one."

Orange light shines and space bends.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
15:21 GMT

The thanagarians don't -officially- have the technology for blocking Lantern faster than light travel. They… Probably have it unofficially, because they can't possibly believe that the local Green Lanterns -an insectoid from Staphis and six-armed humanoid Polarian- won't step in if they try expanding their empire again and they're not stupid enough to be unprepared for that. Plus, they know we're coming, and despite my dealings with Hyathis I doubt that I've antagonised them sufficiently that they're prepared to test any device they have on me.

Probably. They might have decided to try it if I'd affirmed my alliance with Hyathis to Ms Thal. That would have been stupid and probably resulted in Dox putting Hyathis on the throne after the Orange Lantern Corps had annihilated their fleet, but if superhero-Earth has taught me anything it's that powerful people are prone to very… Limited thinking.

Still. They don't have any easy way to get hold of arcane lore without someone like me ferrying information and personnel around. I'm fairly confident that my first trip will be unmolested. The second one… Eh.

"Orange Lantern to all passengers. We will be arriving at our designated emergence location shortly. Check your programmed course and IFF and prepare for transition to normal flight. Warp ends in three, two, one."

The orange glow around us fades as space remembers its proper texture, a new system around us, a new planet… Just about visible in the black eternity, and… Quite a lot of ships. Two command carriers with… About a third of their attack craft complement deployed. Two squadrons of three of their military reconnaissance ship to each command carrier for a total of twelve. Those are fast, lightly armed and armoured scouts, designed to probe enemy defences and report back. Their stealth systems are also good enough that I doubt that the two ships I just towed here can see them. Cruisers of the Thanagarian Empire's two favourite configurations are also plentiful: a light carrier for patrol work and a gunship for anti-capital ship attacks. There are a few battle cruisers as well, but the Empire favours speed and agility over staying power. Battle cruisers are things they send when patrol ships encounter something that needs a little more gun, not something they've built a doctrine around. And a little further back I can see the tenders: heavily armoured and shielded fuel carriers for replenishing the fuel burned when the warships use their full combat power, and the farm ships they use to keep the tens of thousands of naval personnel fed with food that doesn't taste like cardboard.

Because you do not want to be the officer in charge of a ship full of mace-wielding thanagarians who've been eating cardboard for a month.

"Ms Thal, are we being honoured or intimidated?"

I hear a snort from her, but it's Mr Hol who answers.

"In thanagarian culture, there isn't much difference."

"Alright, but am I supposed to honour them by generating a construct fleet? Should I have brought Lantern Mother of Mercy with us?"

"Sir, that might have been… 'Too much' honour."

"Tut tut, Lantern Dul. Adopting alien cultural practices?"

"Incoming communication."

"Answer."

My rings generate an image of a stern looking male thanagarian. "This is General Hro Talak of the Pride of Thanagar. Please identify yourself."

Oh. Him. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. If I remember his appearance in Justice League Animated correctly, he's an ardent nationalist who values alien races very little. But… Given what I know about the culture of modern Thanagar, I suspect that his attitudes are actually pretty normal. I wouldn't expect him to start something without both provocation and orders.

"I am-"

Ring.

"-Paul-"

"-, the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I believe that we're expected."

He regards me impassively for a moment, then nods. "Identities confirmed. Operatives Katar Hol, Shayera Thal and Paran Dul are to proceed to the Vengeance of Kalmoran for debriefing. You and the four from Earth will take your pre-approved course to the foreign ministry in Thanaldar. You will be met by Ambassador Darl Klus, who will be handling negotiations."

Leaving aside the obvious fact that Kara isn't from Earth, that part was more or less what I expected, but...

"I'm sorry, I thought the plan was for your operatives to be on hand during the negotiations and for the debriefing to happen.. later..?" He doesn't look impressed. "I wouldn't want your ambassador to be unfairly disadvantaged because he was ill-advised."

"A senior intelligence analyst became unexpectedly available. These things happen. In any case, negotiations will not begin until tomorrow. You are to be taken on a cultural junket first."

"I suppose your government wouldn't want me to think that Thanagar was all warships."

He hesitates for a moment. Is he wondering if I'm insulting him and his, or trying to decide whether that would actually be preferable?

"Indeed. Pride of Thanagar out."

Both of the ships are already in motion, the League Hawks' ship towards one of the front-mounted launch bays of the right Command Carrier, while the…

"Ms Parker, Mr Cantrell, does that ship have a name?"

"Yes." / "No."

"Hector, sounds like you're the tie-breaker."

I begin flying after them, and notice as two squadrons of attack craft move away from their patrol route to escort us. And… Yes, I can see orbital and ground defence installations acquiring us. A pretty normal way to treat relative unknowns flying towards your capital city in a ship whose precise loadout you haven't been able to confirm for yourself.

"They always used to call it 'the Hawkship'."

"We can't call it 'the Hawkship' on Thanagar. That's ridiculous!"

"That wasn't the name I meant."

"But that's what we called it when-. Ooh!"

I politely turn aside some of the Thanagarian Defence Network's more intrusive efforts at scanning me. A couple of the vehicles in our escort are definitely using non-standard sensor packages. Nothing that's dangerous to me, but whoever that 'senior analyst' is they're not missing a trick.

"Care to share?"

"In our first lives, when I thought Chay-ara was a fallen goddess, I -Khufu-I- called the ship 'The Chariot of Horus'."

"Sounds like a fine name to me."

"It's a bit overblown. It isn't even that big. I just couldn't imagine what else it could be. The biggest vehicle I'd seen at that point was a wooden sailing barge."

"If Horus objects we can always change it."

I look towards the planet as it grows, my own acceleration matching that of the newly christened Chariot of Horus. There's a police cordon around the air corridor we've been instructed to take, but it looks like the locals are just working around it rather than hanging around to rubberneck. No reason to believe that our arrival has been widely trailered. It's quite possible that only a small portion of the government and military know we're coming.

I'm rather looking forward to learning about an alien culture from the aliens themselves. You just can't learn how a people see themselves or how they want to be seen by pillaging a database.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
17:31 GMT

I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it.

A young thanagarian woman dressed in an even-more-impractical-than-normal rendition of the Thanagarian military uniform is currently singing her heart out to the obvious enjoyment of the thanagarian -and the suitably armigerous alien- great and good sitting at the surrounding tables. Her dancing is energetic, and incorporates her wings with both gestures and short aerial sections to emphasise her athleticism. I've got my rings recording the whole thing, and I… Think I'll send a copy to Ms Parish once I return to Earth.

The song itself… Personally, I found that hearing the words in English just messed up the rhyme schemes too much, so I instructed my ring to stop translating it. And then -because Quarish uses.. very different sounds to English- I was stuck listening to what sounds like the most metal screeching fit ever. I actually found myself chuckling because of the dissonance between the upbeat popular music instrumentals and the caterwauling coming from the singer. It's not unpleasant or anything, but as with a lot of alien things I'm finding it decidedly odd.

Ambassador Klus leans in as the performance comes to an end, his surviving eyebrow raised in a distinctly non-thanagarian gesture of enquiry.

"What do you think?"

The singer makes a thanagarian bow gesture, head and wings tilted back, as thanagarians and longer-serving aliens pound their tables. I give mine a couple of bangs too.

"I think that to appreciate the song I would need to understand the language far better than I do. To.. my ears, the lyrics and the music didn't quite… Match?"

The singer strikes her left palm with her right fist, then heads back off stage.

"Next, she's going to be performing a song.. inspired by the music of the aboriginal population of her homeworld, Havania. You might find that the tone matches your auditory range a little better." I nod. "Do you know the planet?"

"I haven't visited. I know it's.. one of Thanagar's 'old' colonies. Slightly unusual in that it's controlled by a hereditary aristocracy."

"That sort of thing wasn't too unusual back when it was founded, though we've moved to a more individualistic system since then." He sits back. "Thanagar itself is heavily militarised, but I don't want to give the impression that militarism is all there is to know of thanagarian society. Music is a far more palatable cultural touchstone for many of our alien guests."

"She didn't come all this way just for me, I hope?"

"No, she's touring Thanagar at the moment. If you'd been a hundred days later you would probably have missed her entirely."

"She's clearly quite talented. What's her name?"

"Bleez." He frowns as I start spasmodically blinking. "Have you.. heard of her?"

"Yes. Yes, I-" Bleez returns to the stage, her new costume even less conservative than the last, and her.. entire body painted pale blue. "-hhhhhave."

"I suppose that on your travels-."

"No. No. Um. You are aware that Earth has a good deal more magic use than…"

"'Any' would be more than Thanagar. If you're building up to claiming something you think that I will think is impossible, you needn't worry. I've been fully briefed."

"I'm a citizen of the country of Themyscira. We have an.. oracle. Some time ago I.. read a… Book. A winged woman named 'Bleez' with skin that colour featured."

"That's just a fashion statement. Quite popular on some of the colonies, though it's never caught on here. And what did this prophecy say about Bleez?"

She begins singing, notes starting low and having an almost hiccupy quality to them. Each is held and sustained at a perfect pitch for several seconds. There are no words, she's simply using her voice and lungs as an instrument. The 'aboriginal' inhabitants of Havania -read, the native population now marginalised by the dominant thanagarians- are raniform amphibians. If she's matching their vocal range-.

And then she starts dancing. The martial gestures of the thanagarian song are replaced with gentler, sinuous motions as she twists and bends and maintains the notes. I've got no idea how she's breathing.

"It mostly concerned how she behaved after some fairly traumatic experiences. Tell me, would you consider Havania well defended?"

"It's a mature colony. There's a defence network and a picket fleet. It's not up to Thanagar's standards and the locals have opposed further militarization. They have no need to fear raiders, though I suppose.. if there was a serious attack which took us by surprise..." He shifts in his seat as the.. astonishingly… Weirdly beautiful sound flows over us. "Illustres, if you know about a threat to the Thanagarian Empire or its citizens-."

"Sinestro. Thaal Sinestro. At some point -I don't know when- he takes a Lantern battlegroup there. The planet supposedly gets ransacked. Bleez is taken as a concubine by one of his men."

"Sinestro is no longer a Green Lantern."

I open my hands and draw his attention to my rings. "They come in several colours. Sinestro's followers supposedly will use yellow rings."

"I.. see."

"Though obviously we'd both rather prevent the issue ever coming up. To the best of my knowledge he's a Corps of one at the moment." Unless Dox has given him ideas. "Though just in case…" I take a card out of subspace, draw a yellow sigil on it and pass it over. "This symbol? Don't trust it."

"What does it represent?"

"Sinestro's Corps, Sinestro himself… And fear. According to what I read, Sinestro's initial line up will be comprised of psychotic criminals, the sort of people who delight in the fear of their victims."

I really hope none of that stuff happens. I take a moment to listen to a complicated series of note changes… I think I could grow to like this… And take a look at Ms Parker. She's… Frowning. Ah, she doesn't recognise any of the music. That's… Unfortunate. Hector, Kara and their minder have already left to do some sightseeing. I'll have to play a sample to Kara later and see what she makes of it.

"Do you know how reliable these prognostications are?"

"No. To date, most of them have been somewhat true. I've.. flown halfway across the galaxy and found someone exactly where I thought they'd be more than once. Other things are only accurate in broad swaths. And some are almost totally inaccurate, or just don't mention particular things."

"Is there anything else Thanagar needs to worry about?"

"The Seven Devils. Onimar Synn regaining corporeal form is very bad. I'm usually against state restrictions on religion, but I'll make an exception there."

"And the others?"

"I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the others."

"I'm an atheistic materialist myself, but I read up on our mythology to prepare for this meeting. Ichthultu.. supposedly, taught our people how to farm. Thasaro was described as a violent scourge, but also as one who taught his followers the virtue of strength, and the militant ethos we embrace today. If such beings do exist, can you say for certain that it would be wrong to trade with them, as we do with alien races today?"

I shrug as the song comes to an end. "No. I've treated with strange beings before. And I worship the Olympian Goddess of Chaos. I suppose the only insight that I've got to offer is that it is exceedingly unwise to call up anything you can't put down. Or to make a pact with no way to enforce it."

Another round of table thumping, and as I actually liked this one I put a little more effort into it.

"Sound advice. Would you like to meet Bleez? That's the end of her set, but there are other-."

"Yes. Yes, I would, please."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
17:42 GMT

"What did you think?"

Bleez is.. smiling at me. From what I.. dimly remember of her pre-Red Lantern life in the comics, she didn't seem exactly joyful. And yet I can clearly see that she's doing something she loves: singing and performing before an audience.

"I'm afraid that to human ears, lyrics in Quarish don't translate particularly well. I did like your last piece-" Her smile broadens slightly. "-and your dancing… Choreography and performance was most impressive."

"Thank you. And I know about-" Shaky wing jerk. An eye roll equivalent. "-the Quarish thing; it's like our language uses a whole different register to every other humanoid language."

"I think it could work for an English-speaking audience, but you'd need different instrumentation. The relatively soft, pop music sound is just too much of a clash." I take a small Thanagarian data storage device out of subspace and load… A cross-section of Earth's music onto it. "As I understand it, thanagarian performers don't usually have much to do with alien music. I hope that it's a norm you'll continue to subvert."

I hold it out to her, and she takes it with obvious eagerness. "Thank you. I don't really have anywhere to put it in this costume..." She carefully clips it onto her… Belt? "My manager will love it if I can break into alien markets!"

"Earth doesn't really have a market for alien music. A.. kryptonian released a good chunk of their historical musical archive a few years ago and it just sits on our data network."

"Anyone perform it?"

"Not to a big crowd. I think there have been.. small scale attempts to reproduce it."

"Well that's the problem! People aren't going to get excited about a recording. Do your people.. trade with Krypton?"

"Krypton exploded about forty years ago with the loss of virtually the entire species."

"Oh." The wrists of her wings twitch towards her face, an acknowledgement of a faux pas.

"Three.. survivors have made their home on Earth, and one of them released it. He's not much of a musician." And since he grew up on Earth, probably wouldn't play Kryptonian instruments even if he was. I'll ask Kara if she's interested in that sort of thing, because while Karsta might I have no desire to intrude on her any further. "But no, before that happened we didn't."

"Do you have a copy of that?"

"Ah… I.. never bothered recording the whole thing, but…" I transmute another storage device. "Here's some of it."

She attaches it to the other side of her belt. "If they… The survivors want to commemorate their world, they should do a… Whole expo thing. Displays on their art and culture, examples of their technology… Maybe have a few people live like they did and record the whole thing. You need to get people interested in the culture before anyone will be interested in the music for itself. They need to understand the context for what they're hearing."

I nod. Despite Kal-El being a major hero, there isn't really much interest on Earth for Kryptonian culture beyond buying t-shirts with his 'S' on them. Thanks to me there's more interest in Themysciran culture these days, but Diana's most ardent admirers would have struggled to name a single piece of Themysciran music before I jollied the theatre company into touring. Actually, that applies to Thanagar as well. The Hawks have been around for eight years now, and I don't remember any cultural data release. Or any interest in one. Same with Mars.

"I don't recognise your uniform. That is a uniform, right?"

I glance down at my robes. "Official clothing, certainly. I'm a member of the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Like the Green Lanterns, only orange?"

"The rings work slightly differently and we're more a military than a police force, but… Yes."

She leans forward slightly. "Are you recruiting? Or have you already recruited someone and you're here to train them?"

"Lantern Dul is already receiving training, but she's not assigned to this region of space. She hasn't actually.. been back to Thanagar for years, that's one of the reasons we made this trip. The other is because my-" I gesture to where Ms Parker and Mr Cantrell are talking to.. a thanagarian I don't know. "-colleagues are able to provide information to the Thanagarian government relating to something that's worrying them."

"Like what?"

"Magic. They're worried about Hyathis' exotic threat potential, so they're here to offer their services as consultants."

"That's… Kind of a big deal. Shouldn't there be more guards around?"

"They're accomplished fighters, I'm a Lantern and we're on Thanagar, a short flight from the main city garrison and under its home defence fleet. There's only so safe you can get before it starts getting absurd."

"I suppose you've got a point. So… Why are you here?"

"I'm just a glorified taxi service at the moment. My top speed is far faster than anyone else's, and I can bring passengers. And while I know a good deal about magic, I wouldn't expect the Thanagarian government to trust me. Um." She looks at me expectantly. "This is… Probably something of a personal question, but… Is your mother nagging you about getting married?"

"Yes! You have no idea how annoying it is! I tried saying 'mother, I'm focusing on my career right now, can't it wait?' and she's all 'you are the great granddaughter of Prince Yiiqi and my sole heir, you must marry and have children right now'. The main reason I'm on this tour is so I can get my manager to pretend I'm working whenever she calls to try and introduce me to some.. baronet's son or something." She blinks. "How did you know that?" She leans in again, looking at me expectantly. "Are you like a spy? Are you spying on me? No, are you trying to groom me as an intelligence source?"

"Ah-. No, just trying to verify.. information I'd heard from elsewhere."

She pulls back slightly. "She didn't.. put you up to-?"

"No."

"Not that you're, you know, unattractive-."

I raise my eyebrows, then create construct wings and fan them out. "I'm gorgeous. But no." I fold the wings behind my back as she blinks at me. "I've never met your mother. My species uses magic for all sorts of things, not just for controlling plants. One of the things we do with it is… Seeing the future, with… Varying degrees of reliability. And one of the things that got seen was your mother entertaining a.. suitor to whom you were not well suited."

"So your species' prophets say I should focus on my career?"

I suppose it.. keeps her away from home. That way there can't be a Lantern Bleez. "You could interpret it like that. Although… An equally valid reading would be that you should pick someone yourself because her suggestions are all terrible."

"That's true. They are. Ugh, they're just so backwards. I mean, we have legally defined citizenship tiers, why do we even need slaves!?"

…

"Quite. Um. Have you.. been on Thanagar long?"

"Not that long this trip, but Mother and Father used to bring me here every year to make sure I grew up as a 'proper lady of the nobility'." She looks at me speculatively. "Wanna help me do something that would really burr her feathers?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
19:37 GMT

"A slum."

"Downside."

I look around through the gloom. Thanaldar is built on top of a mountain, but there's only.. so much space. So as the city grew they had to expand down. Except thanagarians literally use 'down' as an insult. So that wasn't acceptable. Their solution was giant stone or metal-reinforced concrete blocks, building support beams on the surrounding land and then putting platforms over them.

Or not, in places. Some sunlight reaches them down here, though from what I can see the majority of the light comes from lights plugged into power stolen through holes bored up into the world above. There's some wind, but so little that the air is stale and…

"Dare I ask about the sewage?"

"Oh, the city doesn't just dump raw sewage down here these days. A few centuries ago the smell started reaching the towers, and there was a big drive for better treatment plants."

"And do those treatment plants take sewage from down here as well?"

"Ah… Probably not?"

Urge to help Hyathis rising…

Under all-concealing cloaks of cheap fabric we walk along reasonably clear streets. Bleez had a costume of hard-worn clothes which… Probably wouldn't allow her to pass as a local under close examination, but should hold up to a cursory glance. Not the clothes themselves, those are more or less the same as what the locals appear to wear. The problem is Bleez herself. She's clearly far too healthy, tanned, calm and confident to actually come from somewhere like this.

Though she has changed her posture somewhat, and I can see her checking her surroundings more than she did before we came down here. That ability to blend in suggests to me that this is far from the first time that she's visited.

A group of lizarkons glower at us from a alleyway between… I'm not sure what to call it. Gentrified slums? There's an official access point to the upper city not too far from here, and a sizeable proportion of the locals commute upwards to work. The people living in this area aren't the poorest of the poor. The structures are solid if not exactly decorous, and-.

I look up as a police patrol flies overhead.

And there is a substantial law enforcement presence.

"Why do you come down here?"

"The music. Upside people just like.. military stuff, you know? 'Glory to the Armies of Thanagar'! And I sing that better than anyone, but it's just all the same, you know? And… Mother wouldn't ever look for me here."

"Is it safe?"

She points up as another patrol flies over. "You can only make things so safe. But this whole area? All the patrols fly through here on their way to their official routes. The dangerous places are nearer the edges."

"Really? I'd have thought that the fresh air would-."

"Paul? It's Kara. Are you there?"

"Sorry, just a moment. Yes, Kara? What can I do for you?"

"I think we're in trouble."

Ring, location. Oh. Great. The locals are used to fighting in three dimensions. Kara and Hector are looking down the barrels of an uncomfortable number of guns, and gang members with wings are ready to interpose themselves if they managed to dodge those. Hector hasn't been active for long enough that I'm half-convinced that he changed his costume because his old one no longer fit properly, and Kara isn't a fighter.

"Kara, you may not be back to full power yet, but you're still kryptonian. Most of the weapons they've got can't-."

"They have Nth metal weapons. I don't want to kill anyone!"

Right…

"Bleez, two of my colleagues took a wrong turn so I'm afraid that we're going to have to cut this short. Are you alright getting-?"

"Do you want to kill the people threatening them?"

"Not.. as an end in itself."

"I know how the people around here talk. I know the gangs. I'm your best chance of not turning the place into a flashzone."

Empathic vision.. could guide me, but she might be right. I take hold of her left hand with my right and transition us into a empty… I'm not sure whether I should call them roads or not. Path? Whatever it is, I can hear noise up ahead. Rhythmic. Intimidating. And… The roof here is fairly all-enclosing and many of the locals can fly. Simply trying to flee isn't necessarily an option.

Under my robe I don my medium armour. Filaments would be the easiest way to extract them. But in low light conditions that might be spotted. Thanagar-natives have faster reactions than humans, and I'm not completely sure that I could extract them fast enough. Instead, I burrow filaments through the ground beneath us as we walk.

"This is… Bladebat's territory. He's just a thug. Did your minder give you any local currency?"

"I have fungible goods."

"Cringe, act like you're intimidated and offer to pay him off."

"Understood." I march in the direction of the noise. "Kara, I'm close by."

"M-hm."

Doesn't want to be overheard. Right. Two winged shapes on the building to our right, watching us. Shouldn't have seen us appear, but thanagarians have sharper ears than humans. They might have heard something-.

"Paul, those are… Man-Hawks. They aren't interested in money. They're cannibals. They cut off people's faces and wear them as an intimidation technique."

"Hey!" A pair of lizarkons turn into our path and head in our direction. "You come this way, you can pay toll!"

I make a show of ducking my head. "Yes, yes, of course. But, ah-." One draws a small particle pistol while the other has a pair of Nth metal knives. Minimal threat. "My.. friends..? They're up ahead and I'd-. I'd like to pay for them as well?"

"Show hands!"

I turn my rings so that the sigils are facing away from my palms, then hold my hands up. Bleez does the same. The knife-armed lizarkon takes a couple of steps closer for a better look. They have pretty good low-light vision, but unless they've somehow received a full intelligence briefing they're got no idea who-.

Filament lost.

That's… A minor problem, but something I should expect in a technologically advanced civilisation. Construct-effects are disruptable, and I'm sure there are all sorts of areas the Thanagarian military doesn't want Lanterns poking around in their capital.

The lizarkons step aside and gesture for us to advance, making a point of showing their teeth as they do so. I don't smile, I don't nod, I just cringe a little more and scurry onwards.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
19:42 GMT

Hector and Kara have been backed up against a wall, part of one of the giant support pillars holding up the city. Over their heads, scaffolding is built into the side of it, extending all the way up. I suppose that explains why they were noticed: that's probably the local's source of electrical power. This isn't one of the 'nicer' parts of downside. Confronting the misadventuring duo are six lizarkons armed with a variety of weapons, including Nth metal melee weapons. Not.. a.. bad place to loot, if this turns into a fight. There isn't enough of the stuff to build anything much, but the Nth metal trades for stupid amounts of money on the interstellar markets.

The leader of the group looks around as our escorts enter the small… Plaza? I doubt that this place was planned so much as left like this, but the word fits. Gun-lizarkon scurries forward while knife-lizarkon remains just behind us, close enough that if I was thanagarian he could stab me before I could fly away. Probably wise: there is locally produced body armour that can stop these weapons, but Nth metal would make a mockery of it.

"That's Bladebat."

The hat-wearing reptilian strolls in our direction, the fingers on his cybernetic hands retracting and being replaced by curved-edged knives.

"Meat want pay Bladebat? Maybe Bladebat take from hides."

"I don't want any trouble, Mister Bladebat sir. I'd.. just like to.. pay the toll for myself and my friends..?"

Kara looks relieved by my arrival, while Hector's faceplate obscures his expression. Okay, so what am I seeing here that disrupted my filament? Bladebat's cybernetics aside I'm not seeing anything especially sophisticated. The guns are a couple of generations old, and probably 'fell' off a military quartermaster's truck at some point. They're not wearing force fields. I try again-.

Filament lost.

What's doing that?

"Meat's friends make trouble. Meat pay big toll."

Ring, any obvious filament generating objects around here?

Nth metal powder is able to disrupt constructs. Area does not appear to contain Nth metal powder in the required quantities.

Downsiders use more physical currency than upsiders. Precious metal, of which I have plenty, and since its use isn't 'official' forging or.. striking, since the metal content is the same? Anyway, it isn't a crime. Problem is, while I have an approximate idea of what pre-digitisation prices were, I've got no idea what a hostage-taking warrants. Too little and he might stab me, which would be inconvenient as the whole point of this mummery is to resolve this quietly and peacefully, not with me beating his crew senseless with orange constructs. Too much, and he might decide to see if he can get more, because I'm seeing a lot of orange from him. Though… To be fair, it appears to have grown from desperation rather than naked greed, which is why I don't feel like being harder on him. Compared to the average Citadel officer he's not even really all that bad. It just happens that he's the bad in front of me.

"Ah… I'm not sure I can afford-." Weekly wage for someone in the hard currency era, adjust for inflation… I pull my right hand into my robe and take the combination of metals out of subspace before turning them into the required coins. "Is this.. okay..?"

I hold the newly minted coins out towards him, and he changes his left hand back into a hand to grab -ow- them. No, that's fine, just a little blood. I pantomime twitching in pain, but I can't tell from his expression if he noticed or cares. No, no real sense that he enjoys people in general suffering around him, and I'm already being meek enough to satisfy his desire to dominate. Bladebat checks the coins, running a blade across a few to check the hardness of the metal. They.. probably look a bit new, but since the value is tied to the price of the metal that's not necessarily a problem.

"What?" His attention's back on me. Cowed, not curious. "This is not enough!" Naturally. "Upsiders come to break our property, pay off with this?"

"I-I doubt very much that they were breaking anything, Mister Bladebat. We don't-. We don't know the area. I'm-. They're very sorry for intruding-."

"Cost more, yes!"

Ah, alright then. Back into the sleeve, pull out half again-. I spot a Man-Hawk move into position above us. Hm. Not.. sure how intelligent they are. They're clearly altered from the thanagarian physical norms, and the lighting here is just about good enough to see the humanoid faces they've plastered over their own avian visages. Weird. Thanagarian materialism means that they don't see taking trophies from bodies as anything other than 'unhygienic', or perhaps 'irritating' when it makes identifying a body harder.

"Is this.. better?"

These coins are snatched, a few more scratches… A closer look inside him suggests that he is indeed satisfied. He might make-.

The movement is sudden as he punches me in the solar plexus, but not so fast that I can't double over to prevent him feeling that he mostly hit armour. He steps back, blade-hand switching back to fingers.

"Get out. Come back, Bladebat not so friendly."

The guards surrounding Kara and Hector lower their weapons slightly, and the two of them walk-. One snaps his jaws at Kara, who -taking her lead from me- makes a show of being alarmed. But the group lets them go. Alright.

Another Man-Hawk takes up position above us. And… Weren't there guards up there when I scanned it the first time? Yes, yes there were.

"Mister Bladebat sir? Are your-" I point at the closest Man-Hawk. "-friends.. letting us go too?"

"Friends?" He sounds genuinely mystified. "Just-" He looks up. "-go."

There's a brown blur as a Man-Hawk dives onto him, blood-

Secrecy over then. I bring my full power armour out of subspace and add construct armour for myself and Bleez.

-spraying out as it tears into him. One of his faster-acting subordinates takes a shot with a particle pistol. It hits and.. does no damage I can see. Then another Man-Hawk lands on the shooter with a screech.

And-. I can't look inside them. I suppose-

Hector raises his forearms and fires a blast from his forearm-mounted electrolasers at the second Man-Hawk. It staggers sideways a pace before reorientating on him and screeching again, which… Actually, yes, the flayed face does make it more intimidating.

-that might explain what happened to my filament.

"Kara." Another Man-Hawk dives at Bleez as the one which killed Bladebat leaps back up into the sky. Faster than it should be able to by muscle power. Nth metal, then? Sustained solid slugs from a railgun construct knock it aside and it slam into the ground. "Heat vision."

The Man-Hawk which killed the shooter leaps at me, talons outstretched! I take an x-ionised sword out of subspace, sidestep and slash, carving through its left leg and the left side of its chest. Solid slugs not achieving the desired results. Switching to crumblers would be good, but I'm not sure that I want the thanagarians to know I have that capacity. I form another railgun and have it track a Man-Hawk that has yet to make its-.

The Man-Hawk leaps and I shoot it repeatedly in the head. The leap turns rapidly into a tumble, and-.

And Kara flies up and punches it. She's not back to full power and it appears to have more than thanagarian toughness, but the difference between her force and its resilience results in a loud crack as it bends around her right fist and then collapses limply to the ground. Hector takes two shots at his opponent and then closes to punching range, his left fist smashing off the creature's stolen face and driving it back. A somewhat clumsy slam down with his right fist appears to stun it, and he flies back as it swings its wings at him.

The lizarkons have made themselves scarce, beams burning into the air as they fire at the Man-Hawks who are pursuing them. I wrap construct chains around the one Hector has beaten down, feeling it as something about it resists the orange light. Not strongly enough to break the chains if I exert myself, but I add metal chains anyway.

"Everyone alright?"

Kara nods stiffly, looking down at the Man-Hawk she struck as it tries to move the part of its body still responding to its brain. Hector nods as well, watching the sky for new threats. And Bleez-.

Thanagarian patrolmen drop out of the sky, their weapons trained on each of us!

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
19:45 GMT

"Drop your weapons!"

Same issue with the thugs. Their ranged weapons aren't much better, while their melee weapons are too good to take risks with. Ring, can we transition yet?

Transition unavailable.

And if my teleportation is barely Controller-safe, it certainly isn't regular people-safe.

I raise my hands and create submissively-folded wing constructs on my back as the thanagarian police fan out to shoot the downed Man-Hawks in the head.

"I'm sorry officer, but we literally can't. Silver Scarab's weapons are built into his armour, as are mine. And Kara's are built into her face."

A Man-Hawk dives from its perch on the support pillar, aiming at the lead patrolwoman. Guns are raised as soon as it moves, but it jinks and rolls to avoid their shots. I hear a muttered curse as the patrol begin lowering their guns to switch to melee-.

I sigh. If we're not trying to keep them alive…

I raise my hands and hit it in the chest with a destruction bolt. The front half of its chest vanishes around the point of impact, the bolt losing power as it spreads through the creature's flesh. Still makes quite a mess-.

The blasted corpse hits a wall and then falls back. Hm. Nth metal -the patrol point their guns at me and I ignore them- armour on the Man-Hawk. Looks… Thin, though. My destruction bolt punched a hole through it, and then annihilated a broader chunk of flesh behind the hole. And the bones-.

The leading patrolwoman steps between me and the remains. "Orange Lantern. You are not supposed to be here."

"I am here to learn about Thanagar's culture. These Man-Hawks are fascinating. Are you aware-?" A patrolman near my left shoulder in what probably looks like it should be a blind spot raises his mace. Without turning I raise my left arm and point at him. "Don't be an idiot all your life."

He doesn't lower it, but he doesn't raise it any further. I take out a runestone and point it at one of the now-dead Man-Hawks. A weak glow.

"Are you aware that the Man-Hawks are either created by magic or able to use it?"

"It's not my job to ask questions like that."

"Then find me someone whose job it is and get them here! The whole reason why the Thanagar Empire is tolerating a Lantern in its capital is that it wants my help with magic. And look at that!" I point to the corpse of the Man-Hawk Hector was fighting. "Local magic use. I can't help fix a problem if I don't know what the problem is."

"Wait." She flaps, rising into the air and… What, she's just hovering there. Communicating with someone out of eavesdropping range? That's not-. She vanishes as a teleporter activates.

Hm. Thanagarians have teleporters, but they're power hogs and not exactly quick. While there are species who use unsafe teleportation techniques for the sake of expediency, thanagarians take the time to do the sort of proper target acquisition that doesn't result in passenger pâté. That means an in-person report to someone important. Someone already knows that something squirrelly is going on.

But since there's no one between me and the Man-Hawk I partially disintegrated… I walk towards it, making a beckoning motion with my right hand. "Kara, how much has your vision recovered?"

"Enough that I don't really want to use it staring at… What are those?"

"Man-Hawks." Bleez takes a couple of cautious steps closer, but doesn't seem any more eager than Kara. "Monsters that live down here."

"I don't suppose that you know where they come from, do you?"

"I think they're supposed to be some kind of alien? People down here usually try to avoid them."

"Silver Scarab?"

"I didn't bring my crime scene kit with me, but I'll take a look."

He sounds.. a little too into this, but I need someone more familiar with Nth metal use than me. And I don't feel like getting out of my armour with argumentative thanagarian police officers around. He grabs hold of the body and turns-. The part of the shoulder he was gripping tears free of the body and he stumbles back a pace before dropping it and taking hold of something better connected. He then turns the body over and takes a look at the armour.

"Badly made. I've seen Mom work Nth metal. She'd be embarrassed by this. Heck, I would. Too thin to be anything other than an ablative anti-handgun layer."

"Could the Man-Hawk have made it?"

He looks and notes the lack of forelimbs. The talons on its feet appear to have some grasping capacity, but… I generate a construct and try flexing them. They're for snatching prey, not for fine object manipulation.

"Maybe? If they could get hold of it. All I can really say is that it isn't converted military gear. Hey, didn't you make Nth metal armour for Superboy?"

"Nth metal heavy plate. He looks like a medieval European knight when he puts it on. It doesn't look anything like what a thanagarian would wear."

"Hm. The bones… They're reinforced. Some kind of metal, and I'm going to guess that it's Nth metal."

Kara frowns, still clearly revolted by the situation. "Don't.. thanagarians have that?"

"Trace amounts, maybe. These bones survived Orange Lantern's energy pulse, which normal thanagarian bones wouldn't. In thanagarians, the Nth metal is more noticeable around the nerve endings. Which I.. can't find."

Alright. Assume this creature is thanagar-native and has some evolutionary history in common with modern thanagarians… I generate a construct cut-away, showing the likely locations of the Nth metal structures which enable their flight and augmented physiology.

"Thanks."

"Wouldn't-?" I think Kara's looking despite herself. "Couldn't they do this with bioengineering?"

"While I'm sure the thanagarian government has attempted to augment its soldiers with Nth metal, any information relating to that sort of project would be highly secure. And the thanagarian military is competent enough not to let their failed projects loose. Though it.. would explain the faces."

Bleez does a passable horror heroine face. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's not an intimidation technique. Maybe they want their 'real' faces back."

"U-uh-h."

"I mean, you called them cannibals, but aside from the face-taking is there any hard evidence that they're-."

"Found.. something." Hector yanks his right hand out of the carcass, and bloody lump of.. something in his grip. "Does this look like a nerve cluster to you?"

Scan. "Yes. It's larger than it should be, assuming that used to be a thanagarian. That would explain the aerial manoeuvrability. But not why-."

The Thanagarian teleporter activates again, returning the patrol leader and a short, balding thanagarian in red clothing.

"Orange Lantern." His eyes flick briefly over the scene. "We need to talk."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
19:57 GMT

We watch as a squad of thanagarians sanitise the scene under Andar Pul's direction. The bodies are wrapped up for transportation, and a short-lived carnivorous bacterium is being sprayed on the blood and flayed meat. Though they did pick up the faces the Man-Hawks had been wearing for identification purposes. They appear to be used to this sort of work, which raises new concerns for me.

"Kara, why were you even out here?"

She squirms a little, clearly still quite uncomfortable with what happened. Okay, she lived through General Zod's attempted putsch and Kru-El's killing spree, but there's a difference between what she'd have seen and seeing death up close.

"When I.. was.. little, Uncle Jor took me on a trip to one of the pre-isolationism alien ghettos on Krypton. It was.. decayed, and.. empty, obviously. There were recordings, but that's not the same as seeing a living community."

"We have perfectly good slums on Earth."

"But not species segregation. I don't think it's.. the same."

Bleez make a gesture of disagreement with her right arm. "Plenty of thanagarians live down here. And there are some aliens who get to live upside. Were there aliens who lived outside of Krypton's ghettos?"

"Not legally. There were.. stories of humanoid aliens who looked kryptonian enough to pass themselves off as one of us, but I doubt it actually happened."

Hector turns his head my way. "You're not curious why I came down here?"

No, because while I know why both of you came down here Kara needs to talk and you don't. "Missing the superhero life?"

"Kind of. Without modern communications, it was a lot harder to make a big impact back in my day. I sometimes wonder what Infinity Inc. could have done if we'd had… If everyone in our day had cell phones and we have the kind of transport infrastructure the Justice League does."

Honestly? Quite a lot. They weren't exactly lightweights. I don't think any of them could quite compete with Kal-El's power, J'onn J'onzz's versatility or Batman's intellect, but aside from that they're League-level. Certainly at the level of a League which contains Mr Queen. And when you hit middle age, I imagine that being outshone by pointy-stick-launcher-man just makes the crisis all the worse.

"Thanagar… Probably isn't the best place to get back into the habit."

"Hey, we just went for a fly. The locals started that."

"Do you know how much the Nth metal in your armour would be worth to these people? People who have to steal electricity to get light?"

"Yeah…" He looks away. "Yeah, I guess I coulda.. thought the whole thing through better."

Mr Pul watches as the last Man-Hawk corpse is teleported away then walks in our-. In my direction.

"Mr Pul. Or do you have another title?"

"Several. But that one will do. I work for Imperial Intelligence. And you just blundered into one of my operations."

Whatever protected the Man-Hawks isn't protecting him. I can see his mental networks quite clearly, though I will credit him with good self-discipline. It's not totally clear which of his desires he's fulfilling at the moment, though I can tell that he's loyal to Thanagar and to himself in roughly equal measure.

"I'd say that your operation blundered into us. I was just trying to pay off a gang and leave."

"You claim you did nothing to draw them to you?"

I glance at Kara and Hector. Kara shakes her head with a shudder, while Hector shrugs. "Not knowingly."

He nods. "Lantern, you detected the presence of magic in their remains."

"Yes. But not plant-magic, so don't try and tell me-."

"Of course not. We may not be specialists in the field, but Imperial Intelligence is competent enough to recognise one of the primary assets of our greatest enemy. These are something else. And now we're further away from identifying exactly what that is."

"Your soldiers were the ones finishing them off. Given how dangerous the Man-Hawks are I wasn't going to fault them, but if you're trying to find something to blame me for…"

"I have a problem. And regrettable as I find it, I suspect that I'll find working with you easier than working around you."

"Depends what the problem is. But I'm being honest when I say that I'm perfectly happy to take no further action. Thanagar isn't my beat." Because distasteful as I find this place, it's not as if Earth doesn't have slums inhabited by armed gangs. The only 'special' attribute is the arcane angle. "But if you're including me, the more you tell me? The more I can help."

"Yes. That was the opinion of our agents as well. Your…" He looks at Hector, Kara and Bleez. "Colleagues? Do you intend for them to join you?"

Getting.. Bleez involved seems like a pretty good way to put her on the xenomusik list. And… Useful as Kara might be, I doubt that an investigation will call for much higher maths. On the other hand, Hector seems all for it.

"I doubt that our guide-" I incline my head towards Bleez. "-will have much to-."

"The fact that Princess Bleez enjoys spending time in disreputable company is not news to Imperial Intelligence." He gives me a look. "You were seen conversing with her before leaving the reception together, and our files suggest that you are loyal to your mate."

I smile. "Thank you. Bleez… Up to you, but you might be better off keeping yourself ignorant."

"And I might be better off not being disappeared by Imperial Intelligence." Ah. Mr Pul doesn't appear fazed by the accusation. "But I might need you to fly me home afterwards."

"Very well, and of course. Kara, Silver Scarab, under the circumstances it might be better if you both accompanied us."

They nod, Kara doing so with clenched fists.

"All in, Mister Pul. What's going on?"

"We're not.. sure. Certain subversive groups have begun using Nth metal weapons in greater numbers than before, not including those… Creatures. Given that you have demonstrated the ability to transmute base metals to Nth metal by the use of magic, we know that it is plausible they are doing the same."

"Or they've found a deposit you don't know about. Or they've been grabbing it from-."

"We keep track of our Nth metal reserves rather carefully, and we have complete geophysics scans of all of our colonies. The quantities they're getting aren't coming from conventional sources. Is there anything you'd like to admit to?"

"I don't know how important you think you are to me? But I've got better things to do with my time than foment rebellion here. And if for some reason I did want to, I have power rings."

"Merely sharing your knowledge of transmutation would be enough, and give you plausible deniability."

"I don't know how to transmute it. And.. anyway, that wasn't magic. I lost a lot of the knowledge I gained from bonding with the Ophidian when we separated, but I do remember that we were altering it physically. And we nearly took out a mountain doing it."

Bleez turns her head my way. "Thanagar has that technology."

"Well there you go-."

Mr Pul makes a negative gesture with his wings. "Such a forge would be impossible to disguise. If it existed, we would have found it."

"Alright. How about we go somewhere a little more civilised and you fully brief us?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
20:42 GMT

"It's been less than a day."

I smile at Ms Thal as the thanagarian part of the party files into the Vengeance of Kalmoran's briefing room, joining those of us who journeyed downside as well as Mr Cantrell and Ms Parker whose tour was rudely interrupted.

"I am an innocent victim of circumstance." She glares. "This time."

Mr Pul makes a gesture of affirmation. "Suspicious though it is, his claim has been corroborated by the surviving witnesses."

Being a thanagarian briefing room, there aren't any seats. Instead, we're standing around a holopit as Mr Andar calls up a cut-away image of a Man-Hawk.

"As Silver Scarab observed during his impromptu field investigation, Man-Hawks have Nth metal laced bones and enhanced synaptic Nth metal deposits. Our studies of their brains suggest -and as we've never been able to interrogate or fully test one, I stress suggest- that they also have enhanced senses, proprioception and reflexes. However, in addition to their lack of arms several parts of their brains which should be responsible for higher reasoning are atrophied or shrunk."

Kara frowns. "Should be? Just because they use tools, that doesn't mean they're not sub-sophont."

Mr Hol's gaze is steady as he regards the hologram. "Sir? Have we determined their point of origin?"

"Oh come on, Mister Hol. I understand following the party line in public, but do you seriously believe that they're aliens?"

Mr Cantrell nods. "Given the physical similarities, I had been wondering if they were some sort of evolutionary throwback. But that wouldn't explain them having fewer limbs."

Ms Parker takes a step closer, her eyes slightly unfocused. The image clearly means something to her. Probably something other than a reference to Ancient Kahndaqi mythology.

Mr Pul gestures, and the Man-Hawk image is shrunk and paired with that of a thanagarian. "Though their genetics appear to.. resist analysis, studying their bodies eventually revealed that several of the Man-Hawks we examined have signs of old injuries which matched those suffered by people on the missing persons list. Our initial supposition was that someone was performing biological experiments. However, now that Orange Lantern has confirmed that they were altered by magic-."

"No, the stone detects magic. I can't tell you whether or not magic is the underlying cause."

"But you could identify the same magic again?"

"I could identify similar magic again. You'd need an actual practitioner to be sure."

Well, an actual practitioner and some of Sephtian's analytical equipment, but a practitioner could be ninety-plus percent sure.

Hector gestures at the holograms. "Why haven't you warned people about this? Or at the very least, put a garrison in your undercity?!"

"My job is to investigate threats to the state. And until recently, the Man-Hawks were sufficiently few in number that they did not meet that definition."

"The police-!"

"The police patrol downside, but have suffered an increasing level of disappearances themselves." Breath hisses through Mr Hol's teeth in response to Mr Pul's statement. Those were his colleagues. "I will be clear: the recent increase in Man-Hawk numbers, their recent brazen activity, is anomalous. And I am dealing with it." A slight -and probably staged- ruffling of his wings. "But learning who is producing them is more important in the long term than killing the ones which presently exist. A single undetected individual could travel freely and spread this menace to all parts of the Empire. And that is not something I will allow."

"You know, I'm.. pretty sure that Hyathis would-" The thanagarians present glare at me. "-lend you a few druids if you asked."

Mr Pul shuts off the hologram. "And infect us with something else." He sweeps his left wing. "And even if she would help, we would never offer her what she would demand in return. And she would not believe it if we did."

Lantern Dul glances at me, then returns her attention to Mr Pul. "It should be perfectly possible for the two of us to scan the entire Empire for these creatures in a matter of days."

"You haven't had the pleasure of running into anti-detection wards yet, have you?" She returns her attention to me. "Oh, sure, we could do it, but forget days. If the one doing this is even vaguely competent we'd be looking at months for Thanagar alone. Assuming whoever's doing this felt a desperate need to stay in one place."

"Sharon?"

Mr Cantrell lays his right hand on Ms Parker's left shoulder as she continues to stare at the holopit.

"Though it is true that Thasaro tests those who gives themselves to him,
And true that they are made stronger by it,
His joy is not in those who stand,
But in those who fall."

That's an odd.. phrasing. Ring, analyse rhyme structure of the original language.

Original language is a now-extinct thanagarian language. Verse employed a traditional rhyme structure appropriate to the language's height.

"To move closer to Thasaro by your own wing and will is to flee yourself,
To move further into the mountain-storms by his side,
And he will watch and laugh,
At all those who fall."

Our party's thanagarians are staring at her-.

"Everyone understood that, rig-?"

Mr Hol nods at me, while Mr Cantrell puts his right arm around Ms Parker's side in an attempt to reassure her in the face of something that is clearly disturbing her. Mr Pul looks at her curiously-. Oh, that's why Ambassador Klus was asking me about them. Given what's been happening on Earth recently, I suppose that it only makes sense that they'd be interested in trying to get some sort of superbeing on their side. It's a shame that none of their other religious practices survived into the present day.

"Sharon Parker, do you recognise what has been done to them?"

"Chay-ara." There's a slight.. shift in her posture. She's-. Taking into account the lack of muscular connections to her wings… That's thanagarian body language. "I think you should start calling me Chay-ara now. And yes, I remember them."

"Chay-ara, what is it? You've never mentioned-."

"It was either brain damage from the crash or I just repressed it really hard. But seeing them… These things were living memory in my time. The last hold-outs from the time of the Seven Devils." Her shoulders move as she tries to rustle her wings. "I can barely believe that they still exist. We were trying to exterminate them."

"How are they created?"

"I don't know exactly, but it isn't complicated. A few prayers and an Nth metal knife if that's what you're actually trying to do. Usually Thasaro's followers were trying not to change, just to make themselves stronger. But in the end, that happened to all of them. Thasaro laughs at mortals."

Ms Thal gazes at her for a moment, taking in the alterations in her posture. "Do you know where they make them?"

"I know some places. We destroyed as many as we could, but some of them were built as fortresses."

Mr Pul looks mildly pleased. "Excellent news. Give us the co-ordinates and I'll assign ships at once."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January
21:06 GMT -5

"…next guest doesn't need any introduction-"

But you're going to introduce-.

"-but I'll introduce him anyway."

Hah! I actually smile as Jack Ryder mugs for the audience. The stands are packed with a cross-section of America and a few of my family. Lynne and Hybrid-lad-whose-name-I-can't-think are here so they can write an essay on it for their civics classes. Better this than one of those idiotically jingoistic 'explain-how-America-is-the-best-country-in-the-world' things. I invited Scott and Barda, but they felt that showing me support would risk the League's apolitical stance during national elections.

Well. Scott did. I somehow doubt that Barda would have done anything to support my position.

"From the Planet of Ultimate Tyranny to the Land of the Free: show a warm welcome for Grayven!"

I stroll onto the stage as the-. Hah! As a couple of technicians wheel what looks suspiciously like a Throne of Doom onto the stage next to the host. I did warn them that I'd flatten their regular guest chairs, but I'm surprised that they went to this sort of length. I wave to the audience as they applaud, then wait until the crew have the chair positioned to their liking and give them a polite nod in thanks before sitting down upon it.

Not exactly comfortable, but I suppose that it'll do.

"Grayven, thank you for coming on."

"Not a problem, Jack. Glad to be here."

"We've got a lot to talk about this evening, but before we start, I.. ah… I've got to do another one of these tomorrow night, so I can't really afford to get shipped off to the other side of the universe..?"

"Oh, don't worry." I shake my head as the audience titters. "Tricks like that lose their impact if you keep repeating yourself."

"Well… Okay then." He leans back. "I guess I'll look forward to whatever you've got planned?"

I pantomime an expression of complete innocence, and get a small laugh from the crowd.

"So as I'm sure that you've noticed, we've got an election coming up. And as everyone knows, you're pretty tight with the incumbent."

"I've…" I nod. "Worked productively with President Horne on a few issues. Speaking as an Apokoliptian, I find this whole… Four to eight years thing a bit strange."

"Oh, come on. You saved the man's life, he gave you a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and-."

"With distinction." I point to the ribbon.

"And you've basically become Secretary of State for Metahumans."

"That's.. overstating things somewhat. Yes, I was consulted on policy, as were a number of other specialists. And I've participated in a number of missions, some under the auspices of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. But I'm just an agent, certainly not a Secretary of State."

He frowns. "Are you.. backing away from President Horne?"

"No, it's…" I sigh. "I like Jon, but when you get right down to it… I'm a foreign citizen. More to the point, I'm a foreign citizen of a place that's hostile to the United States, even though I.. obviously disagree with that policy. I feel-. I don't think it's appropriate for me to have… Undue influence on your domestic politics. I have a good working and personal relationship with President Horne, I like to think that together we've done a lot of good for the country, and for the Earth. But if the American people choose to elect someone else, whether it be Senator Bishop or a.. third party candidate, I would endeavour to form a similar relationship with them. Ultimately, it's not about-."

"Senator Bishop?"

I blink. "The Repub-?"

"I think you mean Senator Knight."

"Oh…" I wave my right hand in his direction. "Sorry, yes, that's his.. name, isn't it?" I shrug in mock embarrassment. "Sorry, I was.. playing chess with my son earlier today-" And I was, too. "-and I-. Yeah."

"Right…"

Okay, it was a clumsy jab, but even if it doesn't make Knight look silly it at least makes me look a little more human.

"Ah… Sorry, as I was saying. It's not about personality, it's about the task, the.. job of making American laws relating to metahumans a little more sensible. With the passage of the Destructive Persons Act, the lion's share of the job is done. Implementation does not require constant presidential involvement. It might actually be detrimental for it to be a partisan issue."

"So the President's leaving you out in the cold?"

"The President has a country to govern. And as much as I admire his patience in talking people into putting his legislation into practice sensibly, it's not something with which I can really help. And… There's probably a limit to how much help is really appropriate. He.. knows where I am if he needs me, and that I'm happy to butt out when he doesn't."

"Okay, so, this new federal agency is going to train and regulate superheroes. W-?"

"Not-. Sort of. It trains metahuman agents. In a.. few years, they might be training magic using agents. Superheroes-. I'm a superhero, so this isn't intended as a slight against people who risk life and limb for the greater good. That whole.. go get 'em attitude is one of the things I find most fascinating about this country. But… There's a reason why police forces exist. Top calibre superheroes like members of the Justice League are.. not exactly the rule. Information sharing is generally poor quality, training is patchy and that's not even getting into the lack of accountability-. A lot of the time there really isn't a difference between a masked vigilante and the street thugs they claim to be fighting. I've seen the figures on assaults and… In some cases murders."

"Little bit of hypocrisy sneaking in there, huh?"

"Probably. But I wouldn't have done that to someone the conventional authorities could handle. Political recognition of that fact is why I was pardoned. After the second Belle Reve breakout I didn't kill anyone because I knew that the situation could be brought back under control. And in any case, there wasn't any doubt about Klarion's guilt. A lot of the people that get targeted by vigilante campaigns haven't.. done much, if anything. Certainly nothing which justifies hospitalising them with life-changing injuries. America's security services are required by law to behave and investigate in certain ways, and I think that's a good thing. The fact that organisations like those, which are largely competent, incorrupt and law-abiding, can exist is a sign of the strength of America's social conventions and contract. Vigilantes… Where they can be said to have legitimacy, is when they are symptomatic of an underlying problem. If Gotham hadn't been hilariously corrupt and dysfunctional for years, no Batman."

"And what about Superman?"

"Organisations are designed to standardise processes, so that they can be performed reasonably well by as many different people as possible. What kind of police force could come up with procedures for the only kryptonian on the planet? And if they could, would limiting him to a single city really be the best use of his talents?" I shake my head. "With people that powerful, the sensible thing to do is give them a few restrictions, some oversight, and then let them get on with it."

"I thought the President didn't want to conscript Superman."

"The fact that Superman is a good guy, and has proven that in over a decade's good service to the nation and the planet, does not guarantee that the next person in his weight class will be as well. If people could be relied upon to treat one another well, we wouldn't need a police force. The balance President Horne has to strike is between supporting those who are fine acting on their own recognisance and guiding those who -though well-intentioned- aren't. And so far, the implementation appears to be going reasonably well. Not.. perfectly, but that's to be expected with any major piece of legislation and that's why he's still working on that aspect."

"What do you think about how China handles it?"

As if Jean didn't prepare me for questions about that.

"It's excessively interfering. Their natural tendency to regiment anything related to security is causing far more harm than good. Conscripting every metahuman in the country is extremely wasteful, and I'm glad that they're starting to recognise that fact. On the other hand, it's unrealistic to expect that to produce the sort of independent superheroes the US has."

"Their department of defense claims that they can field 'an army-group worth of superheroes'."

"That's… Technically true, if you count someone whose power is to turn leaves from green to blue and who had two months' military training a decade ago as a 'superhero'. The Standing Committee on Metahuman Affairs has a lot of people on its books who have no business being there but who can be recalled to active service at five minutes' notice. It's a foolish system because the people involved would be no use to them."

"Have you studied the Chinese system?"

"Yes, and I've tried to help them modify the way they do things as well. At present, however, I consider it a good example of how not to do things in this country."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
01:21 GMT

The officer in charge of the light carrier giving us a ride looks around as I stroll onto the bridge before returning his attention to the hologram the newly rechristened Chay'ara is gesturing to.

"…and here, though we may need dedicated mining equipment to break through. We deliberately collapsed a mountain over it."

"If it's that resilient, we could always just shoot our way through."

"Or you could ask me?" Ring, scan the rubble down there? Ah, a hill. Looks completely natural to me, but I suppose that after all this time it would. "Heavy lifting is why I'm here, isn't it?"

The officer's eyes shift to me again. "This is a Thanagarian matter. We'll involve aliens if we need to."

"Okay, I offered." I stroll a little closer-. Ah, yes, the ring's giving me confused returns about what's inside the hill. "Does anything down there suggest that the site has seen any recent use?"

The officer presses a button on his control panel, and the display shows a group of dots fly towards the planet. "We will know in a few minutes."

Of course, I could just teleport down… But… Yeah, this is a Thanagarian matter. They aren't Earth; they're technologically developed enough to deal with this themselves. Unless one of the Seven Devils turns up in person I don't need to involve myself directly.

"Chay-ara, what can you tell us about what other resources these people might have?"

"In my first life, they would have legions of soldiers armed as we were, hierophants empowered by a sliver of their might, automata and.. other things. Like these Man-Hawks."

"When you say 'automata', do you-?"

"Statues granted animation by magic or animated by their will. It.. sickens me to think about it."

"Why?"

"We were their tools. As far as they were concerned, we existed only to glorify them. The.. ship.. that brought me to Earth? Only a handful of devout hierophants were allowed the knowledge of how such things operated. The Man-Hawks are the most obviously altered, but if the lizarkons have no Nth metal in their bodies I doubt that our own strength was a product of natural evolution."

I look at her for a moment. "Their bodies, Sharon Parker."

She glares at me, then appears to snap out of it. "Yess, yes, I-." She takes a moment to order her thoughts. "I'm sorry, this whole situation-. This battle was Chay-ara's life. All of her memories are coming back at once. I think I'm even getting phantom pains from her wings."

"These creatures once ruled us? Altered us?" The officer bares his teeth in a sign of absolute distaste. "Disgusting."

"Is it? Your people do use cybernetics, and-."

"How would it be amongst your people if monsters altered you to turn you into their playthings?"

I shrug. "We'd do as your forebears did: rise up, cast them down and take everything they ever owned for ourselves."

"The gladness I feel at the knowledge that I am descended from such people only just barely counterbalances how repugnant I find what came before. You speak as if we were similar, but when have your people endured such horror?"

"Ah..? Vampires and werewolves?" I shrug. "They've been around for centuries. Possibly longer. More recently, we've had Devil Jizz users, and magicians have been making pacts with demons for as long as we've got records."

"Vam.. pires? What are those?"

"Humans who gain massively increased strength, endurance and regeneration in exchange for being burned by the sun and needing to drink blood. Older vampires gain hypnotism, shapeshifting and the ability to control the weather."

"Who do they serve?"

"No idea. The few I've met usually don't serve anyone, or if they do it's the Elder who changed them. Werewolves get increased strength, endurance and regeneration but become mindlessly bestial during some parts of the lunar cycle. Jizzers get random powers and mutations, demon pacts can grant just about anything…" He looks askance at me. "Working on Earth is great preparation for the rest of the universe: you'll never encounter anything you haven't seen before. Though the place itself is a bit-"

The hologram shifts as data begins coming in from the attack ships.

"-mental."

Both Ms Parker and the officer give it their full attention at once, studying the changes brought by each update.

"No defences." The officer gives his wings a small ruffle. "I will have them deploy a beacon so that we can teleport down a team of engineers."

"Let me know if you need me." I raise my right hand to my forehead and-

-step out and back-

-next to Bleez. Her eyes are on me the moment I reappear, then she returns her attention to the monitor she's reading from.

"They're sending down a team, but it doesn't look like anyone's here."

"What do you know about Nth metal synthesis?"

"I really don't remember how I did it." I shrug. "Lead, massive amounts of power and a whole lot of mental processing to keep the… Stuff I was working on from going critical or forming…" I frown. "Wrong, I think."

"Do you know how much Nth metal the Thanagarian Empire uses each day?"

"No?" I know that it's in virtually all of their advanced technology, but I've got no idea what their daily usage is like. "Lots, probably?"

"I like being a singer, but Mother had me educated 'as befits my station'." She grimaces prettily. "I know economics. And I know how much Nth metal our transmutation factories create and how much power it takes to make them work."

"Something.. not lining up?"

"No, the numbers make sense. At the moment. But mine productivity is decreasing. And the fleet is growing."

"I imagine me telling them that I couldn't remember how I made Nth metal out of lead was a bit of a disappointment."

"The Thanagarian Empire doesn't have any friends. All of the people who live around our borders are worried about which of them will be conquered during our next expansion. If anyone finds out that our fleets can't be replaced-."

"I'm not really seeing a problem. The Thanagarian navy is easily big enough to fight off any invasion force anyone else around here could muster. All that happens in the medium term is that Nth metal gets a little more expensive, and.. frankly, I don't really want the Empire expanding any more, not without substantial internal reform."

"Yes, I know what we're like! I don't want us 'expanding' either. But what do you think the High Mor will do if he starts getting worried about Thanagar's strength diminishing?"

"Hopefully, adjust his policies to adapt to the new reality. But, in reality… Try to come to terms with people who should never be dealt with." I smile wryly. "I might get to fight one of the Seven Devils after all."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
03:28 GMT

I slow as Bleez follows me towards the airlock. "How.. serious were you about needing my protection?"

"Kinda serious? Like, Andar seems like the sort of guy who'd make someone disappear? But I don't think he cares enough about me to put any real effort into it, so once I'm out of the way I'm probably fine."

"Um. Okay, but why are you following me?"

"'Out of the way', like, 'not on a ship full of people who report directly to him'."

Ah. And the large zeta tube on Earth is down for testing, so I can't just ship her back… "I could just take you hom-."

"Oh no."

"I can't honestly believe that your mother is more fearsome than cultists, mutants, mutant cultists and manifested demons."

"There isn't gunna be anything like that down there. C'mon, even if there are ruins, they'd have to be idiots to perch there."

I actually start laughing.

"What?"

"Bleez, I know a man who invented a gun which reduces anything it shoots to zero degrees Kelvin, and who uses it to rob museums. When it comes to supervillainy, there is literally no level of stupid that would surprise me. I'm fully expecting us to walk in on the whole cult mid-ritual."

"They'd have to be kind of dumb-. Oh."

"Yeah."

I extend my environmental shield to cover her as we step into the airlock and I trigger it to cycle. This class of warship generally leaves its fighters out in the vacuum, Thanagar having found that while it makes sense to have permeable force fields on larger ships it just isn't efficient on smaller ones and that constant atmosphere-vacuum transitions are actually worse for maintenance than either fixing them outside or dumping them off on a tender. As such, there isn't a nice easy hangar to stroll out of, so we have to wait-.

Lights flash and a warning alarm sound, and then the exterior door opens and I fly us out.

"Three, two-."

"Hey can we… Actually fly-fly down?"

"Thanagarians might be able to fly in space, but you can't fly very fast. And I don't want to wait a couple of hours."

"Can't you just make us go faster? Pleeeeease?"

Ring, how far have they gotten? Oh, not very. Though there are geophysics scans on file for this part of the planet, they were looking for places that would be worth mining. Dense rock with no trace of Nth metal ore didn't warrant closer investigation, but thanagarians do know how to mine and they've got an industrial matter flayer down there silently boring a tunnel down towards where the temple should be.

"Al.. right." Bleez smiles-. "How well can you mimic normal humanoid body language?"

"Ah, pretty well?" She shrugs, and she makes the gesture more naturally than even Ms Thal does. "I had a diplomacy tutor from when I was five years old, and I've wanted to perform outside the Empire for, like, ages. No good swinging my wings around if no one knows what it means, right?"

She giggles as I give her a slightly closer look. Oh, trying to manipulate me without me noticing and embarrassed that I spotted it. Fine, it's pretty harmless, and if Onimar Synn or Thasaro turn up in person I can be down there in a second.

"Alright, fine."

I bend space a little, increasing our downward speed relative to the rest of the universe. The skin around her eyes pulls tight in a more thanagarian expression of pleasure, flying free and focusing on what's in front of her. She angles her wings, and the feedback from my ring suggests that she's using her own Nth metal space-warping abilities extremely well. Deciding to humour her a little further, I generate construct wings and adopt a similar posture as the continent spreads out before us.

She glances at my wings for a moment, then returns her gaze to the landscape ahead.

"Do they bother you?"

"Makes me wonder why you're surprised that I can do alien body language."

"Working as a Lantern brings me into contact with a great many alien species. Plus, I have my ring's database to draw upon." Closer now, I can start to see the shape of the terrain surrounding the buried temple with my eyes. "What do you actually make of this?"

"Huh?"

"The Seven Devils being historical fact, what looks suspiciously like a government conspiracy… I mean, pop singers on Earth generally don't get involved in this sort of thing."

"Y'know… Fighting's… Pretty much part of being thanagarian? Not just Thanagar's.. military government thing, but… We've never exactly been shy about violence. So if some thanagarians practise some weird religion and turn each other into monsters they're just another fight."

"And the mutants?"

"My Mother's generation lived through the Equality Plague and Hyathis's algae cure. Another way of messing with someone's body is just… Yeah, they're creepy, but that's more the face-wearing thing? They're not really out there."

As we fall through the atmosphere the thanagarians below us begin moving the boring equipment away from their entry point.

"The carrier's commander didn't seem quite so phlegmatic about it."

"That's 'cause he's from Thanagar. They get, like, taught from birth to hate the 'enemies of our glorious empire'. I'm a bit more realistic about stuff."

"And the colonies aren't? I'm surprised the Empire's government missed that trick."

"Education gets controlled by individual worlds. There are schools like that, but-."

A huge clawed arm shoots up out of the bore hole, grabs one of the soldiers mustering there and jerks back inside.

Right, we're inside the atmosphere. I stop bending space.

"Sorry, we'll have to continue this conversation later. Head away from the dig site."

I warp down, appearing in front of the bore hole as the thanagarian sergeant shouts his soldiers into some sort of order. Ring scans of the hole show me.. nothing useful. I fly down immediately, filaments extending ahead of me as I go. Assuming that the owner of the arm was humanoid, they would be… Approximately twenty metres tall. The claw put me in mind of the Man-Hawks' talons, but the structure they were attached to was clearly an arm. Large room up ahead and while there's some noise I'm not hearing any screaming.

And I'm out, rock wall behind and to the left of me while Nth metal columns support an Nth metal ceiling. The temple's portico, presumably.

"Ugh."

The thanagarian who was snatched a moment ago stabs at the claw enveloping her with her short sword, but the giant Vultureman lookalike holding her appears unaffected, not even bothering to look down at her.

Soon see about that.

Destruction pulse.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
03:32 GMT

The universe slows.

The blast of scintillating orange energy flies from my rings at narrowly subsonic speeds. I feel the slight drain as whatever passive enchantments the Seven Devil cultists put on this place try to oppose my avarice, but either they've faded with age or they weren't strong enough to begin with. Plus, I've got three rings now so I definitely don't have to conserve power. High energy use is the name of the game.

I know that my energy pulses are narrowly subsonic. At this distance the impact will be basically instant but it feels like I've got minutes. Ring, transmit a message to the carrier. Send an image of this thing and ask Ms Parker what it is that I'm fighting.

Compliance.

Two clawed hands. The beak is potentially dangerous, but otherwise it's a giant humanoid in an enclosed space trying to fight a highly manoeuvrable target. On the face of it, the danger posed is minimal, but unless I know its full exotic threat potential I can't do a proper analysis.

Let's see what the destructive pulse does. End acceleration.

The creature's eyes leap to the orange glowing blur and I see its irises contract. With no time for it to dodge the pulse hits it in the upper chest, the manifestation of my desire to erase this thing bursting through its flesh. As the light fades I can see the dull grey of its Nth metal-reinforced ribs, blood beginning to flow from the exposed muscle tissue.

"Kyaaaaah!"

I fire another volley of pulses aimed at its face from the ring on my right hand while using the left to generate a pneumatic separator construct in the fist holding the thanagarian soldier using a fat stream of orange light to anchor it to me. I'd feel a bit stupid if I used a filament and the creature was able to destroy it because I hadn't considered that flaw. The pulses scour the Nth metal reinforced keratin of its beak-.

I see the space around its body distort, and my pulses are redirected into the walls of the temple. I accelerate and switch my attacking ring to generating a construct blade while adding a clamp to the wrist of the hand I'm trying to force open. No sign of the chest regenerating, which is nice. My sword construct.. struggles to make an impression on its-.

Construct lost.

The distortion grows and it's right in front of me, its free claw already swinging my way! I surge forward, its claw narrowing missing my helmet as I fly through its legs. Just about kept my separator construct in place, but the clamp is gone and-

Connection lost.

-so is the sword. Apply more force-

The creature leaps towards the ceiling, its free arm once more flashing towards me! I fly back, narrowly dodging as it stabs its talons into the rock floor-.

I'm still accelerated. It's not keeping up with me, but it's coming close. I dodge again as it swipes, rising up-.

"Hrah!"

The thanagarian soldier finally has enough wiggle room to move, but rather than escape she changes position and shoves her sword under one of the giant birdman's talons! It instinctively jerks its hand away and she flies for the borehole. I abandon my other constructs to generate armour around her, getting it in position just in time to block its backhand swing. Not a strike-

It appears immediately in front of me again, and I'm not quite fast enough -ugh- to dodge. My kinetic barrier flares and fails as the Nth metal in the talons causes a feedback loop into its internal systems, but my environmental shield and power armour take it reasonably well.

-and it didn't crush her when it first took her. It's intentionally trying to avoid killing her. Why?

She takes a position by the borehole and hunkers down as two more marines fly down, particle beams at the ready. Given the effectiveness of their personal protective equipment and the level of force the monster is generating, they'll die unless I hold its attention.

It no longer has a hostage. I can work with this.

It swings and I evade, generating a large crumbler gauntlet construct as its claws swipe past me and slapping it into its arm. There's a release of energy as the flesh under the crumbler flies apart! The energy explodes outward and I generate construct armour to hold it off as the creature staggers, particle beams from the soldiers striking its skin to no apparent effect. The creature blurs out of the way and then smashes my-

Connection lost.

-construct from behind, destroying it. And then it-.

Warning. Gravitic-.

Stabiliser!

Space… Bubbles, the sudden gravity shear created by the creature battering against my constructs. Shots from the soldiers fly around.. more or less at random, flowing around a dozen tiny gravity wells before expending themselves against the walls.

"Stop-"

The universe darkens as the gravity distortions focus on me.

"-shooting-."

Warning-.

Yes, yes, more gravity-

Faintly, I hear my armour groan. And my rings kindly let me know that it's doing all sorts of unpleasant things to the tissues of my body.

-stabilisers. More power. Reshape the universe according to my desires!

And the groaning stops as the area is filled with orange light. Space.. unbends, and the thanagarian soldiers who had completely ignored my request to stop shooting actually start hitting again. Though either they've turned up the dial or the gravity shift thing requires all of the creature's concentration, because they're actually leaving a mark now.

Hah! The Huntsman managed more powerful gravity effects than this, and he was an expendable scout creature! Earth-crazy rules! Suck it, rest of the universe!

Incoming transmission from Ms Parker.

Okay, body and armour fixed, gravity… Bit of a wobble but basically normal. The creature is mostly just cringing back.

Answer.

"The creature you're fighting is called a Blessed One. It's what happens when a warrior devoted to Thasaro survives unaltered for fourteen years and then volunteers to be changed."

"Intelligent?"

"They can follow commands. I don't know how clever they are."

"Weaknesses?"

"If only. We killed them with lasers and nuclear weapons. I'm honestly surprised that there are any left."

"Could it be new?"

"Yes, but why would it be down here?"

"Pass." External. "Either use heavy ordnance or go and get some!"

Warning: spell eater temperature increasing.

And I feel… Something strange. Ring scans indicate minor alterations to my body, which they're immediately correcting. Trying to turn me into a Man-Hawk?

I shake my head. No, Thasaro. The Ophidian has a prior claim.

"This is my cause, this is my fight.
Shine through the void with orange light."

Orange light burns around my hands.

"I've claimed all within my sight.
To keep what is mine, that is my right."

A solid beam of destructive energy tears the Blessed One apart.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
03:40 GMT

Aaaaand rest.

Gravity… Normal. Mutations removed, spell eater temperature no longer increasing. Rings, state power reserves.

"Sixty nine percent power remaining." / "Eighty three percent power remaining." / "Seventy one percent power remaining."

Don't even need to recharge.

The soldiers move forward from their position near the borehole cautiously, keeping both the entrance to the temple proper and the Blessed One's corpse under their guns-. The entrance, the Blessed One and me under their guns the entire time.

"Oh, knock it off. I'm not impressed."

The.. flight leader makes a motion with his left hand and the guns are pointed elsewhere. "I was concerned that the alien might be.. influencing you."

"It was a corporeal creature with some spell casting ability. It would have to have been much better at magic before it could breach my defences. If you're interested-" The soldiers take position around the entrance. "-in learning what fighting actual demons is like, you should request a tour of duty on Earth."

"The day I get a power ring, I will do that."

"No, a power ring is what you get for surviving on Earth. We have five Sector Lanterns and three Honour Guard Lanterns for a reason."

He shudders slightly. "What sort of insane deathworld is it?"

"Grow some primaries." I get a short glare as he flaps his wings and glides over to the entrance. "Ms Parker, the Blessed One appears to be dead. Anything we need to do in order to make certain?"

"Sever the neck or destroy the brain."

I look over to the soldiers forming up around it. "You get-?"

They fire directly into its eyes, burning holes through into its skull cavity.

"Done. Should we expect more?"

"I don't know."

"Any other creatures we might run into?"

"Blessed Ones were always rare. They should be down to-"

"Man-Hawks!"

"-Man-Hawks and cultists. They might-"

Man-Hawks swoop down from the temple's interior, but the soldiers are prepared. Shots strike their avian faces and most of the first wave end their stoop with a crash into the floor. The thanagarians flit left and right, dodging their assailants and their plummeting bodies. Yes, this is what happens-

I raise my right hand and erase a Man-Hawk that was using two of its fellows for cover.

-when barbarians charge soldiers.

"-have a priest."

"A magic user?"

"Maybe, but the Seven Devils know more about Nth metal than any mortal-. Well, they did in m-. In Chay-ara's day. They might have advanced weapons down there."

I nod as the last of the Man-Hawks fall. "Everyone hear that?"

The soldiers give no sign that they've heard me as they finish off the last of the Man-Hawks, then press onward into the temple. Alright, fine, I'm not in their chain of command.

"Have you heard anything from the others?"

"Hector's team found a reliquary. Some indication of recent use, but there wasn't anyone there. Nothing from the others yet."

"Rightoh. I'll try and get a prisoner."

"Why?"

Ah, the commander was listening.

"I have ways of making them talk."

Construct armour to full, fat tendrils of orange light reaching out because whatever destroys my filaments is still active… I stride forwards into the temple behind the soldiers. They're leaving photon emitters as they go. Clever little things; rather than shining light out like a torch they cause things in their vicinity to leak a small number of photons. As a result the area glows enough to be clearly visible without there being a blinding light source anywhere. It still makes it a bit obvious to anyone further in that we're coming, of course. Thanagarians can be sneaky, but it's certainly not a focus of their doctrines. I suppose that being able to see clearly is probably more helpful when you're sure that you outnumber and outgun your enemies. And I'm reasonably confident that all of the corpses and shooting was a bit of a clue as to our intent.

What could go wrong? Ring, scan the soldiers for Man-Hawk mutations.

Minor physical alterations found.

Internal only. "Ms Parker, how long does it take to turn a thanagarian into a Man-Hawk? Assuming that they weren't volunteering."

"I don't know."

"Why do you need to know?"

"The soldiers here are being altered. Nothing overt yet, but my ring can detect it. They're going to need to be quarantined after the mission is over."

"I will arrange for physicians to attend to them. There is enough space around the temple itself to set up an isolation ward."

"Good. If we're lucky-" Sounds of shooting from up ahead. "-the transformations will stop when we nobble the priesthood."

"Understood. It is best to be prepared."

I accelerate to a jog, passing through another internal doorway to see the thanagarian soldiers suppressing defenders in what the map Ms Parker provided says is the inner sanctum. The weapons they're using… Gravitic accelerator kinetic projectile guns. Reasonable against Thanagarian military armour, useless against my kinetic barrier. I rise off the ground and fly through the breach at speed, ignoring the incoming fire as my barrier stops it before it can hit me. I retaliate with pinpoint destructive pulses, shooting their guns and destroying them. They pull Nth metal knives, so I drop a vertigo inducer at their feet and they collapse, clutching at their ears. While the cultists are wearing regulation creepy robes the soldiers are wearing sealed helmets, so that will be fine.

"Dread Thasaro! My lord and master!"

Sounds like a cult leader. The soldiers charge in, checking for targets and… They've been ordered to take prisoners. They're restricting themselves to inflicting disabling injuries rather than taking kill shots. I fly further in and catch sight of a robed figure standing in front of an idol, knife pointed at his own body. He spots my orange glow and turns, but my orange tendrils are easily powerful enough to punch through his weak shield spell.

"And brand."

He jerks, and my sigil appears on his forehead.

"Orange Lantern to ship. Mission accomplished."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
04:13 GMT

Ms Parker glares at the gormlessly grinning man inside the interrogation room. "Who is he?"

Once the commander was convinced that my brand worked as I claimed, he contacted Mr Pul and received a sealed list of questions to pass on to his interrogators. Having reviewed his soldiers' records of events in the temple he didn't feel quite right about throwing me out, so I returned the courtesy by only staying for the parts which related to my own interests. Wouldn't want them to think I was reporting everything to Hyathis, and I hope that voluntarily keeping myself ignorant will engender a little more cooperation.

"His name is Kartez. He's Thasaro's senior.. 'field priest'. Head of operations. The Blessed One was new, but it was the only one they've been able to.. make?" She nods distractedly. "They use a cell structure. He only knows a few names and faces, but he believes that there are small communities of Seven Devil worshippers throughout Thanagar Empire space. I didn't stay for the details; I'm sure that Imperial Intelligence would rather deal with the Empire's messes in private."

"This trip-." She shakes her head again, then turns to face me. "It's left me more disconnected and confused than I was on Earth."

"The memories?"

"Thanagar… In my day, this sort of… Deceit…" She takes a breath. "We risked everything to rise up against the Seven Devils. Wide scale deceit, enslaving.. aliens…"

"Didn't happen in your day?"

"The priests lied to us, so we were honest with one another. The Devils used us as weapons in their wars, so we only fought if we had to. I -Chay-ara- fought in two wars against species who still saw us as the servants of the Seven Devils. We didn't fight aggressive wars at all."

"Do you really think being honest about the existence of the Seven Devils is a good idea? It would only take a small disaffected group of citizens-."

"They shouldn't be letting our people live in conditions like that. Why would anyone build a city like that?"

"It wasn't there in your day?"

"There was.. probably a town there. Thanagarians have always liked mountaintops. We didn't.. bury our underclass. We didn't even really.. have one."

"How did that work?"

"We were a theocracy. Everyone served the Devils." She snorts quietly. "And that ethos of service lasted longer than the beings we served. And they didn't care enough about us as individuals to bother differentiating." She turns away, looking around the prisoner holding area. "I've been an American for three lifetimes. I want to blame the military take-over that happened after the Equality Plague for the stratification, but Bleez told me that it's actually gotten less bad since then. Anyone can join the military now, and that used to be class-restricted." She slumps. "We used to be so hopeful."

"Now that you have full access to Chay-ara's memories, have you considered writing a biography?"

"Charlie's been on at me about doing that. I said that we should prioritise the lives we lived in places on Earth no one else wrote about. Now I think I should write about Thanagar." She shakes her head. "Not that I think their government would let a book like that be published."

"Heh, yeah, the government banning it would totally stop people reading it." I shake my head. "Seven thousand years after Seven Devil worship was banned people are still doing it. I wouldn't overestimate the Thanagarian government's ability to enforce that sort of ban. Particularly if.. someone who could move around without a ship was doing the distribution."

"That could work. It'll still take me a couple of years to write it… And I can't reference anything. If there were any other records from that era, Thanagar's government would have destroyed them."

"Ex.. cept the records of the Green Lantern Corps."

Her eyes widen slightly. "That.. isn't a bad idea. If I could convince them to share them."

"There aren't any general rules against sharing unclassified historical records. In fact, there are examples of Green Lanterns sharing accurate historical data with researchers which have been ruled 'appropriate' when governments complained to the Guardians about it. We can stop off on Staphis on the way back if you're interested."

She nods distractedly.

Okay, it's a little hard to work out what effect this will have on Thanagarian foreign policy. Even if they take the temples apart for their metal content that won't add that much raw material to their building effort. How will it affect their military campaign? They must know that there's no Nth metal to be found on the worlds neighbouring theirs. They've already got more systems than they know what to do with. Certainly more habitable worlds than they've been able to fully settle. The only external threat is Hyathis and she's not exactly imminent, there's no casus belli…

Internally? Ordinarily I'd say that the opportunity to suppress one group of internal dissenters might spill over onto others not associated with the original justification. But the High Council already rules without external checks on their power. They only really need to justify things…

The old colonies. The High Council controls Thanagar, anything with 'Imperial' in the name and the new colonies. They don't control the old colonies in the same way. If you were building a cult, you'd want to set it up in a place that wasn't a police state. Somewhere that prided itself on not having military rule. And if.. there are significant cult communities on any of those worlds…

"Excuse me."

I stride across the detention area and into the attached briefing room. Bleez turns away from the muted live feed as she hears me walk in.

"Is now a good time for me to ask for a ride home?"

"Possibly. I'll have to talk to Mister Pul, but I doubt they're going to want external observers for the next bit. What religions do the old colonies practise?"

"None, really? I think the biggest religion is the Church of the One. And that got unbanned, like, thirty years ago. And all the native religions." She frowns as she tries to work out what my angle is. "We don't worship the Seven Devils, if that's what you're talking about."

"I'm a little concerned that the High Council might try and use this as an excuse to reduce colonial autonomy. It might be a good idea for you to encourage your mother to start taking action ahead of a government purge."

"Oh. Ah, yeah, they.. might. Any idea what to look for?"

"Isolationist communities. Places with little external contact. Anywhere with this symbol." I generate a construct image of the image tattooed onto the bodies of all of the cultists: a triangle on a circle with seven points radiating from it. "If no one's heard anything and you haven't seen any mutants then they're keeping things quiet. The majority of members might not even realise what they're part of."

"Right… Yeah…"

"What's the Religious Education component of your school curriculum like?"

"There isn't one, really. Education is controlled by individual principalities, there isn't any sort of general rule."

"You might want to get on that as well."

"Yeah." She walks past me and out of the briefing room. I follow her. "But I'm not exactly looking forward to living with Mother again."

"Noblesse oblige." I look around as several interrogators leave the cells. "Do you know what they're going to do with the-?"

There are flashes of light from the cells as the prisoners are shot dead.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
18:21 GMT +3

Lantern Dul looks around in confusion as she takes in the orchards of Erebos. "This… Are we under the island?"

"Metaphorically or literally?" I raise my right hand in greeting to some of the dead picking the fruit, and a few wave back.

"Literally." She glares at her ring. "I can't tell where we are. Is it magic?"

"This is the realm of the Hellenic dead. You could think of it as a pocket universe if you wish."

She turns her head to look at the apple-pickers. "Those people-."

"Dead."

"They don't look dead."

"No?" I shrug, turn and walk towards a small work party. "Excuse me!" They turn their heads in my direction. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help me."

A young-looking man climbs down his ladder and ambles over. "You serve Eris, don't you?"

"I'm a devotee, certainly."

"Well, always up for a spot of fun." He looks over Lantern Dul for a moment before returning his attention to me. "What's the game?"

"My colleague here isn't convinced that you're dead."

He narrows his eyes at me, craning his neck slightly. "Y'wot?" I shrug in the helpless manner of an intelligent man asked to escort a fool. "Okay." He looks at Lantern Dul. "Usually I look like this, but if you're really not convinced…"

His neck.. twists around, bones misshapen and misaligned, wounds clearly visible on his head. Lantern Dul makes the gagging noise that thanagarians make instead of gasping. "Believe now?"

"How'd that happen?"

His neck twists back into place as his body reassumes the appearance of normalcy. "Some idiot smacked me with an oar 'cause he wasn't paying attention." He shrugs. "Bit stupid, but it weren't murder."

"That…"

"Here." He steps up to her and gestures to his neck. "Have a feel."

Lantern Dul reaches awkwardly out and puts her hands on the man's neck. She won't feel any breakages of course, but I wonder-.

"You don't have a pulse."

"Why would a dead man need a pulse?" The man shrugs as she pulls her hands back. "I only breathe out of habit."

"One day…" I look around. "I'll be coming here. Permanently. Not too soon, but as afterlives go it's not so bad. How do you think thanagarians would take to it?"

"They'd be as bewildered as I am." She flaps her wings, flying up to just above the tree line and then turning her head this way and that. "There's-. There's no horizon."

"Why would there be a horizon? This isn't a spheroid planet. We're in a pocket universe sustained by the inherent magics of a fallen titan straight out of the Dream. Don't bring your GCSE-level Objects and Motion physics into it."

"This is insanity." I grin, throwing my arms wide as if offering to embrace her. Or perhaps offering to embrace the world. She looks around once more before descending back to ground level. "Are we dead?"

"No, you can come here without dying. You just can't easily leave once you've died. The thaumaturgy is actually quite simple."

The farmer raises his eyebrows at that. "Simple, he says."

"How long have you been.. dead?"

"Owh, that's a tough 'un. Near two thousand years, I think. Been able to think clearly for maybe a third of that."

"What stopped you before?"

"Think it was something to do with Lord Hades giving us some of his power." He looks at me. "The thaumawhatever's probably dead simple."

"No, actually, it's really really complicated. There's a reason why he's a top tier god. Doesn't rest on his laurels." I nod politely to the man. "Thank you for your time, but I'm afraid we're needed in Lord Hades's court."

"I'll not keep you, then. Good journey."

Lantern Dul and I take to the sky, and I smile as I notice that she's using her wings rather than her ring. "I spoke to Dox while you were busy. Given the status of the Thanagarian Empire, we agreed that it was sensible to reassign you there pro tem."

"What 'status'?"

"Active demon cult. We'll probably call you back once we're certain that the Seven Devil Cult has been completely rooted out, but until then you're to assist Imperial Intelligence."

"Understood."

"I want to be clear, Lantern Dul: while we are prepared to accept you sending information to the Thanagarian Empire, you work for us. Your mission does not include reinforcing the High Council's control, expanding the Thanagarian Empire's borders or fighting Alstair. If you are unable to accept that, you may return your ring to me at any time."

"I.. understand. I was instructed to accept those conditions."

"Good show." We pass over the edge of the orchard and head towards the palace. I requested that Lord Hades meet us in the garden-. Ah, there he is, along with a portion of his court. "And I will personally stress the importance of your mission. I do not want to fight the Seven Devils. Or even one of them."

"Yes sir."

I land first and bow before Lord Hades, while Lantern Dul lands a little way back. I suppose the Seven Devils don't make the best impression as far as deities go.

"My lord."

"Pavlos, rise! Rise!" Lord Hades smiles warmly. "I am eager to see what new amusements you have brought me!"

"My lord, do you accept post-mortem conversion?"

"If they are genuine, yes, certainly."

"And you're prepared to judge those not raised in the Hellenist faith?"

"I'm prepared to judge you, and I'm sure that you'll be more trouble than anyone else could dream of being."

"Well then." I take an unpowered Dolmen gate out of subspace. "The other end of this is on another world." It didn't take Ambrose long to confirm that Mother of Mercy's feeding methods could indeed result in there being millions of ghosts on Ater Clementia. That's the sort of problem I'd like to stay on top of. "Certain.. events of late have made me aware that those who die in deep space might be condemned to spend eternity there. You, my lord, my god, are the one I would have judge them and give them a place to spend eternity." His face grows more serious. "You should be able to feel how to activate the gate. And in future, if I locate mortal remains, I would like permission to bring them here."

"I will not take those who are sworn to another god. But..." His eyes unfocus as he extends his hands towards the gate. "I will accept."

The gate shimmers as it activates, and the first translucent shade is drawn through. Lord Hades gestures and it solidifies into a form which is humanoid but obviously not human. They look around in bewilderment.

"Take a moment to get your bearings! No hurry!" Lord Hades looks at me. "How many are there, would you say? A few dozen? A hundred?"

"Millions. Possibly billions. I'm sorry to say that funeral traditions in many places just aren't what they should be."

Shades begin trickling through the gate, one after another.

Lord Hades stares.

"Billions."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd January
21:21 GMT

Krandor Vat sat in his dimly-lit study. Ultra-secure briefing pads littered his side table and desk, the simple programs running on them designed to erase all data and then burn out if it even looked like an unauthorised person was looking at them. Most of the content was concerning, though he would admit to himself that little of what was there was actually surprising. As a youth, he had been exposed to magic when Hyathis purged the Equalisation Plague from his body and restored to him the ability to be an individual. Having seen the transformation Thanagarian society went through -with access to the somewhat more objective first hand accounts, rather than the 'cultivated' version he'd seen put into circulation- as a result of magic, combined by twenty years of intelligence reports as Imperial Intelligence fed everything they had on Hyathis's current capacities to him as head of the High Council…

No. It would be lying to say that he believed himself to be beyond being surprised. But he hadn't had a reason to personally review the reports coming from Katar Hol and Shayera Thal. He was but one man, and he knew better than to try to micromanage everything. But now that Earth's-.

Oh, that name. It was almost as if someone made it up as a demeaning insult, only for the locals to take it as a compliment. 'Our whole world is downside'. He felt his lips curl in amusement. But with that place's problems having an increasing impact on the Thanagarian Empire, it seemed prudent to conduct a brief review in order to be properly informed.

Earth was no laughing matter. A figure made of water nearly drowned half the planet, and life continued much as it had before. A demon stole all of their children, and the matter was resolved within a day. Demented geniuses made weapons in secret laboratories that even the Thanagarian Empire's greatest scientists couldn't match. And time travel! One of the reports stated that the Thanagarian Empire would eventually annex the place. Frankly, he wasn't certain that was a good idea.

There was a hum from across the room, and he tidied up the report pads slightly as the teleporter and teleport-filter matched wits and codes for a few moments. Anyone trying to teleport into his presence without exactly the right authorisation would -at best- swiftly find themselves deflected into the holding cells operated by the Ravens. Of course, no system could be perfect…

The area lights up for a moment, and then Andar Pul appears. The High Mor gives him a moment to regain his bearings -he remembers his own superiors being less accommodating once upon a time- before he begins getting answers.

"High Mor."

"Senior Analyst. What news?"

"The strike against the Thasaro cult was a success. Their Blessed One was killed, along with most of their paramilitary arm. I've given conventional law enforcement their orders to deal with the rest."

"Not too thoroughly."

"I felt it best to avoid even implying that. Much as I'd like to write them off as a bunch of deluded fools, they have been running a subversive organisation for thousands of years in the face of government opposition. I doubt we could catch them all even if we wanted to."

"And our inside man is.. in place?"

"Yes. And with Kartez dead, it's likely that the cultists' other leaders will begin to shift their position."

The High Mor bows his head slightly. Almost perversely, Kartez had wanted to use his cult's unusual powers to show their worth to Thanagarian society at large and earn acceptance. And Vat couldn't be certain that it wouldn't have worked. Some more excitable members of the High Council might have gone for it if a Blessed One could defeat a Lantern.

Idiots.

"He knew nothing about the transmutation process himself?"

"He believed that it involved ritual murder, but was unaware of the specifics."

"Pity. I've always thought that executions were wasteful. Are you certain that he told you everything?"

"Everything we could risk asking. The Illustres's technique…" His wings twitch slightly, an unusual nervous display from the normally controlled operative. "Kartez genuinely wanted to help us. It was unnerving."

"Can Lantern Dul perform the same technique?"

"She claims that she has far less control. I'm inclined to believe her, but if need be I can ensure that she gets practice."

"Do so, do so. And the Illustres himself? Is the.. report from the cruiser's commander accurate?"

"The cruiser's sensors are only slightly enhanced, farsight class four. They aren't precise enough to decipher gravitic phenomena with complete reliability, but… I'm inclined to believe it."

That.. was.. troubling. While getting hard figures on what Sector Lanterns could do merely required expending a small number of privateers, no one Imperial Intelligence had been able to contact knew what the limits of Lantern power were.

"At least I can avoid wasting resources trying to develop singularity weapons. The soldiers involved. They're reliable?"

"Yes." Meaning that they wouldn't talk about mission-specifics when they weren't supposed to. The High Mor believed that his people made excellent warriors, but not all were suited to discreet work. "But I wouldn't want to order them to fight a Lantern at any point in the near future. Not after a display like that."

"Is he working with Hyathis?"

"All of the junior analysts I had examining our footage agree that he was telling the truth. Which might be a problem, because if he needs anything else from her he might make a similar deal again."

"Mm. And if we need to do something to prevent that… How did he respond to Operative Bleez?"

"Outright seduction was always a long shot. Particularly given the fact that none of the attacks he endured were true threats to him. Nonetheless, he responded positively. I believe that it's worth arranging for them to remain in contact. His.. idea, about using this opportunity to reduce colonial autonomy..?"

"No. The current arrangement works well enough, and we need their cooperation more than their compliance. As the new colonies become more populous they'll cease to be so significant anyway." The High Mor thinks for a moment. "Are Hol and Thal still dependable?"

"No. We can rely on them for accurate intelligence, but they've gone native. Which should have been predicted. The element of Earth society they joined lionises heroic iconoclasm. They fit in well…"

"Quite. Too well. I fear we have to use them anyway, for another purpose."

"High Mor?"

"Earth has many gods. It's been playing on my mind that one of them might prove to be a better solution."

"I'm… That.. would.. mean that we'd wasted a great deal of-."

Vat silences him with a gesture. "Do not worry yourself about that. Your job, Andar Pul, is to make things happen. And you've risen far by being very good at it. Mine, is to decide whether or not those things are worthwhile." A gesture of obeisance from Pul's wings. "Were we able to get a sample of the… Ancient ship's hull?"

"No. Attempts were made, but none of the tools we could have used without it being immediately obvious made an impact." He pauses as he tries to decipher his superior's intent. "Such a material has applications-."

"The Illustres was open regarding concerns about Onimar Synn. With a first hand account of Ancient Thanagar's theocratic government in our hands, it would be… Convenient if we could learn the secrets of Nth metal transmutation from another source. One without the risks he feels exist."

"Should I put the operation on h-?"

"No. No. Proceed. There's no reason to limit ourselves to a single angle of attack. I think I will encourage Hol and Thal to reach out to our time-lost cousin. As a patriot, I rather like the notion that our forebears cast down our gods by brute force and tenacity. It rather puts our supply problems in perspective."

"Is it worth publicising?"

"Not yet. Perhaps.. when we get a little more detail. That aspect won't be your problem, and a hero we can't reliably kill could become an inconvenience."

"The.. book she was talking about?"

"The Illustres was right. Outright stopping it would be… Difficult. Openly celebrating it would be more sensible, though I'd rather like to influence her ahead of publication." The High Mor gestures to his desk and Pul puts his full written report down on it. A long night of reading ahead. He really was getting too old for this. One last crisis… "That will be all. Thanagar soars supreme."

"Thanagar soars supreme, High Mor."