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

[Mr Zoat]

10th October 2012
14:02 GMT

A native… Under butler? Shows us into Bleez's… Suite? Wing? Her part of the castle. The change in decoration from classical fastness to… Well, she's not a teenager so it's not a matter of all the walls being pink and covered in boy band posters, but there's a clear distinction between this part of the castle and the rest. High resolution photographs replace oil paintings, heavy antique frames replaced by minimalist glass sheets. The fittings also appear more like those I remember from Thanagar rather than the mock-period versions the rest of the castle uses. Music plays very quietly in the background as the under butler hands us off to Toroz, Bleez's personal attendant, who leads us through a lounge area and out onto a… Battlement? Landing pad?

"Hey guys!"

Bleez smiles and raises her right hand in greeting as we approach. She's sitting on a lounger, eating some sort of… I'm not sure if I should call it stew or muesli? There's a definite meat component, but it doesn't look like it's a large part of the mix.

"Good morning, Princess."

"Can't quit, can't get fired."

She waves her left wing at the other seats and we head over to them, Toroz returning to his mistress's side.

"Ah… You.. understand-."

She rolls her eyes as we sit down opposite her.

"I'm not going to need to go into hiding. If this goes wrong the people who suffer most will be everyone else. I'll just…" She shakes her head, looking away. "They'd probably send me off to one of the new colonies or something. Internal exile. I'll survive manual labour. The people living Downside won't survive the next epidemic."

"Disease?" Jade picks up a pastry that we have together identified as safe for the human palate, but does so without really looking at it and so makes it look like she's just picking up the thing closest to hand. "Wouldn't a major disease outbreak be dangerous to Upside?"

"Diseases don't usually jump species like that. I mean, most of the people Downside are lizarkons, and we're pretty different. But Upsiders get immunisation injections and bioboosters and… You know, good diets and sunlight, so it's not much of a problem for them if there's a Grey Moult outbreak or something. Upsiders don't-."

Her eyes dip for a moment.

"No, that's-. It's not that they don't care, but-."

"Out of sight, out of mind."

"More that they only care a tiny little bit. Some companies do have health programs for their Downsider employees, and they don't need to. And military service is open to anyone."

"Really?"

"Life isn't great in the alien auxiliary, but it's a living. And the thanagarians just have to meet the minimum physical performance thresholds."

"Disease-ridden, malnourished thanagarians."

"Not usually. Not malnourished. There's a reason why I'm talking about getting aliens out when getting thanagarians out would be a whole lot easier."

"Some are more equal than others."

Jade glances at me while Bleez looks confused.

"It's from a book, called Animal Farm. After a group of animals depose their farmer and take over, they enact a series of rules. One of them is, 'all animals are equal'. At the end, when the whole thing collapses into despotism, it gets amended to, 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others'." I shrug. "Everyone in Downside has it bad, but the thanagarians have opportunities that the others don't."

"And the Wingmen actually answer calls for help from thanagarians. Since a lot of the thanagarians on patrol come from there." Bleez takes another spoonful of stewsli and sniffs it appreciatively before putting it into her mouth. "Wuxwileries do't get postred-" She swallows. "-there. They get sent out to do frontal assaults, and garrison stuff anywhere the locals will see them as Empire soldiers and not possible allies."

"And on other planets?"

"We've got, like, three lizarkons on Havania. Two of them are servants of some merchant from Thanagar and the other one's their son. There are laws about where they can move, but… The government's opening up the new colonies to honourably discharged auxiliaries."

"Is that a new thing?"

"New since they actually sorted out a policy. I think the announcement was three years ago..? With planets without Nth metal, it's easier to settle them with lizarkons than thanagarians."

"Won't that cause problems later on?"

"They get to lord it over the locals we took the world from and the military governors get to play both groups against each other."

"Like Mars all over again. Some Greens were arseholes to the White and some weren't, but no one questioned the Reds."

Bleez nods. "Least it's not just Thanagar."

"Good for you, less good for me."

"Why?"

"He wants to fix the galaxy, then the rest of the universe. Then…" Jade shrugs. "Move onto other universes, again?"

"No, of course not. By the time I'd reach the end of this universe the bit I'd started with would have started going wrong again. It's an endless struggle if you choose to see it that way. No matter how long I live I'll always have something to do."

Bleez frowns. "How long do humans live?"

"Eighty or ninety years. The oldest normal woman died at a hundred and twenty two."

"But-."

"But outliers like Vandal Savage-"

"Vandar Adg."

"-and-." She frowns curiously. "Really?"

I place my right hand over my heart.

"'Vandar Adg' and Nommo Balewa live for hundreds of thousands of years. It can happen. How long are you going to live?"

I raise my rings. "As with everything else…"

"Hm." She turns her attention to Bleez. "How did it go last night?"

"People were listening. Convincing people to change isn't easy, but they know that the expanded colonisation effort is going to change things. They're willing to give my ideas a shot. Not because they're believers in the fundamental worth of individuals or anything like that, but they were up for expanding the workforce."

"Is Ambassador Klus being here going to be a problem?"

"It isn't going to be a secret for long. I don't like him being here because he might do something to discourage people, but him knowing about it a little early doesn't matter if he has to keep tabs on you the whole time."

"Then… Perhaps we should do some sightseeing on Thanagar itself?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th October 2012
09:56 GMT

"Every instinct I have is telling me that we're doing this wrong."

I shrug, ignoring the wingmen following us even as Jade tries to stare holes into them. Thanagarians aren't good at hiding their intentions, and our shadows either have no idea how to even try or they've been told not to bother.

"What, you've never been a distraction before?"

"Not exactly a high-status part of the job. But the distraction had something they-. Were…"

"Working.. on?"

She pulls her attention away from the wingmen and looks out across the valley below us.

"At least the view's nice. Those aren't thanagarian settlements, are they?"

I scan the organised fields lining either side of the river cutting its way through the landscape. "No. The towns have a small garrison, but otherwise it's almost entirely lizarkon."

"Are the thanagarians a minority on their own homeworld?"

"It's the lizarkon homeworld as well. The thanagarians like highly elevated places for their settlements, and… A lot of the smaller ones don't really have the sharp Upside/Downside divide that Thanaldar does. On the planet itself they slightly outnumber the lizarkons; the lizarkon areas are larger but have a relatively low population density. And… Then you've got the fact that thanagarians settle other worlds in this region, and occupy far more positions in the fleet…"

"They're not armed."

"Of course they're not armed. They don't even have that much in the way of machine tools."

There's a pause.

"Not going to say that it's inefficient?"

"It's obviously an inefficient way to farm. But that's not what this is about. It's about having an underclass to make them feel superior. They don't own the land, you know? It's rented."

"Not from a feudal lord."

"No, from the government. Or a government body, anyway. Darn, there's a Hitler quote about this-."

"About what?"

"Something about using pervasive instruments of state to erase other sources of identity. There aren't any lizarkon temples down there, or unsanctioned schools or anything that would promote or enable a resistance movement. Have you ever read Nineteen Eighty Four?"

"No."

I look at her, frowning. "Really? I'd have thought that something like that would be right up Ra's's street."

"Ra's was in charge of the entire League of Shadows. I only saw him a few times while I was training, and a few more when he gave me missions. Supervillains don't generally read dystopian fiction for pleasure."

"Leonard said that Mark Mardon does." She frowns at the name. "Weather Wizard?"

"Generally. Either they're just trying to get rich, or they've already got an idea they want to achieve and don't need to read a book about it."

"Reading doesn't necessarily hurt with that. There was a man who actually tried a scam from Neil Gaiman's American Gods and got away with it."

"What was it?"

"He dressed up as a security guard, hung an 'out of order' sign on a cash deposit slot outside a bank and told anyone who came to deposit the week's takings that he'd been hired to take them because the slot was broken. They handed it over and he gave them a receipt, and he put it in a secure-looking portable safe. At the end of the night…"

She raises her eyebrows. "That worked?"

"In the book they got away with it because the person who did it lived off the grid and moved around a lot. When it was discovered there wasn't any way to track them. The real world version pulled off the first part. I don't know how long they evaded the law for."

"Wouldn't they just phone the bank?"

"In the book, the fake guard gave an official-looking business card to anyone who asked. They had someone posing as the manager of the security company on the other end to field enquiries." I shrug. "It wasn't foolproof, but if people wanted to check and they were given a number to check on, most of the time-."

"People just take the obvious option and wouldn't bother to double check. How much did he get?"

"I don't know. A week's cash takings for half the small businesses in a town, whatever that is."

"I half want to try it, to see if it would work. Do the thanagarians have deposit-?"

"Please don't."

She smiles as I shake my head. "What next?"

"Down the mountain, walk into town and make conversation with the locals. Make it look like I'm thinking about recruiting. With any luck, once they work it out they'll scramble to put their preferred recruits in places we're about to go to."

Jade picks up her pack and slips it on over her back.

"What would you do if you did find someone?"

"Not a lot. Unless they were so perfect that I absolutely had to recruit them, it's not worth disrupting Bleez's work."

There aren't great paths down into the valley. I think this one was made by the passage of lizarkons over the centuries; the main road goes out towards the sea and most actual transport is handled by aircraft that the lizarkons can't legally own. Still, compared to that time Dad and I went up Cadair Idris, where there's a path at the bottom and at the top and actual mountain climbing the middle and we didn't know that in advance, it's not exactly challenging.

"So. Ballroom dancing, war gaming and long countryside walks."

"We're managing to not work a little."

"Yeah. Here and there."

"Is this what it's going to be like?"

I slow my descent slightly. "What what's going to be like?"

"I haven't been in a relationship this long before. Now we've got nothing to do but spend time together, we keep having distractions anyway."

"Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans."

"True, but I was hoping for something-."

"You chose the Darkstars over an office job with the Power Company. You like working as much as I do. Once the Reach are pushed back, we… Heh. I don't know. I mean, I try to have a plan but I'm in the same boat as you are. We're never going to have nothing to do, but we don't have to be not not doing it twenty four seven."

"'Not not doing it'?"

"You phrase it better."

"We don't have to avoid work just because we could."

"Yes." … "Well done."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October 2012
08:15 GMT

"-you must keep it raised! The death toll if the city were-"

I glance upward at the base plate of the Thanagarian city of Enndupar as my construct struggles to keep the city aloft. I mean, it's not like I want these people to die but I'm literally supporting the caste system here.

"-to fall from this height would be-."

"Yes, yes, I know, thank you."

I duck as my shield construct fractures, an Nth metal railgun round narrowly passing over my right shoulder. Marvellous. Jade and I come to Thanagar's tourist hotspot and we weren't even here for a day when the local Seven Devils cult decided that now was a great time for an uprising.

What are they even trying to achieve here?

The head of the garrison -an overweight thanagarian woman whose name I haven't picked up- tightens the bandage around her corpulent left thigh. "I'm simply trying to provide you with something to focus on."

"I'm an Orange Lantern."

"I'm colour blind."

"But you can see the shape of the sigil, r-?"

A trio of thanagarians bearing the ritual scalp scars this particular cult seems to find appealing throw themselves over the parapet! One is immediately tackled out of the air by the last of the garrison chief's bodyguards, not even bothering to bring his mace to bear in favour of immediately increasing the distance between principal and assailant. Thanagarian aerial grappling is fascinating but I can't afford the distraction to watch an expert at work.

Sidearm up, levelled, lead the shot and avoid the thick Nth metal armour that the cult's elite appear to all have and fire fire fire until the cultist falls out of the air missing their right eye and the back of their head.

I do not appreciate having my subspace arsenal rendered unavailable by the thanagarians' 'precautionary measures'.

"HRRRRRRRK!"

The last cultist dives in, the garrison chief clumsily flapping in to jab at them with an Nth metal spear. The cultist rolls in the air and swings at the point with their mace, trying to knock it aside and open their target for a killing blow. The commander withdraws the point, but the spear is designed for positions where it's possible to keep an attacker at a distance, and flying attackers-

"Yeh!"

-with Nth metal in their bodies can manoeuvre around it. The commander is forced to wield the spear like a quarterstaff, pushing forward with her wings to block the next mace strike with the haft. That works, but she's knocked back, weight going on her injured leg for a second before it collapses and she falls to the ground!

I bring my gun around, firing but hitting Nth metal breastplate and the round shield carried in his off-hand. The commander takes advantage of the brief distraction to thrust from her prone position, the spear point skittering off her assailant's gorget.

"Darkstar to Orange Lantern."

The first cultist shoves the bodyguard into the wall and turns towards us, then staggers and drops to her knees, a knife embedded in her throat just under her chin.

The commander tries to rise, stumbling as she does so but managing to turn it into a second thrust that the cultist wasn't expecting. A cut to the cheek and he's forced to flap sideways, then-

"Agh!"

-reel as the bodyguard recovers enough to take a shot. It burned through the feathers of his right wing, and though that won't remove his ability to fly it will reduce his aerial agility.

"Go."

"We're in position. They've dug a shaft going deep under the mountain. It's heavily guarded and the priest is shouting praises to someone called-"

"Onimar Synn."

"-Onim-. If you knew, why am I down here?"

The surviving assassin throws his shield, which smashes edge-first into the bodyguard's right shoulder with a crack that tells of pulverised bones.

"Because I need to hold up the city. I think they were planning to use the Downside population as a sacrifice."

"So am I killing them or not?"

I don't know anything like enough about Onimar Synn to answer that reliably.

"Destroying their equipment should be top priority. Ideally, neutralise any magic users nonlethally, but if they were planning a big sacrifice then a couple of dead priests probably won't be enough."

A flap-hop and another thrust and the spear goes right through the side of the assassin's face, though-

"Gughakha!"

-it doesn't disable him. He grabs the part of the spear just below the head and pulls, jerking it out of the commander's hands and through. He now looks like a dog carrying a long stick in his jaws, aside from the blood. I start reloading my gun as he turns his head towards me-

"Understood. Out."

-just in time for him to get smacked in the side of the head by the bodyguard, using his own shield as a bludgeon! He staggers back, and the bodyguard grabs the end of the spear and yanks, the weapon coming free in a spray of blood and teeth! The cultist swings clumsily with his mace, forcing the bodyguard back but allowing me to step forward, insert the barrel of my pistol into his eye and pull the trigger.

BANG!

The assassin collapses to the ground in a heap, and the bodyguard cautiously walks over to check on the commander.

"Your wound?"

The bodyguard shakes his head. "I'll live."

"I'd fix it, but…"

I glance up. I really hope that the technicians are going to fix the antigravity generators soon.

He picks up the assassin's mace and tests the balance.

"I'll live."

The commander's head twitches. "Responding. Good. Coordinates are available-." She looks up at me. "Lantern, pull your operative out. Ships are in position to bombard-."

"No. Onimar Synn feeds on souls. This was an attempt at mass ritual murder, most likely to feed him. If you bombard the place, you do their work for them. Don't bombard the place."

"Hold the bombardment. What do you suggest?"

"Riot control gear. Gas, tasers, do you have shotguns?"

"We have low wattage electrified plasma guns."

"Them. Get the cultists, remove them from the city, interrogate them and then execute them once the ritual site has been made safe."

"How do we make it safe?"

"I'd have to check. If you're pushed for time, fire usually works."

"Captain, the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps suggests that we need to treat this as a city riot. We've both done the training, and we've both been briefed on what these lunatics can do. Yes. Good."

She looks up at me.

"It will be done."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October 2012
14:24 GMT

Jade and I watch as the prison transport lifts off, a hold full of non-mortally injured cultists for the Ravens to 'process'.

"We're really bad at this."

"That's about as well as it could have gone."

"I meant taking a holiday. Do thanagarians do parades?"

"Yes. Not for aliens, but yes. Why?"

"Some of us haven't given themselves a tickertape parade while singing 'New York New York' and flying down Central Avenue."

"I'm pretty sure that the government of Vietnam would have given you a parade, back when you undid every congenital deformity in the country."

"It's not really the same."

"Good work on that, by the way. Having reviewed the performance of a lot more Lanterns since then, motivating yourself that much -even during an overload- isn't something a lot of people can do. Especially not without experience."

"I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Aw."

"Not like that. You basically got me out of prison years early with a clear record."

"Not 'clear'."

"As close to clear as will ever matter. I can still fly on airplanes under my own name." She breathes in deeply, then snorts the air out of her nose. "You were giving me an opportunity to prove myself, in the same way Ra's did when he let me join the League of Shadows. I wasn't loyal to him because I knew anything about his ideology. I was loyal to him because he gave me that opportunity."

"If-."

"And I appreciate you not pushing the issue, because I didn't like how it made me act one little bit."

"Consider it dropped."

A squad of thanagarian soldiers equipped for riot control flap lazily up from one of the access points to Enndupar's Downside, landing the moment they emerge into sunlight. Their armour has burns, cuts and a little blood on it, but from the looks of it the blood isn't theirs.

"What do they do for aliens who do them a big favour?"

"Make them queen, then depose them and kill all their friends once their back is turned."

She smiles faintly. "You should try that joke with them."

"That's sure to make Hawkwoman like me."

We sit there quietly for a moment, watching the thanagarian military continue working to put the city to rights. I don't know how many of the cultists were hardcore devotees and how many just wanted to tear down the existing order that did so little for them, but… When you're trying to resurrect a being like Onimar Synn, it honestly doesn't matter.

"What did you see down there?"

"The ritual was focused around a statue. I didn't want to risk killing the priest, but using incendiaries on the altar worked."

"How big was this statue?"

"About fifteen feet high." I suck in air through my lips. "What?"

"That was probably one of Onimar Synn's avatar bodies. Inactive, since-" You're still alive. "-they were still trying to wake it up. I assume that it wasn't damaged?"

"It was Nth metal." Her face goes completely serious. "Do we need to get back down there and deal with it?"

"I honestly don't know how to deal with something like that. Chuck it in a black hole would be my best guess, but I don't know for certain that he can't feed on those."

We sit in silence for a few minutes, watching one of the cruisers which relieved the city drift past, military engineers flying to and from its open cargo hold.

"How many of them do you think were agents?"

"Informants, or actual infiltrators under orders from the government?"

"Either. Both."

"I doubt they did all this for our benefit. But the timing is very convenient."

"I'm pretty sure that the head of the garrison didn't know. Wrong patterns of emotion."

Jade nods without looking at me.

"The mining equipment was… Simple to sabotage. It wasn't set to break down at a particular time, but it would have been very easy for someone to walk up to it and do what I did."

"You didn't spot anyone doing that?"

"No. Does it matter?"

"Not for another week. But I'm very serious about making sure that the Seven Devils don't return. It's-." I tilt my head back, looking at the sky where I can just about make out the ships at the edge of the atmosphere as tiny specks. "When I was… In primary school? I read a science fiction book. In the opening chapter the main character was in a space flight simulator. His ship flew too close to a black hole and he had to get free. He performed the manoeuvre correctly and left the scenario, expecting his teacher to congratulate him on his skill. Instead he got a D, because he wasn't supposed to get that close to the black hole in the first place."

She nods. "We might be able to beat the Seven Devils, but we shouldn't ever have to."

"But I don't think that Thanagar will do anything this week. They've got plenty of prisoners to process for information."

"What do they want to know?"

"About their own history, perhaps? Or magic? The capacity to use magic strikes me as something that they'd be eager to get their hands on."

"Is that a problem?"

"It might be a problem for Hyathis, but I can't see them gaining sufficient mastery to cause a problem for Earth. Not more of a problem than their fleets could already cause."

I slump slightly.

"Sorry we ended up working again. I doubt that the amusement centres will reopen until they've run loyalty checks on everyone."

She smiles faintly. "Is there anywhere we could go where we wouldn't end up working?"

15th October 2012
17:02 GMT

I look up from my sunbathing spot as Jade walks into the clearing, dead… Future dinner animal, in her hands. She nods at me before recovering a knife from her pack and starting to remove the fur.

"So?"

"Odym really is a great place to get away from everything."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th October 2012
17:02 GMT

Krandor Vat winced slightly, twitching his right wing as the muscles responsible for furling it didn't quite respond as they should. He took a moment to reflect that it was fortunate for him that Thanagar never quite adopted the sort of extreme warrior culture that some had called for. Dismissing a senior officer because they were no longer quite the brawler they'd been in their youth would have been the height of wastefulness, and politicians needed a strong arm even less.

If his mind ever weakened-. No. As things stood he'd be dead before that became a problem.

He could have come to Enndupar the moment the crisis was resolved, but… That would have served no purpose. Strong soldiers on patrol and ships in the air would calm and reassure better than a public appearance.

He glanced down at the part of his right wing still in his field of view.

Particularly these days. Besides, there wouldn't have been time for anyone to have learned anything. Far better to give the officers involved time to piece things together so that they could present him with a complete report. No matter how well disciplined, it was good for morale for officers to be allowed to succeed.

An attack by Seven Devil cultists, carried out against a major city. All hands would be raised against them now, Thanagar motivated to carry out a purge such as their forebears had never been able to carry out. No more fools or paupers drawn into their grasp. No matter how indolent or ill-disposed towards their own government, no one would want to align themselves with people who would carry out that sort of attack.

A chime, and he presses the button to allow his senior civil servants access to his office. Not as secure as the office in Thanaldar, but it wasn't as if he was staying for long. He would speak with the garrison commander and home guard captains later, to acknowledge their actions in preventing a catastrophe.

But first, the people who had created it.

Andar Pul comes in first, subtly applied makeup disguising how tired he was. For a moment the High Mor wonders if the man's conscience is keeping him up, but swiftly dismisses the idea. It's far more likely that the effort of ensuring that his agents get to where they are required to be requires constant attention and allows only irregular rest. Darl Klus is second, and seems far more ready for action. With the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps having departed and the Earth end of the operation mostly concluded, he didn't need to put in quite so many hours.

"High Mor." / "High Mor."

"Ambassador. Senior Analyst. Are things going according to plan?"

Pul looks awkward. "Not… Precisely. Most of the senior members of the Cult who aren't under our control are in our custody. Without Paran Dul or a reliable telepath our ability to interrogate them is limited, but our best predictions show that a near-complete cleanup of the cults is now within our grasp. But we underestimated the Darkstar. She may have deduced that things were other than as they appeared."

"What led to the underestimation?"

"Incomplete intelligence. Dul had no opportunity to study their current-generation exo-mantles in detail and only knew their approximate capacities. We prepared for improvements on the known suit types, but between the operative's skills and the exo-mantle's superlative performance that prediction was… Out. It also appears that she nonlethally disabled several of our insiders, who were unable to perform their roles quite as intended."

"Can she prove anything?"

"I don't believe so. But on both occasions the Illustres was quite clear that he is absolutely opposed to the reactivation of the Devils. It… Shouldn't be an issue now, but whether we are successful or not, we should never perform an operation of this type again."

Galling. But he wasn't wrong, and there was no sense in pretending otherwise.

"Ambassador."

"Operative Bleez is getting closer to him, but-."

Krandor Vat makes a dismissive gestures with his right hand. "It doesn't matter. At this point I would gladly let her take our untouchables merely to have them out of our way. Thanagarians should be driven to greatness by aspiration, not fear."

The Ambassador lowers his eyes for a moment in submission. It's not a completely unquestioned viewpoint, but the High Mor is resolute on that point.

"Then her work is going as desired, and it is highly probable that by monitoring her we will get notice of the Illustres's visits. As for our operatives on Earth…" A wing shrug. "They made an approach. The… Forge-God, Hephaestus, wasn't interested."

"Not unexpected. What did they learn?"

"We've known for some time that Earth is… Unusual with regard to magic. Hephaestus admitted that he wasn't sure how the arcane transmutation of Nth metal was possible at all. Some worlds are 'thaumically'-"

A human loan word. The closest equivalent in Quarish would be 'bloody' or 'cursed', and those aren't quite right.

"-active, and others aren't. Most, in fact. Despite being ruled by demons, Thanagar isn't."

"Can it be made so?"

"Not by any technique described in publically available literature. The god said that he didn't think it would be possible. When pressed, he opined that there might be fairly extreme measures that could cause a world to become active, but that he didn't think experimentation would be wise."

Pul looks unsettled. "Thanagar, High Mor?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Thanagar is the centre of our people and culture. It would be easier to impress our nature upon it." Pul ducks his head slightly. "But you are right to consider the potential undesirable consequences. Nothing radical should be done without some measure of confidence that the outcome would be as we want. What worlds in this region are thaumically active?"

Klus shakes his head. "None, High Mor. None inside the Empire or amongst our neighbours. Aside from Alstair and Earth, the closest would be Alavorn."

A touch on a hologram projector and its distance from the borders of the Empire is immediately apparent.

"It would be possible to negotiate the use of part of their world, but with it being effectively impossible for us to annex it-."

"We will not place ourselves at the mercy of aliens, Ambassador." Vat's expression shifted to become even colder than normal. "Alliances of convenience may be considered, but not-. This."

"Yes, High Mor."

There's an awkward… Quiet for a moment, and Vat realised that he'd been too emphatic. Klus was too young to remember living through the Equalisation Plague. It wouldn't have the same significance for him. He wouldn't understand why they couldn't-.

He waves his right hand.

"Continue."

"There was… One other thing. Another.. Forge-God. Vulcan. He works with Hephaestus, but hasn't achieved the same degree of renown. He was apparently extremely interested in the Nth metal samples that Hol and Thal gave him. I doubt that he would be any more eager to come here than his compatriot, but if we needed assistance in piecing together the ritual, their report strongly implies that he would be willing to assist."

"If necessary. I remember that both the Illustres and our operatives have noted that humans are inefficient at taking advantage of the opportunities their technology affords them. Even with the reborn ancient able to instruct them, they've made no efforts to use Nth metal so far. If we must take a risk, I would rather take a risk on Earth than elsewhere. Senior Analyst, what did we learn about countering the Illustres?"

"The subspace interference matrix worked. He himself confirmed that he was unable to access his arsenal. Unfortunately, we weren't able to access it either."

"Why?"

"The physics of the system are beyond me. Some sort of.. locking technique, crystallising the boundary of the subspace pocket. Dul hasn't mentioned it, so I suspect that it's something that someone on Earth taught him. Our efforts to interfere with his constructs came to nothing; he held up the entire city while still remaining combat effective. Other Lanterns seldom go into combat with their weapons stored, so this knowledge would only be applicable during an ambush. A full report will.. take a few days more."

The High Mor nods. "We are close. So close, now. Continue with your work, and let me know the moment that this 'Vulcan' makes any progress."

"Thanagar soars."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Vantavendi

20th October 2012
09:23 GMT -6

"Oh." Leonard looks at me over the chain attaching his door to its frame. "It's you."

"Good morning, Leonard!"

He looks… Ah, hung over. Also suspicious, though that could just be the lasting effects of the alcohol and lack of sleep.

I hadn't taken it entirely seriously when Waller said that the Governor was minded to pardon the Beresfords, but it seems that she was right on the money. Several of the supervillains I was working with are out on licence already. If they had a record of good behaviour inside and a job lined up…

I cautiously extend a vial of healing potion towards the gap in the door.

"This should fix the hangover?"

Good behaviour, a job lined up, and probably took part in operations against the Sheeda. There isn't a Taskforce X -I checked that hard- but things were dicey enough worldwide that I can't really fault them for asking for volunteers. At least amongst the rehabilitatable prisoners. If I'd found out that they'd made a deal with Satanus then we'd be having words.

He extends his right hand through the gap and takes the vial before pulling it back to him. He removes the stopper with his left hand and lifts it to his nose, taking a cautious sniff.

"What is it?"

"Healing potion. KordTech are taking it through FDA approval, but the League already uses it."

"… Healing potion." He looks away for a moment, then tips his head back and downs the contents of the vial. Then he puts the stopper back on and stows it in his dressing gown pocket. "How long does it ouwh."

He blinks, suddenly looking more alert.

"Fuck me."

"I appreciate that you're grateful, but that won't be necessary."

"Fuck you." He blinks again. "That's good stuff. What's the problem with the FDA?"

"They don't have the skills to properly regulate magic. It's not even entirely clear that they have the authority to regulate magic. But plenty of companies are fighting over the rights to bring Sheeda technology products to market so there's a huge furore in Washington over who gets to do what, and the presidential election's coming up…"

"Fucking politicians."

"A politician got you out of Belle Reve several years early. It's a little ungrateful slandering his entire occupation."

I hear a masculine mutter from inside the apartment. Leonard's eyes move a little before refocusing on me.

"It's Louisiana. He can't be that useful. What took you so long, anyway? I was expecting you to be right outside the gates."

I shrug. "I was on holiday. First proper sustained period of inactivity since I arrived on this planet. And I honestly had no idea it was even in the works. If Ted Kord hadn't been on the ball, Kadabra would be rather narked with me right now, and with good reason."

"I bet it didn't take you two weeks to visit that cat girl."

"No, but she's got nicer tits than you." … "So… Are you going to invite me in, or..?"

"I've got… Company over."

"And I can see emotions through walls." I cup my right hand against the side of my mouth. "Good morning Mister Harkness!"

"Uuuughfukoo."

"Ah." He reaches over and removes the chain. "You might as well come in, then."

Door open, he steps out for a moment and checks both directions before going back inside. I follow him in, the smell of smoke and alcohol-.

I sniff again.

"Is that bhang?"

Leonard freezes for a moment. "No."

"Good enough for me." I close the door behind me. "No problems accessing your accounts?"

"Not for long."

He leads the way into the living/dining room, where Mr. Harkness is lying on a settee with a pillow over his face.

"Hello again, Mister Harkness. How's life treating you?"

"I'll go to prison for an aspirin."

"I'm not sending you to prison. You're not important enough." I pull another vial out of one of my pouches and lay it between the beer cans on the probably-misnamed coffee table. "Hangover cure on the table."

Leonard looks from me to Mr. Harkness. "You met?"

"My first week here. I needed directions. My original costume was designed by Peter Gambi."

Mr. Harkness extends his right arm, knocking cans aside as his questing hand tries to find the vial without exposing his face to light.

"So, are you taking Ted's offer?"

"Don't know. Haven't decided."

"The terms of your parole do say-."

"I know."

"If you want to go into business for yourself I'm happy to invest or lend you the money, but now you're out… I am going to be paying you a certain amount of special attention. You're far too dangerous for me not to."

He looks mildly pleased by that comment, though he tries not to show it.

"How about the twins?"

"Already tearing their way through an old cargo ship and loving every minute of it."

He nods.

"I'll probably go with Kord. Can't see any reason not to. But right now I just want to enjoy being out."

"Fair enough. Oh." I smile. "Before I go, I thought I'd let you know that I've shown your work to a number of alien engineers and scientists from interstellar civilisations and they don't have anything like it either."

"That right."

"So if you ever get bored of Earth, you've got a galaxy of worlds to choose from."

"I like Earth fine."

"Alright. I'll see you when you make a dec-"

Mr. Harkness sits up suddenly, empty tube flying across the room and his eyes staring! "Fucking Jesus!"

"-ision."

Leonard shrugs.

"Why? You got somewhere you need to be?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
09:41 GMT -6

Lenny plonks a plate of fried food down in front of Mr. Harkness and me, while Mr. Harkness continues to stare at me over the rim of his coffee mug. He then heads back to the cooker to plate up what's left for himself. Lenny's kitchen is pretty clean, something that's at odds with the homes of a lot of supervillains and something I put down to the fact that he probably does electronic engineering in here.

Watching 'Captain Cold' work a frying pan, grill and griddle was an interesting experience. I enjoy cooking, but I've never bothered putting the sort of effort into a fried breakfast that he is without really thinking about it. And then I looked a little closer, and I understand. It's not like his father was going to feed them.

"Ketchup?"

Lenny looks around and then shifts his eyes up-

"Cupboard behind you."

-before moving back to the fried egg he's transferring.

I pick up my knife and fork, pinning the fried slice and cutting through a segment. Mr. Harkness puts down his coffee mug and sidles out of his chair, reaching back for the cupboard handle-.

"Mister Harkness." And cut through the bacon, pleased that Lenny didn't microwave it as Wallace used to. "I.. don't know why you're acting like this. We've never fought each other. I don't have anything against you."

Mr. Harkess flicks his eyes towards Lenny as I put my fork in my mouth, and Lenny shrugs.

"And if you can pick fights with a man who runs at the speed of light while armed with a bent stick, I'm-"

"It's carbon fibre-reinforced plastic."

"-sure-. Oh. Sorry. Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic. I'm sure you can avert your eyes for five seconds to get some ketchup."

He considers for a moment as Lenny takes his place at the head of the table, then turns around, flicks open the cupboard, plucks out the ketchup and returns to the table in about a second.

"My compliments to the chef."

Lenny's mouth is already full, but he nods pleasantly. Mr. Harkness-

"Diggah."

-squirts a circle of ketchup onto his first fried bread slice, then puts the bottle down and begins piling fried food on top of it.

"Digger."

I take a card with my name on it out of subspace and hold it up, facing him. He frowns at it as he finishes assembling his fried sandwich, then picks it up and takes a squelchy bite.

"'uwl."

"We're not getting Kadabra back, are we?"

I smile at Lenny and shake my head. "I found a way to meet his desires lawfully. He can come back to Central City, but unless he's picking up some of his technology-"

And he shouldn't be, because I did look for anything like that.

"-he's got no real reason to come back." Lenny affects a look of mild hurt. "Other than the fine company."

Digger frowns. "It's been bugging me. First time we met. What was that crack you made about New Zealand?"

"I said that if you meet someone with an antipodean accent, you should ask if they're from New Zealand. If they are, then they'll be happy-."

He nods. "Like it, because you didn't say 'Australia', and if they're from Aus they'll just laugh. I've been bleedin' tryin' to remember that for a year."

I scoop up some more bacon. "Glad I could help."

"Yeah, and I was wondering when you was gonna reappear. Just walk up to me in a bar, then next time I hear about you it's because you've grabbed Kedebra."

"There was never any plan for me to come after you."

"What, I'm not worth your time?"

I wave my fork as I chew, then swallow. "I can take you in if you want?"

He freezes for a moment. "Hey. Come on now."

I shake my head as a I take another bite.

"Did something happen to the Flash?" I turn back to Lenny as he gazes at me. "When I was inside. He paid me a visit after I got back. Didn't sound like himself."

"He boarded one of the Sheeda harvest ships. I don't think he'd seen anything quite that horrific before."

"More than that."

"He also killed their queen, while we were talking to the person she fled to for protection-" Digger leans back slightly. "-under flag of truce."

Lenny nods. "Yeah. That'd do it. She had it coming, but that would mess him up."

"Not your problem any more, mate."

"Yeah." Lenny smiles at his former colleague. "Sucks for you, though."

Digger just takes another bite, while Lenny points at my plate with his knife.

"Any good? I spent a lot of time working in prison kitchens."

"Yes, thank-."

Digger looks dubious. "Prison kitchens? When did they let you anywhere near-?"

"Every bachelor should master at least one meal, even if he doesn't usually cook for himself. One of the proudest moment in my early career was Green Arrow calling my chilli 'okay', and I know that Batman does a mean steak."

"Anyone can fry." Lenny uses knife and fork to crack a slice of fried toast. "Takes practice to do it well."

Digger nods. "I can-."

"Not including barbecues. Inside, with an oven."

"Oh." He appears to sour on the concept. "Just queers then."

"Um." I make a show of tilting my head back as I mentally match the male members of the Justice League to their female paramours. "No, as far as I know all of the men of the Justice League are straight."

"You mean the women aren't? 'cause I've always wondered about Wonder Woman."

"Um. Honestly? Diana's an Amazon, so I just sort of assumed?" They both nod. "But, having worked with her, and talked to other Themyscirans about it, I'm starting to wonder if she's a closeted straight woman."

Digger frowns. "How's that work?"

"In our culture, homosexuality was traditionally taboo and is definitely a minority interest anyway. You don't come out as straight. On Themyscira-."

"There aren't any men on Themyscira. It's not the same thing."

"I got hit on once, and she waited until there wasn't anyone else around. Though speaking of queers, what is Pied Piper doing with himself these days?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
16:23 GMT

Huh. That was interesting.

Apparently, Pied Piper got his life together without prompting, got back in contact with his parents and got a legitimate sound engineering job while moonlighting with the Alliance. I remember that he did something like that in the comics, but I thought he was one of the people the Top influenced?

Not sure.

Digger seemed a bit downhearted about the whole thing. People leaving the supervillain life means less chance of the Flash being distracted when he breaks the law, and he's a man reaching the end of his physical prime whose main skill is throwing bent pieces of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic. He's a reasonable engineer, but not one I feel obliged to bring on board.

I smile at my students. No, I stayed for a week and then left for a month. These Lanterns I'm mentoring. I found them in the library; Dul reading general history, Xalitan reading psychology and Onik reading about past Green Lanterns.

"So what have you learned while I've been away?"

"I have learned that these books are too small." A tendril turns the page for Xalitan. "And that I miss Onisia. And that my fixation with order and justice is not just a result of my personal experience but also a product of a common desire amongst humanoids in complex societies to be treated as participating members of that society, with all the rights and obligations that such treatment ensures. My desires are not merely mine, but the particular manifestation of a universal drive."

He moves his hands so that they're palms up with his wrists touching his stomach, ring floating motionless above them.

"I am more than me."

I nod, smiling. "Good. Lantern Dul?"

"I've learned that the things that are the bedrock of my life are transitory, not the same even a generation ago. That the things I want are things I've been raised to want by Thanagar's leaders rather than things that emerged freely from my mind, and that I want them anyway."

"No dissonance there?"

"Still… Some. I'm working on it."

"Good. Lantern Onik?"

"I have studied the records of former Green Lanterns. I have been studying their failures and the underlying reasons for those failures. I have-. There are cases where you were definitely right about their single-mindedness, and… Ah, your own example-."

"Oh, it doesn't apply to me. I'm perfect."

I smile and wait.

"Um." He glances at the other two, and Lantern Dul nods pointedly. "I.. do not… Believe that is correct, Illustres."

"Well done. Have you learned to differentiate between things that are definitely errors and things that are simply differences in approach or objective?"

"I don't think that's possible, Illustres. It is just something a Lantern must be mindful of."

"Ooor..?"

"Um. You… Associate with people who-. With other colours of Lantern?"

"Yes. Or?"

"Study many colours?"

I nod, smiling. "Or use many colours. My homeworld's Violet Lantern let me use her ring for a few minutes, and I've given her apprentice an orange ring."

Onik nods. "That is what you meant. No one part of the whole is complete by itself. By cooperating with other colours we gain perspective, and by studying the emotions which do not relate to our ring we avoid losing ourselves to it."

"Part of it. There's also-."

Lantern Dul's eyes narrow. "Can someone use more than one ring?"

"Yes."

"All seven colours? At once?"

"In theory, though I don't think it's ever been done. Is everyone wearing their wards?" Three nods, and I use my ring to check the area for listening devices before ensuring that no sound will leave the immediate area. "There's no fundamental reason why a ring couldn't be made to channel all seven."

Onik's face falls slightly.

"All seven? So you could switch between them?"

"No."

Dul frowns. "All at once? How could someone combine-?"

"No."

Xalitan nods. "Self. You would not use each of the colours. You would use what they share. Manifesting the self in the universe. The self of you. The self of all."

"That's what I think would happen."

He looks curious. "No one has tried? The Guardians?"

"Regard emotions as things for primitives like us. The issue the Controllers have is that even starting a Central Power Battery requires an intense focus of emotion and most maltusians are fairly jaded. The emotion would have to come from-."

"Primitives like us." Lantern Dul nods. "Apart from you and Larfleeze, and Malvolio, who could do it?"

"I think that my friend Alan could help create a Blue Central Power Battery, if it came to it. The Zamarons don't like me enough to explain how they did it."

Onik nods. "What about Kalmin?"

"He didn't create one. Sinestro's personal lantern is designed to maintain its own link, though it's weaker than it would be with a Central Power Battery. Neither Sinestro nor Kalmin had the sort of intensity of fear in them that would allow them to make a Central Power Battery, even if they knew how to."

"What colour would it be?" Xalitan frowns thoughtfully as he returns his ring to his left ring finger. "A ring where all colours were one."

"White." I hold up my right hand and generate a sigil, a triangle with seven lines radiating outward. There's no difficulty in creating it as there would be with one of the other colours. "Naturally. A combination of all of the light wavelengths."

Lantern Dul stares at it. "Is that what we're trying to create?"

"No. Ah, not specifically. It would be too provocative to the Guardians and Zamarons, as well as a lot of unaligned maltusians, to even try something like that. To say nothing of how hard it would be to actually use for anything. So!"

I clap my hands together.

"If you get an opportunity to borrow a ring of a different colour, take it. If a Green Lantern wants to try your ring, let them if it's safe to do so. And don't limit your studies to avarice if you don't want to. I persuaded Alan to give Orange Lantern Koriand'r a go with his blue ring and she was a natural. Now, who wants to spar with me to find out what your newfound understanding means in terms of effectiveness?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Versus the Rake Men

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 15th bell

Teela Na, better known to the small parts of Eternos that actually know she exists as The Sorceress, hesitates at the edge of the drawbridge out of Castle Grayskull.

…

"Do I have to fricking carry you out?"

"…" Clearly, yes. I step-. "No. It has simply been a long time since I have left the Castle grounds."

Since it matters so much to both her and the control spells acting on the Castle, I'm wearing the Basophil Amulet openly. Technically, I'm about to become The Sorcerer, for… All of an evening. Or possibly all evening, all night and all morning if Sir Duncan's luckier than I think he is. I'd be nervous if it wasn't for the fact that we've killed, captured or shoved into a tesseract prison just about everyone who might think about having a go at us.

So clearly Hordak's about to turn up.

"You're not going to leave by standing there. I'm not at anything like your level, but I'm pretty sure I can hold the fort for a few hours."

"That's not my concern."

I grin, stepping a little closer to pointedly intrude in her personal space. "Of course, if you've reconsidered choosing Sir Duncan over me, then you're welcome to stay. I'm sure that we can find something to occupy the time."

"I have not, and I don't think that my apprentice would appreciate it if I did."

"Oh, she'd understand. Beauty fades, raw arcane power lasts. She'd probably make the same decision herself." I take a moment to consider her relationship with the late and unlamented Keldor. "Did, really."

She's still not moving.

"I can go to Zalesia and fetch The Faceless One if you'll accept that instead."

"Evil-Lyn would never forgive you that slight, either."

"She'd be angry. But she's got a lot of anger in her. Honestly, having both of them talk out their differences in a mystically hardened fortress might be best for both of them. But you're still prevaricating."

"I am." She turns and holds out her staff to me horizontally. "I entrust you with the Power of Grayskull. May you wield it wisely."

There are flippant comments I could make. 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do' or 'I have the power' or something. But this is a big deal. Two years it took me to get her to this point, plus all the years of isolation before that.

So I raise my hands palms upwards, grip the staff and bow low to her.

"Thank you for trusting me with this. It's yours again the moment you return."

She lets go, her fingertips lingering on the shaft for a moment before finally pulling away. And I brace myself, because-.

Golden light flows from the staff into my Amulet, the intensity building as power flows back and forth and I.. feel.. a.. strange pressure.. building inside me, as if I'm being gradually squeezed into some new shape. It's not… Painful, exactly, but-.

A flare and the light dims. And I take a look at the damage it's done to my clothes. Oh, rats. Tasteful orange and gold has been replaced by turquoise and bronze. A small mercy that I haven't grown wings, but-.

I look up as I straighten up. Yes, I have a turban… Thing, though it's far smaller than the headdress that the Sorceress wears. Well, this is a temporary appointment, and I know far less about magic than she does.

"Grayskull has accepted you. And now…"

"Now you've completely run out of excuses. Good night, Ms Na."

A deep breath and she leaps into the air, transforming into a bird with a screech as she flies in the direction of Eternos.

Finally.

"Castle, would you please raise the-"

The mechanism is already clanking, pulleys turning as the drawbridge is pulled closed, the only crossing to the moat-trench now resting against the Castle's mouth.

"-drawbridge, thank you."

I turn away and start down the corridor. In theory, I should be able to teleport anywhere in the castle with only a slight drain on its power, but… Teleportation is one of those things that can go hilariously wrong and I don't really want to start experimenting without supervision.

So would books on Hordak be under 'H', or am I going to have to search through the histories and diaries for snippets that are actually useful? I mean…

I glance at the head of the staff.

In theory the Castle should be pretty helpful now. Hopefully, I can just ask for the relevant passages and… Summarise them. I can't ring-scan these books, but copying text I can see is easy enough. A nice quiet and extremely informative evening-.

"'She'd probably make the same decision herself'?"

Evelyn stands at the library doorway, arms folded across her chest and the glowing marks of her geas visible on her bare arms and legs. She's wearing a turquoise and bronze recoloured version of her old purple and black garb, a small duplicate of the bird on the head of my staff replacing the old skull on her headdress.

"Wouldn't you?"

"I might have done if I realised that she was considering giving the staff to a neophyte like you."

"That's the point. She doesn't need to trust me, because she knows that I couldn't fight her off."

"She left at your behest. Clearly she trusts you more than you think."

"There's a difference between 'on balance I think this person is trustworthy' and 'I trust this person with my life's work'. You're used to manipulating magic. She'd have to trust you more before putting you in the same position."

She nods. "Are you planning on doing something while her attention is elsewhere? On this, the eve of the Festival of Love?"

"Yes, I'm-" I point to the bookshelves on the other side of the door. "-planning to-"

"While you have control of my binding geas?"

"-do some reading." She arches her eyebrows. "Evelyn, the fact that I control your geas at the moment is the reason why I'm not going to do anything. I still remember that con you tried to run on Mister Blak."

"Which I still don't know how you foiled."

"We don't all think with our testicles, Evelyn."

She's not going to move, is she? A test of will? Dominance? An attempt to better discern the nature of my character? Best to just toss Gordon's knot back to him, I think.

I hold the staff out to the side and leave it floating there while I transition past her into the library proper. I then hold my right hand out while walking towards the closest reading desk, the staff smacking into my palm a moment later.

"Tell me: do you know anything about Keldor's old boss, Hordak?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
14:53 GMT -5

I raise my left hand to my ear.

"Orange Lantern Two Eight One Four?"

"Er, hello."

I smile. "Mister Chandler! Are you finally cashing in that free trip?"

"Oh. Ah, no. Renee'd kill me if I tried taking the family anywhere. What with the Sheeda and that."

"We're pretty sure we got them all. And Greece has got literal demigoddesses providing security on the beaches and tourist sites."

"Yeah, heard about that. But it's gunna take a lot more than good sense to convince Renee."

"Alright. Can't productively argue with that. What can I do for you, then?"

"You haven't found John yet, have you?"

"No, but that-. That's just about worked its way to the top of my 'to do' list. I'll keep you informed. Though I…"

"What?"

"Bit awkward, but I found a young man who looks a lot like him in Africa last month. Adopted at birth."

There's a quiet intake of breath. "Is he-? John's? I mean, I wouldn't be all that surprised-."

"No, I-." Scan. "His sister's. She wouldn't have been very old. Do you know her at all? I'm not really sure how to bring it up."

"Nah. I've met her a few times. I mean, she knows who I am, but I don't really know her, know what I mean?"

"Yes. I'll have to do it myself then. It's just… Tact isn't my strongest skill. I'll.. just run it by Diana first. So, yes, if that was why you were phoning, I don't-."

"No. It wasn't." I hear him sigh. "It's stupid really, with all the people the Sheeda killed."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Have you suffered a bereavement?"

"Yeah, yeah. My uncle Tom. Dad's side of the family."

Meaning not related by blood to his maleficious mother. But with both his parents and his brother dead, I… That's that generation of the family gone.

"He was a good bloke, and I-. You know about what happens next, right? When someone dies?"

"I've died twice myself, but I think my experience was atypical. What do you want to know?"

I don't say 'how honest do you want me to be', because that's something I'm going to have to feel out for myself.

"I just… Like you said, you've done this. You know the truth, not that bollocks the vicars an' all tell us. Is my uncle Tom in a better place?"

Um.

"Are you asking me if his soul went to heaven?"

"It doesn't have to be heaven. I know the angels don't really like you."

"No, we got that-." Not the point. "Was your uncle particularly religious? Or.. not particularly religious, but did he believe in God?"

"I don't think so. Is… That it, then?"

"I don't think he would specifically go to the Christian heaven. That doesn't mean that he wouldn't go somewhere nice."

"Doesn't it? What happens to souls with nowhere to go?"

"They.. might be drawn into the dominant mythos, either… The Celtic otherworld, which is… I wouldn't say that it's 'better', but it's okay. Or gone to heaven anyway for living a good Christian life informally."

"Does that happen?"

"Yes. I mean, it's kind of what the Reformation was about. I ended up in Heaven and the angels actually killed me. And there were a few people every year who ended up in Ereb-. The Greek afterlife, because they liked the old stories and didn't practice any particular religion."

"So you don't know where he is."

"It might be possible to work it out for sure, but it would be kind of difficult."

"But he wouldn't have gone to hell."

"Honesty compels me to say that I can't completely rule it out, but it seems unlikely. And the outermost circle of Hell is run by an…" Er. "Ally of mine. He's trying to make it a less horrible place to exist. If he went there, then depending on his general state of health before he died, that could be an improvement."

"Yeah?"

"Mammon is a purely self-interested demon lord. Once I demonstrated that it was in his interests to have good relations with his damned, he was willing to give it a go. So, yeah, 'better' might be pushing it, but I doubt that he'll have gone anywhere particularly bad."

"Okay. Cheers. That's… That's a weight off."

"Happy to help. My regards to Renee and Geraldine."

I let him ring off before lowering my hand.

Huh.

Really, it's… Surprising that more people don't ask that sort of thing. Or that… No one has started some sort of necromancy company or something.

Ah well.

I

step out and

appear inside the Themysciran embassy, close to the portal. I couldn't feel Diana, so I'm assuming-.

"Oh, here's the little card shark now!"

I raise my hand to greet Ted Grant, Diana… Apparently showing him around. My eyes are… Sliding off her, something about her actively interfering with my exotic abilities.

"Mister Grant. Diana, I… Don't know what that is, but-" I smile. "-well done for getting it."

"There are only so many times you can comment on my lack of defences before I correct it. What brings you here?"

"I've got a job that requires tact and subtlety, so I thought that it would be a good idea to get some advice."

She nods.

"So it seems that I'm not the only one who can learn."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
15:06 GMT -5

"Really?" I frown. "Because Gotham's so safe that no one feels the need to learn self-defence any more?"

Ted Grant grumps.

"No. Just boxing. Kids are all about 'mixed martial arts' and 'krav manga' these days."

I don't laugh, because this is important to him, and he's very old without any rejuvenation effects.

"Last time I checked, the classes were oversubscribed. And not with henchmen; half of the new people are either from the Alliance or the Congregation. They're keeping all the exercise equipment, but the boxing ring's getting thrown out. It's just not my gym anymore."

"Ted, way back when you started boxing, were there people in your neighbourhood who were critical of you for putting on padded gloves before you punched people?"

"Aaaaaaah..?" He looks a little uncertain, but rallies quickly. "Not if they wanted to keep all their teeth."

"Look, fashions change. Just be happy that the gym's still going, and… Maybe when fashion changes again, it'll go back to incorporating more traditional boxing."

"Sure, but I'm not gunna see that, am I?"

"Should I just nod and smile, or do you actually want to talk about how to bind your soul to the gym?"

Diana theatrically mantles her eyes with her right hand.

"Paul."

"Everyone has a right to their preferred afterlife service provider. I don't see the appeal, but I'm not Mister Grant."

"My choice, huh?" He shrugs. "What are my other options?"

"I highly recommend Erebos. You're guaranteed to have your full mental faculties preserved, and that's not a service most entry level afterlives offer."

"'Entry level? Who do you think I am?!"

"Someone who hasn't paid particular homage to any pagan gods at any point during his life. At this point you're almost certainly bound for Heaven, which… I've been, I don't recommend it, but I'm not you."

"I don't know. I could do with some peace and tranquillity."

"Could you? Would you honestly say that you prefer your peaceful dotage-"

His eyes narrow. "Watch it."

"-to your physically active youth? In Heaven, you're literally put out to pasture until you rise above all of your base instincts and fully unify with the Source. In Erebos, you-."

Ah…

"At the moment, you'd join the back of a very long queue, before eventually-."

"Sounds like poor service provision to me. Why not just open more lanes?"

"Because the Greek divines have gotten used to no one needing them for anything, and need substantial retraining in order to bring them up to the skill level required."

I don't know why Lord Hades instituted a separate judge for blondes, but they can now join the unified queue system like everyone else. That reform also got rid of the fast track for mortal heroes, but I don't think that will be a selling point here.

"But full sophoncy would be restored prior to judgement, and you would be free to converse with others in the queue, or with duly licensed necromancers."

He smiles. "Are you getting commission on this?"

"I tried dating the owner's daughter once. Also, I'm a service-user myself."

"Oh, that's how it is."

"I wouldn't try and sell a product I wasn't prepared to use myself. Ultimately, I will receive exactly the same service provision as you, though I might benefit from the… Ah."

"Time gap?"

"Greater degree of service-provision experience the judges will have acquired by then."

"Hm. Go back to the judgement bit. What sort of sentences do they hand down?"

"The laws of the Greek Gods are mostly self-absorbed. The most serious punishments are doled out to people who've really gotten on their bad side."

Which is why I think that Hades will 'forget' about my case for as long as he can get away with.

"Which means that your comparative lack of interaction is actually to your advantage; none of them have any reason to dislike you. Furthermore, punishments are guaranteed to be finite in duration and clearly explained to the punishee."

"Pushing a rock up a hill is probably pretty good exercise."

"They don't do that one anymore. Too many loopholes. And whatever happens in the Punishment Fields-"

"That's what they call it?"

"-since you don't have a corporeal body any longer, there's no real lasting consequence. Plus, it's a bonding activity. Everyone who's in Erebos has been through it."

"Oh. Like boot camp. That's just-."

Red mist surges up from the ground about three metres away from us-

I frown at Diana as the three of us rise, medium armour appearing around my body. "You warded yourself and not the building?"

"The building is warded, but I'm a demigoddess. I take certain magic easier than bricks and mortar."

Dozen of magic users use various 'mists' as part of their transportation spells, and if this is a Lord of Chaos then I-. Diana's here. I'll talk to them, but it will be the Ophidian and me doing the talking together.

A woman -oh no- wearing a long leather coat strides out of the mist like some sort of Matrix extra, two handguns rising up and aiming despite the red blindfold across her eyes. Crimson Avenger 2, whose name I don't know-

Scan doesn't work so I can't find out.

-and who I remember from the comic tried to kill Ted for falsifying evidence which led to a man being executed for a crime he didn't commit. Or rather, did kill him several times, which he survived due to having eight extra lives.

Ours doesn't have that.

Diana steps forward, interposing herself between the armed woman she doesn't recognise and…

Oh. A little harsh, but mostly fair.

Me, because she doesn't want me killing whoever this is.

"I am Diana, Princess of-."

The guns come up and fire!

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
15:10 GMT -5

GrabTedandconstructshield!

The bullets sent at Diana hit her bracers and stop dead, flattened metal discs falling to the ground with a 'tink' noise. The ones fired at me punch straight through my construct and through the wall behind me and I think it's only due to the fact that she wasn't ready for how fast I move that it didn't go through me.

Diana lunges forward, jinking out of her line of fire to strike with her extended right fist-. Which meets only mist, Crimson Avenger becoming intangible as it intersects with her face. I have my rings handle evasion, keeping Ted and myself out of her line of fire even as she adapts to my evasiveness.

Ring, scan her face and try to find matches-.

Jill Carlyle. Lawyer. Reported missing three months ago.

Diana imposes herself into Miss Carlyle's mist, blocking her eyes with her own head and striking at both guns with her hands. And it's working, she can't fire when the guns are intangible-.

The plume of mist wafts across-

Evade!

-the drawing room, Miss Carlyle calmly walking out with her guns raised. There's a very slight delay before she fires again, and I'm already moving-.

Ring, are those bullets punching through the walls?

Yes.

I get a sudden mental picture of their flight path. The Themysciran embassy isn't fortified enough to block high powered bullets, and I seem to remember that these ones are demonic or something? There are people working here, and being Amazons they're rushing to arm up.

I need to get Ted out of here.

I fire energy pulses at Miss Carlyle's face and hands and another at the window. She doesn't bother evading, her outline rippling faintly as the pulses pass through. It does prevent her shooting for a moment, and I use that to extend a filament outside and transition both of us into the sky.

"Who the hell was that?!"

"Her name's Jill Carlyle. She's a missing person. Did you recognise the guns?"

"Colt Nineteen elevens? Yeah, I recognise them."

"No, those specific ones. The decoration on the grip. They're Crimson Avenger's old guns."

"I don't know if his guns were custom jobs."

"Her bullets punched through my construct and-."

And there's a hole in my shoulder. We're a mile up, how is-? Doesn't matter. She can teleport and has unearthly aim. Transition again and keep moving.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's just a-. I don't really feel pain and I fight by ring, so getting shot in the shoulder doesn't really do all that much. I'll fix it now. Did you know Crimson Avenger One?"

Since my armour's not doing anything I send it back into subspace, along with my shirt. Whatever magic causes it to bypass armour doesn't seem to otherwise increase the amount of damage it causes. That's a pretty normal bullet wound, and the bullet is lodged in my scapula. If it was punching through brick walls and my constructs then it should have gone in the front and then out the back.

"Ah, no, not well. Met him a couple of times in the war, but he was from my dad's generation, and he never joined the JSA."

"Okay, so do you think she was aiming for you or for me?"

"You're the one with the bullet in his shoulder."

"Yes but -no offence intended- I was the priority target. If I died then the fall would probably kill you."

It's not healing. Okay, attach a construct to the bullet-. Naturally it falls apart. Okay, create a-. Create a tool for fishing around inside myself? What am I, a monkey?

I disintegrate my own shoulder, the bullet falling into a construct-supported metal tray. Then I reconstruct my shoulder, and test the motion. Yes, good.

"You mind.. warning me next time you plan something like that?"

"Oh. Ah, sorry."

I use my newly reconstructed shoulder to move my hand to a pouch and take out a rune stone. Bullet is… Weakly magical, and the intensity is decreasing. So the magic effect is generated by either the gun or the shooter. Might explain why it tapers off. Good for one surface only?

"Orange Lantern to Blue Lantern."

His face appears almost immediately. "You and Ted okay?"

"Yes, one little bullet wound. I've saved the bullet. Has she left the embassy?"

"Yeah, about five seconds after you did."

I turn my head to look directly at Ted. "Five dollars says I was the target."

"I'll take that bet. You know how many enemies I've made?"

"You know how many of them are still alive?" Ah. "Sorry. Alan. Was anyone else hurt?"

"Diana's got a grazed hand. Whoever it was teleported out just as the other gals charged the room."

"Jill Carlyle. And I think she was using Crimson Avenger's guns."

"You noticed that? You been staying after class with Batman?"

"No, of course not. It's an image stored in my ring from when I did research on old superheroes. I just compared the two."

He nods. "Yeah, that makes more sense. Not all of us are Batman. Okay, Zatara's going to come by and try and work out what sort of magic she was using, then we'll see if he can block it. I'll pass her name on to Batman."

"She's-."

"A missing person." Closer inspection of his projection shows that his eyes are glowing. "I can learn how to do interweb searches too, you know."

I don't know whether that was intentional or.. not.

Wait.

I float the flattened bullet up, and calculate what it looked like before it flattened… Add a little abrasion from the force field…

She's the one who shot at me and Dana. Or someone with those guns did. I suppose that the multiple layers of shielding dealt with the penetration spell-effect. But why only one shot? Why didn't she maintain the attack?

"We'll need to go over the police interviews. See if she was acting strangely before she vanished."

"And look for other gunshot victims. If she's been gone three months there's no reason to assume that we were her first targets."

"Good point." He smiles. "Welcome back to Earth, I-."

BANG!

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
15:14 GMT -5

The image of Alan jerks and then fragments-.

"Alan?"

"Call you-. Back."

The image disappears, and I scan for-

"Drop me off somewhere."

-Alan's location.

"Can't do that. We don't know the range of her teleportation, and she can selectively phase. I don't have anywhere safe to put you. Alan's a perfectly capable Lantern and Diana's right there."

Alan's just outside the embassy. He was talking to the police, but now he's evading bullets while trying to lead her away from other people. In New York in the middle of the afternoon. And he's trying to talk to her.

Stop looking, stop looking.

"Ring, anyone else shot by these bullets recently?"

Oh. Ah.

The problem with her using handguns that have been in circulation for about a hundred years is that there aren't exactly a small number of them in wider circulation. And there are… Quite a lot of gun-related deaths in the US each year-.

Half were people killing themselves?

"What? What's happening?"

"Did you know that half of gun deaths in the US last year were people killing themselves?"

"Ah… No? What's that got to do with Al?"

"I'm trying to see who else Miss Carlyle might have killed, but it's a common firearm… I mean, I can try limiting it to people of more than human normal toughness or where the bullet passed through something solid…"

"Try looking to see if there was a change in the death rate after she disappeared."

"Okay. Arranging my demographic… Do you know anyone who did know Crimson Avenger?"

"The Seven Soldiers of Victory, but I think they're all dead. Ah… Victor Leong? I never met him, but he was-. Oh, I… Guess he'd be about my age. Last I heard he was a restaurant manager, but he's probably retired."

"Victor Leong, Victor Leong… Yes, still alive and yes, retired. What was their relationship?"

"Victor was Vigilante's old sidekick. Greg Saunders?"

"Yes, Alan mentioned him." And of course I met Desperado. Definitely didn't see a sidekick with him, and he was far too young... "I'll phone him."

I raise my left hand to my ear, a ringing tone sounding a moment later.

"Hey."

"Good afternoon, Mister L-."

"I've already got a subscription to the Tribune."

"Good for you. A well-informed population is a requirement for a functioning democracy."

"Oh. So you're not trying to get me to buy the Times?"

"Not particularly. I'm Orange Lantern."

"Orange..? Oh! The cake guy!"

Behind me, Ted snorts. At least he didn't mention the eyes or the spider-.

"Yes. Yes, I am. So anyway, I was hoping that you'd be able to help me with an investigation-."

"I'm a little old for that sort of thing these days. I haven't been able to do a split kick for about thirty years. But if you're desperate, I'll go get my walker-."

"Someone's using Crimson Avenger's guns."

"Oh."

"And you're just-."

"The only one of the old gang still going, I know. His guns… Ain't exactly normal."

"Yes, I worked that out from how they shot through my constructs and armour. Blue Lantern's fighting her now, so a succinct explanation would be appreciated."

"There's some kind of spirit in them. He said they talked to him, sometimes."

"They talked to him sometimes, or they talked to him all the time and he didn't want to scare you?"

"Coulda been either. He only really talked about it once, when the guns told him something about a case he couldn't have found out just by his detective skills. They showed him pictures of what the victims went through."

"Victims..?"

"Murder victims. He didn't say anything about any other kind. He wasn't big on shooting people-. Not fatally, anyway. But… That one case? It was like the guns wanted to kill the perp and he had to force them not to."

"Do you know where the guns went after he died?"

"I don't have the slightest idea. I was Greg's sidekick, not Avenger's. Wing was already dead… I don't really know who else would know anything."

"Thank you for your help, Mister Leong. I've got your number if there's anything else."

"If the spirits in those guns are controlling this guy, you can help them, right? Avenger would hate it if someone innocent got hurt."

"Where evil spirits are concerned, there's no such thing as innocence, only what they can get away with. I won't kill her if there's a reasonable alternative. Good day."

I lower my left hand.

"Ted… I hate to ask, and believe me I'm the last person to get on his moral high horse-."

"I didn't murder anyone. Not ever."

"Evil spirits, Ted. It's not the same as the definition of murder used by the American legal system. Did you ever cause someone to die without direct and immediate need or cause?"

"Did you?"

"Lots of times. So many I'll never know all of their names or faces and I probably won't know if it was actually justified or not. But you joined the Society after the war. And… Besides, if they were having horrific visions of the people I killed, they'd never have time for anything else."

"Ah. Damn." He looks at me with a good deal of disquiet. "Al told me-."

"If you want the full breakdown and justification, you can have it after we've saved Miss Carlyle."

"Well then, I… Pushing the definition a whole long way…" He nods slowly, once. "Yeah. I kinda did."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
15:18 GMT -5

"Huh. Perversely, I don't need any details, but I do need to know if you know of anyone else who might have made similar decisions to you."

"You ain't gunna ask me about it?"

"The sort of person who has evil spirits talking in her head, teleports into the Themysciran embassy and takes a shot at Diana and me isn't the sort who's going to be interesting in hearing a nuanced explanation on the practical realities of law enforcement. I mean, you could try telling her…"

I tilt my head back, sighing.

"Yeah, we should probably do that. If only to find out what the things pulling her strings are."

Ted nods. "Nineteen seventy seven. His name was Charlie Durham, and he killed his brother, his brother's wife and their kid. He got the chair for killing his own fiancée, and his brother was the one who killed her. The kid was only eight. D.A. didn't have squat on Charlie. He was gonna go free for killin' a whole family. So I moved some stuff around, made it look like he killed…"

He bows his head slightly, letting out a miserable chuckle.

"I can't even remember her name now."

Ring?

"Wendy Cunningham."

"Yeah." He nods. "Yeah, that was it. Only thing I could do to get Charlie off the streets. I wasn't even sure the jury would convict him, but… Yeah, technically, I sent him to the chair for a crime he didn't commit. I guess that's enough."

"If it's Mister Durham's spirit in those guns, certainly. If there's a demon or other spiteful spirit in there, yes again. I'm going to guess that whoever made them wasn't exactly an Archmage."

"Why?"

"Binding a spirit to a thing is relatively easy, but a lot of the decision making gets left in its hands. But from the sounds of it someone put a demon in there without changing its nature. Put a demon in charge of administering justice and how do you think it's going to act?"

"It'll send anyone it can to hell."

"And it'll prioritise killing people whose actions prevent people going to hell or who might redeem themselves, regardless of whether or not there are objectively more 'just' targets."

"But why's it going after Al?"

"You remember in nineteen seventy four? Rag Doll-."

"Oh."

"I wasn't sure if it was him, Mister Garrick or Doctor Knight. Guess… Unless there's someone else he escorted from this vale of tears, now we know."

"Or the Nazis."

"Hm?"

"We dunno what the guns think makes someone guilty, right? So what if some Nazi private put up his hands to surrender, but Al didn't see it in time? Or… Hell, if he wasn't somewhere where he could take someone prisoner?"

I nod.

"Could be. It's a problem, and it's why 'magical justice auras' or whatever are a terrible idea. Sometimes you need to break the rules and have actual people judge whether you were right or not."

"Blue Lantern to Orange Lantern."

I hold out my left hand as Alan's face appears, breathing a sigh of relief. "Orange Lantern here. Go ahead."

"Zatara chased her off. We're pulling bullets out of the walls now, trying to get a read off them."

"Is it safe for me to bring Mister Grant back?"

"To the embassy? Sure. Anywhere else, it's too early to say. We've got to find her before she goes after anyone else."

"Okay, we'll head back. I assume that Batman's running the investigation?"

"Yeah."

"He's probably already thought of it, but I suggest asking him if other superheroes have been targeted recently. If the bullets end up looking mundane it might not have been caught."

"Will do."

"See you shortly." I end the call and lower my left hand. "I'll be dropping you off. I suggest staying at the embassy until we get this sorted."

"A building full of Amazons. If I were forty years younger, that'd be quite a prospect."

Plot course.

"Two, one, and-"

The universe skips.

"-we're here."

Diana's outside, while Ms. Candy is liaising with the police. They can't enter an embassy uninvited, but this is an attack by a US citizen and the League is going to want police cooperation. Alan-

"You in one piece, Ted?"

-is floating just outside of the window I escaped through. Ted ambles over to him, taking in the damage as he goes.

"As much as I was. You?"

"Can't complain. Borrowed a trick from Paul's book and stuck paving stones in front of the bullets to go with my constructs."

I

step out and

return next to Mr. Zatara, pinging my recording of my conversation with Mr. Leong to Batman. Mr. Zatara is holding a bullet in his right hand, golden circles dancing around it.

I want to ask if he knows what it is, but I wait for him to finish. After a few moments the lights go out, and he slips the bullet into a small plastic bag.

"Is it a demon? I've wanted to take a swing at Arkannone ever since I heard it existed."

"I do not believe so. This feels more like a spirit, or spirits, bound to the gun and granting the projectiles and the user supernatural powers. But there's something… Else. Did you hear the woman speak at all?"

"No."

"That is unusual. Such spirits are driven to right the world in accordance with their nature. When they take hosts, they will make them shout their target's crimes to the world. But she did not speak."

"The gun's previous owner certainly remained able to talk."

He turns to me, Diana landing next to us.

"Perhaps you should tell me what you mean."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 16th bell

I lightly shove the book away with a frustrated sigh.

"So that's three sources that contradict each other. I know record-keeping went to pot after Hordak invaded, but I don't understand how these people can't agree about simple factual matters!"

Evelyn -who is sitting on the edge of the table, bare right thigh facing me- pulls the book across to her and closes it, running her right forefinger over the front piece with a pale golden glow.

"It's not contemporary. 'Records of Desolation' is a glorified collection of folk tales woven into a narrative a century after the events it alleges to describe. You'd be better off trusting either of the other works." She looks away. "Not that either of them had any direct contact with him."

"Do you know anywhere better to-?"

She tilts her head back, making a show of looking at the ceiling.

"What do you think Nolar would do if I appeared at the festival in disguise?"

"Ah-. The terms of your parole aren't widely known, so I imagine that if he recognised you he'd try to let Sir Duncan know. And possibly try to follow you so he could foil whatever your evil plan was."

She looks down at me, left eyebrow arched. "I think that you're overestimating his rationality."

"Perhaps, but you did try and burn him to death. That sort of thing can overpower even the strongest ardour. But if we could return to the matter of Hordak?"

"Did you know that I was there when he turned Keldor into Skeletor?"

I sit back in my chair, giving her my full attention. "No, I didn't. I always assumed that Keldor managed that himself."

"Hardly."

"With a little help from yourself?"

"I just brought him to Hordak's temple. Ske-. Keldor, performed the summoning himself."

I raise my eyebrows. "Hordak physically manifested? I didn't think he could do that."

"There was a cloud of smoke in the shape of his face." She turns a couple of pages in The Codex of the End Times, stopping on an artist's impression of Hordak's face supposedly copied from a pre-invasion hologram. "Something like that. He's the reason why Keldor wasn't killed by his own acid."

"Why his head is a floating skull."

"He just asked Hordak to save him. He never said how. Perhaps Hordak didn't like his face."

I frown. "Is his.. head actually a skull, or is his flesh just transparent?"

"It's actually a skull. His skin is cold to the touch and his flesh is shrunken. I believe that he's some sort of undead creature now, though I've never seen any record of something similar."

"Are you having regrets?"

"What, about saving Keldor? Or not asking Hordak to do the same to me?"

"About Mister Blok."

She raises her eyebrows. "I regret not winning. Does that count?"

"You brought him up. Know anything else about Hordak that I'm not going to find here?"

"Did you know that Prince Adam had a tw-?"

"Twin sister, yes, I did."

She frowns. "They told you? I thought they were keeping that-." Her eyes narrow slightly. "No. You found out. How?"

"Not all these books are particularly reliable. But I've seen enough pictures to know roughly what henchmen Hordak was banished with. If people matching that description turn up after fighting the Eternos guard in the modern era, that's worth noting. I take it that you were involved in that?"

"I took part in the ritual used to bring them here. I was left holding the gateway open until they returned." Her nose wrinkles. "An unpleasant experience."

I frown. "If Hordak can send soldiers through from his side whenever he wants, why doesn't he do it more often?"

"How would he maintain control of them? Skeletor ensures-. Ensured, that we were forced to compete for his favour and for the resources we wanted. That required us to stay put. If any of us were away from Snake Mountain for any length of time, we would build up our own resource base and so become less dependent on him. Personal loyalty is a fragile thing."

"So what were you in it for? He used the Ram Stone himself after you stole it for him. There's no way he would have shared the power of Grayskull with you."

"What are you in it for? If Hordak accepted Keldor as his servant he would be perfectly happy to accept you."

A reasonable enough question. And at this point I'd guess that she's sufficiently invested that she's not just looking for an escape route.

"There's a book series where I'm from, set in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork. The city's ruler is a man named Havelock Vetinari, and the book describes one of the way he holds onto power as… Convincing powerful groups within the city that it's better to accept the same segment of a larger pie than try to claim the whole of a smaller pie with a knife in it. If he makes the city more powerful, then even if their power relative to other power blocs inside the city doesn't change, their absolute power does."

She nods. "A tenth of ten is one, but a tenth of a million is a hundred thousand."

"Right. When I joined, the Masters were the military elite of the city-state of Eternos. Now, we're the military elite of a continent-spanning alliance that Eternos leads. And if things keep going, with Keldor and King Hiss out of the way… Why not the whole of Eternia? Heck, as far as I've been able to discover-" I gesture to a small pile of books on the far side of the table. "-Eternia had a unified government before Hordak invaded."

"Your renown will be worldwide. But what would you do with it?"

"Hordak wrecked Eternia's technology base so badly that advanced machines are ancient relics that we can't replace and only a handful of people like Tri-Klops, Sortech or Sir Duncan can even begin to understand it."

She frowns in irritation. "Every single time we've spoken, you've called me Evelyn, and yet you call Tri-Klops by his preferred name. Why?"

"Because I have no idea what his name is. We have records of your father, and Kronis dealt in high tech weapons in Eternos's territory for years, but Tri-Klops..? No record until he appeared with Keldor."

"I suppose you can't have scoured every inch of Eternia for one man's name. Though for your reference, it's Trydor, and I'm still waiting to hear what you'd do with your fame."

"Rebuild the civilisation that Hordak destroyed. Make it so that the technology of your ancestors was commonplace again. Because the stronger Eternia is, the more secure I am. What matters to me is how good my life is; I don't care if other people have a life that's just as good. Surviving examples of the technology of that era are rare, and people hoard rare things. But if I'm trusted…"

I make a point of looking around the library, gesturing to it with my right hand.

"They will give you access, as the Sorceress did." She considers this for a moment. "Hmm. Not so different from my own plans, to tell the truth. I planned to follow Keldor's rise to the top."

"Keldor would never trust you with the power Teela Na has entrusted to me. Not even if he ruled the entire planet and had every artefact of arcane significance stuck in his backpack. And as powerful as he was, I'm not convinced that he has anything like the knowledge required to become more than the king of the molehill. And even if he did, if Hordak's still pulling his strings? Hordak's going to have his own inner circle that you wouldn't be a part of."

"True." She looks down at the glowing lettering on her right thigh. Her toned and muscular right thigh. "Despite the indignity, in the long run this may be the best thing that could have happened to me. And if you're being so noble about the command geas, there's no reason why you could not return tom-."

DOOOOOOONG!

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
17:34 GMT -5

I look up at the long list of superheroes who've died recently from bullets matching the ones Miss Carlyle was firing. The police had already linked the murders, but she doesn't appear inclined to leave witnesses alive to identify her personally.

Batman looks along the line of youth team members.

"Almost all of the dead were newly active superheroes unaffiliated with any larger group. A few had partners, but there were no groups larger than two. It's the three who were members of the Alliance of the Just that interest me."

He expands their records and dismisses the others.

"Adrian Chase. Vigilante. Noted for using firearms. He had killed alleged criminals on several occasions, but the police ruled those instances justified on the grounds of defense of another. He joined the Alliance shortly after the Manhattan chapter opened, and there was a noticeable drop in his lethality."

Unlike Marvel, Earth 16 doesn't actually have hundreds of superpeople in New York. I remember that in the Justice League/Avengers crossover they noted that DC's New York was actually considerably smaller, but as far as I could see it just sort of merges into the surrounding urban area so I don't know exactly what that would look like. Neither Diana nor Alan are grade-A criminal investigators, so there's a space for a street level superhero ecosystem to develop. I haven't spent enough time there to bother finding out much about them.

"He was found dead two weeks ago from close-range gunshot wounds. Evidence at the scene suggests that his body was moved before it was found, but the police haven't been able to find out where from. They also haven't been able to track his movements in the two hours prior to his most likely time of death."

He walks along to the next image.

"Daniel William Ducannon. White Dragon."

A short way down the line I see M'gann cringe slightly at the flames in his image. New Kara spots me looking and waves, smiling broadly.

"He joined the Chicago branch of the Alliance after several confrontations with local police over his use of his flame control powers during his arrests and his apparent racism. Before he died, he had significantly improved his self-discipline to the point that even officers who'd been critical of his actions spoke of him favorably in the press."

"Lastly, Susan Linden. Black Orchid. Unlike the other two she had no record of excess violence. I haven't yet had time to go through her entire repository of case files, but they appear to be extensive. She also joined the Alliance of the Just recently, and according to their reports did so primarily to gain access to their intelligence-sharing apparatus."

"The Justice League will be pursuing the new Crimson Avenger. I want the team to focus on these three cases. Find out what made them special that she chose to deviate from her usual victim profile. Aqualad, I leave the mission planning to you."

He turns and stalks towards the zeta tubes, leaving us looking at the three holograms.

Kaldur takes a step forward, then turns to face the… Class.

"Orange Lantern, can you brief us on Crimson Avenger's abilities?"

"Recognised, Batman, Zero Two."

I nod, walking out of line until I'm in the middle of the room and then turn, connecting my ring to the hologram projectors and creating an image of Miss Carlyle.

"Miss Carlyle appeared at all times to be surrounded by a cloud of red mist. I can't tell you if that's just because she emits it all the time or because she needs to put it somewhere first in order to teleport there. She can make herself selectively intangible, not sure whether it's at-will or automatic."

"Oh El?"

"Kid Flash?"

"You've got plenty of anti-magic weapons. How come you didn't take her down?"

"My priority was getting Mister Grant to safety, and my anti-magic attacks can be a bit lethal. I didn't know quite how big her kill count was at the time. I'd probably have been able to square an amputation with myself if I did."

Canis leaves the line to walk right up to the hologram, staring into its eyes. Birth of the Author.

"Based on what we've learned, removing her desires probably wouldn't do anything. The guns are talking to her inside her head and she's obeying. With no desires of her own she'd be less able to resist than she is now. Returning to Kaldur's original question, her aim is supernaturally good. She was able to hit me with a round from a Colt nineteen eleven at a range of approximately one and a half miles, her bullet punching through my environmental shield and armour when it hit. There's no way she could have known the wind speed in the intervening space when she fired."

Canis steps back from the hologram. "It is hollow artistry."

Kaldur takes a step closer to him. "What do you mean?"

"Her shots. Her nature. A simple machine can create an image, but art requires a direction of passion. She has none, alive but possessing nothing of life."

"Do you believe that she is completely under the control of the guns?"

"No. If the spirits bound to the guns provided purpose, I would see it." He shakes his head. "I have seen more spirit from Lowlies."

"And you can tell all that for sure from a hologram?"

"The ability lies in me, not in the subject. I can tell."

Richard approaches the hologram, apparently trying to see what Canis saw. "Oh El, can you play it through?"

"Sure."

We all move a little further away and I play the whole encounter through. Richard studies it closely while Canis is far less interested, having formed his opinion already.

Richard shakes his head as it reaches the point where I left the room and the image freezes. "I want to say that she's not moving right, but I don't know if that's true. She's not moving right for a gunfighter, but the guns could be moving around on their own. Or just working the muscles they need."

Artemis shakes her head. "She doesn't think anyone can hurt her. Wonder Woman couldn't. She doesn't need to minimise her profile if no one can attack her."

Wallace looks curiously at her guns. "I didn't think it was possible to dual wield pistols accurately like that."

Raquel shakes her head. "It's not. You can spray a load of lead if you're using automatics, but the recoil means that it won't stay on target."

A few people look curiously in her direction, prompting her to shift awkwardly.

"I hung out with some bad people."

"I tried that at a range, and she's right. Nothing about how she moved suggested to me that she had super strength, and even with super strength the gun would move a bit. She's moving and changing where she's aiming… Something else is going on."

"Hm." Zatanna looks at me. "Did you know his guns were possessed?"

"Not for certain. And I really didn't know where they were."

Richard looks at me. "Where were they?"

"Pass. Though if no one was using them, that suggests that the voices are fairly quiet."

Kaldur nods. "We have three people to investigate. Batman will investigate the other aspects of the case."

"Ah… Do you think that it's worth finding out about the Alliance of the Just more generally? What they're saying to superheroes who come to them with a body count? I know some people who are involved."

Kaldur considers, then nods. "I believe that may be useful."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 16th bell

"Ah…"

I look down at the figure staring at the pillars of glowing blue crystal that make up the core of Castle Grayskull's interior. She's standing on one of the platforms that Zodak and King Hiss damaged during their fight, and seems to be just… Staring around at the place. Which makes it relatively easy for my probe construct to stay out of sight.

"I.. was under the impression that Hordak was a man?"

Evelyn stares at the image on the screen which Sir Duncan was able to acquire for me. A simple sheet of smart crystal, this was probably the equivalent of an e-reader before Hordak arrived, and now it's probably irreplaceable. I only have it because without the technology that supported its function no one else can use it.

"On both of the occasions I saw his face, he seemed to be. His voice was certainly masculine. But I suppose it's not that hard to change a voice with magic."

"Show yourselves!"

Evelyn frowns. "It did not sound like that."

"Do you think Hordak would be arrogant enough to make people wear helmets oh dear."

"What have you seen?"

"That sword she's holding. Look familiar?"

Evelyn looks carefully. "It's similar to the swords wielded by Prince Adam and by He-Man. Perhaps they use the same smith. A little concerning, if that smith is working for Hordak and his admirers as well."

Right, that does make it seem less special. "Evelyn Powers, I bind you against repeating what I am about to say to anyone other than myself, Sir Duncan, Teela Na or Prince Adam." Her eyes shimmer with blue-white light as the binding takes effect.

"Why did you-?"

"He-Man is Prince Adam. When he taps into the power of Grayskull using the Sword of Power-."

Her eyes widen. "The power expresses itself as physical might rather than arcane power, of course! I'd assumed that the prince was simply being coddled, when in fact he's been throwing himself into every engagement."

"Prince Adam's sword is the one King D'Vann Grayskull used in his final fight with Hordak, that was recovered afterwards and kept inside Grayskull. Assuming that the histories I've been reading were even vaguely accurate… That's his original sword. The one he lost during the battle that cost Hordak most of his surviving army. That's how she got in; as far as the castle's concerned she has every right to be here."

"Hordak captured it in the aftermath."

"Looks like. I haven't been able to find any records on exactly what happened to it, and that's as good an explanation as any."

"Then why didn't he use it in their final confrontation?"

"The power came from King D'Vann. The sword was a convenient conduit. It wouldn't have added anything to Hordak's abilities, since from the things I've read it seems like he was primarily a caster. All… This, he created as he died, and bound his sword-." Oh. "He bound his sword to it. But he'd done something similar to that to use his original sword. It wouldn't have done anything while he was alive-."

"But he could use it to draw on Grayskull's power now. Can you turn it off?"

"How?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're the Sorcerer."

"Yes. Technically. I even know how to turn the lights on and off. I don't know how to precisely sever a person from the power of Grayskull. Though…"

I hold out the staff. I can feel the expectant magic of this chamber, the various magics in the structure of the Castle itself, the wards… Even Evelyn's binding geas. But I can't feel anything from the figure down on the platform.

"I don't think that she's using it at the moment. So it's just a clumsy sword."

"I don't recognise her from my previous encounters."

"And I don't recognise her from my research. That's clearly not Shadow Weaver."

"Beatrix."

I look away from the screen to give Evelyn my full attention. "Really?"

"Yes. And no, it's not her. She has a fixation with red robes and hoods. I'm certain that Hordak's recruited other women, but I've had no contact with them."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I hadn't really thought about it in a holistic way before, but you were with Keldor for a long time, weren't you? You joined up before his revolt-."

"I met him when I was exploring the world outside of Zalesia for the first time. A few months of preparation, and then sixteen long years stuck behind the Mystic Wall. "

"Oh no, trapped on half the planet. But… You don't think it's Adora, do you?"

"Hordak wouldn't have ordered her abduction if he simply intended to kill her. Her frame is relatively slight, so it's possible that she isn't full grown. She's a little taller than Prince Adam."

"Girls start their growth spurt earlier than boys. He'll end up taller. So, okay, Adora's probably back, and ordinarily that would be cause for a celebration."

"But she's been in Hordak's hands for her entire life. And Beatrix is skilled at manipulating minds. I doubt that she will be willing to turn from him simply because you ask nicely."

"But she hasn't drawn on the power of Grayskull. Which means that she's a well trained fifteen year old."

"Unless she can transform as Prince Adam can. Fighting She-Woman would be difficult."

I shake my head. "There's an activation phrase, and I can't think of any way for her to know it. She'll just be a well trained teenager in good armour."

"You think we can take her? I'm forbidden access to my staff, and from touching the power of Grayskull without the Sorceress's personal supervision." She realises. "Or yours."

"Do you actually know how to-?"

"I've known that for longer than Keldor has. My.. father, fought beside King Grayskull, and told me of his power. I simply didn't realise that Castle Grayskull still existed."

Darn. Ah, so the choice is, take a chance of Evelyn actually being reformed so that giving her a little power isn't a risk, or ask her to fight against Adora without her preferred weapon. If she is trustworthy, then showing trust will improve our relationship. If she isn't, then I risk everything.

…

I can't do that. I just can't risk it.

And she can see my decision in my face.

"I see. I thought that you struggled with fighting Eternians directly."

"I do. I'll have to evade a lot. Hopefully, having the Castle backing me means that I-."

There's a crash from the ground just in front of us, and we look up-

My eyes passing over the screen and realising that probably-Adora is no longer where she was.

-and see the original Sword of Power pointing at me as the Hordak-mask glowers down at us.

"You. Caitiff. What is this place?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
19:56 GMT -5

"Oh." Hartley Rathaway looks decidedly surprised on the small screen attached to his workplace's front door intercom. "Orange Lantern. Ah. What brings you here?"

New Kara floats up behind me, putting her hands on my shoulders. "And Supergirl!"

"Yeah. Ah, hi?"

"Three members of the Alliance of the Just have been murdered by a woman using possessed handguns, and we-. That is to say, the Justice League, have finally twigged that we don't know all that much about the way the organisation works. We-."

"Oh.. God, who? Who died?"

"Vigilante, White Dragon-"

That gets a frown.

"-and Black Orchid."

"I didn't really know any of them. White Dragon was the fire guy with the red and white power armour?"

"That's right."

"I met him once-. Do I.. need a lawyer?"

"Noo!" New Kara shakes her head. "We just wanna know background stuff about an organisation you're part of! You haven't done anything illegal!"

"Though… Given that that's probably what police would say before they tried to get you to incriminate yourself, I'd totally understand if you wanted one."

"But you're not investigating me?"

"I don't know, do we need to?" He looks decidedly-. "Sorry, sorry. I meant that as a joke, but it was-. Poor taste."

"Uh-huh." He glances at something off-camera. "I guess you might as well come in. Just the two of you?"

"Uh-huh!"

Kara's still beaming cheerfully at the monitor, and I'm just now remembering her response to a 'hippy' and I'm not sure if she has equivalent feelings about homosexuals. Kryptonians didn't have specific hang-ups about same sex relationships on Krypton 16, but as far as I remember only had fairly mild contempt for people like the Daxamites who opted out of technologically advanced society. I guess that her original parallel might be different?

There's a buzz, and the door before us unlocks. I push in with New Kara floating along behind me, looking around everywhere in apparent fascination. There's no reception area, just two ground level doors and a staircase up to the first floor.

Oh. I don't know if New Kara needs to do the slight squint thing that Kon and Kal-El need to in order to use alternate visual modes. She might well be staring through the building.

"Up here."

Mr. Rathaway's opened the upstairs door and is waving down to us. I walk up the staircase, while Kara skips the stairs and flies up to him.

"Hey there!"

"Hello." He looks at her for a moment, then a mild frown appears on his face. "Ah-. This is going to sound like a strange question, but… Is there more than one Supergirl?"

"Yes! Five of us so far!"

"That's… Confusing. Have you considered using a different name?"

"No! And we're aiming for six!"

"If it helps, there are hundreds of Orange Lanterns. And we call this one 'New Kara'."

She folds her arms across her chest. "Kara Six Six Six should be 'New Kara'! We found her after we found me!"

"She's been on Earth for longer than you."

Kara pouts. "Phooey! I'll just have to wait until Cir-El turns up! The she'll be New Supergirl and I'll be Old New Supergirl!"

"Do you-? Do you want to come in my workshop?"

"Thank you, yes."

We follow him into what appears to be half office and half high-tech workshop. I-.

"Is that a nanofabricator? I hadn't realised Doctor Roquette was ready for a commercial release yet."

"She's.. not. Lenny had to agree to keep the cold system in working order himself, it's.. really temperamental. But being able to fabricate nanoscale-accurate structures is invaluable in my work, and Doctor Roquette gets my maintenance log, so..."

I frown, taking another look around. "What are you working on? When Lenny told me you got a job as a sound engineer, I was.. sort of assuming he meant 'stage sound systems'."

"That's… That would be a complete waste of my time. Like.. asking him to work in freezer maintenance. Take a… Take a seat."

He gestures to a couple of low set seats near what I assume to be his main desk, and I sit down. Kara decides to sit in the air instead. Mr. Rathaway stares for a moment, then shakes his head and returns his attention to me.

"You wanted to know about the Alliance?"

"You gave me the impression that you knew White Dragon. I mean…" I hold up my hands in a 'stop' motion. "We already know who killed him, so I'm not-"

"No, I get it."

"-trying to interrogate you, but if I could get some idea…"

"He's… I don't know if he was actually a Nazi or not, but he was part of some sort of white nationalist group. He kept his mouth under control most of the time, but it was pretty clear that he thinks-. Thought, I mean, of immigrants and black people as criminals in waiting. He didn't like gays much either."

I raise my eyebrows.

"And the Alliance was alright with that?"

"The Alliance is about making vigilantes more effective." He shrugs. "They don't really care if he goes after ethnic minority criminals as long as they are criminals. And… It's not a command and control relationship. We don't work for the Alliance. It helps us get the tools we need to work, but that's about it. And vigilantism is usually a crime, it's just that the police don't bother enforcing the laws against it a lot of the time."

"What are you making!?"

"Huh?" Kara's floated over to a mostly-complete machine and is studying it in fascination. "Oh. It's an ultrasound emitter for cancer treatment. Purple healing rays and other magic healing work on disease and physical injuries better than surgery or conventional medicine, but neither of them do much to stop cancer. But it turns out that a lot of the time cancerous cells are just different enough to other cells that the right pitch of sound can destroy them while leaving the healthy cells untouched." He smiles happily. "I'll be able to help a lot of people once it gets approval."

"I'm glad to hear it. So how did you and White Dragon meet?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
21:34 GMT -5

"That was so disappointing!"

I raise my left eyebrow at New Kara, and give her a moment to finish her thought. She's clearly frustrated about something, but it's really not obvious to me what it is.

"We've been here nearly two hours and we haven't been attacked by a single supervillain!"

"Yes. Lenny and Mister Rathaway are reformed. Mister McCulloch is considering grey hat work. Digger's probably still recovering from last night's drinking. Mister Giuseppe found out that military contracts pay far better than robberies. Central City is pretty stable these days."

She snorts, glaring down at the city as if it has personally offended her.

"If you want somewhere less stable, there's a whole list of cities that could benefit from having a superhero as powerful as you look after them."

"Aqualad wants us here, so here is where we stay! We're staying here until we crack this!"

She looks at me expectantly.

"What? The only other person I know who's part of the Alliance is Marcus Aelius. Honestly, I think our time would be better served by mapping-."

BOOM!

Kara and I both look in the direction of the explosion as glass flies across the street and a plume of fire erupts into-

And she's gone.

-the sky. I transition into a better observation spot, looking down at the street where six people with various injuries are either lying on the ground or seeking cover. I connect filaments to each of them, moving them away from the site-

Kara flies into the hole in the building and them rebounds back out with tremendous force! She flies across the street, through a parked car, through the wall behind it and into the building's interior.

-of the blast before extracting the glass and playing a purple healing ray over them.

"More haste less speed, Kara!"

She pulls herself out of the building, patting brick dust off her costume. "More speed, got it! Just like the Flash!"

"That's not what I-."

She dives in again, maybe a little bit faster, I can't really tell. And right out again, hitting the bonnet end half of the car she hit last time and taking it with her through the wall behind it.

At least it's only one insurance claim.

Alright, one for the car and one for the building, but if she'd been a little to the left-.

And she's back again, this time carrying the broken half-Renault.

"Same speed, more mass!"

I shake my head. No one appears to be in danger, apart from possibly Kara, and that's only from herself. But perhaps I should-

"Oooof!"

Crash mat construct!

-put up a kinetic barrier just to keep the property damage down.

The closest of the civilians gets up as he checks himself over, then watches Kara rebound for the third time. Kinetic barrier works, and there's an odd expression on her face as she gets stopped dead in the air, arms and legs spread-eagled across the barrier's surface.

"Did she hit her head or something?"

"We can only speculate. Sir, if you aren't still injured, please retreat to a safe distance while we deal with this."

"No, no, I'm good." He takes a step away. "Ah, thanks-. Oh, you're the cake guy!"

"For my sins." Abandoning her car chunks, Kara shoots up into the air. "Sir, I really think it would be a good idea if you got out of the potential blast zone."

"Ah, right. I'll do that." He backs up a couple of steps, then pulls out his mobile phone. "Should I call the police?"

"After you're out of the way, yes, thank you."

A red blur f-. Flashes down the street, heading into the building before being knocked back. It recovers, then dashes through a wall in one of the neighbouring buildings. I suppose that Mister Allen is-.

Another blur approaches, this one a little slower. As it reaches me Mister Garrick precipitates out, looking at me in mild irritation.

"I've got a bone to pick with you."

"If you're out and about in costume, I'm more worried about what Joan will say than what you will."

He shakes his head. "Oh no. She knows I'm out. I can't let-"

There's a bang and a yelp from inside the building.

"-that out of my sight."

"Did something happen to Flash-"

The red blur reappears and stops.

"-Two?"

"Vhere do you vant these two, vater?"

I hadn't realised how much her costume is an evolution of Jay's rather than it's own thing like Mr. Allen's is. Red shirt with logo, blue trousers and metal helmet with lightning bolts. Coal scuttle design rather than Brodie helmet, but the whole thing is one big visual link. And best of all, not one swastika.

"Blitzen-. Fath-er?"

Jay's face tightens as Blitzen smiles.

"Jah! The scientists did not have the speed formula, so they had to verk with Herr Jay Garrick's preserved tissue. Several decades later, unt here I am." She looks at the man in her left arm. "This one has skin made of playing cards. This is very strange to me. Unt this one-" She shakes the man with fragments of armour still strapped to him. "-appears to be the vort I am not meant to use on this Earth. He is lucky he is blowing up buildings here, jah?"

"Blitzen. How did you get here?"

"Overgirl vants to convince me to adopt a more li-ber-al outlook by showing me a vorld of degenerates. Honestly, I thought such a vorld vould be more fun than this. More parties, you know? So far it has just been a… Ah, Englisch… 'Busman's holiday'."

"I'll…" I attach constructs to both of her prisoners. "Take those for you."

"Ah, vot a gentleman. No injured inside, though there is a lot of damage and I do not know what they were doink."

"I'm sure that the police can look into it. If we-"

"Supergirl away!"

"-passohno."

I look up as a blue blur slams into the-

The ground shakes with the force of her impact.

-ground.

"Jay, could you please look after these gentlemen while I check on Kara?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October 2012
21:42 GMT -5

Kara stares at me in what I'm increasingly coming to realise isn't mock offence but is in fact real offence.

"But they're dangerous supervillains!"

"Mister Morillo and Mister Tell are violent thieves, but the damage they usually do is nothing compared to the average week in some places. The fact that they put on a-"

I glance at the two where they glower up at us, in Mr. Tell's case through the hood of a nanotube-reinforced straitjacket in order to prevent him… Firing his… Skin cards.

Ew.

Technically, neither of them have 'costumes'. Mr. Morillo has fairly functional schizo tech body armour while Mr. Tell just has a pair of jeans so that he can reach the skin cards which cover his torso, though I suppose that the cards themselves could count.

"-n exotic appearance doesn't somehow 'prove' that they're worse."

She frowns. "Tell me where's worse, then!"

"Tijuana still has the highest murder rate-."

There's a roar of displaced air and she's gone, and I silently mouth 'thank you, Eris' to myself.

Then I turn to the unexpectedly expanded Garrick family.

"Sorry about that."

"That vas a accurate assessment. Did you have that one saved up for long?"

"She means well, but she's... Ah…"

Jay nods. "Easily distracted and a bit headstrong."

Blitzen nods. "If her head can survive an impact mit concrete like that, it must be strong. She is your Overgirl?"

"No, 'headstrong'. Impulsive and determined in following through on those impulses. And she's certainly someone's Overgirl."

"Ah." She nods. "I see. That is not a problem that Angelika has. She is always very deliberate."

"Where is she, anyway?"

"Taking my place in the Neu Reichsmen vhile I am here. She and Overman are planning somethink, but I just vant them to spent a little time together. He does not like to show it, but he vas very scared vhen she disappeared."

I look from her to Jay and back again.

"A… Nd..?"

"For a Nazi, she's not too bad."

Blitzen grins.

"Danke schön, vater. For a degenerate whose culture is based on that of the two vorts I am not meant to say, you are not too bad either."

"You can say 'Jew'. It's not considered pejorative."

"Okay, but that vas not the vort I vas going to use."

Jay takes a moment. "Was it like this for you, working with Angelika like this?"

I shake my head. "No, Angelika was far less self-confident. And she still doesn't accept the name 'Nazi'."

"I try to avoid self-deception. I know vhat ve are."

"But… I rather got the impression that Nazis were better at mental conditioning than this. You're being surprisingly flippant."

"Ah." She shrugs. "As the degenerates say, 'fick the man'. The Nazis have very strange mixed messages for actual superhumans."

"Angelika had a… Issue-."

"Jah, jah, she's sterile. How many children do you think any of us have?"

"I'd-. Assumed some? I mean, the whole traditional family role-."

"It doesn't mesh with superhumans. Ve're supposed to be… Ah… Elevated, jah? Above petty concerns and slave morality. Ve don't get normal lives. The vomen are supposed to conform to voman social ideas unt also not, because we are above that. And if you are a madman in command of a project that can produce superhumans, then you vere always right and everything you did to make them was right. They didn't even give me a name other than 'Blitzen'."

"Huh?"

"Jah, that vas very funny. 'Hallo everyone, here is Blitzen, our latest ubermensch, unbound by personal identification but rather a pure expression of an ideal'. 'Jah, but you can call me Johanna Garrick.'" She grins. "I thought they vere going to shit themselves!"

I frown and glance at Jay-.

"I've already had this talk. I'm not surprised that Nazis aren't even nice to other Nazis."

"It's the 'survival of the fittest' part of the philosophy. They let madmen do mad things, and if it doesn't vork out? Kill them. The idea was that superhumans naturally vould conform to the higher morality and so to Nazi ideals, because of course that makes sense."

Jay shakes his head. "I still don't understand how they rationalized that."

"I said mad scientist, jah? The people who kept going vith superhuman cloning research vhen Overman banned them from vorking on his body. They dream a mad dream and do not understand vhy no one else alzo dreams it."

"So how are you finding this degenerate world?"

She looks around, then shrugs. "It is okay? On a political level, I do not believe that refusing to ask a question is better than getting the answer wrong. There are many things that your civilisation has that are vorse than mine. Is deliberate murder vorse than a dereliction of duty vhich leads to even more deaths?"

Jay nods. "Yes. Much worse. You had worldwide death camps!"

"And ve did not have the communists. Our civilisation is stronk, vhereas yours could not come together even during an invasion of your whole vorld. The Other Flash feels zo terrible for killing their queen vhen he should be exalted as a hero."

I smile. "Jay, why don't you take the rest of the evening off? I can ride herd on Blitzen, and I think I've got a job for her that fits her skills perfectly."

Jay looks at me, clearly working out how to phrase his scepticism.

"Paul, I'm not sure that's exactly a safe option."

"It's a Justice League mission. I'm working under their rules of engagement, and I just need… Miss Garrick-"

"Hah!"

"-to go to a meeting or two and report back. She'll get to meet a colourful cross-section of the American population and learn about how a society's responses to crises don't have to come from a government entity."

"I…" He thinks for a moment. "Justice League rules?"

"Justice League rules."

"That should be alright. Jo?"

"As a proud daughter of the vaterland, I am eager to start!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 16th bell

Talk or fight?

Fighting in here isn't optimal. Eternians can't fly but the athletic ones can be bloody quick on their feet. And the fight would definitely damage the crystal chamber. I don't know how big a deal that is; Teela Na didn't seem especially concerned about the damage Zodak's fight caused, but it wasn't that much. I have no idea what weapons are integrated into that armour, and then there's the sword…

On the other hand, while I'm not as proficient as some of the other mes I met briefly after we got grabbed by Krona, I am still a Lantern. Or.. power ring user, anyway. Eternians are tough, but they're hardly invulnerable to levels of force I can generate. This fight should be winnable.

Alternately, I could try to convince her that I'm a minor functionary while I feel her out. Find out what -if anything- she remembers of Eternia. What Hordak's been doing with her. I can turn the staff into a broom-.

Evelyn's half way to Adora already.

"Hail, friend. I am Evil-Lyn, a warrior in the service of Skeletor." Adora levels her sword at Evelyn, who stops walking closer and affects an expression of mild offence. "Is that any way to greet an ally?"

Thaaat works, I suppose. I send the staff into subspace before hesitantly following Evelyn, holding my body in a submissive posture.

"Skeletor." Probably-Adora doesn't sound entirely convinced. I suppose that Keldor isn't exactly a constant presence in… Wherever Hordak spends his time. He might just not have mentioned him to her. "This is… Eternia."

"Ah, you do know of it. I hadn't realised that Hordak was trying to send his warriors here."

"Where are we?"

"An abandoned castle I was exploring. The crystals possess a strong magic."

Adora's helmeted face turns towards me, and I make a point of dropping my eyes submissively. She discounts me immediately, not even bothering to look at the Basophil Amulet on my chest. Now, Hordak shouldn't know that King D'Vann's power outlasted him. Keldor only found out about the power of Grayskull recently, and he wasn't in regular contact with his nominal superior. But if he were here, then he'd find out fairly swiftly.

Adora raises her sword slightly, looking at the blue stone in the ricasso. "They're the same."

Evelyn shrugs. "Perhaps. The same colour, certainly." She extends her right hand. "If you'll hand it over I can check for-?"

Adora glares at her. "I'm keeping my sword."

"As you wish." Evelyn withdraws her hand. "And.. who, exactly, are you? From your armour I assume that you work for Hordak..?"

"I am Despara, a Force Captain in the Horde."

"Despara?" From the sound of her voice I don't think that Evelyn is impressed by the try-hard name. Evil Lyn isn't impressed by the try-hard name. I carefully school my expression and don't comment on dubious wisdom of projectile geology in silicate-based domiciles. "I don't believe that I've heard of you."

"My elevation is recent; long after Hordak's last contact with Eternia."

"Where is Hordak these days? He was supposedly banished to Despondos, but if he has living followers that seems unlikely."

"Hordak's great horde is in the process of subjugating the world of Etheria. There is some… Magic to the place that makes it more accessible from Despondos. Hordak can walk among us for brief spans, and his presence and voice are always with us."

Etheria… I guess that's where She-Ra happens? And I don't remember anything about Hordak having trouble interacting with the world. He was just sort of there, commanding his army and occasionally getting involved in active combat with the… She-Ra's team, whatever they were called.

"Fascinating. But how did you come here? I remember the last time that Hordak sent soldiers here, and the preparations were extensive."

"Last time?"

"Mmmmm. Fifteen or so years ago."

'Despara' doesn't move for a moment. Her eyepieces mean that I can't tell whether she's staring at Evelyn or staring into space. And while I could do some sort of ring scan, she might be able to detect it and it would be much better if we could resolve this without fighting.

"What did they do here?"

It's hard to notice, but there was a slight hesitation between the first few words of her question.

"They kidnapped the infant daughter of one of the local rulers. They never said why, but they returned through the portal back to 'Etheria' and never returned."

"What-? Was her name? What did she look like?"

"She looked like a small, crying child." Evelyn shrugs. "Archivist?"

Who-? Oh, me. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, your eminence. Her name was Ador-."

"Adora."

I bow my head. "Yes, your eminence. Have you met the young lady? Actually knowing what Hordak intends would make it far easier for us to enact his will."

"Adora. She came from here."

"Well… A city a short distance from here."

"Have its people been enslaved and tasked to labour for the Horde?"

I shake my head. "No. Skeletor has been more focused on increasing his personal power rather than conquering and holding inhabited territory. He nominally 'rules' half the world, but in fact his writ runs shallow outside of Snake Mountain."

"You are impudent to speak so of the one Hordak has placed over you."

"I try to keep a realistic view of the abilities of those around me. For example, I don't see any sign that you are a magician."

"I am not. I am a warrior."

"Your armour appears…" Evelyn runs her eyes over Despara's armour. "Sophisticated, but I see nothing that could open a portal to this… 'Etheria'."

"Shadow Weaver wished to study my interaction with this sword. Usually I arm myself with two short swords. Shadow Weaver is Hordak's greatest sorceress, and she believed that this sword would react to me in some way. I held it aloft, then… Here I was."

"That's it? No flash of light? No glow?"

"Not that I noticed." She hesitates, her attention moving to the sword. "Though most of my attention was focused on Shadow Weaver. If it was a subtle sign, I may not have noticed."

"Then what are your intentions? Do you wish to return as swiftly as possible? Or do you have other orders you wish to complete first?"

"I should return. But the ability of this sword to open portals could be an asset to the Horde, and none of my usual responsibilities are anything that another Force Captain could not complete nearly as well."

"Then studying the sword is what we will do. Archivist." I perk up attentively. "Fetch my staff and some refreshments and then meet up in the castle library."

I bow my head to hide my smile. And of course I can't refuse now, or the mummery comes to an end and we're back to fighting. Evelyn could have just told Adora that she needs help, so I don't think that she intends to betray me. Of course, that doesn't mean that she isn't trying to find out whether or not Hordak would give her a better deal if she did. Fortunately, I can monitor her while I'm away to make sure that she doesn't do that the moment my back is turned, but I just got put on the back foot something fierce there.

"At once, Evil-Lyn. I will meet you there."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 16th bell

The Basophil amulet glows as it sustains the simple levitation spell I've cast to carry my load.

One staff, temporarily bequeathed to me by Sorceress Teela Na.

Another staff, this one topped with a crystal ball which allows her to call upon 'blue crystal magic', a title which makes me long for some sort of guide to pre-invasion magic use. Is the colour coding significant? Is it a matter of authorisation to use part of a planet's magic system? Does the colour indicate that they're better at certain tasks but the energy field itself is undifferentiated? Are there racks of crystals sitting somewhere, ready for use?

One plate of pastries and another of fresh fruit. I have no idea where Teela Na gets them from. The forest outside of Castle Grayskull does contain some fruiting trees, but nothing like enough to sustain the larder I visited. She hasn't shown me any sort of hydroponics system, so maybe there's a matter re-sequencer of some sort? If she was just conjuring it she wouldn't bother building up a store…

And the device Teela Na attached to Evelyn's staff to neutralise it, which I'm going to drop off there, just outside of the library, because I might want to grab it again really quickly.

I knock, though I know perfectly well what they're doing and what they've been talking about. Evelyn's plan appears to involve me -as the total unknown- staying in the background as a subservient character while she takes point.

"Come!"

I gesture with my right hand and the door opens, allowing me to walk in, calling Evelyn's staff into my left hand. The two of them are sitting at the table I was occupying, Despara's helmet laying next to her right elbow and her face. Blonde, short-cropped hair and brilliant blue eyes are accentuated by dark eyebrows and a black curve painted along the bottom of her eye orbits. I think the Ancient Egyptians did that to reduce the effect of the sun's glare. Perhaps the part of Etheria where she was stationed was equatorial?

"Polished up nicely, Evil-Lyn."

And just in case, I did actually polish it.

She glances at me from the corner of her eye, then raises her right hand and summons it to her in a flicker of purple light. She catches it without looking, briefly makes the head glow and then lowers it to lean against the table, her left hand resting against the shaft.

I take the opportunity to sit down next to her, though I note that she put the staff on the opposite side from me. A wave of my right forefinger and the plates deposit themselves on the table between them.

Despara regards the pastry selection blankly. Alright, her armour probably has all kinds of protective enchantments on it, but now that her helmet is just sitting on the table the seal to the interior has been broken. The air of this room should now contain just enough dead skin cells and hairs for me to be able to read her genetic code…

Match found.

So unless she's a clone or Hordak's genetic engineering technology is a lot more advanced than anything I've seen -and given that Sir Duncan didn't know what a gene was until I told him I rather doubt that- then this is indeed Princess Adora of Eternos. And her armour didn't appear to detect my scan, which is nice to know.

Evelyn picks up the bread roll that had Adora's attention. "It's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about."

"What is it?"

"Bread. Ground grains mixed with yeast and water and then baked in an oven."

"And you eat it?"

Evelyn raises her eyebrows slightly, then tears off part of the soft roll and puts it into her mouth.

I nod. "Yes, Force Captain. Bread is a very common foodstuff in this part of Eternia. Most farmers bake their own, and any settlement of any size will have at least one baker. Hordak's horde does not?"

"We eat ration bars, made in the Vittles Factory."

I shake my head. "Eternia lacks the technology to produce nutritious ration bars. It's usually easier for armies to carry flour, jam, sausage… Easily portable preserved food, and feed on that. Or to provision themselves through forage. Though with an army of any size, that can rapidly starve a region."

"The logistics must be complicated."

I nod. "Hordak's horde did a number on the place. Even paved roads are something of a rarity. Much of what was once farmland has returned to nature."

Her eyes narrow. "You speak treason!"

I shrug. "Hardly. I'm sure that Hordak had a plan for the place, and starving an enemy is usually more efficient than meeting them with equal force in the field. I merely observe that moving an army is easier in a place with good infrastructure. Or with a way to supply by air."

I gesture to the pile of books still on the table.

"I was attempting to study Hordak's invasion, to learn from his example. Sadly, few quality records survived. Does the horde have better records?"

Adora appears to have calmed slightly. "Not that I have seen."

"That's a shame. It's usually worth knowing what hasn't gone according to plan in the past in order to avoid repeating those mistakes. Well!" I reach over and pick up a fruit that looks like a cross between an apple and a passion fruit. "Perhaps -time permitting- I could ask Hordak himself for his recollections at some point in the future. I'm sure that future generations would benefit from his wisdom."

I bite down and… Yes, pleasant taste, kind of messy. Puts me a little in mind of a peach in that regard, except that rather than dribbling juice it dribbles seed-rich slime.

Evelyn finishes her roll and reaches out to push the plate a little closer to Adora.

"Are you sure that you're not hungry?"

I nod, lowering the dripping fruit from my mouth and swallowing. "If this is a trust issue, I'll gladly eat a bit of whatever you're worried I might have poisoned."

Adora stares at me for a moment, then grabs a roll apparently at random and tears it in half, hard crust cracking and depositing fragments onto the surface of the table. She looks at the soft interior for a moment and then awkwardly bites at it as if the crust was an inedible fruit skin and only the interior was for eating. Her chewing motion is a little awkward, which… Would make sense if she's really been subsisting on ration bars for her entire life.

Though from the way she's chomping it down as if she's afraid that someone will take it away from her, I would guess that the experience is a pleasant one.

I take another bite of fruit as Evelyn leans forward. "Have you been to Eternia before, Force Captain?"

Adora needs a moment to swallow, and I notice Evelyn looking my way out of the corner of her eye again. I nod, apparently to myself, and Evelyn returns her full attention to Adora.

"No. I was born in the Whelping Chambers in Hordak's domain on Etheria. I have spent my entire life until this day on Etheria."

"Are you certain?"

Adora's eyes narrow for a moment, before putting the crust down and grabbing a fruit a little like a small pineapple.

"Yes. Shadow Weaver told me, and so it is true."

"Could not she be mistaken? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but a place called a 'Whelping Chamber' hardly sounds like a position of high honour. Would they really bother keeping track of every whelp?"

"Yes. How else would they judge which bloodlines were worth cultivating, and for what purpose? Though… I suppose that the tracking only starts once they arrive." She looks mystified at the fruit, so I take a small knife out of subspace and offer it to her, grip first. She takes it and cuts into the flesh of the fruit. "What do you think that you know?"

"You have a certain physical similarity to a local notable. Tell me, Force Captain. Have you heard of He-Man?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
08:21 GMT -5

"Ah…" Wallace shifts uncomfortably as Richard and Raquel look at him. "Yeah…"

"Blitzen has agreed to be our woman on the inside. She has the heroic inclination and… Dubious history that puts her in the victim profile. And her super speed means that she can probably react to an attack and dodge gunfire fast enough to stay alive and call in reinforcements."

"Paul…" Raquel switches her attention to me. "How many Nazis you gunna bring over here?"

"Be fair, Raquel. I didn't bring this one. This was the Overs."

"Uh-huh. Least Kid Flash is looking after this one."

"Actually? Jay Garrick is." Wallace squirms. "I have a secret identity, he doesn't, and she really wanted to meet him…"

Richard looks sceptical. "Isn't Mister Garrick ninety years old?"

"Ninety three. But.. he's in good shape, y'know, running everywhere..."

"Orange Lantern." Kaldur regards me patiently. "Did Blitzen have any way to deceive your empathic abilities?"

"Not that I could detect."

"Do you believe that her claims regarding her motives are true?"

"Yes. In our society, you have to be a nasty piece of work to identify with National Socialism. In hers it's just normal. She genuinely wants to have some sort of relationship with Jay, and she's not acting in accordance with the ideals she's 'meant' to hold. My only concern would be the fact that she doesn't really have a life outside of being 'Blitzen', so-."

Artemis has raised her eyebrows. "That's a concern for you?"

"I had a life before I got my ring. She's been raised to be a superhero from infancy. I have friends outside of the community. She doesn't. She didn't even have a name until she chose one for herself. That said, this mission shouldn't involve her dealing with members of the public all that much."

Kaldur nods. "This is something of an expansion on the mission which Batman set for us, but I agree that it could produce valuable information. Were you and Supergirl able to find anything useful out from Pied Piper?"

"He-."

"He's curing cancer!" She beams for a moment, then her face falls about as far as it ever does. "And Mexican people can be really rude!"

"Cancer?" Wallace blinks in surprise. "Really?"

"Sonic energy can be used to precisely destroy cancerous cells." I shrug. "There's more money in a novel cancer treatment than in rat-charming."

"Hey, that's great!" He smiles. "Next you're gunna tell me that Captain Boomerang's going back to Australia."

"I didn't see anyone from the Immigration Service, so, not as far as I know."

"Getting a real job?"

I shrug awkwardly. "Some people just like… Throwing bent s-. Pieces of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic. Ah, I can talk to Marcus today, see if he's got anything."

Kaldur nods again. "My efforts to speak with Vigilante's friends and family produced little benefit. As far as they knew, he was not undertaking any kind of unusual investigation, and we already knew that he had become less murderous."

Richard frowns. "Maybe that's the issue. Have you looked at who he didn't kill who he might have before he met the Alliance?"

"I did not. It should be a simple matter to compare his arrest records and the criminal records of those whom he arrested. Have you done that for White Dragon?"

"No, it only occurred to me just now." Richard brings up his arm computer. "I didn't get much out of White Dragon's friends, either. There was a lot of speculation, but no real leads. The only thing was when I asked about his racism. They'd noticed that his opinions had changed, and when they asked him about it he'd just brushed them off. Apparently he got annoyed when they kept asking him about it."

"Had he abandoned his purist attitudes?"

"No. It's more that he shifted his position a little. He stopped talking about minority groups as things that he needed to get rid of and started saying that he just wanted to keep white people safe."

I frown. "Getting annoyed about being asked to justify a belief could indicate an unnatural mental influence, but it could equally be that he'd had a bit of a rethink and didn't want to have to justify it to his friends."

Raquel grumps. "So he was still a racist."

"People don't abandon deeply held positions in a few weeks. It's possible that he had but didn't want to just spring that on his friends. Or that he'd have kept moving his position the more he actually interacted with people in the Alliance."

"I've got… Something." Richard looks up from his arm computer. "Some of the serious criminals Vigilante didn't kill had Intergang contacts. They might have been part of Intergang."

"The head of the Alliance used to be part of Intergang." I shrug. "Most people find killing people they know harder than killing strangers. A few personal anecdotes might have been all it took."

Richard nods. "Or it could just be him setting an example. If one guy in Intergang could go straight, why not more?"

Artemis frowns. "Did Vigilante actually meet… What's his name?"

"Vincent Edge. And he's genuine as well."

"Right. Did Vigilante actually meet him? Or even know about him? Because I heard of the Alliance last year but I didn't know who ran it or why they set it up 'til I read Paul's report."

Raquel nods. "And how about White Dragon? Were any of the people he didn't kill members of Intergang?"

"I don't know." Richard shakes his head. "A lot of them don't have great documentation."

"And what about Black Orchid?"

M'gann shrugs. "No one seems to know what she was investigating. I can go check out her old cases, but I haven't learned anything useful."

Kaldur nods. "Follow up whatever leads you have left. Orange Lantern, speak with Alpha Centurion and then remain available to aid Blitzen whenever she needs it."

"I assume that Kara's with me?"

"Unless she feels that the mission would be better served elsewhere?"

Kara shrugs. "I can fly back from Mexico in a few seconds! It's no trouble!"

"Then yes. Do you require anyone else to aid you?"

"No, I can handle it. M'gann, do you need someone who can talk to Black Orchid's plants?"

"No, Cornwall managed it. They tried to help; they really liked her. But she didn't talk to them about it."

"Right then. I'll go and speak with Centurion." I raise my right hand to my forehead. "Speak to you this evening."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 16th bell

"A mighty warrior who opposes Skeletor, and through him Hordak? And he has a sword like this one?"

Her eyes dart for a moment to her Sword of Power, and I nod.

"You're… Simplifying things rather a lot, but that's an essentially true summary. I will say though that it's entirely possible that he's never heard of Hordak."

That gets a frown from Evelyn. "Never?"

"He's not the most studious sort, and his tutors have focused on warcraft and statecraft and rather let history go hang."

And to be fair, teaching the Crown Prince to swing a sword is a far better use of his time than having him study pre-invasion Eternia. That society will not come again, and interesting as its successes and failures are they won't have much impact on his life. The general state of He-Man's education can be deduced from his primitive attire; he's clearly from some tribe somewhere and only ever used a book to light fires.

"They never heard-!" Adora seems genuinely incensed. "How could they be unaware of the being whose invasion brought their world to its knees?!"

At least she's eating normal food now.

"Because one of the things that got ravaged was the education infrastructure. And also the data storage repositories and libraries. There are records, but a people who are forced into a subsistence existence are more interested in learning how to grow enough food for them to last the winter than learning about the history of centuries ago."

"And this 'He-Man'. He is their greatest champion?"

"Yes. Has Hordak mentioned his fights with King D'Vann Grayskull to you at all?"

"I was told that he was the Eternian ruler Hordak killed, though he was banished in return."

"Accurate. There's a certain amount of evidence which suggests that the sword He-Man wields belonged to him."

"A descendant, then?"

Huh. I hadn't really thought about it, but… Veena was his wife, but he passed authority onto the Elders as a collective body rather than to her or any children they might have had. Did they not have children? Or did he just not set any store by hereditary succession? Regardless, the Elders lived until Keldor's insurgency, while… His children didn't? I know that Zodak literally lived through the invasion… Eternian lifespans are weird, and I don't entirely understand why.

"Between the sword and the sheer size of the man, that seems likely."

"He is a warrior without equal." Evelyn makes sure to make eye contact with Adora as she says it. "I've yet to see him command any sort of army and he knows nothing of magic, but his sheer physical power makes enemies and obstacles alike a trivial inconvenience."

"Hordak would overcome him as he did his ancestor."

"Hordak isn't here. Are you his equal in might or intellect?"

Adora looks mildly surprised, then shakes her head. "No."

"Then you realise that attacking him yourself would be a fool's errand. So you must decide what you want to do. I know the location of the temple Skeletor used to contact Hordak."

"Is it near to here?"

"No. Travelling there would take several days, and require us to avoid detection. Alternately, we could disguise ourselves and conduct covert reconnaissance on the city of Eternos."

"Are you not known to them?"

Evelyn rises from her chair and waves her now-glowing staff in a circle. Purple mist billows around her for a moment, then disperses to reveal her altered form. Her turquoise and bronze outfit has been replaced by something in green with a red cloak, and the structure of her face has changed enough to render her unrecognisable.

"Not like this."

She's changed her voice as well. Her expression is pretty recognisable, and I wish we had some way of communicating without Adora overhearing because I.. don't really know where she's going with this. Taking Adora into Eternos puts her close to their army, the Masters and her natural parents. With overwhelming power available, detaining her by force would be a good deal easier, but I'm not sure how that actually helps bring her over to our side. I don't at all remember how it was managed in the original animated series, which is annoying because I'm fairly sure that.. my.. cousin..? Owned the book version of the story.

I nod. "Anyone can wear a hooded cloak. If I leave the staff behind I'm not immediately recognisable. And you would not be known at all."

"They would not recognise my helmet? Surely there are some scholars amongst them?"

Evelyn nods. "You would have to change into something that would fit it. I'm sure that I can conjure something appropriate."

Getting her to take off her armour. And she can't carry the sword with her, so that stays here and we don't need to worry about 'She-Woman' appearing by accident.

"Something I can wear over my armour?"

"The citizens of Eternos do not habitually wear armour. Those that do do not wear armour that looks like that. It's far too advanced."

"Too advanced? How primitive are these people?"

I perk up slightly. "Soldiers in most places are limited to armour made of steel plates. More advanced armour is available in a very small number of places new, or as valuable heirlooms handed down from before the invasion. I… Suppose we could paint it a different colour, if-"

"No."

"-you could accept that. Hordak heraldry hasn't changed in the intervening period. You might be able to get away with it at some sort of fancy dress party-"

"No."

"-but otherwise I'm afraid that it wouldn't work. If you don't want something conjured, there… May be something in your size in this castle?"

Adora nods uncertainly. "I could gather useful intelligence and take it back to Hordak once Shadow Weaver opens the portal once more."

Evelyn nods. "Or perhaps we could travel to Hordak's temple once we are more certain of the disposition of our enemies."

Adora nods. "Agreed."

I raise my right hand and think hard about a book on modern Eternian customs-.

A book flies from a book case and slams into my hand. I take a quick look at the cover -Diary of a Journeyman- and offer it to Adora.

"This should give you some idea of how Eternian society works. Evil-Lyn and I can go and look for some clothing while you read it."

She takes it, and I stand and follow Evelyn out of the library. I close and sneck the door behind us.

"So what are you planning?"

She looks down, looking at the lock for her staff.

"So what are you planning?"

"Get her to disarm herself, take her to Eternos… Hope that she works out that she's Adora for herself without us needing to tell her so that it's more convincing."

She smiles. "Precisely. Perhaps we could even deny it to make it more convincing?"

"I'm not sure-. I can't leave the castle entirely unattended. You can't go out unsupervised, and-."

"Even with the princess of Eternia?"

"Especially with her."

"Then I suppose that I will simply have to stay here. With the Sword of Power. And since no one else is available-."

Oh no.

"I have to transfer the power to you." Damn it. "Go and find her some clothes while I try working out how to modify the geas so that Teela Na won't put one on me when she finds out about this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
15:04 GMT

The Pax Romana very visibly tracks the retreating starships with its primary weapons, though it makes no move to accelerate after them. The trio of ships in question don't look anything special; small freighters with a light armament, more focused on speed than armour. None of them have any alert flags, but at the same time Marcus isn't the sort to go around picking fights. Not picking up any weapon fire and none of the ships look damaged in any way…

Not sure what's happened there.

"Orange Lantern Illustres to Pax Romana."

"Alpha Centurion responding. Were they friends of yours?"

"I have no information on those ships. Where were they flagged as coming from?"

"Timaron. A dead world."

"I know it. Commodore Amalak is one of my.. contacts in Vega. Useful fellow. If they're looking for more of their species I could send them his coordinates and contact details."

"They're not. They're looking for revenge."

"Ah."

"Did they hear of Superman from your lips?"

"No. That would have been an obvious mistake… But I didn't ask Koriand'r to avoid mentioning him. Or Adam Blake. Did they ask after him specifically?"

"No. They visited the Rao system and noticed that one of the moons had moved."

"Oh."

"They will not be the last. Krypton was known for its technological sophistication and military might. People have tried raiding the system before."

"And, what? They think that now someone has succeeded that must mean that the defences are off?"

"I suspect that they reached the conclusion that surviving kryptonians must be the ones who recovered their planetoid."

"So their plan is to visit every space-faring civilisation in the region to see who's putting them up?"

"Or perhaps see where they have established a colony. I don't believe that they have visited Earth, but it is possibly to decipher radio waves from the edge of a system. Superman's face is widely known. In theory, they could have heard of him over a substantial area."

"Not easily. Assembling an actual picture or coherent speech from outside the Sol system would require huge amounts of processing power and detection equipment. That's not something that a random group of freebooters could put together. But I… Take your point."

I look around.

"Just the Pax out here, then?"

"You sent your ships to the Alignment."

"Yes, but the Russians have that launch cannon and Starfire's ship, and the US must be working on something by now. I know that someone got hold of Doctor Knight's cosmic converter technology from somewhere."

"Disappointing, is it not?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. I don't suppose that the virmiru are likely to pass comment?"

"I imagine that you could get a message to them more swiftly than I could. They are a people given to making long term plans. Their emissary to this region would have left long before I began my return journey, and I have had no contact with them since."

"I don't suppose anyone in the Alliance of the Just has a spaceship, do they?"

"Not as far as I know. Most are 'street level', as you might say. Those that aren't usually limit their interest to terrestrial events. Does the Justice League not have spacecraft?"

"Martian Manhunter has one, but it's effectively an upgunned civilian ship. The Hawks have another, but it's not designed for deep space operations. Batman has a glorified rocket plane. Then it's just the Lanterns."

"Then it's a mercy that we haven't been invaded before now."

"Thanagar and the Alignment were heading this way, if it makes you feel any better."

"Do you have the matter in hand?"

"That's a long way down the 'plan' list. To my mind, raising a interstellar navy on Earth would be a pretty clear sign that I'd decided to take over the world."

"But bringing an external navy across the Rubicon was not?"

"That was just something I had laying around. There's a difference between riding to an ally's aid and taking over the mechanisms of their state."

"True, I suppose. Might it be advantageous for me to coordinate my patrols with the Justice League? I have been working under the assumption that they would have acquired a long range detection system of some kind, but if that is not so then the sensor system of the Pax Romana could serve."

"The Hawks were kind enough to volunteer some Thanagarian monitoring devices."

Because the League are still pretending that the Watchtower doesn't exist, despite the fact that knowing there was a neutral station which could serve as space traffic control and somewhere to get a general alert from could serve as an excellent bypass to 'who owns space' arguments. The sort of thing that most spacefaring civilisations have above their homeworld, even the ones that never unified politically.

"As well as their interdiction equipment. The very bare bones are covered, but that's about all. I'll pass your comments along, and give Batman a bit of a nudge about it."

"Thank you. Are there other matters you wish to discuss?"

"Yesterday, a woman named Jill Carlyle attempted to kill the first Wildcat. That brought to light the fact that she was almost certainly responsible for a large number of deaths, and the League is investigating those. Three didn't appear to fit the pattern; they were Alliance members."

"And you want access to our records?"

"Records, personal recollections, anything that we could use to work out what is going on."

"I can arrange that. Who were they?"

"Vigilante, White Dragon and Black Orchid."

"Orchid?"

"Did you know her?"

"Yes, we worked together on several occasions. The other two I remember as short-sighted and violent, but she was intelligent and subtle. Has this Jill Carlyle killed a great many people?"

"Dozens of superheroes. We're not sure whether she's killed other people as well. We think she might be being controlled to an extent by evil spirits in her guns, but that's about as far as we've got."

"I see. Well then, let us return to the bosom of Tellus and I will gather the information that you seek."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 17th bell

This plan has gone somewhere it really shouldn't.

Adora née Despara is wearing a… Nice..? Tunic that I assume Prince Adam left in Grayskull at some point. I mean, Teela Na doesn't get a lot of guests, so it's either him or Sir Duncan, and it's nothing like large enough for him. The quality of the cloth is good and the fit isn't terrible and that's about as much as I'm qualified to say about it. She's looking around in guarded fascination at the festively-dressed city, smiling couples walking the streets and cheerfully greeting their friends.

Eternos doesn't exactly have a state religion. The nearest thing they have is the universal reverence the people hold for the Elders, but there's no temple or anything like that. I think that the royal couple are going to be doing a speech at some point, but I wasn't paying any attention to the arrangements because… I was either going to be in Castle Grayskull, or in its mistress.

And now I'm in neither, and probably in trouble.

Adora left the Sword of Power in Castle Grayskull, so all she's got are a couple of short swords she picked up from the castle's armoury. And that's good. It doesn't even stand out that much, as more people took to arming themselves as a response to Keldor freeing himself.

She left the Sword of Power in Castle Grayskull, with Evil-Lyn, who is now studying it. And that's bad. And because the Sorcerer/Sorceress needs to be on-site in case something… Unexpected happens, Evelyn Powers now has the power. She can't rewrite her own geas and she doesn't have the activation phrase for the Sword but I'm…

"What… Are they celebrating?"

"The… Older couples are celebrating love and familial bonds. The younger couples are tentatively celebrating their own relationships. The singletons are using the atmosphere to try and start relationships with other people embarrassed by their single state, with inhibitions reduced by the event and by intoxicating beverages." I glance awkwardly at her. "I… Suppose that's not something you have a great deal of experience with?"

"That question is irrelevant to our task. Why do they do this?"

"Why this event.. particularly?" A curt nod as she stares at a boy and girl slightly younger than her awkwardly failing to hold a conversation. "This sort of social ritual bonds a civilisation together by marking major stages in the lives of its inhabitants. Most people will marry at some point in their lives, and most will have children. It also serves to emphasise the significance of the pairing, and so reinforcing it and therefore the society which relies on those bonds for its strength."

"Are you married?"

"Ah-. No."

"Do you have children?"

"Not as yet."

"Good. A warrior in Hordak's service should be able to rise above the profligates and dedicate themselves to him in their totality."

"I'm… I'm getting a certain image of life under-"

"Hey, Orange!"

"-Hordak-." I turn, smiling, as Krass and Ekra-. I don't think I fully appreciated the size difference before I saw them next to each other with Krass out of armour. Good grief, he's got to be three times her mass. Four times. Maybe five. "Krass! Delighted to see you!"

Adora's going for her swords grab her arm and wrap it around mine as if I were her escort and pull her close enough with a solid enough grip that she can't take a fighting stance and start walking towards my good friend who is almost certainly setting off her 'threat alert' instincts because, my goodness, he's a big lad.

He's grinning a big, dopy grin and I'm happy that he finally took the plunge and I'm really hoping that this is just a brief 'hello' before they go somewhere else, because this could really go very badly.

"I didn't think you were coming! I thought you were busy with-." He tries to work out how to refer to Grayskull without directly mentioning it. "Y'know."

"Something came up, and I had to get someone to cover for me while I attend to it."

He looks at Adora. "Uh… Huh…"

Not mentioning the fact that she's half my age, because we both remember what happened last time that came up.

"Despara is new to Eternos and I decided to show her the city at its best. Despara, this is my good friend Krass and his beau Miss Ekra."

Ekra nods her head politely. "I'm glad that you're visiting during the festival. You're really seeing the city at its best."

Adora… Stares at them for a moment.

"… Hello."

My smile probably looks a little unnatural. "She's a little shy. Look, have you seen Sir Duncan? I need a word."

"Oh yeah! He actually came this year too! Ah, last time I saw them, they were in the big park, but… I dunno if they're still there." He thinks for a moment. "I'd… Probably leave them alone? Man-at-Arms doesn't get a lot of time to himself, and… It's a festival."

I nod. "You're probably right." I take a half-step back. "We'd best be getting on. You two have a nice evening."

"Oh? Oh! Okay." He shyly lays his right hand on Ekra's entire left forearm and they share a slightly bashful smile, before proceeding down the street.

Adora watches them like a hawk as they go, waiting until they disappear around a corner before returning her attention to me.

"Who. Was. That?"

"Krass. Sergeant Krass. A member of the Masters of the Universe, the kingdom's elite military unit."

Her swords leap for my throat, and are blocked by two orange construct shields.

"Traitor."

"We don't have the raw power for a direct attack. Gathering intelligence requires making well-placed contacts. People who will tell you things if you buy them a drink, or show you the guard's equipment because you showed an interest." I raise my hands, pushing against the inside of my shields to move her swords away. "I take it that Hordak's horde has no need for such subtlety?"

"Little." Eyeing me suspiciously, she sheathes her swords. "I am done with this pretence. I will explore the city for myself. Follow me or do not."

She stalks rides past me, heading in the direction Krass came from.

Can't let her go off on her own, but I should probably give her a little space. I create a sound-deadening aura around me and walk after her, hanging back and using the ring to keep track of her in the crowd.

Okay, getting her to recognise who she is… How. Photography doesn't exist here. Queen Marlena actually did have a camera when she first arrived, but it stopped working years ago. There's no picture of the young princess that I could arrange for her to 'accidentally' find. Which leaves…

I sigh and put my hands on my amulet. Using magic for something simple is usually fairly instinctive, training mostly revolving around how to use it under stress. In this case, reaching out to someone who shares a connection to Grayskull…

"Sorceress, I apologise for contacting you-."

I get a momentary image of big and strong and reliable and comforting before she limits my view. Glad things are doing well.

"I am glad that you approve. What is it, Orange Lantern? And why do I feel you away from Castle Grayskull?"

"Right, yes, there's a good reason for that, but first… Do Eternians have unusually good memories, and is there a spell for restoring things that have been forgotten?"

"What has occurred?"

"Well, on the positive side, Princess Adora's back."

"What?!"

And I see Sir Duncan stiffen at the surprise she expressed openly.

"And she's been totally brainwashed by Hordak and Friends. She thinks I work for Skeletor and I'm keeping an eye on her. So… Memory spell?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
13:32 GMT -5

"So we're pretty sure that White Dragon and Vigilante never met each other?"

Marcus types a new search and presses 'enter'.

"So far as I can tell, they never met at our events. Beyond that I could not say." He moves a mouse and highlights other names on the attendee lists. "According to this, there are at least three people who attended meetings at various times with both of them."

"I see that your name is one of them."

He nods. "I try to attend gatherings in as many areas as possible. Given how the Alliance has expanded of late, that is not as great a proportion as it once was."

"Oh? What sort of area do you cover these days?"

"All corners of the world, saving only China. Though finding appropriate partners in all places has proven to be a little difficult, and while the majority of our affiliates are American, we can provide training in almost every country on Earth."

"Oh. I hadn't realised. What's the take-up like outside of the US?"

"It varies a great deal. In Europe we're replicating the model we use in America, though with a little more contact with national governments. South America is… Difficult. Accalacan doesn't have much use for us, and the other nations are experiencing a wave of newly ascendant tyrants who do not wish to be seen to be too closely aligned to foreigners. In Africa, there is a great need but the infrastructure is so poor that we cannot gather enough metahumans together to be truly effective."

"What about magicians?"

"Where would we find tutors, when even the mighty Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps has struggled?" I make an amused 'hm' noise. "When magicians come to us, we are forced to train them as if their abilities were no different from the natural powers of metahumans, and hope that gradual experimentation amongst their own supporters will allow them to gather knowledge. Eventually, we will have a library of sufficient volume that we will be able to provide the answers they seek, but for now…"

"Magic not a big deal in Rome? Or on the virmiru homeworld?"

"In Rome, there were the mysteries revealed to those who gave their lives to the cults of the various gods. As a Christian, I was unconvinced how many were engaged in devilry and how many were simply charlatans. My time amongst the virmiru moderated that view only in that it opened my mind to the possibility that they had access to knowledge of the functions of the natural world that was not widely known."

"And then you came back to this."

"It was not the greatest surprise, but it was noteworthy."

"It's funny; a while ago I mentioned taking this approach to the Justice League. Forming contacts with superheroes across the world and providing direction, a code of conduct…"

"They don't appear to have made any moves in that direction."

"No. I'm… Sort of used to them ignoring my advice on organisational matters. Though I am pleased that someone's doing it."

"Now you've made me curious. How are the Justice League organised?"

"Rotating chairmanship, everyone votes on major decisions, new recruits need everyone's approval and there's no set criteria."

He gives me a mild frown. "That… Sounds…"

"I know, and I told them that." I shake my head. "They might have changed it since then, I don't know."

"Would you be willing to assist us?"

I shrug. "I move around too much to be involved in an organisation. I could probably build you a few virtual reality training suites if you have a site in mind..?"

"We would appreciate that, but I understand that you were responsible for the Justice League's worldwide training exercise?"

"I was the directing mind, but that took the input of a great many people."

"Could you run an exercise on a smaller scale?"

"Certainly, but the Alliance doesn't have the same degree of official recognition that the Justice League does. It would be a good deal harder to persuade authorities to participate in training exercises; that sort of thing is highly disruptive."

"While it is true that the Alliance does not have the League's mandate, we are beginning to sign cooperation agreements with a number of cities. Even a few countries."

"Then I… Suppose I could commit to one a year? I don't know how you're going to decide who gets it."

"My thought on the subject was that we would form a mobile reserve of volunteers. When there was a surge in crime in a particular area, or a supervillain emerged who was in possession of far more power than the local members could safely engage, we could move our reserve to that location. It would be something like what the Congregation do when they call for aid."

"Sounds like a good idea to me, but Congregationalists can teleport. They can call in aid for a particular fight. A reserve force would take… They'd usually have to get to an airport and fly to wherever they were needed. That could take a day or two, assuming that they didn't need a visa or other travel documentation."

"We're building a teleportation network."

I raise my eyebrows. "You are?"

"My sponsors were familiar with teleportation technology. And while I'm sure that your efforts to sponsor genius technologists who wish to use their intellects commercially are quite helpful, a significant number have offered us their assistance."

"Satellite based? I tried to sell the League on the idea, but they didn't go for it."

"No, transmission towers. They generate a weak quantum entanglement field, allowing us to transport our people to anywhere where the fields intersect. Getting enough towers to cover the world will be the work of decades, but we believe that three will be enough for the United States."

I have… Heard of the technology. It's not popular in most places because the quantum manipulation can interfere with other devices that civilisations advanced enough to build them would be using. But I suppose that's not a problem on Earth. Powering the things might be a problem… Or might have a few years ago. Global energy costs have been slashed as a result of my threat to the energy market. It might actually be viable, though there would be the problem of having infrastructure on Earth where national governments might decide to get in the way.

In terms of effectiveness, the system would be immune to most forms of conventional interference. And since the field is constantly active, it's far easier to conceal its use than the use of other forms of teleportation.

"I'd be interested in-."

My ring blinks.

"Excuse me." I raise my left hand. "Yes?"

Alan's face appears, though he's not looking at the camera.

"Paul, get to Dakota City right now. Avenger's here and she's not playing around."

I nod. "With you in two, one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
13:36 GMT -5

I appear high above the Alva Technologies building, which in turn towers over most of the city. I've only been here a few times, and it-

Hope detected.

-never really had any appeal. Same urban decay as a lot of formerly manufacturing-focused cities in America with a tech billionaire taking advantage of the cheap land and tax incentives to build things that the locals didn't want or need. Alva's like Lex Luthor without the idealism that prompted me to try working with him. But at the same time he's not an imminent threat to the world, just a utility drain who would make the world a measurably better place if he took a dive out of his office window one day.

I see flashes of blue in the building below me as Alan fights someone.

"On site."

"Evacuate the Alva Technologies building. We've got a plan."

"Sir."

I fly down, scanning the building for people and-. And use a crumbler construct to break through the force field that someone put up when they got attacked, presumably as part of a disaster contingency plan that was implemented without any actual thought. Or maybe they're just testing it, I don't know. Okay, I've got no idea who Ms. Carlyle is targetting, but there are quite a few corpses in there and the internal walls aren't all that thick. People are trying to flee, but it looks like the ones on the upper floors don't know where they can go that won't just result in them getting shot.

…

Obvious problem with that is that they're all people voluntarily working for Lex-but-worse. So no super fast filaments transitioning them to the nearest open space as I could for people I liked or respected. Instead, I tear an opening down the side of the building furthest from the stairs and generate a grav-chute construct.

Then I extend construct signs into the building, pointing to the new evacuation-

Alan smashes the floor that Ms. Carlyle was standing on and as she shifts back into smoke uses a fan construct in an attempt to push her out of the building. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like her smoke works like that, and he's forced to transition-dodge as she regains her footing.

-route, which I immediately change to route them around the crazed gunwoman on the floor she's on and the ones immediately above and below her.

Alan barricades the way back up but Ms. Carlyle doesn't bother trying to go that way, instead-

Filament and move!

-taking a shot at an office worker I just about get out of the way in time.

Ring, research their background. Just because they don't deserve to die, that doesn't mean that they don't have something coming to them.

Compliance.

People are starting to use my chute, dropping at near-terminal velocity and then halting safely at ground level. And they're doing that stupid thing of landing and not getting out of the way that always irritates me. Okay, add an impeller construct to give them a shove at the bottom, good. Police are starting to arrive, and they're-. They're building a barricade of cars to keep the rubberneckers away from the superhuman fight. Camera phones are already being raised.

I practise restraint and don't wipe their memories.

Alan sends a straitjacket construct at Ms. Carlyle, but she walks through it as if it weren't even there-

"Alan, try putting runes on the construct."

-as she keeps shooting. Not at everyone -I watch as two people sheltering in a cubicle are completely ignored as she walks past them- but at a great many people. Alan's throwing up barriers and deploying riot shields from his subspace pocket in an attempt to weaken the bullets but they're still-

Transition that one!

-bullets. Even without a demonic enhancement they'll punch through flesh easily enough, as my right shoulder will confirm.

Some of the people on the street are trying to get as far away from the building as they can. Too many have moved to what I can see them telling themselves is a 'safe distance' against a teleporter with possessed guns and decided that now is the time to take advantage of being inside the cordon and watch the super fight. And/or film it. If I weren't-

Change the signs again as there's a better route.

-focusing on the fight-. Aren't there places where they have anti-rubbernecker barriers for car crashes? We need one of those.

"Youbetcha."

The next time Ms. Carlyle fires, her shot is intercepted by a construct shield bearing the blue lantern sigil. The bullet punches through the shield just as easily as before. Is the sigil even-?

The bullet hits a computer monitor and gets embedded in the plastic.

"Worked!"

"Saw that."

He boxes her in, blue sigil glaring from each side of the construct packing crate, sides slamming together and trapping her within! She actually stops, blindfolded face staring at the glowing walls hold holding her in. And unlike he would have done right after returning to active duty, Alan remembers to keep back just in case she pulls something. Ms. Carlyle taps the butt of the gun in her right hand against the interior of the box, achieving nothing.

Reroute the signs again, and this part of the building is mostly cleared. I start removing the chute construct so that it can't get damaged by a wayward bullet in case she breaks out.

Being careful to keep a wall… Well, an interior partition, between him and her, Alan creates an Alan construct in front of her.

"Miss? What's this all about?"

Her head turns slightly, and she realises that she's too tightly compressed to raise her guns. So she reverses them, poking them under her arms and firing at the rear of the construct trapping her. Fractures appear as the first rounds punch through, cracks for the second and she doesn't bother firing again, red mist pouring out and allowing her to walk through the otherwise-solid construct. She raises her guns at-

DODGE!

-me, the shot passing through the open-plan office and exiting the building through the window, passing over my right shoulder. With Alan's sterling example in mind I create orange construct disks with the orange sigil on them and fire them into the path of the bullet. The first is smashed asunder, the second gets cracked and the third catches the bullet. Present for Batman.

"Alright, if that's what you want."

Alan's boxed her in again, beams running through the interior of the crate forcing her to point her guns upwards.

"Two important things Paul taught me. The first one is, everyone's got a reason that makes sense to them, and you can't understand them unless you understand how they think about things. You're doing all this because of what happened to your boyfriend? Seems to me that a good cop like him wouldn't be on board with you going on a killing spree. The other important thing he taught me-"

His constructs glow brilliantly.

"-is how to use a ring to make someone feel an emotion. Because it seems to me that what you're short on is hope."

There's a blue flash, and Ms. Carlyle shudders inside her construct prison.

And then she points both barrels at her head and pulls the triggers.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
13:54 GMT -5

"That Alva guy give you any trouble?"

Alan stares morosely at the bottles of liquor lined up on the wall behind the bar, his elbows resting on its surface and his chin resting on his hands. His ring's glow is dim to the point where I can't see his environmental shield.

"No." I pull out the stool next to him and sit down, noting the glass of whisky he has in front of him. "I don't know if that was because none of the local superheroes were with me or if he's more different to Lex Luthor than I've been assuming."

"Mm."

"Though if what Rocket told me is right, I'm surprised that he's still alive. If I'd been going on a murderous rampage I'd have prioritised him above anyone else."

"You... Got any plans to do that..?"

"Do I have plans? Yes."

Alan nods, his gaze still distant. "But you're not thinking about putting them into action right this minute."

"Now you've brought it up I am. But I wasn't, otherwise." I make eye contact with the barwoman, who I'm pleased to see hasn't picked up a camera. "Orange juice for me, please."

A nod, and a quick grab at the under-bar fridge later there's a glass filled with orange juice in front of me. I take a sip.

"Did I-? Did I do it wrong?"

"Not as far as I could tell."

He nods sadly. "Could you see something..?"

"No, sorry. Between the demons in the guns and the blue light, empathic vision wasn't giving me anything useful."

"I figured. But I wanted to ask."

I nod, and take another sip. Time to have another go at convincing Britvic to rerelease Still Tango. Or… I could just buy it. And Ribena and Um Bongo. Or I could just license the old recipes; can't assume that everyone shares my tastes. That would actually-.

"Think of something?"

"Nothing relevant." I shrug. "Are there..? Old drinks from the thirties you miss?"

"They stopped putting cocaine in Coca-Cola before my ma would let me drink it. Twen'ies were a big time for cocktails but I was too young, and there wasn't a lot going on during the Depression." He turns his head just far enough to look at my drink. "What, are they watering your orange juice again?"

"No, just… Thinking about things I used to drink."

"Buying another company?"

"Maybe."

He takes a small sip of his drink, then catches me watching. "You know, I do remember Prohibition. I've known people who ruined their lives with drink. I'm not an alcoholic, but I… I do use alcohol as a… What do you call it? A coping mechanism, sometimes."

"I… Didn't…"

"You don't get on anyone's case about it, but you don't drink at all yourself." He exhales through his nose. "I don't even really need this to steady my nerves, but… God damn. She just shot herself right in front of me."

"Yeah."

"What the heck did she do something like that for, huh?" He shakes his head. "We knew the guns were possessed. She wasn't going to get punished for what they made her do."

"It could have been the guns-."

"It wasn't the guns. I could… I could feel it when I got through to her. She decided to shoot herself."

"We can't know why. She might only have got a moment of freedom and decided that she'd rather stop the guns killing anyone else than take a risk on us being able to free her. Heck… Even if she picked them up willingly to start with, she can't have known what she'd have been driven to."

"Or what?"

"'Or what' what?"

"You're not exactly known for your light-hearted up-beat outlook, Paul."

"It could have been the guns. Sometimes, when demonic creatures get exposed to emotions they can't process, they do uncharacteristic things."

"Like shoot their host."

"Or that might have been her being driven out of her mind by the contrary impulses. Or -given how her body disappeared- she might not actually be dead."

"I saw the back come off her head, Paul. I felt it when her brains sprayed all over the inside of my construct. Then just…" He swirls his glass around. "Poof. Gone."

"I'll try and get hold of Mammon. See if her soul ended up downstairs."

"Yeah. I'm going to finish my drink and then try and work out what the hell happened to make this whole mess happen."

"Alan, I'm kind of a psycho. You're not. I could take people blowing their brains out all over the inside of my construct all day and it wouldn't bother me. You can't, and it would. If you want to knock off early..?"

"I'd rather keep working." He exhales sharply, downs what's left of his whisky and deposits a few dollar bills on the bar. "Even if it's just fetching and carrying, I'd rather have something to focus on. Something to keep me busy."

"If you're sure."

"I may not be an alcoholic, but if you keep using a coping mechanism you can fall into the habit." I nod. "Bet you're impressed I know what a 'coping mechanism' is, aren't you?"

"I assume you and Guy talk about something when I'm not around." I raise my own glass to my lips to finish my drink.

"And don't call yourself a psycho. You're just resilient. Maybe a little callous. But you're not a psycho." He stands, his cape billowing around his bar stool. "Things going well at your end?"

"We're gathering information, certainly." I lower my empty glass and place my payment plus a small tip down next to it. "But since we don't understand why this is happening, we're just acting as drift nets until we get a better idea about what's going on."

"No red flags, then?"

"None so far. A lot about what the Alliance does is odd, but then this life isn't exactly 'normal' to start with."

"I'm not so sure. Diana told me once that back in Ancient Greece they didn't have any kind of police. If people wanted to keep them and theirs safe then they had to do it themselves."

I nod. "True, mostly."

"Then really, this sort of grass roots thing is a return to form. The unusual thing is people assuming that the police could handle things on their own."

I nod. "There's something to that. Ah, Alan."

"Yeah?"

"If you want to talk about anything, I'm just a ring call away, right?"

"Yeah." He nods, reaching out with his right hand to pat me on the right shoulder. "I know."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October 2012
20:27 GMT

Trailing grape vines wrapped around pillars of white marble, friezes decorated in the classical style and a small band in the corner playing medieval music.

And a colossally corpulent demon sitting on a throne at the head of the room.

"Illustres, m'boy!" Mammon smiles broadly, raising… In all fairness, relatively muscular arms, in greeting. "What can the President of Hell do for you today?"

I take a moment to look around. "I see that you've remodelled."

"My power rests on the support of my subjects… But it's my power. I felt that the Greek model of an enlightened tyrant was better than anything suggesting hereditary.. kingship."

"And styling yourself as a king would suggest that you ultimately wanted direct control of all nine circles, whereas if you look fat and happy-"

"Which I do and am!"

"-it reassures the others that you aren't interested in the Crown of Horns. Though on the subject of expansion, have you appointed a ruler to The Odium yet? I imagine that putting one of the senior Renderers-."

"Ah." He actually manages to look a little awkward. "No. As it turns out, there was an outstanding candidate. So outstanding, in fact, that appointing anyone else would have looked ridiculous. And since my ruling council is consent-based…"

"Anyone I need to worry about?"

"Did you have any dealings with Lucifer?"

"Not knowingly."

"And how do you feel about a cosmology ruled by a single, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-righteous divinity?"

"I'm against it. I'd rather that people be free to make a mess of things."

"Then I imagine that the two of you would get on well enough. She was something of a Lucifer-loyalist, but that ardour appears to have been dimmed by him abandoning creation."

"He's gone? You're sure that he's actually left?"

"With beings like Lucifer it's almost impossible to be completely certain. But Lady Mazikeen was his consort for a very long time. If she thinks that he's gone, then it's as good as true." He leans forward slightly. "Unless you know differently?"

I shake my head. "No. I'm just relieved that I've got one less arbitrarily powerful entity to deal with."

"I ask because there's been a certain amount of… Idle speculation. Concerning your true nature."

"I've been fairly open about my origin."

"Yes, but we're not known for honesty or faithfulness down here, and we're biased to assuming that others share our habits. Your appearance in the wake of his final vanishing act, your attitudes, your ascent in the ranks of power… Your mystically-obscured name, even your totemic bond with a great serpent-."

"You think I'm Lucifer?"

"The possibility has been mooted. In certain circles."

"You think I'm actually Lucifer, or just some creation of his?"

"Lucifer would be perfectly capable of granting an aspect of his character their own agency. Though it would be uncharacteristic for him to create someone purely as a pawn."

"To the best of my knowledge, I am neither Lucifer nor a creation of his."

"But it's not as if we can check, is it? But…" He waves his right hand. "Idle speculation. And we've drifted away from the subject of your visit."

"I'm looking for the soul of a woman named Jill Carlyle. Died a few hours ago after murdering quite a few people."

"If she came to Hell and retained coherence, she would have gone to Internecia. I will summon the lists."

"There are a few other names I'd like to check out as well." I fabricate an updated list of Crimson Avenger's victims and-. And pass it to a demonic flunky in robes who scurries across the floor and up the podium to Mammon's side with remarkable speed. "Would-be heroes who might have-."

A huge book resting on an equally huge lectern appears next to Mammon, cover opening and pages turning as he looks over my list.

After a few moments the book stops.

"No. Nothing for a recent inductee named Jill Carlyle and nothing for any of these people." He smiles. "What a remarkably virtuous collection."

"Okay, do you have anything on their sins? I assume that those would be recorded even if they didn't end up coming here?"

"Yes, we're subcontractors for a variety of places that find it more efficient for us to do their legwork for them." He smiles. "Sloth. It was such a wonderful invention."

He claps his hands and another lectern with an even larger book appears on his opposite side. The pages don't move, prompting a mild frown.

"Strange."

He grips the cover with his left hand and starts flicking through it with his right, slowly at first but quickly gathering speed until the pages move in a blur, the back cover slamming shut a moment alter.

"Problem?"

"Nothing. According to our records, not one of them so much as coveted their neighbour's ass for even a moment."

"Is that possible?"

"The odds against it are steep, to say the least. Were they all warrior-saints raised in monasteries?"

"One was a nazi. Several of them were killers."

"Do you know what this means?"

"Demons are failing to detect sins?"

He looks horrified.

"We'll be ruined! I've built my premiership on the idea that I'm a safe pair of hands, and I had no idea that someone was dodging-. People come up with ways of dodging Hell all the time, and some of them work for decades. This, we didn't even know this was happening!"

The musicians stop, cringing. Mammon notices and waves at them to carry on as he calms himself.

"I can trust you to investigate?"

He nods, the books and lecterns vanishing in a puff of pure white cloud. "For my own sake, as much as anything else."

"Thank you. And don't feel too bad about it. You found out because of your alliance with me. The other Lords of Hell don't have anything similar."

"That you know about. But you're right; that might mollify them. Bless it, we need to get on this immediately. Do you have any idea what might have caused this?"

"The murderer was using possessed handguns, but-."

"Wouldn't have been enough. Even if the demon in the guns got greedy, we'd still have a record of their sins. What gun was it?"

"I don't know their names. The guns the Crimson Avenger used to use."

"Them? Yes, we know who they are." He heaves his bulk out of his seat and strolls down the podium. "Why don't we go call 'em up right away?"