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

[Mr Zoat]

Butcher's Blood

20th January 2013
21:05 GMT

Sereaven still looks to be in a good condition as Ragnar and I fly towards Lantern Lacuray. The only real change is that the ships are formed up close to the planet rather than being in a dispersed formation to respond to raids. Inviting her to come along would have been a bad idea; I picked her up because I thought that defending her home would give her the power boost that she'd need to become relevant. Still, given how gung-ho most Orange Lanterns are, I feel that I've wronged her slightly. Hopefully this will make up for it.

"Illustres." She comes alert as we approach, drawing herself up slightly. "The fear demon will not be coming here?"

"Not any time soon, if the Guardians know their business. Which they generally do. So you've got a choice. You can go back to Maltus and continue your training, or you can accompany Lantern Ragnar and I on a diplomatic mission with a minimal chance of combat."

"There isn't.. any threat to Sereaven?"

"The Reach remains a threat to Sereaven, but I'm not aware of any new imminent threat to Sereaven, no. Parallax is going back to Oa and Joseph Harrolds has returned to his home planet."

"You left him alive?"

"Yes?"

"I-. Oh, I didn't mean to question you, sir."

"You can question, politely. As to why he's still alive, it's because we're not at war with him or his people at the moment. He hasn't hurt us or ours except while Parallax was in his head. Because we could take him alive without undue risk. And because I'm trying to be a little more discerning in who I kill."

Ragnar nods. "To be killed by the Illustres is an honour one must earn."

I try to smile in a way that indicates that she should ignore that comment.

"Where are you going?"

"New Genesis. Long way from here, so I'll probably have to tow both of you. It's mostly jungle, with a small floating city that has virtually all of their technologically advanced civilisation on it. No real relationship with any Maltusian faction, but I know the ruler's son and daughter-in-law. They're usually pretty friendly, in a slightly high-handed sort of way, so if you treat them like Maltusians who haven't forgotten how to breed you'll probably do alright."

"Will I need to talk to them?"

"Not for any negotiation. Talking casually is fine."

"How big an empire do they rule?"

"No, it's just the one flying city. They're just advanced enough that they can sustain a large spacefaring military without a particularly large population base."

Not sure why they don't expand, even if they limited themselves to taking a few uninhabited worlds to build new flying cities over. My guess would be that their nature encourages them to focus on their own individual excellencies rather than the strengthening of their society, but that is just a guess.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure why Mr. Free and Barda don't have children. This is our first major contact with Apokolips since Kanto tried to kill Canis. Before that, Darkseid was completely ignoring them. They had plenty of time to settle down and start a family. Barda certainly wasn't exercising her divine capacity for violence in any significant way… Maybe they're just not children-people.

"Then I would like to accompany you, Illustres."

"Rightoh. Illustres to local admiral."

"Admiral Scratch-Click here."

"I'm detaching Lantern Lacuray from your command to mine. That won't cause any problems, will it?"

"No. One more Lantern doesn't make much difference to our defence plans. Where are you taking her?"

Technically, he doesn't need to know, and spreading that information risks other people who shouldn't hear about it. But the Reach finding out that I'm talking to New Genesis doesn't really cause a problem for us, They're not going to involve themselves in this war whatever I say, and the Reach could find that out by asking them politely. Which, to be fair, would probably be what they'd start with. And while the Reach might make common cause with Apokolips to keep me distracted, there's no way they'd pursue an actual alliance. Which means that they don't have much of a motivation to stop me talking to New Genesis about something not related to their war with us.

If anyone's feeling uncharacteristically rational.

Heh.

"New Genesis, but not for anything that will affect our war with the Reach. It's just that some things can't be left until a convenient time."

"Understood. Scratch-Click out."

"Right. Now, we're going to be warping to a system that's quite a long way from New Genesis so that I can try to communicate with them."

I could go back to Earth and borrow a boom tube, but that risks someone on the Apokoliptian side hearing about it and taking action.

"Yes, Illustres."

Ragnar looks thoughtful. "Do they have a duelling tradition?"

"Yes, though unless someone's very eager, I'd rather that you held off-."

He holds up his hands, palms facing me.

"I am a prince, not an uncultured barbarian. Of course I would learn their customs before duelling on their soil."

I think he sees the scepticism on my face.

"The Orange Lanterns I challenged, we went to neutral grounds before fighting."

Ring, check-.

"Outside of their worlds' cities, you mean."

"Yes, of course."

That would… Probably work for New Genesis. The way that nation states work with regard to claiming territory on Earth isn't universal. Betrassus still has substantial areas between settlement that technically aren't controlled by anyone.

"I'll trust your judgement on the matter."

"Thank you, Illustres."

Oh, he'll name his terms in advance.

I extend tethers to each of them, plotting a course and warping space as we connect. I… Think that Ragnar could cope with a brief dip in the Honden at this point, but Lacuray is far too new to consider it.

"Three, two, one, warping."

The system vanishes to our rear, stars blurring around us. This sort of faster than light travel actually… It's pretty, giving you the chance to watch the universe fly by. Stepping out lacks that, though it's so much faster that I almost always use it.

"This is gratifying, Illustres." Ragnar grins. "Every time you show me something like this, I am shown the path to my own improvement. When we have more time I would like it if you would critique my own technique."

"Certainly. I'd be happy to. Lantern Lacuray, how to you feel about being the furthest travelled member of your species?"

"A combination of awe and terror, Illustres."

"A very sensible attitude. It never pays to become habituated to what we can do. Warp terminating in three, two, one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
21:08 GMT

"…probably didn't exist in your youth. It's called 'work-life balance'."

Palace servants clear away the aftermath of desert, and as it turns out Celestia does eat things other than cake. Spending time here when I'm not trying to revolutionise Equestrian society has been an interesting experience, as I'm forced to engage with the natives socially while I constantly fight the instincts telling me that everything around me is a cuddly toy.

"Or maybe it's an issue with Cutie Marks, because-."

"Thank you, Grayven, but the work you've already sponsored on Cutie Marks is causing enough trouble."

"Honestly, they can't keep taking ketamine. They're going to develop a habit."

"Miss Glimmer has been given her own wing to perform her research. Having other ponies exposed to her ideas was becoming… Problematic."

"Fainting. Goats."

Celestia sighs, very quietly. "Grayven, why are you here?"

"You're my girlfriend's sister and co-worker, and because Sunset asked me to. There's not a lot I won't do for either of them. But… If you actually want me to leave, then I will. I'm not trying to stalk you."

"Twilight… Suggested some activities-."

"Bold of her, but I'm a one-mare stallion. Though if she's suggesting things like that, then I may have to reconsider her psychological profile."

"Friendship activities."

"Got to be-." I blink as I consider what she just said. "Ah, don't want to give mixed messages here, but would it be alright if I hugged you right now?"

"I certainly don't mind, but why?"

"Celestia, you're over a thousand years old, and you got sent friendship activity ideas from your twenty three year old remedial friendship student. I grew up on Apokolips, exposed to the Anti-Life Equation, and I worked it out for myself."

Granted, in Lex's case, a certain amount of coercion and murder was involved. But he's almost thirty percent over that now!

"The fact that you need advice from her about this is a bit… Sad. I mean… Is it..?"

I look her right in the face, and as far as I can tell she's waiting for me to be crass again. But that's not where I'm going.

"I'm probably not as old as you, but I've… Out-aged people before. Is that..?" Her face shifts in understanding. "The problem?"

That's true, but Other Grayven didn't care about it except when it meant that he had to train new henchpeople. And Sheeda could last quite a long time, as well as being evil enough that them dying was a little more comfortable for me than it will be when…

Um.

Wait, who do I know who isn't-?

"No. But as ruler, there is inevitably a degree of separation between myself and my subjects."

"As sovereign goddess, you mean. Human kings and queens on Earth can pal around with each other or other highly placed nobles without it being awkward. But in Equestria, it's just you. And Luna. And Cadence."

Guess that explains why Cadence got brought into the family. I mean, she should have seen how it would look to Sunset, but… By itself…

"I have colleagues, but… You are partially correct. It isn't as hard as some playwrights have suggested, but… Fixtures in my life have been… Thin on the ground."

I grin. Which is a disturbing thing to see on an equine muzzle.

"I-."

She tosses her mane. "And for some reason that doesn't seem so bad now."

"Hah! See! See! But, look, I've been following you around and you've been doing the job of the executive branch of government combined with that of a figurehead of state, and between that and raising and lowering the sun… The 'life' part of the equation has basically evaporated. You… Workhorse, you."

"Is this where you suggest that I reform the entire government of Equestria?"

"I was going to wait until you brought it up. But if you wanted to turn the Bearerherd into alicorns with a view to them acquiring experience in different areas of life before eventually forming a new tribe-specific aristocracy, I might have done some theoretical work on the subject."

"An alicorn-?"

"I'd prefer to upgrade everyone and switch the government over to capitalist anarchy, but I'm prepared to make compromises. You suppressed knowledge on ascension because… You want it to be a reward for the truly worthy? Okay, we only use it on the truly worthy."

"You would create an alicorn aristocracy to.. ensure that I will have friends?"

"Hey, it worked for me!" I shrug my wings. "Look, you were on your… Okay, not on your own, quite, but there… That's a big deal. Of course, if you've got some other plan to deal with things, I'm happy to 'back your play'."

"I… Did, but I suspect that events have invalidated it."

I nod sympathetically. "Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans. But like I said to Luna, all Equestria needs you to do is raise and lower the sun. Anything else can be covered, as long as there's enough time to manage the transition."

"Actually, I have an amulet that can control the sun and moon when we're away."

"That-. Ah… That's.. honestly? Better contingency planning that I expected from you."

She raises her right eyebrow.

"Nah nah nah. No eyebrow, or I'll start making a list-."

"Twilight Sparkle lived here for eight years. If I couldn't survive a daily dose of lists, Cadence would already be controlling the sun."

"M'kay. So. Work-life balance. I think Luna's got it about right at the moment, but that's because you're handling far more than your fair share."

"I'm happy to do that if it means that the two of you can be together."

Aw…

Darn these ponies, giving me diabetes.

"Sure, and that's great now, but we've all got indefinite lifespans. It's not fair to expect you to do that indefinitely. I mean, what if you want to start dating some-?"

"No. Thank you for your consideration, but that won't happen."

Make a.. note to sic Ghia'ta on that one.

"Alright… Take up a hobby, or something. I mean, I wouldn't get bored ruling a country for a thousand years, but that's my special talent. I can't get bored with it. I-."

"You can't take on official duties until you and Luna are married."

"And that's not happening until my father's dealt with, so don't hold your breath. But I can have a purely informal chat with your diary secretary and see if there's a way to increase your efficiency. Find things that don't actually need you in person, and find someone else in the Equestrian government who can handle it. Frankly, heads of state aren't as essential as they like to think that they are."

"I suppose that sounds reasonable. I'll ask Raven to speak with you tomorrow."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
21:09 GMT

My giant radar construct is pointing directly at New Genesis while Lantern Lacuray maps local space under Ragnar's observation. I never actually asked Mr. Free how best to get in contact with his people, and… I should probably have brought Lantern Allyn along. Or maybe they'd have considered that an aggressive move?

"…that area looks like it was either subjected to kinetic bombardment, or else a very big bomb."

Ragnar nods. "Yes, good. Why do you think they targetted that point?"

She thinks for a moment, then calls up… A map of the planet's waterways. Most of the crater they're looking at is an inland sea now, but by checking the neighbouring landforms and the routes of the remaining rivers, it should be possible to somewhat recreate what used to be there.

Meanwhile…

"This is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps calling Supertown."

No, wait, maybe I'm doing this wrong. I close my eyes, fading from the material as I project my desire for communication through the Honden. That's not exactly how the New Gods-.
Righteous Authority.
A giant translucent face appears a little way in front of us. Male, pale skinned and with white hair and beard. No moustache, which means it looks like he has a mane framing his face. That matches the image of what I was expecting Highfather Izaya to look like.

"I hear you, Illustres."

I bow.

"Highfather. Thank you for responding."
Blessing of Benevolence.
"My son's allies on Earth have already requested the aid of New Genesis. If you are here to repeat their request, I regret to tell you that have sent all that I can."

"Not exactly. I believe that I have a power ring-based solution to the Anti-Life infestation. However, there are certain components I need before I can put it into effect."
Cease.
"Say no more. You and your colleagues may approach New Genesis. I will greet you when you arrive."

"Thank you!"

The floating head fades as Lantern Lacuray stares after him.

"What was that?"

"It was their ruler, Highfather Izaya the Inheritor."

"No, I-. It wasn't a hologram. There's no projection signal or display medium. It wasn't a telepathic narrowcast or plasma construct. What was it?"

"Reality superposition."

"What-? How..?"

"I just made that up. Izaya is empowered by the Source, so he might just be able to tell reality to put his head somewhere but I'm not concluding that based on any particular intelligence. Shall we?"

She nods, while Ragnar crosses his arms and shrugs to demonstrate that it will take more than a giant head to impress him. I tether them both and then space blurs around us before we appear high up in the atmosphere of New Genesis.

Hm.

Aside from the faint.. golden smudge of Supertown itself, New Genesis looks completely pastoral. I can't see any roads or buildings… I guess the primitives wouldn't use things like that, and the… Local insectoids live underground.

Thinking about the primitives… Oh, I just spotted… They've still got New God physiology, haven't they? So it's not as if they're making life all that difficult for themselves by returning to nature. It's… Like a human going 'off-grid' with a miniature nuclear power plant to fuel all the mod-cons made by their personal matter transmuter. Or like reaching the top of Everest in a plane. Or dynamite fishing rather than grabbing the fish with your bare hands. Living without technology is impressive when a normal human does it, but with New Gods…

"Is it a hunting reserve?"

I look at Ragnar with my left eyebrow raised. He gestures to the planet with his right hand.

"They've removed all marks of industrial civilisation from their homeworld. Did they want a place to hunt?"

"No. Though I don't know enough of their history to know how they ended up like this."

"There."

Lantern Lacuray points, not at the planet but out into space. Their fleet, ships with silver armour and… Weird glowing patches, and… Pipes? There are shared design elements across the fleet but as far as I can see each ship is unique. I'm not… Sure what I'm looking at, but they're on station in case of trouble.

"They don't look like Grayven's ship."

"New Genesis and Apokolips share a technology base, but they have a rather different design philosophy. Alright, down we go."

I aim at Supertown and accelerate, the atmosphere parting around me. I could just appear there -and given boom tubes they're probably used to that sort of thing- but I think for a first meeting I should take things a little slower.

And the clouds parts and I see that being a New God doesn't give you taste.

"It's very… Gold." Ragnar sounds puzzled. "Were they concerned about lasers?"

"Wouldn't that blind them when the sun shines on it?"

"We're not here to criticise their horrible taste in city decoration-."

"Horrible?" I glance at my other side, where a white-suited-. That's Lightray. "As opposed to your grim grey ensemble?"

No technological aid I can see and he's effortlessly keeping pace with us. And not having to shield his face. Superman tends to squint a bit if he flies at this speed.

"It doesn't show the dirt."

"Is that what they told you?"

"No, that's-. You don't know what orange power rings do, do you?"

"Let you mimic even a fraction of our power?"

"Whatever we want. I'd have to want to be dirty to get dirty."

He tilts his head, pointedly focusing his attention on my cuirass.

"Your mental dysfunctions are yours to deal with."

"Which way to Highfather?"

"This way."

He accelerates, drawing ahead and leaving a trail of gold behind him. He leads the way towards a… Park near the city's rim.

"Did we come at a bad time?"

"When it's you? Hah, it's always a bad time!"

I turn my head to make eye contact as he smirks.

"Have we met before?"

He blinks, frowning, before breaking into a grin.

"Hah!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
21:13 GMT

Highfather rises from the floating bench he was sitting on, watching a group of New God children playing with… Uh, some sort of gravity manipulating block toys. While I'm sure that their precise functionality is fascinating, they're not what I'm here for. Instead of scanning them to see what I can learn I just do a general scan for concealed people -none as far as I can tell- and then focus on my host, bowing at the waist.

"Highfather, thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

He comes into convenient talking range, crosier held in his right hand and resting against his right shoulder.

"Rise, Illustres, and be at peace." "I offer you sanctuary."

I straighten, pleased that Ragnar and Lacuray both copied my action. Izaya is smiling politely. Expectantly.

"That doesn't seem very likely, but I'll try while I'm here. These are my colleagues, Lantern Ragnar and Lantern Lacuray."

Highfather makes eye contact with each of them before returning his full attention to me.

"You mentioned that there are things that you need for your plan to work. I am eager to hear what you think there is that can remove the Anti-Life."

"Life, naturally. I've been exposed to Anti-Life fragments before and it didn't do much. That's a product of… My relationship with the orange light. A Green Lantern colleague of mine who has achieved a similar relationship with the green light experienced the same phenomena. It's my belief that by combining multiple emotional colours it should be possible to purge an area of Anti-Life… I mean, maybe not the complete Equation, but a widespread infection like the Earth has."

He raises his eyebrows, nodding slowly as he thinks it over.

"Green Lanterns have proven unusually resilient in the past, though it was a long time ago that the Green Lantern Corps last fought against Apokolips. I know of them and your Corps and of the yellow ring of fear used by Sinestro. What more do you need?"

"There are seven colours that I need. In addition to those three my friend Alan Scott has a blue ring and the Zamarons have started using violet rings. That leaves two: red and indigo. There's a sophont beaver in Sector One Zero One Four with an indigo ring, and probably more where he came from. That leaves red. Two parts to that problem: I need to find the materials that can be used to make one and I need to find someone who can use it."

"What emotion is red tied to?"

"Anger and hate. I've sort of gotten the impression that they're not inherently different things, and…" His eyes narrow slightly and his face takes on a… Regretful.. expression? "And we just experience them differently depending on our mindset. Regardless, I need someone well-acquainted with both but who can still focus through them."

"You're here for Orion!" Lightray sounds surprised. "I know he can be a bit moody, but I'd hardly call him some sort of 'rage mystic'."

"No, but I imagine that he has experience fighting off the Anti-Life due to his fights with the forces of Apokolips. Really, we're just going to need him to fire the ring for a minute or so."

Highfather nods resignedly. "And what becomes of him then?"

"Um, I don't mind? Assuming that the ring isn't owned by someone else, he's welcome to keep it."

"You don't understand. Orion has struggled to control his anger for his entire life. Asking him to manifest it outside of himself as Lanterns do may well undo all of the progress he has made."

"I know. But I don't have anyone better."

Bleez is a popular music star and political reformer. Ratchet is an Orange Lantern. I have no idea where to even begin looking for Dex-Starr, and… Honestly, between the Anti-Life and the Sheeda, he's probably dead. I don't know where Skallox is and I've got only the vaguest idea where Zilius Zox might be.

I need someone angry. Angry now, but in control.

"Because if I did, I'd be there instead."

"How confident are you that this will work?"

"Pfffooooow."

I look up at the sky as I try to work out how to quantify something like that. I mean… Based on what the Anti-Life fragment appears to do…

"Let's say… Eighty percent chance to get rid of it entirely. Ten to just give everyone temporary immunity while the League and its allies destroy the transmitter without having to worry about mind controlled soldiers attacking them. Fifteen to deal with the after-effects while we deal with it some other way, so that we can actually rebuild afterwards. Chance of it flat out doing nothing… Two percent? Maybe? I mean, something should happen, but I can't use New God technology myself for obvious reasons. And… Of course… If it does work, then we can use the same technique on other worlds as well."

"You expect it to expunge the Anti-Life, but your people to be mentally scarred."

"Most likely. But as I said, I can't evidence any of this." I shrug. "Honestly, we might be the ones who cause the trauma. But this is still the best plan I've been able to come up with. Have you got a better one?"

Lightray gives me stink eye. "Have a care, mortal."

"No, serious question. Highfather, you were friends with Prince Drax. Do you know a way to deactivate his robot?"

"It would be a poor weapon if it were easy to deactivate." Highfather shakes his head solemnly. "I have been trying to communicate with Drax since that… Those events. The unity of thought which existed between the Forever People was broken by their exposure to Anti-Life, and without that reaching him is… Difficult, to say the least."

Two ways around that: help them heal or train…

I look over to the children playing with the blocks, and out of the corner of my eye see Highfather bow his head slightly.

Train replacements, because there're some things that can't be fixed.

"Naturally, I have no problem with using our power rings to help them recover, but… I don't think that any one colour would be much use on its own."

He nods. "Thank you. And what else would you do with that power?"

"Not a lot. It would be split between seven different people, who would have to work with each other to make it work. And I strongly suspect that the Yellow Lantern will have loyalties that conflict with mine. I suppose I'd quite like to un-Anti-Life other places, but this is a bit… That's premature."

Lightray nods. "Willing to wage war on Apokolips, human? I respect that. My oration at your funeral will make the crowd weep for your loss."

"Everyone is already at war with Apokolips. Darkseid gets the full Anti-Life Equation, that's the end of intelligent life in this universe. More than that, his agent has attacked my planet. I'm not going to pretend that I have an alternative. And while I appreciate your offer, I've been dead twice. It's not that big a deal. And I don't think I'm a good enough public speaker to return the favour, but I can try if you want."

"Twice? Once could be regarded as misfortune, but twice suggests carelessness."

"It was carelessness, so, that fits."

He throws up his hands and shakes his head as Highfather nods.

"I will speak with Orion. I think that it is best for all of us if he helps you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
21:18 GMT

"Guy!" I fly towards him as he finishes up repositioning Ungara's orbital mirror array. "Guy, I need your help with something!"

"Yeah?" He glances my way, then generates a construct model of the ecological effect of the mirrors to check his work. "With what?"

"We need to teach a magical pony princess how to love again."

He both winces and smirks at the same time. "Hold on a sec. Lantern Gardner to Malo. I'm abowd done up here. You readin' okay?"

I don't hear the response, but from the way Guy's nodding I suspect that he's getting one. Could intercept it, but… No point.

"Okay… Great. Okay. Y'need me? Gimme a call. Otherwise I'll see yeh around."

He lowers his ring and then turns to face me, smirk reappearing as he goes off the clock.

"Grayven, I'm glad that whole pony… Princess thing worked out-."

"Magical pony princess."

"That… The magical pony princess thing worked out for yeh, but we don't all… S-swing that way!"

He makes a sort of hiss-laugh, chuckling to himself.

I shrug. "She could do better."

He jazz hands. "Oooooooooh!"

"In fact she has, which is sort of the issue."

He nods. "Time-expired, huh?"

"Oddly, no. He's indefinitely prolonged as well. Rather, he beat a couple of villains by absorbing all of their evil in them into himself, and flipped out as a result."

"Uh. Okay, yeah, that's-. Heh. That's a bit more… I mean, I ain't sure fixin' superpony's love life is really my job or nothin'-."

"But you've been trying to come up with a halfway plausible reason to visit Wilson for months."

"Fuck off."

"Everyone wants ponies. Ask the internet. You would not believe how many 'artistic impressions' there are of-"

"No no no."

"-her and I-."

A construct hand clamps around my mouth.

"What'd'yah need?"

"Well, we need something that can purge a giant ball of elemental evil."

"You tellin' me that magic ponies don't got somethin' like that?"

"They did, then they stuck it on a magical crystal tree to act as a magical weed killer, so now they're kind of stuck."

"Can't they just take it off'f the tree?"

"You'd think, but apparently not. I think it's a religious.. thing..? Point is, I think we can go Captain Planet on it by combining the power of our rings."

"Captain Planet."

I blink. "Don't tell me you didn't watch Captain Planet."

"I'm pretty sure the Guardians woulda said somethin' if there was a 'Captain Power Ring'."

"I'm not saying that there's a literal Captain Power Ring, though there is, I'm saying that we can use Captain Power Ring's power to do things we couldn't do on our own."

"That sounds like bullcrap."

"Horse apples."

"… What?"

"No, they actually say things like that. 'A giant pile of bucking horse apples', for example, would-."

"Really? That's…" He grins despite himself. "That's like the cutsyest, girliest thing ever."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

"A'ight, a'ight, so if we're doin' this 'Captain Planet' thing, what'd'we need?"

"Seven different colours of power ring. Now, I've got yellow, obviously, and I can get hold of Dox to get another Orange Lantern assigned. I can probably get Talbot to volunteer as the Red. You're green and Ghia'ta is violet, so that leaves blue and indigo. And someone to use them."

"You know anyone who can make power rings?"

"Yes, but… Ah… One of them's the student of the guy who made Sinestro's ring, and they needed to murder an entire… Planet… To do that."

His grin fades. "What?"

"I… Just realised that I never asked Weaponer Lysis how she made her red ring. Huh."

"That's the problem with workin' with evil people, Gray. Sometimes, they do evil stuff."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." I mean, it's not like it was a planet that I was using, but I should probably check that with her at some point just to make sure that it doesn't bite us in the haunches later. "But I can't really do anything about that now."

"That's not actually true. She's sittin' right next t', like, half the Orange Lantern Corps."

"I mean, I can't stop her doing something she's already done. I can't punish her for things she did before she made a contract with me, that would be unreasonable."

"She kills a planet, an' that's fine, but you don't wanna get in trouble with HR?"

"It's not fine, if it happened, it's just outside of my jurisdiction. Look, do you think you could get hold of Ganthet for me?"

"I-. I mean, yeah, but that whole 'Lysis killed a planet' thing kinda killed the mood."

"Oh, I don't know that she did that. She might just have snuck onto Ysmault or something. Or have been paying attention when someone else killed a planet; it's not like qwardians are shy about killing people. Look, Wilson really doesn't need Princess Celestia losing herself to ennui-" Said it right that time. "-and you'll learn some very interesting things about power rings. I think it's worth doing anyway."

He's clearly not happy about it.

"Look, do you want to be there when I talk to her about it? Because-."

"Yeah. Just a little worried 'bowd what happens if I wanna take 'er in."

"Let's… Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"Yeah. What yeh wanna talk to Ganthet 'bowd?"

"His blue ring prototype. Obviously, we need to borrow it."

"Ganthet's got a…" He frowns curiously. "How'd you know that?"

"Little birdy told me. I do meet with the Controllers on a semi-regular basis, and quite a lot of them used to be Guardians. Tell him we can give it a field test."

"Al… Right. I c'n do that. What about indigo?"

"For that, we're going to need Lantern Jordan, and the ring he got from Abin Sur."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2013
21:24 GMT

"Yeah." Jordan narrows his eyes. "Because that doesn't sound sketchy at all."

"Why do you hate ponies, Lantern Jordan?"

He puts his hands on his hips. "Because when I was five years old my mom took my brother and me to a fairground. We were supposed to get a pony ride, but it bit me. I wasn't allowed back."

"Because you got bitten?"

"Because I punched it in the face for biting me. I've hated ponies ever since."

…

This might be harder than I expected.

"Ah, these-. Wilsonian ponies aren't actually all that much like equus ferus caballus. The eyes are forward-facing, the head's larger-."

"Why can't you just get Gardner to call up Lantern Sur's records from the central database? He's got full access."

"You see, there's 'full access' and then there's full access."

There's a slight delay, and then he nods as he gets it.

"So you think he's got secure files on my ring, and you think that if you contact Oa they won't release them because we don't Need To Know."

"I'm not entirely sure that he'd have uploaded them. Because he might have decided that the Guardians didn't need to know." Jordan frowns. "Really, I just need to know if there are any periods where his actions… Where he was going, started being out of character. I'm trying to get a location…"

"Lantern Sur was with the Corps for a long time. Can you narrow it down?"

"Sometime after his daughter was murdered."

Jordan's face falls slightly. "I didn't.. know he had a daughter."

"Well, no, when he met you he didn't any longer: she was dead. As I said, murdered."

"He caught whoever did it?"

I gesture to his ring with my right hand. "You tell me."

"If you want my help, stop dicking me around."

"Alright. Fine. I don't know for certain, but I heard that he caught her and didn't hand her over to the authorities."

Jordan shakes his head. "That's… Not Abin Sur. Some guys in the Corps… Yeah, I could see-."

"No no no no no. I don't think he killed her. I think he… Ah… Arranged for her to undergo experimental psychological therapy, because as far as he could tell nothing else would change her."

"How the hell could you know anything about it, and not know..? What is it you don't know?"

"Exactly where it happened. Because you'd have to be sure, wouldn't you? If you were going to let the woman who killed your daughter out. You'd have to be completely certain that she wouldn't do anything like that again. You'd have to be sure that she was a new woman. And I really… Don't know where it happened, because if I did then I wouldn't be bothering you."

"How does that help your girlfriend?"

"Luna's sister's coltfriend-"

"Seriously?"

"-had a-. Yes. Had a dark magic episode and fell to the dark side. I'm hoping that by studying Abin Sur's techniques I might be able to help him."

"Somehow I don't think you're giving me the whole story."

"Ah. Okay? Sunset Shimmer was brought into the Canterlot-"

"Again: seriously?"

"-palace at a young and impressionable age, and formed a close-."

"Not-. Okay, not the whole story. Just the relevant parts."

"Ah… See… You're relying on my opinion about what's relevant, so even if I'm not deliberately trying to deceive you, you might end up not knowing something you wanted to know."

"So you're just trying to help your girl-. Fillyfriend's-"

"She's in her forties, so that's a bit-.

"-sister?"

"Kind of? I mean, we get on okay, but it's mostly to try and fix her relationship with Sunset. Which I don't think she should fix and if I wasn't dating Luna I probably wouldn't bother with but it's clearly gnawing at both of them…"

"What's to fix?"

"Celestia's over a thousand years old and ponies don't usually live much longer than humans. A thousand years without anyone she can really consider an equal. And that's why I appreciate Artemis so much." I reach out slowly and place my right hand on his shoulder. The first two fingers anyway, and he only reinforces his environmental shield a little before pushing my hand off. "And to a lesser degree, you and the rest of the Justice League. I know that in a hundred years, five hundred years, Diana, Kal-El, J'onn J'onzz and Richard will still be around. I'll have someone to talk to, you know?" He nods slowly. "Someone who's seen the same things I have. Been through the same things I have. Celestia didn't have that. For a thousand years."

"Okay, but what's that got to do with Sunset. She was her student, right?"

"Celestia bungled the interpersonal part of the relationship due to not understanding how other ponies think. We think. She might have always had terrible social skills. Point is, I think Celestia having someone else she can relate to as an equal will help her… Comprehend other people. Because… Like I said, Abin Sur would have to be really sure that there wouldn't be a repeat ever, and Sunset feels the same way about Celestia."

"I don't think Celestia murdered her daughter."

"Well… No, but ponies have these things called 'special talents'… They get these magical arse tattoos-."

He puts his hands up. "Okay, you know what? I'm just going to call up the files so I can stop listening to this."

"That's what everyone says to start with, and then they find themselves in pony form with a slice of Welcome to Ponyville cake in one hoof and a party hat on their head somehow feeling like they don't want to leave. They're infectious."

"Ring, when did Abin Sur's daughter die?

"Celn Sur was murdered in nineteen seventy eight by Iroque the Merciless."

"'The Merciless'? Seriously?"

"No other name on file."

"Okay, great, where'd he take her?"

"No location on file."

"Ooh, I got this one. Jordan's ring, if you had a shadow self that was much like you, but not bound by your restrictions, what would it tell me was her last known location?"

Jordan frowns. "What?"

"What, you've never seen Critters? You know, where they tell the lift to not take them.. to..? You haven't seen it."

"No, I-. I haven't. Ring?"

"No location on file."

"Okay… How about you show me every… Gap of more than a day where Lantern Sur didn't use his ring, and we go from there."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
09:40 GMT

Jade stares at the angular sculpture, eyes running from one material to the next.

"This is really four thousand years old?"

The tour guide is a member of the same species as Threllian, and her original placement here occurred at some point before their homeworld was conquered by the Reach.

"We cannot tell the exact date. So far as we can tell, this and other pieces like it were passed from one world which the Reach were about to conquer to the next. Many were either intercepted or were caught on the ground. This museum is what we have that made it this far."

It's not a small museum.

"The collection predates Maltusian involvement in the war with the Reach. I have even less idea about who may have started it than I do about the species that created this. It may be inaccurate to refer to it as being a single collection, or that it was created for a goal as high-minded as cultural preservation."

A slight change in the muscle tension around her eye. A smile.

"But I like to think that it was." Her eye moves to my ring for a moment. "Or perhaps that the selfish desire for unique treasures serves a greater purpose without the people who do it being aware of it."

"Is the species who made this on the list for resurrection?"

"Sadly, no. This piece predates the war between the Green Lantern Corps and the Reach. We don't have enough data to recreate their biosphere. This… And a couple of lesser pieces, are all that's left. And we can't be completely sure that they have the same ultimate origin."

"Do we know what it represents? What it meant to them?"

"No."

Jade looks extremely sombre.

"What they looked like?"

"If we are correct in our deduction about other pieces sharing an origin, we know something about the way that they perceived the universe. We believe that they had compound eyes, or a similar arrangement. If you look here-"

She points to a picture to the right of the display.

"-you can see what we think they would have seen when they looked at it."

Jade and I shuffle a little closer to it, peering at it while trying to map what it's showing with the sculpture.

Huh.

"They might have had some form of sonic sense as well; the structures on the inside of the sculpture-."

BOOM!

My power armour appears around me and my construct armour appears over me as I take the tank position between the sculpture and the boom tube aperture. Jade activates her exo-mantle and vanishes from normal sight as she drops through the floor. This shouldn't be-.

Orion drifts out on his astro-harness. It's silver rather than the gold colour I was expecting, and it allows him a more upright posture compared to what I remember from the comics. His helmet obscures his eyes, but I think he does a quick look around the room before focusing on me.

Ping.

I dismiss my construct armour and send my power armour back to subspace, which gets me a very small nod.

"Illustres." "Together we advance towards victory."

"Orion. We weren't expecting you quite yet. Highfather said that you had-."

"The task of expunging the Anti-Life from a world of Darkseid's victims takes precedence over everything else."

I try looking inside him, but am roundly rebuffed. Defiant Stand.

And he's not that early.

I smile. "Well then. Thank you for agreeing-" I send the 'safe' signal to Jade, and she emerges from the floor behind Orion. "-to participate. How much time are you able to give us?"

"For as long as I see a chance of victory. I will warn you, however, that many have claimed to have some way to destroy Darkseid before. Every one of them found that they were wrong when he killed them."

"I know next to nothing about the Omega Effect, so I wouldn't recommend using this to try and kill him. But as far as undoing the effect of Anti-Life exposure goes, I'm reasonably confident." I turn to the tour guide. "Thank you, we'll be fine from here."

"Of course, Illustres. Let me know if you need anything."

She heads back towards the more recent exhibits, leaving the room to-. Jade reappears, and after a moment's hesitation opens her helmet. Orion's eyes move over her and then his head turns away from her slightly in a sign of dismissal. Hm. I do seem to remember that was his attitude towards 'Bugs', and apparently Jade counts.

Ping.

And I don't. Curious.

"What is our first step in forging my ring?"

"We need someone willing to make the thing. My sponsor's suggestion was the maltusian who runs this project. Then, we will need a powerful focus of elemental rage for them to draw on during the forging process. Then you and they will need a deep and extremely personal conversation about your rages and hatred, and they will bind them into the ring as they forge it. Once that's done, you're free to return to New Genesis or remain here while I gather the other components needed for the plan to work."

"How long will I need to study this ring in order to fight with it effectively?"

"It varies, and the only New God we've taught is far less experienced than you. Honestly, for our purpose you shouldn't need to master it."

"I refuse to do anything less than excel." Master of War.

"Basic competency takes about a week, depending on your degree of self-mastery. Getting combat-worthy varies immensely, and we don't have any prior examples of red power rings. I imagine that if you were able to devote yourself to it full time and didn't suffer any psychological problems, you would reach the point where you could fight effectively within a couple of months. If you're used to fighting in three dimensions, even less."

"I will see how it feels. My Astro-Force beams cause more harm to New Gods than any power ring attack I have seen, but I will not overlook the utility of a device that can create any object which I can imagine."

"Keeping hold of both the necessary emotion and the necessary reason is usually harder than imagining what you need. If you'll please follow me?"

He nods and dismounts, the astro-harness folding itself up into his chest plate in a way which reminds me of the Apokoliptian weapons the Bialyans used. Same technology base, I assume. With him now on foot, I lead him and Jade through the museum and towards the den of the maltusian who built it.

"Orion, before we do this, there's something I should probably talk to you about. I think that Highfather was slightly hesitant because he was concerned about exposing you to your own rage. You're my first choice candidate because I think that you can handle it, but there are other people I could go to if-."

"Speak of it no more. I am the master of my mind. Highfather's… Kindness, is not required." Heroic Resolution.

"Very well. But I should warn you… Even you won't find it easy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
09:45 GMT

Draan Del Daar isn't a maltusian I've had anything to do with, though I'm given to understand that he's… They're? More representative of the typical mindset than Hinon. Pick a thing they can do without reference to anyone else and then just get on with it. In their case, they're technically an art lover.

They regard us hungrily as we come into their sanctum, and I'm honestly surprised by exactly how little trouble I have reading their emotional state. They might be deceiving me, but just about every maltusian I've met has kept me out as a point of principle. In fact… Yes, they're reading me right back without any connection to the Orange Central Power Battery beyond what all sentient creatures have.

They look a little like a shorter, thinner and paler version of Jevek Jos Jar, but with red and blue robes rather than blue and purple. The colour scheme reminds me of the Guardians actually, but apparently Draan was never a member. Guess they got comfortable in a style from their youth and never bothered updating it.

"Ah… Look at you."

They sound strongly interested in us, but their weirdly thin face has barely any expression. I know that for maltusians their body is an expression of their minds, but this is the first time I've encountered one that looks like it might have died but kept moving around because the owner hasn't noticed it yet.

"Such need. And you, Source-fragment. I see why he wants to give you a red ring. It is as if you're incomplete without it; your soul expanded beyond the bounds of your body but without that core part of yourself."

"My anger is not what I am."

"Argue xenopsychology with me when you've seen out your first billion years. Your anger is built into you, the structures of your mind. Everything else grows up around it like weeds."

His helmet makes it hard to tell, but I think that Orion is snarling.

Ping.

"So I'm happy to make you a red ring. I'll even make you a personal lantern, though you're not interesting enough for me to be prepared to make a Central Power Battery; I will not be bound in such a way."

"That's fine: we don't need one. But we do need-."

"Did Hinon tell you how she made your first ring for you, snake-host?"

"She tore the avarice out of her own psyche, and was rendered comatose as a result."

"Yes. I'm not doing that. I want to see-" Their cadaverous head focuses on Orion, the gem on their forehead glowing brighter. "-what you look like when you use it. I want to see what it does to your connection to the Source. What it does to your life!"

"Alright, so what do you need?"

Ping.

They keep staring at Orion, as he calms his rising irritation. Then they appear to decide that they've seen enough and rotate towards me.

"When the Butcher Entity ran rampant prior to it returning to its home plane, one of the more martial members of my species tried to fight it. The resulting struggle caused it to spill its blood on a number of worlds. It's still there today. I need some. It doesn't have to be a great amount, just enough to resonate with the anger and hate in Orion."

"Its… Blood? You mean like.. pools of the stuff..? What form does it take?"

"I haven't looked. It could be anything; when the Butcher impresses itself on the corporeal universe, it tends to warp things in accordance with its own nature. There may be springs which cause berserk rages in anyone who drinks it, rocks or metals which only the greatest warriors dare use to make their weapons, magma that smells of blood and can cause the closest of friends to tear one another apart… Something like that."

"You haven't looked?"

"If it's really that interesting they can make their way to me. I've seen that sort of thing before on hundreds of thousands of occasions. It isn't worth me going there just to watch them fail to be interesting."

"Alright. What planets did that happen on?"

"Volkreg and Azmah are the two I know of. There are probably others in the same region."

Ring, map?

"So, go there, find whatever form the Butcher's Blood has taken, get a sample and come back?"

"It probably won't be safe to bring it directly to Maltus. Take it to my laboratory on Turi and notify me once you're there."

I frown, puzzled. Turi's one of Maltus's moons. It's completely barren and contains no useful minerals. We haven't bothered to build anything on it because it's easier to build in space.

"Why Turi?"

"The atmosphere appeals to me. And there's no one else there."

I suppose that if we've got bits of Butcher with us then an isolated spot really is best.

"Understood. Is there any advantage in gathering the blood from more than one site?"

"It would make my work easier and more interesting. It might produce a more responsive ring. I will be making one and no more than that in any case."

Okay, so we'll go to both and then look for other planets as well.

"Alright, I'm sure we can manage that. Anything else?"

"See if you can find something interesting created in response to the Butcher's presence. I'll make an exhibit of it."

Ping.

Orion's jaw tightens. I imagine that he doesn't like running errands for someone who isn't Highfather, particularly given that Draan doesn't really seem to care about the issues at stake.

"I'll see what we can do. Orion, my records say that Volkreg is a industrial age world with some off-world contact. Azmah's isolationist, so Volkreg seems like the best place to start. Would you mind opening a boom tube there?"

Ping.

"I agree."

BOOM!

Orion turns away the moment the tube opens, striding through like he'd rather be anywhere else. I make eye contact with Jade for a moment, then we both walk through after him.

We come out onto a cliff edge, the sky cloudy as we look out across a fringed, rocky landscape.

"Was that the type of being who wields authority in your organisation?"

"No, that's the sort of being who doesn't bother joining our organisation. Unfortunately, most of the ones who join are bound to the Orange Central Power Battery so can't make a red ring. I'm sorry that he-."

A series of explosions… Artillery? Air-dropped bombs? Explodes in the distance, as the results of my initial scans reach my brain.

"It's not cloudy." Jade sounds sombre, and I see at once where she's going. "That's ash."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
09:52 GMT

"Illustres to local Green Lantern. Respond, please."

Orion's got up to get a better look at our surroundings. Perhaps unfortunately, his astro-harness is a lot faster than the flight system of Jade's exo-mantle, so she's opted to remain at ground level. Volkreg doesn't have enough surviving information infrastructure for me to just read up on recent history, and we're far enough away from Maltus that N.E.M.O.'s file on the planet is… Well out of date. I got more up-to-date information from John Stewart's ring, and that was just a summary.

"Did the Butcher's blood do this, or was it just the locals?"

A quick sweep with empathic vision… There's more red than on most worlds I've visited, but there's a big war on. It's hardly a surprise that people are unusually angry.

"Can't tell. I'd guess a little of both. I can't see anything that screams 'magically induced rage', but… That doesn't mean it isn't there."

Volkreg has a pangean continental arrangement. No moons of any size means that there's almost no tectonic activity. Almost all surface land area is connected to the rest, with only a few islands and the southern polar ice mass breaking that pattern. Which means that there are few natural barriers to land warfare. And of course visiting merchants have been happy to sell low-mass high-price things like weapons and orbital scans to the people on the ground in what I'm sure would be used as a salutary lesson on the value of the Prime Directive if this was a Star Trek episode. John's records just have that as a 'possible avenue of concern' rather than an active problem…

"Illustres to local Green Lantern, respond."

The light around my ring flickers, then a face appears. Humanoid, with an oddly-structured face where two triangular plates extend upwards from her forehead.

"What-?" She looks… Upset, actually. "Oh, I shouldn't-."

"Are you this Sector's Green Lantern?"

Her eyes dip for a moment. "No, not… Not any more. My name's Liana. Ex-Green Lantern."

"Then why are you answering?"

"My partner died recently, and I was… Discharged. Our replacements are in training, and we… I don't know. I assumed that the Guardians would assign an Honour Guard Lantern temporarily, but I guess they decided it wasn't worth it. There's not a lot… Happening here."

She frowns.

"Wait, who are you?"

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps, and I'm standing on Volkreg."

"Does your..? What rules of engagement does the Orange Lantern Corps use?"

"We do what we want, when we want, where we want."

"Oh." She blinks. "That's-. Without a request to intervene by one party, Green Lanterns aren't supposed to get involved in a planet's internal affairs."

"If you consider your job more important than millions of lives-."

"I don't, and that's-! That's why I'm an ex-Green Lantern now."

I nod. "I apologise. What happened on Volkreg?"

"Wars between city-states aren't unusual, and they usually don't amount to anything. I… Logged it was happening, and… Tried focusing on things I was allowed to do something about. And I know it kept escalating, but… How..? How bad is it?"

"Ash clouds, high enough that they're not coming down. I-."

Ring, geophysics scan.

Compliance.

Oh. That explains that.

"Someone nuked a super-volcano. They're looking at years without sunlight over most of the continent."

Obviously I'm going to fix that, but if the clouds have been up there for long enough then they might have gone through their grain stores already.

"Oh… No… That's-."

"Did you have any actual contact with the people of this world? Do you know people in their governments?"

"I… Did. I don't know if they're still alive… I'll… I'll send you my records. I don't know how much use they'll be-."

"Thank you. Were you discharged for trying to help Azmah?"

"Did you hear about that?"

"No. I'm here looking for something, and…"

File received.

Okay… That's a few places worth checking.

"Examples of what I'm looking for might be there, too. Can you stay available for the rest of the day? I might need to contact you again later."

"Yes, I… You're going to help, right?"

"Of course. I don't have the time to completely rebuild the place, but I can deal with their immediate problems."

"Thank you."

End.

"Right, the closest major city is about twenty five miles due-"

RIGHTEOUS FURY!

"-west-. Did you just hear som-?"

The ground shudders, and in the distance-. Close to or at our destination, I see a beam of yellow and orange light with… Black… Dots? Running through the outer parts, striking the ground.

"Would Orion-?"

"If he thought he had cause." I attach a filament to her. "Moving in two, one."

The scenery flickers and then… Yes, a city that Liana mentioned. The surrounding fields are burned, and-. An entire army is backing up as Orion glowers at them, the crater he blasted with his astro harness smoking in front of them.

"BACK, CRAVEN DOGS! FLEE! GO COWER IN YOUR HOLES! LEST I, ORION, ERASE YOUR WORTHLESS FORMS FROM THE FACE OF THE UNIVERSE!"

The army… Honestly, it's only a few thousand people, appear to realise that they've got no hope. They don't flee, but with the officers-

I can't see who's in charge so I'm going to assume that they were the subject of Orion's wrath.

-shouting orders and their banners waving, they begin to retreat.

There's a cheer, and I glance up at the walls-. Women, old men and boys. That's not good.

I need to get a handle on this.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
09:56 GMT

"WHO COMMANDS HERE?!"

The people on the wall are clearly unsure whether to cower or run. Orion doesn't seem at all perturbed. I suppose that he's content in his position as a (New) God, so mortals needing to be told 'Be Not Afraid' is perfectly normal. Given that he can be a bit… Proud and assertive, in the comics, I should probably handle him in the same way as I handled Adom before I made friends with him.

My armour's communication system beeps, and I open the channel.

"On the left. Near the field hospital."

I look over to-. Ah, yes. A local female who looks a little more together than the rest of the locals. Probably a good choice for a basic summary.

"Well spotted. Do you want to handle the conversation, or shall I?"

"You have seniority." True. "I'll tell you if you do anything wrong."

The people are focusing their attention on Orion. There are a few ranged weapons here, but it's mostly spears and knives. Limited access to metal, perhaps? I subspace my armour and

step out, reappearing

slightly out of sight next to the field hospital and dim my aura. I'm clearly not a local, but I shouldn't warrant the same level of excitement as Orion in full bellow-mode.

And step into her line of sight, smile and bow my head politely. It's a fairly standard humanoid gesture, so she should be able to understand it.

"Are we being invaded by aliens as well?"

Other physicians look up in alarm at her statement, freezing up like those on the wall.

"We're not invading."

That doesn't seem to reassure most of them, though the woman I'm talking to doesn't seem to care either way.

"I doubt that the late Kar Djann sees much difference."

"Intentionally. We're not intentionally invading. We're just here to pick up something we believe to be on your world, but couldn't help but notice that you appear to be having a rather widespread war."

"We have no treasures for you, alien. Anything portable of value has long since been traded to other merchants."

"I'm not looking for treasure; I have all the 'shinies' I want. I'm looking for the blood of the Embodiment of Anger, which I have reason to believe exists on this world. If you help me find it, I am perfectly happy to assist in bringing the current hostilities to a close."

"The last thing we need is more fighting."

"I assure you, my techniques are quite efficacious. But if you aren't willing to countenance killing as part of the solution, I am perfectly willing to limit myself to exile. This world has a few islands that can sustain a small population but which don't have enough wood to build a boat for the journey back to your continent. Is that an acceptable alternative?"

"Is this how things are? Is the rest of the universe so violent that our wars are considered normal?"

…

"Um."

"It… It is?"

"When things are as bad as they are now, most places would call a halt and focus on survival. But interstellar space is not in any general way 'peaceful'. Um. Sorry."

I look away from her.

"My own species was significantly more technologically advanced than yours before we had our first global war. And then twenty years later we had another one. I've got no wisdom that could fix this, beyond 'give a good person the biggest guns', and I doubt-."

"That is no solution."

"It's a temporary solution, because the wisest philosopher in the universe isn't much use if he's already been stabbed to death with a spear wielded by a practical philosopher. But you're right: it doesn't resolve things in the long term. So?"

She regards me cautiously. "Why are you asking me?"

"I don't know enough about Volkreg to decide myself. You seem slightly more together than everyone else. If you'd like to nominate someone else, I can talk to them instead."

"And all you want in return is help with your pilgrimage?"

"It's more of a fetch quest than a pilgrimage. And the two tie together, because while it's possible that this-" I glance up. "-is people letting the worst aspects of their character run wild, it might also be the result of the Butcher's Blood even being on this planet. Or a combination of the two."

"And you will follow my direction?"

"As long as it leads me to the Butcher's Blood, I have no dog in this fight."

"Then I accept. My name is Ilana."

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."

She frowns. "What happened to the Green Lantern Corps?"

"Not a lot, but this is an internal Volkreg matter and there's no unified government to request intervention."

"So we suffer and die, because-?"

"Sometimes it seems like the universe does you a favour, and a solution drops onto your lap. But it's unwise to count on it, particularly when the problem is caused by something that was here all along."

"This… Butcher's Blood."

"Or your own society. So, my guide, where do we begin?"

"Our militia. They were going to try to ambush Kar Djann's main army. I don't know if they're dead, or if he managed to sneak past them."

I turn away, eyes glowing as I look for people with a desire to protect their homes.

"Bypass. Though the survivors that Orion chased away are going to run right into them as they retreat."

"But there's no point now! We have to stop them!"

"Understood. Please come with me."

I offer her my right hand, and she takes it. I transition us up to the battlement near to Orion.

"-WARFARE! TELL ME OF YOUR MYTHS AND LEGENDS, THAT I MAY DISCERN THE TRUTH!"

"Orion, we're just going to go and recall the city's militia. Will you be alright here?"

Ping.

"It will be some time before they recover from the shock of my arrival." He doesn't look around, and probably didn't see Ilana. "Return with their soldiers, and I will see what can be done with them."

"As you wish." Armour, private channel. "Jade, keep an eye on him please."

"I can watch him."

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:01 GMT

The soldiers that Orion chased off are still within sight of the top of the wall. Being able to fly makes spotting them even more trivial. They've gotten into good marching order, though it's clear that they're despondent.

"When did the ash clouds form?"

"The c-. That's… Ash? Did someone burn an entire forest?"

"No, someone used a nuke-. A very large bomb on a very large volcano. The ash will actually be very good for the soil just as soon as it settles."

"It was… A quarter of a year ago, when we first saw it. We should be well into the growing season now, but as you can see, our farms are producing little. The cloud came from the west, and cities in that direction will have it far worse."

"Do you have enough food to sustain your population?"

"Will you break apart the clouds today?"

"Yes."

"Then we should still be able to grow enough. It will be close, and we will be hungry, but we will survive. The other cities do not know that you are here, and they are desperate."

"So they take food from their neighbours in their desperation. But that doesn't explain how it started, or who the heck thought that nuking a supervolcano was a good idea."

"We don't have any special way to send messages to other cities other than sending a messenger. Our Kar had a satellite communicator, but it was destroyed in a drone missile attack several weeks ago. Our city is… Self sufficient, so there were few traders to pass along general news."

"Okay, I-."

Ah.

I generate a miniature construct image of the militia soldiers I just spotted.

"Are they yours?"

"Yes, yes, that's them. Please, if they-."

The world around us flickers, and my construct barrier goes up in time to stop the first barrage of crossbow bolts from the irregulars camouflaged against the rocks hillside.

"Good effort, but that won't be necessary. The people attempting to invade-" A crossbow bolt hits the part of my barrier closest to my face, and I respond by giving the one who fired it a hard look. He conceals the crossbow in his cloak without looking even slightly guilty. Or nervous. "-are leaving, and my colleague Orion and I are going to try to normalise the situation. I would ask that you please return to your homes in order to avoid unnecessary deaths."

I deposit Ilana on the ground near to the closest militia squad, then generate a giant arrow construct near to the retreating invaders and wiggle it for emphasis. They take the hint and accelerate to a quick march.

"Ilana, who is that?"

"A Lantern, who can clear the sky."

"That won't dissuade people who are already starving." The man gives me an extremely sceptical glance. "And I doubt that they would do that without wanting something in return."

I transition down to float a short distance from him, his hands immediately going for knives under his cloak before he restrains himself.

"Someone made an ash cloud like this on my homeworld a couple of years ago. I caught it in the early stages and shut it down, but it was still pretty worrying at the time. Dispersed like this, it's more time consuming than anything else."

He considers me for a moment. "I thought that Green Lantern Liana was assigned to this part of the universe."

"She was. She got fired. I'm here for something else."

Ilana nods. "He thinks that there is something on Volkreg that is driving people mad with anger."

"People do not need to be driven mad to fight each other."

"No, but it can help. Hopefully, when the sun reappears the various cities will need to move their fighting age men into the fields to take advantage of it, but I'd rather deal with the source of the most recent outbreak of conflict."

"And then?"

"I will search for what I came here for and then leave. I'm not sure what your experience with off world merchants is, but outside of some interesting and novel food plants there's nothing else it's worth me taking from here. And it costs me next to nothing to wait until you've had a couple of good harvests."

"Then why are you talking to us?"

"I need someone more familiar with local custom than me to help me deal with people. Lantern Liana sent me some information, but that's nothing like actually living the culture. And if what I suspect is correct, the people responsible for the ash cloud might not be entirely responsible for their own actions."

"That would be extremely convenient."

He sounds extremely sceptical.

"Only if I can fix it. Which I can't guarantee. But I should get back to your city before Orion-."

"What about the cloud?"

"Someone's firing nuclear weapons at supervolcanoes. I don't know about your species' superstitions, but that sounds like a very bad thing. Particularly given that whoever did it probably has geophysics scans telling them where the other three are."

"Nuclear…" He doesn't frown, but the skin around his eyes wrinkles slightly. "I've heard of those. They're made with dense metal."

"That's the one. The difficult part is refining the metal to a high enough purity without the radiation melting you. Calculating the compression explosion is difficult, but a really good mathematician from your civilisation could probably manage it."

"It is more likely that they bought it." He grimaces. "Only an idiot or a monster would starve the whole world to win a war."

"Could be. I'll start by asking in the city closest to the blast. Excuse us-."

His eyes dart to Ilana, and she responds with the local confirmation gesture. He draws himself up slightly. "Then I will accompany you as well."

"The more the merrier. Will your militia adopt a more defensive posture?"

"I will.. speak to the appropriate people."

"Good show. Wave upwards when you're done."

"And what will you be doing?"

"Announcing my presence by removing all of the ash right away seems like a bad idea. But removing the clouds over your people's territory is something I can do right away as we're a long way from the source. And it might persuade your neighbours to look to their ploughshares instead of their swords. Excuse me."

I transition upwards and… The cloud is a cloud, the ash spread out enough that the inside is faint grey rather than lightless black. Unlike ash fresh out of the volcano it isn't hot, though the electrical charge is very much still present.

Right. One giant filter construct coming up.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Meanwhile, on Earth -14

21st January 2013
11:34 GMT +2

"…we really need to do this, mate?"

I smile obsequiously at Jackie Quick as he winces in the bright Central African sunlight. Arrowette doesn't look much better, while their 'pet' Skud seems… About as with it as someone with an IQ of 82 can.

"Jackie, you were the one who complained about not being involved-"

He bows his head and rests his forehead on his palms. "Fuck me."

"-in 'important decisions'. Now, I'm afraid that being involved involves your time and attention. Though…" I hold up my hands with an expression of forbearance on my face. "I have absolutely no authority to keep you here. I am after all merely an emissary of the Management, and have no right to give you orders."

Jackie looks up, slightly hopefully.

"No, but I do." Jonathan looks at Jackie with an expression of mild irritation. "You're staying. And next time, don't drink that much before a meet'n."

I float a glass of water over to each of them, Arrowette flashing me a grateful look before downing it.

"Or you could do what my old manager did at university, and hook yourself up to a saline drip before going to sleep. The headache's a product of dehydration rather than a moral judgement. Now."

I clap my hands together, smiling as they wince harder.

"Quick summary of the Syndicate's position, and then we can get to the meat of the issue. The Syndicate has taken control of all of the parts of the world no one really cares about, replacing corrupt politicians with effective and professional supervillains. Most people don't see much different, except that unauthorised crime is way down on what it was."

Because there's no point in robbing yourself.

"This has added a surprising number of legitimate revenue streams to the Syndicate and has… Basically made Europe dependent on us for certain types of fruit. Go team."

Jonathan snorts with amusement. "Guess that's full circle. I'm back where grandma and grandpa started."

"Do-?" Skud blinks as everyone looks at her. "D-do..?"

I smile at her. "It's alright, Skud. If you've got something to say, we want to hear it."

I give M'gavv a sideways glance, but she pointedly looks away.

"Do people..? Pay lots? For fruit?"

"Between cheap labour, productive farms and the new and improved infrastructure, in bulk, yes."

"Then..? Why'd we make drugs? Before? Or-? Or now?"

"If you've only got a little land, illegal drugs can make lots of money. If you've got lots of land and try making drugs, people attack you and destroy your crop. And making so much makes the price fall anyway."

"They don't attack you if you've only got a little bit?"

I shake my head. "There's no point. It's like how stealing twenty dollars isn't usually worth it, but stealing a million is."

She nods slowly, and Arrowette pats her hand. I'm not sure that she gets it, but… I wasn't expecting her to. Honestly, I'm surprised that she spoke up at all. Good for her.

The situation is amazing, though. Between the 'African Growers' Association' and the fact that a surprisingly large number of Made Men have powers that have non-criminal applications, we've actually… Made Africa richer and less corrupt than it was before. If only because the take is being spread between fewer people. I've had to put on shows a few times for the Made Men, to convince them that this is all 'acceptably villainous', and I'm not sure how long that can go on. I mean, some of them have to work it out eventually, right?

And that's the reason for the little meeting.

"So: Luthor doesn't care about us, no local power is strong enough to stop us and revenue is fine. What's the problem?"

Lamprey tilts his head slightly as he considers the question. "Expansion?"

"No, plenty of places to expand into inwardly. Africa's huge, and we're creating new industries from scratch."

Mary grins unpleasantly. "Each other. Supervillains gunna supervillain." Her eyes widen in excitement. "Is that it? Am I finally gunna get to rrrrrrrip someone's head off?"

"It might come to that. What we're going to do is brainstorm ways to prevent things getting-"

"BOOOO-ring!"

"-that far. So who can tell me what holds the Syndicate together?"

Jonathan nods. "Personal loyalty. You're loyal to the guy above you, and you treat the people below you decent."

Sea Witch sneers. "Because that works so well with Talon."

He looks away, shrugging. "Ah, if my pa'd been Owlman rather than Ultraman, I'd have done the same thing. Owlman mighta made him, but he didn't make him loyal. Treat people bad, and…"

I nod. "Alright then Ultraboy: did Talon know that you were treated better than he was?"

His eyes focus on me. "Yeah."

"So why didn't he come over to Ultraman's syndicate? Or anyone else's? Why did he go over to Slade and Luthor?"

"He was angry. Wan'ed to destroy Owlman's legacy."

I shrug. "What if he hadn't been angry? What tied him to the Syndicate?"

His eyes drift away as he tries to come up with a good answer. I'm sure that he wants to say 'me', and he did try treating Talon with the respect his abilities deserved. But ultimately-.

"Nuthin'. We were all on Owlman's side, so we didn't matter none."

"Right. You said that the Syndicate is about personal loyalty. How many people can feel that strong loyalty to someone? Practically? Ultraman met all of his Made Men, socialised with them, but how many were loyal enough for it to count? Zorina told me that the Syndicate is a brutal meritocracy. You get what you earn." I shrug. "Great if you're Management. You get everything you want, and you get to know that you're better than everyone."

I make eye contact with each of them. Each of them who aren't burying their face in their hands. "What made people loyal to Slade? To Luthor? To America?"

Lamprey nods. "Ideas. Ideals."

"Yes. The Syndicate has no idea. There is no higher cause here. No sense of responsibility. We're violent narcissists. And that's a problem, because now that no one thinks that Slade's going to rise from his grave and follow us here, Made Men are going to start pushing. They might agree that the Management are in charge, but that personal loyalty isn't there and there's nothing else."

M'gavv nods. "And we can't even threaten them because they want that fight."

Jackie slumps more. "Mate, I am too hung over for this. Bottom line? Please?"

"The Syndicate needs an ideology. Even if it's just feudalism. Some reason to make its members stick together and stay orderly beyond simple gratification and personal safety. Some rules for everyone to follow, including the Management. Or some way to convince everyone to accept a binding geas, which was Zorina's preferred option. We need… Something that can unify people. Any ideas?"

"Eh."

"No?"

"I don't know-."

"I do not."

"Why not let them fight it out, and kill the survivors we don't like?" Mary smiles as the rest stare. "What? That's more than you idiots managed."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Meanwhile, on Earth -14

21st January 2013
12:58 GMT +2

"Back already?"

I switch back from my 'work costume' to something a little more appropriate for the home. "I think they need a little while." Sounds like Zorina's in her workshop, so I head in that direction. "And Jackie and Arrowette showed up hung over."

"How did Raquel look?"

"Better. She actually voluntarily spoke in order to ask questions." I hold out my right hand to the workshop door and let the wards confirm my identity. "But I think that's her limit."

The locks unlock and the door swings open, prompting Zorina to look up from where she's working on the tubes attached to Madness Marine's head. One of the projects that's allowed me to pretend to be a 'better' villain than I am, increase my personal power and social influence.

Carlyle shudders as a new batch of Hope flows from the Mask and into the tubing, and through them into the device which squirts into the vials for distribution. Bit of a shame there's only one Medusa Mask as that limits production, but I'm sure we'll work out a way around that eventually.

Pure hope: an entirely legal high with a positive effect on a person's wellbeing as well as recharging the ring while looking dodgy as heck. A perfectly squared circle.

"Naelc."

Zorina-. My.. wife shimmers as her magic removes small amounts of blood and oil from her navy blue Howie laboratory coat and skin, as well as removing unwanted arcane energies which might have attached to her during her work. That done, she walks towards me with a contented smile on her face. I find myself smiling too as I move towards her in return. We embrace, her arms going around my back and mine going around her shoulders.

I didn't love her when we married, but somewhere along the line-.

"Ghhhagh?" My head jerks around immediately. "Aaaaynnnyyaa?"

"She's fine, darling." Zorina pulls away, walking over to the crib and bending over to smile at Zita. "Daddy's a big worry-wart, isn't he?"

"Mmmeuuaaagh."

I come up behind her, looking over her shoulder at our daughter. No idea what version of the family magic she'll end up with, but she managed to dodge comic-Jade's problem of having ring-coloured skin. She sees me and smiles, haphazardly waving her flabby little arms…

"Hi Zita!" I can feel myself grinning. "Hi Zita! Hi..!"

"Eeeeeghuuuh!"

Zorina reaches into the crib and picks up my-. Our daughter, carefully supporting her head as she pulls her up to her chest. Zita flops against her, hands weakly reaching to grip Zorina's coat.

"Sutats? Not hungry, doesn't need to be changed and doesn't need to sleep."

"I can read to her if you need to keep working here?"

"Is that a dig?"

"A dig?" She nods towards the corner of the room while keeping her eyes on our daughter. I follow her-. An exercise mat, water bottle, small dumbbells and a skipping rope. Zorina has been merciless towards her baby weight, and… "No! No, I meant-."

She snorts. "I know, silly."

"Not that I don't appreciate your efforts, but I know you can be sensitive about-."

She giggles, wrapping her free arm around me so that Zita is touching both of us. "You must be the worst supervillain ever. The best… Bad supervillain ever?"

"I prefer anti-villain, and I hope so. Any messages while I was out?"

"Grandmother's people sent a message. They think that there's an auspicious time to introduce Zita to the coven."

"Should you be… Telling me about that?"

"I think it's one of those 'test-of-loyalty' things."

"I literally can't imagine you failing a test."

"No, I pass because I'm loyal to my husband and daughter. I've been to coven meetings before and they're not that interesting. It's just a bunch of old women gathered around a fire pit and evoking demons. There probably won't even be any blood."

"How dull."

"The Zatara Family is a family, and you and Zita are my family." She looks up to nuzzle my face. "And you're much more important to me than some wizened hags in a cave in Aquileia or some cousin I share an ancestor with thirty generations ago. Oh, but don't call them hags outside of this room."

"I won't. Is it dangerous?"

"No, no." She looks down, smiling at Zita as she reaches for her face and rocking her back and forth. "They'll just perform an augury."

"How will they perform an augury without blood?"

"They get the animal from the local butcher already bled. It saves a lot of effort with the clean-up and doesn't affect the augury at all. But it's mostly about introducing the new Zatara to their doting great aunts. The augury's just an excuse."

"So I don't need to worry about them sticking pins in a me-shaped doll?"

"Paul." She moves her free hand to my right cheek. "You're part of the family. All those pins are just there to help."

"Uubababah?"

"Uuuuuh."

I turn my head to look at our 'emotion cow'. "Should Zita be in here with him?"

"Why not? He can't move with a broken neck."

"I'm not suggesting that we keep our occupation secret from her or anything, but it might help if we wait to do a full introduction until she's old enough to be able to put it in the proper context. You know, 'this person did this and that's why we're doing this' rather than 'sometimes Mummy and Daddy do this to people'."

"Daddy didn't do that with me."

"I… I think, darling, that this is one of those disconnects that someone raised in a supervillain household has from people who weren't."

She nods. "That's the second one in this conversation."

"What was the first?"

"You offered to look after Zita while I kept working."

"Yes?"

She sighs, resting the side of her face against my chest. "In the Zatara family, that's the mother's job. Daddy raised me after Mommy died, but that's unusual. I know you didn't mean to imply that I'm a bad mother-"

"No, of course not."

"-but that's what it would have sounded like to another Zatara. And I want Zita to grow up in a more traditional household. Because…" She sighs. "We're doing a lot of things that… Change the way supervillainy works. And if that means that you have to be alpha-dominant in public so our people respect you more, then that's what you need to do. I know you respect me. You don't have to assume that I'm going to forget."

"Obey the small rules so you can break the big ones."

"That's from Nineteen Eight-Four, isn't it?" I nod, though it didn't work in the long run for the character who tried it. "And… I want to make it easier for Zita to fit in with the family. Mommy… Dying, meant that I never got that chance."

"Okay. I'll… Try that. Can we go and play with her together? Or do I need to tell you to get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich?"

She nods. "What do you want in it?"

…

Um.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:18 GMT

Construct barrier shimmering around us, Ilana and Razer stare at the ash-gushing super volcano with a mixture of horror and awe. The full caldera is about fifty kilometres across, and unlike the examples on Earth that's not an old caldera filled with water. I can see the rubble that was thrown out by the initial detonation and heavy enough to fall back to the ground, and it covers the ground horizon to horizon… Where it isn't buried by ash.

The detonation point of the nuclear weapon itself isn't really visible to the unaided eye. I can tell where it was by scanning the stresses in the rock, but it's… With everything else…

Ilana half-turns her head towards me. "You said that there are three more of these?"

"Three more that could be opened with nuclear weapons of an equivalent magnitude."

Razer looks away from the base of the ash plume, searching for… What's he searching for? Something to use to better comprehend the scale of what he's looking at. "Can you shut it down?"

"Yes, but this… Volcanoes exist as a result of geological pressure. This one was triggered early, but it would have gone off eventually on its own. Same with the other three. It might be better to let it vent itself before blocking it."

I have my ring's AI compare this to other examples of supervolcanoes on file.

"Yes, it won't erupt again in the probable lifetime of your species if we leave it."

"Is it causing any other damage?"

"It's putting out heavier than air poison gas. But the nearest settlements are far enough away that they shouldn't be affected. The caldera will be unsafe for a long time, but the rest will disperse on its own."

Ilana shakes her head. "We should go to the nearest city. This is…"

"Yes." Razer nods sombrely. "It is."

"Alright."

I pick up the sphere surrounding them and fly at speed towards the city in question. I don't know if they were the target or if they were for some insane reason the ones who made the attack. Maybe they were testing a new weapon and didn't know about the supervolcano? I didn't see any rocket launch sites or obvious airports when I looked at the city earlier, but that doesn't mean that they didn't have some other way to deploy it.

The city is covered with a thick layer of ash and dust, still warm to the touch but not hot enough to burn. The sky is black, and the little light available that doesn't come from my rings is provided by shuttered lanterns borne on poles. The few people outside are wearing cloth masks to keep it out of their lungs. It looks like someone's tried to organise a cleaning system, with people shovelling settled ash onto carts pulled by their fellow residents. There's an obvious film of fear over the place, but they're being fairly stoical, inwardly. When there's nothing to do but tough it out, most people will tough it out.

It would probably be a good idea to make a favourable impression. I float over to near to the ash dumping ground by the front gate. The people there look up at me for a moment, and then bow their heads and return to work because, well: how am I going to make things worse?

Time to make a favourable impression.

I raise my left hand and cause a shield construct to swell and expand. At first it simply resembles a wall, but as it grows and grows it's clear to all onlookers that it's going to envelop the entire city. With the ash fall increasingly cut off I deploy construct vacuum cleaners to hoover up the ash drifts already on the ground and dump the material outside of my new barrier. Once the area around us is sufficiently cleared, I deposit Ilana and Razer on the ground to talk with the locals while I concentrate on… Cleaning off this dust-with-delusions-of-grandeur.

Hm. The ash fall is far more than a normal area effect atmospheric filter could cope with. At this point it would more or less have to be a force field with selective permeability. It would need a power generator on-site, and I can't guarantee that it would actually stay in place. Sure, I'll get the ash out of the atmosphere before I leave, but that will mostly involve putting it on the ground and high wind will keep picking it up for years yet.

I notice Ilana and Razer reach the local ash-dumpers and start trying to explain what's happening. I'm not sure if their language is similar enough to be mutually intelligible; it's a single continent and there aren't any impassable geological barriers between this city and theirs, but it's still quite a long way and I don't know how much their language has drifted.

Damn, that's a lot of ash. I take back what I said about it being good for the soil: this is smother-quantity.

Right, that's… Clear enough for now. The mass is building up on top of my barrier, but we weren't getting any sunlight anyway, and other than opening a tube to space that's the best I can do.

I fly over to the ash-dumpers, and give them a friendly smile.

"Hello there."

"Is this your work?"

"The eruption? No. When I want to bombard a place, I just bombard it directly. This sort of thing makes resettlement harder. Can I take it that you don't know who caused it?"

"Our alliance with Crelan collapsed recently. They seem like the sort-."

Razer's eyes narrow. "That sounds like pure conjecture."

One of the others slumps. "What do you want, outlanders? We're all going to die choking under the dust."

"I need some information, then I can deal with that. If you don't have any leads on who activated the volcano… Do you have any records..? Or folk stories, of people being filled with maniacal rage?"

"What? Why?"

"I have reason to believe that an object that has that effect is on this planet, and it's my job to find it and remove it to a place where no one will be harmed by it."

"Ah…" They sort of look at each other… There are a few negative gestures. "Not really? There are stories where people become angry, but the reason why they get angry is usually something the other characters do. I mean, that's the point, isn't it? Moral lessons?"

"Darn. In that case, do you know why your relationship with Crelan ended?"

"Their Dal was married to our Dal's sister, but their son died fighting against Alanak and so he decided to divorce her and marry a younger woman. Our Dal didn't like that, or the way he disinherited their other children. So he broke our alliance, and we both tried to find other allies. Then this happened."

"That sounds… Petty."

"There might be more to it than that. Not like the Dal needs to tell me anything."

"Did they have any off-world weapons?"

"Probably? We all do, don't-" He looks at Razer and Ilana. "-we?"

Razer indicates a negative. "Nothing this powerful."

"I think I should speak with your Dal. Where might I find him?"

"Out with the army, west of here. Of course, he might have gotten buried under the ash."

"How long have you and your neighbours been at loggerheads?"

"Well it's… So… About..? Eighty years?"

"Ilana? Razer? Is that normal?"

Ilana makes a gesture of uncertainty. "Our city is more isolated. We hear later about large wars, but we're not always involved."

Razer makes an affirmative gesture. "But it is not unusual."

That sounds like a lot, but is it really all that different to Medieval Europe?

"Let's… Hope that we can fix that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:31 GMT

The force field around the city crackles faintly in the distance, barely visible through the ash clouds that continue to fall. Razer and Ilana are staying behind to get updated on local news. The army in the field…

Ah, heck.

Looks like they've taken refuge in a small town, which is packed with refugees as well as a reasonably sized army. There doesn't seem to have been enough space in the actual buildings for everyone, and from the scraps of fabric I can see sticking out through the dust piles it looks like they tried to use their tents to create a cover over the streets. That might have worked alright for a smaller amount of ash, but it completely failed here.

I erect a construct dome and start clearing the build up, focusing on those ash heaps that still have living people under them. Piles build up outside the town palisade, and I'm… Probably burying crop fields doing this, but nothing under there is going to be alive at this point anyway.

I shove somewhat cooked bodies aside and hoik out a survivor, using a construct gas mask to feed them a little more oxygen to try and help him recover. With more space cleared I begin laying out the living and dead alike, a purple healing ray patching up the survivors. I don't think… No, I haven't seen people slow-cooked like this before.

Every day's a.. learning experience.

With the windows of the buildings cleared, light from my constructs leaks through into the interior. I get long enough to finish my triage efforts before the first brave soul risks opening a door, the rags jammed around the frame to keep the ash out meaning that it needs a strong shove before allowing them passage. I float down and raise my right hand in greeting. While I think I can work out which of the people taking shelter are the important ones, there doesn't seem to be much marking out the Dal from the other officers.

"Hello! You appear to be having a bit of an apocalypse."

"That-. That we are. Ah, sir."

A soldier. A junior one, shoved-. Yes, shoved in like sardines with.. some local people. They're all spilling out now, and-. One loses his lunch when he sees some of those that the ash fall killed, but most of them just wince or.. make a gesture that I assume is the equivalent of crossing yourself.

"Short version: it's a volcano, I can stop it but I need to know who started it first, where's the Dal?"

"What's a-? What?"

"The ash. It comes from a volcano. And it will keep coming for several days. I need information, and the Dal seems like he's most likely to know."

"You're a… An orange Lantern?" He looks up and left, taking in the size of the shield and the ash piling up outside it. "Ah, yes, yessir. He was taking shelter with the mayor, over that way." He points towards the only two-storey building in the town, which I'd assumed was a barn. "He's in there."

"Thank you. Please check on your wounded. I think they're alright, but this is the first time I've encountered your species."

"And the… The rest?"

I hadn't realised, but I think he's… Young. Too young to really know what to do in situations like this. One of the others should be an NCO, but…

"I don't know your people's funerary customs, but I suggest that you get started. Your officers should have orders for you soon."

I fly towards the taller building, noticing that experienced-looking soldiers with-. Yes, those are plasma pistols. An elite bodyguard, or people wealthy enough to-.

I spot the moment they see me, dart their eyes towards the shielding dome and don't go for their weapons.

"Might I speak with the Dal, please?"

One motions to one of the others, who steps back inside the building. I look inside as he talks to… Probably the Dal, who then proceeds to exit the building and look up at me.

"We have you to thank for this?"

"The barrier, yes. The volcano was set off by a nuclear device. Do you-?"

"Damn him! He told-!"

The Dal fights down his rage before looking back at me.

"Dal Cryoncus made contact with me a short time ago. He claimed to have bought a weapon from off-world arms merchants that would destroy our shared enemies. He needed access to my lands to site it, and I allowed him to send a small party."

"Are his lands close? They would have been covered by ash as well."

"His city is shielded by mountains. They have caves to retreat to, and the prevailing winds will spare him the worst of it!"

"Your enemies-?"

"None of them have had dealings with off-worlders lately. We keep track of such things about one another. It can make the difference between victory and defeat in battle, it changes the terms it's wise to offer in trade, it changes… Everything. And it provides information about a city's wealth if off-worlders think that it is worth visiting."

"Right." I land next to him and generate a construct map. I think I know which city he's talking about, but it makes sense to check. "This one?"

He considers the map for a moment. "Yes, that one. The people who would have killed us all."

I hear the anger in his voice, but as far as I can tell that all comes from him.

"How fares my city?"

"I cleaned it up and then put a shield around it. It should be fine. I suggest that you allow me to take everyone in this town there before I go to speak with Dal Cryoncus."

He makes a gesture of compliance. "Staying here would see us all dead. I will get everyone organised."

"Given the massive environmental damage your world has suffered, might I prevail upon you to agree to a general ceasefire? At least for a growing season or two?"

"Who would guarantee such a thing?"

"I'll either do it myself, or find someone else to do it on my behalf."

He looks in the direction of his city, though I doubt that he can see much through the ashfall.

"Are we the closest to it?"

"Yes."

"So we're undoubtably the worst affected. Yes, I'll agree, if my neighbours do as well. It's not as if it would be practical to launch an attack in these conditions."

"Thank you. I'll leave you to your preparations."

I rise back into the sky as he begins issuing orders. Transporting a few thousand people will be easier for me than arranging food and accommodation will be for him at the far end. Heh, the ash pile outside my shield is already about halfway up. It's astonishing how dangerous geology can be.

"Illustres to Jade. Anything worrying going on?"

"The militia are back inside. Orion and I are heading to the next nearest city to try and talk them into doing the same thing."

"Good idea. When you say '-."

"He's going to shoot things until they do what he says."

"Very efficacious. I've got a lead on the nuker. I'll let you know if it's actually them."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:37 GMT

I close my eyes and tilt my head back slightly as the bar room toughs form a semi-circle around me.

"This is such a cliché."

"This is a private party."

I open my eyes, eyebrows raised. It was the bloke with the horns. "Better."

"And we're going to need to see some ID."

Ah, okay? I shrug, then take my Denver driving license out of subspace and hold it out.

The chap with the horns blinks with two sets of eyelids, then snarls.

"That wasn't what I meant."

"What, I can't use a driver's licence as ID on this planet? I know the age is a question mark, but with one thing and another I genuinely don't know-."

"Member ID."

I put the licence into my equipment harness. "I'm not a member. Look, I just-."

"Then you can leave. You're not the right type."

I look down, and then back up. "These are dress shoes. What's the problem?"

A few more patrons are paying us attention, and most of them have their primary manipulator appendage close to their preferred weapon. I decided to come in here without a disguise, and as such am considerably taller than the bouncers. That might be why they're hesitating, but between the inverse square rule and their guns they might think that they've got it handled. Nothing about my appearance screams super strength.

"Take the hint. Go get a drink somewhere else."

"Oh, I don't drink. I'm here to do business. See, I got-" I left my case up and pop the lid. "-fungible goods to trade."

Hands close around hilts and grips.

"I wasn't sure exactly what you people take for stuff like this, but I thought that a few kilos of rare earth metals would probably do?"

"Heh." A slovenly-looking… Individual of indeterminate reproductive capacity gets off their stool, hand gun pointed at my face. "And what'd'you think the chance of you walking out with that is?"

It's a great feed line, and I know that the correct response is: brandish weapon and say 'better than average'. But Jordan made it clear that he doesn't want to make it harder for local police to monitor these people, which means not painting the walls with their digestive enzymes.

"I don't want to walk out with it. I'm here to trade it."

"Gaan." The horned chap makes a calming gesture, and I can see the added tension in him. "We've got this. Head back to your table."

"I think the payday's worth the heat." Gaan looks around as the crowd encroaches. "And I think that's the majority opinion."

I nod. "He's right." I reach into the case, take out a small bar of neodymium and toss it across the room. "Fetch."

There's a clunk as it hits the ground, and three people turn and take a step towards it. Gaan turns to glare as soon as he hears their boots stand down. "He's got a case full of that and you're chasing one?"

I nod approvingly as they retake their place in the wilding mob. "You're surprisingly well disciplined for pirates. You've completely defied my expectations." I look at the one with horns. "And you're on MP duty?"

"Security. And we're not on your side."

"Understood."

I take a gun out of subspace, a popular local plasma-based squad support weapon. Eyes widen slightly as I hold it casually in my right hand.

I then point the barrel at my left palm and pull the trigger down. Florescent purple plasma lances out and strikes my flesh… And does nothing. Once I've got enough of them staring I release the trigger and send the gun back into subspace, flexing my left hand as a thin film of smoke rises from it.

Slowly, their attention moves back to my face, and I give them all a nice friendly smile.

"So..?"

"Get over here."

A shadowy figure in a shadowy corner raises his voice slightly, prompting the security chief to look around. A certain amount of the wind leaves the sails of the rest now that the boss has expressed an opinion, but Gaan doesn't seem to want to let it go.

"But-."

The security chief takes a step closer to them. "Let it go, Gaan. Come on. He just took a whole fuel cell like it was a joke. What's your plan, here?"

Gaan looks decidedly sour, but shakes their head, holsters their gun and returns to their seat.

I smile politely. "Right, thank you, I'll be with your boss. Excuse me."

I accelerate the parting of the crowd with both hands, creating a path for myself towards where this crew's leader sits. He looks up at me through the sub-par lighting of the venue, his expression studiously blank.

"Grayven."

Did Original Grayven ever have any dealings with him? I don't remember doing so, but it's quite possible that his people encountered the Black Circle at some point.

"Amon Sur." I generate a construct chair and sit, facing him. "Pleased to meet you."

I place my case on the table and push it towards him.

He shrugs. "Who do you want dead?"

"Nah. If I wanted someone killed, I'd just do it myself. I'm here for information. Personal information."

He snorts contemptuously. "Anything I knew about my father's missions is years out of date. Not that he told me much."

"It's about your sister."

He frowns, but he's paying attention.

"I've been trying to find out what happened to Iroque, but after she was apprehended she appears to have disappeared. Your father definitely took her alive, but I haven't been able to find any record of her being incarcerated anywhere in the Sector. Or executed."

"His ring wouldn't let him do it himself."

I nod. "Yes. Do you remember the period?"

"Yes. I remember when he visited home, afterwards."

"Did he seem different at all?"

"No." He shakes his head. "I don't know. He wasn't home enough for me to have something to compare it to. He-." His eyes narrow. "He seemed… Calm. Weirdly calm. I thought he just… Didn't care…" He shrugs. "I guess shock affects people differently."

"Or something else."

He straightens up in his chair. "I don't usually ask about other people's business, but that was my sister. What's going on?"

"I think he moved her to an off-the-books facility. Do you know if he ever kept any sort of… Journal? On paper, not on his ring."

"I might. And I want to know where the bitch who killed my sister is right now."

I smile and nod. "How would you feel about looking into it together?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:49 GMT

There's little fanfare as the soldiers and civilians leave my large transportation construct and enter the city. I had to excavate a passage through the ash piles, but there's air and light inside so they'll live.

Though to be honest this sounds more like a mistake than an act of malice, the local ruler's bias notwithstanding.

I exhale slowly.

How do you..? Alright, we had the Year Without A Summer, so no one was stupid enough to test-nuke a supervolcano on Earth. And they almost certainly bought the weapon from outside, so… So they knew there was a volcano there, because they had to know where to put the explosive. But maybe they didn't fully grok it? Because… They didn't have that experience. That exposure. The only thing they could compare it to was one of the continent's smaller active volcanoes.

I wonder-? I mean, I'm never going to agree with Starfleet or anything, but I can't help but wonder how many inhabited worlds… Die, like this. A supervolcano goes off, or there's a mutation in a virus or bacterium that sends it rampant, or… I don't know, a geomagnetic reversal on a world inhabited by a species that has a magnetic sense. And everything.. just… Dies. Selling tactical weapons wouldn't really matter, even… Strategic weapons. But a seller probably wouldn't think to say 'don't put this on a supervolcano'.

I wave as Razer and Ilana approach.

"The Dal was kind enough to give me a lead. Did you learn anything?"

Ilana smiles. "It's interesting to meet people from so far away."

Razer grimaces. "It seems strange that so many people go to fight and die for so little."

I attach filaments to them and rise into the air. "Perhaps it seems like a big deal to them."

"No, it didn't. They just seem to think it was inevitable that war would be the result."

"On my world, two cities once went to war over a bucket. Though we've pretty much phased that sort of thing out."

Ilana looks interested. "How did your people do that?"

"We developed an economy where buckets aren't so valuable." She looks at me uncertainly. "That-. That was a joke. It was a combination of very deadly weapons being commonly available, and our economies becoming so interdependent and fragile that killing large numbers of fighting age men risked completely destroying the participating civilisations. Ah, plus nationalism, which increasingly made compelling a conquered population to obey too expensive to countenance because people would rather die than give their conquerors anything. You have to really hate someone to invade them under those circumstances."

"Oh."

"And we do, just less often."

She bows her head slightly as I fly us out of the force field, everything going dark as we leave. "You were serious about interstellar space not being 'peaceful'."

"Is that sort of ruthlessness common?"

"A-ah…"

I look up into the blackness as we accelerate.

"I can't.. claim.. to have studied every extant civilisation, but yes."

Ilana looks understandably downcast. "That's terrible."

"You can't really assess terribleness in isolation. I mean, we've got this universe, but if we don't have another universe to compare it to, we can't really say that it's worse. Maybe this is as good as it can get."

Ilana looks understandably more downcast. "That's terrible."

Razer nods. "And now I'm imagining somewhere worse."

"It's good practice. Before today, I'd never seen a supervolcano go off. I mean, I've seen worlds bombarded to death from orbit, but there's something about the sheer scale of nature's wrath that marks it out."

She frowns. "What happens if someone does this to the other three after you leave?"

"Hopefully by then you have a Green Lantern assigned to this Sector, and they step in and fix it. More hopefully-"

Orange light strobes out, projecting a display of the canyon we're flying over onto the clouds below us.

"-everyone learns enough from this to know that blowing up supervolcanoes is a bad idea for everyone. Please bear in mind that this is the best lead I have on the Butcher's blood, and the people here may not be entirely rational."

Razer makes a very quiet exhalation. "When compared to everyone else?"

Ilana favours him with a curious look, which prompts another exhalation.

"I thought that the people who intended to invade our homes were in some way unique. I thought that joining the militia was the best way to protect you. And I would have killed them, and then travelled to their city to ensure that they could not send another army."

She takes hold of his hands. "They probably felt the same about their wives."

"It's harder to kill someone when you know their name. Perhaps we should make more of an effort to get to know our neighbours."

"Good idea. Going down now. Oh, and-." I take a book out of subspace and translate it into their language before passing it to Razer. "This is how my planet's first global war happened a hundred years ago. You may find that some parts sound familiar." He cautiously takes the book. "Basically, don't do any of that."

"Thank you. I will make sure to avoid your planet a hundred years ago."

"Ah, also, don't go there now. We've got this thing with suicide magic-"

A volley of arrows fly in our general direction from the walls, either missing due to the ash or hitting my construct shield. The ash fall is much less bad here, and I can see where the air currents are diverting the majority of it around the mountains. Still not easy to see, but it's 'foggy' rather than 'Kahndaqi insect plague'.

"-and a giant robot god. Hello! We come in peace!"

Razer raises his new book slightly.

"Nearly! We'd really appreciate the opportunity to talk to whoever's in charge about the volcanic eruption!"

"No room here!"

Ilana puts her right hand on my left.

"He thinks we're here for shelter. There is no need to fight him."

"The great thing about being really strong is that it's not really a fight. I am strong enough to disable most of my opponents without causing them lasting injury. But you are correct."

I thicken the shield a little, just in case they've put an anti-air weapon on the walls, then float us into easy visual distance of the people on the top of the wall.

"And when I say 'appreciate', I mean 'do it now'."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:57 GMT

"Stop."

The small beaver-like alien before me both looks and sounds serious, but I admit that I'm having a little difficulty taking someone the size of an actual beaver entirely seriously. I mean, sure, that's an indigo staff and power ring and he's probably had them both for a while, but…

But he'd fit right in on the Equestria side of the portal without changing shape.

"So they do come in other colours. I thought you were chasing starlight."

Amon Sur's ship is hanging back a little. That… I'm not sure what to do about him in the longer term. The Earth Defence Force is probably going to have a hostile encounter with the Black Circle eventually, and then we'll have to exterminate them. But for now we just don't have any interstellar trade, so there's nothing for them to raid. For him personally? Once I've completed this task, I'll have enough time on my hands that I could offer him an orange ring and an apprenticeship.

Might be worth killing off the rest of the Black Circle first…

Wait a minute. This beaver looks… Wasn't there a beaver who fought against Lantern Ch'p? I don't remember what he was called…

Sinestro?

The only beaver-like creature I have a file on is one Doctor Ub'x. He was a criminal technologist. My organic self bought equipment from him on two occasions.

I smile. "Lantern Ub'x, I presume. What is it that you want me to stop?"

"I want you to stop trying to find us. Did you really think that we don't keep an eye on Lantern Jordan? And Amon Sur?"

"The first, I wasn't sure. The second, I assumed that you didn't, because if you did then it would have been logical for you to offer him a ring."

"No it wouldn't. You know that we exist but you clearly don't know what we are."

"You have a power ring, which is indigo. Therefore-."

"I mean that you don't know why Abin Sur created this organisation. Or why I'm part of it."

"According to my sources you used to be an arms trader. It seems like you'd be the sort of person due for a little indigo light based reformation."

"No, I went to the Indigo Lantern Corps voluntarily in order to… Earn redemption, I suppose. I went of my own free will, which is why I can have this conversation with you. How do you know I exist?"

"I've had access to parallel universes. The Indigo Lantern Corps isn't secret in all of them."

"No, not the Corps. Me, personally. Though I suppose that the answer is probably the same."

"Yes. Why, is there something special about you?"

He snorts with amusement. "I suppose not. So, what do you want with the Indigo Lantern Corps, Grayven of Apokolips?"

"I'm trying to help a pony corrupted by evil magic."

"I might be able to help, but our rings are only intended for particular types of people."

"No, no, I'm not suggesting him as a candidate. I need someone who can blast them with elemental compassion at the same time as six of us fire other colours of ring at him."

"That seems like a rather convoluted way of killing someone."

"No, no, no, it won't kill them. I'm pretty sure that combining the colours together will produce white light, the essence of life itself. And that will hopefully do away with the evil magic."

"The essence of life-? That doesn't sound like a good idea."

"No, it's perfectly safe. No risk of supercharging bacteria or giving people super-cancer."

"No, I mean, bringing that sort of power into the universe. There must be all sorts of ways that something like that could go horribly wrong."

"Look, there'll be seven Lanterns, one of whom will be me. Plus whatever escort I think is worth taking. If you're not going to use your power to help people then what's the point of even having it?"

"That's something that I never thought-"

"Ask him about my sister's murderer!"

"-I'd hear an Apokoliptian say."

"I've had an interesting life. So… What happened to Iroque? I assume that Abin Sur used her as a lab rat."

"She is serving the Corps as a Penitent. I assume that Amon Sur is shouting about how much he wants her dead?"

"Actually, he's being-"

"She's alive?! I want her dead!"

"-surprisingly.. restrained. I assume that she's brainwashed by the indigo light?"

"That's not precisely how it works. She can only feel compassion, but that doesn't change her underlying thought processes. Not directly, anyway. It's more a form of exposure-therapy, while her body is essentially… Little more than a puppet of the indigo light."

"Ah." I nod approvingly. "Slavery. To be maintained until the real mind learns to rejoice in obedience. I think that we should ensure that my father never reaches Nok."

"She's a slave?"

I smile at Dr. Ub'x.

"Would you excuse me for a moment?"

"Oh, so he is demanding her death."

"Yes, obviously."

"Then by all means."

I raise Sinestro to my mouth. "Yes, she's a brainwashed slave doing eternal community service."

"Does she suffer?"

"How often was your father wounded in the line of duty."

"Hm."

I lower my hand and return my attention to the magical beaver. "So are you willing to help with the pony, or do I have to track Nok down and ask someone else?"

"How many colours do you still need?"

"Ah… Depends whether Ganthet gets back to me or not. I don't actually have anyone for blue, but assuming-"

Incoming message-. Ow. Ow.

"-that he comes through… Excuse me a moment again. Yes?"

The face-. Of an elderly man stares back at me. Can't see the body, but the eyes… There's a sort of placid focus to them, unmoved but not unconcerned by the universe.

"Grayven. You have requested the use of a device that you should not know exists. How did you hear of it?"

"Not all parallel universes run to the same timeline. One of your alts has got it working."

"Did he have a Lantern?"

"Think he gave it to Jordan, actually. And some guy called Bro'Dee Walker, but he won't have undergone the trials that turned him into a good Blue Lantern yet. Ah… There was a guy called Warth, don't know if he's in the right mental place."

I shrug.

"So how about it?"

"My research has not yet yielded a prototype, but I shall certainly bear those names in mind."

"Are you likely to be able to get a prototype..? Anytime soon?"

"No. It has been some time since I have been able to spend time on a side project. It is pleasant to know that I will eventually be successful, but my responsibilities are unlikely to decrease. But don't worry; as a New God you will most likely live to see my project's eventual completion. I will let you know when I am finally successful."

His face vanishes.

"No blue light, then? Can I get on with my day?"

Hm.

"No, I… Think I can still manage."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
10:59 GMT

"A Lantern! Thank the Source! Can you stop this?"

Volkregian society isn't advanced enough to support the level of ostentatiousness that 'throne room' usually implies to a European, but the quality of the stone and woodwork is clearly a cut above what I've seen elsewhere. The Dal's clothing is-. Ah. It's a space farer's jumpsuit with added jewellery, the fabric being something they couldn't produce on planet and as such shows off his wealth and power while also being stain resistant and hard wearing.

Not seeing any red. Not in him, or the rest of his advisors.

"Yes, but there is a matter I have to resolve first, because there's no point in stopping it if someone just starts it up-."

"Yes, I admit-! I wanted to form an alliance with Crelan, so I arranged for the bomb to be brought to-. I just thought there'd be a few earth tremors!"

Interesting that he didn't try and deflect blame. He would have been advised, but where technical matters are concerned, how much advice could someone from Volkreg actually give?

"Do you have any more such bombs?"

He-. Shakes his head. Not the local gesture, but not an uncommon one around humanoid species. He's had more off-world contact, and either picked it up or learned to use it around aliens.

"The people you bought it from. As far as you know, are they in contact with anyone else?"

"They've-. They mentioned people a few times-. I assumed it was a negotiating tactic; no one on Volkreg can afford to have things shipped here in bulk. We're too far away from their workshops."

Accurate enough. Azmah is theoretically advanced enough, but they've got… Other problems. For the Sector's other advanced worlds, sure, they can get here, but Volkreg doesn't have an industrialised society. They don't manufacture anything that it's worth selling somewhere else, and they don't have the equipment to extract raw materials in the sort of quantity they'd need in order to use them for mass trade. Even farm produce is no good, because any merchant would just buy a breeding stock and move it to a world that had chemical fertiliser. So: sporadic visits to trade once they've build up sufficient… Gold, probably. And even then, only small traders.

"Alright, here's what I want in return. Y-."

"Name it!"

"You will foreswear the use of wars of aggression, both for yourself and your heirs. You will personally accept responsibility at a gathering of your peers which I will arrange. You will provide me with all information that I will need to apprehend the people who sold you the bomb."

"Yes! Yes! I want this to stop! You have to believe me, I never-."

"I do. Ilana, Razer, get the information we need. Excuse me."

I fly on automatic, out of the residence, out of the city and up into near-Volkreg space. From here I can see the full… No, nearly the full extent of the ash cloud. It actually extends over the horizon in the windward direction, even from up here. The plume is still fairly extensive in the other direction as the heat from the volcano pushes the air away in all directions.

I form a large cold gun construct and take aim at the centre of the caldera. There wasn't a great deal of magma, but cooling the ground should solidify the magma reservoirs and bung it up a little. And without the hot subterranean air, the ash should stop being ejected with the current level of vehemence. This much cooling can have some fairly severe affects on the atmosphere by itself, but under the circumstances I suspect that the locals will take a unseasonal hurricane or two over an electrified ash storm.

And fire.

The pale blue beam cuts through the ash plume, air contracting as the ash is frozen. It looks like someone poked a hole in the billowing mass, though this won't do much to the rest of the ash. I'm going to have to clean that up once I've dealt with the source.

You know, there are probably Lanterns who get to spend their entire career doing things like this.

The cold beam hits the ground and the ash ejection stops almost at once. Scans show the temperature of the crust reduce down to normal levels, lava tubes closing… Yes, good, good. Now… A plug. Scan… Yes, that asteroid looks about the right size and composition. I

step out and

reappear next to it, grab it with a construct tether and warp back to the planet.

Convenient, not having an interdiction field.

Then fly down through the atmosphere. The wind has picked up as the cold air starts pulling the hot air inwards and upwards, and that's adding to the lightning show. Not a danger to me due to my environmental shield providing me with perfect insulation, but I'm.. getting slightly uncomfortable Oceanus flashbacks. Now, this rock isn't much above absolute zero, so that should handle any residual heat. And it's a solid enough mass that it should contain any pressure build-up-.

And check the rock for dangerous micro-organisms, because I've seen The Andromeda Strain. And macro-organisms, because I've seen The Empire Strikes Back. No, nothing dangerous.

And down, with enough force to compress the rock and close off some of the fissures, without setting the whole thing off again.

If there was any moisture in the air, this whole area would be covered in frost and rain would be falling from the sky. As it is, the lightning intensifies, striking the newly-earthed iron-rich asteroid with great fury.

Right, that can take care of itself. I have great clouds to deal with. I don't know of any construct designed for…

Huh. John's ring had two records of Green Lanterns dealing with incidents like this. One used a vacuum cleaner construct and was at it for days, and the other sprayed the cloud with sea water, causing it to rain out of the air. That took a day, but caused widespread environmental damage from the salty rainfall and ash sludge and chemicals.

Oh, and Dox has a file on here about using a quantum teleporter to track the average movement of dust in a continent wide cloud and turn them into a solid block. The description seems to show that it's a good fit for this situation.

But I think that I should probably stick to the one I can comprehend.

It's most important to deal with the densest ash cloud closest to the source, and lesser amounts of ash are a problem but not a existential one. To that end I fly up through the rapidly shrinking hole my cold ray made, up until I'm above almost all of the ash cloud. Then I spread my construct downwards. I don't make constructs this size very often due to the overt threat they imply, but at this point it seems to be for the best. I keep going until I've got a tube pointing towards the billowing ash cloud, then add the filters-.

Wait, the ash is electrically charged. That should make this easier.

Add a magnetic field as well as a vacuum, storage tanks for the ash and escape vents for the air. Then -careful to take into account local terrain features and structures- I move it forwards.

The ash cloud goes from impenetrable blackness to dense fog levels as it passes through, and I know that will start to spread out and dissipate without the continual source of heat from the ground. Still damaging, if not quite Year Without Summer bad, but I can go back through with the water method to get the rest out once I'm done.

"Illustres to Jade. I'm dealing with the supervolcano now. Please reassure people that they'll be able to plant."

"I will. Orion has a lead on the Butcher's Blood."

"Oh, I was starting to think that there was nothing here. Good work. I'll go to you once I've finished here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
11:23 GMT

"Green Lantern Jordan."

Ub'x raises his staff in greeting to Jordan, while all Jordan does in return is frown.

"Do..? I know you?"

Ub'x looks… No, feels disappointed. Not.. sure what's going on there. Did he want Jordan to remember his criminal career?

"No, but I met your predecessor. A great man, Lantern Sur."

"Ah. Yeah." His frown deepens. "This is gunna sound like a strange question, but do you know Lantern Ch'p?"

"Yes. Quite well, actually, though I've been out of touch for a while."

He raises his staff, and Jordan nods.

"Yeah, I hear that. It's a full time job and then some. Okay, Grayven, you've found a… Purple Lantern. Why do you want Psycho Pirate's mask?"

I cringe theatrically. "It turns out that while Guardian Ganthet is working on a blue power ring, it's nowhere near ready for a field test. That leaves me at a loss for a source of hope."

"And you wanna use his mask? Would that work?"

"Won't know until we try. Making people feel emotion is what it does, but obviously it doesn't manifest actual constructs. I'm hoping that the feeling alone will be enough to count."

"So who's going to wear it? You?"

"No, I'll need to focus on using my yellow ring. I was going to offer it to Luna, on the grounds that she's touched the blue light before."

"I don't think it'll fit on her face."

"She's an immensely powerful magical demigoddess pony. I'm sure that she can manage to hold it on while she uses it."

"What, with her hoof?"

"No, her horn."

"What, you're just gunna stick it on there?"

"With her horn's magic. Look, I know perfectly well that there's no established procedure for releasing these things, and there's no way that Batman's taken it since it's a magic device and he doesn't do those. So either Giovanni's got it and I need to talk to him, or it's up here and you can approve its release. I hate to be a nag-"

"You allowed to say that word?"

"-but I doubt that having his brain exposed to all the evil on his planet is doing King Sombra any good, so if I could have a decision..?"

"And if I say 'no', you'll accept that?"

I look away, scratch my nose and shift my feet. "Yes."

Jordan doesn't look impressed. "That was on purpose."

"Fine. I'll accept it, and then open a portal to a parallel universe… Earth Fifty? And borrow theirs. I'm asking you because I'm aware that the League likes to keep tabs on me and I don't want to make that harder for you than it needs to be."

"Weren't you dating their Supergirl?"

"We went on one date and she treated it like a hostage situation."

"So you haven't told her about the pony."

"If you're not going to give me the darn mask, just say so."

He thinks for a moment. "Okay. But it's my responsibility. I need to be there every step of the way."

"You… Want to come to magical pony wor-?"

"No, but I'm going to anyway. Wait here while I get it out of storage."

Jordan flies off into the secure parts of the Watchtower. From which Batman presumably removed my access overrides after I rebuilt it… Two years ago? Huh. Doesn't time fly when you spend hundreds of years in the far future?

Ub'x looks around. "This looks like a Green Lantern Corps Sector House."

"That's because it is one, remodelled a few times. Humans have only recently reached the point where flying in space is a regular thing. Do you want to meet the people you'll be working with?"

"That's probably for the best. Though I do have another question."

"Yes?"

"You knew that Indigo Lanterns exist. You knew that we were founded by Abin Sur, and you knew that our corps is based on planet Nok. You even recognised me, though you were surprised that I have an indigo power ring."

"Yes?"

"But you haven't asked me to use the blue light on your behalf."

"No? Why, is that surprising?"

"Indigo Lanterns who are doing penance can use other colours of light."

What?

I frown. "How?"

"Their core psyches are still intact. But with their evil suppressed by compassion, the better angels of their nature are brought to the fore, shorn of the particularity of their vice."

What?

"They can use whatever colour related to what happened to get one of us to stick an indigo ring on them. Iroque relished the fear she saw in her victims, so these days she can use the yellow light."

"Her constructs are made more powerful by the people who fear her, and them?"

"No, when you use an indigo ring, it doesn't work quite like that. Her constructs are fairly weak."

I frown. Ah. I.. don't remember that from the comics, but… It was a while ago.

"So… There's… Someone who can use the blue light?"

"It's unusual, as our penitents are violent criminals. But there are one or two."

"Was there a reason why you didn't volunteer that information earlier?"

"Because I wanted to see how you would work around the problem before I let you know. You're not supposed to know anything about us."

"Okay." I glance in the direction Jordan flew off in. "So are you offering, or are we going with the mask?"

"Oh, we can try both. A mission of mercy working alongside the leader of the Orange Lantern Corps seems like a good way to introduce us to the wider universe."

"Good man. Grayven to Ghia'ta."

Her face appears over my ring. "Yes?"

"We need to go rescue my future sister-in-law's boyfriend. He sacrificed his mind by absorbing the evil from two evil magicians who were threatening her and her realm."

Her face metaphorically lights up. "They love one another?"

"They're each the only person the other has been interested in in a thousand years."

The space next to me crystallises for a moment before Ghia'ta steps through.

"Then in the name of love, let none stand before us!"

I regard her placidly for a moment.

"Magic girl anime is not a how to guide."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
11:39 GMT

"RAAAGHH!"

I nod slowly as the berserker throws himself at the bars, held back only by the chains binding him wrist, ankle and neck. In virtue of the fact that the people of this city know that this isn't a voluntary state the metal rings around those body parts are padded in the hope that doing so will prevent injuries and allow them to one day rejoin society.

"Keep going."

The chief warden nods. "Yes sir. It happens to those who work in the mines, sometimes. They start out just getting a bit snappy, then a few days later they start attacking people in a frenzy."

"It always manifests like that?"

"As opposed to what, sir?"

"The intellectual sort of anger. In a mine, they could do far more damage attacking the shoring posts than they can by attacking other people with their fists."

"No, not that I've ever heard. I suppose that if it was really intellectual, we might not see it. Or not recognise it as special amongst other crimes."

"YAAAGHH!"

"Do they ever come out of it?"

"Supposedly. It's hard to feed them or clean them. They keep fighting when we drug them unless we give them enough to kill them. But we've got records which say that if they live long enough, the madness fades."

"How long?"

"Three years." He makes a negative gesture. "But miners are strong and tough, and it's hard for them to sleep like this. The ones who recovered were old. Easier to restrain, so it wasn't as much of a risk to hold them down."

"How often does this happen?"

"One or two a year. Sometimes none, on the good years. It used to be more, but the Dar a while back ordered the miners to rotate shafts so no one spent too long in the deeps. Cut it right down."

So there's something down there that's doing this.

"Did your people ever find anything that could be a source? Do the miners..? Touch a fragment of something, and that causes it?"

"It's a little difficult to ask them, sir. No one has ever reported anything, and there's nothing that stands out as being something the afflicted share with each other. Other than working in the deeps."

I nod. So, something down there… Maybe they get angry down there and that draws it to them? Can't be conducive to a healthy mental outlook, going that far down. Then the Butcher's Blood supercharges it.

Or it could be something else.

"Is it a problem if I try to help this one?"

"We're used to this, sir. His family has already mourned him."

Right, then let's have a look at you.

Ugh.

Yes, that's clearly not part of his usual mind state. We can see… Red light coiled around his wants, bypassing and subverting them. The part of us that is the Ophidian did not spend much time around the Butcher and didn't care at all for the effect he had on mortal creatures, so we can't tell if this is unusual or not. The underlying desires look like they're still there and are ready to fulfil their purpose, but we can't be certain about that until we give them a tug.

"AAAGHH!"

That made the whole network brighten. The Butcher doesn't want its influence to end, doesn't want them to stop raging, doesn't want them to remember anything else. Or perhaps we're anthropomorphising, and this is just what exposure to the Butcher does to people.

But if pulling doesn't work, we can try eating it. We reach in and pull the power in the strands into our maw, rather than brutishly yanking them aside.

This world is a waste of my time. I should just tear their miserable-.

Hah, hah, good try, push it out push it out of us.

We understand the rules. It needs to go somewhere. We could take these people to Turi, but Draan Del Daar didn't strike us as the sort of Controller who would make an effort to keep his living batteries alive. Which leaves Orion as a potential vessel. I don't like that idea, but exposing him to the red light was part of the plan all along. This just brings it forward a little. Alternatively… We could take them into the deep parts of the mine. Orion could gain exposure in a slightly more controlled way, and we could try to force the red light out of this man and back into whatever it is soaked into.

I take a step back.

"Not easy to remove. I'll have to talk to Orion, first. Can we get access to the deeps?"

"The Dar said that I'm to help you with whatever you want. And you're the one who dealt with that dust cloud; we could see the glow from here. So, yes. I doubt that safety is a problem for you."

"Not from mine works."

I head out of the secure asylum, ignoring as best I can the rage-filled screams from behind the other locked doors. An impressively merciful solution, given their level of technological development. Keeping them like this can't be cheap or easy.

Once I'm out of the building I fly up to where Orion is on overwatch, his arms folded across his chest.

"These wars are needlessly wasteful."

"No argument here. But building civilisation is a long road with more than a few bumps along it. If people can't learn from the horror, why would they try something different?"

"A council of despair." "I illuminate the path."

"It would be despair if I thought they wouldn't learn eventually. You were right, by the way. It's either the Butcher, or something close enough."

"The ruler who blew open the supervolcano needed only his own greed and pride. These miners labour long and well, and are rewarded with madness. I do not like this world."

"It's a bit of a fixer-upper. Listen, there's a few options for how to-."

"Which one restores the reason of the afflicted miners soonest?"

"The one where I transfer their rage into you."

He turns his astro-harness so that he's facing me.

"And you fear the result?"

"Yes."

"Will it be stronger than the ring will be?"

"You'll have less control, but… No. At peak draw, the ring will be stronger."

"Then do not think me too weak to withstand it, or too delinquent to avoid doing what I know is right. Take me to them." "Because despite my father, I am a hero."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
11:44 GMT

"Okay, so I don't know exactly how this is going to work, or what it will feel like to you."

Ping.

"I am familiar with rage." His full attention is focused on the caged berserker in front of us. "That was why you asked for me."

"True, but I don't know if that makes it better or worse. So I'm going to move it to you, and if you can't cope, tell me and I'll reverse-."

"Do not insult me by completing that offer." He takes his helmet off, and I'm struck by how… Normal he looks. Aside from the heavy brow and helmet-hair, I don't think I'd look at him twice if I passed him in the street. "Begin at once."

Ping.

"Alright. One moment."

We look at the madman, the angry red coils still burrowed around his desire-strands. We look at Orion, his…

"Orion, we need you to reduce your defences against external interference. While we respect your caution, we are deliberately attempting to-."

"I understand."

Ping.

And now we have a.. better look. It's a bit more complicated than a human's network, but the largest thing is that some desires… They look like they're… External? Connected to things I can't see inside and outside of his own psyche. I guess that's to do with however New God powers work.

We reach into the miner's psyche, towards the red strands. And then we call upon Orion's desire to remove the strands from their current host, using that to link the two psyches together. To begin with, the movement is slow, the strands almost reluctant to leave their current home. But then-.

Father.

Then they see something that makes them feel a part of something greater than themselves.

We wince as elemental rage and hate flow past us, from the miner and into Orion, where it seems to… Hesitate, as if not quite knowing what it's supposed to do or where it's supposed to go. We're anthropomorphising again. Then we see the moment where it… Collects itself and then spreads outwards, grasping at the network-

"Uh."

Ping.

-before being pulled in, lining up with structures that are already there. We wait a moment, but nothing else appears to be happening on Orion's end. On the miner's end, we see… The desires are frayed, awareness only moving sluggishly around the network. But we have access to the Honden, and as such we can easily recall what should be there and restore it.

And back in the room. Orion's put his helmet back on, but otherwise seems to be managing perfectly well.

Ping.

"What… What's happening?"

The miner doesn't know what's going on, but that's hardly unreasonable.

"Why am I-?" His hands find the collar and his eyes widen in terrified shock. "I'm not-. But I'm not-."

"You were, but we found a way to fix that. Now, I'm afraid that we'll need the chief warden to check you over before we can release you, but you should be returned to the bosom of your family by the end of the day."

"Really?"

"One moment." I step out of the cell. "Warden! We appear to have had a success!"

"You do?"

He strides over, walking into the cell and staring at the inmate.

"Kellen? Are you back with us?"

Kellen the Miner nods. "I didn't know.. I'd been gone. I just.. remember getting annoyed about Tullan dropping his pick, and then…" He shakes his head, his gaze growing distant for a moment before snapping back. "Then… Then a blur, and I was here. How.. long..?"

"Half a year."

"That's… That's a relief, actually. I don't know what I'd have done if it'd been years. My… My family?"

"All well, as far as I know. We had a… Well, a volcano erupted, but that's been taken care of and all of the farms should be alright."

"Taken… Care..?"

He looks me over.

"Oh. Right. Ah. How?"

"I transferred the rage into Orion."

Who's put his helmet back on and is looking… Tense.

"Orion? I ask this because of our fellowship and not because I doubt your capacities, but-."

"I'm fine. Take me to the next."

"They've been here for months already. If it would-."

"I said, that I'm fine."

Ping.

"Alright. Warden, could you please take us to whoever's been here longest?"

"Aye, I can. Think calming thoughts, Kellen. We'll have the Dar's physician check you over, and then you'll be out."

Kellen steps away from the bars and sits on the cage's bench, trying to centre himself.

"Orion, I think-"

"How many times-?"

"-I can speed it up so we can do multiple at once. From what I could see of your network you should be able to absorb that much, but I leave the decision up to you."

"Do it."

"Alright. You'll need to remove your helmet again."

His jaw tightens, but he removes his helmet. He doesn't exactly look well, but his eyes are his own and the anger he feels appears to be focused.

We look deeper, and the red light he absorbed appears to be accreting around rage that he already feels. We suppose that makes sense; perhaps the issue that the locals have is that they're not as accustomed to rage as he is.

We look around, form a connection of need to each of the inmates and pull.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
11:58 GMT

I don't ask Orion how he's doing as he stalks along the subterranean passageway, because I can actually take a hint. His helmet's back on, and… He looked like he was managing it.

Ping.

"Can you see it?"

"Not… Yet."

We're not far away from places that people who've gone berserk are known to have worked. If there's a reservoir of the stuff then it should be possible for me to see it… Soon? Unless I can't see it unless it's already in someone, or if it's mostly outside conventional reality…

It's not as if there are a lot of people I can share information with on the subject.

My ring blinks.

"Illustres here."

"Darkstar Nguyen. I've got some bad news."

"About time. What is it?"

"Have you scanned for teleporter traces?"

I don't respond with 'no'. Instead, I scan for teleporter tr-.

"Oh."

"The locals haven't made any deal for any off-world visitor to use teleporters to assist in mining. I haven't spoken to the ruler yet, but I don't think he'll know anything about it."

"You haven't checked out the site, have you?"

"No, I'm leaving that for you and Orion. Unlike both of you, I don't think I could survive exposure to elemental rage blood. I'm going to see if I can get a description of any alien traders who've been through here recently."

"Good work. Keep it up."

I close the channel, then keep trying-.

Ping.

"What is this?"

Orion is… Staring at a section of rock floor-. Scan.

"Someone teleported a mass of rock out-."

"I can see that." He draws back his right fist. "I would know what they-."

"I can-! I can do that without bringing the mine down on our heads."

Ping.

He lowers his fist.

"Then do so."

I smile as he steps aside and generate a crumbler borer, then press it into the rock. The rock isn't anything special, and the concentration of metal in this area isn't high enough for them to think it was worth digging out. If there's anything-.

The wind blows past us as I breach the vacuum created by the teleportation, and a moment later the borer is fully through. I dismiss the construct.

"Alright, that-."

Orion jumps down, falling about two hundred metres-. The rock shakes as he lands, super strong legs easily absorbing the impact. I step forward after him, falling at a somewhat more sedate rate as I try and get a better scan result.

"Can you see anything?"
Primordial Presence.
"Something great and powerful was here. I can feel the echoes of its passing. But it is gone."

I lower myself into the cave, and… Yes, this isn't something they could get away with in most places. The amount of energy this type of teleporter uses… Leaves the rock completely smooth, fused along its boundary zone. It would be detected, not just by teleport sensors but by the fact that every circuit in the area would melt. Then the heat and seismograph readings, in case that wasn't enough.

"Could a normal teleporter move this… Butcher's Blood?"

"He said it could have melded with any local substance."

I form a small pneumatic drill construct and use it to hammer a hole in the floor until I'm through the metamorphic portion.

"Interesting that they knew exactly where to look, when the locals didn't have a precise location."

Ping.

"Neither did we have a precise location. Who could know about this?"

"Anyone… Who was around when the Maltusians were experimenting with the glow. My first guess would be Krona, but… Really, any of them. Merchants have been visiting this world for a long time, the existence of the Green Lantern Corps is common knowledge and the Orange Lantern Corps hasn't exactly been quiet. Plenty of people could have put things together."

"Mother Box, analyse every trace that their teleporter has left. I want their-."

Red light surrounds us, manifesting in the corporeal world! Fragmentary shapes, local people, a bear, a bull, a demon, not people but the tiny imprints that their rage has left on the red light. Some pass-. Pass around me, leaping, jumping, running, swimming for Orion.

Ping!

He yanks off his helmet and spreads out his arms as they hit.

"I know your rage! But it is nothing that I have not felt a hundred times! If you want to make Orion your fool-"

Ping.

He breathes in slowly, lowering his arms.

"-then you will need to do much more than that. Lantern! Can you see any more?"

"No. But I couldn't see that until it appeared."

"Rage calls to rage. It is contagious. Live surrounded by anger and you will often become angry yourself. The tiny spark of rage felt by these mortals opened them to infection. But my rage is greater, and it is ruled by me."

We take a closer look, and it does look like it's all… Merged with him, unlike it was with the local miners.

"Conclude your business with the Dals and Dars and whoever else of this world. I wish to use the astro-harness's sensors to track those who stole the Butcher's Blood."

"I-"

BOOM!

"-will. Illustres to Darkstar Nguyen."

"Go ahead."

"When you have those pictures, send me a copy. I want to show them around the other cities. I have a suspicion that someone's been up to something."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
12:23 GMT

"…drawing of the merchants." Razer looks at the picture the court artist was able to render. "I doubt that you will be able to find them based on this alone. We don't know what makes one member of their species stand out against the others."

"You'd be right, if I didn't recognise them."

The Free Lancers. They moved pretty quick-. No, wait, if they flew to Chughraghahh and used the portal there… Okay, that gets them closer, but they still-.

Then flew to Alstair and used their plant-based Dominion rip-off gate to fly to O and then flew here, then they could make it.

I should be charging them a percentage.

I've got no idea how they knew about this place. Sure, the Reach would happily fund them to pick up anything related to the emotional spectrum, but unless they tripped over it by pure chance… Don't know.

Ilana blinks at me. "Who are they?"

"Specialist… Traders, I've encountered before. They folded fairly quickly when I threatened them, but that just means that they're realistic. Have they been here before?"

Razer indicates the negative. "No. Apparently, this was their first visit."

"But they knew about the situation; they probably spoke to other traders."

So how secret was the fact that the miners were afflicted with insane rage? It wasn't a secret in the city, but..? No, no, they found that power ring deliberately. It would be difficult but not impossible for them to have acquired a system for detecting emotional spectrum energy. They'd already left by the time we arrived, so… Maybe the main focus of the Butcher's energy was detectable in a way that the residue wasn't?

I'll ask them when I catch up with them.

"Thank you for your assistance. My team will be leaving Volkreg to complete our investigation. I will return when that's done in order to enact a lasting peace. And, knowing me, probably some light industry. I can take you home now, or leave you here until I return."

Ilana and Razer look at each other for a moment, then turn back to me. Ilana makes a gesture of ending. "This has been… My horizons have expanded more than I thought possible."

"But we will need all hands in the fields now that there is once again sunlight with which to grow things."

"Understood. One moment."

I attach tethers to each of them and transition, appearing on the battlements of their home city. The small cluster of soldiers on the ramparts clutch their weapons for a moment, and then appear to recognise my companions.

"Thank you, once again, for your assistance."

I nod respectfully, and then transition back to Jade, already knowing what I'm going to see. Her armour's sensors detect me and she steps aside to see what drawing the locals have created. Not exactly display-worthy, but I pick out the Free Lancers from amongst the faces on display.

"The Free Lancers."

"They've travelled a long way. Any idea how?"

"It's possible due to the zeta relay on-."

"The one you built for Amalak. And then the gate near O, which you-."

"Yeah, no good deed goes unpunished." I huff quietly. "Rage absorbed, peace reigns, ash cloud gone. We're finished here, unless you can think of anything I've missed?"

"You haven't recruited anyone."

"We're too far from N.E.M.O. space, and I don't have time to teach someone. And I haven't encountered an outstanding candidate."

She nods. "Azmah or Turi?"

"We need to find out what the Free Lancers are doing, and if they're on Azmah then it's obvious what they're up to. Orion?"

Ping.

He's kneeling next to his astro-harness. His head is bowed, and his hands… I think he's praying. Odd. I didn't see any obvious buildings of worship in Super Town, and… I rather thought that their connection to the Source just… Rendered conventional worship meaningless. But he did just absorb quite a lot of red light, so I think I'll give it a minute or two.

Ping.

His eyes open and he stands, his muscles tense. Without looking at either of us he steps up onto the astro-harness.

Ping.

"Azmah."

I nod. "If you don't have an objection."

"The intensity of the rage is clearly enough to overwhelm mortal minds. Removing it wherever I find it is my duty to the Source. What concerns me is that Draan Del Daar knew that it was here and left the mortals to their plight."

"I'm not going to try and defend his behaviour. The only thing I can think of is that for most of his life this planet was uninhabited. It might genuinely have slipped his mind."

"There will be a reckoning either way."

"After he's made the ring. We need that."

Ping.

"I have not forgotten. Mother Box, open a Boom Tube to Azmah."

Ping.

BOOM!

Jade charges her maser. "So, this is a world where everyone's either being electrocuted to ash or fighting everyone else on the planet."

"Technically, they only fight everyone in their line of sight. And their government officials appear to be able to rise above it, though I think that's something to do with how they live in a Faraday cage. But I'm pretty sure that with sufficiently conductive dividers and an absence of the Butcher's Blood, we should be able to becalm them."

Orion flies through the portal, and Jade and I follow a moment later. Contacting the government-.

"YAAAGH!"

A hulking local man throws himself at Orion, axe in hand! Orion jinks around the swing and fires two astro-bolts to the back of the local's helmet. The man staggers but the lack of intelligent control doesn't stop him stomping around in a circle and swinging at Orion once more. This time Orion knocks his arm aside and counters, punching once, twice and then a third time into his face! On the third his helmet is torn off, and I take that as a opening to attach a shock construct to his head and stun him.

And here come the rest.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
12:31 GMT

"Outsider." One of the three individuals Liana referred me to glowers at me while speaking. The other two just glower. "Go away."

"I'd love to, but there's something that I need first. And I'd like to help with your… Total internal conflict issue."

"Already fixed."

I frown, and look out of the window at the people outside. While they're not fighting right now, that appears to be because they're either too tired or too injured to throw a punch.

"With the greatest respect, it doesn't look like it."

"Planet has long had multiple magnetic poles. Chaotic magnetic fields. Lightning storms. Our species uses these fields for navigation. Borders. Our sense of place."

"And.. increased electrical activity in your atmosphere… Given your sun, would be a perfectly normal consequence. And with that gone, no one knows where they are."

"You are less stupid than Green Lantern."

"There's a species on my homeworld who has something similar. They use our magnetic field to find the coast, but for some of them it goes wrong and they instinctively walk the wrong way. They end up in the middle of a frozen wasteland and die."

Liana 'fixed' the magnetic field to a simple north and south pole, which means that the interactions they need for a sense of place aren't happening any more. I thought that by 'walls' she meant literal walls. This problem actually makes sense.

"I don't think that I can turn your planet's magnetic field back, but I should be able to create enough conductive-."

"Stop. Trader already offered that." The local official scowls deeper. "Accepted. Machines spreading cables. Not work completely. People need to learn new wall map, but… Better."

"Did the traders look like-" I create a construct of the Free Lancers. "-this?"

"Yes."

"How are they rolling the cables out?"

"Their robots. Takes time."

"Do you have a copy of their plans? I'd like to help."

The local I'm talking to turns away, going into a huddle with the other two. I raise my left hand to my ear.

"Any luck?"

"They've already left. Orion's Mother Box has a read on their warp drive, so we might be able to follow it. It's been redesigned since last time you met them."

"Might be worth checking that they're not leaving a false trail. Anything on the Blood?"

"No. Liana's records are pretty clear: they all started fighting the moment she got rid of their walls, all at the same time, all over the planet. There might not be any focus of the Butcher's Blood here. There might not-"

I'm nodding. "Might not even be any here."

"Or the Free Lancers might have already taken it."

"Or that. Is Orion doing alright?"

"He wasn't talkative before and he isn't talkative now. I can't read his body language because he isn't human."

"Have-?"

"His god powers haven't changed my behavior significantly. If his people think anything like humans, he won't. He won't want to do anything that reminds him of his father. It's the same reason why I don't watch sports. I have found something interesting."

"Yes?"

"The magnetic fields these cables produce. It's not stable. It oscillates."

"Okay?"

"It's one of the things we look out for when detecting Reach mind altering technology. Some patterns of light are hypnotic. It wouldn't do anything to us, but to the locals it might have mind-altering power."

"Well spotted. I'll ask. Anything else?"

"No."

"Then I'll see you when I'm done here."

I lower my hand, waiting for the locals to finish their discussion. Two of them glance at me distrustfully, while the third looks more resigned.

"Yes." The metal floor next to him undulates, a globe covered in thin lines rising up as he gestures. "Here. Take. Make wires. Leave."

I attach a construct tether to it and pull it over. Quick scan… Got it. Compare it to population centre, scan intended cable composition and power generation… I can improve on that. And add a way to override those oscillations in case it turns out that they are nefarious, the probability of which appears to be in the region of 112%...

"Thank you."

I float the globe back towards them… And they ignore it.

Alright. I put it on the floor by their feet.

"I'll get right on that. I appreciate that Lanterns haven't exactly covered themselves in glory where your world is concerned, and I'm grateful that you're giving me the-" Totally voluntary. "-opportunity to make amends."

"Go away."

With all this rage around, it's a little difficult to make out the desire for normalcy that is its antithesis. But since the rage is essentially mundane it doesn't cloud it out quite as much as the Butcher's Blood did. So

I can

travel to the largest concentration of brawling locals and start fabricating cables and a generator. None of them bother looking up to spot me, and I-.

One gets dog piled as I watch, the high metal content of their body meaning that they don't bleed or break but rather bend in ways that make me wince. Still alive, still filled with rage, but-.

But if I reveal myself by using a purple healing ray, one, that might prolong their suffering and two, that might make them focus on me. Which would be fine, except that they might also focus on the cables I'm about to lay, which wouldn't. I-.

"Lantern. I have their trail. We should depart at once, lest they make some new mischief."

"But-."

"We can come back for the Blood, if they have not already taken it."

"They came up with a plan to stop the fighting. If I leave, their robots will take weeks to implement it. If I stay for a few…" Quick check. "A few hours, I can have it finished. You can stay or go-."

"If I go and the Blood remains… It will undo your work. They will descend into anarchy once more."

"Not necessarily."

"I will not risk it." I hear him sigh. "They escape this day."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
13:12 GMT

Geoffrey's muzzle wrinkles as he regards his powerful-looking paws. I suppose that him being a diamond bulldog is kind of appropriate.

"Was this really necessary?"

Guy grins. The Tombola of Destiny granted him the body of a white-pelted and ginger-maned earth pony, and a cutie mark of a truncheon wrapped in a green chain.

"Ah, come anh. It's funny. We're just'a lotta animals"

Jordan, who was demanding that I just send him through with a boom tube until Guy started making chicken noises, fluffs up his wings. Pegasus, yes, he loves flying. The brown pelt with navy blue mane and tail… Just doesn't go, and I'm not sure what the direction-arrow-and-explosions cutie mark is about. "Let's just get this over with."

"Now, Geoffrey, you said that you were having trouble relating to your grandchildren." I look at him as seriously as anyone can in this sort of situation. "And while I respect the work you've done in cleaning the British government, that isn't going to take the rest of your life." He goes to protest. "Not full-time, at least. Family's important, and when you can fly to Australia whenever you want, the distance isn't an excuse anymore."

Komand'r looks away from us, tail twitching. Koriand'r's tail is moving too, but differently. Not sure why they came through as dangerously furry catgirls… Maybe that was Starswirl's thing? There is something sort of like a cat in Tamaranean evolutionary history, so… Maybe? Doesn't explain why I'm a horse, but who am I to impugn the motives of a pony with bells on his hat?

Similarly, I have no idea why Ghia'ta has come through as some kind of violet-skinned oni with four arms, but once she grabbed a replacement cuirass she adapted readily enough. Dr. Ub'x is now a dire beaver, and I'm a little concerned that he's not going to want to change back. Even if he still only comes up to my thigh. He brought along an Indigo Lantern who looks a bit like an octopus. Presumably he can do hope, and I haven't seen his face on any wanted posters so I have plausible deniability.

A patch of star-studded darkness rises from the ground at my side and reforms into Luna. I give her a nuzzle as she levitates a shard of mirror.

Mother Box?

Ping.

"There. We have it. Our sister should not notice its absence at once, but we had best be done swiftly. She has been maudlin of late, and contemplates it often."

Luna's trying to sound tense, but the excitement is leaking through. After being gone for a thousand years there's not a lot she's been able to do for Celestia, not on a personal level.

"Where is the mask?"

Guy looks at Jordan, and he winces for a moment before using a hand construct to pull the now equine-face-compatible mask out of his saddlebag and hand it over. Luna abandons her sombre tone and grins excitedly, taking it in her thaumokinetic grip and pulling it closer. The mask shimmers as she tried to understand the spells involved, and her grin fades as her brow furrows.

"What is the mask?"

Jordan starts to wing-shrug, then stops with his wings half-furled as he glances back at them as if he forgot they were there.

"Ah, we're not exactly sure how it works. It lets whoever's wearing it mess with peoples' heads. Make them feel whatever emotions you want."

I nod. "You remember what it felt like when you used hope to unmake the Anti-Life? Focus on that feeling when you use it. And then project that at whoever you're shooting at."

"Hm. A masquerade." She lowers the mask onto her face. "And it attaches itself. Most convenient. If We could replicate that part of its magics alone We could make a killing in the costume trade."

"Ping."

"Okay, Mother Box has the coordinates." Luna levitates the mirror shard onto a nearby table, out of the way. "Everyone ready?"

There's a general round of affirmatives.

"Alright then. Mother Box, hush tube."

The larger than usual portal opens in front of us, and I lead the way through into… Their Canterlot palace, under some stained glass windows of… Their versions of the Elements of Harmony? Guess friendship isn't considered quite so important here. Bit odd there are only four; numbers of things like that tend to stay the same from one reality to another. Or maybe they're just images of national heroes rather than Elements? Not-.

"…intruders, sister. We-."

Bizarro Celestia and Bizarro Luna trot into view, stopping and blinking in surprise when they see us.

My Luna trots forward. "Our other self, it is good to see you doing so well."

"Princess Luna." Other Luna advances to meet her. "I thought that using the mirror was dangerous?"

"Our swain hath a method of translocation that bypasses the restrictions of Starswirl's mirror."

Other Luna has a slightly odd expression on her face as she looks down the line and tries to work out which of us Luna is referring to. Ghia'a and the octopus get bewilderment and Geoffrey distaste, while the rest are regarded with curiosity.

"The large grey one."

I wave with my right forehoof.

Other Luna's eyes widen as she looks up at me. "He's a very… Large stallion."

My Luna rolls her eyes. "And he had best be keeping his thoughts pure if he doth not desire Our displeasure."

"No fear." I nod. "My thoughts are on a single matter with no distractions."

Other Luna looks blank for a moment, then blushes, prompting Other Celestia to titter. But honestly, physically identical they might be, but I know which one is mine. And the other… Isn't, in a way which neatly deflects my middle aged ardour. I want a wife, not an adolescent sexual fantasy.

Besides, that sort of thing's awkward enough with an equine body without worrying about a third party.

Other Celestia recovers from her amusement. "What brings you here?"

"We hath gathered the magics which we believe will purge from Sombra the evils he inflicted 'pon himself, that he may be reunited with Our Sister."

Other Celestia looks worried. "And… Send them where?"

"Neigh, you needst be not afeared. They shall be unmade, torn asunder, not inflicted 'pon some new innocent. Doth you know where he hides?"

Other Luna nods. "We last had contact with him in the far north of Equestria. I think he may still retain enough of his mind to want to avoid harming his former subjects."

I grin. "Right-oh. Time for a field trip! Mother Box, calculate and generate boom tube!"

Other Luna frowns. "Who is 'Mother Box'?"

"Ping."

BOOM!

Team Lantern files through the opening, while I look at the Other Princesses.

"You ladies want to tag along? You shouldn't be essential, but Luna's our only magician and the support wouldn't hurt."

Other Luna and Other Celestia share a glance, and then nod.

"After what King Sombra did for us, we will do all that we can to help return him to his senses."

I nod. I respect that attitude. "Rightoh. Walk this way."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
13:21 GMT

Other Luna peers out across the frozen landscape.

"You're sure that he's there?"

A variety of Lanterns holding construct magnifying glasses nod without looking at her. I just create a construct to display the mad king's position. And… Sound.

"Crystals…"

He appears to have taken refuge in a disused mine, and indeed there are quite a few crystals both exposed and embedded in the rock.

"Nice thing about being a Lantern. We can pretty much just appear next to him using lightspeed transitions, without any of the confusion that comes with teleport assaults. Or the risk that he's put up anti-teleportation wards. Koriand'r, Sombra can turn into a cloud of mist, so if you could please place a spherical shield around us all when we arrive?"

She nods happily.

"Thank you. Jordan, please help her out if something goes wrong. Everyone else? I've got no idea what hitting someone with white light does so I'm going to be feeling it out as we go. If I shout an order, please obey it unless your connection to your own light gives you a very good reason not to. If that happens, please explain as quickly and simply as possible."

Jordan frowns. "If we don't know what it does, why aren't we testing it first?"

"Because I don't want to clue in Nekron. You met Nekron, right?"

"… Yeah."

My Luna… She's looking at me, but the mask means that I can't see her ex-.

"I'm frowning. Who is 'Nekron'?"

"Really powerful undead… God?" I glance at Jordan, but he just shrugs. I'm not really sure how to classify him. Normally, immaterial gods are limited to a single thaumosphere but that doesn't appear to be a problem Nekron has. If I had to guess, it's a property of the Land of the Unliving itself… But I don't know for certain, and that's one scab I haven't felt like poking. "Has a few billion undead slaves, and would rather like to murder the concept of life. I don't think he has any presence here, but if we tried this back home it would be like catnip to him. Plus, there's a good chance that we're all going to be a bit out of it afterwards, or… There might be some other cost."

In the comic, that was just for bringing people back from the dead. There was no extra cost for Sinestro to just shoot with it. Not sure how it'll work here, or if that was just for using the white light directly rather than combining the other colours.

"Point is, it should be fairly instinctive, but… I don't think that we should use it more than we have to." I frown. "I don't remember you ordering test firings of the Elements of Harmony."

"We did not. But your practical aspect is rubbing off on Us."

I look away from King Sombra's hiding place and towards her. Oh, if we were alone-.

"We know what you are thinking and ask that you stop."

Other Luna raises her eyebrows as I lean in and kiss my Luna. The mask makes it a little awkward, and suddenly I find myself thinking of nothing but the cave in which King Sombra-.

I pull away. "Alright. Consider my ardour doused, oh equinoid temptress."

Now back to Sombra. Interesting. He still fears what he's become and what he might do, but it's not clear that he remembers why. And my work is made a little easier by the nation that both fears his new form and fears for his former self.

"On 'one'." Plot course.

Honestly, Lantern Grayven, I just want this to be over. If you ever encounter your reality's version of Sinestro, please omit this from your records.

"Three."

The rings around me start to glow.

"Two."

I tether myself to Luna, and make eye contact to make sure that she's ready. She nods.

"One."

I transition, appearing just in front of Sombra, yellow beam lancing out as I amplify his fears and share with him those of his people. He rears up, kicking helplessly at the air as the glowing green and purple of his eyes is momentarily replaced by yellow. Next to me, Luna's eyes glow and Sombra grips his head as the conflicting emotions give him a nasty case of cognitive dissonance.

And then Guy hits him and he appears to rally for an instant before Geoffrey does the same. His eyes actually clear when Ghia'ta forces him to remember his love of Celestia, and I actually see her face made of violet light over his head. And then Komand'r hits him and the green and purple is sort of back until Ub'x hits him as well.

It doesn't seem to be doing much other than bewildering him.

Alright.

The white light isn't just all the colours stuck together, it's their synthesis. And only two of us have experienced it, so…
I guess it's up to me.
The white light is life itself, all the things that give existence substance. It's the opposite of Anti-Life, which claims that existence is self-defeating. With whatever 'evil' that stuff infesting him is, Sombra isn't living as himself at the moment. He's being made something other than what he is by an external force. His true self was a monarch devoted to his people. For a thousand years he served as their protector and sovereign, instilling purpose and virtue.
And from the feel his soul imparts in mine, I wouldn't mind him becoming my brother in law.
He gave up Celestia rather than have her suffer on his behalf, but Ghia'ta can still feel his love for her. Despite that cursed presence telling him to act out, under it all he's still tenaciously striving to live.

Oh my.

There's a surge of light and-

Error.

-the rings blasting Sombra shut down even as the stallion himself falls to the floor.

Ub'x is the first to reach him, performing basic checks by hand while scanning him with his ring. Around us… Komand'r's holding her head while Geoffrey looks the most relaxed he's been since I first met him.

"Sister?"

Koriand'r looks at Komand'r in concern, a look that doesn't change when Komand'r turns around and hugs her. Doesn't stop her hugging back, though.

Sombra groans, prompting Ub'x to look at me and nod. I grin, and-. There they are. I motion Other Celestia and Other Luna closer. Other Celestia gets closest, her muzzle closest to his when his eyes blearily open.

"C-celestia?"

"Yes, I-. Not your Celestia, but-. You freed me from the evil magic possessing me. Thank you."

"I'm-." He appears to take stock of himself. "I appear… To be myself. Is this..?"

I nod, grinning. "Permanent, and I've got a portal available. You can nip back and forth as much as you and Celestia want."

"Really?" He smiles, taking in the people surrounding him and noticing my Luna for the first time. He looks at her for confirmation, and she nods.

Actually, why delay the reunion? Mother Box, boom tube to wherever Celestia is.

Ping!

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
15:57 GMT

And… Done.

It's interesting, watching the response of the locals to magnetic fields that I can't ordinarily see. When they recover, they'll sort of crawl up to a barrier as if to check that it's really there and then collapse. Either from relief or the need to sleep. And they'll do that even if they're right next to someone who was trying to beat them to death only a few minutes before but is now doing the exact same thing that they are.

I've brought peace to a world at war with a few million miles of conductive cable.

I take a moment to sigh, then fly back towards the government building.

"Illustres to Orion and Darkstar Nguyen. I'm mostly done. Any news?"

"Liana was happy to hear that the planet was getting fixed."

"Good show. I don't suppose-."

"She's also taken advantage of her open schedule to start a family."

"So that's a 'no' to joining our Corps?"

"She didn't sound interested. We might have got her if there was still work to do…"

"If she doesn't want it then she doesn't want it. And it's probably best not to leave a rookie to their own devices with an orange ring, especially with young children. Did she know anywhere else she might have found Butcher's Blood?"

"I got her to forward me psychology surveys from the more developed worlds in this Sector. No obvious signs. And there aren't any reports from the rest that stand out either. The Free Lancers haven't been here long, but I've got logs of their movement in case it's relevant."

"Suspicious activity on their part?"

"Nothing that anyone's reported on. I can't track everything they've done, but there weren't any anomalies in the local crime statistics. What are you planning?"

"We don't have a cooperation agreement with any local government and it's not clear that they've committed a crime. We need to find out what the heck they're doing with the Butcher's residue… How they're containing it in the first place. Depending on the answer we either monitor them or remove it from their possession. And… Maybe try and find some work for them, because they're clearly highly capable people."

I land in the government… Tower? The three officials are still here, and while they don't seem upbeat, they do look a little less surly than they were before.

"That's done, according to specifications."

The one on the left grunts in grudging acceptance.

"Good. Fine. Leaving now?"

"Just need to pick up the things I came here to get in the first place first. Do you have any legends or stories about members of your species being filled with insane rage?"

"No. Pretty normal."

The one on the right thinks for a moment. "Very old stories. Because magnetic field had two poles a long time ago. And sometimes brain not work right. Can't feel magnetic field properly."

"Right, well, thank you. I'll have one last look around and then get out-. Off your planet. Have a nice day!"

I fly back out-.

"Nothing helpful from them, either."

"No. Goodness knows how I'm going to find anything."

"I haven't found any teleport residue, so it doesn't look like they stole anything."

"But we can't ask the locals. Are you at their landing site?"

"Yes."

"Be with you-"

Alien desire systems stand out.

"-now."

Her helmet turns my way as the robots that were laying the cables begin to congregate and shut themselves down.

"Can you do that to find them?"

"Not reliably. I didn't get a good enough feel for them. And they might have prepared for it."

Wait a.. moment.

"Orion? Are you there?"

"Ping."

"Ah. Okay, but I don't speak Mother Box?"

"I am here. I was trying to ask the Source if there was any of the Butcher's blood remaining, since we cannot detect it directly."

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

"I am not Highfather. The answers I can get are… Indirect. Impressions of reality."

"Okay. And?"

"There is a diffuse… Presence here. On Volkreg, the anger of the miners drew it out. Here, it doesn't work like that. It's something in the ionosphere."

"I'm not going to argue with the Source. Should be easy enough for me to create a high altitude electrical storm with some of the millions of tonnes of ash I picked up. Do you think that would do it?"

"We shall see."

"Okay, ah, Jade? Do you want to stay on the planet's surface while I-?"

"Release the rage of a mad rage elemental on a planet where a few hours ago everyone was trying to murder everyone else?"

"Yes."

"I'll wait with Orion."

I attach a tether to her and transition us both outside of the atmosphere. And Orion is… There. Another transition and I release Jade. A Darkstar's exo-mantle has a flight system and is tough enough to enable the wearer to survive re-entry, but it doesn't have interstellar capacity.

Hm. Using a standard model of atmospheric activity to work out what effect changing the planet's magnetic field would do… I can easily gather up this sort of quantity of ash after I'm finished. I could use native material, but I'd rather not mess around with that if it might make the locals go crazy again.

Okay, dumping ash over a wide-but-not-too-wide-area… Add an electrical charge to get things moving-. Yes, there we go. And back off a little.

I turn to Orion. "Any good?"

"The Source did not tell me precisely."

Wait… The minister said that their world used to be bipolar, and then changed. But that change would have been long after the Butcher's visit. The planet's bipolar again, but I've just spent hours creating magnetic fields so in effect it isn't.

I send construct magnets outwards, and carefully exclude any magnetic influence that isn't from the north-south-. No, wait, other way around. I exclude everything and imply that there's a south-north system in place-.

And this time the rage comes like a rampaging bull, and I think that I'm seeing an echo of the Butcher itself. For a moment there's RIP and TEAR and PAIN before it vanishes, leaving me-.

"Jade?"

She's-. It looks like she was beating the outside of my armour with her fists.

"Are you alright."

She floats back a little, staring at me.

"I'm sorry."

"No, I should have predicted-."

"So should I. It-."

"Ping."

Orion-. He's doubled over, fists balled and jaw clenched. Slowly, all too slowly, he unclenches and straightens out.

"Done. We are done, and shall return to Maltus. Mother Box!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
20:34 GMT

Luna and I sit on a bench in the palace gardens. Somewhere in the palace behind us Celestia and Sombra are getting reacquainted.

Eh.

Probably 'reacquainted' and not 'reacquainted', on the grounds that a swarm of bats haven't flown past us. Or a cloud of dust.

"Why are you smirking?"

"Do ponies have step ladders?"

That gets me a curious frown. "You know that we have ladders." I don't meet her eyes, keeping my face entirely stationary. "Will We regret asking?"

Then I grin. "I don't know. Ask and find out."

She considers for a moment and then turns her head away, rolling her eyes.

"Worry not, We have deduced it."

"You don't want to check?"

"King Sombra is an umbrum. Our sister's beau merely maintained his morals rather than reverting to type."

"Yes?"

"He can assume the form of a cloud. We doubt that he will struggle in…" She hesitates to find words that she's comfortable using. "…gaining height. And We are reasonably confident that Our Sister can alter her height, should that…"

She squirms uncomfortably.

"Should that be required. Hm." Her horn glows, and the atomic pocket watch I got her appears out of her magic pocket. "And now it is time to raise the moon."

"You think that Celestia is going to handle the sun, or… Do you think she's occ-?"

"We do not want to speculate on Our Sister's… Habits."

"They're not really 'habits' if she hasn't done them for a thousand-."

"That is enough! We-." The glow around her horn flickers. "Ah. It-."

"It..?"

"Appears that she is occupied. The magic of her former student is reaching for the sun, with her blessing."

Luna gets off the bench and takes a few steps forward. Then her wings flare as her entire body glows with her magic aura. Three wing beats and the moon is hoisted and the sun lowered.

"WOOHOO!"

I jerk my head around to look at the palace, where Sunset's silhouette is jumping up and down behind the curtains.

"Sounds like Sombra does good wor-."

Luna bats me with her wing as she retakes her place. "That was Sunset Shimmer, as well you know. Do you think that granting her that privilege will improve her relations with Our Sister in some way?"

"It's a pretty clear sign that she trusts her. You know, to handle the sun and not try switching to a heliocentric model on her own initiative."

"Wouldst..? She..?"

"Probably not, but I'll remember to have Jean notify me if she starts using my mountain's computers to model the process, just in case." I tilt my head back, taking in the night sky. "Huh."

"Have you some observation to make about Our work?"

"Oh, no. No. No."

"What?"

"Well, it's just…" I raise my right forehoof. "That one there. It makes a perfect pattern with the stars around it, but… Then you've got that formation over there which makes a strong line across the sky, and if your eye keeps going, that star nearly-but-not-quite lines up with it. It just… It just takes you out of it a little, you know? It's not, like… Bad, or anything…"

"Hmm." She rubs her chin with her right hoof. "We… Think We see what you mean. It would only be visible in such a light from certain positions on the ground, but… We may be able to change it."

"Nah, don't worry, I got it. Ring, delete C Seven."

"By your command."

The star vanishes, and I keep my face extremely still as Luna's jaw falls open.

"A-?"

"There, see, now they're clearly separate shapes."

"A-?"

"What do you think?"

"Aaaaaaa-?"

I turn my head to look at her with an expression of innocent concern on my muzzle. "Are you alright? Did you swallow something the wrong way?"

"How-?" Her horn shimmers. "How-? No. Wait. We can still feel-."

I fall off the bench. "HAhahahahaha!"

"What-? What hast thou done, oh infernal kelpie-limmer!"

I roll over, my eyes clouded by tears!

Luna picks me up with thaumokinesis, forcing me to look her in the eyes. When it becomes clear that I'm still going to laugh, she shakes me back and forth in an attempt to snap me out of it.

"EXPLAIN THYSELF!"

"Uh. Sister?" We both turn our heads as a concerned Celesia and a puzzled Sombra approach from the palace. "Is there..? Ah…"

Without turning her head, Luna points her right forehoof in the direction of the now-absent star.

"That!"

They look at the empty sky, then back at me. And I really do try to get it together.

"I had my people fabricate a big metal sheet and use a hush tube to put it in near-Wilson space so I could just shift it a little and block the light from the star! It's still visible from just about everywhere else!"

"Ghk!"

Celestia snerks, then swiftly covers her mouth with a hoof when Luna flashes her a look of shocked betrayal. Sombra nervously looks like he's thinking about laughing too.

"It took so much time on the fabricator that three villages starved to death from the lack of farming tools! Hah!"

Luna's face hardens as she drops me on my haunches. "Thou art lying."

"Of course I am. It was only one-."

"Silence! Silence. We are contemplating the form of thy punishment."

"Sister, turnabout is fair play." Celestia has her face back under control. "Perhaps it would be sporting to prank Grayven back?"

"Will you..? Aid us?"

Celestia smiles pleasantly at me.

"I would be delighted to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st January 2013
16:04 GMT

There's Turi, as airless and rocky as ever. And there's Draan Del Daar's laboratory. And a little way away to my right is the most secure planet in N.E.M.O., its largest shipyard and the densest concentration of Lanterns in the universe and I'm still concerned.

But I founded a Corps because we can do more together than I can on my own.

"Illustres to Clarissi Dox."

"Report."

"I've gathered what the maltusian Draan Del Daar needs to forge a red power ring. It might be worth having a few more spiritually resilient Lanterns on hand just in case something goes wrong."

His eyes narrow very faintly. "Such as?"

"A tremendous explosion of rage which temporarily disrupts our ability to use the orange light. It's not likely, but something's off about this situation."

"I will have Lantern Ragnar call a halt to ring training, and place a fleet on alert. Have a care."

"Will do, sir. Thank you. End. Ring, call Kalmin."

"What?"

"I've talked a maltusian into making a red power ring. Do you want to watch?"

He glowers, then hesitates, thinking it over. "Yes. It will be interesting to compare techniques. He's on Turi?"

"Yes. I'll see you shortly. End."

"A qwardian?" Orion's helmet covers his face, but he sounds unhappy. "Are you trying to redeem him?"

I hear Jade make an amused snort, though I don't know whether that was transmitted to Orion as well.

"Harm mitigation. He's always going to want to destroy things, but this way he's destroying the Reach instead of orphanages. And he's done-."

"Orphanages?"

"I recently visited a planet where he amped up the ambient fear until their civilisation collapsed and their population died off."

"You made such a devil a part of your Corps?"

"Yes. Would you like me to show you the ship's he's designed, and the estimates of the number of lives they've saved?"

"And you think that justifies his presence here?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure by what standard it could be justified in any absolute sense, but he's doing good work for us. It justifies it for me."

Orion's jaw hardens-.

Ping.

"And if it helps, he destroyed the qwardian ruling class almost single-handedly, because he doesn't care what he destroys as long as he is destroying."

"Oh? Does the 'New God' object to my behaviour?" Kalmin brought his hammer with him, but it's currently in the 'at rest' position. "Don't think for a moment that I'm under their protection. You can come at me whenever you want."

Orion's grip on his astro-harness-.

"After we've used the red ring to remove the Anti-Life from Earth. Prioritise, Orion."

Ping.

Orion locks eyes with Kalmin for a moment, then turns his head just enough that he can glare at me from the corner of his eyes. "I am disappointed."

Then he flies, swooping down towards the laboratory, as I feel… Like I've let someone down.

I shake my head. I haven't made any undertaking to New Genesis about who I will and won't recruit now, much less when I was starting out.

"I hope the maltusian is more interesting."

Kalmin raises his hammer, and vanishes.

"While we're on the subject of working with monsters…"

"You're not a monster, Jade. Even at your worst-."

"Thank you, but I wasn't thinking about me. Did you kill Ra's al Ghul?"

"Ah, no? Didn't I..? Tell you..?"

"You did, but there were Justice League people around."

"I'm not totally sure that he's dead, but I suspect that Nylor Truggs killed him and a bunch of other people with his robots. And despite his skills, Ra's al Ghul isn't-. Wouldn't be anything like as useful as Kalmin."

She appears to accept that. I point towards the laboratory.

"Shall we?"

She nods, and I transition both of us down. And… It's a workshop. Some of the machinery I recognise from Hinon's workshop. Others I don't recognise at all. On the plus side, I was half-expecting to see the Free Lancer's ship here and it isn't. On the negative, no Draan Del Daar.

Something that clearly hasn't improved Orion's mood.

"Did you not tell him that we were ready?"

"No, I told him." I shake my head. "Illustres to Draan-"

Kalmin looks around, then walks over to a point near a seven-dimensional quantum disentangler.

"-Del Darr. We're here?"

Kalmin jerks his right hand towards the floor, qwa energy flaring and annihilating all that's in its way! What is he-?

An armoured… Airlock? Door?

"I see that Kalmin has found the door. Please, come-" The airlock opens. "-and join me."

"Foolish maltusian." Kalmin jumps through. "An ominous doorway? Who do you think I am?"

"This grows tiresome."

Orion flies down after him, and Jade and I follow after that.

Inside is a straight flight down, the walls of the corridor undulating around us as it separates the vacuum outside from… Yes, breathable air inside. We're… Quite a way inside Turi's body now, and I can see up ahead where the maltusian structure ends and… Some new construction begins.

Kalmin's already out at the far end, examining the walls.

"A qwardian structure? Have you been dealing with m-?" He pulls back from the wall, a pale brown energy shield appearing around him. "With my..?"

He collapses to the ground.