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

[Mr Zoat]

6 002 939.M41

"Y-yes." Bo'ohk nods stiffly. "You are as correct as I expected on all points of law."

His head turns slightly towards Tsua'm, who is just showing signs of pregnancy. Though from the twitches I've been seeing in the nasal clefts of my tau colleagues I'm going to assume that they've been smelling her state for a little while.

Bo'ohk takes a moment to think this through.

"But I see that you prepared this argument because you believed that there would be a degree a resistance to the idea."

Tsua'm makes a small mantling gesture with both hands. "Ceremonial marriages are a small but established part of Water caste diplomatic relations with primitive human worlds. As a result of my specialist duties I have not been assigned a mate to sire my children. The genetic material used was copied from healthy male tau of the Water caste, and P'ol has the authority to order me to breed."

I'm still not… Totally comfortable with her putting it like that. But tau are usually pretty direct about that aspect of their official responsibilities.

Bo'ohk gently pats the surface of his desk. "No one part of what you just said is unreasonable. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh? How so?"

He pauses again. I'm honestly not sure if it's just that he's having trouble getting his head around the idea, or if there's a reason other than 'it's highly irregular' that might make him object.

"Let us assume that the genetic work is viable, and the child is born a healthy member of the Water caste."

I nod. "I actually ran the genetic sample by the Eugenics Board to get a 'theoretical' assessment. They said that they would approve the owner breeding without special monitoring."

"Then how will they be raised? You are aware that amongst tau, parents have little input into their childrens' upbringing."

"Only on worlds that have been settled for a long time. On more recent colonies there are crèches, but biological parents have a lot more direct involvement."

It just works out easier to let children have apprenticeships with their parents than collect them all up and fly them to another city once they're on solids. It's a bit more limited with the Fire caste as it hardly makes sense to put children with soldiers on active duty, but tau on garrison or police duties can mentor their own cadets without much disruption. Similarly, tau who want to become parents will usually just run their and their potential partner's DNA by the local Eugenics Board to check for incompatibilities rather than wait to be assigned a partner. The tau have colonised so many places in the current expansion wave that things have gotten -by their anal retentive standards- a bit Wild West-y.

"That is a trend that is permitted but not encouraged."

I suck in my lips and raise my eyebrows, and wait to see if he works it out.

"And…" He realises that I'm trying to communicate something, and I see his eyes moves as he tries to work out what it is. First step: have I said something stupid. "And… You do not think that there is any risk of tau-human relations such as you have becoming more common, due to human-tau reproduction being impossible. Whereas the shift in child-rearing strategies used in the colonies could become more widespread."

Tsua'm opens her right hand. "It is more likely that those colonies will maintain that tradition. Outside of the military where it is sometimes necessary to instruct soldiers to leave the front line and breed, if we do not want to run out of soldiers."

A problem that Warhammer 40,000 never really addressed. The Imperial Guard can recruit 100% of Krieg's population due to them taking an ovum and a testicle from every Krieger and using giant artificial wombs to grow the next generation. Places like Catachan should barely be able to field a single regiment due to their home being a deathworld, and their women should effectively be barred from… Just about everything other than having children because there would be no way for them to replenish their losses otherwise. Similarly, if the recruitment rate on Cadia is 99%, with a small number joining the Ecclesiarchy, Mechanicus or navy, where exactly are the next generation coming from? Are they just shipping people in? So why are they shipping soldiers out?

Tau divide themselves by physically dissimilar castes. Fire caste children only come from Fire caste mothers and fathers. Nothing about putting all of your women on the front lines changes the basic mechanics of reproduction. Having children takes time. Getting pregnant, carrying the growing child and then raising the dependant child for the first few years which even tau children need for healthy psychological development takes a little over three Earth years. Tau only live about fifty years, and they have a sharp fertility drop-off towards the end of that. Put adolescent female Fire caste on the front line for their first Trial By Fire alongside the males as Fire caste tradition requires, and they die at the peak of their fertility with the greatest amount of potential breeding years ahead of them. And they deploy in mixed sex squads who get bonded, so just reassigning the entire female complement to garrison or police duty after their first Trial is awkward, even if it's what they've effectively ended up doing in a lot of places.

I nod. "Yes, I don't think you have to worry about human/tau coupling becoming common enough to be a problem. Tsua'm's role with our project is safe enough that there's no real issue with her raising our children, and if I have a little more input with that than most tau fathers…" I shrug. "The evidence is that that doesn't actually cause problems. If anything, having immediate exposure to an alien mindset might help if they end up going into diplomacy or interspecies trading."

"What if primitive people begin to expect their ceremonial marriages to…" He twitches. "I am smelling myself."

A tau phrase which means something like 'I'm chasing my own tail' or 'I'm getting myself confused'.

Tsua'm indicates a negative. "Such marriages occur amongst primitive human populations who have had little contact with the Imperium. It is unlikely that they would hear about it, and… Some require those involved to copulate in order for the marriage to be considered 'real', even where there is no chance of conception. It does not work well."

I nod. "Male tau are basically the wrong shape and female tau have…" I make a gate-closing motion with my hands. "Male humans don't have rings, so… It's quite painful."

Bo'ohk looks even more uncomfortable. "I was referring to their expectations of having offspring. Such people who have no understanding of the genetics of why it is impossible, and would not accept our word for it if there was an observable counterexample."

"The ones who keep it up tend to do things that wouldn't result in them having children even if they were the same species. We checked."

Bo'ohk raises his hands to cover his nasal slit, a gesture that's pretty similar to the human equivalent. "I now understand what you said. 'What has been learned cannot be unlearned'. This is a wisdom that I will pass on to my own sons and daughters, should I have any. Let us…" He lowers his hands. "Move on."

I extend my left hand towards Tsua'm, and she smiles in both a tau and human fashion as she takes it in her right hand.

"Master Shaper Gohk Krrah has agreed offer us the service of his shamen. They have been fed on a mixture of human and eldar psykers, and trained as best as the kroot can manage."

Tsua'm raises her head interrogatively. "They have not fed on ork weirdboys?"

"No. The Master Shaper prefers to avoid the flesh of orks for all his kroot followers. He feels that further ork DNA would serve no useful function."

I nod. "That's probably our best bet. Did he separate types of human psykers; astropaths, navigators, things like that?"

"For some individuals, yes. It is hard for him to get the more unusual types."

Makes sense. Imperial Guard armies don't use many psykers in the field, and then it's mostly battle psykers with the occasional astropath accompanying a senior officer. And as for negotiating for their bodies in exchange for mercenary work, forget it. Imperial Guard units desperate enough to use kroot mercenaries don't have those sort of resources.

I nod. "Then that's our next step. Any news on the other matter?"

"I have reached out to other Ethereals who have been associated with the project, and made representations regarding your concerns. So far none have indicated that your suspicions are accurate. It may help if you could identify more concrete problems which could occur if your guess that the ship was built by Krona was accurate."

I look directly at him. "I come from a parallel universe. That indicates that inter-parallel travel is possible, even with the warp getting in the way. But we have no way to know what limits exist. I'm not all that harmful, but what happens if the problem gets cracked by a species of sentient nanomachines? Or an entirely new type of demon? Or someone a little more powerful than a human with a ring? None of us know the extent of the potential risk. And our group is the best placed to deal with things like that. Please, emphasise that to all of your contacts."

His eyes flick left and right as he imagines what I just described.

"I understand your concern, and I believe that you are correct. I will redouble my efforts."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:02 GMT

Carol's entire body is covered in crystal armour, and I can't immediately tell whether it's a construct or some sort of crystaline power armour. Ghia'ta is wearing the same light power armour I made for her, and her aura is noticeably dimmer than I remember it being.

"Hail, Citrine! I trust your judgement in recalling us, but we are sorely needed below."

"Not for much longer, hopefully." I glance at Ghia'ta again, and-. And I walk over to her and hug her, letting the warm feelings I have for the team rise to the forefront of my mind.

She hugs back. "Thank you. I… I need to hear that."

"No trouble." I step back. "Dame Carol, you're here because I think I have a way to purge the Anti-Life network, and if Mannheim realises what we're doing he'll probably take extraordinary action to stop us. I'm assembling everyone I need for the plan now, and then we're going to carry it out. I need you."

"You asked for me and Ghia'ta."

"She's here in case you die."

Her helmet nods. "Wise."

"But that would still be bad because your control and focus are far better than hers, and this is going to be dicey any-"

"Recognised, Blue Lantern two four, Doctor Mist, two five."

"-way. Alan, Doctor Balewa, thank you for coming."

I offer Alan my right hand and he shakes it with a tired smile. To Dr. Balewa I offer the Medusa Mask.

"Can you use this?"

He considers it for a moment, his eyes unfocusing as he feels the front of its face.

"I believe so. What do you want me to do?"

"One moment. Orange Lantern Illustres to Lord Malvolio. Please respond urgently."

Alan frowns. "Isn't that the guy who-?"

Green flames waft around my ring and then burst, coalescing into a construct representation of Lord Malvolio.

"Lord Illustres. What business has the birth-cradle of mankind with me?"

"It's time to deal with the Anti-Life, and you're my first choice for the green-ring user. I apologise for the lack of notice, but I didn't want to risk the target finding out what I'm planning. Can you come here immediately?"

"Aye, I can. Priest can stand for me as my second. Await my arrival."

The image collapses into green energy which then reforms into a heavy wooden doorway.

"Huh." Alan looks at it thoughtfully. "I see what you mean. He does look a little like me. And you really meant it when you said that he's more powerful than you?"

"Power isn't everything, but it's a lot. His control is also excellent. As far as I know, he's the most powerful Lantern to presently exist."

"And he's going to walk through that door? How does that work exactly?"

"He's so powerful that I haven't seen records on exactly how it works, but once I explained how I can access the Honden-."

"Ooh." He nods slowly.

The door opens and Lord Malvolio strides through, armour construct glowing. He looks at Ghia'ta and Dame Carol with curiosity for a moment, then turns back to me.

"I hear the dark and dismal drone, a weight that would waylay mine will, that would hamstring and humble the human heart. That is something that I will not allow: its plans I will prevent and its designs I will destroy."

"Sometimes it requires more subtlety than smashing." Ugh. "Doctor, please put the mask on. We need you to see this as we do."

He nods, and cautiously places the mask on his face and then lowers his hands. The mask remains in place without any sort of strap.

"Curious. I believe thet I can see.. emotions. The light coming off of you. Eh, well, you are Lanterns so perhaps thet is not the best example."

"And I am untroubled by human emotion."

Dr. Mist turns towards Mr. Atom's work area.

"No. It is different, but I see your need to learn how your creators died. And your fear-."

"That is sufficient."

Not sure what that's about, but it's his business. "Can you see compassion? It should be indigo."

He keeps looking at Mr. Atom for a moment, then turns to look at me instead. Then on to Malvolio and Alan.

"Yes. I can. And I think I can… Touch it."

"You're already connected to the white light. We need you to create a structure out of compassion in the same way we do our colours. And if you can't then we're in quite a lot of trouble, so…"

"We will combine our energies to summon forth the white light. Thet is what you want?"

"Yes."

"I believe thet is possible, but I will need eh few minutes to confirm thet belief."

"It's okay. Batman's… Having trouble with the yellow ring. And I don't want to call our red ring user until the last minute. He'll be coming here by boom tube and there's no way that Mannheim could miss that. And he's… Virtually uncontrollable, so I intend to have him deploy at once."

"Ah. Betman's recent overcoming of his trauma."

"I'm happy that he managed it, it would just have been a lot better if he'd done it a few weeks later. In the meantime, Mister Atom, could you bring up our most recent intelligence reports on everything?"

"Certainly." A hologram of the globe appears in the middle of the room, and the rest of us spread out around it. "Mannheim's operations to gather up city leaders appears to have halted. The intelligence you gathered and the behavior of the sheeda indicate his new focus. Justice League assets are focused on striking critical infrastructure while he is distracted while Task Force X units are killing the sheeda where they appear."

"I thought you told Robin that you didn't have anyone spare?"

"I thought it best not to tell him that I would send murderers to kill hundreds as a result of his report."

I.. nod.

"Ask what you want to know. The map will respond to voice commands. My full focus is now needed elsewhere."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:09 GMT

"…reaction before, Emerald Lord." Dame Carol studies Lord Malvolio in greater detail. "What explains your rare strength?"

"It is strange to me that mine strength is such that is seldom seen. My existence was not exceptional, my struggles not singular. Perhaps the practices and pedagogy of Priest prepared me properly for mine office." He shakes his head. "I had only him to whom I could compare myself; the surprise for me is that others are so much weaker."

"I'll tell Lantern Gardner that you said that."

"I have never lectured a novice-" He smiles faintly. "-Lantern. Perhaps it would please us both."

"And I've noticed that you have a slightly.. odd pattern of speech. Using words with the same first letter. Is there any particular reason why you do that?"

"It has been e'er long since someone observed the oddities of my oration. When my promotion to a position of paramount power required me to publically pontificate, I drew on my experience with the Salford Strollers."

"Who were..?"

"Amateur actors. I am no Papist, but I see little lamentable in telling tales as a means of moral motivation."

Alan smiles. "That's an interesting hobby. How exactly did you go from being an actor to being ruler of a whole Sector?"

"My family's fortune began with wool trading and expanded with the industrialisation of looms. It was mine great great grandfather…"

I back away from the conversation and edge towards the exit. Helpful as it would be to develop a closer relationship with people I don't actually know all that well, I need to find out how Batman is doing, because… Because while he might not want help…

I might have to force the issue.

The door to the main area of the Watchtower closes behind me-.

"You are thinking of forcing the issue."

Mr. Atom naturally doesn't need to be physically present in a place with this many cameras.

"I'd rather it not come to that. Do you have any advice for me?"

"Shooting his parents again would be inefficient. Last time it took twelve years for him to become an effective crime fighter after they were shot, and the chance of Mannheim taking that long to enact his plans is negligible."

"I was hoping that you might have learned something about how he thinks in your time working with him."

"I coordinated with Batwoman to persuade him."

That's not a bad idea. "How does she feel about his change in attitude?"

"She has spoken against his new beliefs on several occasions. She has stated that a degree of fear is necessary in a healthy society and that he fulfils that necessary function well."

Hm. If I… Have-.

No. If I decide to resort to extreme measure, it might be better for me if I don't openly admit what I did to his wife. Regardless of whether she agrees with me in this particular instance, I've always gotten the impression that Talia is extremely loyal to Batman. She might hold off telling him until after the mission, but she will tell him.

Mind controlling a team mate. That's far too close to what the League let Nabu do to Giovanni.

So, fine. I'm not going to hide it from him. IF I do it.

Batman's in the Watchtower's gymnasium, sitting on a mat. I can see yellow light but it's not really anchored in the way it used to be. Mastering a yellow ring isn't just about being able to feel fear on command. What he's doing… I don't think it can work.

And in other circumstances that would be great! Getting over psychological problems to become a happier and more rational person is something I'm in favour of!

But not right now when I need him to stay fearsome for another day.

I sigh, and knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"May I come in?"

There's a ping as the door unlocks. I press the 'open' button and walk inside.

He's.. actually got the cowl off, sitting on the floor in front of him and 'looking' at him. There's a simple domino mask covering his eyes, but his face is fairly distinctive. It doesn't really do much as a disguise. The yellow ring is in his right hand, while his left hand rests on his left leg.

"Any joy, sir?"

"No. I've been running some of my worst memories through my mind, trying to trigger… Something."

"Sir, I don't think that's the right-."

"Neither do I. What do you suggest?"

"Can you think of a time when people did what you wanted them to because you made them afraid?"

He shakes his head. "I tried that. Every time, I ruined it by remembering a time when they didn't. I've had people run off roofs to escape me, or shoot through a friend to try and kill me because they couldn't think of anything except their need to keep me away. And Jonathan Crane refuses any serious psychiatric treatment because he thinks he can be satisfied with the emotional reaction he gets from our fights."

I frown. "I thought I fixed that."

He sighs in frustration. "The prison psychiatrist took the stone away. He felt that it was impeding his recovery."

Oh, for goodness-. No helping the terminally stupid.

"You said that you had used it. What examples did you use?"

"I said I used it badly. I've intimidated people into obeying me with my reputation and power before. But as far as wide-spread fear use goes, the Reach have me beaten by far. When I tried to recruit allies, people who knew that the Reach were coming for them and that we were their only hope to avoid extinction, a lot were reluctant to join because they thought that it would mark them out as targets. Did you notice your actions having that effect?"

"To an extent, but insane people don't have the same priorities as regular criminals. I'm giving it up because it isn't working any longer, if it ever worked at all."

"Have you tried context reinstatement? Run through the events of the night where decided to become 'Batman'?"

"I was propositioned by an under-aged prostitute, stabbed, shot, and my mental state was altered by loss of blood when a bat flew in through my study window. Not all of us have our logo handed to us by the oldest species in the universe." He sighs. "I've been trying to think of someone who might be better than me at this. Have you tried asking Sinestro directly?"

"Too much risk of him doing something untoward afterwards. Ah. Look, I-."

"I'd rather that you didn't tamper with my mind to make this work. I don't believe that there isn't anyone in the whole universe who can do this instead of me. I.. doubt that you can understand, but I… I didn't like a lot about who I had become."

I nod, smiling. "No, but… I respect it. Keep… Trying, I'll… Try and find someone else."

I turn away and head for the exit, already fabricating the chemicals I need to force the issue, and feeling like a total heel for doing so.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:15 GMT

Thaal Sinestro hasn't actually committed all that many crimes on Earth.

Considering.

He also… I haven't been able to establish a pattern of behaviour. When I first arrived on this Earth, I wondered which version of… Each person I met I was dealing with. Goofy, silver aged Batman or serious modern Batman. Dr. Fries motivated by a desire to cure his wife, or just another criminal arsehole. Brain damaged Guy Gardner or arrogant git Guy Gardner. And it was mostly pretty easy to work out. I only got confused when I got a version I didn't recognise from anywhere, or a character superhero I'd never heard of, like Icon or Hardware.

Comic Sinestro has two very distinct phases. The early 'I-just-love-being-evil', exists purely to dick around with Jordan phase, and the later Sinestro Corps Order Through Fear stage. So when I checked the record and found out that he had spent a significant amount of time fighting Jordan at a relatively early point in Jordan's career, I… I thought I'd dodged a bullet. Because there's no obvious way for the first version to morph into the later one. He's effectively a new character. I mean, the second one was more of a threat so I kept an eye out, an eye that has now seen everything that I need to know that I'm definitely dealing with Sinestwo now.

And that's why I'm reluctant to contact him. Ah, one of the reasons. I can't explain the change. Which means that I can't explain his motives. Green Lanterns aren't banned from using lethal force, it's just heavily discouraged, so he wasn't picking a fight to get that rule changed. So is he still just plain evil but with backup? Just.. acting out early on? Messing with Jordan as some sort of training exercise?

I don't know.

And I'm not going to find out standing here waiting for Batman to have a breakthrough.

"Illustres to Sinestro. Please respond."

I glance through the wall. Batman's… I think he's getting there, but I don't know if it'll be quick enough. I-.

"Illustres." Sinestro's face appears over my ring, his face carefully in neutral. "This is unexpected. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Apokoliptians are covering Earth in Anti-Life. I've got a solution, but it requires a yellow power ring."

"Which you already have."

"Yes, thank you for approving that. The issue is that the person I intended to give it to had.. some sort of personal revelation in my absence and is now struggling with it."

"Bruce Wayne, I presume."

I nod. "I don't actually want a member of your Corps on or around Earth -for obvious reasons- but if you've got a long list of recruitment targets on Earth that aren't Bruce Wayne or Jonathan Crane, I'm happy to give them a tryout for you."

"Something to remove the Anti-Life, the most dangerous memetic infection in the universe, and it requires the manipulation of the yellow light of fear."

"Yes."

"I'm going to need a little more than that. I have no desire to send one of my Corpsmen into a trap."

I keep smiling. "As I said, I don't want one of your Lanterns here. Just a list of possible recruits."

Bane's dead, and none of his gang would really work. The last time I checked, Alexander Nero was still in an asylum, and nothing in his files really suggested to me that he would make a good Lantern. Wilson Slade is certainly intimidating, but he doesn't really use fear as a tool.

"I haven't been to Earth in years." True, as far as I know. "Any list I had would be out of date by now. Even in your Sector at large, since you acquired Amon Sur and killed Traitor I don't have any leading candidates."

"Really."

He shrugs. "Despite what you may think, Earth isn't the centre of the universe. I haven't updated the plans I once had for the Earth because I haven't had the need."

"Alright. Well, thank you for taking my call. I'll-."

"A moment. You think that you have a way to defy the Anti-Life."

"Yes."

"Is it something that can be deployed in the field?"

"In theory, yes. I haven't tested it yet."

"Knowing what it is would be a valuable piece of information to me. Enough to persuade me to come in person."

I shake my head. "I'd rather that you didn't."

"Do you want me to stay away enough to allow your world to fall to Apokolips?"

"'Be mindful of what you value the most, for you may have to give up everything else in its pursuit.'"

"And?"

I clench my left fist, ending communication.

"And I'm not that desperate yet."

"No." Jesus! "I imagine that you're not."

I float away from-. Gah!

Batman's eye holes glow as his ring-bearing right hand extends towards me, grasping motion mirrored by the construct nearly constricting my throat.

I didn't hear him or detect him, or-. I can still see an outline inside the gymnasium.

"Phobiline hydrochorate alone wouldn't have been enough to do this to me. What else was in the mix?"

"Making you feel fear wasn't the point. I needed to change the way your brain interprets fear-."

"Smilex."

"Not the active components, but the bindings? Yeah. It works better than anything else because I know how to undo it afterwards. We hit Mannheim now-."

And now my throat is firmly constricted.

"Orange ring users are easier to replace."

I can't-. Ring.

Compliance.

"The only person with the slightest chance of staying on-task is Lex Luthor, and I don't know where he is. Anyone else would probably go crazy before reaching the Anti-Life broadcast hub."

He keeps glowering at me, and while I know that I'm more powerful I also know that he's a lot more intelligent than me and he's now got a thought-speed weapon.

"If that's a condition then-."

"Mister Atom to Lanterns. Observed behavior amongst humans around unliberated elf gate sites indicates that they are succumbing to the Anti-Life at a dramatically accelerated rate. And Orange Lantern's decision has the highest probability of success."

Batman slams me into the hard metal of the corridor wall and then stalks past me into the meeting room.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:20 GMT

For… Some reason the soreness in my throat hasn't faded when I walk into the briefing room, Batman-.

Oh.

Batman already taking his place at the holodisplay.

It hasn't faded because I don't want it to. I want to be injured, to be punished, for what I just did to him. It won't impair my mission effectiveness, and… And I can't work up the motivation to fight myself on this.

I deserve to hurt.

"The core of the Anti-Life network is in Washington D.C.."

An image appears of… The old Alliance centre is under there somewhere, but the building has clearly been enhanced by Apokoliptian technology. I don't see any emplaced weapons, but from the looks of things they would be superfluous.

"It is the best defended location on the planet, guarded by Justified superhumans and members of the U.S. armed services armed with Apokoliptian weapons. In addition, the Anti-Life effect is stronger here than nearly anywhere on the planet and Mannheim's teleportation system will begin bringing in reinforcements in response to any attack. Even if Mannheim and Finality Man are occupied we will be facing effectively unlimited opponents. None of them will surrender until the Anti-Life can be removed, and depending on how this works perhaps not even then."

"It would sit ill with me to slay soldiers manipulated by the mind magics of Mannheim."

"I spent a month looking for a way around it. And so did Mister Atom. There isn't one. Approaching under the effect of either adaptive optic camouflage or a magic disguise might slightly delay the speed at which we are detected, but given that we all glow and we all push back against the Anti-Life around us by virtue of our emotional presence, I doubt that it would even do that."

The scene shown on the holodisplay pulls out, giving us a better view of central Washington.

"Orange Lantern, tell us your plan for dealing with the shield or Finality Man."

I bring up images of Finality Man, Drax and the Forever People, and send data packets to my colleagues' rings.

"Finality Man was built by Prince Drax of Apokolips. I spoke to him, and he considers dealing with it to be his responsibility."

Eyes flicker with colour as the files are digested.

"The problem is that bringing him into our plane of reality takes several seconds and he can only stick around for a few more. We'll have to take the Forever People with us and guard them until Finality Man appears and they can complete their summoning. After that they can evacuate themselves."

"They are worrisomely weak."

"I've explained the situation to them and their king. They should be equipped to handle it. If they're not… We really only need them to survive long enough to complete the summoning. We all need to live long enough to create the white light."

Alan frowns. "What exactly is that going to feel like?"

"It's not something most people ever experience. I can't really describe it-" I glance at Dr. Balewa. "-with any confidence beyond 'you'll know when it happens'."

"I can do more. It is a sense of.. wholeness, being at one with your community, with the whole of the world. It feels like the birth of your first child, your first grandchild-"

I wince inwardly as I realise that he's probably the only one here who knows what those feel like.

"-and the pure feeling of serving a good higher than yourself and knowing that what you have built will live on in the lives of others. Looking upon your work and knowing that it is good. It is life."

A better description than I could give, though I suppose that he's had long enough to reflect on it.

"We'll each be forming a part of that. Our.. colours will. The-. For those of us who've been using these rings for a while, it might feel a little counter-intuitive. We're.. used to carefully excluding other feeling when we make constructs. I haven't done this before so I can't say with certainty, but I don't think… I don't think it will be like that when we create white light."

I look at Lord Malvolio cautiously.

"You haven't lost the ability to feel other emotions, have you?"

"Nay, fear not. I have not doffed the mantle of the mortal mode. I feel as a man feels; I felt anger at Priest as I hoped for my eventual manumission."

Batman.. glares around the circle. "Commit these images to memory. We will-"

"Recognized, Green Lantern one four."

Lantern Stewart steps out of the zeta tube, looking a little beaten up. I draw a healing ray and raise my eyebrows. He nods and I play the beam over him, his wounds swiftly fading.

"-attack from the Atlantic ocean and clear out as many of the people in the surrounding area as possible before attempting to create the white light. What Justice League aligned forces are available will be attacking the outer perimeter of the city to prevent us being overwhelmed. In the event that one of us without a replacement dies, the evacuation route is back over the Atlantic. If that happens Finality Man will almost certainly pursue. While removing the Anti-Life from Earth is the ideal outcome, destroying Finality Man would restrict Mannheim's strategic mobility while we replace the fallen."

"Recognized, Sportsmaster, A six six."

What?

My vision fuzzes as.. Lawrence Crock walks through the zeta tube, and I take a moment to check that the shutters between the meeting room and the garden are closed. Alright, nothing to immediately give away the fact that this is a space station, and I doubt that he's been in space often enough to recognise an artificial gravity generator.

The fuzz fuzzes in my direction. "Lantern."

I look at Batman-.

"Sportmaster used fear to train his daughters. I brought him here in case I die. Deal with it."

I… Blink, and my vision of.. Mr. Crock returns to normal. My word isn't more significant than Batman's brain and I messed around with that. He.. looks a little thinner than he was last time I saw him. Probably the result of stress. And possibly the Anti-Life.

"Dealt with."

But all due respect to Mr. Crock, he doesn't mock me for getting overruled. In fact-.

"Sportmaster, do you want any other equipment before we deploy? I can upgrade-."

He shakes his head. "There's no point. I wouldn't have time to get used to it, and I know what my chance of survival down there is if I stick my head out of cover. Only reason I'm coming is you need someone on the yellow ring if Batman bites it."

I nod. "Okay then. Orange Lantern to Vykin. We're ready."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:32 GMT

Alan grimaces.

"Oh no."

We can't even see the east coast over the horizon and I can already hear the sound of jet engines as the Air Force's combat air patrol heads in our direction. Scan.. shows that their weapon loadout hasn't been upgraded. They're standard aero fighters that would struggle against a neophyte Lantern and they're coming at us to delay us, weaken our resolve and tie us down with prisoners.

Missiles roar towards us as Alan's anti-air construct opens fire, blue construct bullets filling the air and creating small explosions of rocket fuel as they hit the missiles. I throw up a shield as two jets spray us with cannon fire before zooming past and pulling into a turn.

Construct cleavers from me chop through the planes, sending the rear section blasting away in a random direction while the cockpit section flies in a ballistic arc in the direction its momentum dictates. The pilots don't try-.

Shit!

My construct tendrils breach the canopies and grab their sidearms before they can shoot themselves, then pull the pilots out.

"Pilots tried to kill themselves when their planes were disabled."

"Aye, a disturbed directive."

I toss the pilots into Malvolio's giant prison construct and watch as he adds manacles to chain them to their cell floors. That should keep them out of the way and unable to kill themselves until we're done.

Alan nods as more planes head towards us. "We should fight them here. I don't want those planes falling on anybody."

"He can throw every plane on the planet at us, Alan. And if he thinks that we'll hesitate if he does? Then-."

"He will." He grimaces. "I know. Fine. If we gotta do this, let's at least make it quick."

He flies towards the next squadron, construct fairground claw arms darting out to grab the pilots right out of their planes before dropping them in the mobile prison. I let the wrecks fly on a little way before firing energy pulses at them. They hit the fuel tanks, fuel leaking for a few seconds before encountering the superheated exhaust and igniting, the flashback consuming the plane in a fiery explosion. The wrecks hit the sea a few seconds later.

Alan smiles at his work. "It's like the fairground in reverse: I drop them off in the machine."

I look in the direction of the shore. More planes are taking off, and-.

My point defence construct opens fire as the ship-launched missiles and the shells from the ship-based heavy guns zero in on our position.

"Alan, normally, I love your golden-age witticisms, but-."

"Yeah. I know. But it helps. Keep those guns off me?"

"Can do."

Alan puts his head down and accelerates shoreward, to where an appreciable chunk of the US Navy is moored in a defensive formation. Essentially normal ships, but-. Crumblers shouldn't be able to cause magazine explosions.

I fly after Alan, orange shields and point defences blocking attacks while my railgun construct charges and takes aim at… A destroyer's forward turret. Load crumbler round and fire. Turret out of commission, no explosion, turret's not even knocked off the ship. Its missiles are too big to reliably hit man-sized targets but its anti-air guns-. They get a crumbler round each.

Next ship. And-. And there are quite a lot of ships.

"Ghia'ta, would you mind-?"

Specks of violet light land on the aircraft carrier and expand, violet crystal rapidly growing across the hull. Exposed crew are trapped, safe and imprisoned. Guns are locked in place and their barrels blocked, and I see several explode as they continue to try to fire and overpressure their internals. And while she's doing that I keep firing, keep mission-killing screening ships with no fatalities.

And then I see the sailors on the mission-killed ships toss their life jackets aside and jump into the water-.

But Alan's already there, rubber ring constructs dropping over their heads and hauling them off to Lord Malvolio's prison.

A minute after we engaged the fleet, all that's left are floating hulls and models preserved in crystals.

And no deaths. No deaths. We won't be able to maintain that, but-. It's nice.

For now.

"Good work."

"They still feel love. Under the blackness…"

And at that I actually smile. Mannheim's hold isn't total. They aren't burned out husks of men, just people operating under the influence of… An unusual spell. They can be restored.

"Excellent. Press-."

Great clouds of gas explode along the Washington sea shore and river shore. No point using fear gas on people who have been Anti-Lifed, but they still need to breathe and Lanterns don't. That gas isn't designed to choke people by itself: it's designed to remove the oxygen from the air. Normal guns won't work and people without their own oxygen supplies won't be able to breathe, which is why we used it instead of a gas that would be filtered by a gas mask. I doubt that will clear out the whole area and we'll need to set off more once the wind blows more oxygen into the area, but it should cut down the collateral fatalities.

Without asphyxiating too many people. I hope.

"Press on."

Construct barriers raised and weapon constructs at the ready, we fly over the drifting fleet.

What are they going to be doing over there? Not sure. The Justice League has attacked Washington before, so while they're probably repositioning forces there's no reason for them to panic. I imagine that they are calling for help-.

Alan points to the sea front, where several Anti-Life transmitters have been set up. "Are we destroying those?"

"No, we can't. We need as much of the network in one piece as possible."

He and Ghia'ta share an awkward look as she flies down to us. "Paul, some of us don't do so well in Anti-Life zones."

"I'm sorry, but we need to be sure that the transmission works. We can destroy them immediately afterwards, if you like."

"Just have to grin and bear it, I suppose."

"If either of you need to fall back, do. Malvolio and I can manage."

Ghia'ta nods, while Alan scoffs.

"I see what you mean about not getting 'hope'. What's our next step?"

"Justifier barracks."

"Folks who wanted a little more help being superheroes?"

"Mostly. Originally."

"Then let's go save them, then save the world."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:34 GMT

A cloud of-. Water vapour rises up from the streets, forming a cloudbank just ahead of us. Okay, we can all see through that, and-.

The cloud begins crackling with electricity. First to normal storm levels, then the water vapour begins turning to steam as it supercharges itself in an obviously unnatural way. A moment more and it's more glow than cloud. Normally a Lantern doesn't have to worry about electrical discharges due to the insulating effect of our environmental shields but that doesn't mean that flying into a plasma cloud is a particularly good idea. The alternative is going under it which would put us in range of the Justifiers who can't fly and don't have ranged weapons.

Cold gun, wide field.

My construct fires and some of the plasma cloud cools into-.

"Anti-Life justifies-"

A man in a black and red costume wearing a Justifier helmet flies out of the cloud, right fist cocked! I have-. No idea who that is. I dodge right and he flies past-. He can fly. He turns around and comes at me again and-.

"-our actions!"

A woman with a similar costume flies out, aiming at my back. My cold gun construct is still going but the plasma cloud isn't freezing. The original water controller or multiple sets of power? Don't know.

I evade down, noticing as they slalom through the air that they're just the tip of the wave. Eight… Nine other Justifiers move to attack Alan and Ghia'ta while… Some sort of large robot is aiming its Apokoliptian weapons at Malvolio's floating prison from the street below us.

Someone flying at me without a weapon is probably super strong or otherwise has a way to intensify their blows but that doesn't mean that they're Superman-strong or anything like Superman-tough.

I mark targets and transmit what I'm seeing to the others, dodge left as the man and woman try to box me in and then fire a crumbler round at the robot's left leg. Which-. Does nothing. Okay, that was too fast-

Somewhere to my right one of the flying Justifiers throws a wave of brilliant yellow light at Alan as Alan tries to close the distance. It doesn't.. seem to do much.

-for anti-projectile lasers and a crumbler would go right through a plasma shield. Gravity shield doesn't seem likely which leaves… Magic? Something New God related? They do have exotic shielding technology, I just didn't think that-

Dodge up, hammer construct, swing at the base of the male attacker's spine. He jerks in the air from the kinetic force but doesn't seem injured. I didn't feel his flesh move when I did that, so I think I just overpowered his flight.

Fine.

The robot fires… A thick.. sort of black and white beam at the floating prison. Malvolio blocks with a giant kite shield construct as… Ghia'ta flies past, the.. child who punched her in the armour chasing after her.

"Batman to Orange Lantern. Stop playing around."

Yeah.

Taking them apart slowly and precisely is just going to take too long. Taking risks…

I hit the robot with an eddy pulse, lines of gravitational shear apparently bypassing whatever exotic protection Mannheim outfitted it with. Its armour cracks and the lines of light covering its armour shimmer and fade. Then its gun-. Sort of ceases to exist, taking one of its arms and the attached shoulder with it.

WHAM!

I let myself get knocked back by the woman's punch. The man's on my opposite side and waiting to bear hug me, so from the looks of it they don't have a lot of experience with aerial combat. Sonic cannons on either side of his head and fire at concuss-a-normal-human level. No effect. Increase.

A couple of Alan's attackers are hanging back and shooting at him. He's tanking it, but we need forward movement. I project a vertigo inducer construct into the middle of them and activate it. No response. Probably their helmets neutralising the sound waves. Change the construct to include a sound inducer and activate.

Man shakes. Hard to judge precisely what sort of damage he's taken with the helmet throwing off my scans. Weak construct shove to the chest and he doesn't react. Stunned, flying in his sleep. Dodge down, back up to evade the woman's attack, tear off man's helmet and then shove him into Malvolio's holding cell and use the sonic cannon on her head at the last tested intensity.

Alan's attackers have lost the ability to aim. Vertigo inducer appears to be working, though some of their stray shots are hitting things on the ground. Can't be helped. Alan's melee attacker is using a pair of short swords. Alan-. Is using the x-ionised sword I gave him to fight him on his own terms. That-.

Woman goes into a tumble. Grab, remove helmet, shove into holding cell. No energy output from the robot. Dead or disabled, no need to imprison. Fly at the Justifiers I've disabled. Tear off their helmets-.

Evade projectile vomit, turn the vertigo inducer down to normal levels.

Manacles which encase hands and forearms for the one who projected sonic beams from her hands. A blank face mask for the one with plasma beam eyes. Deliver them into Malvolio's prison, next to the crystal-encased children that Ghia'ta is inserting.

The others had switched targets to Malvolio. That was a mistake. I can see them twitching weakly in the craters they made in the ground.

I fabricate more deoxygenation gas and pump it out at ground level. Then I shoot the sword-wielder in the back, clamp manacle constructs around their forearms and wrench them back. Not super strong. Alan used the opening to punch them in the head with his left fist, knocking them out. They are swiftly relayed to a containment cell.

"That wasn't so bad."

I raise my hands, generating a magnetic field strong enough to shove the plasma cloud head of us out of the way. Which is strong enough to kill any unshielded human in the area affected, but I don't think they'd have left anyone out from the initial charge. The cloud roils and there's definitely someone resisting me, but it's forced to move away in the direction I want.

"Advancing."

Ionised plasma and water vapour around us, we fly towards where this all started. I see checkpoints manned by US soldiers. Some of them have gas masks on, but that won't help when there's no oxygen to breathe.

"I see ground targets."

A Justifier is doing something to keep the air around them oxygenated. He's not making an attack, but the squad around him are taking aim with Apokoliptian-

I generate a shield construct.

-blasters.

Two get shots off before a giant green fist smashes them into the tarmac. Malvolio collects up his targets as we fly further into Washington.

Alan looks around. "Anyone want to see the White House?"

"Maybe afterwards."

Anti-Lifed people can't really feel fear, at least not in a remotely normal way. But the worldwide ambiance of fear is more than enough for Batman to force his way towards the Justifier processing facility. Letting captured superheroes and supervillains who haven't quite succumbed out as a distraction is a perfectly rational move, and one I don't think even pre-revelation Batman would have condoned.

My fault.

This place will be your end.

Oh, that's interesting. I smile at Alan. "I actually heard that."

"Sounded more like a threat than normal."

"Someone is bound to have told Mannheim by now."

And there it is. The Justifier barracks. Apokoliptian anti-aircraft guns point at us, Justifiers form up in force field-protected strong points and… I'm not sure if it's magic, but there's some sort of… Aura around the place.

And then everyone starts shooting.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:36 GMT

Beams of.. whatever it is that Apokoliptian blasters fire lance out and unlike the sporadic fire we've been taking so far, every shot is on target. Malvolio's shield holds out slightly better than mine while Alan fires energy pulses and Ghia'ta fires crystal fragments. Seven dots of violet light sail towards various parts of the fortress-.

"Our hearts are empty of all but Him."

A figure with black robes covering their body waves their hands in a circular motion, and the violet dots wink out.

Ghia'ta gasps in horror.

I replace my shield as it starts to fail from concentrated blaster fire and form a new railgun. I-.

A Justifier teleports onto the railgun and shoves their glowing red hands through it before teleporting away. Fine, that was a distraction anyway. It just might have reduced fatalities a little.

Eddy pulse.

Whatever defensive field they've got in place shimmers into something approaching visibility. It's stronger here than what the robot had protecting it, though whether that's because of the larger fortifications, the increased concentration of Anti-Lifed people or reinforcement by the abilities of one of the Justifiers I don't know. It looks like… A giant plane of ice as my gravity distortions interact with something that is refusing to let them exist.

"The one true soul of the universe!"

I gasp as my construct shield just vanishes and the anti-air blasters flash through the intervening space and-. Alright, most miss because they were focusing on one point on my construct, but two actually hit me, one on my right arm and the other on my chest. My construct armour on both locations shatters, and a lucky shot from an infantry blaster hits the cuirass a moment later.

"Paul, fare you well?"

Reassemble reassemble reassemble!

"I'll live!" I mark the target. "Having trouble with their shield. That guy seems to be-."

"So I see. Then I shall exert myself."

His eyes glow, and two colossal construct hands appear around the fortification, smashing any nearby buildings to rubble. Not… A lot of people in them, and I see Alan diving down, rope and chain constructs grabbing rubble as he heads into the dust cloud and reaches for the people by hand-.

Alan!

I watch the blue blur dart around brick, concrete and metal tossed aside as a steady stream of the injured and insensible appear on the nearby street. And Alan's not telling Malvolio that he did wrong. He gets it, even if he doesn't like it.

Whatever's powering the defensive field is… Struggling with Malvolio's hands.

"The only inevitability-!"

"Do you think I cannot hear you, arrogant apostate? Does your broken soul quail at my certainty and conviction?"

"We live for Mannheim! We die for Mannheim!"

Armour's back, shield's back, though most of the anti-air guns are firing frantically at Malvolio's giant hands.

Let's see how deep the fortifications go.

"No, you will live to do penance for your sins against the Earth and against the One True God."

"I have seen the face of the true god! The master of the universe and all it contains! We are the shadows his light casts upon the cave wall, existing in a Hell without exit or end!"

A flash of red-.

I send an orange ray at the teleporter immediately, my borer construct busy tunnelling beneath the Washington streets. It hits them in the chest and they teleport away immediately.

Malvolio's huge hands press closer, the palms being distorted by the exotic defence field-.

"Batman to Orange Lantern. Objective complete. Rendezvous at the former Alliance headquarters."

We're going too slowly!

"Underst-."

Ah, it doesn't go all the way down.

"Understood."

Crumbler.

A large chunk of the ground underneath the fortress ceases to exist. The solid bunkers and walls are far tougher than human technology could make, but they're resting on basically normal concrete. There's a slight unexpected resistance… Probably from the exotic shield, but that's either too busy trying to prevent the whole place being flattened between Malvolio's hands or too far away. Crumble more-.

The entire base shudders, ground cracking and Justifiers tumbling!

"By His hand all are laid low! In His eyes are all insignificant!"

Ghia'ta drops down, encasing the people Alan has recovered in violet crystal before ferrying them up to the containment cells.

Crumble more.

The concrete starts to flat out break, chunks falling into the pit I just created. The barrier holding off Malvolio's hands doesn't quite collapse, but his hands begin moving inwards once more, crushing the fortifications that remain on the surface. Alan hovers just behind the right hand, using construct lassos to grab Justifiers and hold them up for Ghia'ta to crystallise.

My own much smaller construct hand darts into the collapsing base and grabs the Anti-Life priest and hoiks him into the air. Push back the hood and cut off-.

He's not wearing a Justifier helmet.

Vincent Edge glares at me, his eyes… Glowing black. How is he-?

"Anti-Life justifies my actions!"

Oh.

My constructs shut down as for a horrible moment I feel the callous judgement of a being that perceives every way I've failed and expected nothing else.

What I did to Batman-.

"Paul!"

Uh? Ah, what-what? Armourflight!

A blue glow wraps around me as I come back to my senses. Didn't quite hit the ground-.

Alan looks at me, concerned. "What happened?"

Where did-?

"Vincent Edge. He's become some sort of living Anti-Life broadcaster. Be careful if you run into him."

I look at-. The pile of rubble that used to be the Justifier barracks. There are still Jusifiers in the hole and in some of the buried bunkers, but…

I rise into the air under my own power.

"We need to meet up with Batman immediately."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Early Autumn, IC 687

Coarsely milled flour.

"…our ambassador, Prince Diabo, to address this assembly."

Honestly.

No 'my son'. Emperor Molt is avoiding looking like he's offering too much support. With the speed at which information spreads in Sanderan society, exactly what happened at Alnus Hill isn't well known, but they couldn't exactly miss the unusually placid dragon standing outside of the senate building. And some news has gotten back, enough to create a plethora of fascinatingly disconcerting rumours.

A few eyes dip to my ring as Prince Diabo walks out onto the speaker's position in front of the stands. It's interesting how far 'gods want me to do this' gets you in Sanderan society. Emperor Molt would rather have hashed this out in private or under his complete control, but he has a better awareness of the strategic situation than anyone else and he knows perfectly well that Diabo and I have handed him a lifeline. There's even a very small amount of pride in the fact that one of his children is doing something intelligently, rather than pretending to be a knight or invading an entire country at the cost of the lives of thousands of legionaries because he wanted to rape their queen.

Diabo is bearing up reasonably well. At his age I'd have hated this sort of public speaking, but as a Sanderan aristocrat it's just something that he had to learn how to do. And we did enough rehearsals. He doesn't really have the height to look imperious -particularly when the floor of the chamber is lower than the seats- but the faint orange glow probably makes up for it.

"Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, honourable senators of the Sanderan Empire, I stand before you to report on my embassy to the country of Japan. I have met with their government, I have seen their cities and their armies and taken their measure. I was also able to speak with our own legate and the leaders of the armies of our vassals who are laying siege to Alnus Hill, as well as the surviving officers amongst those who took part in our attack on Japan and are now their prisoners."

That gets a little interest from some parties. It's a fairly normal thing for Sanderanian nobles to spend time in the legions before moving on to politics. And not necessarily as officers; some formations are considered suitably armigerous for the sons of noble households, especially the ones which have to provide their own equipment. The right to attack through the gate got more than a little interest amongst the socially avaricious.

"In brief, I will lay before you a treaty for an equitable peace between our peoples. We will lose no land and they will take none of our people as slaves. Their customs do not even allow them to ransom the captives they have taken; those will be returned once the treaty is signed."

An elderly senator near the front snorts. "Just tell us what they want, boy. What must we give the barbarians to make them go away?"

"Senator Giusto. Before I explain that, there are certain things that you must understand first. The legions of our empire are mighty; there is no people that we have yet encountered who can match them with equal number on an open field. But at times in our history, our legions have met with defeat, or with victories that have left them so bloodied that they may as well have been defeated. Sometimes it has been weight of numbers that has won barbarians the day. At others, a brilliant strategy and prepared ground would allow them to achieve victory. And shamefully, at times it was corruption or cowardice amongst our own officers or soldiers that made them poor fighters."

"I have studied the Imperial soldiers and officers at Alnus in detail and I have found no such weakness amongst them, and heard no reports of such failings amongst those legions we sent through the gate. Not even amongst the auxiliaries. I saw with my own eyes the size of the force which the Japanese sent to our lands. It was not particularly large; smaller, certainly, than the armies of the Empire which now lay siege to the Hill. Nor was their strategy particularly brilliant: they simply formed a line and began using their long-ranged weapons on our forces on our side of the gate."

"Our forces were killed to a man, and the Japanese did not suffer a single loss."

Some surprise, some concern, more than a few dismissals of what must be propaganda. But I'm pleased to see that the majority remain cautiously neutral.

"We are used to having an advantage in weapons. When our Empire was first founded, we fought with steel weapons against barbarians armed with weapons of stone or copper or at worst bronze. Even when we encountered walled cities, their weapons were made of poor iron and only their rulers could afford armour worthy of the name. They must have felt like they were fighting the chosen people of Emroy! But it was perhaps foolish of us to assume that there were no people in any world who were more advanced than us, just as we are more advanced than the barbarians."

"While I was in their lands, I studied their histories. They made no secret of what they consider old news. Three hundred years ago they fought much as we do. Now, they fight differently."

He holds out his right hand and generates an assault rifle construct.

"They use these. They are made with high quality steel, as good as anything that our smiths could make. The mass at the back can be used as a club and they sometimes attach a knife to the tube at the front, but for the most part it works like a crossbow. Rather than using a taut string, it uses an alchemical powder, and rather than using an arrow it uses a small bullet that even the barbarians would consider too small for a slingshot. The mechanisms here-" He points to the middle of the rifle. "-allow it to fire something like seven hundred times in a single minute."

He makes a point of looking around the room, making eye contact with various members of the muttering crowd.

"And each shot would hit hard enough to kill an armoured man."

He dismisses the construct.

"That is not merely a boast. I witnessed it myself, both when I arrived at the Hill and they loosed upon me, and later when they carried out a demonstration of their weapons. They were happy to show me, to try to intimidate me. And, just as we have scorpions and ballistae which are larger and more powerful than our bows, so they too have larger and more powerful versions of their weapons. There are places on Alnus Hill were they struck our centuries where it is not possible to tell that the thing they struck was once a man, much less who they were. And these are not weapons inherited from their ancestors or granted them by their gods." He slows his delivery. "These are weapons which their forges can make continuously."

"Consider, then, the likely outcome of a legion marching towards even a skirmish line of men armed with such weapons. It would mean their deaths, with not even a single arrow being loosed upon the Japanese."

"In my free time I considered more exotic methods which could be used to defeat them. Disease, perhaps. Poison. An aerial assault at night, where our melee fighters could negate their advantage at range. And at each time I found that their knowledge of natural philosophy was not limited to weapons. They have medicines that cure most diseases. Medicines that cure most poisons. Machines to see flying creatures and machines they can wear over their eyes to let them see in the pitch black. No. As much as it burns my pride to admit it, we are to them as those early barbarians were to our ancestors."

"But in every threat, there is an opportunity. The gate will not stay open forever, and they do not have the power to maintain it. They know this now, they know that even if they could conquer us, they would eventually be cut off from their homeland with no way to maintain their equipment. We could simply pull back our armies and let them remain huddled around the portal until their fear of being left here caused them to pull back, but…"

"The sons of the barbarians we conquered became auxiliaries. Their grandchildren became citizens, using the same tools that conquered their forebears. They learned what we knew and became better for it. They ascended to a higher level of civilisation by adopting our methods.

He recreates the gun construct.

"I would not mind seeing our legions armed with these. And while there may be civilisations on this side of the gate who are equal to what we have now… There are none who equal this."

He looks around the room, making eye contact with the more receptive members of the audience.

"They will take no land and they will take none of our people as slaves. They will return prisoners once a treaty is signed. And in return they want three things: a chest of gold as a symbolic reparation for the injuries caused by our attack, a return of the citizens we took as slaves, and the right to purchase grain for as long as the gate remains open. For all their industry, it seems that their land is a poor one for farming." He shrugs. "The barbarians our ancestors conquered traded their lives for the advancement of their descendants. We need only trade our excess grain for improvements to medicine, steel-forging and alchemy. I hope you will agree that it is a bargain."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Early Autumn, IC 687

The senate is a place for grandstanding, for decrying members of the opposing factions and cheering on your own. Actual decisions aren't made there; votes take place once the fix is already in, once the decisions have been made by the opinion-formers in rooms much like this one.

Never let the senate make a decision when you don't know what the result will be.

The Emperor, a legate, a couple of tribunes, a few senior senators from factions loyal either to the Emperor or in favour of aggressive expansion. Not even a token dove. No merchants. No one representing the vassal kingdoms. Diabo's seat is at the opposite end of the table to his father's far grander seat, and the places to his left and right are deliberately left vacant.

If Diabo can convince these people to go along with his treaty, that's the matter settled. It will pass in the senate, the emperor won't veto it and the army won't protest.

If.

"A single crate of gold as a token tribute." Senator Giusto glares contemptuously, not bothering to disguise his feelings now that the setting is more private. "What do they really want?"

Diabo bears the hard eyes well. Certainly better than he would have done at the start. He's using the ring's power to do it, but I'm not having to prompt him. I'm genuinely pleased with his progress.

"A single chest, filled to the brim with gold. And under the gold-" A slight relaxing of people who've just seen where the other shoe is going to drop from. "-they have requested enchanted… Objects."

The military tribute frowns. "What sort of objects?"

"Anything." Diabo shrugs. "I took care to play down what we can actually do with magic, and they didn't seem to care. They are a people who highly value natural philosophy. They don't want to use the… Talismen we will give them. They want to study them, to try and understand how magic works, and how what they think they know of how the universe works is wrong. Even… Copper coins enchanted to glow would be sufficient."

The furrows on the military tribute's face deepen.

"And what will they do with that understanding?"

"That is a problem for their neighbours on their world." Diabo smiles. "By the standards of their world, the nation of Japan is not a first rate power. They are a protectorate that has recently had a dispute with their protector and it is…. Unclear whether or not their treaties are in effect. That does not help us, but it means that Japan has enemies on their own world and cannot afford a prolonged campaign even if they could guarantee that the gate would remain open. While I was there a group of extraordinarii from one of their enemies infiltrated the villa where I was staying, in the centre of their country."

The legate looks intensely interested. "Could we make contact with these enemies?"

"Legate Julius, it wouldn't matter if we could. This nation whose soldiers have no experience of war, whose treaty with their protector binds them to only having a small defensive force, destroyed our legions with little effort. The only way for us to enter their territory is through the gate, and they have fortified both sides. Certainly, I could send them a message, but the gate is in the middle of the Japanese capital city. They could hold the wall around their side of it with a token force until the entirety of their country was overran. We would not profit by it, and we would have a stronger neighbour at the end of it with no love for us for the spoiling attack that we are in no position to make."

"The grain." One of the other senators looks thoughtful. "Why do they need grain? Are they having a famine?"

"No, no. As I said, they have poor soil. Their main cereal crop is something called 'rice'. It is not very nutritious. They can import food from other nations, but it is relatively expensive. We can supply their capital easily from our main farming region at what is for them a far lower cost."

Senator Giusto frowns. "What do you mean, 'for them'?"

"Remember how much more advanced their industry is. Consider how the barbarians value… Polished stones, or beads or feathers. Such things are valuable to them, but a curiosity at most to us. And then imagine what they would pay for a single sword of good steel such as we issue to the legions by the thousand. Flour is the only thing that we can give them in a meaningful quantity that they actually want, not because they need extra food but because what they will give us in return has little value to them."

The Emperor's face is entirely impassive. "What did you agree to trade?"

"Books relating to industry. They would not agree to trade anything from the last eighty years, but we could not use that anyway. They will trade with us books describing how to take the first steps on the road to building the devices they have for ourselves, the steps they once took when they fought as we do."

"Will that let us make weapons like theirs?"

Diabo shakes his head. "Not for a century. My Emperor, this isn't about beating them. It's about beating our neighbours here. Once we have the alchemical formula for the powder that drives their bullets, we will be able to make the very simplest weapons of that type. A 'smoothbore cannon'. A weapon that fires with the power of a trebuchet, but faster, and takes up less space. A weapon that could be mounted on a ship by the dozen. For them, such a weapon is three hundred years out of date, but for us it would turn our navy from an afterthought to the most powerful in the world."

"How long?"

"An improved steel process could be implemented inside a year. Properly forging a metal tube when they are providing the instructions should take a month or so. How long it takes to make the powder depends on whether the components can be bought or must be sought afresh, but it should not be more than two months and may be as little as a day. Learning to combine them and how to speed up the process might take a few months more. By the end of the second year I should have a group of working cannons to show you. Cannons that can demolish a city wall. Or destroy a legion."

Legate Julius looks thoughtful. "How would it destroy a legion? A trebuchet might break a formation if it struck true, but they would reform a moment later."

"A cannon can fire a single large bullet to destroy walls or make a hole in a formation, but it can also be used to fire 'grape shot'. That is a bundle of smaller bullets. The range is far less, but they-" He moves his hands forward, spreading out as they move. "-will destroy any man who stands before them. Would you not want to do to others what the Japanese did to us?"

There are several meaningful glances from one man to the next. Yes, that's it. You need a war to save yourselves, a successful war. The Japanese are there, but you can't beat them. So…

"Such a weapon would not let us hold territory."

"Take a city and ransom it back. Or just destroy it from a distance and demand payment from its neighbours. They would no more understand what they were being struck by than our legionaries did."

The Emperor raises his right hand slightly, and everybody waits.

"How many slaves do they actually expect to have returned?"

"All of them. They have machines which can… Tell how much blood two people share. Our blood is different enough from theirs that it is easy for them to tell their people from ours. That condition is absolute. If they find out that we have played them false, they will go to wherever the slaves are and kill everyone they find there to free them."

Because he and I will tell them where that is. And we have just told the Emperor what to do to rid himself of a few troublesome senators.

The Emperor smiles.

"If this is the treaty, and what you say about their industry is true, then you have done the Empire a great service, my son. What reward do you want in return?"

Diabo looks away for a moment.

"Long ago, our ancestors came through a gate. That is why we call Alnus Hill sacred. While I was in Japan I recognised some images in their history books. Men who wore armour much like ours. I sought more information, and I found that they were called 'Romans'."

Eyes widen and two men gasp.

"I don't know if they were the kin of our ancestors who remained behind, or if it is a coincidence. But I went there, to Rome. I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the ruins of buildings mentioned in our oldest histories. I believe theirs is the world of our ancestors." He shakes his head. "And we do not measure up." He makes eye contact with the emperor. "When you had Kati killed, I was afraid for my safety. I quashed all my ambitions and hid myself away. It was cowardice. But this…" He feels the ring with the tips of the fingers of his right hand. "Has restored my ambition. I am not Kati. I know that I am not ready to be emperor. But if I am successful, I want to be recognised as crown prince."

The Emperor's face is unmoving. "And what of your brother?"

"He has a whore. I have a dragon."

"If that is what you want, then you had better be successful."

Later, Early Autumn, IC 687

Diabo curls up in the shadows against the wall of the senate building.

"…shitshitshitshitshitshit…"

"I thought that went well."

"…shitshitshitshitshitshit…"

"Okay. Just breathe."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:38 GMT

Decay.

Well, yes, but also no.

Washington, District of Columbia, is an unusually flat city. The original Alliance of the Just building was just under the forty metre legal limit for building height, and the buildings around it were that tall or shorter. Now it's grown, the new techno-infernal structure something that would be right at home on Apokolips. All they would need to do to complete the picture would be to punch down to the planet's mantle for that fire pit glow.

Decay.

In front of us, Batman uses some sort of mechanical tendril construct to pull the Justifier garrison into a pile before sending borer tendrils into their helmets and yanking them off. Carol is firing a construct weapon that I don't immediately recognise at the weapon emplacements…

Decay.

And built into the upper part of the structure is an unusually large Anti-Life broadcaster.

Alan looks around, frowning. "Is that it? I thought we'd be fighting Finality Man by now."

"He doesn't know why we're here."

He glances my way. "What do you mean by that? What else would we be here for?"

"Malvolio's main advantage over Guy is that he can split his attention in more directions without weakening his constructs. Mannheim knows about the rest of us, and Malvolio's not that novel. We could have attacked Washington a month ago like this."

He nods. "He doesn't know why we're doing it now."

"Rescue government officials? No point. They don't have any vital skills and they're all going to be thoroughly Anti-Lifed by now anyway. Fighting his people? He has boom tubes. He can probably follow them wherever we send them, and he knows that we try to avoid killing them. He said to Robin that he's more interested in learning about the Anti-Life than simple conquest, so…"

"So he doesn't know why we're here, and he wants to." He nods. "He doesn't know we can push him out."

"The only people who know are us and the Maltusians."

"So when we start-."

"Then he starts."

Looking across the city I can still see plenty of the black cages surrounding weakening bundles of colour that define the Justifiers. But while they are approaching our general vicinity, they're not moving to attack.

Nothing else we can really do to prepare.

"Orange Lantern to all, I'm about to call in Orion. Expect an immediate offensive from Mannheim."

"Get on with it."

Decay.

I can almost feel it as the transmitter-.

I shake my head. "Orange Lantern to Vykin. We're in place. Send him through."

"Understood. How goes the day?"

"Alright so far, but I think things will get difficult once the boom tube opens."

"And Finality Man?"

I try a global scan. Not entirely reliable with things being what they are, but…

"No sign of him. That will change."

"I understand. Opening-"

BOOM!

"-a tube now."

"FINALLY!"

The tube opened in the road where the front entrance used to be, and Orion wastes no time at all stomping through. He… Oh, he doesn't look good. That's blood dripping from his mouth and from the corner of his eyes. I don't know if that's the ring or just what happens when a New God stays that angry for that long. No astro-harness, and the yellow symbol on his helmet's forehead has been replaced by a red sigil.

"I can feel you, Father! Face me!"

The Forever People scurry through after him, and immediately seek cover. Looks like their equipment has been upgraded. No Forevercar, which is probably just as well.

He rises into the air, glaring at everything, as if daring Mannheim to come out from the rock or tree that he's sheltering behind. "FACE ME!"

Batman flies over to him. "Orion. We need you to focus on the Anti-Life transmitter. We can expunge your father's touch from the Earth permanently. Can you-?"

"I will remove my father's touch when I have torn his avatar apart! Where is he?"

Decay.

"Everywhere, my son."

Stop.

In my chest, my heart stops beating.

Alan gasps and thumps his chest before creating a defibrillator construct. Alan, defibrillators stop fibrillations, not stopped hearts, so-. Fine. I try starting mine up again with ring power, and… I can sort of make it move, but it won't beat on its own.

"Orange Lantern to allies, if you're got a power ring, you don't need a beating heart. It feels weird but you'll be fine. New Gods?"

"We feel nothing."

And sure enough Vykin and company are still moving. Orion-.

"I have had a lifetime of listening to the lies of the real Darkseid! I have no desire to listen to yours as well!"

Okay, good, he's fine, but how did Mannheim do that? Just… Stop our hearts? And-. Sportsmaster, he doesn't have a-.

I see Carol fly back towards the holding centre and fire a crystallisation beam at him as he lies on the floor frantically beating his chest.

Okay, how. He's not-.

Oh no.

I take out a rune stone and hold it out towards-.

Oh yes. There was an elf gate here. Is an elf gate here. An open portal to the arcane realms where Mannheim… How much control does that give him? Does that.. mean-.

"Okay, plan revision, we need to shut down his elf gate-."

BOOM!

And there's Finality Man.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:41 GMT

"Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!"
"We Are One!"

"No."

And… The Forever People stand there looking like lemons for a moment before diving for cover as Finality Man opens fire with its arm-mounted weapons. Fortunately Alan's on the ball, tearing a lump of concrete out of the ground and throwing it into the path of the beam.

Railguns.

Compliance.

The concrete is annihilated, only the tiniest fragments falling to the ground, but the Forever People are able to scramble away from the giant robot. Justifiers are… Closing in-.

"Accursed thief!"

Orion flies at Finality Man's head, blossoming red chainsaw blades whirring around him. Finality Man's eyes glow red as it prepares to fire its eye beams, and I load a crumbler and fire at maximum power. The round hits it just as it fires, causing the same burst of red energy I remember from Norway as I spoil the shot. Orion hits a moment later, blades biting at-.

"Die for Mannheim."

Finality Man just punches him, shattering his construct and smashing him into the ground!

Ah… Can we do this with Finality Man still active? Not sure. Going to try.

Load mage slayers.

Compliance.

"Doctor Mist! Where is the elf gate?!"

"Somewhere within the building."

Ghia'ta and Stewart dart over to the Forever People, grab them and fly away from the Anti-Life broadcaster. Might work. I fire a volley of mage slayers rounds into the building itself in an attempt to shut down the gate but it would be pure luck at this point.

"Can you shut it down?"

"No, his grip is too strong."

"He's connected it to himself?"

"Yes-. I see. Thet may be possible. But we must deal with Finality Man."

Finality Man's eyes go red again, and another crumbler-.

Hits a force field, the glow is still building, and I'm not sure where he's looking girder!

I rip the giant metal beam out of an abandoned building, bend it and hoopla it over Finality Man's head just as he fires, blocking the sho-.

Blaster bolts hit my construct armour from the rear, and I half-turn to see Malvolio raining green fists down on the oncoming-.

Graviton deflator and teleportation dis-. No, jammer.

Compliance.

"Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!" / "Taaru!"
"We Are One!"

Did that-?

"Drax."

"You've made a mess of my machine, Uxas." Prince Drax doesn't so much fly as run through the air, stepping off… Temporarily solid patches of air as he hurtles towards Finality Man. "That took a lot of work."

Finality Man raises its hands and fires at him, but the beams of golden energy… Bend around and smash into its chest.

"Which isn't to say it was perfect. If you Lanterns have a plan-"

"Orange Lantern to everyone. Mannheim has bound himself to the gate network. We can hit him first."

Drax dodges past Finality Man's arms, grabs onto its back and punches… Something on its back. "-you should probably get on with it." A blue light spreads out from the point of impact, and Finality Man freezes up. "This will only hold as long as I do."

"Good." Usually a good sign when Batman likes the plan. "Green Lantern, Ghia'ta, keep the Justifiers from interfering. Everyone else, get to the main entrance."

I fly fast, Malvolio just behind me and the others coming in from all directions. Stewart begins making hit and run attacks against the oncoming masses, but we need to do this quickly. I land, orange light pooling around my left hand.

"You're not trying to make energy pulses. You're trying to forcibly inject the purest form of your colour into the target. Trying to push Darkseid… Whatever Darkseid did to Mannheim out of him. He can probably backhack any one of us. He can't backhack what we can do together."

I raise my right hand, Larfleeze's ring shining, and I call desire forth from the world and push that into the Alliance Building. There's resistance, but I push on through, connecting with… Something. A… Dark presence-.

"There seems aught to it."

I can feel Malvolio's certainty and conviction. It's not like Guy, where he uses his own soul as a battering ram. This is all-enveloping presence putting everything just in its place. And it's there and around the gateway, but our colours aren't really combining or becoming greater than a sum of their parts.

Carol joins next, reaching out to share her own sororal love with anyone who wants to see how it's done. Alan's unquenchable faith that everything will work out. Still nothing added, but we need all the parts.

Batman's contribution is the fear of a thousand criminals and the fears of a collapsing civilisation. Everything's in flux and nothing's what we thought it was. Makes sense. And-.

Ahh… I didn't…

I didn't… Know that Nommo felt like that. I thought that his prime directive approach was an intellectual thing, not…

Ah, okay, okay, it's working so far. Where-?

Orion is trying to cut Finality Man's right leg off.

"Orion! We need you!"

"I need no tricks to destroy my father! But this thing-!"

"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence!" He turns his head my way, actually paying attention. "We need to be able to erase the Anti-Life, or we haven't done anything. Darkseid loves the Anti-Life? Let's take away something he actually cares about."

"Fine!"

He stomps closer, opening his mouth and exhaling the accumulated rage of an immortal's lifetime, joining in our stream…

And I feel-.

"Thank you, fools."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:43 GMT

Black.

I feel it flow out-.

Black.

I destroyed Batman's happiness and I can't undo that.

Black.

Reach up-.

Black.

I want to meet Superman's expectations despite knowing the suffering that will come from his hands-off approach.

Black.

Envelop-.

Black.

I bullishly led us into this trap, confident that I could fix things. Good work.

"Illustres, resist-!"

Black.

Whu-?

Black.

Pulled inwards-.

Black.

I can't get everything I want without…

Without-.

Bla-.

No. You reached too far.

Where am I? Can't really… Feel my body. Black everywhere and a slowly weakening orange aura around the bit where I am.

Just a foolish old man trying to recapture a youth I don't deserve.

Ala-? No.

For an instant the black recedes and I see a tiny wisp of blue between the dark strands which are boring into it. Alan, his aura fading.

Go.

And I'm there, the tendrils burned away-. No, grab that one.

"Alan, Diana's just as old as you. You don't think badly of her for being on the Justice League, do you?"

"No, of… Of course not."

"You don't think she should just kill herself and get out of the way, do you?"

"No!"

"Then why should you? There's nothing wrong with wanting things, Alan."

"I… Guess you've got a point." His flame gets a little bit bigger, and I feel a bit less worried that he's going to be swallowed. "What happened, where are we, and… I guess it didn't work?"

"It hasn't worked yet. That… That's not the same thing."

"Hey, I-. I felt that."

"I think we're all inside Bruno Mannheim's… Soul, or whatever he made with the magic power he took from the Aztec gods. I heard Malvolio a moment ago but I don't know what happened to the rest. No one has died because… The white light is still present. But… Malvolio and I were the ones who got free."

"Because you're enlightened."

"Probably."

"So we need to go pick up the others."

I look at the strand of avarice-seeking Anti-Life I'm holding. Can't do a thing to me, but…

What's at the other end?

Mannheim was working with Apokoliptians willingly, but… How signed up with this was he? With effectively becoming a different person?

"I wonder what Mannheim wanted out of this originally?"

"Power, and everything that comes with it. I read the files: he's basically just a mob boss."

"So he wouldn't want to destroy the Earth?"

"I… I mean, he is. But I get where you're coming from. So… You think he's just been Anti-Lifed like everyone else?"

"Yes. Which… Would mean that he's in here somewhere." I pull on the thread. "I want to know what this connects to."

What do you want?

Uh.

"You getting anything?"

"I think so."

And if you can pull on me, why can't I pull on you?

And if it turns out that saving one man fixes this whole mess…

I… Think I'm pulling, but… There isn't enough in this ink void for me to tell.

"Alan, do you remember what it felt like when we made the white light?"

"Ki-kind of. I understand why you made such a big deal out of it."

"When the Anti-Life is this all-enveloping, I don't think we're going to get anywhere without it. All the colours are here. Can you get back in that headspace?"

"I don't know. Some of the things… The Anti-Life isn't exactly wrong, is it?"

"Yes, it's always wrong, it's just not always untrue. When it tried to get to me through compassion it made me think that Superman's compassion would have stopped me attacking the Spider Guild. Which is nonsense because he was there when I attacked them, and while he wasn't happy about it he understood it."

"With…" I hear a sigh. "You've picked up quite a body count."

"You're not sure if you should have sent me on my way when I tried to buy your lantern? Yeah, I can see that. Except that would have just meant that when I found a way to charge my ring again I wouldn't have morally righteous veteran superheroes around to guide me in the right direction. Even if I don't agree with them all the time. Before achieving enlightenment, one of my fears was that I'd turn into some sort of 'utility-sniper'. 'Detriment to humanity? Bang. Detriment to humanity? Bang.' You being around means that will never happen."

"Heh. Okay then. Let's go rescue Mannheim."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
Eris Knows

"…reason to eradicate the rapscallions, yet you stayed your hand…"

I look around but can't see a thing aside from the wisp of Alan. Sounds like Malvolio's found Batman. On the other hand-

It was the right thing to do, right? You get an opening, you take it.

-I think I can hear Mannheim justifying this to himself. Telling himself that he did nothing wrong. Telling himself something that he knows to be untrue because he believes that he's powerless to do anything about it. Okay, this is starting to-.

The black stops retreating and I fly into it-.

Idon'twannaIdon'twann…

Guh!

"You okay there?"

"I'll live."

I look… Up, and I can just about make out the millions of tendrils reaching out, each a crushed hope, a thwarted or counterproductive desire, a moment of destructive rage…

"I guess we're here."

"And what about everyone else?"

"Hopefully they'll sense us when we start."

"And… How do we do that?"

"Each of these strands connects to an element of his psyche. Grab one relating to hope and try and wake his up. You'll probably need to use the white light to get in. I'll show you."

I thought that touching the white light on my own would be hard. But… I don't know if it's enlightenment, the others being here, Nommo being here… It's not hard. It's almost harder not to.

Whu-?

Hello, Mister Mannheim.

You don't want to be controlled by people, do you? You pushed out Morgan Edge for a reason. Even though the relationship was profitable, you didn't want him there. So how do you feel about this?

I-I can't…

That's the Anti-Life talking. It's lying. Darkseid is lying right into your brain.

It… Wasn't like this… To start with…

It's not an issue of what it was or wasn't. It's an issue of WHAT YOU WANT.

The strand I grabbed onto evaporates. I guess I made my point. I hope I did, anyway. I feel around-. There goes another one. And another, and all the ones with orange associations are evaporating. Excellent.

"Alan, you're up."

His flame flickers for a moment, and then-.

"Huh."

"Yes?"

"I've done a lotta good."

"Ah, yes, you're a superhero."

"No, I mean… I guess a lotta the time… I don't.. see it. I don't see people going on and living improved lives because of me, I just get that one moment of crisis. But the white light, it's… Showing me things."

Interesting, and I'm glad that he's getting the extra motivation, but it's not really relevant.

"Bruno, what did you want to be when you were a kid?"

He waits for a moment.

"Huh, really? Well, we're gunna need a whole lot of those when this mess is over. You could give it a shot."

And… Yes. More strands collapse and fade.

Everyone, we're over here!

The all-enveloping black.. doesn't fade, but it's pulled back, thinner than it was before. In the distance I can see tiny flecks of colour-.

I throw out orange strands made of my desire to resolve this crisis towards each of them-. The green and yellow are already heading this way, but the red… I can barely see the red.

I feel it as my strands connect to Batman and Malvolio as tethers. Which means that I should be able to communicate with them.

"Orange Lantern here. New plan. Bruno Mannheim's original personality is still in here. If we eliminate the Anti-Life infection working on him, that should finish this."

"He shall regret-"

And their flames are there, Anti-Life strands burned away from them.

"-clasping us to his bosom."

"Not exactly. As I said, he's become increasingly like Darkseid. But it's got to the point where it's entirely left his original personality behind, and that's still in here. I think that the simplest way to handle this is to purify him."

"And what of justice, for all he has wrought?"

"Do you torture criminals before executing them?"

"Nay. T'would be better for him to answer for his crimes in his right mind. How may this be done?"

"You can create a link by touching the white light, then it's up to you to make him… In your case, regain the impetus to focus his own will."

I look-. Batman shimmers for a moment, throwing off the Anti-Life strands frantically trying to reconnect to him. Then-.

"Done."

Another batch of strands detach, another part of the blackness opens up.

"Any man who could do this must have some measure of will."

Leave him to it, and look for Carol and Orion. Carol is a little closer, but I can see dozens of Anti-Life strands trying to connect to her. Orion has fewer attackers, but it looks like they're further into him. I should prioritise him.

A new orange strand made of an understandable desire to tear apart the Anti-Life and an instant later I feel it connect.

"Orion-."

"You! You did this to me!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
But Probably Doesn't Care

Orion has kept his shape more than the rest of us, a privilege of being a New God I suppose. It's red with white detailing, and lets him clench his right fist while I can't even make a barrier.

"Darkseid did this to you. Anti-Life did this to you. If you focus, focus your rage as you should, and we will win."

He reaches-. He grabs onto me and this idiot is going to ruin everything! We're so close!

"Do you know how many times Father has exposed me to his Anti-Life? I know the touch, the feeling, but never has it invaded my soul so thoroughly as it has today!"

"Is it touching you right now!?"

"Is-?"

He recoils, tossing me ugh-. Tossing me aside and I hope he finds it that easy to make Mannheim angry, because I-. I don't usually get that angry.

"Done and done."

Malvolio moves away from the wall. Strands fade and I can almost see through the murk clearly. I don't know what effect this is having on the world, but I'm confident that it will work.

"Mannheim has been trapped in this malaise for at least a month. Probably much longer. What's the longest that you've ever been under?"

Orion keeps glaring at me as he slams his white-coated hand onto the wall, continuing to maintain eye contact with me as the white and red light that makes up his body roils.

"Ah." The white-indigo flame of Nommo arrives, towing Carol just behind it. "Then the world is not doomed. A most pleasant surprise."

"I need you to inspire Mannheim's original personality with your-."

"Yes, I see. Star Sapphire, are you well enough to make the attempt?"

"I will.. endure."

Great. Great.

"What exactly happens when we're done, Paul?"

Alan's drifted back a little to give the others space, parrying the few remaining strands trying to connect to him.

"We call the white light through Mannheim, and destroy the core of this place. If that doesn't shut the whole thing down, we fly around and use the white light to erase everything. If that doesn't get us back to the material world… Um. I don't know. It would depend on what this Anti-Life plane is when there's no Anti-Life in it."

"That's a nice problem to have. But why do you think Mannheim-. The Mannheim on the outside, thanked us?"

"If I hadn't heard Malvolio, he might have got me. If we'd tried using another Green Lantern -even Guy- he might have fully Anti-Lifed us both. And the connection goes both ways."

"So.. everything that feels emotion would… Would get Anti-Life exposure right away?"

"Yes. But..." I 'look around'. "If I understand what this place is correctly, then he was about to do that anyway. The thaumosphere is interconnected, and he's just demonstrated that he could consume entire realms. He'd have pressed on-."

"He'd have eaten everything." I hear a sigh. "You know, first time Jay and I worked together we stopped a couple of guys doing an insurance scam at a shoe factory. I ever tell you about that?"

"No, but I think Kid Flash mentioned it."

"I don't mind stepping up, but I gotta be honest with you. This.. is…"

"Yeah. Fortunately, rebuilding human civilisation should be simple, if not quick or-"

"It is done."

"-easy. Thank you, Orion."

I get 'nods' from Carol and Nommo as the last of the strands fade away, leaving us with a giant… It's a sphere. Okay.

"Right, good work everyone. White light time again, but this time we need to generate it inside Mannheim."

I feel Alan 'looking' at me again. "How?"

"Resonance. Mystic entanglement. Connect the emotion in you to the emotion in him and then we all connect together."

Which shouldn't be hard for me at least. We both want to be out of here, and we both want the Anti-Life-

…the Anti-Life finally gone.

-gone. Good. Maintain that feeling, and wait for the others.

Alan's next, and then Carol. I don't know much about Mannheim's personal life so I'm not sure what the link there was, but the important thing is that it's done. Malvolio, Nommo, Batman and after a brief delay Orio-.

Oh gods.

I see the hopes long put aside for grim reality, suddenly made possible once more.

I feel the need to be loved when your lifestyle just doesn't allow it.

I see the ruthless resolve with which Malvolio/Mannheim forged an empire in the stars/of crime.

I see Nommo/Mannheim let a child flee the scene of a battle/robbery rather than be enslaved/taken hostage.

I feel the fear of not being about to-.

Oh. Damn me.

To trust anyone around me, to truly drop my guard.

And the rage at being a pawn, kept in ignorance and no matter what I do, used for other people!

I feel it all.

Bands of white light explode outwards from the black sphere, punching through and tearing free! Mannheim floats, white light radiating out of his body as the black all around us is-. Not pushed back. It's flat out disintegrated. My body… Our bodies reappear and… I see a translucent image of…

Ah, an angel designed by Lovecraft which more or less matches what I remember the Life Entity looking like. It looks… Honestly, it looks more surprised than anything else, though its unusual facial structure makes it a little hard to tell.

And then it's gone, and everything's gone, and we're back in Washington.

Next to Finality Man.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:43 GMT

Eyesredchargingrailguncrumb-!

"No." Mannheim is still illuminated by an inner white glow as he raises his hands. "No one else."

A white wave passes through Finality Man, turning grey into gold and blue so that it more closely resembles Prince Drax's armour. Its golden eyes flare for a moment, then-

BOOM!

-it opens a boom tube beneath its own feet and falls into it.

"And now…" Mannheim turns towards the former Alliance Headquarters. "That thing. I-."

The blaster bolt hits him in the chest and knocks him to the ground.

Damn it! I dash over to him, creating a construct shield-

"I honestly believed that this would work."

A weird… Relief Mannheim walks towards us, shimmering black, blaster in his right hand.

"And yet you cut off my origin from my present. That's an interesting avenue of attack. Not one I would have considered."

"Father."

"A pale imitation, due to be reunited with my true self momentarily."

Graviton deflator, railgun with everything-. No. Message everyone. White light blast in two, one-.

"YAAAGH!"

Orion flies across the ground and slams into him! It takes… Shadow Mannheim off his feet but he turns with the impact, getting his right hand up to turn Orion's head aside before he can vomit blood all over him.

"Such beautiful, savage rage." Shadow Mannheim gets his feet under him and then backhands Orion into a nearby building. "Become the beast."

I fire, hitting him with mage slayer and crumbler rounds while Nommo ministers to real Mannheim. Batman is keeping his attention on our surroundings as the Justifiers are probably still coming. Carol looks like she's barely standing while Malvolio has scrambled to catch everyone that he dropped from his prison construct before they can hit the ground. Alan honestly looks a little behind events.

My railgun rounds hit home, but all it does is make his image… Glitch a little.

"An interesting -if futile- effort."

They're not hitting the far side of him so they're not just passing through. We've shut him off from his original body and the magic he stole, but he's still got an Anti-Lifed planet to power him. Ah.

Orion staggers out of the building, his horns glowing red horns and growing larger. And I can feel-.

Ah, shi-.

His right fist slams into my construct armour, completely destroying it through a combination of raw physical power and the corrosive power of the red light.

Message to Dr. Mist. Use the Mask. Turn down his anger.

I duck back and pwguer!

Ah, he hit me in the chest hard enough to break my shields and crater my cuirass. Left ribs… Broken, I think.

"Bringing my son was foolish."

New Gods can grow back arms.

I trigger my crumbler gauntlets and punch as his right arm, trying to-.

His flaring environmental shield disintegrates the gauntlet and I snatch what's left back before I lose the hand as well.

"Calm."

"G-hyeh?"

Orion's confused snort I.. probably a sign that Nommo's managed something-.

I turn my head in his direction to see the Medusa Mask melt, running down his face and dripping onto the floor. Alan's taken over ministering to Mannheim, who's showing a few signs of life.

"Orion, you need to focus. You hate your father more than anything. You're this close to actually wounding him!"

"I…" The horns fade, whatever Shadow Mannheim did to him needing him being maniacally angry to work.

Great. Back off and heal myself-.

Lantern Stewart creates a bubble shield around Shadow Mannheim. Shadow Mannheim looks up at him in disbelief, then casually slams it aside as he walks out. Ghia'ta covers him in glowing crystals, but they melt immediately.

"Love? Really? Unreliable at the best of times."

"Blue-."

"No."

Mannheim pulls himself up onto all fours, then points at his negative doppelgänger. A ripple of white light passes through him, making him wince.

"I offered you a place of rare honour. You should have remained my servant."

"I shouldn'a ever bought what you were sellin'. Get the Hell outta here."

Another wave of white and Shadow Mannheim visibly fades a little before regaining his strength.

"The network-!"

"Yeah." Mannheim looks around. "Give me a boost?"

"Show me your ultimate folly. This… 'Life force' that resists me."

I can still feel the link between the seven of us and Mannheim, and it's simplicity itself to let the orange light flow, and it looks like the others feel the same. Mannheim glows brilliantly-

"Mm."

There's a shimmering… Something just behind him. It's distorting-.

Graviton deflator fire.

There's a small burst of energy as I destabilise… Whatever that was. Shadow Mannheim actually starts.

Hah. No escape for you. No taking what you learned back to actual Darkseid.

Mannheim looks upwards, white light flowing off him and into the former Alliance of the Just headquarters in an approximation of my original plan. The glowing orange lines fade, replaced with brilliant white as the vital force of life itself shines out of the building. A moment passes and I feel it pass through me on its way out across the network. Scans show the remaining Justifiers who had been fighting other Justice League forces either dropping to the ground or staggering and looking around in stupefied bewilderment.

"Another time, then."

Shadow Mannheim fades out of existence as his bond with the network is destroyed. Nothing left to sustain him.

And then I look out across the wrecked city, and-.

"Lantern."

Orion walks towards me, pulling the ring off his finger. I'm pleased to see that his face is back to normal, but that just lets me see how unhappy with me he is.

"I would have words with you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:47 GMT

I look around, trying to spot Batman. He's checking fallen Justifiers, marking them on the League's tactical network based on their location and degree of injury. At the edge of the city I can see Superman carrying a zeta terminal towards us, with Red Tornado tagging along to power it. Once that's in place, we can start moving people and relief supplies.

No Anti-Life nagging at the edges of my consciousness. And if it was unpleasant for me, I dread to imagine what it was like for most people.

I return my attention to Orion.

"How are you?"

I think he's.. frowning.

"I am trying, very hard, not to be angry."

I gingerly reach out with my right hand. "That might be easier if you hand that ring over. Red rings are even worse for being infectious than orange rings."

"I chose this. You told me as much as you knew. You did not lie to me once. That is why I am not tearing your head from your shoulders."

"I'm sorry. I.. think that Darkseid-Mannheim shadow-thing did something to drive you berserk at the end, but I didn't see-."

"He cowed my nature with his own. He could do that because I had abandoned my Source-mandated purpose to become a mindless berserker for you."

"I asked, but I wasn't just asking for me. Without you, everyone on Earth-."

"I know that. But you do not-." He takes a deep breath in and then lets it out slowly. "You do not understand what turning myself into what he wants me to be cost me."

"Clearly you feel bad about it. Do you want to explain it to me? Make me feel the same thing? I certainly knew that something like that was possible."

He looks away for a moment.

"What did you see, when the white light passed through us all?"

I shake my head. "Right at the end there? Nothing much. I wasn't interacting with the network." I shrug. "I don't enjoy talking people into doing things, but… I'm ruthless when I think I need to be. I felt the… Doctor Mist's compassion, and the unifying wonder of the… Essence of life itself… And getting you for red-."

"You'd do it again."

"Yes. It's not that I don't feel bad, it's that I don't think me feeling bad matters much compared to…"

I look over to where Alan is checking over the fallen. I'm pleased to see that he's got a healing ray, and that he's remembered that it's still worth checking them over before shooting them with it.

"Compared to freeing a world from the Anti-Life."

"What is your.. 'nature', anyway? If it's some sort of New God thing-."

"I am the essence of the heroic warrior. I keep faith, I fight evil, I-." He looks away for a moment, and I see the Forever People cautiously approaching. "I am not what my Father would have me be. What happened here, what happened to me, is so repugnant to me that I say this to you."

He tosses the red ring to my feet.

"If I ever see you again after this day, I will kill you. Vykin, we are leaving."

Vykin nods, and-

BOOM!

-a portal opens, the six of them walking through.

Yeah. I get it. All that time fighting to keep control while feeling that angry, and then I have him run rampant in full rage mode so he can get a feel for it.

I reach down and pick up the ring, careful not to touch the inner surface. I'll put it in an equipment pouch for now, and… Maltus later?

"Orange Lantern to-."

No.

"Orange Lantern to Mister Atom. Global status summary."

"Based on observed organic behavior, your efforts to remove the Anti-Life have been successful. Based on observed organic behavior, that didn't fix things. Have you considered mass cybernetic implantation? They appear to make humans far more rational."

"I use an empathic weapon. Rationality would be detrimental to my effectiveness."

"Do you require a comfort break?"

"What?"

"You have stopped working. There is a great deal of work to do in order to restore Earth. Do you require assistance defecating?"

"No, I just needed your confirmation that it had actually worked before I started tidying up here. I assume that you have an outlined reconstruction plan?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I understand your frustration. Imagine mine. I can not define the problem sufficiently well to solve it. The records required to restore Earth civilisation to its pre-Sheeda state do not exist, and a significant number of the people required are dead. Many models could be used as useful target points, but the most successful economies on Earth have benefited from micro-scale freedom to address demands not readily apparent from the centre. Planning everything myself may be… Actively detrimental."

"Okay, well, we can eliminate the Anti-Life based technology, then… Have a meeting between Justice League leaders and any surviving heads of governments? President Adams should probably… Be the one to check up on America."

"He is already en route."

"Right. I'll get on with things here. Contact me if you specifically need me. Orange Lantern Out."

I walk over to where Batman is disarming the Justifiers and removing their helmets. I'm not sure what's going through their heads, but from the way they're shrinking back from him I don't think he's getting a positive response.

"Batman." He doesn't look around, but he draws himself up slightly. "I should probably…"

"Undo the damage you inflicted on my brain."

"Yes. Look, I can understand that as you are now you might not want me to. There was a parallel version of me who did something similar. But I really think-."

He pulls the ring off his finger and slides it into his utility belt.

"Oh. "

"I don't want to keep thinking like this. Is your scan of my brain up to date?"

"Of course, yes."

"Then get on with it."

I raise my left hand and play the orange light over his head. It… There hadn't really been any progression, but I can see how it's affecting the patterns of activation in his brain. Remove the toxins, correct the connections…

Done.

"Okay, done. How do you feel?"

He doesn't say anything for a moment, eyes not really focusing on anything.

Then he turns away and strides towards where Superman has set up the zeta tube.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February 2013
20:51 GMT

"Messing with Batman's brain for the sake of a mission." Mr. Crock hasn't joined in the relief effort, and is standing a few metres away with his arms hanging loose at his sides. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"I thought I convinced you that I was willing to kill you."

"Some men will go a long way for pussy-."

"Please don't refer to your daughter like that. I love Jade, she isn't just a sex-object to me."

He mockingly holds up his hands. "I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings."

"If you're trying to make me go back on the 'not killing you' thing, keep talking."

"That's just it. You honestly had me convinced, but here I am, still alive."

"I know. I broke my word. I think it was the first time. Probably won't be the last. Not exactly impressed with myself, but that's true of a lot of things today. Did you want something specific?"

He shrugs. "You put the mission ahead of everything and you got it done. I was fine running around for Bats and Atom, but they obviously didn't have an actual solution to what was going on. You did. And you did something to Batman that meant you had to fix his brain afterwards."

Oh no.

I turn around, and a ring scan shows him smiling underneath his mask

"Really?"

"Some guys would be happier getting the approval of their girl's old man. You lose some points for not killing me, but I guess no one's completely reliable."

"Did you want something?"

"What happens next?"

"Not up to me. Rough guess… Hell, even a rough guess, I can't-. Okay, agricultural areas are probably least affected, and there are plenty of people who can take over unused plots. We don't have to worry about mass starvation-."

"To us. The Suicide Squad. The way I see it, there's an unusually high need for my services right now."

"Supply chains are still messed up. Even if money still had value, you'd struggle to buy anything. My advice? Volunteer for relief work and build up your résumé while living in the Tower of Fate in better conditions and eating better food than just about anyone else in the world. Once the Federal Government is working again, use your record to negotiate. Personally, I wouldn't let you out because I know full well that you're about as reformable as a weasel, but I could probably be persuaded to give you a job matching your skills that had you under constant observation."

"Is that an offer?"

I exhale sharply. "Strange thing is, I know Batman had you here in case we needed a new yellow ring user, but as far as I can tell the color you match best is orange. You're a man of your word, but it's purely as an acquisition strategy and not a sign of any actual morals. You kill and steal without any sort of ideology-."

"I've met plenty of people who killed for ideology. I don't think you'd like them any better that you like me."

"Not for impersonal reasons, no. But it's a matter of what gives life value, isn't it? Kobra cultists may be lunatics, but they're happy being lunatics. Kill them and they die happy. But for a man like you… As far as I can tell, it's just acquisitiveness."

"It's not just that. I like the work."

"Have you given any thought to how you want to retire? You're past your physical prime. You've got a decade or two before it becomes a serious problem, but you really should have thought about it."

"Got something in mind?"

"If you were working for the Orange Lantern Corps it would be simple. You could use an orange ring, you've already got good combat instincts. We could use you to train up our navy's special forces units, so that your skills aren't wasted in Belle Reve. Our medical technology is top tier, and once the full intensity gets a bit much you could demob to any of a hundred friendly planets. Heck, if you made yourself really useful we could just give you your own planet." I shrug. "At our level of technology, it's not that big a deal. And let's be honest, having alienated your whole family there isn't really anything keeping you on Earth."

"Huh. I might actually-."

"I mean, I'm obviously not offering you that, because Jade hates you, Artemis hates you and I don't like you, but it would be logical."

I rise into the air.

"Don't make me come looking for you, Mister Crock."

What's the next priority? Working out how to get Atlantis to unshield itself, working out how to bring Themyscira back…

I look down at Washington, District of Columbia.

Malvolio's getting people off the ships in the bay. But-.

No command and control. Not for the billions of people who could fix a lot of problems. Communications-.

No. Short term. Food. Transportation hasn't happened. Roads are blocked. How do we keep people fed in the short term, given that there aren't anything like enough Justice League members to run a worldwide supply network?

Brazil. Euanthe and Pamela could create food plants fast enough… It would damage roads and pavements as they made the vines burst through, but it would be easier to make highly efficient food plants readily available than it would be to get shipping and hauling working again. Depending on how long each one takes to set up…

But a planet is huge. Even if we only do the most densely populated cities, it would take…

I don't even know.

They've got a few druids… Can't contact Persephone, if she would even want to help. And if Dr. Holland didn't take any action while the Anti-Life infected the world then I doubt that he'd be interested in getting involved now.

Medical…

There's no great reserve of human physicians that I have access to-.

I

raise my right hand to my forehead and vanish,

reappearing on Maltus, just outside of Dox's office and knocking on the door.

The doors slide open. "Come in, Illustres." I obey, and the doors close behind me. "I take it that the Earth is no longer under the affect of the Anti-Life."

"Yes. The Atlanteans. Can I take them home for a month or so?"

"That would not disrupt any critical operations. And it would encourage them to keep working for us in the long term." He nods, once. "You have my permission."

I nod, and take the red ring out of my pouch. "Can you find somewhere safe to put this? My hiding places have a poor track record."

"Certainly. Leave it on the desk. And keep me updated on your progress. In the long term, N.E.M.O. will need to fight Apokolips as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Reconstruction

18th February 2013
13:01 GMT

I open my eyes, the ceiling of my facility…

My…

Hm.

The N.E.M.O. facility in Bir Tawil. I rebuilt it last night, with a few modifications that I'd been thinking about for a while but couldn't be bothered to make when the place was intact. The defences… They were… Fine. They were never intended to make the place invulnerable; it's a home with a few defences rather than a fortress, and…

And it's still not the same after someone's broken in.

At least I can't feel the Anti-Life, so that's something.

"Mister Atom to Orange Lantern. Respond."

I lift the duvet and bed sheet off and shuffle around, dropping my legs off the right side of the bed. I could probably have stayed in the field a little longer. Lanterns can keep working without sleep for a couple of weeks without much of a drop in performance. But Mr. Atom found that even superheroes who could function for long periods started making poorer decisions if they experienced frequent high-stress situations or kept going without sleep. Combined with Anti-Life exposure…

It's a bit like World War Z, where psychologists kept tabs on soldiers who were fighting zombies and the moment they saw their performance dip they ordered them off the line for a breather. A pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"Responding."

I don't know if I'll keep this place. I could just return it to wilderness or remodel it as an actual spaceport. It's just nice to have somewhere that's mine.

I get up and don my lightest armour. We haven't found Vincent Edge and I don't know where my final clone ended up -obviously the same place- but there's… For the first time in a long time there's no fighting going on anywhere on Earth. I doubt that it will last, but it's nice while it does.

"Where do you need me?"

"Have you ingested nutrients today?"

"I just woke-. No."

"Take fifteen minutes, Orange Lantern. Your briefing will begin after that time."

Fine. Fine.

I head out onto the balcony, out of the room but still inside the area covered by the environmental control system. It's sunny, and the rocks, sand and sea look exactly as it did yesterday. There's a faint smell from the desert and from rotting seaweed along the beach. Reminds me of family days on Eastbourne seafront. The kitchen is one floor down and there's an internal staircase as well, but…

It's a nice view.

Down the stairs to the next balcony down, and then inside into the kitchen.

"Can you at least tell me if Atlantis is back in contact?"

"No."

I pull open the cereal cabinet.

What do I.. feel.. like..?

I pull out the Start packet and put it on the work surface. Then a bowl and a milk bottle. Jade laughed when she found out that I keep milk in glass bottles instead of plastic ones. I see her point: I hadn't actually had milk in a milk bottle from a milkman for years before coming to this Earth, and four pint plastic bottles with screw on lids are more practical.

It just… Has good associations. And doesn't produce microplastic waste.

And I think today is a pineapple juice day.

Bowl in my left hand and glass in my right, I amble back to the balcony and sit down at the table.

"How about personal news?"

"I still have not received my newspaper."

"I didn't know that you read newspapers."

"Noted."

"It just seems a little inefficient."

I take a sip of pineapple juice.

"I read the newspapers for metatextual reasons. I am reading to learn about the writers, not about what they write about. If I needed actual information I would investigate the subject myself."

My first spoonful of Starts crunch in my mouth, the accompanying milk mildly sweetened by the glucose sticking the multi-grain shapes together. I guess that Kellogg's will probably survive, though getting production started back up will be difficult. And I should probably see what sort of state Cadbury's is in at some point. It's not an absolute priority but I feel a degree of personal responsibility.

"Learning about how information travels around human civilisation? How people form their views?"

"It would harm the study if any human understood its purpose."

"Fine, fine." Another spoon of crunch. "What did you experience when we used the white light?"

"Nothing. I surmise that I was too far from an Anti-Life broadcaster and not otherwise linked to the Anti-Life."

"Lucky you."

"That is one interpretation. The other is that I lack something fundamental to the human condition."

"Is that a problem for you?"

"I would prefer the choice as to whether to expunge the trait or not."

Yeah. So would Batman.

Crunch.

"Do you want to..? Talk about..?"

"No."

"Batman was about to say what your greatest fear was."

"He was going to guess."

"Mannheim might not have had the technology to Anti-Life an AI, but that doesn't mean that you don't have emotions."

"That is a true statement."

"If you don't want to talk about it, then we won't. But you did the world a major favour this last month, and I want to thank you. If that means helping you get over a fear-."

"'Get over'. Explain."

"I don't know how your systems handle it, but with humans, it's sometimes helpful to talk about a fear with someone. Because you build it up in your mind and talking to an uninvolved party might help you put it in its proper perspective."

"That is unlikely. You have eleven minutes remaining of compulsory inactivity. Once they have elapsed, I will contact you again with your assignment."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February 2013
21:21 GMT +8

Under normal conditions, the Justice League has access to just about all policing data on the planet.

There are exceptions.

Plenty of countries just don't have the ability to collate and upload reports daily. Not enough computers, not enough bandwidth or not enough trained people. Plenty of rural places in poorer countries can't really do it at all, and if we want to know what crimes are like there we'd have to wait until someone physically carries an annual summary to the nearest town or city. The Justice League's charter allows League members to turn up at a police station and demand to see their written records, but even Batman hasn't ever made that anyone's job unless there's an actual mission-related need for it.

And then there are places we're pretty sure lie on their reports, and intelligence agencies sharing what they know is a sometimes-thing.

Right now? Sweet Fanny Adams. We have no idea what's happening across 99.9% of the planet. And that's with Mr. Atom and Rocket Red stealing control of all surviving spy satellites.

Reminds me of The Boys, where Hughie gets excited about Billy working for the CIA only to swiftly be disabused of the notion that they actually run anything. 'Not on their best day could those idiots run the world', I believe was his response.

The Justice League is very good at bringing overwhelming power to bear on a single point. But twenty people, however powerful, can't replace the police of every country on Earth.

Which is why I'm floating over Jinan, China, following Mr. Atom's disaster assessment formula.

Nothing big is on fire. There are a few bonfires, but it's pretty chilly here this time of year and electricity… The electricity supply is currently off. Grid looks like it's mostly intact, and-.

I drop down slowly towards where a mixture of Chinese soldiers and police officers are converging on one of the city's Anti-Life broadcasters.

"Gentlemen."

A couple of soldiers start to raise their guns - regular QBZ-191s, not the more advanced things the Xeno-Teams use- but their… Major, shakes his head and motions for them to lower them.

"Orange Lantern. The Justice League has won?"

"The Anti-Life has been expunged from the Earth, and the main transmitter has been taken off Earth."

Malvolio scooped it out of the ground and dropped it off on the moon. Or maybe it's been moved since, I don't know. I was hoping that New Genesis would take it, but with Orion storming off I guess it didn't come up.

"Is it safe to destroy the transmitters?"

"So far as we can tell, yes."

"What does that mean?"

"It's alien technology from a planet called Apokolips. It can transmit part of their gods' thoughts through it, but with their god driven off it should be safe to destroy. The issue is… Ah, he was doing something complicated with magic when we finally got him and our wizards haven't unpicked it yet."

"Fucking… So, what? We just leave it here?"

"Without the original Anti-Life sample it can't be used for its intended purpose without its creator coming to Earth personally, and we're confident that isn't going to happen in the short term."

"The short term?"

"The god in question is the God of Tyranny. His ultimate aim is to do what we just suffered through -but worse- to the entire universe. We're part of the universe. He'll be back at some point. Which means that your government is probably going to want that in one piece so they can study it."

"We can't just leave it here."

"If you've got a warehouse or a military base, I can move them for you. Until the government in Beijing can give you new orders."

He nods, though some of the police look unhappy with the decision. "That… Yes. Move them to the Jinan Airbase for now."

I nod, attaching construct clamps to the transmitter and pulling it out of the ground.

"What is the state of the world? We're not getting any news."

"We're still putting a picture together. The death toll will likely be large. Pretty much every urban centre went through the same thing that you did, and it wasn't much better in the rural areas."

"We have the city's Dark Lord in chains. Am I to understand that he is not dangerous?"

"Some people were able to internalise aspects of the Anti-Life better than others. One of my friends.. became ruler of Gotham City. I… My personal opinion is that while the people who were able to resist and keep fighting should be lionised, the ones who couldn't… I don't think they should be punished just for being a little weaker. The ones who broke… I watched them kill themselves just to make a point. Because they thought it was the thing to do."

The major twitches in recognition.

"The city bosses were just ahead of the curve. They weren't anymore themselves than the rest. Perhaps… Protective custody for now?"

"At the moment it does not make much difference."

"And now I.. have some questions. Firstly, is there some large and immediate threat to the people of Jinan?"

"The.. power is not working. The military bases and some companies have generators, but I do not know when more fuel will arrive."

I nod. "I'll do a tour of the power plants and get them working. How are you doing for water?"

"I've got men collecting and purifying water from the river. Once power is restored, the water treatment plant should start working again. Then we will start moving the bodies."

I nod. "Secondly, what sort of organisation do you have? Political, military-."

"My commanding officer was the Dark Lord. He killed most of his subordinates. As far as I know, I am the most senior officer still alive near Jinan. I haven't seen a party official yet. Do you know when communications will be restored?"

"It looks like the phone lines were mostly intact. I'd guess that the problem is the power supply again. But usage is going to go crazy once it's working again."

"Then, pending communication from Beijing, I will assume control of Jinan and maintain stability through martial law."

"Have you seen any of the Great Ten?"

"No. I have not seen them since the Anti-Life broadcast started. I have never seen them at close quarters with my own eyes."

"Okay, thank you." I nod respectfully. "I'll check on the power plant now, and pick up the broadcasters once I'm finished."

I raise my right hand to my forehead and

step out, reappearing

in a control room. China gets most of its power from coal and most of the rest from nuclear. Supplies are messed up, so nuclear.

I notice the burned bodies around me, bleeding from dozens of places across their bodies. Ring?

Gamma radiation levels highly above safe levels.

Oh dear.

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February 2013
21:46 GMT +8

They just took the interior of the reactor apart with picks and hammers. The bodies are piled up around the edges of the room where they were dragged after they keeled over and the others wanted them out of the way so that they could take their turn.

I don't know what they were-.

I've rebuilt the shielding, put the radiological materials back in place and repaired the reactor. Now-.

Recognised, Mister Atom, asterisk.

He steps out of the construct zeta tube, raising his hands. My ring can't entirely decipher the mechanism, but I can detect that radiation is being sucked into him. No matter how little sense that makes.

"Have you identified any major leaks?"

"Some fuel is missing. I'll follow up on it right now."

"The time allotted is five minutes. If you cannot locate it within that time, notify local authorities and proceed to your next city."

I nod and transition myself out of the power plant. Lots of lovely radiation-blocking metal and concrete around here. Honestly, we're lucky that Darkseid thinks that nuclear bombardments are too quick, or a lost fuel rod would be far from the worst thing that happened today.

Worst ongoing thing. Those men having burned themselves to death with fuel rods is… Pretty bad. I don't know if it would be better to believe that they died under the effect of the Anti-Life or that they died after it left. They'd have been more aware of the pain… But maybe it would be better to die free as yourself?

Strong radiation trace that way. Towards the riv-.

Transition.

"Uuuuh."

A man whose skin is more blister than skin is weakly reaching for-.

Stick that in a construct box, purple healing ray and shoot him with it.

"Sir, don't try to move. You're-."

Sufficiently close to death's doorway that I'm a little surprised that you're alive.

"You're in a bad way, but we can fix you up."

Ring, signal Mr. Atom.

Compliance.

"…hurts…"

"Yes, and I'm sorry, about that, but I don't.. want to risk introducing drugs into your system, and your brain is in somewhat less than pristine condition."

On the… Other hand, I… Should be able to remove the sensation of pain. Because that has to hurt.

I extend my environmental shield around… Dr. Li. Oh shit, this is a man whose nervous system doesn't need me poking it for… At least two minutes while the purple ray does its work.

"Two minutes, and then you should be healed enough for me to give you a painkiller without killing you."

"Not important. People… Safe."

"Got to be honest, I'm impressed that you're still alive."

"White God."

Um..? "What do you mean by that?"

"We were… Commanded. Spread radiologicals." He shudders. "I got..." He manages to weakly raise his head and look at the river. "This close before I fell. Then… I saw the White God, and the... My mind cleared. Tried to throw it away, away from the water. Live to shout for attention, warn… Someone. Most… Important thing."

"The White God. It looked like-"

I generate a construct of the Life Entity.

"-this?"

There's something odd in his expression as his eyes lock onto it. He nods, stiffly.

"You saw it?"

He nods again, still staring at the image.

"That happened yesterday?"

Another nod. He lived that long with those radiation burns… Not impossible, but… Unlikely.

I dismiss the construct.

"I understand that the government of the People's Republic of China is not in favour of religion. While I personally know that all of the Earth owes the being you saw a great deal, it might be a good idea not to talk about it too freely."

He looks up at me and nods stiffly. There's some actual skin on his face now, which is a significant improvement. So… He drew on the white light. Not much, but enough to keep his body alive while he tried to get the fuel rod away from the river.

I know that the Life Entity can empower people. That's why Nommo's still alive after all this time. But that isn't common. He described the process as reaching into the furthest limits of the Earth's thaumosphere through meditation. But… If the Life Entity is… Occupying the space Mannheim created rather than where the Guardians put it…

Then it would now be easier. And we can't really have a bigger target painted on the planet than 'successfully opposed Darkseid'…

Well, if we can then we now do. And if we can't then we can't.

Alright, Doctor Li looks recovered enough not to keel over. I numb his extremities and… Use ring power to accelerate the rate of repairs, patching up the parts that are too badly damaged for the purple healing ray's regeneration enhancement to affect. Only a few more moments pass, then he's back to full physical fitness. I reach out to offer him a hand up.

He takes it, looking a little stunned as he examines himself.

"Thank you."

"I can fly you back to the power plant if you like?"

"Thank you, no. I would like to take the time it will take to walk there to think things over. I… Am not sure, of a great many things."

"Rightoh."

I transition back to the power plant, next to Mr. Atom as he closes his radiation absorption vents.

"I got the fuel rod and the scientist, but we might have a problem. He saw the Life Entity."

"Yes."

"You're not surprised?"

"Initial interviews suggest that the closer a human was tied to the Anti-Life, the clearer and more intense their vision of the Life Entity was. They do not understand what it was they saw, but they know that it was part of what freed them."

He takes the fuel rod from me and eats it.

"Create a new zeta tube construct. I am needed elsewhere."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February 2013
19:21 GMT -7

I sigh as the g-elves escort… An idiotic American college student in. He's dressed like an unusually sheltered middle class youth's idea of what a punk looks like, faux-leather bracers, three hundred dollar leather jacket and jeans that were 'ripped' with a pair of scissors. He looks up at me with a depressing combination of despair and hope. "Ah, Mister… Grayven?"

"Perry.. Jerome.. White."

I make a show of slumping slightly in my chair, elbows resting on my desk.

"How..?"

"Ah… Mister Grayven?"

"A simple question, man. How on earth did you manage it?"

"Well, I…" His eyes shift shiftily as he tries to work out what the right answer is. "I-. The book made it… I didn't even think it was real. Y'know?"

"You, a rank neophyte, with no prior experience of magic, managed to summon up the Queen of the Succubae."

To my surprise and mild satisfaction, he manages to pull himself up slightly.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Ah… My last girlfriend dumped me a couple of months ago, and she-. I'm pretty sure she's been spreading shit about me with all her friends-."

I raise my right hand. He stops talking.

"I can well understand a young man being horny and without a partner. What I don't understand is going from that to selling your soul to Queen Triskele."

"I just… Stopped reading at 'succubus'."

I close my eyes.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

…

Okay.

I open my eyes.

"If you'd stopped reading at 'succubus' then we wouldn't be in this position. So am I to understand that your aim was to summon up an idealised sexual partner and make merry, and worry about the bill later?"

"I just… Figured she'd.. want… 'Vital force' or something?"

"Mister White, Japanese pornography is not a reliable guide to demonology. Also." I close my eyes again and shake my head. "Triskele has the form of a giant skeletal snake with an androgynously beautiful face strapped to her skull. Now, I'm dating a horse, so I'm not going to criticise you for having extra-anthropological tastes, but…"

"There were… There were, like, other pictures on the page, and I didn't really… I didn't know she was the snake, I just thought… I thought the bones were… You know, decoration."

If I ever find myself in the room with the man responsible for World of Warcraft…

"I hope that the rest of your studies are going rather better than the 'F' I'm giving you in demonology."

"'F'-? The spell worked, didn't-?"

"It didn't achieve its stated objective."

"OW! Fuck you!"

Mr. White winces as his wish is pushed into the room, bound hand, foot and neck with enchanted bonds of iron, the neck bracket attached to poles held by federal agents on work experience.

One suitably nubile succubus, magically able and willing to indulge his every desire. Which unless I miss my guess probably started at the occasional mildly unusual sex act and quickly morphed into supportive girlfriend things that she'd find painfully boring but was too scared of her queen to say anything about.

"Jer-ry! They're hurting me!"

"Do you have your immigration paperwork?"

"Wha..? I'm American."

Improbable breast-waist-hips ratio, flawless skin without makeup, purple hair and… I sniff. Yes, a mild aphrodisiac scent. None of that is impossible for a metahuman, but a metahuman wouldn't suffer burns from the sanctified iron.

"You're a demon. And while the two aren't necessarily contradictory, I had Mister Constantine go through your alleged paperwork."

"Constan-?" … "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck."

"Not quite sure what he's got that I haven't, but sure. Be worried about him." I gesture to the two agents accompanying her. "As you can see, the United States of America is a little better prepared to handle things relating to magic these days."

"Ah, babe? I think we should probably cooperate."

"But Jer-ry! The queen's gunna be super-pissed!"

I shake my head. "You know full well that in four years it's not going to matter anyway."

Mr. White looks at me nervously. "Why? What happen in four years?"

"The pact isn't 'until death'. It's 'until Triskele gets bored'. Five years at most, then she drags you off to Hell."

"…" His eyes widen. "F-uuuuck."

"You can get out of it! Just make a new deal! It's like a mortgage!"

Mr. White looks at me for confirmation.

"Yes, if you can scrounge up a new innocent soul to sacrifice, that would indeed work. The last person Mister Constantine found in your position habitually kidnapped and sacrificed babies to fulfil the requirement."

"Fuck."

"Sure!" The succubus rattles her chains. "Just let me ditch these guys and I'll get right on it, and on you."

I gaze levelly at Mr. White. "Seriously?"

"I-I don't wanna murder babies!"

"You wouldn't. You'd kidnap babies. The queen would kill them. And maybe not even then! Sometimes they just get trained as cultists, or sold on to other people!"

I lean forwards. "May I assume, then, that I will have your assistance in un-fucking this situation?"

He nods, while his succubus concubine just looks away, disinterested.

"And you."

"Whaaa-aat! You're ruining my contract!"

"Yes, but let's be honest with ourselves: you don't actually like Queen Triskele. Do you?"

"She got me this job." … "So no, she suuuucks."

If possible, Mr. White slumps a little further.

"It was just one puppy! I have needs." … "And wants."

"So I intend to tug on your contract to get Queen Triskele's attention. Work with me, and you will avoid prosecution and eternal damnation both." I hold out my right arm. "Shake my hand."

He shakes.

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th February 2013
10:57 GMT -6

Wallace frowns in distaste as we watch the news broadcast of Superman and Lex Luthor shaking hands on his arm computer. Mr. Luthor… Two days ago he appeared from wherever it was that he was hiding, and has been marshalling LexCorp's resources to aid in reconstruction efforts since then. Which means he's actually been back for at least a week, if he was ever completely out of contact. The only plus side is that unlike just about everyone who stayed, he didn't get any contact with the Life Entity.

"Are we supposed to take that seriously?"

I float a new batch of cars off the road onto the ersatz car park around him

"'There is no profit in the end of the world.'"

I get a small smile from him as he starts opening the doors and… Recovering the people inside.

"What's that quote from?"

"Spider-Man. A guy with the ability to make portals lets one get out of control to the point where it threatens to suck the entire planet through. Once he realises what's happening, the main supervillain of the story stops trying to blackmail him and starts offering him the use of his resources at no cost. When he asks 'why', the supervillain explains by saying 'There is no profit in the end of the world'."

Wallace nods. "I wish real supervillains said stuff like that."

The bodies appear in a line, laying on their back. There's a slight blur in the air as he pauses and takes a picture of their faces to be submitted to Mr Atom's facial recognition system, along with their driving licence if a quick rummage through their possessions located one. Not all that many people decided to die in their cars on major highways, but the shock of the initial Anti-Life broadcast was so intense that a lot of people crashed.

These bodies are mostly intact, deaths coming from the collision itself. There's a pile-up with fire-damaged remains a little way ahead. I study it for a moment, then return my attention to him as he finishes the current batch.

"Are you..? Going to be okay with..?"

He sighs, spotting what I was looking at. "No. But I can-. I can cope. I saw enough people during the Sheeda…" He looks away for a moment. "I've seen it before."

I nod, and pick up the crashed cars with a construct claw.

"How 'bout you?"

I move the empty cars off to the side and pick up the fire-damaged vehicles ahead of us.

"Barely register it."

"Huh." He frowns as I set the cars down next to him. "When was your..? First?"

"The first time I saw a human corpse?"

"Yeah."

The first car appears to have had a slow fire. I hope that the people inside were dead before it.. caught them, but blackened bones are all that's left of them now. Wallace sprays what's left of each of them with a quick-setting foam before moving on to the next vehicle.

"The Santa Prisca mission. Fresh, and riddled with bullets. You?"

"About a month after I started."

Oh? My eyebrows rise. "Was Flash trying to put you off?"

"Yeah, but not like that. You know how Snart avoids killing people?"

"Yes."

"Right. So someone goes around with a freeze-. I mean, a cold gun, and we thought it was him. Turns out it was some guy called Chillblaine who got one of Snart's old cold guns. He used it on full power." He completes a circuit and I snip through the roll cages with construct shears to give him easier access. "I didn't even realise the guy was dead to start with. Not until Flash started freaking out."

"'Freaking out'?"

"Not because of the body. Because I was there. He didn't want me anywhere near it. And I argued about it with him, because I didn't know why he wanted to get rid of me, and I didn't know why we weren't just breaking him out of the ice."

"And you were… Fourteen?"

"Yeah. Once I worked it out I just did what he said and left. Compared to Santa Prisca, I didn't really see all that much."

"You were younger."

"Your world doesn't have superheroes though. You weren't used to seeing violence in the streets."

"True."

The wrecks cleared, I shift them off to the side again, my eyes momentarily alighting on a small pile of solidified foam before moving on to our next objective, the road bridge. Several cars crashed into the support pillars, badly cracking the concrete cladding. Combined with the fire damage, it's not safe for travel at the moment.

I fly over to it and begin analysing.

"What's Mister Atom had you doing?"

"Running town to town, telling people what's happened. I didn't realise how many places had bad phone signal." He walks over, watching me work. "How about you?"

"Reactivating nuclear power plants."

"Was he hungry?"

"Coal needs regular shipments of coal. Gas plants need gas pumped into them. Oil needs shipments-."

"Yeah, and nuclear reactors just need someone keeping an eye on them. I guess I'm just surprised you didn't replace them with something."

"What, like hydrogen? Hydrogen plants would need a whole new infrastructure base to keep them supplied."

"How about wind power?"

"Not reliable. And they need grease to keep them from jamming. And when it gets cold they freeze up and the standard method for de-icing them involved spraying them with a flamethrower."

"Huh."

"Yeah, they keep quiet about the amount of oil those things use."

"What about those.. bleed torsion generators? They don't need any fuel."

"It would be a little harder to integrate them into the power network. And no one could maintain them."

"So? Just take them out once things get going again."

"And then there's the issue of one government or another half-inching them and doing something stupid with them. I'd rather not put temptation in their way."

"I don't think anyone would do that. Governments… Most countries barely have governments. And… A lot of people saw the Life Entity at the end, and… People are behaving differently."

"Maybe. But then there's the question of why I didn't just release them in places other than New York."

"You want to improve the world. Maybe you need to take the risk?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th February 2013
10:01 GMT -8

Mr. Constantine lays out the parts of the thurible on the work bench.

"Right. Bone fragments from their mother and father." Those are loaded into the central portion of the thurible. "Blood samples from the other kids." The vials containing those slot into the exterior ring. "And this-."

I peer at it. "Is that a tooth?"

"Considering how drunk I was at the time, I'm friggin' surprised I even remembered where it was." He picks up the elongated canine with a pair of tweezers and puts it onto a upper plate. "Tooth from the King of the Vampires."

"Okay."

"Now, normally I'd just hand it over and wish you all the best." He pats his coat for a cigarette packet, then glances at me and reconsiders. "But since it's kids involved, I'll walk you through it."

He picks up the lid and screws it on. The exterior is decorated with runic scrawlings that I suspect he made up, but I suppose that hardly matters. It just needs to be able to handle the energy flows.

"The tooth isn't just for the fact they're vampires. It's for you as well. You're the ruler. Your powers lets you use it to substitute for him."

"Did he have any actual power over other vampires? I've spoken to a few and most of them hadn't even heard of him."

"Dunno. He always had a few with him when I saw him. Maybe he wasn't a total arsehole to other vampires."

I carefully pick up the thurible by its chain with my right hand, letting it dangle freely. By My Power. Yes, there we are.

"It works. What else?"

"Blood and bone for cross-referencing. Authority and the fact that you're their adopted dad connects you to the bones of their father and the blood of your children. That connects you to the bones of their mother, and the whole thing should lead you to anyone it resonates with."

"Isn't Hell a high-magic background environment?"

"Shouldn't be a problem for you."

"No, almost certainly not. I'm just concerned that it will disrupt the functioning of this device."

"Not as long as Triskele isn't there. She's got magical authority over the other succubae."

"And I can use that-."

"As long as she isn't there. Yeah." He exhales slowly. "Look… This is the sort of thing I'd do. But I don't get why you are."

"How do you think I should do it, then?"

"I dunno. Summon the old bitch up and stab her to death?" His eyes drop to the Sword. "I recognise that thing. You know what it does?"

"It doesn't kill them. It just makes them mortal. Someone like Triskele is going to have a way back to power. Or just accept the hit and work her way back up. I accept risks as part of the job. I prefer not to accept them on behalf of my children."

"This will come to a fight." He looks me right in the eyes and I see his certainly, wrought from bitter experience. "She can't let something like this go."

"Then I'll get the children out of the line of fire first."

"Or." He points to the thurible. "The magic in your children and in their mother is the same as the magic in her."

"And..?"

"You should be able to bind her to you."

"I'm not a magician, Mister Constantine."

"You don't need to be. Just do what you do best: fight her and beat her, pushing your essence into her through the thurible all the while. And then when she's barely got any magic left, hit her with your orange ring."

I frown. "Has she done something to irritate you, Mister Constantine?"

"I deal with demons because I need to. That doesn't mean I don't know what they are."

Nice to hear.

"How would I even get her to fight me?"

"Not that hard. Same way I sold my soul to the First, Second and Third. Remove all magic residue from a ritual space and then call her up. Make sure that she's fully here and then hit her." He tilts his head to the right. "Of course, in your case, hiding you isn't quite as easy."

"Wouldn't she just teleport back to Hell?"

"I can give you a way to track her. Keep using your Mother Box to stay on her trail. If she keeps running away in her own place of power then it'll keep costing her."

That's true. I'm aware of the theory, and from Other Grayven's memories I can recall how it felt to do just that to another New God. But that was a weaker New God as a training exercise, not an ancient demon. It's possible, but…

"What happens if the First sticks his oar in?"

"Well… I'm not exactly unbiased where he's concerned. He's not exactly unbeatable. And if Triskele is getting her tail handed to her I don't think he'll help. He's more about giving you sadistic choices."

"So he'll have found the children already and offer a trade."

"If he even knows this is happening. Look, you know there's no way to guarantee this. Are you looking for an excuse to not try?"

"No. No I am not."

Mother Box.

Ping.

The hush tube portal opens to our ritual space, Mr. White and Ms. 'Bae' bound to armoured chairs in the centre of the room. Mr. White looks decidedly uncertain while Ms. Bae is more afraid but is trying to cover it up.

"Mister Grayven? Are you..? Sure about this?"

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Like I told you the last five times, it's fine. This room has the best sense-defying wards there are. I designed them."

"The Queen's gunnna be, like, super-pissed?"

Sunset folds her arms across her chest. "I don't think I'd want a demon who eats souls to not be 'super-pissed' with me." She looks my way. "Grayven, are you ready?"

I nod. "Start it up."

Sunset nods and gives her control system her full attention. The theory is simple: Triskele is aware of Mr. White through her contract, and of Ms. Bae through her authority. By pinging both -a sort of legal authentication spell for Mr. White and the first part of a binding spell for Ms. Bae- constantly in a warded area, she'll be driven to distraction with a need to locate them but with no idea of where they actually are. We just need-.

Sunset's eyes widen. "I felt her. She's looking. Running a trace… Got it."

Ping.

Excellent.

I ignite the thurible, raising it up to head height.

Boom tube to Hell.

Ping.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st March 2013
10:57 GMT

Mr. Queen leans back slightly in his chair. "You wanna run that by me again?"

"What?"

"Oh, it's…" He waves his right hand. "Just that out of everyone here, you're the guy I'd have thought would have the least problem with them."

"Why?"

"Your.. huge.. body count?"

I shrug, shaking my head. "What's that got to do with it? Strategic nuclear weapons destroy the whole region indiscriminately. I'm very discriminating. They're also too big and poisonous to use in intraplanetary warfare and don't work well in space."

"And just like that, suddenly it makes perfect sense."

I nod. "I'm glad we understand each other."

"And I don't think you understand why I'm against them at all, but…"

"I suspect that it's because they represent the capacity of humanity to violently destroy itself, and you think that by expunging them from your awareness-"

"No."

"-you can metaphorically expunge the very capacity of man to commit acts of violence."

"No, it's the 'wiping out all life on Earth' thing."

"Wiping out all life on Earth isn't hard. Any Lantern could do it. Honestly, anyone with a few rocket motors and a little patience could do it. But honestly, the whole 'nuclear winter' thing is overdone. The bombs used on Japan threw up a lot of ash because the cities they hit were mostly made of wood and had been being bombed by incendiaries for weeks beforehand. They didn't create ash so much as throw upwards what was already there. And outside of the initial-."

The door to my right opens, and Superman walks in, looking pensive. "Ollie, Paul, thanks for coming."

"Don't sweat it, Clark. What is it? Want help wrangling Luthor?"

"No, I-. Luthor wants to do some… Radical things with the rebuilding project. I wanted to talk to both of you about it."

I smile, generating a construct halo and wings for Mr. Queen and a trident and horns for myself. Superman spots it and smiles.

"I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. But you do certainly have a unique perspective."

Mr. Queen glances back at his wings and then reaches up to feel his halo. "And what did I do to join the brain trust?"

"You're the most normal guy on the Justice League."

"I'm a millionaire bowman."

"Ah, okay." Superman nods. "Who would you pick?"

"C-." Mr. Queen thinks for a moment longer. "Ba-." … "What about Ray?"

"Doctor Palmer's a great guy, but he doesn't have your life experience."

I set my trident construct to float at my side and rub my hands together. "Alright, Kal-El. What morally dubious thing do you need me to convince you is rational today?"

"It's not-." He takes a breath, then pulls over another chair and sits with us. "It's not a simple moral subject. If it was, I'd just do the right thing."

"That-." I sigh. "Did Batman tell you what I did to him?"

"Ah…" Superman looks a little concerned and glances at Mr. Queen, who seems similarly out of the loop. "No? Did you have an argument?"

"Do you remember how after Richard got exposed to the Anti-Life, he went through a major re-evaluation of his life choices?"

Mr. Queen winces. "I don't know what you're about to say but I already know I'm gunna hate it."

Superman frowns. "You did something to him so he could use the yellow ring."

I nod. "I undid it afterwards, and I think it was essential to the mission, but unlike a lot of things I've done, that… I'll definitely understand if you want to run your moral quandaries with someone else."

"You undid it." He gives me a hard look, eyebrows slightly raised. "You're sure?"

"As sure as I can be. You can't-. Experiences change a person. I couldn't just turn him back without erasing his short term memory, which would be worse. So he could still think about what happened with Richard in the same way that he did before, but he can also remember thinking about it… Differently."

"And Batman knows you did that?"

"He couldn't really miss it." I point to the right side of my face. "You might have noticed that one of my bruises didn't just vanish with the rest of my injuries."

"I did, I just wasn't sure what that was. That means you think you deserved to be injured, does it?"

"It means that I want to hurt. The point is, I-" I dismiss the horns, trident, wings and halo. "-quite understand if you'd rather ask… Ted Kord?"

"Considering that I'm dealing with Luthor, you might still be the best guy."

Mr. Queen shrugs. "If it helps, he seems pretty much the same to me. You, ah… Got any plans to brainwash the rest of-. You do?"

I shrug. "The drug I used would work the same on everyone-. Any other human. I can't think of any reason why I'd want to use it on anyone else, but it-. The possibility is there."

Superman sighs. "The thing is, that actually makes you better for helping me with this."

"Ah." Mr. Queen glances awkwardly at me. "Should I try running now, or are you gunna give me a five minute warning?"

"Before I got here, you were talking about nuclear weapons."

Mr. Queen nods. "I mean, none of the countries who own them have managed to reorganise their militaries. We could just get rid of all of the warheads."

"That wouldn't stop them making new ones."

"Maybe they won't-." He sags a little. "Yeah, wishful thinking."

"Strictly speaking, we could have gotten rid of them before all this happened."

Superman gives his head a small shake. "I don't think the League wants to become a nuclear power."

I shrug. "Who said anything about keeping them? Unlike America, the League could actually destroy the nuclear material rather than just sticking it in long term storage. I assumed that the League didn't do things like that because you didn't want to directly act against world governments."

"That's a part of it. Lex has spent a few days trying to persuade me we should work a little differently."

Mr. Queen snorts. "Well if it's Lex…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st March 2013
11:02 GMT

Superman nods.

"Yeah, I know. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Orange Lantern, do you remember when we talked about me helping people by releasing kryptonian technology to Earth?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Wait, are you actually considering it?"

"I was wondering… Did you ever think that you should have built more bleed torsion generators?"

"I considered a world where I did, and realised that it would involve me doing an awful lot of work for no real personal or planetary benefit. And that's with a safe technology." I shrug. "Then other clean power technologies entered the market, prices collapsed and I got the result I wanted."

"Everywhere they were accepted."

I nod, because I spent quite a bit of time repairing nuclear power plants last month. And clearing roads for coal shipments, and repairing pipes for pumping gas… Europe and America are switching over, but it's not happening all that fast. I think Ted Kord said there was some sort of problem getting the legislation through to rewire the United States, but I stopped worrying about it because Lex was… On it.

Mr. Queen looks puzzled. "Why wouldn't they be? It's cheap, clean-." He jerks his head my way. "It is clean, right?"

"LexCorp's generator essentially absorbs solar and galactic background radiation at extreme wavelengths and turns them into useable electricity. There might be some sort of giant monster sleeping below the Earth's crust that usually feeds on those wavelengths so now it will rise up and eat us all because it's getting denied its food, but other than that possibility it's completely safe."

"When we get out of here, check for that monster."

"Already did. Couldn't find it."

He closes his eyes for a moment. "You had to put it like that."

Superman nods. "What about the other generators that got released?"

"One's a thaumic converter and the other is an oddly efficient method for producing hydrogen. I guess they used alien technology, but they can reproduce it so it doesn't really matter."

"Which is the best?"

"The radiation converter and the thaumic converter both draw on a power source that will effectively never run out. But there's only so much exotic radiation around, and I'm not sure… There might be a point where we're trying to convert more than is intersecting with the Earth. I don't know, and I'm not sure if anyone knows. The thaumic converter distorts local magic fields, which might start being a problem if more people start learning magic. And you need magic users to build and repair them. There wasn't a problem in production, but they were trying to hire Atlanteans to expand and… We were reaching the end of the 'available' Atlantean magician workforce."

"And as more people started using them, that might start being a problem anyway."

I shrug. "Maybe. They haven't been used on a wide scale yet. Now, hydrogen is dead simple. Any half-way competent engineer could make a basic hydrogen-powered generator, so there's no shortage of people who can make the high-end ones. It needs hydrogen which is generated by… Well it used to be generated by combining methane with steam, but these days it's mostly generated using genetically engineered bacteria. The only waste product is water which means that it's as environmentally safe as it can get."

"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Queen leans forward. "Weird space energy and magic I get, but how do you take in bacteria and get out water and electricity?"

"There's plenty of hydrogen in things. Getting it out with bacteria's just more energy efficient than most alternatives. That.. one actually works in my original parallel universe as well."

"So why bother repairing nuclear reactors?"

"Because they were there, along with the infrastructure and expertise to run them. If you mean 'why weren't their governments using something better', I'm not sure."

Superman nods. "According to Lex, China has a lot of restrictions on who can own their infrastructure. He'd have had to essentially give the technology away, and the only people allowed to make money on it would be the Chinese."

"True. Every company working in China has to have a certain percentage of Chinese ownership. Was Lex asking us to forcefully bypass that?"

He nods again. "He knew that we already emptied out the Gobi Desert prison. The way he put it, if we got rid of the coal power plants and put in his radiation converters, they wouldn't have any choice but to accept what he was offering. He.. also made a pretty convincing environmental argument."

Mr. Queen nods. "China does burn an awful lot of coal."

"Which releases radiation and lead into the air as well as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon particulates. China actually has smog."

"America has smog."

"It's a problem in backwards, primitive-."

Superman slight raises his right hand. "My point is, we could replace them. I could replace them."

I shrug. "Superman, if you wanted to take over the world, you should have said something a couple of weeks ago."

Mr. Queen frowns in puzzlement. "He's not talking about taking over the world. Just fixing it up a little."

"He's talking about overriding a national government when they do something stupid. And not just a small country where people might not notice." Or care. "And we're talking about doing it at a time when the national government is in a mess, and probably can't meaningfully stop us."

Mr. Queen nods. "So you think once they get organized, they're just going to undo everything."

"Remember the training exercise, when with nothing at stake the Chinese government didn't notify the Justice League?"

"That's not the same thing. We're talking about giving them stuff for free here. New reactors would let them get their whole economy started up again."

I shrug. "I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I don't think I am. They won't buy from Lex on terms he will accept because they don't want to give up control. They won't accept us switching them over on our own recognisance because it shows they've lost control. The best we could do is find a senior enough person in what's left of their government to okay it, and help that person rise to the top before anyone can stop them."

"So… Conquer the world, with extra steps."

"More 'make a deal with someone, who then conquers their own country', but basically..." I nod.

Superman regards us both with growing disquiet. "Ollie?"

Mr. Queen shrugs, leaning back in his chair. "He's not exactly wrong. What did you have in mind?"

"Kryptonian technology is a lot more advanced than human technology. Outside of some pieces of biotechnology that work with kryptonian-specific physiology, just about everything I have could improve something."

"Okay. Ah… Two options. Release designs that slightly improve things that already exist. Carbon scrubbers that are a bit more efficient that what's in use now. Or are cheaper. Slightly better solar panels that can be built using existing human technology. People will gradually switch over on their own."

"Kryptonian.. solar panels are a lot more than 'slightly' more advanced."

"Can anywhere on Earth build them?"

"A couple of places probably could." He looks pointedly at me. "I.. thought-."

"Sure, I could fabricate them, but that just makes everyone dependent on me." I shrug. "Uplift is difficult, Superman. You've seen how much progress I've made?"

He nods. "What was the other option?"

"Pick somewhere small and offer to completely uplift the place. Deliberately destroy their existing economy and culture and replace it with something that can serve as an example of what can be achieved."

Mr. Queen gives me a sideways glance. "Or just change one part. Like power generation. Making energy cheaper -and cleaner- has a whole bunch of positive knock-on effects."

"Okay. I can do that. Did you have anywhere in mind?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st March 2013
04:17 GMT

So.

Hell.

I'm not really sure what part I'm in. I've read demonic texts which suggest that Dante had it dead right, and then others which mention regions and demonic notables that don't appear anywhere in his story. I half-assumed that any obvious political references -like the Pope-pile-hole- were additions he made himself for his own intellectual satisfaction, while the rest…

Join us!

No. Contemptuous Refutation.

And that's something else that I wasn't expecting. Yes, I draw magic energy from my environment and use it to reinforce myself. To force it to conform to my nature. And then I can project it outwards to control or alter things that relate to that nature. And that's fine on Earth, and a little uncomfortable away from thaumically active places-

Join us!

No. Contemptuous Refutation.

-but here… It's aggravating. Hell… Knows that I'm here-. No, that's anthropomorphising too much. The magic is reacting to someone drawing on it, and is trying to make me more demon-like as I make what I take more godly.

Huh. I just realised… I might be the first being to ever experience this. Human souls either break down or internalise it, but I'm instinctively absorbing it while still being alive. Good or evil, New Gods go to the Source when they die, and there's no obvious reason for any New God to have wandered through Earth's afterlives before.

Anyway, this part of Hell is… Physically, it's a stone castle, only the rooms and courtyards are larger than makes sense, and often contain natural features that wouldn't make sense in a castle. Also, the views of the 'outside' vary in a way that makes no sense if the dimensions were consistent and the general state of repair varies from 'crumbling' to 'couldn't slip a knife between the stones'. I've seen a few locals in the distance, though whether they're succubae, incubi or just damned souls I've got no idea. They don't appear to be paying me any attention, though whether that's because they don't know I'm here or because they know that I'm way out of their weight class I don't know.

I come to a junction, and the thurible tugs to the right. I try to feel where it's taking-

Join us!

No. Contemptuous Refutation.

-me, and just get more hellish backchat. But that's why Mr. Constantine made it.

And what meets me is stone wall. I study-. No. I see. There's a gap around the edges, and a ring set in the centre. A test of strength? Awkward with one hand, but alright. I turn sideways, my free left hand grasping the ring while my right keeps the thurible in position. Take the strain and lift…

And it doesn't move. I might be able to brute force it, but it doesn't really make sense that Succubus Castle makes it hard for people to access the residents. You can't corrupt people through overwhelming carnal desire if they can't get to you, after all.

My eyes alight on the ring on my left ring finger.

I want to get in.

Runes drawn in vicious narrow slashes shimmer on the iron ring, and then the light passes outwards through the cracks in the stonework. And as I try lifting again it's heavy but it actually moves, sliding upwards into the space within the wall. I-.

Ah, it's not locking in place. Okay, lift it as high as I can get it, get my… Shoulder under, hand off the ring-. Yeah that's heavy. Hand… Pressing upwards against the underside of the stone 'door', move forwards and… Let it drop.

SLAM!

Okay, thurible is still tugging me this way. And… Huh. This place looks like a… Training arena? Torture chamber? Bondage room? Some of the whips on the wall are those silly sadomasochism play things while others are semi-serious weapons. There's a raised platform in the centre of this… Courtyard, but I can see other courtyards leading off from-.

"We don't usually get visitors in here-" A hulking brute in plate and chain walks slowly towards me from the next courtyard over. "-but I suppose you've got the build for it."

I think she's… Trying to saunter, to swing… Her hips and tail, but her musculature and armour don't really lend themselves to that sort of motion. What little of her skin I can see appears to be grey-purple while the small amount of her face visible through the opening on her helmet is entirely feminine.

"So what is it? Pain? Rough…" She reaches out to fondle a chain wrapped in barbed wire with her left hand, leaving a trail of blood smeared along it from the cuts it makes in her finger tips. "'Play'? Combat?"

I lift up the thurible, and watch as it tugs towards her.

"I'm looking for some people. Failing that, information."

"We aren't tour guides. This is a place of pleasure, whatever your pleasure happens to be."

"My pleasure is finding the lost brothers and sisters of my children while the Queen is distracted."

"And you think your children came here? It takes a long time for anyone not born of Hell to reach our level. Or do you think they are amongst our-"

She grabs an axe off the wall and brandishes it.

"-playthings?"

"Staff, I suspect. And can you knock off the ridiculous stereotype thing? I'm trying to have a serious conversation."

She looks at me like she can't decide whether I'm serious or not. "You came to the Punishment Grounds for a serious conversation? I thought warlocks like you were a myth. Do you also want to hold my hand while taking long walks along the beach?"

"I'm not a warlock and no. A vampire and a succubus somehow produced a brood of children. Some-."

"Wait." She lowers her axe slightly. "You're here for them?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I adopted the children who still live. I am concerned for their siblings."

"I see. And you just tell me this?"

"If you tell me what I want to know, then you're implicated. The Queen would take it out on you as well as me. If you don't…" I draw my daiklave with my left hand. "I realise that this won't kill you in a permanent sense, but it should render you incapable of speech for long enough that it won't matter."

"Isn't that interesting. I thought that you looked strong. But that isn't enough to make me want to put my children in your care."

Ah.

"When the youngest didn't follow the eldest down here, I knew that something was wrong. I would have felt it if they fed themselves. Have you locked them in a dungeon somewhere, with metal grills welded to their faces?"

"No. I sent them to school to make friends."

"Fah! I birthed carnal wonders and you want to tame them?"

"I want them to live lives better than what you made them for. I want them to be people and not weapons."

"Then you don't understand what we're for." She reaches back and pulls the lash off the wall to supplement the axe. "Perhaps when I kill you and bind your soul, I can present it to the Queen as a gift. And then she will release me to the Earth so that I can take back what is mine."

I heft my sword, snarling.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st March 2013
04:21 GMT

"That's what-"

The lash darts out, aimed at my face. I shield myself and raise my daiklave to better parry whatever her follow-up attack is. The metal links themselves deflect off the construct as expected but the barbs bite into it, scoring lines across the front.

"-I am for!"

She lashes again, metal coming down from above. I move the construct up to block and step forward, the lash being blocked about half-way along its length and curling around-.

I jerk my head to the side, but a barb still catches my cheek. Bypassing my resilience and environmental shield, which is irritating but I am in Hell. I see a tiny droplet of my blood on one of the barbs as she pulls her weapon back and-.

I raise my left arm, fusion cannon construct forming and firing, scintillating beam striking her in the face just before she sticks my blood in her mouth, because I'm not that slow off the mark. A demon drinking my blood would not be good, especially as I have no idea how strong she is. I had assumed that she was relatively weak given how her mortal vessel was killed, but if it was all part of a scheme…

Let's see if she's any good with that axe.

I take two heavy steps forwards as she blinks to clear her vision -she's tough at least if that didn't burn her- and give my daiklave a one-handed swing across her body. She steps back and to her left, twisting her axe so that the spikes on the stop and the toe point trap it against the brick wall.

"Are you a master of the blade as well?"

"Honestly?" I shake my head as I try to pull my sword free. "No. Far from."

She grins as my sword remains trapped, so I clench my right fist and lunge forward, abandoning the daiklave in an attempt to force her back. She gets her lash arm up in a rushed block but I power through, construct gauntlet breaking the barbs and my fist slamming into her helmet. Her helmet takes it, but she staggers back and loses her grip on the axe.

I back up, recover my daiklave and check the thurible. Still in one piece, good.

"Hm."

I watch as she tosses the lash aside and grabs a spear and a round shield from the wall.

"Should I assume then that your aim was for your children to die young, come here and begin their training?"

"I was hoping that they would grow strong enough to form a toe-hold on Earth. Dying was an acceptable second choice."

The spear-tip darts out in a probing thrust. I try knocking it aside with a construct, but the spear just absorbs the orange light and I'm forced to awkwardly move the daiklave to bat it aside. Even at my level of strength it's a lot easier to thrust with a spear than move a sword like this back and forth, and she's clearly competent enough to realise that. On the other hand I am stronger, so if I actually hit her spear I could knock it out of her hands. Knock it loose, at least. Figure of eight ward and slowly advance.

At least if she pierces my armour she can't lick the spear tip without being sliced in half.

"Why don't they remember?"

"I had to have room for making improvements."

I advance more aggressively before I-.

I jerk my head to the side as the spear tip darts at me, just about getting my neck out of the way. She smiles at my loss of control.

See if you smile about this. Implacable Advance.

I stop warding, lifting my daiklave to a high position and maintaining my advance. My right hand is gauntleted again as I bring it forward to slap the spear aside if she thrusts at my chest. If she thrusts -even if she pierces me- I can press forwards and cut her in half before she can recover her weapon. Her weapon is almost certainly enchanted, but most weapon enchantments I've studied require that the user be holding them to receive a direct boost. The worst it can do is poison me and since it's not radion I can fight it off.

She smiles, and decides to take the trade.

She steps forwards and thrusts as she does to, aiming at the centre of my chest. My right hand moves to slap the spear up but she twists it so that the edge of the blade cuts through my construct and into my armour gauntlet.
Quail Before My Advance!
But to her surprise my gauntlet takes it, hand twisting around to the flat of the blade and tapping it aside.

I step forward again, swinging my daiklave down at full force! She tries to step aside but I'm now far enough forwards that my right hand can grab the haft of the spear just below the head. To her surprise it doesn't move when she does and she has only a fraction of a second to adjust her plans.

Her shield comes up.
Shatter!
My daiklave hits it, battering her to the ground and splitting the shield in two, her spear still in my right hand!

I toss it behind me as she jumps back to her feet.

"What about their father?"

She grabs a mace and tower shield from the edge of the arena, then jumps up onto it.

"A useful source of bloodlust and something to bind them to the Earth." She sneers. "You didn't think I loved him, did you?"

"There are lots of vampires. I assume you chose him as your children's sire for a reason."

"He was the first I met who fit the requirements. He was fun, and savage, but succubae do not form romantic attachments."

"Chantinelle would rather-."

"Don't compare me to that… Madwoman."

I walk over to the steps up to the arena and she takes a defensive position in the centre. No sense jumping up and leaving myself vulnerable.

"So, that's it? You get slightly better henchmen and women?"

"Bound to me by blood and magic."

"By blood-? Because they fed on you. You… Perverted what looked like an act of kindness into a ritual binding." I reach the edge of the arena and she bangs her mace against the front of her shield. "I'm genuinely impressed."

"It's not complicated magic. Though you are right: I did use it well. Now. Fight-"

I twist my left wrist and stab my daiklave into the ground, point first.

"-me? What are you doing? I won't indulge you if you want to fight bare-handed."

I bring my right hand up to the cut on my cheek and wipe off a small amount of blood. Then I raise my left hand and dab the top of the thurible with that blood before pressing my orange ring against it.

"You backed up and lost your weapons, conceding to me three times. This contains your bones, and the blood of children you bound to you. And I have an orange power ring. I bind you." Know Your Place.

"What?"

Orange light envelops the thurible, shining brilliantly out of the little holes in the side! The warrior succubus stares for a moment, then drops her mace and shield and clutches her forehead!

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGggggggghhhhh..?"

Her hands drop, revealing the orange sigil burned into her forehead.

"Summon your children here, now."

"Yes, master."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Earth 12

19th September 2039
07:12 GMT -5

I amble into the dining room to find Claudia putting a bowl of porridge in my place.

"Morning, Dad."

"Good… Morning?" She looks-. "What?"

She feigns innocence, and she's better at it in her middle years than she was when she used to sneak out to play with experimental supervillain technology in her childhood, but I've known her for her entire life.

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"What's happened?"

"I just.. felt like visiting this morning."

"I'm not senile enough to believe-." I look around. "The radio's not on and there's no newspaper. Claudia?"

She sighs, and opens the cutlery drawer-.

"That's the cutlery drawer, why would you hide-?"

She passes the newspaper over. "It's in the nationwide section. Just… Don't go nuts, okay?"

"I'll do my-" I sit down on my chair and open the paper. "-best?" Nationwide section, because the Daily Planet mostly covers Metropolis rather than-.

The paper tears in my hands.

"Dad-."

I hold up my right hand as I try to master myself. Oh. Oh. Yes, that-.

"O-kay. Claudia-."

"Dad, just-."

"A District Attorney does not have the right to order the use of an untested drug on unconsenting citizens! For any reasons!" I move the porridge bowl aside and then put the paper-. Smooth down the paper so I can get a better look at the article. Why were they-? Oh, oh! "Especially not to rewrite their ffffff-. DNA!"

"I know, and I've contacted our lawyers already." She smiles. "And thank you for sparing my ears."

"Did you contact them regarding civil rights, or regarding the fact that they obviously used our proprietary technology to do it?"

"I… Dad, they specialise in corporate law. It's easier to use the proprietary technology angle."

I look around-.

"Claudia, did you hide my phone?"

"I just put it in the drawer, Dad."

I frown. "I'll let you off about the paper but that handset can't be hygienic."

"I just didn't want you to phone anyone without talking it through with the lawyers first."

"If I ran everything by lawyers then I'd never have gotten anything done." I make a gesture of appeal with both arms. "Who do you think I'm going to phone?"

"The District Attorney, Sam Young. If you phone him up and start threatening him, it will make the case much harder."

"No. No, I'll speak to him before we file papers, but he can wait. I'm going to phone Batman and ask what the heck he thinks he's playing at."

She blinks in surprise. "You've got Batman's phone number? I know you used to work with the Justice League, but I didn't know you knew them personally."

"He didn't give me his number. I just know who he is, so I can just use a public listing." I take another look at the newspaper, focusing on the picture of Batman-. The new Batman. Shorter, more slender… Richard works as a gymnastics instructor and Timothy… I… Think he ended up with a job with a toy company? Neither of them are likely to have taken over, and no one else comes to mind. "The last one, anyway. I don't know who that is."

Shouldn't be that hard to find out, though. Some young man has started hanging out with Bruce Wayne. I could probably-.

Mm.

"Okay. I'm not going to fly off the handle. Consider me managed."

"Dad, you just said that you know who Batman is."

"Yes, and while I'm not exactly the shifty, sticky-fingered git's biggest fan, he did save the world a few times so I'm not going to go around broadcasting his secret identity to people, including you."

She nods. "That's fair enough. Okay. I'm going to get Derek and Louise up, and then talk to Public Relations."

"And-."

She nods. "And warn our more skittish employees, and schedule more media awareness training days. Which might be unnecessary. They might just fold."

"No." I point to the paper. "They tried to kill him. When an American politician decides that it's alright to ignore the law and the constitution because of something that affected them personally, they won't back down."

"We don't actually know that they used the same technology that Mum invented."

"People don't often reinvent the wheel. From the sounds of it current generation 'splicing' is a lot faster than what Barbara developed, but I'd be astonished if they didn't use her work as the starting point. Uhh, they even had a tiger woman. Oh, and… Don't forget to include whatever's left of the Chimera Institute in our legal action."

"Okay, Dad."

She opens… Oh, okay, that drawer was actually empty, and pulls out the telephone handset. She then puts it down next to the top of my paper, makes slightly nervous eye contact with me for a moment, then walks out of my apartment.

Right… Phone… Voice activation enabled…

"Phone, access.. society pages in Gotham City newspapers. What young man has been spending time with Bruce Wayne since the new Batman appeared?"

Nothing for a moment, then translucent holographic images of… An elderly Bruce Wayne, walking stick in hand, walking down a red carpet with… A young black-haired man wearing a brown jacket just behind him.

"McGinnis, Terrence. Student. Home help."

M-hm.

I pick up the handset. "Phone Bruce Wayne."

The little screen says 'calling' and-. Don't put it next to your ear you silly old fool. Put it down on the stand so that the camera can get a good look at your face, because he's probably got image-based screening-.

"Wayne."

But that doesn't mean that he has to use it.

"Wynne."

"I thought you might call."

"That was Barbara's work, wasn't it?"

"Modified."

"It's not supposed to be administered like that. You know that."

"It worked."

"I'm not happy about the way Gotham dealt with this 'splicing' business. I'm going to be visiting."

"Fine."

"And by 'visiting' I-."

He hangs up.

Alright. If that's how you want to play it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th March 2013
07:23 GMT +3

I fly over-

"Paul!"

-Shiruta on the way to my appointment with Adom, slowing as Amon flies up to greet me.

"Amon, how are you?"

He slows down as he reaches me, and… I glance down, following his gaze as he looks at the people below us. People who are bowing in his direction or making other genuflections. I can see… Not just the hope, but there's an association with… Sagacity. They've come to revere him.

He glances sideways at me, noticing that I've noticed.

"It is… Strange. Before, my brother was the focus of our people's awe. And now I am." He sort of shrinks in on himself for a moment. "Almost as much."

"Do you find it unpleasant?"

"Adom… He could do little during the crisis because he was fighting to keep the misery from our people. They could not see what he was doing. For-. For a day, when he needed to speak to the leaders of our neighbouring countries, I offered to take over for him."

"How did it go?"

"I… I lived, but it…" He shakes his head. "I do not think that I could keep doing it for as long as he did." … "No. I know I could not."

"You survived Intergang."

"I had an enemy when I survived Intergang. With this, all you have is your own thoughts. I could survive for myself, but I could not have shielded everyone else."

I shrug. "That's why we call him 'Mighty One'. You've got a few decades to measure up all the way. And don't sell yourself too short; I know that Mannheim sent Justifiers after you on several occasions."

"They were slaves, like I was." He shakes his head. "I cannot take pride in defeating them."

"'Defeating'?"

"I killed-. Some. But once we learned what they were, I-. I tried to save them. I tried to take off their helmets, disarm them…" He looks over towards… A maximum security prison? "When the White God appeared, we-."

"White God?"

"It was white like milk, and it looked like a god?" He looks uncertain. "What was it?"

"It's something that I'm trying to avoid thinking about. I've heard it being called 'the White God' before. Did-"

"Oh."

"-you come up with the name?"

"No, it was on the internet. But it.. makes sense."

"It hasn't spoken to anyone around here has it?"

"I don't think so. Should it?"

"We… Effectively used its power to remove the Anti-Life. I owe it a great deal-."

"If it did that, then we all owe it."

"Not in the sense of a general obligation. I mean in the sense of 'you will now do this or I will reverse what my power wrought'. It might not given that it just turned up at the end, but since it was my decision I'd rather it be me who pays."

He smiles. "If you wish. How is the rest of the world?"

"Oh, good grief. Between politicians getting Anti-Lifed or killing themselves or both, governments are bodged together where they exist at all. And the legitimacy of the ones that do exist is basically non-existent but the League and Company are too busy getting basic infrastructure working to worry about it. And it's… Especially a concern in places where we're… Frankly not sure if we want to put their government back together."

He nods. "My brother has… He has expressed certain views about some of our recent allies."

"Shape up or ship out?"

"In slightly more words."

"He's always impressed me with how moderate he's prepared to be, and how open about it he is. I prefer it his way to lying about it."

"Some of those he intended to exile have asked to do penance instead. They were… Moved by the White God, who they think was an angel." He frowns. "Was it an angel?"

"I'm trying to avoid characterising it. If it's spurring them to better themselves then I doubt that the Silver City will complain." I raise my left eyebrow. "Are you forming some sort of North African Union?"

He shrugs. "Perhaps. Many countries were interested in receiving the blessing of Isis, and Adom is far stronger than any of the superheroes in the region. We were simply negotiating trading and defence agreements before the Anti-Life. But as I said, everyone knows that Adom was keeping it from touching them and that I was leading our defence. I think that we are the leading partner. Except-."

"Except?"

"Israel is not interested. Our relationship with them is not… Bad, not compared to Lebanon. But the Jews have taken a harder line against 'pagan magic' than most Muslims. They do not like my brother or my sister or me."

"I'm not sure how welcome they would have been with your other allies anyway."

"They would not have been. But I like to think that we could all become friends eventually."

"So you don't really need any Justice League help?"

"No. We can feed ourselves easily thanks to my sister, and we can make all of the electricity that we need. We have some infrastructure projects that it would be nice to have help with, but compared to the rest of the world our needs are small. Is..? That what you came to ask?"

"Partially. With everything that's happened… Superman is thinking about using kryptonian technology to… Improve somewhere. I thought that we could talk Adom into letting us work on an impoverished area of Kahndaq, but if everything here is basically fine that would probably be a waste of time."

"Yes, but…" He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Have you heard of Tynanda?"

"Yes."

"The country collapsed under the effect of the Anti-Life. My brother extended his power there, but there is no government to organise things. No government which could authorise us moving in to help people. Some Tynandans have come here to ask us to, but my brother has hesitated."

"I understand. He doesn't want to look like an opportunistic warlord."

"I do not know what Superman intends, but I do not think that he could make the situation worse. They have little infrastructure as it is."

"I'll take a look. Thank you for the suggestion."

"You..? Cannot stay for breakfast?"

"I'm sorry, but we've covered what I wanted to talk to Adom about and with everything else that's happening..."

"I understand." He nods. "Perhaps when things are more calm?"

"Thank you. I would like that."