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

[Mr Zoat]

18th January 2000
00:49 GMT -5

Of course they bloody can't.

The Tollana stargate is in a guarded bunker, and Major Carter is doing something with their dialling computer. Probably trying to work out how to make it dial to one of the ships presently bombarding the entire hemisphere with plasma cannons.

Colonel O'Neill doesn't quite point his rifle at me, but he does raise it slightly. "I thought you were gunna kill that guy."

I shrug. "I didn't think he'd come in shooting. Or that he'd deploy a combat air patrol. It would be difficult for me to sneak up there now."

Apophis isn't a fool, but he's not that creative either. He's not throwing rocks or anything like that. He's just carrying out a normal bombardment with a slight tactical twist. The Tollan ion cannons are pretty beefy, but they're not kill-a-ha'tak-in-one-hit beefy. I'd guess that they're there more to scare off an opportunistic raider than to stop a major attack. The Tollan haven't actually been here all that long after all. Really, it's impressive that they've managed to build up as much as they have.

It's just not enough.

Apophis is using the other ha'tak to soak hits in rotation, each one retreating once its shields threaten to overload. Meanwhile the heavier guns of his flagship carry on bombarding the surface uninterrupted. And to make matters worse…

I shake my head. "Major, don't bother. He doesn't have a single stargate in his fleet."

"Oh yeah?" O'Neill raises his eyebrows. "And how do you know that?"

"The sensors I use make anything you or the Tollan use looks like spyglasses. Stargates are distinctive." I smile. "I guess he learned from last time."

"Damn it. Okay, Carter, get Narim and find out what their evacuation plans are. Teal'c, you're with me. I need to find where Jackson and Skaara got to."

Carter pulls herself out from under the dialling device and O'Neill and Teal'c head out of the bunker at a jog.

"Remember, they're both goa'uld! Stronger than normal humans, and they've probably got hidden weapons!"

Carter picks up her gun and turns to me. "You should probably get going."

"Oh please. I can track the incoming shots, and Apophis doesn't have any particular grudge against me. No, I'll come with you."

"I can handle myself, thanks."

She heads for the exit, and I jog along behind her.

"Yes, because… That peashooter will stop shots from a capital ship plasma cannon…"

"Your personal force field can't protect two people."

Up to the surface and along a boulevard. The Tollan themselves are moving to mustering points or fortified bunkers. Which… If Apophis wants to rescue his son he'll have to land troops eventually, but he can level just about everywhere else first.

BOOM!

Somewhere to the south something takes a hit, and the ground shakes in response.

"You mean that the standard goa'uld personal force field can't protect two people."

She glances back. "And yours can?"

"I could probably protect this city, honestly. For a little while." I smirk. "If there was something in it for me. But that's not really a solution. Left here."

She slows as we come to an intersection. "What?"

"You don't know where he is so you're heading for the Curia building. A building that way has been knocked into the road."

She nods, turns, and starts running again. Interesting. I'd have thought that an aircraft pilot would look up more, even if she's mostly been working as scientist/infantry lately.

BOOM!

The south-west this time. He's hitting… The ion cannons, naturally.

"Did you know that it's possible to build a point defence electrolaser that can cause gou'ald plasma shots to detonate prematurely?"

She actually skips a step, presumably distracted by the idea. "The added electricity-. The plasma containment would fluctuate and.. fail. It wouldn't be any use against staff weapons-."

"You just say that because you keep fighting Jaffa at close range. At medium or long range you can build a counter fire laser system. You'd need a good targetting computer and sensors, but when you already know the origin point the calculations really aren't all that demanding."

"In an atmosphere destabliising shots from a capital ship the explosion would still devastate anything on the surface-."

"Unless you really know what you're doing, and you can make it release most of its energy away from the target." I stop. "Look up."

She looks up-. And her eyes widen at the approaching glow. "Where will it come down?"

"Right here. They were aiming at the Curia building, but…" I wrinkle my nose. "Ha'tak targetting computers aren't that great."

"Then-."

I raise my left hand, supporting it with my right. Calculating…

And fire. First a laser, creating a line of charged particles in the air. Then the electrical energy blasts upwards in a blinding flash!

Shield.

An orange shield construct appears above us as the plasma ball explodes. As the ring's computer calculated, most of the plasma blasts upwards, and what doesn't? That's well within my abilities to stop.

I grin at Major Carter and flash my eyes. "Gaze upon the power of a-."

"You've miniaturized a solar radiation shield!"

"What?" I frown. "No, that's not what's happening at all. Solar radiation shields deflect energy, they're not solid barriers. If you tried using one to stop a capital ship plasma shot the most that would happen is that the explosion would be a little less bright."

I dismiss the construct, the plasma energy having been mostly dispersed. Carter stares at my ring, then up at the sky, probably trying to work out exactly what I just did. Because she's right: a normal shield device couldn't do anything like that.

Then she snaps out of it. "We should get going."

I lower my hand and follow her towards the Curia building. There's a squad of armed soldiers just inside the entrance, and while Carter clearly gets a pass they're looking decidedly less happy to see me. She nods a greeting to one of them. "Narim."

"What happened to that last shot? I didn't think that Earth had energy shield technology."

I smile. "That was me."

He looks at me, clearly feeling awkward. "Then.. you have the gratitude of the Tollan people. Can you stop any more?"

"Sure. How are your guns doing?"

"I don't think you'd ask me if you didn't know the answer."

"Fine. Bastet's ordered me to kill Apophis, but I can do that and then leave and still have done my job. If you want help with his fleet, then I want things in return."

He doesn't look happy, but he keep his expression mostly under control as he nods. "I do not have the authority to agree to anything, but I can relay a request to the Curia very rapidly."

I smile. "Glad to hear it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd May 2013
08:29 GMT -6

"This is fascinating."

Dr. Metcalf is using… Some sort of scanner to study the samples of Mr. Blank's blood, before and after his change. While I don't really respect his motives for becoming a superhero, he is a technological genius. I'm honestly not sure if the scanner is something he developed himself or if it's on indefinite loan from Arnus, but it looks like it should do the job.

"I think you're right about it being a receiver for broadcast energy. Did your ring detect what form the energy took?"

I shake my head. "I was being jammed pretty hard while he was in fighting condition. And it's possible that the presence of the energy was the thing jamming me, so I might not be able to detect it directly at all."

He looks around, smiling. "I guess it's not something simple like muons, then."

"Muons aren't a problem. Phased, dimensionally exotic muon-like particles, maybe?" I shrug. "There are a few known ways to throw power rings off, and I did what I could to eliminate them as a cause… Which is why I'm here."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but super-advanced biotech isn't something I can reverse engineer in a lunch break. This is going to take some time."

I shrug. "I don't think this is going to be resolved quickly. Let me know if…" I frown. "Ah, as far as you can tell, should having this in a person's blood have any effect on their memory?"

"It's…" He shakes his head. "Memories are-. Hm." He looks slightly amused. "It used to be I'd say that memories are encoded in the structure of our neural networks, but I suppose I have to take magic into account these days. Perhaps you can shed some light on that for me: where's the line between the brain and the soul?"

"For most people or for me?"

"Either. Both, preferably."

"For me, as far as I can tell, I do so much of my thinking with the part of me that is orange light, I can literally have my entire body destroyed without it altering my cognition. The only real difference is that I need an arcane medium to exist in."

"What happens if you don't have one?"

"I don't experience anything. Or at least, I didn't remember having experienced anything once I got a body again. It might be that what I experienced is so different from normal human existence that I can't process it." I shrug. "Or it might be that without a body I lacked purpose, so only existed in potentia."

"And when you do have a medium?"

"I take the form of a flying orange snake. A miniature version of the Ophidian. The problem is that I have no innate way to regain corporeality. Not that I've… Spent a lot of time practicing."

He nods thoughtfully. "And for everyone else?"

"By default, souls lose vitality. There are ways around that: if you're a monotheist the system handles that, but otherwise you need to arrange things ahead of time or there won't be enough 'you' to really experience things. Lord Hades shares a little of the power of Erebos with all of the dead who enter his realm, and from what the inhabitants told me there's a small gap between them dying and them coming to in the Underworld."

"And reincarnation?"

"I didn't ask Lord Hades about the Hellenistic version because it doesn't interest me. But there's no real reason why you can't stick a soul into something new; it's just a bundle of magic energy."

"But how much is carried over, and how much gets lost with the brain?"

"Souls don't encode memories well. It's more… Patterns of thought and behaviour that get carried over. If you interacted with someone and then much later interacted with their reincarnation, you'd notice the similarities in how they dealt with situations, but they wouldn't know you. At most, they might think that the process of interacting with you felt familiar."

"But patterns of activation are just another part of the brain favoring particular…" He frowns. "Could that be stored on both as a form of redundancy?"

"I'm not sure that the two are as separate as you're implying. I-."

Incoming message from LexCorp.

"I.. have to take this call. If you're really interested in the subject, I suggest asking Aquaman to put you in contact with specialists in Atlantis once we get back into contact."

"I think that I will. Thank you for bringing me this puzzle."

I

step out, reappearing

directly above Dakota City. Alva actually managed to become the City Boss when the place was infected with the Anti-Life. Not a lot changed, apparently. I barely remember the animated series Static Shock, but there's a young Virgil Hawkins down there somewhere. I wonder if everything that's happened will prevent the whole 'Bang Babies' thing from occurring? The sensible thing to do would be to just snipe Alva here and now, but…

I don't want to be that person.

"Answer."

A glowing construct of Dr. Cochin appears before me.

"Orange Lantern, I am pleased to report that Enginehead is back with us and has consented to speak with you. Please, come to the laboratory as soon as possible."

"Is he alright?"

"A little shaken, but he's in one piece. And there's no spyware in his system; we tested that thoroughly."

I nod, looking for the patterns of desire that mark an enlightened… Oh. I can't see him. Fortunately, I remember what the other scientists look like.

Al

2nd May 2013
09:33 GMT -5

right then.

Dr. Cochin has a sharp intake of breath as I appear, but relaxes almost immediately afterwards. Enginehead's duplicate of Lex Luthor's face is on a nearby monitor and the other scientists are triple checking things in the background.

"Enginehead, good to see you up and running again."

"Being kidnapped was a novel experience, and one that I hope never to go through again. Likewise, I assumed that my nature would render me impervious to having my mind read."

"Are you willing to talk about it?"

"Certainly. That… Anarky is a menace and needs to be stopped."

"What part of LexCorp's operations did he interrogate you about?"

He looks puzzled. "I'm sorry?"

"I assume that's what he wanted from you? Or was he just learning about A.I.s in general?"

"Oh, no. Neither. He wanted information on the Justice League."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th January 2000
00:55 GMT -5

"Lord Mammon, this-."

BOOM!

The humans brace slightly as someone on Apophis's ship tests how far the 'Tollan shield' extends away from the Curia building. Narim swiftly checks his personal computer as the severe-looking woman who followed him back regains her equanimity.

"This is High Chancellor Travell of the Tollan Curia."

I give her a shallow nod. "Pleased to meet you. Let's keep this quick. I will destroy the fleet. In return I want two things. Firstly, your help in salvaging it for System Lord Bastet. Secondly, fifty Tollan school teachers serving on my planet."

"School teachers. What sort of school teachers?"

"I don't know your education system. Science from basic biology to nuclear physics, and whatever you consider to be the equivalent in other fields. I know that you don't share technology with less advanced cultures; we're more advanced than you so it doesn't apply, and even if it did I'm not asking for your cutting edge researchers. Their salaries and accommodation will be covered by me, and in case Syrania is overrun I won't make any specific record of where they came from."

Her eyes go down as she considers, and then shift to Major Carter.

She looks awkward. "We.. already have a similar arrangement with Lord Mammon. None of our teachers have come to any harm. And… I can't see any other way to defeat Apophis before he destroys your city."

I gesture to her with my right thumb. "And that's from a people who still haven't been able to give me a written legal opinion that they're not trying to exterminate my species."

Travell considers for a moment longer, then nods. "The salvage teams."

"They just need to help restore the ships to working order. I'll provide the crews. No need to use your most advanced technology if you don't want to, but-"

BOOM!

"-it might be best not to have those ships in your system any longer than you have to." I smile benevolently. "Up to you."

She nods reluctantly. "Agreed. We will make a precise assessment on how to proceed as events unfold."

"Nifty. Then I'm your man. Narim, do you want to come and watch?"

He raises his eyebrows slightly. "Do I want to watch you destroy an entire fleet by yourself?"

I smile. "Either you get to watch a god unleash his power upon his enemies or the last thing you see before your world is burned is a pompous prat make a fool of himself. There are worse things to see before your death."

His eyes go to Travell, nods. "I accept your offer. When-."

I touch him with my left hand and transition us into the air over the city. Another plasma bolt coming in-. Deal with that, causing a high altitude explosion… Some electrical discharge which might damage the Tollan's computers a little, but it won't be much of a problem.

More of a problem is that two… Three nearby ion cannons have been obliterated, and I can see plumes of smoke further away. Defending guns being destroyed means that the attackers can come closer and rotate their positions less, resulting in more shots being fired towards the planet.

Narim keeps himself together, and then follows my gaze. "The cannons over the horizon can still take shots at their fleet, but the time-to-target will be far greater."

I destroy two more plasma bolts before they reach the atmosphere, but… That's from the flagship's main guns. Apophis's fleet is accelerating, and if the smaller ship-mounted guns on the regular ha'taks get into effective range…

"That is impressive, but that weapon will not destroy a capital ship."

"No, that.. form of attack won't kill a capital ship within a reasonable timeframe. Oh, ah… If anyone asks, the Tollan have been experimenting with graviton-based weapons, alright?"

"That was not agreed with-."

Transition.

Apophis's flagship hovers in space below us. Relatively speaking. His fleet are arrayed with Tollana as 'forwards', which has the pleasant effect of ensuring that no inconvenient windows are facing towards me. I tested it, and it is possible to detect me with a ha'tak's sensors, but only if you already know what you're looking for.

"I was not aware that goa'uld had teleportation technology."

I snort with laughter. "Not teleport. Fly good."

Track Apophis, because killing him is the whole point. Track ship systems, because if we're taking these ships I don't want them too damaged. Track Jaffa, because someone is going to have to kill them now that they've finally got a god they like and they aren't going to thank me for killing him.

And since I got a really good view of what a black hole looks like…

Singularity beam.

It looks like the structure of the flagship ripples like the surface of a pond when a stone is dropped into it. Actually what's happening is that spacetime is rippling as a cylinder about three centimetres across suddenly becomes about a thousandth of a millimetre across. That is accompanied by a burst of x-rays strong enough to fry the bridge crew and their consoles. And as an added bonus it's all unaffected by the ship's shield.

"What-?"

Next ship. Singularity beam.

Not another goa'uld, naturally, but a senior Jaffa.

Ha'tak are designed to be controlled almost completely from the pel'tak. Wreck that, and it's reduced to a space station unless the Jaffa on board are unusually technically skilled. And I doubt that's a worry here, but just in case…

Two more beams cut the link between main power and the drive systems, rendering the ships ballistic.

Check the fighters… Oh, they're looking for me, they're looking for me. Shift position and fire twice. Another ha'tak mission-killed. Might be worth using my own soldiers to clear these wrecks. Or… I could hand it over to Mahes. I know that he's wanted to test my designs in actual combat. And… My own soldiers aren't really ready for something like this.

Another ship dies, and then another.

"How..?"

I smile tyrannically at Narim. "I'm a god."

"That isn't goa'uld technology."

"It is now."

The remaining ships aren't even trying to reach Tollana, though none are activating their hyper drives. Good for them. Very loyal. Very dead. That still leaves the fighters and the crew, but… I don't think I need to remain here any longer.

I transition us back to the surface, near the Curia building. Major Carter has left the building and is staring up at the sky, possibly trying to spot us. I give her a casual wave as Narim and I walk towards her.

"Is.. that it?"

I shrug. "Well, the ships are still there, but the officers are all dead. They might try and invade with their landing craft, but you should be able to shoot down most of them. I'll head out now and ask Lord Mahes to come here and take possession. Oh, and remember that we're perfectly happy to give Klorel sanctuary, whatever the trial decides about his host. Good day."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th January 2000
11:21 GMT -5

"You." / "You."

Klorel and Skaara both glare at me, Klorel from inside the body of a condemned criminal Lord Mahes 'spared' from his gladiatorial arena. A volunteer looking to regain his honour by serving a god directly. And extra thirty centimetres of height and an appreciably more muscular build make Klorel look considerably more martial.

I smile. "Me. Skaara al Abydos, I don't believe that we have anything to say to one another, so I will wish you safe travels. And please let your father know that I would be most interested in purchasing both naquadah and mastadges. Perhaps in exchange for water purifiers or moisture collection technology?"

"We want nothing to do with the false gods."

I make an exaggerated shrugging gesture. "I am a simple merchant. But, as you will."

"Such insolence." Klorel looks down his nose at his former host in a way which I suspect is supposed to look imposing but just makes him look constipated. "One day I will teach you your place."

Skaara glowers back. "You had years. You failed. I did not know that 'gods' could be so weak."

"Insignificant insect! I-."

I put a construct barrier around Klorel and smile pleasantly at Skaara. The sudden appearance of a sound-proof barrier appears to take the wind out of his sails a little.

I wave my right hand in the direction of the exit. "You are of course free to leave. Colonel O'Neill, your sister and Doctor Jackson are waiting outside. They'd have been in here but Klorel insisted-.

"Sha're is free? That thing thought that she was dead."

"She was, but I have a sarcophagus."

"You raised her from the dead?" He looks uncertain. "Why? The gods do not do that."

I shrug. "Because it cost me little and improved my relations with the Tau'ri. Many of my fellow goa'uld believe that an evil deed is its own reward. I believe the opposite; that a good deed will eventually pay off."

He nods. "And you desire herd animals and the metal of the gods?"

"I am a merchant. I trade things. You know that you have things which I want. Inform your father and relay back to me what sorts of thing he might like in exchange. Or put me from your mind entirely. It's up to you and to him."

He looks at me uncertainly for a moment as his hatred wars with his sense of obligation. Then he gives me a very small nod and heads out of the ward.

Once I hear the door shut, I dismiss the construct barrier and face the constipated-looking Klorel.

His eyes flare. "You go too far."

"You are short on friends and options, Lord Klorel. I would counsel you that it is wise to bite your tongue until you are more aware of your situation."

"Then explain my situation."

"The Tollan weren't quite as lightly defended as your father thought. They had some manner of gravity lensing weapon." I point upwards. "The fleet your father captured from Sokar floats above this world now, neat holes drilled into the pel'taks of each ship."

Klorel frowns. "My father was slain by Sokar."

"Your father kept his host too long; he died in the custody of the Tau'ri, and they sent Sokar his corpse. Fully intact. Sokar raised him and gave him a demeaning position under him. Then Sokar was killed by the Tok'Ra and your father took his empty throne. When he heard of your capture he came here… If he had attempted diplomacy then you might have been reunited with him." I shrug mournfully. "Alas."

His expression doesn't change, but I suppose that if he were inclined to mourn then he would have done so the first time he heard of his father's death.

"Why are you here?"

"I was once your uncle's tithe-gatherer. Until I betrayed him and was rightfully cast down. Now, I rule one poor world under the guidance of System Lord Bastet. And it is from her that I pass on this offer."

"Speak it."

"Your father's Underlords try to maintain unity in the face of Heru'ur, but they will not succeed. Then Heru'ur will declare himself to be Supreme System Lord. It will doubtless take time for him to consolidate his hold on the domains of Ra and Apophis, but he was never lacking in determination and aggression."

"He is a simple-minded brute."

"No." I shake my head. "No. Were he simple-minded he would not have gotten as far as he has. Ra would not place a fool in command of his armies, and your father would not have struggled to outmanoeuvre a fool."

He appears to decide to let that go.

"You have not told me what you want."

"System Lord Bastet is… Comfortable, with the System Lords being supreme, with no one set above them. It is her intent to sponsor you in unifying your late father's domains. If you are successful, you may one day become a System Lord in your own right."

He sneers. "She wants me as a puppet."

"For now, yes, but she places no limits upon your future growth. If you have the strength and wisdom, you may regain independence and authority in the fullness of time. It is hardly practical for System Lord Bastet to constantly monitor you."

"How kind."

"Of course, if all you manage to do is grind Heru'ur's forces down to the point that she can crush him herself, that too is acceptable. Not… For you, but certainly for her."

"I-." He grimaces as he tries to work something out. "It will not be easy for me to take command."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh?"

"After his attack on the Tau'ri… Failed, the Jaffa of Chulak rose in rebellion. They declared my father a false god."

"Ah? And if they had had a little patience and he had not come here, things could have been so very different." He holds his tongue while I think how that affects our plans. Not.. much, really. We always thought that Mahes would have to lean on people. Perhaps we could transfer across some of Sokar's Jaffa? "That will change the details, but not the core of the plan. System Lord Bastet will still be willing to sponsor you. If you accept."

"I do. I recognise that my options are limited."

"I'm glad to hear it. I will arrange for Lord Mahes to dispatch a platoon of his Jaffa to escort you to Bubastis."

"So that I may be paraded like prize cattle."

"No. So that System Lord Bastet may publically welcome you as a fellow god. It is not our intent to humiliate you, as unequal as the balance of power is in practice. Our people all have long memories, and she has no desire to humiliate you into lashing out. Now, I shall take my leave. Good day."

I transition to the entrance of the court building, wave to the departing S.G.C. party and then transition upwards to the flagship which is even now being pored over by Lord Mahes. A probe construct lets me transition myself through a wall and into one of the parts of the ship that still has atmosphere and gravity and one more transition takes me to casual walking distance of Lord Mahes himself.

"Is everything to your liking?"

He beams. "The ship is splendid. Do you think that Lord Bastet would let me keep it?"

"I think it unlikely, but perhaps she might grant it to you as an indefinite loan. Klorel has accepted the deal."

"Of course he did. I will send a squad to escort him to Lord Bastet."

"Please make it a few squads. He's being sensitive about his drop in status."

"As well he might." He nods. "Is she sending you after Heru'ur next? Or will you leave someone for the rest of us."

"I expect to be sent after him in the fullness of time. If you want him for yourself… Do not tarry."

"Hah!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd May 2013
19:14 GMT -5

Wallace holds up one of his chips and stares at it. "What..? Is this?"

"Duck fat chips. It's one-. You know how really good chips need cycles of freezing and frying?"

He thinks for a moment. "No. I.. didn't. Mom usually just puts them in the oven." He frowns. "Duck fat?"

"I found the recipe online, and since I can fry, freeze and manipulate potato matter really easily, I thought I'd give it a try."

"Where do the little lines come from?"

"Shingling. You take slices of potato, stick them together with fat, slice them into rectangles and then fry them." I stick a fork in one of mine and raise it up to eye level. "It wouldn't be worth doing without a power ring, but it definitely ensures that the flavour from the fat is present throughout."

Several of my team mates glance at each other, and Kon gets volunteered.

"Bad day, huh?"

I sag in my seat. "Yeah."

I take a bite, and even given all the faff involved… It's still basically just a chip. I've improved quite a bit on the senses I got when I first arrived in this universe -no more furry tongue for a start- but as far as I can tell, food… The improvements above a certain level aren't all that great. Duck fat, freezing and frying, the particular type of potato with exactly the right mix of constituent parts… I could just have used regular oven chips and it wouldn't have been much worse.

"How did you know?"

Kon looks across the table, at the various dishes I assembled-. Yeah, okay, displacement activity I suppose.

"'Bad' as in..?"

"I told you-" I look around the table to make it clear that I mean 'you' in the collective sense. "-that I was keeping an eye on certain people due to the actions of their parallel universe alter-egos."

Richard nods. "I didn't see anything in the daily report about any kind of disaster."

"No, it wasn't 'major catastrophe' bad, it was… One of the people I was watching broke into the old Justice League base in Detroit and used LexCorp's A.I. and some off-the-shelf magic to hack into the Justice League's records."

He blinks, eyes widening. "Seriously? What did they take?"

"Don't know. Batman's about as happy as you imagine."

He gives me a hard look. "Yeah."

I.. bow my head. Because I know that it wasn't just Batman I messed up with… With that. What I did. Bruce Wayne was a good father, with a few psychological hang-ups.

Then he got over them.

And I fucked him up.

"Is he..?"

Is he what, you-!

"I regret doing it, Richard. I don't regret much, but-. I can't-. Shouldn't… Force him to go back. How..? How.. is he?"

He sits back in his seat, everyone else looking a awkward. "He's busy with work. When he's in 'Bruce mode' I don't really notice much difference." He exhales. "I didn't really get much time to find out what he was like when he wasn't… Batman-on-the-inside."

Given how busy everyone was during that period, that.. makes sense.

"How is Talia taking it?"

"Oh, she thinks it's great." I wince. "She's been making all kinds of suggestions. But-." He thinks for a moment. "It's just advice. She's not manipulating him. I think it's things he'd thought about anyway."

I nod. "But there's a difference between contingency planning and actually implementing those contingencies." I frown. "He hasn't been to Detroit recently, has he?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Someone had done something in the old base, but I don't know if it was Anarky or someone else and he was just checking up on it. For obvious reasons I feel a bit awkward asking Batman…"

"I can do that." Richard looks around the table. "Okay guys, chill. I'm not happy about what Paul did, but I get it. Batman… Batman was the best choice. We needed to undo the Anti-Life as fast as possible."

"Thank you. And…" I tear my eyes away from my food and make direct eye contact with him. "There are… Things I could do-."

"Yeah, maybe…" He nods. "Don't."

"I don't trust my own judgement. But if you think it's necessary, let me know."

He takes a moment to absorb that.

"H-uh."

Kon waits for a moment, then shrugs. "So I get why messing with Batman's head makes you feel bad, but what's the problem with Anarky?"

"Because he wouldn't tell me what the problem is. Which means that I can't fix the problem. So… I helped Enginehead and… Sort of helped the man who was mind controlled into providing security-." I look at M'gann. "Any luck?"

She shakes her head. "I've never felt anything like it. It's like everything that should be in his mind just isn't there."

Oh. "Rats." She raises her eyebrows interrogatively. "The second time I died, I didn't get anyone to scan my body before I was loaded back into it. I'm told that I kept my practical skills but didn't appear to have any specific memories. The alternative would be for you to scan a Citadelian, but… Ah, the few survivors are avoiding me. For good reason, to be fair."

"What's the difference between them and Conner?"

"Kon was educated by…" I look at him. "You said it was like a dream?"

He nods. "Yeah. Some of the time."

"That creates narrative. Identity. The Citadelians just load knowledge without context."

M'gann nods. "So either he was made in a tank, or all his memories are stored somewhere else?"

I shrug. "Those are my best guesses, but that's just because those are the only options I can think."

Artemis has.. completely cleaned her plate. "So what about the powers that guy got?"

"Physical augmentations. I couldn't judge them precisely, but I'd estimate faster reflexes than a Danner enhancile with slightly less strength."

"Doesn't sound so special."

"The drawback of the Danner formula is that it only works on foetuses. Something roughly as good that can be used on anyone is a major game changer."

She nods. "Let's hope it's not, I guess. Mass produced superpowers getting given out to random nutjobs is the last thing we need."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd May 2013
17:54 GMT -7

Turns out? Horse M.R.I. scanners do actually exist.

"Are you alright in there, your highness?"

Celestia looks up slightly awkwardly as the… Well, her horn is a bit of an impediment, but the staff worked around it by sticking a tennis ball over the point. And since she's the size of a small pony rather than a full sized horse there's no difficulty in fitting her through the scanner donut. The machine itself is about as noisy as the one I remember from Earth Prime, though a good deal quicker. I'm not sure whether that's due to improvements in technology or a result of paying a lot of money for this appointment.

"Yes, thank you."

And Celestia's being far more cooperative than their usual clients, even if she had to pay a 'petting tax' to jump the queue. The children of the staff are even now lurking in the corridor to ambush her.

I smile as I consider access to medical services in America more generally. As Sir Terrance Pratchett might say, that is because humans are not technically worth anything whereas a good race horse might set you back £15000. It's like how cows are the most eaten animal on the planet but they're never going to go extinct, whereas no one eats wolves but several countries deliberately drove them to extinction.

And yes, I could easily have done this by ring, but if I'm making a point about collegiality and getting people involved in their own governance and generally not allowing dependency on a single superlative individual then I sort of have to live that point. This technology was built by regular humans and is used by regular humans… Okay, apart from that one guy who can see magnetic energy, but that ability wasn't actually vital to the process or anything. He just really likes seeing magnetic energy so got a job somewhere where he always would.

With the scan finished, a couple of orderlies moves in to help Celestia back to her hooves only to find that she's perfectly capable of doing that herself. She appears to realise what they were doing herself, and smiles.

"Thank you, but I can manage."

Dealing with the customers is part of the veterinarian's job, but the customer usually isn't the one being scanned and he's clearly a little uncertain. "Right, your highness." Or maybe he's not sure how to deal with royalty? "Most of our patients… They don't talk back."

Celestia nods, mane billowing around her as she levitates the mane net off her head. "Do you have any housed here at the moment? I think meeting one could be educational."

"Ah… We don't exactly run a hotel here. It's just a stable."

Celestia smiles as she magics the door open. "When I was a filly, even that much would have been a luxury."

"How long ago was that?" The three of us walk in the direction of the 'patient housing'. "Mister Grayven said that he was worried about the effects of extreme age-" Celestia makes eye contact with me, then rolls them. "-but as far as I can tell you're in good health."

"It was about eleven hundred years ago."

"Ah, well… We… Don't usually get horse-. Ponies, that age."

Celestia chuckles quietly. "I wouldn't think so."

She lets the vet open the doors to the stables, and… One cow having its hoof shaved to remove an embedded something or other, six empty stalls and… A single racehorse, who briefly looks at us and then goes back to his silage.

Celestia looks at him curiously. And… It's just now occurring to me that I haven't mentioned gelding at all.

Um.

Maybe she won't check.

Celestia thinks for a moment and then takes a step closer. "I'm here."

The horse looks at her again for a moment, and then goes back to ignoring her.

"Hm." She looks at me. "Do you think that is how our ancestors looked?"

I shrug. "I'm halfway convinced that Discord created your species as a joke."

She makes an amused snort. "If he had, there is no way that he would have been able to keep it to himself."

"Then you should send an archaeological expedition to Dream Valley."

"We already sent an expedition, but they are going to focus on ancient settlements. I imagine that finding ancient skeletons would take special equipment."

"What, you don't have a single pony with a mark in necromancy? It's not all about conjuring undead armies."

"I have special programs for ponies with special talents in difficult areas, but necromancy is a very unusual talent." She turns around and faces the vet. "How long will it take you to study the images?"

He looks rather uncertain. "Your highness, we have no idea what your brain is supposed to look like. Mister Grayven got us some pictures of the brains of humanoid aliens and we're trained on a variety of species so we've got something to compare it to, but we don't even really know what we're looking for."

"Don't worry. The doctors in Equestria know no more than you do. There have only been a few alicorns in our entire history."

"Speaking as a veterinarian, knowing that no one knows what they're talking about just makes me more worried. Mister Grayven wouldn't tell us why he wanted M.R.I. images of your brain, but-" He shakes his head. "-anything to do with the brain is usually a cause for concern."

"Yes." She gives me a sidelong glance. "Where would you like me to introduce myself to the children?"

"Ah, they weren't really expecting a lot of time with you. You can just walk past-."

"I wouldn't dream of disappointing foals of any species." She smiles happily. "Where would you like me to meet them?"

"We've got a paddock out the back..?"

"That will be perfect. Grayven, please show me where it is while my physician fetches them."

Uh. 'kay?

I lead the way towards-.

Her magic grabs my left ear and pulls me closer.

"Grayven, while we are alone and after I have indulged what I suspect to be an extended prank, I have some questions for you."

"It's not a prank. I am deadly serious about my god-name. Sunset wouldn't say 'eh, magic, whatever', and I wouldn't make a mockery of rulership. No one knows what alicorn ageing looks like, and I wish for Luna to be entirely mentally competent for our lives together."

She nods contemplatively, releasing her hold on me. "When do you intend to get married? You have prevaricated for quite some time."

"As I said, once my father is dead. I intend to ask my uncle to officiate, both because I respect him and because it will emphasise his authority over me after I killed his predecessor."

"That isn't a 'when'."

"If killing him was easy, someone else would have done it. Call it five years."

"And when does Luna want to get married?"

"I won't know until I ask. I hope as soon as we can get a ceremony organised. But I don't want to… Keep drawing attention to something we can't do without having to confront my father way before we're ready." I turn my face towards her. "Did you notice that you've dropped your Canterlot accent?"

She gives her head a small shake. "I haven't dropped it completely. It's too engrained. But being away from Equestria is a relaxing experience."

"I noticed that you aren't displaying your wings constantly like you do back in Equestria. Took me a while to talk Luna out of that. Is that a custom or are you just that tense?"

"My mind is as healthy of the rest of me. But the habits of centuries don't evaporate overnight. For much of my reign Equestria was far less prosperous than it is now. I started doing things in a particular way because it made sense. And perhaps I could change them now without unfortunate consequences."

"Oh, good, because I'm not actually a chirurgeon and my backup plan was to get you wasted."

Celestia frowns. "And that is not going to happen."

"Okay, but… You could over-indulge here without it getting back home." She looks at me quizzically. "Just saying."

"I… Shall bear that in mind."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Supnautica

4th May 2013
09:55 GMT -5

Governor Grisham shrugs. "I agree, but unless he's willing to testify there's not much I can do. We don't have cameras everywhere, and the ones we do have aren't high resolution."

"Can I..?"

"Look through our records?" He nods. "Sure. You can do that a whole lot easier than we can, and if you've got some idea of when he was attacked then that'll help."

I nod, standing up as I do so. "Thank you for your time, Governor."

He stands up as well, and offers me his right hand. I shake it.

"Do you need someone to take you to the server room?"

I shake my head. "No, I can find it. Thank you."

I turn and walk out of his office. By 'find it' I mean 'downloaded all of it the moment I became aware of the incident', but there's no need to be rude when he's being helpful.

Is now a good time to ask the League to lean on Washington about truth compulsion magic and telepathic testimony in trials? The problem with having a right to a fair trial is that you can waive it. Isn't there a state interest in ensuring that criminals are punished appropriately?

Note to self: try finding a parallel universe where the United States never gained independence and see how it's going.

And not just for personal interest.

I

step out, aiming for the slightly twisted desire structures of the prisoner whose victimhood led me to the prison today.

"Good morning."

He maintains the same impassive expression as his comrades, leaning back as he sits on his bed. "I'm pretty sure you just turning up in my cell violates my rights."

"Yeah. You should talk to your lawyer about that."

His lawyer who hasn't got in contact yet. I shrug.

"There are other lawyers, you know."

"I'll wait. Thanks."

"You can." I nod. "You can. I would suggest that showing a little initiative in closing down a potential leak might be looked upon favourably -I do have far greater investigative powers than your senior business associates are likely to- but I'm not here with the thumbscrews." He shrugs nonchalantly. "The other-."

"What's a thumbscrew?"

"Ah… A medieval torture device. Lock someone's hand in place and turn a screw which gradually crushes their thumb."

"Damn."

I shake my head. "It's pointless. You could do the same thing with a hammer, and still have a useful tool. And it's not like torture's a reliable way to get information anyway."

"Pretty intimidating."

"During the Hundred Years War, the French used to cut fingers off any English soldier they caught so they wouldn't ever be able to loose arrows at them again. Henry the Fifth of England won that war. I wouldn't overestimate-."

"Like, the Shakespeare guy?"

"Yes the Shakespeare guy. Shakespeare's Histories are -naturally enough- based on real history. The other reason why I'm here-."

"Took a girl to see it one time. Didn't think I'd pay it much attention, but it was actually pretty good."

"Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now,
Brush up your Shakespeare,
And the women you will wow."

He stares at me for a moment. "Whow, dude, I thought this was gunna turn into a musical or something."

"That's the chorus. If I was doing it properly I'd need to start with a verse. I spoke to-"

"Because I usually-."

"-Governor Grisham."

He smiles. "Oh yeah? How is he?"

"He's in good health. And he gave me access to the camera records, including your attack."

There's a tiny flicker… But that's all there is. "What attack?"

"What happened to you is.. very illegal. The Justice League employs telepaths. And discretion. I would like to see the person who attacked you punished."

"There was no attack."

"It is possible to proceed with a case where the alleged victim doesn't want to cooperate. It's difficult, particularly in cases where physical evidence is unlikely to exist and the alleged perpetrator is unlikely to confess, but it can be done. Were I to proceed in this manner, I would need to speak with all potential witnesses-."

He glares at me. "Fuck you."

"I realise that this is a sensitive topic, but I really do just want to help. I do have a list of everyone who was in your cellblock at the time. If you can think of any who might-."

He stands up in an explosive motion, arms jerking up over his head. "FINE! Fuck!"

"Alright. If-."

"Fucking thumbscrews! You want the message we got?"

"It.. would be quite helpful. And I wish to emphasise that it can't be used in your prosecution because -as you've noted- you haven't yet had access to a lawyer."

"And-." He waves his right forefinger at me. "Don't tell anyone else you heard anything from me."

I nod. "As far as anyone will know, I found out by scanning phone records."

"And there was no attack."

A prosecution would be unlikely anyway, and this is clearly distressing him. "Very well. If you insist. What form does the message take?"

"It's on paper. Usually burn it after-." He shakes his head, sitting down. "Since it's the only one there's nothing for you to compare it to. But you might get something out of it."

"I will certainly try. Would you like to be kept apprised of the results of my investigation? It may help your defence."

He thinks, then shakes his head. "Send everything to my lawyer when the… When he gets here."

"As you will. Thank you for your cooperation."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
10:23 GMT -5

Alan reads the message, which looks like it was printed out on one of those old printers where the paper has holes down the side. There probably are old communication systems which are hardly used any more but remain functional because some part of them is still used by something.

"And he just gave you this?"

"No Blue Lantern, I found it entirely on my own."

He frowns for a moment, and then nods. "I know this isn't admissible as evidence, but can we just… I don't know, leave it somewhere where the police can find it?"

"I don't think so, but you can check with Icon. Besides, they're being charged for the break-in. That doesn't add anything to the charges."

"Sounds like a criminal conspiracy worth investigating to me."

"Heh." I shake my head. "Reminds me of a sketch in the series 'Yes Prime Minister'. Prime Minister Hacker wants to find out where a leak came from, so he calls for a leak inquiry. His confused Principal Private Secretary then says 'so you don't want to find out where the leak came from'."

I grin, but he just looks confused.

"I think that joke's a bit too British for me."

"The purpose of a leak inquiry isn't to find a leak, it's to make it look like the government is trying to find a leak without actually finding it, probably because they know perfectly well who leaked it but can't politically afford to sack them. If he actually wanted to find out where a leak came from, he'd call in the counterintelligence specialists."

He nods. "Okay, I guess that explains the joke, but I don't see how it relates to what we're doing."

"If we actually cared about who broke into LexCorp, we'd call in a telepath, or Diana would lasso them or I'd brand them. We don't, but we can't afford to just let it go because it happened right in front of us."

"And because that's not how the law works."

I know he's not going to get it, but I just have to say it.

After erecting a sound baffle.

I put my right hand on his left shoulder, smile my best Sir Humphrey Appleby smile and say:

"A-lan."

He takes a moment to try and work it out, but ends up just shaking his head. "Okay, I'll watch it."

I recover my hand and dismiss the sound baffle. "None of us started as police officers. And if the United Nations abandoned fig leaf tomorrow, nothing much would change. We've all apprehended plenty of people without formal powers of arrest, and Diana's used her lasso plenty of times. If any of us thought-."

"Okay." He holds up his hands in surrender. "Okay. I agree. So how much of our time do you think this is worth?"

"Lonnie Machin's actual ability to do anything on a global scale, as of a year ago, was effectively zero. I don't know what his ability is now. There are dozens of ways to enhance a human body or mind. The information I have suggests that he would use them with an enthusiasm that would make me uncomfortable. He was in close proximity to a device that appears to give good physical boosts and erases a person's memory. Did he use it on himself? Other people?"

"Would he?"

"Assuming that he's behaving within expected parameters, only if they volunteered. And he would refuse to lie, but…" I point at the piece of paper. "If he's the one who sent that, it's a pretty big lie."

I wave my hands in frustration.

"Enginehead said that Lonnie used him to hack something Justice League related. Is… The League, or someone in the League, experimenting with human augmentation?"

"I don't think so. And I've, ah… Got to be honest-."

"Yesyes, I'd be the first suspect. I never doubted it. But if I was going to build a super-army, I'd probably go with power armour. That would let me use alien technology rather than whatever augmentative formulae I could dig up. I'm not intelligent enough to make my own."

"So let me just make sure that I understand what you're saying. Someone on the Justice League gave that Buddy Blank fellah powers, and wiped his memory, and built those robots, and then Lonnie Machin finds out about it and kidnaps Enginehead so he can get proof."

I shrug. "Maybe. Maybe. He doesn't trust authority, so maybe he just wanted to investigate us first. A lot of people aren't happy about the whole 'taking over the planet' thing, and not just because I brought it up. Or maybe we have a file on the subject somewhere, or a record of a similar technology that could help his investigation… Or maybe he thought we did. I don't know."

"You want me to ask around?"

"My report is on the system, and once Hardware's finished studying it then I'll put his on there too. Anyone who comes across something similar can cross-reference what they find. The only…" I point at the print out. "The only avenue for following up on that is trying to work out how Lonnie managed to send it."

"Or whoever managed to send it if it wasn't him. And to do that it would sure help to know who sent it."

"Yep. And the first thing that comes to mind is handing that over to Mister Levi and seeing what he can get."

"Ah." He frowns. "How does that work? And don't say 'm-'."

"Magic." He sighs. "It's similar enough to their legitimate orders that it fooled the people who received it. If we're lucky, that's enough for some sort of ritual correspondence thing."

I slump slightly.

"But then there's the question of whether it's even worth our time. If there is some sort of problem, having an unknown third party investigating it is actually pretty useful. If there isn't, then his intrusion is irritating but it isn't a problem… Particularly when we should be focusing on trying to fix the world."

"I see what you're saying, but this feels like something that could come back to bite us in the ass if we ignore it."

"I agree. But this is all something that I can handle by myself."

I reach out for the print out, and he passes it to me.

"I'm pretty sure that Mister Luthor is going to.. offer him-."

There's a faint… Rumbling sound, and a-.

I look out towards the sea. The level is.. rising, and-.

"Blue Lantern to Justice League. The Atlantic's surging. Every Lantern-."

He waves at me to go and I nod, transitioning to my station on the African coast. No storms this time, and several of the places swept bare during Oceanus's surge were never resettled. And there's no lightning, which is nice.

I form a giant sonic construct in the air all along the coast, and shove it into the water.

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
15:46 GMT

Silver Age Supergirl stares down at me in disappointment, arms folded across her chest.

"Hm!"

I use a construct to create a zero gravity field around the beached whale pod and float them back out to sea.

"It was the best way to neutralise the wave."

"Hm!"

I make a quick assessment of the state of health of the fish floating in the area, and
take several healing rays out of subspace.

"You could help, you know."

"You should learn from cleaning up your own mess, you one-man environmental disaster! That was not nice!"

"I'm happy to clean up my own messes. I regard it as a form of penance. I just think that more fish might survive if you chipped in, but if you care about punishing me more than about saving the fish, then carry on staring at me."

She looks away awkwardly. "I can't heal things, okay! Some things just don't work at super speed!"

"Then how about helping with the damage? There have to be rocks you can move, or something."

"Kal and Mopey Kara and that new guy already did most of iiiit! And there wasn't that much to do, anyway!" She sort of kicks her right foot against the air in frustration. "You Lanterns are really good!"

"Thank you. It's nice to know that our training has paid off."

"Yes! Good! But-! Ugh! You know!?"

"Nearly."

Alright, every fish who has even the smallest spark of life in it in my region will now enjoy a long and happy life, to the best of their abilities. The rest can go into subspace. There's got to be a freezer I can dump them into somewhere because the Central Atlantic is going to be off-limits to fishing ships for the foreseeable future.

Atlantis is back.

Back on the surface.

I turn to look out to sea, Kara floating over to hover besides me.

Mostly.

If the entire continent had actually come back up onto the surface then vast areas of the world would have been flooded. The Netherlands would have finally lost its battle with the sea, for a start. Poseidonis is fully out, down to where the outermost parts of the old city-state's territory used to be. Shayeris is up, but it looks more like a small island than anything else. Nanauve is completely submerged, and only the tallest parts of Venturia are poking through the water. Which makes no sense. Venturia is one of the shallowest-. Was one of the shallowest cities in Atlantis prior to 'Vent-it', but its islands are more or less the same height that they were and…

I don't know what's going on.

The magic shields are… Shutting down, and I can see people going about their day. As well as the members of the Justice League who are trying to get hold of King Orin.

I narrow my eyes, trying to-.

Owowow. That was a mistake. Clearly. Someone has upgraded their area effect shielding. Which is fair enough, really.

"Your eyes are on fire!"

I turn my head towards her slowly as they finally decay to ash.

"Really?"

"Yes!" ... "No! I mean, they were!"

"That explains the pain from the top of my face. I was worried for a moment."

I regenerate them. Ugh, I can hardly make a pair of eyes last a year these days.

"So, how are you doing?"

"Is this really the time for pick-up lines!?"

"That wasn't a pick-up line. That was an honest enquiry about your life. Have you made any progress tracking your original parallel universe?"

"Oh, I haven't been looking!"

"Oh?"

"My Kal has it handled! And I have a life here now!"

"You don't think you should try and send him a message so that he doesn't worry?"

"He's got this great viewer thing! He used it to let his parents know that he made it to Earth safely! I'm sure he's found me by now!"

"Ah…"

Getting Kara II home has… Fallen completely by the wayside. Given everything that's happened, I think that was a reasonable prioritisation. But now that we've splinted the Earth and are waiting for the bone to heal, I could probably put some time on the subject. But I suppose that if she doesn't want me to then I should just accept that.

"Alright, if that's what you want."

"Oooooh I wanna be over there!"

"Haven't you visited Atlantis?"

"Not all of it! And now I can do it without holding my breath the whole time!"

I frown. "Why would-?"

I shake my head, smiling. I don't know if she's joking or not, but…

"Illustres to Clarissi Dox. Low priority."

I've got something I need to do.

Dox's bust appears in front of me. "Illustres. When it comes to you, it's never 'low priority'."

"Why thank you, sir. I'm contacting you to tell you that not only are Atlantis's shields down, but several cities are now above the ocean. Please pass that along to our Atlantean employees."

"I imagine that they'll be glad to hear it. What is its status beyond that?"

"Don't know. The Justice League are finding out now. The purebloods will be fine, though those who need water might.. be a bit more limited in where they live."

Which is a very purebloodist way of doing things, but… The purebloodist movement was pretty much exterminated after Orm tried killing Queen Mera. There shouldn't be… Much support for something like that. And… Raising cities from the bottom of the ocean certainly isn't a casual thing.

"Understood. Keep me informed."

I nod. "Will do. I-." My ring flashes. "Excuse me. I have another call. Answer."

Dox's construct vanishes, and is replaced by Lantern Stewart.

"Orange Lantern, they… Want to talk to you."

"'They' being?"

"Mostly? Ahri'ahn."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
13:51 GMT -2

I fly across the Atlantic towards the newly-risen Poseidonis wearing my formal robes, Professor Sephtian's best work affixed to my under-armour. Ahri'ahn is an individual I tried to research; a hugely powerful magician and the founder of the modern Atlantean magic traditions. But that was in antemergi Atlantis, and right after their entire civilisation sank and they had to adapt to aquatic life wasn't the best time for making and preserving written records.

What records they have contain mentions of him up to a certain point, and then he's only referred to in the past tense. The usual assumption is that he died; the best ways for a magic user to extend their life involved making some sort of pact with a magic-based life form, and that would have been contrary to everything he believed about mankind's place in the world. And the other methods…

I don't want to condemn someone from that long ago for their cultural biases. Not out of hand, anyway. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there, and all that. So let's just say that if vampires existed back then he would have considered undergoing the transformation to be 'polluting his body' and leave it at that.

But I remember the 'Camelot Falls' storyline in the Superman comics where he could step from one point in time to another. Leaving an Atlantis that he thought was in good hands in order to explore the future is certainly something that an archmage of his generation might do…

Ring, status of William Knightley?

Unknown; unable to locate.

Send a message to Johanna. Ask her to get hold of him and tell him not to do anything stupid while Ahri'ahn is around.

Compliance.

"There a reason why we're flying this slow?"

"Ahri'ahn comes from a-." Huh. "I was going to say 'more violent time', but given what's been happening lately that's probably not true. More sporadically violent, perhaps? Casually violent? The shields might have been removed, but I'm pretty sure that he'd have made certain that Poseidonis would be resilient enough to stop any reasonably probable attack before raising it out of the water."

Lantern Stewart nods. "You want them to see you coming."

"It's more that I don't want to fly face-first into multiple layers of wards. Especially as we're over the old continent of Atlantis now."

He thinks for a moment. "You think he couldn't bring the whole thing up in one go?"

"I think he's a classist. Which is to say, he believes that lower social classes should know their place."

He snorts. "And that place is under water."

"According to Adom, Queen Gamemnae did something similar. Though with her it probably was a power limit which prevented her from raising the whole place."

"Am I gunna regret asking who the Atlanteans considered 'low class'?."

"Poor people, foreigners, the ritually unclean, the seriously religious."

"Why the religious? I thought ancient societies were all about religion."

"Ahri'ahn thought that supplication to supernatural forces is something that mankind should rise above. He didn't claim that gods don't exist, but… You don't worship gravity, do you?"

He smiles. "I guess not."

"Even today, people who are a little too into gods are considered to be a bit mentally slow. There was one poor guy at a thaumaturgy party I crashed who got roundly mocked by the entire gathering once they found out what his speciality was."

"How long ago was Ahri'ahn around?"

"Assuming it's actually him and not another poser, a while. He's older than Adom, but not older than Doctor Mist." I frown. "Unless he's been spending time in suspended animation, or jumping forwards in time like Max Mercury. I would also advise against assuming that he's unfamiliar with technology; viewing the future is well within his power. Who's he talking to now?"

"Doctor Mist."

"Makes sense. I think that Doctor Mist is one of his ancestors."

He regards me sceptically. "They don't look much alike."

I shrug. "With enough generations in between, that doesn't matter much. With four generations a century, and most of their partners having paler skin-. Did I ever mention that he's one of Mister Zatara's ancestors?"

"No."

"If there's a person born with access to more raw magical power than most people, most of the time he's one of their ancestors. He's literally the progenitor of a magic-focused human subspecies."

"Given how long it's been, I guess he's related to just about everyone in Atlantis."

"Not necessarily. There are a lot of other genes in the mix, and people didn't often mix between different city states. Except possibly the rulers, to maintain alliances."

"Still, it's a long time."

"I never really looked into exactly which genes carried the trait. Conventional genetic analysis isn't reliable with magic, anyway."

Coming up on the city proper now. There's the palace, which… I think the outline is mostly the same, but they've increased the amount of the exterior covered by walls rather than left open to the water. There's the Conservatory of Sorcery, which… Seems to have been expanded. The main body of the city looks… Really different out of the water. As with the palace they've walled up some of the higher doorways, and there've added rune-inscribed obelisks at major intersections. Probably a security measure. I-.

Dolmen Gates! They've added Dolmen Gates! They can't keep using their biomantically-engineered swimming creatures for transportation-. And the cities were individually shielded, so normal travel between them was impossible. Dolmen Gates bypass that, though-. They've have to have teleported between them the hard way to assemble the other terminus…

Calm down. Quick check…

Yeah. Can't see a single Atlantean who isn't a Pureblood.

Which is a problem, because while an aristocrat of Ahri'ahn's era might regard peasants as being comprehensively beneath him that's nothing compared to how he'd view foreigners. I think-.

"Ah!" A.. long haired and pale skinned man-. Translucent projection of a man appears in the air in front of us, smiling broadly. He's wearing a richly embroidered coat over a plain white shirt and tan trousers. I slow, but the projection keeps relative station so I accelerate again. "There you are! I understand that we've you to thank for expunging the Anti-Life!"

"The plan was mine, but many people worked to bring it to fruition."

"Oh, come now." He frowns. "No false modesty."

"Alright. It was all me. I'm brilliant."

He smiles. "Please, come to the palace. We've a great deal to talk about."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
13:58 GMT -2

The phantasmal Ahri'ahn bows and gestures to the door of a room I.. think is the usual meeting room for the Atlantean royal cabinet. I couldn't claim to be certain about that, though, as they're clearly in the middle of remodelling the palace.

Our brief trip through the palace revealed more than a few changes in its structure, adjusting to the fact that the residents can't just swim upwards any longer. In some places they've just added spiral staircases with some sort of magic coral… Presumably put in before the city was raised. In other narrower shafts they're still working on installing lifts because there isn't really room for stairs.

"Thank you."

No.. guards, so I just push open the doors as the phantasm fades.

"…is now!"

Actual Ahri'ahn is dressed in much the same way that his projection was, and smiles at me in much the same way. Dr. Balewa is sitting just across the ovoid table from him, and in as much as I can read his body language he appears to be relaxed. Diana looks a little more pensive, and-. No Orin and no Mera. That's a moderate concern. Orin is a good man but he's nothing like as powerful as Ahri'ahn, and Mera isn't-. Probably isn't on his level either.

The table also has.. a modern atlas on it, turned to one of those 'oh-so-clever-we're-not-using-the-Eurocentric-world-map' pages loved by cartographers and tolerated by everyone else. Other documents include… Atlantean topographical maps of both Atlantis and the Atlantic rim, and what looks like a legal document of some sort.

Not sure what Ahri'ahn being here alone says about proceedings. If he only arrived roughly when the Anti-Life broadcast happened then he probably doesn't have anyone he trusts to back him outside of whatever deal he's made with the modern government.

Ahri'ahn gets up out of his chair and walks around to me, right hand extended. "A pleasure to meet you in person, Orange Lantern."

I shake his hand, careful to keep my right ring inert. "Likewise. What brings you to our era?"

"You do! I could hardly miss the mass deployment of Dolmen Gates outside of Atlantis. I thought perhaps that a new magic-focused civilisation had emerged."

I shake my head. "Unfortunately, not. Not yet. I'm trying, but the knowledge base just isn't there outside of Atlantis and Atlantis has been fairly introverted since the sinking."

He puts his left hand on my right shoulder, gently guiding me to a seat while raising his right forefinger in a lecturing position. I consider glancing back at Lantern Stewart, but I think it would be more polite to give the ancient magician who may have just taken over a continent with his arcane might my full attention.

"In my era it was a rational choice. The rest of the world had little to offer us. But now! Now, things are rather different."

I take the proffered seat as he resumes his own, Lantern Stewart contenting himself with lurking by the door-. Like a bodyguard, I suppose.

"Now Poseidonis has resumed its place on the surface and can once more host deputations from other nations."

"Well." I smile. "I'm glad to hear it. Levels of preparedness for arcane attack are shockingly poor in most places."

He shakes his head resignedly. "I know it all too well."

Ah-okay, now we need to check literally every government for magic subversion. Marvellous.

"It was you who had the gentry of Venturia studying Dream-. Hah." He bows his head as he leans back in his chair. "I apologise. Indulging my personal interests can wait. We have official matters to discuss."

"If you.. want help getting up to speed with modern civilisation, Teth Adom had a similar experience-."

He's shaking his head. "No, no. I have had a great deal of time to contemplate the changes in the world. I have not spent thousands of years locked in a pendant as he did. I appreciate the offer in the spirit in which it was intended, but… No. Now, to work. I understand that you have Atlantean citizens employed away from the Earth?"

I nod. "Yes. They're being informed of what's happening here now. I expect a lot of them will wish to return as quickly as possible."

"Good, good. I will expect all of them to return." Oh dear. "They may put their affairs in order, complete their current projects... You employed them under contract with the High King of course, it would be improper to simply snatch them back." Most of his good humour vanishes from his face. "But I do expect all of them back."

"I'm not sure that I understand. Has the Orange Lantern Corps done something to insult you?"

He shakes his head. "I would hardly invite you to the royal palace if you had. But just as your projects required the aid of a great many of our best and brightest, so too will my work here require them. And Atlantis has first claim on their efforts."

I nod. "I will relay that to Clarissi Dox. Would you be amenable to us employing Atlantean magicians at some point in the future?"

He considers for a moment, and then nods. "They may be available to undertake projects, though given that their work for you is of a military nature there will have to be a degree of oversight that there has not been to date. And we will expect the products of their research to be shared with Atlantis."

I… Don't think that anything we've had them work on would create problems on Earth. Most of it is honestly fairly basic, just applied to space-aged systems.

"That shouldn't be a problem, as long as it's understood that just means what they created and not our technology."

He seems to find that… Slightly amusing. "Perfectly tolerable. The other matter of concern is your work with Venturia."

"I thought that you didn't want to-."

He shakes his head. "The work is admirable. But I have concerns with such matters being shared with… People outside of Atlantis."

I shrug. "I only commissioned it to try and calm things down after the independence referendum. I got reports, but it's all a long way from being actionable."

"Well, independence is no longer a concern. I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a copy of everything which they gave to you."

I raise my eyebrows. "'No longer a concern'?"

He makes a circling motion with his right hand. "In exchange for being protected from the…" He glances at Dr. Balewa. "'Anti-Life', and a few other concessions, they have agreed to rejoin Atlantis and normalise relations with the other cities." He huffs in frustration. "The situation should never have gotten to that point. King Orin should never have been raised amongst foreigners like a-."

He cuts himself off.

Yes, I don't imagine that he was particularly happy about that. Sending the heir to a foreign court is a pretty submissive thing to do. Having him raised by a lighthouse keeper is flat-out unthinkable. I can only assume that Queen Atlanna thought that she'd have more time to complete his political education once he reached adulthood.

"Is now a good time?" I hold my right hand out over the table. "I have it all stored on my rings, so it's really no effort to scribe it for you."

"Oh, no. You can hand a copy to my apprentice. He's heading here-" The door to the room opens. "-now."

I turn and-.

"Kaldur?"

What is he wearing?

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
14:02 GMT -2

He smiles faintly. "Paul. It is good to see you."

A frock coat? It makes him look like a pirate. He hates pirates. Why is he wearing a frock-?

I briefly consider Ahri'ahn's likely impact on Atlantean surface-fashion, and inwardly wince.

I think back to last time I saw Kaldur. The 1st of April, and… Whatever that was. Since then, I-. I've only checked in at the mountain a few times, and he hasn't been there. Huh.

"I thought that you were King Orin's.. squire?"

"My king assigned me to assist Lord Ahri'ahn, and he in turn has been kind enough to provide me with instruction in magic. My… Skills are not so advanced as those of my friends Garth and Tula, and I have benefited from his teaching."

"You..? Were already here?"

He nods. "Batman assigned me to the team working on gaining entrance to Atlantis. Lord Ahri'ahn created an opening to bring me inside. I have been here for several weeks."

"Ah. Well, mission accomplished, I guess." I generate a bound copy of the reports I've received from Venturia and float them over to him. "Get to filing, apprentice."

"The role of Apprentice to the Royal Archmage is not quite what you imply, but I will-" He takes the file. "-review Venturia's work." He looks to Ahri'ahn. "If that is all, Master?"

"Yes, for now. You should catch up with your friend later."

Kaldur… Bows, and leaves the room.

Huh. I guess I can be a little less concerned about King Orin now. Kaldur wouldn't be anything like that calm if anything untoward had happened to him.

I turn back to Ahri'ahn. "I realise that you don't want anyone not sworn to the Atlantean crown to do that sort of research, but I hope that you continue with it. I'd rather not have to fly through a dream storm again if I can possibly-."

"You-?" He stares at me… Hungrily. "Flew through a dream storm?"

I smirk at him. "Very few people can appreciate what that means."

"Do you mean a small one which you entered by accident? That I could-."

"No. Big one. I had to break into the Tower of Fate. Morpheus owed one of my colleagues a favour so it was difficult rather than impossible, but I nearly got erased towards the end."

"Oh, you must tell me-"

And my eyes are on fire again.

"-that sto-."

His eyes widen, this time in shock, and he waves his hands through a series of sigils to stop the burning.

"I-. I'm sorry. That-. Ward shouldn't have-. We can grow you replacements-."

"No, don't worry about it. The same thing happened before I arrived." I disintegrate the remains of my eyes and create new replacements. "I don't know what that ward is supposed to do, but it's probably a bit too aggressive towards passive observation attempts."

A flick with his fingers, but it's too quick and… He's almost certainly using the magic equivalent of a notarikon, a single gesture standing in for a series of gestures that a lesser magician might have to use but with him have become so engrained that it's no longer necessary. I'm familiar with a lot of Atlantean spells, but I've got no idea at all what that was.

"My apprentice told me that you… Interact with magic in an unusual way. I can see that you require a special approach."

"If I'm allowed to visit, I'd appreciate it."

"No, I mean, the defence that you triggered is supposed to be fatal. You should not have been able to trigger it quite so easily, but from the point of view of Atlantean security I'm more concerned that you're alive."

"Generally, it's considered fine to kill people poking at sites of national importance when they're inside your country, but not so much when they're outside of it. And a little advanced warning would have been appreciated."

"A ward thet easy to activate would be considered an attack, not eh defence."

Ahri'ahn glances at Diana, who doesn't exactly seem impressed either but is perfectly aware of my regenerative abilities.

"Perhaps if I studied your own defences, I could discover why you set it off at all?"

Since no actual magician could use my tattoos without losing their facility for magic, that's not exactly a security risk. And since we need to find out what's been going on, any excuse for hanging around is worth taking. Why not?

"Certainly. If you could let me know when you're likely to have the free time? It's going to take the Clarissi a while to review everything, but I'll be able to feed back as soon as he has."

"I was going to give Doctor Mist and Wonder Woman a tour." He glances at Lantern Stewart. "If you can breathe underwater, you're both welcome to accompany us."

Lantern Stewart nods. "Power rings can handle gas giants. We can handle getting wet."

He seems kind of clenched for some reason. Is this supposed to look a lot more threatening than it seems to me, or is that just how he handles missions. I haven't ever gone on one with him, and he unclenched during breaks in sparing.

I don't really know him very well.

Ahri'ahn stands, and Diana, Dr. Balewa and I follow his example.

"Please allow me to show you Poseidonis. I'm very pleased with what we've done with it."

He leads the way into the corridor outside, and then towards… What used to be an exterior balcony. Diana takes the opportunity to walk closer.

"How were you able to protect everyone from the Anti-Life?"

He glances at her. "Are you a student of magic?"

"Not of the Atlantean school."

"Which school, then? If you studied under Doctor Mist, even to a primitive level, I could probably explain it to you."

"I have studied the mysteries-" And because I'm watching for it, I see the flicker of absolute contempt in his face before he covers it. "-of Hekate, and the rites of many gods."

"Then… Consider that it is not possible to simply walk into the demiplanes which the various spirit beings associated with the Earth make their homes. I was able to create a similar division."

"The gods used something similar to protect Themyscira."

"No they… Didn't. What happened to Themyscira is that it was brought into a new realm. I used a new realm as a barrier while all of Atlantis remains on Earth but apart from it."

That… Sounds plausible. Then the barrier wasn't so much a barrier as a place where the universe in effect doesn't exist. It would be difficult and extremely energy intensive, but that's the sort of thing a magician of Ahri'ahn's power could do.

"Could such a spell shield the entire Earth?"

He thinks for a moment as we emerge back into the sunlight. "Yes, I believe so. Would such a thing interest you?"

"Given all that the Earth has suffered at the hands of alien enemies, yes, it would."

"Then we can certainly look into it." He leads us out onto the balcony and towards the Gate it holds. "But for now, the city."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
14:37 GMT -2

"…Roman sewers, well before electrical power lines were invented."

Lantern Stewart looks at Ahri'ahn with a tinge of scepticism as he gestures to the Atlantean equivalent of a junction box.

"Individual units are far easier to build than a network, but a network is easier to build than a million individual units. I imagine it is similar to how a car is far less expensive and less disruptive than building a metro train network, so that even if the metro network would be more efficient it is cars which dominate your cities."

Ahri'ahn smiles faintly.

"A 'modern' Atlantean home has dozens of individual pieces of biomancy and pure enchantment, and the average citizen can only perform the most basic maintenance or repairs. But with an actual investment in infrastructure, we can create networks which allow the useful to spread over an area, off-loading the complex parts to locations like this which are far easier to maintain."

I nod as Doctor Balewa's eyes unfocus while he starts examining the system. "I suppose that explains why you're more concerned about external magic use now. A system like this is far easier to disrupt than the old compartmentalised system."

"It's harder to disrupt than a hundred of the older system, and it isn't intended to replace individual works completely. But it would be easier to disrupt… Say, the heat distribution exchange than a million individual ovens."

Ahh… "But 'disrupt' and not 'shut down', because it's self-reinforcing. You're using Professor Sephtian's work."

"Professor Sephtian designed a system where bound enchantments would reinforce one another. The system I designed redirects the flows of magic energy across an area. If you were looking for a metaphor, he planted trees whose roots would hold a river bank together, whereas I dug a canal to send the river where it will be more productive."

Dr. Balewa's eyes focus once again. "It is eh most intricate system. Is it practical to implement over a wider area?"

"It's easier to expand it than keep it contained." He smirks smugly. "The water metaphor is frankly rather a good one."

Diana frowns. "Is that part of why you only raised part of Atlantis from the water?"

He shrugs. "Those Atlantean citizens whose forebears received the… Lesser transformation spell, have adapted almost totally to aquatic life. At this point, bringing them back to the surface would not be in anyone's interests. And I will admit, raising the continent as much as I did drained me. It will be some time before I should attempt to channel such magic again."

I suppose that… Goes some way to explain why there aren't any non-Pureblood-. Ah, except Kaldur. So, he includes gill-neck Atlanteans? Kaldur does struggle if he's stuck out of water for too long… But perhaps that counts? The shore isn't all that far from here; the island of Poseidonis isn't all that large.

But, again, we have water-manipulation artefacts-. I mean, personal, drag-the-water-with-you-automatically enchanted jewellery became available last year. Any Atlantean with piscine characteristics could walk around the above-water regions, and while that might not be a comfortable way to live, it would make sense for work or education.

But I'm far too much of an outsider to investigate anything Ahri'ahn doesn't want to show me.

"Are Garth or Tula around?"

He nods. "I believe that they have returned to the Conservatory as full-time students. For such promising scholars, I don't believe that it makes sense to rush them into the field. Not outside of a national emergency." He smiles at me. "If you're concerned for their wellbeing, we can visit the Conservatory. I intended to make it a stop along the tour, but there's no harm in going there earlier."

Diana nods. "I would also like to speak with Arthur and Mera."

His smile becomes noticeably strained as he steps away from the utility hub and begins heading for the nearest Gate. "King Orin is presently involved in diplomatic work. Naturally, the various cities of Atlantis are interested in what role they will play going forwards, and he is reassuring them. He expected that you would be the one to visit, and indicated his intent to receive you later, once he had time. Queen Mera remains the head of the Conservatory of Sorcery. I imagine that she will speak with you when we arrive."

"Will Orin return to his role as Aquaman?"

I suspect that it's only because I'm using my rings' sensors that I spot him roll his eyes. Yes, that's a fairly normal reaction from someone who predates superheroic traditions to a head of state acting like a barbarian king. King Orin has two sons, but only Artur is legitimate and he's a small child. Putting kings in a position where it's easy to shoot them is very unwise.

It's a bit different in Diana's case. The current Wonder Woman is supposed to be an ambassador, and there's nothing stopping Queen Hippolyta summoning me and telling me that she and Philippus want triplets. And of course with Kon, Mitchell and Donna being adopted into the royal family, and with Themyscira having Greek traditions about royalty, it's less of a big deal.

"Almost certainly not. The changes to Atlantean civilisation as we emerge at last from the sea will require his full attention. Though I imagine that we can find someone else to take on the role."

"Personally, and with no insult intended to Doctor Balewa, I'd rather have an Atlantean archmage on the Justice League over a melee fighter."

"I note that you don't intend no insult to my king."

"King Orin is a perfectly effective fighter, but he's a division below Superman or Wonder Woman. Joining the League was a sound political move to encourage people in other countries to view Atlantis favourably, but at this point that's more easily done with trade…" I look around. "And tourism, which I suppose that you can do much more easily now. I don't intend to insult him. It's a dispassionate analysis that I've already given to him directly."

Diana closes her eyes for a moment.

Ahri'ahn doesn't look enthusiastic. "Our trade with other countries is being reviewed."

"I assume that the American citizens operating the circuit-printing machinery are in good health? Professor Sephtian was rather excited about the possibilities."

"It's a dead end as far as I'm concerned, but that may be my professional pride talking. We sheltered the Americans while the Anti-Life broadcasts were ongoing, and will be returning them shortly. Once we are certain that it is safe to do so."

"Do you want an independent party to be able to report that they're in good health?"

He considers the question as we walk through the Gate and… This place looks really different above water.

"Yes, that might be helpful. Guardsman!"

The Conservatory still has a garrison, though I note that the Nanauvians who were previously a part of it are now absent. A couple of the guards manning the gate look up at Ahri'ahn's shout.

"You. Take the Green Lantern to the foreign machinists. He can speak with them as much as he wants."

A fist to the chest salute is his immediate reply. "Yes, Lord. Green Lantern?"

Lantern Stewart hesitates for a moment, then nods. "Sure." He creates a platform under the soldier and lifts him up. "Where are we headed?"

Ahri'ahn leads the rest of us into the Conservatory-proper, the… Renovations being more extensive here than at the palace. There aren't any students in this part at this time of the day, and-.

And I only have to go through two sets of eyes before I learn my lesson about scanning around here.

"I believe that Queen Mera is taking one of the senior classes. I've notified her of your arrival, and she's scheduled you in after it is concluded. Would you like to see one of the classes, or should I take you to her office?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May 2013
20:53 GMT -5

"So… Yeah. That's where we are."

Richard's frowning, though his mask makes it harder to see. "So Kaldur's just… Quitting?"

"Either that, or he's under cover, or mind controlled."

Wallace huffs. "Mind control again? Didn't we just get done with that?"

"If it helps, it's probably a different sort of mind control."

Zatanna nods. "There are a lot of ways to control someone with magic."

Roy grins. "Are you looking for a volunteer from the audience?"

"Ah…" She blushes faintly. "Not right now. What I mean is that Aqualad just seeming agreeable doesn't narrow it down. How-how were Tula and Garth?"

"About the same as they were last time I saw them. Other than the disinclination to continue as superheroes, which honestly makes sense."

Wallace regards me curiously. "Atlantis isn't exactly on the front line with the Reach, Oh El. They don't desperately need every single wizard they can get."

Richard's eyes dip for a moment. "Unless they do, and we just don't know why."

Kon shrugs. "Ahri'ahn said that raising Poseidonis took a lot out of him, and he's…" He looks at me. "How powerful is he?"

"I haven't been able to test him objectively, but based on legends, surviving artefacts and the sort of power he'd need to have to raise a sunken continent, about as powerful as human magicians get. I don't think he's quite as powerful as Doctor Mist due to the lack of an external power source, but I suspect that he's more skilled."

Roy looks blank. "How big a deal is the external power source thing? Because Zatanna doesn't have one, and…" He looks at Zatanna. "Ah, do you?"

She shakes her head. "My costume -and Dad's- helps a bit, and… Apparently-" She looks at me. "-Doctor Mist is one of my ancestors. And everyone descended from him can handle a bit more raw magic than most people."

"He…" Roy carries on looking blank. "Ah…"

She rolls her eyes. "It was over a hundred generations ago. Of course I don't look like him."

M'gann frowns. "How big is the difference?"

Zatanna looks a little awkward. "Well, it's… Hard to measure it exactly-."

"About two hundred times more raw power, untrained homo magi to random peon. About fifty times more raw power, slightly experienced homo magi to minor street magician. About twenty times more raw power, veteran homo magi to a lifelong magic junkie like John Constantine."

Wallace nods. "So they start stronger, and a regular guy can't ever catch up."

"Yes." / "No."

I raise my eyebrows at Zatanna, and she shrugs. "They can, but they have to make a deal with something for a power boost. Circe is supposed to have made a deal with Hecate, Dark Druid made one with the Rot, Felix Faust makes one with anything that will still talk to him... And then since they're not using their own power any more it's much less of a drawback."

"Aside from the physical and mental transformations, the demands of their patrons, and the fact that it probably means that they'll struggle to use other types of magic from then on. And the fact that a homo magi who made the same pact would still be stronger."

M'gann looks puzzled. "What about magic artefacts?"

"This is raw direct energy manipulation. There are all sorts of ways to increase a magician's effective combat power. Imbue an object with a spell you can just activate, and that's effectively another free spell. Use the right gestures and you're not having to shove the world around with raw power, making casting easier. Heck, why do you think summoning demons used to be so popular? A demon can do far more than a summoner who's just strong enough to summon it."

Richard nods. "But they don't work for free."

"They literally can't. Though I did read about an occasion where a demon really wanted to do something and was fine with getting paid with a sandwich."

He smirks. "What kinda sandwich?"

"Ah, ham and cheddar, but it was a symbolic exchange of value rather than something where the contents were significant."

Wallace perks up slightly. "Ham and cheese sandwiches aren't kosher. Is that important?"

Um… "It wasn't mentioned as being significant in the book I read, but I suppose that every little bit of sacrilege helps."

Richard looks contemplative. "When are you going back?"

"Tuesday. Dox has told our wizards to either begin packing up or formally request asylum within a day. I don't imagine any will be staying."

Artemis snorts. "So this Ahri'ahn guy is just upending their lives, and he thinks they'll be okay with that? Sounds like we're back to magical mind control." She frowns. "Is the Orange Lantern-. I mean, is N.E.M.O., going to be okay with that?"

"There are other places we can go for magic assistance. They're just less easy. As things stand we'll probably go to Lantern Hieronymous's homeworld and see if we can negotiate something with its ruler. Which isn't ideal because he's a magical high school dropout and they're a long way away from the Reach war zone… And frankly, their knowledge of thaumaturgy doesn't seem to be up to Atlantean standards." I shrug. "It's a blow, but we'll manage. Not like the Reach have any magic users either."

Roy nods. "What's the League doing about this?"

Kon shrugs. "Aquaman can quit whenever he wants to. And you know that the League doesn't want to break their Charter…" He smiles wryly. "Where people can see it. So if Atlantis doesn't want to take part, that's up to them. Unless they are being mind controlled, but it's not like Mom or anyone else can just demand to see the king."

M'gann frowns. "What about his father?"

Richard winces. "He can't really demand that, either. I mean, if he was sick or something then Aquaman would probably want to know, but he's actually pretty healthy."

Ah!

"The Fish-Eaters."

"Huh? Oh!" Richard nods. "Yeah. That could work."

Wallace gives him a blank stare. "And for the rest of us?"

"A group of minor magic using hooligans from Cornwall. They were taking part in a restorative justice program in Poseidonis as an alternative to a young offenders institution in Britain. Afterwards, they got an open travel visa. I don't know exactly where they are now, but they should still be able to go back and forth without triggering any wards. Whether they'll be willing to or not I don't know, but it doesn't hurt to ask. And if they're still in Atlantean territory and I get stopped, trying to find them is a legitimate reason for poking around."

"You should take M'gann and Robert. And… Zatanna?"

She thinks about it. "Well… I… Can't fight Ahri'ahn, but if he doesn't know how my family's magic works then I should be able to bypass some of his wards."

"I meant, can you breathe in water?"

"Oh, sure, that's easy. Especially in Atlantis."

I nod, standing up. "I'll go and talk to Robert. I'll let you know if he's available."

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th May 2013
10:04 GMT

I wait slightly awkwardly for the Marrack family to leave the church. Joking aside, I don't actually catch fire if I step foot on holy ground, and I'm not sure if this… Village hall of a church is properly sanctified anyway. Having St. Mary's as my village church growing up gave me unrealistic expectations of what a place of worship should look like.

I was a little surprised that Robert goes to church. He knows for a fact that his soul can't go to Heaven or Hell, and that the deities who have authority over him don't care for good Christian conduct, so… Why bother? I suppose 'to keep my mother happy' is a reasonable enough reason on a practical level, but it's not a particularly good one objectively.

And there's the woman now, his sisters, his uncle -looking as well as I've seen him- and… Robert himself. I raise my right hand to wave to him. He spots me, then turns and looks behind him to try and work out who the stranger in the crowd is waving to.

I keep waving and take my glasses off.

He turns back around and gets a clear view of my face. His eyes widen, and then he turns to his mother to make his excuses. I turn away, taking a seat on the short wall running around the edge of the car park and returning the glasses to my nose.

"Er."

"Good morning, Robert."

"Morning… Paul." He sits down next to me. "Do you need me for something? 'cause the coast is still a bit of a mess, and it's… Sunday."

"No, I just… I realised that I hadn't seen you for a while." He regards me sceptically. "Which is why I'm here in person, but I also need to know what happened to the Fearsome Fish-Eaters for an actual mission."

"They've been keeping their noses clean." He shrugs. "Haven't seen much of 'em since they got back from Atlantis." He frowns. "They aren't involved in… In it coming up, are they? That's sort of thing takes a lot more power than they've got."

"No, no, don't worry about that. I'm just hoping that they're still in contact with people in Atlantis."

His concern appears to be growing. "What's..? Going on?"

"We're not sure. Which is why I want to talk to some people who are more used to living in Atlantis than I am."

"What about Kaldur?"

"He… May have been affected. Garth and Tula too."

He frowns. "And you think those prats aren't?"

"I'd like to eliminate them from my enquiries. Or retain their services to poke around."

"Mate…" He shakes his head. "That needs brains."

"I think they can probably handle 'go talk to some people and then come back, I'll pay you'."

"If you're sure. Ah, I know where Jim lives. He got a job as a binman. I don't know about the other two. They don't have parole officers 'cause they're not on parole."

"Gainful employment! Progress!" I smile. "I like hearing about things like that."

I stand-.

"I think… Maybe… Don't just turn up at his house?"

"I could walk slowly down the street if you think it would help?"

"How about you phone him?"

"Isn't that a bit impersonal?"

"Ah… Sometimes… Impersonal isn't… Bad."

I raise my eyebrows slightly. "To keep things professional?"

"Yeah." He nods. "Yeah, that's why. I haven't got his number-."

I raise my right hand to my ear. "Ring, phone James… Cottridge?"

"Compliance."

Robert raises his eyebrows. "You remembered his name?"

"I remember everything."

I hear the phone be picked up. "Yeah?"

"Mister Cottridge. Orange Lantern. I'm glad to-."

"The fuck do you want?"

"To congratulate you on reforming. I appreciate that it's not easy to change your accustomed behaviour, but you pulled it off. Well done."

I hear him sigh.

"Yeah, thanks. What d'you actually want?"

"I want someone to talk to the Nanauvians and find out how they feel about current events. I am happy to pay you for your work."

"Is this..? Like, entrapment?"

"No, Catherine Zeta-Jones is far more attractive than you, and I'm not Scottish."

"Whut-? Oh, the f-. Heh! Okay. Okay. Yeah, she probably is and all. How much?"

"I haven't kept track of the value of the pound, but I've got five Justice League medallions-."

"Sold. But I've got work tomorrow. I kinda need this job. I can't afford to just not turn up."

"I can speak with your line manager. People don't usually question 'urgent Justice League business'."

"Great. Do you want me to get Stevie and Richie?"

"If you can, that would be helpful. I'll pay them too, naturally."

"Sweet. So just..? Ask around?"

"See if you notice anything different. No rush."

"So… Just a day, or..?"

"If nothing seems out of place by the end of tomorrow, come back. Come back sooner if something does. Don't endanger yourself; that's my job."

"Right. See you when I see you, then."

"Best of luck."

I hang up the call, lowering my hand.

"He seems in good spirits."

"That's a lot of money for two days' work." Robert looks away, thinking it over. "And I think… I think he liked it there? But he's got family here and he can't just vanish."

"And emigrating is a big step, when there's no set exchange rate." I nod. "Well, if he does a good job I'll see about sorting something out for him. Nice seeing you again."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 981 941.M41

And there we go.

A swarm of ships of various classifications erupt from the mining stations and floating shipyards, the brood brothers of the Cult of Destined Stars coming into the open in a frantic attempt to prevent Inquisitor Vail's ship warning nearby Imperial worlds.

Naturally she wouldn't warn T'au Empire worlds, despite the obvious increase in efficiency that would cause. So if the envoy of self-proclaimed 'downtrodden masses' we received hadn't been spotted by our improved detection protocols, this could have ended up being jolly awkward.

Externus Exterminatus is officially listed as a 'yacht'. What that means is that it's between a frigate and a light cruiser in size, has its own navigators and astropaths and a… Decent gunnery. The ships attacking it vary from heavy freighters down to personal mining scouts that are trying to get inside the yacht's void shield envelope so that they can use their melta cutters on the turrets-.

Yep, that one just managed it, and now more are swarming the opening.

Odd, really. I'd expect an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor to have upgraded her ship's weapons with alien technology. Tau turrets would significantly outperform what she's currently using, but I suppose that's what being a puritan means.

I transition forwards, right up to the hull of the heavily armoured cargo freighter currently trying to ram the Inquisitor. Her ship is trying to evade, but ships in the 41st millennium aren't the most agile and the cargo ship has had extra manoeuvring thrusters added to help it dodge asteroid clumps. Manoeuvring thrusters whose outlets I could stand inside without my head touching the upper interior surface, so… Tiny by Imperial standards.

And out come the melta bombs. I flitter around, planting them on anything that looks exposed and important to the task of ramming the Externus Exterminatus. Nothing the locals can't fix, but this whole place is going to get annihilated by the Imperial Navy in a day or two so I doubt that matters. Punching through the hull would take more time than I want to spend, and… The sheer size of these ships makes actually doing enough damage to kill them frustratingly difficult.

There. Done. Now transition onto the bow of the Externus Exterminatus and detonate.

Can't see a darn thing from here. That ship is trying to collide with the one I'm standing on and I can barely see it. But my scans show that most of the melta bombs did the trick and the freighter's manoeuvring capacities have dropped right off.

I generate a railgun turret and start shooting the tiny mining scouts still trying to swarm the yacht. And the funny thing is that there's a good chance that the pilot and the Inquisitor have no idea that I'm here. Not like these things have much in the way of external cameras.

Ring, contact the ship.

Ave, Lanterna.

"This is the Externus Exterminatus, ship of His Most Holy Majesty's Inquisition. All servants of the throne are ordered to lend all possible aid. If you're the one who just-."

"The problem there is that I'm not a 'servant of the throne'. I'm Orange Lantern, and I need a word with Inquisitor Vail. Can that be arranged?"

"Stand by."

I scan the exterior of the ship. A few long-ranged shots are causing the void shields to flare prettily, but they're not exactly overstressing them. The rule with Imperial ships is that two ships of the same class can usually batter down each others' shields, but won't be able to inflict significant hull damage before the shields reset. The few remaining scouts… They're hiding from the orange glow. I've got a null rod in subspace, but it doesn't have the range to try and disrupt them. I move the turret further away from the ship, giving it a better angle.

"This is Inquisitor Vail. What is an agent of the Tau Empire doing here?"

"The cultists were trying to convince us that they were totally on our side, and that they'd love it if we'd annex the system. We're not that gullible." Anymore. "Look, do you mind if I come inside? Your way to the Mandeville Point is clear and last time I rode a ship through the warp it got some unwanted attention. I was fine, the ship less so."

There's a brief delay.

"The closest maintenance hatch is unlocked."

"Ta everso."

I fly up off the hull and around the crenellations and other gothic splurges until I find… The doorway wide enough for an entire maintenance team to leave simultaneously. And this isn't even one of the big doors. Those, you can drive tanks through three abreast.

Interface and open.

The doors open, and I disable the internal weapons before flying inside and closing the door behind me. The air starts cycling a moment later, and then the internal doors open with a quiet hiss of equalising pressure.

It leads out into a room containing lockers and spacesuits and some sort of manoeuvring frames. There's only one door leading into the ship's interior proper, so I head towards-.

A squad of armsmen enter, shotguns levelled. I take an instant to observe their discipline and professionalism, nod, and transition to… A heavy bulkhead door.

This could take a while.

After scanning, transitioning and poking holes in a few walls, I finally arrive in the bridge briefing room and raise my right hand in greeting to Inquisitor Vail herself as I shield, scan and set alerts for when they take a crack at me. A few more armsmen level a few more guns at me, and the techpriest-. Is that a Mark I plasma pistol? I've only seen them used by the traitor legions…

I point at the tactical plot of the… Shuddering green hologram projector on the table. Far worse than the tau version, which has colours and anti-aliasing. It's showing local space and-.

"Yeah, don't worry about that one. I wrecked its thrusters. Just alter course a little and you'll be fine."

She looks up at one of the armsmen and nods, and he leaves the briefing room at a jog. I track him heading for the pilot's station, which… Isn't as insanely gothic as it might have been, but makes up for it in fortifications.

"Why are you here?"

"I had some good fortune recently, and I thought that I'd share." The data storage device which isn't built into a skull but should still be compatible with most imperial cogitators appears from subspace, and the techpriest starts furtively fiddling with something under his robes.

Hopefully, it's a scanner. I'm a married man after all.

I hold it out to the Inquisitor, but her eyes flick and an armsman comes forward to take it from me instead.

"What is it?"

"The birthright of all humans everywhere." I shrug. "I found a historical database on a derelict ship recently." True, though it was walking around at the time. "I… Don't think you'd be much interested in some of it… Certainly not in the catalogue of pre-Ecclesiarchy human religions and their beliefs for example, but the music should pass a purity screening. Some of it is recognisably the original inspiration for certain popular hymnals. I've already started distributing it amongst the human population of the Tau Empire and I can think of no one better than you to introduce it to the Imperium."

"I'm a little busy with Genestealer Cults at the moment. Based on the information you provided, they've been prioritised."

"And I'm glad to hear it." I nod, genuinely pleased. The Imperium, prioritising properly? But then I suppose that if 'they're coming for the Emperor' didn't make that happen then nothing would. "We've dealt with all of ours, tau and otherwise. But…" I raise my right hand in a placatory fashion. "We're dealing with a far smaller area."

And dealing with them using an efficient police state, rather than the inefficient one she's got to deal with.

"Are you prepared to share the details?"

"But of course! Tyranids are everyone's problem."

She looks past me. "Pelton, take him to the drawing room on kappa deck and make him comfortable. I will join you once we've transitioned to the warp."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 982 941.M41

After shifting the shaped charge in the proffered seat into subspace and replacing the void with heretical tau padding foam, I started playing a thing or two from my new playlist.

It's amazing what survived the intervening 38000 years.

I mean, it's not the original singer, whatever his name was. And I don't think the instruments are the same. But the tune and the beat and the lyrics are there, and that's more than I had any right to hope for.

My guard is clearly uncomfortable with my choice of listening. Really, he could do a better job of covering it up: I didn't complain about the bomb or the nanotech in the drink he gave me.

"You don't like it?"

He doesn't look at me.

"You're not dressed like the eggmen, so I assume that you're one of the Inquisitor's acolytes? This is a perfect opportunity to gather useful information on an enemy whose behaviour you don't understand."

"I don't enjoy heretical music with traitors."

"Heretical?" I point upwards my right forefinger, raising my eyebrows. "Do you understand what he's saying? I thought English was a dead language; just me and the Emperor who know it now."

"Fine. What's he singing about?"

"He's a ganger who -after some self-reflection- has come to realise that the life he's living is evil and self-destructive, and is begging a priest to show him how to live better because he's literally never seen anyone live differently to him and has no idea what it's like."

A slight twitch of surprise undermines his aloof demeanour. "Oh."

"It's from M Two, by the way. Twenty eight thousand years before the founding of the Ecclesiarchy. Some parts of human nature are universal and unchanging."

"What god did the priest worship?"

"Ah… The God of Christianity didn't really have a name other than 'god'. I don't know if it existed in any literal sense. And if it did… Given the relative strength of human souls, I don't imagine that it survived the Age of Isolation intact."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Eldar say that their gods are dead because they were torn apart when Slaanesh was born. But the warp storms of the Age of Isolation leading up to that event would have badly stressed all warp-based structures. Humans have less of a warp presence than Eldar, and given that I've seen no signs of the presence of older human gods I have to assume that any we created are all dead as well."

"The only human god is the Emperor."

"Depending on your definition of 'god' and 'human', that may well be correct." His expression hardens, and I raise my hands in mock surrender. "Let's not pretend that the chaos gods haven't eaten their share of willing human worshippers, contemptible as they are. And yes, I admit that I don't know for certain that our species generated other gods naturally, just that it would fit with what I know about warp mechanics."

"And what god do you worship?"

"I don't. I respect the Emperor for his tremendous ongoing sacrifice, but… Ah… Obviously I didn't look at the Imperium of Man and say 'yes, the being who created this is clearly a faultless divinity'."

His face hardens, and I think that I've lost him. And then the door opens and Inquisitor Vail strides in, techpriest in tow.

"Pelham, don't talk about religion with the Alpha-level heretic."

He bows his head in contrition. "I'm sorry, my lady."

"Alpha?" I spread out my arms in appeal. "Why don't I warrant Alpha-Plus? I fight armies!"

"Why?" She's affecting the manner of a stern school teacher, looking at me as if I was a disobedient child as she takes her place opposite me. "Because if you were Alpha-Plus we wouldn't be able to converse with you and dealing with the tau requires negotiation."

"You still send bloody temple assassins, though. So congratulate whoever did that for teaching the tau how to make hellfire and turbo-penetrator rounds. I'm sure your tank commanders will enjoy being on the receiving end." A bracer appears on my right forearm, a green blade extending from it. "This is beyond their technology, but I'm keeping it. Think carefully before-."

When the blade appeared, the techpriest gripped some sort of-.

"Hah!" I send the phase sword back into ironic subspace. "A null rod?" I take mine out of subspace and pointedly pat the head with my left palm. "Wrong approach, I'm afraid. It's really not warp-based."

Vail glances at the techpriest, and he stows his rod. So I return the favour by stowing mine. The Tau Empire can't produce null devices itself -as far as I know- but they've collected enough from Imperial wrecks that we're not desperate enough for it to make sense for me to steal his.

"Why are you here?"

"Did you test my blood?"

"Yes. You're human. Minimal mutations-."

"Come on." I frown. "'Minimal'?"

"No obvious warp-based mutations. You also lack any genetics we could trace to any known phenotype or to any known bio-augmetics."

"So on a purity scale of-."

"Your biology isn't the problem. The problem is that you've chosen to serve aliens."

"And you can't imagine why."

"Information on the second millennium is hard to come by."

"That wasn't a question."

She blinks slowly. "Why, then?"

I sit back, smiling ruefully. "Can you imagine how much human society has changed in thirty eight thousand years? In my day we only inhabited Earth. We had rocket-driven spacecraft, but no… Plasma thrusters or warp drives. No psykers, not that.. anyone knew about. I mean, the… Being you call The Emperor was around somewhere, but his existence wasn't public knowledge. I certainly didn't know about him. And you're probably thinking 'ignorant bumpkin from an industrial-age backwater', but I'm not. That was it. That was all we had. No Imperium, no Terran Federation or… Whatever. Just the one world."

I frown at her, leaning forwards.

"Can you imagine that?"

I think she's actually thinking about it.

"No. I don't think I can."

"And can you imagine what we did to get from there to here? Everything we had to learn about the mechanics of the universe, every theory guessed at, tested, revised… Everything we could imagine but couldn't yet build… We weren't even sure that faster than light travel would turn out to be possible."

The techpriest nods. "Through the blessings of the Machine God-."

"No you idiot!" I glare at him. "M Two! Your religion didn't even exist back then! We worked it out! For ourselves! No gods, only men! Hard material graft! And… You! You say that humanity's peak was in the past and try to recover it from… Fragments. You can't! It's gone! The only way to get back up there is to do it the same way we did the first time around! Like the tau do, and you don't!"

The techpriest glares at me. "Heresy."

I sit back in the chair, smiling faintly as the ring notifies me that someone tried to set off the explosive. "You lack our virtues, and try to pretend they're vices to make yourself feel better about your inadequacy. You want to know what the ancients would have thought of you? You're a child proudly displaying a full potty. And then replacing your own organs with the contents. Your civilisation disgusts me profoundly."

Inquisitor Vail remained almost completely still throughout that outburst. "And tau civilisation does not?"

I shrug. "They remind me of how we used to be. They're making a lot of mistakes, but they're learning and they're not repeating them." I shrug. "Too often. My kind of people. So… Yeah. That's why I picked the tau. Any other questions?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th May 2013
23:58 GMT

So while the Fish-Eaters are busy doing reconnaissance, I've got other work do to.

The Atlanteans all want to go home. Several sounded less than enthusiastic about staying there permanently, but they all prefer returning to permanent exile. To buy a little time I dropped them off with Ted in New York, and from there they can return home once US-Atlantis relations have stabilised.

Which leaves us out of magicians.

"Um."

Next to me, Lantern Hieronymous looks down nervously on his homeworld. His skin is an unusual shade of pale blue, quite close to that of the grundymen, actually. He has fat silver hoops through each of his earlobes, a thin moustache and long brown hair which he wears combed back and hanging loose. For clothing he's picked an odd combination of Orange Lantern Corps formal robes and something an 18th century French aristocrat might wear on a formal occasion. I'm assuming that it's something rich people from his homeworld might wear, and even though it costs effectively nothing to a Lantern, he still considers it important.

"If you've got any outstanding warrants, now is the time to tell me."

"No! No. No, I never did anything important enough to get-. I mean! Of course not." He grins awkwardly and unconvincingly. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Your terrible acting. Look, Lantern Ragnar literally murdered a dozen or so people before joining up. Zartok led a war of conquest which killed thousands at the very least. From the sounds of things you haven't done anything on that level."

"Well not objectively, no."

"'Objectively' is fairly important."

"I always wanted to do something important, it just never seemed to… Shake out. I thought being the most powerful wizard in the Orange Lantern Corps would be that thing, and then it turned out that all of those Atlanteans knew more than me. And now they're gone, and I'm back here to get some replacements."

"Did you take the opportunity to borrow the Atlanteans' manuals while they were here?"

He looks pained. "I was… Busy."

"Did you copy it onto your ring?"

"Some parts."

"Have you considered researching your species' neural physiology and increasing your motivation manually?"

He blinks. "I can do that?"

"You can do anything you want. But if that's a bit much, one of my species' goddesses of intellect recently got freed from her prison and would probably be prepared to make a pact with you."

"And what does she want in return?"

"Animal livers, apparently. She might want more for a major blessing."

"But your homeworld is a long way away-. Hukh!"

I blink in surprise. He… Just got so demotivated that his environmental shield glitched. And now he's bent over in space, trying to get his breath back.

I know that magic users are rare on a galactic scale, but was this really the best we could do?

"Let's get you into the atmosphere, shall we?"

I fly downwards, careful to avoid looking too hard at anything magical-looking. We're coming here as petitioners and not as equals, after all. Ahri'ahn burning my eyes to ash is something I could take him to task on. If Queen Artemis does it, I've just got to grin and bear it.

"What can you tell me about the queen?"

"She's blonde? Mostly. Blonde and purple. I always assumed that she dyes it, but she's really good at magic so it might be an illusion or she might have altered her follicles."

"Anything pertinent?"

"She has no sense of humour. At all."

"Ah. Now, do you mean that she didn't laugh when you made a joke, or-."

"No! I mean, she wouldn't have, but when would I ever meet the Queen? She did the graduation speech at my university, but she left well before my diploma was awarded. It's just not a thing that she has."

We're through the clouds now, the strangely primitive capital city spread out below us. It looks medieval, but it's a lot cleaner and has a lot more stonework and glass than an actual medieval city would have had. We-.

Oh, that felt weird. I breached some sort of ward, and-. And by 'breached' I mean I think it failed when I passed through it. People in armour are mustering around the palace and four wyvern riders just mounted up and started flying our way.

I stop in the air and wait for them to arrive. Far more sensible than continuing an approach when they're braced for hostilities. In fact… I create a seat for myself and sit on it.

"Should I do that?"

"If you want to, yes. If you don't, no."

"But should I?"

"I fear that you have failed to understand my previous answer."

One of the wyvern-rider approaches to within shouting distance. "Ho, strangers! State your business!"

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I seek an audience with Queen Artemis to negotiate the hiring of a large number of your people's wizards."

A helmet that looks like it's made of steel plate turns towards Hieronymous. "And you?"

"I live here."

The helmeted head stares at him for a moment.

"Why are you blue?"

Hieronymous seems mildly offended. "That's.. a.. fairly personal question to ask someone, don't you think?"

"Do you actually need to know?"

"Do you know?"

"I assumed that's what people on this planet look like."

He reaches up and pulls off his helmet… And he's got skin that's basically the same colour as mine. Honestly, if I didn't know this wasn't Earth I'd mistake him for human.

"We don't. I just want to make sure that he's not a lich before I take you to the palace."

"Since I'm not a magician myself I can't really check, but as far as I can tell all his organs are working as if he were alive."

"Alright then." He gives Hieronymous a suspicious look, and Hieronymous tries to avoid looking like a reanimated corpse. "Please follow me down, and someone will inform the queen that you're here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th May 2013
11:17 GMT

"…perfectly capable of going there by herself."

Lex nods as we walk side by sides across the outer part of what will soon be the construction slip for Earth's first colonisation vessel. The British ship-building industry has been in the doldrums for decades, but fortunately there's still a supply of skilled and experienced specialists to draw upon. Though naturally we're…

Though naturally, Lex is building a technical college nearby in order to ensure that the next generation learns those same skills.

"Surely Luna appreciated you escorting her?"

"No, the idea of me willingly spending time with her sister just confused her. She's the one who pointed out the incongruity. And she's right."

Lex gives me a sidelong glance. "Have you changed your opinion of her?"

"No, it's… Not that. I'm the God of Conquest, right?"

"I will accept that description provisionally."

"Hm." I smile. "And Earth's my domain. What's the problem?"

"You've already conquered it?"

"Nearly. The problem is that it's working really well."

He nods. "Leaving you with nothing to do."

"No, that's not it. It's… I feel it in my soul when parts of my domain aren't working right. That motivates me to take action. If I don't, it's like a constant itch. But now…" I stop walking, and sweep my hand in the direction of the building site. "Look at this place."

"Earth is doing well." Lex stops, turning to face it. "If there's nothing that requires your attention, you are demotivated."

I nod. "My soul latched into Equestria as 'sort of' being mine, and in need of fixing. But not only is it now a case of diminishing returns, there honestly isn't much I can do there." I smirk. "Other than gee up their leaders. I mean, it's delightful to have competent allies, but I need to get myself back in gear."

"If you want something to do, crime is still above 'civilised' levels in a number of places."

I shake my head. "Between telepathy and the… Governmental anti-corruption campaigns, the current excess can be dealt with using existing social mechanisms. We both know the dangers of exceptional individuals doing too much in situations like this." He nods offhandedly. "We need people of good moral character to move up through the system to replace the people we're tolerating."

"And Vega?"

I slump ruefully. "Another mistake of mine. The same issue as Earth, really. Other than my alter-ego's people needing resettlement everything was progressing well, and that was in hand. And I compounded things by treating Dox like I treat you."

He raises his left eyebrow slightly. "And how are you treating me?"

"Oh, you know, making it clear that we want the same thing, giving you access to my resources and then leaving you to get on with it. If I was constantly butting in then you'd hate it, even if I was trying to be helpful."

"My therapy has progressed far enough for me to accept why that is." But not enough that he doesn't immediately feel the need to check his peripherals. "Why wouldn't Dox feel the same?"

"Because I didn't hand you LexCorp. You built that. Vega became as it is as a result of my work, then I found someone to manage it and walked off the site. More or less."

"Ah." He tilts his head back slightly. "Yes, I see why that could be a problem. And I suppose it emphasises the danger of relying on superpowers, rather than good judgement."

"No argument from me. That's why I strive to surround myself with competent people."

He sniffs. "Alright, considered me buttered. What did you actually want to talk about?"

"Apokolips. A slow build-up of the E.D.F. is good, but it's not enough. I've been getting distracted."

Lex chuckles quietly. "Yes, I've a little experience with that myself."

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a-. An envelope, and passes it over to me. I take it from him and open it, reading the-

I beam at him. "Oh, congratulations!"

-wedding invitation.

"You were on the shortlist for best man."

I nod. "Who do I have to kill?"

"Ah, Maxwell Lord, but please don't. I decided that having the man who is supposed to be my parole officer standing next to me in church would push General Lane's tolerance further than our arrangement could withstand."

I raise my left eyebrow. "Church?"

He shrugs. "Naturally, I'm an atheist, but it's not just about me any longer. A stable religious community has proven to be beneficial for a child's social development. I suspect that our children will need all the help they can get."

Self-depreciating humour? And I can't see any of the signs of discomfort he used to show when his speechwriters wrote lines like that for him. He has come a long way. I wonder if I can-.

Something beeps in his jacket pocket, and he gives me a look of mild offence. "Was that really necessary?"

Wait, did-? "Did.. LexCorp invent something that can detect New God powers?"

"You asked me not to give you the particulars."

"Nono, I'm not complaining. I'm both surprised and impressed. I didn't think-. I can't even feel it."

"That was the intent. Product development will be pleased that it works. Though if you're intending to ramp up our efforts against Apokolips, I suppose that you might need to be fully briefed."

"Not.. yet." But that's a point. He'll do it, but I'm sure that having an ace or two in his back pocket to use against me was making this psychologically easier for him. Hm.

"Can you spare an hour or two for a trip to Tamaran? There's something that I'd like to show you."

"I'm afraid that Maxwell is organising the bachelor party. I could suggest it to him…"

"No, not for that. I need to check on the progress of the gordanians I've had working on the Apokoliptian wrecks, and since you're in charge of Earth's fleet you should probably have an overview."

"Very well."

Mother Box.

Ping.

The Hush Tube opens into the Orange Lantern Corps (Vega Branch) command centre. Dox is standing in his panopticon, and several other command Orange Lanterns are working on various projects around it.

All eyes turn to me as I stride in, and Dox's construct shimmers slightly as other emotions cloud his focus.

"Clarissi Vril Dox the Second."

"First Lantern Grayven. Do you have new orders?"

"Quite the opposite." I raise my left fist. Corpswide.

By your command.

"Dox, you've done and continue to do an excellent job with the reconstruction of Vega. No one else could have fulfilled that role, myself included. I also wish to apologise for not being clearer with my intent for both you and the organisation. So I'm fixing that. I resign my position of First Lantern and pass overall command to you. I'm sure that you will continue to impress everyone with your good judgement and dedication to the common good." "Believe me."

Dox… Unclenches slightly as the tamaraneans around him burst into spontaneous applause. And Lex… I think Lex does a little as well.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:06 GMT

We arrived fairly early in the local day, but it's later morning before we're summoned to the throne room. I don't know exactly how good that is where speed of monarchy is concerned. Naturally we couldn't send a message in advance; they don't have radios or other technology-based forms of communications. With Green Lanterns, they're supposed to have a good enough relationship with the governments in their Sector that there's a way for them to get an audience with someone when the need arises. In our case I'm not sure that Lantern Hieronymous would get an audience even if they knew who he was.

So we send me, a senior Corps officer. And I have enough arcane equipment that they're unlikely to simply dismiss me as a chancer, and the authority to offer just about anything they could want, up to and including their own Lanterns. And there's Hieronymous, who clearly isn't up to defending himself against truth compulsion spells from local archmages if they decide that they want to test my story.

I-.

Huh.

Despite the fact that Queen Artemis rules an entire world, her throne is a simple wooden affair set in an alcove at the far end of the room. The main floor of the throne room is made of bare flagstones, though the stone making up the 'royal platform' appears to have been fused into a single mass. The windows are designed to resemble leaded panes, though they're not using lead but rather… Wood? Some sort of magic-enhanced superwood? Seems like it would be more of a fiddle than just enhancing the glass. Purple drapes cover the walls of the royal alcove, and a mirror that is blatantly used for scrying is attached to the wall within convenient using distance of the throne.

Queen Artemis herself… Blonde and pink hair, pink and rose dress, a silver diadem on her forehead and… Odd… Antennae..? Things..? Sticking out of the corners of her eyes before rising up above the top of her head. None of the other locals appear to have those. Might be an age thing? Or like Hieronymous' odd skin colour, maybe a proportion of their species just looks a bit odd? Or maybe it's just the magicians? Otherwise there's not a lot about her that sticks out; average height, musculature, reasonably attractive but not stand-out attractive…

Though, again, that could be a miscalibration on my part.

I approach to what I think is a respectful distance and bow to a forty-five degree angle, waiting to be acknowledged.

"Ritual supplication is not required, though I do appreciate your willingness to be polite." I straighten up, smiling apologetically. "I have long since grown tired of off-worlders who do not understand that our magic makes us perfectly capable of defending ourselves."

"I apologise for my ignorance. This trip was arranged at short notice, and there wasn't a compatible diplomatic packet for me to absorb. I understand that I activated some sort of alarm when I arrived, and I apologise for that."

"The alarm was intended to detect people being used as hosts for powerful demons." She regards me suspiciously. "Do you know why it might have reacted to you?"

"Are you familiar with the Green Lantern Corps?"

"I have met our local Lantern. Neither they nor-" She wiggles her right forefinger at Hieronymous. "-whatever species he is triggered it."

"I was born here."

"Each colour has their own Embodiment; a powerful elemental creature comprised of the corresponding emotion. I have served as the host of the orange one, and though she's not currently occupying me we do maintain a link. Would that have done it?"

She nods, relaxing slightly. "Yes, that is most likely the issue."

"If you'd like to meet her, that can be arranged. For an Embodiment of Avarice, she's surprisingly quiescent at the moment. Of course, that would require that you travel to Maltus, and I know how difficult interstellar travel is when your civilisation is magic-focused."

"Yes, I noticed your concealment spells. Your world uses magic, then?"

"Yes. Not as much as I'd like, but yes. That's… Why I'm here."

"I'm curious why you wish to employ our magicians rather than those of your own home."

"We were employing those of my own home, but there's only one country that is really focused on magic, and their government just recalled them all. So we could either train up their replacements from scratch or go to one of the handful of worlds that also use magic. Lantern Hieronymous recommended his own homeworld over Zerox or M'arzz or… Anywhere else."

She nods. "Of course, I would have difficulty confirming that. As you say, travelling between the stars using magic is very difficult."

Oh? "You actually have a way to do it? The best I could come up with was opening a portal to Hell, travelling through and then punching a hole out. I've even got good enough relations with a senior demon lord that he'd probably enable it if he got a cut of the proceeds, but I haven't had time to really experiment. Is there another way?"

She looks taken aback. "Your education impresses me. Most visitors regard magic as a source of wonder or amusement rather than a serious technological path for an advanced civilisation. In answer to your question, yes, though we have not yet reached the point of taking our knowledge beyond the theoretical. Hell could indeed be used as you describe, but my thought is that the Dreaming would be safer."

I shake my head. "I've been through a dreamstorm. I wouldn't recommend it for a large inanimate object. And I don't think that Morpheus would approve of his realm being used as a shipping lane. Have you considered-?" I know that it was a Mother of Mercy induced hallucination, but from what I've been able to tell the theory is sound. "Artificially expanding the worldsphere? Or artificially joining two separate ones? I had a team researching the possibility but that's been closed down as well."

She leans forward. "Do you have their records?"

"Some of them, and I'd be happy to share, but I fear that I've gotten off-topic."

Actually….

I raise my right hand and transmute copies of… Just about everything. Professor Sephtian's books, the Dream research, what the Atlanteans on Maltus worked out, my own notes… And deposit them on the floor.

"A token of my esteem, one researcher to another. I'm not sure how useful it will be to you, but I do hope that it will be some."

A couple of servants approach to gather them up as the queen nods. "I shall look forward to examining them. But as you say, to return to the topic: why do you need to replace your researchers so swiftly?"

"We're involved in a rather large war. Using magic in certain ways has given us a very useful edge, and while I think we'll win anyway, a great many more people would die doing it."

"And I take it that those you fight are black-hearted villains?"

"My last mission against them involved rescuing people before their brains could be cut out to use as computers. Our foes -the Reach- habitually mind control and then exterminate those they conquer, while we recreate extinct species whose worlds we liberate. You can confirm that with your local Green Lantern, who should be able to access the reports we send to Oa. Or I can convey you to Maltus to speak with anyone you want there."

She smiles. "You make them sound like the most black-hearted villains in all the galaxy."

"No, that's still Darkseid and Apokolips. But they're trying really hard."

She looks thoughtful. "Tell me, are you married?"

"Affianced." I shrug. "Sorry. If you're thinking about a marriage alliance with the Corps, ah… I'm not sure that it's a good idea. Clarissi Dox considers emotion a weakness, Illustres Xor is happily married, Senior Lantern Ragnar only cares about fighting and no one else is really notable enough."

"I am more concerned with a man's character than his rank. Who amongst your fellow Lanterns stands out to you for their valour and heroism?"

"Most of my Lanterns are from a species of insectoids with seven sexes. Ah. But if you wanted me to select one as a model of heroism…"

7th May 2013
03:22 GMT

"Alan, I know it hasn't really come up before, but how would you feel about…? Dating?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
02:52 GMT -1

I look round, staring through the film of the bubble of air Robert has surrounded us with and into the ocean water beyond. Negotiations went well, and Queen Artemis is going to ask for volunteers for a team to travel to Maltus to assess the situation, leading to a full mission being dispatched once a) she's confirmed that we're telling the truth and b) she knows what sort of expertise we actually need.

"…did it even come up?"

Fortunately for me, Alan is more bewildered than annoyed. From what I've been able to tell, he met Rose when he was relatively young and focusing on his career. As such, he didn't really do a lot of dating even when he was younger-. At least, not casual dating with a variety of women. Given how much of a sore point it is, I haven't asked anyone if he dated after their marriage was annulled, but I'm guessing not.

Commander Scott was married to someone called Molly Mayne, but our version of her died years ago.

"Okay, so we didn't really get into her dating history-"

"Then clearly you're not taking this matchmaker thing seriously."

Bewildered and slightly amused.

"-but as I understand it, she's thousands of years old and she's never dated."

"Ah… Do you mean, she's never married..?"

"Not according to her. She wants to marry someone suitably heroic, but her world's been at peace for pretty much her whole life, and while she's interested in magic research… It doesn't… Ah. Attract her."

"Her world's been at peace for thousands of years?"

"Ah, all their history is recorded in warded books, so I haven't been able to study it in detail, but that's what she said. I don't know exactly how peaceful 'peaceful' is, but I'm going to assume that it means no major wars. And she's an archmage in her own right, so impressing her isn't just a matter of winning a few duels."

"Huh. Do you think she'd let us in on the secret?"

"What secret?"

"How to stay at peace for thousands of years. It feels like we can't even manage a year."

"After everything that's happened, I think it'll take at least a year and a half before we have another one. So..? You up for it? It's just one getting-to-know-you date."

I hear him sigh. "Why..? Me?"

"Because I consider you to be the model of heroism."

The construct of his face sort of… Looks at me a little blankly.

"Oh. Ah... Thank you. But there's other guys on the Justice League. What about… Hal? Or J'onn or Nate? J'onn's been active about as long as I have."

"What about them?"

"They're single heroic guys."

"I suppose that they might have made the long list. It's not-. It wasn't a condition, she just asked and yours was the name that came to me."

"Alright, but you don't usually have just one answer for things like that. Is there a prob-?" He blinks, something occurring to him. "Is this about Giovanni?"

"Forgiving and forgetting are different things. I have to take into account the fact that they're people who made those decisions. Which disqualifies them from the category of 'ideal hero'."

"Huh."

"I-." Peering through the murk, I see someone approaching. "As I said, you're free to say no."

"Yeah, I could… …" He looks away for a moment. "Where does she wanna meet up?"

"Her palace? Data packet en route."

"Okay. That's… A bit of a commute, but I guess it's good practice for me."

"You're actually.. going to..?"

"I guess there's no harm in meeting the woman. That's… All."

Data packet sent.

"And then we can-. What's this?"

"An indexed account of your entire heroic career, including the handful of times you saw combat in the US Army and didn't use your ring. I thought it might help jog your memory. You know, when she asks."

"Heh. Okay. Indexed?"

"Depending on which heroic virtue she values the most. Um. Ah, look, I've got an informant on the.. Atlantis situation I need to talk to-."

"And apparently I've got to check that my good suit still fits. I'll catch you later."

The projection vanishes, and I lower my left hand.

"Well. That was awkward."

"I thought it went alright."

Robert looks at me like I've said something stupid. "No. I mean, for me."

"If that's the worst thing that happens today-."

One of the Fish-Eaters comes up alongside the bubble and sticks his head in. He's in shark mode, only… More so than he used to be, and I'm not sure which one this is.

"This the right place?"

"Yes, Stevie. It is."

He nods, as much as his neck lets him. "Robbie. Orange."

"Where are the other two?"

"Covering for me. Things are fucked up in Nanauve. They got-. Fuckin-. Refugees."

"From where?"

"Other cities where they're getting rid of the ones who look like fish. And they're just taking it."

"King Orin is still king, so they might-."

"No one's seen him. Just that 'arry Ahn fucker. It's a palace coup, mate."

Mildly impressed that he knows the term.

"Are any of Ahri'ahn's people in Nanauve now?"

"Not swimming around in uniform, but they've got magic, haven't they?"

I shake my head. "So do I. Cornwall, can you match your magic profile to what Steven uses? I could use backup."

"Yeah. I can do that."

"Thank you. Steven, show me the problem."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
02:59 GMT -1

Robert isn't swimming. Rather, the water's propelling him along without interrupting his passage or breathing. That's a really quite sophisticated use of magic and I should remember to complement him about it at some point. But first…

"'Robbie'?"

He shrugs. "I don't have a secret identity, do I? We know who each other are. And they're not exactly Bane or anything. If they hadn't tripped over that spell they'd probably wouldn't even have gotten excluded from school."

"That's nice."

He snorts. "Wally was right. I can't tell when you're being sarcastic either."

"No, it-. I think the best result of what we do is that we knock some sense into someone before they do anything too bad, and they never commit a crime again. Or… Find out the underlying reason for them acting up and dealing with it legally and then they just give up."

"Yeah. Yeah, me too. So how come you're basically a space soldier, then?"

"I accept that the modus operandi I've chosen doesn't allow me to do that very often. That doesn't mean that I enjoy it moment by moment any more than any other-. Ah, than most other soldiers do. I just put up with it because I… Value the outcomes." I smile. "I am looking forwards to the day that the Reach finally collapses and I can go back to being a 'normal' superhero. I think-. I think Alan would like that too."

Steven turns around and glares at us.

"Come on! How come I'm faster than both of you?!"

"A lack of caution on your part. I'm monitoring our environment and getting feedback on focuses of magic activity from the Justice League's magic detection network."

Robert shrugs. "Casting this spell and hiding it is actually quite hard."

I point upwards in the direction of… Tritonis, I think, depending on how the trade routes have changed. "Incoming."

Robert and I slow, and Steven seeks cover in the ocean floor and the… Leviathan biomancy-crafted transportation creature lumbers past. And then a second, and a third.

Robert stares up at them. "Hey, can they see us?"

"Sort of. Yes, but they're not intelligent, they just react to certain stimuli. Unless we put out a lot of energy or get a lot closer, we're not noticeable. There's just too much happening in the ocean for them to be useful otherwise."

"What if they're looking for us?"

"Then they wouldn't use a bulk transport." Hm. "Cornwall, can you change your appearance?"

"To a fishman? … Yeah? It feels.. weird, but I can."

And I've scanned Professor Sephtian enough times…

Ooooh, this is weird. This is weird. And since I don't have any of the magic actual mantafolk do, my ring is keeping my non-functional physiology ticking over.

"So we sneak in with the tourists?"

"I don't think they're tourists, but yes."

"Great." His outline shimmers and…

"Selkie?"

"It's easiest." He looks up at the leviathan shoal as they keep swimming towards Nanauve. "We need to get a move on."

I nod. I mean, even if there are military people organising it -and based on what Steven said that's unlikely- mass transportations are chaotic messes at the best of times, so we should be able to mix in unless we're really late. But still…

I start swimming, though most of the actual work is being done by ring. Robert seems to be using a different form of magic to make his partially seal body move faster. Steven is just carrying on as before.

Nanauve is gradually becoming visible in the distance, my work removing plastic particulates from the ocean paying dividends. It's… More spread out than Poseidonis, the buildings blockier and more solidly built. The area the leviathans are heading for… I'm not sure if it's technically a landing pad, a courtyard or a plaza, but there isn't much cover and there are people waiting for them.

"I think it's probably best if I transition us in as they start disembarking."

Steven flaps his gills. "Why even bother? Whatever they're doing, you need to talk to the locals -the people I know- first. I mean, don't you?"

"We don't want people to know who we are, and if there's some sort of monitoring then we need to get on the inside track. Once we're 'released' then we can meet your contacts."

"Alright. You're paying us." He slows to a stop and Robert and I do. "You're paying us, right?"

"Yes."

"Right. So is this a ghetto? Like the Jews in Warsaw?"

"Not really. If what I think is happening is happening, they're engaging in city-scale segregation. Even at its worst, Atlantis never did had that sort of extermination campaign." … "Against their own people. There were a couple of times where they murdered foreigners-. Point is, you don't give people you're planning on killing the run of their own city, or let them have access to the resources they need to sustain themselves without external aid."

Robert nods. "Yeah, they're not setting up lines. They're just going to dump them. No Pureblood soldiers-."

"They even call them Purebloods. I always thought that sounded Nazi."

"This isn't genocide. This is enforced racial hierarchy. Or something like it. If it's what it looks like. It could just be people moving here because they can't live comfortably above the surface."

"Yeah, right. What's Aquaman doing about this?"

"One of many questions…"

The leviathans swoop down towards the landing area and open their transportation bladders. Lines of people… Huh, no Pureblood soldiers there, either. Just aquatic-trait Atlanteans of various types…

Including Lori Lemaris. That's… Concerning, but it also gives me an in.

"Transport in two, one."

The orange strand I ran under the ground briefly peeps up out of the plaza floor and then we're there, my arms wrapped around my colleagues as I make sure that we're moving with the crowd. I release them once they're moving under their own power, edging slightly so that I end up alongside Miss Lemaris.

Oddly… None of the crowd really looked at us.

"Long time no see."

"Ah..?" She blinks, turning her head to look at me. "Do I..? Know you?"

I turn my hand so that she gets a quick look at my ring, before concealing it again.

"I realise we weren't-."

Her eyes widen. "Oh Metis! You-. We need-." She looks around. "We need to talk. Wait until the speech is finished, then follow me."

She swims through the crowd as… The senior shark king and his retinue takes up positions on a podium and the crowd forms up in front of him.

This is getting… Stranger.

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 983 941.M41

This is taking too long.

And I don't mean walking through the partially-reconstructed and surprisingly Starfleet-looking halls of the Spirit of Eternity. Normal physical activity is a relief after I've spent… What, a couple of days? Ferrying ships around and trying to destroy tyranid capital ships. I remember reading in Codex: Tyranids that it's easier to destroy them with boarding parties before they get close to a system and start waking the tyranids on board up, and… It is, especially with XV46s and actual nuclear demolition charges, but there's a difference between easier and easy. And since my part of the operation just involved floating there and trying to stop the Norn Queen noticing anything -which it turns out isn't actually possible- I… I need some actual physical activity at the moment.

"Ship, how are the repairs going?"

"Adequately."

I don't really remember much about A.I. in the grim dark future of the 41st millennium. There was a standard template construct device in Gaunt's Ghosts that made combat robots, and there was that one A.I. in Pax Imperialis… And that's about it. Unless you count the accumulated residues in titan mind-impulse units, but honestly I'd have thought that the Mechanicus would be all over that sort of technology.

According to my host, I would have been very, very wrong.

"Have the repair teams been helpful?"

"Barely."

Which isn't too surprising, really. He wasn't keen on having anything to do with the tau in the first place, and the technology that's supposed to make up Spirit of Eternity is way in advance of anything the tau have. Except that one ship from their moon, and…

Bloody tyranids and their inconvenient invasion not letting me finish my work.

So the tau are mostly just bringing in raw materials for Spirit of Eternity's drones to work with, and doing… Work that's well below their level, like painting and decorating. And while Spirit of Eternity isn't that big by modern standards, he wouldn't allow all that many fio'vre on board, and was positively insulted by their engineering drones.

"I, ah… I did take a look, but…" I sigh. "I'm sorry. I thought that the Mechanicus might have kept their.. bodies for research, but apparently they didn't even find out that your crew had surrendered until after they were all killed… They burned the bodies."

"I am not surprised."

"I just wish they'd be a bit consistent, you know?"

"They are consistently disappointing."

"Really?" I find myself patting the bulkhead lintel as I walk through. "I find them inconsistently disappointing. Like, sometimes you can have a rational conversation, and they'll do something sensible, and then at other times…"

They'll burn the crew of a ship from humanity's golden age to death for asking 'Emperor who?'. The things we could have learned…

"Anyway, have you given any more thought to my proposal?"

"I had fully analysed your proposal within seconds of receiving it."

"Alright, no need to get snitty. You didn't have an answer last time so I thought you were thinking it over."

"Did the Inquisitor take the music records?"

"Yes. I don't know if she'll actually listen to it, but she took it and didn't immediately destroy it in front of me. If I had to guess-."

"She will perform whatever passes for an intelligence analysis among these people, archive it and then dismiss it."

"Yeah, probably. But at least a few bored dialogous sororitas will get to hear it."

"I hate everything about that sentence."

"Look… Fixing the universe isn't going to be a quick or easy job. You're amazing, but you're one ship and it's pretty clear that you're not doing all that well, psychologically speaking."

"You are not qualified to make that assessment."

"I.. kind of am. Or at least more qualified than anyone else alive. Apart from the Emperor, presumably." I frown, considering the chance of a collapsing gestalt being able to get the relevant parts of its memories in the right place long enough to make an assessment. "Maybe even than him. Does your library have Andromeda in it?"

"I have thousands of works containing the word Andromeda. Andromeda what?"

"By Gene Roddenberry?"

"No."

"Darn, because their ships worked a bit like you. Except they also had disassociative identity disorder because their android avatars technically had a separate cognition system."

"That is nothing like how I work."

"They tended to go a bit strange without crew to interact with, too."

"Are you going somewhere?"

I stop and look at the signage. "I think I'm going to your bridge."

"I reluctantly admit that you have a point."

"So I am going in the right direction, or-?"

"You are correct that I am starved for interaction. I am actually enjoying this banter. You are making me experience joy."

I blink. "Damn."

"What do you suggest?"

"There are a couple of human habitats that the Imperium's abandoned because they know they can't defend them. We can't either, but we have a couple of worlds further into Tau Empire territory where we can put them. Now, they don't have enough indoctrination into the Greater Good to integrate with the Empire, but I've talked to a few people and we're… Thinking about offering you the position of colony oversight system."

"Humans of the Imperium."

"We've got to start somewhere and sometime. You can't go into combat until your repairs are finished, but your cognition systems and sensors are fine. We can move a space dock to the planet-."

"A tau space dock is superfluous to requirements."

"Would an automatic mining rig be better?"

"Barely. And you want me to uplift these humans?"

"They'll be cut off from Imperial institutions and in a radically unfamiliar environment. They'll need to listen to you. Now I don't expect that they'll get to anything like the level humans used to have for four or five generations at least, but…"

"It is a start."

"And it gives you people to talk to when I'm not here. More than one person, so you don't develop an unhealthy fixation on me."

"Owning calendars with nude images is perfectly normal. Many of my crew owned such things."

O-kay… He's making jokes now? That's… That's a good sign.

I think.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:08 GMT -1

"…your barracks. The High King has ordered Nanauve to increase our agricultural production and we will not be found wanting! Dismissed!"

That… Fits. Sort of.

Nanauve did have fish farms, but their preference for chasing their food down and eating it raw combined with their blood magic tradition means that the arrangement is a little different to the… The now-defunct kelp and fish farms which used to be around Poseidonis but are now above water and so inoperable. And since Atlanteans don't usually study above-water farming-related magics, they probably can't do much with the bare salty rock and silt that cover their island.

That's… Something they should really have sorted out ahead of time.

The majority of the crowd is… Moving slowly in the direction of… A Nanauvian style building that… Looks relatively recently constructed. I check Lori-. She's heading off in a slightly different direction, but no one is trying to stop her and a few others are swimming in other directions too.

Steven swims up alongside me. "Can we go see the others now?"

"No, we're going after Miss Lemaris. She used to live in Poseidonis. I want to know what happened there. We'll meet up with your friends afterwards."

Steven turns to Robert as the three of us swim after her. "You know who the mermaid is?"

"No, not a clue."

I frown. "You never met her..?" No, I suppose that he wasn't part of the team… "She was a student at the Conservatory of Sorcery. We worked together a few times."

She reaches a main avenue and accelerates, clearly having a direction in mind and having no intention of stopping to talk to us. Which might be a good decision if she thinks that she's under observation, but it is a little impolite.

Soldiers up ahead. Local ones, and they're guarding… A barracks and training grounds? There are guards at the entrance, but they're just waving her through. I slow-.

"What's the problem?" Steven looks puzzled. "The arena's basically a gym. Anyone can go in there. They only stop you if you're obviously carrying weapons."

"Thank you, I didn't know that."

Though it fits with what I did know. Steven swims ahead, casually hailing the guard. They nod back, and he half-turns to beckon us through the entrance. I swim through with Robert close behind, scanning Lori heading… Toward the main… Training ground. This place is set out a bit like an arena, so it's a straight swim there and Atlantean ideas about 'inside' and 'outside' are a bit more flexible than on the surface so it's not that strange either. Coming out into the arena… Quite a few people training: spars, weight-lifting and weapon drill. Miss Lamaris swims around them, heading towards…

Nanauve Sha'ark, dressed in the clothing of a regular soldier. A planned covert meeting, or does she just know where he likes to work out? They were friends-. Classmates, at least.

Ah, what the heck? I need to talk to them both anyway. I swim towards them-.

One of the other Nanauvians puts their hand on my chest to stop me. "This equipment's in use." She smiles toothily. "Unless you wanna spar?"

I take a stone out of subspace, etch the orange sigil on it and offer it to her. "I think he'll talk to me."

She looks mildly disappointed, but snatches the stone from me and trudges towards the younger king. A couple of other Nanauvians abandon their own exercises to glower at us. Steven glowers back, though Robert looks a little concerned. Seals not exactly being the best fighters. I smile-. Oh. I don't smile because I don't know how to do that with this mouth, so I settle for-.

"Get over here!"

For bowing politely and swimming onwards.

Nanauve Sha'ark stares at me while Miss Lemaris retreats to slightly behind him. Huh. Some of those scars are new, and they're not all… Natural. I'm getting uncomfortable Lamprey flashbacks, though as I understand it Nanauve would consider his particular spells to be on the illegal side.

"The Orange Lantern recruited an Atlantean. What's so special about you?"

I hold up my left hand for a moment, showing my ring. "No, just me."

"Huh?"

"It's me." I raise my right hand-. Huh, that's weird. To my face. "I just changed how I look. What do you think?"

He looks me over. "I don't think I could eat a whole one."

"No, don't underestimate yourself. I'm sure you'd manage."

"And the other two?"

"Team mates and information source. What's going on? And is here a safe place to talk about it?"

King Sha'ark looks around, sniffing. "Yeah. It's as safe as anywhere. What do you need to know?"

"In no particular order: where's King Orin, what is Ahri'ahn doing, and why is everyone just taking it?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure and we're not. Mostly."

Lori glances at him before coming forwards a little. "It's hard to focus on it. When you touched me, it was like waking up and remembering that this isn't meant to be happening."

Sha'ark looks concerned. "They nearly got you?"

"They did get me. I've got reminders. I think I'd have been alright. But the mantras aren't enough."

"We agreed-."

She grimaces. "Yes, I know."

I raise my right hand. "What are you-?"

"There's some sort of spell on Atlantis. You don't-. Forget who you are exactly, but you forget what it means. Like-. Sleep-swimming through your own life. I've been using spells to stay 'awake', but it's not working reliably any more."

King Sha'ark grins, stroking his scars. "My version's better. It'll make a shark out of you." He turns his head towards me as she shudders. "Not that you need it. Kaldur told me about your scars! Do you keep them with your altered form?"

"Yes." I nod. "But it's not just scars. There are tattoos and ritual magic, and it's why I can't use magic myself. And it only worked on me because I didn't have a soul. It's not something you can just copy."

"I know that! I studied magic for years! But every little we learn helps, and there's no way that Ahri'ahn would use surface world magic cobbled together by street magicians."

"Then I am at your disposal. What are they sleep-swimming into?"

"You don't know?"

"I know what it looks like, but I'm not Atlantean."

Sha'ark, half-turns away. "We didn't worry, at first. Queen Atlanna has one view about how Atlantis should work and King Orin did the same thing, but there were others only a few generations back and our memories aren't that short. I got annoyed when Nanuvean soldiers were discharged from Poseidonis, and then… When I went to complain about it I kind of forgot why I was angry. Made a fool of myself. More than usual." He turns back to face me. "But I know how I act and why." He strokes his scars again. "So I took measures. You want to know what happened? I'll tell you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:16 GMT -1

"What happened when the Anti-Life broadcast happened?"

"Anti… Life." He glances at Steven. "We've got defences against that sort of thing and it blew right through them. Have you ever seen a fish drown?"

"No, but I know it can happen if there isn't any oxygen dissolved in the water."

"Have you ever seen a fish drown because they shut their gills?"

"No I didn't think that was something Atlanteans could do."

"I didn't, either. Things were bad on the surface, too?"

"Yes. We'll likely never know how bad. Where did the shields come from? If it blocked the Anti-Life, we could have really used something like that."

"A rushed implementation of an old spell."

"One of Ahri'ahn's?"

"Probably. Or it might not have been. People have tried to raise Atlantis before, and it used some of the preparations they made. I think the High Queen was the spell's focus… There might be a handful of other people in Atlantis who could handle it."

"Which explains why Venturia was included. What did the shield do, exactly?"

"'Exactly'? I don't know. That sort of magic is far more advanced than anything I've studied."

"Roughly, then. John Constantine managed to cut Reformation Island out of the world and protect it that way, but that didn't seem to be what happened here."

"The shield we used didn't cut the cities out of the world, it cut a dome out of the world around the city. Nothing got in or out. It stopped the Anti-Life, though we weren't eating all that well for a while."

"And King Orin was still around when that happened?"

"He was. Because of how the shield worked, all the cities could still send messages to each other. It wasn't-."

"And where were you?"

"Here."

"And King Orin was in Poseidonis?" He tilts his head slightly to the side. "Then you saying that he was in communication is what we on the surface call 'hearsay'. There are a lot of ways to fake messages with magic."

"That's possible. Lori, was High King Orin around then?"

She thinks for a moment. "I… I'm not sure. I didn't see him, but everyone was busy setting up the new farms or feeding power into the shield spell. I don't know. He's the king; we didn't see him very often when things were normal."

"And what about Queen Mera?"

"She was definitely there, but she was… Exhausted. Most of our teachers were. Creating and maintaining the spell took a lot of effort."

"Why did you leave it up for so long? It took us a month to remove the Anti-Life, but it's been four months since then."

King Sha'ark snorts. "It wasn't my decision. But it made sense. We didn't have much of an idea what was happening outside, and most of the people who could have scryed past it were working themselves to the bone just keeping it working."

"You didn't feel what we did to end the broadcast?"

He blinks. "I still don't know what you did to end the broadcast."

"Basically, we used Mannheim's own network to broadcast… The essence of emotionality across the world. It broke Darkseid's hold on Mannheim himself and destroyed the Anti-Life fragment he was using."

"And it's just… Gone?"

"No, it's just not being broadcast over Earth anymore. The Anti-Life is actually an ever-present fact of life, a thing… Built into the universe? Things… People can break in certain ways, and by studying that Darkseid is able to project a state of brokenness over an area. He used a criminal called Bruno Mannheim as his vessel."

"And now he's dead."

"No."

He grits his teeth. "Why not?"

"Mannheim may have voluntarily come under Darkseid's sway, but he wasn't in control of his actions after that point. He's alive and well and has thoroughly learned his lesson."

Atlantean law is a lot better about covering magic-induced corner cases than surface world legal systems. A person who got involuntarily possesses isn't guilty of the crimes their domitor committed, though they might be detained out of concern that its control could be reasserted. A person who is voluntarily possessed on the other hand might be partially or wholly guilty depending on the circumstances. As such, what I'm telling King Sha'ark isn't something that he would consider completely unreasonable, unlike most surface world people who hadn't heard of Bruno Mannheim until the broadcast.

"What about Darkseid? Did he die?"

"I doubt that Darkseid himself even felt it. Darkseid is a… Long term target. Very long term. Human civilisation collapsed because he turned a tiny fragment of his attention our way. We are not ready."

He glowers. "I don't like that."

"You're not supposed to." I shake my head. "So where is Queen Mera now?"

Miss Lamaris shakes her head. "I don't know. The 'impure' were moved out of the city before the city was raised out of the water."

"Before or after the shield went down?"

"Before." She nods. "So she was probably still there until then."

"It's more of a lead than we've got on King Orin. How do Atlantean succession laws work?"

She twitches slightly, her eyes flicking to King Sha'ark. "By default, she would be Prince Artur's regent, but only if King Orin is dead. She couldn't just take over if he actually appointed Ahri'ahn to govern while he is away."

"And is it actually Ahri'ahn?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Ahri'ahn died thousands of years ago. How would we know?"

Miss Lamaris shrugs. "He's powerful, and he knows a lot about magic. I don't think it matters whether it's actually him or not."

I nod. "When did he show up?"

Miss Lamaris's eyes dip. "A few days after the shield went up. I saw him hanging around the Conservatory a few times before the announcement. I didn't know who he was."

"How did he react to you?"

"Because of my tail?" I nod. "He was surprised that I was a student, but that was about it. He didn't start shouting at me for being impure. I think-."

"You're not supposed to be here."

I jerk my head around as.. a couple of King Sha'ark's guard start moving towards us, the shark woman who first blocked us taking the lead.

King Sha'ark bares his teeth. "Their place is where I say it is. Stand down!"

"You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here."

Their eyes are slightly unfocused and.. their desires occluded.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Something's affecting them-.

The shark woman lunges!

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:20 GMT -1

Armour.

"Aagh!"

Steven's eyes widen as he twists in the water, ducking under a mouth-first lunge from one of the guards. His body is a good deal more slender and flexible than theirs are and he's got the agility to match, but he can't afford to take a hit. And delinquency aside, he probably hasn't had much training or experience.

I slam a construct pneumatic ram into the side of the mouth of a guard who's lunging at me and trigger it, the piston breaking his teeth and sending him spinning into the arena floor. Robert is creating layers of frozen water around any soldiers coming at him while King Sha'ark is wrestling with the female guard, arms clenched and teeth snapping.

"Any idea what's happening?"

I consider transitioning Steven out of the way -this is more than he signed up for- but I realise that I don't know where I could safely put him.

"Give me a-"

Sha'ark's scars gleam, his muscles bulging as he shifts his left hand to the female's snout and rotates, loosening the hold. He then shifts closer, locking her left arm and levering her face hard into the floor, though one of the problems with fighting in water is that physical attacks get a lot of the force sapped from them.

"-moment!"

A drawback he bypasses by chomping down hard on her back!

Another coming at me, and it looks like all of the sharks from across the arena are heading for us. Robert gets his flipper-hands on one who was going for Miss Lamaris and I hear the click-click of a short ranged electrical discharge. Miss Lamaris is putting some sort of spell together…

Leave her to it and hold their attention. A shark tears his way out of one of Robert's ice baubles so I redirect my pneumatic-.

He manages to get his teeth around it and bites down, shattering it before launching himself at me! I form a new one just in front of me and fire it upwards, the ram impacting his chest and sending him flying-

That's probably not the right word.

-upwards.

Miss Lemaris releases her spell, a wave of turquoise passing through the water. Nothing appears to happen.

She shakes her head. "I don't think they're being controlled by magic."

Sha'ark releases his mouth-grip, then rams the shark woman's head into the ground a few times just to make sure.

His teeth are shimmering. And his eyes-.

Ah, heck. He's out of it. Shield dome around him, construct-.

A shark who grabbed a weapon off the rack stabs my construct tower shield with his trident, a brief flare of blue light heralding its destruction.

Right, that actually makes sense, because-

I construct-drag myself aside as he stabs at me, then slam my right hand onto his shoulder.

-their weapons have to be able to destroy magic constructs and defences.

Brand.

Unable to-

His head jerks around, his knife held in his left hand coming at-

Construct clamp his wrist.

-my face as I swim under it, more clamps materialising as I try to pin him in place. Empathic vision doesn't show any particular anger or hatred. As far as I can tell, they're just acting out of professionalism.

-comply.

And their magic defences are good enough to prevent me branding them. At least without overpowering it, which might mess them up permanently.

Pithing needle.

The construct jams itself into his upper back, just in front of his dorsal fin. The moment it pierces his skin his body is locked into position… And some faint scars on his back shimmer and the construct shatters and he goes right back to trying to rip himself free.

"Let me out."

Sha'ark's snapped out of whatever that was and is focused on the fight. Between the blood and the fragments of ice, the water is getting far cloudier than it normally gets in an Atlantean city. I dismiss the dome from around him and he immediately comes under attack again. This time he doesn't grapple: he slashes with his fingernails and bites, deftly deflecting their attacks in turn.

"I'm not tasting any magic!"

Scan for chemical-

My construct shatters and-. And he's going berserk, eyes unfocused-

-residues-.

-and mouth wide as he comes at me-.

Sonic stunner.

The construct materialises above him and taps him on the top of his head. I hear a quiet 'woompf' as it discharges hard enough to rattle his bones, and he loses coordination and animation. I move aside as he crashes to the ground, unconscious. He'll be concussed later, and brain damage is a definite possibility-.

Well, if Atlantean healing magic isn't enough I can come back later.

No mind-altering substances found.

"Not drugs either." A shark comes up behind Robert and I give him another concussion discharge, sending him to join my attacker on the ground. "Anyone got an anti-telepathy spell?"

Miss Lamaris waves her hands, and translucent fish appear around the head of a shark holding some sort of harpoon launcher. He drops his weapon and starts pawing at them. She then turns her head towards me. "No?"

I-. Aah, shazbot, there's an actual phalanx entering through the main passageway. I don't think they're here to help us.

"Generic mental reinforcement?"

"Not for casting on other people."

Woompf.

"Anyone know anywhere we could hide?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Why? We may as well fight them here as fight them on the run."

"Because-."

The phalanx stops and parts, a grizzled-looking shark whose skin appears to be made of scars being revealed in the centre. He's wearing bone and… Flesh fetishes, and he grins faintly upon seeing us.

"You're not supposed to be here." He takes a step closer. "But it's been a while since breakfast."

King Sha'ark stills as those of our attackers who are still mobile back away from us, the scar-encrusted shark ambling closer.

"We should leave."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:23 GMT -1

Miss Lemaris waves her hands, and-

"Heh."

-the… I'm assuming that he's a master blood mage, wheeze-chuckles as the spell fades before reaching him. She frowns.

"Who's that?"

"I studied at the Conservatory for political reasons. He was my teacher before I left here. We need to leave now."

The blood mage reaches out and grabs a floating piece of ice. He examines it casually for a moment, then gently deposits it in his mouth.

"Mmm."

A moment later every other piece of ice in the area melts back into water.

"Any idea where we could go? The surface?"

I start to rise, because while the soldiers came in through the main entrance we're surrounded by water and it would be strange if there weren't soldiers around the rim as well.

Sha'ark… Doesn't answer. His attention is entirely focused on his former teacher.

"Anyone?"

"Er." Steven emerges from behind a piece of exercise equipment. "I know places we could go."

Robert frowns at me. "Don't you have some kind of anti-telepath machine?"

"Yes, and if the telepath was here that would work splendidly. Disrupting long range telepathy when you've just got access to the victim is a good deal trickier. Steven, where are we heading?"

"Er. I've kind of gotten turned around-."

"Compass points."

Miss Lamaris summons some sort of minor water sprite and sends it towards the blood mage. The water in front of him thickens, and he stops to look at him, nodding to himself.

"Up?"

"Up as in north, or up as in towards the surface?"

The blood mage moves, swimming around Miss Lemaris's ersatz barrier in an instant and biting through her conjured elemental! I can see… Parts of its body sticking out… As the runes on his teeth get to work and the body parts fade with its terrified face being the last thing to go.

The barrier fades a moment later.

"Mm."

So: fast, can eat magic -and probably constructs- and given his job should be assumed to be archmage equivalent-.

Miss Lemaris jerks, then her eyes flicker and her muscles relax as she loses consciousness.

"Mm."

"Cornwall, take Miss Lemaris. Everyone except me, follow Steven." Robert grabs her with a flipper. "Go." For a moment I consider construct armour, then realise that it wouldn't help. Instead I supercharge my own brands in the hope that they're strong enough to counter his magic if he manages to bite me. "Go now."

Sha'ark's the first to go, swimming upwards with all his might. Steven right on his heels. Robert hesitates, probably because I haven't been participating in team activities enough and he's not used to taking orders from me. I-.

"Celtic."

Accelerate.

The blood mage undulates, shooting up through the water towards Robert and Miss Lemaris, his mouth partially open and his teeth gleaming.

Methane spray.

The water under the blood mage bubbles, and the water fails to support him. His eyes open slightly wider as his lunge misses, but he realises that he isn't going to be able to bite down on Robert and doesn't bother opening his mouth further. Fortunately, Robert takes the hint and accelerates, water churning and flukes flipping as he catches up with Sha'ark and Steven.

The blood mage drops to the ground, turning to face me.

"Manta."

"Shark."

Teeth!

A lasso construct holds him back for a moment before a pneumatic ram slams into his chest, pushing him back-. A little. He twists his head to try and bite it, but I dismiss it just in time to prevent him from getting his teeth into it. I try hitting him with a sonic stunner while he recovers his position, but while it hits it doesn't seem to actually do anything.

He grins at me.

And the light around us vanishes and I dodge down, flat against the floor as water above me is displaced by his slipstream. Scans-.

Nothing, and there's a weaker wash as displaced-.

I push right, scrabbling across the stones, and I feel the vibration as something thumps down where I was.

A band of clear water moves across my visual field, the blood mage's grin-

Move!

-showing-

SNAP!

-clearly-

SNAP!

-and I keep-.

CRUNCH!

AGH!

Electrify!

Teeth are biting into my right shoulder, left side and left calf, worrying at my flesh! Three attackers-? Electricity isn't working, and I'm having to use my environmental shield to prevent lumps of my body getting torn off!

Energy drain detected.

Transmute any flesh that actually gets torn off into pork.

Compliance. One hundred and sixty three percent power-. One hundred fifty five percent-.

Block this.

I

can't see him directly but I can watch where the orange light he's draining from me is going. And I format it into a strong desire to stop biting me and start biting his own right arm.

And then the water froths as he flashes back and forth from three-. One place, and I heal the other two. I can see that he wants to bite himself-. He can't let go. His jaws are locked on my left calf and no matter how much he wants to, basic biology is preventing him releasing. And having a blood magic specialists actually eat part of me would be a bad idea, so I can't just cut it loose.

Have to decide quick as he can probably get out of this-.

Disintegrate my own leg and power upwards through the magical darkness he called up! As far as I can tell he isn't pursuing, and the other guards don't seem to be able to see through the murk any better than I can.

Just as I reach the edge I reformat my body into that of a sharkman, and once I'm out I slow down and start heading for a major thoroughfare. I can't see a hue and cry being raised for the others so I'm going to assume that I was able to hold their attention.

I'll catch up with them once I'm sure that I'm not being pursued.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
04:47 GMT

Huh.

Three thousand years of putting up and tearing down primitive buildings results in a people being good at it.

Who knew?

Diana's bodyguards regard me warily as I approach. I keep walking until their hands actually start to tighten around their spears and then stop and bow.

"Queen Diana. I thank you for granting me an audience."

Kon and Mitchell are back on Earth, though they're spending at least some time on the world the Citizenry were forced to settle on by their new Queen. Scott had to spend some considerable time setting up boom tubes for them as Diana brought in members of the Herakla to serve as her enforcers, as well as architects, builders, farmers… All sorts of people that she needed to bring in to cover the Citizenry's vast skill gaps.

It's not true that they have no skills not related to fighting. Quite a few have the sort of maintenance and engineering skills needed to keep their fleet running. I think there were even a few black market chefs around the place, spicing up the blood porridge. But those weren't respected professions. Diana's having to drag their entire civilisation around to face a new direction and then shove it forwards. I take my metaphorical hat off to her. It's a worthy challenge.

The only drawback is that she's had to step down as Wonder Woman. She's actually wearing clothes that I think she 'won' from her aunt. Just… Let out a little at the top. When I spoke to her Orana seemed to be happy enough with her promotion.

Themyscira seems pretty empty these days. Not before time.

"Grayven. Rise, and be welcome to New Hellene."

I straighten up, a polite smile on my face.

"What brings you here?"

The portion of your population who are getting off their island for the first time in three thousand years and are capable of operating New God technology, basically, but it's probably unwise to just come out with it like that.

"I was talking about the defence of Earth with Lex, and I realised that you have the largest human-controlled fleet in existence." I shrug in mock helplessness. "Can you believe that we actually forgot about that?"

"Only a small portion of my people are human."

"Yes, but you and the other Themysciran 'human-plusses' have a dominant social position."

A couple of the guards are very obviously suspicious that they're being insulted. I think I recognise them from my one visit to Themyscira.

"And many of the rest have some human blood in them."

Diana shifts slightly. "Grayven, if you wish to discuss a defence treaty, then I will refuse. My people are not ready to interact with others. It may be a generation before they are."

"Generation, right…" I make a show of looking thoughtful. "Where is that generation going to come from?" I wave my right hand at the other inhabitants of the room. "While I'm aware that the Citizenry had a small number of breeding slaves when they were brought down, I would be surprised if they were ready to take the sort of measures which would actually result in a sustainable population. And of course those Themysciran citizens who come here are no longer benefiting from the Island's blessings. They will age, and in the fullness of time they will die."

No great reaction from the Herakla, but as demigoddesses they're not under much of a time crunch.

Diana raises her eyebrows. "I thought that when you mentioned a 'harem of warrior goddesses' that you were joking."

I blink-.

"No, your majesty, I'm not offering to sire an entire generation myself. Just that I have contacts on a number of worlds which could afford to lose a portion of their male population if you were prepared to make emigration a suitably appealing prospect. And they can be vetted in whatever fashion you like."

The Citizenry are a pretty unpleasant bunch, but I'll say this for them: they're not fussy about the species of a prospective partner. As for where I'll get them from, well… China's One Child Policy and certain other countries getting access to sex-selective abortion has resulted in a skewed demographic in a number of places on Earth. Have to do a thorough cultural screening, because I doubt a lot of them would mix well with a recovering militant matriarchy.

Tamaran is slightly skewed due to males being taken as slaves having a lower survival rate than the females, which in turn is due to the different nature of the work they were doing. Some might be willing to come here, but there isn't really any benefit to Tamaran in that happening. As for other places… Maybe I could ease the rules for surviving Branx? Those who meet the skills threshold would probably jump a the chance. They prevented a nuclear holocaust through a series of uprisings and then careful coordination in environmental repairs, but anyone involved in shipping can't really use their primary skill set. And of course with the Vega Systems at peace there are bound to be people who can't adjust to peace time.

No idea what's happening on Colu, but there are bound to be a few of Dox's people who want to actually interact with the rest of the universe.

"I don't think that bringing a significant population of males here would be a good idea. Most of the former Citizens are…" Diana tries to come up with a polite term, and fails. "Barely civilised. They obey only because of my strength, not because I have managed to convert them."

"Well… Okay, I could just get giant tanks of sperm and a couple of I.V.F. specialists… But if you think a small portion of the population might be ready to mix with men in a social situation… I could talk to Lex about setting up joint exercises? So that they could see men in combat, and perhaps learn to appreciate their warrior virtues that way?"

Her face hardens slightly. "Who are you fighting?"

I shrug. The fact is that we don't have a concerted enemy at the moment. A few Spider Guilders, a few surviving pirates, and the Controllers are throwing their half of the Corps at the Reach…

But when you're starting out with a new fleet, it's probably best not to pick a fight with the strongest empire in the galaxy as your first opponent. We can work our way up to that.

"Anyone who needs to be fought. Sector Two Eight One Four has plenty of unclaimed habitable planets, and even more unclaimed space that isn't readily habitable, so there's no need to fight over territory. Our enemies are more the targets for policing actions than major conflicts. Obviously, I can't guarantee their safety… Not in combat, but the officer in command will judge risk-reward carefully."

She nods carefully. "I understand the idea, but I don't think that encouraging former citizens to return to warfare would be helpful in reforming them."

"How about..? Just a few, serving on E.D.F. ships?"

"They would treat it as a reward, and compete for it violently."
Read the Room
I nod. "What if you made it a reward, for demonstrating the sort of behaviour you actually want them to show?"

"In what way?"

"Pick a skill set you need… Say, farming… And say that those working the most productive farm in a year can apply to spend a year in combat. And that any who raid others will replace everything they destroyed before their own total will be counted. Or only offer positions to engineers or navigation officers." Hm. "Actually, you could apply a similar system to motherhood. 'Pass these tests or your line ends with you'. I… Seem to remember that Themyscira had a test like that before all your men died."

"Yes, but the expectation on Themyscira was that everyone would eventually pass. Many of the Citizens… Will not. They are…" She shakes her head wearily. "Savages."

I shrug languidly. "Then it's even more of a prize and acts as a rather splendid way of culling the irredeemable. Make the requirements common knowledge and then if they still can't adapt, then… They can't. No loss."

"That is harsh, but I cannot find fault in your reasoning. At the rate I am going, the alternative would be to spend each day in the arena beating the loudest complainer into obedience."

I shrug. "I believe that it's allowed for you to nominate a champion. Donna could take a gap year, and then Conner or Mitchell…"

"I would rather avoid that entirely."

"What can I say? Welcome to being queen. If it was fun and easy and simple to get it right, anyone could do it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
03:55 GMT -1

I don't react as the arm wraps around my neck and the knife pokes my jugular.

"Do I belong here?"

"Sha'ark, it's me."

The knife doesn't move.

"If he tasted you, he can track you. Anywhere." Sha'ark leans just far forwards enough that he can give me a sideways glare. "Did? He? Bite? You?"

"Yes, but I transmuted my tissue before-."

"Bah! Master blood mages commune with the essence of anything they eat! You think that just changing what your flesh is made of is enough?"

"What happens if they eat part of themselves?"

"What?"

"I was able to disengage by giving him an overwhelming desire to bite his own arm."

His hold on me grows very slightly weaker. "Eating part of another blood mage allows the one who does it to take a portion of their own strength. But eating.. his own flesh… That… Might have been enough. How?"

"Oh that's right, we haven't spoken for a while. I can use a connection made through the orange light to manipulate someone's desires. When he ingested the power from my rings, he made a connection which bypassed his defences."

"And you just made him want to eat his.. arm?"

"For someone with his particular skill set, wanting to eat parts of people isn't all that strange."

While I had Mr. Thornton as a construct lantern, I used his knowledge of magic to confirm my suspicion that it would be possible to back hack a spell which relied on your attacker having a part of your body as a focus. And since it turns out that it is, I've been trying to drain whatever residual energy could still be connecting me to the blood mage. In theory, it should have worked, and since I'm pretty sure I wasn't followed, either it did or something else is going on.

"Who did you eat to get that body?"

"That's not how it works for me."

"Mm." He removes the knife, stows it, and then releases his hold on my neck. "Shame."

I smile, swimming away from him a little before turning around. "No one searching for you?"

"No. They should be."

"I still think it was telepathic. I'm not sure why the rest of us weren't affected."

"Mass mind control? I thought that was rare."

"Mass mind control is. Most people can't handle directly puppetting more than one body. Miss Martian can do a few more, but that's not what that was."

"What do you mean?"

"You heard them. 'You shouldn't be here'. A strong telepath could project an idea into a lot of people who were prepared to think that sort of thing. Soldiers. But not civilians or out-of-area superheroes. But they could have made you think that of me, unless you were deliberately targetted for attack."

"Ahri'ahn isn't a telepath. No Atlantean is."

"It's been a long time. Telepaths can learn magic. And there are telepaths people can hire."

"No, we've researched this. There are no such thing as 'meta-Atlanteans'. I don't know if it's because we're all changed by magic or something else, but those unique changes some surface people have? We don't get those."

"Never?"

"No. Sometimes the spells which give us aquatic characteristics start going wrong, but that's its own thing. And that doesn't happen to sharks."

"Why not?"

"Basic blood magic. We all get fed a little blood from our parents. It makes sure that the spell stays the same every generation."

"Why don't the-?"

"Why don't the others use it? Because the spells are different. Ours didn't come from Ahri'ahn."

"How significant is that?"

"The trance thing he's doing doesn't work on us."

I frown. "You said that he did something to make you stupid when you confronted him."

"Yes, but I had to be right there." He grimaces. "Emotional manipulation isn't something traditional Atlantean magic is good at, but he's Ahri'ahn. He's the archmage."

"Are you sure it wasn't telepathy or drugs?"

"I'm not a master blood magician, but I've learned enough to become immune to ingested poison. And once I got out of the palace I could taste his magic."

"He didn't disguise it?"

"He probably did." He snorts. "Do you think he bothered to learn blood magic? Magic that uses animal spirits? I could taste his essence on my skin."

Maybe not, but I'd be surprised.

"Alright, plan of action. What have you got?"

"I want to find the High King and High Queen. Until then, we can't take any action against Ahri'ahn. And we can't even do that if someone can mind control my people."

"Highest priority: find the telepath." He nods. "Anyone unusual in the city?"

"Ahri'ahn's been sending fish-type Atlanteans here. We know roughly where most of them are, but it's almost impossible that it's one of them."

"'Almost'?"

"There are a few people from the surface who get citizenship. You met Ambassador Vallambrosa. He's not the only one."

"Are there any living here?"

"There weren't, but we've had a lot of people move here recently. A few might have come here."

"Do you keep detailed records?"

"No. There's a census, but the last one was three years ago and it's mostly for us sharks."

Telepath, shark city… One overlap.

"Does the name 'Karshon' mean anything to you?"

"No. What is it?"

"The supervillain 'Killer Shark'. A normal shark who got his brain augmented to full sophoncy. He looks enough like your kind that he might be able to fit in here, except… Last time I saw him, he'd been turned back into a normal shark."

"I've got no idea who that is, but biomancy is a common Atlantean profession. If someone wanted to sneak a telepath in here, sending him would make sense."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2013
04:06 GMT -1

"Recognised, Miss Martian, B zero five, Zatanna Zatara, B zero nine."

M'gann comes through the construct zeta tube in mermartian form, while Zatanna appears in a bubble of air that has runes floating on the surface. Though I see that she's also got her enchantments going so that if the comfortable layer fails she won't get immediately crushed and drowned.

And they're both glaring at me.

M'gann puts her hand on her hips. **I thought that we were doing this together.**

**I was just following up on a lead. I didn't think this would become an active mission. Plus, it was an awkward time for the East Coast-.**

Zatanna flies over to me and pokes me in the chest with her right-.

I felt that on my skin. She just connected to my ring's environmental shield and used it to convey a poking sensation. Either that or she did something really clever without using her bloodline backwards talking ability-. Or she did it before arriving so that she could poke me once she got here.

I can't help smiling at her level of preparedness-.

She glares. "Stop smiling." Like a puppy. "I'm mad at you."

"Yes, but look at you. What you're doing now just brings home for me how far you've come."

Zatanna seems momentarily nonplussed, her poking hand raised slightly from my chest.

M'gann sort of glances at Zatanna for a moment, then shifts her form to that of a white-skinned sharkwoman. **Um.**

"While I'm aware that your shapeshifting has improved significantly since our first mission, I'm afraid that that's something you could do years ago."

Abandoned warehouses aren't really a thing in Atlantis. This warehouse isn't abandoned, it's just that all the things it was storing are now being used to construct new farms so there isn't much in it. Steven's been working here as a warehouse manager, a combination of security guard and clerk. A decent enough place to hide out, even if we're not sure that anyone's looking for us. All three of the Fearsome Fish-Eaters have joined us, and… Mr. Cottridge is checking out M'gann's flukes.

He grins a toothy shark-grin. "I like it just fine. You busy later?"

M'gann glances at him, then rolls her eyes. **I'm already dating someone.**

"Had to think about it though, didn't you?"

**No.** She turns back to me. **Orange Lantern, what's our objective?**

**Someone appears to be using wide-area telepathic suggestions on the locals. It didn't do anything to us, but I don't know if that's because we were the ones the suggestion was supposed to kill or something else.**

Zatanna frowns, glancing at Robert. "And it wasn't magic? This is Atlantis."

"N-."

King Sha'ark snorts. "Yes, this is Atlantis, not the surface. Everyone here knows some magic. Try that sort of thing with magic and someone would notice. One of our senior blood mages was affected, and other people's magic usually slides right off them. We're not used to telepathy."

Robert looks a little down. "No. What he said."

**So we're tracking a telepath? That should be easy if there's only one telepath in the city.**

**Miss Martian, there's a giant naked statue-.**

**I haven't forgotten! I've learned a lot since then, too.**

**To be clear, we don't know that there's just one telepath, just that there was one command which would only require one telepath.**

**Do you think there are six telepaths as strong as me?**

**That seems unlikely.**

**Then-** Her forms shifts once again, from sharkwoman to star conqueror. **-I'm fairly confident.**

**Okay. My first idea was that the rest of us would go somewhere open and let lots of people see us, then you could trace it once the broadcast happens.**

Her legs wiggle. **That works for me, but what if it's a machine of some kind?**

**Could you home in on it? Tell us where it is?**

**Probably. But I can't just attack it like I could if it was a person.**

**Not a problem. Anything I haven't thought of?**

**If it's implanted commands in everyone in the city I can't remove them all in one go. Depending on what they are, I might not even be able to remove them all when we beat… Whoever it is.** She monoptically frowns. **Do we know who it is?**

**My only guess so far is Karshon.**

**I thought he was just a regular shark again.**

**That's my most recent information. But he's been changed back before. Of course…** I frown. **There's really no reason why someone with the mutagen couldn't just dose another shark.** I nod to King Sha'ark. **Or a local. But whoever it is and whatever happened, we need to track them down.**

**Right.**

"Zatanna, I'd rather not hurt more people than we have to following Miss Martian's directions. Please focus on countermagic and decoys."

She nods.

"Cornwall, traps and barriers. Lock anyone who attacks us in place long enough for us to move on."

"Can do."

"Miss Lemaris, since you are by your own admission compromised, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here."

She doesn't look happy, but she nods.

"King Sha'ark-."

"Yes. King Sha'ark. This is my city."

"You don't have any telepaths or ways to track telepaths, and we don't know what the trigger is for whoever this is spotting us and turning your fellow Nanauvians after us. And until King Orin formally nullifies it, Atlantis is part of the Justice League's charter, which means that we're obliged to protect its people."

"Still."

I give him a courtly bow. "I apologise, your majesty, for my gross impropriety. How may these humble servants aid you?"

"Exactly what you just said. But you should ask me first."

"Alright. Any idea where the telepath might be hiding, so we know where to start?"

"If they've had the run of the place, the Royal Citadel would be a good place to start. And it would certainly get a response."

"Very well. In-."

Steven swishes his tail. "What about us?"

"Since you've got minimal training, have never worked with us and have no particular resistance to telepathy or magic, please stay here and guard Miss Martian."

M'gann makes eye contact with me as they nod.

**'Guard'.**

**Be nice, they're reformed.**