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

[Mr Zoat]

9th July 2013
08:12 GMT

Oh.

Oh dear.

I look over to where Leonard and Serling are pressing buttons and twisting knobs. "How bad?"

Serling makes an aggressive upwards motion with her right arm. "We've got about enough nanobots left to transmute a cup of coffee!"

Leonard pulls a cold field projector off the fabricator's frame. "Stripped for parts. I guess that's how the nanobots got as far as they did."

"What, he built his own cold guns and… Created super cooled channels?"

"It would have to be."

He looks out across the city, where… To be completely fair, buildings that were scheduled for demolition… Eventually, are now decorated with the 'A' in a circle symbol of anarchy. Or -more likely- Anarky.

"I'm assuming that they haven't just gone inert or something."

"Don't be stupid. You know that's not how they work." … "FUCK!"

He hurls the cold field generator… Housing, to the ground. It bounces once, casing deforming as it twists on impact.

Leonard then closes his eyes and holds out his left hand in a warding gesture, and I can see it as he makes use of his anger management training.

I turn to Serling. "How far did you get?"

"We were done with the lead and the asbestos from current demolition site." I nod. I was… Surprised that he chose something like this as his target. But if he just wants to slow things down without further endangering anyone… "But it's going to take us three weeks minimum to get enough nanobots to start up again."

"When was the next demolition scheduled?"

"Tomorrow. They're planning on doing the whole block." She sags, shaking her head. "I guess we'll just have to pile all the contaminants up until we're ready. Who would do something like that? After-? Everything everyone went through."

"Number one suspect: Lonnie Machin, also known as Anarky with a 'k'."

Leonard takes one last deep breath, then circles his shoulders and rotates his neck.

"Who?"

"As the name implies, he feels that order should not be imposed from above but rather arise from consenting participants. Hates lies and deceit. I'm not sure what I've done to earn his displeasure-."

Leonard's scowl deepens. "Hey, you're not the only one here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I was. But you really haven't done anything that could attract his attention so I doubt that this is about you. From his point of view."

"So-."

Leonard just stands there for a moment, and then groans.

"This is one of those empathy things, isn't it? This is what it's like when a supervillain decides to do something and you're just there. Collateral damage." He raises his hands. "I get it. I get it. It sucks and I hate it, but I get it."

"It gets worse: he's ten years old."

He lowers his hands, thinking that over. "Oh."

"Feeling a bit less murderous?"

He looks up at the graffiti. "I-." … "Yeah. And a.. bit impressed. Ten?"

"Yep. As far as I can tell, he started doing this sort of thing after we got rid of the Anti-Life."

"Powers?"

"No. Just intelligent, as far as I know."

Serling huffs. "Leonard, are we getting back to work today?"

"I already ordered the parts." He shrugs. "I can't really do anything else until they get here."

She looks at him incredulously. "Oh, so you don't keep even one cold gun around that you could strip for parts so we can at least make a start."

He gives me a quick sidelong glance. "Of course not. That would violate my parole."

I shake my head. "It's okay. I don't really care. If we let you control a machine that could produce a gallon of toxic gas in a few seconds, letting you have a gun isn't really that big a deal."

"It would still violate my parole."

"Well remembered. Cyclotrons, isn't it?"

"Yeah? You got some lying-"

I raise my right hand, transmuting a crate full of the model of cyclotron he designed for the nanoforge.

"-around… Hr."

"But don't cancel your order; I suspect that this isn't going to be a one-time thing."

"Yeah, we wanted to make another one anyway. I'll ask Dubbilex to-." Leonard frowns. "Wait. Your ring can transmute matter. You could just fix the nanoforge."

"Yes, but the whole point of this is to field test a device that isn't dependent on someone with a power ring being around to fix things. Because once we've done that, you and Serling can make hundreds of the things and set them to work without me."

"Alright, testing, sure, I get that, but I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day putting it back together again."

"And I'm going to have to spend the day doing a manual inspection of the entire city to make sure that there aren't any booby traps."

He doesn't exactly look happy, but he nods. "Fine. Is that something Anarky does?"

"I don't know that it's Anarky, he just seems like the most likely culprit based on the images. Once you've got control of the cold guns and nanobots, drawing that symbol isn't hard."

He nods, bending down to pick up the case he bent. He runs his fingers over the bend, winces faintly, then looks hopefully at me.

"Fine."

A beam of orange light and it straightens out, and I'm rising off the ground towards the nearest cluster of graffiti.

I try scanning, and… I can't scan the As with a basic scan, though visual scans work just fine. Thermal imaging… Some parts of the concrete are a bit too cold, but between the sun and the wind and basic conduction there isn't much difference between the paths that I suspect the cold beams took and the surrounding area.

Okay, first thing: fly up and make sure that someone hasn't drawn the symbol for a ritual sacrifice or something, because that's one obvious application for this methodology. Looking down-.

It's an arrow.

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th July 2013
08:29 GMT

I did not want to come back here.

Once, it was an apartment building. Some time last year it become the nexus of the Anti-Life broadcasting network. People plugged into Apokoliptian machinery, their souls stuck in the gears and their bodies still just alive. They either moved most of the equipment to Washington at some point prior to our final attack or just built a better version there and decommissioned this one. Afterwards, we came back here and ripped out what was left.

Mr. Sage survived the experience, though in the… One conversation I had with him afterwards he sounded even more off-kilter than he used to be. He hasn't dropped in on me since I've started working on Hub City and I'm not sure why not. Black Orchid I handed off to Euanthe in the hope that an increased level of exposure to the Green would help her mend. Some progress, though it's possible that it's just making her more inhuman. Miss Fite on the other hand needs long term trauma therapy of a sort I'm the last person to be able to give. Needed, I should say, as I haven't checked on her since.

And their cases were hardly unique.

But other than the anarchy symbols rotated at 90o​ so that the point of the 'A' indicates a direction there isn't much here now. What regular office furniture there was has been removed… Perhaps burned for heat or cooking fuel, or just moved by Mannheim's people when it got in the way. The Apokoliptian equipment is gone too, dropped off in a fortified League-affiliated warehouse for careful analysis and safe destruction. So now it feels like the set of some sort of post-apocalyptic film, one of the low-budget ones where they film early in the morning so it looks like there's no one about.

"Where am I going, Mister Machin?"

Naturally, there's no response.

And the arrows continue to point down to where that… Whole nightmare started for me.

"There's nothing there. We checked it-."

Just-. Stop talking to yourself.

I fly faster, restoring damaged brick, concrete and plaster as I go because apocalyptic thrillers are a lot less fun once you've lived through a couple of them. It doesn't take long before I'm in the basement where it happened.

The not-entirely empty basement where it happened.

I carefully scan the… Device, sitting on a small office chest of drawers that's had the drawers removed. The only thing that it immediately reminds me of is the clock that Commander Sisko made on Deep Space Nine while under the influence of some sort of alien personality download. It looks a little baroque but it's not; the parts are relatively simple and the apparent decoration isn't decoration; I recognise runes and… Other arcane symbols. It looks like intricate decoration but it's not.

Rune stone says… Low level thaumic energy. Wards are on, so it… Shouldn't be a problem. It looks like the sort of system that maintains a low constant level of power, rather than builds up. Building up fast would require ritual sacrifices, and that seems out of character for Mr. Machin.

Alright then.

Ah. There's a rough ring of pieces of debris around it. Break the circle or step over it?

I take a ten foot one inch pole out of subspace and wave it over the-.

The mobile parts of the device start rotating, magic usage… Increasing slightly but not in a way that's a cause for concern.

"Mister Machin?"

An… Not a hologram, not in conventional terms. An illusion, then, of Mr. Machin appears in the air over the device.

"Illustres."

"Okay, look: I don't like having to run this sort of project any more than you like me running it, but these people were literally facing starvation and.. I'm just managing the project. I'm not going to own the place once it's done and I am trying to involve as many interested parties as possible."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hub City? Its decidedly non-anarchic nature as a result of my actions? I assumed that was why you did this."

"No. I just needed attention. From you, and from other people."

"Well, you've got mine. Interesting object you've built there. I'm assuming that it draws ambient magic energy to work?"

"It can actually transmute different forms of energy. A small lead weight generates gravitational potential energy, which is continuously converted into electrical energy to power the mundane parts of the circuit."

"Does it scale up? That-."

"No. Taking it above that size requires more power than the passive power-gathering components can draw from their environment. A real wizard could make it work, but there are far easier ways for them to make electricity."

"Darn. But for personal electronics it would work?"

The illusion shakes its head. "I thought about it, but someone trying to make it work would need a basic understanding of magic that most people don't have."

"I know! There's so many situations where that's a problem. I'd suggest changing the education system, but I doubt that you'd be happy with me taking that sort of power, and I honestly wouldn't want it either."

"I-." He snorts, bowing his head slightly. "This isn't what I want to talk to you about."

"Sorry. Carry on."

"Do-?"

"You're under arrest for defacing public property and graffiti, and theft and criminal damage, and such other offences as I uncover after a full investigation."

"You can't arrest me if I'm not physically present."

"Just thought that I'd let you know. I know you're well intentioned, but it would really have been better if you just came to me at the start."

"I couldn't take that risk. Not after you so casually introduced the idea of the Justice League ruling the world."

"I-. Yeah, I can't really criticise you for your caution. I've done the same. But just making it clear, I think I've got a fairly good track record of being reasonable with supervillains."

"A supervillain? Is that what you think I am?"

"You wrecked the nanoforge we were using to denature asbestos lining. One of my uncles was crippled by asbestosis. He was short of breath for the rest of his life. So while I'll hear you out, I am actually annoyed."

"There's a piece of legislation passing through the legislature of nearly every country on Earth which will give the Justice League extraordinary legal power."

"Yes, I know, and it's less than we've got now. And it's temporary."

"There are few things as permanent as a temporary solution. You should look into it a little more closely."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
09:57 GMT -5

Eve holds out her right hand, pink light rippling outwards from her palm as she transmutes a sword into being. It's identical to mine in most respects, though she hasn't been able to apply the x-ionisation process to it. She holds it up slightly for me to examine.

I nod. "You understand that for you to be able to do that, your power must be able to interact with matter at the sub-atomic level? And since there wasn't any temperature change-."

"Yes, I know, but that doesn't mean that I can actually feel it happening. Or that I can feel matter that I'm not transmuting."

"Right, but-."

But I'm clearly reaching the end of her temper. I attach an orange rope to her sword and send it to subspace before replacing it with one of mine.

She looks nonplussed for a moment, but I just smile at her. "Our little secret."

She still looks confused, but she transmutes herself a white scabbard with pink decoration and belt and sheathes the sword.

"Have you found any of those spy drones yet?"

I nod. "Several, but they're deployed in clusters near each of the various Invincibles. And I'm not all that good at sneaking up on things. Ideally, I'd wait until several got destroyed and then ambush the last one left. But I'm starting to wonder why Angstrom Levy is behaving in the way that he is."

"Because he wants everyone to associate Mark with what all the other Marks are doing. According to him, other Invincibles murdered his family in their dimensions, and now he can't remember which version of him his memories come from."

"Right, but logically, he-."

She sigh/gasps in frustration. "Did you see his giant mutant brain? He's not being logical."

"Okay. Based on the G.D.A.'s files on the first time he attacked your Invincible, he could use a portal to send him anywhere. He could kill him by sending him to a dead Earth and leaving him there. Or a reality where the Earth never formed. Or any other reality, because his friends and family wouldn't be there. He didn't. He sent him to places where he'd probably get a bit roughed up, and then brought him back. Each time, except the last one where he was in a coma and couldn't."

"So..?"

"So he doesn't want to kill your Invincible. And he doesn't want to specifically kill anyone else, because it wouldn't be that hard for him to get hold of a weapon, portal himself into range, fire and then leave. What he wants to do is inflict as much physical and psychological harm on your Invincible as possible. And keep doing it. So he finds a bunch of arsehole Invincibles because they'll know the best way to hurt him, and their costumes and faces are similar enough that people will associate them with him." She gives me a small nod. "But he blames them as well. Right?"

She nods, mildly perturbed. "He wants them all to die. He doesn't want Mark to die, but he didn't bring… Different versions of me who hate their Invincibles, because he wants them to die and he barely knows me. They.. probably all did something to him or his family when they took over their Earths."

I nod. "There's no reason for him to reappear at this point. Not until the Invincibles stop attacking or their numbers drop below the point where they can't cause the sort of havoc that he wants."

"Why are they helping him?"

"He offered them things. Technology that will let them access parallel universes so they can conquer other Earths. One of them wanted to steal your Invincible's mother to replace his own. A couple just wanted to fight strong opponents."

"What about your Invincible?"

"I don't know." I shrug. "I just got my marching orders, and went."

"What, that's it? I thought you two were friends?"

I regard her levelly for a moment. "I didn't know him before Invincible and Omni-Man conquered the Earth. I obey and make myself as useful as possible because as far as I can see that's the best way to make things less terrible. Have you ever seen, um..? The video of the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Not the.. bit where one man stops a tank division while armed with a plastic bag. I mean, the bit where they mowed protestors down with machine guns and then shot the ambulances that went to try and help them. Repeatedly."

"No, but I know what you mean."

"People tried protesting Omni-Man's take-over too. Now, in theory, two people can't occupy a planet. And they can't in practice either. But they can kill anyone who openly protests about it or tries to fight them. And it's not as if they need to win an election afterwards, so any amount of force… I mean, the more people who die, the fewer they have to bother trying to corral, right?"

She nods with obvious reluctance. "I just.. can't believe that Mark would do that."

"My Invincible isn't your Invincible. And… If I had to guess, I'd say that once Director Stedman got his mother killed, he just went along with what Omni-Man said… At least until he got too invested in it to stop. And… Governments and people around the world didn't ever quite seem to accept that they couldn't win, so the… Killing kept happening."

"But you didn't fight him." I shake my head. "If you could make these swords, why didn't you help when Omni-Man took over the world? You didn't need to work for Cecil to do that. You could just have handed them to someone else."

"I couldn't make them at the time. I learned that afterwards. I didn't bother trying to learn how to use my powers for fighting until after I started working for Invincible, and that was mostly because Viltrumites wouldn't respect someone who couldn't fight. And if they respect me at least a little then I can make the occupation less onerous." Hm. "Can you transmute antimatter?"

"I.. don't know."

"It works on Viltrumites, but don't do it on an inhabited planet. Antiprotons and positrons can be contained with magnetic fields, but make sure that they're in a vacuum, because-."

"I know what antimatter is. I'll try finding out if I can make it once this is over." She looks around, then returns her attention to me. "How do we isolate a drone?"

"I'm not… Did you meet Angstrom?" She shakes her head. "But he knows that you exist?"

"Probably."

"Okay. Then my best idea is that we find an Invincible at the lower end of their power range and you engage him with a few other local heroes. I detect the locations of the drones and you 'accidentally' destroy all but one during the fight. Once there's one left, I sneak up on it, or… Engage you to 'help' that Invincible, and covertly take control of it."

"You said that he'd come here if we beat all the Invincibles."

I nod. "That's my best guess, but he might just toddle off to get more recruits first. I don't know how many different parallel Earths there are, but I suspect that it's more than twenty."

"How are you going to persuade him?"

"I'm not sure. Tell him that my Invincible's gone rogue and that I want a portal home? New orders? Tell him that some of the Invincibles are annoyed that they're dying and suspect that he's not planning on holding up his end of the bargain? I'll scan the drone in detail and see if I can open a portal myself?"

Scan. Where are the Invincibles?

"If you don't have a better idea, there's a good fight going on in Seoul right-."

"Hold on." She listens to something on her earpiece, then her eyes widen. "One of them's attacking the Teen Team! We need to-" Pink light bursts from her hands and feet as she turns herself in what I assume is the direction of their headquarters. "-go!"

I dart forwards, grab her and transition us.

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
10:01 GMT -5

A.. suspension bridge with a.. weirdly large building on top of one of the towers. I-.

Eve jerks away from me, a weak pink bolt hitting me in the chest and being absorbed by my environmental shield. Then she works out where we are and dives for the structurally-unsound structure. She's going for the entry hatch at the top, a waste of time. I generate a construct drill and slam it into the exterior wall, brick exploding away and flying into the water below! A construct fan blows away the brick dust as my scans feed the interior layout into my brain. I-.

I dodge as a chunk of.. dull brown robot flies past me before armouring up and heading in. Some sort of… Workshop, though I can see a larger interior space through a hole in one of the walls.

"You called in reinforcements?"

That's Invincible's voice. He's holding another robot up by the neck. No, this one is power armour, and from the look of the control system the boy inside is-. Was controlling the other robots littering the floor. There's a injured girl on the ground in a pile of rubble, and… Someone in some sort of orange fire fighter uniform? I connect filaments to both of them and move them to…

"Hey, if you keep calling people in, do you think I could kill more of you than any of the others? Just take a number, I'll get to-" He glances around. "-you-. Oh. Gay Invincible's boyfriend. What do you-"

Eve blasts past me, sword at the ready. Invincible grins, spinning around twice and throwing the power armour at her. Her eyes widen as she tries to viff out of the way but I just generate a crash mat construct to absorb its momentum. The construct fails on impact, but I soaked enough kinetic energy that it just falls to the ground.

"-want-? Hey, what-"

Eve spins around my dissipating construct and blasts herself at him, pink armour around her body shielding her from the transmuted rocket fuel she just ignited on her back. This Invincible smiles as he half-dodges, right arm stuck out to turn aside her swing.

I form a megaphone construct and project the anti-Viltrumite sound wave.

"-givesaagh!"

Eve swings, and his forearm parts company with his body! A second rushed swing as she flies past him slices through part of his neck, though she misses the major arteries and the windpipe. He tries to reach for it with both hands, only for the stump to spurt so much blood over his face that he can't tell how serious the wound is.

Eve hits the far wall with force, her armour fracturing as it prevents her being injured.

"What the Hell?"

The Invincible then tries moving his hands to his ears to block out the sound I'm making, only to jab himself with his exposed radius bone.

"Ah-gh!"

The guy in power armour rises to his feet, checking me out for a moment before turning back to keep careful watch on the Invincible. "I have expended all useful ordnance. If you have a weapon capable of hurting an Invincible duplicate, do not hesitate to use it."

"I've got antimatter."

"I withdraw my previous statement."

Eve goes to lunge at where the Invincible is flailing on the ground, but meets my eyes before she does so. She hesitates, recreates her armour and then lunges at him, sword raised high and then slashing down-

"AAAGhda-hah!"

-and getting embedded in his chest due to being stuck in his ribs. He tries to push it out with his remaining hand, only for the x-ionised metal to survive, get more jammed against the inside of his rib cage, and slice cleanly through the hand he just hit it with because arming swords are sharp on both sides.

"Uu-uhruh!"

I dart forwards, take an x-ionised epée out of subspace and stab it through his left eye socket and into his brain. He's… Shaking as the signals from his brain to his body are getting disrupted, but he doesn't appear to actually be dying.

Eve comes up beside me, reclaims her sword and plunges it through his neck.

Blood spurts from his severed carotid arteries, his shakes growing steadily less vigorous before he finally goes still.

Breathing heavily, Eve withdraws her sword and disintegrates the blood covering her in a wave of pink light. Scan…

There!

I transition outside and then upwards as the red fireman groggily rises to his feet while one of Angstrom's drones watches from above. I send a construct cable down, punching through the outer casing and looking for…

Connection established.

Good. Take control, and edit myself from the footage. Not… Seeing any internal component checking, so… Build a Viltrumite Empire standard uplink to maintain control without a connection and transition back down.

"Ah." The fireman is clearly unsteady on his feet, possibly from loss of blood and possibly from head trauma. "Heey. Are you new? There's a… Guy."

"The version of Invincible who attacked you is dead." I scan him. Hm. Nothing… Immediately fatal, though it.. looks like he received a traumatic brain injury relatively recently. Probably from a bullet? Given the lack of residual fragments I'd guess that it was an armour piercing round that over penetrated, but it's still impressive that he's in anything like fighting shape. "Would you-?"

He looks around in a daze, finally spotting the unconscious girl.

"Monster Girl?!" He darts over to her and starts performing a basic health assessment.

"I can heal both of you, if you like."

"Uh. Huh?" He stares at me. "That was an option?"

…

I'm choosing to believe that was a 'yes please'.

I connect a broad orange beam to him and get to work. Cuts and bruises, gone. Brain damage… Well, I can't tell exactly what was there before, but I can reconnect some of the blood vessels and I can work out some of what's missing based on my scans of other human brains. I also know what infant brains look like, so if I just make it highly plastic then he should be alright. His cybernetic forearm…

Huh.

That's a monitoring device and a remote self-destruct.

I shut them both down and remove the prosthetic.

"Hey-! I need that!"

And I replace his forearm with a mirror of his remaining hand.

"Or… Not. Was Cecil keeping you in a basement or something?"

And… 'Monster Girl'… Brain swelling down, small cuts and bruises… Nothing serious. Anything else can wait for an actual physician.

"No, I came in as part of the invasion force."

"Ah…"

"But my Invincible isn't actually interested in destroying your civilisation." I think, and the spy drone floats down. "Are any of you any good with technology?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
06:32 GMT

That is not the legislation that was in the draft paper.

Or rather, it is, with some quite significant additions and the oversight changed from concrete to vague. And… I don't know if it's meant to be read this way, but…

Okay, so the Justice League in theory can't operate in places that haven't consented to having the Justice League operating in their territory. In practice, that… Well, Batman wasn't exactly slow to send the team in, and the Charter was always a fig leaf to cover the fact that the most powerful superhumans on the Earth had been operating in concert for years without so much as a by your leave. While in theory there were all sorts of things that the Security Council could do if the League acted beyond its authority, in practice the only thing they could really do is withdraw the Charter when they were the ones who wanted it in first place.

So the Charter allowed Justice League members to -for example- intervene in non-signatory countries in response to a natural disaster, because they knew full well that telling Superman that he had to stand there and watch an earthquake or tsunami demolish a town was a non-starter. He just wouldn't do it, regardless of any Charter.

Similarly, dealing with aliens is something that there's more leeway about, because they knew that the Green Lantern Corps requires its members to do that. The allowance only lasts a few days, after which the diplomatic side is supposed to pass to whatever country they've landed in. The idea presumably being that a Green Lantern could move a ship out of an area that might be inclined towards hostility within a few hours, and if nothing particularly terrible has happened in a few days then it probably isn't an emergency any longer and they can pass it over to a government. In practice, that never came up because only a few aliens came to Earth for anything other than a fight, and patching their ship up and sending it on its way only took a few hours both times it happened.

In a sense, the agreement is about how the League does the thing they were going to do anyway, along with given them just enough of an incentive to accept a few restrictions.

But… But this is throwing out the whole thing…

I mean, I was worried that I might be breaking zoning laws when I started working on Hub City. Which is daft. The place was such a wreck that those laws served no purpose. And I doubt that the mayor would have tried holding me to them anyway. So… Saying that the League can ignore zoning laws is… It's a bit odd, and not something that would come up in normal crime fighting, but if they need to temporarily set up a aid centre or… A mortuary, it makes a degree of sense.

But the difference is that while the draft version described things like that as a temporary measure to deal with an immediate problem, the version being voted on doesn't. I… I'm not sure if the normal zoning authority could change it back, or if in theory if a member of the League rezones something then that's just how it is now. Even the provisos relating to an emergency have been stripped out, replaced with some waffle about 'as the situation requires' and 'proportional use of authority'.

And it's not just… Zoning. It's… It's everything. Arbitrary arrest, yes, the League is getting the authority to detain, hold, and interrogate anyone who isn't a head of state as they choose. Now… Yes, some members of the Justice League performed.. aggressive interrogations, and not just Batman. But this is a… A criminal justice system bypass.

I mean…

Okay, this does retroactively authorise us letting everyone out of Belle Reve and then imprisoning people overwhelmed by the Anti-Life in the Tower of Fate… So that is something that in extremis we might.. need. And… The various legislatures probably don't want the League to get back into the habit of doing what seems right at the time without some sort of guidelines…

I think…

Ring, check my working?

Confirmed.

Yes, this is actually more power with less day-to-day accountability than the Justice Society International had. And the J.S.I. strictly limited itself to signatory countries.

And… There's no built-in mechanism for rescinding it.

In fact… I think they'd need to get a majority vote in the Security Council and the assent of all Permanent Members to start the process of rescinding this, because they're ratifying an international agreement.

Ring… Who's awake?

Approximately two thirds of the human species.

Heh. Okay, lack of mental clarity; that was on me. Who on my team?

Squire, Canis Minor, Red Star, Osiris, Star Sapphire and New Supergirl.

Huh. I'd have thought that Supergirl III would be asleep by now. But I don't think that she'd have any useful input anyway. Canis Minor… No, he'd dismiss the whole thing. Red Star… I'd have thought that the Russian Federation would be the last people to approve something like this. Squire and Osiris…

Ring, contact Osiris.

Calling.

I can't see anything here about Kahndaq signing it. Greater Kahndaq isn't economically powerful enough to warrant a permanent seat yet, but with Adom finally making something of the place -particularly in the agricultural sector- they might get there in a decade or two. I know that there was some suggestion on Earth Prime that Brazil might get there, but… Well. That isn't going to happen here. Not now. Accalacan just isn't interested enough in the rest of the world and barely has an economy.

"Osiris. Go."

"Orange Lantern here. I-."

"Oh! Good morning. If it is morning where you are?"

"It is, and good morning to you too. Are Dawn and Manitou settling in alright?"

"Manitou is mostly ignoring things. Dawn is mostly angry. She reminds me of Adriana."

"Who I'm assuming is too far away to hear you say that."

"I have the Wisdom of Zehuti, not the Rock-Head of Ged."

"Good show. Ah. Look, I'd like to talk to you and Squire about something. Can you spare a couple of hours?"

"I would like to help, but I am supposed to be helping Dawn today. The gods' blessing lets me understand her language where few others can."

"Not a problem. Beryl might have some insight into what she could do with herself, and after talking to me she'll be ready to try anything."

"I do not think you are quite that bad."

"Hark at you! Super-tact, too."

"Perhaps… It will help. What did you want to talk to us about?"

"Batman's managed to get some legislation passed that I'm not.. sure about, and I was hoping that the two of you could look it over. Make sure I'm not missing something obvious."

"My brother will be pleased to see that my lessons on legal documentation have been useful."

"Thank you. I'll pick up Beryl and be with you shortly."

"I will prepare for your arrival."

"Very ominous. Orange Lantern out."

Right. Hand to forehead,

and step out, travelling towards the desire to organise and fix that marks Beryl as.. surprisingly similar to me, actually. And then step

back in, appearing in… Side Beryl's house as she steps out of the bathroom wearing a towel.

We stare at each other for a moment.

"I apologise. I-"

"Yes."

"-will wait downstairs."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
06:39 GMT

"…first time she's brought anyone 'round from America." Missus Hutchinson is washing the breakfast cutlery, having rejected my offer to do it for her. "You here for anything special?"

"In point of fact, this is more me dropping in unannounced. I wanted her input on-." Huh. "Actually, have you been keeping up with what's going on in parliament?"

She rolls her eyes. "Lot of use they've been."

"It's just that there's a piece of legislation going through that I'm a bit worried about, and I was wondering if you were aware of it?"

"I doubt it. What's it about?"

"Well, basically, giving the Justice League extraordinary authority to control anything they want in order to fix human civilisation."

"Oh. What's wrong with that?"

"I just… I wouldn't be comfortable having that much power. And I'm not really all that comfortable with anyone else having it, either."

She thinks for a moment, frowning. "Here, didn't you spin the moon around a few years ago?"

"Yes. That-. I did. You'd be surprised how few people bring that up."

"And you're worried about the Justice League getting too much power? More than they have already?"

"Sort of-. I like to think of the Justice League as a nice-to-have thing. I don't like the idea that our entire civilisation is carried on the backs of two dozen people. Like… We're not really doing anything that other people couldn't do, we're just doing it a bit faster."

"Didn't I read something about stopping some Indian terrorists from using stolen nuclear weapons a little while ago?"

"Yes. Yes, that happened. They didn't actually have.. that many, and they didn't have the technical capacity to launch them on missiles, but they did have them."

"And the Indian government couldn't stop them?"

"Not-. Not as quickly."

"Well there you are, then. They are essential. Unless you think some nutters setting off nuclear bombs is just normal."

"I mean… Yes, Kobra did escalate to that point eventually, but that was after decades of the police and the military not hunting them down."

"I'm sure they were trying."

"But if they'd been better resourced then they might have succeeded. And the League didn't stop them until after the first fusion bomb went off."

"The police didn't stop them at all."

I nod, taking a moment to get my thoughts in order. "So… Basically… You wouldn't have a problem with the Justice League having unlimited authority to do anything?"

"No, not really. I think they can be trusted. And I don't think anyone could really stop Superman anyway."

"I-. Could-." Not the point. "But just because they're well intentioned, that doesn't mean that they know everything, or have the best ideas about everything."

"It's not permanent, is it?"

"It could all be revoked with another act of parliament. In Britain, anyway. That's the beauty of the Westminster system; there's no limit on parliamentary sovereignty."

"Apart from the European Union."

"No, according to British law, everything they say can be ignored and overridden. It's not, because of the other consequences of doing that, but sovereignty rests in parliament. Until… This law goes through, then it'll effectively rest with Batman and Mister Atom."

She frowns. "Who's Mister Atom?"

I generate an illustrative construct. "This chap. He joined officially after we got rid of the Anti-Life. He's a robot who wants to take over the world."

"What does he want to do that for?"

"Because he thinks that he should because he's very strong and clever and he has a bit of trouble with the idea that those aren't the only determining factors. But he was pretty much immune to the Anti-Life and he's also… Very good at evaluating macro-level factors and monitoring the wide scale effects of our work."

"Oh. That sounds good."

"He also struggles to comprehend humans and humanity."

"Of course he does. It's only natural, isn't it? He's a robot."

"Yes, but it's a bit of a problem when he's got total authority to decide, for example, to demolish the Downs because they create inefficiencies in the shape of farmland."

"Do they?"

"Yes. Large flat fields are preferable to hilly terrain in almost all circumstances, and the thin soil covering chalk of the Downs is pretty bad for growing things."

"He can just… Get rid of hills?"

"Not easily. He'd need the help of a couple of other League members. But a hill is just a piece of rock or earth. Any sufficiently powerful magician could remove one. This is what I'm talking about. It's not just about getting rid of a few legal impediments to ensuring a full recovery of the planet. It's giving all of them the right to do anything."

"And we can't put it back afterwards."

"Not as it was."

"Oh. I'd have to think about that."

There are footsteps on the stairs, and then Beryl appears in full costume. "Think about what, Mum?"

"Apparently, we're giving the Justice League control of everything."

"Not quite everything, Mum. Batman's trying to arrange things so that we won't get hit quite as hard if something like this happens again. We'll probably end up doing a bit more farming in Britain but that's-." She looks at me. "That's why you're here. That's not what it says."

I shake my head. "I've got the updated wording. For some reason the world's being a little more generous, and I want you and Osiris to go through it to make sure that I'm not missing something before I go and talk to him about it. Oh, and… I was hoping to get your input on Dawn's situation."

She regards me levelly. "And you lost your telephone so you couldn't phone ahead. Hm?"

"No, sorry, that was my mistake. I don't see exactly what's at the other end, and I didn't think to.. scan…"

"Don't do it again." I nod as she thinks. "Okay. I've been wondering what Greater Kahndaq is like right now. Let's go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
08:46 GMT +2

Beryl stares out across Shiruta for a moment, then cocks her head to the side and stares into space.

"Huh."

I wait for a moment, but she just closes her eyes.

"Please, wise and noble crone, share your wisdom with this unworthy one."

"Oi, less of the crone. But do you hear it?"

I make a point of listening, but it sounds quite a lot like it did last time I was here. The thing about Kahndaq is… They have their own oil extraction and refining facilities. Their own farms. They're a bit short on metal mining but other than that they're pretty self-sufficient. Sure, their exports took a hit, but they can stockpile or put the oil rigs in mothballs until things pick up again. After the Sheeda incursion they were increasing the size of their manufacturing sector to take advantage of the reduced fuel cost and the fact that Adrianna was perfectly capable of taking the carbon out of the air with her plants…

"Probably not?"

"This is the first place I've been that didn't get blasted with Anti-Life for a month. It sounds different."

"How so?"

"Difficult to explain. People walk different. Talk different. Talk the same as they used to, I mean."

"And other people don't?"

She focuses on me, raising her left eyebrow. "You haven't noticed?"

I make a flicking motion with my right hand. "How many remotely normal people do you think I talk to in the average week?"

"Right, you moved out of Gotham, didn't you? Okay, for example, people don't raise their voices as much. Here…"

I listen to the sounds of the city. Angry shouting, happy shouting, raucous shouting… And then I compare it to Hub City.

"I see what you mean. Is that everywhere?"

"Most places. Depends how close they were to a broadcaster." She shrugs. "And then there's the cars of course. Britain's opening the coal mines again."

"Wouldn't nuclear be better?"

"Where would we get the fuel?"

"Australia? I'm sure someone from the League could fly a few tonnes over as a one-off thing. I could. It's not like it goes bad particularly fast."

"I'll pass that on. Could you build the plant, too?"

"Well, if this law goes through, not only will I be able to build it, I'll be able to mandate its use." Oh. "So I guess that private car use isn't really a thing in Britain any more?"

"We're importing electricity from France."

"The shame of it. Those lovely nuclear reactors on the north coast, right?"

"The North Sea is still producing. The gas pipes are still there. Anyone with electric cars can still drive." She shakes her head. "We've actually started putting old milk floats back into service to keep supermarkets stocked. I've only seen them once before because The Milkman drives one."

I frown. "Yes, that's… What they're for."

"No, not the milkman. The Milkman."

"Oh! Oh right, yes. That's so much clearer."

"The superhero." She regards me quizzically. "That's funny. Do they still have milkmen in your Britain? 'round here he's who most people think of when they hear 'milkman'."

"Ah, we had one when I was little. I don't remember exactly when it stopped. And the.. dates don't quite match up, so it's not quite the same."

"And yours is-."

The door to the rooftop opens, Amon stepping through and holding it open for Dawn. She… She's switched to slightly more modern clothing, I suspect at Adrianna's suggestion, but a quick look at her body language doesn't suggest that she's feeling any more settled.

"Hello, Amon." Beryl smiles warmly at him and Dawn. He give her a quick nod before focusing his attention on Dawn again-. I extend my translation aura to her because intelligent as she is, as far as I know she's not an expert on pre-European American languages. "Dawn, right? I'm Squire."

Dawn regards her cautiously. "Are you one of Osiris' friends?"

"Ah…" Beryl looks at Amon for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say we're friends. We're on the same team. I'm here because Orange Lantern thinks I might be able to help you."

"'Help'…" She shakes her head. "I have visited the descendants of my people. I have visited people who live as we lived. I have no bond with either of them. My world is vanished in the dust of the past. You cannot rebuild a fire from ash."

Beryl thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Okay, let's not bother, then. The other thing we're here for is that Orange Lantern is worried about a law our governments are passing and wants us to take a look at it."

"I don't know anything about your.. councils."

"You're not really starting with a disadvantage there. Honestly, having someone who doesn't know how they work will probably help."

Dawn doesn't look even slightly convinced.

But I smile. "Amon, did Adom ever tell you about the time when Captain Marvel tried explaining the American government to him?"

Amon nods. "When he told me of the American system, he said that he was recounting what Captain Marvel told him, with his own observations."

"Ah. So he didn't mention that him doing that forced Marvel to rethink the whole thing?" Dawn watches as Amon shakes his head. "Marvel thought that the brilliance of the system was self-evident. But when he had to explain why some things work the way they do, he couldn't convince an open-minded and disinterested party. For the first time in his life he had to think about whether or not there were better ways to handle things. He actually wrote an essay on how the American system of government has changed over the centuries, and how some things people today consider essential are actually pretty recent changes."

Amon nods again. "So Dawn can help, because she does not know the system, and so does not assume that it makes any sense."

Dawn shakes her head. "Nothing I have seen of this world makes sense. And I cannot read your language."

"I can translate it for you. There will be a few words which don't-."

"My language doesn't have a written form. I can understand a handful of words."

"Okay, well, I can make a machine that can read the words to you when you point it at them. Is that any good?"

She thinks for a moment, not really looking at any of us. Then she shrugs. "It may as well be."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
09:33 GMT +2

"… This is a surrender."

Watching Dawn go through the binder containing the British version of the Bill has been interesting. She clearly isn't used to handling paper, but she's not stupid and worked out how to do so easily enough. It puzzled me at first that she hadn't already gotten used to that, but then I realised… They'd have been doing this on computer, wouldn't they? Keyboard and touch screens. I'm showing my age by transmuting paper copies to read in physical space and pens to make notes with.

Milk floats. Of all the things to trip up over.

Beryl cocks her head to the side. She's making notes on her personal computer, with only reference numbers on the document itself. "How?"

Dawn shrugs moodily. It's fairly obvious that she thinks Beryl bit her tongue to say 'how' rather than something more derogatory. She didn't, of course, and since she didn't Dawn probably isn't going to snap at her.

"They are giving all power to the… Justice League. Supreme power. They control only the things that the Justice League doesn't want to control. The only time a tribe does that is when they are defeated and wish to avoid being destroyed." She looks us each in the eyes for a moment, continuing only when we don't respond negatively. "This is a lot of words to do that. Perhaps they want to pretend that it is not what they are doing."

I make a point of looking at Beryl and raising my eyebrows.

"I'm inclined to agree. I just can't work out why."

Beryl shakes her head. "They can undo it with a vote in parliament. It's not a surrender when one side can just vote to undo it."

"You mean like Britain could leave the European Union with a simple vote in parliament? Because I think it would actually be a lot more complicated than that."

"Because we've been in the E.U. for decades. The Justice League's… It's only been five months. We're not as bound up in the League's reconstruction project."

"But Batman will have a plan, won't he?" I tap my binder. "He wouldn't have moved this forwards unless he had something in mind for it."

She nods slowly. "Okay, so… He has a global plan. Most places go along with it, and the League… They'd stop operating anywhere that wasn't."

"No, but their reconstruction work would. Carrot and stick. 'Here's what we can do when we fight crime for you, imagine what we could do with more power'. And it's not like governments in any democratic countries have a solid grip on power. If all the opposition has to do is say 'we support the Justice League's reconstruct efforts more' then they'll almost certainly win, regardless of other factors."

She thinks for a moment, then reluctantly nods. "And authoritarian countries… They either don't need it…" She pointedly looks around. "Or they'll make a deal so they don't get overthrown and handle any problems later."

"Yes. You'll note how-."

"China's the most cooperative it's ever been, yeah I spotted that."

China's super functionaries are certainly capable fighters, but none of them have the sort of utility that Lanterns do. Even Accomplished Perfect Physician can't replace a failing transportation infrastructure, and… Last time I saw him, he was… Thinking about straining the leash.

It's not like he likes the system that put him in a desert prison for life. And the Party's ability to yank his chain is severely curtailed at present, and he's got an interest in seeing that it stays that way. On the face of it the only body that could possibly threaten Party control is the army, but it turns out that with one thing and another there's enough local discontent that a local Party versus central Party division is actually fairly exploitable.

I… I've been keeping my nose out of that.

"But you don't think it's a surrender."

"No. Most countries have laws to grant governments emergency power in emergencies. Getting global trade up to.. what it was, is going to take at least two years. Getting it running alright is going to take a year, even with proper organisation. And global trade… It's the result of hundreds of years of traditions and treaties. If we want to do something radical to fix it, everyone's got to agree on who's going to do it and let them. They can change things afterwards if they don't like it."

"Except they won't, because-."

"Then what's the problem? If they don't want to… So what?"

Hm.

I pause for a moment, making a point of relaxing. Beryl's eyes go back to her computer.

"Has one of your plans been turned down?"

"Not a.. plan. I just had a few ideas that could help. And some got accepted."

"And your superpower is systemic analysis, meaning that you're literally the best person to do the job."

"I'm the best person. That doesn't make me better than everyone else put together. Osiris?"

"My brother will not sign this."

Beryl and I look at each other. "I don't think either of us thought he would."

Amon looks slightly nonplussed. "And Batman has not asked him to."

Beryl nods, shrugging. "Batman's not stupid. He's not going to ask someone who is never going to say 'yes'. Kahndaq's pretty self-sufficient, doesn't really need reconstruction aid and Adom's super-popular."

"How are you doing for raw materials?"

"My sister is surveying our new lands. Their former rulers were… Not efficient. They often just handed out contracts to foreign companies and let them do what they liked."

"How do you mean?"

"Destroying farms, despoiling rivers, exiling local people from their homes and murdering anyone who resisted. And they were not charged for what they took, only for the extraction rights to an area. The government was not being paid anything like what it should have been."

"Even if all the corrupt members of government had wanted to do is stuff their Swiss bank accounts, they could have gotten more money even without the upfront bribes if they had been more attentive and professional. Let that be a lesson to all."

Amon looks at me for a moment, and then nods. "Ah, yes. But the important part is that soon we will have autarky. Even our tourists prefer to travel to other countries in the Middle East. There would be no point in us taking part in Batman's scheme."

"Okay, but what do you think about it in itself?"

"I would trust my brother with this authority, but he is already Kahndaq's ruler. Mister Atom has improved a great deal since he first fought Captain Marvel, but he is still inhuman. I do not trust him with this power. And despite my brother's fondness for her, I would not trust Angelica Blaze with it either."

Beryl shakes her head. "No, I don't think you're right about her. I'd be more worried about Rocket Red getting leaned on by his government. But as long as that didn't happen and everything needed to get signed off by Batman…"

"How about a sunset clause? Given everything that's going on, I doubt that even Batman could set up a parallel world government in six months."

She frowns at me. "You know why I'm for it. How come you're so against it?"

I shrug. "Because it's fundamentally elitist, putting responsibility for the destiny of humanity in the hands of a tiny self-appointed unaccountable minority. Even if we could be completely relied upon to do the right thing with it, I don't think that's healthy for our species."

She looks at me askance. "Then do you think that maybe members of the tiny self-appointed unaccountable minority aren't the right people to talk to?"

10th July 2013
07:02 GMT -5

I knock on the window, and the man staring at the chessboard looks around.

"Mister Luthor? Do you have a minute?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
07:18 GMT -5

"Hm."

Mister Luthor turns the page, eyes scanning swiftly across the legal text with my own notes warranting only a brief frown.

"Am I supposed to be seeing this?"

"I'll be mildly surprised and a little disappointed if you hadn't already seen it."

That warrants a faint smile.

"I was aware that a piece of legislation like this was passing through the legislatures of various countries. I hadn't yet seen the final wording."

"I can't promise that this is the final wording. The most I can say for sure is that a lot of places had it labelled as a final draft."

"Still."

"No one told me not to show it to you."

"I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised; you did warn the world of the Justice League's aim to use this crisis to take over the world."

"That wasn't exactly what I said."

"But it was what you were warning of; the human species sleepwalking into a state of effective Justice League rule."

"Er-rh…" … "Yes." … "Though… Most of the Justice League aren't actually.. involved in planning. They've-. The predominant opinion appears to be that it's a useful official confirmation that they're doing the right thing and a clarification of the extent of their powers."

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed."

"How do you mean?"

"Should I be relieved that any conspiracy is limited to a small number of people and as such can be resolved by Justice League members… Who according to this are the only people who legally can, or should I be disappointed that all it took for humanity to grant total control to our new overlords was the actions of a handful at a time of crisis?"

"If I knew what to do about it, then I wouldn't be talking to you."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, but at this point there's very little I can do. Under normal circumstances there would be all manner of legal mechanisms for preventing this from gaining force of law in the United States. Or even to simply delay it. As things stand… Are you aware of the various constitutional violations which took place during the American Civil War?"

"Not in detail."

"Habeas corpus was formally suspended, but Lincoln also de facto abolished freedom of expression, and his action in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation wasn't in accordance with the law either. The sad fact is that there's legal precedent in America for this sort of law in times of crisis."

"Does that count now?"

"Did it count Reconstruction?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't really study the American Civil War."

"Ah. Well, the answer is 'yes'. Or, rather, the answer is what those in power agree it to be. And at the moment, those people dance to the Justice League's tune." He rests his hands on the paperwork, looking directly at me. "You're not looking forward to it?"

"No. I-. I was when all I had was the original wording. It was just a slight expansion of the Justice League's charter responsibilities. It was a-. A sign that the world's governments were starting to function again."

"I assume that most of these functions will be exercised by Batman."

"Batman and Mister Atom. Now, I like Mister Atom, but he isn't ready to command human civilisation."

"No concerns about Batman?"

"I-. Sort of. Maybe. I don't think I'm.. really… I don't think I'm a good person to judge him."

"You don't think that he or Mister Atom would act maliciously with his new authority?"

"No. I can see Mister Atom requiring that all grades of nuclear waste be handed over to him, but that's a good thing for humanity so I don't really care."

"Wouldn't that make him more powerful?"

"Not to a strategically significant degree." He goes back to reading it. "I thought you'd be a bit more…"

"Did you think I'd rend my garments?" He smiles faintly. "Tear my hair out, perhaps?"

"I was expecting a denunciation and some strong language."

"Why is it that you're so concerned? You've worked with Batman for years. Surely you have a degree of confidence in his decisions?"

"I-." I don't.. really want to tell Lex Luthor about… What I did to Batman's brain. It's not shame, though I do feel ashamed. It's how badly it would undermine Batman when he's doing something that the people I trust the most think won't be a problem. "I don't know if you've noticed, but he's acquired a yellow power ring."

"I was aware."

"Power rings encourage particular mindsets. I'm concerned that constantly focusing on inspiring fear might be affecting him adversely. Or… Just… Encouraging him to think about things in terms of fear more than he usually would."

"I suppose that would explain why he abandoned the short-lived grey and blue costume."

I nod. "So, I.. realise that you'll need more time to go through it all, but do you have any… Advice?"

"Let it happen." I blink. "You won't be able to stop it at this stage, and you may gain some benefit from it. In the medium term, I hope that people will come to understand that living under this system is simply a more subtle form of oppression."

I huff with amusement. "That's a surprisingly optimistic thing for you to say."

He shrugs. "And if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong about human nature and I'll have to rethink a great many things."

"That… Sounds a bit accelerationist."

"You're complaining about heading towards danger?" He makes a comedically exaggerated frown, smiling as he does so. "Remind me again what your job is?"

"I don't mind danger for me, it's dumping it on everyone else that I'm not happy about." I sigh. "But I can't think of anyone else to talk to about it, and there's no smoking gun, so… Alright."

"If it puts your mind at ease, I'm perfectly happy to discuss any further developments with you. If you think that a second opinion would be helpful."

I nod, reluctantly. "Thank you. I suspect that it will."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
09:27 GMT -5

Kal-El gives me a faint frown, then looks past me in the direction of LexCorp. "Were you just… Talking to Lex?"

"Yes. I'm a bit worried about the Enabling Act that's getting voted on-"

He sighs and winces.

"-at the moment, and I thought that if Mister Luthor didn't have a problem with it then I was getting worried about nothing."

"Please tell me you didn't call it 'The Enabling Act' in front of any reporters."

"I didn't call it 'The-'."

He sighs again, but this time with amusement. "Did you call it that in front of any reporters?"

"No."

"Okay. So what's the problem?"

"It gives us far too much power indefinitely. And even if it wasn't being organised through the League, it's still too much power going to any one place."

He frowns, puzzled. "I.. suppose it's a little expansive, but it only really covers a lot of the things we've been doing anyway. Would you really want to undo all the work you've been doing in Hub City?"

"No. But I wouldn't have done what I've been doing in Hub last year, despite the obvious advantages. And… I've been speeding it up, but nothing that I've done in Hub couldn't have been done by conventional authorities, or… Just normal people."

"But they weren't."

"Democracy requires an educated and alert demos in order to work. If the people responsible for organising things aren't, then people with the right skills should step forwards."

"Like you."

"So we are taking over the world?"

"Ah-. That's not what I meant. We're not apart from society, Paul. We're a part of it. If that's what you're worried about, I don't see how having us do things is all that different from having a government contractor do it. Even economically; I checked, and on a per hour basis it's usually more expensive to get the Justice League to do civil engineering than it is to use an actual firm of engineers."

"Okay. Let's say that assigning responsibility for these things to a tiny number of self-selecting individuals is civilisation's response to this sort of crisis. We're not imposing ourselves. This isn't… The English Civil War, of the king and the top tier aristocrats versus the mid-tier aristocrats and wealthy merchants. This is the Glorious Revolution, where an unpopular king was politely escorted to the border and replaced by his daughter and her husband. The response of civilisation to the crisis isn't to fix the current system, it's to throw it out and… Replace democracy with oligarchy."

"I…" He nods slowly. "Wouldn't go that far, but I can understand where you're coming from."

"But even then, the top level decision-making is getting done by Batman and Mister Atom. Right?"

"Not.. quite. They're doing most of the oversight, it's true, but Diana's been wrangling the politicians and, ah…" He hesitates for a moment. "Arnus helped draft the legislation."

"But the strategic planning part. I know that I argued for redundancy, and, yes, two people is an improvement on one, but it looks like we're building a system that's one unlucky dose of Smilex away from being run by someone who thinks that humans would be better off if they didn't have to waste time eating."

"I agree Batman's working too hard, but who else-." He blinks, then looks over my shoulder again. "No."

"I wasn't actually thinking-. Though I suppose that his anti-matter brother could probably-."

"No. I'm not putting Lex Luthor in charge of the whole world."

"So we are putting someone in charge of the world?"

"I trust Batman not to use it like that. And-." He visibly ponders his next statement. "And I trust Mister Atom to realise that he isn't ready to rule the world, because I don't think he'd have agreed to join the Justice League if he hadn't. I cannot say the same about Lex Luthor."

"Anti-matter Lex Luthor isn't that bad."

Kal-El sighs. "No. He is, he's just on our side. He's every bit as ruthless and controlling as our Lex, he just does more to help people with it."

"Um." That's… News to me. "How..? Do you..?"

"We were considering offering him League membership, so we did an interview. He was surprisingly open about it."

I frown. "He… Could probably-."

He holds up his right hand to forestall my objection. "We used Diana's lasso. I'm pretty sure he couldn't fake that."

Ah… No. If he was giving answers and the lasso was active, then he wasn't lying. "I'm pleased that you thought to ask like that. Is that a standard check now?"

"Ah…" Kal-El looks a little self-conscious. "He is a Lex Luthor."

I sag inwardly. "So this is all depending on Batman."

"Batman hasn't been going out into the field as much…" He nods. "But if you're worried about this legislation, doesn't the fact that the rest of us aren't good enough at strategic planning to make use of it on the global scale make it easier for you to accept?"

"No, because if this is a societal shift, the League suddenly not being able to do the job it's accepted is… I don't know if it's worse, but it's certainly bad."

"Okay, have you tried talking this over with Batman?"

"No."

He looks a little concerned. "Are you..? Worried that Batman's going to.. do something?"

"Work himself to death? Go back to managing a huge part of the League by himself causing the same single point of failure issue it had before? Yes. Turn the world into a police state? Not really. If only because we don't have the manpower."

"I don't think he'd do that anyway."

"I didn't think Alan would do it anyway, and then I went a few parallel universes sideways and look what I found! But…" I raise my hands theatrically. "In the interest of maintaining better communication channels and avoiding another Nabu incident-"

"You said it, not me."

"-I'll talk it through with him. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me."

"I think everyone on the League would make time for you, Paul."

I smile blackly. I suppose that they would. "How's Ak-Var been getting on?"

"As well as could be expected. Better than Kara, honestly. And I think it helps her having someone from Krypton that she can relate to around. How about..? Your Kara?"

"As chipper as ever. She's enjoyed having Bleez around for 'girl stuff'. I've made absolutely no progress in working out how she got here or how to get her back, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all."

"As long as she's happy. Good luck with Batman."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
10:22 GMT -5

'Rex Splode' fidgets as his clone-brother starts taking apart the drone. "Ah… Shouldn't we be out there, doing something?"

Rudy Splode carefully connects the drone's circuitry to his analysis equipment. "Even assuming that the other Invincibles are only as strong as the one who attacked us-."

The small girl who is.. here for some reason, pulls a face. "'Only'?"

The clone nods. "Judging by the damage done to my robots, assuming that he was hitting as or nearly as hard as he could, I estimate him to be about eighty percent as strong as our Invincible."

I nod. "Your Invincible does appear to have the edge in strength. Not skill or equipment, though. I was a little surprised that your version of The Immortal wasn't tutoring him."

"Yeah…" Rex winces. "They… Diiiidn't exactly get along."

I frown at him. "And that was more important than fighting the Viltrumite Empire? There aren't many people on the planet who can physically fight at that level. If he'd taken some time to share his literal millennia of experience, or even just sparred with him on a regular basis, your Invincible would be able to beat his doppelgängers quite handily."

Local Eve shakes her head. "Immortal blamed Mark for what Omni-Man did. I don't think they had a single sparring session. Most of the training Mark did was with the G.D.A.."

"That doesn't-."

A woman in a dull green skin tight costume dashes down the stairs outside of the workshop, vanishing for a moment and then appearing on our level.

Rex brightens up. "Oh, hey Rae. Having second-?"

She grabs him and hugs him, staring over his shoulder at everyone else. "Is everyone okay? I saw the wrecks out there. Did-?"

"We're fine." Rudy doesn't look around. "An Invincible duplicate attacked us, but Atom Eve and Orange Lantern were able to kill him."

I nod. "Director Stedman is collecting their bodies to use to make stronger zombots. I don't know exactly what your arrangement with him is, but he'll probably want that one."

"Ah..?" Rex turns his head in my direction, still holding onto Rae. "'Zombot'."

"A portmanteau of 'zombie' and 'robot', referring to the corpses reanimated with cybernetic implants which the G.D.A. appears to be making use of."

"Oh, right. Just so you know, in this reality we call those 'Reanimen'."

I frown. "Four syllables? That seems a little clunky."

Rae relaxes her hold on Rex a little. "Who are you?"

"I am Orange Lantern Two Eight One Four. I came here with one of the invading Invincibles at the behest of Angstrom Levy, but we've switched sides. Rudy is currently trying to use that drone to track his location while my Invincible assists yours in beating the other invaders to a pulp."

The man in the skintight orange and yellow costume nods. "Which is why we're standing around here and not getting out there."

On that note... "It seemed to me that you got soundly thrashed by one Invincible. While we're waiting, perhaps I could assist you in ensuring that your next encounter goes better?"

Orange and yellow smiles. "Sounds good. You got more of those sweet swords? I could go for a katana."

"Are you trained in how to use a katana?"

"Sharp side goes in the other guy."

"Not inaccurate." I raise my right hand and transmute an arming sword before x-ionising it. "This is an arming sword, or knight's sword. You put either sharp side or the sharp point in the other guy."

"Alright." He grabs the hilt with his right hand and tests the weight. "Three times as good."

I nod. "For a total amateur, yes. In addition, this-" I transmute a bracer with a high-powered speaker and hold it out to him. "-will generate sound on a wavelength which disables viltrumites. The green button turns it on." I shut it around his forearm. "The red button turns it off. The casing is resilient enough to survive being slammed into a wall once or twice, but it isn't as tough as a viltrumite."

"So, get close, turn it on, stab, and we're done?"

"That's the aim."

Rex grins. "Got anything for the rest of us? 'cause I used to have a laser built into my arm, but…" Rae frantically looks at his arms. "Huh?" He needs a moment to work out why she's worried. "Oh! No, see, Cecil booby trapped it, so Lantern made me a new one. No laser, but it's got blood!"

She blinks uncomprehendingly at him.

"Because it's.. like a normal living hand. Not because it.. fires blood, or.. anything."

"Sword, sheath, harness, bracer." I push them towards him. "I can't build you a gun that would do much to a viltrumite. What does your power do?"

"I can charge up objects and make them explode."

Oh. Gambit. "You have to touch them?" He nods. "Any object?"

"It doesn't work on organic stuff. Except bone." He looks around awkwardly. "Don't ask me how I know."

"Plastic? Oil?"

He looks puzzled. "Ah, yeah?"

Eve shakes her head. "Not 'organic' as in 'organic chemistry'. It's 'living tissue'. My power has the same restriction. "

Perhaps… No, a railgun wouldn't work because the magnetic pulse might detonate it prematurely. "I could make you a slingshot? It wouldn't do anything to a viltrumite that your explosions don't normally-."

Eve pulls a slingshot out of the air and hands it to him.

"Ah, thanks?"

I turn to Rae. "What is your power?"

"I can shrink myself down. But there's a limit to what I can take with me. I don't think-."

Transmute.

She takes one of the pellets I just created. "What are these?"

"I read our G.D.A.'s file on our you. Those capsules are made of your bone and the interior is lined with your stomach lining. Inside that is your stomach acid." Her eyes widen slightly as she stares at it, clearly disturbed. "Assuming you fight by getting inside people and then enlarging yourself like our you used to, that should represent a far less risky way to deliver an attack. Your power should shrink it down with the rest of you."

She and Rex look at each other, then she shrinks down to the size of a small doll. The bone capsule maintains its size relative to her. She shrinks more, it shrinks more. Then she grows again, the capsule returning to normal size with her.

"Thank you. What.. happened.. to the me from your reality?"

"He tried that on Omniman, but his expansion was weaker than Omniman's toughness. According to Invincible, he was coughing up bits of Shrinking Raymond for several days."

She blanches, then nods.

"I'm afraid that I can't make a speaker with your body parts, but that should damage Invincible's brain if you can get to it, or give him severe disorientation if used in his sinuses. Don't expand to full size inside him."

She nods more firmly this time.

"Hm."

I turn to where Rudy is reviewing some readings. "Do you have something?"

He nods, focusing on the readout. "I believe so."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
09:40 GMT -5

Batman is understandably busy, but I've made a request for a meeting. And since I'm trying the whole openness and honesty thing, I made it clear what it was about.

I…

I'm hit by a wave of remorse for my action in re-enfearing his brain.

And I accept it.

Because that's why this is bothering me. I doubt that the happily-processing-his-grief-and-on-the-way-to-recovery Batman I briefly met would… I wouldn't suspect him of doing something unwise-. Bad. Yes, that's probably the best word. Something bad with this opportunity. But a Batman who's just had his brain rewired? Oh yes, that's a Batman who might well make some unfortunate choices.

We shouldn't be looking at a full Brother Eye situation. That required him getting his brain messed up by someone he liked and trusted, rather than a serial problem child like me. And it took longer for the paranoia-inducing near-recall of the event to produce the dreadful consequences that occurred.

Funny thing. I can think of two comics where Kal-El becomes a dictator: Red Son and that.. Metropolis thing. I can't think of one where Batman does. Even when he gets turned into a vampire nothing much else comes of it. But when you know them, you see immediately that it's ridiculous. Kal-El-. Superman, wouldn't think like that. He wouldn't integrate into society tightly enough to build those structures. I could sort of see him becoming an overlord in all but name, but if that happened I doubt that even he'd think of himself as being that. There'd be someone else in charge, and all he'd do is occasionally offer advice or aid.

Batman, on the other hand? Oh yes. I could see that happening. Building an organisation, establishing control, and all for the best reasons. He doesn't want power for it's own sake. Not to raise himself above others. But… What was the line? 'We've made a world where no eight year old boy will ever lose his parents because of some punk with a gun'. He wouldn't like doing it, but he wouldn't hold back if he thought it was necessary.

But that's a problem for tomorrow. For now, I've got an appointment with the Washington Monument.

Lantern Jordan and Lantern Stewart made a point of tidying up the city after we destroyed the Anti-Life broadcasting system. But it… The only industries it really has are government and tourism, and neither are really in demand at the moment.

Maybe things will stabilise, and maybe we can just repurpose it for something useful instead.

There are a few people around, but no one pays a lot of attention as I transition down to near the entrance of a nearby building dressed as a builder and carrying a small tent. No one pays me much attention as I head towards the Monument at a quick walk. There isn't a lot of building work in the city at the moment, and the people who have it can't afford to give the impression that they're slacking.

Set the tent up in a plausible location near to the Monument and step inside. Drop a sound-deadening field out of subspace covering the interior of the tent. Generate a large construct drill and dig, sending the expelled stone, concrete and earth into subspace. And wires-. Ah, replace those and move them to the edge of the hole and hope that no one noticed. Keep boring down...

Hm.

Alright, dismiss my construct, shore up the existing shaft and then create a new drill. If this doesn't go anywhere then I can just fill the hole in. The Monument is that way, so dig and brace as we go.

It'll be a bit embarrassing if I don't find anything, but just in case I'm early-.

Huh. That wall isn't supposed to be there. Or rather, it is, because it's what I'm looking for, but the location doesn't match any plans I've been able to find and I couldn't detect it by scanning.

Right then. Another sound nullifying field generator dropped out of subspace. Not to prevent the occupant -if there is one- hearing me, but to prevent sound from this encounter making its way to the surface.

Dismiss the drill bit, generate a crumbler ram, and… Breach.

I walk out into… Just above floor level in an underground base of some kind. Scans show… No, whatever ward system they've got set up doesn't just affect the outer wall. Plenty of room though, so I dismiss the ram, don my power armour and generate construct armour. Shouldn't need that, but there's no sense in taking foolish risks.

The room is mostly filled with mostly-empty shelving, and there's a thin layer of dust on most of it. That makes sense; this is a mostly-sealed environment, so there's only so much dust that can get in. The places where the dust has been removed seems to be from someone poking around to see what's in the storage units, though it doesn't look like they've taken anything.

Naturally, I ring-dust the whole place as I walk through the door to the rest of the facility.

"Mister Machin, if you're here, I'd like a word."

No sudden yelp of panic, and I… Seem to remember that he had an A.I. installed during his own series. That doesn't try speaking to me either. Instead, a small white terrier with a black patch over its left eye walks out of another room, tail wagging hopefully. He's wearing a black collar and has an A-in-a-circle pendant dangling off it.

He stops in the doorway, tail wagging nervously.

Ugh.

"I don't remember your name, dog."

"Rup!" He yaps, tail still wagging. "Rup!"

Ugh. I don't like the idea of scaring a dog in his own home, and Lonnie himself doesn't appear to be in. Dismiss construct armour, send power armour back to subspace, turn the environmental shield down to the absolute minimum, and kneel down. Take a… Chicken drumstick, yes, that'll do, out of subspace, and hold it out.

"Hungry, boy? I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk to your owner."

And because power rings can translate into dog, he actually understands what I'm saying. As much as a dog can, anyway. His ears perk up, and his stance goes from nervous to quizzical. Then his tail slows and he walks forwards, pulling the drumstick from my hand with his mouth before turning around and trotting back into the room from whence he came.

Right, so he is using this place, but he's not here right now. Either that or he's a very heavy sleeper. I follow the dog into… Looks like a control room. There's a large computer console across the opposite side, panels open and… Wiring that escaped from the sixties visible inside. It looks like he's making an effort to modernise it, but that's slow going for a boy his age.

Hm.

I could update that for him. And make sure that he's actually eating healthily. And check up on the structure of his brain just in case he's done anything unwise to himself.

The dog returns to his basket and starts stripping the meat from the bone with obvious relish.

"Any idea when he's getting back?"

The dog woof-snorts.

"Alright. Let's.. see then." I extrude construct probes towards the computer, trying to find the data storage components. The older-.

Is that a..? My goodness. The core of this thing is an ancient hard drive the size of a laundry basket. It looks… In reasonable condition at least. I access it and… Gather the paltry amount of data that it actually stores. It looks like Mr. Machin has modified the access mechanisms in an attempt to speed it up, but-.

BOOM!

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
09:44 GMT -5

Mr. Machin strolls in through the boom tube, pushing a shopping trolley before him. It contains a mixture of computer parts and more normal food supplies, and I'm curious about how he's gathered it all together. Lonnie himself is in normal civilian clothing: black jeans and a black t-shirt with a white A-in-a-circle that… Because he's not a hypocrite, probably wasn't made in a third world sweatshop.

Or maybe he thinks that it's better that they have some sort of job rather than being unemployed. I thought that he swung more towards the socialist end of anarchism rather than the libertarian end, but it's not like I know this version particularly well.

He.. really does look his age.

"Another successful trip, Yap! I'll take you for a walk-."

He lets go of the trolley, his voice growing concerned.

"Where did you get that chicken?"

"Good morning-" He wheels towards me, eyes wide and staring. "-Mister Machin. I thought-"

His eyes dart around the room as he tries to plan something, and seems to rapidly reach the conclusion that there's nothing he can do.

"-that you and I should have a chat."

He backs away slightly as the boom tube closes, hands bunching into fists.

"How did you find me?"

"The Hall of Justice is in Washington. I've scanned this city a lot. What do you think happens when I suddenly can't scan somewhere I used to scan just fine?"

He winces. "You investigate it."

I nod, looking around. "This place looks pretty old. Sixties?"

"No. S.H.A.D.E. built it in the seventies. I think they were trying to interfere with the Heartlands, but the documentation they left behind got damp and crumbled."

"I don't think S.H.A.D.E. would have stopped something like-." I smile. "They ran out of money."

"Modern money is a lie. Governments generate-."

"I know. I came from a parallel universe where information about how nonsensical the post-War economy is was getting wider public attention. When I first arrived I was so disgusted by fiat currency that I couldn't touch money without disintegrating it."

"You… Do?"

"Yes. If anything good comes of this, it's probably going to be the end of inflation spending."

He shakes his head. "They'll just make a new currency and start doing the same thing. The mistake is having government."

"Then why warn me about the Justice League enabling act? They're basically doing away with themselves, and the Justice League is a free association of volunteers. Unless you're thinking of rebranding as the Handicapper General, isn't that a good thing?"

He slumps slightly. "I'm not even trying to stop it. I don't like it because hardly anyone knows that it's happening. Did you even know?"

"I didn't, but I'm more concerned about the extent of it than… You know what I'm doing in Hub City?"

"Of course I do. Justice League News does a segment on it almost every day. Was that really spontaneous?"

"No one told me to do it, if that's what you mean. Which is the point. I didn't ask anyone's permission, I just started working on it. Having a piece of legislation which says that it's okay wouldn't change what I did."

"Then why didn't you just ignore me?"

"Because I don't think this is how things should work. I'm not… Exactly sure how they should work, or how to make things more like they should be. But I don't think this is it. And… I think it could be helpful to have someone a little less malevolent than Lex Luthor keeping an eye on things."

He blinks. "You're..? Not going to arrest me?"

"Not at this stage. But don't wreck the machine getting rid of the asbestos again."

He nods sullenly. "Fine."

"Fine..?"

"And I'm sorry for damaging the machine."

"Okay. Apology accepted. Remember to make time to apologise to Mister Snart, Doctor Roquette and anyone who gets asbestosis or lead poisoning in the meantime. On a tangentially-related subject, I couldn't help but notice that you're ten years old."

"Yes? That doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm doing."

"I know that you know what you're doing. I've been keeping an eye on you for three years. But there's 'surprisingly intelligent' and then there's 'living on your own in a government bunker with your own boom tube generator'."

"Why have you been watching me for three years?"

"Recruitment potential. It was you or Lex Luthor. Still is, technically. Now, if I scanned your brain, would I see anything unusual?"

"I don't know. I…" He looks around. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all. I broke into your house."

He pushes the trolley towards the console-.

"Do you want me to just replace that? It's no real effort for me."

"No. I want to fix it up myself." He parks the trolley and then sits on the elderly console chair. Chicken long since devoured, Yap wanders over to sit leaning against his leg, Lonnie absent-mindedly scratching his head. "And you would see something unusual. I have succeeded in fusing the two hemispheres of my brain together."

"And what on Earth made you think that was a good idea?"

"Unlike you, I wasn't immune to the Anti-Life. I thought that by fully interfacing my rational mind with my imaginative mind I could push through it."

"Right, but-. How? I'll say again in case your overclocked brain experiences time at a different rate: you're ten."

"I built a machine using a combination of other people's work. And I was very lucky that it didn't kill me or drive me mad."

"Then-."

"I know it wasn't rational. My mind was altered by the Anti-Life. I saw it as my only way to escape."

"Alright. I assume that you're checking your brain activity?"

"Yes, but it's not as if I've got anything to compare it to."

"The machine you used?"

"It's in Blüdhaven. I'll give you the address. It's a bit big for me to move myself. But I want to know how you knew about that. It can't just be my age."

"I've been to parallel universes. In some of them, certain personal stories are further along, and a matter of public knowledge. I'll take that address and then leave you in peace until I've given Batman a chance to explain what he's doing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
10:21 GMT -5

"Ah…" Karon's reluctance to talk about it is obvious in her voice, but I also know that she's a responsible woman. "Okay. Okay. What do you need to know?"

"When you were… Mistress, did you sponsor any sort of technological research..? If you remember."

"I can remember just about everything. But I'm.. pretty sure I wasn't doing anything like that. Uh. That wasn't how I… How I ran things."

"And you didn't use devices like that which were created by someone else?"

"Some… Weapons, and some of Joker's gas grenades. Nothing… Nothing sophisticated. Ah. What are you looking for?"

I carefully study the defunct bank below me. "Something which merges the left and right halves of someone's brain together."

"Doesn't the corpus callosum already do that?"

"It connects them, but they're still distinct units. Actually, did you know that there's a treatment for severe epilepsy which involves destroying the corpus callosum so that the seizure can't cross from one side to the other?"

"No? Does it work?"

"Yes, though there are some strange side-effects to cutting a brain in half. It-."

"Eh, you know, actually? Don't tell me. And… I don't need to know who built that or why they… Thought that was smart."

"I'm hoping that it can be used to undo traumatic brain injuries, but that's probably a bit hopeful. Thank you for your help."

"Sure. Any time you want me to tell you I don't know anything… You know where I am."

"And how are you doing? Generally."

"Do you have..? Time to-."

"Yes, I absolutely have time for you. And I've.. run into enough anti-scan devices that I'm sending in robots to check the building first and I can't move in until they report back."

"Ah… Well… The travel company I used to work for is definitely gone. They found the new owner, but there's just… No demand. No one even wants to travel to other places in the U.S. anymore. On the other hand, working logistics isn't all that different. And who can say no to cheap chocolate?"

"Someone watching their figure?"

"Hey!"

"In general! In general." … "What did you think of the adverts?"

"The first time it was pretty funny, now it's just… Again? Really?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not a good enough writer to do more than a few."

"Those dogs were okay, right?"

"You have my personal guarantee that no dogs are harmed in the making of Cadbury's chocolate."

Incoming message.

"Yeah, but how about Hershey's?"

"You'd have to ask them. And I'm afraid that I'll have to cut this short. The robots confirmed all clear."

"Okay. Good luck with your weird brain merging gizmo. Uh, you're not going to use it yourself, right?"

"Of course not-"

"Good."

"-until I've tested it. Bye!"

Power armour humming and construct armour glowing, I drop down and push through the bank doors. They locked the doors when it was closed down, Blüdhaven not really being sophisticated or rich enough for banking scams to keep it afloat. The doors were forcibly unlocked during the Anti-Life period, and forced open again when a crew came through to remove the bodies.

And apparently Lonnie spent some time here. I'm not sure why he would have come in here… The vault might be safe, but it's not like there's much left in here. No food, not much to burn for warmth… The roof is solid, but that's about all I can say for it. I suppose that with a boom tube generator a locked vault might be secure enough…

And he found a brain-altering machine. That says 'supervillain', but I can't really think of any Gotham supervillains who do brain alterations. Not chirurgical ones anyway. I'd wonder if it was Sivana but his security would be better. I'll have to scan it thoroughly when I get inside.

The place is warded, but flicking out orange tendrils lets me pick up genetic samples directly. Mostly people whose bodies were identified, a few… Samples which I assume are from other Blüdhaven residents. No one I recognise as being… 'Significant' sounds harsh, but it's essentially true. No one who would have the ability to build this, no one who would have any reason to build this, no one where there would be a reason to use something like this on them.

I float around the service desk and head towards the vault.

Of course, the style of the design might give me a clue as to the identity of the creator. It would be out of character, but the Joker did work with the other members of the Injustice League. It's not impossible that they collaborated on other projects before the Smilex vines. I'll ask Dr. Isley.

The vault door is closed but… Not locked. Attach a construct to the rotor mechanism and turn it, and then swing the door open.

Some empty shelves, and…

Huh.

I float inwards. It looks a little like a sawn-off C.A.T. scanner. There's a 'bed', but the machine itself is only deep enough for the subject's head. The machine itself… It looks like it was made by a mid-range supervillain. They had the money for parts, but not to make it look like a unified device in the way that someone with serious money would; parts of the casing don't match the colour of the other parts, and in places the angles are off where something has been laid over innards that it wasn't originally built to contain. The custom parts would have been built here… Yes, there's the work bench and… What was once a clean room. A petrol-powered generator appears to have been the power source.

Prints?

Not found.

Wearing gloves the whole time? Perfectly possible. And unusually there's no sign of habitation; no discarded food containers, no chemical toilet or sleeping bag. So living somewhere else? Except this is a big project. For a single individual, this is what they'd have to be focusing on. They wouldn't want to commute. But it's a big building. Plenty of room in the offices upstairs.

Scan for genetic material.

Orange filaments flicker out, and… Find hairs.

Match found. Jervis Tetch.

…

Oh.

I jam filaments into the machine, taking note of every part and component. Access the data storage components…

What..? Was he doing? And why?

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th July 2013
10:26 GMT -5

"Robin, have you gotten anywhere..? Tracking down Jervis Tetch?"

"Not really. But that's not unusual. Even the real crazies can go to ground when they think they've been spotted. You asking for a reason, or just checking up on it?"

"I've found a machine, and a few of his hairs. I was hoping to ask him about it."

"What's it do?"

"According to the last person to use it, it fuses the hemispheres of the human brain together."

"That.. doesn't sound safe. Did they use it on themselves?"

"Yes."

"Okay… Oh El? I'm gunna need you to step away-"

I roll my eyes. "Oh har har."

"-from the brain machine."

"I couldn't use it anyway. My rings would reset my brain afterwards."

"I'm pretty sure that would make you more likely to use it."

"I admit, I have wondered what a delateralised brain would be like. I remember reading in a psychology textbook from my original parallel that a small percentage of the population are just born like that, but the article didn't have any information on how that changed the way it processed input. If-."

"Are you stepping away, or am I calling Blue Lantern?"

I dutifully take a step backwards.

"I have stepped away. Do you want this machine, or would it be better to hand it to Theodore Kord?"

"I'm not actually a brain surgeon, Oh El. I could take a look at the control software, but that's about it. Kord… Ah… Great, now I'm worried about him using it."

"It's fine. I'll take a scan of his brain before I leave. Do you think he built it?"

"I don't think Kord would just leave things like that lying around. Then again, he did make an invisible psychic chimpanzee, so who knows?"

"No. Tetch. I've got the League's records on what he's built, but I don't really have a feel for what his capacities are. Is it just mind control hats, or does he have a general understanding of mind machine interfaces?"

"I dunno, Oh El. He was a neuroscientist before he went crazy. He might have the skills. It's not the kinda thing he usually makes, but we've only seen samples of his mind control hats. If he's been studying how to make other things and then not using them… We wouldn't know about it. Can you tell how old it is?"

I know when this bank closed down, but if they were moving valuables out before that or rented the space…

"The newest component was first released three years ago. Anything else would be guesswork on my part."

"It's better than nothing. You got a parts list?"

"Sending now. Was he doing anything three years ago?"

"Don't know. I think… Gimme a sec… Yeah. Batman tricked him into putting on one of his own hats and he ended up in a coma. He broke out of hospital after about a month. We didn't see him for a while after that." He sighs. "We get used to them having patterns, being predictable. But his hats don't really leave any sign unless you know exactly what you're looking for."

"So if he mind controlled people who weren't blonde girls or other Alice in Wonderland characters, if he decided to be subtle… Then we wouldn't know about it."

"I'll go through the logs of the companies that sell this stuff. See if I can find where he got it from."

I consider offering to do that, then realise that they're probably warded, or… Written. He might have to… Speak to people by telephone like some sort of caveman.

"Thank you."

"Where are you, anyway?"

"Blüdhaven."

"It's in the right place. But…"

"What?"

"Tetch might commit a crime that doesn't relate to hats, but I don't think he could just do something else. Alice in Wonderland is his whole world."

"So this has..? Got to have something to do with Alice in Wonderland, even if it's not immediately obvious?"

"I think so. Our crazy people… They're kinda unique. Is there any New God stuff laying around?"

I take another look. "Not that I can see."

"This might not even have anything to do with the other thing he was working on. Kai's brain wasn't delateralised, was it?"

"No." … "Is there a link between delateralised brains, Justifier helmets and Alice in Wonderland that I'm not seeing?"

"If there is, I can't see it either." He sighs. "This is what cases in Gotham used to be like."

"Maybe this could be a bonding activity for you and Batwoman?"

"… Yeah. It could."

"Problem?"

"She's helping Batman with something. I haven't seen her for a couple of days."

"Are you there on your own?"

"No, my uncle's here. And so's Alfred. I guess it's something to do with the reconstruction legislation."

Ah… That might explain…

I mean, it's worrying that she has so much influence despite not being a member of the Justice League, but it's exactly the sort of thing I could see her doing to give Batman control of the world even if he didn't particularly want it.

"I hope so. Thanks, Robin. That's actually a load off my mind."

"Ah… Why?"

"I've seen the final wording of the legislation, and it's disconcertingly permissive. But if it's just Batwoman trying to make Batman King of the World without anyone noticing then it's just business as usual."

"How permissive are we talking?"

"I-can't-talk-about-the-Justice-League-taking-over-the-world permissive. I'll drop off a printed copy after I give this machine to Ted. Let me know if you see any sign of Tetch."

"Will do. Robin out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
11:48 GMT -5

Purple Invincible looks mildly put out at the small size of the gathering. "This is it?

The Invincible dressed like a classical viltrumite -moustache included- shrugs. "They've got a sonic weapon that disables viltrumites. They don't need to be stronger than us to take us down if we can't fight back."

"How did you find out about it, then?"

"They couldn't fly. I went up until I got out of the atmosphere; no sound up there. Then I met up with Gay Invincible and his boyfriend gave me ear plugs."

Purple looks my way. "Got any more?"

I take a couple out of subspace and float them over.

"Thanks." He puts them in his ears, while an Invincible in bulky white armour decides to put his helmet back on.

"Okay, I'm going to say it." Armour Invincible raises his right arm and generates a holographic representation of the Earth. "This is a bust."

Invincible sneers at him. "You must be one of the weak ones."

"No, just the smartest." A series of red dots appear on the image. "These are the cities reduced to rubble and corpses."

Moustache Invincible smiles. "And I'm falling behind while I'm stuck here listening to you. What's your point?"

"And these-" Dozens of black dots appear. "-are dead Invincibles. You see how there are more dead Invincibles than dead cities?"

An Invincible wearing just a thong nods. "I guess that's what happens when you attack a planet completely openly with no plan and with people who refuse to cooperate with each other."

The other Invincibles stare at him.

He smiles. "I'm pretty sure that makes me the smartest."

Invincible shakes his head. "No, I'm the smartest because I brought backup I could trust to back me up."

I raise my right hand, and wave.

Moustache Viltrumite Invincible frowns. "Is it me, or are we sounding a lot like the Mauler Twins right now?"

"Jesus." / "Shut up." / "No way!"

"Yes we are, and as I was saying-" Armour Invincible points at the hologram. "-'Team' Invincible -and I use that term very loosely- is getting creamed. I don't know what Angstrom offered the rest of you, but as far as I'm concerned the chance of dying is too high for it to be worth completing the contract. It's time to quit."

Purple smirks. "And how were you planning on doing that? He's the one who opens interdimensional portals."

"If we can't take one guy, we don't deserve to call ourselves 'Invincible'."

"So…" Invincible holds up his victim. "I can just toss this guy back?"

"No." Armour Invincible shuts down his hologram. "He's got a weird fixation with this universe's Invincible. I don't mind fighting Angstrom, but at this point I'll take a portal back home. It's a radioactive mess, but it's my radioactive mess."

That gets my attention. "I beg your pardon, but would you mind explaining that?"

"Some sort of last resort failsafe thing. Dad and I conquered the world, then all the nukes went off."

"Oh."

"It's not that bad; the radiation will wear off in another five years or so, and there were people in bunkers and isolated areas who are still alive. Five years is nothing to a viltrumite, really. But the Grand Regent was pretty pissed so we're both stuck there until we fix it. I only came here because I wanted samples of extinct animals. I don't wanna spend the next century surviving on rats and cockroaches."

Purple looks around. "So is he coming, or-?"

Ssshnnng.

A glowing green portal opens a short distance from us… And there's the man himself. Cape, a head that would make The Leader ask 'are you okay?', two glowing blue force fields to stand on and a small retinue of spy drones… So they can be sure of getting his good side? I've got no idea who he's recording for.

"Have you all given up already?"

"Look." Armour Invincible holds up his right arm and projects… A series of holograms showing smashed and burned cities. "You wanted us to wreck the place, we wrecked the place. He-" He points to Invincible. "-even got the Invincible you've got a weird hard-on for."

Moustache Invincible raises an eyebrow. "Swearing doesn't make you cool."

"I wish I was swearing. This armour has multiphasic scanners. Human blood shows up in infrared."

All the Invincibles moue, eyes flicking briefly to Angstrom's crotch. I… Remove our sacrificial victim from Invincible and float him over to Angstrom.

Invincible looks a little unwell. "You're just going to kill him, right? That's what I thought this was about. I get wanting revenge, but-."

"THIS IS ABOUT REVENGE! HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"

"Ah, I don't think he did." Moustache Invincible shakes his head. "I checked the G.D.A.'s records. All he did was-."

Ssshnnng. / Ssshnnng.

A portal opens and a torrent of spy drones surge through, battering Moustache Invincible and knocking him backwards towards another portal! Thong Invincible floats away looking mildly uncomfortable as Moustache Invincible tries punching his way free of the stream of flying robots. They aren't strong enough to hurt him or tough enough to survive his hits but there are a lot of them and they're each imparting a small amount of kinetic energy. I have no idea where that portal goes, but I doubt that it's anywhere nice.

Moustache Invincible appears to realise that as well. He drops down, ducking under the drone stream and accelerating-

Ssshnnng.

-towards a new portal. He dodges it with an aileron roll, but-

Ssshnnng.

-another portal opens and a new stream of drones hit him in the stomach and send him upwards.

Armour Invincible has a finger hovering over a new button on his vambrace, but isn't acting yet. Moustache jukes around the new swarm and darts towards Angstrom, who-

Ssshnnng.

-opens a new portal. Moustache… Makes a show of not being able to stop in time and then stops dead right next to it, ducking behind it so that Angstrom can't see him.

"Hah!" Angstrom leaves the portal where it is, having his drones grab the recumbent Invincible from me and hold him up. "And I'll do the SAME AGAIN to ANYONE who lies about what he did to me. And as for you…"

He stares at the unresponsive Invincible with… A disturbing level of desire.

"Your world burns. And it's your face they associate with it! My vengeance is nearly compl-."

His eyes bulge as he chokes, and I'm moving as the capsule of ipecac syrup Rae just dropped in his stomach opens, the contents of his digestive tract violently evacuating as I flash behind him and-

"Assimilate."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
11:52 GMT -5

"G-ah!"

Resistance detected.

-try to assimilate him, but it's not like I've had a lot of practice at this. This close, I can just about make out Shrinking Rae as she climbs out of his nose and up his face. She won't actually move in case she needs to attack one of the other Invincibles, but at the moment they seem content to just-

"Wait, what's that?" Purple Invincible points at me. "What's he doing?"

-watch.

Invincible shrugs. "It's not like we like Angstrom, right? We all came because he offered us something. They way I see it, mind controlling him gets us what we want without having to fight the people who are obviously prepared to kill us."

"Gyyyyyyyhhhh!"

Resistance detected.

Thong Invincible shrugs. "True, but we don't like you either."

"I've already gotten what I wanted." Invincible shrugs. "At this point it's less effort to send you home than it is to fight you."

Assimilation failing.

Ah… How do I..? I don't know what I'm-. Focus on… All the people dying because of his mad fixation on the local Invincible? No, not personal enough. I need stop him, control him because he's a crazy supervillain who will come after me if I don't. And… Doing this is the only way I can get home! To Anissa, to our future children, to…

Armour Invincible strokes his helmet chin. "I could still use those animal samples."

"Then we'll go get them. If we show the G.D.A. that we killed him, they'll deliver a few dozen of whatever you want just to get rid of us without us wrecking any more cities."

To a world that regards me as a collaborator, despite all the good that I've done for them? Anissa… She's fun as a project, and she's definitely adapting to a human-type relationship despite herself… But it's exhausting, and I don't like having to constantly patch myself up. And the rest of the viltrumites, even Invincible…

Do I even want this?

Ssshnnng.

Oh dear.

The Invincible he was holding prisoner gets dragged through a portal by the drones holding him, and Angstrom smiles.

Ah. Yes, it turns out that I do want this. Even if these arseholes don't want to be better, even if everyone on Earth hates me for siding with their conquerors… I want to know that I was right, and I'm not going to fail to do that just because I was dis-

Ssshnnng.

-tracted-.

OW!

I turn, interposing Angstrom between me and the source of the drones, dodging as another comes at me. He can't swarm me without hitting himself, but it looks like they're programmed to protect him on their own.

Ssshnnng.

A portal-. A scintillating column of white-hot plasma lances out of the portal, and Invincible only mostly dodges, his left arm and legs blackening as it hits. Then-

Ssshnnng.

-another portal opens and more drones stream out, driving Invincible towards-.

Moustache Invincible dodges out, grabs him and then lunges towards Angstrom-

Get. It. Done.

Ssshnnng.

-who blocks with a portal, another stream of drones-.

Armour Invincible presses a button, and with a crackle-hiss the drones start falling out of the air. "Hm. Vulnerable to E.M.P.. Nice to know all those college classes weren't completely wasted."

Moustache Invincible punches Angstrom in the diaphragm.

"Buh-!"

Thong Invincible smiles at Armour Invincible. "So you're changing sides?"

"No, I'm still on my side. But that version of us seems to be making the most sense."

Moustache looks at me. "What do you need?"

"Disrupt his concentration."

"That's easy." He smiles at Angstrom, makes sure that he's watching, and then pulls off his moustache to reveal that he's the local Invincible. "Miss me?"

I don't know where he sent Omvincible, but Cecil can survive having one less super zombie.

Assimilation in progress. Twenty percent complete.

"Uuuh!"

His skin glows orange as I finally get far enough to disrupt his power. Keep going!

Assimilation in progress. Twenty-five percent complete.

Local Invincible floats back a little, checking Invincible's injury. "I think he'll be okay-."

Invincible pushes him off with his good arm, wincing as he does so. "I will. This is a flesh wound."

"You're both okay?" Thong Invincible raises his eyebrows interrogatively, and they both nod. "Great!" Thong Invincible lunges, punching Armour Invincible in the cuirass and sending him careening across the sky!

He gets himself under control a moment later and checks the dent in his armour. "What was that for?"

"I said that I'd do whatever Angstrom wanted in exchange for the chance to fight more people on my level. I mean, after killing-" He shoots forwards, punching Armour Invincible again and sending him up into the stratosphere. "-Allen and Thragg, what did I have left?"

He looks down at the other Invincibles.

"You want to join in, or are you going to wait your turn?"

Purple Invincible shakes his head. "You're all crazy." He heads upwards into the sky. "I'm going back to Thraxa. Do what you like."

"Ah… No." Thong Invincible lunges at him, then-.

Teeth fly-.

Ring?

The rings shows me it in slow motion, as Thong Invincible easily dodges around Purple Invincible's rushed counterpunch and spins, kicking Purple in the lower jaw, and… Snapping it.

"Dad had me training since I was eight. Not a fan of Little League." Thong smiles as Purple just about manages to stabilise himself. "I don't know why he soft-pedalled the rest of you, but at least try and make me work for it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
11:55 GMT -5

Faster.

Local Invincible reaches for his ear piece. "Guys? Help."

Invincible on the other hand slips on a pair of x-ionised spiked knuckles and braces to receive a charge. "I think I remember that game. I scored the home run that won it for my team." He sniffs. "Seems kinda small now, but at the time I was pretty stoked about it."

Thong shrugs. "Dad wasn't. Hard to understand when you're eight, but…" Purple recovers somewhat, floating unsteadily in the air and gingerly pushing his jaw back into place. "Still in fighting shape?"

"Hd wrsss."

"Great!"

"Hey." Rae's voice is in my ear, and I have to keep myself from reaching up to feel for her. She's probably just using radio. "How long does your mind control take?"

"It varies. The more my focus is disrupted, the longer it takes."

"Right, great. Mark, I'll need you to grapple him long enough for me to get in him."

"Sure. No problem at all."

Yes, I need to hurry up.

Assimilation in progress. Thirty percent complete.

Okay. I can see the pink glow as Atom Eve starts flying in our direction. Bulletproof should be next to her, but he's far less visible at this distance. Monster Girl and Rex Splosion will be approaching on the ground, but I doubt that they'll be able to do much. With most of his robotic frames destroyed Rudy is stuck controlling…

The E.M.P. fried the drone network that he was trying to take control of, which means that he's probably stuck on the sidelines. Of course, if he does manage to reboot them and get full control, that's… Of limited use without the planar portals to summon more and defeat the target by ring out.

Assimilation in progress. Forty percent complete.

"Everyone ready!" Thong Invincible looks around like he's actually expecting an answer. "Okay,-"

He moves, and Invincible and Local Invincible both dodge sideways without hesitation, Invincible twisting in the air and throwing a punch which I suspect is purely speculative. Thong Invincible-. He flew past them to disorientate them, then turns on a metaphorical sixpence and shoulder barges Local Invincible in the back.

"Ah!"

I don't see or hear anything break as Local Invincible instinctively flies away from the pain before spinning around and going for-.

Invincible hurtles towards the road beneath us.

Assimilation in progress. Fifty percent complete.

Replay.

Thong Invincible flew towards him fists first. Invincible tried to kick him in the face but he moved sideways. Invincible span and jabbed twice, which Thong deflected before spinning to slam his heel down on Invincible's head.

"I don't get it." Thong slowly rotates around, making eye contact with everyone-. And casually slapping a few long range shots from Atom Eve aside. "You've all had other viltrumites to train with, right? I thought…" He shrugs. "Oh well. Lantern, once I've killed your boyfriend, make sure that you open a portal for his dad. If you both-"

He dodges as Bulletproof swings at him with his right fist.

"-come at me together, that might-"

Bulletproof tries a haymaker with his left. Thong moves his head to avoid it, grabs Bulletproof's arm with his left hand and then punches him in the elbow with his right.

"-be-. No snap?"

Assimilation in progress. Sixty percent complete.

Bulletproof hits him in the face with his right fist, pushing Thong back… A very small amount.

"I actually felt that. Okay. No disrespect. You're i-."

A thick blue beam of energy slams into his back from… Armour Invincible, his armour clearly damaged but the back-mounted energy cannon in full working order.

Thong recovers immediately, making a show of brushing off the.. sunburned patch where the blast hit. "Black Invincible's in, and you're just a course hazard. Warm-up's over."

Assimilation in progress. Seventy percent complete.

And… I can't keep track. Viltrumites are mostly brawlers. Honestly, their skill ceiling always struck me as surprisingly low. They fly at each other and… Box or grapple or just pound away at each other and trust their toughness to absorb the hits they take. I've seen more creativity from Invincible, but even with using aerial manoeuvrability and rotation to hit with extra force… He's young. He just isn't strong enough to show the limitations of the 'orthodox' style during the few spars he's had with the other viltrumites on Earth.

It looks like Thong learned all of those lessons.

Local Invincible flies in, trying to keep track of Thong as he closes the distance. And Thong isn't exactly.. faster, not in the super speed sense. He just.. moves better. A deflection, a knee to the diaphragm, a light push and a vertical spinning kick and Local Invincible is eating tarmac and struggling to breathe through a flattened nose with no idea how he got there. Invincible decides to be more active and more cautious, moving, jabbing and kicking-. And it's no good because Thong responds instinctively to everything. Fists, feet, knees and elbows unerringly slam into points of vulnerability; diaphragm, liver, throat and arm joints on his burned side and I see his upper arm snap.

"A-AGh!"

Purple tries to intervene and Thong dodges out from between them before slamming their faces into each other. Armour Invincible manages to get a glancing hit on his back while he's surveying his results, but that just prompts him to grab Bulletproof and hurl him in Armour's direction to soak the next shot.

"Get out of the way, Black Invincible!"

"I'm not..!"

Eve fires a series of bolts, which Thong knocks aside contemptuously-.

And then there's a sword sticking through his hand, which Eve fired disguised as another bolt.

Assimilation in progress. Eighty percent complete.

"How did that-?"

The drones begin reactivating, rising slowly and forming up around Thong Invincible. He smacks them apart while pulling the sword out and tossing it aside, but it obscures his sight lines. Armour manages to shoot him directly in the eyes, which I suspect was made possible by him being given a link to the drones' cameras. Bulletproof draws his sword, using the distraction to close in on Thong Invincible at the same time as Invincible. Fairly wild slashes from both of them -along with what I think are random movements- prevents Thong Invincible from keeping track of them in the drone swarm, while Local Invincible comes up from beneath and-

"Ugh."

-briefly grabs his legs and holds on for about three seconds before getting awkwardly kicked off.

Assimilation in progress. Ninety percent complete.

Local Invincible spins head over heels to prevent a follow up, but the confusion of the drone cluster works both ways and he can't make contact.

"What's-?"

Thong Invincible convulses, apparently trying to claw at his own face with what little control of his own limbs he still has. A moment later the drones part, giving each of the still-functioning Invincibles a clear shot while he's helpless. Local Invincible flies low and picks up Rae as she grows to normal size, while Bulletproof and Invincible finally land hits with their x-ionised weapons. But it's not enough; they can't drive them deep enough into his flesh and-.

"Ow."

Thong grabs Bulletproof's wrist-.

Assimilation complete. Angstrom Levy of Earth, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps.

"Open a portal to somewhere bad!"

"I hear and obey."

Ssshnnng.

It opens just behind him-.

Purple Invincible spin kicks him, making him release Bulletproof and forcing him towards it. Armour Invincible then hits Thong with both fists from a full dive, knocking him half through-.

"Close it!"

Thong's face falls. "Ah, shi-."

Thong's face falls, along with the rest of the front of his body.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th July 2013
08:00 GMT

The door opens on the hour on the dot, and I walk… Through.

They've… Done some remodelling.

The array of monitors and computers which Mr. Atom was using to monitor things has been expanded and improved. Some screens do the same things that they used to in displaying points of interest. Others show complex patterns which-

Translation available.

-my rings don't translate because the human brain wasn't meant for that level of information processing but which I'm sure suits him just fine. Mr. Atom himself is pressing buttons on his customised keyboard and making noises like a dialup modem at three different pitches that I can hear simultaneously.

Maybe I should introduce him to Dox at some point? Or maybe that would remind Dox of his father too much.

Mr. Atom doesn't look around.

"Orange Lantern. You have been scheduled twenty minutes plus minus five minutes. Will that be sufficient?"

"I hope so. Sorry, I assumed that I would be talking to Batman."

"You have been scheduled thirty seconds plus minus fifteen seconds for this explanation."

"Understood. I'll be concise."

"Good."

There's no noise, but Batman just sort of appears. He wasn't invisible… Not unless he's found a way to defy literally every sensor type I have, which I suppose is just about possible. Instead, I think he just used some sort of novel teleportation with no residue that I can immediately detect. He's still wearing his power ring, but I didn't.. detect him using it just then.

"Orange Lantern. You have concerns."

"Yes, sir. I outlined them in my original message. I hoped that-."

He turns around. "Come with me."

He steps forwards and vanishes. Some sort of invisible Dolmen Gate? I wave a rune stone at it but only detect background levels of magic.

Shrugging, I send the stone back to subspace and follow him.

And… It's dark. Scans aren't showing me anything… At all. From what little I can see in the reflected light of our environmental shields there are… Monoliths of some kind planted along some sort of upwards-sloping pathway, but that's about all that I'm getting. Atmosphere… Slightly increased levels of oxygen relative to Earth normal. Mildly invigorating, with a slightly increased fire risk. In the case of somewhere Batman built it's almost certainly intentional.

I stride after him, trying to learn something from the back of his head.

"Sir?"

"I read your book."

I.. wasn't sure, but it seemed likely that he would. Particularly since getting a ring of his own, but I can see how having additional information on how I think would be invaluable to him.

"Unfortunately, it seems that in my case enlightenment will have to wait."

"I'm not sure that the world would survive you bonding with Parallax."

"I wouldn't bond with Parallax unless I was sure that I could control it."

Which wouldn't happen. My merging with the Ophidian was a best case scenario…

"The only lead I can think of-."

"Diablo Island's binding tattoos are far too fragile for me to consider it."

I nod. He's right, as far as long-term bindings go. I looked into it before I got my own tattoos. But if he just wanted a temporary glimpse of how Parallax views fear and its place in the universe, then the same standards don't apply.

"I agree, but-."

"Zatara has the design. If it can be improved upon, he'll let me know."

I nod, my gaze lingering on where my feet tell me that the floor is. I just… I was going to suggest to Batman something that would mess up his mind even more.

Don't do that.

"Sir? Where are we?"

"Currently, the L Five Lagrange point. The facility has limited manoeuvring capacities, but it isn't a spaceship."

"That's a.. long way from anywhere."

"Not when you have a power ring. Or a galactic-range teleportation device."

I frown. "The only form of teleportation device I know with that range and precision is a boom tube generator, and that wasn't a boom tube."

"A hush tube generator. Apokolips uses them for covert insertions." I vaguely see him reach… Something ahead of us. He turns and sits, and I just stop as his eyes glow. "Canis and Angelica were able to secure one for me."

"Universal covert point to point portals will be a significant improvement on zeta tubes."

He leans forwards slightly. "I agree. But this will be a supplemental system. Zeta tubes are a mature technology, whereas getting another hush tube generator would be difficult, and making more is currently beyond us."

Lights… Start coming up, a faint yellow shining from the… Rectangular blocks around us. They put me in mind of old-style mainframe computers… Or at least the representation of mainframes that were in Goldeneye. The light is.. running in lines, but I can't tell if it's lines of runes, of circuitry, or… Something else. Otherwise they're matte dark grey… I don't think they're stone as the texture isn't right, but they don't look like metal either.

"You are concerned about the League taking on too much responsibility in the wake of civilization's collapse."

"Basically… Yes sir."

"I have reached the conclusion that we can't afford not to. Human countries have become too interdependent to isolate shocks in one region."

"Is..? That why you were concerned with… Me saying that the League was taking over the planet? Because we..? Are?"

"We're being given more power. We're not taking over. I wanted to be able to put things in their proper context before you put them in the wrong one."

"Okay? So… What form does that take?"

"You've seen Big Barda working with the Congregation?" I nod. "That. League members will be provided with squads of enhanced soldiers, transported by boom tube or hush tube, to impose order in places where civilization is in danger of breaking down."

"Soldiers? I know.. the laws that.. you're putting through allows League members to call upon police assets, but-."

"No. I know that you've been aware of the potential for using the Danner formula to create a super powered army. Hugo Danner demonstrated that it's perfectly viable to use in that way. I spent some time identifying, recruiting and training individuals to form a standing military force for the Justice League."

"Enhanced?"

"Yes, substantially. I believe that you have already met Mister Blank."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th July 2013
08:04 GMT

There's a slight… Shimmer, to his left, and… That's the Mohican that I remember. He's back in his juiced up mode, but his clothing has had a substantial upgrade. The orange brown trousers and blue torso parts are now clearly armoured, and there's a thick belt unit with what looks suspiciously like a piece of Apokoliptian… New God technology on it. The gold boots, gauntlets and neck piece also look like there's more to them than you initially see. On his chest is a sort of stylised eye symbol, a gold outline with a small red pupil.

Mr. Blank takes a confident pose, chin forwards and hands on hips. "Orange Lantern."

"Mister Blank. Or… If you're in costume, should I use your nom de heroique?"

He grins, and-. For a moment I'm reminded of something, but I can't-. Superman. His face is obviously different, but if I adjust… It's modelled on Superman's public confident-and-reassuring smile.

"That's quite alright. You hadn't been read into the Global Peace Agency initiative, and I treated you like a regular intruder." He steps forwards and holds out his right hand. "How about we let bygones be bygones?"

"Certainly." I take his hand, and his grip is… Firm, but in a reassuring and confident sort of way. "But I've… I've got to ask… What..? Was that?" I glance at Batman before returning my attention to him. "With the robot fake parents, and… Shrinking down when I destroyed the transmitter?"

He glances at Batman for permission, and receives a nod. "I take it that you analysed the samples you took?"

I nod. "Yes. They empowered you using some sort of radiated power?"

"Which cut out when you destroyed the transmitter. Batman didn't have enough Apokoliptian equipment to make-" He taps the belt-mounted unit. "-one for all of us. And since all I was doing was guarding a disused augmentation facility, I wasn't exactly high priority."

"And the synthetic parents?"

"I think that's something-" He takes a step back and glances at Batman. "-that Batman should tell you about."

Batman inclines his head slightly. "The drawback to the 'big League' model that you outlined in your report is that it simply isn't possible to be as confident in the quality of members as we can with a smaller group of people. I may disagree with Green Arrow or Doctor Mist on some subjects, but I can be sure that they're working towards the same goal that I am. With a hundred people, having that level of confidence is difficult, to say nothing of the number we'd actually have to bring on board to make a global impact."

I nod. It is, but that's true of any large organisation. And the Justice League… Doesn't have rivals in the same way that a company or a nation does. If there was another similar organisation, everyone here would be more concerned about how to most effectively coordinate, not how to get more press coverage or 'rescue points'. Corporate espionage isn't a problem. Intelligence sharing isn't a problem when we already share nearly everything with everyone. The only real concern is criminal infiltration, and between telepathy and magic we should be able to eliminate that.

The only time I remember that happening in the comics was with raffle winner Retro, who was assassinated and replaced by Prometheus. And Retro was background checked.

But in terms of background, Buddy Blank said that he…

"You wiped his.. mind."

"Not completely. What he lost were specific memories. He doesn't remember what his name was, where he was from, what his employment was or similar matters. The same link that provides him with power can also provide him with information, but as that link can be disrupted I thought it best to leave the volunteers with the basic skills to navigate the world."

"Volunteers? People… Volunteered for this?"

"You originally told Blue Lantern that you wanted training so that you could protect yourself. You have far surpassed that point, and yet you're still here."

"Yes? I… Made friends, developed values that went beyond my own safety."

"In the wake of the Anti-Life, I haven't been short of volunteers. Sometimes people stepped forwards for the greater good. Others felt that they had nothing to lose. Regardless, the process doesn't remove the basic human need for social interaction."

"So they get housed with robots?"

"They are also assigned an A.I. partner. The aim is to provide the emotional stimulation necessary to enable optimal psychological health while not giving them any reason to deviate from their responsibilities."

"Huh-oh… Kay? That doesn't sound… Healthy."

"Don't worry, Orange Lantern!" Mr. Blank grins, this time with a little more passion in it. "It's okay to be productively insane!"

"I mean… Yes, in principle, and you're a… Volunteer."

He nods. "I even watched the video I made for myself to confirm that was true."

"I just can't imagine being willing to forget my entire life like that."

"Old-me regarded it as a fresh start, and an opportunity to help the world in a way that he couldn't before. He didn't have any regrets, and neither do I!"

I nod slowly. "And the aim is to have… People like Mister Blank all around the world, able to respond immediately to any disaster?"

"Or to do the work of emergency services, or to lead rebuilding efforts, or whatever might be required."

"And it's… Not legal yet, but will become legal very shortly?"

"It will be specifically authorised very shortly. It isn't illegal in most countries now, though that may be because they don't know that it's possible."

I exhale a little sharply through my nose. "I.. see. I suppose this.. deals with the manpower and coordination problem. I'm.. not really comfortable with altering people's minds like that. Wouldn't it-?"

"Aren't you?"

His eyes glow faintly as he glowers at me.

"No. I deeply regret what I did to you." I look at.. him-. My eyes widen. "You didn't..? Redo it, did you?"

"You know perfectly well this is what the world needs."

I nod. "Yeah. Yes, I.. do." I shake my head. "This seems like something that could work. I hope it does. I don't-. I don't know." I look around. "Was this all built with recovered Apokoliptian technology?"

"Most of it. But I've secured a supplier not tied to Apokolips, and every piece on Earth was affected by the white light burst. We don't have to worry about reinfection."

"But the network could be hijacked."

"So could any other method we use for restoring human civilization. But the nanotech contains New God safety precautions and is being constantly monitored by the A.I.. It's as safe as it can be."

"Okay. Ah. Well, this is going to be strange, but… Good. What do you want me doing to help?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
12:32 GMT -5

"Baaaah-h-h-h-h-h."

"…hundred sheep, two-" Invincible frowns for a moment. "-piles of government emergency cheese and thirty industrial pumps. You good?"

Armour Invincible nods, looking up from the damage on his chest plate to check the assembled survival materials. "More would be nice, buuuut honestly it's more than I was expecting." He turns towards Angstrom as Invincible flies off to talk to Local Invincible. "Okay, we already cleaned up most of the radioactive material from New Zealand. Can you open the portal to there?"

"No. My power only lets me open the portals relative to the planet. If you want one in New Zealand, we will have to travel there on this Earth."

I knew this was possible, but I haven't actually done it before. And everyone's.. sort of both horrified and enthralled by the glowing orange Angstrom Levy standing next to me. The Invincibles sort of sneak a look and then pretend that they were looking somewhere else.

Armour Invincible look at me. "You mean you could just have taken the sheep to New Zealand instead of here?"

I shrug. "I didn't know where you wanted them. Why don't you pop back and get things prepared, and I'll take them to New Zealand once we're finished here?"

"Mm-hm. Quick question: how do I know that you're actually opening a portal back to my Earth?"

"Ah… Because it would be far more work for me to do all this than it would be for me to pick a fight with you and then portal you somewhere else when you charged me?"

He tilts his head slightly to the right. "I mean… Yeah…"

I call down the drone I acquired and hand it to him. "Can you interface with that? It used standard Viltrumite Empire protocols."

"Just a sec…" The drone blinks, then does a self check. "Got it. I send this through the portal, it sends telemetry back, and that's how I know I'm home. Okay, open the portal."

I nod, and-

Ssshnnng.

-the portal opens, the drone flying through a moment later.

"What did he offer your Invincible?"

"A chance to kill Cecil Steadman."

"Huh. Seems like a lot of work to kill one guy. Is that what he's doing next?"

I look over to where he's talking to Local Invincible, Atom Eve and a short purple viltrumite who was introduced to me as Oliver. Local Invincible's half-thraxan half-brother, which I guess explains why Purple Invincible is purple.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. But it's his decision."

"Hm." He rises off the ground and flies towards the shipping containers with the pumps. They're wreathed in chains to spread the load when he picks them up, and it should all hold. "You can still watch through the drone, right?"

"Yes. Just hold up a sign when you're ready."

There's a.. decidedly unpleasant screeching-clanking sound as he picks the shipping containers up, and then I breath a little easier as he flies through the portal. I generate a giant sack barrow construct and start conveying the rest of his order through.

Purple Invincible drifts over. It's… A little surprising, but he's not paying any attention to the other purple viltrumite at all. I'd have thought that they'd have.. something to talk about. Or is that racist?

"Cecil, huh? Why Cecil?"

"He holds him responsible for his mother's death."

Purple Invincible shakes his head. "He shouldn't make it so personal. It's self-indulgent."

"What did he offer you, then?"

"I wanted to make sure that he stayed away from my Earth. Thraxan-viltrumite hybrids grow up faster than human-viltrumite hybrids. In my reality, Dad went to Thraxa first. He brought all of my brothers and sisters to Earth. It wasn't really much of a fight. Angstrom was a threat to us…" He looks pointedly at the construct. "And now he's not."

"Do you mean to imply that I am?"

He huffs with amusement. "No. You're not crazy like he was, and neither of us has anything the other one wants. I can go home and tell Dad and my brothers and sisters that it's taken care of."

I nod.

Ssshnnng.

He nods, and heads towards the portal with a wave. "Let's hope we never see each other again."

"Likewise."

He flies through, back to his home Earth, the portal shutting down a moment later.

Ssshnnng.

Still got some more equipment to move, and then I've got to transport these sheep to New Zealand… Which wasn't targetted by any of the Invincibles, so at least things should be relatively calm there.

"Hey…" Local Invincible drifts towards me, awkwardly pointing at Angstrom. "Is that..? Permanent?"

"I believe so. I haven't made a point of turning people into constructs on a regular basis, so I can't say for certain, but…" I nod. "I believe so. I certainly don't feel any sort of mechanism for turning it off."

"Would it work on viltrumites?"

"If I could survive in close physical proximity to one for long enough… Probably."

He looks thoughtful. "I know you said that you didn't wanna join your G.D.A…. But if you had… I mean-."

"I could have killed my Invincible. Probably. Or.. helped someone else do it. The x-ionisation process isn't something that I worked out on my own, but attacks based on mental focus seem like they'd work. And with anti-matter? There'd be a crater in the planet the size of Australia, but I think I might have managed to kill Omni-Man as well. Distinctly possible." He nods slowly. "That wouldn't have helped with the next dozen viltrumites, who'd know what happened and could easily ambush me. Or just throw rocks at the Earth. Or… Any one of a number of things." I sigh, shrugging. "Or maybe they don't have that many people to send after an unimportant place like Earth and it would have been fine. Or at least taken them until I got x-ionisation technology and could outfit other people… Or take on a greater number myself. I don't know."

"Huh." He thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Cecil says that all of the other Invincibles are dead, so it's just the two of you…"

"Baaaah-h-h-h-h-h."

"And the sheep still to go. Do you have a reason to stick around?"

"No. Not really. It's been… Nice to see an Earth that hasn't been stamped on, but this isn't my home."

"You… Can stay. Cecil would love the ability to make portals, and… Learn how 'x-ionisation' works."

"I can hardly abandon my wife or child. And I want to finish putting the planet back together. But… Thank you for the off-"

Bwf-fytt!

Angstrom ripples-. Armour!

"-er."

A bullet slams into the side of my head!

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
12:36 GMT -5

Self-scan basically fine need information fall, transmute and expel blood from impact site.

"Lantern!"

I hit the ground, environmental shield cushioning my impact without slowing it. Scan. Who just shot me?

An image forms in my mind: soldiers in some sort of full-body tactical gear, outer surface perfectly mirroring their surroundings. General design… Matches what the G.D.A. troops wear.

Huh.

That makes sense-

"Oliver, get out of here."

"It's just bullets!"

-given Cecil's confrontational attitude. Clearly, people invading his planet getting more power doesn't improve the situation as far as he's concerned. Even if it looks like we're leaving, that doesn't bring back any of the people who died. A high-calibre round to my head… Probably wouldn't have gotten through my environmental shield, but there would be some bleed through. It could have knocked me out or stunned me. But they assumed that construct Angstrom was only as tough as meat Angstrom and targeted him first.

"Who was that!?"

That was.. lucky.

Alright, I could have Angstrom mark the targets, but I suspect that Invincible will simply kill them if I do that. And I know that he wants to go after Cecil anyway, and… I'd like to be sure.

I…

Nothing I've seen suggests that Cecil Steadman is someone I actively want to stay in office. Nothing about.. this situation only being managed because Angstrom's recruits turned on him suggests that he's actually all that vital to the defence of this Earth. And he just had someone shoot me. But even so, I… Instinctively, I'd rather not kill people if I can get away with it. All I'd have to do is open a portal, say… I needed emergency medical attention, fake some sort of injury. Invincible would believe that.

But he just tried to kill me after I repeatedly helped him, damn it! If it was him, he's got this coming.

Plot and transition.

My view flickers, and I'm behind the squad.

Accelerate. Sonic scan. Jam. Silence. Grab.

I see the vibrations as the soldier on sternguard duty tries to call out a warning, only for my orange glow to absorb the sound waves. He tries to activate his radio but hears nothing. The others start to come alert as they realise that they can't hear their surroundings.

Then the construct clamps grip them torsos, arms, legs and heads, knocking their guns from their hands and hoiking them into the air.

Remove stealth armour.

And there they are. Three men and a woman in their under suits. I rotate them to face me, sighing quietly as a quick scan of the G.D.A.'s personnel files finds matches for all four of them.

"That was foolish."

I once tried using my abilities to inspire fear. I was.. trying to get some protestors to pack it in before Invincible arrived. And my ring stopped working for a moment and they decided that made it a good idea to hit me with a crowbar. It's not just feeling fear that disrupts my connection to the orange light. Deliberately seeking to provoke it has the same effect.

So beyond my desire to contain the people trying to kill me, I try to avoid feeling anything else. I try not to feel anger, though I think under the circumstances that would be quite justified. I'm used to preventing myself feeling fear, but I try to avoid deliberately inspiring it too. Hope, love, compassion? Hardly relevant. Taking a moment to centre myself with willpower? Forget about it.

"And now you've got to make a choice, and I suggest that you make it quickly. Invincible will be here in a moment -my Invincible- and he'll be minded to kill you. Explaining why you just did that might make you live a little longer, but you'll need to explain it to me and you'll need to do it now."

They try to look at each other for guidance, but I force their heads to remain in place.

"You're G.D.A. soldiers with G.D.A. weapons and armour." I fabricate paper copies of their personnel files and float them in front of their owners so that the front piece is clearly visible. "You have no plausible deniability. If Invincible sees you, he will immediately reach the conclusion that Director Steadman sent you. He will then fly to his location and kill him, right after he kills you. That's if you say nothing. Saying something on the other hand could change that. So I'm going to stop preventing you from speaking and I strongly advise you to take advantage of my largess."

I sigh. This has never worked, but if I don't hold myself to higher standards…

Dismiss.

There's a brief delay.

"Sergeant Michael Phelps. Serial-."

Gag.

"Would someone who isn't a moron like to try it? I know who you are." I jab him in the face with his own paperwork. "We were leaving. You want us to leave. 'Name, rank, serial number' applies if we're at war, and I rather think you'd prefer that we weren't."

The woman's eyes widen. "Ah-. I-." She strains to look over to the other two, but again I keep her locked in place as I drift closer.

"Not taking the shot would have been the best option, but providing a scapegoat is the second best."

"In-." She hesitates, trying once more to turn so that she can see how the others respond to her speaking. "Invincible was supposed to talk you into staying. We know that your Invincible wants to destroy the G.D.A. and we can't risk you getting away with Angstrom Levy. The Director gave Invincible a chance to get away from him, and…"

"And since I didn't take it, and since you can't leave the capacity to open portals in enemy hands, you were ordered to take the shot. Did the order come from the Director himself, or from your commanding officer?"

"F-from… Ah…"

"If you tell me that it came from the Director, Invincible will probably kill him. If you tell me that it came from your commanding officer, Invincible will most likely kill him and the Director. So I will ask again: who gave the order?"

"… The Director."

"Thank you. Thank you." I begin replacing the construct bonds with chains of tungsten. "I will-."

"You're okay!"

I look up, then nod to Invincible. "Yes. According to these people, Director Steadman was concerned that we might use Mister Levy's ability to strike them again in the future, so-."

"Oh, don't worry." He t-.

…

He tosses Director Steadman's head down to the ground next to me.

"I already dealt with it. Let's go home."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th July 2013
12:35 GMT -5

I stare into the depths of my pint glass, watching the bubbles making up the foam on the head gradually burst. On the television in the corner of the room Batman is introducing the first few Global Peace Agency officers to a broadly positive reception, both from the audience and from the few people in the bar watching it.

National sports leagues haven't really restarted yet. They could, in theory, but the money isn't there to pay the participants what they're accustomed to so there have only been a few exhibition games.

"Hey."

I don't look up.

"Miss Grant. How can I help you?"

"Depends. How many of those have you had?"

My eyes ascend to the top of the glass. "Looks like about half of one."

"According to the social media posts I've been following, you got here three hours ago."

"I like to nurse my drinks." I sit up and turn to face her. "I've never really been drunk before. I don't think I'm doing it right."

"Never?"

I shake my head. "The closest I ever got was 'tipsy', and all that really happened was that I went to bed early. Didn't even have a headache the next day."

She frowns. "What brought this on?"

"Political legitimacy."

"Are you a secret political science major?"

"Philosophy."

"Want me to get you some laudanum, then?"

"Best you didn't." I pick up my glass and take a sip, the twenty or so minutes since my last one not having noticeably improved the taste. "You know… How, originally, the Vice President was the person who came second in the Presidential Election?"

"And it got changed almost immediately because no one wants to work with the guy they just campaigned against?"

"Right, but… You've got an ideal, and everyone shares it, and you might disagree about what the best way to realise it is, but you're all working to the same goal… And then someone comes along and says 'I've got a new ideal'…"

"The U.S. Constitution can be changed."

I shake my head. "That's just top tier laws. I'm talking about something fundamental. The assumption that people have rights and as such there are things a state must do and things that it cannot do. And within that paradigm you can disagree about what those rights are and how far they extend… But that faith in intangible rights is the same."

"… Just half?"

"Philosophy degree. But then I look at Greater Kahndaq, right? Adom wanted a democratic system that he could oversee in a… Hands off sort of way. And then Mannheim sent in robots to murder most of the people who could make that work so he ended up needing to make a far more centralised state. There's still… Voting, but it's more of a test to see whether appointed officials have enough popular support locally to do their jobs, rather than a source of independently minded representatives. Their constitution guarantees a few things to its citizens, but it's more procedural rather than a high-minded metaphysical claim. Like… 'So that we may best enact good order and public safety, citizens will receive fair trials'. Rather than 'citizens have an innate right to fair trials'."

"And when the Anti-Life broadcast happened, barely any Kahndaqis died. Because Adom could use his magic to shield them. And obviously, that's not something any elected politicians could do. You can't vote Anti-Life away, so..."

I smile unhappily.

"How did the Ron Jeremy sketch go? 'All men are created equal? What bullshit'. So maybe my problem is that I'm working with outdated schema? My expectations are wrong?"

She waits a moment to see if I'm going to ramble about anything else. When nothing else comes out she sits down next to me. "Is this about the Justice League taking over the world?"

A burst of laughter escapes my lips, then I lean forwards until my forehead touches the surface of the bar.

"'Taking'? Well, I can't talk about that, but it looks like I don't need to."

I… Straighten back up… Most of the way.

"And Accalacan didn't do as well as Kahndaq, but they did pretty well. Short supply lines, dispersed population… They didn't get any city boss equivalents. And I… I want people to have the opportunity to improve themselves, but maybe people don't want to? Do you know what s-? High school attainment rates are like in the U.S.? How many people, living in an advanced society, can't read that well? People from a hundred years ago would kill for that opportunity, and a lot of people today just can't be bothered? So maybe people don't want that."

"Ah… Don't want to read?"

"Don't want to push themselves. And think about how many people don't bother voting in elections. I know there's an assumption in the United States that people are put off voting if they don't think it will make a difference, you know, if a place always returns a candidate from a particular party. But maybe they don't care? Maybe one person in power is pretty much like another at such a deep psychological level that it's a fools errand to try and engage… A lot of people. Maybe it's not the party but the decisions they decide they can't really affect… Whoever they vote for, and that's what turns them off."

"I guess? Are you okay?"

I gesture to her with both hands. "I mean… Would you prefer a sweet merchant, or a dentist?"

"I… Guess that depends what for?"

"No, no, no. It's a thing from Ancient Greek philosophy. The guy was arguing against democracy, on the grounds that people will always vote for someone who gives them nice-tasting food over someone who stabs holes in their mouth for a living. Most… Modern democracies don't have qualifications beyond 'is a citizen' and 'isn't in prison', but the Greeks had other requirements, Rhodesia had other requirements and even the Founding Fathers discussed a property requirement before deciding against it. So… Adom rules Kahndaq, and there's no point giving people the opportunity to vote against him because, one, they wouldn't, and two, even if they did, there isn't anyone else who could do what he does."

"So are we getting to a point where the well-known flaws in democracy have… Reached the point where human civilisation needs something radically different? Where..? Some other form of legitimacy is..? Coming to the fore? Should I be working towards bringing about meritocratic rule instead of trying to make new opportunities available to a broader base? I can, it would be a lot simpler once I had a way of identifying the best motivated people in the population. I hadn't done that… Other than sharing things with self-selecting people who can use them now to make it easier to get results, but my intent was always to move to something with mass appeal."

"Is this about the Global Peace Agency? The Justice League's police officers?"

"Yes. Or… Maybe 'no' but it comes from the same place. Batman is the best detective on the planet. What does holding him accountable to a body far less capable than him do except waste his time? Or Superman? 'Accounts audit? Sure, I guess those Nepalese villagers can just dig themselves out of that mudslide.' And when we have telepaths and truth lassos, we don't need systems to ensure that people are staying trustworthy because we can directly test it in advance."

"Maybe oligarchy is the way to go." I shrug with both hands. "Maybe it is. Maybe I've been on a hiding to nothing. But I can't help but feel a bit despondent about it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
21: 35 GMT

Anissa tightens her grip on my left arm slightly as the recording of me stabbing my epée into the eye of the Invincible who attacked the Teen Team plays on the screen in front of us. Not to the point of fracturing it. Not even to the point of being painful, really. Just an nonverbal indication that she thinks that what she's seeing is notable. It's… Nice, that she's bothered to learn how to do that. That she's bothered to put what she's learned into practice.

"Could you do that without the sword?"

Could I?

I theory, I could make a construct capable of piercing viltrumite skin… But I think that's beyond my current ability. "Maybe in a few years?"

She makes a quiet 'hm' noise as that Invincible finally dies, but she doesn't pull away. She doesn't appear to be as irritated by it as she would have been when we first met. Contemplative Anissa is a new thing. But clear communication is good for a relationship, so…

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"I was thinking about the story you told me, about the shapeshifting alien in the hospital."

I nod. The Sector General series is the oldest I remember my parents reading to me, though it wasn't until I reread it as an adult that I encountered that story. The central claim -which the martians demonstrate to be false in reality- is that a shapeshifting species won't learn to build tools until they encounter tool-using aliens, as their physiology encourages them to alter themselves instead. You don't learn to dig ants out of an anthill using a stick if you can shapeshift your arm into being longer and ant-proof.

"What about it?"

She turns her heard towards me, prompting me to do the same. "You were making the point that viltrumites don't bother to learn things that other species do, because we don't need them."

I make a small frown. "I thought you understood that when I-."

She rolls her eyes. "Of course I understood it when you told it to me. What I did not appreciate is that we don't think to learn things that we might actually need. I have never heard of anything like Angstrom Levy's portals, and until I saw what they did to Maah-Akh I thought of your blades as amusing tools. Either of them make you a threat to viltrumites."

"Is that a problem?"

She leans forwards and kisses me. Voluntarily. On her own initiative. "It is as it should be."

"It's a bit of a relief to hear you say that. I've been a bit worried that I might end up like the rognarr if I got too dangerous."

"You could have hidden your swords."

"I've been a bit worried that I might end up like the rognarr anyway. I thought that showing that I was at least somewhat dangerous was the most sensible course of action."

Her eyes narrow as she returns them to the screen. "How strong were those Maah-Akhs?"

"The one native to that world was a little stronger than ours. The others were-."

The doorbell rings, and Anissa give me an interrogative look.

"Were about as strong." Scan. "It's Invincible and Atom Eve."

She blatantly decides not to groan, and releases my arm so that I can fly over the settee and towards the door. I'm not.. sure what Invincible would want. He seemed happy enough when we got back, and it's not like we didn't have as much time to talk as much as he wanted while we were waiting to deliver the sheep.

I pull open the door with a smile. "Invincible. Atom Eve. Good evening."

Eve's expression is… Somewhat blank, which is about normal. For her and me, actually. Invincible looks… A little awkward. Nervous? That's… Not something I'm used to seeing from him.

"Ah, hey. I… I need to have a private conversation with… You and Eve. Like, in orbit?"

This isn't like him at all.

"Certainly..?" I turn back inside the house. "Anissa, Invincible needs to borrow me for a little while!"

"I've paused the recording! Don't make me wait too long!"

Invincible looks a little awkward. "Was I..? Were we interrupting..?"

I step through the front door and close it behind me. "Nothing that won't keep. Shall we?"

I fly upwards at high speed, Invincible and Eve just behind me. Eve generates armour around herself as we go. She told me that she finds it easier to maintain her air supply if it's contained within a physical barrier rather than just free floating around her. And the fact that she likes to have a solid barrier between her and Invincible… I can understand it.

I keep going until we reach near-pure vacuum, the curve of the world clearly visible below us. As the other two reach my level I project a near-opaque bubble shield around us and fill it with breathable air. Invincible takes a breath with a smile, and a moment later Eve dismisses her armour.

And then Invincible stops smiling. Stops looking relaxed and starts looking… Uncomfortable.

"Lantern, you can open a portal to any parallel Earth, right?"

"I haven't mapped any, but I can have Angstrom open one to any Earth he's previously been to, or a new one."

He nods. "Eve… You can-. Go. If you want."

Huh?

A quick glance at Eve suggests that she doesn't know where this has come from either.

Invincible sighs. "I got talking with the other Invincible. The one who's Earth we were on. I wanted to know how we were different. Turns out it wasn't just Mom dying. Dad… He wanted to make sure that I didn't get too attached to the G.D.A., even when he was working for them as a superhero. So he made sure I knew about all the underhanded and.. evil stuff they got up to. That all governments do. He didn't say it at the time, but looking back he was obviously trying to prepare me to want to overthrow them and help the Viltrumite Empire take over. For that In-. For that Mark, the whole… Take-over thing came out of nowhere, so of course he said 'no'. For me it wasn't, and Cecil getting Mom killed… It just cemented the whole thing for me. I only-."

He takes a moment.

"I only wanted to overthrow the governments. I didn't.. realise how hard people would fight, even if they.. couldn't win. And I didn't realise how long it would take for us to actually bring the…" He looks at me for a moment.

"Transition team?"

"Yeah, transition team, over here to start improving things. And I just… Dad was my… Anchor through the whole thing, and I…" He closes his eyes for a moment. "I get I started acting… Different. I didn't… I didn't know how to.. handle it, so I just started copying Dad… I didn't think it would keep going as long as it did. And I can't.. undo it, or.. change it…" He faces Eve. "But I can get you out of here. Or… He can."

I don't think she knows where this is coming from any more than I do, but this display of openness and honestly is enough to provoke her in restoring her naturally harsh facial expression. "What?" And tone of voice.

"I think-. I was trying to make.. things like how I think they should be. But that's-. Dumb. I can't. Things are.. what they are, and-. We aren't going to happen. But I do… Care about you, and offering you a portal to another Earth is the most I can do."

He makes a helpless shrugging gesture with his right arm.

"So? Do you want to-?"

The pink beam of energy hits him right in the face!

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th March 2025
21: 39 GMT

"You killed-"

Invincible winces, jerking his head back slightly-

"-hundreds-"

-then raises his arms to shield his face as the shots keep coming.

"-of thousands-"

I generate a wall construct between them-

"-of people-"

-which she keeps battering because she has completely lost her cool.

"-because-"

As it starts to crack I realise that more extreme measures are necessary. Construct chains projected from the inside of the bubble grab her arms and haul them back while construct armour covers my body as I interpose myself.

She glares ferociously at us both.

"-you thought you should?!"

"I-. I mean I-. Wouldn't.. put it like that-."

I raise my right hand towards him. "I appreciate that was a big deal for you, but-. Stop talking. Please."

He sighs, but nods.

"Eve."

She glares at me, though thankfully the pink glow has gone out. "What!?"

"Histrionics are not helpful. Invincible has chosen to open up to us. We should consider how to proceed rationally and dispassionately. And if you can't do that, then accepting his offer is probably the wisest course of action."

She… Well, she's regularising her breathing while refusing to look at either of us, and that's probably as much as we're going to get right now.

Okay.

I turn back to the awkward-looking young tyrant. "Okay. Invincible? What are you hoping to get out of telling us?"

"I-. Dunno? Friends, I guess? I mean, we.. work together, we're trying to make the same thing happen… And there's no way we can fight the Viltrumite Empire, so we're just.. making the best of it."

Eve's head snaps back to him "Don't pretend you're not on board with this!"

"Compared to what, Eve?! If Dad was just a regular superhero, none of this would have happened! Hell, if Immortal had just-."

"Stop." I hold out my right hand again, realising that on top of everything else both of the people I'm dealing with here are teenagers. "Think very carefully whether or not what you're about to say adds anything to the discussion."

He nods. "Immortal could have made it a negotiated surrender. How many people on Earth right now have even seen a viltrumite? A few hundred?"

"You keep killing them."

"We had a global war! And after me and Dad won, they thought they could change that by moaning about it! The whole reason things got that bad was because the governments couldn't just accept that they lost, and they wanted to carry on doing that instead of fixing things! And yeah, I know I could have done things better-."

"You could have fought him too!"

"I already-!" He bites down his instinctive response. "The Invincible of the world we went to did that. His dad threw him around a city and killed hundreds of people with him before he somehow convinced him to quit. But there was another Invincible who came with us all covered in scars. His dad decided he was defective and put him in viltrumite prison for re-education. The me with the Mohican asked why Angstrom didn't bring more of us, and he said that in most realities we don't even make it this far. Mostly, either Dad kills me or the other viltrumites do when they get here. So whether I fought him or not, it didn't make any difference."

"Except the one time it did."

"No, the other viltrumites are just giving him a little while longer to complete Dad's mission. Then they'll send Conquest, and he'll be dead too. And because it's Conquest, the guy the other viltrumites think is a violent nut job, he'll probably kill even more people. Or just fly right through the planet and wreck the whole thing!"

I sigh. "Perhaps if we move on to something actionable?"

"Okay." Invincible nods. "Okay. What do you want?"

Ah… "Could you please stop calling me 'buddy' in that really creepy way?"

"Creep-?" His face falls. "You found that creepy? I was trying to be friendly."

"While I don't know how you spoke to Mr. Clockwell, I assure you, friendliness was not what you were communicating. Furthermore, when you're super strong, wrapping your arm around someone's shoulders has rather different implications."

"Like what?"

"Like 'if I squeeze, your head comes off'." It's a threat pantomiming friendliness."

He looks like I just shot his dog.

I blink rather heavily. "Did you really not do that intentionally?"

"No!" … "I mean, maybe a little bit threatening, but more 'I'm keeping an eye on you', not 'I can rip your head off'." I look at him expectantly. "Okay, no more 'buddy' and no more… Arm around the shoulders."

"Thank you. In return, it seems to me that having the most human viltrumite being as strong as he can be is in our interests. I took scans of the training equipment the other G.D.A. used for their Invincible, and I can set that up for you. I can also ask Anissa what sort of equipment she used, and… I can have Angstrom look for Earths with other training opportunities."

He nods. "Okay." … "Thanks."

"And I can also cough pointedly when I think you're leaning into the 'deranged alien overlord' bit a little too hard. Just in case we're in company."

"Yeah, I-. Apparently I need that."

"Alright." I offer him my right hand, and after a moment's hesitation he takes it with a weak smile. Then I turn to Eve, dismissing the construct chains. "Do you have anything you'd like to contribute?"

"What do the viltrumites actually want from Earth? Is it just..? Breeding?"

He shrugs. "That, and so there are people who can do all the jobs in the Empire that aren't fighting. Dad says they usually wait a generation or two before training people for anything important…"

"But why Earth?"

"I dunno? I guess because we look like them. I mean, if you could get a.. fish pregnant, would you want to?"

"What's the plan for educating the new children?"

"I don't know. I guess they'll probably get tutors. They'll have enough for a whole class…"

"Human tutors?"

"Ah. Maybe? Early on, I… Guess so."

"Find out."

I raise my eyebrows. "Do you have a plan?"

"If the only thing that can beat a viltrumite is another stronger viltrumite... Then we need to make sure that the next generation is on our side."

 

[Mr Zoat]

We're All Mad Here

14th July 2013
08:02 GMT

I stare in confusion at the masked face construct hovering over my ring.

"Forget 'how did you get this number?'. How are you even talking to me?"

"Oh, that's simple, sir. Between Batman's power ring and the Apokoliptian technology built into this station, there's very little on Earth that we can't communicate with."

Huh. I hadn't realised that those could interface in that direction.

"Alright, ah… Who are you?"

"I am a Peace Agent, sir. As you observed yourself, having one man -or even two- oversee the reconstruction of a planet isn't a viable method."

"So in addition to the field agents like Mister Blank, we've got additional administrators."

"Just so, sir. Batman and Mister Atom oversee our work, but unlike before other members of the Justice League could step into their roles. My role is to identify areas of need, and contact Justice League associated assets in order to meet those needs. I can also handle discussions with other agencies concerning operational matters, though obviously higher level negotiations would need to be handled either by Batman or a designated member of the Justice League."

"Mister Blank mentioned that he'd had his memories removed. Do you..? Did you have that done?"

"Of course, sir. That's part of the reason why I wear a full face mask. I could come from any country or ethnic group and no one could know. We can represent all nations."

And none, naturally.

"What about your accent?"

"Since we're essentially using a power ring translation system, it's simple to turn that into whatever the person we're speaking to thinks is appropriate for a functionary. I imagine that you're hearing me enunciate in the manner of an English butler."

"Close." Hm. "So, is there something that you want me to do?"

"No. This is simply one of a long list of introductory calls I will be making today to acclimatise people to the system that the Global Peace Agency will be using going forwards."

"So are you 'my' Global Peace Agent?"

"No, sir. We're completely interchangeable. Any of us can contact you as needed, and you won't know the difference."

"Okay. That's a bit weird, but obviously… Availability is going to be a bit random, and I can see how it's useful to make sure that there's no loss of efficiency if one of you is busy…"

"Oh, that's not why, sir. We at the Global Peace Agency don't believe in personal attachment. That's why I don't have a face or accent."

"That's a bit strange, but I suppose that's true of Hub City's last two superheroes. Is there anything that you need me to do right now?"

"Not at the moment. Your work in bringing Hub City to full functionality takes precedence. However, Justice League affiliate Squire relayed your idea to increase the number of nuclear power plants worldwide, and that's received approval. Orders have been sent out for construction work and raw materials, so in a few weeks we'd like you to collect the fuel rods."

"A few weeks? Feeling optimistic?"

"The time line is perfectly possible to achieve with new technologies being properly leveraged."

"Alright. Yes, I can be available for courier duty."

"Thank you, sir. The only other matter of local concern is the location of The Question. He hasn't been seen for a considerable amount of time. While turning Hub City into an agricultural manufacturing hub is the most useful thing you could be working on, it would also be useful if he could be located."

"I'll keep an eye out. Anything else?"

"Not at this time, sir. Thank you for your time."

The head disappears, and I…

Huh.

The J.L.I. maintained a team structure. Obviously there were people who weren't superheroes in support roles, but they didn't do hero management. From what I remember of the Earth 12 Justice League… Same sort of thing. The staff were just maintenance, communications and… Canteen? Medical? Something like that.

This is novel.

Incoming message from Honour Guard Lantern Guy Gardner.

Answer.

Guy's face takes the place recently abandoned by the Peace Agent. He's frowning disconcertedly. "Hey Paul, did you just get a super-creepy message from a guy with no face?"

"I'm not sure that I'd call it 'super-creepy'. My creep-resistance has increased a great deal over the last few years." Wait. "How long are you back on Earth for?"

"'couple weeks. Make sure Tora remembers what I look like. See if I can get my head 'round some of what Lantern Priest was tellin' me."

"He is the second best Green Lantern ever. You could learn a lot from him."

He grins. "Second best Green Lantern, huh?"

"I… Actually got around to watching Clarissi Dox fight a little while ago. You know how Lantern Kreon makes constructs that stay there for a second and then vanish because they've done what he needed them for?"

"Yeah?" He looks mildly curious. "Dox does that?"

"It doesn't even stick around for long enough for you to see it. I used to think that a fight between me and him would be a coin toss." I shake my head. "No. I thrash him in raw power, but it would not matter. And that trick Priest has of charging without a personal lantern, I can do that now."

"Yeah, me too. You know he told Hal that he'd need a couple centuries to get good enough to do that?"

I grin. "Optimistic, was he?"

"Puttin' it mildly. But serious, what's with no-face?"

"The League got given extraordinary power-. Extraordinary political power to fix Earth. Batman decided to found his own planetary police force. That was one of their phone operators."

"They gunna be telling me what t'do? I don't f-."

"No. But they can suggest things that could benefit from your attention without tying up a League member on communications duty."

"Like a secretary?"

"Perhaps. But less personal. I'm not completely sure how it's going to work in practice."

"Huh. Weird. But okay, I guess. So what you been up to?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Mid-Autumn, IC 690

It's been six years since the Saderan legions under Prince Zorzal El Caesar fought here. The lagomorph tribes who once lived here are physically stronger and faster than unaugmented humans, but have only cottage industry and little higher learning. Unlike most tribal societies I've encountered, they also have a highly uneven birth rate. Almost all of their children are female, with the few males being physically unimposing and getting closeted as a result.

The other oddity is that the female warriors raid their neighbours to acquire male slaves whom they can rape and use for non-combat related labour. I'm not sure if there aren't enough of their own males to maintain the population or they just don't like sharing. They used to be a constant irritation in the Saderan Empire's border regions, which is one of the things that promoted the invasion.

The other is… It's not like the Empire doesn't know what happens when warriors fight soldiers. Slaves and new fertile land available at a relatively low price? Who could resist?

Prince Diabo's eyes shine with the orange light as he stares through the ground at the decaying remains beneath it.

"How.. many died here?"

"I'm afraid that I don't know. This is a long way from my temple, and I wasn't paying specific attention to it when it happened. Why-?"

"We tracked the progress of the campaign. Every.. battle. The legions didn't bother taking any of their weapons with them due to the low quality of the metal."

"Yes?"

"I see the corpses of warrior bunnies, but very few weapons. And I see rope around their arms and legs."

"Ah. Probably the old or very young, then. Those who couldn't survive the march to the slave markets in the Saderan Empire proper."

"But there is work for the old and the young! And we were settling the area, they didn't need to march them anywhere."

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Prince Diabo. The officers of the legion were looking for an easy profit, and other than the legionaries mustering out in the area, there weren't any settlers to pay them for the sub-prime slaves. They might have gotten less money than they theoretically could by only taking the most physically able, but it was a simple and reliable profit. If you scan in more detail-."

His eyes flare again.

"Small skeletons, and skeletons with a low mineral content. They were the old and the young."

"I'm a little surprised that you're surprised. When was the last time you saw an old slave in the market?"

"I live in the capital! Naturally, we get the highest quality slaves, that doesn't mean that the rest should just-. It doesn't mean that the rest should just be killed because it's too much effort."

"We are planning to start a rather large war."

"There's a difference between fighting another nation and killing bound prisoners. Or do you not see it that way?"

"Oh, no, I agree completely. I just wanted to get you in the right headspace for your next meeting. And to see how assertive you have become."

Three years managing the Saderan Empire's gun development project has caused him to grow a bit more of a backbone. And he needed it. Alchemy isn't exactly a popular field for Imperial nobility, and it turns out that when the main delay in gathering materials is the time it takes to collect and boil vast quantities of excrement… Well, the isolated location of the works wasn't primarily down to a need for secrecy, and the smell also resulted in the place being run by slaves and a couple of slightly crazed alchemists who needed royal patronage.

The insults rather died off once he demonstrated the first wyvern-dropped barrel bomb, and ended completely when the first production model cannon battery was demonstrated against a stone wall.

"Then I suppose I should begin."

He raises his left hand and I glow for a moment before we transition, appearing in the middle of a warrior bunny encampment near the edge of their former range. They were expecting him-. Us, but swords and spears are drawn despite how useless they'd be. I take a moment to study the women here, and it is just women. Bunny warriors from outlying territories who didn't hear their former queen's call to arms, reinforced by survivors and refugees. But this part of the country was sparsely populated for a reason. The soil is poor, there isn't much game, and the closest people they could raid have solid walls and defences. There was just about enough for their former numbers, but from the looks of things that is no longer the case. In addition, many are carrying wounds that haven't had time to heal, or amputations where the wounds couldn't be healed.

Their best option was to raid the newly built Saderan settlements, but they know perfectly well what would happen if they tried that.

"I am Prince Diabo El Caesar. I am here to speak with your chief."

Turning up without an escort, either of praetorians or blunderbusseers, is a statement in its own right. In other places it would suggest weakness but on Falmart, where everyone has heard of Apostles, it's a statement of power. 'I am the next thing to a god', it says. 'Take a shot if you like, I could do with a laugh'.

"I am Chief Eithne. What do you want?"

Muscular, not wearing much, clipped ears and manacles indicating a former slave. The chains attached to the manacles have had a lever shoved into them to pry them apart, but I'd guess that the manacles themselves are more than their primitive metallurgy can deal with. She looks irritable and tired.

"Hungry? Allow me."

He waves his left hand, and a table laden with foods appears from subspace. Cured sausage, jars of pickled and otherwise preserved vegetables and fruit, and a smaller quantity of fresh bread and fruit. Jugs of water and wine. Nothing that cost a great deal in the capital's markets, but all things the locals desperately could do with.

The local women can't quite help themselves twitch towards it, but they control themselves a moment later.

The chief looks bitter. "You know that we can't refuse. Just say what you want in exchange."

"The Saderan Empire will soon be at war. Next year, most likely. Certainly not longer than another year after that. Our former auxiliary suffered significant casualties during our war with the Men in Green. I wish for the warriors of your tribe to take their place. You would serve as scouts and skirmishers, under my command."

"At war." She tilts her head slightly. "So the Empire will have fewer legions protecting its people."

"True. So it would take us a little longer to completely exterminate you if you tried to attack us than it would otherwise take. But that is part of why I'm making an offer at all."

"And what do we get?"

"Food. Water. Our forbearance. And for those of you who complete the ten year term of service…" He looks around the gathering. "Imperial citizenship."

There's a quiet intake of breath from all around.

"You would be granted an area of the former Warrior Bunny lands, and your occupancy would be recognised by the Empire. You would be subject to our laws… But you could actually live, rather than…" He looks around again, this time focusing on the tents and cook fires. "This."

The chief snorts. "And what is the chance that we will survive? What stops you killing us off just before that?"

"You, convincing us that you can be useful as free women, and not just as slaves. And frankly, what we're offering costs us little."

And having scouts with their physical abilities, who don't need hard-to-provision horses to remain mobile and effective, would be very useful. People remember Agincourt, but there were battles in the same campaign where the English were caught out of position and overrun. We need to make sure that doesn't happen, because it will be another generation before the Saderan Empire can be as profligate with manpower as it was before the gate opened.

The chief is clearly on the verge of saying yes, but a little-

"I also took the liberty of purchasing others of your kind in the slave markets. Including two males. Naturally, they would be placed under your command."

-push, and her eyes light up, and he has her.

"I agree."

Prince Diabo smiles, and gestures to the table.

"Then eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow, you march."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th July 2013
10:13 GMT -5

"…first time we'd done a patrol in Gotham in… Ah, a while."

I smile as I float down the Gotham storm drain, sonic probes and ground-penetrating radar constructs scanning the concrete and earth around me.

"So, taking on more staff to handle the workload means that there's less work for him to do? What's his day job again?"

Richard snorts quietly with amusement. "Yeah, laugh it up. But he seemed a lot more relaxed, too. That thing you did to his brain. Are you sure he..? Redid it?"

Um…

"I.. can't be sure, no. It's what he implied, but I don't really… I didn't want to try scanning him. And… In theory, there's no reason why he couldn't go through the same mental transformation again, even without using his ring. His change was a result of a long series of changes and experiences, and even after changing his brain back without that external impetus he might just revert back."

"So how come?"

"With the pressure from the Anti-Life not being there… It's not impossible, but I… It's probably the fact that he's getting regular sleep and has competent and trustworthy people to handle a lot of his job."

"And… Okay, so I read your report on possible ways the Justice League could improve-."

"For which you have my undying gratitude."

"Wasn't this one of the things you said they could do? And that one of your alter-egos came from an Earth where the Justice League already did that?"

"Earth Twelve, yes. They had to build their own space station with human technology, rather than being given it by the Guardians. So that stuff needed maintenance, and… All sorts of other things that could get done best by regular employees."

"So it's basically the same thing."

Nothing unexpected so far, so I take a right at the intersection.

"No, they had faces and memories of their lives. They were just normal if highly skilled people who were employed by the League."

"Most of us wear masks."

"Not from ourselves." Hm. "He hasn't offered you the Peace Agent augmentations?"

"Why, is it better than what you gave me?"

"No reason in principle why you couldn't have both." … "I think. I don't.. really know how his energy-absorbing nanotechnology works."

"Maybe it would, but I'm powerful enough. And even the people who don't mind fighting me just gave up when Batman showed that he had a power ring."

"It would make me give up. Speaking of, does his recent explosion of free time mean that he's going to be joining us in the Chihuahuan Desert training sessions?"

"He didn't say anything about that. Want me to ask?"

Ah…

Okay, I am concerned about this recent change in the League's organisational structure. And I'm worried that his ring might be sending everything back to Sinestro. And I'm worried that this ends with me having to fight him. But… Getting more time with him would allow me to get a better idea of how he's thinking. Because it would be really convenient if I was jumping at shadows.

And maybe it would improve our relationship if we spent more time together.

"Well… If it comes up, we'd be happy to have him."

"Worried, Oh El?"

"Yes."

"I mean, about him showing you up."

"Oh. Um, no? The whole point is to learn new things. If he's developed a technique that the rest of us don't know, that's great, because we can all learn it. I suspect that that won't be the case, because his general level of skill is a result of years of training and conditioning that he doesn't have with a power ring, but it's not a problem if I'm wrong. Heck, more for me to learn."

"You know, you're a lot harder to needle than Kid Flash."

"I should hope so." I look around the storm drain. "Is this really the only lead we have on Mister Tetch?"

"It's less of a lead and more of a process of elimination. There's only so many places he can go, but those tunnels have all kinds of hidden chambers."

"Any idea why?"

"Bringing smuggled goods ashore past British patrols, hiding fugitive slaves, construction projects that got their budget reallocated, emergency shelters…"

"And you don't already have them mapped?"

"We've got a map. But you see Oh El, the thing about unofficial modifications is that they don't end up on the official plans. And hey: once it's done it's done, and you never have to go back down there-"

My ring blinks.

"-again."

"True. Ah, hold on a moment, I've got another call."

"Three guesses who it is."

"I'm hoping it's Jade, actually. Answer."

The… Non-face of a Global Peace Agent appears over my ring. "Good morning, Orange Lantern."

"Miscellaneous Peace Agent. What can I do for you?"

"I was following up on your task of locating The Question, but I note that you're not in Hub City."

"No."

"May I ask why?"

"Um. I mean, you can, but…"

"Our tasks are calculated to most efficiently restore the functionality of planet Earth. While you are in no sense obliged to do as we ask, it really is the best way you can help."

"The Question knows what I'm doing and that I'm around. If he doesn't want to talk to me… He's not a fugitive. He doesn't have to talk to me. I've left messages in places I know that he visits, and with people I know that he talks to. If he doesn't reply in a week or two then I'll have a rethink, but otherwise I think that's the most it makes sense to do."

"We're concerned for his mental state. A great deal can happen in a week."

"He's a street shaman on the streets of his home city. Crime's at an all time low. He's less in danger than he was six months ago."

"Even so, it would be-."

"Okay, fine. I'll check up on my drop points once I've finished here."

"Thank you, Orange Lantern. And what are you currently doing?"

"Spelunking. End."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Late-Autumn, IC 690

Prince Diabo watches from the side of the shooting range as the Warrior Bunny engineers dash down the field, guns, gun carriage, palisade, ammunition and powder in their arms or on their backs. Despite being roughly the size of human women, they're actually a good deal stronger and have better endurance. Combined, those traits make using them to manoeuvre guns tactically a viable move.

Honestly, we might want to consider larger sized blunderbusses or hand cannons for them. Rifles or arquebuses are a bit beyond our technological ability right now, and the sorts of musket we could make would be significantly inferior to longbows and won't reliably penetrate the plate armour worn by elite units. But a large blunderbuss, where they could dash forwards into range of an enemy infantry levy, blast a hole in their formation and then fall back to reload…

I'll discuss the idea with him later.

"Mmmm."

Next to us, Battery Master Allius Gaius Graccus looks at them suspiciously. He was a senior engineer under Zorzal during the attack on Warrior Bunny territory, overseeing the construction of bridges and roads for the Empire's army. I'm not sure how much contact he had with the Bunnies, but it appears that they didn't exactly impress him.

"Are you sure this is wise, your highness?"

We watch as the Warrior Bunnies set up the light guns. They're not what you'd call natural team players, but after their chief shouted at them and finally borrowed a lesson from the legion's Optios and just smacked anyone who acted out of turn with a stick, they eventually got it. And now they're enthusiastically enjoying it.

"Horses are slower and harder to provision. Over difficult terrain there is no comparison."

The Battery Master nods slowly.

"Out with it, Master Graccus."

"I am concerned that your serfs might learn from this. While I am enthusiastic to try these weapons against the Empire's enemies, what happens if they turn them on us in turn?"

"These?" Diabo makes scoffing exhalation. "Oh, they make acceptable gun crews, but they know full well that their people could never make guns such as these. They lack the mines and the skill with metallurgy. And if they stole them, how would they make the powder? You know how hard it is for us, even with the instructions provided to us. At worst, they could provide information to our enemies about our capacities, and while that might deny us a trick or two, I imagine that it would make their-"

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!

"-surrenders come all the more swiftly."

The wooden targets at the end of the field explode into splinters. None of them actually hit the centre, but for guns like this that would be a matter of pure fluke anyway. But they are accurate enough that they'd knock holes in an advancing infantry block, and that's what we want from them.

We've got heavy guns for knocking holes in walls. These are for enemy armoured units.

The Warrior Bunnies don't cheer. Not with Chief Eithne standing there with baton raised. Instead, they immediately begin dismantling the guns and distributing the components back to their bearers before sprinting back down the field.

"You have no other concerns?"

"No, your highness. I had concerns, but the discipline they have learned has settled them."

"And as scouts?"

"They perform acceptably, your highness. They may not have the discipline to fight in a testudo, but they at least have the intelligence to run out, watch for a time, and run back."

And see in the dark, effortlessly defeat dispersed formations when encountered in equal numbers whether on horse or not, forage without prompting, climb up walls or cliffs, swim…

"Are our supplies in order?"

Master Graccus nods. "They are, or will be. I see no reason why we would not meet the Emperor's deadline. And we will be able to maintain our supplies by sea, unless the barbarians are able to bring an army to bear far faster than they should be."

"Winter clothing? Tents, and other sundries?"

"All in order, your highness. Unless they conjure a blizzard, the cold will not slow us. Feeding wyverns or your own mount may prove difficult."

Diabo shakes his head. "Wyverns would be impractical. We will make do with the Bunny scouts and my own findings. I'm sure that I can find a farmstead or two who can spare the meat to feed him."

"In that case, there is nothing to do until we receive the order to depart but drill the men. And the women. If you will excuse me."

Diabo nods and waves his right hand dismissively, and Master Graccus marches off to oversee the deployment of the heavy cannons that we'll be using on the outer walls. And possibly against enemy shipping.

"So. Things are going well."

"Yes."

"This war will prove the viability of your methods. The gate on Alnus Hill is shut, you're effectively invulnerable and your star will soon be in the ascendance."

He starts walking towards buildings which serve as this facility's offices and officer accommodation. There are plans for a more permanent building of stone, but it was far faster and less expensive to make the building out of the wood that was cleared from the area.

"If we win."

"You've already shown the more martial senators the weapons you've developed, and your argument that the Empire doesn't have the manpower to annex new territory convinced the more peaceful senators that having tributaries on the Empire's borders will prevent full scale wars in the future. Your father hasn't outright made you crown prince yet, but you've seen how differently he treats you now."

"Like someone worth noticing. But that just puts me in more danger."

"Then get married, raise a son to be a brilliant administrator, and pass your authority over to them. Your father's in good health for a man his age. You might only end up being emperor for a decade or so."

"But who could I marry that wouldn't make things worse? I'd have to deal with her family, and they'd only want me around to put their grandson on the throne."

"You'd have at least twenty years. Children can die, and they would need you to firmly establish yourself as a leader for your son to have a strong claim. And if you make it clear that you intend to retire early anyway, then they would have no reason to risk removing you violently rather than have you ease the transition of power. Alternately…

"Yes?"

"You could marry a woman with no significant family, who brought some other skills to the table. If your own renown is sufficient, then your father won't object. It isn't as if he wants to share power with people outside of your family."

"A normal woman."

"She would have to have something marking her out as significant. Your father wouldn't let you marry a peasant. But she wouldn't have to be from a grasping patrician noble family."

He stops walking, frowning thoughtfully. "That-."

"Hey, Master!" Chief Eithne drapes herself over his back, arms around his shoulders and mammaries pressing into his back. It's amazing what a normal diet can do to a person's physiology. "You know, if you wanted to get some practice in before you get married, the girls and I can help you out with that?"

Diabo reaches back with his right hand and lifts her arms off him. "That would be unwise. They would risk missing the campaign."

She pouts winsomely. "Aw…"

"But if you've finished overseeing your warriors, you can assist me with my paperwork."

She pouts normally. "Aw."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Late-Autumn, IC 690, Later That Day

"…because he's not a slave."

Chief Eithne frowns in confusion as we head towards the arcane workshop. "You bought him."

He raises his left hand, my ring's signet facing her. "The God of Avarice takes a rather dim view of slavery."

"Why?"

"A slave is a person relegated to being a tool. An object. Someone who is supposed to abandon their own desires and fulfil only the desires of another person. As the god of those desires, that is obviously unacceptable. If you want someone to do something, convince them that doing so is in their interest."

She frowns, then her face smoothes. "As you did with us."

"I am glad that Prince Diabo has chosen to accept my Commandments on this matter. But tell me: are you happier to work for him as a free woman, or should we have clipped your ears closer?"

She looks down, considering her manacles for a moment.

"I did not… Hate being a slave. The farm work was satisfying, and the farmer was an adequate bed mate. But fleeing from Prince Zorzal's extermination campaign showed me that I had no real control of anything that happened. I just hadn't been the focus of anyone's wrath." She looks at me. "What does the God of Avarice say about being happy where you are?"

"If you are truly happy, then I have no objection. But what makes you happy today might not make you happy tomorrow. And what makes you happy today might well prevent you making the preparations to ensure that you can be happy tomorrow. Were you preparing to escape, when Zorzal's men came?"

"No."

"Would it have been easier to get away if you had?"

"Yes." Her ears twitch. "Hm."

Prince Diabo lowers his left hand, then uses it to knock on the door. More than politeness, pushing into the laboratory of a wizard doing research into martial spells… Or indeed anything at all, is a rather poor idea, and I'm glad that he realised that without prompting.

Or… Perhaps I shouldn't be happy about that, because I'm pretty sure that he started knocking due to a lack of confidence around magicians rather than politeness or logic.

"You can come in! It's safe!"

And he doesn't open the door, but instead waits for-

"It is safe."

-the wizard's significantly better organised apprentice to confirm his claim before opening the door.

Cato El Altestan is an elderly man, stoop-shouldered and grey-haired, his oddly-bound beard extending to the middle of his chest. He wears blue robes and a blue… 'Wizard hat', and his crystal-encrusted staff is propped up against his work bench.

His apprentice Lelei La Lalena wears robes of blue, white and pale yellow. I'm not.. really sure why her hair is blue, but I suppose that I've seen stranger things. Right now she's studying a chemistry textbook we acquired on the far side of the gate, a blue flame dancing around the fingers of her right hand.

She nods to herself, and then watches the flame as it turns first purple and then green.

She and her master entered Diabo's employ after finding out that he was the one who dealt with the large dragon he took as a mount the day that he put me on. It hadn't actually attacked the village they were living in, but it had been rampaging around that general area and they had been very concerned about the possibility. Starting a research and development team for the 19th century level textbooks we were allowed to bring back through the gate has been… Difficult, but it appears that understanding the structure of matter and laws of physics makes it far easier for magicians to alter both.

Cato rises awkwardly to his feet. "Prince Diabo, God of Avarice…" He stares at Chief Eithne for several moments. Then he smirks to himself. Warrior Bunny sexual politics being what it is, I'm not sure that she noticed, or that she'd have cared if she had. Their menfolk aren't a physical threat to the women, so some of the same instincts concerning libidinous interest never really developed. "What can we do for you?"

"I would like you to update me on the progress of the enchanted cannonballs. At this point we're ready to begin the campaign, but I'd feel happier if our initial demonstration could be as overwhelming as possible."

"Ah, well…" He turns to Lelei. "I believe that Lelei made some progress in that area."

She looks up, flicking out the fire around her hand as she makes eye contact with him.

"Enchanting the cannon balls is impractical, and will remain so until we can transition from stone balls to iron balls. Even then it will remain difficult. The explosion of the charge will disrupt the runes in the metal badly enough that the enchantment will only work at a reduced power, if it works at all."

Diabo nods. "Alright. What can you do?"

She lays her right hand on a basic physics textbook.

"As we have learned from the people of Japan, force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. But for us, any one of those values can be altered with magic. Reducing the size of the cannon ball before it strikes the target causes the force to be spread over a smaller area. That is useful for attacking walls. Equally, the size of the cannon ball can be increased. That would reduce the force of the impact, but the cannon balls fired by the heavy guns already have a great deal more than enough force to kill a person."

"Can you just magnify the force directly?"

She thinks for a moment. "Magnifying the force of the launch would be simple, but it would also risk destroying the cannon. Magnifying the force of the impact would be difficult. And it would take a great deal of magic." Her eyes dip, and her brow furrows. "Depending on the degree of magnification. If I was doubling the force of impact for a ball fired from a heavy cannon at a target one mile away, I think I could only do it four times before becoming exhausted."

"And the other things? How many times could you do them?"

"Exchanging things is easier. I would have to practice to be sure, but I think I could cast a spell to shrink the cannon ball to half its size a hundred times a day."

Diabo smiles. "That is good news. I will arrange a time for you to practice… Tomorrow? If that is agreeable to you?" She nods, then sort of freezes awkwardly. I feel Diabo use my power to look within her and see why. A moment later he nods. "I understand your lack of enthusiasm, but remember that our aim here is not to repeat my brother's slaughter but to force our neighbours to become tributaries. It is my hope that a substantial show of force will prevent the need for a lengthy campaign. As well as stabilising things here at home after our near-disastrous conflict with Japan. Stability means that internal conflicts don't occur, that bandits don't prey on honest citizens and existing tributaries don't wage war with us or with each other."

She nods, looking slightly reassured.

"And you, Cato? How many-?"

The sound of hurried feet comes from the corridor behind us, as a Warrior Bunny messenger approaches at speed. The party turns as she enters the room and whispers something to her chief, who rather lost interest in the magic discussion. Eithne frowns, then turns to us.

"Prince Diabo, there's an elf here to see you."

"Did they say what they want?"

She shrugs. "Something about the dragon?"