With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

[Mr Zoat]

6th November
07:44 GMT

Sir Cyril uses his scabbard to knock down another. "Trevor, any ideas?"

"Hear the sound of eternal silence."

Captain Cornwall gestures and the floor buckles upwards. The shamblers who are free of the press stumble and a small wall of earth now blocks their path.

"Captain, Robert can drain magic directly from something like you do from your altar. I think you can as well. If Dark Druid did this with magic you should be able to remove it."

"How'd you-! Never mind, I'll give it a go." He reaches his hands out. "Ugh, death magic. Never felt-" The first shambler collapses. "-anything like it." He points his hands at another.

Wait. Ring, status of that man?

Subject is deceased.

"Stop! That killed him!" He drops his hands immediately. "Ring, are the rest alive?"

"Readings unclear. Vital signs present, but presence of black light suggests otherwise."

Sir Cyril shakes his head. "We can't just assume that he's telling the truth about being able to save them."

The Invunche is completely vaporised so I start neutralising the radiation. Not going to have a repeat of Gotham. Every atom gone, no sign of any sort of magic re-emergence. Check again, just in case-.

John scurries away from the shambling lines. Where was he trying to get? "Oi, Lantern, can you get us up on the shipping containers!"

It isn't coming back. It isn't-. "Better idea." I form an orange platform under each of them and lift them into the air. "Sorry for the delay, was a bit occupied."

Sir Cyril nods at me. "Thanks. I wasn't-."

"No, seriously mate, I need to have a look at the spells he's using. Get me over-." I swing his platform over to the one furthest away. "Right." He rolls up his sleeves, stretches his neck, stares at it and then places his hands on the metal surface. He grimaces, but remains in place.

Beryl kneels on her platform and looks down. "So, are we safe now?"

I look down. They've more or less come to a halt without a target but they're not going for the doors. If the glowing is as strong as the Invunche's then I'm not sure I could stop them with a construct barrier if they charged the exits. Sir Cyril strokes his chin with his right hand. "I doubt it. Constantine, would having Captain Cornwall drain the shipping containers work?"

"Frigging hell, this is complicated." He shakes his head. "I don't know, is the answer. Unless you can find a necromancer on short notice we're pretty much guessing here. I think.. I think it's replaced their vitality with something.. something.. unliving. Life and.. anti life."

Anti life as in the Anti-Life Equation? I really hope that was just colourful language to describe a form of necromancy. "John, the rune array. Is there an isosceles triangle with seven straight lines coming off the long side? Might be inside a circle."

"... Yep, got it. What is it?"

"Symbol of the Black Lantern Corps." Nekron was in the comics before the Blackest Night, but I don't remember anything about him. "Super zombies, only... These aren't, and Dark Druid isn't acting like-."

Creamy energy slams into my armour and starts melting through it. Automatically I evade and return fire, knocking one of the shamblers down. He was standing at the centre of a huddle with four others and they are bowled over as well. None of them rise.

Ring, what the hell just happened?

Several poured their black energy into a central figure who projected it as a beam.

Frantically, I look for others organising themselves in the same way. "They're burning themselves out to shoot us." Three reach out and put their hands on one who is staring up at me. I form construct-manacles and pull them apart. Immediately they glow and go into a frenzy, attacking and destroying their bindings.

Ring, message Green two eight one four B. Message: I need everything the Green Lantern Corps has on Nekron, don't mess me about.

Compliance.

"Looks like most of the power's flowing through that Lantern rune. I've... I've got no idea what to do about it."

Another group clusters up. I send a construct to grab them but this time they turn and breathe the orange light in.

Warning! Energy drain detected. Forty four percent remaining.

I dismiss the construct and use a construct beanbag gun instead. They go down and slowly scrabble back up onto their feet.

Sir Cyril looks at John. "So the choice is, do nothing, drain the victims so they die properly or drain the rune and hope for the best?"

"I might be able to subvert it with orange light, but..." I hold my hands out to the sides, palms up. "I really don't know if that's better or worse."

Beryl looks at me. "Is there, like, a Life Lantern rune or something?"

I respond with a jerky nod. "Yes, the White Lantern symbol. The lines spray out more from the triangle."

Sir Cyril nods. "That sounds like a better option. Constantine, can you change it?"

He shakes his head. "No. Too much power in the system. Even if it doesn't just kill me it'll just change back anything I do to it."

"Right. Trevor, drain as much power out of the system as you can without collapsing it. Constantine, if you can change it, do it. If you can't, tell me right away and we'll have to... Well. Orange Lantern, keep the.. the infected people apart."

I nod. Since the beaned shamblers don't seem to have been harmed I take the initiative and shoot all of them to the ground.

"I'm draining it now."

"Okay... Okay... Stop! Right. I'll try an'.. redirect..."

Several of the shamblers start convulsing.

Ring, monitor what's happening with them.

Black light being superseded by white light.

That's a relie- The other shamblers are looking at them. Right. I grab them, deposit them on the far side of the room and fire off a new volley of beanbags. "John, is it holding?"

He nods. "Think so. Cornwall, ease off on the draining."

"Right."

The people who had been convulsing start showing signs of life. Those who are moving moan, cry, clutch themselves or whoever's next to them. I can't imagine what that was like but at least they'll recover eventually. I think.

"Ring, status?"

"Physical health restored. Black light infection eliminated."

John nods, relieved. "Shift us over to the next container. I could use some good news before Orange and me have to go and talk to me sister."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th November
14:07 GMT -4

There are nice parts of Gotham. There are parts of Gotham that are poor and a little past their best but still decent enough, like where Artemis and Paula live. Then, there are places like this. The ring excludes the stench from the puddles of urine as I make my way through the poorly lit and graffiti encrusted corridors. Are those..? Yep, those are needles. I should probably do something about that but at the moment I just can't work up the enthusiasm. Maybe... Maybe in a couple of days or something. Once the mess outside is cleared up sufficiently and I don't have to worry about running out of charge.

I recognised that wearing my armour would be a bit of a social faux pas around here so I've gone with some slightly more 'street' gear that Artemis picked out back when I first met Zatanna. Me, street. Oh, I feel dumber for even thinking of it like that. Zatanna was asleep on my bed with Teekl curled up around her when I popped back to recharge after dealing with Dark Druid. None of our spare rooms are really furnished and I guess Teekl decided to take her there. I need to talk to Alan about those books, though I think it would be best if we left going through them until next weekend. Zatanna still has school next week and while the ring can filter the information far faster than we could read them together I want her to feel involved with this. I hate feeling powerless at the best of times and this is far from that.

Miss Robinson's apartment is on the seventh floor of this block of flats. I thought it would be rude to scan the interior in any detail but I know she's in there. A quick check that I don't look too street -no fear of that-, make an effort to smile then knock three times on the door with my right hand.

The noise of movement from inside stops for a moment and I can just make out a muffled conversation. And.. is that running water? Then footsteps approaching and a quick walk, a chain going on the door and a stiff latch being turned.

"…what you really got up to last night but there's no way it's..." The woman on the other side blinks at me through the gap between door and frame. Her hair is cut short and dyed a garish shade of purple. She's wearing narrow glasses, a pink t-shirt and blue jeans. I.. have no idea who she is.

"Good afternoon. I'm Orange Lantern two-."

Her eyes widen and she slams the door shut with some force. I hear a couple of heavy footsteps and then it goes quiet. Hm. I rap my right knuckles against the door again and lean up to it. "I say? Are you alright in there?"

There's a noise which could be an 'uh huh', then what sounds like scrabbling and a frantic sounding speech noise from further in. Um. Ring, I am at the right house, right?

Confirmed. Holly Robinson is within.

A picture starts to form next to the ring but I wave it away when I realise that she's in the shower. Okay, so, friend of hers? Or-. Wait. I remember that thing in the comics when Selina Kyle had a daughter. Holly was babysitting with.. her girlfriend. Huh. Right. Don't remember what said girlfriend looked like. I don't suppose it really matters, but I don't have time to stand out here all day. Knock again? I don't want to panic the poor woman. No, it's alright, I hear footsteps coming back and the chain being pulled off. Ms Purple Hair opens the door wide enough for her to stand in it. She looks a little embarrassed.

"Um. Sorry about that. I just thought Holly was making you up or something."

"Quite alright. Shall we start again?"

"Yeah. That'd probably be a good idea."

"Right. Hello, I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four. And you are..?"

"I'm Karon."

"Karon Robinson, or is it a bit early for that?" She blinks and gapes for a moment. Then she blushes. Guess I was right about that. "Or is it like Cher and it's just Karon?"

"Case! Karon Case."

"Alliterative, I approve. Can I come in?"

"Holly's just.. in the shower."

"I hate to be a nag, but there was a fairly major disaster last night and I'm a bit busy today."

"Sure. Um." She takes a step back, still holding onto the door, then she turns away into the room and pushes it a little wider as she releases it. "It's not much, but-."

"Are there any dead children in it?"

She turns back, alarmed. "Wh-? No!"

"Then it's far better than the rest of my day's likely to be." In fact, it isn't that bad inside. Carpet's a bit worn, settee cushions sag with use and the television on the small table opposite is one of the old cathode ray type. Against the wall to my right are a couple of kitchen units, a sink and a microwave. A full bin bag is leaning up against one of the units and behind the sink I see a window with a view of more Gotham brutalism. "Has Miss Robinson completed the report I asked her for?"

"Ahhh..." Miss Case sits down on the settee and reaches down beside it. "Here it is." She retrieves the report and hands it out to me. "It's a bit, um..."

I take it from her, then generate a chair construct opposite the settee and sit down. "I'll type it up for her."

The door to the bedroom swings open and Miss Robinson marches through, still towelling her hair. She's wearing loose trousers and a short sleeved pyjama top and from the way they're sticking to her skin I don't think she took the time to fully dry herself. Averting eyes. "Hiiii. I wasn't sure you'd actually be back."

"Of course I would. Do you want to.. take a seat?"

"Right! Hehehe." She walks around the front of the settee and plonks herself down next to her girlfriend.

"So, I went back and paid the restaurant bill, that's taken care of. I have your report-" I wiggle it. "-and I don't see any criminal activity in your flat, so..." A slim white briefcase appears in the air next to me and I float it over to her. She looks at Miss Case and then hesitantly reaches for it, her right hand shaking. Once she gets a grip on the handle I release it from the orange aura. She puts it on her knees and with a slightly gleeful expression pops it open.

"Eeeeeeeee!" The cash doesn't fill it, unfortunately, so the visual isn't as good as I might have liked. She turns and pulls her girlfriend into a hug. "We got three hundred thousand dollars! We got three hundred-!"

"Actually.. you.. don't."

She swiftly turns back to me. "What gives?"

"You got fifty thousand dollars now, the balance being paid over the course of the next year. I did say I'd be checking up on your progress. I'll visit you weekly and as long as you continue to avoid backsliding I'll hand another instalment over each time. Sound reasonable?"

"I.. guess..."

"Might I suggest that one of your first actions be to open a bank account? Assuming you don't have one already. No disrespect intended to your neighbours but I don't get the impression that this is the sort of neighbourhood where it's wise to keep that much cash in the house."

She looks at me like I've said something rather foolish. "No shit."

"Hey, were you.. serious, about the dead children?"

I close my eyes and take a moment to compose myself before responding. "Yes. Well, it's.. it's easier for me than for the emergency services, and they're mostly focused on dealing with the injured. Plus, I can match parents to children more quickly than.. posting facial reconstructions somewhere. Cleared Gotham's bridges first thing, now I'm mostly focusing on crashed aircraft. See, because of how the split worked, the airplanes didn't always stay with the bodies so it's... There aren't many of us who can track them down." I look down at the floor for a moment. "So I'm.. um… I'm going to get back to work now. Keep your nose clean, and I'll see you again next week."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th November
20:13 GMT -5

The Sphere keeps pace with me as I stride towards the training area. Show time's in two minutes but there's really no point in turning up early. She warbles at me for a few seconds and I understand her as clearly as if she were using actual words. Letting Father Box remodel my spiritual architecture -or rather, give me some- has turned out to have all sorts of fringe benefits.

"No. I understand your concerns, but I am determined. It was a rational decision and I stand by it."

Another warble.

"I don't care if he finds out. His own father agreed with me. Kryptonian law-." I cut myself off as we emerge from the passageway and I see that Kon, Mister Tawny, M'gann, Artemis and Kaldur are already here. And so is Wonder Woman. Ah. I feel.. not guilty exactly, but perhaps.. embarrassed? By my prior outburst. Honestly, if she hadn't made what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture I might be wearing black eyeliner by now. As it was, we've mostly kept apart since then. We bumped into each other yesterday in New York while we helped clear wrecked cars but we were very.. stilted. Got the job at hand done and then went our separate ways.

And.. I need to apologise. Something about seeing countless parents screaming with grief when they were notified that it was their offspring that I just extracted from the wreck rather puts our disagreement into perspective. It isn't about me. It's just.. with Richard, it was clearly my fault for alienating him. I recognised and accepted that. Mister Zatara deserved better. They should've.. I mean, they're the Justice League! They're supposed to be.. be better than that. But.. I need to be as well. I'm not bigger than the cause. If I'm going to have a row it should be about something important.

I'm distracted from my thoughts as space bends to my left and Zatanna appears, grinning like a loon. "It worked!" She blinks, takes in the room and then dashes over to me. "Dad's been showing me this new way of teleporting Fate taught him. I went from home to here in seconds. I don't even feel tired!"

"Miss Zatara, I'm pleased that Lantern Nabu is making himself useful."

"Oh, you can totally call me Zatanna."

She takes my arm as we walk over to the group. I think I may have a fan. She isn't really... I didn't exactly save her father for her, she hasn't been around enough for me to bond with her in that sort of way. But, perhaps I should? Particularly given that carrot I intend to offer my team mates. Something to consider. But first: "Wonder Woman." She looks at me, her face expressionless. "I wish to apologise for the way I... For blowing up at you on Saturday. I realise that your concerns were justified, I just.. wasn't clear headed enough to really engage with it." Her eyes flick down for a moment, then she nods. Reconciliation might still be possible.

And now I'm going to ruin it. But there's a difference between ruining something by being a belligerent fool and ruining it over a matter of principle.

"Kon. Present for you." I extract the small dull-grey triamid from subspace and toss it over to him. He catches it, looks at it for a moment and then looks back at me.

"Uhh. Thanks? What is it?"

"A complete repository of Kryptonian history, sociology and language. It's a copy of the one Jor-El made for Kal-El. Just run a finger down one of the edges to activate it. Index is a simple AI, it'll respond to your voice and no one else's."

He looks stunned. "Did... Did Superman give you this?"

"No." Sadly Father Box didn't have much on Kryptonians. I suppose Darkseid hasn't started his vendetta with Superman yet. "I extracted the data from the computers in Kal-El's Fortress. And before you ask:-" I make eye contact with Wonder Woman. "-no, I didn't have his permission."

"Um." He looks guiltily at Wonder Woman, who does not look happy with me. I have a counter argument prepared, but I was really expecting to have to use it on Kal-El himself.

"That data was private. You have no right to go through Superman's property."

"You know... I could make an argument about that data being non-specific, and how it should rightfully belong to all Kryptonians. But I don't need to. Did you know that Kal-El has a digitised neural clone of Jor-El in the Fortress? I spoke with it when I took the data. Apparently, clone rights politics were a big deal in his youth. He was really-" I make a fist with my right hand and perform a small air-punch. "-right on about the whole thing. Said that Kal-El was failing to live up to his duties as head of House El, and that as a blood relation Kon should have been provided with it already." Wonder Woman's face tightens. "And who am I to argue about Kryptonian law and customs with Jor-El?"

Kon puppy-eyes her. She holds his gaze for a moment before looking down in defeat, slowly nodding. She's been great for Kon, she really has, but even she hasn't been able to pull super-head out of super-arse and frankly I've passed the point where I'm prepared to put up with nonsense from the League, especially when it hurts my friends.

"Recognised, Robin, B zero one, Kid Flash, B zero three."

I wave at them as they materialise. "Gang's all here, then."

Kaldur looks at me curiously. "Now that we are assembled, why did you ask us here?"

I smile at him. "Computer, Chinese State News, if you please?" A large holographic screen appears showing a news desk and two presenters.

"…just released from the Special Tribunal…"

Confused looks from my team mates, save for Artemis. Ah, of course. "Allow me to provide a translation." Orange headphones for all.

"…criminals responsible for the horrifying attack last week." Wonder Woman looks at me with a frown. I reply with a small smile. "We go now to the sentencing hearing."

The scene shifts from the newsroom to what looks like a cross between a judge's bench and some sort of Roman emperor's box at the amphitheatre. The senior judge of the three is a grey haired woman in thick rimmed spectacles. The four wizards -Wotan, Faust, Zard and Thorn- are chained unmoving to gurneys with the arcane suppression chain I provided to them. Flanking them are the public faces of the Great Ten: August Captain in Iron, Socialist Red Guardsman, Thundermind and Celestial Archer. Around them are Xeno-Team soldiers, Committee functionaries and a few journalists. They clearly want this recorded properly.

The Committee does have wizards of their own but sadly the only Chinese sorcerers with enough power and experience to handle these four were killed during Mao's era. Too independent. Just wouldn't get with the program. And -while I'm not sure how much of the propaganda about them to believe- even the internal documents I acquired suggested that they were a fairly nasty bunch.

"Wotan, Felix Faust, William Asmodeus Zard and Blackbriar Thorn. You have been found guilty of mass murder-" There wasn't really much doubt, but my smile grows a little at the news anyway. "-of in excess of one thousand individuals as well as lesser offences too numerous to mention. Though it is likely that we will never know the precise magnitude of your evil the law demands only one sentence. Captain!"

Captain Fang bows to the bench and then barks an order. The microphones don't quite pick it up and his rigid epidermis makes it impossible to read his lips but everyone around him hears it. Everyone save for Socialist Red Guardsman moves away from the condemned. Hm. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they're using Gu Lao for this. Despite his spree-killing tendencies he's still well respected amongst the Party old guard for his hard-line beliefs. Personally, I don't think even this could rehabilitate the man whose claim to fame is that he soloed Tiananmen Square, but I understand why they might try. Having Zou Kang pull them apart would ruin his image, Xu Tao's arrows wouldn't cut it with immortals-. I think, anyway. Need to check exactly what they can do. And while I'm sure Captain Fang would be happy to spear each of them until they were fully incinerated, the greater visual impact of-.

The iris over Guardsman Gu's chest plasma cannon opens. I had assumed that his suit focused his radiation, but it doesn't. Instead, it uses it to power both the suit's systems and an extremely powerful chest mounted plasma cannon. He looks to Captain Fang, who points to the condemned with his spear. The cannon glows and then:

Pfsssshhhh! Pfsssshhhh! Pfsssshhhh! Pfsssshhhh!

Not even ash remains. Captain Fang looks at the charred ground for a moment before lowering his spear and nodding. The image transitions back to the studio.

"Computer, off." The holo screen disappears. Zatanna's no longer gripping my arm and other than Kon the rest of my team mates look more than a little shocked as well. I feel a momentary urge to be flippant about it. To come up with some sort of triumphant one liner. No. I need to get them on-side.

Wonder Woman slowly turns to me. "You took them to China?"

I nod. "They're a permanent member of the UN Security Council, they took more fatalities than nearly any other country and their holding facilities are better than India's. It seemed only reasonable."

"You knew that they'd be killed."

"Executed. A fair trial with transcripts being made publicly available was one of my conditions to handing them over. America, Atlantis and Themiscyra all have the death penalty for certain classes of offence. And let's not pretend that there was any doubt of their guilt."

"They were arrested in America! Do you know how many international conventions you broke doing that?"

"I no longer have confidence in American justice in these matters. Not after Wotan's repeated escapes. Not after what they did with Werner Vertigo."

Richard winces. Wonder Woman's expression darkens. Everyone else just looks confused.

Artemis checks that everyone else is as ignorant as she is before asking the question: "Whaaat did they do with Count Vertigo?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th November
20:18 GMT -5

"They... Um. What's that American phrase?" I click the fingers of my right hand theatrically, then point my index finger at the ceiling. "Walked, that was it. They let him walk."

"What?" / "No way!" / "But he's a criminal!"

"He has a diplomatic passport."

Oh, Wonder Woman. You aren't merely on a sticky wicket, you're on a couple of twigs floating in a vat of olive oil. And wasn't that the last time I googled your name with the search filters off. Wasn't even a good likeness...

"The State Department may be unaware of this, but there are procedures for requesting that a country withdraw diplomatic protection from a person."

"As I'm sure you know, Queen Perdita is in the hospital and unable to withdraw his status."

"Then it falls to her regent. What was his name again..?"

"This isn't funny, Grayven."

"Oh, I'm painfully aware of that. So, the man we want to accuse of the crime is the man who has the authority to make himself immune to prosecution! What a pity, I guess that means we'll have to ignore all those murders! If only there were some lawful mechanism by which he could lose that authority. For example, a vote by the Vlatavan Diet called by the Prime Minister in order to remove him from office for malfeasance contrary to the crown's interests as he's constitutionally obliged to do." I take a breath. Don't want to lose my temper now. I don't mind being seen as aggressive -I am aggressive- but I can't be seen as some sort of rage monster. Don't particularly want to be a rage monster either. "Because not doing so... Not doing so indicates that he did all those things in his official capacity. For his country. And if he was doing it for his country, then... Well. If he was doing it for his country, that means Vlatava is at war with Taiwan, Britain, France, and.. um... What's it called, that place south of Canada? Memory's like a sieve today..."

"What? Mexico?" Artemis slaps the back of Wallace's head. He looks at her in irritation and she points down with both index fingers. He looks puzzled for a moment. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it would."

Wonder Woman half turns in order to face the whole team. She's an intelligent woman; she knows that she's not going to convince me and she'll try to salvage the situation by convincing the rest of them. Good luck. "The State Department thinks that it would be better to wait until the Queen is fully recovered. Count Vertigo can't leave the country, he's being monitored and pressuring the Vlatavan government will just lead to unnecessary political unrest."

"So in the mean time we have a supervillain whom we can't arrest wandering around. And anyway, Queen Perdita is ten years old, she shouldn't be making that sort of decision."

"That isn't your decision to make."

"Sort of.. is. I mean, if I'm the poor sap who has to arrest him, I'd rather do so in a polity that is inclined to actually do something with him. Should we just have left him in Louisiana? Sorry to have bothered you Count Vertigo, our mistake, and of course you can keep your Doom Vine, it's registered as a Vlatavan embassy." Yeah, she's got nothing. "Kaldur? How good's your history?"

He's clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "My.. knowledge of Atlantean history is excellent. If you are asking about the surface world..?"

"Nineteen forty two. In response to the mining of Venturian territorial waters by the allies and their attempts to set up a base in the Greater Azores which were and are Atlantean territory, Queen Clea allied herself with the Nazis to repel the invaders."

He nods. "Though it was hardly admirable behaviour, she knew nothing of their domestic policies. As far as she was concerned..."

I wave him off. "Yes, yes. The point I was making is, do you remember what broke the alliance?"

He blinks at me, then looks nervously at Wonder Woman. She replies for him. "I did."

"Yes. The Crown Princess of Themyscira attacked an Atlantean City-State. And as a result..?"

"Atlantis was.. briefly at war with Themyscira, though there were no other hostilities. I was able to discuss the matter in full with Queen Cora before things got out of hand."

"And she had authority to handle that because?"

Kaldur takes that one. "Because Queen Clea is a tributary to the ruler of Poseidonis, who knew nothing of her activity."

"Just so. You-" I point at Diana. "-handled it sensibly. Defeat the villain then hang around to make sure the situation is fully resolved. You didn't let things fester or dump it on someone else's lap. I don't hold Queen Perdita responsible for Count Vertigo's actions, any more than Queen Cora was responsible for Queen Clea's. I don't hold Vlatava responsible for Count Vertigo's actions. It clearly wasn't an action taken in the service of his country. All I ask, is that mass murderers go to prison. Well, either that or..." I nod at the space the holo screen formerly occupied. "Criminals like that shouldn't get to just.. walk away from their crimes. And if I'm faced with a choice between a polity that will punish a criminal.. and a polity that won't... Where do you think I'm going to take them?"

"Was one of your other conditions that they guarantee to execute them?"

"No. I don't dictate policy to the People's Republic of China's Standing Committee on Metahuman Affairs. But as a point of interest: Chairman Jiang Eng doesn't have any children. He does have a niece and he did have a nephew. The boy was six years old. During the split, he tried boiling some rice for his little sister, because she was hungry. He managed to.. tip a large saucepan of near-boiling water over himself. He lived until just after the merger, not much longer than that." I look her in the eyes. "It's the personal stories that really bring it home, isn't it? I mean, you see the numbers and it's just a number. I didn't get it until I had to..." I wave in the general direction of 'outside'. "Well. Do you think I should visit the State Department officials who made that decision and read them testimonials from all the families who lost children to the vine's Smilex? Maybe I should pick Count Werner up and take him to Taiwan, I'm surprisingly popular over there. I'm sure I can convince them to see it my way with regard to his 'immunity'. Maybe I could join the Taiwanese air force and carry out a retaliatory strike on their behalf? Or, hell, I'm rich. Maybe I could take the case to the Supreme Court? Or a major newspaper? I could buy one, do some agitating."

"That isn't necessary. They're hopeful that the queen will be well enough to direct the Diet to remove his protection herself in a few weeks."

"It wasn't a few weeks a month ago when they made the decision to soft pedal this. One good thing about America electing everyone is that when everyone involved in this comes up for re-election I'll be running campaign adverts telling the electorate exactly what they were involved in."

"You'd destroy their careers because they waited a month?"

"Yes. Yes I would. Eight hundred and sixteen people die and the Injustice League's leader walks? Yes."

She looks over my face. She can't think I don't mean it, can she? I've already made the adverts. Should I show them to her? Whatever she's looking for, she doesn't find it. She then looks to my team mates. They look sullen. Even Kon won't meet her eyes. Finding no support, she nods to herself. "I will inform the rest of the Justice League what has happened."

I nod at her as she walks towards the zeta tube. I'd say 'tail between her legs' but given what I just did to her she actually seems pretty together. I feel a momentary pang of sympathy. I needed to do that but I don't feel particularly good about it.

"Recognised, Wonder Woman, zero three."

I wait for the glow to die down. No one says anything. "I did some thinking, while I was scraping the remains of dead children out of crashed vehicles over these last two days, and I have reached three important conclusions. Firstly, I am not pulling my weight. I assumed that the Justice League had global problems in hand and that I could more or less coast through my year on Earth. I no longer believe this to be the case. Secondly: that the way the League deals with empowered criminals does not work. Wotan was captured after he tried putting out the sun, after he released the vines on the world as part of the Injustice League and on numerous occasions before he had a good go at murdering the world's children. A new way of dealing with people in his category is required. Thirdly: that while I don't care for the Justice League I do care for all of you. As such, I would like to offer to aid you all to the fullest extent that I am able."

I have their attention. Time to -as the Americans say- knock it out of the park.

"How would you like to become gods?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th November
20:22 GMT -5

Blank incomprehension. Not too surprising, I suppose.

Kaldur recovers first. "What.. exactly.. do you mean?"

"When Richard and I encountered the godlings of New Genesis I attempted to secure examples of their technology for further study. I was not as unsuccessful as my official report would have you believe."

Richard is not happy. "You lied on a mission report!"

"Yes. Ring, armour." My normal dull-grey armour is replaced with my dark-grey-with-orange-tron-lines Apokolips-inspired number. A visor -the scouter design was fun but this really makes more sense- covers my eyes and Father Box appears at my waist. "While you and the godlings destroyed nearly everything I was able to recover Mister Mannheim's harness and Desaad's Father Box. Father Box-" I strum the fingers of my right hand along the top of it.

"Ploong."

"-has been most helpful in adapting their technology to serve me. And I would like to offer to use the knowledge I have gained to improve your equipment as well. Here-" visors appear in front of each of them. "-try them. They'll see through any form of stealth and can give an approximate threat assessment of whatever you look at. M'gann, it uses.. well, I don't actually understand the system, but it should be able to go invisible or intangible when you do."

Kon's the first to take the proffered eyewear, though he doesn't put it on immediately. Next, Zatanna takes hers, then Artemis and Kaldur. M'gann, Wallace and Richard are a little more reluctant but when Zatanna puts hers on to no ill effect they take theirs as well. I tried to colour coordinate with their uniforms. Zatanna's is grey, Artemis' dark green, Kon's is black, Kaldur's is deep red, M'gann's is light green, Wallace's is yellow and Richard's is pale red.

"Observe." I generate an opaque orange barrier around myself and hold up two fingers on my right hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

My own orange shades show me Zatanna looking directly at me. "Two."

I raise two fingers on my right. "And now."

"Four."

I drop the barrier. "M'gann, would you please go invisible."

"Um. Oookay." M'gann puts on her own glasses and remains exactly as she was. I lower my glasses slightly to check and yes, she is indeed concealed from normal sight. "Can you see me?"

Kon has his on now, as do Kaldur and Artemis. Seeing them nod, Wallace dons his own. "Whooow. Dude, you have to try this."

Richard remains reluctant. "And you were planning on sharing these when, exactly?"

"If I thought they would be essential for a mission. I know, I know, that wasn't the right thing to do, but I assumed that your mentors would have your equipment requirements in hand. Now that I realise.. that I can't rely on that, I'm going to be putting more effort into things like this. For a start, I also have armour-" I tap my chest with my right hand. "-like mine for each of you. Sorry M'gann, it is somewhat malleable but I haven't worked out how to make it truly shapeshift."

Artemis tries looking at her glasses from the outside, trying to spot the heads up display from the outside. Can't be done. She then narrows her eyes to look at me. "How good's this armour?"

"It would easily stop a depleted uranium shell from a modern main battle tank. If you're talking about resistance to super powers, my own resistances make it hard for me to fully test. Certainly better than anything you could get anywhere else."

Zatanna looks at me uncomfortably. "What.. did you mean about making us gods?"

"Err, sorry. Think.. low level pagan gods, not..." I wave my right hand at the ceiling. "Not Jehovah. Father Box contained full data on the nature of the Forever People and their ilk, and it turns out that the thing which makes them 'unusual' is fully compatible with Human soul-structures. Between Father Box and the Sphere-" It warbles. "-I've learned how to... It's difficult to fully explain... Cut additional channels? Allow spiritual growth far above what a normal person could ever hope to gain on their own."

Kaldur looks thoughtful as he nods. "Like Atlantean arcane tattoos."

"Only more so. So much more so. You may have noticed that I don't look like-" I fix my eyes on Wallace. "-Boulder the Rock Monster any longer."

"Ooooh. Yoooou heard that, huh?"

"Yes. Quite apt, I thought. Boulder the Rock Monster indeed. Most amusing. Among other changes-."

"You really think you're a god?"

"Sadly, Richard, no. I'm not. Having had no soul before coming here Father Box has had its work cut out performing remedial aetheric grafts. I have.. a presence now, that I didn't have before, but it'll be a very long time before I qualify for even the lowest levels of divinity. I do intend to get there eventually, mind you."

Kon doesn't look like he's in a good place, but he musters up the will to ask anyway. "Does that.. just work on Humans? Or would it... I mean..."

"I'm afraid so. There might be ways to make it work on other species, but it's beyond me at the moment. Good news though: thanks to your grandfather I now know enough about Kryptonian genetics that I'm able to fully convert you, if that's something that you want."

Gobsmacked. "What?"

"Ring, Father Box plus Kryptonian genealogical data. I'd have to deactivate your powers temporarily and I would recommend being unconscious for the process, but I can replace your Human and Genomorph elements with fully Kryptonian ones. You'd have a choice between becoming a full clone of Kal-El or.. um.. I can find Kryptonian near-equivalents for your non-Kryptonian attributes. I'd recommend the second, but it's up to you."

He's not looking at anyone and is blinking rapidly as he tries to comprehend what I just told him. I never had a little brother and my relationship with my younger sister was more one of equals. She was always more assertive than me. My relationship with Kon.. it's most important to me out of all my team mates. I even did something I'd been putting off ever since getting here in the hope that he'd be able to forge a relationship with at least one Kryptonian. Don't think she spotted it...

"What..? What's the difference?"

"You, are a product of hardware and software. I won't change the patterns of your neural activity but if you try to run yourself on altered hardware.. your new fully Kryptonian brain, then the way you think will change. It'll probably change a little anyway, but going for equivalence will keep the change to a minimum."

He nods, a little dazed, then starts as something occurs to him. "What about M'gann?" He looks at her then back to me. "Have you got something for her?"

"Of course. Presents for all the boys and girls." I face her. "For you, M'gann, I can remove the blocks which make your entire species afraid of fire."

She frowns, confused. "But.. that's just.. I mean, all Martians are afraid of fire. It's an evolutionary thing."

"Wrong, I'm afraid. It's a rather sophisticated piece of arcanotechnological engineering. Frankly, now that I can analyse it, it's got the Guardians' grubby paw prints all over it. I mean, did you not wonder why it occurred in every single member of your species? No exceptions, even the mentally deranged? Why a race of telepaths couldn't remove a simple phobia? No, it's artificial and I can get rid of it." I make eye contact with each of my team mates in turn. "Look, I understand this is a lot to take in. I'll put the armour in the armoury. Feel free to just try it out at your leisure. Talk about my offer with your mentors but please believe me when I say that I am motivated by my desire for your well-being. I want you... I want us all to be the best we can be." I pause for a moment. There is more I could say but I think it's best to leave it there. I can talk to them individually-.

"If I said 'yes', what would it do to my magic?"

Zatanna appears to be giving it serious thought. Interesting. Richard looks decidedly unhappy about this turn of events. "Zatanna, you can't seriously be okay with this! He just proved you can't trust-."

"I nearly lost my dad last week." Richard shuts up. Does she know his circumstances? "If Gravyen hadn't stopped him, he'd be Nabu right now. And if it's just…" She turns back to me. "It's just a power up, right?"

"More or less. Understand, I can't completely predict the results. According to Father Box and confirmed by the Sphere, your instinctive grasp of the arcane would improve, as would your magical presence and energy reserves. That's in addition to the life extension effect that would give you more time to study and improve, and the physical buffs which would make you more likely to survive long enough to do so."

"And what about..? You said it involved changing my soul. If I went for it..."

"The add-ons would still be filled by.. made of.. earthly magics. Your soul would still be drawn to the same place upon your death, if that's what concerns you."

She nods. "I need to check this with my dad. But, if it really does what you say.. then I'm interested."

"I'm.. glad to hear it. Mister Zatara can contact me through Nabu whenever is convenient for him." She nods. "Oh, and before I go." I fix my eyes on Mister Tawny. "The physical replication is flawless, Mister J'onzz, but you haven't quite got the hang of Mister Tawny's body language. Plus..." I tap my glasses. "Glasses." I turn to return to my room. "I'll expect the real Mister Tawny back by breakfast. Don't let the door catch your tail on the way out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th November
06:22 GMT -5

I sit on the settee in the living area, staring blankly at the television's channel select screen. A thousand channels and nothing's on. Or at least nothing I feel like watching. I'm having trouble working up the motivation to do anything, actually. After getting back to the mountain... Last night? This morning? Not sure. Sleep didn't seem to be happening, and lying in the dark just made me keep thinking of the bridge. Odd, really. I didn't have this sort of problem when I got back from Santa Prisca, which was my first exposure to real bloodletting. Didn't bat an eyelid about sending a tungsten slug through Ra's' head. Cut off Ocean Master's hands without a second thought. Even the rats... And it's not as if the manners of their deaths were that unusual. Car crashes happen every day. Plane crashes once or twice a year. But.. so much of it.

M'gann and Kon have school in a couple of hours. I already readied all of the components of their breakfast and left them on the work surface. No point putting the toast on yet. Their lunch boxes.. um, bags are assembled. Zatanna's too. She decided that she'd rather stay here than go home so I took a few minutes to transport all of her stuff to one of the spare rooms. She picked the one nearest to mine which.. I mean, I wanted to be on hand more but having seen the magnitude of the job outside... The numbers just become so much more real when you're the one who-.

Alert! Connection made to monitored telephone line.

Oh? Which one?

Second public telephone, BP, Happy Harbour branch.

I frown. That's the number I sometimes give out as being mine and I'd be surprised if someone's phoning a public phone for another reason. Ring, who's calling?

Call originates from GBS building, Metropolis.

Hm. Well, not like I've got anything better to do. I lift the ring to my left ear. Answer.

"Orange Lantern two eight one four. What can I do for you?"

"Oh! Um, hi! I didn't think you'd actually pick up!"

Don't recognise the voice. "Right. Who am I talking to, please?"

"Sorry! Sorry! Dana Dearden. I'm a researcher with GBS Morning News."

"And what can I do for you, Miss Dearden?"

"Miss Grant wanted me to try and get hold of you. Can I put her through to you right now?"

I guess she's important enough not to have to make her own phone calls. "Certainly."

There's a short delay. No hold music. I shake my right hand in the direction of the television and the ring finds a picture of a meadow accompanied by quiet birdsong. Good. I can cope with that.

"Good morning Orange Lantern. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us."

"Good morning Miss Grant. No problem at all. How can I be of service?"

"I understand that you've been involved in the recovery effort."

"Recovery effort? I suppose that's one way of putting it. Yes, um, I've.. been in Gotham and New York here in the States, Liverpool, Calcutta... A bunch of small places on, um.. aircraft flight paths..."

"What are you doing now?"

"Heh. Um... Sitting at home watching television, actually."

The line goes quiet. Yeah, that's.. probably not the way I should have gone with that. "Do you.. do you really think this is a good time to be watching TV?"

"It was this or try Call of Glory.. and I don't know where Kid Flash hid the controllers."

"You are aware that the death toll stands at around eight hundred thousand?"

Oh, for goodness..! "Miss Grant, I really don't need this from you, alright? I haven't eaten anything for five days. I haven't slept for five days and whenever I try.. whenever I close my eyes all I can see is piles of mangled wreckage and children's bodies. I'm sitting at home right now because Wonder Woman ordered me to. She ordered me to stop because I'd got to the point that I couldn't cope and I'm.. I'm sorry about that, I realise it's so much worse for the parents, but don't think I'd be much use to anyone at the moment."

Another moment of quiet. "I am so sorry. I hadn't realized-."

"No, no, it's fine. I can see that I might have given the wrong impression."

"Are... Are you alright to carry on?"

"Yes, certainly. That's.. the American thing to do, isn't it? Talk about your feelings? It's supposed to help, may as well give it a go."

"Can you.. can you give us an idea of what sort of work you've been involved in?"

"Ahhh, yeah. There was an aircraft, something wrong with its autopilot. When the split happened the adult version carried on but as far as we can tell the children's version crashed almost immediately. When both Earths remerged, the child world's plane vanished and the children's bodies appeared back in their seats next to their parents. I can't.. can't imagine what that would have been like for them. After they.. after it landed, they tried to get the parents off... Some of them just..." I remember the crying, wailing Indian woman when I first went in there. Inconsolable doesn't quite cover it. "Anyway, um, I got called in to clean up the inside of the plane. Make sure all the.. the parts ended up in the right body bags. Thing is, at this stage there isn't really much we can do. Most of the deaths happened in the first few minutes. All the super urgent stuff.. the we-need-a-superhero-here-now stuff, that's already happened."

"Where were you when it happened?"

"Gotham. I was having dinner with... Well, it doesn't matter. The staff and most of the other diners disappeared. I tried to get in contact with my superiors and got nothing. Ended up on the Vincefinkel Bridge just after the car crashes blocked it."

"I'm sorry, but.. you were on the child side?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"Because the individual who cast the spell really hates me. He said as much when we confronted him, though I suppose he might have been lying. Seemed in character, though."

"You know who it was?"

"Of course I do, I was part of the attack that stopped it. Hasn't that information been released yet?"

"No. Can you tell us?"

I haven't been told not to, I suppose. "The main instigator's called Klarion, and the adult side was being handled by William Zard, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust and Dark Druid."

"Are they in custody?"

"I don't... Last I saw, Batman had what's left of Blackbriar Thorn. He'll regenerate in a few months. Nabu-. Fate took Zard and Faust, don't know what he did with them. Klarion and Druid vanished. A few of us caught up with Druid on Saturday morning but he threw enough undead at us that he was able to escape again."

"Are they still a threat?"

"Druid threw an undead monster-baby at me that could cut through my barriers like they weren't there, and Klarion's far more powerful. The League.. I'm sure they're on it... You know what the death toll from this is better than I do."

"Could they do that again?"

"I don't think so. They were using a... This crystal thing. Last time I saw it Fate had it. Doesn't mean they can't do something similar, of course."

"What do you think of Senator Knight's call for magic to be made illegal?"

"W-? It's moronic. That's like saying 'oh no, the Soviet Union has nuclear weapons. Quick; let's keep ourselves safe by banning fire'. Ugh." The sheer stupid makes me shake my head. "Mass murder is illegal, but that didn't stop them. The best way to prevent something like this happening again is to have people study magic and learn how to counter it. For goodness sake, this is vital to the world's defence. To America's defence. Why isn't this happening already? It's so completely obvious. You don't deal with a threat by sticking your head in the sand, you deal with it by studying it until you know how to beat it."

"That's about all we've got time for. Thank you for your time, Orange Lantern, and for all your good work, from me and from the GBS audience."

"Well, if they get to actually hear me this time. I seem to remember being cut from most of the broadcasts of the Taiwan interview."

Small pause. What? "They're hearing you now. You're live on GBS Breakfast."

I blink. "This is live?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th November
11:29 GMT -5

"...and I'd take it from Batman or Kal-El, but she's killed hundreds of people! Does she really expect me to believe that nineteen year old Gefreiter Schmitt of the Luftwaffe was that much more worthy of death than the four who -by most recent estimates- killed something like two hundred thousand people -mostly young children- each?"

Mister Scott nods and I relax a little. I don't know if he actually understands where I'm coming from. Perhaps he holds that 'war' is a separate special type of event that should have no bearing on other times. It's not a view I share but it's common enough. Certainly his own war record shows that he was willing to employ a degree of viciousness wholly absent from his earlier and later conduct.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting Wonder Woman's response to Tuesday's.. discussions, to be. I certainly wasn't expecting a meeting mediated by Mister Scott. Wonder Woman's waiting in one of the meeting rooms while he and I thrash out what I actually want to get out of this in another. Since I dropped in on him on my first day here I haven't really had that much to do with him. He's sort of tried to get to know me better a few times but we don't really have anything in common. And.. I.. let him believe that my exposure to Venom Buster was accidental. Prrrobably shouldn't have done that. He looks.. frailer than when we first met. I hope it isn't due to my actions, he's a good guy.

"You think she's being hypocritical?" I nod. "Legally, there's a difference between war and policing. I'm sure you realize that."

"I never understood why being a soldier is considered to be more moral than being an executioner. In a fight between modern nations, a soldier can be reasonably confident that most of those he fights against are men much like himself. People he'd probably get on quite well with if he met them socially. And yet, he's suddenly expected to kill them and be okay with that when the only real difference between them is one of geography. An executioner knows that the people he's called upon to kill have been tried and found guilty of some grotesque crime by as fair a court as his society can provide, and in contrast to deaths in warfare effort will be made to make the death as swift and painless as possible." I'm not completely sure that having Ghost Fox Killer rip your soul out of your body and enslave it for eternity is exactly a painless death, but I couldn't think of anything else that would work on Wotan, Faust or Thorn. Guardsman's efforts were more for publicity than anything substantial.

"She was a lot younger back then. I don't think she'd do that sort of thing now." He shakes his head. "I won't try and convince you that they didn't deserve it... I'm not sure I believe it myself. But, there's a protocol to follow. You ignored your superiors in the field and you've caused a major diplomatic dispute between the US and China."

"I think I aggravated the US government. I don't think many US citizens really mind all that much. The US doesn't have the best record for executing murderous supervillains."

"You think execution is the only correct response?"

I shake my head. "If they could be reliably contained or depowered? No. But if you choose not to execute people like that.. and you can't contain or depower them... As I see it, that makes you responsible, in part, for their next rampage. To my mind it isn't a question of what right I have to make that decision as.. what right do I have to condemn their future victims? I wasn't joking when I said that Napier should have died years ago."

"You didn't kill Jack Napier."

I nod. "I didn't. And next time he breaks out..."

"Batman told me that Arkham's security's improved a lot since last time."

"He probably said the same thing the last seven times as well."

"You should give him more credit; Batman's a good guy."

I grimace. "If he's such a good guy why did he just stand there when Mister Zatara went to put the Helmet on? He was the man who nominated Mister Zatara for membership. They're friends."

"Diana said you got pretty angry about that."

"It's... Unconscionable. I don't understand how... If it had been you, if Mister Garrick were putting on the Helmet to protect someone, would you have intervened?"

He looks away for a moment, thinking about it. Then he nods. "Yeah, if I were on the ball, I think I would have."

"I didn't expect to be able to live up to League standards right away, you know? I was going to work at it, learn the craft. Then the woman I consider to be most moral out of all the people I know, who's.. pretty much become Kon's foster mother... I thought I might disagree with her for practical reasons, but moral ones? Never. I never imagined that she might just…" I wave my right arm in a dismissive gesture.

"You feel she let you down."

"I was expecting better. I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't been there."

"She's pretty disappointed you just took off like that."

"I was.. furious. I'm not sure.. what decision I'd have made if I'd had a clearer head." I sigh. "I don't think anyone there would have agreed with the one I actually made."

"Diana mentioned that you had anger management issues."

"She's right. I won't try and deny it."

"Where do you want to go from here?"

I'm not sure. "When I first got to this planet, I had a choice. I already had more money than I'd ever have been able to spend. I could have stuck the ring into a drawer somewhere and forgotten about it. Or, tracked down some other type of super powered technology. I didn't do either. I wanted to get involved and I decided you were my best bet because you're Green Lantern. You handed me off to Wonder Woman, and that was fine because.. she's Wonder Woman. Now, I've got another choice."

"Thinking of quitting?"

I shake my head. "No... Just about how I carry on. Let me show you something. Father Box: open a boom tube to Maltus."

"Ploong."

A small explosion and a glowing rip in space appears. In the distance a planet is just visible. I've learned that opening one closer invites a rather aggressive response. Alan leans closer to get a better look. "Through there is the homeworld of the species one offshoot of which went on to become the Guardians of the Galaxy. I had a quick look earlier and a lot of them are still there. If the Controllers aren't on the planet then there will be people who know how to get hold of them. If I walked to my room, picked up the lantern and handed it back to you... I'm free. I'm at full charge. I could be there in a few minutes. I could make a deal with them, get a new power source... And I wouldn't have to put up with the League any more."

"So why don't you?"

I stare through the portal. "It would feel like losing." A little longer. "Father Box, close it." Another bang as it collapses. I sit where I am for a moment longer, then rise to my feet. "May as well do this now."

Mister Scott follows me as I leave the room. Wonder Woman's in a room down the corridor and around to the left. I don't really know how good her hearing is. The doors were shut but she'd still have heard the boom tube. She doesn't bother looking around until I sit in the seat opposite her.

"You probably feel that you can't trust me." I nod. "And you're right not to. I've been keeping a lot to myself." I pat Father Box with my right hand. "But, after Roanoke Island I find that I don't fully trust you either."

"You made a sacred oath and then tricked your way out of it at the first opportunity."

"No, I didn't. I created that program after I got back from China, and I turned it off about half an hour after you left me on Saturday." She narrows her eyes slightly. "You can always tell when someone's lying. Am I?"

"No. You're not."

I nod again. "You don't lie. You hate lying. If I'm going to follow your lead I need to be able to believe in you in a way I just don't at the moment. So I'm going to ask a question and whatever answer you give me I'll accept. If it hadn't been Mister Zatara, if it had been Donna Troy, would you have intervened?"

She frowns. "Donna's hardly any older than Zatanna, it's not the same."

"Would you. Have intervened?"

"Yes. I would."

I relax, nodding. "Thank you. Thank you. I wasn't lying when I said that I'd rather you were right, either. I'm.. prepared to follow your instruction. I'll listen to you, for the next seven months at least."

"It's not that simple. I can't teach someone who has no interest in taking in what I have to say, and I'm not sure that I want to teach someone with the sort of uncontrolled temper that you have."

I nod my head to the side. "Alright. What would you like me to do about it?"

***

10th November
14:03 GMT -5

There are only a few of us in the room. I'd known that Lantern Gardner had worked as a prison counsellor but I hadn't realised that he still ran sessions like this. Still, it could be much worse and.. this may even help me. I slowly rise from my all-too-small plastic chair and address the room.

"Good afternoon everyone. My name is Grayven, and I'm a very angry man."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th November
15:18 GMT -5

Senator Knight held his head in his hands. A single brief interview, barely more than a few short minutes, and his political ambitions had been ruined. His attempt to rally political support by being seen to introduce a bill to outlaw magic had backfired in a truly staggering fashion. With just a few brief words his name had become synonymous with obliviousness and ignorance.

"Steve, what kind of damage am I looking at here? What kind of damage control needs to be done? You're my number one PR man, give me something to work with."

"Senator... Henry, it's not good. With the interview having gone viral it's pretty much impossible to sweep this one under the rug. Worse is that Orange Lantern gave the world the first answers… Answers everyone's been looking for, regarding who was responsible for the attacks. Was involved, in fact, in finding and stopping those individuals responsible. As far as the media and public is concerned he might as well be preaching Gospel, thanks to his direct involvement in stopping the event and his follow up efforts with... With the 'recovery' of the victims."

"I know that Steve, give me something here. I'm looking at my name being used in jokes and satire right now! How can I fix this?"

"It's going to be difficult, sir. You'll need to issue a public apology, at the minimum, admitting to presenting legislature without the full picture and information if you want to maintain any sort of credibility. After that? I'd say you'll need to go largely hands off. Cast your vote on the issues, answer questions if interviewed but don't put your name out there if you don't have to. In a few weeks, or maybe a month or two, the media will have latched onto something else. Hopefully the trials for those individuals that Orange Lantern said were in custody. Until then your best bet is to keep your head down and hope people forget about it."

"Steve... You're asking me to kill my chance at the party candidacy. If I'm not putting my face out there, my name out there...! He sighed. "Damn it. Just... Damn it all. I was just trying to help. Trying to do something to deal with this when it looked like no one else was."

"I know sir. It's a bad situation all around, for everyone involved. Don't let this get to you. It might not have panned out well, but you were at least trying to do something. All that aside, there's always the election after next. You've been knocked down sir, but not out."

"… Thank you, Steve. I think I needed to hear that. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? I know your kids are still shaken up by what happened, I'm sure they wouldn't mind having you around."

"Thanks, Sir, I will. Have a good evening Mr. Knight."

And as Steve left the room, Knight couldn't help but look at the picture on his desk of his own family, his daughter in particular. "We were lucky, weren't we? I guess... Yeah, I guess I should spend some time home too."

Click to shrink...

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
16:12 GMT -5

The lights are off as we crouch in the darkness. Teekl is not happy about having a sheet draped over her but we can't even pull off a fake surprise if her orange glow gives us away. Fatty's tolerating it much better. He actually made himself useful during the disaster recovery so I've been letting him out more. He's taken to flying much more readily than Teekl, can sense magic -including people's souls- and appears to be able to consume different forms of energy. Not long after the fight with Dark Druid I watched him suck out a fire that threatened to engulf a Gotham tenement. Turns out that some of the child side fires I saw were transferred over when the merge happened, raging infernos appearing from nowhere and taking everyone by-.

No, I'm not going to spoil this. M'gann, Kon and I spent a good deal of time setting this up and I've never even been to a fake-surprise party before. This is also Kaldur's first full day back from Atlantis. He was only in hospital for three days while they healed him up, but then he was under doctor's orders not to strain himself and his mother decided that meant spending some time at home. He told me that Garth and Tula are considering spending some time in the cave as part of their training. Perhaps more importantly as far as I'm concerned, Queen Mera gave Sephtian a Royal Warrant of Appointment after hearing how his wards let us tank shots from a Lord of Chaos. I need to visit him again and find out what that means for my orders, current and future.

Oh, and congratulate him.

Since my interview went viral -I stopped looking after seeing a satirical news conference where a comedian dressed as Senator Knight earnestly called for fire to be banned to protect us all from the godless communists- everyone's been treating me with kid gloves. Ms Lance even offered to 'listen, if I needed to talk'. I had the ring check me for post traumatic stress disorder but apparently I'm not showing most of the symptoms. According to it I can manage with about half an hour's sleep a week but that doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I managed a full night last night, no unpleasant dreams. I think my problem was more to do with a particular shocking image getting lodged in my mind -like how some people can tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard about JFK getting shot- more than any sort of enduring problem. Maybe enlightenment has practical value beyond ring usage?

If I strain my ears I can just about hear Wallace walking through the corridor leading to the kitchen area.

"Zeta tube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions."

Hadn't really noticed those. I haven't left the mountain since Diana ordered me off duty and it's not like this place has windows. Maybe I should talk to Queen Mera about that Dolmen Gate? If the zeta network can be taken down by inclement weather it might be worth investing in a second system.

"Whow, I just made it." He's in the kitchen now. I see M'gann gesture towards the light switches. "Be a tragedy if I missed my own-."

The lights go on and Wallace stumbles back, shielding his eyes. Not sure if he's faking that. I mean, this party was pretty much his idea but the lights are rather bright.

"Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "S-surprise!" / "Surprise!" / "Huh?"

Wallace looks at us, takes a quick peek at the tables laden with food and presents, and then pantomimes surprise.

"Whaaat? Aww, you guuuys. You shouldn't have."

Over-actor. Teekl throws off the sheet covering her in relief, sits and starts licking her left forepaw. Fatty picks up the discarded sheet and stuffs it into his mouth. Teekl's been putting quite a lot of effort into ignoring him. I'm not sure if she thinks of him as competition or just as a nuisance.

In addition to the team, Mister Allen, Red Tornado and Danni have joined us. Robert's standing back slightly. His first visit to the cave was this morning -afternoon, UK time- and he hasn't quite got his head around the whole thing yet. Aside from nerves he seems to be fitting in alright, save for an awkward moment when he told Kon that he 'didn't know Superman had a son'. I took it as a mark of how far Kon's come that all it got was a muttered 'he doesn't' and a change of subject rather than a stomp off.

Robin folds his arms across his chest. "Not like you've been hinting for days or anything."

Wallace grins as M'gann levitates a party hat onto his head. I'm already wearing mine. Normally I have a problem finding hats big enough, especially the sort of hats found in Christmas crackers. I've pretty much had to master the art of getting them to perch on my head without falling in the gravy. Kon lights the candles as M'gann leads him over to the table with the birthday cakes. M'gann originally wanted to do two identical cakes, but what's the point in that? Any flavour can get boring eventually.

There's a tap on my arm and I realise that the rest of my team have gathered around the table. Danni comes up alongside me and is looking at me curiously. She's wearing what is basically a slightly updated version of her old costume.

"Hi. Sorry I haven't.. I didn't get in touch after Gotham. Been a bit busy."

"Was your meeting with Miss Robinson productive?"

"I think so. Painting's back on the wall and the owner will be upgrading their security, she's got an opportunity for a new life. I'll be checking up on her, but I'm hopeful."

She nods, then turns her attention to the table as Wallace blows out the candles. "Several members of the Justice League have expressed concern for your psychological welfare. Given what has taken place, I share their concern."

"I'm fine. Once I got over the initial shock... Don't think I'll try working five days straight again though. That wasn't clever."

"No, it was not. Do not do it again." She follows me as I amble over to the birthday table huddle.

M'gann kisses Wallace on the forehead as she hands him a plate of cake. "Happy Birthday." He doesn't even try to conceal his disappointment. Honestly.

"May I try a slice of the cake?"

M'gann looks at Danni in surprise. "Can you..? I didn't know you could eat."

"I gain no useful nutrition from ingestion but I am able to taste." She frowns. "Though I cannot say how comparable the sense is to yours."

"It's not gunna make you explode or anything, right?" Wallace leers at her. "'Cause that'd be a waste of some fiiine engineering."

Ugh. Fortunately it doesn't look like Danni cared. "Though some of my sense-analysis subroutines have been.. black boxed..." She looks at me.

I rise my hands defensively. "I really don't remember doing it."

"I do not believe that any of them could cause a power surge large enough to make any part of me explode."

"Here you go." M'gann hands her a plate with a slice of cake and a cake fork. She takes it and holds it up to her nose to sniff it. "Isss something wrong?"

"This is the first time I have eaten cake with my current oral system." She taps the sponge with her right index finger. "Father did not believe that an accurate sense of taste was important in my infiltration mission. To this point I have only experimented with toast."

"That's..." Wallace squints. "Reeeally not that experimental."

"If you were ever to develop a synokinetic sense I would similarly advise you against experimenting with it on a magma field." She dips her right index finger into the icing and then pulls it away, a small white blob remaining on the tip. She looks at it for a moment, head slightly tilted to the side. Then she puckers her lips and slowly slides her finger into her mouth. There's a very quiet sucking sound and then she slides the saliva-slicked finger out again, her tongue following it a short way out and giving the tip a farewell lick.

Wallace's mouth is hanging open. I have to blink for a moment myself. M'gann just looks puzzled. Danni looks vacant for a moment as she processes the sensation. "I think.. I like it." She nods, takes hold of her fork, cuts off a slice and delicately places it inside her mouth before closing her lips around it and slowly pulling the fork free with a sigh of pleasure.

I really hope I didn't program her to do that.

I shake myself slightly and reorientate on the birthday boy with a smile. "Wallace, happy birthday." I take my well-wrapped gift out of subspace and float it over to him. "Careful, it weighs a bit." He looks puzzled as he goes to open it. "Oh, and if NASA ask -they won't, but if they do- this didn't come from me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
16:19 GMT -5

"They are? Are you allowed to tell me who?"

Red Tornado remains motionless as he considers. "At this stage all that Batman has requested is that names be forwarded to him for consideration. Presumably he also intends to perform background checks."

"Do you know if Yao Fei's on the list?"

"Ah. That would be the Accomplished Perfect Physician. I believe that Batman intends to nominate him. He has forwarded a dossier on Yao Fei to each League member. Having read it, I am minded to vote in favor."

"Do you know what the Chinese wanted in exchange for releasing him?"

"Batman made no mention of an exchange. Perhaps it will be discussed at the meeting."

"Do you know..? Sorry, being silly. Ring, location of Yao Fei."

"Yao Fei is located in the Chinese consulate in New York."

Excellent. "Do you think any of the other members would object?"

"It seems unlikely, though any other member of the 'Great Ten' would have faced opposition from several League members."

"But he isn't a member of the Great Ten. That's why I suggested him."

Red Tornado pauses, tilting his head slightly. "Yao Fei joined the Great Ten last month. Presumably he would remain on their roster while serving with the League."

I nod. "That's what it cost." I suppose... "Compared to what I thought they might ask it's cheap, though I don't imagine he's entirely happy about it. Can you tell me who else is likely to get in?"

"Lantern Gardner, I would imagine. Green Arrow will almost certainly suggest his own protégé. Beyond that there are many notable superheroes worthy of consideration. Yourself, for example."

"Huh?"

"I am a little surprised that Wonder Woman has not mentioned the possibility."

"Um... That's..." I shake my head. "I've only got four months' experience, that's not going to happen."

"I had less than four months' experience when I joined the Justice Society, as did Red Inferno. I think you would do well in the League."

"Um, thank you. Is Danni likely to get a nomination?"

"Not..." He turns his head to look at her where she sits talking to Cornwall. He mimics her as she raises her hand and they both generate a small flickering flame. "She has shared her disquiet about discovering her true nature with me. I do not believe that it would be appropriate to push her forward until she has found a mode of existence with which she can be content."

I nod. Given how his brother responded I can well understand his reluctance, but wouldn't actually giving her a role help? She certainly seemed to like what we were doing in Gotham... Don't know. I take a look around the room. Artemis is grinning evilly on the settee next to a gobsmacked Wallace while Zatanna and Robin smirk at them. Teekl's shrunk down and is lying across Zatanna's left shoulder. Kon and M'gann are giggling about something while Wolf gnaws on something at their feet. Kaldur's talking to Mister Allen and Robert's trying to copy a circle of fire Danni's holding in front of her. I wonder why Mister Allen's bothering with a costume in here? Given how fast he can change-.

"Attention team." Batman's voice over the speakers and everyone freezes. "Suit up." Plates are downed, hands and mouths are wiped and I realise that I'm standing at parade rest. "Polar stealth, mission briefing in five."

Mister Allen raises his right hand to wave at Wallace. "Catch you later, Wally." He disappears in a red blur. Fatty notices that no one is paying attention to the food and tips a bowl of salted nuts down his gullet. Zatanna takes Teekl off her shoulder and puts her down on a chair. My cat then jumps down and grows back to lion size. "Romra raeppa." Zatanna's armour appears at the same time as I transfer mine onto me from subspace. Robert runs for his kit bag -lucky he brought it at all really- and pulls out his uniform. M'gann shifts her clothing to her costume and Kon and Kaldur hurry away to the armoury. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to quickly don their armour but they've got it down to just under five minutes.

Artemis looks at me expectantly and I ring her, Robin's and Wallace's uniforms onto them. I get a thank you nod from Robin but Wallace doesn't seem to notice. "A mission on my birthday! This is sweet! Who d'you think Batman's sending us up against? Mirror Master? The HIVE? Black Manta?"

Robin smiles as we start walking in the direction of the training room. "I'm sure Batman will tell us during the briefing."

Red Tornado looks at Wallace. "I imagine that the alert is most likely associated with the unseasonably bad weather we are having."

Artemis looks puzzled. "It is kinda early, but it's snowed in November before."

"The formation of snow requires a particular pattern of air currents and humidity. Neither were present in the run up to the current snow storm and in any case it would be highly unusual for a natural area of snowfall to cover the entire country."

Looking back I see Robert take off his shirt and go to unbuckle his trousers before freezing when he notices that Danni is watching him. Getting changed in front of people is just something he's going to have to get used to, though I should probably extend my costume-storing offer to him. "Danni, do you want to come along?" And now Robert's caught preparing to drop his trousers while everyone looks at him. Ring, changing screen.

"Cheers mate!"

Danni looks at us, tilts her head to the side as she thinks about it and then rises to her feet, joining us as we walk towards the training room.

Wallace rubs his chin. "So, Captain Cold, Mister Freeze-" It's his birthday, I'm not going to correct him. "-Killer Frost, Icicle and Junior are all in Belle Reve. How many ice villains are left?"

Robin looks at him. "Could Weather Wizard-"

"Mark Mardon." I tried.

"-be behind it?"

"Not unless he's got a maaajor power up."

"I don't suppose there were plans for a Red Blizzard, were there?"

"Father shared no such plans with-" Tornado looks at his sister for a moment. "-me."

Danni shakes her head. "His android replica made no mention of designs for other Red robots beyond Red Volcano. However, Red Volcano did say that his future plans involved using the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera to draw attention away while he created enough robots to fully populate this planet. It is not impossible that further new designs existed."

Tornado stops dead. "Excuse me. I am required elsewhere." He turns off down a side passage. Guess he decided to get that integrated communication system with his body rebuild after all.

Artemis drops back in the pack to walk alongside me. "Thanks for getting Wonder Woman to lend me her bow."

"No problem. Have you got the hang of using it?"

There's a pause. "Yeah... Basically."

"Artemis."

"Small.. overpenetration problem." Titanium arrows survive impacts quite a bit better than her old point arrows. "But I'm on top of it. It's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Glad to hear it."

"Do you know..? I don't wanna nag or anything, but-?"

"When are you going to get your own?" She nods. "I've sent Io a letter. I don't know how long it'll take her to respond, then.. you're probably going to have to go there yourself to talk to her."

"Why?"

I speak slowly. "She lives on Themyscira, I'm a man."

Her eyes dip. "Right."

"And she's probably going to want to see your technique and stuff. Um, has your mother forgiven me yet?"

"Yeah, I think so. I explained about the Ophidian, and she gets that I'm less likely to get hurt like this. You might have overdone the flowers, though."

"Did she like them?"

"One bunch of flowers is fine to say you're sorry. Two if you're really sorry. Covering the entire building with flowers was kinda creepy."

...

Suppose it was a bit.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
16:27 GMT -5

We fall in to a rough line in front of the main holographic display, Fatty.. somewhere and Teekl and Danni back a little to our left. Robert tried doing the same thing until I shoved him forwards. His costume isn't up to spec yet so I altered the dye myself, turning the black cross a dull blue-grey and the red to pale grey. Stand at the back of the lecture theatre, get asked the questions. I look around as a gust of displaced air heralds Kon's arrival. He pulls up just before reaching us and touches down in a perfect landing. There might be times when it would be convenient to carry his armour in the ring, but the fact is that without the Ophidian supercharging me loading and unloading exotic materials takes too much power to be practical. And it's not like I can make him or Kaldur another suit. Well, maybe Kaldur, eventually, but Nth metal is right out.

Neither material really works with the camouflage fabric the rest of us have covering our armour. Kon compromised by getting a surcoat in white and pale blue. His arms and legs are still a darker grey but without some sort of attachment point on the armour itself I don't think a sleeve is really practical. He grins at me for a moment then tugs the coat straight and orientates on the blank holoscreen. A moment later Kaldur approaches at a jog. He's easily strong enough that the armour... Oh, that's interesting. He's solved the camouflage problem by coating himself in a layer of frost. Easy to do with the trident and more practical than a material cover. And the insulation effect of the armour and underclothes mean that compared to the ocean temperature Atlanteans are designed to withstand the low temperature isn't a problem.

"Pst, Oh El." I lean forwards a little to look at Wallace. "Where'd Flash go?"

"W-. Kid Flash, he runs at the speed of light. Even if I told you his current lo-."

The holoscreen changes from standby to a close up of Batman's face and I straighten up. I think.. is that an aircraft canopy? Is he on the phone while flying a plane? That doesn't sound like a good idea.

"A massive ice storm has paralysed North America from coast to coast." Wonder if that includes Canada and Mexico? "Satellite imagery has detected five flying.. 'Ice Fortresses', source unknown-" A holographic image of one appears at chest height just in front of the main screen. The shape is roughly cylindrical, broader than it is tall. There's what looks like a command centre on the top in the centre and through ten large vents around the rim and on the base... Well, I assume it's supposed to be cold air or something, but on the hologram it just looks like blue light. Why isn't there a scale on the image? Oh, thank you ring. About eighty metres across then. That must be very cold air if it's having this sort of effect. "-which seem to be responsible and must be stopped."

"Could the Watchtower just blow them out of the sky or something?" Wallace doesn't seem impressed.

Zatanna frowns. "What's a 'watch.. tower'?"

I resist the urge to facepalm as Batman sighs. "The League's orbiting headquarters is not weaponized. And with both of the League's Green Lanterns off-world-" He's calling in Guy? Don't fuck this up, man. "-I need all hands on deck."

Robin grins. "Does that mean what I think it means?" He takes a step forwards. "The League and the team fighting side by side?" Mmmm... Unless those Fortresses are entirely manually controlled I'm fairly sure that Guy and I could seize one each. On the other hand learning how to work together as a larger group could be invaluable in the future. Given what Tornado was saying I'm going to assume that most of my team mates are eventually going to get 'upped' to the League. For me, I'm not sure. Jordan and Stewart attend meetings about as often as Kosh Naranek attended Babylon 5 Council meetings. I'm not sure I'd want to commit to something if I wasn't sure that I could actually be there enough for it to mean something.

"Whow, really?" Wallace makes a small air punching gesture with both fists. He likes the idea, then. I suppose I've had a lot less time fighting beside Diana than the rest have with... Um. Well, not Zatanna, though she said that her father's been teaching her for two years. And I think Kon's only been out in the field with Diana as often as I have. And I'm not sure about M'gann... Well, some of the team, anyway.

"Orange Lantern, transfer Robin, Superboy and Aqualad to Ice Fortress One before meeting up with Lantern Gardner at Ice Fortress Two." Really don't fuck this up Guy. "Miss Martian, Artemis and Zatanna, take the bioship and rendezvous with Green Arrow, Black Canary and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress Three." Good job we finally got around to arming the bioship. "Other Leaguers will deal with Fortresses Four and Five. Sending all coordinates now." They're in the database and the ring has them. Two looks like it's directly over Denver. Can't risk it crashing. "Cornwall Boy."

"Yessir?"

"I realize that you haven't had time yet to train with the team. Do you believe yourself to be ready for a mission?"

Robert stands there for a moment. Then he nods. "Yessir."

"Very well. Join the attack on Ice Fortress Three. Ms Reilly, will you be joining us?"

I look back and see her nod. "If you have a use for me."

"Can you fly fast enough to reach Fortress Five within two hours?"

I create a construct map with the locations of the Fortresses marked by numbered Fortresses. She thinks for a moment. "That should be possible, though I have not tested the belt in weather conditions like these." Her skin might look and even feel Human, but it's a good deal stronger and she's perfectly capable of keeping herself warm on the journey. Having the zeta network non-functional really slows things down.

"Red Tornado is headed in that direction. When you arrive, join in the attack." She watches the screen for a moment longer and then turns and heads for the exit.

Wallace looks down the line and then steps forwards. Oh, right, his name wasn't mentioned. "Ah, Batman? I think.. you.. skipped-?"

"Kid Flash. A young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston and run it three thousand miles across country."

Wallace looks crushed. Wait a second... Wouldn't it make more sense for the Flash to do that? It wouldn't be safe for the Flash to attack a Fortress on his own even if he could get up to reach it and he's far faster than Wallace. Or I could do it. Blink… Blink. It's not as if the snow interferes with Lantern FTL. Or Guy. Actually, Guy would be better. I'll say som-.

Wallace spreads his arms wide in a gesture of supplication. "Who is this girl!?"

Batman's eyes narrow. Not a good way to ask, Wallace. "Does it matter?"

Wallace slumps a little. "... Noo... Of course noot. But can't we zeta-?"

Robin looks at him. "Zeta tubes are off-line. Sorry."

"Sir, wouldn't the Flash, Lantern Gardner or I be better choices? We're all faster than Kid Flash." He looks at me and slumps a little more. "Um, sorry."

"The attack on Fortress One starts in a few minutes. I'm concerned that once whoever's controlling them realizes that they are under attack they might ditch them in order to escape. We cannot have Fortress Two crash landing on Denver. You and Lantern Gardner should be able to prevent that, and Flash is the only other Leaguer who can reach Fortress One in time."

I lower my head. He's right. Really need that alternate fast travel system.

"Right." He gives Batman an obviously fake smile. "Then how can I say no?" He bows his head. "Guess.. I won't be needing stealth." He taps the insignia on his chest and his uniform returns to its usual yellow and red. "When you really need the fourth fastest guy you've got, I'm your guy."

Ooh, ouch. Guess I shouldn't tell him that Superman's point to point speed is probably faster as well. And possibly Marvel's...

"Any questions?"

"Sir, is it desirable to take the Fortresses intact? I was planning to start reglaciating the poles myself, but these would make it much easier." And involve less boring flying over the ice. When I get bored jobs take so long.

"Capturing the Fortresses would also make it easier to investigate their point of origin, but don't put either yourselves or the people you're protecting at unnecessary risk to do it."

Robin grins. "Bonus points."

"If there's nothing else?" No one says anything. "Dismissed."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
16:31 GMT -5

M'gann and Zatanna peel away from the line up and head in the direction of the lift. Artemis starts to go with them, realises that Robert hasn't moved, grabs him by the cape-

"Hey!"

-and pulls him after them. "Teekl, go with them." I look at her retreating tail. "Oh, you already have. Good guess. Fatty, with me!"

Wallace watches them go and then turns his gaze on the rest of us. "This totally sucks."

Kaldur steps towards him. "I realize that you are disappointed not to be fighting alongside your mentor. Try to look on the bright side; each of us will be fighting as one amongst many, our individual performances contributing only a small amount towards the final goal. You will be the only person this child is relying on to save her."

"I.. guess."

Ring, show me Ice Fortress One. Ah. High in the sky, middle of nowhere. I suppose it just happened to be close to wherever Batman happened to be at the time. I'm not seeing any obvious point defences. Hold position at two miles and wait for the go signal? Oh, wait.

"Everyone got their flight belts, right? It's a long way to fall." Nods from everyone except Kaldur and Wallace, who hasn't touched his since that first session. I follow the group as we walk in the direction of the main entrance.

Robin looks at me. "Were you serious about repairing the polar ice caps?"

"Yes. I mean, after cleaning up the oceans and clearing near Earth space of debris it seemed like the next logical thing to do. I could have gone for worldwide nuclear disarmament but it seemed to me that people might object to me looting their silos." He blinks. "Um, that was a joke. I mean, I probably could turn all the plutonium to lead or something, but I wouldn't actually..." Though, now I think about it...

"Computer. Open." Wallace moves out ahead, though at regular speed rather than superspeed. I doubt that a few seconds will make much difference. His voice sounds remarkably lifeless. I wonder what running all that way would be like? And the heart... I remember in Batman: Sub Zero, where Doctor Fries' wife receives a transplant after he tried and failed at stealing Barbara Gordon's organs for her. I don't think that the audience were supposed to dwell on the fact that that meant that someone else had died in the meantime, having volunteered to have their organs removed post mortem. I used to have a donor card myself but I haven't tried adding myself to a register here. Quite aside from the fact that I don't legally exist I have no idea if my altered spiritual presence makes me incompatible with the locals or not. I also know that no one here would be able to tell me reliably enough for me to want to risk it. I dodged blood doning for much the same reason. Between me and the two aliens the locals must think there's a secret Jehovah's Witness coven around here somewhere.

There's a gust of cold air as the mountain door lowers. Note to self: see about getting a less noticeable door installed. I know we're a good long way away from Happy Harbour proper -which still hasn't repainted the signs- but people do still come up here, anti-trespass laws be damned. I did float the idea of non-lethal... Of low lethality booby traps, but it got turned down in no uncertain terms. Well, door's open, time to go.

Orange lines connect me to my team mates and Wallace starts running. "Prepare for transition in three.. two.. one." Snow surrounds us as we hover in the sky above and to the south east of Ice Fortress One. I put a platform under us and then release everyone. "No one lose anything?"

"Food?"

"Anyone else?"

Kaldur shakes his helmeted head. "We are all fine."

The wind isn't all that strong where we are, though from the look of those ice vents and the snow and clouds there's some pretty strong winds below us. Ring, detailed scan of the Fortress. Uuuh, I'm getting so fucking tired of scry wards. Fortunately they seem to be focused around what I assume is the command tower. I can detect the freeze ray projectors easily enough. Only a few of them, and they're all on the upper surface of the main ring.

Kon looks around. "When's Batman getting here?"

Robin raises his binoculars. "The Batplane's a bit slower than a power ring, Superboy."

"And probably doesn't have ring-proof stealth. Ring-."

"Actually, it kinda does." Et tu, Bruce? "Batman had Zatara-."

"Bah! If Under Siege Two taught me anything, it's that there's more than one way to detect a stealth plane. Ring, we're looking for a plane-" There's a rush of displaced air as a black jet aircraft shoots over our heads. I get a shield-dome up just in time to stop us getting blown away. "-just like that one." The ring adds a target reticle to the dome shield, tracking the plane. "Very funny." I lift the ring to my ear. "Orange Lantern to Batman, should we deploy?"

"Point defenses?"

"Transmitting scans."

Two missiles shoot away from the plane, striking the gun emplacements on the near side. A small black shape glides after them and lands in a crouch. "Landing area clear."

The air flickers and we're standing next to him. No immediate attack but whoever's inside must know they got hit. I nod to Kaldur. "See you back at the cave. Ring, Ice Fortress Two." Another flicker and I see-.

"Hey Orange, what kept you?" Guy's face floats above the ring. I peer through the snowfall, just managing to make out the glow of Guy's construct-armour in the middle distance. "An' who's your friend?"

"Friend?"

I close my eyes for a moment, then transition to Guy's position. Strictly speaking there's no advantage to us being close to each other but it makes it psychologically easier. "My latest Construct-Lantern. He used to be a Praexis Demon. I call him Fatty. And how he learned FTL transition before Teekl I'll never know."

"O..kay..." Guy and Fatty stare at each other for a moment but Fatty's too vacant to intimidate. Guy shakes his head and returns his attention to the Fortress. "So what's say the three of us bust this sucker open, huh?"

"Any Lantern could bust it open. I want to capture it intact. Then I want you to go somewhere Leaguers will see it and repeat the process."

He face shrugs. "Not exactly publicity-shy, but what's the big deal?"

"The League's recruiting. I want you to get in. Best way to do that-."

"Is fer them to see me do somethin' clever." He nods. "That thing's too heavy fer those vents to be keepin' it up."

"Anti-gravity system?"

"Probably. Whoever's in charge'll be in the tower, along with the control systems."

"Isn't that a bit obvious?"

"Eh, probably more worried about ground to air missiles than us. Think you can hold the whole thing up on your lonesome?"

"Have you ever bonded with an Embodiment?"

He grins at me. "Arc of fire on those guns, don't reckon they can hit us if we come in from the top."

"You cut through to the inside while I try and patch into the controls?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." An idea strikes and he looks away from the Fortress and at me. "Hey, how d'you think the League guys who can't fly r'even gunna get up to these Fortresses?"

Um? "No idea, actually."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
13:36 GMT -7

Guy's large circular saw construct hits the side of the command tower at the same time as my much smaller drill. The six upper segments of the tower are basically huge radiator grilles. The temperature up here is staggering, and without either rings or supernatural fortitude trying to take this route inwards would be a very bad idea. I've no idea what they're made of that they're not glowing red or on fire. Even with my scans blocked I could try taking a piece, but I don't want to risk breaking the thing. And hey, if we capture the Fortress I'll have all the time I want to dissect it.

I've set the ring to notify me if the Fortress starts to fall. If it actually is using a gravity manipulation device -and wouldn't that be a find- I won't necessarily feel it if we start heading towards the city below. Don't want to get carried away and get thousands of people killed because I got fixated on the secondary objective. I sent Fatty to draw fire from the freeze ray cannon emplacements. They can't really hit us up here but I want whoever's inside to think that this is actually a fight for long enough for us to grab them. Fatty hasn't got the hang of phasing but has worked out that a weapon designed to impair molecular vibrations doesn't work too well on a thing that isn't made of molecules.

I may not be able to scan the inside from the outside but I should be able to worm a construct around inside until I find something. Harder going than I thought it would be. I've practised cutting through steel and titanium, but this is.. no. Focus. If I don't get this done I'm going to have to spend ages at the poles. And Denver will get flattened. I've never been to Denver before, but I'd really want to avoid pointless destruction whatever the location.

"Orange, I've got the hatch! What's takin' you so long?"

And I'd quite like to beat Guy... There!

"I've got access! I've got... Ah."

"Got what? Booof!" Guy shoots backwards out of the hatch, the head and shoulders of his construct armour caked in inch-thick ice. He steadies himself for a moment, then the ice glows green and explodes off him.

"Local internal monitoring and automated defences. I've registered the hatch alarm as a malfunction and told the monitoring that nothing's happening but it isn't connected to anything else. Whoever made this actually had the sense not to run everything through a single central computer."

"Whaw. Step up from the normal crazies."

"Not too far up, that entrance still connects to the rest of the superstructure."

"I'm goin', I'm goin'."

He disappears back down the hatch. I rewrite a few memory sectors to make sure we don't get shot in the back and then follow him in, using the severed hatch to plug the hole and repairing the join. The inside reminds me a little of a submarine. Once you get past the internal airlock... Which means this could have been built off-planet. Ugh. Anyway, the corridor appears to have been built with modular components, mostly conventional steel rather than whatever the external armour is made of. And I can scan.. some of it. Most of the internal structure. Not what I assume to be the command centre and not the machine doing the freezing, but I can get the rest. Ring, transmit this to the team and the League.

Compliance.

Guy's already at work on the first internal bulkhead, a fine green beam slicing into the doorframe. I can't see a manual mechanism and the surround is made of the same stuff as the external armour. This time I don't bother with it. I already know that I can cut through the steel to get at the circuitry on the other side so I fire off a cutting beam of my own. "So, why do you suppose this is happening?"

"What'd'ya mean?"

"No demands have been issued, so no one's trying to hold the country to ransom. It's not an alien invasion because there's no troops or resource extractions. No one's gone on television to declare themselves the 'god of snow'..." I penetrate the steel and start feeling around for the next section. Another armoured wall. Cutting...

"Heh. Those one's 're always fun."

"Right, ego trip, but no one's doing it."

"So, what, a distraction? I mean, these thing 'ave gotta cost.. pwww, more than I make in a year."

"Yes, but not just the cost. Getting access to technology this advanced on Earth wouldn't be easy. I'm just thinking.. if it were me... The only thing that really justifies however many millions of dollars these things cost to build... Do you think you could shield yourself from a nuclear blast?" Guy stops cutting. I'm through, now I send out multiple filaments to try and find a wire linked to the controls. "I mean, one from a reasonably modern ex-Soviet bomb or something. It's not a secret that most of the League's American. Lure everyone into a small area around it, watch the news footage until you're sure the whole League are in place and then boom."

He starts cutting again, the glow noticeably brighter. "Anyone ever tell you you've got a nasty imagination?"

"Makes sense though, doesn't it? Doorway security compromised, internal defences to safe. No one on the other side again."

"Yeah. Wish it didn't. 'Cause if a bomb like that goes off over Denver..."

"Yep. Want a hand with that?"

"Nah." The door comes free of its frame and he moves it aside. "I got it." He steps through the doorway. "What I'm worryin' about is why there aren't any guards."

"And what would, say, thirty guards do against us?"

Guy leads the way at a jog towards the next door. "Warn tha' guys who could actually stop us."

"Who, Lenny McDoesn'texist?"

"Hey, don't get too cocky. We couldn't scan through this thing's armor and we still can't scan some bits. How do we know it's not crawlin' with guys?"

"I'm still monitoring the sections we've passed through with filaments. I can watch the outside through Fatty's eyes and Batman's attack by their mission cameras. All anyone's seen so far are automated defences."

"Ah. Yeah, okay, sounds like you've got it covered."

We jog down the corridor, heading towards where the command centre appears to be. While we could use FTL it would only really shave a few seconds off our time and harm our reactions if there really was a stealthed enemy at the emergence point, and that's leaving aside the horror stories Guy's taken pleasure telling me about counter-FTL techniques and what happens to Lanterns who don't spot them in time. Temperature's heating up a bit here. We're directly under one of the radiators so whatever physics breaking thing they're using to make the heat exchange work is running through the walls around us. Even if the League destroy the other four, they have to try to salvage the power system. I can barely begin to imagine how much power-

Approximately one quadrillion, eight hundred trillion Watts at peak operation.

-this place... Oh. I'm not actually sure what that equates to, but it sounds like a-.

Guy is blasted back against the wall opposite the corner he just turned and is swiftly encased in ice. His armour is still whole and I see him roll his eyes at me. Green sword blades spin around on all sides and with a lump of ice acting as a shield he charges forwards again. "Thought you said you turned alla' these off!"

"That one's on an independent system. Hang on a moment and I'll-."

I hear a muffled explosion. "Don't worry, I got it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
13:40 GMT -7

Well, they certainly know we're here now. No sense messing about. Guy goes for the heavily reinforced door with a green cutting beam as I pop out three particle beam projector turrets. Overpenetration might be a problem but I doubt it would be a worse risk than dropping this thing on Denver. A flurry of purple beams later and Guy pushes the burned-through door into the room beyond with a green blast wave. He swoops after it as I dismiss the projectors and takes up station over the centre of the room as I sweep my eyes over it from the doorway.

Three other reinforced doors at the other cardinal points. A slightly sunken circular area with Star Trek bridge looking chairs arranged in a circle around a central command chair. Each chair has a holographic display/control system, probably of individual systems. Over to my right I see a spiral staircase down to what the ring says is a kitchen area. On my left another goes up to some bunk beds. No one's here? I'm certainly not seeing any bombs...

Guy hovers over the command chair, green light strobing across the room from his body. He remembered!

"You bin holding out on me, Orange?"

"About what?"

"That purple beam thing."

"I never said I didn't have a particle beam projector construct. And it drains the ring more than it's worth most of the time." I send filaments from my right hand to each of the consoles. "Turrets deactivating, freezing systems-" Are protected, but I have a power ring. "-deactivated. Anti gravity generator stable. Thank you mystery supervillain who really should have found a more productive use for their abilities, I won't waste your wonderful bounty."

Guy looks disappointed. "That it?"

"Looks like. Oh, hang on, looks like there's a scuttling charge on the power plant."

"I'll get down-."

"Don't worry, a turret had line of sight. I've frozen it. Um, ring, transmit full schematics to Lantern Gardner."

"Compliance."

"Data file received."

Huh. I have no idea whose voice Guy's ring uses.

"Uh.. thanks?"

"Now you send it to the League. Actually-" Quick scan of the place. The main freeze generator is directly below us and not shielded from this position. Once we've taken care of this I'll have another scry blocking design to show John. This makes.. what, five now? Yep. "-get lost. I can handle this place by myself."

"You sure?"

"Well, check with Batman, but I've got full control of this place. I can land it or stick it over the North Pole or whatever."

"Mh. Guess I am supposed to be in charge."

"How are you supposed to be in charge?"

"Got a few years' seniority on you."

"Different Corps. That's like an Air Force officer giving orders to an Army officer. Besides, I'm affiliated with the Justice League and you're not."

"Not yet, maybe."

"Not never unless you go and do something impressive in front of Batman."

"Fine, fine." He lands and strolls out of the door we came in by. "Lantern Gardner to Batman, Fortress Two secure. Orange's gunna stay here and look after it. Where'd you want me?"

I transition to the command chair. Nice set-up. Whoever's in charge can rotate and address their subordinates as well as seeing what they're doing through the back of their holoscreen. Any crew listed? No. Alright then, ring, scan for genetic material.

Hair and skin cells detected from one hundred thirty seven Humans and nine Cows.

Cows?

Seat cushions covered with preserved cow skin.

Real leather seats? I press it with my right index finger, thinning my construct armour to feel the texture. Nice. Anyone I know?

No matches found for either Humans or Cows.

That would have made things too easy, I suppose. Okay, doesn't seem to be a practical way to clear the sky with the heat from the radiators and I wouldn't want to risk compounding everyone's misery by flooding the place. The fortress isn't able to move particularly fast but I set course for the North Pole anyway. After a few seconds' analysis the ring manages to understand the broken door's composition well enough to repair it. Loss of heat shouldn't be a problem for as long as the radiators remain hot but I don't feel like having an arctic draft. Hmm. For what I want this thing to do the cold air system isn't really what I need. Giant cold guns would be better but that would require the system getting reconfigured. Is Batman going to want to look over everything personally? Of course he is.

Now that the computers are dancing to my tune I should probably do a manual inspection. Those scuttling charges need to go for a start. Just.. just to be sure, I send filaments throughout the Fortress, accessing door controls to open them as they spread. No, there's really no one else here.

I don't get it.

I'll get Mister Zat-. Oh. No, I won't. I'll get John or Kaldur to go over this place, see if it's been exposed to magic of some sort. Ring? Residual zeta radiation?

None found.

Anything that looks like a Dolmen Gate?

None found.

I get up and start walking in the direction of the main power plant. This thing was clearly designed for a crew, a humanoid crew. Ring, is this thing spaceworthy?

Ice Fortress is capable of space flight.

FTL?

No FTL travel mechanism detected.

Any stealth systems?

No stealth systems detected.

Cow leather, so the seats weren't made by aliens. I shake my head. What could anyone possibly get out of doing something like this that they couldn't just buy with all the money it cost them to build it? And five of them? I shake my head again. Oh well. What was the line? Stories have to make sense but real life doesn't? A flying building that's clearly designed to have a crew doesn't have one. That's a massive expenditure of resources. They can't... Could there be some easy way to build massive structures like this that I don't know about? A power ring could do it eventually. Some sort of refitted alien surplus? Steel is pretty much steel, right? But the ring didn't detect alien DNA... Ring, scan for DNA equivalent molecules?

Subject undefined.

Fair enough. I have asked, but Guy told me that the Greenies aren't allowed to share their databases with me. I understand where they're coming from and at least the Guardians aren't keeping the exclusion zone up anymore. I haven't mentioned the Corpse to him and if they haven't visited yet I'm going to assume that I'm in the clear.

One more reinforced door and I'm in what appears to be the main generator room. Huh. The generator appears to be a metal hoop surrounded by a corona of cables in a larger hoop-shaped frame. One end of each of the cables is attached to the inner hoop and the other trails outwards then down around the outer rim of the outer hoop before drooping down to the floor. A pool of treacly blackness spans the interior of the inner hoop. I peer at it then shine an orange light at it. No reflectivity at all.

Ring, what is that?

Unable to identify.

And then the black circle flickers and dies and the floor drops out beneath me.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th November
13:46 GMT -7

RingPowerItPowerItPowerIt!

Orange filaments connect the ring to each of the cables as the Fortress continues to fall through the air. I'm halfway to the ceiling and I've got maybe twenty seconds to get power to the anti-gravity system before I flatten Denver. My only alternative is dead lifting the thing with a construct and I've got no idea at all if I can do that. The biggest thing I've tried holding up was a ten tonne construct Guy was using to train me. I managed it, but this weighs a bit more than ten tonnes.

The floor rises slowly beneath me. Ring? Am I matching velocities or is the anti-gravity actually back on?

Power flow sufficient for anti-gravity operation. Warning, ring charge to electron flow conversion at rate required will deplete ring in seven minutes.

I use my connection to the navigation systems to change course from North Pole to 'away from civilisation'. I think. I'm not going to be very popular with the Arapaho Forestry Commission but at least the chance of me squashing anyone is minimised. I need to understand what just happened. Ring, analyse the hoop. How was it generating power?

Unable to assess. No component of the structure indicated has significant power generation capabilities.

What? So what was the black circle thing?

No similar phenomena on record. However, it is the most likely source of power.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. Okay, pool of light generating power. The hoop couldn't be sustaining that itself. So, coming from somewhere else? Relaying power like a wormhole or something? There was no signal from this side, I'm in complete control of every computer system I can find and I'm aware of all radiation in the area around the hoop. So if there was no signal...

I look around and strengthen my armour construct. No, stupid, Guy's making me paranoid. All they'd have to do is look up-. No, just look on the news, they're bound to be reporting on the fact that the snow blowers have stopped. With no way to know what I'm looking for I can't take the time away from this to look for the power source and try to reconnect. Getting a replacement power source or my lantern is out for similar reasons.

Guy!

I hold the ring out in front of me. "Orange two eight one four to green two eight one four B."

There's a slight delay, then a small image of Guy sitting leaned back on a command chair like the one on this Fortress' bridge, his hands behind his head. "'Sup Orange. Fortress One's under control, thanks to yours truly."

"Have you turned the ice blower off?"

He waves his right hand "Yeah, first thing I did. And froze the scuttlin' charges. Bats is goin' over the place now."

Fiddlesticks. "Guy, get everyone out."

He frowns. "Whaat? Why? Thought you wan'ed-."

"The Fortress doesn't power itself. The generator is more of a relay and it can be deactivated remotely. I'm having to hold this Fortress up by my own power, and if the jets are off-."

The image blurs as he throws himself from the chair towards the exit. "Then anyone with a telescope'll know we've busted their toy. Bats, we need to vamoose! You need help over there?"

"Unless you've got someone strong as Superman, fast as the Flash and able to fly, don't worry. I'm pretty sure I can avoid landing on..." Oh, hang on. "Guy, what's the largest object a Lantern can do an FTL transfer with?"

"I don't actually think there's a lim-. You gonna try n'move the Fortress?"

"I really want to keep this."

"Well good lu-. Whoow!" He jerks in the corridor. "Okay, we just lost engines." He flies through another door, pushes Batman aside and levels his ring at the hoop. "Sorry Orange, I need to concentrate."

"I'll leave you to it. Off." Of course, he can just take his lantern out of subspace when he runs out of power. Ring, calculate distance to the nearest coast.

North Pacific coastline is approximately fifteen hundred kilometres due west.

I don't suppose there's any chance this thing will float, is there?

A cut away image of the Fortress appears in my head.

Probability minimal. Quite aside from high density and poorly buoyant shape the structure is not air tight. Vents designed to allow sub zero air to blow outwards would swiftly let in enough water to fill the lower corridors, increasing the weight further.

An animated sequence in my head shows the Fortress landing on the sea and sinking slowly before getting faster and faster as the water level inside increases. I suppose I could just drop it somewhere shallow like in DearS.. but if I did that I doubt I'd ever be able to make it go anywhere. If it was going to sink the forest would be the better choice... Ice. Frozen water floats on liquid water. This machine basically makes ice... Ring, remaining charge?

Eighty one percent remaining.

How much of that would an FTL transfer to the sea shore take?

Variable. Intensity of-.

Avarice, avarice, yeah. Freezing seawater is a pain, the volume combined with convection currents... Ring, is there a significant difference in energy consumption between an FTL transfer to the North Pacific and one to the Arctic Circle?

No.

Alright. If I transfer to the Arctic Circle and turn the ice maker up to maximum, can I freeze enough water to support the Fortress?

Variable. Intensity of-.

Stop. Plot course. Turn the ice machines on. Tell me when I get avaricious enough.

Compliance.

Used to be that I'd come up with a list of practical reasons why this was a good idea. Not this time. Between the Ophidian and the oath I've learned something.. a lot of things, about avarice. This Fortress isn't mine because a piece of paper somewhere lists me as owner or because I have the strength to see off challengers. It's mine because it must be mine. I require it to be mine. The alternative isn't just unwelcome, it's unthinkable. I am my wants. I am this Fortress. I am reglaciation. I am environmental restoration. I am the world and all the-

Necessary avarice achieved.

-people in it. All me. All mine. My designs are what the future will conform to.

"This is my cause."

The Fortress begins to glow orange.

"This is my fight."

I see the splash down zone.

"Shine through the void with orange light!"

A momentary disorientation.

Destination reached.

"I've claimed all within my sight."

BABUM.

An orange frame appears around the outside of the Fortress, additional cold gun constructs appearing and targeting the sea as the Fortress falls towards splashdown. The sea beneath starts to ice up but I need more!

"To keep what is mine, that is my right."

The frame drops, pushing itself under the water. I feel the cold guns firing at full power and a column of ice begins rising from the water. Larger base area.

BABUM.

The Fortress splashes down but I bring us in soft and anchor myself relative to the room around me. Immediately I refocus the cold guns on the water touching the Fortress and cut the flow of freezing air from the vents. We're sinking, but the holes are frozen over and the ice is resisting, buoying the Fortress up. Too close, I need more ice. More more mo-.

Charge depleted.

The ring goes out and a moment later the Fortress shudders as the remaining support provided by the anti-gravity generator disappears. Fingers crossed then. Ooh, suddenly quite cold. Should probably head back up to the bridge.. no, won't be any power there either. I start walking towards the top of the main body of the Fortress. If this sinks I'm kind of doomed. I don't think.. I mean, the last image the ring showed me seemed to suggest that I'd made enough-.

Fatty floats around the corner. "Food?"

"No, there's no..." Hang on a minute. "Fatty, you can eat heat, right?" He nods enthusiastically. "Would you be so good as to fly outside and suck heat out of the water around the Fortress?"

"Food?"

"Do it, and when we get back to land I'll buy you whatever food you want."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Mirage

13th November
09:06 GMT -5

There's a soft thump as Alan puts another stack of battered looking journals down on the table. "I think that's the lot of them. Since Kent.. urm.. passed on, I haven't really got around to organizing it all yet."

Zatanna pushes her current volume aside, stands and leans over the table to check the front piece and opening pages. Most of them have turned out to have dates written somewhere reasonably accessible but the dates on individual entries generally don't have the years written on them and we're not quite sure about the order of some of the volumes. "Thanks Mister Scott. Sorry about taking over your dining room like this."

"That's quite alright Zatanna. And please, call me Alan."

"Thanks! Okay, um, this one starts in nineteen twenty seven..." She picks it up and moves it into the appropriate pile. "Nineteen twenty nine aaand..." She sags slightly. "Forty two."

Kent got the Helmet of Fate somewhere between thirty nine and forty one, and either he happened not to keep a journal during that period.. or something happened to it. I suppose it might have got left in Kahndaq when he returned to the states or.. got destroyed in one of the many fights he was involved in afterwards. Nabu might even have destroyed it himself.

Alan thinks for a moment. "Well, it might just have got mixed in with some of his other books. They're not really in any order. Howsabout you and Paul make a start on these and I'll have a rummage around up in the attic, see what I can come up with?"

Zatanna nods, already leafing through the forty two journal. "That would be really helpful."

Alan turns to leave then pauses, looking at Zatanna with a small frown. Dismissing whatever idea struck him with a small shake of his head he then continues out of the room.

I turn another page of the nineteen forty six edition. I understand why he warded the books but it has meant that I can't just scan the whole thing in one go. Plus, I'm not... Zatanna has a much better idea of what's relevant than I do. She's already read the bit with the fight with Mordru in sixty nine, but that wasn't the first time they ran into each other and Kent didn't bother putting down an explanation of what Mordru was. That might be in the journal explaining their first encounter, or it could be in a different sort of book entirely. Did he write books for magic instruction?

Another page. Nabu had the gall to show up at one of the Ice Fortresses, though thankfully not the one Zatanna was fighting at. I've already watched the recording of his actions and he didn't use any abilities I haven't seen before. My own Fortress is still on its custom built iceberg waiting for me to find a power source big enough to get it back into the air. I'm tempted to try asking the Ophidian to guide me through the process of plugging my personal lantern into it but I don't want to have to explain that one to Diana. Guy managed to bring Fortress One down more or less safely. The bottom couple of levels got turned into a crumple zone but it could be repaired. The other three attacks went less well. No one on our team was hurt but the three Fortresses are all smouldering wrecks and Fortress Five crashed inside Central City. The area below had been evacuated but the property damage was extensive.

Guy ended up giving me a lift back to the mountain after the Fortresses were all dealt with. Good job too; no power meant no communications or heating. Much longer and I'd have had to risk getting a ride on Fatty or trying to persuade Teekl to pass on a message. I asked Batman but he told me that the League doesn't have any power sources that could be used to power the Fortresses. He didn't have a problem with me keeping the one I've got -as long as I don't let it sink- so I'll just have to add that to the list of things to do after I leave Earth. STAR Labs people are already all over Fortress One and the others are going to get a quick League inspection before being dismantled by the local version of Damage Control.

Another page turned. Nineteen forty six was not a helpful year. Kent stopped using Nabu in nineteen forty five at the urging of his wife, and cut back on his 'superhero hours' a great deal as well. This journal's mostly about his professional life as a teacher and archaeologist. Interesting stuff I'm sure but not a lot of good to us. Need to go through it all though, just in case. Actually... "Zatanna, what was it Batman wanted to talk to you about yesterday?"

She flinches. Why would she..? I reach across the corner of the table and put my right hand on her right shoulder. A moment of tension and then she relaxes slightly. "He.. wanted to talk to me about..." She keeps looking at the journal but reaches across her chest to put her left hand on mine. "He's listed in Dad's Will as the person who becomes my legal guardian in the event of Dad's death. I mean, Dad's family all live in Italy and I.. barely speak any Italian."

"So he offered to take you in?" A shallow nod. I frown. "But Mister Zatara's not dead."

Her head turns slightly towards me and she meets my eyes for a moment. "That's what I said. He... He said that the League's going to try to help Dad but he has no idea if it's even possible." She exhales sharply through her nose. "I knew Dad and Batman were close, but I don't even know who he is."

"Really? He didn't tell you?"

She shakes her head. "Secret identities don't stay secret if you keep sharing them. Obviously he would tell me if I'd.. said yes."

"It was condi-?" I blink then wave my left hand, filling the room with orange light to prevent eavesdropping. Then I take two sound ward stones out of subspace and pass one to her.

She picks it up with her right hand. "What?"

"Bruce Wayne. Batman's real name is Bruce Wayne."

Her eyes widen in surprise for a second, then she nods. "That.. makes sense. I'd wondered how my dad knew a billionaire industrialist. So, that means that Robin's..?"

"Richard Grayson, yes."

"You.. weren't supposed to tell me that, were you?"

"Probably not, but he should have. If he was asking you that... "

"He was just trying to help."

I 'mmm' noncommittally. If Batman thought that freeing Mister Zatara was that difficult.. maybe not even possible.. then he shouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer. Tempting as the idea might sound to some of her contemporaries leaving fourteen year olds to their own devices isn't a good idea. Maybe he just wanted to leave it for a bit? I turn another page and turn off the orange light as I hear Alan come back down the stairs.

He walks in with a broader but thinner book. "Nothing too exciting, but I remembered Kent putting this together as a guide for the rest of us for if we ran into something magical. There's a bit on Mordru in there." He puts in down next to Zatanna's current book. "Look, I was watching the news when you and the League took on those fortresses. I know there's a new Doctor Fate. I'll understand if you've been told not to tell anyone but I'd sort of like to know who it is." Alan frowns slightly as he looks first at Zatanna then at me. "Shouldn't he be reading all this so he knows what he's letting himself in for?"

Zatanna looks at me. "It's up to you, but I think we should tell him."

She nods, then looks at Alan. "It's... It's my dad."

Alan's frown deepens. "I thought he wasn't interested in it? That's what Kent said he said... Was that why he's taking a leave of absence? To.. get used to it?"

Ah yes, the Justice League press release. I'm not.. sure why they decided to cover up what really happened to Mister Zatara. Diana said that working out how to play that issue was why they were so slow in releasing information on what happened on Roanoke Island.

Zatanna gives me a pleading look.

"He's not taking a leave of absence. Nabu's taken him and isn't giving him back."

Alan recoils. "What? No!" He looks at Zatanna and her mask fades slightly. The emotion in her face is enough to convince him. "Wh-? Are you telling me Diana was a party to the Justice League lying to the world? She'd never do that. She can't stand lying."

"If Mister Zatara was taking a leave of absence don't you think that he'd be the one making the announcement?" His eyes drop. He doesn't doubt me but it's a big idea to get your head around. "I don't think Diana was happy about it but she didn't write or read out the press release."

"Even so, Fate isn't-."

"Alan, I was there when it happened." I look at Zatanna. "And so was Zatanna. We're reading up on Nabu to try and work out how to get rid of him."

Alan shakes his head in disbelief. "I just.. can't believe that bastard -oh, pardon me, Miss- would do something like that. I remember when Kent stopped wearing him, why he said he.. did it. I just... And the League knows about this?" Zatanna looks up and him and nods. "Well I... Zatanna, I'm so sorry. I'll... I'll just make a start on this pile, shall I? I'll let you know if I find anything."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th November
20:48 GMT -5

I follow Jade down an alleyway on the outskirts of Chiclayo. As per our agreement I've left the ring and Father Box behind in my hotel room. My hotel room. Feels wrong to even think it.

"Jade, if you don't tell me what it is I've done wrong I can't possibly apologise for it." My night vision's far superior to a normal Human's but I can't read facial expression beneath a mask when the face is pointing away from me. I think she might have just twitched but that might just be how ninjas move. She's wearing her mask. With me. If I'd realised that she was that angry I'd have tried to sort this out sooner.

"You haven't done anything."

!Find out!

Oh, is that how we're doing it. "Jade, you've been annoyed with me since we got back from your grandmother's. I don't know-."

She turns around to have me, face thrust forwards. "Seven! Years!"

Oh. That. "Jade, she surprised me. I didn't mean-."

"So, not seven years then? Maybe you meant eight or nine years?"

!!!

"She surprised me, alright? We hadn't-." She folds her arms across her chest and turns her head to the side. "Hadn't talked about it. I was just trying to communicate that it wouldn't be in the immediate future. What..? What do you think is a reasonable amount of time? Tell me, and I'll plan with that in mind."

"That's not how it works."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I've never done this before. I've never even seriously considered marriage before. And she asked and you didn't answer and I thought I'd say something to.. break the silence. I.. I didn't mean to-."

She turns her face back a little, her eyes on me. "Were your parents really together for seven years before they got married?"

"Yes, and when I left my home plane they'd been together thirty three years since their marriage. A long courtship doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not interested, I am. I didn't even mean to suggest it as a.. time.. for us. How important is this to you?"

"I don't know." She relaxes a little. Oh, thank goodness. "I've never been in a relationship like this either." I take a slightly uncertain step towards her and she doesn't move away. "My parents got married five months after they first met."

"Without wanting to be flippant about it, look how well they get on now. Your father didn't even take the time to write to your mother while she was in prison, let alone visit her." Another step and I'm close enough to reach out to gently pry her hand away from her chest. She shifts position and for a moment I think she's going to move away but instead she lets me pull it to my chest. I run the tips of my fingers over the skin of her hand, delighting in being able to touch her again after.. seventeen days? Too long. Too long. "Trying to be rational about it, I don't think marriage is sensible until we have some sort of resolution on the matter of the Justice League and the League of Shadows. However, if you want, we can throw rationality aside. I'm sure we can find a priest around here somewhere."

"How would you find a priest without your ring?"

"We're in South America. I'll throw a brick."

"They aren't that common."

"I either hit a priest, or I hit someone else and a priest will turn up to give them the last rites."

She turns her mask downwards slightly and gives an amused exhalation. "You're an atheist."

"I'm prepared to tolerate God's interference for a few minutes if it means getting you for a lifetime."

"Oh. Damn it." There's a hitch in her voice. Is she.. crying? I strongly dislike not just being able to tell. "I was going to stay angry. I was-. I was-." She lunges forwards and throws her arms around my waist as I pull her closer. I want to bury my face in her hair again but I'm just a little too tall and I don't want to break contact to alter our position. I find myself grinning like a loon as she settles into my embrace. This is how things are supposed to be. "Is this going to keep happening?"

"If we didn't care it wouldn't hurt.. and, we care. A lot. But the more we talk about what we're feeling, what we're thinking, the less it will happen. Oprah said so." She snorts, then pulls back a little to push her right hand up under her mask to wipe her eyes. "You know, you could take your mask off and let me do that."

"No, I'm on a job. The mask stays on." She removes her hand and straightens the mask. "You can take it off me later."

"No, I think I'll leave the mask on this time. Haven't tried that before."

"We have. That time-."

I shake my head. "That was a blindfold, that's totally different."

She turns away once more but now there's a spring in her step that wasn't there before. And-. Is she wiggling at me?

She leads the way towards wherever our rendezvous point is supposed to be. I did scan the area but to be honest I didn't consider the exact location particularly important. Batman's files are quite clear: if Ra's makes an agreement he'll stick to it. The letter of it anyway. There'll probably be a load of Shadows or whatever around -some of them probably with equipment that can actually hurt me- but unless I start something they won't. And just in case? None of the walls around here are strong enough to stop me slamming through them and calling the ring to me. Still a risk but I think I need to do this.

Jade holds up her right hand to stop me, then scurries ahead to check our entry point. Having a homeless person or lost drunk hanging around would be a bit of a nuisance, quite aside from local law enforcement. I feel a moment of concern as she goes beyond my visual range but I close my eyes and take a deep breath and let it flow away. Huh, actually is helping. I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that this version of Lantern Gardner is a nice enough man.. if you can stand a certain amount of banter. I think I like him, actually. Perhaps I should talk to him at the next session about pooling our ring-related knowledge?

Jade comes back inside my visual range, waving me up. I take a quick look around myself and then head in her direction, taking care not to make excessive noise. We walk up some concrete steps to a loading dock and then enter a warehouse. Conveyor belts, cardboard and various work stations, but the light inside is even worse than outside and I can't see the far walls. I close my eyes and sniff. Myself and Jade aside, seven distinct scents, fresh and Human. I've never smelt Ra's before. If he's here then so is Ubu. The rest will most likely be regular Shadows.

Jade stops about fifteen metres into the building and kneels. I come to a halt a couple of metres back. After a moment she looks back at me. "You're supposed to kneel."

"Why? He isn't my master."

"It would be a sign of respect." Hard soled steps on metal. Ra's' voice. I still can't see him but I can see metal stairs going up to the machinery above us. The echo's throwing off my hearing. "Perhaps that is expecting too much from a man such as yourself."

"At this stage, yes, it is. That's rather why I wanted to talk to you about your little murder-cult."

More footsteps, ahead and to the left. I can just about see him in the gloom. "The League of Shadows is far more than a murder-cult."

"So Jade's tried to convince me. She believes and I.. find that I rather dislike the idea that a man of your age and intelligence would set up and maintain such an organisation purely for that purpose. I have to tell you, however, that your recent activity has not left me feeling optimistic." Yes, it's him, silently walking Ubu by his side. "A giant laser in space? The sour grapes mud-man? I realise that judging a seven hundred year old man by the activity of a few months is unfair but from the reports I've read it would appear indicative of your behaviour during the whole modern era."

"If your opinion of me is so low then why did you ask to meet with me?"

"Hope isn't really my thing, O master of assassins. Buuuut, before I condemn you in my own mind as just another lunatic, I thought I'd give you the chance to tell me what it's all about. I'm not asking for you to let me in on day to day operations, but what's the ideology? What's your goal? What is all the killing in aid of? You're clearly an intelligent man, there must be something driving you?" No immediate response. "Isn't there?"

"And if there were, why would I share it with you?"

"Recent events, the whole Roanoke Island business, have led me to doubt the Justice League's modus operandi."

"Why should I believe that?"

"You already know what I did to Mister Crock. You probably know that I did the same thing to Bane." A slight inclination of his head. "And how do you think the Great Ten really got hold of those nasty wizards?" A slow and considered nod. "You're never going to get a better chance to turn me than this. So, talk. What's it all about, really, when you get right down to it?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th November
13:11 GMT -5

She doesn't look around as I take the stool next to her at the bar.

"Have they seriously not finished the hearings yet?"

Amanda Waller turns her head just slightly towards me. "Oh. It's you." She takes a tiny sip from her whiskey glass before using it to point at the television above the bar. "What do you make of that?"

"Hm?"

"It's hardly a big secret that he was living in the Themysciran embassy. With your sponsor."

It's tuned to GBS and is showing some sort of lively protest march. The caption says 'Live in Kahndaq'. As I watch, the camera turns away from the protestors to a distant figure floating in the air. A moment later it zooms in on Adom's face. He's side on from the film crew and his arms are folded across his chest. His eyes flick briefly in the direction of the camera and then he goes back to watching the people below.

"No, he's doing that on his own. Only good thing to come out of this whole mess if you ask me." Their children disappearing triggered a small protest in Cairo. It was the middle of the night there and it wasn't the government's fault but the additional unrest was enough to trigger a public demonstration. The government attempted to follow through on its repressive instincts and send in the troops only to discover that every single military transport vehicle near the capital had been torn apart. When the expected clamp down didn't come more people joined in and Adom's stock has sky-rocketed. "I'm actually a bit impressed with how restrained he's being."

"So what makes Cairo different from Fawcett City?"

I shake my head. "Same power set, different guy. That's Teth Adom, not Black Adam."

"Oh really? So what happened to him?"

"I did."

This time she turns her head far enough towards me to look at me with both eyes. "That so?"

"I was part of the team that went to Louisiana. But back to my original question..?"

She takes another sip and goes back to watching the television. "I spent six weeks getting chewed out by the Senate Judiciary Committee and roasted by the press. Belle Reve was and is sound. To even try to break out they had to tamper with prison uniforms being supplied from outside the prison, make sure exactly the right people were inside and attack our off-site monitoring post. And even with all that, only one person got out and you picked him up immediately. They had nothing."

"So how come you're here rather than back at Belle Reve?"

"Report's not been released yet."

I frown. "Is that.. unusually slow?"

She glances at me with raised eyebrows. "What d'you think? Meanwhile I'm dodging every representative and reporter who wants to talk to me about how to stop everyone's children being stolen away again."

"But you don't know anything about... I mean, no offence or anything, but you designed Belle Reve to hold metahumans and schizo tech users, not magic users."

"I know! Try telling that to a politician in search of a sound bite."

I shuffle uncomfortably on my stool. "Well..."

"Oh yeah. Good work sabotaging Senator Knight's presidential bid. Even made me laugh a little."

Presidential..? "I didn't think the election was for.. two years?"

"Any politician sniffing after the top job needs to start getting their name in the headlines now if they want a run at the Oval Office. Let people know where they stand. All President Horne's people have done is spout platitudes so Knight figured he'd try and grab the spotlight." She takes another sip. "You have anything to do with Wotan getting shipped to Atlantis?"

"I didn't put him there, but I did point out that they had better facilities."

"Sounds like they should be talking to you, then. Maybe if you hadn't scared them all off..."

On the screen Kahndaqi police try launching tear gas at the protestors. In a second Adom's on site, throwing the grenades back at the police and then standing between them and their targets. The police back up in a hurry and the crowd cheer, causing him to grow a thin smile.

"Do you think..? Is there anything I can do to help you get your job back?"

She frowns and swivels around on her seat to face me. "Why? Is Strange blocking your conjugal visits?"

"Okay, look. Jade, is not my girlfriend. We are not having, and have never had sex. The only time she kissed me was to drug me with her lipstick and in any case she isn't even at Belle Reve anymore."

She frowns. "When'd that happen?"

"Just after you left. She got transferred to Gloria McDonald. Her lawyer convinced a judge that since she'd helped the guards during the breakout attempt she wouldn't be safe there any longer."

"She's a career killer."

"She was a career killer. I want to give her better choices." I wiggle my right hand. "Strange doesn't seem to have a problem with me visiting the Beresfords or Kadabra. Actually-" Another wiggle. "-he's a good deal friendlier than you are."

"So why're you offering to help?"

"Because I'd rather have someone who knows about prisons in charge of somewhere like Belle Reve. Because Strange is the first former head of Arkham not to end their tenure either dead or as an inmate, and there's something about him that I don't trust." Because he's a bad guy in the comics and I can see trouble brewing. "Because if someone's dragging their heels about reinstating you I'm worried that the other shoe will be a mass break out, for real this time."

She turns back to the bar. "Strange has been changing people around."

"So? That's normal, isn't it?"

"Maybe. After a break out there's a lot of finger pointing. If he was trying to scapegoat them I'd get it. I don't mean they deserve it, they're all solid people, I wouldn't have hired them if they weren't but I'd get the point. He's not. He's arranging transfers and people are taking them. Promotions, even."

"I'd understand not wanting to hang around, given what happened."

"These aren't people who'd be put off easily. And the new hires don't have the experience. Something doesn't add up."

"Was Strange getting the job unusual in itself? I'd have assumed that it would have gone to a senior warden?"

"A little, but it's a special prison. Could just be they wanted him because of his Arkham background."

I nod. "I'll keep an eye out. But I'm not sure what that has to do with you getting your job back?"

"I was going to be meeting someone about that." She looks past me towards the door. "But I suspect my meeting's been cancelled."

I frown and look around. Two black-suited bodyguards and a thin blonde man stand a little back from a thickset man in a blue suit with a red tie. His hair is black on top while his temples have faded to grey and he's looking at me with astonished horror.

Ah...

"Senator Knight. What an unexpected.. meeting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th November
13:42 GMT -5

"So it works like a circuit board?"

"Aaaaaahhh... Sort of. With an active effect you'd need a practitioner controlling it, but it would still make it much easier than doing it manually."

The man introduced to me as Steven Goldberg makes another note on his notebook while Henry Knight nods in understanding. You know, I'm actually sort of impressed. A lesser man might have started an argument or stormed off. Henry's decided that he needs to learn enough to avoid saying something stupid like that in public again and since I know more than him he swallowed his anger.

"And you're saying this is common practice in Atlantis?"

"Yes. I mean, not everyone has them. It's not really worth it for simple magics and the most advanced adepts reach the point where they don't need them, but if you're talking about most professional mages, yes. My friend Kaldur -Aqualad- uses his for generating electricity."

He gestures at my arm. "What do yours do?"

"They make me undetectable by means of magic.. and certain forms of advanced technology." Guy lost that spar badly. I can now stand right in front of him and his ring's default scanner won't detect me.

"And... Anyone can use things like that?"

"For active stuff you'd need training, but, yeah."

"You don't need to be a member of some sort of cult, or descended from some great sorcerer or demon or something?"

"No." I smile. "As my friend John Constantine says, the ultimate secret of magic is that anyone can do it. A person's soul is essentially a stable magic network. Thousands of people -even without any particular training- use tiny amounts of magic actively all the time. That's why banning magic wouldn't work." He grimaces. "If you don't mind me asking, Senator: why didn't you ask us about this?" I shrug. "The League could have given you a summary, Mister Zatara's address is public knowledge."

He thinks for a moment, tapping his whiskey glass against the surface of the bar. "I suppose I just had a certain set of assumptions.. and in the absence of data to the contrary I didn't question them."

"Look.. um... I want to apologise. I.. shouldn't have... If I'd known it was an actual interview I'd have been a good deal more moderate in.. how I expressed myself."

"No, no. The damn journo shouldn't have ambushed you like that. And you're right, I should have checked my information before coming out that strongly." He sets his jaw a little to the left. "If I remember the last report from Commerce, America doesn't have significant trade with Atlantis. Hell, I don't think we even recognize each other's borders. You really think they'll help us out with this?"

"King Orin didn't join the Justice League for fun." I picture him laughing with Kaldur after Ice Fortress One was brought down. "Well, not just for fun. He's been trying to establish some sort of relationship with surface nations."

Henry turns to his assistant. "Steve, we need to set up a meeting with King Orin as soon as possible." Steve nods and fishes out a mobile phone. Henry turns back to me. "Is he.. actually king or..?"

"Atlantis is a constitutional monarchy. The King of Poseidonis is nominally in charge of the country but most of the actual national governing is done by a senate comprised of representatives from each city-state. Individual city-states have a high degree of autonomy. Some have their own hereditary rulers who are subservient to King Orin, others have elected bodies or oligarchies."

"Do you think they'd be prepared to trade magic based weapons with us?"

"That would depend on exactly what you want. I think they'd be very wary of sharing anything that could compromise their own defences, and if you're asking for ways to counter magic attacks.. that's basically what you're doing. I'm in the middle of getting some protective wards made for my friends and I'm going to be looking into getting manacles produced that can nullify the wearer's magic."

"Like the-" He wiggles his right forefinger at Ms Waller. "-collars that Belle Reve uses."

"Same idea, different mechanism. I'm going to be having a chat with my supplier. If you like I can ask what the rules are about selling to other governments."

"Ms Waller, do we have anything that can do that right now?"

"No, sir."

"Goddamn." He stares at the surface of the bar. "The more I hear about this the less I like it. Are you really telling me that the United States of America has no specific defenses against magic based attack?"

"Yes sir."

"There's a few magic users around, Senator. But the nation as a whole?" I nod. "Basically." I take a book out of subspace and pass it to him.

One of the bodyguards moves to intercept it but Henry waves him off. "Don't bother, Hank. I think we can trust him. What is it?"

"A copy of the guide the previous Doctor Fate wrote for the All-Star Squadron. Should give you a rough idea about the sorts of things that are possible."

"From the Second World War? This is really the best guide available?"

I shrug. "Atlantis hasn't needed to write books like that for outsiders for thousands of years. The best guide available would involve getting an actual Atlantean mage to advise you but they don't even have a consulate at the moment."

"America, requesting military aid to defend itself. Never thought I'd see the day." He takes a gulp from his glass. "Give me some idea: what's King Orin going to want in exchange?"

"The main trade good they want would be high purity gold. Those circuit boards? They need the highest purity possible and Atlantis can't get it high enough to really maximise the advantage."

He nods. "Okay, we can do that. How about political stuff?"

"I'm afraid I don't know him well enough to say. You'd probably need to come to some sort of agreement about borders and shipping. Water quality's a big issue for them as I'm sure you can understand."

He nods, then something seems to occur to him. "Can they actually be made like printed circuit boards? Those.. rune set up things."

I blink. "I.. honestly don't know. Sounds logical... You'd need to talk to an actual practitioner to be sure."

"It'll be more palatable to the Senate if I can present it as an equal exchange. I hope you can understand how I want to be sure of my position this time out."

"I was planning to visit my supplier next week. My professional relationship with the Atlantean Royal Artificer should make it easier for me to get the information quickly."

He nods, finishes his drink and then stands and holds out his right hand to me. I take it. "Son, I wanna thank you. You might well be handing me the ladder I need to climb out of the hole I dug for myself. The hole America's dug for itself."

"We're here to help, sir."

Another nod. "Waller, we'll have to reschedule. I'll have someone phone you later today."

"Yes sir." He turns and leads his party out of the bar. She gives a small sigh and shakes her head. "I don't know how the hell you did that."

I turn back to face Waller. "What?"

"That little conversation might just have made him electable again. And you only had to spike my chances to do it."

"What do you mean?"

"He needed to look strong on defense, to take a strong line on supervillains. I've got something that would help him do that in the works. His buy-in was going to be making a fuss about the hold up in publishing the report on the Belle Reve break out attempt. Now I'm back to square one in finding out who's behind that because you've given him something better."

"Oh. Um, sorry." Wait, she's not talking about-?

"And you didn't even mean it, did you?"

Ring, brain scan. "No. I should probably warn you, however, that if the thing you were going to discuss was some sort of brand X task force-" Her face doesn't move but the brain waves tell all. "-using convicted supervillains for black operations, if I found out that such an organisation existed, I would be obliged to inform my superiors in the Justice League. And the press."

Her eyes narrow at me. "I'll take that under advisement."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th November
19:17 GMT -5

"Yeees, I suppose that could work."

"Mister Zatara, would you please take the Helmet off? I can't hold a serious conversation with a man whose head is glowing orange."

Zatanna was true to her word and is now lurking just within earshot as I describe in detail the alterations I wish to perform. We're in the training area now, waiting for Artemis and Green Arrow to arrive before heading off to see a 'finished example'. Only Zatanna and M'gann have expressed an interest in my assistance so far, though Wonder Woman has paid me a great deal more attention recently than at any time since my arrival. If I had to guess I'd say that Kon won't accept my offer without her approval despite wanting it so much that when I look at him his whole body is filled with roiling orange clouds. I think... No, that does make me happy. A power up would be nice but at this point in his life a strong relationship with a primary caregiver is far more important.

"I believe that would violate my agreement with Nabu."

I roll my eyes. As if that matters anymore. "Lantern Nabu, you are hereby instructed to permit Giovanni Zatara to remove you at his leisure. Confirm command."

"cOnFiRmEd."

Mister Zatara tilts his head to the side for a moment, then reaches up and lifts the Helmet from his head. He holds it out to look it in the eyepieces. "What.. exactly.. did you do to Nabu?"

I shrug. "I can't honestly claim to understand the process exactly. It appears that I can use the orange light to.. well, replace any living thing, convert all of its energy and matter into an enduring construct. Nabu's personality and memories remain unaltered, it's simply that rather than you being subservient to him, he's subservient to me."

"I'm still not sure that you should have done that. I made the agreement of my own free will."

"That's alright sir, we all make dumb decisions sometimes."

He narrows his eyes slightly as he looks at me. "It is a matter of personal integrity."

"No. Once he marked himself as our enemy it was a matter of working out the most expedient way in which to beat him, then doing it. If I let him take your body, what does that say to a spectre or to any other sort of dead man who feels like taking over one of us? So many inhuman things have so many advantages over us already I don't believe that holding back is a survivable option. As far as I'm concerned, if you haven't rigged the game then you're not trying hard enough."

His eyes widen in shock and recognition. "I once had a friend who told me a very similar thing. It did not turn out well for anyone involved."

Oh? "Did he have a power ring? Or a Father Box?"

He gives a slight shake of his head, looking away to the side. "You are a very.. confident young man."

"Yes. I am. And with good reason, I think." Mister Tawny nudges the side of my right leg and I automatically reach my right hand down to scratch his head as he lets out a bored moan. I don't think he's quite intelligent enough to have understood me when I told him where we're going but he always appreciates sojourns outside the mountain.

Mister Zatara puts Nabu under his left arm. "Would your Father Box and ring allow you to reverse the changes if something went wrong?"

"No.. though, as I understand it the effects of the change would be gradual and it's well within my abilities to arrest them."

I suppose that I don't need them to be entirely happy with the idea. I can well afford to play the long game and wait until my friends reach their majorities. It's just that it would be better all round if this happened sooner. Of course, if there really is something which I've missed I'd rather find out about it now.

"I'm still not sure. Zatanna's magic abilities will improve on their own."

"Yes. More slowly and peaking far earlier. Aaand she'll still physically be a squishy baseline Human. My process would render her far more resilient."

We both look over to where Zatanna stands, wearing my Apokolips-tech armour and visor. "I am grateful for what you've done, but I-."

"Recognised, Artemis B zero eight, Green Arrow zero eight, Black Canary one three, Wonder Woman zero three."

Ah. I look over to zeta tube one as the lights fade. I wasn't expecting Wonder Woman or Black Canary to be joining us. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise. A little notice would have been nice, but no matter. All in uniform and armed. Zatanna scurries over to join us. I think we're about ready to go then. "Thank you all for coming. If you're all ready, our next stop is the east peak of Mount Hua."

"Ahhh, not so fast." Green Arrow raises an eyebrow. "Why exactly are we going to China?"

"I asked you to come for the purpose of comparison. I wanted to compare your skills to those of the greatest archer on the planet."

"Oh really?" He crosses his arms. "And who exactly do you think that is?"

"The Chinese super-functionary Celestial Archer." I hold up my hands defensively. "It would be far easier to introduce you than to argue the point."

Wonder Woman frowns. "There isn't a zeta tube on Mount Hua."

"Who said anything about a zeta tube? Father Box, boom tube to Mount Hua."

"Ploong."

A booming rush of displaced air and a white-rimmed portal appears. On the other side is a stone pavilion on a rocky platform high above a tree-filled valley. I gesture to the Boom Tube with my right hand. "Shall we?"

Mister Tawny leads the way. Are there Tigers in that part of China? I don't think so. The mountain's too touristy, surely? Zatanna goes through next, quickly followed by her father, then Artemis, Green Arrow and Black Canary. Wonder Woman remains where she is, looking at me. "Ladies first." She continues to regard me for a moment and then crosses over. I follow.

17th November
08:21 GMT +8

Green Arrow walks over to the railings at the edge of the platform and looks down. He whistles. "Quite a drop."

"Indeed, sir." The Boom Tube shuts down, revealing Xu Tao sitting cross-legged on an outcrop of rocks just back from the winding path up to the pavilion, Celestial Bow of Yi resting on his knees. He wears a blue tabard and loose blue trousers, though I know for a fact that he wears armour under both. In the centre of his chest his heraldic device is a yellow disc with blue decoration. His arms and head are bare, revealing a well muscled physique and youthful face. He's sixteen, and only recently inducted into the Great Ten.

Green Arrow ambles in his direction. "So, Orange Lantern says that you're the greatest archer in the world."

Tao nods solemnly. "I believe that to be true, sir."

I have to hand it to him: his English is really quite excellent, especially when one considers that he hasn't been studying it for much more than a year. I didn't actually meet him during my first visit, but Chairman Jiang was more than happy to lend him to me. "Celestial Archer's soul structures have been modified in the same way that I am proposing doing to Zatanna." I flick my eyes over to Artemis. "And such other of my team mates as express an interest. The skill of the goddess Chang'e far exceeds mine, but he should be able to give you some idea of the end state of the process." I smile at Green Arrow. He's an easy going enough fellow, but I can see the urge to compete building within him. "I took the liberty of setting up some targets, sir. If you'll turn your attention to the mountainside behind Celestial Archer..?"

Standard archery targets supported by wooden poles slotting into holes I made in the rock. I'll repair the damage after the demonstration. The closest is at one hundred metres, then a further nine at twenty five metre intervals along the mountainside. I don't imagine that the first five or six will present much of a challenge to Green Arrow once he's got his eye in and grown used to the local air currents, though the furthest will. That isn't the point. This is a contest between a heroic mortal and a young man who might as well be an Exalt. I know Tao will win. I want to make a point concerning the difference between skilled mortals and broken demigod bullshit. I want to help my friends escape the baseline Human crab bucket the people of this world seem to want to live in.

Just a bit of a shame that one of the few Leaguers I haven't alienated yet has to sacrifice his ego for me to do it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th November
08:23 GMT +8

Green Arrow unslings his bow while looking over the targets. "Hm. Bit mundane given all this build up, but I'm game." He looks up at Tao. "How are we scoring this?"

Tao looks at me a little uncertainly. "I had thought that this was to be a demonstration. I did not think that we would be competing."

Green Arrow smiles. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Artemis, you want in?"

Artemis looks at the targets, at Tao, at me and then back at him. "Ohh no. I know a set-up when I see one."

Green Arrow moves his right hand to cover his heart. "Your lack of faith wounds me, Artemis. Right here."

"Mister Zatara." I gesture to Green Arrow who's already putting his first arrow to string. Should I tell him that that's an inefficient technique? No, this is a test of accuracy, not speed. He should do whatever he's most comfortable with, and anyway I'm not sure the fast shot technique works with his trick arrows. "Subject one, 'Green Arrow', real name.. nominally classified, thirty two years of age. Baseline Human. With no significantly debilitating injuries he's at his physical prime. Began studying the use of the bow when he was.. nineteen, I believe?" Green Arrow turns his head my way and nods once. "And has continued to train himself since, using the criminals of Star City as target practice. For this demonstration he'll be using simple point arrows and a conventional recurve bow with a draw weight of around fifty kilograms."

He pulls the string taut and then relaxes it a little, limbering himself up. "One hundred and one pounds."

"Forty five kilograms."

"Sounds a lot less impressive like that."

Black Canary smiles as she shakes her head. I just roll my eyes. "Forty five thousand grams, then. Though the majority of his experience is in precise, rapid, short ranged shots his skill in other areas is advanced enough to put him in the top ten.. probably top five archers on the planet."

"Oh yeah?"

"I wouldn't have bothered asking if it wasn't a reasonable comparison."

"No, I mean how come I'm not number one? Or-" He nods at Tao. "-two, according to you?"

"I judge Shado's skill at long ranged and indirect fire to be superior to yours. Malcolm Merlyn has demonstrated the ability to shoot out individual organs." I incline my head towards Wonder Woman. "The Amazons Aella and Dessa are noted for their skill with the bow amongst a race who have had three thousand years to gain experience with primitive weapons. In fact, I would say that of the top one hundred archers in the world at least eighty five are Amazons."

"Really?" He looks at Black Canary. "Maybe I should visit sometime? Show those ladies how to really handle a s-." She pokes him in the ribs. "Hey, kidding!"

"He's about as good as baseline Humans get. It is also worth noting that Green Arrow hasn't practised in this environment before. The shape of the valley and the temperature of the rocks can create difficult air currents-."

"Please. I work in a city!"

"Perhaps the trees, then? I.. think that's everything. Oh, for this demonstration no artificial aids.. sights, anemometers, externally applied enchantments.. will be in use. Loose when ready."

Green Arrow loosens his neck, draws and takes aim at the first target. "How big're those targets?"

"One metre twe-" There's a thwack as his first arrow strikes the first target dead centre. "-nty." Bull's eye on the one hundred metre target. Tao doesn't look around.

Green Arrow notches another arrow. "Are we taking it in turns, or what?"

I make a dismissive gesture with my right hand. "Take a shot at each target. There's no hurry."

His second and third bury themselves in their targets' centre. Fourth is a little off-centre, though still within the bull's eye. Green Arrow tilts his head to the side. "See what you mean about the air currents." He notches his fifth and takes noticeably longer to aim before loosing. Dead centre at two hundred metres. Despite myself I find that I'm being impressed. I mean, it's a pointlessly outdated weapon and all that but he's bloody good with it. He looks up at Tao. "Worried yet?"

"No, sir."

"Oh really?"

"May I say, I consider that it is a privilege for me to compete with you."

"You may."

Tao frowns. "I beg your pardon, sir. I have been learning English for only a short time. I do not believe that I understand..?"

"Ah, don't worry about it." He draws his sixth. "This is where it gets interesting..." The distance is enough that we can actually watch the arrow in flight. Thwack! Right on the black line between the inner and middle rings. "Aaah." Two hundred and twenty five metres and he's disappointed? I'm impressed that he can hit the damn thing at all. There'd be a delay in me hitting it from here with a construct! I mean, that's what laser projection constructs are for, but still. He notches and draws another, now completely focused on his task. Shoom.. thwack. Blue, outer circle. He takes a moment to breathe before slowly drawing another arrow, notching, drawing and taking aim. The arrow is visibly pointed away from the target now. Another careful breath and he looses. Thwack. Inner red. A hit at two hundred and fifty metres. Should I call the people at the Guinness Book of Records? His eighth arrow is drawn just as slowly as the seventh. He aims, looses and.. it moves past the target to break on the vertical wall of the mountain. "Uuh. No do-overs, right?" He lowers the bow and rolls his shoulders before taking out a new arrow. "This next one's about three hundred twenty yards, right?"

"About that."

He takes a couple of deep breaths, notches, draws, aims and looses. As he does I find that I actually rather want him to win. I mean, it'd be pretty terrible if he did, but... My goodness. Outer blue at three hundred metres. Ring, that wasn't us, was it?

Negative. No assistance was provided.

I suppose.. over that sort of range the factors that he can't properly predict mount up. If he took five more shots at the same target he might not get any more hits.

"Last one." He's smiling as he looks at Black Canary. "Kiss for luck?" For a second her eyes flick over the rest of us before she walks up to him and lightly presses her lips to his. They stay together for a moment and then she steps back. "Well, now I've really got to hit it." He takes out another arrow and looks it over critically. He runs his right index finger along the shaft and the tip then checks the fletching before holding it up to stare along its length. Finding no imperfections he notches, draws and takes careful aim. Three hundred and twenty five metres. He looses, all of us staring intently at the path of the arrow as it flies towards.. and over the top of the target. And the mountain.

Whoops. Ring, transfer! I appear on the far side of the ridge, an orange aura extending from me in all directions. The arrow slows to a stop as it flies towards me and I pick it up with my right hand before transferring back and returning it to its owner. He takes it with a slight wince. "Eight hits out of ten, the furthest at three hundred metres. Perhaps you are number two after all, sir."

"Haven't seen number one yet." He looks up at Tao once more. "Well, 'Celestial Archer'? Still think you can do better?"

"Would you please step back a little, sir?"

"Ah, okay?" He and I both move back towards the pavilion as Tao closes his eyes. He takes a single arrow out of the quiver on his back before closing a flap over the top of it.

"Subject two, 'Celestial Archer', real name Xu Tao, sixteen years of age." His eyes open. "Augmented Human. Began studying the use of the bow when he was fourteen and more or less fell over the Celestial Bow of Yi." His eyes flick down and his lips tighten. Is he embarrassed about it? "Was conscripted into the Great Ten in two thousand and eight after a brief period of independent operation. His augmentations are a gift from the goddess Chang'e, the widow of his bow's former owner. Please note that unlike me she was able to fully charge his soul grafts almost immediately. The Celestial Bow -if I understand correctly- is an arcane weapon with an infinite draw capacity. Superman could pull on it without being able to overdraw it. Celestial Archer, begin when ready."

He bows his head slightly, eyes narrowed, arrow resting loosely against his bowstring. He's still sitting facing us with the targets behind him. He starts leaning forwards, overbalancing. As he falls to a right angle with the rock face he pushes off, spinning vertically and horizontally as he does so. I can't even track it as his arrow disappears, his body twisting to bring his legs back underneath him as he bends his legs slightly to absorb the impact. He straightens facing us and then gives his audience a shallow bow.

Green Arrow looks puzzled. "Okay, but.. what..?" He looks at the first target. His own arrow has been shot through the middle. "Oh, trick shot is it?" He smiles. "Pretty good. Now lets see you do the res-." Black Canary lays her right hand on his shoulder and points to the next target with her left hand. Another of Tao's arrows has split his. He blinks and then takes another look at Tao's quiver. Yes, still closed. His arrow at the third target has similarly been split. In the fourth, Tao's arrow is firmly placed at the centre. Fifth is split, then centre, centre, centre, centre and centre. Green Arrow gapes in astonishment. "But-! How did-!"

Zatanna points at Tao while looking at her father. "See Dad, totally safe. And amazing!"

"To perform many shots with one arrow is one of the advanced techniques I am able to perform." Tao shifts his weight to his left leg. "I.. have not offended you, I hope? You have been an inspiration to me."

"If you're still not convinced sir, I set up some targets on the ridge line over there." I point out across the valley. "Celestial Archer could pierce them with little difficulty."

Green Arrow and Artemis both turn around and try and get their heads around the idea. Tao shifts his weight to his right leg. "I... I am sorry?"

Green Arrow waves at him. "No, no... That's.. that's fine." He turns to look at Black Canary. "Maybe we should have kissed for longer?" She pats him on the shoulder.

Artemis takes one last look across the valley before walking up to an increasingly uncomfortable looking Xu Tao. "You got any plans for the rest of the day?"

He leans back slightly. "Um? No?" He looks at me for direction, initiative not being encouraged amongst the Great Ten. I point at him with my right index finger and mime sniggering. He looks back at Artemis. "Is there something that you want to do?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th November
16:37 GMT -5

I breathe in as I take a look around the living area. "It's a bit of a fixer upper. Are you sure about this?"

Miss Robinson smiles as she nods. "I've lived in plenty worse."

I shift weight from my left foot to my right. It always makes me a little uncomfortable when she says things like that. I mean, I know that her life's been really hard but every time she says or does something which shows she thinks it's normal-.

"Why're you glowing?"

"I am?" I look at my hands. Yes, I am in fact glowing. "Um, sometimes when I want something really bad but don't quite know how to get it the ring just sort of 'builds up'. It's nothing to worry about."

"Rrrright..."

"Will Miss Chase be joining us?"

"Ehh, she's got work 'til later." She sniffs. "Oh, finally, the smell's gone." She walks towards one of the damp-rotted windows. "Thought I'd have to leave the windows open all winter." She pulls it closed. "Why'd you call her that?"

"What, Miss Chase? She told me that's what her name is."

"Her name's Karon." She walks along to the next window. "No one calls girls like us 'Miss'. Seriously. Are you secretly, like, fifty or something?"

"... I'm eighteen. Would you prefer I called you something else?"

"What's wrong with Holly?"

"Nothing's wrong with Holly, I just didn't want to make assumptions. I can call you Holly."

"Oookay then." She looks at me like I've said something weird, then gives the second window a tug. It sticks for a moment and then it comes free, thumping closed. "If it's not 'cause you're fifty, is that just how English people talk?"

"I've.. been brushing up on my diction since coming to America. I think I've.. maybe taken it a bit far."

"Y'think?" She rubs her arms. The central heating isn't working yet and she didn't want to put the fan heater on while the windows were open. She's wearing two hoodies and she's still cold. "Are you planning on sticking around?"

I flap my hands in the direction of the door. "I can.. get lost if you want me-."

"No! I just need to go out and get a few things." She puts her right index finger to her lips and taps them twice. "Think I can probably trust you in here on your own."

"I'll.. put a vacuum around.." I take a look around the room again. "Or dust pan and brush or.. something."

She makes an amused snort and smiles at me. Compared to most things I've been doing a little light home improvement is practically a holiday. With the ring ambient temperature isn't something I really worry about, though after leaving the Fortress in the arctic circle I've given serious thought to incorporating heating elements into my armour. The trick is getting a battery that can take the strain for long enough, and working out whether incorporating the extra point of failure is worth it in the handful of situations where it'll matter.

"Okay, well, I'll be back in about a half hour. There's beer in the fridge."

"W-."

"You don't drink, do you."

"N-no. No. Um. I don't."

She's giggling as she walks towards the door. "You're a real one-of-a-kind, you know that?"

"Thank you?"

She closes the door behind her with a rattle and I wince slightly as I have another look around. I can well understand her wanting to be out of her old flat but I sort of assumed that she'd just rent somewhere nicer. True, this place was dirt cheap considering the location, but that was because three people were ritually murdered here and after twelve years the estate agents just really wanted it off their books. 'A bit of love' isn't really going to cut it. Damp, rot in the wood, three different flavours of mould... I'm not sure she wouldn't be better off just getting it knocked down and then rebuilding. I mean, it looks nice. Ish. If you stand back a bit. And if she pulls it off she could resell for a large profit...

If I'm helping, I'm helping the whole way. I jerk the ring downwards and Fatty falls out onto the floor. He lays there for a moment before slowly floating himself upwards without moving from his recumbent position.

"No food?"

"Fatty, I realise I may regret saying this, but you are aware you can take more power from the orange light, right?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Fatty, this house belongs to a friend of mine. She's had a rather hard life to date and I'd like to make it a bit easier. To do that we need to make the house structurally sound. We leave the decorating to her but we're fixing everything else." I take a breath. "It's time to Disney up in this bitch."

Orange gossamer fairy wings form on my back and an orange wand appears in my right hand. And I'm surprisingly okay with that. I give it an experimental wave across the far wall and orange light splurges from the tip, cleaning brickwork, mending wood and drying plaster. Maybe I could work this into... No. Another wave fixes joists and floorboards and adds a layer of instantly drying varnish. Years of dust explode from the rug, colours suddenly as vibrant as they were when it was first woven.

"Fatty, see what you can do about any residual spiritual energies from the murder."

"Food?"

"Sure, eat all you want. Last thing Gotham needs is more psychic filth around the place."

He claps his chubby little hands together excitedly, a disturbingly broad grin spreading across his face. A second later he's gone, an orange trail heading upstairs in the direction of the room in which a brain damaged vagrant tortured a family of three to death before stabbing himself through the eyes.

Fucking Gotham.

No, not thinking about it. Another wand twirl replaces the cracked and dirty windows with sheets of clear diamond and replaces the rotten frames with a hard synthetic wood-like substance. I grin as a light wing flap takes me into the air. Add a bit of life to those settee cushions. Repair the ceiling rose and dust the ornate light fitting. Fuse and earth the electrics. Double wands! Vacuum cleaner constructs roar as I send them shooting throughout the house, floors, walls and ceilings. Defur the insides of the pipes and add carbon nanotubes for strength and because I can! I put the drip-catching buckets in the loft into subspace as I straighten and clean the roof tiles, transmuting new ones to cover holes where they've fallen away. I swing the wands with wild abandon, everything that makes the house anything less than Holly deserves evaporating before my need. With a clunk the boiler starts up again and I hurriedly create thermostatic controllers in every room. Could change it to run on electricity instead of gas but I think I'll leave that for Holly to decide. Swinging the wands upwards I spread the orange light upwards to the first floor. I'll have this place in tip top shape-.

Someone knocks on the door and I suddenly remember myself. Fiiiine. The wings fade away and the wands evaporate. Boring filament bound constructs continue the repair work as I drop lightly to the floor and head over to the door. Is Karon back early? Doesn't seem likely but I haven't looked up her workplace. Holly hasn't asked me to keep our association a secret but it would probably be best if I wasn't obviously Orange Lantern just in case. Another knock. Right, right. I stride to the door and reach for the latch. Should I use the chain? Not like I need it but a normal Gothamite probably would... Nah. It's a good.. ish.. neighbourhood and I'm fairly physically imposing. I should be able to get away with it. Turn the latch and open the door.

And blink.

Hello, Ms Kyle.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th November
16:53 GMT -5

She blinks at me in surprise. "Oh. Hello." She's wearing a pale yellow blouse, light brown jacket and brown trousers and she's carrying a brown paper shopping bag. I was pleased to learn that despite what television tried to teach me the Americans are in fact intelligent enough to know that shopping bags need handles.

"Good afternoon. Can I help you?"

She leans back slightly to check the house number, then sizes me up. I've made the switch from my summer vest to a dark grey dress shirt but my ring crafted musculature is still fairly evident. "Where's Holly?"

"She just popped out to get some stuff. Do you want to come in and wait for her?" I point my right thumb at the room behind me.

Another look. Is she checking me for weapons? Catwoman's checking me for weapons! Eeeeeeee! "And, who are you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm just here to burgle the place, you'll barely know I'm h-."

The first blow strikes me in the neck. It doesn't hurt but I'm knocked back into the house by the surprise. I hear a bang as the bag drops and the second blow strikes me across the eyes. I turn my head away from it instinctively. A baton? What? Oh no... Another strike to the head then what feels like it was supposed to be a heavy punch to the groin. When I don't react she dives past me, rolls to her feet and takes a stance.

No, stop this before it gets any sillier.

"Ms Kyle, I'd like to apologise for what was clearly a.. very badly misjudged attempt at humour. I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four, and-."

"Prove it."

Agh, damn it, it's just like when Diana told me to say something to prove the ring could translate! I've only been doing this four sodding months... I drop my hands to the side and rise into the air in a flare of orange light. She relaxes slightly and lowers the baton. "Also, if it helps my case I totally think you're better for him than Talia is."

"What?"

"No? O.. kay. Iiiii'll stop listening to rumours then." Darn it, I totally ship those two. "So!" I drop to the floor, smile and clap my hands together while being careful not to move towards her or do anything else that could be taken as aggressive action. "What brings you here?"

She looks over at the bag. "House warming present."

I wince. "Wasn't.. breakable, was it?" I turn around to look at the bag. I can't see anything leaking. "I'm really sorry about.. um.. just sounded a lot funnier in my head."

Keeping her distance slightly she walks around the room to recover her bag. "Just some groceries."

"I can unbruise fruit!"

"It's just cans and boxes." She squats to pick it up. "You can unbruise fruit?"

"I like bananas being at a very particular ripeness. It seemed like a useful thing to learn."

She opens her mouth to comment, then dismisses it with a shake of her head. "I'm going to put these in the kitchen."

"Alri- ohwaithangonaminute!"

Too late! The anthropomorphised orange vacuum cleaner drives through the opening from the kitchen, stops in front of her, looks at her for a moment, beeps and then takes a sharp left turn and drives up the wall, refreshing the paint as it goes.

I should probably have removed the construct before it did that.

Ms Kyle looks at me in bewilderment. "Had a.. bit of a Disney.. fairy godfather thing going on. They're not actually.. you know, intelligent..."

"I thought the house looked a little different." She watches it go for a moment and why have I still not got rid of it? It vanishes in a puff of orange. Ms Kyle looks at me for a moment and then carries on to the kitchen.

"It was that or.. basically rebuild the whole thing."

"I told her she should get a survey done first." She slows as she gets into the kitchen. Oohhhhh. I.. marbled? I think I might have got a bit carried away. It looks nice but I should really have run this level of change past Holly first. Ms Kyle walks to the closest work surface, puts the bag down and starts unloading. "So why'd you do it?"

"Enchanted, I think? Or maybe Beauty and the Beast? I mean, I work for an Amazon so subverted gender stereotypes just go with-."

She sighs and sags her shoulders slightly. "No, not that. Why did you give Holly the money to buy this house?"

"It produced the best outcome for everyone involved. What, should I have beaten her up and sent her to Blackgate?" I shrug. "What's the point in that?"

"Fairy godfather, huh?"

"Hey, I rock the fairy wings." She looks at me with an amused frown and I recreate the glowing butterfly wings and wand. She snorts and shakes her head. "Um, on a slightly more serious note..." I generate a construct of just prior to my first meeting with Holly. Ms Kyle watches her start her run up, spot me and lose speed, barely making the leap. "I made another badly judged joke about not helping her up here. She.. kinda freaked out." I let it continue playing as I haul her up and she pulls out her knife, first waving it at me and then at the picture. There's some posturing, then she puts the knife down. "The next bit still worries me." Holly's posture gets less angry/scared and more defeated/scared. She pulls off her hoodie again, and then her t-shirt. We both watch the shock on construct-me's face as he covers his eyes. I dismiss the image. "If I'm taking on a problem… And I'm in this.. all the way... I'd like to know how big it is. How bad things have been for her. Why she thought.. that was.. what I was looking for."

Ms Kyle nods. "You said something that sounded like a threat, didn't you?" I face the floor as I nod. "She was never a prostitute, as far as I know. Not in the sense of having sex for money, but.. for runaways and street kids there's.. often a coercive element. You need food, you need a safe place to sleep.. need to feel safe at all." She looks away, her gaze becoming distant. "They need affection, which state institutions just don't provide. Not in Gotham anyway."

"Do you have any..? I'm not really.. trained for this. Is there anything in particular I should do? Or not do? I don't.. don't want to be a-" I grimace. "-coercive element. Or look like or.. be thought of as a coercive element."

"I.. think you're doing alright. I've tried to look after her, but my life isn't exactly-."

"You're Catwoman." A degree of caution reappears in her countenance. "Irregular hours, uncertain payoffs, not exactly an ideal role model. Um, no offence."

"None.. taken. You don't seem concerned..?"

I shrug. "While I don't want to diminish the negative effects of theft on a society.. a few high value items being taken from very rich people doesn't really change much. Plus, acting against you would harm my relationship with Holly." She looks a little sceptical. "Ms Kyle, each week I visit a friend of mine in the Gloria McDonald Prison on Rhode Island. She.. was.. a career assassin. She hasn't been convicted of murder but I know full well that's probably because she's good at covering her tracks. And I don't care. I can neither change the past nor raise the dead. But, I can try and persuade her that there are better ways to live.. and help her pick one."

A wry smile. "You have a soft spot for damsels in distress?"

"I'm also visiting two men in Belle Reve. Don't.. think.. Thomas would like being called a damsel..." He's actually attending classes. Took a while to talk him into it. A lot of draughts games with the board projected onto the transparent panel between us. He doesn't appear to be finding the tuition rewarding as yet. He might have attended school for longer than Jade but I don't think he was paying that much attention to the teachers. I was pleased to learn that despite going back to India Doctor Munro still phones him and Tuppence twice a week. "They need help I don't think they'll get from anywhere else. Anyone else. I guess.. maybe I do?"

"Hm. Well, I don't think Holly has any particular panic buttons. Just.. keep doing what you're doing now." She smiles, and opens a wall cabinet to start loading tin cans in. "And you're right."

"About what?"

"I'm far better for him than Talia is."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th November
16:31 GMT -5

I try to keep my intense dislike of telepathic intrusion suppressed as Mister J'onzz and I stand in the formless void. Oh, he says that in this state he can't hear what I'm thinking and I've kept my ring-based defences up as much as I can but I can perceive a thing which he can't. This simply won't work unless he has access to my senses and that requires some connection. In the real world the two of us are sitting down a short distance from M'gann while Mister King and Lantern Jordan monitor the three of us. Nice to see that he learned that lesson from last time.

"Father Box. Show the man."

"Ploong."

Three pictures shimmer into existence in front of us. The first is a cut-away of a Martian in their default form. The second is an artistic representation of M'gann's mind, her network of thoughts. Mister J'onzz will get more out of that than I do. I mean, I can sort of feel what different bits do but I'm much less familiar with the use of his telepathic sense than he is. The third is the best image of emotional-spiritual systems I can come up with. I'm.. finding.. that I am getting something of an instinct for certain spiritual resonances, one not tied to the ring or to Father Box. I don't have the words to describe it. I'm not sure that English does. A sort of fuzzy.. mental feel? An inadequate description, but the best I can manage. Low level psychometry? Perhaps I am indeed becoming a New God. Won't that be fun. There shouldn't even be much risk of the real Grayven hearing about me until I'm a little better positioned to defend myself.

"As you can see sir, it has almost no physical presence at all." I make a beckoning motion with my right hand and the image of the Martian's head is enlarged, the outer surface peeled away until we can see the brain. "But, if we look at the arcane layer..." The mess of M'gann-shaped colours surrounds us. Reminds me a little of tie-dyeing, except... "You see here? This band of green? The way it binds this patch of yellow?" I look over at my co-worker. Mister J'onzz narrows his eyes and for a moment I get a disorientating burst of feedback as he probes the irregularity using my enhanced awareness. "Now, if we switch to the mental layer..." All I see is a neural network, but again I magnify it to show positively tiny attachments of green and yellow.

"They seem so tiny."

"Their presence doesn't need to be particularly large. I am a little surprised at the Guardians utilising the light of fear in this way, but they know far more about it than me."

"And there are no physical signs at all."

"If there were, it would have failed. Martians are shapeshifters.. but you're also telepathic. Do Martian mothers commune with their children in the womb? Because as I understand it that's all it would take. The slightest mental or spiritual contact-."

"I've seen enough."

Aaaand back in the room. I blink as I adjust to the separation and real environment. Uuugh. I either need to avoid spiritual travails like that in future or train in them because I feel rough as vulture sick. Mister J'onzz floats to normal head height before unfolding from his cross-legged sitting position. Mister King winces slightly while M'gann and Lantern Jordan just look curious.

"J'onn? What happened?"

It's then that I notice that Mister J'onzz hasn't landed. His arms are at his side and his fists are clenched. I don't know Martian body language but he's probably been on Earth long enough to have adopted Human expressions and he looks bloody furious. He floats over to just in front of Lantern Jordan.

"It is exactly as he said. I witnessed bands of green light forcing her mind, her very spirit into patterns they dictate."

Jordan raises his hands defensively. "Hey, hold on J'onn. I'm sure the Guardians wouldn't have done this without a good reason. If it even was the Guardians in the first place."

"For making my entire species afraid of simple exothermic reactions?! They have violated our most intimate psychic links with this abomination! What possible excuse-?"

"Actually sir, I might be able to answer that." Mister J'onzz turns to look at me. He appears not to have noticed how much his outburst is disturbing M'gann, who's staring up at him wide-eyed. I haven't bothered getting to my feet myself. "What does the Martian species know of their ancient forebears?"

"The Martian environment is not kind to archaeological remains on the planet's surface. Much of our ancient history is lost to us. What are you implying?"

"The Guardians are ancient. Some of what I've read suggests that they are a branch of the first sentient species in this galaxy. If the records of ancient Mars are lost they may well have involved themselves before that time."

"Wait just a minute there." Jordan turns his attention to me. "I'm not going to stand by while you accuse the Guardians of doing something like this without hard evidence. Altering the minds of an entire species goes against everything they stand for. John and I already asked them about it and they said they had nothing to do with it."

"Oh p-lease Lantern Jordan. Do you really think a people as old as the Guardians don't have any number of things they'd rather not become common knowledge? Do you really think they've never made a single shameful mistake? When next you speak with them ask them for the real reason why nothing lives in Sector Six Six Six. Ask them about the war with Apokolips which cost the lives of most of their Corps, and whose resolution had them abandon First Lantern Raker Qarrigat as a trophy for Darkseid." The ring might have no data on it but Father Box was only too happy to boast of Darkseid's glorious victory. More fear-aura hypertech than yellow body armour but it was fairly conclusive just the same. "Ask them about the Corpse, their little band of black ops murderers. Ask them of Krona, of Parallax, of the robot Manhunters, of the Anti-Monitor, of the Psions. Why they handed the first four green rings over to the first Green Lanterns without providing them any training whatsoever. And when they've finished soiling themselves at the idea of another being knowing about those things, ask them about Larfleeze and how they threw the Vega Systems to the Beast."

"That... How would you know any of that?"

I speak slowly. "I. Have. A. Father. Box. If you don't believe me, feel free to go to Maltus and check. Heck, get yourself some space armour and take off your ring and I'll send you to Vega. Or Ysmault, if you feel like living dangerously."

"Those worlds are off-limits."

"How convenient. Mister J'onzz, I don't know what your forebears did to earn the Guardians' ire but I can remove their taint from M'gann." And that's true. I don't know, not for certain. Since I'm not suicidal I have been checking and as far as I can work out the mechanism which allows Martians to communicate with their unborn can also impose forms of thought upon them. If Burning Martians are a thing here.. or were a thing, then their offspring would have been so overwhelmed by the ferocious mental states of their parents that they would always have come out as Burners themselves. M'gann on the other hand is a well-socialised individual surrounded by us. Would the Burners have been as they were because they carried with them the thoughts of their presentient ancestors? It sounds like it makes sense and it would mean that the Guardians altering them was probably the only way to turn them into the civilised people they are now. Buuut, they don't leave their caves. They haven't colonised or mined off their planet, despite having the technical capacity to do so. There still isn't any sort of permanent diplomatic presence on the only other inhabited planet in the system. The Guardians' modifications might have all sorts of knock on effects. Why have they just left it there?

"I would rather that you performed the procedure on me. If there were any unintended side effects-."

"Then it would be better that the Martian with medical experience was unaffected and able to offer aid. "

"You could bring someone here from Mars. Under the circumstances I am certain that many would offer to make the journey."

"Do you think any Martian doctor could keep that secret? Do you really want to incite a worldwide panic on Mars? Besides, I don't think I like you enough to want to help you enough to use the ring on you. M'gann,-" I turn to her. "-how about it? Do you feel like becoming the first Martian in recorded history not to fear flames?"

She looks down as she thinks about it. "I'm not sure. I mean, what if something goes wrong?"

"Then I'll reinstate the block. This is actually far safer than what Zatanna's trying to persuade Mister Zatara to let me do to her because I can fully reverse it. I'll be monitoring you constantly and at the first sign of something going wrong I'll intervene."

She looks at Mister J'onzz and then back to the ground. "Would it hurt?"

"I can't think of any reason why it would but I can't answer for sure without having performed it on anyone first."

"O-okay." She looks up at me with a small smile. "I want you to do it."

"Mister J'onzz? No objection?"

"None."

"Excellent. M'gann, hold still a moment."

"What exactly-?"

Orange cables extend from my hands and plug into her head. She looks alarmed, but since I can interact with the lock directly it doesn't take more than a moment to finish her liberation. I dismiss the cables. "There. Done. Do you feel any different?"

"Nnno. Not really." She waves her right arm and generates a second forearm for a moment. "My shapeshifting-" **-and telepathy-** "-feel the same as normal. Are you sure it's gone?"

"Let's find out." I take a ceramic bowl half filled with copper chloride powder in methanol out of subspace and hold it out. Mister J'onzz turns away. "Ready?" She nods, clearly scared of being scared. The compulsion must be quite unpleasant. I fear things myself, but nothing so common as fire. "Ring, ignite."

"By your command."

There's a whoosh as the fumes over the bowl ignite. M'gann flinches but almost immediately steadies herself, staring wide-eyed at the flames. "Well? What do you think?"

She continues staring, transfixed as the flames billow in front of her. "I think... I think it's beautiful."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd November
10:51 GMT -5

"So this is where you grew up, huh?"

Robin's standing on the bank of Westham village pond, looking across the water. Teekl's sniffing the bushes and Fatty's floating overhead.

"Well, in a manner of speaking. Used to come for walks around here, though I.. stopped bothering as I got older."

"When you said you came from a parallel universe I though it would be.. y'know, different."

I turn to look at where Wallace is sitting, on the short wall dividing the pond-area from the path.

"If it had been very different I wouldn't have survived coming into your universe. On the other hand, if you tried mixing up the Garrick Formula here you wouldn't get very far. Don't even know if your speed would work." M'gann and Kon are sitting on the bench, arms around each other with Wolf sitting on Kon's lap. I completely missed that Wallace didn't know they were seeing each other. Not that I noticed until Kon told me, I suppose. "Thanks for doing this, M'gann. I... It's really nice to be able to see it again."

"No problem. Oh! Can we go and see the castle next? I've never seen an English medieval castle before!"

"You know it's.. more or less the same on your Earth, right? Aside from where the Ophidian and I changed all the signs?"

"Well.. yeah..."

I snort and smile. "Of course we can. Come on, the best route takes us past a church that's more than nine hundred years old. That's about four times older than the United States."

They get up to follow as I lead the way down the road. Shame the others couldn't be with us but Zatanna's school doesn't break up for Thanksgiving, Artemis had been rather letting the homework pile up, Kaldur's doing something with King Orin and Robert clearly isn't getting out of school for a colonial celebration. I'm rather pleased with the way he's been coping with the training. He thinks that with Black Canary's focused training program he should be able to go for his judo brown belt some time before Christmas. He told me that he picked judo because he thought he'd mostly be fighting people much weaker than himself and wanted to be sure that he knew how to take them down while doing as little lasting damage as possible. Canary told me that she plans to introduce him to Brazilian jiu-jitsu because that isn't the case any more.

Some of the buildings on Westham high street shimmer uncertainly. The ones which have changed ownership or that I never paid much attention to. Spoils the illusion a bit but I do have clear memories of-.

"Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, Orange Lantern. Report for mission briefing."

I turn back to look at my team mates and shrug. M'gann smiles at me apologetically. "We can always come back later."

I nod, then my eyes snap open and I push myself upright. Lilos! So much better than those weird bier things Mister J'onzz had for us during the exercise. Around me my team mates are taking a moment to collect themselves. We took over one of the small side rooms like the one Black Canary used for the team's counselling sessions. Shoved all of the furniture to the sides of the room and then stuck down the lilos. I swing my legs over the side and rise to my feet before returning mine to subspace. Robin's already heading out of the door while M'gann helps Kon up.

Wallace looks at me as I subspace everyone else's lilos. "What d'you think it's about?"

"Not sure. No advance notice again so it's probably something fairly immediate."

"Think he might have found that Dark Druid guy?"

"Maybe, but I don't think he'd pass that on to us. Given the Security Council discussions on dealing with worldwide supervillain attacks I'd have thought that the League would handle him themselves. It's more likely that it's something to do with Kahndaq."

"You took down Black Adam easy enough last time."

I frown. "Why would he send us against Adom?"

"He's trying to take over a country."

"He's trying to overthrow a brutal military dictatorship. He hasn't even said that he wants to take over afterwards." It's odd, actually. The Sinai Peninsula has now become a de facto independent country with a newly formed governing council operating out of the city of Shiruta on the peninsula's tip. Adom has shown repeatedly that he easily could tear the government apart manually. I'm really not sure what he's waiting for.

Wallace pats me on the shoulder. "When you've been doing this as long as I have, Oh El, you learn that when a guy with super powers picks a fight with the police in broad daylight, nothing good is gonna happen."

I tap him on the chest with my left hand, putting his costume on him from subspace. My own armour materialises a moment later. When we're not in a rush Robin prefers to sort out his own gear. Kon.. I have actually sort of come up with a work around for Kon's armour but I want to save it for his Christmas present. Finally got around to taking a look at his solar suit and I'm fairly sure I can adapt it for a slightly up-armoured version. Won't let him fly of course and its brilliant white is intrinsic to the design but I can transport it in the ring. I plan to start prototyping later this week, some time after my visit to Sephtian. Bit of a shame I don't have another Kryptonian to try it out on.

"Hey, uh. Y'know, normally? Alan spends Thanksgiving with Jay and Joan. Have you talked to him about it?"

"No. I mean, Thanksgiving's an American thing. I don't really know what's involved and I don't really feel any connection to it." I think for a moment. "You're probably right though, I should..."

"Why don't you bring him here?" I look around at M'gann's beaming smile. Wonder why she's so cheerful? "Uncle J'onn doesn't really do anything for Thanksgiving either so Conner and I were going to cook Thanksgiving dinner here."

Kon nods. "I already invited Diana."

"Um, okay. I'll suggest it." He'll probably love it, actually. Seeing what we've done with the place since his last visit and meeting the team. Maybe I could suggest to Artemis and Paula that they might like to come along as well? Does Paula have clearance for something like that? Zatanna.. yeah. Not sure exactly what she's got to be thankful for right now but they don't celebrate it in Italy either. "When is it again?"

Wallace looks at me as if I've said something completely bizarre. "How can you not know-?" I create a small Union Jack construct between us. "Oh. Yeah."

"You don't have Thanksgiving in England?"

"No. I always thought of it as a purely American thing but the ring's telling me that several other countries have similar celebrations. My primary school used to get involved in the church's Harvest Festival but I haven't really thought about it since I left. Er, are you going to want me to do anything for it?"

M'gann leans into Kon as he pulls her closer. "We're good, thanks." I keep my face still. He has come on in leaps and bounds since we first met but Thanksgiving dinner for a large number of people sounds like a fairly large undertaking. I'll check on the fire extinguishers after the mission.

"Okay, well, if you need anything, just ask."

M'gann glances up at Kon as we come around the corner to the training room. "We could use some help getting vegetables." Batman's standing near the main display. He has his personal computer out and appears to be talking to someone. He looks up for a moment and then back to his work.

I nod. "Light speed delivery at your service." Wallace rolls his eyes. "Soil to table in about two minutes over the cooking time."

"I'll make you a list. Of course, we'll need to know exactly who's coming first."

I nod again as we all start straightening up for the Bat-briefing. "I'll get hold of Alan after the briefing."