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

[Mr Zoat]

10th December
00:43 GMT -5

John turns his head to look at her. "Ambrose Bierce? Should bloody hope not. He's a good four inches shorter 'an me, comes from Indiana an' I know one end of a flaming hairbrush from the other."

"I think he's wearing platforms now."

John grins and reaches into his coat for his cigarettes. "Ambrose? Wearin' four inch platforms? Sounds like it'd almost be worth huntin' the little sod down jus' t'see it."

"Please don't. The world does not need two John Constantines in the same place."

Catwoman nods in understanding. "Oh, you're John Constantine. I wondered why people kept calling him that."

John lights his cigarette. "S'small world." He inhales, turns and kneels down, breathing smoke out over the gun where it lies on the floor. He then stays there, gazing into the smoke. The smoke itself isn't magical -I saw him buy the Silk Cuts from a newsagent myself- but he can use it as a self hypnosis aid while he tries to get a feel for the magics in the gun. Appearance is easy enough to fake with magic and we can't really remove magic from the target without the risk of ruining it. "What were you doin' when you met ole Ambrose, anyway?"

"Trying to get some books appraised. There's more fake magic in Gotham than real magic, but after what happened last time…"

John nods. "Looks like a tramp, but 'e usually knows 'is stuff."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt frowns down at him imperiously. "If you're quite finished wheezing soot all over my antiquity..?"

John glances up at her. "Jus' doin' a double check…" He grasps the gun around the breech and stands up, raising it to his eye level in order to better examine the design. Apparently satisfied, he works the lever action and has a look inside. "Moves easier 'an last time I tried it."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt looks mildly offended. "Of course. I've kept it properly maintained. You're satisfied that it's genuine?"

"Completely." He swings the lever shut, points the gun down at the ground and gives the trigger a squeeze. I can just hear a slight 'click'. "Coulda done with this more'n a few times over the last couple a' years, I don't mind tellin' you."

"Hm." Missus Gordon-Hewitt smiles proudly. "I'm glad to hear it. One tries to do one's research but one can never be completely certain." John nods and hands the Ace of Winchesters to her, stock first. She takes it and cradles it like a lapdog. "Not until a prospective buyer ups the price. So." She fixes her eyes on me. "What are you offering?"

I shrug. "What do you want? I haven't brought anything much with me." I hold out my right hand and Sportsmaster's plasma crossbow thing appears. "Something a little more modern, perhaps? The Ace of Winchesters might be a famous weapon amongst certain circles but Sportsmaster has far better name recognition to a modern audience."

She peers at it. "Where did you get that?"

"Santa Prisca. He was trying to purchase a mutagenic compound from the Kobra Cult but wasn't up to fighting a Lantern."

"What did he use it for?"

"Shooting people. I'm sorry, it's a unique weapon but the way it does damage isn't unusual enough for me to link particular kills to it. I mean, you could always ask him. It's not like his visitor slots are occupied by anyone."

"In Belle Reve? At my age? Catwoman, tell him about when Tommy Monaghan used the Ace of Winchesters to kill that demon, Mawzir."

Catwoman shrugs. "What's to tell? One shot at the center of his chest and he burned up."

John frowns. "Haven't heard of a 'Mawzir', though that doesn't mean anything if he's a new kid. Know anything else about him?"

Catwoman shifts uncomfortably in her seat as the playful-sexy supervillain cat burglar persona fades. Fun's gone. She's having to remember something she'd much rather forget. "White skin, ten arms -four on one side, six on the other- and swastika tattoo on his forehead. His… He took orders from someone called Arkannone."

John nods. "Oh, that thing I've heard of. But a Demon shouldn't have a swastika tattoo. Not unless they were possessing someone or tryin' t'wind you up."

"Arkannone… He was trying to recruit Monaghan to be one of his agents on Earth. I was surprised he turned him down, actually."

"Surprisin' where you can find moral fibre, sometimes. And it's always nice to know there's someone out there worse than you, even if it is a Demon."

"Before Etrigan tore him apart, Arkannone said something about having made Mawzir from the souls of five Nazi war criminals."

"Ah, that explains it. Sounds like Mawzir wasn't actually…" John tries to work out how to explain complex arcane concepts to people who know nothing about the topic. "See, Demons, most of them these days… Even some of the really powerful ones, they started out as mortals. Souls damned and sent to hell. Being the worst of the worst isn't enough -though they usually are- but people so full of hate and the need to hurt that they make Hell a part of themselves. Most people, you send them to Hell and there's basically nothing left after a century or two. Some…" His lip curls. "Blossom. But most people don't have what it takes. On the other hand, most people have something like that in 'em. Some crawlin' bit of evil lurkin' in their head they've got the sense to ignore. Five Nazis… I mean, the ones who actually did the mass murdering, not the ones with the clean hands back home in the Fatherland… If Arkannone took the worst out of each of them and stuck it together with his own magics… He'd get something. Wouldn't exactly be a Demon though."

"Then what is it?"

"It's called a Lukhavim. Pretty similar, I'll admit. But there's differences. It's got no independence for a start. No agenda of its own. Arkannone's magic made it, holds it together. He gives it an order, it'll do everything it can to carry it out. Understands the modern world better'an most old school Demons too. It use weapons?"

Catwoman nods. "Handguns."

"Most Demons can't get their heads around that. They go for claws, strength… Magic. Some use swords or axes. They had the Ace of Winchesters, they'd try usin' it as a club. When that Monaghan bloke shot it, did it sort of.. crack up? Fracture?"

She blinks. "I thought that was just how it worked."

"Probably burned up Arkannone's magic first. Never actually seen it fire, but it makes sense."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt is clearly loving her prized possession being talked about like this. I return the crossbow to subspace. "Does the Ace need any sort of special ammunition?"

"No, no. The bullet just creates the violence based conceptual link between the material of the gun an' the target. Probably work with a Nerf dart if you could fit one in an' fire it."

"Against targets that aren't Demons?"

"Don't really know. Your man Sephtian's the fellow to talk to there. Or just shoot something."

"Alright then. Not going to mess you around Missus Gordon-Hewitt: I want that gun a lot. If the crossbow's not enough… Can you narrow down the sort of thing you want from me?"

"It would have to be something intimately connected with the activity of a super hero or super villain. Someone very famous or completely infamous. And there needs to be a story behind it."

If only I hadn't burned Superman's pants. "I.. could.. probably get you one of the original Green Lantern's costumes..?"

She gives me a disappointed look. "P-lease."

I wrinkle my nose. "I suppose a giant Christmas Cake's out of the question?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th December
12:07 GMT

Zatanna lowers her hands and looks at me in astonishment. "You gave her a what?"

I shrug. "With your father out of commission the League doesn't have anyone who can study it properly. STAR Labs just had it in a big shed with the one they took from the Himalayas. And it's not like it works; once I took all of the alchemical gunk out it was basically just a big ornate box."

"Are you sure about that? A Lazarus Pit might have other spells on it."

"John couldn't feel anything, and everyone who might have been inclined to go looking for it's in prison." Except possibly Talia, but she can't do anything without risking her cover identity and has Batman watching her most of the time. "I'm not.. completely happy about it, but it was the best thing I had access to. I've booked some time with Sephtian to test the Ace out tomorrow if you want to come."

"I'd like that. Can I.. um, see it?"

"Sorry, I left it in the mountain." I hold out my left arm and generate a construct replica of the Ace of Winchesters. "You would not believe the amount of ring power it takes to shove an arcane weapon into subspace. You can have a look when we get back if you want."

"That would be interesting." She frowns. "You're not really going to summon a Demon, are you?"

I nod. "Probably. Something small to start with, then maybe some sort of minor Elemental. Though, thinking about it, depending on how it turns out the gun actually works it might turn out to be worth us summoning major Demons on a regular basis just so we can shoot them. You know, keep their power level down. If it doesn't flat out unmake them. And if it did that, well…"

Looks like she finds that idea fairly disturbing. "Have you..? I think you should talk to Father Mattias before you try anything like that."

"Probably a good idea. Anyway, that would be a long term thing."

Zatanna nods and has another look around. "What makes you think we'll be able to find the Star Sapphire when the Green Lanterns couldn't?"

"Guy didn't have a magic user with him. If we're lucky, the Ophidian and I just hid it somewhere it's hard to find with a ring."

Zatanna takes a leap off the top of the draughtsman she'd been standing on and easily reaches the edge of the crater in which the board is situated. Thomas might like draughts but he isn't all that good at it. Doctor Strange let me know that Thomas has really been engaging with the educational program and apparently Tuppence has started showing up in class as well. He even made some noise about getting him transferred away from Belle Reve at some point, though America doesn't currently have a power suppressor equipped medium security facility. Be a bit of a hard sell unless the price goes down to the point that they can be put in every prison. I could probably make one if there was an actual transfer agreement sorted out but I doubt he'd want to leave Tuppence. I don't think it's worth asking him about until we know whether or not Strange is really up to something but I'm a little worried that when or if Waller comes back things will get harder for him.

"Wohs em erehw eht Rats Erihppas si neddih!" A plume of moon dust whips up around her as she looks around the moonscape.

"Anything?"

She lowers her arms. "No. Maybe I'm not using the right incantation. You're sure it's here?"

I drift after her. "Sure? No. I mean, I think I can remember holding it while I was here but the whole thing's a bit of a blur. I definitely had it with me when we left the mountain. I definitely didn't have it when Guy picked me up. If I flew here then I might have left it anywhere between there and here in space but it's far more likely that I just transitioned here."

"Well, where did they find you?" I grimace as I turn to look at the toilet cubicle. Zatanna looks at me and then at it. "A… Is that a..? A stall?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Well, no, it's just a seat with a hole in it. Obviously it doesn't flush, we're on the Moon." She stares at me like I'm not making any sense. "When I brought Thomas and Tuppence up here while Kon and M'gann infiltrated Belle Reve, Tuppence made a big deal about wanting to…" I make the combine harvester gesture with my hands. "Y'know. Use one. So I built that."

"I thought you said the environmental shield-?"

"Yes." I nod once, emphatically.

"But then how did-?"

"Do you really want that answered?"

She considers. "Nnnno."

"Right. Let me just try something..." I close my eyes and focus on what it felt like to forget how to love. How unnatural and alien and wrong. I want the capacity to love. It is right that I have that capacity.

Ophidian, where is it?

BABUM

The orange shockwave explodes from me, rippling across the Moon's surface.

"Okay, try now. "

"Ediug em ot eht Rats Erihppas!"

Dust roils up again, but this time it coils around her outstretched arms before flowing through the air in the direction of the cubicle. Zatanna tries to run after it and momentarily forgets that she's under a sixth of Earth's gravity, pushing off too hard at an awkward angle. As she falls I swoop over and catch her around the waist from behind. She tenses for a moment before I land us just in front of the cubicle. "Careful there."

She remains standing with her back pressed up against me. "Um. Right. Sorry, I just…"

"Not used to walking on the moon." We stand there for a moment. "Did you want to have a look at-?"

"Oh. Yes." She pulls away and steps up to the seat. "There isn't anything... Down there, is there?"

Ring, scan. "No, just rock and dust. I'm not seeing the Star Sapphire but that's where the dust went."

She nods. "I dnammoc eht Rats Erihppas ot raeppa!"

Dust pours down the toilet and swirls around the small chamber within before fountaining up, the flawless violet crystal pushed out by its passage. That wasn't down there a minute ago. Zatanna reaches out to take hold of it but I push her arm aside. "Whow. Remember what happened to Carol Ferris?"

She nods as I attach an orange tether to it and the dust cloud dissipates. "What do we do with it?"

"Ideally I'd want to train you with it, but these things are even worse for driving people crazy than orange power rings."

"No, I meant, shouldn't we let the Green Lanterns know we've found it?"

"Nah. They don't want to talk to me about the Star Conquerors, they can just suck it up." She doesn't look convinced. "It's not like they own it. Or know more than I do about using it."

"So what do you want to use it for?"

"You said that the power for your spells has to come from within, right?"

She nods. "Usually."

"Do you think you could tap that instead? Use some sort of spell to bleed off a safe amount of its power, so you don't knacker yourself if it comes to a fight with Nabu or Klarion?"

Understanding dawns. She blinks and then slowly nods. "That… That might actually work."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
08:06 GMT -2

"That's never going to work, mate."

"Why not?"

John stabs at me with his cigarette. "You can't just plug an alien love crystal into someone like that and expect anything good to come of it."

"That's why I wanted some sort of buffer. I mean, if it really comes down to it I could try using it my.. sssself..."

I trail off as I spot Sephtian's staring at Zatanna from well inside her personal space. He's wearing some sort of rune encrusted visor and she's leaning slightly away from him and looking more than a little nervous. "What are you looking at?"

"Fascinating. When Paul told me that you were able to perform complex magics simply.. by speaking…" He jerks back in the water and waves his arms excitedly. "I did not think he was lying, precisely, but I did think that he perhaps misunderstood what he was seeing. But you… You… Do it again!"

Zatanna looks at me. I just shrug. She holds out her hands in front of her, palms facing one another. "Ria elbbub mrof." The water around her turns white as tiny bubbles of gas condense and stream towards the growing bubble between her hands.

Sephtian's hands clamp down on the sides of his visor. "Everything I know about magic says that should be impossible!"

"Um. Sorry?"

"Why!? This is MARVELLOUS!" His head fronds flutter as he takes deep breaths, hopefully to calm himself down. "You shouldn't apologise for disproving… Certainly parts, of an inaccurate orthodoxy." He pulls the visor away from his face and tosses it onto his workstation. "Akk, it's not accurate enough." He gently runs his right index finger and thumb along his moustache tendrils, his head turning aside slightly. "In fact, I don't… I'm going to need to design and build a new imaging chamber." His attention returns to Zatanna as he uses his left hand to gently place some sort of wand probe into the path of the bubbles. "And you say you could manifest this ability even without other training?"

"Y-eah. Just like my dad."

"A pact with some sort of deity, perhaps? Are your family particularly religious? That might account for-."

"We're Christians."

"And is it possible that one of your deities favoured you in this way?"

She hesitates for a moment. I suppose there's no reason why he would know much about a religion that isn't practised in Atlantis. "Christianity only has one deity. And His miracles don't require incantations."

"I suppose you could be a metahuman whose ability relates to magic. I.. don't really know much about-."

"Sephtian." He twists in the water to look at me. "Bit much."

He stares at me, then at Zatanna. "Oh. Of course. My apologies." He takes one last look at the wand before returning it to his robes. "Yoooou were saying something about an energy exchange artefact?"

John shakes his head. "Which we haven't got the slightest idea how to make."

"What about that stuff Dark Druid had set up?" John sucks in his cheeks as he thinks about it. "Could.. any of that design be used..?"

His eyes narrow. "Maybe. Some of it. Reckon you can get the police to hand it over?"

"Come on John, you read the newspapers. Liverpool loves you right now; you could probably ask them yourself."

"I could change one symbol around no problem. This is something I'd definitely want a second opinion on." He looks at Sephtian. "You any good out of water?"

Sephtian snakes his neck. "I… I would struggle after more than a few minutes. And I would not have access to my workshop. For this sort of project…"

"Okay, I'll see what I can do about getting those shipping crates brought down here. You can set up an air filled environment for them?" He nods.

"Second problem: the focus symbol. You knew about the black and white ones. You know what the violet one is?"

That did give me a bit of trouble. I couldn't remember it and while Ms Ferris had a logo while she was in mental mode the ring could replicate it no problem, so that couldn't be it. Had to play around with shapes for a couple of hours until I found a variant I couldn't generate: an eight pointed star with a circle inside surrounded by a circle. I generate an image of what Ms Ferris looked like while she was under the influence. "The previous user used something like-."

Zatanna eyes it warily. "I'm.. so not wearing that."

"One more reason not to use the Sapphire directly. Anyway,-" I dismiss most of the image, leaving just the star over her abdomen. "-take this symbol, even it up a bit, put a circle around it annnd then another…" The construct disintegrates just as the smaller circle touches the star only now I can see why: tiny amounts of violet light coming through it and disrupting its structure. I recreate it with the smaller circle floating a short distance away.

Sephtian picks up a magic tablet and makes a note of the design. "And you say this.. represents.. 'love'? I had been under the impression that this Star Sapphire was a violent criminal."

"That was a combination of a really bad break up and being overwhelmed by violet light. The woman in question didn't have a safe way to channel it like I did-" I raise the ring. "-with orange."

"Could she assist-?" He cuts off as I shake my head. Not a good idea. And forget contacting the Zamorans. I'm not risking that without more information and if I can get it, Controller backup. "Hm. Can't really do much more on that until I see Dark Druid's designs then." He pauses for a moment. "So. Are we ready to test the gun?"

John looks at him for a moment. "Have you ever.. summoned a Demon before?"

"No. Never even seen one. Very illegal in Atlantis. Her majesty had to sign a Royal Writ to give us authorisation and she checked the seals around the ritual site personally."

"An' there's air in the chamber, is there?"

"Yes, and the materials you requested are awaiting your inspection. Everything is in order. Please, this way."

He leads us out of his workroom and down the corridor in the approximate direction of his thaumatorium. I'm dragging John along with the ring while Zatanna has a spell going on herself to allow her to swim fast enough to keep up.

"Is.. Queen Mera alright with us using your time like this?"

"Oh yes. She considers it a quite reasonable exchange for what you've done. It would have taken us months to get the physical components of the city shields to a serviceable state without you. And the spell casting involved in their manufacture hardly requires my constant oversight. This way."

He turns off into a small room. Four guards in royal livery are floating just above a circular barrier covering a tunnel opening in the floor. Still haven't quite got used to Atlantean ideas about up and down.

"Halt." The sminias -a woman with an eel tail- raises her right hand. The other guards seem reasonably alert but they don't raise their weapons. We were clearly expected.

Sephtian draws to a halt just in front of her. "Magister Sephtian and guests." He pulls out a shimmering scroll and holds it out to her.

She takes it, looks it over and then hands it back. "They'll want to see that down below as well." He starts to swim past her but she puts a hand on his chest to stop him. "Sephtian. This isn't going to blow up in our face, is it? I've been reading up on what happened last time those Lemurian lunatics tried something like this-."

"Tanis, it is not the same at all. Single, weak Demons in a contained environment. The hazardous spell craft lab was designed for things like this." He points at John. "We have an expert in this form of magic, myself and two superheroes in addition to your guards. We are as safe as we can reasonably be." She looks slightly mollified. "Come, you can watch for yourself."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
08:21 GMT -2

The way the Demon in the circle moves reminds me of a vulture. The stubby wings, long neck and extended muzzle give it a hunched appearance as it paces back and forth on the small patch of floor it has access to. It has a kilt held up by straps which cross its emaciated looking chest, though the ring is having trouble working out whether or not it has anything to conceal. It's not even sure if the clothing is clothing. Its feet look like they came from a Velociraptor and its skin is a sort of rusty red colour. The floor inside the circle has a different texture to the stone of the room. It puts me in mind of a swamp land, damp and covered in rotten foliage. Part of Hell? A product of the Demon's own corrupting presence? No idea.

"You must be desperate indeed to summon me, Constantine. Still, I'm not completely without compa-."

A small brush construct removes part of the circle. Immediately, the stone reappears beneath it and I can get clean readings on the creature. Human organs, but distorted in a fashion which means that they couldn't possibly work through simple biology. The ring thinks the clothing is made from Human body tissues, though that seems unlikely.

It freezes for a moment, looks down to check the circle and then up again at John. It grins. "I expected better, given your reputation. How exactly do you think you're going to stop-?"

BLAM!

The impact of the bullet knocks the Demon back and the white and gold flames are enveloping it before it hits the ground.

"DRAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

Above us near the rim of the pit I see Sephtian tending to his monitoring runes while down here Sminias Tanis lowers the Ace of Winchesters. "Should I be concerned that he was the third one who could identify you by name? Out of three?"

John kneels down to restore the circle, making sure to keep watch on the Demon's corpse as it is rapidly consumed by the fire. The skin around its extremities has already carbonised and evaporated and the area around the impact site is going the same way. The flames are still hard at work on its head but it still has just enough control to turn its neck to point its face at him. "Par for the course, really."

Should have thought about it in advance, but it turns out that none of us have much experience with rifles. I've stuck to handguns, neither Zatanna nor Sephtian even have that much and while John claimed to have some experience it only came from a couple of acts of desperation. Tanis volunteered her services in exchange for one of my flight belts, which she needed anyway as the Ace won't work under water. She's taken to it exactly as easily as Lori did.

The chamber is slightly oval shaped and about thirty metres long by twenty wide. The bit we're working in is a circular space with a ten metre diameter, set about four metres deep into the floor. The water above us is held up by wards inscribed around the rim, powering spells by water pressure not exactly being a novel concept around here.

Of the other six guards in this part of the chamber two are Purebloods and the other four are like Kaldur with gills and webbing. More aquatic forms just wouldn't work, though there are another five Shark guards above us in the water filled section with Sephtian in case their colleagues aren't enough. I smiled when I saw they were all wearing Spell Eaters.

Seems to be going well so far. We've only used about a quarter of our lamb's blood and none of the things we've summoned have been able to stress the barrier created by the circle. And we know that the gun is very lethal to Demons. Just ash left of M'z'k… Mazsuk… Whatever that thing's name was, now.

"Sephtian? Any news?"

He picks up a rune stone from its hollow on the floor and it glows for a moment. "No power flow detected. After three attempts.. I think we can tentatively conclude that the 'Ace of Winchesters' is entirely destroying whatever energy manifests in the corporeal world. Still don't know if it gets everything everything." He moves his hand over the stone's surface and then bends down to put it back in the floor. "John, are you able to summon that particular entity again?"

"Yeah, but they can refuse a summons. We'd have to clean up this whole place or they'd just feel it and decide to stay put."

"Hmm. We can put that down for the second round of tests."

Tanis works the lever of the rifle while I walk over to Zatanna. "So, Zatanna: what do you think of your first encounter with the Demonic?"

She looks at the ground as she thinks about it. "To be honest… It's a bit underwhelming. He just calls something up, then 'blam', no more Demon."

John completes his checks and then stands up again. He took off his coat and jacket before we started and rolled his sleeves up when he started drawing the marks for the summoning. For the first time since we met I can see his tattoos. Part of them anyway. Latin writing, though the ring tells me that there are more complex designs on his back and shoulders. "Wouldn't get too sure of yourself, Zatanna. Doin' it like this, we're holdin' all the cards. Out in the wild, doesn't work like that."

"Though that's probably our next stop. Whatever happened to that.. Fly.. Demon thing you and Papa Midnight stuck in-."

"Still in his club." He glances at Zatanna. "'less he's moved it. An' yeah, shooting the containment vessel would probably work but I don't think it's worth risking Mnemoth gettin' loose in New York City t' test it."

I note that he didn't say who the containment vessel is. The Demon wouldn't have kept Gary Lester alive, would it?

"There's a Demon in New York?"

John manages a bitter grin. "Probably loads of Demons in New York. But Mnemoth was only free for about a fortnight eleven years ago. You probably weren't old enough to remember it; the people it possessed felt like they were starving, they'd try and eat anything. By the time they finally died their bodies were totally emaciated."

"Did..? Did you tell someone?"

"Tell who what, exactly?"

"Their families, the police! Those people died and no one apart from you and that.. Midnight person know what happened to them!"

John shakes his head. "They don't want to know."

"How can you-!"

"'cause it's very far from the first time I've done somethin' like that and I know: tellin' people that someone they love was killed by a Demon does not make them feel better about it."

"And.. the police?"

"Don't dare try touching Papa Midnight. We're scrabbling around with alien crystals t'try an' get you a boost? He's got a whole friggin' casino powering his magic. Gambling, drink, hard drugs and gladiatorial combat, plus all the political favours he can buy. Anything like that.. goes anywhere near him, and everyone's deaf and blind."

Looks like that's a hard pill for her to swallow. Ring, what was Mister Zatara doing that week? Oh, on tour. Probably wouldn't have heard about it until it was already dealt with, though that doesn't explain how he was in the same city as someone like Midnight for so long. Maybe he just decided that the man wasn't a wider threat and left it at that. That's why I haven't mentioned him to anyone. As far as I remember from the comic the gladiators were all zombies anyway.

Sephtian waves to get our attention. "We're ready to go again. You said you.. wanted to test the gun on an Elemental?"

John looks up at him. "One more type'a Demon I want t' have a go at first. Bit more powerful than the last one, plus it's about as close to being an Elemental as a Demon can get."

"How much more powerful?"

His face tightens. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"John, what's this about?"

"You know about the Coopers, yeah? I mean, you know about every other bloody thing."

"Coopers? That was where his son died and he wanted you to-?"

"That's the one. I stopped it, but the thing got away, didn't it? Didn't have the tools to put it down. Now-" He nods at the Ace. "-we do, and I'd like to have one less thing to watch me back for."

I shrug. "When you put it like that, no problem."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th December
22:48 GMT -5

Artemis puts her left hand on her hip while her right keeps the torch shining directly into my face. "Okay, firstly: why are the lights off?"

I stick my head a little further up from behind the settee I transported into the corridor adjoining the training room and make a frantic beckoning gesture with both hands. She rolls her eyes, shakes her head and then puts her torch away so she can clamber over it. "Because Red Arrow's getting here in two minutes and I plan on pranking him."

"You? You're.. pranking someone?"

"You know he's been going on at Kaldur about that whole 'mole' thing again, right? Despite the investigation Kaldur and I did?"

She crouches down next to me. "Kinda talking to his prime suspect here."

"Joint prime suspect. Think he's been giving Robert the evils too."

"Not Kon or Zatanna?"

"M'gann had Mister J'onzz check her work on Kon's mind. Guess he considers Manhunter trustworthy. And if he'd tried making accusations at Zatanna they'd-" I smile at her. "-never have found the body."

"Oh-kay then."

"Here." I pass her a pair of light enhancement glasses. I'm already wearing my pair. "Can't use the ring to let us see otherwise our eyes will glow and give the game away."

She takes it and looks at it for a moment. "Secondly, why do I need to be here? Getting back at Red's fun and all, but I did have stuff I was doing."

"On Roanoke Island, you said that there weren't such things as Anti-Magic Arrows. Now-" I reach around to the floor behind me, trying to feel for the strap. I'm so used to having the ring find stuff- Ah! Got it. I pull the quiver closer and pick it up to show her. "-there are!"

She takes it from me and pulls one of the arrows out to take a look. "Is that what you and the Fish-guy were working on?"

"Please don't call him a 'Fish-guy'. He's a Manta guy, and it's one of the things we were working on."

She smiles faintly. "You keeping some for yourself in case you run into a magic robot next time?"

"No, but I do have both bullet and micro missile versions of both in my subspace-."

"Recognised, Red Arrow, B zero seven."

I duck down as the light from the Zeta Tube briefly illuminates the room and flap my hands at Artemis until she follows suit. I hear Roy take a step out, stop and then there's a quiet noise which is probably him putting an arrow on string. He's listening for a target, so we've probably got about ten seconds before he puts on his night vision glasses. Which means…

The spotlight I attached to the ceiling over the centre of the room comes on at full blast and Roy immediately orientates on it. "…wiring…" Realising that it isn't a threat he switches his aim to the object below it. When it doesn't attack him either he takes a takes a few steps closer.

What he sees is this: at head height there's a brightly coloured picture with an image of Mount Justice on one side and a slightly cartoony one of him brandishing a mallet on the other. Below that, slightly above waist height, is a green box with nine large holes in the top surface arranged in a three by three grid and a large, well padded mallet. Written across the top and along the sides in bright, arcade friendly letters is the title: Red Arrow's Mole Hunt.

And then the music starts.

"I'm gonna be a pirate
on the river Saskatchewaaaaaan!

And it's a heave!"

A mole painted to look like Roy pops out of the bottom left mole hole before dropping back down.

"Ho!"

Kid Flash mole pops out of the top right.

"Hi!"

Red Arrow, Artemis and Cornwall Boy moles erupt from the bottom row.

"Ho!
Commin' down-"

Superboy, Miss Martian and Orange Lantern moles in the middle row and…

"-the plains!"

…Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash out of the top and besides me Artemis muffles her laughter.

"Stealin' Wheat and Barley-"

Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Red Arrow and Cornwall Boy moles form an 'X'-

"-and all the other grains!"

-then tilt left and right in time with the music.

"And it's a Ho. Hey!"

Cornwall.

"High. Hey!"

Robin.

"Farmers bar yer doors"

Bottom, middle and top rows in sequence.

"When you see the Jolly Roger-"

Superboy, Artemis and Orange Lantern moles pop out and wiggle back and forth.

"-on Regina's mighty shores."

Pppssffffhahahahahahahahahaha!

Roy relaxes slightly and lowers his bow. "Alright, Wally, very funny. Are you going to put the lights back on now or am I going to have to climb up there myself?"

Artemis and I stare at each other. I hadn't really planned for this bit. Oh, what the heck. Ring, lights.

Roy blinks at the sudden illumination and then looks our way as we get up from behind the settee, still sniggering. "Artemis? Paul? What..?"

"Oh, come on; as if Wallace could set something like that up."

Artemis snorts with laughter. "I can't believe you did that. Did you record it?"

"Of course I recorded it. What do you take me for?"

"Does it..? Can you play it normally?"

"Yeah, there's a dial at the back, just turn it to-."

"Did you really call me here just to watch a demented game of Whack-a-Mole?!"

"No." Another quiver appears in my right hand as Artemis walks around the back of the machine. "Anti-magic arrows. They work on the same principle as my Spell Eater, so if your target is a magic user or the physical component of a spell then they should drain the magic right out. Though, y'know, you have been getting a bit silly with this mole hunt thing as well."

He snatches it off me. "You think it's funny that someone on your team is leaking information?"

"I think it's funny how obsessed you are. We already checked everyone. Well, except you. And actually I haven't got around to doing your medical scans yet, so if you don't mind-?"

"I used to be a farmer-"

"Hah!"

We look around as Artemis brings the mallet down on Red Arrow mole's head. Roy scowls and turns to stride back towards the Zeta Tube. "Don't call me again unless it's something important."

"Alright! But don't come crying to me if you get your arm cut off!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:22 GMT -5

"Dad's really into gardening but I never took to it." Alan puts the glass of orange juice down in front of me. "Thanks." He smiles at me and takes the seat next to mine on the decking.

Danni remains focused on her pruning. "When I first moved to New York I was not able to afford a home with a garden, but I remember that I did enjoy taking care of my window basket. Also, it was becoming overgrown."

Alan grimaces. "I'd.. kinda been letting it go a bit. After Johnny passed and I started charging my ring again I-" He gestures at his flower beds with his right hand. "-trimmed the whole thing down to practically nothing. Then, well, with you taking the lantern and me getting older and.. then with you telling me not to use my ring anymore-."

"Alan, that's important. Seven or eight months and you can use it as much as you want but right now it's what's keeping you alive."

"Keeping me young, you mean."

Alert! Connection made to monitored telephone line. Location: second public telephone, BP, Happy Harbour branch.

I instinctively glance at the ring before looking back at Alan. "Middle aged, and if you're just wearing it for a few hours a week like I suggested you'll probably go up to early old age by the time I've got a replacement for you."

He frowns slightly. "Someone trying to get hold of you?"

"They can leave a message. I'm serious about the ring-. Danni? Make sure he doesn't use it."

"I will continue observation."

"Hey, come on guys. I am capable of making my own decisions, you know."

I reach over and pat his left hand with my right. "Alan, it's the job of young people to look after their elders when they start going a bit senile."

Alert! Priority message received.

"Ugh." Alan cuts off his retort and raises his eyebrows as I lift the ring to my left ear. "Sorry, I need to listen to this."

"Someone important?"

"Probably. Ring, who is it?"

"Detective Harvey Bullock, Gotham City Police Department."

"Maybe he wasn't too impressed about you spending time with that Catwoman person."

"She's actually quite nice once you get to know her."

"I'm not criticizing, son. I've seen her pictures. Perfectly natural for a man your age."

I shrug. "My plate's kind of full at the moment."

He grins. "Oh? Anyone I know?"

If he's going to be like that… "Ring, play the message."

Silence for a moment. "It's an answer machine. We even sure this is him?" Yep, definitely Detective Bullock. Another pause as he listens to the reply. "Yeah, yeah, alright fine. Hey, Orange Lantern, Detective Bullock here from Gotham PD Major Crimes Unit. We'd like t'speak to you regarding an ongoing investigation."

"Yes!"

Alan looks puzzled. "Why is that a good thing?"

"I'm always happy to use the ring to aid in criminal investigations, especially in a place like Gotham where the evidence has a habit of going walkabouts. I'm just not usually there for them to ask. Ring, continue."

"Phone me back on this number if you get this message." The message ends as Danni stands and walks over to the table, laying down her secateurs and gardening gloves. Alright, don't have much on today, no real reason why I can't spend some time in-. "Come on Commish, we don't even have the Bat's phone number. That reporter probably just… Yeah, hang o-." The phone goes silent.

"You are going to Gotham?"

"Sounds like. Sorry Alan, but this-."

He shakes his head to dismiss my concerns. "The job comes first. I'll still be here when you get back."

As I stand up Danni walks around the table to my side. "I will accompany you."

"If you like. I'm not sure there'll be much to do."

"You recently acquired stolen property. I believe my presence would be prudent."

"I had a confiscation order written out, and there's no way the Museum got hold of it legally in the first place."

She looks at Alan and then back at me. "I believe it would be good for me to get out of the house."

I shrug. "Okay then. Do you want to get anything..?"

"No, but I would appreciate it if you could change these clothes for my costume."

"No problem."

Alan blinks in surprise, then dips his head and covers his eyes with his right hand as the orange glow envelopes Danni. "Now, hold on-."

"Alan, you can't see anything." He removes his hand while looking to the side and nervously flicks his eyes in Danni's direction, relaxing only when he sees her uniform -with flight belt- in place. "Right, Major Crimes is near the top of the building so I'm going to put us down on the roof. Ready?" Danni nods. "Transition."

No one on the roof when we appear, though I am interested to get my first close look at the famous Bat Signal. Saw it in the sky in the week before Roanoke. Just once though, and we were already on site. Advantage of ring faster than light travel and ring Hollywood hacking meant that sort of notification wasn't really needed. Batman told me that when he sees it he usually phones the Commissioner rather than turning up in person; that would just take too long.

"You spend any time in Gotham in the forties?"

"Not a significant amount. Green Lantern did not require backup." She follows my gaze up to the searchlight. "What is the purpose of this light? Surely the Gotham Police Department could simply use a telephone?"

"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess I'd say it was so anyone looking up at the sky could be reminded that there was someone around who wasn't just part of the problem." I look at her. "You know how bad things were before Batman got started?"

"I have read the Justice League's records. I find it hard to believe that the city was still able to function."

I shrug. "Even criminals need their rubbish collected and their water and sewage systems to work. And there's a difference between functioning and functioning well."

"The crime statistics appear to be worse now than they were prior to Batman becoming active."

"Because people are actually bothering to report it. There's a small jump almost immediately after Commissioner Loeb and his most notable stooges got arrested. Plus, with Carmine Falcone not being around to keep things under control, criminal groups started fighting it out. And they all ended up losing out to the incoming costumed criminals as a result." I turn away and head towards the door to the police station. "Come on, they're probably waiting for me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:27 GMT -5

The door's locked, but: power ring. The walls on either side of the stairs as we descend into the police station are grimy and look like they could use a fresh coat of paint. There's some water damage to the plaster beneath and it looks like the builder was scrimping on material costs so out comes the Orange Wave of Home Improvement.

"Do you do that in every building you visit?"

"Only if they visibly need it."

"I had been under the impression that you needed to care intensely about a thing in order to effect change on that scale. Certainly I cannot remember any occasions on which Green Lantern…" She pauses for a moment and it's uncharacteristic enough that I stop just as we come up to the door into the police station proper and give her an enquiring look. "I am not aware of any occasion on which any of the individuals operating under the title 'Green Lantern' have utilized an equivalent ability."

"I'd probably struggle if it looked alright, even if I could improve it. For a place like this? Let the wall be a wall, the floor a floor, a light a light and a door a door."

"Confucius?"

"Sort of. Probably the same idea. A wall should be a wall, and if I look at it and it isn't a proper wall I get this need to do something about it. And I can, 'cause; power ring. And it's not just walls; if a thing clearly isn't as good as it could be I start looking for ways to fix it."

"I am aware of your behavioral tendency. I am after all a beneficiary."

"That wasn't.. just fixing. That was the other thing. Perfecting."

A slight tilt of her head. "You believe I am perfect?"

"Uuum. More like: you're as perfect an example of what you are as the Ophidian and I could make you based on what we knew about you at the time. When you get a better idea about what you want to do with yourself and.. I get access to better technology you might decide that you want to modify yourself… Um. To more perfectly represent that idea of you."

"Do you apply that ideal to yourself as well?"

"Look at me." I flex my right arm and then rotate my hand, making the muscles shift. "When was the last time you saw me take exercise? And have I shown you my tattoos?"

Out of the corner of my eye I see a uniformed police officer staring at me through the reinforced glass in the door. Best get moving then. The ring opens the door and the orange wave carries on through the building. Whoops. Oh well, I'm sure the cleaners will forgive me. The policeman sprinting away down the corridor ahead of the wave might not. Gotham, right, people in costumes entering the police station from the roof. Should.. probably.. have thought about that. The only other person in the corridor -a Latino woman with a file in her left hand and a styrofoam coffee cup in her right- appears to be much less fazed, limiting herself to a confused blink. Is that..?

I smile at her. "Detective Montoya. Delighted to meet you. I believe Detective Bullock wanted to see me?"

"What did you just do to the building?"

"Maintenance, repairs, cleaning. Why did he run away?"

"He was on duty when the Joker attacked a school disco last year. Lost his partner, and he spent two months recovering from gunshot wounds. Joker shot anyone who touched the orange light."

"Oh.. shit. I-I didn't know that."

Detective Montoya sighs and gives her head a small shake. "No, didn't expect you to. Probably didn't even make state news."

"Wasn't on this Earth at the time." Can't think of a way to fix that. Move on. "What was it Detective Bullock wanted my help with?"

At the end of the corridor I see two uniformed officers jogging in our direction with their pistols drawn. Hm, good response time. Fortunately, they're pointing the guns down and the chap in front appears to be on the ball. "Ah, Detective?"

Detective Montoya transfers the folder to under her right arm as she turns to look at them. "Misunderstanding, guys. Stand easy." An uncertain nod and the weapons are holstered, though they decide to stick around just in case. The Detective turns back to me. "What makes you think we need your help with anything?"

"I just assumed… Well, what did you want me for then?"

She stares at my face for a couple of seconds. "Not here." Her eyes pass briefly over Danni before she walks past us down the corridor. "This way."

I turn to follow her. Danni gives me a completely blank look which I think is supposed to be interrogative but I really don't know what's going on. Could take a look at the Detective's computer records but that does seem to be slightly in bad faith. Major Crimes offices are over in that direction so.. okay. Follow her. My boots make a pleasant click-squeak-click on the newly regenerated floor as the metal heel plate is followed by the vibram sole and metal toe cap. Danni's shoes are quieter but I can still hear her behind me. The detective pushes the door to the Major Crimes office open ahead of us.

"What? I don't get a coffee?"

Detective Bullock's voice. Good to know. I stride in behind her and give the room a smile. No one looks up, having registered the person coming in as Detective Montoya and gone back to whatever they're doing. No Commissioner Gordon, though I do half-recognise a few of the other detectives. Bald black guy looks most familiar. Didn't he turn into the Spectre at some point?

"No, you don't get a coffee. Don't want you to spit it everywhere when you see who's turned up."

"Who?" She jerks her thumb in my direction as I emerge from behind her. I smile and give him a wave. His reaction is fairly minimal. "Oh. Guess the number was right after all. Fine, interview two should be free." He gets up from his chair and I get an unlooked for glimpse of his fur-covered gut between the buttons of his shirt. I wouldn't say he's obese, but he's certainly carrying extra weight. No idea how he passes the fitness tests. I guess that the Commissioner just needs good people badly enough to overlook a few trivial things as long as they can pull their weight. Heh, and if he can do that… Wonder if he'd like me.. to..? No, probably not.

Their interview rooms are on the other side of the office and a few people look up as we pass. I get a few odd looks but I'm mostly used to them by now. I find grinning is usually the best way to-. Wait. Would that be a Napier thing around here? No, I can't constantly be-. Ahead of me Bullock's bulk knocks some papers off the edge of a desk and I catch them with the ring without really thinking about it before depositing them back on the desk. Smile to 'normal' I give the detective to whom they belong a nod. All I get in return is puzzlement. Montoya opens the door to the interview room and Bullock walks through. Wait, interview room? I just thought they wanted somewhere quiet to talk, but is this an actual interview? Have I committed any crimes..? Aside from the vigilante stuff, but from what I've seen the police have pretty much given up trying to stop that. Don't.. think so. Bullock's already standing at ease in the far corner of the room when I enter. Room control? Well, two can play at that game. I ignore the hard plastic seats next to the table and generate a construct armchair to slouch in.

"You his lawyer?"

"I am not. Is one required?"

"Then you can wait out here."

Detective Montoya enters the room and closes the door in Danni's face. That's a bit rude. She tenses slightly when she sees the glowing chair but remains calm and collected as she crosses the room to take a seat on the far side of the table. Still.. not sure what I'm suppose to have done.

"Interview commencing at fifteen thirty one, Detectives Montoya and Bullock present." She leans forwards slightly. "Along with 'Orange Lantern'."

"Hello, future people!"

"Alright, wise guy." Detective Bullock's leaning against the wall now, but according to the ring's body language analysis program his apparent relaxation is feigned. "Where were you last Thursday night?"

"What sort of time?"

Detective Montoya's face hardens. "Midnight."

"Is this about the gun? Because I got a receipt-."

Detective Bullock lurches forwards and slams his hands down on the table. "No, it's about the murder of Jennifer Gordon-Hewitt!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:42 GMT -5

My eyebrows drop into a mild frown. Ring, confirm her death.

Subject not found at residential address. Corpse located in police morgue. Genetic match confirmed.

Oh. That's… A shame. The first time someone I've known has been murdered, even if I didn't know her very well. Ring, identify cause of-.

"Hey! You hear me?!"

"Yes Detective, I heard you. In answer to your question I first met Missus Gordon-Hewitt at thirty eight minutes past midnight on Friday the tenth annnd left her alive and well at two minutes past one."

Unable to reliably identify cause of death. The subject was severely beaten prior to death. In my mind the ring shows me a picture. I've seen worse and the morticians appear to have cleaned her up a bit. Most likely fatal injuries-.

That's fine.

Detective Bullock still looks angry. Part of his usual approach as I understand it. His partner just looks stern. Might work on some people, but I've been sterned at by Batman and he's made of sterner stuff. "How do you remember the exact time?"

"The ring records everything I do. Plus, there was a clock on her mantelpiece and I have excellent recall."

"Why were you there?"

"She had a gun I wished to purchase. I had it authenticated, we talked a bit about its history and.. we.. negotiated a price."

"How much did she want for it?"

"Have you been over the house?" Nothing from either of them. "Should be a big sarcophagus looking thing." I generate an illustrative construct. "I traded it with her for the gun."

"What gun?"

"The Ace of Winchesters." Another construct. "Perfect for fighting Demons as they should be fought: from a safe distance."

"Were you aware of the rest of her collection?"

"Saw a few things. I'd like to say I was surprised, but…" I spread my arms out to the sides. "Gotham." Scowls. "Oh, come on! You Major Crimes people are just about the only ones who can be trusted not to shiv your grandmothers for a dollar, I'm certainly not surprised about evidence going walkabouts."

Detective Bullock squeezes his eyes closed. "Wait a sec. Demons?"

"Yes." I prep my left hand for a Fatty-releasing tap. "Would you like me to introduce you to one?"

"Are you talkin' about actual cloven hoofed, pitchfork carryin'…"

"Cloven hooves aren't guaranteed and the pitchfork thing is a myth. Fatty -that's the one who lives in the ring- looks sort of like an obese dwarf with Down's syndrome."

Detective Bullock squints and takes an aggressive step around the edge of the table. "Listen, wise guy-."

"Harvey, I think he's being serious."

"Spent most of Sunday morning in Poseidonis summoning things up and shooting them." That's one Demon who won't be fucking any more pigs. "Detective Bullock, please try to understand that I fight people who can crush granite in their bare hands-" Though I think Barda was showing off for the peanut gallery when she did that. "-or rewrite reality by claiming to come from Hamelin. An overweight policeman cannot threaten me. Now, I'm minded to help you-."

He strides at me and tries to grab hold of me by my armour's collar. I wait patiently while my environmental shield foils his attempt and he quickly switches to trying to pull me up by my belt. I let him succeed but I use the ring to float so that I'm comfortably upright rather than trying to stand on tiptoes or falling over. I drop the chair construct as I tilt my head slightly towards him. "Detective, since you're being childish I'm going to return the favour. I'll remove an ounce of fat from your body for each second you hold onto me, starting now." Ring, do it.

Compliance.

He keeps trying to stare me down, despite being below me. Whaw, he could really do with a nose hair trim. And some sleep, those eyes are seriously bloodshot. Maybe I should give him a medical reset as-?

"Harvey, it's not going to work."

One last eyeball and he steps back and lets go. I remain exactly where I am as he slobs back to the corner of the room. "Thank you, Detective Montoya."

She spares her partner a sidelong glance before returning her attention to me. "Did Missus Gordon-Hewitt give any indication that she was afraid, or that she had been threatened?"

"She mentioned that her late husband had insisted she check the security camera before letting anyone in. Aside from that, no."

"How did you find out she had the gun you were looking for?"

"I hired someone to track it down. Turns out, they were the one who sold it to her in the first place, so…" I shrug. Perhaps I should be annoyed, but I don't think it really matters.

"What was the name of the person you hired?"

Tell or not? As Catwoman, Selina does have outstanding warrants on her. "A local specialist. I'm afraid that some people I work with would rather not come to the attention of the police. I'll let you know if it's critical, but, if it isn't…" I shrug.

"Why do you get to decide what's critical and what isn't?"

"I know the individual concerned and know the probability of them being involved in a murder."

Her jaw tightens slightly. "Aside from you and your 'expert', was anyone else present?"

"S-. That person wasn't the expert, they just had local contacts. I brought a wizard with me to check the gun. I didn't see or scan anyone else in the house."

"You gunna tell me who they were?"

"Not currently planning to, no." She sighs, leans back and rolls her eyes. "To the best of my knowledge they hadn't met her before that night and left the country when we'd finished."

"Where's this gun you say you got from her now?"

"In Poseidonis, being thoroughly tested."

"We're going to need to see it."

"And you know what about magic, exactly? Besides, I can't let you take possession of it. Security Council Resolution two zero two two. You're not qualified to handle arcane artefacts, and we probably wouldn't be having this discussion if Gotham's evidence handling was up to scratch." I can see her losing patience. Perhaps I should throw her a bone? "I do have a full scan of her house on file and I can give you that. Shows her whole collection. You can even have my conversation with her if you like." Editing out my accomplices and distorting their voices, of course. Not that I think they'd recognise John.

Detective Bullock sneers. "And how do we know it's accurate?"

"Presumably you have a record of what was found in her house. And have you any idea how annoyingly fiddly it would be for me to convincingly fake the whole thing?" Probably not very, actually. "Look, I'm faster, more accurate and a good deal more honest than your own forensics people. What's say we work together on this one?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
16:12 GMT -5

Match looks apprehensively at the three G-Gnomes crouching next to his lounger. "Is this gunna hurt?"

Dubbilex takes a step forwards and lays his right hand on Match's left shoulder. "You have no need to fear, brother. We will not harm you. Our sole purpose here is to impart information, the same information that we imparted to your younger brother."

M'gann nods. "I'll be monitoring you the whole time. If it hurts, or if you're scared you can tell me right away and I'll make them stop."

Match looks up at her and then makes eye contact with Kon, standing next to her. Kon gives him a reassuring smile. "You saw them teaching me Greek, didn't you? There's nothing to it."

Match appears to calm down a bit. He nods and wiggles into a more comfortable position on the cushion. Thankfully he doesn't look to me for further comfort; I most certainly will not be availing myself of the G-Gnomes' services. I don't even trust M'gann enough to let her do something like that, let alone the Genomorphs. Match takes a deep breath and closes his eyes and a moment later the G-Gnomes' horns light up. They're going to be doing basic information first, loading it in and connecting it to things he already knows. We can handle more advanced knowledge in later sessions and obviously they aren't going to condition him to hate Kal-El.

Dubbilex's horns glow for a moment as he looks over his recumbent Kryptonian brother, then he gives a slight nod. "The process has started. He will most likely need to remain in a semi-unconscious state for several hours."

Kon nods, not taking his eyes off Match. "Yeah, but we're going to wait here anyway."

Dubbilex nods. "Very well. If you need me, I will be overseeing the construction work outside." Kon nods again, distractedly, and Dubbilex turns to look up at me. "Grayven, if you are not required here there are one or two matters I would like to discuss with you."

I nod. "Of course. Lead the way." Dubbilex turns and leads me out of the small stone building we are situated in, one of dozens of the near-identical structures crowding the sides of the subterranean chamber they've started somewhat inaccurately calling 'Genomorph City'. Going by the number of full time inhabitants it's a village and including all Genomorphs it would struggle to classify itself as more than a very small town. Going by order of service it's barely a hamlet; until I transferred us here this morning all it had were some residential buildings. Everything else had to be stolen from Cadmus Labs above.

I feel a moment of pride as I look down the slope towards the newly fabricated Genomorph gestation chambers. Not large enough for G-Trolls and somewhat inefficient for G-Sprites but perfectly capable of growing each of the other Genomorph types. I even took the time to use my records on Kryptonian physiology to extend the lifespan of the G-Sprites powering the place. I catch Dubbilex's eye and nod at them. "What do you intend to make first?"

"We have not yet reached a consensus. G-Elves are better for precision construction. G-Dwarves are better at laboratory work. G-Gnomes are more carefully monitored above us and as such are harder to liberate."

I raise my eyebrows. "Not more G-Goblins?"

He pauses for a moment before leading the way down the slope. "As I said, there is no consensus."

"I would recommend it. You will have to come into contact with Human society in general eventually, and that will be easier if there are a few more Human-equivalent intelligences amongst you."

"There is truth in what you say, but that will likely be some considerable time in the future. At present we barely know how to live with ourselves, let alone with Humans in any fashion other than as their slaves."

"Even more reason. I doubt there'd be any objection to a G-Goblin taking up residence in our mountain. We may not be a representative sample but it's a place to start if you want to understand Human social interactions."

"True. May I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"I have been puzzled as to why you are going to such lengths to help us. When you liberated our brother Match both from this place and from his own rage, you purposefully avoided involving other Genomorphs in any way. You have stated that you find our telepathy distasteful-"

"Anyone's telepathy, not just yours. It's not personal."

"-and that you do not care at all about the conditions in which we live. And yet…"

My second most important contribution to Genomorph civilisation comes into view. A Hush Tube generator, one of only two on the planet. As we watch a G-Dwarf presses some buttons and a Tube opens up to a maintenance area. Two G-Elves walk through into the complex above and the Tube closes behind them. Really need to talk to Batman about setting one of those up in the mountain. Sure, we'd probably have to sacrifice the hangar Zeta Tubes to get the space and power but the technology is so superior.

Genomorphs don't bother looking at each other, I've noticed. Their telepathic fields means that they know where each other are the whole time and while only Dubbilex is readily capable of complex spoken communication the rest can talk clearly to one another's minds so, why bother?

"You really should reconsider closing off the passage to the surface. Guardian will work out what's going on eventually."

"Guardian feels proud that he has given a G-Elf a name. Yet, he has not realized that he has referred to seven different G-Elves as 'Eric'." Can't say I'm surprised. "We have heard you, and we will close it off once our escape tunnel is complete. I am still puzzled as to your motivation."

I nod, pondering how to put it into words. "Your people don't matter to me. I don't mean to imply that I dislike you. I would gain no pleasure from your failure or capture. Rather, that when I weigh up choices your wellbeing has no impact. Kon's wellbeing, on the other hand, matters to me intensely. And Match's.. somewhat. He's growing on me, and they both care about the Genomorphs. Plus, I gain pleasure from proving the League's hypocrisy."

"Hypocrisy? You believe that they are not honest in their beliefs?"

"You're still a slave, aren't you?" His head tilts down slightly. "They talk the good talk about justice and freedom and they were perfectly happy to leave you here." The left corner of my mouth turns up slightly. "You should have seen Wonder Woman's face when I drew her attention to the obvious contradiction."

"You were content to leave us here as well."

"I never claimed to care. Plus, I knew about this place. Left to your own devices I thought you'd manage to work something out eventually."

We walk in silence around a slight bend in the wall of the cavern. In the distance I can see the Genomorphs' first attempts at farming. Small artificial light sources on support poles shine down on the fields. Nothing like enough to feed them yet but they need to learn agricultural skills before trying anything that labour intensive. Away on our right G-Dwarves are going through the technical database I brought in, understanding its content and relaying it to their brethren via the G-Gnomes crouched on their heads. I had considered trying to set up an internet connection but I just couldn't work out how to make it undetectable enough.

"Still, the work you have done appeared to involve a great deal of effort on your part."

A few days' work, all told. And it turns out that I find building like this rather satisfying. Still, credit based economies are a bad idea. I wouldn't want to encourage bad habits. "And.. I'll.. expect you to pay me back at some point. You're in a weak position now, but you won't always be." I point at where some G-Trolls are working with G-Elves to expand the cavern. "You may want to be careful with that; the insulation I put in should prevent electromagnetic, ground penetrating radar or infrared detection, but seismographs will pick it up if you do too much heavy lifting."

"There is always one of us on look out in each part of Cadmus. We will shut down if such equipment is detected."

I nod. "What do you plan to do next?"

"Expand. Learn. We simply do not know enough to make long term plans at present. I had thought that Superbo-." I give him a look. "That Kon-El would make things easier for us when it came to interacting with Humans, but I see now that you are right; they will look at him and see his Human appearance and Kryptonian genetics before they see his Cadmus pod-grown history. That sort of idea is hard for us to understand. We are a telepathic species; we feel people's minds before we look at their shape."

"Don't feel too sure that's the cause. Martians are all telepathic and still have skin colour based discrimination."

"Do they have different physiotypes as we do? I would not assign a G-Troll to the same work as a G-Elf."

"No, other than colour they all exist within the same range of morphologies. And in any case, they are shapeshifters."

"A puzzling contradiction."

I nod, and take a last look around. "Well, not much more for me to do here. I think I'll take my leave. Feel free to send a message to Father Box if you want me for something."

"Thank you. I will."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
16:16 GMT -5

I raise an orange barrier as the Boom Tube opens, containing the sound and rush of air. With a last look up at where my three friends will be spending the rest of the afternoon I step through, back to the mountain's training room. The Genomorphs could be a useful asset. I need to make a fuller assessment of their telepathic-.

"Grayven! Hi!"

I start for a moment, mind trying to switch tracks. Hadn't realised she was going to be here. "Zatanna." I smile at her. "Good to see you. What brings you to the mountain?"

"Iiiii… I wanted to ask you something."

"Go.. right ahead?"

She shifts slightly where she stands, her eyes not settling on any one thing. "I've… My school's end of year dance is in a couple of weeks."

"Oh, right. Need me to help sneak you out to meet your boyfriend, do you?"

"Nooo…"

"Ah? Need me to keep an eye on him in case he gets too fresh and needs his legs breaking?"

"I don't.. actually have a boyfriend."

"Ah. Well, your father never struck me as the hard line conservative sort. I'm sure that he'd give a girlfriend-."

"No!" She finally manages to maintain eye contact. I'm really not sure where she's going with this. "No, I... I was wondering if you wanted to come. With me."

Oooooh. Whoops. Missed that one. I blink as I try and work out how best to put this. "Zatanna, I'm…"

"I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine." She manages a slight nervous laugh. "I just sort of… Is there something..?"

"No, I… I'm sorry, I don't. There's two… Two reasons. Firstly, I'm dating Artemis' sister."

Her eyes widen. "O-oh. You haven't.. mentioned her?"

"We've been seeing each other for three months. She's not a superhero and.. Artemis wants to maintain the separation between her private and professional lives… You know, secret identity…"

"Oh. Whaw. If I'd… I mean, I wouldn't have…"

"I know, I.. should probably have mentioned it, I just didn't realise..." I wave my right hand back and forth between us. "The other reason -and this is kind of a deal breaker- is that I'm fifteen years older than you." She boggles. "In a century or two that probably wouldn't matter, but at this point in your life-."

"You're twenty-nine?!"

"Thirty, actually."

"Okay." She blinks and then starts nodding, a slightly stunned expression on her face. "That's a good reason. That's a good reason."

"Bit of an amusing misunderstanding on Wonder Woman's part when she first met me. I'm sorry. I mean, I do like you, but-."

"Yeah. Yeah. Okay." She looks down, covering her face with her right hand. "I'm so embarrassed." She turns to walk away. "I think I'm.. just.. going to go home and try to pretend this never happened."

I take a step after her. "Zatanna, no, that wasn't-."

A distortion in the air and she's gone. Darn. I need to give her a little time then.. try mending some bridges there. I should probably have spotted that she was getting… Attached, like that. No wonder Mister Zatara was giving me the evils last time I gave Zatanna her check up.

Hope no one told her about Aichi.

"Hey Grayven. Where'd Zatanna go?"

I turn to see civilian-garb clad Artemis walk out of the passageway towards the kitchen. "Home."

"Oh." She looks slightly disgruntled. "We were gunna go hang at the mall after-." Resigned frown, such as one might give a incontinent puppy. "What did you do?"

I grimace slightly. "Did you know what she was going to ask?"

"No, she just said it was private. What was it?"

"She asked me to be her escort at her school's New Year dance."

"Ooh." She looks away and then quickly turns back. "Wait, aren't you, like, thirty or something?"

I nod. "Yesss. And it turns out she didn't know that. Or that I was dating Jade."

Artemis just stares, then her mouth starts to twist into a smile. "Pfmm. That's… That's not funny."

I know she just wants to laugh to diffuse social tension. "It's alright, it's just the two of us here. Get it out of your system."

"Hahahahe! Oh whaw."

"While we're on the subject of really uncomfortable and awkward things, I've got one for you."

"Sorry, but Jade and me don't really share that well! Haha!"

"I was referring to your mother." She stops laughing. "I've already talked about it with Jade, and I was wondering what sort of characteristics you looked for in a potential stepfather."

She gapes. "Y-! Y-! No."

"What?"

"You said all that stuff about marrying Jade!"

"Yes? Oh, not me, you silly-." I bite down on my instinctive response and Artemis calms down a little. "It's just that your mother is physically fit, and aside from a ten second conversation when she got home from prison she hasn't seen your father in seven years. She'd have a pretty good case for an abandonment divorce. And you and Jade hate him anyway."

She takes a deep breath, then nods. "Well… I don't… I wouldn't mind, exactly… Showing Dad he's got no place in any of our lives anymore would be good.. I guess…"

"So..?"

She gives her shoulders a small shrug. "I dunno. Why are you asking me? I don't think Mom's actually-."

"Yes, so we'll have to give her a nudge. That's why I wanted to talk to you about it first. I've checked out the legal side already; it isn't too complicated. Assuming he doesn't try and contest it, and that seems unlikely-" Heh. "-she could be a free woman in a couple of months. How would you feel about being Artemis Nguyen?"

"I think I'll keep the name. But, yeah, it's not a bad idea. I'll.. think about it." She frowns. "Wait. Have you already got someone you're thinking about?"

"Richard's father is single, they live in the same city and share hobbies-."

She goggles. "You're talking about Batman?!"

"He's a lovely chap, really."

"Yeah but… After you told us all who Robin was, I looked him up online. His Dad is-."

"Yes."

She looks around, checking for concealed observers. As if anyone ever gets to listen in on me when I don't want them to. "Bruce Wayne." I nod. "The billionaire."

I nod again. "And the last two people he's been in serious relationships with have been the League of Shadows' business manager and a cat burglar. I feel that a former supervillainess would be a big step forwards for him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
17:12 GMT -5

I float in the air looking at the hole that was torn through the wall of Missus Gordon-Hewitt's house while beneath me Detective Bullock flicks through a forensics report. I think the really bad attempt at intimidation was part of some sort of ill-calibrated information gathering tactic on his part. He's being far more helpful now.

"Don't know how they smashed down the wall like that. No tire tracks, no obvious burning or blast debris."

"Looks to me like someone with superstrength hit it."

"Don't know how it works where you're from, pal-."

"Eastbourne."

"Whut?"

"Where I'm from. It's a town on the south coast of England."

"Whatever. 'round here, no one's strong enough to punch through two layers of brick like that."

I cover the area around the hole in orange light. Ring, measure pressure patterns. Try and get me footprints.

Working. Analysis available.

"Never said they were from around here." I cause the orange glow below me to float upwards, patterning itself after the soil compressions. Lots of people -presumably forensics- have walked over this area, but two sets of footprints stand out. I dismiss the rest and float an example of each over to Bullock and Montoya.

Montoya looks at them in dismay. "They're two feet long. Who coulda made those?"

I suppose it was too much to hope that they'd put all that effort into getting Venom Buster and then never use it. "Anyone. Did you see the news on the attack on the Rhelasian peace conference back in September?"

"Oh yeah. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Remember the chap Red Arrow and I fought when Onyx tried to kill Lex?"

"You think he's here? I thought you fixed him?"

"Mister Huang is back in Human shape. And anyway, he's a thoroughly nice guy." I've kept in touch, just to check I hadn't messed him up when I upgraded his brain. His family have noticed a slight change but none of them seem particularly worried about it. Apparently he's earned a degree of fame in Taiwan by appearing on some very intellectually challenging quiz and game shows. He is now very good at absorbing new information, to the point where I've had a few enquiries from people asking if I could make the same modifications to them. So far I've turned them down. "But there are still people who know how to make the formula. I can't conclude that it was them with a high degree of certainty, but…"

I use the ring to recreate the part of the wall that was torn asunder and the approximate shape of its probable destroyers. Ring, run re-enactment. Fists fly and construct brick is forced inwards by the force of their attack. Another series of blows forces sections of brick to fall inwards, then the construct figures stick arms inside and pull chunks of wall off, tossing it aside. Once the wall is down they walk inside and I lose track of them.

Bullock flicks through the paperwork again. "Lemme see. Forensics said they didn't find anything much inside. Few knickknacks."

"This was where the sarcophagus was."

"What sarcophagus?"

The footprints on the outwards journey are deeper. I project a construct of the two Venom Buster enhanciles carrying it before dismissing them and floating the sarcophagus over. "The one I gave her. She wanted something of historical significance, this was used to regenerate Ra's al Ghul." Ring, scan for it? No, that would be too easy, wouldn't it.

Montoya nods. "The head of the League of Shadows. Former head, since the Justice League tore it apart."

"You're welcome."

Bullock sneers. "Since when are you in the Justice League?"

"I'm not, but I did initiate the attack on Infinity Island and gather most of the intelligence that made the global roll up possible. So, you're welcome. Anyway, now it's gone."

Bullock takes a closer look at the construct. "So, what's it do?"

"Nothing. The alchemical sludge it used can -under some circumstances, we're not sure exactly what- heal any injury, including death. But it was empty when I handed it over. By itself it's just a box."

Montoya frowns. "Would the thief have known that?"

"I'm surprised they even recognised it, to be honest. I can only think of a couple of people who've seen it before and aren't currently in prison." Quick check. Talia's in Wayne Manor, Nyssa's in Lex's research centre in India and Ubu's still in prison in Cuenca. "And none of them are in the area. You sure this happened last night?"

Montoya gives me a look. "Kinda hard to miss all the noise."

"Okay. And someone called the police but whoever did it was gone before they arrived, so they can't have taken all that long. This was a new acquisition and she said that she liked showing things off to people. Do you have footage from the security camera yet?"

"The one on the gate?" I nod and Bullock shakes his head. "Doesn't record."

"You think she invited someone over and they had it stolen? Because they were jealous or something?"

I nod. "Or they heard the history from her and thought it could make them immortal. Which it can't, by the way." I raise the ring to my ear. "Danni, anything interesting?"

"Officer Corrigan has been most helpful in identifying the location of the missing objects from the collection. So far none have reacted to the arcane detection stone."

"Good work. We can hand him over to Internal Affairs when we're finished."

Montoya frowns. "How'd you know Corrigan was dirty?"

I roll my eyes. "Prat kept my coin with him."

"Thought you said you just gave her the sarcophagus?"

"I did. She already had the coin." I sigh. "I don't suppose she kept a visitors log, did she?"

Bullock shrugs. "If she did, either we haven't found it or Corrigan fenced it."

"Right. I know of at least one man with access to Venom Buster who's active in the US and who I can't scan for." I generate a construct. "His name's Bane, and he used to run the factory where the drug was first made. You said there was no sign of a break in?"

Montoya glances at the hole in the wall. "Not through the door, anyway."

"Bane has phasing technology as well. He could walk through the door. That might explain it, or…" I touch my right hand to my forehead and then wave it forwards. "It could be something completely unrelated. There are big strong people around. Or people with big feet and sledgehammers."

Bullock slumps. "Great. Another novelty bozo. What's this one's damage?"

"He's the leader of a mercenary company and the former owner of a drugs manufacturing facility best known for being the US's number one source of Venom." I gesture at the construct. "This is his most recent appearance, confirmed by some of my colleagues last week when they ran into him near New Orleans. Likes to lead from the front, but other than that doesn't have any noteworthy eccentricities. Used to use Venom, but I don't know if he still does."

Montoya nods. "I'll get on to forensics, see if they've gotten done looking through the local traffic camera footage yet."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
19:38 GMT -5

On my left Bullock takes another gulp of coffee and grimaces. Yeah, probably gone cold by now. I generate a maser construct and give it a quick zap.

"Uh. Thanks. You sure there's no way for your ring t'do this faster?"

I keep watching the screen showing the playback from the surveillance cameras. Danni and Montoya are busy following up on some witness statements now we know roughly what we're looking for while Bullock and I go over the footage. Tracking down all the stuff of hers that Corrigan offloaded didn't take long and none of it was particularly interesting. Making a list of things he provided to her is something he's working on from his cell. He was trying to get clever about a testimony for immunity deal until Danni -apparently- set fire to his hair. Now he's giving us the name of every person he could remember who he'd ever sold stuff to. If there's a difference between the list of things he sold her and what was in her house when I visited we might be able to work out if other collectors might have been involved or if the gang took things with them and sold them to someone else.

"I already scanned it for Bane and his known associates. The ring can find anyone I tell it to look for, but it doesn't have a definition of 'suspicious'. Heck, we don't even really know what we're looking for."

More people walk past the camera and the ring brings up their identities, cross referencing with what we've seen on other footage. To start with I found it slightly interesting to plot someone's route like this, but now I'm just staring. It's a residential area so it's mostly the inhabitants or -since it's a rich residential area- their staff. Missus Gordon-Hewitt's gardener has already been questioned but he only works there a couple of afternoons a week and wasn't due to come in until tomorrow. We'll check his alibis but his brain activity seemed to say that he was being honest. She showed him the sarcophagus the day after she got it but he said he didn't really pay much attention and except us no one had asked him about it since. He didn't remember seeing anyone suspicious last time he was there so: dead end.

I wasn't there when they told the family. Heck, I'm only here in this broom cupboard on sufferance. Metropolis police might have weapons to deal with people with super strength but Gotham police don't, and since in theory I should just be able to revert them to normal Bullock and Montoya convinced Commissioner Gordon to let me hang around. They gave me a dirty look when I suggested contacting Batman, so I just sent him a message without telling them. There are Venom users in Gotham and Batman gave me their details but he's busy with something Leaguey and said that he was happy for me to follow up on it myself.

It's still weird seeing Commissioner Gordon with brown h-.

"Hey, aah." I glance at Bullock. "Were you serious earlier? About the… Y'know… The fat, thing."

"Yes Detective. I realise this must come as a surprise, but you really are a little overweight."

"No, I meant about gettin' rid of it."

"I already got rid of a bit. But, yes, I could probably get rid of most of the rest."

"Huh. How 'bout that."

"I basically rebuild my entire bod-. Whow!" I hit the pause button and then rewind the footage a few seconds. Didn't expect to see him.

"Seein' someone you know?"

"Yes, that's Nylor Truggs. He's a lawyer. I met him in Qurac a couple of weeks ago." Guess Mister Lawton found new representation. "I'm not sure what he's doing here."

"Why was he in Qurac?"

"He's on the Bialyan agents' defence team. Was, anyway."

"See him anywhere else?"

Ring? "One other camera, going towards the property. I can't see anything of him coming out."

"Think they got him too?"

"No idea. He might just have got in a car." I didn't really think to look anything up on him before, other than to check his bona fides. He actually works for the same law firm as Mister Tuckman, hired not long after I arrived on this Earth. Can't see a record of any cases but he said as much himself. Guess he's just working as a legal aide or something. And.. now I can't detect him. "Correct that: yes. He isn't showing up on my scan."

"He a collector too?"

"We didn't talk much, but on his salary? Wouldn't think so."

He nods at the ring. "What's the range on that thing?"

"Edge of the universe." He blinks. "I can get detailed images of anything in this solar system that doesn't have specific protection."

"And how hard is it to get that?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. The League of Shadows had it… Some of them, anyway. Bane has it, otherwise I'd have found him by now. Every time I've seen it so far it's been magic-based but I don't know where it originated. According to a few magicians I've spoken to it's basic enough that it could have been devised by different people independently."

"Any other ways to block the scan?"

"Sure, but those are well beyond Earth technology."

"Great, magic." He massages his forehead with his right hand. "We gunna need t'call in the Fish people too?"

"At least we know something about it." I turn my left hand palm up and tap the sigil twice. "Danni, I'm sending you a picture of Nylor Truggs. He was in the area when Missus Gordon-Hewitt was killed and now I can't detect him. Try showing it to people.

"I have received the image."

I fabricate a hard copy of the picture and hand it to Bullock. "If you could circulate this along with Bane's image?"

He takes it, looks at it and then nods. "Yeah, we can do that. Look, I've been thinking."

"Yes?"

"Her daughter said she didn't get all that many visitors, right? So if this Truggs guy was seein' her, he's probably the only one."

"Could be. Where are you going with this?"

"I think we'd be better off out lookin' for this Bane clown. Shake down some Venom dealers, see if anyone's heard anything."

Ring, is anyone else I've encountered on these tapes?

Negative.

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

Bullock heaves himself out of his chair and I rise from mine and gives my armour the once over. "We're gunna need to find you somethin' else to wear."

There's a flicker of orange and my original biker armour appears. "Any good?"

"Could be better. There's no way people'd think you're police dressed like that."

"I'm sorry, but all my suits are… Not.. 'off the rack'."

"Playboy billionaire?"

"Asteroid miner."

"Hpf. What else you got in there?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:06 GMT -5

"Yes, I know and I'm.. sorry, but this has to-"

"Ooof!"

"Why y'gotta run from me, Jimmy?"

"Agh!"

I look away from Bullock's 'back to basics' Gotham style policing. "-take priority. It's the first good lead we've had on Bane since New Orleans."

Holding the ring up like this makes it look like I'm on the phone. I don't.. actually have a phone. I meant to get one after that investigation Captain Adams sent us on where I had to use a folded up napkin and create the screen-glow with the ring in order to pretend I did, I just never got around to it.

I hear Zatanna sigh. "Okay. We can… John says that this 'Chantinelle' isn't usually violent so we should be okay without you."

"If he can even get hold of her. She's just as hard to find as I am, remember?"

"Is this sword.. really..?"

"It can kill anything. You can ask John for the full story if you want, but it's not… Well. You know John's stories."

Silence for a moment while Jimmy throws up against the alley wall. "Do you know why he's got a pair of swan wings in here?"

"Are you doing the ritual in his lock up?"

"No, he just wanted to pick up a few things."

How to put this? "Those aren't swan wings."

"Goose? I thought they were too big. Whatever they're from, I don't see why he's keeping them. They're kind of creepy."

"He chainsawed them off the back of the Archangel Gabriel."

She snorts. "Look, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

"I was not joking or being in any way metaphorical. I don't know exactly what happened, but he ended up with Gabriel's heart in a box until the First destroyed it. John's really the best person to ask for details."

"That's… That's impossible."

"Okay."

"No, don't 'okay' me, that can't have happened!"

"Zatanna, do you believe in the bodily reality of Jesus Christ?"

"Of course."

"You saw the Demons we summoned. You know these lifeforms exist. You know they can be hurt, maybe even completely destroyed."

"But, Gabriel..!"

"Was a rapist and a mass murderer, and a few years ago the Angels had a good go at removing our species' capacity for free will. The 'End of History' they called it. John'll be able to give you the details if you want them." I take a breath. "Neither Law nor Chaos are inherently good or bad. The Angels I've heard about are pretty much Lawful Neutral. Raise the dead or kill the firstborn son of every Kahndaqi household, whatever they're told to do goes. And I'll remind you that we'd be obliged to defend the Kahndaqi children if that happened now."

"Hey Paul!" Bullock looks up from a sweaty but relieved looking 'Jimmy'. "Hang up on your girlfriend already! We got an address!"

I wave him off with my right hand. "Zatanna? You still there?"

"Yes."

"Went overboard again, didn't I? Sorry. If it's any consolation I've never heard anything bad about Jesus. You could.. try talking to Diana about how it feels when things… When entities you worship don't live up to your expectations. I'm… I don't… I've been an atheist for so long I can't really relate to it. I know where I stand with the Ophidian… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" Idiot. "I'll see you when we.. get back."

"Okay."

I take the ring away from my ear. Jimmy's scurried off and Bullock raises his eyebrows. "Problems at home?"

"I just told a Catholic friend of mine that a mutual acquaintance has Gabriel's severed wings in his lock up."

He smirks. "And they believed you? What, are they five or something?"

"No. No they're not. You mentioned a lead?"

"Ye-eah. Venom prices in Gotham been goin' up for months, only now, there's a new supplier."

"Is there that much of a market? Venom's not exactly a recreational drug."

We start walking in the direction of his car. "Some gangs like usin' it, but wasters usually mix it with other stuff. Makes them less likely to die from whatever other crap it's cut with. Jimmy got this-" He holds up a red vial. "-from some zombie lookin' bald guy with -get this- a Santa Priscan accent."

"Is there a distinct Santa Priscan accent?"

"Jimmy wouldn't lie to me. Doesn't have the spine." We pull open our doors and get in. "We'll take a drive down there, have a nose around. Grab the supplier if we can, and if it turns out that's where they're holed up, you and… What'd you call her?"

"I call her Danni. Firebrand."

"Right. You two can handle it."

He turns the key in the ignition and pulls us out into the road. "I have to admit, I'd rather got the impression Gotham police weren't all that happy about people like us poking around."

"Hm. Bein' honest, if you weren't here, we'd probably be callin' in the National Guard. I know the costume nutjobs like their riddles and stuff, but they're not that hard to track down. Just ignore what they're sayin' and follow the evidence. And even Branden's SWAT yahoos could take down a normal gang. And anyone standin' next to 'em. Nutjobs with actual superpowers, not just 'I'm so crazy your mortal mind cannot comprehend my brilliance' bull, I'm more'n happy handing that stuff over. Hpf, be crazy not to."

"While we're on the subject. I.. bumped into Mister Napier in Louisiana-."

"Who?"

"The Joker."

"Uh. Didn't know he had a name."

"I'm sort of wondering… How come he hasn't fallen down some stairs yet?"

That earns me a sidelong glance while he tries to work out if I'm serious, then he returns his attention to the road. "'cause they haven't put me on his detail, that's why."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:12 GMT

The drive to the ritual site was quiet. And at the risk of being cliché, John would swear it was… Too quiet.

Zatanna hadn't spoken a word since she'd got off the phone with Orange Lantern. Just shook her head when he asked her if the man was coming. He didn't have to be clairvoyant to know something was wrong.

He would, however, have had to be a coward not to push the issue.

Chas had been shooting him these… Looks. All along the drive. Those special 'I know you're better than this' looks that were the reason John kept him around as a friend. Well, that and he had a ride.

Ah, fuck it. He wished he could light up.

"So, what's eatin' you kid?" he asked.

Zatanna was… Composed. That very special kind of composed that told you to watch what you said, where they might keep going just fine or fall to bits no further warning given. "Were those really the angel Gabriel's wings in your lock up?"

He bit down an oath. One day, he'd have to get a straight answer out of Paul how he knew these things. He nodded. "Messy business. I hope Paul didn't give you the details."

"He said Gabriel was a rapist and a mass murderer and you used a chainsaw."

Dammit Paul, don't I have enough messes to clean up?

John really needed to light up.

"I remember when I first met the Wizard Shazam." John said. "He didn't meet up with my expectations either."

"Did you take a chainsaw to him too?"

John sighed. "I do the best I can with what I have. If I had your power, maybe I would've done differently. Maybe not. If The Ponce hadn't tried welshing on his debt..."

Zatanna had tears in the corners of her eyes. John would've jumped out right then and there, but he knew better than to do that in Chas's cab. "I-I always thought Angels were the good guys?"

John considered the question, and very carefully did not mention how Dr. Fate fought in the war. "Well, the way I see it… Superman's a good guy, and he fights crime outta the goodness of his heart. Green Lanterns are good guys, but they fight crime because it's their jobs. Captain Marvel's a good guy, but he fights crime because that's what kids think a person in a costume should do, unless it's Halloween. They're all good guys, but they all have their reasons for why they do what they do. And Angels have their reasons too. The War between Heaven and Hell split them off from the Fallen ones, but that just defined black and white. You still gotta keep your eyes out for the shades of gray hidden in there."

John wondered -briefly- if it was ironic Zatanna was wearing black and white.

"And you think you're a good guy?" Zatanna asked.

"Oh, I'm definitely a shade of grey." John said without humor. "Your father was a good guy. He also wasn't a fool. After the one time I saw him meet Angels, he said they were beings of light, and they couldn't understand flawed creatures like us. And those who didn't understand shouldn't judge."

"My father met Angels?" Zatanna asked, confused.

"This was before he met your mother." John said, eyes gone distant with the memory. "I was in Africa, and on the run from a Headless Horseman this yank wizard sent after me. Your dad couldn't get involved, not directly, so he was in New Jersey, trying to find the bastard's head. The only thing keeping me from gettin' cut up was this haunted tank I'd befriended, and the wizard got it into his head to consecrate the body of the Ghost that was possessing it."

"An Angel came down, and tried to drag the spirit off to the hereafter. Now this Ghost was a fighter, and he wanted to stay and fight, but rules are rules and the Angel was going to take him off no matter what he wanted. It couldn't understand why he wanted to stay, and didn't care whether I lived or died without him. If it weren't for your father getting into the Angel's face, that spirit would have been gone, and I wouldn't ever need to wear a tie again."

He turned and looked at Zatanna. "I know you're upset about finding out not all Angels will have your best interests in heart. But a lot of them will. Like your old man said that day: 'His will be done, but perhaps it's best if it's done by a man. A man other than you, John.'"

Zatanna stifled a giggle.

"There you go." John faced forward in his seat, satisfied. "Take it from a man smarter than both of us. So you found out one Angel was a bit of a jerk. Not the end of the world."

"I guess." Zatanna wiped at her eyes with gloved hands.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The Angel crisis was averted. He was definitely not telling her about Santa Claus, and he would be reminding Paul to do the same.

Click to shrink...

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:19 GMT -5

How do you make something like that up to a committed Christian? I don't.. really know how big a figure Gabriel is in Christian mythology. I don't remember him coming up in Reverend Gino's sermons or all that much in RE classes. Maybe it's different for Catholics? Anyway, Zatanna certainly doesn't need me kicking away the rest of the pillars of her life.

I look across the car to Bullock while he peers out into the dark outside. "Detective, how much do you know about Catholicism?"

"Lapsed, myself. You still thinkin' about that stuff you said to.. whatshername?"

"Zatanna, yes, and I'll think about it until I know how to fix it."

"I mean, if you were just messin' with her then yeah, you got some stuff to make up for. But, you sound like you believe it, an' I gotta say… That sounds plenty crazy to me."

"You know where Wonder Woman comes from?"

"Greece?" I give him a sidelong look. "Fine, that mythical island where it's all women."

"And if it's all women?"

"I know she's supposed to be made outta clay, but I never really bought int' that stuff. I reckon they just grab a couple a' guys off a ship or somethin' an' pass 'em around. I mean, who's actually checked up on this?"

"The Justice Society?"

He grins at me. "They ever get a tour?"

"Yes, once." Why is he-? Oh, eww! "I don't think they got up to anything like that!"

"Greatest guys in the greatest generation. Pick o' the crop, right?" He nudges me with his right elbow. "Ah, come on. How many guys would turn that down?"

What sort of depraved individual would think something like that? "Leaving aside that most of them were married and brought their wives along-."

"Heheheheh."

"The point I'm trying to make… Do you believe that God exists?"

He glances up at the car roof. "Probably."

"Jesus?"

"On the good days."

"And Gabriel?"

"I dunno. Once you get past Jesus it all gets a bit fuzzy. Lapsed, remember?"

"And, just saying: if we'd spent the evening summoning Demons so we could burn them in holy fire-."

"And now the crazy's back."

I take a screen out of subspace and play the recording of us summoning the Fuckpig. When she saw its genitals Tanis shot it twice, which I thought was a surprisingly visceral reaction given that Eel-folk spawn. "J-esus!" It appears to be having much the same effect on Detective Bullock.

"Not really. Christianity hasn't spread to Atlantis. Tanis-" I point her out. "-did say she was going to spend some time in the Temple of Quirinus after we'd finished, if that's any good."

"And that's supposed to be a Demon?"

"Yes. A Fuckpig, to be precise. The demonic embodiment of rape. My point is, I'm a practical man. These things exist, we have to deal with them. I can't relate to religious interpretations -religious faith- at all. I just told.. her-" I point to Zatanna. "-that he-" John. "-did something similar to Gabriel, and as far as I know he did. Do you think.. a sightseeing trip to the Garden of Eden would make up for it?"

He continues watching the burning Demon for a moment. "Eden? Wait, I remember… Isn't there suppos-. Isn't there an Angel with a burning sword keeping anyone from going back in?"

"If it turns up we can leg it, but the garden's supposed to be beautiful, right? Enough to counteract seeing Gabriel's severed wings?"

"I… Um…" His eyes go from the screen to me and then the front windscreen. He carries on looking for-. What's he seen? "I think that's our guy." I take a look. The glow makes using the ring to augment my vision a bad idea, so I'm using the light enhancement glasses again. Across the road from us a thin bald man takes a key out of his pocket and opens the padlocked gate to an abandoned car park before walking inside and locking the gate behind him. The ring can't identify him but his face is now logged in my records. "Your ring gettin' anything from inside?"

"He's got a small amount of Venom on him. I can scan him, which suggests this will be a dead end."

"Bustin' a Venom dealer's not a bad day's work."

"Can't detect anyone in the warehouse. I could use other forms of scanner but if they were prepared those would risk giving us away."

"Alright, guess we're doin' this the ole fashion way." He goes to open his door but I put my left hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Whut?"

"There could be Venom Buster enhanciles in there. If we're attacked suddenly, I can't guarantee your safety."

"No one guarantees my safety. S' why I carry this." He flicks open his coat, revealing a powerful looking revolver.

"Won't be enough. Here." A plasma pistol appears in my left hand. Red, but what's the chance of him using it on Superman before I can get it back? "Won't stop them, but it will hurt. Should buy you time for me to pick you up."

"You got one that doesn't glow in the dark?"

I point out the dials. "Range, power, off." The gun dims. "Reactivation takes a couple of seconds, which is why I usually leave it on." He reaches over to take it. "This is just a loan. I'll want it back when we're done."

He grunts an assent and takes hold of it, tucking it into an inner coat pocket. Then we open our doors and exit his car. I open the door gently, trying not to make much noise, while he just thrusts it open and swings it shut. He sees me wince at the noise and shakes his head. "Quiet noises attract more attention than loud ones that aren't repeated. Trust me."

I shrug. We have had lessons on tailing suspects, and they usually leave Robin with his face in his palms due to our ineptitude. I'm perfectly happy to take the word of a man who's spent his whole life in Gotham. As I watch him walk towards the end of the alleyway I note that he's got the 'I'm-not-sneaking' walk down perfectly. Look like you belong and you're a long way to encouraging people not to see you. Two men coming out of an alley doesn't by itself say police, it says…

They're not going to think I'm a prostitute, are they?

No, that's stupid, that's stupid. Just check for cars then follow him across the road. Bullock's standing just in front of the lock and he's got the padlock in his hand. "Can you do somethin' about this?"

I nod, take it from him and have a probe with orange filaments, the metal of the lock keeping the light from escaping. After two seconds we get a click, and he takes it back, lifts it off the gate and carefully pushes it open. Not much sound, which means that despite the decrepit look of the area someone's cared enough to oil the gate. Interesting. We enter and he puts the lock back in place but doesn't close it, presumably in case he has to leg it. He flicks his eyebrows at me as he takes the plasma pistol out of his pocket. I point at where the ring says the suspect went and Detective Bullock leads the way after him.

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:26 GMT -5

There are a few cars and two lorries in the car park, but a quick look at the infrared part of the spectrum shows that none of them have been used recently. They look to be in reasonable condition, though. Ring, compare security and traffic cameras with vehicles and report matches.

Possible matches found. Warning: low quality of footage makes match quality unreliable.

There's a nine hour gap between me leaving her house and a passerby alerting the police to the damage to her property. We know the time the hole was made from her neighbours but we don't know when everything else happened. They forced the gate either going in or out but pushed it to when they left, and with the wall around the garden the damage to the house wasn't all that easy to see from the pavement. There weren't any tyre marks on the grass where I found the footprints so if there was a lorry then it must have stayed on the driveway. If they moved the sarcophagus by lorry then they carried it to the vehicle by hand. Of course, they could just have carried it down the road. The streets were pretty much empty and I doubt that Selina was around. Should probably check with her just in c-.

Bullock puts his right arm to my chest to stop me as we reach the end of the warehouse wall. We're not far from the shore here and I can just about hear the waves breaking against the dock area. I give the area a quick scan again. Our man has turned towards the seafront and is passing between a large warehouse and a similarly sized boathouse up ahead of us. There's another man sitting on a smallish cargo boat moored to the docks and that appears to be where he's heading. How to communicate this to Bullock? Can't talk, can't make a construct, so the screen comes out of subspace once more. He nods and draws a line with his finger. He wants us to head to the shore earlier and watch what they do. I nod and remove the screen once more.

The texture under our feet changes from tarmac to concrete and we get closer to the waterfront. For a moment I worry about the noise the metal of my boots is making, but I suppose it's not very likely anyone could hear it and removing them would require a flash of orange. And, really? It's two men. They're both carrying pistols and there's a shotgun in the boat but I can't see what would happen if they do hear me. The man we're following stops well before emerging onto the waterfront and takes out a phone. Anything odd about that phone? There's some encryption but other than that it's just a regular handset. Ring, fill me in.

…me. Again. Come on maaan, I'm freezing my balls off here.

Yeah, okay. I promise not to shoot anything important.

That gets me recordings of their voices, if that's useful for anything. Sounds like they could be from somewhere in South America, though it could just be a local accent for all I know. As we reach the end of the wall Bullock takes a look around. No lights down here, though there are a couple at the top of a nearby goods crane. Not much in the way of useful cover either, but with no obstructions I can just about make out what our targets are saying.

"… ing monster … "

"… going for … money ..ght now."

"I know … don't even … stuff ..."

The man we're following walks up to the boat as the man onboard clambers off. Together, they make their way towards the warehouse entrance. Bullock waits until they get inside before heading in the direction of the boat. Why are they going into the warehouse? Ring, sca- I can't see them. Oh, that's interesting. I saw them go in but the ring insists that the internal contents are the same. Looking around for anything else interesting I follow Detective Bullock, then grab the back of his coat as I spot the security camera. He looks at me, I point and he nods. Out comes the screen again and I draw a picture of us moving around the boat on the water side. He looks a little puzzled but nods. I walk in the direction of the water's edge, take a steel sheet out of subspace and float it down below the level of the quay before getting on and beckoning to him.

He's a bit reluctant, but after a few gestures he turns and lowers himself onto the platform. I could just have put us on a construct disc or used a flight aura but I think this carries the lowest risk of someone seeing the orange light. I carefully accelerate us out over the water in the direction of the boat. Judging by the lines of sight we should be able to get aboard undetected. I don't seem to be able to scan the contents of the crates on board. I'm still not certain that we're in the right place but this is certainly looking pretty darn suspicious.

We pull up alongside. If they can block my normal scans I'm not getting into a confined space until I've got a better idea of what's onboard. I jab my right index finger at the hull and force a filament through the metal, branching it out once it penetrates the whole way through. Multiplying, they start poking around, feeding me visual images combined with the occasional sonic probe. No one else up there, and the crates mostly contain tinned food. There's some Venom in a small partially concealed barrel in the control cabin but it's hardly enough for a major operation. Some sort of supply run? The boat has a few explosives too, but again nothing too massive.

Seeing nothing to worry about I raise the platform to a level that will allow Bullock to get onboard without straining too much. The camera on the warehouse has a view of the gangplank but not of the boat itself so I pull myself over the side before offering him a hand up.

"What we got here, Orange?"

"Not much. There's a little Venom but these crates are mostly full of preserved food. The Venom'll get you a warrant-" He smirks. "-but I'm more interested in the fact that I'm having trouble scanning this stuff. Someone's intentionally tried to make this area Lantern-proof."

"Knew you were commin', eh?"

"Or one of the Greenies. Should I call in additional assistance?"

"Not yet. I wanna get a look at the warehouse first. If it's just two guys' homebrew V knockoff we can handle it without callin' them away."

Makes sense, I suppose. Montoya and Danni could take a couple of hours to get here and they'd have to stop whatever they were doing. Even if this is part of Bane's operation, nothing he's used so far would pose a significant threat to me. It certainly wouldn't stop me falling back or calling for help. There's always an element of risk, but… Yes. Press on.

What's the best way to get closer? Walking down the gangplank would get us spotted and I don't want to transition into the warehouse blindly. I turn and head back onto the metal plate. Once Bullock joins me I take us around the far end of the boat and then shoreward, low enough that the waves wash over our feet. Crouching down beneath the side of the quay I put one hand to it and send a filament out in the direction of the warehouse. Given the probable resolution of the camera and the low level of glow my filaments have these days I'm not too worried about it being spotted.

I send it through the metal side of the building, where the scan says that a shipping container should prevent anyone inside from seeing it. The view from the filament shows that at least is true. Can't see anyone else from its current position. Okay, most likely position of the targets is further in. I send the filament along the inside of the wall and send another strand up the shipping container to try and get a better look. I can't hear-.

Alert! Connection made to monitored telephone line. Location: second public telephone, BP, Happy Harbour branch.

I do a full body clench. No, calm down, calm down. It's not out loud, it's not out loud. What are they phoning me for now?

Ring, who is it?

Connection originates at an unfamiliar Gotham address.

I get a flash of Danni holding a phone handset in a richly furnished apartment.

Orange Lantern here, Firebrand. What can I do for you?

Detective Montoya and I have spoken to five people whom former police officer James Corrigan has provided with evidence materials. Four of them have recently been visited by a man matching Nylor Truggs' description.

What did he want?

He was most interested in the more technologically sophisticated pieces.

I shrug and send the filaments onwards.

I would be too. Any collectors gone missing, or have any of them had anything stolen from their collections?

No one we have attempted to speak to has been found dead. If any of those we have spoken to have suffered thefts they have chosen not to inform us of the fact.

Sounds like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though, why not just kill him? Or if they took him, why didn't they take her?

I do not know. How is your investigation proceeding?

We're standing next to a warehouse of things I can't scan. Hang on, I'm about to get a-. Oh.

Near the end of the warehouse I have a clear view of Bane and someone I assume to be Mister Truggs tied to a chair with a bag over his head. And next to them?

The Brain.

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:32 GMT -5

Ring, sound. Now.

"Patience, Mister Bane. We will realise our objectives soon enough."

Can't scan his travel machine, but I know where those arm things he used to escape last time were located. I even got a look at some of his older design schematics so I'm reasonably confident I could cripple him with a railgun shot without risking the vital life support components. With his Human body most likely serving Gorilla City as fertilizer that machine has to not just provide his remaining organic component with nutrients and oxygen but also their temperature. A small increase or decrease could be fatal, and they all run off the same power supply as his technical and combat components.

Bane nods. "I am sure you are right. Still, I do not like spending time in the city of the Batman."

I'm surprised that he's letting the two men who walked in a moment ago fiddle around with it, though. Seems like something he'd want Mallah doing, or maybe handle himself? Eh, maybe drug dealing mercenaries pick up engineering skills on the job. I don't know. I doubt he'd let them do it if they didn't know what they were doing.

"The man who dresses like a Bat will not be an issue, I assure you."

The filament moving along the side wall gets a better view. There are a few armed men standing around but I'm still not seeing anything that could hurt me through my armour constructs. Assuming that Bane still has his phase device I'll need to hit him with a Crumbler round first. Not sure exactly how much of the effect will transfer itself to him and how much will be absorbed by the phase generator. Ah, whatever, he can survive with an arm or a leg missing.

"Better men than you have said that. Waiting makes me uncomfortable."

Who's the boss here? Those are clearly Bane's men but if you'd asked me I'd have guessed that Brain was higher up the villain totem pole. Not seeing any other hostages or equipment. Did they remove the sarcophagus already?

Huh? Oh. Bullock nudged me and is now making a silent gesture of appeal. Forgot he was there for a minute. I extend another filament into his ear.

"Mister Truggs is inside, bound to a chair. Seven men with guns, Bane and The Brain."

"I d-." He leans a little closer. "Bane's the guy you said probably juiced up the ones who stole the chest you gave the ole lady, right?" I nod. "I ain't never heard of a 'Brain'. He important?"

"Yes, extremely so."

"Right." He withdraws the plasma pistol and activates it. "Time t' make some arrests. You need back up, or you think you can handle it yourself?"

I take another look through the filament. Still nothing that threatens me. "I should be able to handle it."

"Okay then. On three?"

Why wait? I transition to the end of the closest filament, two construct spikes penetrating the sides of Brain's travel machine and wrecking the arms and motor systems. Bane and company are barely moving as I send clawed hands to grab each of them around the chests. Bane picks up speed as he passes right through it but the rest are slammed painfully against the far wall. He's wearing the phase generator then. A Crumbler round appears from subspace and shoots along my newly formed railgun construct to strike Bane's left shoulder. A flare of energy and he's knocked sideways with a grunt. Just check… This time the claw makes solid contact with his chest and I use the grip to yank him into the air.

"Bane, you're under arrest."

He grins back at me. "Not quite yet."

The doors of the two shipping containers in front of me fly past me through the air as a pair of Venom Buster enhanciles charge out. The one on the right leaps at me as I toss Bane aside and shift myself out of his arc of movement. Quick scan -blocked- and I realise that even if I could target their internals well enough to turn them back I probably wouldn't want to enough. As the jumper lands and takes an awkward step to absorb his momentum I form a large orange claw around his chest and thrust him in the direction of the warehouse door. A lot of superstrong people fail to realise that quite often they won't have enough friction to fully utilise their abilities. I'm not pushing against his strength, I'm pushing against his mass and the friction between his feet and the ground, and while those are significant they aren't anything like great enough to stop me throwing him out onto the dock with enough momentum left over to send him sliding past Detective Bullock and into the Atlantic ocean like a skipping stone.

The second steps up, swinging his fist. As he does so I notice that two more enhanciles have emerged behind the first couple. I dart up, behind him and down behind his back before sticking a pair of sonic cannons to either ear and letting rip.

"AAaaarghhhh!"

He goes down on his knees and tries to get his hands over his ears before collapsing completely. Hearing loss from having his ear drums blown out and concussion from having his skull vibrated like that, but he'll recover in a few weeks. I see that Truggs has managed to get free and is heading away from the fighting super people. Good. Trying to rubberneck here could get him killed. A few bullets bounce off my environmental shield as one of the mercenaries picks up his Kalashnikov. Wait, environmental shield? Another claw snaps the earlier riser's gun in half as.. something's wrong. I skip backwards in the air as a huge grey fist swings past my chest. Why haven't I..? I always put up… Armour, righawoof! Another blow sends me slamming to the floor. Armour holds, thankfully, and I yank myself sideways before shooting upwards. Two more sonic cannons form alongside me and two Vertigo-inspired waves of infrasound slam into the heads of my two remaining opponents. They stagger, but one manages to keep it together well enough to pick up the container door and hurl it at the construct assailing him, breaking it. Wait, what am I doing? I should have dodged… I do dodge the torn section of railing which follows. Okay, this is weird, but I'm still not seeing a serious threat. Turn up the power a little, watch them stagger and collapse -and in the case of the slightly shorter one, vomit up his dinner, eww- and then go home and sleep. I drop down to the ground and dust my hands off as the merely Human mercenaries cower just behind their leader.

"Okay, that was annoying. But, try again. All ten of you are-."

Face stills. Knees hit floor. Left arm braces.

"And that, Bane, is how you take down a Lantern." Head turn. Truggs grins. "What did I tell ya? Brute force won't work, 'cause you ain't got enough, buuut…" Drums on Brain's dome. "One little telepathic surge and they're weak as a kitten. Oh, Pablo, would ya clean that guy up?" Hand waves at sick. "I don't wanna slip or something." Footsteps, clank of bucket and squelch of mop. Groans and pulling upright. "Good man, good man." Truggs smiling, crouching down. "Hii. I'm gunna.. reintroduce myself. My name.. is Nylor Truggs, and I'm not actually a legal aide. I come from- Whaowh!" Gun pushed aside. "What you tryin' to do?! I'm having a monologue here. Bane, get yer.. get yer people on a leash or something. Thank you." Shaking head. "You just.. can't get the help. Still, pretty good day. Not too good for you, though." Patting cheek. "Now, I've kinda got this thing.. building up inside me. Five months in that stupid law firm building up a cover, you have no idea how lucky you had it. Now, I can just do my thing. You're too out of it to appreciate how clever this whole set up is… But I'm gonna tell you anyway." Shoulder. "I don't know any more'n you do how these people manage.. 'secret identities'. I was ready to go postal on the whole building after a month; sure I'll copy that for you, let me get you a coffee 'cause you're clearly too wedged inta that chair by yer own doughnut-powered ass-fat t' get up yerself. Let me do yer job for yah. Minimum wage? Thank you so much. Couldn't even work up the enthusiasm to lord it over the interns properly. But now that's all behind me, and couple years down the line? I'll be laughing about it. I'll be laughing. And I'll owe it to you."

Pressure left wrist. Tug on ring finger.

"Hnn. Thought there'd be a trap or something. Nearly got one of those bozos to get it off you, but seriously: who could I trust with something like that?" Lifts ring up. "Is there a password? No, no, they usually just grab people, don't they? Probably just plug and play. Well, I'll be having some fun with that later." Ring goes. Pressure on head. "I'm sure you're wondering how you ended up in this sorry state. Let me explain it to you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Warehouse
Truggs

"I'm from the future. Not as far forward as Kadabra -good work turning him, by the way- but still, about eight or nine hundred years. I know, I know, I don't look like much. Time travel reah-he-heally ain't easy. Turned up with just the clothes on my back and the little burned out doohickey I used to do it. And talk about mutually incomprehensible dialects! You have any idea how much one language changes over that much time? I had to write stuff down and hold it up for people to read! I'm lucky Metropolis is such a friendly town!"

"Are you really going to do this?"

"Bane, do I..? Do I interrupt you when you're murdering people?"

"That doesn't matter. You don't tell people-."

"I don't. You know why? Because I respect you as a professional. Now, howsabout a little professional courtesy for me, huh?"

"Fine. We are finished with Gotham anyway. You, Ramon! Get up!"

"Sorry about that. Where was..? Ah, so! There I was on the friendly streets of Metropolis with the clothes on my back and a head full of historical knowledge.. which suddenly wasn't so historical anymore. Hit one of Barrage's workshops, couple a' other places… Didn't take long to find my feet. Then, what next? I know all this stuff, what am I gonna do with it? Make enough money to buy an island, spend the rest a' my life sunning myself surrounded by naked supermodels? Borrrring. No. What I'm going to do is improve things. That's the dream, isn't it? To prove that you're better at it than the entire swath of Human history? Talk about ego trip, am I right?"

Grip on head head up head down head up.

"Yeah, you know I'm right. So I got some stuff together, wrote up a business plan and went to see a guy who had the infrastructure I needed, see if we could work somethin' out. Who was it? You wanna know who it was?"

"You can't-."

"Bane, what did we say? What did we say? Thank you. I'm not gonna tell you that. But I will say, supervillain. Why a supervillain? Why didn't I go see Wayne or Kord, someone like that? Simple."

Face close.

"Villains act. Heroes, those paragons of stasis, react. I wanna change the world, change history. You think they'd.. let me? Or try an' send me back to my crummy future? No, I needed ruthless, determined, aggressive. I needed people who'd plow through every law and social convention to get what they want. Heroes? The Justice League was a great idea and now? Now they answer to the UN. Do they like being tied down? Is that the problem? One rush of beautiful madness makes them put on a costume that'd get them laughed out a' every costume party an' bondage club on the planet and get out there to punch face for the greater good, then they start havin' second thoughts? An' run away from it just as fast as they can? I'm gonna beat this clown-lookin' mass murderer half to death, then I'll hand him over to the police? In Gotham? I dunno. I dunno. I just knew… I couldn't work with them."

Stands. Gets box. Sits.

"Oh, don't worry, I don't put you in the same bracket as the rest of them. I know you hadn't been doing it long, you don't have the experience to see the extent of the problem. I do. We do. Even Bane there kinda gets it, even if he doesn't care too much. So, there's a plan an' a strategy and thanks to you, I get to play a big part in it. Why thanks to you? You got my predecessor arrested, that's why. Gonna be awkward when Crock finally gets out… Anyway, I was on the ground in Bialya gettin' the lay of the land and who should I bump into but you. I told Queen Bee she should just write off the agents she'd sent in, or kidnap some people an' do an exchange or somethin' but you just can't talk to some people. With you in the prison I knew the whole mission was a bust, but just because you can't complete your objectives doesn't mean you can't achieve something useful, right? Little bit a' Brain's hardware gave me a scan a' your brain, especially when you used your ring. Touching the barrier you put around that bomb with this little wand here gave me all sorts of information. I mean, if Bozo had taken you I mighta been able to get your ring anyway, but I think this works better. You know I had to go to Japan to get him? America's first combat robot an' I found him in some damn collection. Superheroes I just have contempt for, but collectors? People who actively hide away all this great technology? I can't stand 'em. They do more damage to Humanity's tech base than superpowered thieves or those poor underfunded try-hards at STAR ever will. Killed the guy in Japan myself. Didn't kill the old woman myself. I think it was… Well, one of these guys. Hell, I wasn't even gonna steal anything from her 'till she told me you were the one who gave her the Lazarus Box. When she told me that, I knew I had a way to lure you into my grasp so I called in Bane's people."

Stands. Walks to Brain.

"An' that's where this fellah comes in."

Drums Brain dome.

"It's not actually Brain in here. I just borrowed one a' his spare Travel Machines. Had a bit of a scary moment when you hit it, heh. See, when I got a look at the design I realised: with a little tweaking, I could make a brain inside it see whatever I wanted. And with a little help from a technological marvel called the Thinking Cap… Future versions won't even need telepaths inside them. Who was the volunteer from the audience, you ask? Thought I'd do the species a favour and use Edgar Cizko. Turns out, being a telepath doesn't make you immune to seven point six two hollow points. How's it goin' in there, Edgar? Anyway, set up like this he can bypass your ring defences and -let's be honest here- there was no way you'd beat him otherwise. The reason you weren't on top form when you stormed in here was him dialling down your brain power by between twenty to thirty IQ points -broadcast, 'cause I didn't know where you were- and the reason you can hardly think at all right now is him going full suppression. I mean, I'm still impressed. Usually that kills people. And, ahh. As it is he's still gonna burn out in.. mm, call it four hours? You're a lively one. And by burn out I do mean die. Just so we're clear."

Comes forwards.

"Think that's me all monologued out. Hope it wasn't too boring. Now I'm gonna go take this little ring of yours and make a few changes to the world, kick some sense into a few people. Deliver some toys int' tha hand of people who'll use it, not just stick it in a big box and ban the other kids from touching it. Get out there, grab the Human race by the balls and drag it where I want it to go. Oh? What's that you say? What about democracy? The wisdom of crowds? Shouldn't I try an' include normal people in all this, share what I know and trust them t'make the right choices? Pfffff, no. They've had their shot an' I saw where it went. I've seen that history, remember? And? Between you an' me?

Closer.

"Not. Too. Good."

Away.

"What am I gonna do with you? I dunno. I mean, anyone else, I'd just kill 'em, but you seem to be on the right track with that Winchester and using the Ice Fortress to repair the ice caps -you were serious about doing that, right? Course you were.- and I do sorta owe you for gettin' me this shot. Tell you what. I'll let Bane decide, shall I? Huh. No, say it out loud and it really doesn't sound as generous as it did in my head. Okay, how about this? Bane, when I've gone, turn the neural inhibitor from 'total suppression' to 'chaff generation' and give him a chance to convince you."

"Sí."

"Be honest about it, now. Give him a chance. Just be sure to keep him here for at least half an hour. Given what we know, I'm interested to see what he comes up with."

"Sí. I will give him a chance. Then I will kill him. I am not some Gotham energúmeno playing games with people. I am a professional. I do not leave enemies alive behind me."

"Well, you do what you can. Have fun now. I know I will."

Walking away. Footsteps. Door.

"Perdición. We do him now?"

Orange glow backlighting.

"We were hired to do a job. He is the patrón. Armando, Fabiao, hold him."

Pressure. Lifting. New face.

"I remember you from Santa Prisca. You held me back when that zagal with the S on his shirt hit me."

Face closer.

"I will give you your chance. And then, when you fail to convince me? Then I will kill you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:45ish GMT -5
Maybe

Agwhgwhwaaah.

Bane waves a hand in front of my face. "You back with us, mi amigo?"

I look over at the Brain issue travel machine. "I don't suppose you could turn it down a notch more, could you?"

Bane nods. "Could. Not going to." He takes a knife out of his belt. Not all that big, really. Big enough though. My eyes follow the line of the blood release groove. "Come on then. Explain to me why it is not best for me just to kill you."

Did Bullock get away? Maybe. I didn't hear him say anything after my attack started and I doubt they'd have been able to kill him without some noise. Just have to hope that help is coming because I really don't think I'm up to convincing this audience.

And the ring. Just have to hope he isn't a quick study.

"Gratitude?"

"Gratitude? What am I supposed to be grateful for?"

"On Santa Prisca, after we beat you and your team… Followers. Militia men? I did a full purge on your system."

"You made me shrivel up and you stole my mask."

"Venom has a range of physiological side effects. When I purged you, you were already showing-."

"You expect me to believe that? I know what Venom does to people better than any man. I've been using it since I was a little niño. More than twenty years. If it did that to me, I'd be a drooling idiot."

I shake my head. Can't move much else with these two holding me up. "You're unusually resistant. You're not immune, and I do note that you're not using it now. Have you found that you're.. better able to plan, now?"

He purses his lips, then gives a slight nod. "Maybe. But I'm not go'n let you live just because of that."

"Okay. Um. I could pay you to let me go?"

A narrow smile. "A superhero offering a bribe?"

"Your employer said you could choose, so you wouldn't be failing in your duties if you did. I mean, you're mercenaries, right? It's all about the money, isn't it?"

"There is a bit more to it than that. If I kill you, it builds my reputation with future employers. Además, you did attack my factory. If I don't take revenge, I look weak."

"Kobra attacked your factory. And we left it mostly intact and I'm pretty sure you got it back afterwards."

"How much money?"

"Two million US dollars for you, half a million for each of your men."

"You got it on you?"

"No, I've only got a couple of thousand on me."

He holds up his hands, palms upwards. "You see my problem. How do I know your word's good for anything?"

"Because I'm a superhero? A breed of person generally known for their honesty?"

"Mmm, I don't think you realise how much you're worth dead, muchacho. Queen Bee and the Witch Boy don't like you so much."

"They tell you why?"

"No."

"Klarion hates me because I stole his cat. Queen Bee hates me because I built a giant naked statue of myself in her country."

Bane's mouth opens slightly, and closes again. He squints at me. "Are you making a joke?"

"No, seriously. Doctor Jones messed around with my mind… It's near the border with Saudi Arabia if you're ever in the area. It's about half a mile tall." He stares at me. "She had her army put a giant sheet over it with helicopters."

"Ay, caramba. If I hadn't heard about the cake I would not believe it."

"So, do we have a deal?"

"No."

"Okay… Let's turn this around. What could I offer you?"

"I can' think of anything. You've made yourself a target, muchacho. If I kill you everyone will know my name."

"Nothing at all?"

"Power means more to me than money. You got another ring?" I shake my head and he shrugs in response. "I got a pretty good thing going on here. I don't think I need what you're offering."

Must be something must be something. "One Hundred Bullets."

"Qué?"

"It's a comic, where I come from. There was this man named Graves, and he recruited people by giving them one hundred untraceable bullets and complete proof that this one terrible wrong in their life was the fault of one person."

"I grew up in a prison. I made myself this." He brings his fists to his chest. "The only other man responsible was Colonel Aiza, and I killed him years ago."

"And your father, of course."

The two Venom Buster enhanciles let go and then every member of Bane's crew takes a couple of hurried paces back. Um? What-? Gkahk! His hands go around my throat, lifting me off my feet and shoving me back against the shipping container!

"You know what I did to the last man who said he knew who my padre was?"

I gasp for air. "Never found?"

"They found bits of him. You know, I did not have a personal problem with you. I was going to kill you quickly. Now, not so quick." His hands tighten. I can't breathe, can't speak! I get my hands up and frantically point to the pale patch on my left ring finger where until recently the ring had sat. Unless he works it out or rescue turns up right now I'm going to die. "What, your ring? I can't hear you, muchacho."

"Arhkkkk…"

"You want to say something? You get two seconds, then I crush your windpipe."

I suck the air in as he lets go. "Genetic… Genetic scan. With the ring. I checked." I pant for a moment, then look up at his face to see him calm down. Only very slightly, but I'll take what I can get. "Not a guess. I know. Can give you information you can double check. Is that… Worth my life?"

He inclines his head slightly. "Talk. Fast."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:50ish GMT -5

"You can work out approximately where a person's family comes from by looking at their genes. Obviously, your mother was Santa Priscan, so once I had her DNA-."

He lunges forwards, slamming the back of my head hard against the shipping container. Ow! "You touch my mother's body?!"

"No! Of course not! I don't need to touch someone to scan them! I just needed to know which bits of your DNA you got from her and which you got from him!"

He stares at me. Something -presumably the neural dampener thing- is making it harder for me to see his soul than would normally be the case. I can see the rage-fatherhood association well enough, though. Really, I'm even more in danger here than I was with Dan… With Red Inferno. Bane's far less logical than she was. I can only assume my lack of fear response is due to the neural dampener as well. A moment longer and he lets go again, but stays standing close enough that I can't move.

"The partial copy of your father's-" A twitch. "-DNA showed that his family is English, probably coming from Surrey. You're, what, thirty one? So I knew I was looking for an Englishman who'd been on Santa Prisca between nineteen seventy eight and nineteen eighty, when Colonel Aiza's coup happened. Given that your mother was nominally imprisoned for treason, it seemed likely that your father fought on President Sebastion's side, and as it turns out, President Sebastion knew he couldn't trust the military and had a group of international mercenaries as his bodyguard. Did some digging through old news photographs and managed to get pictures of a lot of them. Most of their names were fake, but I did a facial recognition scan on them and started searching. At the same time, I started looking for other partial DNA matches, try and narrow it down a bit. I got positive results for both pretty quickly."

His eyes narrow, but there's a slightly thoughtful edge to it. "President Sebastion's bodyguards were killed. If you're telling me my father is a dead man-."

"No. A lot of them died when the military stormed the presidential palace, but a few managed to evacuate the island and get to Venezuela, including their severely injured leader. Official documents list him as 'Édouard Durant', but it's fake. His real name is Sir Edmund Dorrance, and he matches your nonmaternal DNA."

"This man. He is my father?"

"Well, I haven't spoken to him. He could be his identical twin, or perhaps his cousin if their fathers were identical-."

"If you want to live, do not make fun of this."

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just a bit nervous."

"Where is this.. 'Dorrance' now?"

"He's part owner of several fairly large companies in Hong Kong. Last time I checked, he was still there. His injuries left him blind, but apart from that he seemed to be in good health."

"If you are wrong, if you are lying to me, I will make you beg for death." He takes a step back and nods at one of his henchmen. "Llama al Calculador." Another nod and the two enhanciles close in on my sides once more. One last look at me and Bane strides off towards the far end of the warehouse out of sight.

The enhancile who I sonic cannoned is still out cold, and probably will be for several hours. One of the others has dragged him out of the way and propped him up against the shipping container to my left before going.. somewhere. The baseline henchmen are standing ready with weapons drawn, except the one Bane nodded at. He was the one who'd been on the boat earlier and he's got out a mobile phone and is muttering into it in what I'm going to guess is Spanish. No ring translation anymore.

"You a crazy man, talking about his father?"

I look up at the enhancile on my right. "I was out of ideas and about to die. It didn't seem like much of a risk."

"You don't sound stupid." He grins. "You must have bigger balls than I have, and mine are fucking armor plated now." The enhancile on the other side gives him an irritated look and makes a 'What-do-you-think-you're-doing?' shrug with his hands. "What, I can't talk now?"

"So, you volunteered for the armour plating thing?"

"Yeah, man. Have to be an idiot to turn down superpowers." He points at the guy on the floor with his right arm. "Hey, ah. Is what you did to Miguel permanent?"

"No, it's um… It's like getting punched in the head really hard. His brain's bruised and that's making him unconscious. He'll have a massive headache when he wakes up and he'll be deaf until his eardrums have healed, but he'll get better. If I still had the ring I'd have fixed it before handing you lot over to the police. Sorry, I didn't keep track. Which.. one are you?"

"I'm the one you threw in the water."

"Um. Sorry about that?"

He grins. "Why be sorry?" He punches me lightly on the shoulder, staggering me. "I like fighting superheroes. You are all so gentle. What's a bit of water to me? I grew up in a favela. You know favela?"

"Slum, yes. Studied them briefly in Geography class."

"They are not gentle in favelas. I join a kid gang at thirteen because it was the only way to be safe. I stab my first man to death when I was fourteen, and he wasn't much more of a man than I was. When I grew up some more I did jobs for people. I could fight and I could be trusted to do what I was told so the money was okay. I got noticed by a guy who sometimes recruits for Bane and I sign on with Bane for four years. I still have one and a half years to go. When they are over I am going home to Brazil as fast as I can. You know how much rich people in Brazil pay for metahuman security? I speak Portuguese, Spanish, English and Terêna. I make a lot a' money."

"Terêna? I'm not familiar with that one."

"You can't tell looking at my face anymore but my people are natives, from south western Brazil. My parents will probably think I look weird, but they can think I look weird from the nice apartment I will buy them in a nice part of town where they don't get woken up by gunfire four times a week."

"That's a… That's a nice ambition you have there. And.. the drug dealing..?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Way I see it, rich Americans want to poison themselves? Let them." He thinks for a moment. "Shame Bane didn't take the money. We just lock you in one of these containers, they find you in a few days… You smell of piss and shit, but you still alive."

The enhancile on my left looks offended. "Es su padre."

"I'm just saying, two million dollars can buy a lot of therapy, man."

May as well ask while I have the chance. "I meant to ask the last guy, but do those tears in your outer skin hurt?"

"You bet they fucking hurt."

"Okay, well, um… Assuming we all get out of this alive and I get the ring back… Give the Themysciran embassy a phone call when your contract's over and I'll fix them for you."

"Thanks, man. That's real nice of you."

"Or you could just get arrested before that."

"Heh, good one m-!"

"Perdición!" The henchman with the phone holds it up, and Bane stalks back to take it from him.

"Calculador. I have a question."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
20:55ish GMT -5

"I want a phone number for-." He pauses, presumably while the Calculator says something. Given what he's doing I'm going to assume that we're dealing with the Society-era information broker version, not the original 'keypad-on-the-chest' version. "No, I can' just phone enquiry service. You want the money or not?" I don't think the League has heard about him operating in this capacity yet. And he must be doing alright in it if Bane is taking back-chat. "Edmund Dorrance. Hong Kong." Another pause. "Because I have a bad wi-fi connection! No, his personal number. When I call it, I want it to be him on the other end."

Bane turns towards me, staring at me as he awaits Calculator's answer. I start to smile at him out of social reflex, then remember his warning and keep my face sombre. "So, ah… You guys get a lot of information from the Calculator?"

"Just because I talk to you about me doesn't mean I'm dumb enough to talk to you about work. Or interrupt the boss when he is in a mood like the one you put him in. Only got a year and a half to go, remember?"

I nod my head to the side and focus on listening to Bane's conversation. Just have to hope he doesn't start speaking Spanish or Mandarin. His eyes are still pointed in my direction but they've unfocused slightly. He nods. "Okay, I have it. This better be right. If I have to talk to some fucking secretary…" He nods again, once, then hangs up and starts typing in a new number. "Start packing up. I wan' to leave as soon as the half hour is over." There's a momentary hesitation -two of them glancing at me- and then they start moving. Three head further into the warehouse while the other two head towards the quayside entrance.

Bane finishes typing and spends a moment looking at the number. Obviously, whatever happens next won't necessarily stop him killing me but it will give any potential rescuer more time. Is Bane one of those supervillains who obsessively keeps his word? Am I overestimating my own importance? I really don't know. I watch as he reaches a decision and presses the 'call' button, then holds the phone back up to his ear. He's not looking at me anymore. After a moment a slight jerk of his head indicates that someone has answered.

"Am I speaking to Sir Edmund Dorrance?" A pause. "My name is Bane. I wish to speak to you on a personal matter. I have been told you spent some time on Santa Prisca as part of the bodyguard of the former President Sebastion. Is that true?" Another pause, this time a little longer. "Two very nosy men. It is true, then?" He nods. "It is a very dangerous country. No, I understand. I wouldn't either. I doubt it will be a problem." He looks in my direction. "Such men can be useful. No, I would say that they are both honest." He listens for a moment. "School? No. Anyone rich enough to afford that sort of education sends their children to schools on the mainland. And I think someone would get angry and shoot you. Yes. Because I wanted to ask you about your time there. No, I realise…" He nods again, waiting for Sir Edmund to finish. "I think everyone important involved in that is dead. Certainly they do not have enough money or passion to send someone to Hong Kong for you."

The talkative enhancile on my right nods. "We probably killed most of them. The military had to control everything. You can't work with people like that."

"No, you are right. I wanted to ask about the time before that. There was a woman… Her name-." His eyes flick to me for a fraction of a second before returning to the warehouse wall. "Yes. You remember her?" His eyes drift down slightly. "No, she did not. No, I understand… Yes. No, I have already taken care of that."

"You get away with this and you are the luckiest fucking man I have ever met."

"I prefer to put it down to preparation."

The three guys who went further into the warehouse come back carrying small crates. A few stomping footsteps and the fourth enhancile comes in from the quayside and takes the loads from them, then turns around and carries them out.

Those guys are a lot more intimidating when you don't have a power ring.

"After they found her they sent her to Peña Dura. Yes, of course. Six years. Probably, I was too young… Because I am her son. I have been told you are my father, that I have your genes. Yes. I had always assumed that it was one of the other prisoners, but unless I was born very early…"

Quiet again. The third enhancile comes back in and picks up Miguel, dragging him out.

"No, that would be foolish. A man is trying to trade this information for his life." A slight shake of the head. "I do not know. I had not planned to discover this today. No, I do not… I would still be interested to know what sort of man my father-."

His face darkens, a scowl forming.

"I do not want your money. I am my own man. I am Bane. I want to know because-. If you have heard of me, why-? It is not a matter of convenience, I know he is in prison. Do not call her that!"

Two of the henchmen head off again but the third is left in the unenviable position of needing to talk to the boss about something when the boss is busy. And angry. Been in that position quite a lot myself in my former life. He hovers, not wanting to get too close in case Bane decides to take out his growing anger on the closest object. Realising the ridiculousness of his situation, he glances at me then takes the time to check over his rifle. Look busy, the boss is around. Weird to see it in a mercenary rather than be doing it as an office worker.

"They were trapped! In two days we would have..! Why do you..? Oh." I get a frown that doesn't bode well for my longevity. "No, he did not tell me that. Still, if you would negotiate rather than-." Back to the phone. "Because I say it is. I am not some mindless cultist to be fed on lies and hachís. You will deal with me-! No, but I would."

My empathic vision flicks back on for a moment. Bane is almost completely red. What the hell is Sir Edmund saying to him?

"You will not talk to me like that! I have lived this long without you and I do not-. I do not-."

Uh oh.

"ELLA MURIO EN PRISION CUMPLIENDO TU SENTENCIA PLACENTA CANCERIGENA DEL FETO DE LA PUTA DEL BURRO!!"

I have no idea what Bane just shouted at his mobile but I think I'm about to die. His baseline Human henchman shrinks back and the two at my sides hunch down slightly. He stares around the room, runs at the man waiting to speak to him and grabs his Kalashnikov from him before throwing the phone to the ground and opening fire at it on full auto!

"ZORRA MAL PARIDA-!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBNAGBANG!

"-QUE LOS VAGABUNDOS-!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!

Come on, someone hear that!

"-USAN COMO SACO-!"

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!

"-DE ESPERMA!"

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG! Click.

"AAAGHHH!"

He hurls the spent gun to the ground and then turns in my direction, panting hard and clearly furious. He strides at me, pulls back his right fist and-.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ow
Pain

"… other injuries…"

Ughh?

Everything's… bright. Still, alive, that's good.

"… armor… way… other problems…"

Pain's coming from my face, but everything else… Feels alright… Don't recognise the voice… Okay, open your eyes. Open. O-pen. That's not open. Ring, Wholeness… Oh. Yeah. That's… Someone took it. Truggs. Should I have warned him about the whole going crazy thing?

"…not serious… check … dental … hurt …"

Huh?

"OW THAT REALLY FUCKING HURTS!"

I sit up in… An ambulance? The paramedic who'd been leaning over me with an alcohol swab backs up a little just as everything starts spinning and I slump back onto the bed-stretcher-thing. Uhuuuguh. Oh, oh there's the pain again.

"Orange Lantern. Orange Lantern."

"Ye-. Ow."

"Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, yes I can. Any chance of some sort of painkiller?"

"We don't have your records. I didn't know if you were allergic."

"Not as far as I know." We're not in motion, and the back of the ambulance is wide open. I think we're in the car park Bullock and I-. "Bullock, Detective Bullock. Is he okay?"

"A whole lot better'un you, that's for sure." Bullock rounds the back door with a wry grin on his lips. "Thought you said you could take 'em?"

"Truggs wasn't a hostage." The paramedic goes back to cleaning my injury and I try to keep my flinching down to a minimum. Pain. I haven't missed you at all. "They were working for him. Took me down with a telepathic weapon. He was trying to get hold of advanced technology, he had them kill Missus Gordon-Hewitt to try and draw me out."

"Doesn't look like it worked. Montoya says none of the other collectors-." I hold up my left hand. "Oh. That's bad, right?"

"Yes. I was on about ninety four percent power when I went down, so we've got a murderer who likes schizotech in possession of a full power ring. Please tell me someone's contacted the Justice League."

"Yeah, Firebrand took one look at you then took off." He frowns. "What the hell's schizotech?"

"Future anachronisms. Technology too advanced to exist but does anyway thanks to mad scientists and aliens. Firebrand was built in the nineteen thirties, and she's-."

Bullock squints. "She was what?"

"Built. Firebrand's a gynoid."

"Well, they probably feel better havin' another woman do it."

We stare at each other in mutual incomprehension for a moment.

"A gynoid. A synthetic lifeform designed to resemble a woman. Artificial intelligence with a robotic body."

"Oh, you mean an android."

"No, android -from the Greek andro- means masculine synthetic. Gyno means fe-. Oh, at last." I take the two white tablets and plastic cup of water from the paramedic, put the tablets in my mouth and wash them down with the water. "Thank you."

"No problem. Can you take your armor off? I wanna get a look at the rest of you."

I make a noise that's halfway between a cough and a laugh. "Funny story: it isn't designed to come off. It's a single piece. I usually just use the ring when I want to remove it."

"What do you do when you're not wearing your ring?"

"I wear the ring pretty much the whole time." I shrug. "Hasn't come up until now. I mean, back home I've got this X-Ionized knife that'd go through it, but if I can't get the ring back I'm probably going to need Superboy to rip it off me."

The paramedic gives the armour another once over. "That's a really bad design. What happens if you get injured?"

"The ring fixes it, usually. Not many things can hurt me through my constructs and my armour anyway, and if they do and it doesn't kill me the wound's gone in a few seconds. I hadn't thought that working out what happens if I get an injury it can't fix that doesn't kill me or damage the armour was worth thinking about. Oh, um." I turn back to Bullock. "We need to warn a Hong Kong national named Edmund Dorrance that Bane might be after him."

"Who's that?"

"Bane's father. Truggs told Bane to give me a chance to persuade him not to kill me before he left. Bane wasn't interested in money, so I told him who his father was."

"He didn't know, but you did?"

"Yes. There was a revolution on Santa Prisca just after he was conceived. His father worked for the government, got seriously injured before his men could get him to safety. Bane's mother got caught, and the military government took it out on her." I think for a moment. "When you're finished with me I'll try getting in touch with China's superhuman defence people. I think Ghost Fox Killer works in Hong Kong."

"We're watchin' the roads an' the rails. Four huge grey guys should stand out, but…" He shrugs. "Guess you don't become a supervillain if you can't dodge the cops."

"Got to be honest, I don't think that's a good idea. Finding four Venom Buster enhanciles will just get the police officers doing it killed. Oh, um, sorry, but I've got to ask for the pistol back."

"Hoping you'd forgotten about that." He pulls it out of his coat and deactivates it before passing it over. "Never even got a chance to fire it. That one guy you threw into the sea didn't even notice me."

I take hold of it. "After the fight with me three of them were still functional. If you'd had to fire it you'd probably have died."

He nods. "Probably. What you gunna do now?"

I turn so that my legs are over the side of the bed. When the paramedic doesn't object I gingerly lower myself onto my feet. Everything appears to be working. "Shout at my League superiors until I'm sure they are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Then, make sure my personal lantern is secure. He can't recharge without it."

"Can you.. deactivate the ring remotely?"

"No. I mean, I'll try, but I don't think so."

"What do you do if he just goes to ground and they can't find 'im?"

I think about that for a moment. Not being Orange Lantern anymore. Back to.. normalcy.

"Are Gotham PD hiring?" No. You lost the damn ring, make yourself useful. First step, get back to the cave. Testing that everything is still working I walk out of the rear of the ambulance. "Detective, I need a lift, and I need to borrow someone's mobile."

 

[Mr Zoat]

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

"…true, then you definitely can't let the other two… Hang on a moment." I lower the phone and turn to the Zeta Tube's control panel. "Computer, date and time please?"

"Fifteenth of December
Twenty one thirty seven, Eastern Standard Time"

"Thanks." I raise the phone again and ignore the enquiring looks from my assembled team mates. Artemis, Wallace, Kaldur and Red Arrow look like they were in the middle of a sparring session. Kon and M'gann are probably at Cadmus -or maybe on a date-, Zatanna's with John and -five hours ahead- Robert's probably in bed. "Can't let them go in. He'll just assimilate them and then he's got another ring, and probably their personal lantern as well. I realise this probably means we're fucked, but you're our only hope."

"Thanks fer the vote a'confidence, Paul. Anythin' else I need t'know?"

"He said he was from the future and he mentioned Kadabra, who damn near shat himself when he realised what I was. Assume at least basic constructs and assimilation."

"You sure he'd even know anything about usin' a ring? Rookies we get turnin' up on Oa…"

"Guy, he had phasing technology without the ring. Don't take anything for granted. You'll need a list of everything the League was storing-."

"Is storing."

"You wish. If he was telling the truth about coming from the future, he probably knows how all the stuff there works and exactly what to look for."

"Nah, I've got satellite coverage. He's in the front door but he hasn't breached the main vault yet. Okay, I'm goin' in. Wish me luck."

"You don't need it." I hear a dull bleep as the phone cuts off from his end. Can he win? He should be able to, and his orange light defences should at least prevent it from being a curb stomp. Can't believe that after the whole Ophidian merger thing neither Stewart or Jordan thought to ask him for tips on how to resist me. I don't know, maybe after getting overwhelmed by the Ophidian they didn't think the defences would be powerful enough to bother with. That doesn't sound very Greenie, though. I carefully put the phone into one of my belt pockets before turning to my team mates. I can answer a few questions, but I need to check on my Lantern. And the Ophidian.

Red Arrow crosses his arms. "Who's Gardner fighting?"

"Orange Lantern Nylor Truggs. I'm happy to answer your questions, but we need to walk and talk." I stride past him in the direction of my room.

Artemis blinks in surprise. "I thought you were the only one."

"Sadly, that isn't the case any more." The Star Sapphire's still in Sephtian's laboratory in a very heavily warded container so I can't even try using that. "All you need is an orange ring."

"Where'd he get it from?"

I stop suddenly, take a deep breath and make sure I've got eye contact before tapping the tips of my fingers against my chest plate. "See how my armour's not glowing? That's not a good sign."

"So you're out of power? Big de-."

I hold out my hands so the length of my fingers are clearly visible. Three sets of eyes widen. Red Arrow just frowns a little. "More like out of ring."

"W-! How?!"

I start walking again and the four of them fall in behind me. "Ran into Bane while I was in Gotham. He had a novel telepathic weapon that stuck me in a stupor. I could barely think, let alone use the ring. Truggs just walked up to me and pulled it off, and now he's attacking STAR Labs' San Francisco storage vault."

"That's where the League keeps stuff they take off supervillains!" Wallace recognises the significance then. Before the whole Roanoke Island thing I'd thought about offering them my assistance. Bit busy now.

"That's why he's going there. He did this whole monologue about wanting to improve the world by using it-."

"Don't you say stuff like that?"

I just manage to avoid rolling my eyes at Red Arrow. "If supervillains were capable of using their gear sensibly they'd have done so the first time. They're exactly the people who shouldn't have it."

"Is Lantern Gardner in need of assistance?"

"I really hope not, Kaldur. That thing I did to Teekl and Fatty? That works on people, too, and it's one of the most basic orange ring functions. Guy can defend himself from it thanks to his sessions with me but no one else can." I turn the corner towards the residential section of the base. Not much further. "I just hope the Ophidian's still listening to me. If she sides with Truggs…"

"What was the nature of this 'telepathic weapon'?"

"Doctor Edgar Cizko's brain, stuck in what appeared to be one of The Brain's travel machines. That's what Truggs said, anyway. Didn't have a chance to scan it for myself." I stop at my door and turn my head to look a them. "You might want to take a step back. I've got no idea what my lantern's going to be doing."

Kaldur shakes his head. "In your current state I am more resilient."

"Not to the psychological aspects." No one moves. "Okay, on your heads be it." I push open the door. Orange light everywhere, the lantern glowing like mad, floating in the centre of the room. When I left I put it back in a subspace pocket but apparently it can either leave on its own or at the Ophidian's direction.

Or worse, at Truggs'.

I walk towards it cautiously, orange light forming visible eddies around my arms as I hold them out. I don't feel anything trying to force me away, but I don't feel the Ophidian either. Try talking first? Meditating? Or just touch the thing. I never tried talking to her without the ring on. I hold my hands close to the surface of the lantern. Still nothing other than the light bending around my body.

"Ophidian?" There's no obvious response. No good. I want her help.

BABUM

No one takes our ring from us.

In a sudden motion I lay my hands on the lantern's-.

BABUM BABUM BABUM

Defiled! Unworthy, this man who thinks to command the ring we share!

Wisps of orange light throughout the room collapse back into me and for a moment I think I see the outline of the Ophidian manifested.

You are my Agent! None other!

The ring is mine. It belongs on my finger. It is wrong that it is anywhere else.

"Ah, hey, Paul?" I turn my head away from the lantern. Artemis is standing just inside the threshold and she shifts her weight a little uncomfortably. "You're not gonna.. merge with that thing again, are you?"

I lift my right hand away from the lantern and try to generate a construct. Nothing. Merging with the Ophidian… That's probably possible. In the comics Parallax only took hosts with no yellow ring. We'd have the full range of orange light powers. Heck, with my increased control we'd probably even stay separate people this time.

We will become one once more! All who stand before us will become our puppets!

No. I can still remember the way everyone looked at us last time. I need the ring back but I need my ingroup just as much. Ophidian, thank you for the offer, but no. I don't want to behave like that, to damage their faith in me in that way. I will correct the wrongness another way.

"Last resort only. There's no Zeta Tube near the STAR Labs vault, but…" An idea begins to form. "Maybe there's another way I can stop him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
21:40ish GMT -5

Climbing the mountain is much harder without a ring. "Owfff." Harder still when you're carrying a personal lantern that you can't let your augmented team mate carry for you because-

Agent! Join with me! Let us pull the bones from his still living flesh together!

-the Ophidian is still rather ticked off about the whole thing and I don't want to risk her possessing anyone else. At least I can be sure that Truggs won't be able to call on her to aid him.

Yes! For his impudent theft from us I will go to him and seize all that he has! His body, mind and soul will become-!

No. Ophidian- "Ugh" -I appreciate your support immensely, but we're perfectly capable of retaking our property without violating our moral beliefs.

Your moral beliefs.

And since you don't have any of your own, they're yours as well.

I get an impression of her pulling her head back in confusion.

If we change our behaviour in response to him then he's taken something else from us, hasn't he? And if we kill him we'll also alienate my friends.

A picture of the shocked faces of Kon, Alan, Diana and Zatanna forms in my mind.

Is that what you want?

In my mind's eye I see her head rock from side to side as she tries to adapt to the idea. From the way the lantern's glow dies down I'm going to assume that she's getting it. Okay, final ridge. I put the lantern down on the flat section above me before clambering up myself. I haven't been up here since I gave Artemis a close up of an asteroid and it looks like someone set up some lights up.

"Took you long enough."

I take hold of one of the lantern's handles and narrow my eyes at Red Arrow. "Excuse me, but my armour weighs more than yours, I'm hopped up on painkillers after getting punched in the face by Bane and my lantern doesn't come with straps."

"What are you trying to do, anyway?"

I straighten up, take a quick look at the completely fresh Artemis and Kaldur -really need to take another look at augmenting myself at some point- and Doctor.. um, Swamp Thing's trees. I think I remember that Swamp Thing has a copy of Doctor Holland's soul rather than literally being him so I suppose it isn't unreasonable for him to insist on the distinction. Are those.. quinces? In winter? Looking at them I feel a sudden impulse to try one. The brightly coloured drawings in the Swamp Thing comics really didn't make it clear what the person tasting them actually experienced…

Maybe later. I head towards the south west side of the summit and sit down, crossing my legs with the lantern on my lap.

"Lanterns can remote control their rings. When we practised, Guy struggled to call his from more than about five metres away but I don't think his heart was really in it. The longest distance I've ever controlled it over is four hundred metres, and I didn't try further than that because I don't like being that far away from it. San Francisco is about three thousand miles that way." I nod into the distance.

"Would it not be better to go to San Francisco and try there?"

Thought of that, Kaldur. "Guy will start by blocking Truggs' FTL as soon as he attacks but they can still fly very fast. If he feels something pulling at the ring he'll have to run. If I can't call it from here…" I shrug. "Then I'll have to try something else. On the other hand, if I can get it off his finger… Fight's over. Guy'll take him down before he can even start contesting it."

"Is that even possible?"

"Won't know until I try." I close my eyes and place both hands as close as I can to the glowing core.

Mine. The ring is mine. It belongs on my finger. It is an abominable wrong that it is not there.

No, come on. Think like a Lantern.

"This is my cause. This is my fight."

BABUM

My cause is the cause of avarice and humanity's future. Truggs said something about things not turning out well. He believes supervillains can do better? Utter balderdash.

Balderdash!

I'll do it. I'll make sure whatever happened in his timeline doesn't happen here and I'll do it without lunatics like him. Like them. If the Justice League isn't set up to handle that sort of job I'll start a company and recruit people who are a little more broad minded. I'll share technology with people who aren't mental.

"Shine through the void with orange light."

BABUM

I can't stand the idea of him being Orange Lantern instead of me. I remember what happened to Lex in the comics. I want to be responsible for revolutionising the way the Earth works. Arrogant? Hey, Orange Lantern here. There are other people I'd trust with it but supervillains have a record of bad decision making. I can't imagine them being able to improve things, certainly not in a way that couldn't be done better in a different way.

"I've claimed all within my sight."

BABUM

This world is mine. Its people are mine. Mine to protect and nourish. Mine to watch grow and thrive. And I'll be damned if I'm handing them off to a lunatic supervillain.

Ours!

BABUM BABUM BABUM

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

BABUM BABUM BABUM BABUM

The ring is a part of me and I will have it back!

BABUM BABUM BABUM BABUM

I feel a distant tearing sensation. I open my eyes. The core of the lantern is glowing brilliantly, easily outshining the electronic lights on the mountaintop.

Ring, come.

I keep staring into the distance. I've got no way to tell if this is working. I doubt that we could get a reliable image of Guy's location. Wait, is that..? I see a distant light in the sky. A plane? A firework of some kind? No, it's getting closer..! I stand -carefully putting the lantern down- and hold out my left hand.

The ring stops a metre ahead of me, floating in the air. It looks a little..? Oh. Macabre, but not entirely unexpected. I reach out a little further, taking the ring and its grisly passenger into my left palm and pulling it to my chest. With my right hand I carefully extract what I assume to be Nylor Truggs' ring finger by the damp and squishy end before thrusting my own left ring finger into the opening.

"Welcome back to the Orange Lantern Corps. You are Agent Orange."

The pain of my injuries and the fuzziness inflicted by the medication vanish immediately. I am whole again.

"Hah!" I hold the severed digit aloft in my right hand. "And this fucking finger is going on the fucking trophy shelf! Ring, recharge!"

A beam of orange light so brilliant that it's nearly white engulfs the ring and I see-.

The treasures of civilisations, fallen ages past. Bones stripped of flesh and marrow. Orange rings piled high around a dais and even more flying at speed around the chamber. Dozens, no, hundreds of Construct-Lanterns swarm around trying to grab them as a shrivelled figure glares directly at me with eyes filled with hate and madness.

"No! You can't have them! They're mine! My shinies!" His head swings left and right. "Find him! All of you, go! Find him!"

Oooh poop.

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
22:54 GMT -5

"Recognised, Green Lantern, one seven."

Guy materialises in the Zeta Tube opening. Oh, he's not even pretending now.

"Brace for incoming smug!"

Guy's grinning and he strides out, body glowing green. He stops before us and puts his hands on his hips. "Always said Orange Lanterns ain't all that. I hit Truggs so hard his ring fell off."

Artemis shakes her head. "Actually, that was Paul. He took his lantern on top of the mountain and called his ring back."

"Oh." I hold the aforementioned finger ornament up. "Ah, whatever, I had him on the ropes anyway." He points at me with his right index finger. "Credit where it's due though, you were right about him tryin' to assimilate me. I coulda got in real trouble if I hadn't learned to block you first."

"And did he attempt to use any sort of telepathic weapon?"

A spherical metal object appears from subspace. Guy catches it in his left hand and tosses it up and down. "Threw this little ball thingy. Didn't do much. The three of us got extra lessons on blocking stuff like this as soon as Salaak heard about the Star Conquerors. Not that I needed it; Kilowog taught me how ta resist telepathic attack in basic."

I watch the ball going up and down like a hawk. Or maybe more like a cat. "Because all Green Lanterns get taught that, or because he absolutely needed to know it due to him being unusually vulnerable to that sort of attack?"

Guy frowns. "Is he?"

"That's what this ring thinks. Didn't his homeworld have some sort of mass empathic field or something?"

"I dunno. Don't think he ever talked about it."

"Were you able to apprehend the thief?"

Guy freezes for a moment at Kaldur's question. Guy! "Aaaah. No. We were mixin' it up when his ring came off… The STAR Lab was a wreck an' he hid in the debris. I couldn't do a normal scan for him so I went through the whole thing carefully. He wasn't there. Security camera got a partial shot of him disappearing. Looked t'me like he had some sorta stone or crystal in his hand. He broke it then 'poof'. Gone."

Red Arrow tilts his head slightly to the side. "Do you know what he was there to take?"

"Everything, probably."

Guy shakes his head. "It'll be hours before the STAR people can do an inventory and find out what's missin'. Place looked secure but if he could phase through stuff…"

"Guy, do you want to…" I point at the ball. "To keep that? Because if not then I'd like to-."

He tosses it to me. "Knock yourself out, kid."

I catch it with both hands. Nylor Truggs' anti-Lantern telepathic weapon? Heck, yes. Guy.. probably shouldn't have done that, but now he has I'm going to spend the next couple of days analysing it. And on that note… "Guy, given how this happened, do you think you'd be allowed to share that telepathic defence stuff with me?" He looks a little dubious. "Come on, it's not like it'll give me an edge against you, but it does mean there's less chance of you having to deal with someone like Truggs again. Or the Ophidian."

"No promises. I'll have to check with some people."

Some Bobbleheads. "Come on, I'll help you teach J-." I look at my colleagues. Probably in the know, but I don't know for sure. "The other two how to resist assimilation and branding as well."

Guy tenses the left corner of his mouth. Not going to be an easy sell but I'm confident that he'll give it his all. "How'd you manage to call yer ring that far?"

"Muttering my oath while focusing on what it means to me. And, the Ophidian helped. Actually, might have caused a bit of a problem with that."

"What kind of problem?"

"When I recharged the ring after getting it back I sort of.. had a.. vision."

He raises his eyebrows. "Really?"

"First time I tried saying the oath, I got an image of the Ophidian looking at me, and that panned out."

At least Wallace looks like he believes me. "What'd you see this time?"

"Larfleeze. It looked like he'd felt what I was doing and.. unleashed his Construct-Lanterns to find me. Speaking of which…" I shake the ring and Fatty drops out. He lands on the floor at a crouch, looks around, then runs to my left leg and wraps his arms around it in a bear hug.

Huh. I reach down and pat him on the head.

"Anyone seen Teekl?"

Artemis nods. "Saw her heading to the power plant earlier."

I close my eyes for a moment. Yes, I can still feel her. She tenses as she feels me, then relaxes slightly.

"Wait a sec." Guy touches his right hand to his forehead. "You're telling me we've got a swarm of intelligent constructs with Lantern powers and one crazy ancient Orange Lantern heading here and you didn't start by mentioning that?!"

"I can't check it myself. And the impression I got was that Larfleeze couldn't tell exactly where I am. He was sending the Construct-Lanterns out to look for me and it didn't look like he was moving himself. Who's the Green Lantern assigned to the area around Vega?"

"Aah… Two eight two eight A is Green Man -he's a real pro- and.. his backup's a guy called Gretti. He's a flake."

"Try getting them to confirm it, and once the other two can block assimilation reliably one of them needs to go back to Oa and share the knowledge around."

Artemis looks puzzled. "If he's like you but crazier, why isn't he coming himself?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's scared of the Guardians taking the Orange Central Power Battery away. I don't.. actually know how hard he'd be in a fight. The Central Power Battery should give him unlimited charge and he's certainly got the avarice, but he's not that intelligent. It could be I'd already be able to beat him if I had the Ophidian supporting me. I'd just.. rather not find out until I'm sure." I look back at Guy. "How was Truggs coping?"

"I've seen worse. Only Lantern I've seriously fought before was Sinestro that one time and he just fights like a Green Lantern. Truggs fought kind of like you, only… More."

"More?"

"More. More fancy than any Green I've ever seen.. even more than you, but there was a lot less power behind any of it. Even used grenades. Not just that one-" He points to the… Let's call it a Neural Chaff Emitter, in my hands. "-but smoke, EMP and plasma as well. Apart from you and that Chance guy I can't think of any Lanterns who carry another weapon."

"Tool."

"Potaytoe potahto."

"No, I was calling you a tool. Seriously, sidearms. Look into it."

"Alright, if I'm doing this whole debrief thing, howsabout we take this to the kitchen? I could do with a beer-."

"Sorry Guy, no alcohol on base. Batman's orders."

"Eh, you guys pay attention when I talk and I'll make do with a soda."