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

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
06:56 GMT -8

It's only a little after dawn when we arrive at the house at which 'John Jackson's 4th Bi-Annual Leaving Party' is being held. The building is fairly large but there isn't quite enough space in the garden that I'd feel comfortable leaving the Bio-Ship on the ground. M'gann sets down in the car park to drop the rest of us off and then takes it up over the top of the house. We aren't on a flight path here so unless someone decides to fly a kite or something it shouldn't be a problem. M'gann can float herself back down invisibly when she's done.

Mister J'aarkn hurries up the path to the door and presses the doorbell while Missus Spencer, Kon and I follow on behind at a more sedate pace. Interesting that he doesn't fly. I mean, it isn't as if he needs to pretend anything any more. I know that M'gann's telepathy is unusually strong but I actually have no idea how her other abilities compare. Probably worth finding out at some point.

A moment later the door is opened by a heavily made up Asian woman. "John!" They kiss each other's cheeks. "You're early! Did you escape from prison again?"

He shakes his head. "Sorry, Casi. I think they got me this time."

"Oh no! What have they done?"

"Well, you know. Set a thief to catch a thief. J'onzz decided to sic his niece on me."

She looks past him at the three of us. "Which one..?" I hear a soft tap as M'gann touches down on the paving stones, then she makes herself visible again. "Nice suit." Miss… Casi turns back to Mister J'aarkn. "For a moment I thought she was going to be like you."

"My job is going to be open." He half turns back to her with what I am coming to recognise as his signature leer. "What do you say, Miss M'orzz? Interested in showing another generation of Humans the wonders of Martian physiology?" He wiggles his eyebrows in an attempt to wring as much embarrassment from her as possible.

And.. she.. doesn't go for it. Just as she starts to purple again she tosses her head and shifts form. "No." Her hair shortens and turns black and her skin goes from green to pearl white. "And I don't want your friends mistaking me for you, either." Interesting. I've seen her White Martian form but I've never seen her wear white skin while Human shaped before. Monochrome's a rather intense look. I like it.

"Ah well." Mister J'aarkn puts an arm around Casi's waist as he strolls into the house. There's a small porch which leads into an open plan living area. "Anyone you guys want to meet while you're here?"

"No." / "I don't really watch this kind of thing." / "Is Miss Smart likely to be in attendance?"

Kon and M'gann both stop dead to stare at me. Mister J'aarkn shrugs. "You'll have to give me more than that. Lots of people in this industry use different names. My first few movies were made with me listed as 'Jonathan Jerking'. Heh, or Joanne."

"Sara Smart. I believe she performs as 'Sally Sonic'."

Mister J'aarkn comes to an immediate stop. "That'ssss… Dangerous tastes you got there, kid." He actually looks a little nervous. "Listen, she's.. not good company. Why don't I just find you some nice-."

"I'm really more interested in her personal history."

"Oh. Well, I'll tell you now she doesn't talk about that."

"Will she be here?"

"Maybe." Miss Casi slips free of his arm and heads off into the house, looking just as uncomfortable as he does. He turns back to me. "Yeah, probably. She's got an invite anyway. Metaporn's not a huge genre." He sighs. "Ah, who am I kidding? She'd never miss an opportunity to wave her ageless tits in the sagging faces of her former co-workers. She'll be here."

"I understand that you've worked with her before."

"Yeah. Once." He flaps his hands dismissively at me. "Hey, it's your life. Talk to her if you want, just leave me out of it." He turns away, looking through the door at the far end of the room. "The four of you going to follow me everywhere? I kind of want to say 'goodbye' to my friends without you lurking over my shoulder the whole time."

Missus Spencer folds her arms across her chest. "I'm sticking to you like-." The leer reappears. "I'm staying close by you. The three of you can hang back. Check the perimeter or something."

"Rightyho." **Miss Martian, are we networked?**

**Yes. And don't worry about Jerking-.** Kon and I look at her. **About J'aarkn listening in.** Mister J'aarkn exits through the far door in the general direction of the heated swimming pool. Not sure it's really hot enough at this time of the morning, even in California. **His telepathy is fairly weak.**

**Any idea how he knew what Jade and Zatanna look like?**

**I think that was me.** Kon shrugs uncomfortably. **I felt.. something in my head. I was thinking about girls you might… You know. I'm sorry, but it was getting hard not to.**

**That's fine. Far better it be someone like him than someone actually hostile. Might be worth you joining in when Mister King next comes in though. I've found it really helpful for stopping that sort of thing.** He nods. **For now though, you and M'gann should probably stick together. Don't want him mentally nudging you off in the wrong direction.**

**Right.**

**M'gann, you can pick out his mind from just about anywhere around here, right?**

She shrugs. **He's the only other Martian around. Unless he's secretly a lot better than I think he is there's no way for him to hide from me.**

**Feel free to wander the grounds, then. Try to keep track of everyone who turns up and report anyone we should be concerned about. I'm going to try following Mister J'aarkn from a distance, just in case he tries anything with Missus Spencer.**

M'gann nods and turns to go back out through the front door. Kon goes to follow and then hesitates for a moment. **Um.**

**I know it's not standard bodyguarding protocol but our main concern is him. Mister J'onzz was right, he's got no history of violence.**

**No, it's…** He uncomfortably avoids meeting my eyes. **You wanted to…**

**Do you want to know why I asked after Miss Smart?**

M'gann looks curious too. **It does seem a little out of character. Not that… Whatever you…**

**Miss Smart is a Human enhanced by magic. I'm mostly interested in her as an object of study.**

Two slightly relieved nods. **That makes more sense. What can she do?**

**She doesn't age. She's in her seventies now and doesn't look any different to how she did in her late teens. If that could be replicated… I don't even know what it would do.**

Kon looks thoughtful. **Why was J'aarkn so afraid of her?**

**She's had a rather hard life, and.. as a result, has become a complete bitch. She takes particular pleasure in seducing married men, videoing their time together and sharing the video with their wives.** Sometimes it's like they do everything they can to make you not want to help them. **Or vice versa. I mean, I'm a bit disappointed at how weak willed they're being but the pattern is a bit obvious.**

**Is she a criminal?**

**Nothing criminal about adults making sub par choices. Even with encouragement. If I'd found a smoking gun I'd already have acted on it.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
07:22 GMT -8

I take another look around the pool area. **Anything interesting happening where you are?**

I hear her sigh through the mental link. **A few people have asked how long I've been in… You know, in the profession. I was sort of hoping that the suit would scare them off.**

**Should have added sunglasses and an earpiece.** Pretty good turnout considering the time of day. There's a little bit more flesh on display than I'm used to, but really no more than I might see on a Happy Harbour street in summer. The heavy makeup and.. um, 'forthright' mammaries are a more noticeable difference but I guess off the job people are just people. **Kon, anyone asked you that?**

**One guy did.**

**Conner glared at him so hard no one else has dared try.**

**If it's getting to be a problem just hang around Missus Spencer for a bit. Everyone here knows why she's here.**

**Has J'aarkn done anything?** I can hear a note of frustration in Kon's mental voice.

**He got a drink and then started doing the rounds. Right now he's talking to Mister Hyatt.** I look over to them. From the body language and the way they're laughing I'd guess that they were pretty good friends. Behind them Missus Spencer checks her watch.

**Probably just waiting for us to drop our guard.**

**Maybe. Or maybe -since he isn't a supervillain- he's still capable of recognising an unwinnable situation when he sees one.**

**Are you able to look inside him and see for sure? I'd.. still rather not scan him telepathically if I can help it.**

**Already done.** I double check anyway. **Small amounts of yellow associated with us, Missus Spencer and going home and from the amount of orange I'm seeing I'm going to say that he was being completely honest about how desirable he finds Humans. I can't see anything related to concrete escape plans.**

"Hey, are you with the Metahuman Department people?"

I half turn and-. Oh my goodness, it's porn star Barbie. **Excuse me a minute.** "I am indeed. What can I do for you?"

She beams at me. "You're English!"

"I was born in England, yes. I'm legally a Themysciran national."

"Themy-? Wait, like Wonder Woman?"

"Indeed."

"How did you manage that?"

"I did some work for Her Highness and -since I was stateless at the time- she.. made the offer."

"So are you, like,-" She makes a circling motion with her left hand. "-the only guy in the whole place?"

"One of two, though as I understand it male Olympians are free to visit whenever they like."

She pats my chest with her right hand. "Bet you're popular!"

"My first visit is next weekend so I can't say for certain. But I.. rather doubt it. Either that or we'll get mobbed as soon as we land."

"Wouldn't that be fun."

"Probably more awkward than fun." I glance across at Mister J'aarkn. Nope, still there.

Miss… Ring? Atchford? Okay. She follows my gaze. "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about John. He's a really nice guy. Why are you people going after him like this?"

"I'm afraid that I don't know. I only became involved in this case today, and in any case I wouldn't have any authority over the decision. From what I've seen of Missus Spencer she appears to be taking his previous 'no shows' somewhat personally."

"Is she allowed to do that?"

"Dispassionate professionalism might be the ideal but I doubt anyone will fault her. The conga line thing-"

She giggles. "Oh yeah, that was funny."

"-really didn't help matters. I have to ask, were their drinks spiked or something?"

"Hey, everyone here's clean." I raise my eyebrows and she looks away. "Theeeey might have had a bit of vodka in their beer. The.. barman probably misheard their order."

"Uh huh."

"So.. what do you do when you're not throwing people off the planet? You said you worked with Wonder Woman?"

I stare at her for a moment. "I can't believe it. It actually works."

She tries to frown but is defeated by botulinum toxin. "What works?"

"Glasses. Sorry,-" I shake my head. "-private joke. Um, I suppose the most accessible part of my job involves metal trading."

She looks at me sceptically. "Commodity trading? What, you work for the DMA in your spare time?"

"No, the three of us volunteered for this because they were short staffed. I've actually never worked for them before."

"Private security?"

"Superhero."

"Get outta town." I raise my palms to display the glowing sigils of the rings for a moment before closing them again. Her head jerks back slightly and she blinks repeatedly, first looking at my hands and then at my face. "Wait, I know you! You're-!

"Yes, the.. Cake Man." I'm starting to know how Lex feels.

"No, not that. You did that interview after that thing with all the kids disappearing."

"That wasn't exactly my proudest moment either."

"Really? 'Cause I thought it really brought home what a lot of people went through. I mean, my two spent the whole thing watching TV or sleeping, I didn't even think about what happened to kids on air planes. And, superheroes just usually seem to have it all together, you know? So perfect and distant and you were just so genuine."

Um. Right. I hadn't really had any interest in fallout from that interview. Hadn't bothered asking Ms Cobert how it played. I have another look around the poolside as I try to work out how to reply. "Thank you, I-." Oh, look who's trying to sneak away. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

"Hey, look, I didn't-."

I stride in the direction of the woman heading for the door into the house. "Excuse me?"

"Wha-?" She stops and turns around. Brown skin, curly shoulder length hair and a facial structure unlike his usual faces. "Oh, you're one of the people looking after Jackson, right?"

"Mister J'aarkn, knock it off."

She shakes her head. "I'm not-."

I tilt my head forwards and let my glasses slide down my nose a little, revealing my orange eyes for a moment before pushing the glasses back up. "Empathic vision. You might have changed physically but you haven't changed spiritually." I raise my right index finger. "Don't mess me about again."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
07:32 GMT -8

"So, yeah, they got the Talk almost as soon as they could talk." Miss Atchford leans back in her chair and raises her right hand expressively. "I'm not proud of my job exactly, but I'm not going to lie to them about it. And I definitely don't want Paige getting pregnant at nineteen like I did."

"I'm a little embarrassed to admit it-" I look around the room. "-especially here, but I honestly had no idea how Human reproduction worked until sex education class in Primary School." More of Mister J'aarkn's fellow performers have drifted in since his first 'just testing you', though I don't think the party has reached critical mass as yet.

"So.. you were how old?"

"Eleven, I think."

"Doesn't sound unusual to me." We both consider that line and start to smirk. "I mean, yeah, okay, okay. I didn't get started that early."

"I'm glad to hear it. I don't ever remember having 'The Talk' with my parents at any point. I mean, I'm sure they'd have been willing to talk about anything I'd asked…"

"Do you have that.. abstinence.. thing.. in England?"

"Not outside of religious institutions. I mean, I might be a little out of date, but…" I shrug and shake my head. "For me it was always one of those crazy things Americans do."

She feigns offence. "Oh yeah?"

"Silver rings, playing rugby wearing body armour-"

"Oh, you do not get to mock football!"

"-calling it football despite the fact that the players spend most of the time carrying the ball in their hands! How did that name even catch on?"

"I don't know, that's just what it's called!" We share a giggle. You know, I kind of thought this job was going to be annoying, but I'm actually quite enjoying talking to Miss Atchford. "What do you call it in England then?"

"American Football. Because you're the only people who play it."

"Oh, that is not true! They play it in Canada."

"They do?" Ring?

"Yeah, I dated this Canadian guy for a while who couldn't stop talking about it."

Uhh, traitors. "I was unaware of that. But, still, US and Canada." And Australia, sort of.

"How long have you been in the US anyway? Or do you just fly over?"

"A little over six months, and I do live here."

She gets a little more serious. "How'd you get a green card?"

"I.. didn't. To start with.. I was technically on a sticky wicket but-."

"A what?"

"Um, cricket? The three sticks behind the batsman which the bowler aims for is called a wicket. 'Sticky wicket' means a difficult situation, just as a batsman might experience on a waterlogged pitch. Anyway, yes, I was technically in the country illegally-."

"Ohh. So it's okay for you to do it, but John has to get thrown off the planet."

"The difference is: he can go home. I come from a parallel universe. I have no way to go back. I suppose I could.. build a habitat on the moon or something." That could actually be an interesting thing to do anyway. "But otherwise there's nowhere for them to send me to. And anyway, now I have a Themysciran diplomatic passport, so I'm here legally."

"And that.. Kon guy?"

"Born in the US. I suppose he should really have joint citizenship."

"And the albino Martian girl?"

"Ah-uuuuhhh." Actually, what is M'gann's status? It's never really.. come up. "I don't actually know."

"Ah hah! She's an illegal immigrant too!"

"I'm sure her uncle sorted.. something out…" Ring? Oh, no he didn't. Megan Morse legally exists but M'gann as M'gann doesn't. "I think Justice League facilities count as extraterritorial…" Though that only helps as long as she never leaves the mountain… I might need to talk to her about that.

"No, no, that's fine. One rule for her and another for John. Seems perfectly okay to me."

"Look, if I was the one making the rules I wouldn't kick him out either. Missus Spencer's really got the bit in her teeth over this whole thing, I don't know… Did he do something to trigger this whole thing?"

"I don't think so. I mean, he might've? He's pretty libidinous off-set. Maybe he hit on the wrong girl? Or, you know, guy."

"Or turned into a Dog and humped the wrong leg."

"Hah! Long as it was only a leg! Yeah, I can see him doing that. I mean, he's a great guy to work with, you know? Most of the time a girl looks like she's getting off in a porno she's just faking it, but with him? You.. usually.. don't have to. I guess it comes from being a woman part of the time."

"Or his telepathy. He knows what his partner likes and he can feel it when they like it."

"Huh. Yeah, could be. He's actually a good person to get paired with if you're just getting into the business. Not like Ron the Hedgehog." Her eyes widen. "You need to know what you're doing if you're doing anything with that thing."

I nod. "I can imagine." Actually, where is Mister J'aarkn?

"Are your Martian and Kon a thing?"

"They're dating, yes."

"Lucky guy."

"They haven't quite got that f-oh for goodness sake!" I get to my feet. "Would you please excuse me again?"

"Why?" She nods as she realises. "What's he done now?" I hold out my right hand. She takes it and uses it to come to her feet and I transition us to the first floor bathroom. "Whoow. Is that-?" She spots Mister J'aarkn. "Ow, eww!"

He's bent over the toilet, his head, arms and upper torso extended into a narrow column that is vanishing down the pipe. Damn, that's nasty. I reach down and tap him on his right hip. I mean, I could intercept him before he gets away but I'd really rather not.

"Kinda busy here." I blink as a mouth appears on his lower back. "It would be a big help to me if you could-" An eye appears near the mouth. "-go and distract-" The eye focuses on me. "-my… Oh. Hey, Orange Lantern! I was just.. doing some plumbing."

"Uh-huh. Well, when you're done, I'll pull you out and clean you off, shall I?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
07:45 GMT -8

"…chocolate sauce!" The man introduced to me as Dwayne looks up from the pool table and grins as he makes eye contact. "So that was the last time I worked with those assholes." I shudder theatrically and he chuckles as he returns to his shot. Dwayne is black, homosexual, and -from the string vest, short shorts and innuendo- clearly very much at peace with both characteristics. He takes aim at one of the striped balls -the American version of the game being played with striped and solid coloured balls rather than yellow and red ones- and takes a shot at the neatly arrayed balls. He doesn't use as much force as I would have done and as a consequence they remain fairly clustered up. He stands up, studies the table for a moment and then turns around, offering Miss Atchford the cue. "Bobbi? You playing?"

She waves him off with a shake of her head. "Oh… No… Not really my game."

Dwayne shrugs and turns to offer it to me instead. Ah, why not? "Okay, but I should probably warn you-."

"What? You some kind of limey pool shark or something?"

"No, I'm dreadful at the game." I walk up to the table, trying to get a feel for the layout. "I really mean it. You may want a helmet."

"Hey man, I always want helmet."

I wince as I bend slightly to check the shot I'm thinking of making. Sure, the ring could easily calculate the optimal trajectory and force, but the point of this is to have fun, not own all with an alien supercomputer. Okay, I think I can get the solid yellow one. Maybe. I bend a little further, put my left hand on the felt and bring the butt of the cue back-.

"Oh, hello!"

I close my eyes for a moment. "Hate to be a prima donna about this Dwayne, but could you possibly move a little further away?"

"No problem, man. No bigger black fan of Madonna than me!"

W-? No, never mind. I thrust the cue forwards, hitting the white ball cleanly and sending it into the yellow. Agh, angle was slightly off and it hit the green as well and it's… Well, at least Dwayne won't be able to pot it either. I straighten up and offer him the cue back. He makes a point of running his right hand down the shaft before taking hold of it. I step away from the table as he brushes past me and raise my eyebrows at Miss Atchford. She shrugs.

"So… Dwayne, how did you meet Mister J'aarkn?"

"Who?" He focuses on the table, walking around to the far side to get a better look.

"John, Dwayne. His Martian name is J'onn J'aarken."

"Really? I thought that was just his movie name."

"Most Martian languages use telepathy rather than the spoken word, but that's basically what it sounds like."

"Huh." He leans down to take a shot, using it to break up the ball cluster a bit more before holding out the cue butt first to me across the table. Again, he keeps his hand in place as I pull it free. "Was kind of going through a dry patch. See, there's work in gay porn, but there's more money in straight stuff. More people buying it. But since most of the people buying it are guys, they're mostly watching the girls. They're like, fucking them through you, you know? But they're all fat and hairy and whatever from spending all their time jerking off at their computers, so if you look too good, that's no good. Gay porn, no, you gotta look good for that. My body's my professional tool, know what I'm saying?" I nod and take aim at the ball with the green stripe. "And I can fuck girls. I mean, I'm usually thinking about something else at the time, 'cause if I can't I'm going to need a helping hand from Mister Blue, but I can do it."

I make the shot and-. Aww, it hits the side of the pocket and bounces out. "I'm not hearing about Mister J'aarkn's role in your career."

"Agent got me a job, fucking this ridiculous big titty thing. Script needs her to suck me off and give me a titty job. No way I could pretend I was doing a guy. The whole thing was doing nothing for me at all. They wanted a cumshot and I couldn't deliver." I pass him the cue and he leans forwards to make a shot almost immediately. The blue solid bounces off the yellow stripe and goes nowhere important. "Then, suddenly, I look down and there's this eight inch cock dangling down her leg. Now, I didn't sign up for no tranny movie but that definitely wasn't there when we started."

"Did that.. help?"

"Yeah, it helped. Like, half my movies are tranny movies now. Turns out, long as it's got a cock I don't much care about the rest." He stands up, looking contemplative. "Never would have found that out if it weren't for him."

"Ah. Well then, I'm happy for you."

"Real shame he's going away."

"Look, I get that he's a good guy. And I really hope-" Dwayne passes me the cue back. "-thank you, I really hope he can come back legally. But, right now, he's had all his appeals and he lost."

"I guess." Okay, even I can't miss-. Yes! Solid red number seven goes down the middle left pocket. I move around the table to take aim at solid purple. "You hang out with a lot of other superheroes?"

"From time to time. Please understand that I can't really-" Aagh, another miss. I pass the cue back. "-talk about most of what I know."

He takes a look at the table and then looks back at me. "You ever meet Superman?"

"Yes, a few times. I mean I don't.. know him well or anything. Are you a fan?"

"Something like that. Got a copy of his 'S' tattooed on the head of my-."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Because of how super it-."

"I-. I got it. I don't think I'll mention that to him if you don't mind."

"Not sure how you'd bring that up in con-"

**Get out!**

"-versation." A plume of water erupts from the pool as I look around. A somewhat stunned and bedraggled Mister J'aarkn swims slowly from the point of impact towards the water's edge. "Where'd he come from?"

**M'gann?**

**He tried 'just taking a look' at my Bio-Ship.**

**Everything under control?**

**How much longer do we have to stay here?**

**A couple of hours. Are you-?**

**It's fine, he's just… Ugh!**

"Flying practice."

"Looks like he's out of practice. You got any tattoos?"

"I'm sorry? Oh. Yes. Covered in the things."

"For real?"

"Tattoos and a few brands."

He raises his eyebrows and makes eye contact with Miss Atchford. "That's some heavy duty shit you got there."

"They're practical rather than decorative. You can get spells tattooed or branded onto your body and I needed a way to be more resistant to magic. Though speaking of heavy shit… What can you tell me about Sally Sonic?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
08:24 GMT -8

"Simon!" Mister J'aarkn embraces his lawyer with a smile. "Good to see you!" He's shape shifted his clothing into swimming shorts but otherwise has kept his slightly overweight Human form.

"John." Mister Leas hugs him back, if a little less enthusiastically. He's wearing a Hawaiian shirt and fawn coloured trousers. "Sorry I couldn't come up with-."

"No, no, it's fine." He pulls back a little, some of the sadness he feels showing on his face. Missus Spencer doesn't appear to be moved by it. "I'm just grateful you managed to put it off this long. Did you bring it?"

"Of course I did, John." He looks around for a moment before spotting a coffee table. "Shall we?"

Mister J'aarkn nods and they sit on the well cushioned chairs set up on either side of it. Mister Leas takes a small presentation case out of his pocket, sets it on the table and then pushes it over. Mister J'aarkn looks relieved. "Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to get these back." He turns to Missus Spencer. "Why'd you take these off me, anyway? I'd have thought you'd be glad for me to have something else to occupy my time."

"No alien technology in prison, Jackson."

"But they're just data recording devices! Look." He opens the case, revealing three gold coloured metal disks. Each one is about twelve centimetres across and divided into three concentric circles. The outer ring is blank, the middle ring is textured with what might be a representation of snake scales and the centre circle has what looks like it's supposed to be a representation of a Martian face. "Harmless." The case also contains a thin gold chain, which he attaches to one of the pendants before putting it around his neck.

Missus Spencer raises her right eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What's on it, your back catalogue?"

"Sure, but not just that. There's a copy of everything I know about Human society on here. If I'm having to restart my life on Mars I need something to work with."

"I dread to think what they'll think of us learning about us from you."

"I don't know what you're complaining about. I like Humans." He turns back to Mister Leas. "Haven't I always said how much I like Humans?"

"Hey." Dwayne nudges me. "There she is." I follow his gaze as Miss Smart walks in behind the lawyer. Her hair is done up in a high ponytail and she's wearing a plain white t-shirt with calf length trousers of red denim. Her whistle's on a chain around her neck, tucked in to her t-shirt. She looks… Friendly. Innocent, even. I suppose that explains her appeal. "You sure you want to do this?"

I look across the room to where Kon and M'gann have taken up position. **M'gann?**

**Her mind is… Ugh. It's... She's exactly like they said.**

**If it were easy, it wouldn't require us. Will the approach Dwayne suggested work?**

**Probably.**

**Is provoking her really such a good idea? This isn't exactly a tough assignment and Missus Spencer wants us to keep a low profile.**

**I won't start anything, I just need to get a closer look at her.** Miss Smart walks around the seats, leans down over John's shoulder and whispers something in his ear. He keeps it together better than he did when we talked about her earlier. Looking into her I see orange, red and yellow, yellow of the outwards, 'inflicting on others' variety. The texture of the orange is a little off as well. Not exactly a desire coming from herself, not exactly one imposed from outside…

"Because if you're not, we can just do the smart thing and head back to the pool table." He pauses. "Or we can go somewhere and you can show me your tattoos."

I turn back to look at him and give a slight shake of my head. "I don't know, Dwayne. Maybe she's right. Maybe I am just that shallow."

He gives a slight wince, but carries on with the script anyway. "You're being too hard on yourself. She was just having a bad day. Just give her some time to calm down-."

"Hello Dwayne." Miss Smart's right behind me. Sounds like she's kept her original accent. Either that or she's done what I've done and accentuated it due to being surrounded by the colonials the whole time. "Who's your friend?"

"Ah, this is Paul. He's one of the people making sure John gets his flight this time."

"Ohhhhh." She walks around the side of me and confronts me with a perfect pout. Puts me in mind of something Buffy might have done. "And why do you think John deserves to be thrown off the planet? Is what he's done so bad?"

"I don't make policy, Miss..?"

"Call me Sally." They did say she didn't like being called Sara Smart ever, so that fits. She goes from pouting to winsome. "Are you sure you can't do anything about it? He's a really great guy."

No, it's like the blue half of her personality spectrum is just gone. That's really odd. "I'm sorry, Miss Sally-" She giggles. "-but the courts have made their decision. If he fills in a visa application properly I'm sure that his request will be considered the same as any applicant."

She leans her head against Dwayne's shoulder and I watch him tense up. "That's a real shame. I'll miss having him around."

That appears to be a genuine desire. I see-. Oh, goodness me. I suppose when you can't be hurt you can… A shapeshifter can reach places other people just can't. Seeing her essence like this makes the sensation rather more immediate than seeing a recording. I wonder if telepathy has the same effect on the user? "It's nice that he's got so many people willing to speak up for him."

"It really is." I just about manage to keep my face still. I saw red, but she doesn't..? It's just there, it isn't linked to anything. That doesn't make any sense! If I didn't know better I'd think it was getting piped into her from somewhere. "Say, I couldn't help overhearing you earlier. You said something about someone thinking that you're shallow?"

Yellow that time. I get a glimpse of a man's face and start running it through the ring's facial recognition program. "Oh, it's… Um, a friend of mine." I have the ring control my body language. 'Tough guy talking about something personal'. She's more likely to stay put if she smells blood in the water. "We had a… Well, a disagreement. I wasn't supposed to be working today… We had plans.. then.. this came up…"

"Oh, I'm sure your 'friend' is just annoyed. Have you tried calling her?" She blinks in surprise and then puts her right hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, you didn't say it was a girl friend."

"Yeah, it… She is." Her acting is superb. Talented or a result of forty years working in the industry?

Miss Smart looks around, over to where Kon and M'gann are keeping watch over Mister J'aarkn. "Not her, right? Or is it? I can go talk to her if you think it would help?"

"No, not her. But I appreciate the thought." My scans of the whistle aren't showing anything special but my scans of her are. Minute vibrations throughout her body. Sound as a conductive medium for a spell, maybe? That could work. Her brain isn't that of a sociopath. She should still be capable of emotionally engaging with people. Why isn't she?

"Hey, Dwayne,-" She straightens up and gives him a slight shove away. "-why don't you go get us a plate of crisps and some dip. This sounds like something Paul needs to get off his chest. I've always got a friendly ear for people in distress."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
10:12 GMT -8

Mister J'aarkn looks at me sceptically as we walk across the airfield. "So what you're saying is, she's literally incapable of feeling hope, compassion or love?"

"I.. think so? What I do isn't like telepathy, and I don't have a planet full of other people who can do it with whom I can compare notes."

"Can't say I'm completely surprised." He ponders this information for a moment. "Is there something wrong with her brain? I'm not her biggest fan but if there's a biological basis maybe she could get it fixed."

"Not that I could see. It's weird; I kept nudging her to try and get an emotional response, her brain was lighting up in the right places but it didn't generate the normal emotional responses."

The guards on duty outside the hangar activate the mechanism which causes the hangar doors to start opening. Mister J'aarkn turns to look through the doors. "I'm sympathetic, but since I'm leaving the planet it isn't really my problem anymore."

"I was just hoping you'd.. picked something up."

He shakes his head. "Telepaths shouldn't go poking around diseased minds. Not without special training." He catches sight of his Bio-Ship and raises his hands wide. "Ahh! My boy!" His Bio-Ship responds by tugging on its clamps. Missus Spencer nods and ground crew remove them, allowing it to drift forwards. "Heh. Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually pretty bad at telekinesis as well."

M'gann gives the ship a quick look over and then turns back to Mister J'aarkn. "Your shapeshifting is pretty advanced, though. You can change far faster than I can."

"Well. That's biology. I've studied that, and it's not like I've been fucking twenty four seven since I got here. You attending an Earth college?" M'gann hesitates for a moment, then nods. "So… You're about.. forty, right?"

She shuffles self consciously. "Twenty four."

He blinks. "You haven't finished school on Mars? Oh, that's.. not a good idea. Especially with how strong your mental abilities are."

"I'm.. getting tuition here."

He shifts his head to match the one Mister J'onzz normally uses. "Military school? Look, I'm sure he's a great guy but he isn't a teacher. Manhunters don't get taught a lot of things you might-."

"No, there's a.. Human telepath."

He nods his head to the side. "That's a bit better. Still seems…" He thinks for a moment. "You got a shapeshifting teacher?" M'gann shakes her head.

"If that's a problem, I could ask if the Chinese have a Durlan they're willing to lend us."

Kon frowns slightly. "Or how about Plastic Man? He's a shapeshifter."

"Those might be able to teach application, but they can't teach technique like another Martian can." Mister J'aarkn reaches into his bag. "Ah, what the hey. I was sort of thinking about doing this anyway." He pulls out the case containing his amulets, opens it and takes one out.

M'gann leans a way a little. "I'm not.. sure I want to touch that."

"Oh, no, no, no. This isn't my fun recording. On this-" He holds it up. "-is everything I've learned from shapeshifting Human bodies. And everything else. Twenty five years of practice from the point of view of someone with no small amount of skill if I do say so myself."

"I'm not sure I want your.. skills."

"You've got the shape right, but the nerve distribution? The internal structures? Hmm?" He looks at her levelly and she glances away. "You're dating an alien, Miss M'orzz. They have different stuff. Heh, and they do different stuff with it. And if you want to do stuff the way they do stuff… Well." He wiggles the pendant back and forth. "It'll be far easier than working it out on your own."

M'gann reaches out to take it, then hesitates. "Don't you need this? Your research…"

"It's fine, I got a backup. I may be going home now, but I plan on coming back here eventually. And I plan on trying to get other Martians to come here as well. And that'll be easier if you make a go of living here."

"The, um…" She reaches out and takes the amulet from him. "Thank you."

"No sweat." He closes the case and returns it to his bag as his Bio-Ship drifts up to us.

Kon looks from him to the Bio-Ship. "If you're bad at telekinesis.. do you need me to lift you up?"

"I can float you up?"

"Nah. May as well leave the way I arrived. Katie, you wanted to see what Martians really look like."

"Not partic-."

"Like this." His body grows and reshapes, looking like… A green version of M'gann's true form. **Behold my majesty!** He spreads his arms wide. I think he's a little bit bigger than M'gann and he's noticeably more upright. The bits that are pale purple on M'gann are a slightly darker green on him. For some reason I expect his customary paunch to still be there in this form, but obviously it isn't. **Well? What d'yah think?**

Missus Spencer looks him over while I look towards the fence where the few news people who actually turned up are trying to get him in focus. "I'm underwhelmed."

**Curses! Foiled again!** He puts his right hand on the hull of his Bio-Ship and a portal opens to the interior. **Oooooh kaaaaay. Wish me luck.** He puts both hands on the lip of the opening and tries to pull himself up. Long arms: excellent reach, not so great for exerting force. We let him struggle for ten seconds before M'gann takes pity on him and lifts him up with telekinesis. He takes a moment to find his feet and then turns around to look back down. **Thanks. I was about to ask for a Martian friendly step ladder. How far up does American airspace go again?**

"Jackson!"

**Kidding. Kidding. Okay, here I go.** He disappears inside and the hole closes up.

Missus Chambers watches the Bio-Ship carefully. "Orange Lantern. You can fly in space, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not spending the next week escorting him to Mars the slow way if that's what you're about to ask."

"No, but-"

The Bio-Ship jerks in the air then drops to just above the ground. **Whoops! Had the damn thing in reverse.**

"-I'd like you to make sure he at least gets out of the atmosphere. I want him to go home, but even more than that I want this case off my desk."

"I suppose… Kon, M'gann, you alright getting home?"

Kon looks at M'gann and then back at me. "Actually, we thought we might spend the day here. Maybe fly up to San Francisco? Do some sight seeing?"

I nod. "Alright then. I'll just-" Mister J'aarkn's Bio-Ship tilts front end upwards and then accelerates into the sky, much to the excitement of the crowd on the far side of the fence. "-keep an eye on him. If you want me to pick you up when you're finished, you know how to get hold of me."

"Right, thanks. Um." Kon looks at M'gann, who's staring at the amulet in her hands. "You really going to use that?"

"I think I'll get Uncle J'onn to check that it's safe first. And not full of… You know."

"Good idea. Now, if you'll excuse me?" A nod from Kon and a wave from M'gann and I rise into the air before accelerating after Mister J'aarkn's ship. This shouldn't take all that long, but I don't want to turn into a permanent third wheel. Maybe Zatanna and I can get the work on the Fortress in after all?

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd January
06:29 GMT +8

When I first visited the Great Ten I did so by appearing at their headquarters in the Great Wall complex. The name is a bit of a misnomer; while the facility is close to the famous world heritage site with which it shares its name it isn't located in the structure itself. Even if it was somehow practical to dig into the ancient structure the cultural ministry would have gone berserk. Rather, the facility is located in the Ordos Desert in Shaanxi Province on the grounds that unlike a major tourist hotspot no one had any reason to go there.

But that isn't where we're meeting today. The Dragonwing operates out of Anshan Airbase in Liaoning Province and with the death of Captain Han on Friday the place is buzzing with all of the scientists who will be involved in the process of bonding his successor to the craft. Given my positive working relationship with the Chinese authorities I was the one tasked with returning their ship to them and I took the opportunity to make them an offer. Father Box's files on Durlan technology are sadly deficient, and those I took from Jordan's ring were rather lacking in detail as well. In return for all data they possess on Durlan technology I would endeavour to make the next Immortal Man's name more than an empty boast.

I stand on the far side of the hush tube's portal which opens into the north most interior wall of General Yen's office. I can see in but while they know I'm here they can't see out. General Yen is sitting at his desk while Chairman Jiang stands just behind him to his right. The general isn't actually a direct part of the Great Ten project. He doesn't have authority over their personnel once they transfer over from the air force, but as a practical matter he has to be involved in matters like this as one of his responsibilities is locating and training potential future Immortal Men. When Captain Han died there were six highly skilled and trained hopefuls waiting to jump into his suit, but until they do they're air force and they answer to Yen. The pilots on this base are also the ones called upon to give air support to the Great Ten's Xeno-Teams, though they usually aren't authorised to actually know what they're shooting at.

There's a knock on the door. The general just manages to avoid looking in my direction before straightening himself up slightly. "Come!" The door is opened from the far side and our preferred candidate marches through. Literally marches, legs and arms moving in a way which looks quite unnatural. Captain Chen is wearing black trousers and the Type Seven blue jacket, and he looks neither left nor right nor down as he approaches the desk, stamps to a halt and salutes the general. Yen returns it and Chen stands rigidly to attention.

Yen waves his right hand. "At ease, Captain." Without lowering his gaze at all, Chen shifts to the precise regulation definition of 'at ease'. Yen doesn't wince, but he does use his eye movement to convey that he thinks his subordinate is being ridiculous. He looks behind the captain and nods at one of the guards outside the room, who closes the door. Yen takes a breath and focuses his attention on Chen. "As you are no doubt by now aware, Captain Han -the serving Immortal Man in Darkness- has died. Though you are not currently cleared to hear the details of 'how', his funeral will be on Tuesday. Obviously your attendance is mandatory." Chen doesn't move or otherwise give any sign of having heard.

Chairman Jiang's eyes narrow slightly. "Captain Chen, the Great Ten project already has a robot. It does not need another."

Chen's eyes widen fractionally. "I apologise, Comrade Chairman." Oh? I hadn't realised he was gay. "I merely wish-."

Yen shakes his head. "We didn't make our decision on the basis of how well you can stand up straight." Chen starts to tilt his head to look at him, then catches himself and stops. "Yes, that means what it sounded like. You have been selected as the late Captain Han's successor."

Chen barely moves, but his heart rate increases and his brain is moving into full happy mode. Now that he has confirmation of what he was hoping for he allows himself to actually look at his superiors. "Sir, if I may ask..?" They both nod at him. "Captain Han has not been seen on base since Thursday. How long..?"

"Friday."

"I… Forgive me, but is there a reason why I have not begun the bonding process already? The records on the previous pilots indicated that it can take several weeks to adjust to the Dragonwing's control system."

Yen picks up one of the dossiers on his desk. "Colonel Li Lok, the Dragonwing's first pilot. A highly decorated officer, perhaps the best in the air force at the time. Even with what we knew about Durlan technology from our previous encounters he lasted a mere eight months." He pushes the dossier aside and takes the next one in the pile. "Major Li Yi. No relation. With the radiation treatment and the new interface designed with what we'd learned from the Qinghai Incident, he lasted a little under two years before undergoing the same meltdown you saw Captain Wei undergo on the day you first arrived."

"I understand that, sir. We all do. It is a price which any of us would be willing to pay."

"But would it not be better-" I step through the portal. His head snaps around and he instinctively reaches for a sidearm he isn't carrying. "-if you didn't have to?" Chen looks to his superiors for some sort of direction but they remain impassive. "You are expensive, Captain Chen. Your education up to this point, all of the fuel and munitions expended while you learned to fly. And the time it takes to get a man to your level of ability!" I take a few steps towards him. "To say nothing of getting to the point at which you are skilled enough with the Dragonwing itself to be let out on missions with it."

"Captain Chen." Chen tears his eyes away from me and looks at Jiang. "The intent of the Standing Committee on Metahuman Affairs on this matter is to move to a situation where it is no longer necessary for us to sacrifice our brave servicemen in order to use the alien 'Dragon Wing' vessel. Mister Grayven has offered to assist us in the improvement of the pilot interface system. To that end he has been granted high level access to our records-" And they were actually surprisingly honest about that. "-concerning our encounters with the Durlan menace. You may speak freely in front of him."

Chen nods before looking me over once more. "I believe I have read your file."

"Did they get my good side for the pictures?"

"What is not in the copy you read-" We both turn to look at Jiang. "-is that Grayven is the person who handed the Roanoke Island criminals over to us."

"My pleasure."

Chen looks puzzled. "I understood that he…" He turns his head in my direction. "That you were working with the Justice League."

"I am. But those four needed to die. China had the means and the will where the League did not."

Yen looks up at me. "Have you had any success in tracking down the last of them? Klarion, I think his name is?"

"Mmm. Some. Work in progress." Tracking him down is simplicity itself; Nabu has shared a spell with Zatanna that would almost certainly draw him out. The trick is finding a way to harm the bastard.

"He is also the main reason why Celestial Archer is on detached duty at present. Grayven has the confidence of the Committee in this matter."

Chen nods. "What is required of me?"

I point at a clipboard on General Yen's desk. "When you sign the documents relating to your transfer, there's a section on 'technological, biological and xenotechnological' modifications. They added a page authorising arcane alterations. Sign it and we can get started."

"Arcane?" He frowns. "Magic?"

"Both alchemical and.. modifications to the structure of your soul. Simply making you tougher wouldn't extend your lifespan due to how the Durlan picotechnology works. Increasing your ability to regenerate the damage they cause would, but it might interfere with your ability to make an interface at all."

"So what will you do?"

"To begin with I will simply monitor what happens during the interface process. Durlan technology is advanced but essentially mundane. There's no reason to suppose at this stage that I wouldn't be able to simply remove it entirely from your body and then reset you to remove any lingering damage."

"Then I would have to restart the bonding from nothing."

"Yes. Far from ideal. What I'm aiming to do is a little more sophisticated. In fact I.. don't think I can explain it fully in a Human language. By modifying the layout of your soul I should be able to fool the universe into not allowing the interface to harm you. I make no promises; it may well take several attempts before I can get it to work as intended."

"My service to China comes first. But… I have no great love of the idea of my time as Immortal Man ending with my body liquefied." He turns to the desk. "Sir? May I?" Yen nods and Chen picks up the paperwork. "Sirs, if I may ask: what does he get out of this?"

Jiang looks a little less disapproving. "As well as access to our data, Grayven will be working with volunteers from our Xeno-Teams on systems of further Human augmentation."

"The Justice League have proven… Reluctant, to embrace my methods. Fortunately for me the People's Republic is a little more.. far sighted."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd January
23:23 GMT

The fluorescent tube on the ceiling blinks and splutters as we stand in the small corrugated iron warehouse. Solidly constructed shelving runs around three walls, separated from the area John and I are standing in by what looks like a fairly heavy duty ward drawn in white paint on the floor. The shelving is three levels high, though presently only a small part of the shelves to our right have anything on them.

"Look, mate… I don't think it's working."

Each dead mouse has a little Nabu helmet, and is positioned in a protective circle decorated with an ankh. The circles on each shelf are connected in serial by copper wires which then go down the supports at each end to the focal point: Nabu's skull.

"We can't know that for sure."

"I think he'da done something if it was. He been back to Bialya since we visited?"

"Not as far as I know. " I shrug. "I can't monitor him the whole time. You're sure that the scry wards are working?"

"Since we're not up to our necks in golden ankhs? Yeah, they're working."

I study the room for a few moments. "The basic set-up's working though, right?"

John nods. "Anyone touching that wire would be in for the shock of their lives."

"Okay, we can't measure its effectiveness against him directly. Can we?" He shakes his head. "How long have we got the warehouse for?"

"I paid for a month."

"Money really isn't an issue. Would a different animal work better?"

John thinks for a moment. "Zoroastrians consider Dogs to be orderly." I wince. "Don't suppose you could scrounge up a Lamassu from somewhere?"

"Probably not, and I draw the line at intelligent beings. If there's power in the circuit, it's got to be going somewhere, right?"

"Could be loss in transmission. Or maybe we're just not getting through his defences."

"I thought the bones-."

He throws his hands up. "I know, alright! It should be, but it isn't." He shakes his head and takes out a cigarette. "Look, it's your money. We can keep this place going long as you want. I've got something else I need to work on for a week or so, but any idiot can do the physical stuff. Circle, ankh, dead thing, wire."

I nod. "I'm going to assume that it is working, just not enough to affect him visibly as yet." I take another look around the macabre set-up. "I can fill this up without it being a problem?"

"Yeah-. Well, the shelves, yeah. Don't just dump stuff all over the floor."

"Wasn't planning to." I look up to the ventilation system, where my -and Lantern Stewart's- contribution is humming quietly to itself. "Is the air purification system working?"

"Can you smell anything?"

"No, but my environmental shield tends to block out-."

"No, it's working fine. How long 'till we need to change the filters?"

"If all it's doing is absorbing gasses, a couple of years. Carbon chemistry's a universal constant. That'll get cut down if you keep huffing ash into it, though." He moves the lighter away from his cigarette. "This other project you've got going on. Anything I can help with?"

"Don't think so, mate. Bit of a get together of magicians, investigating some odd happenings. Doubt anything much'll happen and I've got your number if it does."

"Okay, but if it does? Don't hesitate, alright." He nods. "How was Tasmania?"

"Fucking miserable. Got to see a death camp through the eyes of one of the guards. Angie had to talk to the ghosts of the victims."

I tilt my head slightly to the side. "I'm not an expert or anything, but when you take your girlfriend on holiday somewhere, aren't you meant to go somewhere.. nice?"

He turns and walks towards the door. "Maybe I think it's fair warning. Not a lot of lounging on the beach going on in my life."

I follow on behind him. "You don't need to tell me how dangerous your life is. Maybe you just shouldn't go out with normal people?"

"She kept it together alright-" He turns the handle and pushes the door open. "-and we got the information." I follow him out and he closes the door behind us. "Might even have helped a few ghosts escape their death dream."

"Are any of the people you're calling in to help likely to be willing to help us with our problem?"

He gives me a humourless grin as he locks the door. "I'm a bit sceptical about them being willing to help me."

"I can bribe better than you. Plus, they don't hate me already."

"I'm told that helps." He thinks for a moment. "Nat Kuhn might be able to improve the rig we're using here. Alba's basically one of your lot already. She never knew Giovanni and I'm not sure where she'd stand on Nabu." He shrugs. "I don't think any of them have anything essential."

"What about Map?"

"He's handy, no question there. Why single him out?"

"Worst case… Second worst case scenario. We can't find a way to remove Nabu peacefully or easily and have to fight him while he's still at or near full power. He can teleport. How do we keep him in one place so we can hit him?"

John lights his cigarette as he thinks about it. "There's ways of messing up someone's perception. Not sure how we could hit him with a spell he couldn't.. just…" He pauses. "Ah, fuck me. Map could cover all of London. You want to fight him here."

"I don't want to fight him at all. But if you can't think of somewhere better…"

"Bloody going to try." He leads the way down the path back towards the main road. "What's the worst case scenario, then?"

"Nabu finds out what we're doing and picks us off one by one as 'chaotic influences'. We still don't know what he did with the people he picked up on Roanoke. Or Onomatopoeia."

"Can't say I'm all that worried about what happens to mass murderers."

"It's the principle. Superheroes get leeway because they follow certain rules. Even Batman hands the people he catches over to the police for trial and sentencing. If someone in the Justice League has decided that they aren't happy with the status quo, if they want to start handing out punishment themselves…"

"Again, bunch of arseholes."

"Yeah, that's why I'm not kicking off about it already. But our society assumes that justice works in a particular way. If we let anyone have that sort of power, and there's no.. established and agreed on procedure for that to happen, then it's an arbitrary use of unaccountable power by someone who's doing it because they can." He doesn't look convinced. "You heard Nabu; you're a chaotic influence. You want him coming after you? Or your friends or family because they've been influenced?"

"Who watches the watchmen?"

"Everyone. And they have a rather depressing tendency to take their lead from us."

"What about when you do it, then?"

"Citizen's arrest, technically." He opens his mouth to make a smart response and I put up my hands. "I know I've been the beneficiary of that slack. That's why I try hard not to overstep. But I honestly think that Nabu considers himself the highest possible authority already, and.. that… Doesn't bode well for the rest of us."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Homecoming

3rd January
06:54 GMT -5

The four of us wait patiently outside the external zeta tube terminus for Garfield and Missus Logan to arrive from Qurac. I haven't been back here since the first day I came to the mountain but aside from the grass getting a bit longer nothing much has changed. Kon and M'gann have their standard school bags containing the small pile of homework they were set over the Christmas holiday period. They're also carrying torches as the sun won't be up for another quarter of an hour or so and we're some distance away from where the street lighting starts. I hope Garfield doesn't get too jetlagged from the travelling back and forth every day. With the seven hour difference he's coming from early afternoon to early morning and he'll be going back from Mid afternoon to late night.

Diana's wearing a pink coloured formal blouse, dark blue business jacket and a matching pleated knee length skirt. It's slightly strange seeing her dressed like that. When I've seen her out of uniform before it was either in what I think of as Themysciran clothing or casual wear. Combined with the glasses and the altered hairstyle I could just about understand her passing un-. Well, not unremarked upon, she's still a strikingly attractive woman. Not noticed as being Wonder Woman, perhaps. Just about.

I still don't understand how glasses work so well.

Something else I learned today: Diana owns a car. And can drive it herself. No diplomatic number plates either. I don't.. think she has a cover identity. Is she planning on turning up around town as.. Diana Kent? That would be weird.

Kon's looking at the car as well. "Not that I'm complaining, but we've been walking to school just fine since September."

"I know. But your principal has been requesting a meeting with your parents." She smiles fondly at him and he reciprocates. "And since that is now me I thought it might be best to show my face around the school gates once in a while."

Kon nods, then freezes up. "Ah, I don't think I've done anything wrong?"

"I know you haven't. Your teachers have been extremely impressed by the level of knowledge you've displayed in your lessons."

He shrugs. "The G-Gnomes did all the hard work. I just have to remember it."

"Maybe we should offer the school their services. Do wonders for their league table position."

"Regardless of how you came by the knowledge, the fact remains that you're considerably better informed and more academically able than most students in your grade. The school may want to offer you a chance to study at a more advanced level."

"Oh. Ah. Great. I guess."

She smiles at him fondly. "And I'd like to be able to spend more time with you in public."

"You can do that now."

"Kon-. Conner, we talked about this. Deciding not to have a secret identity isn't something you can take back. If you're still set on abandoning it by the time you finish High School then I will accept your decision, but until then I expect you to maintain it." He nods, clearly not entirely happy with the situation.

Not sure what I think on the subject. Themyscira probably has some sort of civil list type arrangement. It's not like Diana pays for the embassy by selling her own action figures or anything stupid like that. Could the Genomorphs use him as a PR rep? He'd need to increase his visibility for that to be the case. He hasn't mentioned to me finding one part of his education more interesting than the rest so I can't really try suggesting careers. Superheroing's his life so the hours would need to be very flexible… It's the same problem I have with Donna: converting super strength into cash just isn't that easy.

"Recognised, A one nine, Marie Logan."

A flash of light from the phone booth and a slightly dazed Missus Logan gets out. M'gann immediately lights up and scurries over to her. "Hi Marie!"

"Good-." She pauses, taking in her environment. "-morning Megan. I still don't think I've quite gotten used to-."

"Recognised, A two zero, Garfield Logan." He materialises, takes a couple of quick steps forwards then nearly trips up on the uneven ground but manages to catch himself.

M'gann walks over to him and kneels down. "Hey, Garfield. Ready for your first day of school?"

"Yeah? I think so." He looks even less certain than he sounds. He distracts himself by studying the one member of the group he doesn't immediately recognise. His eyes narrow as he regards Diana, and then they suddenly widen. "You're Wonder Woman!"

She inclines her head slightly. "I-."

"Now remember, Garfield." Missus Logan bends down to lecture her son. "You're not allowed to talk about Megan or Conner being superheroes with anyone they haven't already told. Or that you come to school by zeta tube."

"Yeah, I know." He bends around his mother to look at Diana. "But you are, right?"

"Sometimes. But today, you can just call me 'Diana'."

"Okay." I suppose he's probably a bit young to appreciate that level of familiarity from her. "Is Missus Reilly here?"

Diana looks at me. I shrug. "Um, she's in New York at the moment."

"Oh, okay." He looks around the group again. "Is it time to go yet?"

Diana consults her watch. "I suppose it is. I'll be driving you-."

"I call shotgun!" He dashes towards her car and then stops suddenly as he gets a better look at it. "Awwww… I thought you'd have a secret agent car or something!"

"I prefer my vehicles to be road legal. But you're welcome to sit in the front if you like."

Missus Logan walks up behind Garfield and pulls him into a hug. "Remember to do what your teachers tell you. And try and get along with the other kids."

"Moooom."

She kisses him on the forehead before letting him go. Diana walks over to the car and opens the passenger side door for him. He hesitates for a moment and then jumps in.

Kon and M'gann head for the near side rear door as Diana walks around to the driver side. Kon gets in first while M'gann stops next to the door. "Why were you expecting Miss Reilly to be here?"

"Oh. I was worried Mom might get lonely with me being here and Miss Reilly said she'd make sure she didn't. She's been at the sanctuary a lot lately. Mom says they're best friends." He pauses for a moment. "Well, she said they were 'special friends', but that means the same thing, right?"

Huh?

M'gann gets in as Diana turns the key in the ignition and the car pulls away.

Huh?

Missus Logan stands next to me, sagging slightly and with her right hand over her face. "Tell me you didn't hear that."

"I… Didn't hear that? But.. that.. thing I didn't hear..?"

"She.. started.. visiting on a regular basis after you stopped by back in December."

"I… I'm sorry, I'm just a little surprised. Given the trouble she was having with social interaction… I mean…" I shake my head in incomprehension. "How?"

"How old are you again?"

"Eighteen. Oh, I don't-. I'm sorry, I don't mean to-."

"No, no, she.. said you'd helped her a lot. When she came back the first time… She.. noticed that I'd been.. looking at her. She was actually.. quite… Assertive."

"Assertive in a social situation?"

"She.. walked up to me. Naked."

"That that that is pretty assertive. Um. You do know that she-?"

"That she's a robot? That was sort of obvious when she stopped faking her facial expressions. I…" She exhales. "I've been.. cut off from the rest of the world at the sanctuary, since Mark died. It probably wasn't healthy but.. it.. got me through." She pauses, trying to get her thoughts in order. "It's been.. nice, having another adult around. She's good with the animals, great with Garfield…"

"And you don't need to worry about Bialyan patrols with her there. Well, I'm.. happy for the two of you." I nod, more to myself than to her. "Flabbergasted, but happy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

I͘͜͡ ̸̶́͏d̸͝͏͘o̴͞ǹ̛͝'̀͝t̸͢ ̕̕ķn҉͜o̶̧̨w̷̴̴̢ ̸͠͡͡͡ẃ̸̢́͡ḩ̢e̵̷̡͝r̢͘͘҉e̷̴͠ ̕͠I̶͜͡ ͠͝҉͡͝a̴͏҉͟m̴̶̢̧̢
̵w͏̢ḩ̷҉e͟͢͞͞r̡͟e͢҉҉͝ ͘͡I̡͠'̷̡̛͝m͠͏ ̵̶̷̡̕g̢͠o̷҉̷̨͞i҉̢̀͘̕n̵҉g̶̸̷̛
҉͠o̷r̷̛͘͡ ̸͜͡͠ẁ̸̧̧͏h̡̡͞a͢͞҉t̴͞͝ ̷̨̀͠I̵͘͘̕͠'͢͝m͟҉ ̡d̴̸o̴̴̧͢͝ì͘͟n̛͘ǵ̸̸͞͠
̸̀A̵͝ĺ͘ĺ̛͢͡͞ ̧̀i̵̕s̨̛͡͝͝ ̨̕n̷҉u̡͝͝m̴b̢͘

I continue walking down the deserted streets. Around me are signs of recent destruction but whatever caused it has long passed by. All but the most enthusiastic fires have died for lack of fuel and smashed walls have already collapsed and stilled. I step over the body of a man who looks like he tried to cut off his own skin with a pen knife and try taking a moment to assess the situation. In the distance I can hear muffled cries and moans, each one fading to nothing as I try and judge its direction or location. Having nowhere better to go and no real sense of place I press on; in such a nightmarish world surely one place is as good as another?

Destruction. I should have prevented this. It was my.. job, wasn't it? My.. my friends… My friends. Why can't I remember..?

"Aaarrrrwwwwwwooooohhhh!"

I feel… Dread. I'm a.. god, but that sound makes me feel so small. I keep going, keep walking, even though… Even though I know what's around the next corner. I step out of the side street onto what's left of Brompton Road, a vision of hell from some medieval painting. Wrecked vehicles, dead and dying men, women and children. The injuries vary but a quick glance shows many to be self inflicted. That, or caused by those immediately next to them as they in turn struck down their attackers. I slow from my habitual stroll. I.. don't want to keep going but somehow I can't not. My breath comes in short rasps, my heart races in a way it hasn't since… I can't remember.

"Rrraaaarrwwwhhhh!"

The very shape of the road draws my eyes onwards… And worse, upwards. At first my mind fails to comprehend what my eyes are seeing, a large.. vertical.. thing… It moves in my general direction but in the darkness I can't.. clearly.. make it out. Has a building collapsed further? No, that wouldn't-. It's a paw, and as it lands, as the ground shakes and I'm thrown to the ground my eyes move up further still, finally perceiving the monster that has doomed the world.

"Rrraahhhh!"

The great orange eyes, more holes in the blackness than eyes. The fur made of shadows, the great grey teeth, the snarling mouth riven by the insane rage and hate that drives it. Tiny as I am, it sees me now, a lone living thing amongst the desolation. I freeze, mouth dry and mind empty as its vast head plummets towards me and I thrust out my right hand, sheets ripping as I try to sit up in bed and just sort of flop back. It's it's oh thank goodness.

My heart's still racing and I'm still breathing like I'd run… Like my pre-ascension self had tried running a marathon and collapsed through exhaustion. I run my right hand across my brow. Actual sweat! My goodness.

"Ploong."

I look across to where Father Box and the ring rest on the bedside table to my right. My left arm is reaching out across the mattress towards… I'm reaching out to Jade. For comfort. I know full well she isn't here but in my panic I just instinctively…

This is ridiculous. This isn't the first time I've dreamt of the Shadow Dog but that was far more intense.. more real than any of my previous nightmares. The first time it happened I thought that perhaps I was seeing Apokolips or.. some Earth like interpretation of it but that, that was London. I pull my left arm in and push myself into a sitting position. Prophetic visions? Could it be a normal nightmare? A natural product of all of the changes and stresses I've been through? Or is someone just messing with me?

That, I can do something about.

"Ring."

It obediently flies out in front of me. I hold out my left hand and it drops onto my left ring finger.

7th January
02:16 GMT -5

Seriously? Two o'clock..? Ugh. I push the torn sheets aside and lift up off the bed before landing on the floor. My mouth's still dry and I doubt that I could get back to sleep again. I head to the door of my room and then out along the empty corridor, leaving Father Box behind. Kitchen. I'll head to the kitchen. Give myself time to calm down and plan out my strategy. And get a drink. I still feel a little unsteady, which is strange in and of itself. The ring or my own divinity should have sorted that out by now. This.. suggests that high end magic is in play. I wouldn't have thought that Morpheus himself would have any reason to target me. Too subtle for Klarion. Maybe if it had been a cat… But… Dog made of shadows. That reminds me of something. Can't quite…

I hear pouring water from the kitchen just up ahead. When we moved into the mountain I intentionally chose a room that would be close to the 'action areas' both so that I wouldn't have far to travel and so that I would be the first thing a potential home invader would run into. But an invader wouldn't run a tap. Can't hear a voice… I take a moment to consider my state of undress. I've taken to sleeping in loose fitting silk trousers. Is anyone likely to be offended? Wouldn't think so. I push open the door and walk through.

Tao looks up, then returns the kettle to its stand and turns it on. He's wearing blue -and I hesitate to think of it like this, but damn it they are- kung fu pyjamas. "Grayven. What brings you here at this time of the night?"

I trudge over to the kitchen table, pull my specially reinforced chair out and sit down. I don't really need the reinforcements anymore but they do rather serve to mark out my chair. "Nightmare. You? Time zones still messing you about?"

He shakes his head. "No. A nightmare with me also. I thought that perhaps some tea would assist me in returning to sleep." He considers his cup for a moment and then looks at me enquiringly. "Would you like to try some? It is a most soothing blend."

"No, thank you." I send a filament to the cupboard and the fridge. "Hot milk for me." The fridge door opens and one of my bottles of fresh milk floats out to land on the table before me. I set one of my oversized tankards down beside it as I unscrew the lid and pour the liquid into my drinking vessel.

"If.. I am not overstepping my bounds..?"

"What was it?" He nods. "No, that's… That's fine. I was walking through a ruined city, death and destruction everywhere. To begin with I didn't recognise it as London, not until I-."

"Came out onto a major thoroughfare." Tao meets my eyes for a moment, then looks away, nodding. "It was Beijing for me. And when I came out onto the road-."

Oh, this is not good. "A huge Dog-."

"Made out of shadow."

"This is bad, right? I don't have much experience with-."

"Forgive me if I am intruding." Tao and I both blink and look around as Kaldur walks in through the hangar entrance. "I.. heard voices. And I believe that I could benefit from the company." For nightwear Kaldur appears to prefer a green, blue and red speckled cotton shirt with navy blue cotton trousers. And -for reasons which I can only guess at- a scarf. I thought he didn't feel the cold?

The kettle bubbles and pings, prompting Tao to pour the near boiling water into his teapot. "Your company is always welcome, Kaldur. But.. may I enquire? Do you flee as we do from nightmares of a great Dog made of shadows?"

Kaldur's eyes widen slightly, then he nods. "It had destroyed Poseidonis. Everywhere was in ruins. I was the only one alive."

I grimace. "The same dream with some localisation. Ring, show me our team mates in sequence."

An orange image of Kon's face appears over the table. He's sleeping peacefully. The image shudders for a moment and is replaced by one of Mat-. Of Mitchell. Must get him used to being called that. M'gann's also fine. Richard's sleeping like an unusually smug log.

Kaldur frowns slightly. "If the effect were targeting the mountain…"

Wallace is pacing his room. Artemis' eyes are wide open as she presses her head against her pillow. Raquel's comatose. Zatanna is sitting on the side of her bed, shaking slightly. William is asleep peacefully. I dismiss the last image. "And all the ones affected…"

Kaldur nods. "Are people you have Awakened." He glances at Tao. "Or were Awakened by another."

I nod. "We have a problem." And then I squint and shake my head in frustration. "And what the hell is with that scarf, man?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January
02:18 GMT -5

He raises his right hand slightly towards it, then stops it half way. I roll my eyes and take a drink from my mug. Self conscious about his choice of night apparel? It is a fairly hideous scarf. I think I've seen him wear it a couple of times when he's come in from a walk outside and needed something to cover.. his…

"Something wrong with your gills?" He looks down slightly. "I can have a look if you want but if the problem is arcane in nature you would be better off consulting an Atlantean doctor."

"My gills are.. not.. precisely the source of the problem." Both of his hands go up and delicately start unwinding the scarf. I frown in curiosity. I wonder what exact-. Oh. "You had told me that those who undergo the Awakening may undergo certain.. physical changes-" I stand up and walk towards him, staring at his neck. "-but I did not realize that this was what you meant."

Oh my goodness me. "I didn't either. May I-" I gesture with my right hand. "-touch it?" A shallow nod and I run the three middle fingers of my right hand along the smooth skin of the left side of his neck. "How long..?"

"They had felt strange for a few days, but there was no physical change until I awoke this morning. Can I assume that this is not something you intended?"

"Not specifically." I take a half-pace back, left fist tapping against my lips. Jolly odd. I was expecting the Awakening to exacerbate deviations from the Human physical norm, not eliminate them. Though.. I suppose… "Have you tried breathing water?"

He shakes his head. "Not since I woke up."

"Does it hurt?" I turn to look at Tao, who now has a cup of tea in his hands. "It seemed like a pertinent question."

"It does not hurt. In truth-" The fingers of his left hand follow the path mine took moments before. "-it does not feel like anything. The discomfort at having gills in a dry environment to which I have.. had become accustomed is gone."

Ring, scan.

By your command.

Without Father Box by my side what the ring shows me is too limited to draw any firm conclusions from. The grafts.. appear to be expanding, but that… The dream. A surge of magic might accelerate the progression. That makes sense. "This is fascinating, but I think that the Shadow Dog invading our dreams should probably take priority." Kaldur nods. "Assuming that you don't feel unwell?"

He flexes his right arm, making a fist and then relaxing it again. "I do not feel unwell at all. If anything… I would say that I feel…" He raises his right hand out in front of him and gestures upwards, his tattoos glowing faintly. Tao raises his eyebrows as his tea leaves the cup and floats upwards. Kaldur makes a fist and it freezes solid in the air. Ring, detail view. Kaldur turns his hand palm upwards and opens it. Tao's frozen tea vibrates and then vaporises in response, the barely detectable cloud of gas forming a haze in the air. From what I can see of Kaldur's metaphysique it looks like he's shifted to something more like a pureblood, the slightly angular shapes of the cruder version of the graft-spell used to allow him to live underwater changing into the more rounded shapes of the version Ahri'ahn created.

Fascinating.

But not pertinent. "Since you don't appear to have been disempowered, I'm going to suggest that we insomniacs arm ourselves and locate the source of our shared nightmare."

Kaldur lowers his arm and the tea returns to Tao's cup. He takes a sip while Kaldur stares at his own gently glowing arm. "I am not so powerful."

"Demonstrably, you are."

"This level of control and power is the province of senior battlemages."

"Or gods." He freezes for a second, then looks at me. "You're not bound by normal rules anymore. And I'll wager that you've retained the ability to breathe underwater as well."

He nods. "It would not be fair to wake those of our team mates who have school tomorrow."

"I agree. Why don't you and Tao get yourselves equipped while I do a phone-around. Zatanna is probably our best chance of detecting the source."

Tao looks slightly uncomfortable as he looks from me to Kaldur. "You wish for us to deploy without order from the Batman?"

Kaldur nods. "This is a response to an attack. We can act ourselves. Still, it may be best for us to keep them in the loop."

Ring? Ah. "It appears that Green Arrow has had a similarly disturbed night. I'll include him and-."

"Aaaahhroooawww." Mister Tawny stomps in from the hangar entrance, tail swishing and looking about ready to disembowel something.

I raise my eyebrows. "You as well?"

He walks to the entrance to the living area, turns and paces back. "Rrrrhhwww."

Tao edges away from the angry Tiger and puts his cup down on the sideboard. "I will prepare myself for our mission. Excuse me." He gives Kaldur a shallow bow and then skirts Mister Tawny to head in the direction of his quarters.

I kneel and Mister Tawny approaches me, rubbing his head against mine and making a throaty rumbling sound. I scratch his head with both hands and nuzzle back hard. "Bad dream, Mister Tawny? We all had it. We're going to find out where it came from and we're going to stop it." He pulls his head back slightly, just watching me.

"I will gather my equipment…" Something occurs to Kaldur. "Though I am not sure that I will still have need of my Water Bearers."

I nod, give Mister Tawny one last rub with my right hand and then stand, raising the ring to my left hand as Kaldur heads out of the room. "Ring, call Green Arrow."

"By your command."

A moment later I hear a ring tone. Ring, show me-.

"Uhh. Someone better be dying." The ring shows me a barely awake Ms Lance reaching over to take hold of the handset at her bedside. "Who is it? J'onn?" She shifts position slightly and realises that there's no one in bed next to her. "Ollie?"

Whoops. "I am most terribly sorry, sir. I was trying-."

She screws up her face further. "Grayven?"

"I apologise for aw-. For waking you up. We just suffered a psychic attack targeting the Awakened. I was trying to reach-."

"Oliver! Phone!" The ring shows her thrust it out in the direction of their bedroom's door as a sheepish looking Mister Queen returns, snatches it out of her hand and then beats a rapid retreat as Ms Lance buries herself once more beneath the covers.

"You just had to tick her off."

"Sorry sir."

"What's this about?"

"Everyone I know of who went through the Awakening just had the same-."

"Nightmare." His face grows sombre. "The world in ruins and a gigantic black dog coming after us."

"Just so. I was about to ask Zatanna to try and locate the source, and since you're the only Justice Leaguer to have undergone the process I'd appreciate it if you'd sign off on that."

"I'm not in charge of your team." He looks pretty rough, actually. "Is Kaldur okay with this?"

"Yes."

"Have you called Batman?"

"No."

"Alright, look." He sits down heavily at his kitchen table and rubs his face with his right hand. "You can get Zatara and Zatanna to look into it, but you're gonna need to get Batman to sign off on attacking anything."

I smile. Guess who I'm not sworn to obey. "Of course, sir."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January
02:28 GMT -5

Zatanna touches her right hand to Kaldur's head, four glowing triquetra floating around them on the inside of the protective circle on the floor. Tao is sitting cross-legged on the floor near the far wall, his eyes closed. Mister Tawny has taken to pacing around Zatanna's work area. Haven't had a chance for a decent two way conversation with him yet but he's still seriously wound up. It doesn't surprise me that Shadowcrest has dedicated, custom built ritual spaces for things like this. What does surprise me is that it wasn't better locked.

"So there really is a giant Shadow Dog of the Apocalypse?"

I return my attention to the image of Wallace just in front of me. "Perhaps. Something is certainly using high powered magics against us, and I see little profit in giving us insomnia."

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. "Ugh. If you.. need me, I can get ready in a few minutes."

"No, no. You have school later today."

"Oh, don't remind me."

"Zatanna can't detect any ongoing effect. If what we experienced was just the result some sort of arcane build up discharging, there shouldn't be anything to prevent you having a restful night."

"How did you even know I was awake?"

"Long range scan." He jerks, blinks, and then starts looking around his room. "Stop. Up a little. Bit more. Leeeft… There."

He looks directly at my point of view. "Dude."

"I don't routinely use it to watch my team mates sleep. Seriously, we-" I lean back as a book floats past me towards Zatanna. "-got this."

He nods. "Okay. Let me know how it went tomorr-. Tonight."

I nod and end the call. That makes everyone. Artemis was ardently in favour of coming with us but she was eventually susceptible to reason. Meanwhile I've been trying to rack my brains for anything I know about what this could be. Father Box hasn't got anything but from the way he's been ploonging he appears to find the whole situation fascinating.

Zatanna makes a circling motion with her left hand and the book's pages obediently turn. "Assuming that it actually is some sort of Dog creature… And it probably is; none of us are afraid of Dogs and the shape is too specific not to be intentional." The pages stop turning. "Ah, here we go. Kau I'pa, the Shadow Dog."

Kaldur looks at the book curiously. "Is that a bestiary of arcane creatures?"

"No. A Christian priest who worked in Tasmania wrote down a lot of the local people's myths and legends."

I smile. "Before the British ruthlessly exterminated them."

"No. I mean, yes, the British killed most of them, this was actually written from the accounts of survivors afterwards."

Kaldur nods. "What does it say?"

"Not much. There's a name, a description and a few vague notes…" She yawns, and the book sags in the air as she covers her mouth with her left hand. "It's supposed to be involved with some sort of disaster, but there isn't much actual information-." The door opens in a sudden jerk and Mister Zatara walks through, wearing a dressing gown and with a slim black book under his left arm. "Dad?"

He looks us over. "You cannot sneak into Shadowcrest without alerting its owner." He takes the book out from under his arm with his right hand and holds it up. "'When the doors slam open and the Great Dog comes running through our dreams, souls will be emptied like wine skins.' And you all shared the dream."

I nod. "You didn't?"

"No. But I had felt something.. strange, in the magic currents of the world." He gives Zatanna's ritual arrangement a quick look over. "You are attempting to track it back to the source?"

"Um. Yes?"

He nods. "You should not have begun such a work without me." She shrinks slightly. "But.. now that I am here… You may continue."

"I've.. taken psychometry resonance readings from Tao, Grayven, Mister Tawny and Kaldur." She removes her right hand from Kaldur's forehead and a fifth triquetra flickers into life, joining the other four. "Kaldur, could you step out of the circle, please?" He takes a step backwards. "Thank you. With these as a guide, a simple remote viewing spell should be able to follow the effect back to its source." The spinning triquetra form up into a pentagon in front of her.

Mister Zatara nods. "What about the potential for backlash? If this creature is powerful enough to affect your sleep even here, it could easily lash out and harm you through the connection."

"My spell has surge protectors. If something like that happens it just breaks the spell. It might not work if it's something smart and paying close attention, but I.. don't.. think that's the case."

"Then proceed."

She nods, takes a deep breath and holds out her arms towards the square. "Selpicnirp fo ecnanoser dna noitcennoc, dleihs em morf siht rewop dna laever ot em sti ecruos!"

A faint film of golden light flickers into being, its outer edge delineated by lines between the centre of the triquetras. For a moment I see a man and a woman sitting in a train carriage. The man's having some sort of fit while the woman and the few other passengers are staring out of the train window as the shadows outside form into the shape of a giant Dog-. Zatanna steps back as the triquetra shatter.

Kaldur looks at her with concern but she waves him off. "Was your spell showing us something that is happening now?"

Wait a moment. Giant Shadow Dog.. going after a train? Why does that sound familiar?

Ploong.

"Yes. In.. England. Somewhere near London."

Shadow Do-? Oooh shit. "We need to leave now." A boom tube portal leading to central London appears next to me even as I set the ring to search for every tra- there!

Mister Zatara nods. "I will accompany you. Should this require-."

"I'm sorry, but no. I can't trust you to keep a civil tongue in your head when dealing with John Constantine."

He freezes in shock for a moment and then his face contracts into a snarl. "Constant-!"

Filaments connect me to each of my team mates as I transition us through.

7th January
07:31 GMT

I land on the tracks about two hundred metres on from the oncoming train, my team mates a little off to the side. Off to the right I see the outline of the Dog itself, far smaller and less tangible than in our dreams. I thrust my arms forwards, orange light rushing along the track and flowing over the train as I break the connection between it and the electrified rail. It's still barrelling towards us. Carefully, now. Don't exceed the pressure tolerances of the hull. Lift… The front end starts to lift. Been a while since I tried lifting anything under these circumstances and I'd be lying if I said-.

"Niart esir ffo eht kcart dna emoc ot a etelpmoc pots!"

That helps. I feel the train's momentum just bleed away.

"Grayven, explain yourself!"

I'm smiling with relief as I look over to where Kaldur stands ready. His eyes are focused on the Dog. "The Dog isn't the threat. Look, we're in a major inhabited area here and it's focused on the train. If it just wanted to wreck the place… Why? Zatanna's spell showed us a man first. It didn't show us the Dog until it ran up to the window. If the magic came from the Dog-."

He nods in understanding. "It would have showed us the Dog before anything else."

"Exactly." I cut power to this section of track before depositing the train back down. Then two beams of orange flare from my eyes and strike a rune drawn in blood on the window of the carriage which the remote viewing spell showed us, disintegrating a large part of the side of the carriage. I try blasting Mister Spatchcock directly but the beams splash off with no effect. No, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? "What's say we find out what's really going on?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January
07:33 GMT

Ring, data.

By your command.

I lead the way along the side of the train. A glance into the distance shows that the Dog isn't coming closer. I can see it… Well, no, I can't, but I can see where it blocks out the lights behind it. I can't really analyse its body language. Did whatever runic protection whatever her name… Angela? Whatever Angela put up actually hurt it? Was it specifically designed to fight the.. thing, and has a glass jaw against anything else?

Zatanna hurries up to me and puts her right hand on my right arm. "Grayven-."

"The target is possessing the body of a man named Jason Spatchcock. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic as a youth but showed an unexplained cessation of symptoms after an.. 'incident' at the psychiatric hospital he had been living in."

"What sort of incident?"

"A town-wide riot in Stone Cross which saw the place invaded by strange men in wooden masks wearing robes and necklaces made of sewn together hands. The locals went mad and the invaders went about beating people to death with sticks."

I hear Tao put an arrow on string. "Was the Justice League involved?"

"No. By the time anyone from outside the area responded it was all over bar the screaming. Police haven't the slightest clue what happened and are hiding that fact behind a 'thorough investigation'."

I hear a 'swosh' noise as Kaldur activates his Water Bearers. "A cult of some kind? Perhaps a summoning that went wrong."

"That would be my guess."

"Though if Jason Spatchcock was indeed possessed, everyone else may simply have been a distraction."

Hmm. Might be, though I'd have thought that the cult would have picked him up if that were the case. "Jason was released earlier today, signed out by his sister Angela. His notes report him drawing pictures of a monstrous black Dog."

I look up at the train windows. More than a few fearful looking people peering out at us through the windows. How many of them have seen the Dog? And how many of them know us by sight? Some might recognise Zatanna's face but I imagine that my uniform is the one most recognisable. The ring notifies me as the emergency door release is pulled in three places on the far side of the train and people start fleeing. Not a bad plan, really. Phones are being rung -no harm there- and pictures are being taken of us. Bright inside, dark out here… My armour will be recognised. "Zatanna, I'm going to need y-." What am I doing? "Aqualad, I recommend that Zatanna check Mister Spatchcock over on the off chance that there's anything of the man left."

"Agreed. What do you know of the abilities of the thing that has him in its thrall?"

"Aside from the fact that it's epically powerful? I would guess that it has some sort of connection to the collective Human soul-."

"A parapsychic event!"

I glance at Zatanna and nod. Nice that she's keeping up. "Almost certainly."

"I.. am sorry. I do not know that word."

Zatanna glances back at Tao. "Most people don't. Tcetorp em morf ym seof." Her armour glows brighter. "Parapsychics are people with strong natural psychometric abilities. Their brains constantly interpret the mystical auras around them as sources of information."

I nod. "In virtually all cases they find it overwhelming. They usually end up in psychiatric institutions. That or hermitages."

"Whatever changes are happening to our souls, it looks like we were all sensitive enough to pick this up. It wasn't a spell or an attempt at dream manipulation, just the effect of this.. thing just being here."

We spread out slightly as we come up to the blasted away section of the train. Tao stands back, his bow raised at the target area. What do I remember about this thing? Zatanna drops back slightly as Kaldur comes up alongside me. The thing was essentially nameless, wasn't it? No definition for magic to tie itself to. Was the Shadow Dog supposed to have been created by the Christian god, or am I misremembering that? It feels strange to think about it as being a comic… I remember it creating suicides and madness in small quantities before finally cracking the collective subconscious. Don't remember it doing much else.

Shit, we're totally not ready for this.

I stand just next to the blasted section and hold up the three middle fingers of my right hand. Then two. Then I step around the rim and-. A terrified looking Angela shoves a mobile phone in my face. Kaldur works his way around to my right. Behind Angela I see Jason lying out in the aisle. He looks insensible.

"It's… It's for you."

Her right hand shakes as I reach out with my own and gently take the mobile from her and hold it against my right ear. "Do I have the pleasure of addressing Mister John Constantine?"

"Famous, am I?"

"You might say that." Angela shrinks back as Kaldur jumps on board the train. "What do you want?"

"Who am I talking to, exactly?"

"My name is Grayven."

"Really."

"Why don't you ask that.. Map fellow to set up some sort of remote viewing system?" Ring, track and trace.

Unable to comply.

"If you know who we are, why are you getting involved?"

"You have a reputation, Mister Constantine. Plus, you were going after the wrong target."

"Big fan of giant, world ending Dogs are you?"

Kaldur holds a runic stone over the recumbent Mister Spatchcock. It glows brilliantly for about half a second and then evaporates. "Mister Constantine, what is the defining feature of the thing you are trying to fight?"

"Not really in the mood for twenty questions, mate."

"It doesn't have a name. Adam supposedly tried to give it one-."

"And it screamed like it was burned, yeah. I got that from the Binei Gadol."

"What is the defining feature of a Dog, Mister Constantine? Or to put it another way, how are you able to recognise an inherently nameless and undefined being as being a Dog?" I hear an sharp intake of breath. "You've been led around by the-."

"That bitch in Tasmania-."

"British man asking a question of a ghost whose people the British slaughtered? I could guess what motivated her."

"Fffuck."

"Fuck indeed, Mister Constantine. Fuck indeed."

"Angie said the Dog was going after her brother."

"Schizophrenia doesn't just disappear. He's not in the driving seat any longer. And that's being optimistic."

"You got a magician with you?"

"Yes."

"Powerful?"

"Yes."

"'Cause everything I had set up was for the Dog, so I'm at a bit of a loss here."

"The entity has two known weaknesses. This will not be pretty."

Silence for a moment. "Pass me back to Angie."

I hand her the phone before reaching out to Zatanna with my right hand. "Zatanna, one nameless thingamy hiding inside Mister Spatchcock-"

Angela's eyes widen and she presses the phone to her ear. "John, what's he talking about?"

"-needs to be given a name. A defining name, you understand? As Adam once named every thing in creation." She nods and I help her up into the carriage.

"No. No." Angela collapses and starts to tear up. Kaldur reaches out in an attempt to comfort her but she knocks his hand away.

Zatanna stands next to Mister Spatchcock's head and kneels down, laying her hands on his head. "Yb eht Elpicnirp fo Lasrevinu Wal-" A triquetra forms on his forehead and his eyes snap open. "-dna yb eht…" She hesitates for a moment and then presses on, golden white light blazing from her eyes. "Yb eht ytirohtua detnarg ot Mada yb eht Ecneserp-" Mister Spatchcock is shaking uncontrollably now, a disturbing crackling noise coming from his throat. "-I eman uoy 'Yenrab eht Ruasonid'! Tel eht Wodahs God ekat uoy!"

Red mist streams from his body out into the night towards the Shadow Dog. The Dog opens its mouth wide and seems to breathe it in. Once all of it is gone the Dog's shadow body thins and fades into nothing. Quick check and yes, Mister Spatchcock is truly dead. Unfortunate, I suppose, but hardly our doing.

"Jason! Jason!" Angela throws the phone down and fruitlessly tries to shake some life into her brother.

Zatanna starts to fall back and is caught by Kaldur. Mission achieved and apocalypse averted then.

Hate to think what would have happened if we hadn't been here.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
13:49 GMT +3

I can't-! I can't keep this up! My eyes burn as I force them to remain open, transfixed by the gaze of my inhuman opponent. It feels like I've been like this for hours! Why did I get singled out, I… No no no!

I blink.

"I win again!" Cassandra beams at me before flying back across the Invisible Plane's passenger compartment to her mother. "Mom! I beat the Lantern again!"

Doctor Sandsmark looks at me with the grateful gaze of a parent witnessing their beloved offspring taking their excessive energy out on someone else for a change. "That's very impressive, Cassie."

I pick up the rings from the table in front of me and slip them back on my fingers manually. "How about a card game next?"

She floats back across the cabin. "Card games are boring. I don't know why you like them so much."

"Rummy and Seven Card Whist-" She tries to meet my eyes again and I make a point of looking away. "-are how my grandparents used to keep me entertained during family holidays." She drops to the floor, still trying to make me look into her eyes. I meet her gaze for a second, then close my eyes and smile. "Orange Lantern Corps regulations require that I spend some time each day in meditation. Would you like to join me?"

"What's meditation?"

"A process by which one clears one's mind and rearranges one's thoughts-."

"Boring!"

A five thirty start and I transitioned the plane most of the way. Couldn't do it all of the way as the wards protecting Themyscira need a bit of time to accept a fast moving aircraft. Donna and Kon are in the cockpit with Diana while I try keeping the Wonder Tot entertained. Did I have an attention span this short at her age, or is she simply excited about going somewhere new?

"I could make rings for you to fly through if you like?"

"Did you do that?"

"Did I do what?"

She huffs like I've said something stupid. "Fly through rings? Is that part of your superhero training?"

"Not as a Lantern, but when I was learning how to use my flight belt Lantern Gardner cr-."

"Which one's he?"

"The ginger one. He created-."

The door separating the cockpit from the rest of the plane opens and I feel the air move as Cassandra flies to talk to someone more interesting. "Donna? Are we nearly there yet?"

Donna makes an amused humming noise. "Not quite, but it won't be much longer. Diana wanted me to see if you want to watch from the front of the plane."

"Yeah!"

"Cassie."

"I mean, yes please!"

I hear Donna giggle and a moment later the door to the cockpit closes. Aaand relax. Not sure if I actually need to meditate any longer but I do want to try to set a good example for future recruits. The chances of them being immediately able to perceive that I don't need to are probably quite low. I wonder how having an existing group of warriors will affect how the Controllers relate to me? Are they going to want to transfer-.

"Is this your first time on Themyscira?" I open my eyes and Doctor Sandsmark smiles at me. "It's okay, the coast is clear."

"Oh, no, I didn't mind-."

"I know she can be a bit much sometimes. She's got so much energy. I used to think it was just youthful exuberance. Then she.. started flying."

"How's the support group been?"

She exhales. "Helpful. Sort of. There aren't all that many of us. Cassie likes having friends who can 'do weird things too'-" I nod. "-but seeing some of the other kids really brings home how lucky we've been. Cassie doesn't have any of the health problems some of them do, she can pass as normal if she wants to and she instinctively knows how to control her powers. Not that that doesn't create its own problems."

"Does she ever get tired?"

"Won-. Diana let her try weightlifting once. You've seen the weights-" I nod. "-she uses?" Diana doesn't exactly need to work out, but she has several sets of halteres and lifting stones enchanted for extra weight. Presumably they're either for training other people or maintaining mental discipline. "She got pretty tired out doing that. She still gets.. mentally tired, but sometimes she tries to get away with not sleeping at all because she doesn't feel like she's physically tired. Do, um, do you know if Superboy has the same problem?"

"He's never mentioned it. And.. I'm.. pretty much the team medic, so I'm going to assume not. On the other hand, his upbringing wasn't exactly…"

"Is he..? Really… Superman's son?"

"Genetically, yes. Kon is the result of an attempt to clone Superman. Superman didn't actually.. sire him, if you like. They don't really have any sort of social relationship." Kal-El appears not to have followed up on his desire to involve himself more in Kon's life. Maybe I was a bit harsh? I mean, everything I said was true…

"So, have you been here before?"

"Only very briefly, back when I first arrived on this planet."

She blinks in surprise. "I.. hadn't realized that you were an alien."

Huh? "Oh, no no no, I'm not. I'm from a parallel universe. Earth, but not quite like this one. Anyway, I just saw some moor land, a forest and the Temple of Gaea."

"You saw one of their temples? Do they use the classical stone column design or is it more like a stone building similar to the Erechtheum temple?"

"Gaea's Temple is more of a sacred grove cum pocket universe. There wasn't anything.. built there. I didn't actually get to see-" I feel the plane start to lose altitude as we come in to land. We'll be landing in the city proper this time. "-any of their architecture."

"I wonder if the ancient Greeks worshipped like that? That's the problem with archaeology: if there isn't a stone monument or something in writing we're often left just making educated guesses." She thinks for a moment. "I'm hoping I can speak to one of their historians. No one from the outside world has seen their records since the fifties."

"I suppose this must be quite an opportunity. As far as I know, their lifestyle hasn't.. changed all that much since the exile. Apart from not ageing and there being no men."

"Are they going to be alright with you and Kon?"

"Don't know really." I hear as we switch to vertical thrust as we come into land. "Just have to play it by ear."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
13:54 GMT +3

"Can I go out first? P-leeeease!?" Cassandra isn't quite sure where she should be directing the request, so decided instead to direct it out to the whole of the room. In the cockpit I can just hear the flicking of switches as Diana finishes shutting the plane down.

Doctor Sandsmark puts her right hand on her daughter's left shoulder. "I think we should probably let Diana go out first. This is her home after all."

Cassandra looks around in appeal. Donna shakes her head while Kon and I just smile at her. Wolf doesn't understand what's happening but wags her tail anyway. "Aowahh…"

Kon's wearing his normal casual clothing of 'S' t-shirt and jeans, though he's added a flight belt. Donna's wearing her armour. I had wondered if she was going to wear a chiton but she told me that the clothing was the one part of Themysciran society she wasn't that keen on. I saw her pack one for the formal dinner scheduled for this evening and I'm.. going to have to try to find time to design something for myself. I could either go with a robe of some kind in my signature grey and orange or design some sort of Orange Corps formal uniform. I've got the design of the Green Corps' formal uniform from Stewart's ring, though it's a bit.. vague. A Lantern Corps' uniform can't be particularly uniform due to the vast variety of cultures its members come from and the equally vast variety of morphologies they can possess. For the sake of consistency they can't even say 'humanoids do this, everyone else can do whatever'. At the moment I'm in my old bike leathers, though I might switch to a suit for our actual formal introduction to Queen Hippolyta.

"Everyone ready?" Diana leaves the cockpit and looks us all over. Diana is in her formal robes, though I happen to know that she has her armour on underneath them. Cassandra looks like she wants to renew her demand but her mother catches her eye and shakes her head before she can open her mouth. Nods all round, though inside Kon I see a minor resurgence of his old rejection related disquiet. Unlike in the period leading up to his adoption it no longer finds purchase to translate into conscious thought or action, but it's still living there. "Good." She frowns slightly as she sees what I'm carrying. "You intend to bring your lantern?"

I pat the carry case. "I feel bad about leaving the Ophidian in the cave all the time. She'll behave herself."

Diana nods. "Very well. You'll help Helena down?" I nod, and she presses the button to release the hatch. Almost immediately I hear the sound of the sea and the song of the local birds. From my position at the back of the group I can't really see what sort of welcome awaits us. I can see a.. partial view of the stone paved ground which the plane is resting on. I decided before we arrived that scanning around to assuage my curiosity would not be the right thing to do on an island that was probably accepting the masculine half of the species for the first time in over two thousand years only grudgingly. I'll rely on my eyes.

Diana's appearance at the open door is greeted by the thump of wooden shafts -the butts of spears, presumably- on the stone ground. "Hail Diana, Princess of Themyscira!"

"Hail, Mala." Diana drifts out through the door and heads towards the ground. "It is good to be..."

"Now, Mom?! Can I?!" Doctor Sandsmark sighs and then waves her daughter forwards. Cassandra heads out of the door at top speed.

"Is that..?"

Wolf ducks between Kon and Donna's legs and sticks her head out of the door. "Rraaw! Raaw!"

She starts leaning forward as if preparing to jump down. Before she can decide to make the leap Kon reaches down and picks her up. "How about I carry you down instead?" She squirms around in his arms and gives his face a lick. He heads out next, closely followed by Donna. They follow Diana in landing on the ground just outside the plane while Cassandra flies past doing a quick airborne tour of the plaza.

I bow to Doctor Sandsmark and hold out my left arm in the direction of the doorway, orange construct steps materialising from the lip of the doorway and descending to the ground. She smiles at me- "Thank you." -then walks out onto the first step. "I'm actually on Themyscira." She takes a deep breath. "Here I go." She heads down the steps, pausing briefly halfway down to take a good look around.

Just the Ophidian and I to go then. Environmental shield to minimum I float forwards out of the plane, closing the door behind me with a wave of my right hand. The leader of the group of guards greeting Diana -or at least the one furthest forwards, their armours all look identical to me- is blonde. Mala, I assume. The armour she and the three other guards with her wear consists of a solid steel breastplate -nearly flat rather than that ridiculous 'accentuated' stuff comic artists like to show women wearing- with pauldrons, greaves and a sort of studded leather skirt thing. Their helmets have red Mohawk plumes, their shields are round in the aspis style but metal rather than the traditional wood. None of them have a crest, though that fits the tradition of the period of the Exile. They carry xiphos type swords in scabbards attached to their left hips, though the blades are steel rather than the historical bronze or iron. I suppose Io and Pallas have had plenty of time to learn the techniques and arm their sisters.

I know that Mala used to run the prison Rose Canton was housed at, a job which involved her learning fluent English. Alan liked her. The others… No idea who they are. One has red hair and is very definitely sizing Kon up. And not in a friendly way. Odd though; I know that most Amazons have black hair. The other two have the more familiar olive skin and black hair and are watching Cassandra's antics.

"Mala, I'd like to introduce my son, Kon-El."

Mala gives a short bow. "It is an honour to meet you, my prince."

"Um. Thank you? Ah, you too."

"You already know Donna."

Mala looks her over. "Hopefully it won't take us too long to scrape the rust off her this time."

Donna puts her hands on her hips. "Did I hit your head too hard last time I was here?"

Diana looks up. "Cassandra?" Cassandra obediently flies down and lands next to her. "This is Cassandra Sandsmark."

"The… Zeus' daughter." In the background black haired Amazon number two scowls slightly.

"The same."

Mala kneels down to Cassandra's eye level. "It is a privilege to meet you, Cassandra."

"Hello Missus Mala."

Wolf takes the opportunity of Mala's face being down at her level to give her an investigatory sniff. Mala leans away slightly before standing up.

"This is her mother, Doctor Helena Sandsmark." Doctor Sandsmark starts to hold out her right hand then stops, presumably realising that there's no way for Mala to shake it while holding her spear and shield. "And this…" I take a step forwards and smile at her. "Is my student, Paul."

I nod to her. "Alan sends his regards."

"So, you're our new brother." She looks me over. "You seem rather orange for a Green Lantern."

I point my palms at her. "Power rings do come in more than one colour, you know."

"So I see." She turns back to Diana. "Princess, Queen Hippolyta has been informed of your arrival and is ready to receive you."

Diana nods. "Lead the way."

Mala and black haired Amazon number two take the lead. Diana and a slightly self conscious looking Kon follow on behind, Wolf sniffing at interesting new scents while being careful not to let her father get too far away. Cassandra takes a last look around and then goes for height, her mother looking up after her with an exasperated sigh.

Donna looks at Doctor Sandsmark. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."

"Thank you."

Donna takes off after her while Doctor Sandsmark and I follow on behind Diana and Kon with red haired Amazon and black haired Amazon number one bringing up the rear.

Seems to be going well so far.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
13:59 GMT +3

The city of Themyscira has two fortified walls, one ringing the outside of the city proper and a second one about two thirds of the way in, which contains most of the largest pieces of civil infrastructure: the palace, the senate -not quite as formal a place as it sounds- and the Great Temples of the five goddesses who made all this possible. And Hera. I always thought she was one of the five but apparently she missed that boat. The inner part of the city is quite a bit higher than the rest, though the city as a whole slopes up towards the base of what is either a small mountain or a large hill just a little inland from the city. Outside the city on the shore side is a small wooden dock used mostly by fisherwomen. There is a naval dock, but it isn't very big and I rather get the impression that they mostly maintain it out of tradition.

I'm not.. completely clear why the landing zone for the invisible plane is in the lower part of the city. Given how old a lot of this place is I'm going to assume it was just easier to make space there than it was anywhere else. The practical outcome for us is that we're having to walk through the city's main thoroughfare in order to get up to the palace and we're attracting more than a few curious looks. No one's screaming yet, which I suppose is a sensible minimal level at which I can count this first encounter a success. No one-. Oh, there's one, but no one else has been openly scowling at either me or Kon. A few have even responded in kind when I've smiled at them.

Odd thing you don't really notice unless you're looking for it: no children. The youngest woman I've seen looked like she was in her early twenties, though in reality she would have to be at least a hundred times that. On the other side of the curve, no really old looking old women. There's some grey haired women about, but even they don't look in any way decrepit or worn down. As I understand it the Blessing of the Five doesn't give everyone super strength or toughness of the sort Diana has, but it does keep them at or near peak health and vitality. If you were old when the Exile happened you'll keep most of your wrinkles but you'll never get any new ones and you'd have started to have a great deal more energy.

Heh. Sort of divine HRT, I suppose.

Over to our right I can just about make out the roof of the coliseum over the tops of the houses. They may have steel production but there's no real use of steam power. Grain is ground into flour either by the use of windmills or animal muscle. Cooking is done with wood or charcoal, or if you know what you're doing with magic. I'm not sure if they brought Horses and Donkeys with them or if the goddesses provided but both are here now. Only about a sixth of the population live in the city, though that increases during the major festivals. The rest live in small villages scattered across the island, mostly farming and a few mining.

Diana's fallen into conversation with Mala, and from the intent look on Kon's face I'm going to assume that following Mala's barb about forgetting her native tongue Diana switched back to Themysciran Greek. He's learning the language, but the local accent means that he struggles to keep up with native speakers in conversation. Doctor Sandsmark is looking a bit lost. Black haired Amazon two has taken the lead and the other two are back with the Doctor and I. Red Haired Amazon has to keep slowing down to avoid getting ahead of us as we take in the sights while black haired-. No, that's getting ridiculous.

I make eye contact with black haired Amazon one. "So, you know our names..?"

A polite smile. "I am called Dyctinna." She looks over at red haired Amazon. After a moment she coughs meaningfully.

Red hair Amazon huffs. "Orana."

"You speak our language very well."

"Oh. No. Sorry, I'm cheating."

"Cheating?"

"The rings I'm wearing have a translation function. You hear me in Themysciran Greek, I hear you in English."

Doctor Sandsmark looks at me. "And I'm just hearing Greek."

"Oh, sorry. Here." I extend my environmental shield around her. "That should do it, as long as you're in close proximity to me."

Dyctinna looks at me curiously. "Green Lantern's ring couldn't do that. Unless he was just pretending not to understand?"

"No, Alan's ring was damaged before he got it. No AI support. It really crippled a lot of what a Lantern should be able to do."

She shakes her head. "Aie.. Eye? I don't know what that means."

"Artificial intelligence. Um, golem mind? A device capable of processing complex commands itself without precise direction."

A sidelong glance from Orana. "Your rings do your work for you? That does not speak well of your abilities."

I shrug. "A general commands an army, they don't lead every unit individually." The left corner of Dyctinna's lip curls upwards in a smirk as she glances at Orana. Orana pointedly ignores her. "Alan having to do everything manually left him with simple, close range constructs. I don't have that restriction."

"Eeee-"

"So what-"

"-eeee-"

"-else can it-."

"-eeee!" Cassandra lands on the pavement and ducks behind Doctor Sandsmark. "Mom! Hide me!"

"Um, I don't think I can-?"

"Donna's gonna-!" Donna flies over the roofs, a big pile of damp seaweed in her arms. "Ah! Don't let the slime get me!"

Donna spots Cassandra, then makes a show of looking left and right as if she hadn't. "Now, where might Cassie be?"

"I'm not here! Owp!" She clamps both hands over her mouth. "I'm really not."

"Oh?" Donna grins and brandishes the seaweed. "Looks like someone needs to learn about stealth the slimy way!"

Orana looks upwards at her. "Donna! You can't just drop seaweed in the streets. Take it back to the coast."

"O-ran-ah." Dyctinna shakes her head. "They're just playing. Don't you remember being their age?"

"No. I don't. And I'm sure my mothers didn't let me throw seaweed at people." Donna rolls her eyes but flies back in the direction of the coast anyway.

Dyctinna frowns. "How would you have even seen seaweed? Didn't you grow up in-?"

"Not the point, Dyctinna."

Doctor Sandsmark puts her left hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Cassie, I want you to stay on the ground now. We're going to see someone very important and you have to behave yourself."

"Okay Mom." Cassandra looks at our escorts, then runs off to play with Wolf.

Dyctinna watches her go. "She's the first child on Themyscira since the Princess." For a second I get a flash of.. some sort of yellow voodoo doll thing inside her? I make an effort not to look too deeply.

"And the first of Lord Zeus' offspring since-." Dyctinna shoots Orana a hard look. She clams up, chastised.

Doctor Sandsmark looks from one to the other. "Is that likely to be a problem?"

Dyctinna shakes her head. "Not with us. Most of us, anyway. Though.. I.. wouldn't go too near to Queen Hera's temple if I were you."

"That's a pity. I was hoping to get to see all of Themyscira's temples. There aren't any intact ones in mainland Greece."

Orana nods. "It would be safest. We're avoiding it too. Sometimes when the gods get angry it's best to just give them their space."

Doctor Sandsmark shakes her head. "I.. didn't even know he was Zeus Zeus."

The two Amazons stare at her as if she's said something incredible. Then they both burst out laughing.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:08 GMT +3

Dyctinna and Orana have just about stopped sniggering about it when we walk through the gateway in the inner wall.

"Mom? Why are they laughing?"

And there they go again. Black haired Amazon number two -apparently her name is Antimache- looks back at them, visibly annoyed at their lack of comportment.

"Well, honey…" Doctor Sandsmark tries looking at me, though whether for sympathy or advice I'm not sure. "Your father is very well known on Themyscira. They find it funny that I didn't.. recognize him. When we met."

"Oh." Cassandra thinks for a moment as we walk up the slope to the upper part of the city. What a lot of murder holes. "Does he live here?"

Dyctinna regains some measure of control over her mouth. "He has a.. residence atop Mount Skybreak. Though I do not believe that he is using it at present."

Cassandra leans into her mother. "But I wanted to meet him." Doctor Sandsmark strokes her daughter's hair.

"How long did this keep take to build?"

Orana takes a look around as we emerge into a narrow unroofed corridor leading to steps onto the top level proper. "This? This is the… How many is..? Seventh version of the inner keep we have created."

Dyctinna nods. "When our people first came to this island, there simply wasn't enough food for us all to gather in one place. We spread out across the whole of the island, aside from what navy we had. They built a naval dock on the shore and the first keep… Oh, I'm not sure where it would be, now."

Orana looks up at the mountaintop looming above us. "Somewhere underneath us probably. It was only temporary. Once we had the first farms planted and we had learned where we could fish, we started planning out a better design." She shrugs. "The goddesses' blessings made it easier than it would have been. We get two growing seasons a year here. I barely remember what a real winter feels like."

Dyctinna shakes her head. "I've never seen one. There's snow sometimes on the top of the mountain but my mother says that it doesn't compare."

Doctor Sandsmark looks at her with interest as we ascend the steps. "You mean you were born here? I thought there weren't any men on Themyscira?"

"There aren't any more. The citizens of Old Themyscira lived segregated by gender. Since the male villages were closest to the borders they were the first places overrun during the…" She looks away. "Attack. Only a small proportion of the first adult settlers were men. There were more boy children." She smiles, her eyes slightly unfocusing for a moment. "Orana, do you remember? There used to be a woodland near where the coliseum is now. I remember playing there with my brother Eioneus."

"Of course I remember it. I worked on the crew that cut it down."

As we reach the plaza I take my first unobstructed view of the upper level. The Great Temple of Hera is on our left. Being queen of the Olympians and having the 'women' portfolio she has smaller temples all across the island, but this is where the main festivals honour her. I'm not sure if it's an Amazon innovation or they just didn't survive in other parts of Greece but there are clearly decorated wooden shutters blocking our sight of the interior. Guess they weren't joking about keeping out of Hera's way. The senate building is a little further in. Buildings have to be reasonably well spaced out here to make up for the lack of artificial lighting. Immediately next to the senate is the royal palace. Neither building… They're not small, but they're not remotely close to the size of similar buildings in Britain or the US. Something to do with a lack of good materials? Or construction technology? There must be some materials that don't occur anywhere on the island.

"What happened to your brother?"

Aphrodite's Great Temple is next, slightly smaller than Hera's but apparently constructed of marble rather than the plain stone of her… What's the relationship between Aphrodite and Hera again? Half sister? Whatever. Hera's temple. The other four Great Temples have made an effort to incorporate their patrons' domains. The Great Temple of Athena is a multi-storey library. Not many written works survived the Exile but her cult used to be active proponents of visiting the mainland to acquire new works and they've had three thousand years to write their own.

"He died. A sudden fit. Oh, he was quite old. It was sad, but hardly unexpected."

The Great Temple of Hestia is a sort of large Themysciran Ideal Homes type open plan house. This evening's meal will probably be prepared there and I can clearly see the sacred hearth flame inside. Feeding it is one of Queen Hippolyta's official duties, one which the histories in the Embassy library said that she attends to before breakfast. According to the history I read, the fire was carried all the way from its original counterpart in old Themyscira, kept going for the entire journey until it could ignite its new home. Not sure I believe that. This fire in turn was used to start its counterparts in the centre of every significant settlement on the island.

"I didn't think people aged on Themyscira."

The Great Temple of Demeter looks almost overgrown, though there's a clear order to the plant growth. Two priestesses -I'm going to assume- are tending a grape vine, one binding it to a beam while the other supports the ladder the first is standing on. The Temple itself isn't considered to be all that big a deal locally. If an Amazon wants to commune with nature she can just head outside the city and down the coast a little way. It's mostly here so that those who have to spend most of their time here have access to some greenery. There aren't many temples to Demeter on Themyscira, but most farms have an altar devoted to her.

"That blessing only extended to the women. Men aged and died as they would have on the mainland."

"I hadn't thought about that."

I wince slightly as I take in the Great Temple of Artemis. "Is Artemis annoyed with me about the whole moon thing?"

All four of them look at me. Orana looks at the other two women and then frowns at me. "What.. 'moon thing' is that?"

Seriously? "Back in October?" Incomprehension from the Amazons. Oh! Right! The Amazons don't really use month names. There wouldn't be anything to translate the name to. "Late Autumn? About eighty days ago?"

Doctor Sandsmark gets it. "Are you trying to say… You were the one who turned the moon around?" The eyes of both of our escorts widen. Glad they noticed at least.

"The Ophidian and I, yes." I pat the box containing my lantern with my right hand. "It was a bit of a strange week, really. I just wanted to know-."

"No." Orana shakes her head with some conviction. "I refuse to believe that you are that powerful."

"I'm not, normally, but the Ophidian is the Embodiment of Avarice, and these rings are fuelled by avarice in the same way green ones are by willpower. There was a training session that went a bit wrong-."

Cassandra grins at me. "And you made a giant cake!"

"Yes, we did. I always thought that people would fixate more on the other stuff. I mean the moon thing was kind of obvious. And all of the eyes…" There not being more fallout from that still strikes me as odd. "Didn't Diana send some sort of message saying what was going on?"

Dyctinna looks like she's having trouble getting her head around the idea. "You..? There is some sort of god..? In that box..? Which granted you the power to turn the moon around?"

"Yes. More or less. So as I said, do you think Artemis is going to be annoyed with me? I can… I don't mind making an offering to her if that will smooth things over. Or Selene?"

We're going up the steps into the palace now. The open front leads directly into the main hall. Ahead, Diana looking back, waiting for us to catch up.

Dyctinna slowly shakes her head. "You would need to speak to one wiser in the ways of the gods than I. Why did you do such a thing?"

"At the time, we thought that it was a shame most people never get to see the other side of the moon, so we moved it so that they could."

Orana considers my answer before nodding hesitantly. "Selene.. may be alright with that?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:12 GMT +3

Dyctinna and Orana drop back slightly as we reach the top of the steps. I glance at Dyctinna with my right eyebrow raised and she shakes her head. Guess they weren't invited. Donna swoops over the roof and swings around to land next to me. Okay, so what's the procedure here? I know quite a lot about Themysciran social ritual and… A-ooh, I didn't ask how formal this reception was going to be. Arse.

Antimache's broken off as well, though it looks like Mala will be announcing us. Donna and I form up behind Diana and Kon as we finish our climb up the steps. Four more guards are on duty up here, though these are wearing gold plated… That's orichalcum! They've got enough orichalcum to make full hoplite type armour! I need to talk to Io! Mass for mass that stuff outperforms everything I've been able to compare it to in terms of protection, and it takes enchantment far better than modern protective materials.

One of the guards notices me staring and narrows her eyes disapprovingly. Why would OH! She thinks I'm staring at… Right. I turn my attention away from her to the interior of the palace. Classical pillars support the roof… Heh, though I suppose when they were built they were 'modern, newfangled, what's wrong with living in an animal skin tent, kids today' pillars. The roof tiles are red clay and the walls are stone. That appears to be limited to important buildings; a lot of the ones in the lower city were baked clay brick instead. The floor and the interior pillars are marble and the pillars have gold and silver decoration around the base. I wonder why they used so much stone? It must take quite a lot of effort to get it here and it's not as if they're short of wood. Maybe when you're going to live indefinitely it seems more sensible to make something permanent than something you're going to have to replace in a century or two.

The… Reception area? Also has two fountains, water flowing into two shallow pools on either side of the walkway. With two growing seasons I suppose that keeping the place cool during the hottest parts of the year must be quite a challenge. No modern air conditioning after all. I'm tempted to give the whole system a scan… It's probably magic so I don't think I'd get much… No. Best behaviour. Ask nicely. If they'll talk to me at all I'm sure that they'll be only too happy to describe it to someone who has never heard the story before.

At the far end of the hall are the double doors into the throne room. Another two guards in 'elite' armour stand on either side and Mala walks forwards to address them. "Princess Diana, Prince Kon-El and their guests to see Queen Hippolyta." The guard on the left looks us over, then turns, opens her door the minimum amount possible and enters before closing it behind her.

Kon nudges me with his right shoulder. "You think I should have worn the armor?"

"No, you're fine as you are. Diana would have said something-."

"Everyone else is wearing armour." He looks down at his outfit. "I could have at least got a shirt or something."

Donna leans in from his other side. "Don't worry about it. Hippolyta won't care what you're-."

The remaining guard steps aside as the doors are pulled open from the inside, giving me my first clear look at the throne room. Queen Hippolyta sits on the throne on the dais at the far end. She looks like a slightly more mature Diana, perhaps a little more 'padded', and her hairdo must have taken an effort I've never known Diana to put into hers. Looks like it's naturally curly. She's wearing what looks to my eyes like a stola, the inner parts being white while the outer layer is a rich purple. In her right hand she holds a golden sceptre staff thing, topped with some sort of winged.. thing.

To her right stands someone else I can immediately identify from the photographs in Diana's office. Captain Philippus is wearing an even more ornate version of the orichalcum armour worn by the other guards up here. Her hair is tied back in tight braids which are held together with a simple tie at the back of her head. Darker skin than most of the locals, though Philippus is definitely a Greek name. No spear or shield but she has a sword at her waist. She looks a lot more on guard than Hippolyta but I suppose that's her job. And… Whow. That's a lot of violet light. I wasn't going to look but I can't not notice it. Forget red string, she and Hippolyta are tied together by violet rope. I thought Diana said that Hippolyta didn't have a consort? Some sort of political problem, maybe? Some of those books in her library suggested that Amazons used to be pretty racist.

Magala stands at her queen's… Our queen's left. She's wearing a simple green dress and shawl and holds an unadorned wooden staff. Another Amazon not of Minoan ethnicity. Maybe I got the wrong idea about that? She does look a bit odd, actually. Her features are unusually heavily set. I suppose that despite what comic artists would have you believe not all Amazons are supermodel material.

At Queen Hippolyta's feet a small black cat watches us with interest. I didn't think Amazons had cats. Maybe I should have brought Teekl after all? The royal court is completed by two women I don't recognise and two more guards who stand a little way off to the sides.

Diana leads us down the aisle, coming to a halt about five metres from the base of the dais. "Mother. It is good to see you again."

Hippolyta hands her staff to Philippus as she stands and walks down the steps. "Diana." She warmly embraces her daughter. "You've been away too long." She pulls back a little, leaving her hands on Diana's shoulders. Looks like she's a little shorter than her daughter as well. "And I thought that I might get a little more notice before the arrival of my first grandchild." Kon shifts a little uncomfortably as she looks at him, though it's more teenaged-boy-about-to-be-smothered-by-doting-grandparent uncomfortable than fear-of-rejection uncomfortable. "You've certainly managed to get back in shape quickly."

Diana shakes her head with a quiet chuckle before pulling away further and motioning Kon forwards. "Mother, may I present my son, Kon-El."

He blinks uncertainly. "Um. Hi." Looks like those etiquette lessons didn't quite stick under stress.

"Oh, is that any way to greet your grandmother." She opens her arms. "Come here, Kon." He's actually blushing slightly as she pulls him to her, resting her head against his before planting a kiss on his forehead. "How do you like Themyscira so far?"

"It looks.. nice. I haven't really.. seen that much of it yet." Something occurs to him. "Oh, we can speak in Greek if you want. I have been studying it."

"And have you been attending to your other lessons as well?"

He nods. "School's going well, and Mom's been teaching me about how Themysciran society works. I'm not sure I'm ready to address the senate yet but I know all the festivals and the gods' ceremonies."

"And have you chosen a patron of your own yet?"

He shakes his head. "Mom said I should talk to you and the priestesses first."

Ah. Not a total surprise, though Kon hasn't said anything to me about his religious instruction. I know how Amazon society relates to their gods but I'm less knowledgeable about how it works on an individual basis. In a way, the fact that the Amazons know full well that they can talk directly to their gods and in fact regularly do so makes theirs a most rational religion. On the other hand, it's a bit… Non-mysterious. Isn't it? Does that matter or is my atheism showing again?

"Quite wise. It isn't something you should rush into." She glances at me. "Will you introduce me to your friend?"

He turns to me. "This is Paul, the Orange Lantern."

I genuflect, left knee going to the floor, arms crossed on my right knee and head bowed. "Majesty."

"This one's well trained. You may rise, Orange Lantern."

I rise at parade rest. "Thank you, Majesty. And.. thank you for allowing me to become a Themysciran citizen. I will endeavour to be worthy of the honour."

"I have every confidence that you will live up to it. You are Alan Scott's successor, correct?"

"Yes. Alan's been a great help to me. I don't think I'd have got anywhere with this whole.. thing, if not for him."

She nods, and then moves along the line. "Donna."

Donna bows her head. "Your majesty."

Queen Hippolyta holds out her hands and clasps Donna's hands in her own. "It is good to see you again. How long has it been since your last visit?"

"Ah…" Donna thinks for a moment. "Seven months? I'd like to come more but with school taking up so much time it isn't really possible at the moment."

Queen Hippolyta nods and moves along the line again. "Doctor Sandsmark, be welcome. Mnemosyne, my court historian, has been looking forward to meeting you since your visit was announced."

"I would be delighted to meet her."

Queen Hippolyta bends down. "And who might you be?"

Cassandra half hides behind her mother's legs, not daring to answer. Doctor Sandsmark reaches down with her right hand and gives her a small push. "Your majesty, this is my daughter, Cassandra Sandsmark."

"Hello."

"Well met, Cassandra." Queen Hippolyta stands to address us all. "There will be a feast tonight in honour of your visit. For now, join me in the dining hall for lunch."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:17 GMT +3

Two of the elite guards -must remember to find out what they are actually called- lead the way as our party proceeds towards the dining area. Not the banqueting hall we'll be using this evening, but the private room where Queen Hippolyta and her inner circle take their meals. If I remember correctly it has a view over the parklands and stables that lie between the 'back' of the city and the start of the mountain proper. Diana and Hippolyta are leading the group while the rest of us form up with 'outsiders' on the left and 'locals' on the right. More or less by chance I find myself on the inwards side of the left huddle, closest to Captain Philippus.

Since we're here… "Captain, may I ask a question?"

She glances at me. "So it appears."

Here too? "I meant-."

"What do you wish to know?"

"Why are the guards carrying spears? They're hardly the optimal weapon for individual or small group engagements."

"True, but the time it takes to toss it aside doesn't add significantly to the time needed to draw a sword. And you'd be surprised how off-putting most assailants find even a short shield-wall."

If the answer is 'at all', then yes. "Does that include assailants with grenades, or am I being unfair?"

That gets me another look. I think she's trying to work out whether I'm taking the piss or not. How can I take the piss out of a twenty first century hoplite? "It's extremely unlikely that anyone carrying grenades could reach Themyscira in the first place, and a fragmentation device wouldn't be able to penetrate the orichalcum."

"It would take out their legs, though. I haven't seen anyone wearing cuisses since I got here. And that's ignoring the explosive blast."

"This from a man wearing leather armour."

"This is my original armour. I've had three versions since I tried wearing this in a fight. And you'll note it does cover everything except my head."

"Why aren't you wearing your best armour?"

"This is a friendly visit. I didn't want to look too menacing."

Her right eyebrow creeps up a smidge. "Now I have to see it."

"If you like." My power armour replaces the leather armour mid-step, resulting me gaining about five centimetres in height. The helmet has sensory feeds which allow me to see and hear as if it wasn't there -even without the rings- but it's still a definite mass on my head. There are normal eyepieces but those are only for when the sensors get damaged. "Tougher than any commercially available armour currently on the market, it incorporates-" I hold up my right hand and demonstrate the articulation. "-artificial muscles which boost my strength to beyond the limits of baseline Human physiology. Sensory augments in the helmet let me hear and see things miles away in perfect clarity. It's the best mundane armour I can currently build."

Philippus looks at me a little more warily. "It hardly looks mundane to me. Or are you comparing it to our orichalcum armour?"

"That exactly. Which is why I'm so eager to talk to Io. My skills don't extend-" I shift the armour back into subspace. "-to magic or metamaterials."

"How long can you wear it before it becomes uncomfortable?"

"Indefinitely."

"Hmm. I don't suppose it's something we could make here, is it?"

"Wouldn't have thought so, but I would consider it my duty as a citizen-" Ahead of us the door leading into the dining area is opened and Queen Hippolyta leads the way inside. "-to provide you with whatever equipment you needed."

She considers for a moment, then glances at the strawberry blonde woman I don't recognise. "I'd never get senate approval. And if it would make us dependent on one man for our equipment I'm not sure I'd disagree." I shrug. Slightly disappointing, but I wasn't expecting to revolutionise the place overnight. "Now I have a question for you."

I let her go ahead as we enter the dining area. The table is a horseshoe shape facing the balcony. Looks like we're eating.. barley flour flatbreads, cheese, apples and the servers are ladling soup into dishes next to the main plates. "Whatever you wish to know, Captain."

She looks at Kon and then at Donna. "Of the three of you, who is the greater warrior?"

The three of us look at each other, while the other blonde Amazon shakes her head. "'Who would win in a fight', Philippus? That is the question you most want answered?"

"I suppose it-" / "Paul." / "-depends on what-" / "Paul." / "-equipment.. we're.. carrying." Philippus raises her eyebrows. "Thanks guys. Thanks."

Hippolyta takes her seat at the head of the table with Diana on her left. Philippus walks ahead to take her place at her queen's right. Errr… Order of precedence when I don't know who two of the people are? Kon sits down next to Diana and then everything sort of stops. Ah heck, I was talking to Philippus, right? I take the seat next to her. Magala sits down next to me, Donna, Cassandra and Doctor Sandsmark take places around from Wonder Woman. Lastly, the strawberry blonde takes a seat next to Magala and the regular blonde takes the seat at the far end. The two women serving soup bow to the queen and are duly dismissed.

Philippus looks at me. "Why is it that you don't share their confidence?"

"It's not about confidence, it's about the.. situation. Yes, if we all had our best equipment and no restrictions on our movement I'd bet on me." I shrug. "But in my case you could give everyone on the planet their best equipment and as long as I had the Ophidian-" I put the box on the table and tap it with the ring on my left hand. "-I could still beat them. If we were fighting unarmed I'd bet on whoever was fighting against me."

Blonde Amazon leans around her neighbours to address me. "And what is this 'Ophidian' that it gives you the power to take on the entire world?"

"The Ophidian is the Embodiment of Avarice. She manifests in the corporeal world as a huge orange serpent."

"She is your goddess?"

"No, I don't… I don't worship her. She's more of a slightly weird ally."

Kon tears off a part of his bread and dips it in his soup. "Paul calls gods 'jumped up elementals'. I don't think he likes them very much."

My right hand covers my face as the locals stare at me.

Queen Hippolyta nods. "Diana did say that we had you to thank for the.. 'shipping containers'?"

I look to Diana for some sort for explanation. "Shipping.. containers..?"

"While you were merged with the Ophidian you delivered three shipping containers here, full of fruits and vegetables that aren't available on Themyscira. You didn't remember?"

"No. No, I didn't."

Blonde Amazon chuckles. "I particularly liked the.. curved yellow one? What was it called?"

Donna smiles in disbelief. "The banana?"

"Banana." She nods. "Our agronomists tell me that we could probably cultivate several of the varieties you provided, but we decided to wait until we could get more information on how they behave in the wild before we begin planting in earnest."

"I'll talk to them after lunch."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:29 GMT +3

The food is simple but extremely good. Fruit and vegetables are the only things that Themyscira exports -infrequently- and I can see why they command a high price. A combination of the blessing of Demeter and three thousand years of experience I suppose. They actually use crop rotation here as they don't have artificial fertilisers to keep the soil vital. Animal grazing I get, but I was a little disquieted to learn that they use Human waste in the same way. And they obviously don't have flushing toilets. With what they do have, even the usually Luddite Amazons decided that it was perfectly alright for 'Night Soil Technicians' to use modern gas masks.

It's still not exactly a popular job.

"…be good if Prince Kon-El spent some time introducing himself in the city." Acantha -strawberry blonde Amazon- has been going over Kon's itinerary for the day. She's a long serving senator and a close friend of Queen Hippolyta.

"You can just call me 'Kon'."

"No, my prince. That would be quite improper."

"Okay, but… I'm not actually going to have to rule anything." He looks to his mother and then grandmother. "Am I?"

Queen Hippolyta smiles at him. "Grandson, I am over three thousand years old and I know full well that nothing lives forever. Eventually, I will pass -though praise the gods may it not be too soon- and Diana will take the throne. This is not to be bemoaned. It is natural." She looks over to Acantha. "Though on the purely legal question..?"

Acantha hesitates for a moment, then shrugs. "It hasn't come up before, not in any text I've read."

"Because I'm adopted?"

"Because you're male."

Acantha nods. "A younger sister would have precedence. Whether a prince with no siblings can inherit in his own right is.. well…" She shrugs again. "I don't think that there would be a problem, but at the moment there is no formal answer." She looks at Diana. "I don't suppose that we're in any danger of getting another princess, are we?"

Diana bows her head, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Not in the near future, Acantha."

"Orange Lantern." Queen Hippolyta turns in my direction in an attempt to stop her friend nagging her daughter about her personal life. "I understand that you wish to speak to Io."

"Yes, Majesty. I wish to thank her in person for the bow she made Artemis." Oh, hang on. "My friend Artemis Crock, not any other Artemises who might be in residence. I also wanted to talk to her about her work."

"I'm afraid that she's been rather busy in her workshop of late. You're welcome to visit, but I must ask that you not disturb her if she wishes privacy."

"Of course, and thank you."

Philippus takes a drink from her wine goblet then returns it to the table. "I'm not sure how much aid she would be able to lend you. Creating orichalcum is a time consuming business, even for her."

"You'd be amazed how much having a power ring on hand can speed things up."

"How so? I admit they are mighty weapons-."

"Nonono. Power rings aren't weapons. They're tools. There's this guy I work with in Poseidonis who's revolutionising their industrial base thanks to these rings."

Queen Hippolyta looks interested. "Oh? I have only seen Alan use combat constructs. Would you be willing to give a demonstration?"

I think for a moment. "This isn't really the place for a demonstration of engineering… But-" I push back my chair, stand and walk around to the open end of the 'U'. "-perhaps something musical."

I clear my throat and have the ring remind me of the words.

"I followed my queen"

Construct images appear as I sing. A much younger Hippolyta stands with Egeria, Philippus' predecessor.

"To a war in a far southern land"

A moment later the view expands, showing the two armies arrayed for battle. I took the description from the copy of Philippus' journal that was in Diana's library in the embassy.

"Where men said she should prove her throne."

With the bulk of Old Themyscira's army away with Queen Otrera, Crown Princess Hippolyta had to defend the heartland of the nation herself against an alliance of most of the peoples her mother had pissed off. According to Philippus' journal, Egeria wanted Hippolyta to stay back in the city. She refused, and took to the field herself.

"I stood with my queen
And was ready to strike them all down"

I make a point of showing a young Philippus in the phalanx a short distance from Hippolyta.

"But my queen stood tall
and reached out, and took sword of her own"

Hippolyta basically used herself as bait, causing her foes to attack her army -attack her- directly rather than burn their farmlands. The attackers also used spear blocks almost exclusively, allowing Amazon archers and horsewomen to flank and constantly harass them in a manner reminiscent of the Battle of Sphacteria. They were ground down to nothing, barely making contact with the Amazon infantry line.

"And as we departed, she said to me there
Before warring and feud could begin
If I am afraid to be beaten
Then where is the pride when I win?"

The shot of Hippolyta clapping Philippus on the shoulder is entirely my invention.

"In word and deed
I follow my queen
The wisest among us and fair."

Hippolyta rolls her eyes.

"In word and deed
I follow my queen
The wisest among us and fair."

I allow the scene to evaporate, and replace it with one showing General MacArthur's office.

"I followed my queen"

The general is there, along with Alan, Jay and Diana. Real Diana's eyes widen slightly as she realises what I'm about to show.

"To the door of the vigilant squire"

The general -clearly angry- gestures at her to get lost.

"But a guardsman stood and barred the way
I stood with my queen
And was ready to strike the man down"

I'm not sure that I've interpreted Alan's description of Diana's demonstration of her strength completely right, but the dangling upside down and Alan's cheeky photo are completely historically accurate.

"But my queen stood tall
And reached out, and shook hands at the gate."

Diana's formal welcome to the Justice Society. I replicate the effect of a camera flash as she and Alan shake hands.

"And as we departed, she said to me there
Before warring and feud could begin"

I show a scene from one of the Society's fights with Mordru, one which was by pure chance caught on film.

"If I won't clasp hands with a neighbour
Then how can I ask it of him?"

I show Alan block an arcane blast aimed at Diana with a construct and she returns the favour by lassoing one of Mordru's demonic henchmen away from him and punching it in the face.

"In word and deed
I follow my queen
The wisest among us and fair.
In word and deed
I follow my queen
The wisest among us and fair."

I pause as if finishing, then switch to an image of the Mountain's kitchen.

"I followed my king"

Kon lets out a low moan.

"From his place at the mead hall's high seat
Where the hungry sat in grim array"

Wallace radically underestimated the amount of time dinner was going to take that day. And he goes on about how Mister Allen is often late.

"I stood with my king
And was ready to strike the cook down"

I didn't get quite that bad, but I'd had a long day and he'd repeatedly told me he could handle it.

"But my king stood tall
And reached out and he shouldered a tray"

I think the fact that it was kitchen-unfriendly Kon that was offering had as much effect as the help itself in motivating him.

"And as we departed he said to me there
Before warring and feud could begin
If I cannot serve in the kitchen
Then how can I serve them as king?"

The team enjoying a meal together. I make a point of showing me apologising to Wallace and him brushing it off.

"In word and deed
I follow my king
The wisest among us and fair."

A group picture of the three of them arrayed in full battle raiment.

"In word and deed
I follow my king
The wisest among us and fair.

In word and deed
I follow my king
The wisest among us and fair."

I allow the image to evaporate and take a bow.

Queen Hippolyta laughs. "I see that the bardic talent for the outrageous flattery of their patrons hasn't changed since we left the mainland."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:37 GMT +3

"…glad this outfit's bulletpro-" Donna looks at me then corrects herself. "-resistant."

Philippus looks thoughtful. "I don't know what to suggest regarding the Nazis beyond 'killing them all wherever you find them'. Undead warriors…" She shakes her head. "I've fought against Hades' undead soldiers before, but the ones which you faced sound far more vital. More intelligent, too. Perhaps the gods of the northmen have more faith in their people than Hades does."

Menalippe -the fully blonde Amazon and priestess for the pantheon as a whole- just about manages to school her expression. From what I've been able to tell the local version of Hades isn't the 'full dick' version from Justice League Animated but he isn't all that popular locally. He has temples here but Amazons are more likely to make offerings at the smaller shrines of Aeacus or Minos contained inside it. Is now a good time to bring up my 'replace Ares' plan? Maybe not. Bit of a heavy topic with lots of room to cause offence. Be fun to talk to her about it later in private though. Part of my education on Amazonian religion.

"I'm just glad Klarion didn't have Diana or Batman try and give me an order. The fact that he didn't probably means that he didn't have access to your minds while it was going on."

Diana shakes her head. "You needn't have worried. The Oath hasn't bound you since you received your second set of tattoos."

What? "What? Really?"

She nods. "I didn't lie when I said that M'gann felt your pain, but I myself felt the Oath loosening. Since I could think of no other thing that could have caused that I briefly thought that you had died. That was why I was so worried when we spoke."

Menalippe looks at me with concern. "You escaped a sacred oath made to Gaea?"

"No!" Oh. "Um, yes. But I didn't mean to. It was a side effect of my wards. I suppose.. Gaea can't see me either, so she can't tell if I break it or not. Is.. she.. likely to be annoyed about that?"

She thinks about it. "I should not think so. It is more likely that she is barely aware of it."

"Oh good. I respect Gaea and have no wish to antagonise her." I turn to Diana. "And I'm not going to start just ignoring what you say or anything like that."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Menalippe looks over at Kon. "Prince Kon? I have been meaning to ask: do you practice an American religion or do you intend to join our worship here?"

Kon looks at Diana. "Aah. I hadn't really thought about it? The knowledge the Genomorphs gave me didn't include any sort of religious faith, so…" He shrugs. "Until Mom adopted me it didn't seem important."

"In our religion, faith is seldom the issue. We know our gods. Several of us -Princess Diana and Queen Hippolyta in particular- have spoken to them directly. And they are seldom shy about letting us know when they are displeased by our actions." She doesn't quite look at the oblivious Cassandra, who's busy trying to feed Wolf under the table without anyone noticing. Wolf in turn is more interested in the cat which followed us into the dining room. "Rather, it is customary for an Amazon… It's been quite some time since we had anyone your age… It's customary for a citizen to choose one god to act as a guide for their moral and social development. They aren't required to be mindlessly obedient or.. blind to their god's faults but, before the Exile, it was a standard way of introducing a youth into the community."

He looks at Diana, who nods. "As a young girl I studied extensively under the priestesses of Athena, and those lessons define the sort of person that I am." She looks over to Captain Philippus. "That, and the captain of my mother's guard teaching me of the wisdom of experience in the practice arena." Philippus smiles fondly at her. "I had meant to introduce you to the temple later this afternoon. It would be your choice as to whether you join in or not, but I think you would benefit from it."

"I.. suppose..." He looks over to me. "What do you think?"

"Athena's not a bad choice-" Compared to some Olympians, blinding people who see her naked notwithstanding. "-but I think she's suboptimal for you."

"Sub optimal?" Menalippe looks at me curiously. "You mean to say that he could gain a greater advantage by worshipping another god?"

"Well, yes. I mean, think about it: how many Amazons have Athena as their primary deity at the moment? A tenth of the population? A lot, anyway. So her attention is split in a lot of different directions."

She shakes her head, smiling. "So if he picked a god who was less popular, he would be more likely to benefit from their personal attention. That is.. an extremely mercenary approach to take."

"Thank you, but there's more to it than that. You have to work out what the god's going to want.. and what they're going to give you for it. A god with few worshippers is in less of a position to be demanding." Diana's wincing but Queen Hippolyta and Captain Philippus seem to find my approach amusing. "Which is why I'd recommend Helios instead."

Kon frowns slightly. "Helios? The sun god?"

"Yes. Kryptonians-" I hold out my hands in his direction. "-are solar powered. The head of the old Kryptonian pantheon was their sun god, Rao. It makes sense. Plus, he's only got a small temple here and hardly any devotees. He can easily spare the time for proper mentoring."

Diana recovers her equilibrium and slowly nods as she tries to adjust to my attitude to the 'divine'. "I.. do see the utility, but I think that at Kon's age the lessons that could be learned from the goddess of justice and learning would be more useful."

I wave off her objection with my right hand. "You can teach him that."

Kon half nods before he notices Diana looking at him. "Well… That.. does kinda make sense. But if you really don't want me to-."

"No, this is a decision for you. I'm sure that Lord Helios' teachings will be just as valuable to you as Lady Athena's have been to me." Kon smiles slightly. "We can visit his temple later today."

"And what of you, Paul?" Menalippe appears to be taking my impiety with good grace. "Do you think the gods can offer you useful guidance? Or do you intend to try to convert us to the worship of your giant orange snake?" On the other side of the table Donna screws up her eyes and bites her lip and Doctor Sandsmark develops a sudden cough.

I think for a moment. Not really a surprise that she's asking. Having a patron wouldn't exactly hurt, but I'm still a bit… "I think they might." I pick up my goblet in my right hand. I filled it with wine at the start of the meal but I still don't have a taste for the stuff and it's still half filled. "Am I allowed to pick Metis? I realise that she's a.. Titan rather than an Olympian…"

Menalippe thinks for a moment. Tricky to negotiate between deities when some eat the others. "You could, but she doesn't answer prayers. I'm not sure what you would hope to gain from doing so. And that does seem to be important to you."

"True. Well… There's Hephaestus. I like building things, though I'm not sure my manual skills are good enough for him. Remind me, joining a cult requires the applicant to perform a public act of devotion, right?" Menalippe nods. "And the act of devotion can be anything thematically appropriate?"

"If it is pleasing to the gods, yes."

"I have a bit of a soft spot for Ploutos… Is this goblet valuable?" I take a look around the room. "Does it have any historical significance?"

"I.. don't.. think so..? In any case, Lord Ploutos is not merely concerned with acquisition, but with good financial judgement and planning."

"Mm. I do respect Prometheus, but more as someone I want to emulate than revere. I don't know, maybe I should-." In one smooth motion I stand, bring the goblet up and hurl it to the floor! "Hail Eris!" The goblet shatters and the wine sprays outwards, coating the floor and splashing on the tablecloth. Eyes around the room widen at my declaration as I turn to Menalippe. "That will do, won't it?"

She pauses for a moment, then hesitantly nods. "I would think so."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
14:43 GMT +3

"…pineapple." Dyctinna looks at me quizzically. "You truly do not remember doing it?"

I shake my head. "I lost quite a lot of that week when the Ophidian and I separated. We didn't cause too much of a nuisance, did we?"

I'm not exactly sure if I'm under guard or not, but three out of four of our original escorts are 'assisting' me in getting to Io's workshop. Mala went with Doctor Sandsmark to see Mnemosyne, Diana and Kon are taking a tour of the city and Donna and Cassandra were left to their own devices. I'm not sure if that's because Io's workshop counts as a high security area or because of my choice of patron deity. They certainly haven't made mention of it and their attitude to me doesn't seem to have changed; Dyctinna's still friendly, Orana reserved and Antimache doing her level best to pretend that I'm not here.

Orana shakes her head. "Not really. Moving those metal shed things-"

"Shipping containers."

"-was the most interesting thing that happened that year." She frowns. "How do you fit that on a ship?"

I generate a construct of a container ship and demonstrate the arrangement of containers on its deck. She and Dyctinna study it with interest. "Not.. been off Themyscira recently?"

"No." Orana leans closer. "How big is that?"

"Container ships over a thousand feet long aren't uncommon."

Dyctinna's eyes widen slightly. "Triton."

"And the god which gave you that power really dwells within your box?"

"Yep. Do you want to meet her?"

Orana looks nonplussed. "Do.. I have to be inducted into some sort of cult first?"

"No." I kneel, lower the box to the stone floor and open it. "You just have to be capable of feeling avarice." All three of them are looking on with bated breath as I pull my lantern free. "What?"

Orana tears her eyes away from it. "I've never seen one before. Alan never brought it with him."

Antimache narrows her eyes. "Where's the snake god, then?"

I close my eyes and take a breath. Ophidian.

"My Agent." Orange light strobes outwards, delineating her body in the air around us. My three guides take a step away from her as she swings her head in their direction. She's about eight metres long like this and maybe fifty centimetres around at her widest point. "New toys?"

"New friends, Ophidian. We've talked about this."

She flows around the available space in the corridor, tongue flicking out to get a better taste of their desires. "Constrained. Doesn't understand." She turns her head to me. "Your duty."

"I know. I'm on it." She extends her head forwards to nuzzle me before curving around to dive back into the lantern.

Orana stares at me. "That was your god?"

"No, I don't worship the Ophidian. Um, actually, that was part of what we talked about over lunch." They all look a bit stunned. "I'm happy to answer questions, but I really do.. want to see Io today?"

Antimache shakes herself. "Yes. This way." She stalks off down the corridor once more and the three of us follow her.

Orana offers me a wry smile. "Was Menalippe trying to recruit you already?"

"Kon's going to be joining the cult of Helios later today."

"Helios? Eos is a more common choice for those who like early mornings."

"It's the sun itself he wanted, not the effects of the sun. Kryptonians like Kon draw literal strength from the sun."

She nods. "I suppose that makes sense. And what of you? If you do not worship the snake creature..?"

"Uuuum. Eris."

She stops again and stares at me. Then she nods. "Having met you? Yes. That makes sense to me." She starts walking again. "Try not to bleed on anything important."

Huh?

"So…" Dyctinna appears to have recovered. "I was wondering. You spend a lot of time with the princess, correct?"

"Yes?"

"In her last letter she mentioned someone. A.. 'Barda Free'?" I nod. "She seemed rather taken with her."

Orana rolls her eyes. "Oh, not this again."

I shrug. "She has trouble finding sparring partners. Barda is a highly skilled warrior and her physical equal. Actually.. Barda's slightly stronger."

"Ooooooh."

"What?"

Orana shakes her head. "Dyctinna's got it into her head that they're lovers."

"Um. I don't.. think so? I haven't seen anything.. and Barda's married."

"To who?"

"Scott Free."

"A man?" I nod. "Well that's alright then."

I take a moment to try and get my head around that. "It counts."

"Oh." Dyctinna sags slightly. "She's really not seeing anyone?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Oh, this is getting silly. She's in her eighties." Orana winces slightly at her comrade's comment and pulls away, heading after Antimache. Dyctinna throws her hands up. "I could understand that she would find it strange to take someone from Themyscira as a lover, but she has the whole of the world to choose from! She should find a nice woman to settle down with." She looks at me for a moment. "Or even a man. That would be okay. I suppose. Alan seemed nice."

Antimache has come to a stop outside a door just ahead of us. I can hear the sound of hammer on metal from within. "While we're on the subject… How long have Queen Hippolyta and Captain Philippus been together?" Three astonished stares, then Dyctinna looks uncomfortable, Orana gestures to the heavens to vent her visible frustration and Antimache bows her head and clenches her fists. "Diana didn't mention anything about-."

Orana shakes her head. "They're not."

"What?"

Antimache shakes her head. "He hasn't even been here a day. This is stupid. It's stupid."

"Because they're very clearly-."

Dyctinna huffs. "We know. Everyone on the island knows."

"But they're not-?"

Orana holds up her right hand. "There are some things you just don't ask a queen."

I blink. "Okay."

Dyctinna turns to Orana. "It's where Princess Diana gets it from, you know. I'm sure that if the two of them would just-."

I step past her and knock hard on the door. "Io? " I hear the hammer getting put down with some force. "Are you-?"

"The spear will be ready tomorrow Althesia. Not before, no matter how many times you ask!"

"Actually, I-."

"Which part of 'don't disturb me' was too hard for you to understand!? Come back tomorrow!"

I back away from the door. Ookay then.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
15:27 GMT +3

I look around the triangular patch of moor land. On one side we're bounded by the sea shore and on the second by the other side of the forest. A little further along the coast on the other side of those trees is the place where Diana and I landed when I first visited Themyscira. On the third side the slope of Mount Skybreak blocks our view of the city itself. Long ago the land here was artificially flattened and I can still see a few small stone walls in shapes which suggest long abandoned houses.

Mnemosyne tightens her shawl around her shoulders. It isn't cold, but there is an informal taboo about Amazons -female ones anyway- coming here, even over two thousand years after the last of its inhabitants abandoned it. "I don't really understand why you were so eager to see this. There are scrolls in Athena's library which could give you a far better idea of what it was like when it was still inhabited."

Doctor Sandsmark looks up from her tablet. "I wanted to get a.. feel for the place." She glances at what looks like it used to be the wall of a house. "Haven't you ever wished you could visit the places you read about?"

"Sometimes." Mnemosyne nods. "But of the places I would most like to have seen, little survives in the modern era."

"Would the dwellings have been for families, or did they have a barracks system like the Spartans?"

"Families, mostly. By the time this village was built the initial panic of the first stage of settlement was over." She points towards the tree line. "You can still just about see some of the buildings they set up for the earliest lumbering camp. That involved sleeping in what was essentially a communal barn."

Doctor Sandsmark looks around again. "I'm not sure why this place exists at all. I though gender segregation was abandoned after the Exile?"

Mnemosyne smiles. "Listening to some… Some women from the old city of Themyscira, you can get the wrong idea about how that worked. The segregation of genders was strictly enforced within the city-."

"Aside from the festivals."

"Well, yes…"

I raise my hands in surrender. "I'm really not looking for them to be brought back."

"They were never fully abandoned, though obviously without men the reproductive aspect was no longer relevant." She shakes her head. "Anyway, once you got away from the main city and into the countryside, things were a lot less… Strict. Men and women still lived apart, but it would hardly be unusual for them to interact. In some cases even live in the same villages."

"But if only a few adult men took part in the settlement, why was a male village created here at all?"

"Tradition, mostly. And not just for the female majority. Most of the men who came here had lived in the area around the old city and were used to the division. They in turn took their nephews with them." She shrugs. "Others had become used to integration, particularly those who had grown up knowing nothing else. They saw abandoning segregation as simply another change in our society that came with moving to these islands. There was a brief attempt by some more conservative Amazons -female Amazons- to bring the old laws back into effect, but they were unable to gain popular support."

"Why was that?"

"Our menfolk knew more of farming than we did. In the first few years here with no reliable source of food we needed that knowledge more than we needed our old social customs. A small number of men would direct a platoon of women in ploughing, irrigating and planting an area, then.. harvesting the crops. Inevitably, a lot of the old social barriers were broken down. That may have been the first time men had positions of leadership over women in our history, and despite what some predicted it wasn't a disaster. Once things settled down, most of us remembered that obligation."

Doctor Sandsmark takes another quick look around. "The tree line.. would have been..? Over there?" Mnemosyne nods. "Orange… Um, Paul, I'm going to take a look."

I nod. "Think I'll stay here for a bit. I doubt that anyone's said prayers at the graves recently."

"I s-." Something occurs to her. "How far does your translator function operate?"

I wave her concern aside. "Far enough. Don't worry about it."

She turns away and Mnemosyne leads her in the direction of the forest. Huuuuh… All this is interesting, but not very productive. With Io busy at least until the feast this evening and Queen Hippolyta wanting to spend some time getting to know Kon I thought that I'd give Doctor Sandsmark a lift out here. I've already got the geophysics scans she wanted but I'm not really doing anything to further my own goals right now. I turn and walk in the direction of the small shrine to Hades which is the only building here that still receives any upkeep. Amazons used to entomb their dead in burial chambers carved into the subterranean rock, until the isolation and death drove one of the priestesses mad. Then they switched to cremation. This is probably the only graveyard on the island that actually has bodies in it, and as such-.

"Hey." I stop and turn to my left. A bald Amazon with pierced ears is sitting leaning up against the wall of the shrine. "You must be one of those 'men' things I've been hearing about."

"Guilty as charged." I give her a shallow bow. "Orange Lantern two eight one four at your service."

She smiles, looking me over. "My name's Seris. What brings you to Themyscira, Orange Lantern two eight one four?"

"Tourism. Also I.. sort of live here. I have citizenship, anyway."

She raises her eyebrows. "For real?" I nod and she blinks. "Well, that's.. different."

"I.. hope that doesn't offend-?"

"No, no. Always thought this place could use a good stir around. Just can't believe Hippo went for it. You actually staying, or..?"

"Two days, then as long as I don't cause a riot or something I'll probably be coming back on a semi-regular basis."

She frowns. "Why? I mean-" She waves her right arm in the direction of the shore. "-you can go anywhere, do anything. What makes you care about a musty old rock in the middle of the Aegean?"

"Because it matters to my friends." I lower my head slightly and exhale. "Because if they got rid of a few bad habits they could be so much more. Rather than.. cling to the past like-!" I stop. She looks more interested than offended but that's a fairly sacred cow I was cutting up for steaks. "Um."

She gives me an encouraging smile. "Don't stop there, you were just getting good."

"Okay. Like.. a limpet.. to its rock in a magnificent example of self-ossification they… You, should be out there involving yourselves in the world! A society of warriors that still use swords and spears, it's ridiculous! I don't understand why anyone would live like this for so long."

Her eyebrows go up slightly. "You planning to do something about it?"

I nod. "The aim is, find out what Themyscira has to offer the world and ease the Amazons into reintegrating." I could use someone local helping me with that and Diana's a bit too prominent. "Interested?"

The smile becomes a grin. "Always." She lifts herself a little off the ground, shifts over and sits back down. "Here." She pats the grass next to her. "Take a load off."

"Right then." I sit down next to her. "The best place to start would be to find a thing most Amazons already know is a problem and offer a solution which serves our ends."

She thinks for a moment, idly picking a flower from the grass and rolling the stem back and forth in her fingers. "Did you know there used to be a Discordian Cult here?"

"Here as in Themyscira? Or here as in-?"

"Themyscira." She shake her head a little despondently. "Didn't last. When their sisters decided to isolate themselves completely most of them went back to the mainland. Said it would be better to try their luck rather than be forced to mindlessly follow the same path until the end of the world."

"And the rest?"

"Walked into the senate during a debate and slit their own wrists in protest." Ooh. That explains Orana's bleeding comment. She suddenly smiles. "Hey, wanna know something funny?"

"After that?"

"You ever wonder why Ares makes such a big deal out of Wonder Woman?"

"Because she stands against everything he stands for?"

She shakes her head. "Come on, Greek gods. It's all about family." I shake my head in incomprehension. "Queen Otrera wasn't quite the peaceful and benevolent ruler her daughter Hippo is. She led her Amazon warriors all across Greece in a campaign which ended up pissing everyone off. She was so violent, so bloodthirsty, so skilled in the ways of war that she caught the eye of the war god Ares himself." She leers. "They banged. Like, a lot." Hippolyta is Ares' daughter? I did not know that. "Not a lot of people know who Hippo's dad is. Amazons don't really care who fathered a child sired on campaign. Joke was, she had to call the war off to go home and have her daughter. If condoms had been invented they might have conquered the whole country."

"You're saying… Ares.. goes after Diana… Because he's her granddad?"

"Funny, huh? Guess seeing a warrior of his blood embrace peace is just too much for him."

"She is adopted. Technically."

"Mn." She shakes her head. "Gaea wasn't changing her nappies." I suppose not. Her expression changes from amused to thoughtful. "Though… While we're talking about families. Could you help me out with my nanna?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
15:35 GMT +3

Seris and I touch down on the plaza just behind the Temple of Hera. "Transitioning back would have been faster."

She gives me a lazy half shrug. "How often do I get to fly?" The left side of her mouth curves into a smile. "Makes everything here look sooo small."

"It doesn't exactly look huge from ground level."

"Does if you've never seen anything else." The rear of the Temple has another entrance, a small door. The entry for the staff, perhaps? Seris walks over to it and tries the handle. Locked. She turns back to me. "Can you do something about this?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure I should."

"Nanna's been in here, on her own, for over a week now." She pulls a face. "She must smell like a marathon runner's feet. She's coming out-" She waves her right index finger at me. "-if I have to knock her out and carry her."

I walk over to the door, check for observers and then extend a filament into the simple locking mechanism. "Is she a priestess?"

Seris stares at me for a moment, then nods. "She's fairly high up in the hierarchy, yeah." I open the door and then gesture with my right hand for her to lead the way. She steps into the doorway and has a quick look around before leading the way further inside. "I tried talking to her myself and she threw an amphora at my head. We've never really got on…"

"I'm sorry to hear that. I.. suppose.. Cassandra's been a bit of a shock."

"Not to me." She pauses at an intersection and looks back at me. "I mean, come on: Zeus, right?"

"I like to believe that even gods can change. Do we need to make some sort of offering to Hera for being in here?"

"Eh. I'm fine and she can't see you remotely."

"I hadn't realised that was common-."

"I can hear you!" I give Seris an enquiring look. She rolls her eyes and nods before picking up the pace. "Skulking around… In my house! My house!"

"Eh, she's still at 'bellicose'. I was hoping she might have moved into 'stuporous' by now so we could just drag her out." Seris leads me out from the side passage into the main hall of the temple. Classical Greek, with pillars and statues of Hera doing things related to her various domains. The richly dressed -if moderately dishevelled- woman sprawled out on the steps leading up to the main statue of Hera at the end of the hall seems somewhat out of place, as do the amphorae littering the floor. Looks like someone's been on a major bender.

I hope this temple has a toilet.

"Hey Nanna."

'Nanna' manages to focus on Seris on the second attempt. "You. You! You… You did this!"

Seris rolls her eyes. "You said that last time, remember?" She glances back over her shoulder at where a wine stain and a pile of broken pottery mar a statue of Hera posing with a Lion. "I didn't have anything to do with 'this'. Zeus doesn't need anyone's help to be a giant man-slut."

Whaw. Um. I guess she's getting drunk on her patron's behalf, then. The Amazons I've spoken to so far must not have been Hera devotees. "Ma'am, Zeus' behaviour-."

She jerks her head in my direction, frowning and squinting. "Who're you?"

"Orange Lantern two eight one four, ma'am."

"Oh. Oh! You…" She rises from her sitting position, moving to all fours in an attempt to get up. Some sort of gold coloured torc falls off her head causing her brown wavy hair to fall over her face. She tries to push herself up into a standing position but can't keep her balance and slumps sideways. For a moment she seems surprised by her new location, then gives up and slumps back. "You just had to find her."

Ring, can we sober her up?

Unable to comply. Target protected by means unidentifiable.

"If she wasn't tramping around right outside-" She manages to sit up for a moment. "-my Temple. On my island. I could just pretend." The anger fades and she's left looking distraught. "Just pretend he cared about…" She sniffs. "He said he wouldn't do that anymore. I really thought he'd changed."

"With all due respect ma'am, that was somewhat unrealistic. At this point I rather think Zeus is too set in his ways for any agreement to mean anything very much."

"Hardly any worshippers… The Amazons wouldn't dare… How does he keep finding them?" She's looking right at me for answers, her eyes damp with tears. "Huh?"

Looks like we're back in morose. "As I understand it, a combination of rugged good looks and charisma. And not being aware of modern contraception. Look-" I walk over to her, using the rings to shift crockery out of the way and stack it at the sides as I do so. "-sitting in here in the dark isn't helping the situation." I bend down slightly to offer her a hand up. She blinks at me for a moment before taking hold… Okay, got you. She sort of slumps against me and you could clean a laboratory with her breath! Ew. "Do you know what I'd say to Hera if I could talk to her?"

"Tell..?" She rolls her head around to look into my eyes. "Well what would you tell Hera? She's listening very carefully."

"I'd tell her to stop deluding herself. She has a bad track record of blaming the mortals or taking it out on the children.. but the fact is: Zeus is Zeus. He isn't going to change. Every so often he's going to go out into the world, find some attractive mortal and convince them to have sex with him. And she can either accept that… Be a total doormat about it. Or she can get a divorce and stop caring about it."

"No!" Her eyes widen and she pushes away from me. For a moment she sways and I brace to catch her but she steadies herself again a pillar before I need to intervene. "Can't do that. The Goddess of Marriage can't.. can't divorce."

"Why not? Isn't divorce a part of marriage?"

She tilts her head to the side as she stares at me. "That that doesn't that doesn't make sense. If you're divorced then.. you aren't married."

"If you're single you aren't married, yet everyone who gets married was single at some point. Plus, there would be nothing to stop her getting married again, preferably to someone who isn't a philandering arsehole. Lots of marriages involve divorce these days. Shouldn't a goddess whose domain is marriage have gone through the whole of the process, understand every bit of the concept they're responsible for?"

She looks thoughtful. Sort of. I'm not sure if any of this is sinking in. "So.. I should…"

"Marriage… As I see it, marriage is a formal pact between two people to behave in a particular way towards each other. It doesn't work if one of them isn't keeping up their end of the deal, especially if there's no fallout from not doing that. If that happens, then there isn't a marriage there, like how if someone cheats at a sport they're not really playing that sport any more." I'm not sure whether she's nodding or swaying. "I understand that they've been together a long time, but once she gets over the shock I honestly think that she'll come to understand that dumping Zeus is the best decision she's made since Greece went Christian."

"Just… No more Zeus."

"That's right." I try smiling kindly as I approach her again. "But for now, why don't we get you cleaned up… Then you can talk to Hera-."

"Heheh." I'm a bit worried about that smile. "No more… No more… I could… I could do that." I look at Seris, trying to get some sort of idea about how she wants to play this. She just grins at me. Okay, I get she's happy that her nan's leaving the doldrums, but-. "No! More! Zeus!" There's a blast of air and light from where Seris' nan is standing and then she disappears. Magic teleportation? I suppose a High Priestess might well-.

Seris pulls my head around to face her, smiling up at me. "That went better than I could have hoped."

"Happy to have helped. But… Do you..? I think someone should.. probably go and get her before she-."

My eyes widen in surprise as she pulls my head down and mashes her lips against mine. She pulls back a little to judge my response, smiles wider at my shock and then leans back in, biting -Ow!- my lower lip before thrusting her tongue into my mouth. Okay, that's, um, hello? No, this is fine. Surprising, but-. Just as I start kissing back she pulls away, still grinning. "Oh you are so totally in."

"Um. Thank you? Um, I understand Amazon social customs on the subject but I'd.. like to get to know you a little better-."

She reaches into her cleavage, pulls out a small card and holds it out to me. Wait, what? I think I'm.. losing the thread a bit here. I delicately take it. The card is dark blue. On the front is some golden Greek writing the ring is refusing to translate and on the back is a.. discordian chao? I frown, look up and.. she's not there any more.

…

I think I need to talk to Diana.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th January
15:43 GMT +3

Seris. S-Eris. Aaaagh I can barely believe I did that! Sorry Diana, I just accidentally your entire pantheon. Is that bad? A wave of orange shoves the screen at the Temple's front entrance aside as I stumble out, the guards around the plaza turning to stare at me. "tEmPlE's OpEn FoR bUsInEsS." I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. "Anyone.. see where Diana went?"

Ah, the diffusion of responsibility. Six Amazons as old as the farming of rice in Japan look at each other in confusion. I shake my head and float forwards, landing just in front of the two guarding the now empty Temple. I fix my eyes on one to make it quite clear that it is her that I'm addressing. "Hate to be a nag, but this is quite urgent."

She blinks, then her eyes narrow. "Why were you in the temple?"

"Clearly Hera didn't have a problem with it! Please!"

Her partner slaps her on the shoulder. They share a look, then the first waves me off and the second addresses me. "The Queen, the Princess, Prince Konel and Menalippe are visiting the forum in the lower city." I start floating upwards. "Then I believe they intend to travel to the Shrine of Helios. Do you require directions?"

"No, thank you, very helpful." The forum on Themyscira is a public open space used for various events, though sports and plays more usually take place in the coliseum. Perfect place for the Amazon equivalent of a photo op. Keeping my speed to subsonic I head up and over the city in that direction. Amazons have glass, but even leaving aside the potential for injuries if I go supersonic and cause a sonic boom making more glass isn't easy for them. I don't want to spend the rest of my time here fixing windows. Looks.. like.. the crowd's moving away from the forum itself, the royal party in the lead.

Gulp.

I look up into the sky and then have the rings show me the direction to Mount Olympus. No obvious meteorological abnormalities as yet. Would she have gone straight there, wherever there is relative to the world? I can sort of imagine her storming into the throne room only for Zeus and Ganymede to be out cruising, coming back only hours later to find her passed out on the floor.

I think maybe I shouldn't be trusted around gods.

Diana looks up as I come in to land next to her. "How goes the archaeology?"

"Doctor Sandsmark seemed to be enjoying herself. Um, I think I may have done something a bit stupid."

She braces herself. "How 'stupid' is stupid?"

"Just to check: the High Priestess of Hera isn't a high end magic user, is she?"

Menalippe turns in our direction as we continue up towards the shrine. "That would be me, inasmuch as she has one. And while I like to think that I am a competent ritualist, I don't imagine that I even begin to compare with some of the people you have seen."

Diana's starting to look concerned. "Whhhy are you asking?"

"I may possibly have convinced Hera to divorce Zeus." Stares. "Sorry."

"He-." Diana stops herself. "Hestia. How did you manage that?"

"Bumped into my own patron at the man village. Didn't recognise her. She asked me to help with her nan."

Menalippe looks concerned. "Eris is here? On Themyscira?"

"She.. she left. Anyway, she said that her nan was in the temple, we went in… I thought she was one of the priestesses!"

Diana puts her right hand over her face. "Paul."

"She looked like a normal woman! And I.. made certain observations about her marital relationship and.. modern.. marriage customs… And she shouted 'no more Zeus' and left."

Diana winces more but Menalippe seems to be taking it a little better. "At least this shows that you made the correct choice in your patron, Tyche preserve us." She shakes her head. "How did you fail to recognise her when all of the statues in her temple show her face?"

"She'd been on a bit of a bender. Wasn't really looking her best. And white stone and living flesh don't really…" I'm going to need to start checking stuff like that, aren't I? I hold the card Eris gave me out to her. "Can you tell me what this says? The rings are getting stuck."

She studies it for a moment. "For a good time, call Eris on-." I snatch it back and slide it into a pouch. "It seems that she's quite taken with you. Are you a.. particularly chaotic person.. in your normal life?"

"In the.. sense that even positive change can cause sudden and unexpected societal shifts? I'm working on it." I take a moment to look around at a society that has excluded chaos since it went into full isolationism. And stayed medieval as a result, being completely left behind by the rest of the world.

"Do you know what happened to her last set of worshippers?"

"Yes, she told me. Repatriation or suicide. Since neither achieved the result I want you don't have to worry about me copying them."

The shrine of Helios isn't actually all that big. The Temple of the Heavens on the other side of the city is far larger, but this structure is sacred to Helios alone rather than being shared. Six pillars carved with images of the sun and its divine patron rise up from a stone platform and are capped by a stone dome whose interior is decorated with a depiction of the passage of the sun across the sky.

Kon's standing there with Queen Hippolyta, looking across the city towards the sun. "…exactly sure what Helios would want from me."

"There's no hurry, Kon. I am certain that between you and Menalippe you will discover something appropriate."

I increase my speed to approach them. "Or you could just ask me." They look at me. "What, you didn't think I'd suggest Helios without having an idea for the offering, did you?"

Kon smiles. "I suppose I should have realized. What is it?"

"You can read music, right?" He nods, and I take some sheet music out of subspace and pass it to him. He takes it and starts to read through it. "I didn't bring any instruments, but it should work well enough as a soloist piece."

"Ah… Are you sure about this?"

"Kon, I just got frenched by Eris." Queen Hippolyta blinks in surprise and looks to her daughter for confirmation. "I'm not sure about anything. But I do know that it's been a very long time since anyone sang Helios a song not written on Themyscira." He nods as he flicks back to the first page and tries humming the tune. "How was the forum?"

Queen Hippolyta thinks for a moment. "Polite. I don't think they quite believed the two of you were real until they saw you in person. I imagine that the more confrontational members of our community will make themselves known tomorrow. Do you intend to address them yourself?"

"Yes. I need to know how much of an uphill battle I've got on my hands."

"You wish to change things here?"

"I wouldn't have picked Eris otherwise. Don't worry, I know things work by.. consensus. I'll be trying to change minds, not just doing stuff. I'm an iconoclast, not a saboteur."

She nods as Kon looks up from the music. "Do I need to face any particular direction?"

Menalippe looks out across the city. "Towards the sun would be best, though I doubt that Lord Helios will mind."

Kon nods. "Okay." He pauses for a moment and then looks skywards. "Two men walk on a beach in the sun…"