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

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
10:56 GMT -6

Right. Ibac. Strong, tough, not particularly skilled and thick as anything.

Would that work?

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I am-!" His eyes widen and his face twists like he's desperately trying to prevent himself shitting after a three day Mexican binge. Then his eyes narrow. "Oooooh, a clever one. Trying to outsmart me, hey?"

"Worth a try." Ring, don't help without specific instruction.

Compliance.

"You can't trick I-. Me! I'm guided by the spirits-."

"Of Ivan the Terrible, Cesare Borgia, Attila the Hun and Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus."

He frowns. "Who's that last one?"

Oh, for goodness sake. Really? Isn't he supposed to be able to speak to their spirits or something? "Caligula, it's the proper full name of Caligula. Caligula literally meaning 'little boots'." He looks blank. "It was a nickname, it wasn't his… Never mind." I gently unsling the recumbent William and lower him to the ground. In the distance I think I can hear a vehicle heading this way, probably an ambulance heading towards the police cordon. "Your name's Stanley Printwhistle, isn't it?"

"No, it's-." He cuts himself off. "Oooooh. You're not Marvel, but I think I'm going to enjoy beating you nearly as much."

"If you could give me an hour or two I could probably get Captain Marvel back on his feet. Then you could fight him."

He looks as close to thoughtful as he can. "Hey, that's not a bad-." He twitches. "No!" I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Right. Flight belt got destroyed by.. something Sabbac did, but the armour's other systems appear to be fully operational. I have taken part in Diana's super strength brawling lessons, so I know-.

A Praexis Demon falls out of my the left hand ring. "Huh?" Not Fatty or Tubbs. Alright, I can use that. Praexis Demon, get him.

It blinks, bares its teeth at Ibac, actually hisses Gollum-style and then dives at him with its stubby little arms outstretched.

Ibac lunges forwards, his left fist meeting the Demon halfway. It disintegrates in a cloud of orange. Reappearing? Looks like not. Ring?

Repeated manifestation requires power consumption. Ibac continues his run, charging me. Do you wish to remanifest?

No. I make an awkward sidestep right as he reaches me, causing his first wild swing to miss. As he tries to arrest his momentum I bend my legs and lunge left sideways, shoulder barging him with all of my armour's mass and knocking him off his feet. I suspect that he's stronger than me but I'm heavier. He just rolls to his feet none the worse for wear and takes another swing. I take a couple of frantic tiny steps as I fully appreciate that in this armour I can't bend nearly as well as him, then step towards him, sticking out both hands to catch hold of the side of his extended right arm and elbow him in the face.

He takes the blow without flinching and grabs hold of my right arm with his left hand, trying to pry it off. The armour strains but holds. He swings his forehead forwards, striking my helmet and making my HUD glitch out. I bring my right foot down hard on his left-

"Aw!"

-and then take advantage of his grip on me and comparative light weight to lift him off the ground, stepping forwards and then dropping down so that he ends up on his back on the road. Still, heavy combat norms apply; a little drop like that might stun a normal person but won't do a thing to him except put him in a worse position.

I pull back slightly and smash my left fist into his face, aiming for his eyes. I manage three powerful shots to his right eye before he tries pushing my right arm into the way while he sits up. My own bulk is preventing me hitting somewhere like his diaphragm while he's distracted with guarding his face. This armour really isn't designed for knee strikes. Um… I lean forwards, overbalancing onto his face elbow first. He turns his head aside to deflect the blow and I end up lying on his face. He's shouting so hard that I can feel the vibrations through my chestplate but I can't make out the actual words.

He's pulling his right arm outwards while his left pulls my right in the opposite direction. Try holding on and risk the armour breaking or go with it? It's not like he can really strike at me from this position. I open my right hand in one go and his left arm pulls it out from between us so suddenly that he reflexively loses his grip on it as his wrist gets twisted.

"Get off me!"

Can't bend my arms far enough to hit his head. I could try pushing up, but-. He brings his right fist around in a clumsy blow which hits me in the side and knocks me sideways. I have to use my right arm in order to steady myself. He pulls his right arm back again and as it touches the road surface I grab his wrist with my left hand and lean into it. He strains for a moment but even as strong as he is he can't get any leverage. I feel a slight shudder as he tries to kick at me but I'm so far forwards he can barely make contact. A moment later the vibrations change as he tries to get enough momentum to jerk himself upright. No, that doesn't work. Next he tries pushing off the ground in a sort of crab posture but that isn't happening either.

Well what n-?

"Ibac."

Aaaaaaghhhh! Green fire flares around me as he triggers his transformation. I feel my skin burning and dozens of damage warnings appear on my armour's HUD as components burn out. Focus! He's now much smaller and I can-.

Warning: Spell Eater approaching critical temperature.

"Ibac!"

Grahhaaaghhah! Bloewgh! I'm thrown clear to his right, crashing onto the road and skidding along its surface! I nearly gag as the armour's control system detects my injuries and shoves a straw into my mouth to feed me a healing potion. Minor injuries only but it should help with my burns. I've… There was no report of Ibac being able to use his transformation effect as a weapon. Okay. Arms… Just about functioning. I clumsily plant my right hand on the ground and start to push myself up.

"Hah. Haaah. You think… Ugh You think you can get the best of me?" Ibac's back on his feet, staggering slightly. "I fight the World's Mightiest-" Left hand plant, try moving my left knee. "-Mortal as an equal!" Not happening. Right? Yes, that's working. Would have been slightly further away. Oh dear, Ibac's heading this way. Plasma pistol out of subspace, shoot him repeatedly in the head and hope I can fix the zeta tube before William bleeds out? Not a good plan but I can't think of anything better right…

Is the ground shaking?

I can turn just enough to watch as a humvee drives straight into Ibac, driving him through the glass frontage of a shop called 'Oriental Teas' and into the inner wall. The driver -a blonde woman in purple denim trousers and a red turtleneck- shoves open the door on the passenger side and gets out, hurrying out into the street.

Her eyes alight on me first. "Are you still alive in there?!"

"I'm fine."

There's a sound of shattering glass and shifting rubble as Ibac pushes the humvee backwards. The blonde woman looks around. "Hell." She dashes to the side, hopefully out of his line of sight as I renew my efforts to rise. Right knee.. down… Shift weight back…

Too slow. Ibac trudges out of the shop, eyes fixed on me. "I will deal with you. Then-."

The blonde woman creeps up behind him, jumps and grasps his neck in a textbook carotid sleeper hold. Oh no, what's she thinking! He'll just..? Ibac.. staggers..? He brings his hands back to try and throw her off but she's maintaining her grip. Er, right, rock back slightly to get my right foot down, twist the left leg into a more supportive position. Ibac collapses beneath her and she maintains her hold for a moment before lifting herself off him. She dusts her hands off before jogging over to me and lifting me back onto my feet with little visible effort.

Ah. Now I remember her face. "Thank you, Miss Sivana."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:00 GMT -6

"Doctor Sivana, thank you. I didn't spend six years at medical school to be referred to as 'Miss'. Now, where's Captain Marvel?"

I take a hobbling step. I can sort of move, then. The motors in my right arm protest as I raise it to point. "Just behind that car." She turns away and hurries over to him. "And it wasn't supposed to be a sexist thing. There are nine different people called 'Doctor Sivana', you're just the only one who's an unmarried woman."

"Nine?" She comes to a halt next to William and kneels down to examine him. "Oh God. What happened?"

I step-drag in the direction of the wooden fence. The wood is just wood, so even with little strength or coordination I should be able to just crash through it. "Sivana's an unusual name, but it's hardly unique. Six in your family, not counting multiple doctorates, and three others I was able to locate."

"What happened to-."

"New Sabbac slashed him through the chest with a magical Demon sword. I'm using a power ring to stop him bleeding out but he's lost a lot of blood already. The sword appears to be preventing him from regenerating."

"How deep?"

"Clean through the ribs and the lung to a depth of about sev-. Three inches at the deepest. Didn't hit his spine or oesophagus."

"We need to get him to a hospital." She bends down to lift him up. "I'll put you both in my hummer-."

"Already in hand." I half punch/half shoulder barge through the fence and it disintegrates. "There's a Justice League zeta tube just through here. It'll take us directly to a specialist in metahuman medicine." The Fawcett City photo booth zeta terminus has been ripped from its mooring, a chunk of the outer casing torn off and the screen punched in. Easy enough fix…

Wait. Did Ibac do that in Ibac-mode and then turn back?

She moves William into a fireman's carry and walks past me into the alleyway. "One expert? This is a two person job at least! You're taking me with you." Doctor Sivana ♀ in the mountain. How would Batman-? "Don't even try to argue with me, you can barely move yourself." She's right, and she probably has the knowledge to help but I don't think this is going to win me Bat points. "Wait. That's the zeta tube?"

"Ibac did some remodelling." What's the most energy efficient way to go about this? "Could you please pick up the front bit and set it back down where it used to be?"

I get an annoyed glance. "Did your power ring stop working?"

"It will in a moment. I'm using all remaining power to keep Captain Marvel alive. Why did you think I was having trouble with Ibac of all people?"

"Ah, okay." She crouches to put William down. "I'm sorry, it's just… Seeing him like this…"

"Don't worry, just do it."

"Okay." She checks the outline of the cleaner part of the concrete, takes hold of the photo booth and lifts slightly before pulling it around. The back half snaps off and falls to the ground on its side but none of the important mechanisms are in there. "Now what?"

"Now, I reconnect the torn cable-" Done. "-and hope that's all it needs. Orange Lantern to Hawkwoman?" No response. Armour's transmitter probably got fried. Okay, still manageable. "Stick Marvel in front of the camera and hold him there. I'm going to have to check the systems and I might run completely out of power part way through."

She moves back to pick him up. "What happens if you do?"

"The constructs keeping him from bleeding to death stop working and he dies in short order."

"Okay."

Ring, connect to the zeta tube's control systems.

Compliance. Warning: low power. Two percent remaining.

Physical strain shook loose a few components and tripped the safety. Probably would have worked anyway… Except the override is remote and I can't contact the Watchtower. Fix that, add Beautia Sivana to the system and reprogram it for multi-person transportation…

Warning: low power. One percent remaining.

Fucking made it. I limp within the transportation radius and activate the tube.

12th February
12:03 GMT -5

"Recognised, Captain Marvel, one five, Orange Lantern, B zero six, Beautia Sivana, A three one."

As the lights fade I see Mister Yao waiting for us, along with M'gann, Kon and Wallace. "Wait, who's tha-?" Wallace's question is cut off as Doctor Sivana strides past him with Captain Marvel. "Oh no."

Mister Yao steps forwards and I can just about hear some sort of low pitch humming noise. "Wǒ cào." He breathes in sharply. "Miss Martian, take Captain Marvel to the medical centre immediately." Her eyes glow and William floats off Doctor Sivana ♀'s shoulder. "Explain, please, what has occurred."

"Captain Marvel was struck by a sword forged from the remains of two immensely powerful Demons. It appears to have bypassed his normal resistances and is generally messing up his innate magics."

"Yes, I heard that. Come." He turns to follow M'gann and Marvel towards the medical bay, sparing a moment to glance at Doctor Sivana ♀. "And who is this?"

"Doctor Tia Sivana. I'm an MD and a friend of Captain Marvel."

"Then I thank you for your assistance. Follow me."

I stay standing inside the zeta tube as they go. Kon looks me over. "What's going on? I saw on the news that-."

"Superboy, my armour's pretty much given out. I need you to carry me to my room at best possible speed please." He hesitates. "Right now."

He jogs in, lifts me in a bridal carry and starts running. Not comfortable, but I'll live. Wallace hurries along besides us. "Was that Doctor Sivana as in Thaddeus Sivana?"

"His eldest daughter. She's legal. Like Magnificus, only not a dick."

"Is she allowed in here?"

"Captain Marvel's mortally injured, so yes."

"But what if I wasn't wearing my uniform? What if she'd seen my face?"

"She doesn't know who you are, Wallace. Unless someone identified you by name -your full name- she still wouldn't be able to track you down."

"Hey." I'm assuming that Kon's looking at me, I can't see his face from this position. "You okay?"

"Mildly burned from Ibac's transformation effect. Thanks for the potion, Wallace. Prrrobably going to need another one."

"You ran out of power that fast?"

"Stole Sabbac's sword so Adom could fight him without ending up like Marvel. Used about a hundred and seventy percent power to move it into subspace. Then Sabbac hit me. A lot. Super speed, super toughness, super strength, construct resistance, I can deal with any one. Or two. All four at once was pushing it."

Wallace goes ahead of Kon to push open the door to my room. Kon puts me down on my feet at the threshold and I stagger forwards towards salvation. "Reveal." My lantern shimmers into being and I wrench my gauntlets up to face it.

"This is my cause…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
12:06 GMT -5

Wallace looks sceptically at the sword. "That took a hundred and seventy percent of a normal power ring charge?" He reaches out-.

I jerk it back. "Don't touch it."

He pulls his hand back. "Just doesn't look like all that much. If it's a Demon sword, shouldn't it be all grey and on fire? And why's it split down the middle?"

"It was made using the remains of the two most powerful Demons in Hell, the Second of the Fallen and the Third of the Fallen. If I had to guess, I'd say that one prong was created from each of them. And don't assume that Demons are always going to look appropriately demony. The Succubus who created it used to date an Angel."

Kon nods. "Exactly how dangerous is it?"

"The only time I know of it being used… Before Sabbac Two used it on Captain Marvel anyway, was to kill the First of the Fallen. The First is… There isn't a Satan, but if there was? It would be him. As for how dangerous it is, I haven't seen any exotic effects but Captain Marvel's.. top tier physical toughness and it cut through him like a hot knife through thin air and negated his healing."

We've gathered in the gymnasium, which is the room closest to the medical bay. On the wall the television screen shows Mary and the Praexis Demons doing battle with some sort of strange flying burning dinosaur skeleton. The camera's given up on trying to keep up with Adom and Sabbac. They're just moving too fast. Adom appears to not only be holding his own but preventing Sabbac from disengaging.

M'gann looks up as Doctor Sivana ♀ walks into the room. "Any improvement?"

She shakes her head. "Three different forms of exotic cell regeneration, no effect. Doctor Yao's.. humming, hasn't done any better."

"He's not actually a qualified medical doctor yet."

"The point is, I haven't studied magic but I know dangerous spells when I see them. We'd need to nullify the magic, and according to you that's.. pretty much impossible."

"The rune stone exploded. It didn't even do that when I waved it at Nabu." She blanks. "Fate… The.. gold and blue…" She nods. "Okay, stop me if I'm being stupid. Have you tried excising the tissue along the edge-."

"Yes. No effect."

"Bridging the gap artificially?"

"Yes, but his cells won't engraft on the material we used. If he stays lying there for a few days we can bridge the important blood vessels and glue the bones but he'd.. almost certainly have to retire. How far away can you maintain the construct you're using?"

I shake my head. "If it came to it I'd just give him a ring.. but.. that's not a good position for either of us."

"Why not?"

"If Sabbac was any guide Marvel's own magics would resist the construct. Power rings require you to think in certain ways to use them properly. Marvel doesn't think orange, so I'm not sure that he could maintain the construct properly on himself. Plus… Constructs don't stay on while you sleep. Whenever he slept I'd have to be in the building-."

"Incoming communication from: Catherine Cobert."

I look around. "Did we.. miss some sort of press conference?"

Wallace frowns. "Don't think so."

"Answer?"

The news footage is replaced by Miss Cobert's face. "Orange Lantern, we've had a call from someone claiming to be 'Lieutenant Marvel'. Normally we'd just have screened it, but they described particulars of the situation in Fawcett-."

I didn't give him my phone number and William hasn't shared League communication protocols with them. Darn it..! "Put him through. Actually, ring? Steal call."

"Call acquired."

"Thank you Miss Cobert. Off." The screen deactivates and I raise my left hand to my ear. "Got some good news for us?"

"Orange Lantern? I thought they were going to leave me on hold forever. Is B-. The Captain okay?"

"He's alive. Still unconscious and we can't fix the injury. Was Shazam able to tell you anything?"

"Yeah, he thinks that the sword is only stopping the magic we normally use fixing him. He said if we got hold of some other kind of healing magic that should work fine."

Ring, thought to speech.

Compliance.

What happens to injuries you take in a fight when you change back?

"Cuts open up again and we bruise a whole lot worse. Why, you're not turning him back-!"

No, but the only magic based healing I have is the Danner Formula and I can't use it on him while he's transformed. Except… Why did the wizard choose him?

"What? 'Cause he's a really nice guy. Pure of heart.. and.. rejected the Enemies of Man without thinking about it."

"Okay, got a possibility. I'll phone you back when I have something concrete."

"Hey." Kon's floating slightly off the ground, having just finished donning his armour. "Ask if they want some help."

"Ring, end call." I lower the ring slightly. "Kon, Batman authorises us to go on missions."

"Well, yeah, but if it's an emergency…"

"You heard what he said after the LexCorp thing. Are you ready for full exposure?"

"No, but-."

"If you want to go to Fawcett -and I don't recommend it- you need Batman's permission, not mine. Ring, contact Cornwall Boy."

"Compliance."

"You're sending him?"

"No. The Sword of Beowulf works properly for the pure of heart. I'm hoping it will work for Captain Marvel. I'm going to try and get-."

"Yeah mate, what is it?"

"Cornwall, I need you to drop whatever you're doing and come to the mountain immediately. And bring the Sword. I'm sorry, but you might not be getting it back."

"Why, what'd I do?"

"Nothing, but Captain Marvel's in critical condition and he needs it more."

"Oh, right, yeah, okay, it'll… Wait, so how come you're not picking me up?"

"I'm preventing him from bleeding out. Can't leave."

"Er. Okay, you know how that guy you know said that standing stones kept geomantic energy focused but didn't really create it? I've found a place where it naturally pools. If I teleport from there… I should be there in about.. ten minutes? That alright?"

"It'll have to be. Go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
12:14 GMT -5

"You were wrong." Robin looks around from the recording of Hell he's had playing on the monitor since he ran in. "They're not writhing. I think they're.. praying."

Reluctantly, I turn my attention to the clip he's got paused. The field of torsos. I was actively trying not to think about it particularly hard but the ring recorded the whole thing. The torsos are naked, a mix of male and female and none of them in good condition. Wounds of various kinds, burns and boils… Most don't have heads, and on those that do they're sort of.. pulled into the neck. Most have both arms intact and some even have hands. They're not all facing the same direction, but… There's a sort of uneven arc…

"They're all facing the tower."

Robin nods. "Looks like. Computer, play, one quarter speed."

I watch a small group in the bottom left of the screen. They can't see each other and there's no effort being made at coordination. But each one… Bow forwards, circle left to come upright, bow forwards, circle right to come upright. Repeat. Sometimes they get in each other's way, but otherwise…

M'gann's face couldn't get any whiter, but her eyes are wide with horror. "Is that what.. happens to Humans..? When they die? Their souls.. end up.. like that?"

"Only monotheists who don't live up to their own standards. That's why you should kill every missionary you-" I hear running feet outside the gym. "-come across."

Rob bursts into the room at an appreciable fraction of Wallace. "Whereis'e?" Then he drops the Swift Wind spell, bends over with his hands on his thighs and starts panting.

I stand. "Thank you for coming so promptly. He's currently in the medical bay, I'll take you through."

"Uuh. Ran all the…" He breaks off to pant some more. "Sodding. Way."

"I'm sure Captain Marvel will appreciate it when he wakes up."

Robin turns away from the screen with a frown. "Why do you think the Sword of Beowulf has healing properties? Artemis and Zatanna's report only mentioned Harm throwing lightning."

"I compared the level of force Artemis can exert with the injuries Mister Hayes was recorded as having after the event and his post-arrest recovery time. He should have been down far longer than he was and he tested negative both for metahuman traits and magic use. That only really leaves the sword."

"Hope you're right."

"Yeah. Me too." Rob straightens up and follows me as I walk out into the corridor. Of course, even if it does improve his healing that doesn't guarantee that he'll be up and about again within a timeframe useful to the Fawcett City situation. Just have to hope that he's well enough that I can go back. Adom and Sabbac are still battering each other and Mary, Frederick and the Praexis are just about able to destroy the things still coming out of the hellgate but they're not making any progress. We need to shut it down.

I press the button to open the door to the medical bay and enter, Mister Yao and Doctor Sivana ♀ looking around as I do so. Mister Yao has his fingers on William's head… Some sort of pressure point stimulation? I haven't studied how his magic healing works. Probably an oversight but it's not like Sephtian has any spare time these days.

William's costume has been removed from his torso so that Doctor Sivana ♀ and Mister Yao can better access the site of the injury. Doctor Sivana ♀'s pacing, apparently in an attempt to burn off nervous energy. Don't I remember something from the comics about her having a romantic interest in Captain Marvel? I take a closer look at her but the yellow is overshadowing everything at the moment. She rapidly walks over to us as Rob unslings the sheath of the Sword of Beowulf and holds it out. Doctor Sivana ♀ looks at it for a moment and wrinkles her nose. "Is that a.. hand? What are we supposed to do with that?"

"I have reason to believe that it grants the user healing abilities. It's tested clean of demonic influences so.. it can't really make the situation worse."

Doctor Sivana ♀ takes hold of it with obvious reluctance and walks back to William. Rob follows her and then stops suddenly. "Wait. If he's unconscious, how's he gunna say the words?"

"We have to wake him up. Doctors, were the blood tests alright?"

Mister Yao nods. "I could sense no rejection between the blood taken from Captain Marvel and the donated blood Robin was able to acquire. The sample you cloned, it… It felt wrong. None of my past lives remember encountering such a lack of spiritual substance."

I nod. With time, we could probably set up some sort of mana infusion system for cloned blood samples but that's time we don't have now. "Donor samples it is then."

Doctor Sivana ♀ shakes her head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea at all. We have no idea how the magic empowering Captain Marvel will react to donated blood."

"The alternative is I call one of the other Marvels in here to force him to change back, and that could well kill him by itself, as well as reducing Fawcett City's defences."

"Could you use your ring to force his larynx to move and make him speak that way?"

"The Power of Zeus makes his body resist my constructs. I can give it a go…" She nods as she places the scabbard on William's chest before taking hold of his right hand and folding it around the grip. "You should.. probably stand back… You too, Mister Yao."

She pats William's hand before stepping away from the table. Mister Yao nods sadly. "You are correct. I am.. too impure to stand before such a sword. Be well, Captain." He steps backwards to clear the space around William's bed.

Right then. I hold up my left hand slightly and send filaments down William's throat. No problem so far; I was a little worried his mouth would act like a warding circle and prevent entry. In my mind's eye the ring shows me the filaments connecting to the muscles in his throat. Immediately they start to fade out. I use more power, thickening the orange lines into something that's clearly visible. Those last better but I can't make contact over a small enough area to precisely manipulate his body.

"Eynn. Aann."

I shake my head. "Sorry, it's not happening."

Rob stares at William's recumbent body. "Good, 'cause that was creepy."

Doctor Sivana ♀ nods. "Alright, donor blood it is." She looks at a blood bag in a nearby tray and I pick it up with a construct. "Bring his pressure up gradually. None of the exposed veins are ideal for this procedure. Mister Yao, monitor him constantly. Inform me at once of any changes."

Mister Yao nods as I hook the blood bag up to the constructs I have keeping his lungs working properly. I'd like to speed this up, but she's right. We just don't know enough about what the effect of rapidly increasing the blood pressure of someone like Captain Marvel would be. "Blood going in now." Not a lot changes visually. The construct tubes I'm using are narrow enough and bright enough that the passage of the dull red blood through them doesn't change their colour noticeably. Nothing else to do while that works, reall-. Oh, whoops. "Mister Yao, has anyone contacted.. um, Captain Marvel's… Contact? If he was watching the news he's probably frantic."

"I do not believe so."

Ah, poop. "Cornwall, would you mind? His number's on the system."

"Sure, no problem. I'll just, um, leave you to it."

"Thank you." I take a moment, watching William's chest weakly rise and fall.

"His contact?"

I glance at Doctor Sivana ♀ and nod. "Yes. Emergency contact. Someone who's in on your secret identity if you have one, and.. who gets notified if you're seriously injured. You saw on the news that Marvel was seriously injured so by now the whole city probably knows. It's a.. violent job we have, and maintaining a division between personal life and public life… There's only so many times work colleagues will believe 'skiing accident'."

"Are you..? Can you tell me..?"

"His uncle, but don't ask more than that."

She nods, and pulls up a chair to wait for William to regain consciousness.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
12:22 GMT -5

"Uuu-Uuhhh?" William's eyelids flicker and the eyes behind them try to focus. Whatever else the Sword did to him at least it doesn't appear to be affecting the resilience of the other parts of his body. His right hand tightens around the hilt of the Sword of Beowulf and he blinks with a little more coordination. "What hit me?"

I disconnect the blood bag and move it out of his line of sight. "Sabbac Two."

"There's.. two of them? Wait, where am I?"

I glance at Doctor Sivana ♀. Does she..? She rolls her eyes and mouths 'Mount Justice' at me. "You're in the mountain's medical bay. I'm sorry to say that you've been seriously injured."

"Oh, that's not a problem. I've got the-" He tries to sit up. "Stamina of owowowowow." He lies back down. "Or not."

"Captain, I realise that this is going to sound a little odd, but I need you to do something for me."

He turns his head slightly so he can look at me, wincing slightly as he does so. "Um, okay?"

"Please say: Abannan."

"A bannan?"

"Afol."

"Afol."

"Beowulf."

A slight frown. "Isn't that what Cornwall Boy says when he uses…" He glances down. "Oh. Why have I got his sword?"

Doctor Sivana ♀ steps around so he can see her. "Because we can't work out how to fix the wound Sabbac inflicted on you."

"Oh, hey Miss Tia." Oh shit he didn't. William knows Doctor Sivana ♀ both as Captain Marvel (as the daughter of his enemy Doctor Sivana Senior) and William Batson (the tutor who's trying to make up for his years of missed schooling) but she doesn't know they're one and the same. And he's still woozy. He wouldn't call her 'Miss Tia' in Captain mode, would he? Is she going to notice? "What brings you here?"

She lays her right hand on his shoulder. "You do. Now do what Orange Lantern says so you can get back to Fawcett."

"I wasn't joking about keeping back, Doctor."

William looks around the sword at his injury. "That looks deep. How.. bad is it?"

"Captain, please."

"Abannan.. afol.. Beowulf." There's a really quite unpleasant sound as the hand gripping the guard releases its hold, dead flesh shifting with an audible oozing cracking noise. "Oh, that's gross."

Glad it worked anyway. "Now, you just need to draw the sword."

"Why?"

"We think it should heal the injury you took. The magic in the Sword doesn't start acting until it's drawn."

He moves left hand to grip the scabbard, wincing as severed muscles try pulling on connections that aren't there anymore. He ends up just laying his forearm over the scabbard before starting to pull the sword free. Orange lightning crackles around the exposed metal of the blade, shining brilliantly as the point of the sword leaves its necromantic prison. William squeezes his eyes shut. "Does this have a dimmer switch?"

Not really sure what happens next. Mister Hayes only killed the curator when he stole the sword but the police officers who we assume witnessed him activating it weren't in any state to remember exactly what they'd seen. Orange-gold lights the same colour as the lightning appear on William's skin directly over his heart. Looks like a sort of.. irregular spiky circle thing? I was expecting an actual rune but the pattern looks random. From there filaments of orange lightning flicker down William's right arm until they make contact with the blade and are drawn into it, giving it a white-orange glow. And then the light dims.

William waits a moment, then narrowly opens his eyes. "Is that it? 'Caaaause I don't feel any better. And my chest is glowing."

"Let me check… Ring?"

"Cellular regeneration is occurring at the injury site."

"Looks like we're good." At the deepest part of the wound I press the severed tissues together. Tiny amounts of orange lightning crackle around it in a way that looks like it should be excruciating, but… Cell growth occurs, holding lung tissue and blood vessels together. I pull my construct flesh back a little further and watch the same thing happen again. "Definitely working."

"What's happening back in Fawcett?"

"Adom's fighting Sabbac and Mary and Lieutenant Marvel are preventing any more Demons breaking out."

William twitches as his ribs are fused back together. "And what about Father Mattias and Mister Constantine?"

"Father Mattias was alright when I left. We.. 'misplaced' John in Hell."

"Oh no."

"He'll be fine. Any Demon that tries touching him would get burned to death by the Seal of Solomon tattoo he's got all over his skin." I flick my left hand, visibly dismissing the filaments connecting me to William's rapidly disappearing cut. Maybe that jolt nullified the effect of the sword and his normal abilities are kicking back in? Mister Hayes certainly didn't get up that quickly from the beating Artemis gave him. Though I suppose that could have been due to how widespread his injuries were or the fact that she returned the Sword to its scabbard as soon as he went down.

William cautiously sits up. "That's better, but it still aches."

"Captain, you just got cut open by the sword which killed the First of the Fallen. If Sabbac hadn't messed up his first strike you'd be dead. If Adom or I had been slower getting there, you'd be dead."

"Okay, but I'm alive." He swivels his legs over the side of the bed. "So I need to get back out-."

"You most certainly do not." Doctor Sivana ♀ firmly presses her left hand against his chest. "You are in no shape to leave this medical facility, let alone fight a demonically empowered superhuman."

"I am too-." She pokes him in the bruise. "Ow!" She raises her eyebrows and he looks away. "Okay… Maybe I'm not."

"I'll head back to Fawcett-."

"Wait, why can't your power ring heal me?"

"Because the Power of Zeus makes it very hard to alter you with external power."

"So if I turned my powers off, you could fix me up, right?"

"Well… Yes, in theory. You're healed enough the trauma shouldn't kill you now."

Doctor Sivana ♀ looks puzzled. "You can turn your powers off?"

"Great! Ah, yeah, I can. Um, could you.. step outside for a moment?"

She looks at me and Mister Yao. "But these two can stay?"

Mister Yao nods. "Orange Lantern and I are both familiar with Captain Marvel's secret identity. You are not."

"Oh, fine. I'll be outside." She walks around the bed and heads towards the door.

William peers around me until the door hums shut behind her. "Shazam!" Lightning crackles from nowhere and William Batson reappears. He immediately checks his chest and sees that the glowing circle over his heart is still there. "Cool!" He looks up at me. "Could you-?"

The door hums open. "Oh, I just forgot to mention oh God you're a child." Doctor Sivana ♀ gapes. "You're William Batson?!" Awwww shit. "Billy?"

William sheepishly raises his right hand to wave. "Hi.. Miss Tia… How's it going?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
12:26 GMT -5

"Ring, heal William and revoke Doctor Sivana's zeta tube privileges. "

Doctor Sivana ♀ leans against the medical bay wall, head bowed with her right hand pressed against her forehead. "oH gOd, I'm A pEdOpHiLe."

"Compliance."

"Ahhh..?"

"William, you're as fixed as I can make you. I think that now would be an opportune moment to transform and return to Fawcett."

Instead, he takes a few steps towards Doctor Sivana ♀. "Are you okay? I mean, I sort of knew you liked me… Captain Marvel-"

"Oh God."

"-but apart from that time you kissed-"

"oH gOd."

"-it really wasn't-."

"William. City?"

His head whips around to look at me. "Right." He turns back to Doctor Sivana ♀. "Just sit tight and we can talk about this when I get back. Shazam!" Another flare of electricity and Captain Marvel reappears, uniform fully intact. He checks himself over quickly and then looks thoughtfully at the sword in his hand. "What else does this do?"

"Fires lightning at your discretion. Nothing else that we know of."

"Does it have a.. less creepy scabbard?"

Oh for goodness… I hold out my right hand. Ring, fabricate a scabbard. "It does now. Just leave the zombie thing here."

He heads towards the door, picking the scabbard from my hand as he passes. "Thank you!"

"I will accompany you also." Mister Yao straightens his jacket before heading after William. "I am not sure that I could meaningfully fight Sabbac, but I may be able to assist in closing the gateway to the nether realm."

The door closes behind them as I regard Doctor Sivana ♀ for a moment. "Would you mind explaining what you thought you-?"

"I just thought if I-! Ergh!"

Still incoherent. Quick burst of empathic vision then. Ah. "You thought that if you knew his secret identity he'd be less formal with you when you met in public. And you wanted-."

"I don't want it any more!" She manages to look up. "How does he even-?"

"Just… Okay, look, he's ten, you're a Danner enhancile."

A frown. "How do you know-?"

"Your expected lifespan is at least three times that of a normal Human so by the time he's old enough-"

She sags. "Please… Stop."

"-for it not to be creepy you'll still be a young woman. " Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. "Excuse me."

I appear in the training area just ahead of William and Mister Yao. My team mates -Wallace, Kon, M'gann, Robin and Rob- and our pets -Wolf, Sphere and Teekl- are already there. Kon's in full armour, M'gann's in whiteface… Ah.

Kon looks directly at me. "We're coming with you."

I meet the eyes of each of my team mates. "I take it Batman hasn't signed off on this?"

Robin glances to the side. "Batman's.. kinda busy."

"I don't have the authority to deploy the team. If you choose to participate as individuals, I won't try to stop you. Miss Martian, do not use telepathy in the vicinity of Demons." She nods. "Unless you absolutely cannot avoid him, stay away from Sabbac. Leave him to Captain Marvel and Adom. Search and rescue and maybe a little Demon fighting." Nods from the group.

Marvel flies towards the zeta tube, stopping just short. "You guys coming with?"

"Looks like."

"Cool. Let me go first, though. Ibac might have-."

"Recognised, Teekl, C zero one."

"Huh? Oh…" He hesitates for a moment before flying into the tube. "I'm next!"

"Recognised, Captain Marvel, one five."

"Sphere, you'll be carrying Robin and Accomplished Perfect Physician." The Sphere warbles at me. It's funny, I've gotten so used to seeing the Sphere around the cave that I don't really think about it. A sentient giant alien metal sphere is no longer worth noting. "Superboy, you're next. Head towards the combat zone and support the police cordon."

He nods, then flies into the tube with Wolf loping after him. "Recognised, Superboy, B zero four, Wolf, C zero three."

"Kid Flash-."

He holds up his bandoleers. "Evacuation and potion supply duty. Got it." I nod.

"Recognised, Kid Flash, B zero three."

"Miss Martian, I don't know if invisibility will work on Demons. Focus on search and rescue."

"Got it."

"Recognised, Miss Martian, B zero five."

"Cornwall, clear up any Demons that reach ground level." An unusually decorative x-ionised sword appears from subspace. "And if the American Department of Defence ask-. "

He nods solemnly. "Bin in my family for generations."

"Recognised, Cornwall Boy, B one zero."

My turn. I'm taking the Sword with me in case something magic -like Satanus himself- turns up. I checked, and we're allowed to kill Demons. Since I'm sure that if I can get it from Sabbac he could certainly take it from me, I've got it in a warded scabbard which obscures its general shape. Hopefully he won't spot it until I have to use it. "Robin, keep watch on everything. I'm going to be busy so you'll need to coordinate."

"You got it."

I step into the tube. "Recognised, Orange Lantern-

12th February
11:29 GMT -6

"-B zero six."

I rise out of the alley, tossing Kon a set of enchanted manacles as he keeps Ibac's face firmly planted in the road with Wolf growling in his left ear. And I do mean in the road, his face has been smashed clean through the tarmac.

"Recognised, Accomplished Perfect Physician, two zero."

I recreate my armour construct and add a couple of autoturrets, with an armature for the Ace.

"Recognised, Sphere, C zero three."

I rise higher into the air as the Sphere transforms into her flying bike mode and Mister Yao takes the rear seat.

"Recognised, Robin, B zero one."

I get above the buildings and look towards the Hell portal. Yep, still billowing clouds. I can dimly feel the minds of the Praexis Demons as they chase a new Drill Wurm. Right, so the tower is the focus of the magic. With Sabbac busy I can head back into Hell-.

The clouds around the tower billow upwards and outwards, covering the Fawcett City sky in a matter of seconds! Visibility drops and all around me on every flat surface praying torsos shimmer into being.

Ah… Poop.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:30 GMT -6

There's no moaning. No blasphemous prayers. No chanting. Just a slightly damp slapping as their arms make contact with whatever surface they appeared on. And a slightly damp breathing sound as their lungs take in and breathe out air through their neck holes. A quick look through the windows of the nearby buildings shows that they appeared on external surfaces only.

Kon roughly lifts the clearly surprised Ibac's face out of the road. "What happened!?"

"I don't know! I was just supposed to watch the teleporter! What are they?"

The Sphere pulls up alongside me with Robin in the front seat. "Look at the tower." Tower? What..? I look towards where the Hell portal used to be. The car park appears to have returned, though at this distance and with visibility this bad I'm making an assumption based on the silhouette. "Are you still in contact with the Praexis Demons?"

"Yes." Fatty? Chubbs? Chubbs was chasing Imps near the city limits but Fatty is still near the portal. "The car park has been transformed into a demonic fortification. That'll be the focal point of the ritual so that's where I'm going."

M'gann looks around. "Where are all the people?"

"Either evacuating or staying inside." Wait, city limits. Chubbs, try flying… Fuck. "There's a barrier around the city. The Imps were tracing it out. I don't think the torsos so much left Hell as we got dragged in."

Robin nods. "What now?"

How do you stop ritual magic? Destroy the ritual space.

"Have you brought incendiaries?"

"Never leave home without 'em."

I bring up a construct map of the city. "Go to the closest ritual point and incinerate everything. We were leaving it for evidence, but this takes priority. Kid Flash, Cornwall, Wolf: get in the Sphere-Bike and go with them." Wait. I look at Mister Yao. "If that's alright with you, sir?"

He thinks for a moment, then nods. "The idea is sound. How does one steer-?" The Sphere lowers to just above street level, allowing Wallace and Rob to clamber on board.

Kon looks up, continuing to hold Mister Printwhistle in place. "What do you want me to do with this guy?"

"Mister Printwhistle, we don't have time to be nice to you. Change back and we'll put you somewhere safe. Stay as you are and we throw you at Sabbac as a distraction."

"Ah. Ah. Ibac!" Green flame flares around him as he transforms back, causing Kon to pull away and nearly stumble into a praying torso. Mister Printwhistle takes the opportunity to sit up, taking in his environment with growing terror.

Shockcrown. I unlock the front door of a nearby shop and deposit him inside as the Sphere-Bike pulls away. Kon rises up from the ground. "Right. I'll remind you both that lethal force is authorised against Demons. Don't hold back at all." A construct Firestorm appears around us and the force of the acceleration pushes us all back into our seats. Yes, we could all fly -an Imp is splattered across the left wing- but neither Kon nor M'gann have a top speed anything like mine.

Fawcett City flashes past beneath us. That's not a car park, that's a Demon Fortress. Pointless spines, glowing runes… "The top surface looks like our best entry point. Destination in two…"

M'gann nods. "Right."

"One. Go." The Firestorm dissipates as I call all locally available Praexis Demons to me and instruct the rest to go after the smaller ritual sites. Hopefully, we'll only need one or two to get through. M'gann's eyes glow as she telekinetically pushes the vapours aside. Might give away our position, but thanks to Helios Kon's glowing enough to do that anyway.

"Anyone on radio?" I give it a second but there's no reply. Alright then. Kon leading the way we rise, heading towards the top of the tower. I'd.. guess it's about a kilometre and a half tall and the stone carved decoration gets ridiculous towards the top. I really don't think that thing's structurally sound.

"…wizard, but I do not need to touch you to feed this whole city to my masters."

That was Sabbac's voice. Sounded like…

We rise over the top of the tower. The outer surface is studded with glowing runes and there's a just visible dome of red light over the whole of the thing. On the roof Sabbac sits on a throne of black metal, decorated in skulls and bones. More hellish runes run in patterns all over the stonework. I can recognise a few of them… Transport… Power… And I think the markers nearest to the throne represent each of his patrons… No, wait, Satanus' sigil is missing. Is Sabbac serving as that himself? Anyway, the layout determines what they do, and that's far more complicated than anything I know how to puzzle out.

Near the steps leading up to the roof John Constantine lights a cigarette as he steps over a particularly gruesome looking sigil. "Still not all that sure how you think that's gunna work, mate. You'll never get enough sacrifices for something that big stuck in here, an' if you go outside Adom'll-" The dome of red light shimmers for a moment and on the far side I see Adom pounding on it. William's next to him, shouting something I can't hear. "-rip you to pieces."

"The spell will not be powered by living sacrifices." Sabbac holds his right hand out towards the symbol of Aym. "The super heroes are attacking Aym's lesser Demons in an attempt to reach his altar."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"They are no longer relevant." Poop. "This spell is powered by the prayers of the damned. The altars were only needed to bind me to their infernal power." Sabbac pauses. "The Wisdom of Belial says that I should be wary of you, wizard. I think that when they walk freely among mortal men I shall ask them to grant me your soul as my bitch."

"Blimey, I am popular today." John takes a drag and looks around. "So that's what this whole set up's for, is it? Bring the tower to Earth, build up power and pull the six of them through."

Kon drifts closer to me. "Can we get in there?"

"Maybe. But if this thing's channelling magic from the whole city…" I take out a rune stone and my vision dims as the ring reacts to stop the brilliant glow from blinding me. "I'm rather hoping John's doing something clever instead because I'm guessing that Sabbac can just reroute the whole thing through himself for a supercharge."

"Yes! They will come, infernal majesty undimmed by summoning rites, their glorious voices speaking in the souls of all who have the strength to discern their meaning! And when that-!"

"SHAZAM!" / "SHAZAM!"

Two colossal bolts of lightning blast through the sky towards William and Adom. They blur as they fly to evade and the bolts miss, smashing into the barrier protecting Sabbac's ritual space. Runes around the edge of the tower flare and several of them gutter out.

"WEAK!" Sabbac looks away from John and towards the Wizard's champions. "Your magic is WEAK! I will show you the true power of Hell's sorcery!" He gets off his throne and kneels, right hand pressed on the symbol of Belial and lips moving in an inaudible prayer.

"SHAZAM!" / "SHAZAM!"

Two more bolts and a whole section of runes goes dead. Okay, that's… Sabbac bends his right elbow and hellfire flows from his hand and into the runes. William raises the Sword of Beowulf and orange lightning scours the barrier. Lower down the tower a new set of lights comes on. Those are on the tower's crenellations…

A gigantic hand rises through the murk, catching William unawares and grabbing him around the chest! I'm forced to evade and more limbs rise towards us. Black stone, covered in sheets of what looks disturbingly like flayed skin. Lower down I can see glowing eyes and the outline of colossal faces. The three of us fly higher as I try and work out what I'm looking at. The limbs aren't physically connected to the tower proper but rather are bound to it by what looks like black lightning. On the far side Adom ducks around grasping fingers and strikes at the closest. The rock cracks into pieces and falls towards the ground but knits back together long before it reaches the ground and is pulled back into shape.

I load mage slayers. "Superboy, Miss Martian, assist Marvel and Adom."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:34 GMT -6

I see six limbs flailing around the top of the tower, and for giant lumps of stone they can move bloody fast. One bends around the battlements, passing through the barrier as rocky finger tentacles scrabble for Kon and M'gann. They frantically try to evade it only to be caught by another limb moving in from the side! Kon tries to punch through it and though the first segment of finger is smashed to rubble that took all his momentum and the second strikes him in the chest. M'gann ducks, weaves and tries to phase through an outcrop of rock only to be caught by one of the flesh coverings.

Ring, total mage slayers available?

Forty six.

Fuck it. I target the rocky limbs and open fire. A Mageslayer passes through the gap-joint of the finger grabbing at Kon and the black lightning holding the structure together disappears. Kon gets a grip as the digit starts to fall, turns in the air- "Nnruughh!"- and throws the limb at Sabbac. It flies through the air, strikes the barrier and bounces, lands on it again and rolls off to the far side.

A shot from the Ace sets the flayed flesh covering the part of the limb entangling M'gann on fire, white flame rushing over the surface of the structure, over her… Without injuring her. Oh thank goodness. The rock begins to crumble away as she shifts to a protean form and flows around it before reforming and flying away from the other side.

The second Mageslayer hits the barrier around the tower top, causing it to shimmer and -Ring?- a couple of runes flicker and die. Draining power from something that is constantly being replenished probably isn't going to work unless I can drain the whole thing.

On the top of the tower I see John walking closer to Sabbac. "If I were you, I'd give up now mate."

Praexis Demons swarm into the combat zone, sticking to the golem defences and the barrier like children unwisely trying to lick ice from freezing metal and getting their tongues stuck. It's a bizarre sight but I can.. feel them draining power from the system. Plus, their glowing bodies make it a good deal easier to track where exactly the limbs are.

"Why in Lord Satanus' name would I do that when our final victory is so close?"

Two more mage slayers slam into animated stone and two more pieces are blasted out of place. I work the Ace's lever action and fire a round at the tower barrier. Cracks of brilliant white shoot across the surface and strike the runes creating the shield.

Sabbac looks up at it with his eyes wide. "A-aaaagh!" Blood red fire flashes from his right hand, enveloping the area being purified and suppressing it.

"'Cause while you've been playing king of the hill with the superheroes, you haven't been keepin' track of me. I've been all over your tower, mate. You don't know what I've done."

Orange light flares as William activates the Sword of Beowulf. The hand that had been holding him shatters just as another swings in his direction. He shifts the sword into a two handed grip and swings it! Ooh, that's not really designed to be used like… Huh, okay maybe it is. Orange light flares once more as the sword cleaves demonic stone in two.

"I would have felt it if you changed anything significant!"

"Wanna bet?"

Never one to sit on the sidelines, Adom swoops lower, presumably going after the grotesque heads. I fly backwards as one of the now-regenerated limbs moves upwards near me… I'm not being attacked. Why aren't I being attacked?

It can't see me. William and Adom are riddled with magic. Kon's carrying Helios' blessing and even M'gann's got an arcane presence magic can detect… It can't see me. Without M'gann pushing the clouds away from me even my orange glow is muted, camouflaged amongst the orange light shining from the Praexis Demons. How can I take advantage of that? More mage slayers fly towards golem limbs trying to intercept my friends as I work the lever once more, take aim at one of the stone heads and fire. Ugh, think I missed. Lever, correct for wind, fire again then reload. Hit! White fire briefly illuminates the structure as it begins to crumble.

Sabbac isn't moving at maximum speed at the moment. Because he isn't drawing power from the ritual, perhaps? Makes sense, but -I glance at the Sword of Second and Third in my scabbard- if he sees me and the Sword he'd probably make a point of coming after me again. He's facing away from his throne. If I can fly around behind him…

"You can't cow me, wizard. Hell comes to Earth, now!" He slams his left hand to the ground and infernal flames flare out across the top of the tower. A moment later the mists lift from the Fawcett City skies and I'm treated to a view of a city where every flat surface is covered in praying headless torsos. No, not all headless and not all praying. The smattering whose heads were merely squashed into their necks come to a halt as they sight the tower and raise their arms into the air with an indistinct moaning. At their signal the remaining torsos rear up for a moment and then fall onto their chests in supplication. "They come!" Flames roar around the runic network on the top of the tower as I frantically manoeuvre into position. Was John bullshitting a moment ago, or is this actually-?

The flames roar towards a centre point and burn upwards into the air before dying. In their wake… There's a powerfully built man with dull red skin. He's wearing a sort of tattered grey skirt thing along with a high collared cape in brilliant red.

That's the First of the Fallen! The being Hell grew up around after God told him to 'get out of my sight'! Oh yes, this is a Constantine plan alright! I drop down below the tower's parapet before he can cast his gaze my way. Okay, okay, I know he can't detect me with magic any more than he can Chantinelle. He can't see me if there's a solid object in the way. I've got.. a sword I know can hurt him. Okay. What's John playing at?

"Keeping busy, John?"

"What? Who are you? Why didn't ghuk?"

"Oh, you know: 'get busy living…'"

"Hmm. Headless torsos as far as the eye can see. I could get used to this."

"What..? Who are you?"

"Scraping the bottom of the barrel this time?"

"Oh, I've never liked this sort of thing. Gives them ideas above their station."

"I remember your contract with Brendan."

"I don't understand. The ritual-."

"I'm the First of the Fallen, you pathetic waste of flesh. John redirected the spell from your sponsors to me. Though I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why exactly he thought that would help the situation. It's not as if I'm going to stop you."

"Majesty! I am not worthy!"

"No, you're not. Well? Let's hear it, John. You've got about five minutes before me simply being here starts making the population tear their own faces off and I'm assuming you'd rather that didn't happen."

Down below I see Adom finish tearing the demon golem structure off the side of the tower. He looks up at me and I hold out my right hand in a 'stop' gesture.

"Take a butchers at this."

"It's a phone. And that's a nice one of the back of the Batson boy's cape."

"Next picture."

There's a pause. "What's this?"

"Majesty?"

"It's a simple question. What is it?"

"A.. sword, majesty. A gift from Lord Satanus in exchange for my service. I used it to cut down Captain Marvel!"

"And where is this sword now?"

"It… It was taken from me, majesty. But I will recover it! As soon as my masters arrive on Earth I will leave no body unbroken in my pursuit of the one who took it!"

"You had the sword.. made from the remains of my 'brothers'.. and it got stolen from you by one of John's fuckwit friends. Is that what happened?"

"No normal man, majesty! A superhero of great renown!"

"If you're int' cake."

"What's your name?"

"Majesty?"

"Your name. What is it?"

"It was Ishmael Gregor, majesty. But now my name is Sabbac, Hell's Mightiest Champion!"

"No. YOUR NAME IS SHIT!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:37 GMT -6

"graAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"

"AND YOU! YOUR NAME IS SHIT AS WELL!"

Still making the 'stop' gesture to Adom I carefully float upwards towards the edge of the upper platform.

"AND YOUR NAME IS SHIT!"

Periscope construct… The First is facing away from me. He's holding Sabbac off the ground by the neck with his left hand. Next to them are two small dazed looking Demons. One has slightly larger wings and a more streamlined head while the other has a more developed musculature.

"AND YOU;-" The First shoves his right hand forwards into Sabbac's chest! It passes into the pentagram up to the elbow, his muscles tense and then he pulls it back. "-SHIT!" In his hand is another small Demon with fire crackling around its horns. Wait, fast looking, tough looking, fiery… Craeteis, Asmodeus and Beelzebub? The First's hand darts forwards again. "YOU ARE SHIT AS WELL!" This Demon has an extra set of forearms and a small pair of glasses. Belial. Into the pentagram again. This Demon has a hard carapace. Aym. " YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY SHIT." The First throws him into the others with force, sending them sprawling. "BUT THE KING SIZED NUCLEAR DIARRHEA SHIT-." The pentagram on Sabbac's chest flares and vanishes. "Oh you did not just do that." The First throws his head back. "Hear me, Satanus. There are torments known to me undreamt of by the most deranged Demon of my realm-" Sabbac shrinks in the First's grip, skin lightening as being severed from his patrons causes him to resume his Human form. "-BUT FOR YOU I WILL SURPASS THEM YOU FUCKING MORONIC SHAAAAAAAAAAAATTT!"

The now greatly reduced Lords of Hell cower at his wrath. Craeteis in particular looks like he's giving serious thought to just legging it. Mister Gregor on the other hand looks like he's about to burst into tears. "Majesty, I-."

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you? I'll use you for practice until Satanus comes out of hiding." The First bends and slams Mister Gregor to the ground, fire flaring around him as he disappears. Bodily sent to Hell? Might be possible to recover him, but… Don't think I'll bother.

Asmodeus shifts to a grovelling position. "We… Satanus never mentioned a sword, oh First. We thought only of the torment of mortals! If we'd-."

The First raises his right foot and stamps him into mush. "If you hadn't been getting a massive evil hard-on at the prospect maybe you'd have fucking thought it through a bit." The other four edge away as the First examines the mush. "Well? Belial? You're supposed to be the brains of this operation."

The four armed Demon cringes. "It is as you say, Oh First. We were.. overwhelmed with enthusiasm for our task."

The First sighs and I duck down as he glances at John. "You know, this is the sort of initiative I normally wouldn't mind seeing from Demons. Some evidence that they actually are an intelligent form of life." Belial risks a small smile at the compliment. "But even when they manage to come up with something intelligent, they manage to do it in a fucking stupid way." Splat! Belial is crushed under the First's foot.

John drops the butt of his cigarette to the floor and treads on it. "Always the way, innit? Still; no need to drag this out, hey?"

"I suppose not. Anyone else want to add anything?" The remaining three Demons nervously look at each other, then fall on their faces. "Thought not. Down you go." The Demons' bodies twist and deform, getting pulled into a single point on the stone ground like water running down a plug hole. "You know, John, faced with a situation like this… I'm forced to acknowledge a rather uncomfortable truth."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"After my trip to Greece, when in a moment of weakness I offered to give you whatever you wanted if you'd work for me and you told me to sling my hook. I should have offered you less. You might have taken it then."

"Not bloody likely."

"You've taken worse deals before. I had a good laugh about what you did to that stupid Fuckpig."

John nods. "Guess you'll be heading back to Hell yourself. Don't want to keep Satanus -or anyone else- waiting."

Anyone else? What, the Demo- oh. I unsheathe the Sword of Second and Third.

"Think I'll hang around for a little while. Drive a few dozen people mad, corrupt a few innocents. I wouldn't want you to get the idea you can use me to do your dirty work without any consequence at all. Though I'm glad you did. This whole situation reeks of something that could have snowballed-."

I swing the Sword through stone, runes and magic barrier. Stone parts, runes die and the barrier vanishes. I transition up behind the First and swing the sword horizontally through his neck. Golden light shines out of the stump as the severed head flies across the stony ground, an expression of shock on his face as it bounces twice and then comes to a rest on the left side of its face.

Then, as William, Adom, Kon and M'gann come in to land? I go Raiden on his arse. I accelerate myself, arms blurring as I slice the Sword back and forth through the First's torso, arms and then when that's cut thin enough to be used as sandwich meat I yank my legs back, float down and repeat the process with his still upright legs. Then I transition to his head in a crouch, updownupdownupdownupdownupdownupdown-

"I believe that you have killed him."

Aaaaand rest.

I nod to Adom as I return the Sword to its sheath. "Not the first time he's been killed. I wanted to be sure."

The runes covering the top of the tower change from red to gold, starting with those nearest the First's remains and spreading outwards towards the edge.

Kon looks confused. "What just happened?"

John nudges a piece of First with his left foot, then nods. "Short version, I changed the spells on the tower so that rather than summoning Sabbac's bosses, it summoned their boss. He wasn't happy about-" The Fawcett skyline goes rushing upwards as the tower's hellish alterations revert. The rest of us brace but John barely reacts. "-the one weapon that could kill him getting out into the wild again, so-" And we come to a halt, standing on top of the car park. Sabbac's throne is gone and the abandoned cars have reappeared. "-he used Sabbac's connection to the Demons sponsoring him to drag them here for a bollocking."

Adom checks his surroundings for a moment, then crosses his arms across his chest. "But not Satanus."

John considers, then nods. "Lucky escape for him." He turns to William. "Captain Marvel."

William's looking out across Fawcett City as a wave of golden light flashes across it, genuflecting torsos vanishing in its wake.

"…to Orange Lantern. Robin-."

I raise the ring to my left ear. "Orange Lantern here. Sabbac's gone to Hell and spell on the car park's finished."

"The Demons we were fighting just evaporated."

"Good to know. If you can, do a flight over the city and check they're gone from everywhere. Then fire fighting. Some of those flaming skull things set light to buildings."

"Will do."

"Captain?" William turns to face John, eyebrows raised. "Last time someone killed the First he incarnated in Greece as a Human. Ended up murdering four men before Buer found out how to power him back up. If that happens again, it'd be a lot better if your lot picked him up right away."

William nods. "I'll get on that as soon as we know for sure all the Demons are gone."

"Heh." John smiles and shakes his head. "They're never gone, mate, they just-."

"Rrrrrrrrrrr." We all look around as Teekl stalks out of the stairwell in big cat mode, dragging.. John's doppelgänger in her jaws and growling the whole time. She stops next to the First's remains, drops the Demon Constantine, sits down and starts washing her right forepaw. Then she stops, leans down to sniff the pile of flesh, opens her mouth-.

"Teekl. No."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:41 GMT -6

William looks down at the Demon Constantine. "Ah, is that your.. brother?"

"Interesting story, there. About-."

Adom's eyes narrow. "It is a Demon."

"About three years ago there was a Demon named Buer. Big fan of the First of the Fallen. He knew that after Chantinelle killed the First he'd ended up in Greece -which, at the time, I didn't- and he thought he knew how to bring him back to top form. And since I was the one who arranged his death, that meant that I had to sacrifice meself to make it happen."

"Except you didn't, did you, you bastard." The Demon Constantine looks up, his pupils glowing red.

"I was getting-" The Demon surges to his feet and lunges at John. M'gann's eyes glow and he's jerked off the ground. "-to that." The Demon doesn't bother looking around, his eyes remaining fixed on John. "Hurt you more than it would me, mate." John opens the first three buttons of his shirt and pulls the collar aside to show the top of his tattoos. "Seal of Solomon, remember."

The Demon glowers at him. "Be worth it."

Kon frowns. "Why would you go along with that?"

John returns his attention to the rest of us. "Friend of mine… Former friend, now… Has a son. Buer specialises in tormenting children who end up in Hell. He put a curse on little Syder and said he'd only let him go if I gave meself up. So, I created a golem. Earth, my blood-."

"Half your soul."

"Yeah. And a load of thoughts, feelings and memories I didn't want to have any more. I made him." He jabs his right forefinger in the Demon's direction.

"Fuck right off you cowardly dog turd."

"Took the deal though, didn't you? Buer had to free all of his collection and he still got what was coming to him. The First was pissed, 'cause we managed to make them look like a pair of berks an' you got to skip Hell's whole 'endless torture' phase and go straight to becoming a Demon. We won."

"Have you seen Hell lately? You think because I was a Demon everyone down there decided to be me mate?! You haven't got a bloody clue."

"Oh, cry me a fucking river."

"You know what really pisses me off about this? Gregor ripped that boy's heart out while you watched. Time was, when you led a child to their death you actually felt bad about it. Or did you just give all that to me?"

"No." John nods to himself. "Still got that."

"Stop being so fucking calm! You had no idea how Gregor would act under pressure! You didn't know what was really going on here until he told you! You won through sheer bloody luck!"

John smiles, shaking his head. "Not this time, mate. I mean, I'd never heard of Ishmael Gregor until he announced himself…"

"What are you talking about?"

John turns away from him, taking us all in. "I just explained how I made you to the gallery. Can you really not work it out?"

The Demon Constantine relaxes slightly, looking away with a slight squint as he tries to work it out. Then his eyes widen and he glares at John. "It wasn't Timothy Karnes!"

John grins. "Of course it wasn't Timothy Karnes, you fucking knobbler. Timothy Karnes is still in the Fawcett City prison hospital."

"It was a fucking golem!"

"He'll be right as rain in a few weeks. Minus every memory since his foster parents' funeral. Six months to a year observation…" John nods his head to the side. "They might even let him out again. Marvel's got a lot of pull around here. Oh come on!" John spreads his arms out to the side. "How stupid would I have to be to take the one thing anyone who wanted to become Sabbac needed into what was obviously a trap?"

"… A golem."

"Added a little of me own blood. We knew Gregor -or whoever it was- would have to kill the golem and absorb the magic residue. I spiked it. I've had a connection to him this whole time, feeling his thoughts and nudging them along. Had a bit of a fright when Marvel got hit in the chest but other than that…" He nods again. "Pretty much according to plan. Actually killing the First was an unexpected bonus, but once Orange Lantern got the sword away from Sabbac-."

"Um." He looks at me. "Hate to say this, but I almost didn't bring the Sword back with me."

John flinches. "Why the hell wouldn't you bring it?"

"In case Sabbac wrestled it off me and used it on the other Marvels."

"… Fuck me."

Kon gestures at the Demon. "Are we arresting him?"

Adom's face hardens slightly. "It is a Demon. Were it up to me I would not have it pollute the world for a moment longer. What is the custom in this country for dealing with such things?"

"We all heard him confessing. On the other hand, I'm not sure that putting a Demon in Belle Reve is really such a good idea..." I glance at John. "Or a Constantine." John looks a little pleased as I think about it. Obvious solution… I raise the Ace slightly.

William spots it. "You put that down right.. now."

"As a point of order, Justice League rules of engagement-."

"The fight's over and you're not shooting a defenseless prisoner!"

"You're in charge, Captain. What would you like to do with him?"

William strokes his chin with his right hand. "If we sent him back to Hell, could he get out again?"

John nods. "Yes, but not immediately."

"Can you do that?"

"Don't bother." The Demon straightens his coat. "If you let me go I can send meself back easy enough."

William nods at M'gann, and the Demon is deposited onto the floor. He opens his coat, taking out a stick of chalk as he flashes us with an interior almost entirely filled with packets of Silk Cuts. He then crouches, draws a circle around himself and then starts adding the necessary demonic runes.

John's eyes narrow slightly. "Why are you in such a rush? Doubt Satanus is going to be all that happy with you."

The Demon keeps drawing for a moment then stops, apparently satisfied. "Oh, I don't know. The First dead, five rivals crippled... And since he pulled out before the First could grab him he didn't really lose anything doing it." Wait… What? "You're not the only one who can plan, you know? Be seeing you around, John." Fire flares around the edge of the chalk circle and he drops out of view in a puff of sulphur.

Adom makes a contemptuous noise. "Demon politics." He looks at me. "Orange Lantern, does the zeta tube function?"

"It did when I left it."

"Then I will return to Kahndaq. Pleasant though it has been to fight the good fight once more, I should not absent myself for extended periods." I nod. "I should also like to apologise for not more adequately covering your retreat. It took me some time to understand the form of teleportation he was using and I could only block it at close range."

"Don't worry about it. I was just glad you managed it when you did. Oh, and we've got-" I turn to William. "-Ibac tied up in a shop near the tube. You should probably get someone to pick him up."

"I'll ask the Chief to get someone on it." Adom looks out across Fawcett City and rises higher into the air. "Adom, wait a second!" Adom stops and looks down at him. "When I was bleeding to death I figured out how to convince you to make Kahndaq a democracy!"

Adom regards him calmly. "I am sceptical, but I will hear your argument."

"Because President Asim Muhunnad wouldn't." Adom blinks. "You're a better man than he is, but if you run everything using the same structures he used everyone who doesn't know you personally will just think of you as being the new him. You deserve better than that. And so does Kahndaq."

Adom's eyes flick to the side for a moment, taking a moment to think about it. "There may be something in what you say. I will give the matter further thought."

William beams at Adom as he turns away to fly towards the zeta tube.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
11:53 GMT -6

William leads the way as the six of us exit the car park's front entrance. No further sign of demonic unpleasantness. I guess Mister Karnes was supposed to be the only sacrifice at this location. Police manning the cordon outside quickly raise their weapons at the sight of movement and are just as quick to lower them again as he strides into view.

"Captain!" Chief McGinnis clambers over the bonnet of a police car. "You had us worried. Glad to see you're okay."

"With a little help from my friends." His face turns serious. "How bad was it down here?"

"Pretty bad. I've got five people in critical and a lot more wounded besides. Captain…" He looks around at the relatively light damage to the street. "What the hell just happened?"

"Pretty much, mate." John strolls up alongside William. A little odd, that. He's usually much more reluctant to put himself forwards where officialdom is concerned.

"What..? That was Hell?"

"In the diabolical flesh."

McGinnis shudders. "My God. I was half hoping it was just one of Sivana's biological experiments or something. Are they gone?"

John nods. "For now. Should probably get…" I'm not sure what the expression is. "Is that priest still alive?"

"Yeah, he's checking out some of my guys who got grabbed by one of those jellyfish things. You need him for something?"

"Should probably do some sorta purification ritual on this place. Doesn't have t'be him, but if he's already here…"

"Um. There's a pile of meat on the top of the car park he should probably pay a certain amount of special attention."

McGinnis looks at me, then around the group. "You get him, then? That new Sabbac guy?"

William nods. "His name was Ishmael Gregor and he got pulled into Hell. The remains are from a couple of the Demons who gave him his powers and.. um… Some guy called the First of the Fallen."

"'First'.. as in..?" John nods. "Is it safe to go up there?"

John tilts his head to the side. "You could walk around up there without worrying. Long as you didn't touch it. But… Should probably be the first thing Mattias deals with."

Alright, they can handle the clean up. I don't really have anything special to add. I turn back to M'gann and Kon. "We'll do a quick fly over, make sure that the roads are clear for emergency vehicles."

Kon nods. "Right."

The three of us rise into the air as I activate my armour's communications gear. "Orange Lantern to Mary and Lieutenant Marvel. You there?"

"Is Captain Marvel okay?"

"Right as rain, Lieutenant. Plus he now owns a sword that lets him fire lightning."

"Cool!"

Though unless he wants the glow on his chest to completely give away his secret identity he'll need the scabbard from the cave before he changes back. "Mary? You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry I wasn't more help with Sabbac."

"He was about five times your size. I'm amazed you kept him off me for as long as you did."

**Paul, can I talk to you about something?**

"Hey, um, y'know you offered to fix my spine?"

"Sorry guys, one moment." **Of course, M'gann.**

From this height I have a good view of central Fawcett City. When the demonic fortifications they were suckling on disappeared my Praexis Demons spread out into the streets, something that's probably done its part in keeping the natives in their homes. There are a few cars that look like they've been trampled on by Maulers and several fires, but from the looks of things the Marvels and my Demons kept the attackers' attention fairly well. I take a cold gun out of subspace and turn it to 'refrigerate'. "Superboy, fire fighting." I throw the gun towards him and he nods, catching it and flying towards the closest not already being attended by the fire service. **M'gann, we'll take that one.** She nods and we fly towards it. **What did you want to ask?**

**That.. was…** I can hear the uncertainty in her mental voice. Not fear, just… **That was horrifying. Did all those things.. used to be people?**

**Probably.** Flames are visible billowing from the roof. Ugh, building will probably need to be pulled down anyway but we need to stop it spreading. Bloody flaming skull things will probably end up doing more damage than anything else just by missing. I create a cold gun construct. **What's the Martian afterlife like?**

**I don't know! I've never died!**

I set the ring to take control of the cold gun, firing thermodynamic inverting beams into the blaze. **You said Martians had magic users, right? Surely they can see something?**

**Well… Yes, but… Dead and horribly mutilated Martians don't come back from there and try and kill people! How…**

**Okay. Basic thanothaumaturgy. A soul is a magic energy construct bound to the world by a living body. When the body stops living, that soul's connection is severed and it's drawn to one of the.. magic energy… Realms isn't quite the right word, but you get what I mean.**

**I think I do. So why would.. anyone get drawn to a place like that?**

Flames gutter and die, though the air's too dry for frost to form. I give the next building along a zap to prevent anything from catching alight.

**The answer a Human monotheist would give you is 'evil'. The actual answer is quite a bit more complicated. An evil person who nominally followed the Olympian gods would go to the Fields of Punishment, not Hell. It's just that monotheism is so big on Earth and so many people have those ideas in their heads as how things are…**

**What about you and Conner?**

**As he's favoured by Helios, Kon's soul would most likely go to Elysium. It's supposed to be a slightly less abstract version of Heaven. Me… No idea, to be honest. I think I'd like to give immortality a go, but if that doesn't work out I've got a sneaking suspicion I'll get sucked into the Orange Central Power Battery.**

**Are you okay with that?**

**At the moment, no. But once it gets taken off Larfleeze… I don't know. All things considered… Spending eternity watching over my Corps doesn't sound like such a bad thing.** Infrared shows nothing. I lead M'gann through the air towards the next fire. **I can give you a primer on Demons if you want, though I want to be clear that this sort of thing is very unusual.**

She shakes her head. **This isn't the sort of conversation I ever thought I'd be having with someone.**

**Welcome to my world.** "Lieutenant, we can meet up once the last of the fires are out."

"Awesome!"

"Robin, anything to report?"

"Sky's clear, other than your Praexis Demons. I think we're good."

"Right. Since the emergency's dealt with, Batman's order to keep out of sight comes back into force. Kid Flash, Robin, Cornwall, head back to the zeta tube. Superboy, Miss Martian and I will be with you once the fires are out." I pause for a moment. "Good work everyone."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th February
15:32 GMT -6

Mm-hm, hm-hm-hm, hmmm-hmmm-hmmm…

I step through the hush tube into Fawcett City right next to the-

"Shit shit shit!"

-aid station and roughly shove aside one of the medics desperately trying to stem the bleeding from the stumps of Captain Marvel's arms. A valuable lesson on the dubious wisdom-

"Uh ah uh-uhhhh ah uh"

-of trying to block a sword with one's limbs. They've clearly done their best with bandages and tourniquets but his own super toughness is working against them.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"I'm the man who's going to save the Captain's life." I extract a smallish glass bottle from one of my pouches. A bottle of Innocent's Tears, gifted to the Closed Order of the Alexin by Pope Innocent the Third about eight hundred years ago and stolen barely two minutes ago by me. The ring removes the stopper as I press down on Captain Marvel's chest. "Captain? I need you to swallow this." No, he's too far out of it. Okay, grab his right shoulder, pour some of the liquid in the bottle over the cut surface… The blood stains on the bandage disappear almost immediately. If we can get the bleeding under control… Ah, good. I release his right shoulder and transfer the pressure to the left side of his chest. His left shoulder… It isn't in any state to have pressure applied. Another glug and the blood flow drops off there as well.

In the air not too far away I hear a tremendous bang and look around just in time to see a blue streak hurtle out of control through the air and slam through the brick frontage of a nearby building, spraying ceramic fragments and glass in all directions. I raise a barrier to protect the aid station. Sabbac apparently doesn't consider the younger Marvels to be enough of a threat to use the Sword on, and on the basis of current performance I'm forced to agree with his assessment. Lucky for them. Right. I shift my attention back to Captain Marvel's still shivering form. "Captain, try and keep your mouth open." I.. think he just nodded. I send a small tube construct into his mouth and use a suction construct to pull as much of the bottle's content into him as possible. Twice he bites down and cuts through the tube, water spraying across his face and nearly causing him to choke. I re-establish the tube and clear his airway as quickly as possible. I'm not sure exactly how fast this stuff works… Not within a tactically useful timeframe, it appears.

I dismiss the tube once the bottle's empty and turn my attention to the medics around me. Sabbac may have been focusing his attention on the Marvels but his attendant Demons haven't exactly been slow to attack anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths. I guess the Captain just warrants a little special attention. "Which of you is in charge?"

One of them -a black woman- nods at me. "I am. What did you just give him?"

"High-end magic healing potion. Here." I restopper the bottle and hand it to her. "The bottle should refill itself within the next half hour. Keep pouring it down his throat until his arms grow back."

She hesitates for a second and then takes it. "Fine, but unless someone deals with Sabbac it won't matter."

"Nil desperandum, doctor." My goggles show me Sabbac posing in the air near the police command position. Sure in his invulnerability. Posing, daring them to attack him. "That's my next stop." I transition over to stand next to… What's his name? Chief McGinnis. "You seem-" Men wheel, raising firearms as they do so. "-to be having a slight Sabbac problem." My goggles give me a ping as Frederick tries to stagger out of the rubble but collapses on his face.

Chief McGinnis stares at me for a moment, then nods his head to the side. The others lower their weapons. Drawback of not being widely recognisable. Guess no one here was watching the Rhelasian peace conference footage. Or maybe the small measure of public renown that earned me has long since evaporated. "We'll take whatever help we can get."

"Slight problem there. See, I don't actually have any legal authority to act in this country."

His face creases in irritation. "What the Hell kinda-."

"I know what it sounds like, but this one time I handed four guys over to China and I have never heard the end of it. What I need you to do is deputise me and give me one of those shield badge things." Stares. "I'll deal with Sabbac and hand it right back."

"You crazy-!" He shakes his head. "I don't have time to argue this. Hey, Wright-" He looks to his right and one of the police officers perks up. "-gimme your badge." Officer Wright hesitates for a second, then reaches up to his left breast and unclips his badge before handing it over to his boss. "Here." He offers it to me and I take it with a smile. "Welcome to the force. Now get the bastard!"

"Certainly, sir." Ring, just in case I've misread the nature of the man we're dealing with, prep an emergency Garrick formula infusion.

By your command.

I rise slowly into the air, taking care to school my expression. Once I've cleared the top of the nearby buildings I start flying towards Hell's Mightiest Champion. No weapon constructs, my x-ionised sword is back in subspace… Ah. I attach the police badge to my armour. Barely a fig leaf really but I'll work with what I can get.

Sabbac has the Sword of Second and Third. If that thing can kill the First of the Fallen then it can most certainly kill Klarion. And me, of course, but nothing ventured…

"Excuse me! Mister Sabbac! May I-" He looks around. "-have your attention for a moment!?"

"Who are you?"

"Officer Grayven." I reach across my chest with my right hand and tap the badge. "And I'm very much afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to accompany me to a police station, in order to answer questions relating to accusations made against you in my presence, including but not limited to: assault, murder and appearing naked in a public place." Damn that last one. Doesn't Hell make trousers?

"And if I do not?"

"Then -though it would pain me to do so- I am authorised to use force in order to compel you, up to and including lethal force if I judge it necessary to protect either myself or the honest citizens of this fair city."

He grins. "You can try."

"Sir, I am armed. Are you telling me that you intend to resist arrest?"

He shakes his head in bemusement. "What the fuck is-?"

"Sir, are you telling me that you are resisting arrest?"

His grin widens. "I will tear your heart from your still living chest and feast upon it before your dying eyes."

I pause for effect, tilting my head slightly to the right and squinting with my left eye. I really hope that someone's getting this on camera. I give it a moment, then raise my left forefinger. "Is that a 'ye-?"

And now he gets that I'm taking the piss. He brandishes the Sword with his right hand, Marvel's blood still evident along the blade. "OF COURSE IT'S A FUCKING 'YES'!" Good enough for me. "And-."

Holy water, sword, Garrick, transition. The universe around me slows to a crawl. Sabbac has speed as part of his suite of enhancements but I'm pretty sure that he isn't Flash-fast. Vipra-blessed water from the Ganges sprays across his face while I stab my sword into the hand holding his Sword, slicing down the back in an attempt to cut through the muscle fibres allowing him to grip it. Demonically empowered flesh resists the blade, but I manage to make it bite deep enough that his grip loosens. Next step, a beam of orange envelopes the hand and eliminates the friction between his palm and the grip. Takes more power than it should, but his expected resistance is reduced by the fact that the construct isn't directly targeting him. Blood red flames begin to materialise around him but for the next… Six seconds subjective, he's slower than me. I bring my right hand around and slap the bottom of his right hand, the Sword popping free and jumping into the air. Face burning from the effect of the sanctified water, he tries to orientate on his weapon and starts swinging his left hand around to grab for it.

Too slow.

I bring my right hand up, take hold of the grip with my little finger nearest the blade, twist at the wrist, bring the Sword around and stab him through the chest. Right in the pentagram.

"Awworah?"

I pull myself free, zipping around to his front. Back to normal speed and he's faster… No sense taking the chance that he'll recover. My right hand flashes from left to right, slicing cleanly through his neck. His head leaps upwards propelled by his own blood pressure as I swing back right to left, bisecting his torso across the pentagram. Thrust, and the two prongs of the Sword neatly pierce the falling head through the eyes and penetrate the brain, the very tips of the blade just exiting through the back of his skull. His falling body flickers as the pentagram fails and the red tainting his skin fades to his natural Caucasian.

Gotcha.

Two destructive pulses destroy his body and I float back down towards the police command post. The faces looking up at me stare in shock and amazement. Oh, that feels good. Worship me, mortals.

As I touch down I gently remove the badge from my armour with my left hand and toss it back to Officer Wright. "Thank you, officer." He fumbles the catch as I turn to Chief McGinnis. "How did I do?"

He looks at the freely bleeding and now clearly Human head impaled on my Sword. "For your first day? Pretty good, I'd say."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Spring in Blume

12th February
17:26 GMT -5

Mm-hm, mm-hm, hmmm-hmmm-hmmm!

…

Finally the song's out of my head! Goodness me, that was annoying! I lean back slightly in my chair in one of the mountain's side rooms. Sound proof room, I note. Diana and Bruce are just outside urgently discussing my recent conduct and I can't hear a word they're saying. I think I'm supposed to be stewing in my own nerves or something but I'm just feeling a mixture of relief and anticipation. Man Who Dresses Like A Bat just can't intimidate me anymore.

And I got the fucking Sword! "Heh heh heh." Yeeeeesssss!

Okay, laughing to myself, not a sign of a healthy psychology. But still! The Sword of Second and Third! With this, I can make good on my obligation to kill Klarion. Probably. It sliced up Sabbac easily enough and it killed the First… Worth touching bases with Mister Constantine..?

Ploong.

No, I wasn't ignoring you. I simply didn't think that you knew anything about Earth-made arcane weaponry.

Ploong.

You think so? I suppose that's definitive, then. Making avatar-death kill the core being… Doesn't really add anything against most people I might want to kill but against high end supernaturals it's just what the doctor ordered. Can I think of any reason not to kill Klarion? Opinion of my peers? No, not really. In a one off situation that might make it worth not killing someone to preserve the illusion that I'm one of them but I don't think I could go on doing that. There's no easy way to break the news to them that I'm perfectly happy killing people who are both sufficiently bad and sufficiently stupid and.. when you get right down to it… I don't like deceiving them.

I lean back further, putting my hands behind my head. Good day, good day. Now, how to actually go about-?

The door opens and my two overseers… Oh, plus one. "Lantern Gardner. What's up?"

"Grayven, you just killed a guy in broad daylight. What'd you think's up?"

Diana walks across the room in front of me and sits down on the right hand side of the settee. Guy moves to occupy the left while Batman remains standing. "Oh that, yeah. Look, before you start? I'll save you some time. Don't try and guilt me. I don't feel even slightly bad about it. Heeeyy, how's Marvel doing?"

Diana looks down at the ground, then nods once. "It looks like he'll make a full recovery. What was it you gave him?"

"Innocent's Tears. Not.. tears from actual innocents." Hmm. "Probably. It was a gift from Pope Innocent the Third to the Closed Order of the Alexins back when they were still in communion with Rome. I think they think they're tears from a saint or Jesus or something." I shake my head. "The bottle appears to generate a healing unguent ex nihilo… I don't understand exactly how it works."

Guy nods. "They let you borrow it?"

"Nooo, I stole it." He frowns. "Oh, come on. There's.. like, twelve of them left. Marvel needed it more." Diana joins in the frowning. "They can have it back, I just wanted to get it to Marvel before he bled out. It was the only thing I could think of that might fix a wound that sword caused."

Diana's eyebrows rise very slightly. "You are familiar with Sabbac's sword?"

"Oh, yes. Never thought I'd actually see it, though." I sit a little straighter and pull it free of the scabbard I made for it. Same principle as the x-ionised sword's scabbard; the blade can't touch the sides or it just goes straight through. This sword even does a number on force fields. Ooh, it's so great! With a firm grasp of the grip in my right hand I rest the flat of the blade on my left palm. "This sword was created by the Succubus Chantinelle from the remains of Hell's most powerful Demons. Heh-heh, and now it's mine." My smile fades slightly as they stare at me. "Okay, that was undignified, but I'm still very happy to have-."

"…in Fawcett City today." I look behind them as a holoscreen comes on, showing they got my good side! "A superhuman identifying himself as 'Officer Grayven'-" Hahahahahahah! Ms Grant delivers the patently ridiculous line with her usual aplomb. "-confronted Sabbac and brutally ended his rampage by decapitating him with his own sword. The death toll from Sabbac's attack currently stands at forty eight, and emergency responders have stated that they expect to find more bodies as the rubble is removed. Some viewers may find what we're about to show disturbing."

Bruce turns away from the screen as the report continues. If they got this much, that means that they also have the recording of the moment I killed him. Not that they'll show that on network news… At this time of day. Probably on VidULike already. Don't think I'll have a problem getting recognised in public anym-.

"Why?" He sounds.. tired?

"People were dying and I had no gentle way to take him down that stood an adequate chance of success." There's a tiny flicker as his eyes instinctively jerk towards Diana for a fraction of a second before returning to me. And the best thing is, it's true.

"There was nothing else you could have done."

A question, though there's no change in intonation. "No, there were any number of other techniques I could have attempted. That was just the one that stood the best chance of success… And I didn't think it was worth the lives of everyone who would have died in the meantime to try something else. Plus, I did follow the law; he clearly stated that he was resisting-."

"Grayven, direct order: hand the sword over to Wonder Woman."

"No." I return it to the sheath. "That's a suicidal order. This sword is the only thing I know that would reliably work against Father or other high end New Gods. Giving it up leaves me wide open." Actually, this.. could.. probably kill Gaea. What happens to the world if I..? Let's not think in that direction.

Diana shares a look with Guy. "The Bialyan government hasn't made an announcement yet, but news of Queen Bee's death is starting to spread. Grayven, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking 'it makes M'gann happy and President Harjavti's cool with it'. Also, 'there's no way she's going to be dumb enough to drive over a disputed border herself'. Though, again, the degree to which I'm prepared to be sad about it-."

"Will be measured in Bialyan dead when the civil war starts! Some of her generals are already marshalling their forces!"

Hmm. Had been giving that some thought… "Okay, look. I haven't broken any law by killing either her or Sabbac. But, the Bialya situation was a miscalculation on my part. I.. think I can fix it. Give me a few days to sort things out. And while I'm busy doing that you can decide how you want to discipline me."

"What?" Guy makes a shrugging gesture with his right hand. "You plannin' on taking over the country yourself?"

"No, I plan on looking after Crown Princess Adilah until she can be installed as Queen, and making sure she can actually do the job."

Diana's face hardens. "She's gone missing."

"And I've got a power ring!"

"Have you done anything to her?"

What? "No, not really." Curious look. "I killed her sister but I haven't had anything to do with her directly. But it's hardly a surprise that some of the people back home want her dead now and she's intelligent enough to work that out for herself. Look, I don't want Bialya collapsing on itself either. Someone who's used to the Singapore system could do wonders for the place."

A flash of colour draws my eye as the screen shows Mary Marvel smashing apart a Demon made of burning skulls. Fully sentient? Did she check?

"The Justice League cannot legally operate in Bialya." The other two looks around at Batman. Diana does not look happy. "You will provide me with updates on your progress every ten minutes and you will follow my directives."

"Of course, sir." I rise to my feet. "If you'll excuse me?" I get a nod. "Father Box, hush tube to Singapore." A hole in space opens next to me and… No, waving goodbye is probably wrong. I trigger my armour's flight discs and float through, closing the portal behind me.

13th February
06:30 GMT +8

Okay, I'm in the air high above the city-state of Singapore, no one's around… "Ring, dial Katherine Spencer."

I hear a ringing sound for a moment, then she picks up. "Gray. I saw what you did in Fawcett. Does this mean..?"

"Yeah. Think I'm about ready for… You know. Have you managed-?"

"He'll meet you, but I couldn't come right out and tell his people what you're offering. I can't say how he'll respond." I hear her sigh. "He's not exactly known for taking hard positions."

"All I ask is that he meet me. Thanks, Kate. I owe you for this."

"Just get the bastard for us, Gray."

I find myself smiling. "Happy to oblige."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th February
06:51 GMT +8

I narrow my eyes slightly as the ring feeds me an image of Vandal Savage's current location. Have to credit him. Despite the unexpected nature of my call he's still perfectly at ease. His company… Oh, for goodness sake. "How old are they?"

"Old enough to have flowered. I find feminine beauty to be at its height when it is freshly ripened." Swear to me, second against the fucking wall… "I assume that you have news for me."

"The Klarion matter should be dealt with by the end of the week. In the meantime, how do you want to handle the situation in Bialya?"

"Hm. You have not yet joined the Light. Matters of policy do not concern you."

"I ask because I'm about to assist Crown Princess Adilah in becoming monarch in fact as well as in theory, and I thought you might like to.. make your feelings known."

His eyes narrow ever so slightly. "I regard civil conflict as a necessary part of social renewal. In this instance, however, the Light has an interest in maintaining our present relationship with the Bialyan government."

"Good to know. I'll… Excuse me, sniper." I transition myself to his vantage point, appearing just behind him in complete silence. Scan says local. Worth assimilating, just so I can have an actual professional? … No. I create an agony matrix construct on my right hand and jab him in the kidneys with it.

"Hhhhhhhhhhegh…"

What a fascinating noise. He doesn't scream so much as perform a prolonged gasping inhalation as he drops to the ground. If the last three were anything to go by he'll stay there for at least the five minutes it should take me to wrap this up. Just in case I have the ring take a picture and subspace his gear. I will be handing these chaps over to the Singaporean police when this is over.

"Sorry about that. I'll let the Princess know."

"Perhaps you should hurry. It sounds as though someone has spent a great deal of money on this attempt."

Yes, I saw your bank balance. I'm not sure who he wanted to come out on top of the civil conflict but it certainly wasn't the Crown Princess. "I think I will. See you next week, Savage." A sentence that works both ways. Hang up. And show me the princess.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it looks like both of her bodyguards have forgotten that they're meant to work for Queen Bee. Either that or they think their own interests lie in actually looking after their principal now that their former boss is dead. They're actually pretty good at their job; they got her moving as soon as the rumours of Queen Bee's death started sounding credible and they've been avoiding places the Princess is known to frequent. But now they're trapped in a hotel being stalked by someone I'm probably supposed to be scared of. I-. Oh, right.

"Grayven to Batman. Only one last would-be assassin I can see. Permission to get this over with?"

"Have you identified them?"

"Slade Wilson. And please don't tell me he's dangerous, he's a bloke with a couple of swords." I am also a bloke with a couple of swords. Only mine cut through titanium armour and deities. The disparity in our relative power levels momentarily amuses me. "I'd appreciate a rapid decision, he's one short abseil away from-."

"I expect him alive."

"He isn't enough of a threat for me to need to-" On the roof of the princess' hotel I watch him check his descent path before pushing off. "-kill him."

Slade stops just above the window and sprays something onto it before pushing off the wall and slamming through the window feet first.

"You have my authorization."

"Thank you." Slade rolls to his feet, a knife already flying towards the first bodyguard. It pierces the man in the right arm, forcing him to drop his gun. Transition. Slade's got his sword out and he's lunging for the second bodyguard as I appear behind him and wrap my right arm around his chest. "Hey Wade."

His momentum immediately arrested he uses the rebound to strike at where he thinks my nose is with the back of his head. This actually results in him resting the back of his head on the armour covering the upper part of my chest, allowing his one eye to look straight up into my face. Does he recognise..? Probably not.

The angle's awkward but he jabs his sword into my side with his right hand while bringing up a knife with his left and making a spirited attempt to drive it into my right arm. Negative impact on both. And… I'm getting bored. I reach around with my left hand and snap his left radius and ulna, his armour proving absolutely no defence against my strength.

"Gkh!"

Wasn't there… Some sort of Star Wars computer game where they had that stupid random encounter levelling system which meant that after a certain point mook mobs had all cortosis gear to allow them to fight your high end Jedi? I was.. half expecting a man of Slade's reputation to have… I don't know… Personal force field? X-ionised blade? But.. I guess.. in reality, even a renowned mercenary assassin is stuck using stuff that's available on the market. High end, but essentially mundane.

I shift my grip on his torso to grab his armour just under the ribs, then twist and shove my right arm down, slamming him into the floor with significant force and driving the air from his lungs in a wheezing cough. I pull his sword free with my left, then in a moment of pettiness I pull off his faceplate and shift his patch across to cover his good eye. Picture, take his stuff.

"Assassins fighting over the right to kill me. You really are the lowest people."

"Princess, you must flee!"

"He can teleport. Where could I run to?"

I feel three bullets strike the back of my armour as I stand and move my right foot to Slade's chest, putting all my weight on it as I turn to face the room's other occupants. "Princess. Is this a bad time?"

"There is no God except Allah." I have the decency not to laugh. "I will ask you to spare my protectors, since I doubt anyone is paying you to kill them as well as me."

I smile. "Actually, your majesty, I've been ordered to keep you alive."

The guard who shot me sags slightly with what I'm going to assume is relief. Adilah herself appears to be withholding judgement. "Who has given you this order?"

"My superiors in two entirely separate organisations. Firstly, the Justice League." That gets a slight reaction. "Batman was most emphatic that I was not to allow Bialya to disintegrate into a civil war and as far as I can tell keeping you alive is the best way to achieve that." I glance at the injured guard. "Allow me." An orange beam flares from my eyes, transferring the knife to subspace and mending his injury as I return my attention to the princess. "I can have you back in Bialya in minutes."

She nods, appearing to relax slightly. "What is the other organisation?"

"Some friends of your late sister-."

"Half sister."

"Quite. They had a particular working relationship with her that they would like to continue with you. All told it's worth quite a lot in both money and raw materials."

Her face hardens. "I have no interest in working with anyone who was 'close' to that bitch."

"That is a very stupid thing to say. How were you expecting to run the country without the politicians she oversaw, the bureaucrats she appointed or the military officers she promoted?"

"I will work with government officials. They cannot be held responsible for what they did under her control. You implied these people knowingly consorted with her."

"Lots of people 'consort' with heads of state. Princess, I can protect you, but I can't make you their ruler. I can't force anyone to pay any attention to you. Your life will be very much harder if you refuse their help."

She looks away for a moment. "What form would this 'help' take?"

I take a small spray bottle out of subspace and hold it out. "The fastest way for you to take charge is if you step into the Queen Bee shaped hole in their lives. This will allow you to do so."

"What is it?"

"A synthesised version of the pheromones Queen Bee used-."

She jerks back. "To control the minds of men. Like my father."

"Most men and some women. Spray it on.. and a quick visit to the offices of state later, the country is yours. Otherwise? Good luck."

Slade tries to grab my leg and I give him a rib-cracking stamp to dissuade him. "Uuh-ugh."

I raise my eyebrows with a smile. "Well?"

Her jaw tightens as she considers the matter and arrives at the inevitable conclusion. "Give me the perfume."

"Of course, Highness."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th February
15:21 GMT -5

"Soooo…" Zatanna grins at me as we walk towards my workshop. "February fourteenth, huh?"

Ring? "Yep. Certainly is."

"And you wanted to meet me right after school."

"Oh, I'm sorry, if you had something you needed to do-."

"No, that's fine." She's… Skipping? I'm a little worried that I may have missed something. "So, what's the hurry?"

"I've got a present for you."

"You have?"

She didn't need to sound that surprised. It's not like it's the first time I've got her stuff. "And, um… If you don't have any other plans, there was a place in England I was hoping that you wouldn't mind visiting with me."

Her grin widens. "No, I'd… I'd like that."

Oh good. "Great. Because I've got to be honest-" I wait while the door scans me and step aside so Zatanna can get scanned as well. "-it wouldn't really work with just me."

Zatanna gives me a confused look as I lead the way inside. Oh dear, has she decided that I meant one thing while I actually meant something completely different? Best clear that up as soon as possible. "You remember… When I was merged with the Ophidian… When we left for the moon we dumped everything we had in subspace into the mountain. One of the things we dumped was our efforts to rewrite a war game I used to play."

"That was what all that paper was?"

"Most of it. We had to test thousands of different components and their interactions, with enough documentary evidence to prove our conclusions to other people. Well, I've finally managed to get an appointment with the people who run the company which makes the game to discuss the whole thing."

She stops walking as I approach the crate holding my gift for her. I say crate, it's actually more 'walk-in wardrobe' size. I tried setting up one of those automatic installation systems like in Starcraft or Iron Man but it turns out those are actually… Pretty much impossible to make. The nearest I could get would be a system which created the armour anew whenever it was activated and that.. sort of defeats the whole object. To say nothing of running a one in two hundred risk of cooking the person it was trying to armour up.

Armoury cyborg-zombies are right out.

"So… The place we're visiting… Is a model wargaming company?"

"Yes. If you want to. I mean, you don't have to come. Mum…" Heh. "Made it clear to me at a young age that just because I find something interesting that doesn't mean that everyone else does."

"No, it… Could be fun. And you've been places you didn't find interesting with me."

"Okay then. The other thing was, I thought it could be fun if we went in costume. You know, prove that I'm a fan and not just a celebrity paid for an endorsement."

"Costume."

"Yes."

"Exactly what sort of costume did you have in mind?"

"Science fiction warrior nun."

"Science fiction warrior nun, huh?"

"Yes. They do do fantasy warrior nuns, but those costumes aren't really practical."

"And I'd hate to wear something impractical."

I press my right hand against the palm reader. Bit excessive, but I like the look it gives the thing. Looks 40K-y. The scan comes up green and I step back as the sides of the crate whir and clank, before pulling off to the side. The undersuit, jump pack and the fripperies like the robe bits go on one side and the fully functional bolt pistols and eviscerator go on the other. Since I don't come from the grim, dark and technology regressed future of the forty first millennium the jump pack is in reality a flight pack and can keep Zatanna up for quite a while.

This project was actually kind of fun. I had to learn a lot about space suit design -especially for the undersuit- that I've never really had to worry about for my own armour due to having a power ring. Add to that the fact I was going for form over function, I had to investigate dozens of different technological forms before I found one that would let me make it look like it needed to look while still letting it function. I'm so excited about this that I've even added an unnecessary smoke effect for the unveiling.

I glance back at Zatanna as the black-with-red-trimming armour comes fully into view. Her eyes have widened slightly, though that could well just be surprise. "I know you said that you weren't really keen on power armour-."

She steps forward and runs her right hand down the material covering the cuirass. "This is what nuns wear in that game, is it?"

"The Adepta Sororitas are the military wing of the Ecclesiarchy. I designed this.. interpretation of the armour the models wear to work as proper power armour."

"I was just expecting…"

"Boob armour?"

"Kind of. It does.. have-" She taps the left boob plate. "-boob plates."

"Those are an intentional part of the design. After the Age of Apostasy they got banned from keeping 'men under arms'… So they have to make it clear that they're.. not. Don't worry, I didn't compromise the protectiveness of the armour at all. In fact, it includes a molecular bond reinforcement field which means you could probably spar with-."

"Is that a jetpack?"

"Actually, it'll let you fly for about eight hours before needing to recharge. And without setting fire to the rest of it."

"What's with all the fleur de lyses?"

"The Ecclesiarchy isn't Christian, so they don't use crucifixes. The Sororitas use the fleur de lys while most other institutions use the aquila."

Still staring, she walks around to the armour's right. "And what-. Is that a gun?"

"Bolt pistol. A semi-automatic armour-piercing high-explosive rocket launcher."

"It's just for show, right?"

"As long as you don't press the button on the side and say 'Ave Imperator', yes."

She takes a step back. "Okay. This.. isn't quite what I was expecting, but it is.. pretty impressive. What are you wearing? Some sort of crusader armour?"

"No, the Frateris Templar were never rebuilt after the Age of Apostasy and they never really featured in the game." I turn away from her and move to the second crate. "I'm wearing this." I bang the orange sigil with my fist as the Star of Horus decorated crate begins to open, revealing…

"Is that a guitar?"

"Sonic blaster."

"Are those eyes looking at me?"

I nod. "I had the Praexis Demons infest it. The people who wear it in the setting are Demon worshippers so I thought adding actual Demons would make it more authentic. They're perfectly safe."

"And the amps?"

"Your armour has them too. I thought it would be fun to fly into the car park and do a performance of Dragonforce's 'Through the Fire and the Flames', but we can skip that if you'd prefer."

She nods slowly. "Through.. the Fire and the Flames?"

"It just sounded like fun to me."

"Bet M'gann doesn't have to deal with this." She appears to give the matter some thought. "Sure, why not? I'm sure it'll be… Interesting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th February
10:58 GMT +2

"Orange Lantern two eight one four here to see Professor Demetrios Prokopios."

The armed Greek police officer guarding the door nods and reaches for his radio while his partner keeps me under close observation. Professional, but.. a bit pointless. Sure, I just look like a man in a suit with unusual choice of jewellery but I just told him who I am. His colleagues at the front entrance already checked me for mundane weapons and they nearly made me late while they checked whether power rings counted or not. I had to point out that I wasn't legally able to hand them over to get them to let me come up here.

"Okay." The officer lets go of his radio and steps aside. "You can go through. Take a seat and wait for the Professor to call for you."

"Thank you." I smile at both of them, then step forwards and push the door open. I was a little surprised by how easy getting this appointment was. I'm not sure if Diana put in a good word or if I now qualify for the red carpet treatment in my own right these days.

Fallout from Fawcett City was fairly minimal. Batman appeared to be surprised by what I did to the First, but a quick discussion on Demonology -or whatever the study of things like the First is called- and he agreed that it was probably the right decision. No one's in a hurry to rescue Mister Gregor, if that would even be possible. Lord Satanus and 'Theo' -apparently that's what the First went by when he worked as a fisherman during his last fling with mortality- have been added to Interpol's watch list. Father Mattias said that he would have a go at exorcising Mister Printwhistle but at the moment the man is occupying Mister Karnes' old cage in the Fawcett City Prison. Frederick let me know yesterday that Timothy has regained consciousness and appears none the worse for his experiences. Only time will tell I suppose. Yesterday's visit was fun, though I'm not sure how much of my help they're actually going to use. I was slightly disappointed not to recognise any of the current generation of Games Workshop higher ups. Not sure whether that was due to time or being in a parallel universe.

I nod to Professor Prokopios' secretary and sit down on one of the red leather upholstered seats at the side of the room. Most of the free time I've had lately not being spent following up possible leads on arcane weapons has been spent with Ted preparing for our first major product launch. We've pencilled in the first meeting of my brain trust for three weeks from now and I want to get something out in the public arena before then so everyone can get good and excited by it.

The reason I'm here is that I want to make sure that we're not about to crash the world economy by doing this.

The door in the side of the room opens and the Professor strolls out, favouring me with a broad smile. He has a neatly trimmed grey beard and short grey hair, noticeably thinning on the top. He's wearing a pale blue short sleeved shirt and pale grey trousers. I stand and take his right hand as he offers it to me. "Orange Lantern! Good to meet you!"

"Likewise, Professor. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"Oh, it is no trouble. Katerina-" His secretary looks up. "-could you please arrange to have some tea sent up?" She nods. "Thank you." He returns his attention to me. "Please, come into my office."

"Thank you." He leads the way through the interior door into his work space. "I saw the police outside. I'm a little surprised that a former finance minister needs a bodyguard."

"Of course I have a bodyguard! I'm the man whose job it is to make Greek people pay their taxes!" He grins at the entirely serious joke and I smile along with him. He gestures to the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "Please, sit. What have I done to warrant a visit from a superhero?"

I pull the chair out slightly and sit as he does the same on his side of the desk. "I needed to talk to someone about the world economy and, um-" A quick glance around the room and I immediately spot his Nobel Prize certificate. I wave my right forefinger at it. "-you're the leading expert."

He turns his head around to see what I'm pointing at. "Oh, pff. They gave that to me for developing 'catastrophe theory'. You see, economic systems are so co-dependent these days that an apparently minor failure in one market can rapidly.. ripple outwards and cause.. weak but basically functional sectors to collapse as well. It was nice to be recognised, but I'd rather spend my time creating wealth than convincing people not to wreck their own markets."

"I'm just glad that people listened to you."

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Sometimes it is like explaining to little children why they should not piss in their own pants. Are you aware of what a subprime mortgage-?"

"Painfully so. My… I come from a parallel universe, and our Earth's economy crashed due to the very things you've convinced regulators to prevent."

"Really?" He thinks for a moment. "I have a certain morbid desire to find out what actually happened, but I do not think I could afford the loss of sleep it would cause."

"How is the tax gathering going?"

"Twenty six years I have been on that job! You know that when I first started I had to fire my entire staff?" I nod. Having the army collect taxes was certainly an interesting way to start. But this version of Greece decided to get its house in order so they could join the European Union, rather than lying through their teeth to cheat on the criteria like they did back home. "Quite a lot of people paid money, but most of it was going on bribing tax officials. The rich, pfff! We were lucky if they paid a lepton on the drachma! Now..? Eh, it's okay. The system works, I just need to oversee it. Gives me time for my other work."

"Secretly masterminding the world's economy?"

"Hah!" He chuckles. "Me and the rest of the Bilderberg Group, yes. Who have you been talking to?"

"Hephaestus."

"Hephae-." The smile vanishes. "Oh."

"I know full well that you are really Ploutos, god of-."

He shakes his head and waves his right hand. "Call me Demetri, please. I don't think that a country full of Christians really want to know that a pagan god is in charge of their revenue service. I get enough people wanting to burn me on the stake as it is."

"I don't think they'd…"

"No, but it would be awkward. 'Demetrios Prokopios' doesn't have particularly good documentation. Not if someone was prepared to look hard enough." He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales. "So. What can an out of work god do for you?"

"Out of work? You're the hardest working god on Olympus."

"I haven't been back to Olympus for centuries. And I saw that Queen Hera has a job now, as a relationship advice columnist."

"I didn't know the two of you were in contact."

"I manage her finances. She needed me to explain how credit cards work. 'Do they still use sestertii, or should I trade with unmarked coins?'" He shakes his head, then looks me over. "Why are you here?"

"How bad would it be if I introduced a form of power generation that could reduce electricity costs to a hundredth of what they are now?"

"How quickly?"

"I'm planning to demonstrate the first generator this weekend. We need to upgrade the transmission infrastructure before rolling it out over a large area but.. my friend Ted Kord already got the nod from the New York City mayor's office."

"No, no. Wider implementation. Are you going to be able to supplant existing power generation technologies… Within.. say.. five years?"

"Not unless a bunch of things turn out to be a lot easier than I think they're going to be. In five years… Hopefully, we'll be supplying power to a few dozen major cities and industrial areas. The bottleneck is producing the jovium wires we need. We've got plans to-."

He waves me off again. "Then do not worry. Markets can adapt to new technologies, even highly disruptive ones, as long as they have enough lead time. Gas and coal production will decrease over time… I doubt oil will be affected significantly for two decades at least. Do you have a full prospectus with you?" A folder appears from subspace and I float it over to him. "Let me have a quick look through and I'll give you a more detailed analysis."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February
07:02 GMT -6

I can barely believe this is actually happening. I mean, I know I offered months ago but they actually.. accepted. A minute or two from now Guy and I are going to start our first tuition session, instructing other members of the Green Lantern Corps on how to resist orange light techniques.

"Guy-."

He doesn't look around, still staring up at the sky. "Don't even talk t' me."

And it would be just perfect if Guy wasn't still throwing a massive snit about me sending that Guardian spaceship to Maltus. We're back in the Chihuahuan Desert and the sun is only just coming up over the horizon. Even at this early hour there's a crowd watching from the force field protected stand we built for them. We told them what was going to be happening and I think they think it'll look awesome because of all the extra Greenies. In fact, unless something goes very wrong there won't be much to watch at all.

"Guy-."

"J'onn actually yelled at me. You know that?"

Guy never showed any interest in power armour, but his uniform is noticeably more armoured these days. None of that exposed arms nonsense. His sidearm is attached to his hip. Combined with the overcoat he's taken to wearing he looks a good deal more professional than the tank top look he was sporting when I first met him.

"The Guardians did kind of wreck his planet."

"His species wouldn't even exist if it wasn't fer the Guardians. They'd still be those.. crazy Burner things."

"There's no way to know what they might have become if they'd been left alone. Would you try and use the worst examples of Human behaviour as evidence that we all needed our brains rewriten?"

He looks at me from the corner of his eye, a slight frown appearing. "What're you talking about? I read M'gann's report, those things were crazy."

"We only met one, and the fragments of Guardian reports I read were just the Guardians' impressions. I have no logical basis for concluding that what they said was either absolutely true or the whole of the truth." He takes a breath to argue back and I raise my hands. "But even if it was, once there were no Burners left, why exactly didn't the other Guardians restore Mars? There wouldn't have been much risk to them."

"They're busy people. It's a big universe. And anyway, what about the Burners hunting down the other Martians on the ship?"

"If an alien race came to Earth and started altering people to serve them, how friendly do you think the rest of us would be towards the people they modified?"

He goes back to watching the sky with a slight shake of his head. "Controllers got in contact with you yet?"

"No." That makes him look around. "I can't even reach the ship anymore. Did they.. talk to the Guardians about it?"

"Think so. They don't tell me about that sorta stuff but there was a ship I didn't recognize docked near their tower fer a while."

"Will detected." / "Will detected." / "Will detected."

Our rings chime at the same time, prompting us both to look down at them.

"Who are we getting today, anyway?"

"Katma Tui,-" Eeeee! "-Jack Chance,-" Eeeeee! "-and Saarek."

"The Vulca-?"

"He's not a Vulcan." I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah, okay, that's what I thought first time I saw him too, but he isn't."

I see a tiny green light high up in the sky. Though I transition pretty much everywhere, standard Green Lantern Corps protocol is to appear in normal space a good distance from the planet and fly the rest of the way at high speed. No interdiction fields on Earth but they're doing it anyway. Goodthinkful compliance with proper procedure or evidence of excessive rigidity? Not really sure.

Guy smiles slightly and a large Green sigil appears over our heads. I'm sure they can find us perfectly well without that but that approach is classic Guy.

"Shame John couldn't be here." Guy looks blank. "What with Lantern Tui attending."

"Wouldn't Hal..? Oh yeah, she was his teacher, wasn't she?"

"Bit more to it than that." I can see individual humanoid shapes now.

Guy gives me a look of disbelief which gradually turns into a grin. "No way."

"Yes way. You're talking to a chap with empathic-." Greengreentoomuchgreen. I blink and turn the empathic vision down as much as possible as Guy floats forwards to greet our new students. Three standard pattern humanoids and he totally looks like a Vulcan! He's even got the haircut! His uniform is black, save for the green sigil on his chest and the green across his shoulders. Which makes it look exactly like a Starfleet uniform. According to the Stewart-ring he's also some sort of necromancer. I wonder if he'd be interested in picking up a few books on the subject while he's here?

This Lantern Tui isn't the oddly Human looking one from the DCAU. She's got the purply red skin of a Korugaran and a short blob of black hair. Her uniform has a sort of green swimming costume thing with black material covering her arms and legs. She's wearing green boots and she appears to have copied Harold's white gloves but a quick scan shows the whole ensemble to be reasonably well armoured.

Lantern Chance appears to be from considerably earlier in his career than the version Parallax killed during the Sinestro Corps' attack on Oa. Red coat, cargo trousers and a waistcoat make him look the part of science fiction gunfighter every bit as much as the four firearms I can see. Only one of those guns matches Guy's Corps approved sidearm. No body armour but he does have a personal force field generator. He's also got his left hand resting on the butt of.. some sort of fusion pistol? It appears designed to look like an antique but the internal systems are top of the interstellar line. His skin is pale blue, his unkempt mullet a darker blue and his irises a striking red colour.

All three of them are staring at me. I raise my left hand and wiggle my fingers at them, orange ring clearly on display.

"Okay guys, thanks fer coming."

Lantern Tui nods at him, not taking her eyes off me for longer than politeness demands. "Lantern Gardner." As the senior Lantern here she has authority over this gathering. "Lantern… Paul."

"That's actually my personal name, but never mind." I zip over to Lantern Chance, who instinctively responds by reinforcing his environmental shield and pulling his sidearm free. "Lantern Chance, I am a huge fan of your work."

He keeps looking at me for a moment longer before responding. "Thaaaanks?"

"The whole backup weapons thing, I just took it and-" A part of my subspace arsenal appears in the air around me. "-ran with it."

"You can get his autograph later, Paul."

"Right, right." I return them to subspace and transition back to Guy's side. "Though that's not a bad first lesson. Orange Lanterns are greedy. If you meet an Orange Lantern of a combative turn of mind they will have all manner of additional weapons. The second is: Praexis Demons, rise."

My horde burst from the ground beneath us, shaking themselves free of the sand before rising into the air. Tui responds with construct armour while Saarek studies them with curiosity. "Demons. You use Demons."

"Construct Lanterns." I turn to look at my classroom assistant. "Guy?" A green bubble forms around me. "As you can see, they're autonomous. There's no orange light connection between me and them. Now, I don't do this to people but Orange Lanterns you encounter out in the wild almost certainly will. Scan the area of engagement carefully."

Chance shakes his head and pulls a roll up out of one of his pockets. "We ain't here for basic, Orange. Why don't we just skip on to the important-."

"Will detected."

Another Green Lantern appears from a transition. His -I'm guessing his- uniform is similar to Lantern Tui's and his skin is a mottled blue green. "You would be wiser not to."

Lantern Tui frowns at him. "Lantern Green Man?"

"I have been tracking the Construct Lanterns leaving the Vega Systems. One is entering the system now. In fact, I would advise against any use of the orange light at all."

Oh poop.

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th February
13:16 GMT

Lantern Tui nods. "Show us."

Lantern Saarek feeds ring power into the Watchtower as a green image appears in the air in the middle of the meeting room. In addition to myself and the five Greenies who brought me here, Mister and Missus Hol, Kal-El and Mister J'onzz are in attendance as well. I guess that's what Thanagarian casual clothing looks like. Or.. maybe those are dressing gowns?

The image shows us a top down view of the Sol system to real scale. The sun is a tiny dot in the middle while the planets are visible only by the thin green thread which marks out their orbit. The image expands a section towards the edge of the Oort cloud. Then expands again, and again and ooh dear.

A giant glowing construct head floats through the void. A long tentacle undulates slowly at each end of its upper lip, ends glowing brightly. Two slightly smaller tentacles sit between them, just under where its nose would be if it had one. Its chin is studded with what appear to be manipulator tendrils while other tentacles which might at some point in its species' evolutionary history have been used for swimming flail around on the other end of its neck-collar.

That's Lantern Blume.

Kal-El looks at Lantern Tui. "Is it coming this way?"

Her eyes flash. "I can't tell. It's moving in-system, but it isn't coming directly towards Earth."

Guy turns his head towards me. "You assimilate a giant tentacle head and forget to tell anyone?"

"No. No, that's Lantern Blume, the God of Hunger."

Mister Hol raises his right eyebrow. "God?"

"I don't know if he was actually a god before Larfleeze assimilated him or not. That's just what he calls himself when he lands on a planet and demands all of their precious materials. He was a planet killer, then he gained Lantern powers." That gets a few concerned nods. "Oh, and one time? The world he ended up on didn't have much in the way of mineral wealth. So he took their children instead."

Kal-El's face falls. "Good Lord."

I remove the rings from my fingers. "I'll just be taking these back to the mountain now." Ah, heck. "Sirs? You're going to need to get hold of Red Tornado and ask him to bring Doctor Morrow to the mountain as well."

Missus Hol nods. "It's already being taken care of."

"Heh." Lantern Chance smiles. "Running and hiding? You really think that'll help?"

"The mountain's warded against -among other things- ring scans. As long as my personal lantern and the rings stay there, Blume shouldn't be able to feel them."

"Warded? Magic? You really believe that stuff?"

Lantern Saarek nods. "You may want to consult your ring's database. Earth has an unusually active arcane energy network." He looks at me. "I assume that you have tested the effectiveness of the wards." I nod. "Then that may work. Green Man?"

"They don't usually stay in a system all that long. But this.. 'Blume' is a long way ahead of the others. Even if he moves on, he may return if you continue to use your rings. Do you believe that you could defeat him?"

Do.. I..? "Maybe? Umm…" I shake my head. "Probably-yes? But destroying his construct body just makes him respawn at Larfleeze's ring. I might be able to sneak up on him and seize control of him but that would be a dead give away to Larfleeze that there was someone here who knows how to use the orange light better than a newly empowered Lantern should."

Lantern Tui nods. "And what about us?"

"He'd-."

"Assimilate you." Guy crosses his arms. "Which was why you were comin' here in the first place."

"Could you defeat it?"

"Yeah, I think I could."

"Guy-."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you become a member of the Justice League or the Green Lantern Corps Honour Guard when I wasn't payin' attention?"

"No, but-."

"Then I don't take orders from you. Tui? How about it?"

She watches Lantern Blume for a moment. "No. Not without a better idea of its capabilities or if it moves to threaten Earth or Mars."

"Oh, come on." Guy's ring is sparking with suppressed mental drive.

Korugari don't shake their heads to indicate a negative. Their equivalent gesture is the slight inclination of the head Lantern Tui is doing now. "Ice it, Gardner. That was a 'no'."

"Guy, we could take Blume. You could probably take Blume. We might even-" I pat the scabbard at my leg which contains the Sword of Second and Third. "-be able to take Larfleeze. Maybe. But he's got hundreds of Construct-Lanterns at least. We can't reliably protect the Earth from that many."

Guy looks around the group, eyes finishing on Kal-El whose eyebrows are slightly raised. "Yeah… Okay. So what's the game plan?"

There's a sort of rippling across Green Man's skin. "Lantern Blots of two eight four nine reported that he approached a Construct-Lantern when it flew near his homeworld. It did not react, even to close proximity scans."

Saarek looks concerned. "I thought orders were not to approach them?"

"He took initiative. He claimed that he felt that his planet was under threat, and so sidestepped the specific prohibition."

"I hope someone explained to him that he might have triggered the attack."

"I considered doing so, but I have been lobbying Salaak for permission to probe them more assertively since they left Vega. It seemed dishonest."

Missus Hol activates a holoscreen and begins flipping through what looks like an inventory list. "If it won't react to a Green Lantern flying up to it, could you drop some probes around it? Might give us a better idea of exactly what these things are, or how Larfleeze controls them."

I didn't know she cared. I'd have been happy to let her play with the Praexis if I'd known.

Lantern Tui looks sceptical. "Having seen Earth's general level of technology, I'm not sure what a locally produced probe could tell us that a power ring couldn't."

Missus Hol flares her wings slightly. "Do I look local to you? Besides, if you've only been here a few minutes you won't have seen some of the crazy stuff Humans can build. This one-" A hologram of a double ended triamid shape appears. "-was created by Doctor Fate to read arcane signatures.. and-" She glances at her husband. "-we've got some from Thanagar."

Lantern Tui looks over to Lantern Green Man. "It's your mission. What do you think?"

"I don't see any harm. If you make them ready I will fly them into position myself."

Mister Hol looks over to Lantern Tui. "Would Earth's conventional detection devices be able to see 'Lantern Blume' yet?"

Another flicker. "No, it's nothing like bright enough. Technically, a small amount of the light it's emitting is reaching here, but it won't be bright enough to see until it reaches the inner system."

He nods. "Superman, I'm going to suggest that we hold off notifying the authorities until it gets closer. It doesn't seem to be behaving in an aggressive way and I'm not sure that any level of preparation they could make would actually help."

Kal-El nods. "Agreed. We'll reconsider if it passes Jupiter orbit. Orange Lantern?"

"Sir?"

"Your tattoos should make it impossible for Blume to be homing in on you personally, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Then I'm not going to confine you to the mountain, but your rings, personal Lantern and the Ophidian stay there until further notice." I nod. "We'll keep you informed in case we need your expertise or assistance. Dismissed."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
19:37 GMT -5

Holly leans forwards slightly, her eyes wide. "You killed Satan?"

"Well… No, as I said, there isn't-."

"You basically killed Satan."

"… Yes."

What with one thing and another we never got around to coming back to Tikka Nights, so I thought I'd treat her. A reward for three and a bit months' good behaviour and for her getting a job. Killing the First appears to have impressed her. She looks off to the side as she reloads her fork. "How come you're not on the Justice League already?"

"Did I tell you how I got started?" Fortunately for me Holly's learned to eat with her mouth closed since we first met. She just nods. "The year I'm spending here is effectively a year's probation. I'm only going to be eligible after it's over, and I don't know how much time I'm going to spend on Earth afterwards. After that… I don't know, maybe."

She swallows. "So what happened to Doctor Sivana?"

"Captain Marvel had a chat with her. They.. decided they'd be okay with her knowing who he is."

Holly makes an amused exhalation. "I bet he's okay with her knowing who he is." The story loses a little something when repeated to someone who doesn't know that Marvel's secret identity is that of a ten year old. Holly just heard a story about a superhero and his enemy's beautiful-yet-innocent daughter getting closer. In reality I think Doctor Sivana ♀ just wants to pretend the whole thing never happened. "How old is she?"

"Seventeen."

"And she's really a Doctor? Like a doctor-Doctor?"

"Oh yes. Doctor… Thaddeus and Professor Venus Sivana home schooled their children intensively. Beautia decided that she wanted to study medicine…"

She points at my left hand with her fork. "How come you're not wearing your ring?"

Ah. We're not mentioning Blume, so… "I… Ehr… It turns out that if you.. slice a guy up like a deli ham.. they don't let you stay on.. active duty. " Her eyebrows rise slightly. "I'm benched… Pending.. psychiatric assessment."

"You sliced up Satan! That is total bullshit!" A couple of people on a neighbouring table look around.

"Yeah, but he was.. Human shaped at the time… It's.. it's standard practice, police do the same thing when they shoot someone dead until the investigation's over." I don't feel bad about it, but I did deliberately kill a person. Perhaps telling Lantern Jordan 'I hope not' when he asked if the First would get up again like Ra's did suggest an inappropriate flippancy. "And it doesn't even matter. I could do with a few days off. There's some stuff I'm doing with Ted Kord-."

"Who?"

"He runs a company called Kord tech. They're the ones-."

"Oh yeah, you said. Magic metal, right?"

"That's the one. We're about ready to launch a product, and there's this whole press conference and speech thing we've got to plan... I don't need a power ring for that."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Power generation. And.. the infrastructure upgrades needed to make it worthwhile."

"Oh."

"What?"

"Just sounds kinda dull."

"The economy runs on power; electricity for machinery and computers, petrol for cars and lorries… If we can reduce costs enough-."

"Yeah, but it's not… Superhero-y, is it?"

"Oil being a less important international commodity should help increase political stability in oil rich regions.. because other countries won't need to fight over control of them. Cheaper heating…" She doesn't look convinced. "As far as I'm concerned, my job is to help as many people as I can in whatever way I can. That doesn't always mean.. slicing up Satan."

She nods and smiles. "Kinda hard to top that, anyway."

"So, how's work?"

"Dull. Boring." She shrugs. "I dunno. Me working makes Karon happy and I guess it's good for me. I'm just glad it isn't near where I used to live."

"Why's that?"

"I…" She takes another forkful as she tries to work out how to explain it to me. I do the same. The food here really is quite excellent. "The kinda.. people I used to hang around with… Karon… I don't… I don't really think they're good for me. You know?"

If I'm honest, not really. Not as if I've ever lived that life. "Get on alright with your co-workers?"

"They're okay." She shoves some of her food around her plate. "I guess it's.. normal? Get up, go to work, get paid, come home. I've never really.. had that, until now."

Out of the corner of my eye I see a patron gesturing angrily at something while a waiter tries to placate him. Once I'd have done the same 'awkwardly trying to pretend it isn't happening' thing the tables next to it are doing. Now I'm seriously considering just getting up and joining in. No, that probably wouldn't help.

"I've known.. people who.. had trouble coping with that sort of transition." I reach across the table with my left hand and rest it on her right. "If you feel the same way and you want to talk about it, you can always talk to Karon, to Selina or to me. You know that, right?"

She looks a little surprised by my touch. "Um." Oh, was that a bit much? I can see that she doesn't fear me but there's still a lot of yellow in there and I can't completely predict what's going to bounce off what. "Yeah."

I remove my hand. "Did you decide whether you wanted to take Selina up on her offer of tuition?"

"Iiiii guess I do. House is all fixed up and.. I need a new hobby..?"

"Think it takes a little more enthusiasm than that to reach her level of athleticism."

"Oh, no, I mean… Selina's like my cool big sister, you know? Spending time with her's always fun. It's just, I see the stuff she can do and the stuff you can do and there's this huge gap."

"If you're interested in becoming an Orange Lantern, I can give you some books on moral philosophy to read."

She lights up. "And a power ring to practice with?"

"Not until I'm reasonably confident it's not going to drive you clinically insane. And yes, that can happen."

"I can read a book."

"And you'd have to go and see a proper therapist. Not like me, someone with an actual diploma and a licence to practise. Orange rings mess with your head; if it's not on straight-" The argumentative customer is now standing and openly remonstrating with someone I believe to be the manager. "-very bad things will happen. If you want to try it, I know a great guy." Even if he isn't talking to me at the moment.

"I think I'll pass then."

"Selina's skills would be useful anyway and.. there are other types of superpowers you could-" The angry man shoves the manager. O-kay. "-acquire. But if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid that I need to go and deal with that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
19:41 GMT -5

"Excuse me, sir? Does there seem to be a problem?"

Alright, let's see how much of what Batman taught us stayed in my head. The one remonstrating with the manager… Younger, expensive clothing, expensive watch, plain rings. The two other men are older and heavier set. A few small scars are visible. Good clothing, but not… Ah, a slight tug at the jacket as one orientates on me. Armed, then. Bodyguards most likely. In most places I'd say 'celebrity making an arse of himself', but this is Gotham. Younger member of a successful crime family? My phone has a 'name that crim' app courtesy of Robin but I can't exactly whip it out right now.

"And who the FUCK are you?"

Mouthy youth turns towards me, eyes blazing in a way that might be intimidating if he wasn't about ten centimetres shorter than me. And if I hadn't cut Satan to ribbons last weekend. Behind him the restaurant manager shakes his head at me. Kind of him.

I smile. "I understand that my sobriquet is 'The Cake Man'." Bodyguard one shifts forwards a little in his seat, becoming more alert. Would he..? Yes, he'd be just old enough to have been professionally active when the old crime families started losing out to the 'freaks'. Someone introduces themselves by a silly name in Gotham, you assume that they should be taken completely seriously if you know what's good for you.

"Please, sir." No, manager guy, don't draw attention to yourself! "If your service has not been satisfactory, you have my humblest apologies. Please, have a complimentary round of drinks by way of apology."

"Take a fucksight more than that! You know who I am!?"

No. "Yes, you're that mouthy nuisance who's ruining my dinner. Now, you can either accept what I'm going to assume is an undeserved apology and finish your meal. You can storm out and write an unflattering review on your blog. Or you can step outside with me." Is he armed? Yes, probably. Meh, unless he's packing a laser I'm not worried. "I would encourage you to take option one. The food here really is quite good."

"Mister Inzerillo, sir-" Ooh! I recognise that name. I was right about the gangster thing. That makes him… "-your father said-" Don'ttellmedon'ttellme! "-we shouldn't-" Jack! That was it! "-get involved in any trouble. 'Specially with-."

"This prick wants to pick a fight? Fine!" He nearly tears off his jacket before throwing it at the bodyguard who suggested that he simmer down, momentarily blocking his line of sight in a way I just know would irritate a professional. "Outside, now!"

As I turn towards the door Jack storms past me, taking the opportunity to try and shove me sideways. He fails. Oh dear. I glance back at his bodyguards, one of whom is going for his phone. "I'll let him off with a few bruises. No need to get excited." I follow the junior mobbie towards the door, being careful not to pay any attention to the concerned look on Holly's face as I walk by her. Though the temptation to say 'superheroy enough for you?' is strong enough that I can feel it.

I pass through the door to find Jack bouncing up and down on his toes like a very amateur boxer. Musculature… Well, he works out but I've got more muscle mass and a longer reach. "Well? Do you know who I am? You know who you just pissed off?"

"Jacopo Inzerillo. Younger son of Enrico Inzerillo."

A slight scowl at hearing his full first name. "Cops are gunna have to identify you from your dental records, prick."

"Ah. My employer prefers that I resolve matters fully before the police arrive. Don't leave them in any doubt as to what happened."

"Yeah? Who you workin' for? Is it those Ibanescu pricks? Odessa? Fuckin' push you all into the sea for this."

I relax, hands slightly to the side. "I work for Batman."

Just for a heartbeat I see a look of shock on his face. Then his face hardens, his fists come up and he dashes towards me. Okay, let's see how much of Ms Lance's lessons stuck. He telegraphs a right, and from the angle of the limb it looks like it'll include an elbow chaser. Doubt he'll extend enough for a throw. "Ragh!"

I move left, my right comes across to turn his arm aside. Still hurts without the ring or power armour but it does put me in position to trip him and hit him in the side of the head with the heel of my left palm. He staggers a step and collapses onto the ground and I step back as he rolls to his feet. "I really do recommend calling it a night. These sorts of affair are seldom dignified."

He approaches again, slower this time. Hmm, Robin or Artemis would have gone for a pin or a choke there, wouldn't they? I'm probably too analytical for good melee fighting. The skills are just-. He throws a series of jabs at my head and I step back as he does so. Not like we've got a ring-out line here. So opposed to how it makes sense to fight as a Lantern. I step back just ahead of his next strike then surge forwards, pushing his left arm aside with my left hand while my own right fist uppercuts him under the chin. I follow up, turning side on, pushing off with my calves and shoving my shoulder into his chest.

Off to the side I hear the restaurant door open as he falls backwards, unable to stop himself hitting the pavement hard. "Agh!" Right, does he-? He reaches into his belt and pulls out a tiny flick knife. The hand holding it is swiftly met by the toe of my right foot, sending the knife flying. I then drop onto him, hands going to his shoulders and my right knee to his diaphragm. "Owgh!" Right fist up and hope he gets the messa-.

Bang!

Impact in the right side of my torso. I collapse to my left as Mister Inzerillo crawls away. Screams from the people watching through the restaurant window. Low calibre rounds so the body armour took it. Armour I'm wearing there shouldn't be too much of a bruise. Fun time over. I tap my belt buckle with my left hand, bringing the flight belt to normal operating power.

Bang!

Shoulder. Oh, the younger bodyguard. Nice lot of witnesses at the windows.

"Hah! Fuck you, you fucking Bat-fuck!"

And these sorts of people are allowed to rise to high criminal office these days. I'm just lying here and he kicks me in the chest. If that bullet had done anything I'd be bleeding like nobody's business right now and he's so caught up he-. Head that time, hasn't noticed. Ah well. Another tap and the belt switches to 'repulse'.

"Boss, we gotta go."

"And fuck-!" His toes break. "Aaaaaghfuck!"

I push myself up and float off the ground. "That wasn't very clever. And now you're both under arrest." Through the window behind them I notice the relief on Holly's face. "Please don't do anything-" The bodyguard aims for my centre of mass and pulls the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"-stupider." I create a kinetic bubble around him. "You know, my revolver has eight shots."

"rAAAAaagh!" Jacopo pulls himself upwards, balancing on his good foot. Bodyguard takes a look at the situation and tries pushing against the barrier around him. It is weaker against gradual application of force, but not enough for him to be able to do anything about it. Realising that, he stops, shakes his head dejectedly and holsters his weapon.

Ugh, no convenient construct manacles. I create a second bubble around Jacopo and he hops into it before falling down again. I see Holly take a step back from the window and I meet her eyes for a moment and give her a tiny head shake. Really don't want her getting the attention of Gotham organised crime. Further inside the restaurant the other bodyguard is speaking frantically on his phone. Keeping both hands in the barrier generation position does make it somewhat difficult for me to move but I angle my body to drift back towards the restaurant.

"Could somebody please phone the police?!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
20:07 GMT -5

"Think that's about everything, Orange." Detective Bullock scratches the side of his head with his pencil as he looks over the notes he's taken. "We got about twelve witnesses who'll testify that they saw you defending yerself and only really going after him when he pulled a knife. Plus, the manager's tellin' me they were trying to shake him down for protection money. Have to talk t'the Commish about the other one but we can take these two-" He nods at Jacopo and the chap who shot me. "-down town right now." He takes a step closer to me and looks over to where the older bodyguard is talking to a couple of people in suits. "You.. sure you didn't see.. or maybe hear him try anything? Y'know, maybe somethin's come back to you?"

Yes, I can work out what he's asking. Think I'll pretend not to, though. Don't really see the point of locking a man up when all it might do is weaken the case against the others. "Sorry, Detective. I don't really forget things like that, even without the rings."

"Fuckin' mob lawyers." He rolls his eyes. "And… Sorry, but I gotta ask you for contact info. Those slimy bastards were makin' noise about pressin' charges against you. Probably just angling to try an' make us drop the charges…"

"I don't have any problem giving you contact details, Detective. But.. they.. can't press charges."

"Well, yeah, they shouldn't be able to but, y'see-."

"I have a diplomatic passport."

He grins. "Fer real?"

"I'm a citizen of Themyscira these days. Technically, I'm part of Diana's staff. I really.. only have it because there isn't a regular Themysciran passport but it does save me from having to fill out immigration paperwork. I'm not sure having a power ring qualifies me for a green card when there are already four Americans with the same thing."

"Maybe you could have them declare your ice fortress t'be its own country?"

"Bit of a stretch." Probably wouldn't be the smallest, though. Maybe I could ask Queen Hippolyta to declare it Themysciran territory? "Here." I hand him a business card with my contact details. "Do you need anything else?"

Detective Bullock looks curious, then looks past me at the crowd watching events. "This interrupt a hot date or something?"

"I was having dinner with someone, yes."

"Anyone I know?"

"She does have a record but I don't think-. Oh, you mean socially. No, I don't think so. And she's not still in the crowd, I didn't want that lot-" I nod at the lawyers. "-seeing me with her, just in case."

Detective Bullock grunts. "Okay, I won't keep yah." He pockets the card. "I'll be in touch in a day or two, let you know how things are going."

"Thank you, Detective." He turns away. "Oh, did you.. reach a decision? About the weight loss thing?"

"I'm, ah…" He glances down at his gut. "Still thinking."

"When you decide, let me know. Good evening." I activate the belt and fly directly upwards as Detective Bullock turns around.

"Funny, how you're so much more polite than Bat-" He sees that I'm not there anymore. He tries looking up but it's dark and the flight belt doesn't cause a glow in flight mode. "-man. And yet you still do that. Now I get how the Commish feels."

I grin as I gain more height and start looking around for Holly. She wouldn't have gone far… Ah! There she is, on a rooftop. Easier to spot from the air, harder to spot from the ground. I angle my body and fly towards her, landing just in front of her. "Sorry about that."

"You're sorry? You got shot!"

"I was wearing body armour and a personal force field. There wasn't-."

"I didn't know that! … Ass!" She steps forwards and lightly punches me in the upper arm with her right hand. Wait, I haven't-. "Oww."

"Sorry! Personal force field's still on. Let me just.. change the setting." I fiddle with the buckle as she rubs her aching hand. "Oh here, I've got a-" I reach into my jacket's inner pocket. "-healing potion."

"A what?"

"Healing potion. Give me your hand a minute." She gives me a sceptical look before holding it out. I lightly take hold of her right hand with my left and squirt a small amount of potion onto her knuckles with my right before returning the bottle to my jacket. Has a fairly viscous texture so… I move my hands so that my fingers are supporting her palm and start rubbing the potion in with both thumbs. Slightly more potion left over than I need, so I switch to performing a simple hand massage. "Better?"

"Um. Yeah. That feels.. nice…"

"Glad to know those massage lessons weren't a waste of time. Most people I know get a bit weird when I offer." I release her hand. "Well. Should probably get you home. I don't think walking is a good idea after.. that, but we could get a taxi?"

She goes to speak, then hesitates for a moment, prompting me to raise my eyebrows. "Um… Can you… Fly with me?"

Would that..? "Don't see any reason why not."

"I wouldn't get, like, bugs in my mouth or anything would I?"

"No, we wouldn't be going that fast and the belt tends to deflect them anyway." I press the belt again. What was the 'passenger' setting? "Would you prefer to ride on my back or would a bridal carry be better?"

She giggles for a moment, then realises that I'm being serious. "Oh! Bridal carry."

"Okay then." I crouch down slightly. "If you put your left arm around my shoulder-" She does so. "-then I can…" I put my left arm against the back of her knees and my right behind her shoulders. "Ready?"

"Uh-huh."

Aaand lift. She feels oddly light. Last time I scanned her the ring told me that her diet was improving, something I'm largely attributing to Karon's influence. But she's never going to be anything like as large as she could have been with better nutrition in early life. "Got a decent hold?"

She smiles a little nervously. "I sure hope so."

I check my grip. Yep, should be fine. And up we go. This part of Gotham doesn't go up beyond about five storeys, but I take us up higher anyway. I mean, if you're going to fly hanging onto someone you might as well get a decent view, right?

"OohmyGod."

"Enjoying it?"

"Do I have to do therapy to get one of these?"

I do have spares. "Nnnnno, but there's a training course and you'd have to be supervised. These things can be very dangerous." Holly and Karon's home is in Coventry, just north of Robinson Park. Expensive place to live if no one's been murdered in the master bedroom recently. Tikka Nights is in Upper West Wide so we're pretty much flying north north east over the park. In the dark it just shows up as a patch without any lights in it. Maybe I should bring some ambient lighting goggles next time?

"Is anything you do not dangerous?"

…

"I sleep, sometimes."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
20:19 GMT -5

"And we're dropping down in an alley instead of at home because..?"

I crouch slightly and release her legs, maintaining my hold around her shoulders while she steadies herself. "Superman says that the best way to prevent anyone from seeing you flying to your home is to avoid flying home. And since he's an expert on maintaining a secret identity while-."

"Superman has a secret identity?"

I raise my eyebrows, then realise that in this light there's no way she can see me doing that. "Yes. He does."

"Huh. Guess I just figured… Why would he?"

"Normalcy. Hard to find when you're the last member of your species and got brought up by aliens, but he has a full time job and everything. Anyway, he's an expert on maintaining a secret identity under close observation. Not something I bother with most of the time, but…"

"I don't really wanna get visited by the Inzerillo mob."

"Right." I look toward the main road. "I also don't want to stand in this alley all night, so… Um."

"Oh! Yeah, sorry." She turns away and starts heading towards the end of the alleyway. "Shame we had to miss dessert."

"I don't mind baking something once we get back to your house."

"Really?" I see the outline of her head turn in my direction. I.. think she's smiling. "You must be, like, the most domestic guy I've ever met."

"It's hardly-. Oh, sorry, I need to check for messages. Give me a second?" Good manners required me to put my phone off during dinner but it's not impossible that there's been some sort of alert. I think she nods, then keeps going until she's on the pavement. Right. I usually just have the ring handle this type of-.

"Hey, Holly!" Ah. Nice to know she's making frie-. "How much these days, uh?"

Oh shoot phone back in pocket and jogging!

"Uh, hiii…" Holly standing in the middle of the pavement, frozen in place. Pulled up near her is a car with a group of young men in it. A fellow with at least five ear piercings is leaning out of the passenger side window, leering at her.

His eyes briefly flick to me. "Ah, hey, if you need five minutes and some mouthwash…"

"Oh, the universe just lays you idiots on for me, doesn't it?"

"Fuck you, limey. I was breaking off a piece in-" I tap my belt buckle and lift the car off the ground. "-fuuuuuuck!" The wheels spin in the air as the driver stamps on the accelerator pedal. "Go go go!"

I saunter closer, shaking my head slightly. The other people in the car… I look across at the driver. "I know you. Didn't I give you a pizza last year?"

"Fuck."

"Nice to be recognised. Now: I'm clearly a serial killing sociopath with superpowers, we're in Gotham, and you're ruining my evening." I set the car down with only a slight bump. "Go."

Tires screech as they take my advice. Damn it. I turn back towards Holly she's shaking too much yellow. I can't tell for sure if… Chance it. I put my arms around her shoulders and pull her into my chest. A moment or two passes and I start to fear that I've undone the progress-. Then I feel her press her head into my shoulder and her hands at the small of my back. Aaaaaaah.

"Nasty shock, that."

"Uh-huh."

"But I think they're going to keep going until they hit the Gotham River…" She sniffs… Okay, I'll just have a ring clean this jacket when I get home. "I'd offer to carry you the rest of the way, but I wouldn't want to make Karon jealous."

She turns to take up position on my right, still pressing herself up against me. "New neighborhood… Thought I'd gotten away from all that."

I start in the direction of her home, my right arm around her back encouraging her to move with me. She's not looking up but she does manage to put one foot in front of the other. "I'll… Say again. Anything you want-."

"Nothing special." She sniffs again and I use my left hand to fish a tissue out of my left trouser pocket, then pass it over. "Thanks." She wipes her eyes and nose with her right hand, not moving her left from around me. "Broke, no skills or qualifications. No family." I squeeze her around the waist. "'Cept Selina." I never actually asked if this version of Selina was a prostitute or not. No.. simple way to find out. "Didn't really seem like such a big deal. Suck a guy off, get money." She shakes again.

"That part of your life is over."

"Is it? Those guys just… And, and I know Karon checks my purse to see if I'm carrying any pills and… I think she looks at my arms sometimes, y'know?" S-hit. "I've been keeping busy an' clean and then one little fucking thing happens and I'm falling apart again."

"As I understand it, the Human brain basically.. shoves stuff it can't cope with out of the way so its owner can keep functioning. The fact that you're reacting like this isn't.. unusual or weird; it just shows that you're stopping being numb to all the messed up stuff you've gone through. Shit, Holly, no one should have to live like that."

There's a tiny laugh. "You sound funny when you cuss."

"Donkey-molesting faeces-eater." More of a snort this time, but at least she's starting to recover a little. "What time does Karon get off work?"

"Uh? Nine? So she should be home by nine thirty. Ten past if she can get a ride."

"Okay, so, any preference with regard to pudding?"

"Mmm, pudding like 'chocolate pudding'? Or does it mean something else in British?"

"In English-English the word pudding co-opts the meaning of the Colonial-English word 'dessert', and it was in that context that I was using it." Actually, 'dessert' means dessert as well, but it's usually only used in formal settings. And I'm trying to amuse Holly with my Old World eccentricities, not win a lexicography contest.

She doesn't exactly recover, but she's supporting her own head and holding me a little less tightly. I'll take that as progress. "Maybe.. muffins..? I dunno."

"Since I can't check recipes on the rings.. or monitor the status of the muffins during cooking, I can't promise my usual quality."

"It doesn't matter."

"I mean, pancakes or something would probably be easier. Or doughnuts. You've got a deep fat fryer, right?"

"You don't wanna do muffins?"

"I can do muffins. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of non-muffin alternatives."

"Muffins."

"Muffins it is."

I can see her house from here. No lights on. Good job the heating system I installed is pretty much immediate; Gotham's cold at this time of year.

"You.. get any messages?"

"Didn't look. Doesn't really matter."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
21:13 GMT -5

I peer into the oven. "You know… They're surprisingly hard to judge."

"What!?"

I stand up and mosey towards the open door between the kitchen and the living room. Holly's fiddling with the television. "I said I'm having trouble telling whether they're done or not."

"Well.. just.. make your-" The screen lights up and she rises to her feet. "-best guess. It's not like-" She turns around. "-you're.. not wearing a shirt."

"It's hot in there." She stares at my chest. "Um. If it's a problem, I.. can.. just-."

Her eyes have widened slightly. "That's a lot of tattoos."

"Strictly speaking it's two overlapping sets of tattoos."

"I didn't really think you were the.. tattoo… Type..?"

"These are magic tattoos." Um. "Well, strictly speaking the tattoos themselves aren't magic, but they serve as the attachment point-" She starts walking towards me, staring at them. "-for the spells. Erh, can't honestly say I recommend getting them done yourself if there isn't a good job or soul-absence related reason."

"Is that a.. burn..?"

"Huh? Where?"

She bends down slightly and pokes me just below the bottom of my right rib cage. Then flattens her right hand to briefly feel my abdominals. "And… Whaw. You're… Buff."

"Ring-sculpted physiology. And, no, those are… That's more of a.. brand…" She looks up and shakes her head slightly in incomprehension. "They heat up some metal and sort of.. stick it on you…"

"Ow! Who did that!"

"No, no, it's part of the design. It wouldn't work without-." My watch's alarm starts beeping. "Okay, that's the time in the recipe book." I step back and turn towards the oven. "Is your oven a bit fast, a bit slow or just right?"

"I dunno. How much difference does it make?"

"I'm not sure. I don't even remember the last time I made a muffin that didn't have chocolate in it." I pick up the oven gloves and open the main oven, bend down slightly and pull out the tray. … Yeah, I think they're done. "They look alright to-?"

There's a rattle as someone opens the front door and Holly hurries back into the living room. "Hey Karon!"

"Hey Holly."

"Good evening, Karon!" Right, wire rack… Can't just float them out… I look down at my belt. No, not in a kitchen I'd have to clean if I miscalculated. Turn them upside down? Awkward with oven gloves, and it would alter the pleasant dome shape they've acquired.

"Hey Paul. I didn't realize mpf!"

Heh. Okay, just put them down in the tin. I take off the oven gloves and leave them on the work surface before leaning around the doorway. "Do you want to eat them now, or…" Okay, they're not listening. I don't know if it was the thing with those guys in the car earlier or what, but Holly appears to be very glad that Karon's back. She's on the tips of her toes, leaning into Karon with both hands around the back of the taller woman's head and is pulling down into an enthusiastic kiss. Karon's still got her bag over her shoulder and her coat on and from how she's moving her arms isn't quite sure whether to pull away and get rid of them or to hug Holly back. She settles for hugging her with one arm and sort of shaking her other shoulder in the hope that the bag will just slide off, all the while matching Holly's passion with her own.

I keep watching for a few moments, until Holly decides that Karon is sufficiently greeted. She then drops back onto the flat of her feet and presses her left cheek into her girlfriend's chest. Karon licks her lips then frowns slightly as she looks down at the top of Holly's head. "Okay… What was-" She looks up for a second. "-that shirt?"

"I left it in the kitchen."

"Wait, were you just..?"

"Watching? Yes." She blinks. "You've made out in front of me enough times that I'd rather got the impression that you didn't object…"

"But you always just get weirded out and.. uncomfortable."

"Ah, yes, I was suppressing my testosterone production, so.. I found it socially awkward and I didn't really have any drive to see the appeal… Now, I do." I flick my right hand at the door. "If that's a problem I can just go back in the kitchen while the two of you…"

Holly half turns, head still pressing against Karon's chest. "You're not gay?"

"Um… Well, there are men I find attractive, but for the most part, no. I tend to think that interest in only one gender is more the result of social conditioning rather than neural physiology-."

"Ooh. 'Cause I was getting totally the wrong signals here."

"Yes, Selina said. Look, I'm perfectly happy to duck out if I'm making it weird for you…"

"Um…" Holly pulls away from Karon slightly, and Karon uses the opportunity to move her bag and coat to a hook near the door. "No…" She walks over to me, takes hold of my left arm and gently pushes me back into the kitchen. "Yeah, just a minute. You could, like, frost the muffins or something."

"They're still warm, that's not-." She smiles, steps back and closes the door.

Huh. I look at the muffins. Okay then, I… Guess she really likes her icing. Um. Butter based icing would just melt. I could just sieve icing sugar over them, but that's probably not what she has in mind. Peanut butter muffins, what goes with peanut butter? I'm not usually a huge fan of the stuff. When I was little Dad used to say that it's the one food he doesn't like. I walk over to the cupboard and open it, taking out the jar. Sugar and salt content..? Dark chocolate, maybe? Do Americans call that something daft? I pick up my phone. Translation app… Bittersweet. Okay. Bittersweet, one bar of that, put it on the side. Mix it with anything? No, there're only six muffins and I expect we'll be eating them all this evening. I pour a small amount of water into the kettle and switch it on. Small saucepan-

"Are you-!" I look around at the door, then decide to not hear it. "Are you serious?"

-on the stove. I'm used to using gas, but this house is all-electric. I remember one time in Food class at school I managed to melt a plastic tub onto an electric hob because I didn't realise it was still hot. Small Perspex bowl, and I break up the chocolate and put the pieces inside. Saucepan goes on the hob, water-. The kettle clicks off. Hob on, water in the saucepan, bowl on the saucepan. Now, where did I put that spatula? Right, draining board. I put it down next to the hob, far enough away not to melt.

"You said if-."

"It was a big 'if'!"

"It might not be that big."

I carefully touch the muffin tin to check its temperature, then move it off the wire rack and then gingerly pick the muffins out by the cases and putting them down on the rack. Water's bubbling so I turn the hob down and give the chocolate pieces a prod with the spatula. It's a little melted but nothing like ready to be applied to the muffins. Probably a minute or two until it reaches that stage. Dark chocolate has a higher melting point than milk chocolate, after all. Smells nice.

Hmm. I pick up a tea towel and finish drying the rest of the cutlery on the draining board and return it to the proper places around the kitchen. Another poke at the chocolate. Getting there. Maybe I could get a metal spoon and break it up to speed-?

The door opens and a slightly flushed Holly leans into the kitchen. "Hey, um-."

"Not quite ready, yet."

"Yeah, um." She looks at the unit next to her, then at the floor. "So, Karon.. and me were going to go take a shower and.. go to bed."

"Oh. Right. Ah, sure, I'll leave the muffins in your ca-."

"You wanna join us?"

…

…

"I'm sorry?"

"You know..?" She nods and makes a circling motion with her right hand.

"No, I… I got the implication, I was just… Rather under the impression that you were lesbians."

"Mostly. Not like I've never been with a guy before-" A quick shot of empathic vision give me a rough idea of the quality of those relationships. "-and Karon's… A little bi-curious? And you're a great guy and we think it could be fun. So?" She looks directly at me with a smile. "How about it?"

…

"Can I think about it?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
19:29 GMT -7

Looking down from above it doesn't take me all that long to spot the Arrow clan. Using an app to ping Artemis' phone helped, but red, green and yellow do rather stand out against the background. Can't actually tell what they're doing… Which means that I can't tell whether it's alright for me to drop in. My training has included how to fight with a flight belt or my fists but I wouldn't call myself superhero level at either. Uum, but this is.. kind of.. urgent.

I manoeuvre myself directly overhead, about two hundred metres above them. It's probably quite blowy up here but the belt prevents me from feeling it. I pull my mobile out of my jacket pocket and try phoning Artemis again. Come on, Law and Order episodes only have about forty minutes of actual program in them! Ugh, okay, either she's just ignoring it or she's… No, she's taking it out of a pouch. Good good.. and she's turned it off.

Okay. Mister Queen and Roy One (yellow hat) are on top of a building over there while Artemis and Roy Two (dark gear and actually slightly harder to see) are on top of a building over there and they're all focusing on that shop. But they're not-. Okay that.. bed probably didn't fire itself through the window. Roy Two and Artemis dive out of the way as it slams into their roof in between them. The ring would probably have something intelligent to say about that. The bed doesn't visibly appear to have been altered in any way and it isn't exploding… This is what I get for not memorising Green Arrow's enemies when I was on Earth Prime.

I fly in the direction the Arrows aren't covering. There are some police a few streets back and it looks like a patrol car has been crushed under a heavy.. chest of drawers? Okay, so that's a furniture shop and someone inside is wasting their talents on stealing a fraction of the amount of money they could make applying their abilities legally. Typical Friday night, really. Are they going to have any hostages? Maybe. Hmm. The motive to intervene personally is still pretty strong, even though I know this should be well within the Arrows' collective abilities to deal with. Ah, heck with it, they don't appear to be under immediate threat.

I loop around and drop, aiming for just behind Mister Queen. Roy One spots me as I close in and turns, arrow on string. I raise my hands as I drop down, feet first. "Don't shoot! Friendly!"

Green Arrow looks around and then goes back to staring at the shop below. "Thought you were taking some time off."

"I am, but I need to talk to you about something…"

"You wearing your belt?"

"Yes sir."

"Four hostiles inside. Three with guns and one of them has some kinda telekinesis. We can't get a shot off from here and last time Artemis went down to street level she got thrown hard against a building."

Roy One nods. "Gas arrows just get tossed away and we don't really want to use explosives or incendiaries in the middle of the city."

And Artemis' flight belt is in a locker in the mountain. "I can draw their fire if you like? The belt can take pretty much any amount of being thrown against things."

Mister Queen peers over the edge of the roof again. "Can it take having your internal organs crushed?"

"Assuming the force was applied internally, no. But M'gann told me that's very hard to do and if you rushed me back to the mountain I'd still survive anyway."

"How fast can you move?"

"If I go through the shop's wall and don't have to steer? I can be in the middle of the building in about five seconds."

"Right. Here." He pulls an arrow out and holds it out to me. "Flashbang arrow. Get in there and set it off. Try and hit the metahuman, or at least get their attention. Artemis, Red Arrow, flashbang the west side and prepare to assault. Speedy? You ready?"

"Hm. Completely."

"Orange Lantern, go as soon as the flashbangs go off."

"Sir." I keep looking at my approach route. I'm not going to risk looking at the place the flashbangs are going to go off without the ring protecting my eyes-. There! I run off the edge and swan dive down towards the building! Breeze blocks explode out of my way as I force my way through and in the second available to me I take in that the shop is large and open plan. Two guys with guns behind a makeshift barricade and I can't see anyone in a costume. Shots come from ah! There they are! I head towards them and down, closing my eyes and holding my left arm across them and I throw the arrow into the floor with my right!

Ow! Ow! Bang! Fucking-! Really hope that didn't rupture my eardrums. I blink and push myself up. Eyes are fine, thankfully. I look around just in time to see Artemis break down a door on the far side of the shop floor and fire an arrow in my general direction. There's a puff of… Gas arrow. Thanks, Artem-.

19th February
Later

"Uuuuuhhgh." Oh, I heard that. Not deaf, then.

"You awake?" I'm lying on a bed… On the roof. Okay. Mister Queen is standing over me. "Good work with the distraction. You okay?"

I sit up. Ow. "Slight headache, nothing major."

"Gas arrow took 'em all out. Police stuck a control collar on -get this- 'Auntie Gravity'-."

"Seriously?"

He nods. "Yeah. The other three were her nephews. According to them, the plan was to float out a load of expensive furniture after closing time."

"Rather than get a job in a container port, or working in air travel or anything?"

"You know how that goes."

I really do. "How long was I out?"

"Few minutes. I gave you the antidote. So, ah… What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Ah… Well, it's a bit personal."

"I don't need to be anywhere else, but you sure you wouldn't rather talk about this with Diana or Gardner?"

"I don't think any of my usual go-to people would have any… Useful insight, sir. And Guy and I have had a bit of a falling out."

"Okay." He leans back slightly and shrugs. "Shoot."

"There's a young woman whom I've been seeing-."

"Are we talking about Zatanna here?"

"No, her name's Holly. I caught her stealing a painting a few months ago and I.. said I'd let her off if she kept her nose clean and sorted her life out. Which she has."

"Sounds like a good deal."

"Yeah. So… We've got to know each other pretty well-."

"Okay, stop." He smiles and waves his right hand at me. "It's not a conflict of interest. Never had any.. luck getting women to go straight-" I wince inwardly. "-like that myself, but if it works for you and her, go for it."

"There's a little more to it than that, sir. She's already in a relationship-"

"Ah."

"-with a woman-"

"Ah?"

"-so it would be the three of us." He blinks. "So I was sort of wondering if you had any advice?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
19:38ish GMT -7

He freezes for a moment, then spreads his hands in a gesture of appeal. "And you came to me why?"

"Of all the people I know, sir, you're the only one I could conceive of as having been in this situation-" His right hand covers his face. "-yourself."

He sighs. "Look. I don't know what Artemis has been telling you about me-."

"It was really more the.. Star City Register, sir. You weren't exactly subtle back in your.. hell raiser days."

"Aw, jeeze…" He removes his hand from his face and carefully checks our surrounding environment for Black Canary. "Okay, look. Sure; while I was young and stupid I did all kinds a' stuff that I wouldn't want you to copy. And.. maybe a couple of times… More than one girl was involved. And you're younger than I was so I'm not really in any position to get on my moral high horse here. But.. that was fun. I didn't know 'em all that well and I didn't hang around much afterwards. That's not the situation you're in."

"I know."

"You sure there's no one else you'd rather talk to? How about..?"

"Diana's eighty five years old and even her closest friends can't remember her ever being in a serious relationship, Alan's advice would be 'make sure she's not a crazy supervillain before you marry her' and Guy would most likely try to repossess my 'Man Card' for hesitating at all." I glance to the side. "I don't really think any of them could help."

"Okay, yeah, you've.. got a point." He does another Black Canary check. "I'm guessing you're talking to me because you want to.. with them?"

I shrug. "I.. enjoy their company and find them both attractive. Beyond that I don't really have any experience to draw on, and I certainly don't have any idea how it could change our relationship afterwards."

"Way I see it… Making poor choices about who you have sex with is part of growing up. Being with Dinah means more to me than any of the women I used to go with, but I don't feel all that bad about the stuff I used to do." I raise my eyebrows. He spots my intent, nods, then looks away for a moment. "Until one of you kids comes to me for advice. I'm making up for lost time now." He sighs. "How long ago did you meet them?"

"Just over three months ago. Right before the Roanoke thing."

"So they've gotta know that you're not helping them out just 'cause you're looking to score."

"Yes, they know that."

"Alright. This doesn't get back to Dinah, but I'm not seeing the problem. You like them, they like you..?"

"The problem is twofold." I stop. "There are two main problems. Firstly, I know that the chances of a person reoffending are lower the better their social support networks are. I.. can't be in Gotham full time, it's just not practical. Karon likes me, but I know she's not as in to the whole idea as Holly is."

"Then… Maybe both of you just make love to Holly."

"I'd be fine with that, but… Holly likes me a lot. I'm starting to see violet light and-."

Mister Queen frowns slightly. "Violet li-. Oh yeah, aren't you telepathic or something?"

"I'm empathic, but if someone hasn't been in a situation before it's very hard for me to judge how they'll feel about it. Karon doesn't have any obvious red flags but.. people get jealous. I don't want to harm their relationship, particularly if I'm going to still be around."

"Okay, good… Violet light is love, right?"

"Yes sir. You sort of pulse with it whenever you mention Black Canary."

"So does she love you already..?"

"It's not quite that simple. It's not an on-off thing… Sometimes, the way we interact is enough to trigger a particular response from her. Her love of Karon is a more constant thing, her happy thoughts arrange themselves around it.. and there're.. sort of.. lines of light running between them? I can't really explain it."

"She loves Karon and sort of likes you too. Okay, so.. tell me about Holly."

"And we're sort of moving onto problem two. Holly… Used to be a prostitute, aaaand her clients weren't exactly fussy about how old she was."

He looks shocked. "I think some kinda therapy would be a better-."

I shake my head. "I've suggested that, she doesn't… She isn't keen and since she's been coping well I haven't wanted to pressure her about it." He doesn't look happy, but he lets me continue. "Now, I know she doesn't currently put me in the same mental box as them, but it's a pretty extreme situation and I can't completely predict how she's going to feel afterwards."

"She still doesn't sound like someone you should be doing this with. It's 'safe, sane and consensual'. If she's not in a place where she can make good decisions…"

"Right, and I'd… Normally I'd agree, but… In her mind, there's a close association between mutually enjoyable sex and.. safety and happiness. Her relationship with Karon started as a hook-up where the other person stayed and they actually had.. conversations. If I.. reject her… I'm not sure whether it's riskier for me to say yes or no. Or if this would really be a one off thing."

"Damn. And how quickly do you have to decide?"

I check my watch. "Holly said I had until the end of Law and Order… So about half an hour, including travelling time."

He exhales slowly and looks out across the Star City skyline for inspiration. "And how do you feel about it?"

"I'd like to go for it and for my fears about the possible emotional fallout to be unfounded. I come from a very stable home environment… And since I've pretty much dismissed ideas of appropriate norms from my considerations of my own wants… I would prefer a long term relationship. And I don't have a problem with it being with more than one person. But, I can look at a person and know moment by moment exactly what they want and why. If I put my mind to it and spent enough time I'm confident I could make a long term set up work… It just seems like a really manipulative and underhanded way to behave. I think I'd be fine with it being a one off, but my self awareness only extends to what I want now. There are just too many unknowns for me to make a rational decision."

Mister Queen tenses the left side of his face. "You could just say you had to work."

"Yes, but I don't want to treat them like that. They're my friends. Whether I decide yes or no I should tell them to their face."

He sighs again and turns back to me. "Look… Nothing about me fooling around in college gives me the sort of insight you're looking for here. You'd need to be some sorta super relationship guru-" Damn! Didn't get Hera's phone number! Gah! "-to work this one out." His eyes dip to the roof surface for a moment as he considers the matter. "These bad things that could happen with Holly if you decide wrong. Which scenario makes them more likely, saying yes or saying no?"

"I think 'yes'."

"Then that's probably your answer. I know you don't wanna hurt them and you can't be sure, but if you really think saying yes is more likely to do that than saying no, then…"

I nod. "Yeah. You're right." I stand up. "I was hoping you'd think of something I'd overlooked."

He nods. "We'll probably both think of something tomorrow."

"Heh." I check my watch again. Shouldn't be a problem getting back. I hold out my right hand to Mister Queen. "Thank you for listening to me, sir. I really appreciate it."

He shakes my hand. "No problem. Glad I could help." His eyes slide past me and his face drops. "Oh no."

I turn. Two rooftops over I see Artemis with a directional microphone.. pointed right at us.

…

I need to get back to Gotham.