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

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
08:23 GMT -5

"…sound like a race of total psychotics, Mister Grayven." Congressman-. Um, Representative Visclosky leans forward slightly, looking a little alarmed. "I hope you're not just better at hiding it."

There's a smile there, but it's brittle, as is the laughter which follows it. He asked me -on behalf of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense- to introduce myself and explain why I was worth listening to on the subject of defence procurement. Then followed a short description of Apokolips.

Understandably, they were somewhat perturbed by that.

For a moment I hide my smile behind a glass of water. "Not at all, Mister Chairman. Many Apokoliptians are far better at hiding their nature than I am."

He holds my gaze for a moment as I affect an expression of honest helpfulness. Then he gives me a polite near-laugh and returns his attention to his notes.

"If I may, Mister Chairman?" Representative Visclosky looks up as Representative McKeon raises his right forefinger, and gives him a nod.

I'm not expecting anyone here to give me a hard time. Visclosky's a Democrat and an ally of the President. McKeon's Republican and the ranking minority member. He also was one of several people here who sent me a thank you note after I killed Klarion. One he wrote himself by hand. Good penmanship, I thought.

"Mister Grayven, should we.. Earthlings, be worried about Apokolips?"

"Hmm. Not to the extent that it disrupts your daily lives. To the best of my knowledge, Darkseid has next to no interest in this world. But… Strategic planners such as yourselves need to be aware that it's there, and tend to your armaments appropriately. If you ever get around to expanding off your homeworld you will run into them eventually. Oh, and, um… No one actually calls you 'Earthlings'… I don't know how that whole thing got started, but it was nothing to do with us." Another polite laugh around the room. "Apokolips is the number one military power in this galaxy. It doesn't hold that much territory compared with some, but that's because Darkseid doesn't want to hold territory. It has massive production facilities, a sizeable fleet and almost total social unity."

"Unity enforced by physical abuse and mind control."

"Yes." The faintest twinges of fear around the room. "There's a reason why I-" I place both hands on my chest. "-live here instead of there."

Representative McKeon's smile looks a little more genuine at that. "Welcome to the land of the free."

"Thank you. Good to be here."

"While we're on the subject…" Representative Calvert gives it a moment to see if anyone wants to stop him. "What exactly is your immigration status?"

Representative McKeon winces. "Ken."

"Hey, I signed off on the Bill naturalising Superman. If Mister Grayven hasn't made arrangements yet, we should get the ball rolling."

Ekh. "I'm afraid that -though I thank you for your generous offer- I can't accept. I am essentially Apokolips' ambassador to Earth, so taking citizenship from an Earth polity isn't.. really… Something I can do."

"Oh, ah, no offence intended." Representative Calvert looks down the bench, but it looks like the others are happy to allow him to continue talking. "I don't believe that the US has officially recognised your status yet-."

"And you shouldn't. My Apokoliptian title isn't ambassador, it's suzerain. Darkseid may well take offence if someone of my rank is asked to present themselves to… Another official, for recognition."

"Must make diplomacy a bit tricky for your people. What exactly do they mean by 'suzerain'?"

Ah… Telling a group of American congressional representatives that I own not merely their country but their planet probably isn't such a great idea. "Please understand, the rulers of Apokolips regard themselves as gods and are powerful enough to back that up. As far as Darkseid is concerned, Earth is.. my territory. So long as I'm around, no other Apokoliptian will attack the planet… Though they might come after me personally."

He blinks. "They think you own the Earth?"

"Technically. It really won't make any difference to anything until your species develops the capacity for interstellar travel. And… The downside of making an effort to repudiate it is that Darkseid might take offence, and…"

Representative Visclosky nods. "We might have the greatest military power in the galaxy knocking on our door."

I shake my head. "I'm sorry about that. I really never intended to regain my memories of Apokolips. But, the problem with erasing your memories.. is that you forget that you're not supposed to remember."

He nods again. "I think that covers the introduction. Though I can see State wanting to talk to you before too long." I nod. "Now, on to the actual subject of our hearing. Mister Grayven, you've had a chance to review the documentation on the F Thirty Five." I nod again. "We've already heard from a lot of witnesses about how it compares to our existing aircraft, and the aircraft of our allies and rivals. What we're interested in hearing today is how an alien sees it."

I take a deep breath.

"It's crap."

A blink. "Pardon me?"

"I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. Leaving aside the cost overruns -that's an organisational thing, it doesn't affect the effectiveness of the weapon- and generously assuming that all of the technical issues can be ironed out, you end up with an aerofighter."

"Not a fan of airplanes?"

"Advanced militaries don't use them. There's just no point. Too easy for ground based weapons to destroy without the advantages that come with being in orbit. Some places make.. cheap aerial drone weapons for anti-insurgent duties. I use infantry support drones… But the F Thirty Five is a machine which can barely go supersonic, can't operate outside of an atmosphere, has a distinctly finite supply of fuel, has no force fields and doesn't carry any light speed weapons. I don't see the benefit of having it."

"I'm sorry we don't live up to Apokolips' standards, but Earth technology isn't quite advanced enough to make space-fighters."

"Really?"

"I'm afraid not."

"I ask because I picked this-" I take a cold gun out of subspace. "-up in Central City yesterday." I hold it up. "It's called a 'Cold Gun'. It works by arresting molecular vibration in the target area. The beam moves at light speed and at maximum intensity stops molecular vibration completely. By my estimation a strike anywhere on an airborne F Thirty Five would kill it. It was designed by a Human with no higher education.. while he was in prison." I return it to subspace before taking out a purple death ray. "The forerunner of this gun was built in the nineteen forties. It nullifies life. A normal Human can only take the beam for a second or two before their body completely ceases functioning. Again, a light speed weapon." I make eye contact with each committee member in turn. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I use these guns. They are superior to their nearest Apokoliptian equivalents. Why aren't you using them?"

"As for the rest?" I put the death ray back into subspace. "The superhero Red Tornado was built in the nineteen thirties and hasn't been recharged once since. In the forties the first Starman built a device that could generate decent force fields, and it was the size of a signal baton. That contained its own power source as well. All Earth technology."

Jack Knight hanging up on me nearly made me regret my break with the League.

"And while it's true that the jet engine comes from the same era, there's really no comparison in terms of effectiveness. Why do you insist on using these substandard technologies when you have better ones available?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
13:40 GMT -5

President Horne rises to his feet as his personal assistant shows me into the Oval Office. "How did it go?"

I amble over the presidential seal on the carpet and come to a halt before the desk. "Remind me: you don't like F Thirty Fives, right?"

"I have some reservations about the cost/benefit ratio and in some of the technologies involved. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I dislike it. It's an aircraft, not a person."

I'm honestly not sure if his dispassionate attitude is going to be a help or a hindrance. I suppose it has allowed him to govern the country despite the House and Senate both being split down the middle. "I informed the Committee that advanced species have -for the most part- abandoned aircraft, and that in any case the American establishment's unwillingness to use 'superhero' technology means that compared to things you can find in a half dozen American cities any day of the week, even cutting edge conventional aeronautics are more or less obsolete."

President Horne regards me for a moment. "Is that what you've been telling the Chinese?"

"Mister President, I didn't assist them in creating the Dragon Wing. I merely aided the pilot in an attempt to ensure that he doesn't melt. And the Dragon Wing has a great many advantages over a more conventional aircraft."

"Would you, if asked?"

"Mister President, at this point few things are more contrary to my interests than encouraging internecine conflict on Earth. But you do need to advance your technology beyond burning hydrocarbons and… Copper."

"You didn't answer my question, there."

"Probably, if they were working on something interesting. There are a hundred ways that fiddling with Durlan technology can go wrong. Better for the Earth that it doesn't."

"And would you do the same with us?"

"Mister President, I have no allegiance to any Earth nation. But, I've met you. I've never met Hu Jintao. I live here, and in the autumn my daughter will begin going to school here. Your.. country is growing on me."

He nods, a faint smile on his lips. "So, we're your favorite customers, just not your only one."

"More or less."

There's a knock at the door, then his personal assistant sticks his head around the door. "Mister President? Mister Myer and General Lane here for you, sir."

"You can send them right in, Irwin." President Horne walks around the left side of his desk and gestures to the seating on the opposite side of the room. "Shall we?"

"Ah… Mister President, I'd crush those seats."

"Oh." He looks me over. "I suppose you would. I'm sorry, but I don't think we've got-."

The door opens once more and Mister Myer and General Samuel Lane walk in. Full regalia, hat under his left arm. I am privileged. He looks at me. He's.. weighing me up. He doesn't appear to resent my presence. Never got around to asking Kal-El what their relationship was like. So I don't know what his general attitude to superfolks is. Or aliens.

"General. Thank you for coming."

General Lane comes to attention. "Mister President."

President Horne gives him a nod. "I don't believe that you've met Mister Grayven."

"No, but I've heard of him." I hold out my right hand and after a split second hesitation he takes it in a firm grip.

"I believe that I was once harangued at length by your elder daughter."

"Heh. You're not the only one."

President Horne turns his attention to Irwin. "Have the kitchens send us up refreshments in about an hour." Irwin nods, then closes the door behind him. "Grayven, General Lane is being put in charge of our exotic weapons research program, replacing General Eiling."

I nod. "I suppose that we'll be seeing a good deal of each other, then."

"After the shellacking you gave the Committee? I should think so. Not sure whether I should be mad about you badmouthing the US military or enjoy the schadenfreude at the Air Force's expense."

"Why don't we say you did the first while you actually do the second?"

"Works for me."

President Horne gestures at the seating. "Okay, gentlemen, if you'd like to take a seat…"

Mister Myer sits down in the far corner while President Horne takes the position next to him. After a brief moment of hesitation and mutual eye flickering General Lane sits down opposite Mister Myer while I cover the position opposite President Horne in a construct before carefully lowering myself onto it.

Flying in a sitting position just isn't as relaxing as actually sitting down.

Mister Myer opens his briefcase and passes President Horne a card folder. He in turn opens that and takes out a stapled together group of printed pages. "First item. General, are you up to speed on your brief?"

"Assuming that everyone involved is actually telling my people the truth, yes." He turns his head my way. "The United States had a lot of 'future weapon' research programs, each in separate chains of command. Now, they all work for me."

I nod. "I imagine that ruffled a few feathers."

"Some. But mostly they're mad enough about Klarion-" He snarls the word. "-and how they weren't prepared for him that we've got them on board." He turns back to his Commander in Chief. "Not a lot will change for them on a day to day basis. I doubt we'll have any serious problems with insubordination."

"Glad to hear it. Anything I need to know about right away?"

"I don't think so, sir. I'll have a full written report for you within a fortnight."

"Alright then. Adrian, how are things going with sounding Congress out about… Ah, what are we calling it?"

"'Special Tribunals', sir."

"And we couldn't come up with something less ominous sounding than that?"

"There are only so many things you can call a court hearing, sir."

"I guess. So?"

"Well, Republican conservatives are delighted by the idea. They weren't sure you could pass it, but they liked the idea. Republican moderates and libertarians were against in principle, though a lot of them said they wanted to see a firm proposal before they came down on either side."

"About what we expected. And my fellow Democrats?"

Mister Myer sighs. That isn't a good sign. "Mostly, the best I could say is 'lukewarm'. A lot of them were pretty confident it would be unconstitutional to try someone in absentia."

"I thought Caroline came up with a form of words which let us get around that."

"It should, but even if we could get it passed in Congress it would be challenged by every civil liberties group in the country. We won't really know for sure until the Supreme Court rules on it."

"Great."

General Lane looks momentarily puzzled. "Ah, Mister President?"

"Sorry, General. We're looking into ways to deal with people like Klarion legally." The General's puzzlement deepens. "Ways to try and convict them for their crimes. It turns out that trying someone who can't be safely captured or confined isn't something the Founding Fathers gave much consideration to."

"Well, hell sir." He actually looks a little impressed. "I'd happily kill the son of a bitch whatever the courts said."

"I'm sure you would, General. But as a matter of policy I feel that this administration should try and stay within the bounds of the law."

…

My goodness me. He's actually serious.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:11 GMT -5

Kon prods at the contents of his plate with a fork. "Are you sure these are okay for Humans.. and Kryptonians, to eat?"

Ma'alefa'ak nods. "J'onn gave me plenty of data on Human physiology. I don't know Kryptonians well, but assuming they mostly handle their food in the same way Humans do, you shouldn't have a problem with it."

"Guess I'm just not used to eating giant spider eggs."

M'gann swallows her own mouthful. "Oh, Sho'keer aren't spiders. They have ten legs, and only six eyes."

"They taste fine to me, Kon." Fine, but not 'good'. Slightly rubbery outer and slightly slimy inner. Sort of what I imagine you'd get if you sautéed a grape. I don't think hens are going to have to worry about the competition anytime soon. "Do you sell these?"

Ma'alefa'ak nods. "It's not a huge market, but I can usually find buyers. Of course, since I can't really leave here I'm dependent on T'ronn's friends to distribute them."

Kon stabs an egg, the left side of his mouth turning slightly down as albumin -or whatever Sho'keer have instead- oozes out. "Do you sell B'ool eggs as well?"

"Oh, B'ool don't lay eggs. They gestate their young in their skin. When they reach full term they use their own acid to burn their way out of-."

"Uncle Ma'aaal!"

"What?"

"Humans consider some subjects inappropriate for discussion while dining, as they tend to put us off our food. Bodily mutilation is one of these subjects."

"Oh." He thinks for a moment. "So, should I not talk about what we'll be feeding the M'loth after breakfast?"

M'gann puts her fork down. "No.. you.. definitely shouldn't."

I take another forkful. I always thought an 'acquired taste' was a food so bad that it numbed your sense of taste, but these are actually growing on me. I don't often eat alien food. That time with Euanthe was the only other time I've eaten a significant amount.

"How were the B'ool gut juices?"

That came through in Ca'andran, though the timbre suggests a speaker who isn't used to forming words with their mouth. I was looking at my plate rather than the rest of the table so I'm not sure which of T'ronn's friends was asking. Sounded slightly feminine…

"Healthy, thank you Z'üm. They're getting a good mix of soil microbes and minerals in their diet."

"Are any of those microbes dangerous?"

"What, compared to the B'ool themselves? Not really. They'd probably make you ill if you ingested them-" Kon puts down his fork. "-but aside from that they're pretty harmless. Your body chemistry is more dangerous to them than theirs is to you."

"Are any of the microbes here dangerous?"

"One or two. The really dangerous ones are the ones designed to interfere with the telepathic or telekinetic abilities of the animals. Those can often cross over from one species to another because M'arzz native life forms usually use the same brain mechanisms to produce those effects."

"But not the shapeshifting mechanism?"

"While a lot of M'arzz native life forms can change their shapes, none of the ones which survived the disaster have the ability to anything like the extent that we do. Any diseases that used that as a route of infection are either living so far under the ground that we've never encountered them or.. were.. simply rendered extinct." He levitates a few eggs. "Not that even I think that's a bad thing."

Z'üm turns towards us. "M'gann, Kon'el and.. Orange Lantern? Will you be staying here for the entire day?"

Kon pushes his plate forward and nods. "Yeah, and probably all of tomorrow as well. I didn't think so many people would come just to stare at us."

M'gann looks a little dejected. "We'll.. have to try visiting in disguise… Or coming up with a way of preventing people from recognising us. I really want you to meet the rest of my brothers and sisters before we go back to Earth."

"Would a telepathic illusion work? I know Mister King used them plenty of times in situations like this."

"Maybe. But it would only take one person in the crowd to realise what was happening and we'd be mobbed again."

"I don't mind acting as a taxi service. If you organise a time, I can fly around picking up members of the J'onzz clan and depositing them here."

T'ronn looks pensive. "We.. kinda need most of my family not to visit until we've got the business part of our visit finished."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we'll be.. gone by then."

"Are you sure you can't stay?" The look M'gann gives her brother is more than a little reminiscent of the one Wolf tried on Kon.

"Ah, I suppose I could. If Orange Lantern can transport me back?"

"I'd be happy to."

Ma'alefa'ak nods. "It'll be interesting to see if the rest of the family make the same faces you do when you…"

**Orange Lantern.** Z'üm's mental voice. I look over to probably-her. **Could I speak to you outside for a moment?**

**If you like.**

I run a brief surge of orange light over my own plate, scouring away the residual egg-gunk before sliding back my chair. Ma'alefa'ak's home makes use of quite a lot of fixed shape furniture as he can't issue the mental commands required for the shapeshifting variety himself. Z'üm rises slightly more awkwardly, and I'm slightly ahead as we walk towards the passage through from the dining area to the hallway leading to the exit. I'm getting a slight probing buzz on the edges of my mental shields, though I've got no idea where it's coming from. Her? Maybe, though I'm not sure what she'd want to know that she couldn't just ask right there. Maybe she's not very good at narrow beam transmissions?

The habitation module airlock is large enough to fit default form Martians like her, so we can both enter in a single cycle easily enough. Light buzz is still there, which means that it's probably coming from her. Odd. Another moment and the outer door oozes open and I step outside, floating slightly off the ground. She follows suit, autolevitating after me as I turn to face her. **What was it you wanted to talk about?**

**Your mental shields are really good.**

**Thank you. Get into a few fights with hostile telepaths and they tend to become a priority.**

**Are you a Human telepath?**

**No, but a lot of the exercises can be used by untelepathic Humans as well. I've been a participant in about half of M'gann's lessons with [Image of Henry King Junior].**

**Is that how you knocked the police officer unconscious when you first arrived in the city?**

**Oh, no. That was my name.**

**Your name?** She looks me over a little cautiously. **Are you a Human sorcerer?**

**No. Something… I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but my name has become unthinkable. I can't think it or say it out loud, and M'gann found out that probing it telepathically produced the same results.**

**And you didn't warn him?**

**No. In fact, I nudged him towards it.**

**Really?**

**They'd been being rude to M'gann and he was being rude to me. I warned him, then when he didn't take any notice… His own silly fault.** I gaze into her faintly glowing eyes, instinctively looking for facial expression in a species which I know doesn't do expression. **Was that why you wanted to talk to me out here?**

**No.** Her skin begins to shift. **That was mostly for something else.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:16 GMT -5

I watch with interest as her crest shrinks, merging with the softer skin at the back of her head. At the same time her face flattens and smooths, skin growing to cover her teeth as her chin recedes to form a more Human like jaw line. Her upper torso shrinks as her shoulders contract while her lower torso expands slightly, creating a central trunk of near uniform width. The normal wide hips possessed by default form Martians now fade naturally into the trunk rather than looking like they were stuck on afterwards from parts left over from some other creature. Next, her arms retract into her shoulders, faint purple patches losing their separate identity as the skin around them softens and becomes the same chalky white as M'gann's. The underarm pseudo wings vanish and the usual thick Martian neck withers until the more mobile Human variety emerges.

The shift as a whole is more than a little disquieting. It reminds me of something the Discworld character Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson said of his Werewolf lover: she was fine with him seeing her either in Human form or Wolf form but not with him seeing her while she changed, in case he never wanted to see her again afterwards. Z'üm is trying to assume Human form. She knows what those are supposed to look like but appears to be uncertain as to how to get there from where she is at the moment.

I've known for a while that M'gann is a more powerful telepath than most other Martians but this is the first time that it's really been brought home to me how much better a shapeshifter she is as well. T'ronn and his allies are her elders by a good few years but Z'üm is taking longer than M'gann did to copy us back when we went for that first joyride around Happy Harbour. Thinking back, it was a bit odd; she said that boys were harder, but Martian reproductive systems are quite dissimilar to those of Humans. I guess that she'd just got used to Megan-shape. Of course, these days-.

**How do I look?**

She's gone for a Barbie doll smooth look, and rather than adopt M'gann's White Martian to Human monochrome interpretation she's given herself hair the same lilac colour as the patches on her arms were. Her new facial features are perfectly symmetrical and-. Actually, her hair should be a bit more floaty in this gravity and atmos-. Oh, I see. She's holding onto both herself and an air pocket with telekinesis.

**Pretty good. I'm not sure… You do realise that Humans don't get skin of that colour, right?** I think about Mister Napier for a moment. **Not without being in some sort of horrible chemical accident.**

**It's a fusion form. I'm not trying to pretend to untelepathic Humans that I'm one of them, but at the same time I can still appeal to their… Aesthetic sense.**

**I'm a little puzzled as to whether your outer surface is supposed to mirror the effect of clothing or bare skin. Also, the complete lack of facial expression is a little strange.**

**Facial expression? You mean how Ma'alefa'ak squishes and expands parts of his face when he speaks?**

**There's a little more to it than that, but essentially, yes.**

**And as for the other thing.** She freezes for a moment, her dull blue-grey belt shifting and growing until it turns into a fairly minimal bathing costume, covering her smooth crotch and non-mammary chest mounds and.. not a great deal else. And suddenly I'm paying more attention. **Is this better?**

**It conceals the fact that you don't have certain body parts from casual observation. The lack of facial expression is still a little off-putting. Though I.. do have a gynoid friend who used to do a similar thing. Still does it sometimes when something unexpected happens.**

**Or you could reduce the intensity of your mental barriers a little so that we can share what we're feeling in the Martian way.**

I'm half expecting it, but the sudden rush of lust inside my own head still catches me off guard. I redouble my barriers until I feel it slacking off, then attach a filament to her. "Can I assume that you've.. viewed Mister J'aarkn's work?"

**Enough to get curious.** She holds up her right arm, looking at the orange glow. **What is this?**

"An environmental shield. It will allow you to communicate with me by talking. And.. allow you to breathe."

"I did not know that Humans had such abilities." Her voice is a little strange, damp compared with her mental voice. I'd guess that she hasn't practised speaking before.

"By default, we don't. There's a species called-."

"Guardians."

"It would be more true to say that the Guardians are one faction of a species, but yes, they're the best known example. I'm.. assuming that.. you've heard of their Green Lantern Corps?"

A slightly strained looking smile. I think she's trying to match my expression, but just isn't familiar enough with her new muscle shapes to pull it off convincingly. "Yes, of course. How did you come by it?"

"Not really sure. Green power rings go to the strongest willed heroically inclined sentient in a Sector after the death of a serving Sector Lantern." For obvious reasons, Honour Guard power rings don't auto-recruit. "Though they prefer recruits from interstellar civilisations. The first couple of Humans were recruited by mistake." Alan because they lost track of Lantern Yalan Gur's equipment after his death and Hal because he was close to Abin Sur when he died.

"They would not recruit Martians?"

No, in point of fact. The Martian species is on the 'Do Not Recruit' list, but I can't reasonably explain why to her until I've given Prince J'emm a little longer to prepare Martian society for the news. "Probably not, though they might make an exception for an outstanding candidate."

"Could one power ring undo the work of another?"

"Depends what that work was, but it should be able to." I don't think the Green Lanterns have done anything here lately, certainly nothing ongoing. Has Z'üm picked up something from M'gann?

"And what would I have to do to get an orange ring?"

"I haven't really settled on selection criteria as yet-."

She floats a little closer. "How about if I ask-" **[Hands everywh-. Oh goodness me.]** "-really-" **[And softly kissing mouths.]** "-nicely?" **[And that's further than I'm prepared to go with someone I just met.]**

Shields up. "It's really more helpful to have an understanding of your own desires, your own nature."

She floats right up to me, chest pressed against my shirt. And now she's made herself anatomically accurate. "I understand my desires very well."

"If you're really interested, I don't mind tutoring you with a view to eventually applying to join the Corps."

"How about you tutor me right now." She's picking up facial expressions. That's sultry. I suppose those would have been on J'aarkn's recordings. She probably just didn't appreciate their significance before. "There's a habitat over there that doesn't have any animals in it. We could alter the atmosphere mix…"

Something… I feel some sort of telepathic transmission arrive in her mind, though I'm blocking too hard to get anything else. She starts slightly, then pulls back a little.

"Oh. Oh well. Not my decision to make."

"I'm sorry? Did someone.. put you up to that..?"

"No, that was initiative. He is really interested in your ring. But I'm afraid I've been instructed to focus on my original objective."

"Um." I summon my armour from subspace. "What exactly do you-?"

The habitat behind me explodes!

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:20 GMT -5

I turn, generating a hemispherical barrier as jagged sections of wall blast past us. Next comes wind, air at Earth pressure and consistency whipping up the Martian dust around us.

**You must have known!**

Next comes the debris and-. Filaments flicker out as Martians adapted for Earth conditions are sent flying through the ruined walls, catching them and allowing them to breathe.

**There must have been signs!**

**Uncle Ma'al! Stop!**

"What the hell just happen-?"

Two lances of red energy pierce the dust and slam into my shield, which immediately starts cracking! Not heat vision, it's some sort of telekinetic bwoof!

The scenery goes shooting past, tethered Martians dragged along with me! A flare of orange and I stabilise, construct armour forming around my body and my standard armour being replaced with my heavier suit. **M'gann! What's going-?!**

**M'gann's not here right now.** Z'üm's mental voice. There's a vague blur in front of me and my construct armour starts taking hits. Super speed attack. And.. there's not enough atmosphere here for sonic attacks to do a thing. I generate a brilliant flare of blinding white light. **Ugh. Alright then.**

Connection lost.

I turn to see Z'üm-. I assume it's Z'üm. Her revised form is more like that of the comic White Martians… Though for reasons which escape me she's kept the breast mounds and swimming costume. Extremely sharp looking claws clasp one of the Greens I brought with me and a razor tipped tail scratches at their throat!

**Catch!**

A blur of motion and the Green shoots away across the desert. They try to stabilise themselves with telekinesis, but they've got too much energy-! I transition, images of thousands of strange devices flashing through my mind as I struggle to-. There! A construct flickers into being, nullifying the Green's momentum and leaving them suspended in the air. I pull my passengers in tightly, orange barrier around us as my cold gun constructs fire at the thin air around us. Hope this works in a Martian atmosphere…

**Gah!**

Z'üm precipitates out of the air wreathed in frozen carbon dioxide. Mister Snart originally designed cold guns to stop the Flash. In a cold field it doesn't matter how fast your molecules were moving, they're brought to an immediate halt. Z'üm collapses forwards into the dust and I attach a filament to her recumbent body.

Pithing needle.

Compliance.

Two bright orange needles stab into the back of her neck. Think I can trust the rings to adjust those automatically.

"Is everyone alright?"

Nothing.

"Speak out loud, if you please. I'm shielding myself mentally and you should be as well."

"Yes." The Green I caught is the first to respond. "I am whole."

"Glad to hear it. What just happened?"

"Hyperclan. I've never met one, but…" There's a pause, then he awkwardly waves his left arm at Z'üm. "That is what they are supposed to be like."

"Ma'alefa'ak?"

"He was talking about some Earth television program with M'gann. Then-" **[Ma'alefa'ak's eyes widen as]-.**

"Words! Words, not images. Your enemies can use telepathy at least as well as you can."

"Sorry! I'm.. not used to… Ma'alefa'ak sort of.. shook? Then he changed his shape to.. like that."

"He's Hyperclan too?"

"No." One of the others speaking this time. A White. "Hyperclan are all White. He's Green. They'd never accept him."

"He projected thoughts at us." Cha'rissa's wearing a form that's Human enough for me to see facial expression. "I didn't-. It was like he wanted to kill everyone just for existing."

OOooooooh crap. I activate my communicator. "Superboy, you there?"

"A-heh. Yeah, barely."

"What's happening?"

"Ma'alefa'ak's fighting M'gann and another Green. Teekl's fighting one of the other Whites. Sphere got blasted right at the start."

Good cat. "Are they handling it?"

"Think so."

"Right. I've got the other Martians with me here. Z'üm's Hyperclan and the other White probably is too. I'm going to interrogate her. Call me if things get worse where you are."

"Right. Let's see how good they are dodging plasma."

The cold gun constructs fire again, creating a cold zone around but not touching Z'üm. Then I touch her with a filament. "You. What's your name?"

She turns her head a little, then freezes, perhaps surprised that the rest of her body doesn't follow. "My name is Z'üm Z'orr."

I take a moment to turn to face the other Martians. "Did none of you do a background check on the people you were working with?"

T'ronn frowns. "Z'orr? You actually believe in that?"

"How were you able to move that fast?"

"Magic."

"All the sorcerers on Mars are Red and I very much doubt that they'd help you. Answer honestly or I use these rings to compel you."

"Like your owners did our entire species?" What? My ow-? She.. knows about the Guardians? "Distraction complete, Karmang. Get me out of-"

Jam FTL and teleport!

"-here."

Purple smoke roils around her. What has that signature? My rune stone comes out of subspace and.. a weak glow. Right, railgun, mageslay-.

The smoke is suddenly sucked inwards, taking Z'üm Z'orr with it. Darn it! Okay, need to get the civilians somewhere safe, then get back to helping M'gann and Kon.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:23 GMT -5

The Bio-Ship jinks frantically as one of the Hyperclan fires a volley of red beams from his eyes at it while flying rapidly away from the enraged Teekl.

I shove the last of my charges into the airlock. "Get in, stay off the ground and keep quiet. I doubt they'll target you unless you draw attention to yourselves."

The outer surface oozes shut. Ironically, the habitat furthest from the combat zone houses the Ma'alefa'aks. It also has thick rock walls for them to burrow through, so is least at risk of a decompression in the event that it takes a few hits. A city would be better but I'm not sure how the telekinetic atmosphere barriers would interact with my FTL. Right, good-.

Laser eye Martian opens fire again, piercing the Bio-Ship through the centre of the hull! It spins out of control as he lines up a second shot.

Praexis swarm, go.

His head spins to face me as Construct Demons by the dozen tumble from the rings and fly at him, mouths open to bite and swallow. He back-pedals in the air, raising all four of his hands and firing beams of energy from them as well as from his eyes. Praexis Demons start taking hits to the face and chest-.

Connection lost. Connection lost. Connection lost. Connection-.

Mute.

Compliance.

And their construct bodies collapse to nothing only for them to re-emerge from the rings. Not hitting the mouths. Curious. Is he familiar with this type of Demon or is that just standard training? No, telepathic, he might be aware that they want energy in their mouths. Now, where did M'gann get to? I lower my shields a tiny little-.

**-happened to you?**

M'gann doesn't sound like she's in a position to discuss events. I put my barriers back up and reactivate my communicator. "Superboy, you still with us?"

"Yeah. The beam hit me in the chest so the Bio-Ship isn't too badly damaged."

"And you?"

"Stings a bit. I've got my environmental suit on so I'll be with you in a sec."

"Kon, that's not safe. If they breach it-."

"Then they'll have got through my kinetic shield and I'll still have my environmental shield."

"Oh. Um, didn't realise you brought them."

"What, after all you said about being prepared?"

The Praexis Demons finally get near biting distance with the White Martian -who appears not to be capable of super speed- and lunge for him. He waves his arms, and bands of red lightning leap out and disintegrate them. He takes a moment to stare me down once more, and then is completely taken by surprise when Teekl jumps on his back and sinks her teeth into his neck.

I try to communicate the idea of staying still to Teekl but it doesn't look like she's in a position to obey. The Martian extends his neck and turns it around to try blasting Teekl with eye beams. Teekl swings her right forepaw -claws as long as bread knives- and slices neatly through his face. The Martian clutches at it for a second, then blasts more red energy in all directions. This knocks Teekl off for long enough for the Martian to level his arms, palms glowing.

Rings, brand.

Twin orange beams hit him in the back, orange light flowing over his body.

Resistance detected.

If I can get one of them, I'll find out everything I want to know about this situat-.

A puff of purple smoke and he's gone. Ergh. Need to get Sephtian to invent some sort of area effect magic nullifier. Right, where's M'gann? I shoot into the air as Kon flies over towards where Ma'alefa'ak's home used to be. M'gann's telekinetically hurling debris at him while another Green writhes in his left hand. Another Martian -this one grey skinned- thrusts his arms forwards in a shoving motion, the debris exploding away.

Darn it. I open my barriers slightly.

**Karmang wants you to join us, but his patience is not unlimited.**

**If you want to run then run.** I form a construct railgun and open fire with Crumbler rounds. Ma'alefa'ak doesn't even bother to turn around, just waves his right hand negligently and tears them apart with telekinesis. **I lived my whole life denying what I was. I think that I will properly thank my niece for releasing me.**

Shit, what did M'gann do?

**Knew…** Wait, that's… K'hym's voice. **That… You would be true to your nature. You are a kkrk!**

**Oh, the self delusion. You really believe that the greatest conclave of telepaths on the planet would have left any of my original consciousness intact.** He appears to dismiss her, focusing his attention on M'gann. **And you, M'gann M'orzz. You've become impressively strong. But you lack a certain KILLER INSTINCT-**

YyyyyyyyyAAAAAGHH!

The PAIN! My whole body hums with it and my vision goes white! There's a ringing in my ears.

**-that comes with being a natural mind ripper. I tried to pretend, you know. For a long time. But the fact is I just.. like.. hurting people. Why do you think the Assembly of Minds took my telepathy away when they passed sentence?**

**Shouldn't… Even… Remember…**

**Oh, I didn't. It was all completely gone.**

TeeklTeeklEATHIM.

**I should be gone. But it turns out that someone decided to assign the one witness to my crime as my probation officer. Which means there's a nice strong memory of what I was like when I did it in your mind. And apparently that was enough to… No, it's not that, is it? You stupid whore, you actually put it back in my head. You were the one giving me the bad dreams. I raped and murdered your mother in front of you and you actually did the one thing that might undo my telepathic neutering. Thank you.**

**Uncle… Ma'al..?**

**Fluxus, deal with this stupid Earth animal, would you?**

**It's… Not.. that.. easy…**

**I put poor little M'yri'ah J'onzz through every hell a mind can experience before I killed her and it was glorious. But I couldn't hope to hide what I'd done. The Manhunters dragged me before the Assembly of Minds. They didn't think much of my 'but I really wanted to' defence. The punishment for a crime like mine is total personality death.**

**What?**

**Not reached that part of your education yet, M'gann? Yes, you see, they don't limit themselves to editing the minds of uppity members of the underclass. The 'Uncle Ma'al' you met was a complete fabrication of theirs, an attempt to make that crippled thing pay off my debt to society.**

**But… They can redo it. You don't need to-!**

**No. But I really want to, M'gann. I really want to.**

My vision starts to clear somewhat. I'm.. face down in the dirt. GetupgetupGETUP!

**So, little K'hymie. Do you want to experience what I did to your mother first hand?**

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:27 GMT -5

No!

Praexis Demons swarm out of the rings as I push myself up, relying more on the armour's synthetic muscles than on my own strength or -for once- the rings themselves. Kon blasts past me in a curving arc that should terminate with him slamming directly into Ma'alefa'ak, outpacing the Demons. Was he less affected because he was further away, or has he really been focusing on his telepathic resistance training while I haven't been looking?

**GahaAAAAAAHH!**

Ma'alefa'ak's left hand has grown into some sort of mass of tentacles, completely enveloping K'hym's head. The remaining Hyperclan member… Fluxus, has his right hand up guiding his telekinesis in holding my enraged Construct-Cat in place.

**Let her go, now.**

**Or you'll what? With another twenty or thirty years' experience you might actually be a threat to me, M'gann.** Railgun, mageslayers. **But AS THINGS STAND-**

G-guh…

**-you just don't have what it takes.**

My railgun construct is gone, and Kon's leap turns into a tumble as he loses control in mid air. Fluxus takes the opportunity to hurl Teekl at him.

**Ma'alefa'ak, if you want to torture her so much then bring her with you. The patrol ship will be here-.**

**Yes, it will. I look forward to it. I used to crew one. You'd be surprised how often the crew scrimp on their telepathic skills, thinking unification and augmentation technology will protect them. Fortunately, little K'hymie knows everything about their systems. She was thinking of applying to join.** He shakes her around a little. **If you like, I'll let you wat-.** He blinks, his right hand going to his forehead. **-ch. What are you looking for, M'gann? Your doting Uncle Ma'al? Shunned by all for crimes he couldn't remember committing? I'm afraid he's not home any longer.**

Okay, complete block. Psi-baffle constructs. Dismiss the rest, they're clearly not using brute physical force. And up. Railgun. Ma'alefa'ak has floated a little closer to M'gann and I can only assume that there's some sort of telepathic fight going on. Fluxus uses another telekinetic shove to knock Kon back while shooting his arms at the incoming wave of Praexis Demons. They're elastic but incredibly strong. When M'gann tries that she loses most of her strength. Presumably improved physical abilities is his enhancement. Mageslayer.

Teekl makes another run at Fluxus. He makes eye contact with her, then takes a step back as she keeps coming anyway. Agh, should have told her that phasing dodges telekinesis, I don't think it's come up before. Another step back and his skin sprouts hundreds of razor sharp spines which gleam faintly in the Martian sunlight. Telekinetically enhanced? Could be.

I point the railgun at his centre of mass and fire.

I feel the hum through the armour more than I hear it. The sheer disgust at the situation unfolding in front of me propels the round far faster than usual, and pressed from all sides as he is Fluxus doesn't get any time to react. It hits him in what would be the left side of his ribs if he were Human, though I'm not sure what role it serves with his current body set up. Spines fracture and fall away as he's knocked into the air, flying in slow motion away from the point of impact.

The other grey spines are staying, so either the magic is extremely strong or it had an effect on him but has since dissipated. Hopefully that means that he can't retreat in a cloud of arcane smoke any longer. Keeping him alive would be ideal but he can afford to lose a little mass. Kon's back into the fight, grabbing and shoving Praexis Demons back to both propel himself forwards and change his angle of attack.

Crumbler round. Fire.

I think the shot caught a spike before it could hit his main body of mass. It still manages to trigger, carving out a hemisphere in the front of his armour. He's seeping some sort of fluid… Can't really tell what, doesn't look like M'gann's blood. Then Kon hits him like a rocket, knife… Wait, an x-ionised metal knife? Guess he really.. has been paying attention. Another set of spines are sliced from Fluxus' body, then Kon goes for a grapple. Tricky proposition with Martians, but if he can't focus well enough to shapeshift out of it then it shouldn't be too hard to choke him in air this thin.

M'gann and Ma'alefa'ak both look staggered. K'hym's being dragged along for the ride as Ma'alefa'ak appears to lose confidence in his telepathic powers and lunges forwards before being brought to a sudden halt. M'gann's outline twists and melts as she adopts her Star Conqueror form and his eyes widen.

Okay. Railgun, crumbler. His secondary personality may still be salvageable so I'd rather not kill him. Target the tentacle arm and f-.

His head twists in my direction and the sand between us ripples as some sort of energy wave heads in my direction. I recreate my orange overshield and send crampons down into the Martian soil, bracing myself for g-gruh! It's like I'm.. being shaken apart, even through the construct barrier! Ring, focus on fixing the damage-.

Ma'alefa'ak freezes in place, his eyes widening. The tentacles around K'hym's face unwind and she drops to the ground. Okay, good, M'gann's got that. Ring, how am I doing?

Physical damage repaired to pre-fight level. Mental damage repaired.

Mental damage?

Telepathic attacks by Ma'alefa'ak caused minor damage to schematic patterns. These have been restored in accordance with pre-fight scans.

Okay. Thank you.

Oh, shoot, K'hym's suffocating. I fire a filament at her and extend my environmental shield around her. Physically, I can't see anything wrong with her. Patrol boat should have a medic, shouldn't it? Hope so. Ring, check armour?

Armour repaired.

I push myself up, then activate the armour's flight system and head towards M'gann. She's still in Star Conqueror mode while Ma'alefa'ak's fallen to the ground in a foetal position. Kon is hauling the recumbent Fluxus over towards her… Right. I accelerate, then throw up an airtight dome construct around us. Normally I'd repair the building, but I'm really not sure how Martian techno-organic buildings would respond to that sort of treatment.

Kon's eyes flick to the dome as it appears, then he focuses his attention on M'gann. "M'gann? Are you okay?"

"Nguh… Ah… Ah…"

Star M'gann remains floating in the air above her uncle for a moment, then shifts back into her humanoid form. "Oh, Uncle Ma'al."

"M'gann?"

"I don't know, Conner." She looks miserable. "Uncle Ma'al…"

His head suddenly jerks up, hands clutching his head. "Get it out! Get it out of my heaaaad!"

M'gann raises her right hand. "Sleep."

Ma'alefa'ak collapses again, motionless.

"What exactly happened?" Kon checks Fluxus over once more before dropping him on the ground. I generate a construct bier for K'hym and place her upon it. "One minute we were just having breakfast, and then… He just went crazy."

"I don't know yet." M'gann's eyes glow as she holds her right hand over Fluxus' forehead. "He's a member of the Hyperclan. He… His mind has been altered. He thinks his name is Fluxus Z'orr."

"First name doesn't sound very Martian."

"It's not." Her eyes stop glowing and she straightens up. "Either that, or it's very old. But Z'orr isn't a family name. It's… Z'onn Z'orr is a place, a mythical place. He thinks he's the child of a myth."

"Is this one of those myths that's actually a myth, or one that's actually true?" I think for a moment. "And is someone called 'Karmang' associated with this myth?"

"I hope it's not true. Because if it is… Mars is in a lot of trouble."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
14:29 GMT -5

"There." M'gann lifts her hands from K'hym's forehead. "I've suppressed the memories of what Uncle Ma'al did to her. When she wakes up… She can either keep them or have them erased."

Fluxus Z'orr has already had a slightly harsher form of the same treatment. I supplied a magic suppression chain and a Bleed-tech based tracking device. Hopefully, if his colleagues can come up with an arcane workaround we can find out where they're hiding out.

"I.. think I mighta missed something. Ma'alefa'ak…" Kon looks down at him. "He didn't seem like the sort of person…"

"He's… Not. He wasn't-." Kon carefully walks over to her and wraps his arms around her. She rests her head in the crook of his neck.

I turn away, extending a grappling arm construct outside of the dome to lift the Bio-Ship off the ground and pull it towards us. The hole Hyperclan member number two created has already sealed itself, though I know that the internal damage it wrought will take longer to heal.

Teekl sniffs at Fluxus for a moment, then turns away contemptuously. "More hunt?"

"Not at the moment, Teekl. Thank you for your assistance."

"Funny smell funny taste." Losing interest in me now that I don't have anyone else to attack, she pads around to make a circular depression in the sand and then curls up in it.

I do a quick scan of our environment. The animals don't seem to have been too badly disturbed, the civilians are fine and the Sphere… Has curled up and appears to be in self repair mode. Unlike the Bio-Ship, there is genuinely nothing I can do to speed that up. If it's still injured when we get back to Earth I'll ask Mister Free to have a look.

"Okay." I turn back to M'gann and Kon as she pulls away from him slightly. "I can.. explain why… Uncle Ma'al…" She stops. "Mars doesn't have a death penalty. I.. always thought it was because we didn't need one. Our crime rate isn't zero, but it's only as high as the really peaceful parts of Earth. But… It turns out that we do have a punishment for people who do things…" She glances at Ma'alefa'ak. "Like that. Ma'alefa'ak was arrested after killing Aunt M'yri'ah. And not just her, he killed at least three of the Manhunters who went to arrest him."

"Guess he didn't think they were worth mentioning."

"He might not have remembered. The… The senior Manhunter called for a judicial panel called an Assembly of Minds. They examined his mind and ruled that there was no chance of him ever being rehabilitated. So they erased his whole personality. Every memory or feeling was completely destroyed. Then, they implanted a new identity and.. a lot of safeguards to make sure that he couldn't ever do anything like that again."

"I think he said something about them shutting down his telepathy as well?"

"When that's done to someone… You're basically creating a whole new person in the old person's body. It wouldn't be right to hold them responsible for the old person's crimes. But, if he knew what he'd done…"

"He'd feel guilty for it." / "He could get his memories back."

Kon and I exchange glances.

"No, K'hym gave him her memories of.. what happened."

"And they gave him nightmares."

"So…" Kon looks a little out of his depth. "Was that how he was supposed to respond?"

"The programming he got didn't specifically tell him to have nightmares. That… That's just how he is."

"Alright, but what made him… Relapse?"

She scowls at Fluxus. "He did. He was projecting some sort of telepathic signal which.. caused Uncle Ma'al to identify with the version of himself from the memory K'hym implanted."

"I'm assuming that she wasn't supposed to do that."

"Of course not! But it wouldn't have made him do this if the Hyperclan weren't interfering with his mind!"

No further attacks so far? Right. I send my armour back into subspace and lower my mental barriers. M'gann appears to calm down a little. "So the reason he was begging you to remove the memories..?"

"I shut down the part of his mind Fluxus was activating. That was.. the real Uncle Ma'al."

"Who now knows what he did and hates himself."

M'gann nods sadly. "I can take out the memories K'hym gave him. They haven't fully integrated yet."

"How come? He must have had them-."

"Because they're not..! Him. The way the thing he used to be thought was too different for them to fit back into the rest of his mind." She shakes her head. "I knew he had nightmares, but I always thought they were just.. normal nightmares."

"What will the Manhunters do when they find out that he reverted?"

"I don't know. This hasn't ever happened before. Hopefully, they'll just.. redo his conditioning and let him go again."

"So, decision is: hand him over or take him back to Earth right now." M'gann looks at me, surprised. "What? The Hyperclan can't reach him on Earth. If you took out the memory K'hym implanted he could live a long and happy life there."

"No, he… You heard how much he loves this place. I couldn't take it away from him."

"Yeah, but… A patrol ship? Weren't they the ones annoying you when we landed?"

"Yes, they were." She exhales. "Maybe… I think it would be better if.. Uncle J'onn…"

"I can.. ask… But…"

"Uncle J'onn knows Uncle Ma'al isn't.. the same."

"Okay, I'll head back and see about getting hold of him. But, before I do, exactly who is Karmang supposed to be?"

She shakes her head. "Karmang's a mythical sorcerer, like Merlin or Jaffar. He's supposed to have founded the Martian tradition of magic. I don't think he was ever a real person-."

"Merlin was, I'm afraid."

"Even if he was, every picture I've ever seen of him shows him as a Red Martian. Why would he help people like the Hyperclan?"

"No idea. And Z'onn Z'orr?"

"His temple, or library, or fortress." She shrugs. "It depends which story you want to listen to. If it ever really existed, no one has been able to find it."

"Maybe the Manhunters can get more out of Fluxus."

"Aside from shapeshifting, telekinesis and telepathy, do Martians ever get other superpowers? Are there..? Meta Martians?"

"Aside from the Sorcerer Priests, no."

"Z'üm Z'orr and the other one definitely used magic to escape. I'm assuming that non-Reds aren't allowed to learn magic?" M'gann shakes her head. "Z'üm had super speed. The second one had energy projection. Even if it isn't an ancient sorcerer, something's going on here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
15:43 GMT -5

I have just discovered something rather interesting. J'onn J'onzz wasn't actually a serving Manhunter for all that long before Doctor Erdel's zeta beam misfire abducted him to Earth. As such, he never got promoted much beyond rookie. But. Once he got back in contact, his superiors realised that he had dramatically more experience than his rank suggested, and in far more trying circumstances than would ordinarily arise on Mars.

So, they promoted him.

Quite a lot.

The telepathic argument between him and the patrol ship's commander was carried out via a direct link and so I couldn't eavesdrop. It wasn't until M'gann told me that I discovered that Mister J'onzz had the higher rank. More than that, since his field of authority is pretty much all Earth-Mars relations (since they had to give someone of his rank something important sounding but that didn't require him to physically be on Mars) he has a better claim to jurisdiction since Kon and I were born on Earth and M'gann is his student, not irritating the primitive but occasionally very powerful neighbours apparently being Mars' main foreign policy aim.

Since the commander wasn't prepared to give up a case involving the most interesting thing to have happened on the surface since the Guardians finished off the Burners, the matter was referred upwards to the Martian in command of Mel'dilo'rn's Manhunters.

R'oh K'arr promptly ruled in Mister J'onzz's favour and flew out to join us.

Two patrol ships currently float over the nature reserve, and T'ronn is overseeing his colleagues in looking after the animals. Ma'alefa'ak is currently being held in a secure cell aboard one of the ships while Fluxus is still on the surface. Martian protocol for dealing with hostile magic users requires one of their magic users to be on site before they attempt transportation, and social custom means that the on duty Sorcerer Priest shows up when they're good and ready.

"Sirs?"

R'oh K'arr is in his natural Green Martian form. His uniform covers a little more of him than the normal red X but I still wouldn't go so far as to call it clothing. To a Human it makes him look much less authoritative. I suppose to a Martian his brain is authoritative enough. He doesn't react to hearing me, but with my mental shields turned down to normal levels I feel the slight buzz which indicates him telepathically 'looking' in my direction.

In contrast, Mister J'onzz is in his normal humanish form with his costume modified to include an air supply. There's a slight distortion in the air around him. Having taken note of the environmental shield I gave Superman, he's upgraded his own apparel with a telekinetic shielding booster. Martians can handle Mars' surface radiation a little better than Humans but it still isn't all that healthy. He hears my voice and turns to look at me. "Orange Lantern. What have you found?"

"As far as I can tell-" I generate two constructs, one showing the site before the attack and one after. "-only two places were targeted. The main residence, and the laboratory. Given the level of damage done I can't say for certain, but it doesn't look like anything was removed from the residence... Though pretty much everything there was destroyed. The damage to the laboratory-" I focus the constructs on the before and after. "-was more precise. Unfortunately, none of us were really focusing our attention on exactly what they were doing and it's possible that the second Hyperclan member just completely destroyed things."

Mister J'onzz inclines his head slightly. "But equally it is possible that she was collecting materials and returning them to their base of operation."

"Her given name is 'Tronix'." Mister K'arr is at least more comfortable with vocal speech than the maybe-chap at immigration. "Probably not her birth name. We have records of her energy projection abilities from previous attacks."

"I've got a list of the equipment that's missing. It all looks a bit basic to me, but since it's all Earth-built they probably couldn't get it anywhere else." Other Martian labs have better equipment, but since it's all telepathically operated it wasn't any use to Ma'alefa'ak at all.

Huh. Just realised that I think of him as Ma'alefa'ak after knowing him less than a day while J'onn J'onzz is very much 'Mister J'onzz'.

Mister K'arr's eyes flare slightly. "And what specimens were being held there?"

"B'ool poo. I know that for sure. Probably waste materials from other species and I think he said something about soil samples and bacteria cultures. He'd be the best person to ask but from the brief look I got it didn't look like anything particularly unusual or dangerous."

"I doubt that the Hyperclan would have acted so brazenly outside their usual area of concern unless they could gain some advantage."

"I got the impression that they were trying to recruit M-. Ma'alefa'ak J'onzz. While he was in sociopath mode."

"Again, something which makes little sense. They usually only recruit Whites. And they are not short of volunteers. It is puzzling that they would make such a special effort to do something that could have more easily been achieved with fewer witnesses. Your case, J'onn J'onzz. I will eagerly await your report."

Mister J'onzz nods. "I should be the one to interview my brother. If he is in a fit state."

"I'm not sure what a 'fit state' would be in these circumstances, but he's awake. Cadet M'gann M'orzz is with him."

"Sir? May I ask what will happen to him now?"

Mister K'arr's eyes dim. "There is no clear answer in law. People subjected to the punishment he was gain immunity to further chastisement for the offence. However, until now none have ever suffered a relapse. Having viewed the results of the initial questioning my opinion is that the new personality is still the sole one, but the ultimate decision will lie with the Prelate, as advised by the Assembly of Minds."

"Orange Lantern." I turn my head to look at Mister J'onzz. "Accompany me."

He rises from the ground and I float along after him as he moves towards the patrol ship containing his brother. As we reach the hull it flows open to allow us inside and Mister J'onzz leads me the short distance to the holding cell.

"What exactly do you want me to do, sir?"

"You saw my brother's emotions both before and after his 'relapse'. I would be grateful for any insights you could share."

"Ah… Sir, I've been trying to tone that down. It seems too intrusive to be looking at someone's soul every time I meet them."

"Ethically, I agree with you. However, this is now an active investigation. You have legal authority to use your abilities."

"Yes sir." I look through the muted green of the crew going about their duties at the festering pile of yellow and red that is Ma'alefa'ak J'onzz. Fear of just about everything, most particularly turning back into the other Ma'alefa'ak. Hatred for himself. "About what I'd expect if he's being honest, sir. Nothing to indicate the sort of deviant desires I'd expect to see from his former mental state."

Mister J'onzz nods. "There are Martians who can deceive telepathic scans but far fewer who can deceive magic."

We pass into the compartment containing Ma'alefa'ak's cell. Kon and four.. marines..? Are outside the cell itself, and Kon and I make brief eye contact before I follow Mister J'onzz into the cell.

Ma'alefa'ak himself is sitting on the floor in the corner furthest from the 'door', with M'gann standing against the opposite wall. "Uncle J'onn. You-."

He holds up his right hand to cut her off and continues across the room, lowering himself to the floor in from of his brother. **Ma'alefa'ak.**

**J'onn.**

**You have regained your facility for telepathy.**

Ma'alefa'ak raises his head slightly. **M'gann tells me that I never really lost it. The Assembly of Minds altered my mind so that I couldn't consciously process it. They will need to restore that block before… Whatever they decide to do with me.**

**Open your mind to me.**

**J'onn, M'gann already removed what K'hym implanted, but I still remember-.**

**Open your mind to me, brother.**

I glance at M'gann but she just looks blank. Ma'alefa'ak's face goes still for a moment, then he nods his head. Both sets of eyes glow for a moment, then Mister J'onzz stands up. **You are no longer the man who murdered my wife. His crimes are not your crimes and his guilt is not yours to bear. I will endeavour to convince the Assembly of this.**

**Thank you, J'onn. I just wish I could believe it myself.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

Family Day

21st April
21:03 GMT -5

"This is yah last warning, Tetch! Come out with your hands up or we come in an' drag you out!"

I've no idea how he managed it, but the deranged criminal somehow built a giant teacup in a disused warehouse along the Gotham waterfront. Gas fired flames lick the bottom, heating the cup and the tea therein to scalding temperatures. Around the edge are the bound girls who were nearly but not quite what the crazed man's madness said that he needs in order for the world to start making sense. He used his hat to mind control them here-. Well, not mind control exactly. It turns out that his hats just make people very suggestible rather than flat out controlling them. Whatever. Hat-persuaded the girls to come here, bound them and then turned it off.

Naturally, they all screamed up a storm and he stumbled off in confusion to find someone else.

"But we're all having such a delightful tea party. No Humpty Dumpty allowed!"

"They never take it." Detective Bullock draws his revolver before holding his phone up to his cheek. "Montoya, you in place yet?"

"Excuse me, Detective."

Bullock glances at Miss Shimmer, who has left the small cluster of people watching the unfolding confrontation. Her hair gets a flicker of a frown but she doesn't look enough like an Alice in Wonderland character to attract actual alarm so he ignores her. "Yeah? I dunno. Because there's a camera on the door and if I have them kill the power-. Yeah, well he's not here, so I guess the police are gunna-."

Miss Shimmer reaches the end of her patience and pokes him in his considerable gut with her right forefinger.

"What! No, not you, some kid. Hang on." He lowers the phone. "The only reason I'm not bustin' you for interferin' with an investigation is I got eight little girls to rescue from a nut job an' that takes priority."

"Oh. Well, is there any way I can help?"

"You live around here? You got any idea how I could sneak inside and put a couple a' rounds through that sicko's head?"

"No. But-" She opens her guitar case and takes out the contents. "I do have a sniper gun that can shoot through walls. Would that help?"

Bullocks eye widen. "Holy Mother of God. Where the hell did you get that?"

"Grayven. And I have a concealed carry permit."

"Grayven?" He makes the connection. "The guy who-." He looks the gun over. "You know how to use that thing?"

"Not really." She holds it out to him. "Do you?"

"Uhh…" He takes hold of it, resting the stock against his shoulder and peering into the target scanner. He then turns it in the direction of the warehouse. Having designed the weapon myself, I know that the scanner will immediately detect and highlight life forms in the direction it's pointed in. Actual marksmanship isn't required, the barrel only exists to let the coilgun round build up speed. It's the teleport function which makes the projectile hit the target. "Okay. One guy moving around-."

"If you press that button you can hear what he's saying."

Bullock frowns slightly, then presses the button.

"-above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky!"

He shifts the phone to his shoulder. "Montoya, I got a shot." He hesitates.

"Is there a problem?"

"Huh, guess I just got used t' the Bat handlin' these."

Miss Shimmer frowns. "So… Are you.. not a police officer, or something? I thought your job was to keep people safe, but if you're completely dependent on a man who dresses up like a bat-."

There's a sudden crack, and inside the warehouse Tetch crumples and falls back into his own tea vat.

Bullock lowers his gun. "I get by." He holds the gun out to Miss Shimmer. "Thanks."

"Oh no. You can keep it. In fact-" She holds out a business card. "-please give this to the Commissioner. Just in case he's interested in getting more like it."

Behind me, I hear a soft sound as someone who thinks that he's silent lands on the roof.

"I'll keep that in mind." Bullock looks at her, as if he suspects that there's something else going on but can't quite work out what it is. Then he shakes his head and hurries in the direction of the warehouse.

"Grayven."

"Batman. Nice night for it."

"You're using children as arms dealers."

I turn, smiling. "Oh, you of all people don't get to rag on me about that. Miss Shimmer is better equipped, better protected, older and engaged in less dangerous work than Richard was when you first took him out with you."

He walks closer, taking a moment to look at the people gathered below. "Is Tetch dead?"

"Hmm." Sinestro? Ah, I see. "Wait for it, wait for-. Yes."

"He was a sick man."

"Yes." I nod. "Yes he was."

"He was off his medication. I could have taken him in alive."

"Was he off his medication last time as well?" He glares. "And the time before that? Seven deaths total, all young girls. Maybe you should stop thinking of the medicated version of him as being the real him and recognise him for the deranged murderer he really is." I tilt my head to the side for a second. "Was. Anyway, Detective Bullock identified himself as an armed police officer and had a reasonable belief that innocents were in danger. No crime happened on my side."

"You could have stopped him even easier than I could."

"I can't be everywhere. Time the Gotham police learned to stand on their own two feet, far as I'm concerned. They carry guns, I'm giving them better, more precise guns. But hey! You're doing better than Aquaman. He'd have punched me in the face by now."

"Don't think I'm not tempted."

"Don't recommend it. But if you've got time to moan at me over a perfectly legal police action-."

"Is that what Darfur was?"

"No, but as I said to Guy, the government was okay with genocide so I don't consider their laws to be binding. And I didn't see you coming up with anything better and it did both stop the fighting and punish the guilty. But enough of something we're never going to agree on." I smile. "I have a story for you."

I give him a moment, but he doesn't appear to want to interject.

"One day a man named Jack Napier goes on holiday to the great city of Metropolis, taking a few of his closest friends with him."

"The Jack Napier you crippled. You did that intentionally, didn't you?"

"Rather than splitting him in half? Yes, pulling my punches was intentional. Anyway, he goes to Metropolis and pays a visit to a famous tourist landmark: the Daily Planet building. And while he's there, he connects drums full of Smilex to the ventilation system and sets it off! Lois Lane dies with a smile on her face. Perry White, same thing. James Olsen, Steven Lombard, William McCalman… All dead. Some guy called Clark Kent was out on assignment at the time, but everyone else? Gone. Mister Napier goes into hiding, pursued by your good self, Superman, and some new guy called Magog. Magog was Superman-level strong and tough and he had this laser.. trident.. thing."

"And for once? It's the police who find the criminal first. Heck, they even capture him without any fatalities, which was a near miracle. So, the three superheroes stand there watching them drag him off, and? Magog raises his trident and with a snarl incinerates him. Then he hands his trident to your good self and surrenders to the police. The case goes to trial quickly and he pleads not guilty. When the prosecutor puts him on the stand to query that, he says 'I'm glad I did it'."

I raise my eyebrows.

"Wanna guess how the story ends?"

Batman's jaw tenses. "The jury agreed with him and he was acquitted."

"No." I shake my head. "No. Oh, they acquitted him alright. But that's very much not how the story ends."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April
21:08 GMT -5

"Magog walks free of the courthouse and to the assembled journalists makes a speech about how the establishment has been far too soft on career murderers. To their cheers he announces that he will be forming a taskforce with like-minded individuals and hunting down others like Mister Napier." I dab at the air with my right finger. "And here's where things start to go wrong. Superman is so horrified by the deaths of his friends and with the reactions of his home city to someone he regards as a murderer that he ups and leaves. Floats around for a bit before isolating himself in the Fortress of Solitude on a semi-permanent basis. You try to hold things together, but the up-and-coming generation of superheroes seem to agree with Magog's approach. All across the country superheroes ratchet up the violence and the criminals follow suit. The veneer of civilisation across Gotham was only thinly coated at the best of times and the sudden wave of violence that came from the fighting between gangs and vigilante mobs meant you had to abandon your other duties and stay on site full time."

"Thing about the vigilantes is that while Magog himself conducts proper criminal investigations and requires both serious crimes and virtual certainties of guilt before he's willing to kill the perpetrator, those who claim to have been inspired by him don't. Police had to be a little flexible with powerful superheroes anyway, but now everyone has that attitude. Before long the whole country's going the way of the wild west. And Magog? He doesn't like that. When someone asks him, he says that anyone who feels inspired by him should cooperate with law enforcement where reasonably practical. But… The fact that he's usually saying this with some costumed serial killer's head on his trident rather undermines his message."

"Ten years of gradual societal decay pass. Things finally come to a head when Magog and his crew track down the Parasite in Kansas. Parasite's past his best at that point and tries to run. When he can't escape, he tries to surrender." I solemnly shake my head. "Then he tries to fight. Unfortunately for the world, Magog's not all that fast and the first person on his team to make it into contact was a chap called Breach. Similar powers to Captain Adams, but… Not quite as stable. That, combined with Parasite trying to use his own powers while injured, resulted in a nuclear explosion which scoured all life from Kansas and devastated its neighbouring states. Then come the radioactive dust clouds and rain. In addition to the horrible tragedy of all those deaths, America's main farmlands were destroyed. Food became a strategic resource, a secure road the difference between survival and starvation for entire cities."

"With the nation on the verge of collapse Wonder Woman decides to have one last go at winkling Superman out of his hidey-hole. After throwing some fairly harsh home truths at him she's finally successful. As the nation's infrastructure is in no position to offer substantial assistance, the Justice League is reformed and anyone who is prepared to agree with its code of conduct permitted to join. Painfully aware of the failures of superhuman containment that have occurred in the past, they build their own prison and then begin targeting the most violent criminal groups. Those which are redeemable are permitted to integrate and those which are not are locked up for the duration of the crisis. Superman himself isn't entirely comfortable with the level of interference he's having to have, but it's working and they can sort out the balance of power issues later. Right?"

"They're just about getting things back under control when Wonder Woman tracks down Magog himself. He survived the explosion and for some reason he's still in Kansas. So -with the country more or less functioning again- Superman flies down to hear what he's got to say for himself. When he first sees him, Magog's got a plough strapped to his back and he's pulling it through the burned and irradiated soil, making furrows for seeds. It's obvious to anyone watching that nothing is ever going to grow there, so… What's he doing?"

"It takes Superman a few seconds to get his attention, but once Magog realises that he's really there, he starts… Ranting, about how he was trying to deal with the problems Superman hid away from. 'You can't let a serial killer be sent to a prison he's already escaped from dozens of times!' He didn't want Superman to just disappear for a decade. He didn't want the country to pick him over Superman. He was only trying to do what he thought best and now he's responsible for more deaths than any of those he slew. He begs to be punished. Imprisoned, killed, he doesn't care. Anything to dim the absolute horror he feels for his own failings. So Superman puts him in prison with the rest. In a secure cell, because he's worried that if he doesn't Magog might kill himself."

I smile. "So, what do we learn from this? Magog tried to do the right thing and epically failed. Superman thought his narrow-minded principles were more important than the lives of those he protected and lost nearly everyone he cared about. Then he went off in a huff for a decade and -surprise surprise- that didn't work either. Hundreds of people who could have acted differently didn't because they had a particular idea in their heads of how they should behave."

"And that point of that story was?"

"Mmm. Just passing the time. And letting Bullock and Montoya remind themselves that they're perfectly capable of dealing with these lunatics without you." I turn away from him and look down to where Bullock is leading the girls out towards the waiting ambulances. "The League has you doing organisation stuff. Did you ever think about all the good you could do in Gotham if you focused your energies on that rather than this whole Bat-thing? Goodness knows why the police are turning to me for weapon upgrades."

No response from him, then I hear booted feet walking across the rooftop. "Who are you talking to?"

I turn. Sunset Shimmer and no Batman. I put my right hand to my mouth. "It's not clever, you know! It's just rude!"

"Did Batman pay you a visit?"

"Yes. Not that it really mattered. He can't be everywhere at once any more than I can. There would have been another opportunity, sooner or later."

She looks off to the side. Looks like something's bothering her. I wait patiently for her to get her thoughts in order.

"Grayven… Are you evil?"

I take a moment to give the question the consideration it deserves. "No. Anything else?"

"That's not the most convincing argument I've ever heard."

"I am by turns harsh and brutal, when I feel it necessary. I don't cause pain to others purely for my own pleasure and I aim for my actions ultimately to benefit those around me. Is there something I've done that particularly bothers you?"

"You set the three of us the task of stopping the war in Darfur."

"Yes. It was a task well within your abilities."

"You knew that we would kill people. I-I'm not…" She takes a deep breath. "I'm not sure what you think you know about Equestria? But it's a peaceful country. I'd never even seen someone killed violently before you.. showed us that. And you sent us there knowing that we'd have to go along with it!"

"No I didn't."

"You-! Did.. too!"

"Miss Shimmer, do you know what is meant by 'reflective equilibrium'?" She shakes her head. "It is what happens when you realise that there is a contradiction between your beliefs and actions. Or between one belief and another. If you are honest with yourself, you will alter your actions or your beliefs until they no longer contradict one another. We went through your moral beliefs together during the lesson and I know that the three of you kept talking about it afterwards. I told you that I wasn't setting you a deadline. You could have chosen to do nothing. You could have chosen to kill no one."

"You knew we wouldn't do that. Misa would do anything she thought you wanted… Lynne's.. just.. cold." She looks away, her fists bunched up.

"I let you make the choice. So, tell me. Reflect upon your thoughts and actions. Why did you use lethal force?"

"Because it was the only thing that would work!" She covers her eyes with her right hand. "We tried working out what would happen if we just disarmed everyone, and… And they'd just go back to killing each other again as soon as they would rearm! And they might not even have waited that long!"

"I know."

"Then why us?"

"I understand that part of the reason why you left your former mentor was that you believed that she was holding you back." Miss Shimmer nods uncertainly. "This is 'not being held back'. This is confronting the world in all its horror and misery and it being your responsibility to fix it. This is not being able to pass the buck because you can see what happens when you do that. See it as.. not on a report on a scroll or on edited pictures on a television screen, but see it in the flesh. Celestia would lecture you on this subject and you would ignore her. You do not appear to be ignoring me."

She gulps.

"You came to the conclusion -with your mind heavily weighted against the idea- that killing a limited number of people was the only way to fix the situation in the medium term. And now you feel bad." I make a shrugging gesture with my hands. "Okay. Reflect on your beliefs and on this feeling. Where lies the contradiction?"

"I… Celestia always…"

"Celestia had a thousand years to get the country running exactly as she liked it, and she only had to deal with… What, a few million Ponies? You don't. Where is the contradiction?"

"I.. act as if I don't think killing is bad. And I know that's wrong."

"If you actually thought that then you wouldn't have stuttered. Miss Amane has no problem with killing. You do. You think it's bad. Your problem is that you want to think 'bad' means that it's something only evil people do, while in fact you merely assign it a heavy utility value. In this situation you believe that it was necessary and you're feeling bad because that clashes with a belief you have about yourself and the beliefs you have about people who believe what you now know that you believe."

Her gaze grows distant as she thinks it over.

"Come on. Let's go home. You should probably talk to Doctor Robbins about this, get an alternate perspective."

"Are we..? Going to have to do something like that again?"

I shake my head as the hush tube reopens. "No. Not any time soon. I'm not trying to shock you into submission, and that's all sending you somewhere like that again would achieve. Think on what happened, and if you want to talk to me some more I'm always available."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Sparring

22nd April
10:47 GMT -6

**!**

*1*Space bends between me and Paul's latest near miss as I telekinetically shove the eruption of sand and loose rocks away while trying to predict and evade the next shot.*1*

*2*I don't think I like this desert. Sure, the sand's the same but I've never had to worry about overheating on Mars. Apparently Paul really didn't like how well he performed when we fought those Star Hunters last week. Not compared to how well he thinks he should have done, anyway. So now I'm in my Star Conqueror form, defending myself as well as I can from his barrage while trying to hit him back.*2*

*3*Multiple thought threads give me a headache. I wonder if that's why Star Conquerors are so aggressive?*3*

*2*I've used this form a few times now but I still find it really uncomfortable.*2*

*1*Surge to turn aside a solid slug barrage then phase to dodge an orange beam. Pick up rubble again and recreate my barrier.*1*

*2*Normally I'm fine with new shapes, particularly after Mister Jerkin- Mister J'aarkn gave me his pendant.*2*

*3*The brain to make this entire thing work is.. very different to a normal Martian brain. It's like… One time, I remember Wally asking Robin how his hacking programs worked so well, and he said he took advantage of his arm computer's ability to run thousands of computer threads at once compared to normal computers… Or something like that. I can focus on so many things at once without it interfering with anything else.*3*

*1*A miniature dust storm is met by a reinforcing of my telekinetic shield.*1*

*3*I can shield myself with hundreds of fist sized rocks against the various energy blasts Paul is throwing out at me while shifting the concentrations to intercept any railgun strikes.*3*

*4*[New images from the eyes of the Demons] I send a few in to try and distract him.*4*

*3*And throw out telekinetic strikes to sever those trailing filaments he always makes, organize the Demons Paul loaned me to stand in for a Star Hunter's escort of Star Conquerors, and I'm still able to plan my next move and casually notice the local scenery that I'm tearing up.*3*

*5*Ooh, a flower!*5*

*3*None of that frenzy like in a normal fight for my life with so many things to do at once.*3*

*2*A bright orange pulse starts flying at me and I know that-*2*

*1*I send one of the larger boulders I have in reserve for just this occasion to intercept it before I need to dodge out of the way, keeping my eye out for any railgun strikes that might try to make their way through the hole I just opened up in my debris shield.*1*

*2*-another bit of me has it covered. Sure enough, I can see one of Paul's turrets aim for that hole, and I quickly hit it with enough force to disrupt it for long enough to cover my defenses again.*2*

*3*According to Lantern Gardner, Star Hunters didn't phase when they used to fight Green Lanterns. I tried when we started and I can't keep control of the Demons I'm borrowing from Paul or even the things I'm levitating when I do it. Plus I'm not really sure what happens if something dephases me.*3*

*5*Lantern Gardner is a few hundred yards away doing his best to arm-wrestle with Conner, and the spectators are cheering him on.*5*

*3*I don't think he can win that… Can he? His constructs are pretty strong, but Conner's really strong.*3*

*6*Big strong arms around me and holding me close.*6*

*5*The construct table breaks as the back of his construct gauntlet slams onto it.*5*

*3*Paul said that Green Lanterns recruit stubborn people and then train them to be stubborner, so… Looks like it's working.*3*

**Ow!**

*2*A laser turret is able to sneak a shot past my barrier to graze one of my tentacles. Minor flesh wounds aren't that big a deal when the team medic can patch you up immediately after every spar, but it's a poignant -thank you English class for that word- reminder that against a real enemy that could just as easily have been the shot that decided the fight.*2*

**Blergh.**

Multiple different streams of thought run together as I shift back into Miss Martian Mode. "Okay, you win that one!" Paul stops generating his constructs and pulls his Demon things back into his rings. "This time, I'm going to use telepathic illusions, and you can use crumblers and your kinetic shield again!"

A flicker of orange later and Paul is floating right beside me. Still can't quite get used to a mind just showing up like that.

"Sounds fair to me. Let me just-" Another flare of orange and the burn on my arm-that-used-to-be-a-tentacle disappears. "-fix that for you and we can get back to sparring. Oh, hang on, it's nearly lunch time. Are you alright with calling it a day after this next bout?"

I nod. "Alright with me. Just ask Conner and Lantern Gardner first."

An orange megaphone forms in front of Paul's face. Why does he have to-? I shapeshift my ears closed so the noise isn't overbearing. "Guy, Kon, you good with going out to lunch after this next round ends?! "

"Sure! Any idea where?"

"Place just down the street from my place! Conrad's Crabs! Specialty restaurant! Best Baldamore Blue in Baldamore!"

Without thinking about it I try tapping into Paul's memory of it… Of course, I can't… Anymore.

"Whatever you say Guy! And it's so nice of you to offer to pay! Oh, Kon! Try to go easy on Guy! I'm not sure his ego can stand taking another loss from a one year old! "

There's a big surge of green from Lantern Gardner. "Oh you'll be regrettin' sayin' that next time we come out here!"

Paul turns back towards me. He was winding Lantern Gardner up intentionally. I think that's one of those.. guy things. "Shall we continue?"

Instead of answering I shift back into Star Hunter form.

*1*I pick up all the rocks I had set down and reform my debris shield.*1*

*2*Paul transitions back to where he was before we paused our spar.*2*

*7*I start forming telepathic illusions of myself.*7*

*1*I start trying to access his optic nerves.*1*

*2*He recreates his construct armor and guns.*2*

*1*Next, I create a telekinetic barrier around my body and a wider but weaker field to prematurely detonate his crumbler rounds.*1*

*3*Getting hit by those hurts a lot.*3*

*1*A focused telekinetic beam-*1*

*3*Like a narrow version of the one Uncle Ma'al used.*3*

*1*-hits his construct armor hard enough that I probably would have broken it if he hadn't been focusing.*1*

*4*The Demons throw themselves at Paul in a wave of orange.*4*

*7*I alter his vision so that he sees them as little Star Conquerors.*7*

*3*Huh. I wonder if I could micromanage units in Human Resources through the limited input of Human computer systems? Conner would probably consider it cheating, but I might actually be able to give him a challenge like that.*3*

*2*I shouldn't be able to do that. Wait, that sort of mental attack must make it hard for him to use his constructs!*2*

*1*A crumbler detonates on my outer shield, causing it to buckle. I repair it.*1*

*7*My illusions show me being somewhere else. I know that he's seeing them.*7*

*2*He isn't trusting his eyes. No point using visual illusions. How about.. smell? And speech?*2*

*7*He smells perfume and hears one of those… Videos I saw on the internet when I tried to find more information on Human mating.*7*

*6*Which doesn't seem anything like as weird as I thought it would.*6*

*1*Another psychic blast.*1*

*2*I'm a bit worried about hurting him, but… He wanted to practice hard and he was okay after Evil Uncle Ma'al did it.*2*

*1*Throw a rock really hard and blast him again just before it hits!*1*

*2*It explodes against his armor! Paul's knocked back in the air and starts to fall for a moment before his kinetic belt comes on. But my Demons are already swarming in and grabbing him! I won!*2*

*5*The spectators, along with Conner and Lantern Gardner, are watching with rapt attention.*5*

*2*I won!*2*

**Blergh.**

I switch back to my normal form and see everyone in the stands applauding. Ugh. No, still feels great! I beam at them, breathing hard from the mental strain of doing all that work.

I don't notice as Paul appears behind me until he claps me on the back, his armor back in subspace. "Well done you. Never really got a look in there." He gets this look on his face and I know that the next thing he says will be hyperbole. Still not as good as hearing him think it. "I truly pity the next supervillain who draws your ire, for clearly you shall have none."

Conner and Lantern Gardner appear in a flash of green. Guess they're done arm-wrestling.

"That was great! That was the hardest beat down I've ever seen Paul get in a spar."

Lantern Gardner glowers at the back of his head.

I float up to him and he puts his arm around my back. Lantern Gardner and Paul are saying something to each other, but I'm not paying much attention to them right now. "Thanks Conner. It's been a really productive day so far, but I'm glad we're taking a break. Doing that really tires me out. I don't think I could have gone another round." Um, I suppose if everyone else is doing it..?

I smile winsomely at him. "How was slamming Lantern Gardner's arm into the table repeatedly for half an hour?"

Click to shrink...

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
19:23 GMT +3

Donna shakes her head, looking contemplative. "No, I can't really say I've given it much thought."

"Really? Because I've got to say-" We touch down just outside Hades' temple. "-it was one of the first things I started thinking about when I got here. I mean, what religion are your parents?"

"Episcopalian."

"That's.. Anglican, right?" She nods as we head towards the entrance. "Remind me what current church teachings on magic are?"

"That it's just another skill, and no more evil than any other." She hesitates. "Though that's just the branch of the church we belong to. The evangelical wing has a.. slightly less liberal viewpoint."

"At least Anglicans Sixteen are arguing about something that actually has spiritual significance."

I lead the way into the outer part of the temple. Thana doesn't appear to be around.

"What do you mean by that?"

"We learned from the Young Offenders that this parallel is parallel sixteen. So, I refer to its Anglican inhabitants-."

"As Anglicans Sixteen." She nods. "But what do you mean about arguing about something important?"

"Back on Earth Prime the Anglican Communion is fracturing over homosexual ordination. I mean, magic involves rearranging the universe using your soul. I understand why that would be contentious."

"Homosexuality is an issue, too."

"But I can guess which is a bigger problem for you." Now, should I scan for Thana, or-?

"What?" I turn. Donna's stopped a little way behind me.

"Well, you're an innately magical being." We stare at each other for a moment. "Aren't you?"

"Yess." She looks away. "Ugh, sorry."

"What?"

"You know… How Amazons-?"

"Homonormative, right."

"Homo-? Huh, yeah, that actually fits."

"So?"

"A lot of people assume that Diana's gay, because of where she grew up? And then I showed up working with her?"

Oh. "But you're American."

"Right, but they didn't know that. And when Diana first brought me here the Amazons assumed the same thing."

"Oh." I try and suppress my smirk. "Um. She is a bit older than you…"

"Apparently that's how they.. used to.. do things."

Suppression attempt failed. "Hey, I offered you a chance to assert your heterosexuality after the play."

"Oh, don't." She looks away. "And they were all so happy about it…"

"Can I assume that Donna Troy is a known heterosexual?"

She goes to answer, then hesitates. "When you say 'known'-?"

"Pavlos!" Thana walks up the stairs out of the literally stygian depths of the Temple. "And Donna, who certainly is not the Princess' erômena."

Donna rolls her eyes. "Hey Thana."

I transition right in front of Thana just as she reaches the top of the stairs. She starts, and I use that as an opening to wrap my arms around her back and pull her into a hug, pressing my forehead against hers. She remains stiff for a second, then relaxes slightly. "Is Eris so easily pleased that 'surprise hugs' are a devotional act?"

"No, she pretty much wanted me to pin you against a wall and… 'Express my fondness'."

"I see." Her facial expression is one of equanimity. This close I can feel her exhalations on the skin of my face. "And do you intend to do that?"

"She may just have been trying to wind me up. Though I do note that you've been isolating yourself again. Despite what that did to Lord Hades' original priestesses."

"That simply isn't true-."

"I looked everywhere during the festival." I nuzzle her left cheek. "Guess who I didn't see."

"I… Attended."

I lean forwards slightly, my mouth right next to her left ear. "Really?"

"S-some of it."

"Someone isn't embracing chaos."

"Chaos appears to be embracing me well enough for both of us."

I move my head so that we're face to face again. "As my mistress taught me: the more you fall behind, the more I chivvy you along."

"An expression of fondness?"

"A trip to Fawcett City. Melinoë needs a chaperone."

"Ah…"

"I warned you." I kiss her lightly on the lips, then release her and step back. "Donna and I are heading down to talk to Lord Hades. Would you be so good as to let him know that we're coming?"

"I…" She looks more than a little lost. "I.. can do that."

"Thank you." I step around her and start down the stairs. "Donna?"

I'm nearly to the end of the first flight before I hear her rapid footsteps as she hurries to catch up with me. I stop as she approaches. "What was that?"

"What? You've had jobs from Athena before." I start walking again. "And besides, Melinoë does need a chaperone."

"Thana has trouble talking to other Amazons, and you're taking her to a city."

"Yes. Daemonic invasions not withstanding, Fawcett City is the friendliest city in America. Um, in the United States. The Marvels said they'd see if they could join us… Seems like a good place to start. Is this a bigger problem than I think it is?"

"And kissing her? What about Euanthe?"

"Oh, she doesn't like cities."

"Did you..?" She realises something. "No, wait, Artemis warned me about this. Where did the strange fruit in the Temple of Demeter come from?"

"I fabricated the seeds with the ring and Euanthe connected them to the Green to make them grow. Why?"

"Oh, the island thinks you're a botanophile."

"No, Dad was always more into gardening than I-."

Oh.

…

Huh.

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
19:31 GMT +3

"…can't get over you not picking up on that." Donna makes another snort of laughter as we emerge from the tunnel and land on the platform marking the start of Erebos proper.

"Euanthe did.. seem to be 'up for it'… I just thought…"

"How would that even work? Isn't she.. basically a plant?"

"She's definitely on the plant-that-looks-Human side of the Dryad spectrum, but she can control the shape and texture of the plant matter making up her body. And she's got a better eye for Human aesthetics than Alec Holland." Donna gives me a small frown. "Swamp Thing." She nods in understanding. "As I understand it, she doesn't literally have generative organs, but she can do this sort of soul-link thing that-."

"I-" She holds up her right hand. "-don't need that much information."

"Really? Because it's a fascinating area. Like Asari, our children would be-."

"I thought Melinoë was going to meet us here."

"No, that was a first time only thing. Have you ever been down here before?"

She nods. "A few times with Diana. Only once on my own."

I rise into the air and she follows, getting above the height of the orchard trees before we level out and head for the palace. "If you.. don't mind me asking..?"

"My superpowers are Olympian. I wanted to know if my birth parents were down here."

"Were they?"

"If they are, they didn't identify themselves when I asked."

"Is.. that.. something.. you want me to look into?"

She smiles. "What, and take time away from your 'secret mission'?"

"Yeah, okay, unless you needed a kidney or something-"

"Huh!"

"-I wouldn't be prioritising it, but I don't mind asking around."

"Um." She reaches up to brush her wind-blown hair out of her face. "Alright. Yes. It's not that big a deal for me, but I would be interested to find out. I think a few Amazons have money riding on it."

"I suppose I'd have a conflict of interest if I put money on it myself. Any idea where I should start looking?"

"I'm nearly as physically strong as Diana is. So whoever my divine parent was, whether they sired or carried me naturally or just imbued something with their power, they'd have to be powerful. Zeus isn't exactly shy about acknowledging his bastards, especially now that he's divorced."

"So not Zeus?"

"Probably not. And as far as I know, Hades has never cheated on Persephone. And I don't have any particular skill with water or horses, which means that Poseidon is probably out."

Below us, the dead farmers pull the carts containing the day's produce towards the palace. Erebos is a Human-only afterlife. A few of them look up at us, but I suppose they've all seen stranger things. They look… A little pale, but aside from that more or less as I imagine they would have in life. While Homer was almost certainly right about the decay of their strength and wits before Hades bound small amounts of Erebos' power to each of them, he would clearly be wrong now. No, there's clearly nothing much to fear about death if this is where you end up.

"When we visited Themyscira with Kon, you asked me what I thought about the Titans."

"It's the obvious alternative. The Titans respond when I ask." She looks down for a moment, studying the forest. "The most obvious candidate for my biological father is Cronos. Or maybe even Uranus. They're not answering prayers so much as doing what their princess tells them to."

"If we're heading to Tartarus, we could ask about talking to the inmates."

"If I am their daughter, do you really think Hades will let me?"

"If he doesn't know, why not?"

"Greeks were a bit bigger on family loyalty then we are. And I can't lie to him about it."

"But you don't know. Not for certain. If he asks you can honestly say that you suspect that you have an Olympian mythos-."

"Othrysian."

"Huh?"

"The Titans were supposed to hold court on Mount Othrys."

"Oh. Right. Well, wherever, a father or mother from the same mythic family, but you don't know for certain. If they want to chuck you out if you get it confirmed, then so be it. You haven't had any contact with them beforehand, whoever they are."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask."

"Right then. Oh, semi-related matter. I'll need a blood sample from you."

"I thought your ring could scan someone's genes."

"It can, but you're an arcane life form. If you were made in the same sort of way Diana was you might not share genetic material with your parent. I'm going to need Sephtian to analyse your precise arcane signature, and then compare it with that of the other Olympic or Othric beings. Just a.. final confirmation." I was planning on asking him to do that to a piece of Cottus. And it will preserve secrecy if I give Donna's parentage as the reason.

"Okay. If it'll help." She looks down at the palace. "Wait, where are you heading?"

"Towards the throne room?"

"Since he didn't know we were coming I doubt he'll be there."

"Oh. Where do you think he'll be?"

"His dining room, the garden or his study, probably. Come on, the garden's closest."

She accelerates Horn-and-Ivory-wards and I follow her. "Hades has a garden?"

"His palace has a garden. Queen Persephone made it. Unlike the orchard it's fuelled by the Green rather than by Erebos itself, so it tends to die back when she's not here."

"And it's.. April, so she's not here?"

"Didn't you see her last time you came here?"

I shake my head as we descend towards a glade on the edge of the gardens. "No. I saw Hades and the Three Judges, but no Persephone. I wasn't actually in the palace grounds all that long…"

"That's a shame. She's nice." We step out of the trees and onto the grass, and at once I can see the royal picnic.

Melinoë makes eye contact with me, and sighs.

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
19:36 GMT +3

"Ah, Orange Lantern. Good to know that we didn't scare you off completely." Hades smiles as he says it, then chuckles quietly.

He's sitting on a small wooden seat while other members of his court either stand in discussion with one another or seat themselves on blankets on the ground.

"Your majesty, I can only offer my apologies for whatever it was I did which so enraged Cottus."

"Think naught of it. Melinoë-" Whose eyes dart to her father with pupils like daggers. "-spoke quite eloquently on your behalf after you left." I give her a winsome, eye-roll-earning smile while Hades looks thoughtful. "It was curiously out of character behaviour on his part, and my daughter was clear that you did nothing to provoke him. Might I assume that this means that you were on to something in your investigation?"

"It's really too early to say, majesty."

"And Troy Girl! A pleasure, as always. I don't suppose that you've given any thought to abandoning your Jewish carpenter for us in the interregnum?"

"Ahh…" Donna seems to be wrong footed. I hadn't realised that she was actually a practising Christian. Or maybe she just said that to head off an argument.

I should try covering for her. "Actually, majesty, as I understand it? 'Architect' is probably a better translation of his job title."

"Oh?"

"The Bible had passed through several languages and thousands of scribes and editors before we arrived at the modern version."

He nods. "I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. Very few people who knew it well from the early days ended up here, of course."

"Actually..? There was something I wanted to ask… About that?"

"Oh, I'm not the jealous sort of god. As long as your conversion is genuine and heartfelt I won't expect any great display of devotion."

"A-hah… No, I…" She glances at me. "Orange Lantern had an idea for trying to track down whoever my divine parent was."

"Does it involve pestering my staff and nearly getting my youngest daughter crushed to death by an enraged Hekatonkheir?"

"No and, well, I hope not. He has an.. associate, who can analyse magic signatures in great detail. I intend to give him a sample of my own blood to work from."

"You must trust him greatly to part with that. I hope that I am not the first to warn you of the fell magics which may be wrought with a sample of someone's blood."

"I… Well, I trust Paul and he trusts him."

"Sephtian has extremely high ethical standards, majesty, and we have worked together on numerous profitable enterprises already."

"Very well. I am not certain as to what input you require from me on the subject."

"The process works not by just analysing me, but by comparing me to other samples." A slight frown from Hades at the implication. "I do not believe for a moment that you would have sired me, but the more we know of the magics of the Olympians the better able we are to narrow our search."

Hades nods sombrely. "Think you that I will need to have words with my son Zagreus?"

"Probably not. Gods and goddesses born in Erebos have certain.. traits in common."

"Hmm." Hades raises his fists to his mouth as he contemplates the request. "I have no objection to your quest, but am strongly minded to refuse your request. Instincts ingrained by the war against the Titans weigh heavily on my thoughts."

"If I may suggest, majesty?" He waves his right hand in a 'carry on' motion. "As Twilight Sparkle says: Don't dabble with blood magic. If you must, see that the blood is consumed in the spell, and have the spell cast in front of you. While having you travel physically to Poseidonis for this is beneath your dignity, I was.. planning on asking Princess Melinoë to accompany me on an outing today."

"Oh?" He glances at where his daughter is staring at me in puzzlement.. and possibly disgust. "So bold."

"You could release a vial of blood into her care, and she can ensure that it is utilised properly and destroyed promptly before we carry on to our eventual destination. So long as it is never out of her sight and she is provided with a copy of the results, you shouldn't have any need to be concerned."

"Daughter? Do you have anything to say on the subject?"

"Where exactly were you expecting to take me?"

"Fawcett City. A friendly sort of place, aside from that demonic invasion they had a few months back. Captain Marvel -Champion of Shazam- lives there."

"And what makes you think I would want to go there with you?"

"The joy you took in my offerings during my last visit. I assure you that you will find Fawcett's shops most appealing. And social interaction with the living. Oh, and-" I turn back to Hades. "-Thana has agreed to act as her chaperone."

"Do they lay demonic invasions on for the visitors?"

"It was really more of a one-off thing, your majesty." Forty three dead from the attack, and about one and a half times that again in sacrifices. Plenty more injured, but most of them were incidental. Demons can tell when a wounded person finally dies and usually don't stop attacking until that point is reached.

"Then I have no objection. Daughter?" Pointedly not looking at me, she gives her father a sort of sideways half nod. "Then so shall it be. Will you depart at once?"

"I'd like to pop back into Tartarus first, if that's at all possible." Melinoë perks up a little. "I thought that I might try speaking with one of Cottus' brothers, see if I can find out what I did wrong. And.. possibly acquire a small part of their body for resonance testing."

He seems to find the idea amusing. "It would take a passionate woman indeed to love a Hekatonkheir in such a way that they could beget a daughter."

"And… If it could be done safely… Cronus as well?"

Hades shakes his head definitively. "No. I mean no slight against your honour, but Zeus has commanded that all he, myself and our brother Poseidon must be in agreement before anyone interacts with our father or grandfather. Do you believe that such interaction is absolutely essential?"

"No, I… I wasn't sure whether approaching him would be dangerous."

"Nothing involving him is not dangerous. Even bound in Tartarus, I would not take the chance save for dire necessity."

I nod. "I should probably be able to get a reading on his magic from Deva. Assuming that she's willing to cooperate. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"No, his youngest daughter lacks the arcane skill to take advantage of your efforts." He turns to Melinoë. "Well, daughter. It seems that you must escort this young hero to the gates of Tartarus once more."

"Fine." She perks up a little as she walks away from his throne towards me. "See if you can manage being inside him for more than three minutes this time."

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
19:52 GMT +3

"So, just to make sure that I understand completely-."

"I doubt that you'll ever manage that."

Tartarus hasn't become any less relentlessly pitch black since my last visit, but this time I'm expecting it. Donna and I have construct visors on showing us the landscape as revealed by the rings' sonic pings. I remember her saying that she could just ask Tartarus to let her see but that doesn't seem politic with Melinoë right there. We took a sharp right just inside the gate and haven't seen hide nor hand of Cottus.

"The gods of many pantheons get into a huge fight with their forebears and eventually cast them down. Tartarus -some sort of primeval darkness Titan- got bound and used as a maximum security prison. Erebos… Who was also some sort of primeval darkness Titan..?"

There's a pause and I'm going to assume that Melinoë is rolling her eyes. My sonic pings aren't that precise. "Darkness isn't just darkness, Human."

"Of course. How silly of me." I pause to give her a chance to respond, but nothing is forthcoming. "Erebos gets bound and anchored to several different points with the four gates: one for regular dead folk, one for mortals particularly favoured by the gods, another to the Dreaming and the fourth to Tartarus. Hades also hooks himself up to Erebos, making him much more powerful than most of the other Olympians."

"Except Uncle Zeus and Uncle Poseidon, yes."

"Alright. First question: are you tied to Erebos in the same way?"

"No. Well. Sort of."

"Thank you for that wonderfully clear and helpful answer."

Our heads whip around as we both hear Donna giggle.

"I'm not tied to Erebos in the same way Father is. But he had so much of Erebos' magic in him when he.. sired me, that my own magic is… Similar. Sort of."

"I thought that everyone down here was-."

"I'm not dead! I don't need to have my vital breath replaced with bits of Titan!"

"Rightyho. Is Erebos still alive?"

"We think so. Obviously he doesn't talk to us, but the magic flows inside his body are too.. organic, for it to be completely determined by Father pulling it around."

"And Tartarus?"

"Probably."

"Because if something squirrelly happened here, asking the prison would be a good way to-."

"Hah! How could you possibly trust anything he said?"

"We could see if other sources corroborate his version of events, but okay. Is Hades tied to his magics as well?"

"No. Every bit of spare power Tartarus has goes into the bindings keeping the Titans trapped. And the other punishments going."

"Other punishments?"

"Sometimes some stupid mortal does something that gets Zeus so angry he sends them here as well."

"I thought that Hades had released-."

"He released the ones in the Punishment Fields. He can't overrule Zeus. These ones are staying put."

Makes sense I suppose. Alright, so Hades is powered by Erebos. That might throw off whatever results I could get from his blood sample. But his brothers are as powerful as he is. So… Poseidon… Oceanus? Don't know who Zeus could be using. Probably not polite to ask… I mean, I'm guessing Cronus himself, but I imagine that Zeus is already fairly angry with me and since the answer might well be 'all of the rest' I'm not going to push my luck.

"What exactly are we looking for?" I stop, frowning at Donna. Was that inten-? "I mean, where are we going?"

"Gyges, hopefully. Are we close enough?"

"Probably."

"Right then." I generate a pile driver construct and slam it into the ground. Pause, look around… Nothing. I retract the piston and slam it down ag-.

Earth cascades upwards as giant… I'm going to guess hands, it's a bit soon to tell with any certainty. Giant hands pull themselves free of the Tartarian ground. Unlike those belonging to his brother, these are thin-fingered, each disproportionately thin digit having at least eight points of articulation. Four point 'forwards' and a further two point in the opposite direction. No arms, just strange floating hands. As with Cottus there are a vast array of different sizes and.. shapes. I didn't notice with Cottus but some of these are armoured and others look smoother and softer.

And he hasn't thrown anything yet, which is hopeful.

As we watch, hands come together, fingers wrapping around other fingers to build a structure. Golly… Gosh. That's big. Oh, I see. No messing around making faces here, he's just making a massive humanoid.

Really massive. Cake massive.

"Princess and guests." His voice is decidedly odd, accompanied by a constant sound of hard surfaces banging and scraping against one another. "Welcome to my bailiwick. Do you wish to inspect the prisoners?"

"No. I know that you're keeping watch. My…" His huge head swings towards me. "Guest, has a few questions about your brother Cottus."

"I will not betray his confidences, but otherwise I will speak."

"Last time I came to Tartarus, it was to speak to him. He attacked me and I fled. Do you know why?"

"No."

I get ready to fly rapidly away, just in case. "I mentioned something about a living woman being made from clay."

The giant face has no real expression, just makes more clicks as the hands move around one another. "I do not know this magic."

"Does your mother? "

"Yes. Certainly."

"Does Cottus?"

"If he does, I have never seen him use it."

Fair enough. "If Cronus has been trapped here, how is it that he was able to create Deva?"

The hand man… I think that's supposed to be a glare. "He bound some of what little power is left to him to his own blood and spilled it on the ground to prevent it from being drained. We have already been chastised for this failure in our watch."

"Enough to create a whole person? A demigoddess in her own right?"

There's a pause and I'm mentally preparing to run again. "No. That power was stolen from our mother."

I frown, though I doubt that he can see it. "How?"

"Sympathetic magic."

"What did he use as the focus?"

"A small and stolen part of my brother's flesh."

I close my right hand around the small chip of Cottus I found near the entrance where my railguns hit him during my last visit. And suddenly everything starts to make a little more sense.

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
15:18 GMT -2

"No, it's quite impossible!"

The overweight fish-tailed Atlantean in front of me puffs up -metaphorically- and takes a slightly higher position in the water. I've never met Onesimus before and I can't say that he's making the best first impression. He's one of the experts in his field who're supposed to be helping Sephtian move into mass production. As I understand it, this was a bit of a step down for him. Like that.. Industrialisation era drama my class watched back in Primary School. A master weaver going to work in a factory because he can't possibly hope to keep up with the volume of cloth it can produce. I made everything he knows about arcane design wrong-. No, worse. Irrelevant.

"Which part of-?"

"We can't just drop everything we're working on to devote thaumatorium time to your…" He gulps water for a moment. "Frankly ludicrous request!"

Melinoë looks up from the arcane analytic equipment she was staring at. I'm not sure exactly what magic she's using to get around down here but when I offered her an environmental shield I got a rather haughty sniff. Thana elected to remain on Themyscira while we dealt with the Atlantean part of the 'quest'. Donna is next to me, breathing as easily as any Pureblood.

"What's ludicrous about it?"

"Have you got any idea how busy we are here? Just-!"

"Yes, I know exactly how busy you are." That seems to take some of the wind out of his air bladders. "I see Sephtian every week and I still make blanks for him… Though I understand that the rune printing system is just about out of prototyping."

He nods, reluctantly. "Then perhaps you can appreciate that we don't have the time to waste."

"If you need me to make the device-."

"And who could enchant it? And who could operate it, once it was finished?" He holds up his hands, palms forward, then brings them together in front of his chin. "Are you aware of exactly how complex a procedure is involved in analysing an arcane signature?"

I shake my head. "No."

"Let us say that we have an object strongly connected to a magic user's 'soul self'. And let us further assume that they have made no active attempt at duplicity, which a mage involved in some manner of crime certainly would."

Donna frowns. "I'm.. not sure that making me was a crime."

"It would be in Atlantis." Ooh, this guy just wants to be on my shit list, doesn't he. "A particular spell will have a near-identical formation regardless of who cast it. To analyse an object in enough detail to be able to tell with any certainty that it was cast by the one whose object we are analysing, we must examine it in the most minute detail. Do you know how complex the soul is? How many influences it may pick up, especially in a place as thaumically active as Poseidonis?"

"Nnnnno?"

"And these new devices don't help in the slightest. Before, any reading measurable by a device was so approximate that it was barely worth performing. Now! Now just tabulating the results takes months! For normal magicians! And for a god? And I can barely believe that I'm taking the suggestion seriously-."

"Why wouldn't you?"

I'm not sure that he realises that Melinoë's appearance is in any way unusual. Certainly he hasn't recognised who she is. As for what she is… I'm assuming not. He's got to be sensitive enough to magic to realise that she's not just another surface dweller, but the link between 'strange magic user named Melinoë' and 'Greek Goddess of Nightmares and Madness' hasn't formed in his mind. I don't think that Orcus has children, the Roman habit of appropriating Greek myths not having any bearing on the gods' actual lives.

"Because it's patently absurd! Gods having blood that could be subject to analysis, indeed! And even if that were the case, it would be orders of magnitude more complex than that of a mortal mage, which I've already said we couldn't do even if we wanted to. Which we don't."

Melinoë's eyes narrow. "How would you like to-?"

"Could you do something simpler?"

Onesimus shakes his head. "Like what?"

"Could you… Identify the strongest magic… Frequencies-"

"Resonances."

"-in an object?" Donna tenses her left cheek. "Does that make sense?"

"Well… That's… That's easier, of course. I'm not sure what use it would be."

"We're perfectly happy to accept that getting a precise mote by mote analysis is beyond the capacity of our current thaumic technology. We just want to see how similar the magics of several objects are to one another."

"I'd still need to-."

"Roughly how similar."

Onesimus thinks for a moment, his eyes unfocused. "If.. I.. could get the time… I…"

"I'm sure that I can talk Queen Mera into making an opening."

"How many samples did you have in mind?"

"Twelve."

"Fine." He waves his right hand dismissively. "Leave them in Dry Room One. I'll let Sephtian know that they're there when he gets baaaaaah-ah."

"You really are a louse." Melinoë's eyes are fixed on him as she stalks across the room. "You will perform the analysis yourself and you will do it now. Or you will keep seeing what you are seeing now for the rest of your life." She thinks for a moment. "And I will tell Uncle Orcus how unhelpful you were."

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…" His eyes have gone totally black. Oh dear.

"Melinoë, that's.. a bit…" A bit assault on a chap who doesn't deserve it in a way which is rather seriously illegal. "Irritating as Mister Onesimus has been, I do rather need him to both perform the analysis and continue his work on this project. Would you please let him go?"

"You let him go too far. I didn't think you were that weak. I'll teach him his place and then let him go."

I move closer to her. Maybe disrupting her line of sight..? No. Ah. "Melinoë, you catch more wasps with honey than with vinegar. In the life of an immortal, what are a few minutes? Compared to the wonder of my goal, what are a few mean spirited words?" Donna looks genuinely worried. I can't really judge how much this is affecting him… I bend down slightly so that my head is level with hers. "I could try forcibly breaking your connection-" Her eyes narrow slightly. "-but I'm sure that you'd appreciate-" My hands go to the rear of her lower horns, fingertips pushing her head forwards as her eyes blink in astonishment. "-a different approach-" I give her what I hope is an affectionate smile. "-more."

She blinks, then I lean forward and kiss her. I don't linger, just press our lips together for a moment, but for the split second we're touching I can feel the location and texture of shadow in the room. There's a gasp from behind me as I pull back slightly, Melinoë staring at me in wide-eyed astonishment.

"Are you alright?"

"Melainia, she's Melainia oh gods preserve me."

"There, you see-."

She plants her hands on my chest and shoves me across the room! "Get off me, idiot!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
12:27 GMT -6

Donna looks around with a smile as I walk into the… Female… Accessory.. shop. Ugh, it's just like Claire's back on Earth Prime whenever I went there to get a birthday present for someone or for hair bands; I can feel my testosterone evaporating to shield me from the femininity of the place. Melinoë's eyes dart in my direction then return to the.. thing Mary Marvel née Bromfield is showing her the second she realises that I'm looking back.

"Any news?" Thana's a little closer to the door, most likely not feeling comfortable having all the weird things at closer quarters.

"Ms Deva didn't really care. She actually found the idea of someone suing Cronus for paternity amusing." She's very much not in my reform class and.. I.. don't really have the time to spend rehabilitating someone created as an instrument of vengeance by a bound and bitter Titan.

"Did you have any difficulty in persuading the Atlanteans to aid you?"

Now, think it through. Thana's speaking Themysciran Greek, but the other patrons and the shop assistants can't understand that or differentiate between it and Modern Greek. True, they're mostly staring at Melinoë's amazing cosplay but we are -sort of- here incognitoish. I don't want to risk anyone overhearing anything which blatantly says 'super person'.

Ring, switch to Themysciran Greek.

Compliance.

"Not really. I ended up speaking to a fish-tailed Atlantean called Onesimus." Who wised up pretty fast when he realised that the Goddess of Nightmares and Madness was standing in the same room as him. Apparently they still… Not 'worship', but certainly acknowledge her in Atlantis. "After being flabbergasted, telling me that even if it was possible it would take centuries and flat out refusing to look into it for me. But, we were able to persuade him."

"I'm sure that I wouldn't be able to understand the technical aspects..?"

"Normally when they analyse an arcane artefact they do a complete analysis. It would be…" A bit morbid, but so is she. "Like examining every part of the body of a murder victim in detail so that you don't miss even the slightest thing that might lead to the culprit."

She nods hesitantly. "Only.. the.. murder victim.. is a god?"

"Sorry, bad metaphor. What they normally do provides much more information than I need." Um. "Than I probably need, and if a simpler examination doesn't give me what I'll need then I'm going to have to work out how to improve their equipment before I do anything else."

"Ah." She nods. "So you would merely be comparing their domains, rather than the whole of their magics."

"Right. And they can do that."

So by Monday I should have a rough idea of the arcane relatedness of Euanthe (daughter by magic of Gaea and Uranus), Diana (daughter by magic of Gaea and blessed by the Six), Hades (natural son of Cronus and Rhea), Melinoë (natural daughter of Hades and Persephone), Ares (natural son of Zeus and Hera), Hera (natural daughter of Cronus and Rhea), Hippolyta (natural daughter of Otrera and Ares), Cottus (natural -I think- son of Gaea and Uranus), Deva (daughter by magic of Cronus and blessed by the Titans), Donna Troy (not really sure), Tartarus (really not sure) and -just for a giggle- Orange Lantern 2814, who incidentally is the only one not related to all of the others.

I mean, you joke about them all being more inbred than the Habsburgs, but think about it for a moment. Gaea is Zeus' grandmother and grandmother in law, being the grandmother of his wife and mother of both of his parents. Euanthe is Diana's.. half sister, at least. Hades is Diana's nephew, though maybe 'created by magic' and 'naturally borne' changes that a little. Melinoë is Diana's great niece and Deva is her niece. Hippolyta, her adopted mother, is her great great niece. It's a bit strange that Euanthe is so much weaker than the others… Or was, anyway, since I'm not completely sure how strong she is now. Maybe if Diana's creation hadn't been blessed she'd be more like Golden Age Wonder Woman, extremely capable but not really super powered. Or… I don't know, maybe Euanthe only has Uranus' magic innately and learned how to use the Green. I don't really know enough about Uranus' magic to comment. Gaea was supposed to create them using his blood, right?

"Is there some sort of Amazon betting pool I'll need to notify?"

Thana shakes her head. "When she first arrived, it was so widely assumed that she was sired by Zeus that no one was interested in placing such a bet. Now it will merely be a matter of curiosity."

"Melinoë getting on alright?"

"I was surprised by how muted the reaction to her was."

"How is she reacting to them?"

"She.. hasn't cursed anyone to endure eternal nightmares-" I cover up a nervous expression with my right fist. "-which is something that it is well within her power to do." She frowns. "Miss Mary said something about it being hard to get makeup for someone of her complexion."

"Well… Yes."

"One youth asked if she was 'cosplaying'-" That word must have been in English. "-as.. some sort of Elf."

"A Dark Elf?"

"It may have been. I only know because Miss Mary was kind enough to translate it for me. Melinoë has no elfin heritage. She does not even look like an Elf. Why would they ask such a thing?"

"Elves are depicted in popular fiction as looking very different to how they really look. I'm not sure where Dark Elves started being shown as grey skinned… Might have been Dungeons and Dragons-." And I've lost her. "It's a role.. play.. game… It's not important. The fact is, it would seem far more likely to them that she was a normal Human in costume than literally being a goddess… That he probably wouldn't have heard of anyway."

Thana nods. "I suppose I can see why he might think that." She pauses, as if not quite sure how to address the next point. "But if he did not recognise her, why did he apologise and flee when told that his initial supposition was incorrect?"

"In our society, it's considered.. impolite… To draw attention to physical abnormalities. Once he was informed that it wasn't a costume…"

"He thought that he had been rude… To a normal woman who happened to look a little unusual?" I nod. "I see."

"How have you been coping with everything?"

"I keep my eyes focused firmly on the ground. I thought that I was used to large buildings… I have seen visions of Lord Hades' palace, and of the structures of Asphodelopolis which are bound together with Erebos' own magic. But this.. Fawcett City…" She shakes her head. "I looked up and it gave me vertigo. I should have listened more to what our wandering theatre troupe said of the outside world."

"And the colours? The noise? The men?"

"Those, I was more prepared for." She looks thoughtful. "I.. was not born in the Old City of Themyscira."

Oh. Goodness. "You're doing exceptionally well for someone born on the Island."

She shakes her head. "I believe that the town into which I was born was technically in Thracian territory. We moved into Themysciran territory during… I don't believe that the war ever received a name. The town had two storey buildings. Themyscira City -which I only saw after joining the priestesshood- had buildings as high as four storeys. Here… It is not so much the height of the very tall buildings which concerns me so much as the higher average height, I think."

I glance back at our shoppers. Mary is attempting to attach a gold chain to Melinoë's left forehorn. I catch Donna say the word 'piercing' and the Goddess of Nightmares and Madness jerks back in horror. "Would you like to go up one?"

"I think that I shall leave that to the rest of you."

"Oh, come on." I glance outside. "Once you're running this fast it's easier to keep-" Doctor Sivana ♀ walks past the window. "-going. Would you excuse me for just a moment? There's someone outside I should probably say hello to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd April
14:01 GMT -6

Doctor Sivana ♀ looks at me a little sceptically as she takes a sip of her coffee. "And she's… Actually the Ancient Greek Goddess of Nightmares and Madness?"

Said Greek Goddess of Nightmares and Madness appears to be going through a pink phase. Pink skirt, pink leggings, pink t-shirt with a picture of Pink emblazoned across the chest and a pink denim jacket.

…

Maybe I should have let Donna help the multimillennial goddess instead of an eleven year old girl who currently isn't using the Wisdom of Solomon.

Eh, she seems happy enough.

"She's actually quite pleasant company. One of my ongoing projects is to encourage a link between ancient magic practices and modern society and technology."

Her eyebrows raise ever so slightly. "And you're recruiting gods?"

"Yes, Hephaestus has been a great help already."

"What about Vulcan?" Momentary frown. "Or are they not separate deities?"

"No, they're separate. But Vulcan's even more cut off from… His job, if you like."

"Smithing?"

"No. He still does… Well, I haven't met him, but I had a chat with Hephaestus-" And Hera. Never hurts to consult more than one source. "-about it. He still makes things, but he doesn't god, if you see what I mean. No one worships him, very few people worship his pantheon… He spends half his time in their workshop under Mount Etna making wonders no one will ever see and the other half in a garage in Rubiera in Italy."

"Really?"

I shrug. "He likes machinery."

She appears to be struggling with the idea. "So people can just walk in and say 'there's a light on my dash and I don't know what it means, could Vulcan take a look at it'?"

"No, he doesn't go by that name. And I doubt that they use him for things where it's just a matter of replacing a part or resetting the engine management computer. He's very good at what he does."

"Is that what all the ancient gods are doing now?"

"Not all of them. But quite a few, yes. They usually had their domains because they liked whatever it was they were patron of. Hera's a relationship advice columnist-."

"Heh. And what does Zeus think about that?"

"They're divorced."

"You honestly expect me to believe-."

"He is a serial philanderer and she can do much better." I don't think that Doctor Sivana ♀ is quite convinced. "I can introduce you if you like?"

"And… What about..?" She looks over at where the Goddess of Nightmares and Madness is experiencing her first ever brain freeze. Frederick Freeman appears to find it hilarious. "Hades? Or Pluto?"

"Hades rules the Olympian dead from the hollowed out body of the fallen Titan Erebos. They get a handful of new residents each year. Pluto is a cartoon dog owned by Disney. He lives with Mickey Mouse. I don't believe that he's real as well, but I suppose I could be wrong. If you're referring to Orcus, I assume that he's doing the same sort of thing. I've never met him."

"Do.. you worship them? I mean, it seems a little strange that you'd worship someone who works in a garage."

I grin. "I worship Eris."

"I thought.. she was.. one of the bad ones."

"Chaos is what makes the universe more than rocks moving in perfect circles around one another. Eris.. the person, will wheedle, cajole, prod and pry to try and make people different from how they are. But…" I turn my palms upwards in a shrugging motion. "Are you today the same person as you were yesterday? Or a year ago?"

"I thought you told everyone that Klarion was a Chaos God?"

"No, he's a Lord of Chaos. A mortal wizard who turned their own soul into a giant mass of chaos magic. Eris' soul is that of an Olympian, Earth magic core with a chaos magic outer. Also, he's a mass murdering shit and she isn't."

She nods. "So, chaos isn't the problem, it's about how you use it."

"Like anything else. Yes. A fundamentally unproductive system changing may be for the best. A perfect system changing would be bad… But I'm not sure those really exist."

She nods, finishing the last of her coffee. "Listen, I've got.. this… Thing…"

I smile. "Need to wash your hair already? Am I really that bad?"

"No, it…" She sighs. "Actually, you're the reason why I'm not at the hospital. We're on the purple healing ray trial."

"Oh yeah? How is that going?"

"Brilliantly. The ray works exactly as it's supposed to. The hospital wants me to take a sabbatical to try and work out why it works. KordTech haven't been particularly forthcoming."

"That's because we don't know. Baroness von Gunther's work was a bit out there." But I smell an opportunity to fix that. "I can get you copies of her notes if it would help?"

She nods. "That.. would be great. I wouldn't give up working at the hospital for anything, but…" Another sigh. "My Dad.. wasn't a supervillain at home. He was the one helping me when I developed a strain of synthetic bacteria that destroys the rhinovirus. But now I'm working full time I haven't had time to get into a laboratory and do original research since…" She looks blank. "I'm not.. actually sure. God, it might be since I started my residency."

"That sounds like a waste of your talents."

"That's what the Chief of Medicine says as well." She looks uncertain. "It's just-."

"The results may help people but it takes far longer to get to the point where an actual person benefits than doing a shift in Accident and Emergency."

"Yeah, that. Magnificus doesn't care and the other two are nearly as bad as Dad. I sort of feel that I should be doing something like this? That's mostly why I went into medicine in the first place."

"To pay back some of the 'karmic debt'?" She nods. "I don't want to sound.. rude about your profession… But there are a lot of medical doctors and not very many… Um… 'Beneficent Geniuses'." That gets a burst of laughter. "I'm sure you can sort out a schedule that lets you spend some time on normal medicine if it means that much to you. But purple healing rays everywhere, that's…"

"Yeah." She doesn't sound completely convinced. "You're probably right. I guess ray guns just have a bad association for me." She sits back in her chair, looking me over. "I'd.. like to ask a favor."

"You can always ask, as my Dad used to say."

"Once a year, the Sivana family has a.. get together. I'd like you to come with me this year."

"When you say 'family'-?"

"Mom and my siblings. Dad's still.. wherever he ended up." She does a circular wave with her right hand. "I just like to bring someone along to make it bearable, and at this point it's you or Jack."

"Jack?"

"Daniels." She shrugs. "I'm a Danner enhancile, aren't I? It's almost impossible for me to get drunk, but if I down a bottle I can get tipsy enough to ignore Thaddeus and Georgia constantly bickering and Magnificus' inferiority complex. And I.. actually…" She looks away, smiling. "Would like to talk to you some more."

I smile back. "That sounds fascinating. When is it?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
07:56 GMT -6

"Now, remember:-" Doctor Sivana ♀ checks my tie for a second time. "-you're-"

"Not allowed to arrest your siblings." / "-not allowed to arrest anyone."

I put my hands on her shoulders, gently nudging her own hands off me to do so. "It's fine. I haven't forgotten anything you told me."

"Mom keeps the habitat on Central Time Zone Time-"

"Still haven't forgotten."

"-and.. I.. know that." She takes a deep breath and then slowly lets it out. "I really shouldn't be this wound up yet. The others won't be arriving for hours."

She's wearing a grey knee length skirt, a white blouse and a grey jacket, an ensemble which shouts 'camouflage'. An attempt ruined by the fact that the wearer is a gorgeous six foot tall blonde woman with super strength. I'm in a dark grey suit with orange pinstripes.

"You didn't say why we're going this early-."

"So I can catch up with Mom before everyone else arrives and she has to spend all her time 'Moming'."

"Is it.. really that bad?"

She flares her eyes as she nods. "Oh, you'll see."

"I do have one question, though." She nods, eyebrows slightly raised. "Is this a date?"

"Aaaahh…"

"I ask because I need to know what capacity I'm coming in. Is this a date, and if so how long are we supposed to have been dating? Because I doubt that you'll want to tell them that you.. grabbed me as an alternative to necking Jack Daniels until you could cope with them. Alternately, this is a fake date to demonstrate that you have a functioning social life, and if so-"

"Ou-ch."

"-same question. I can be vague about it if you want."

"Look, I have friends, I just-."

"Don't want them getting involved with the supervillainous part of the family. You're like Aimee Osbourne."

"Heh. Maybe. Only instead of swearing and shouting at each other they shout formulae and fire ray guns."

"I can use the rings defensively, right?"

"Ah, if things go badly enough that you're actually threatened, yes. But… I want to try and have a normal family day. Just once."

There's a beep from her jacket pocket. She looks down as she reaches into it with her right hand and pulls out her phone to look at the message.

"Bomb scare?"

"No, Magnificus wants me to make sure Mom has the right coordinates. Dad used to organise these things in hard-to-reach locations and make us work out how to get there ourselves. Mom's holding it on the Venus habitat because we can't turn it into a competition."

"I knew.. that your father had a teleportation system, but I don't know how it works."

"Oh, it isn't anything special, really. It works in more or less the same way as Doctor Erdel's original zeta tube. Dad always said that the fixed entry and exit point was a step backwards."

I frown. "Wait a moment. Wouldn't that mean that-"

There's a flare of blue-white light around us.

"-you have problems-" My brain catches up with my eyes, but my mouth presses on. "-with integrity.. loss..?"

"Hey Mom!" Doctor Sivana ♀ beams as she walks over towards the control booth, where a woman I'm going to assume is Doctor Sivana ♀… No, that's not going to work, especially if we're supposed to be dating. Beautia beams as she walks over to her mother and embraces her. I know the joke is that the older children took after their mother and the younger ones took after their father, but the resemblance is far from perfect. Venus is notably shorter than her daughter, and without the Danner Formula lacks the same muscle definition. She's also… How to put this? She isn't fat. I wouldn't even call her plump. But there's a little more body fat on her than there is on her elder daughter.

"Tia, honey! How have you been?"

Her accent is different as well. Transatlantic rather than Fawcettian. Okay, if this is a zeta radiation based system then… The four posts coming up from the platform must be the equivalent of our tubes. But that means…

"And who's this?"

"You fixed the problem with Doctor Erdel's original one-point system!" And curse not being allowed to scan any of this stuff!

Venus separates from her daughter and walks towards me. "No, that was Thaddeus. I'm an economist."

"Oh, right, sorry. "

"I can tell you how much it costs to build or run, if you like. And why that means that it's not practical for mass implementation." I step off the platform and she holds out her right hand. "Venus Sivana."

"A pleasure to meet you, Doctor." I bow, taking her right hand in mine and raising it to my lips. "Orange Lantern two eight one four at your service."

She smiles. "You probably shouldn't identify yourself with a number around here, in case Georgia or Junior get the idea that you're a robot." Her expression momentarily freezes. "Tia, he isn't-?"

"No Mom, he's not a robot."

"I only ask because last time-."

"Not a robot, Mom."

"Last time?"

Venus opens her mouth slightly, then closes it and turns to her daughter. "How long have you two been together?"

"We.. met back in February." Beautia comes around to my right side and winds her left arm around my right. "And we're going to be working together on reverse engineering the principles behind the purple healing ray."

Sophistry at its most off-the-cuff. Not a word of a lie but a strong implication that we've been together a while.

"Oh honey, that's wonderful! Your father's far less likely to claw his way back from whatever parallel universe he dumped himself in to wreak revenge if you're dating someone who isn't Captain Marvel."

I feel Beautia stiffen slightly. "Yeah, that's… Off the cards."

Hm. She's eighteen herself, so the age difference is only seven years and she's going to live for long enough that it isn't an absolute barrier unless she wants it to be. Maybe she prefers older men?

"It's probably for the best. So, Orange Lantern." Venus smiles at me warmly. "What do your friends call you?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
09:31 GMT -6

"It's really that good?"

Venus has got a bit into the 'make the potential son in law feel welcome' routine. Though… By what Beautia was saying, maybe she wants to get the warm feelings flowing before the rest of the clan turn up and try to scare me off.

Luckily for Beautia the photo albums are back in Venus' home on Earth.

"No resistance to electricity or heat at all. I've got a spool with me-."

She raises her right hand. "I think.. maybe, you should pretend you don't have that with you. Magnificus and my younger two would probably find it fascinating…"

I nod. "And having two young supervillains and a slightly older borderline case interested in something isn't necessarily a good thing."

Beautia nods. "Last time Georgia got jealous of me over one of my boyfriends… Well..."

"I'm.. going.. to need more than a 'well'."

Venus looks away for a moment, hands moving over her tea cup. "She transferred his mind into a Possum."

"She-. She what?"

"And then she wouldn't tell us where the switch was to turn them back…"

"But… A Possum? There's no way its neural structures are complex enough to contain a Human mind. Was… He alright?"

Beautia shakes her head. "Her machine didn't literally swap minds. It just rearranged the connections between mind and body. Justin's brain was still in his body, but it was getting sensory input from the Possum's body. And the same with the Possum."

"I don't think that's technically easier. Ah, also: are there any Possums-" The Sivana women cover their smiles. "-on Venus, because it sounds like that's something I need to worry about now."

Venus shakes her head. "I don't think so. Ah, Sivanadroid?"

One of the robots who apparently maintain the place trundles over. Its construction is a strange mix of heavy industrial looking metal and technical sophistication. The face is a simple piece of metal, with a glowing blue line to indicate the mouth. The upper body is similarly immobile, a humanoid torso attached to a metal oblong rising from a caterpillar tracked base unit. The thing it most puts me in mind of is Pneuman from the Tom Strong comics, only marginally less creepy. And the electronics inside are far more sophisticated than the exterior would suggest.

"Ready for command."

"Do we-? Uh. Information request. Are any Possums presently located within the habitat?"

"No member 'species: Possum' detected by internal sensors."

"Thank you. Um,-" She rolls her eyes. "-Sivanadroid, dismissed."

"Have a good day." There's a whir as its tracks pull it away.

Venus shakes her head again. "I don't know why he designed them like that."

"He probably kept them mentally simple so that they couldn't rebel against him."

"Or maybe he finds completely predictable interactions easier to cope with."

Venus sighs. "That does sound like him."

"Okay, I've… I've got to ask. How did the two of you end up together?"

"Oh, looks aren't everything. When he was younger, he was... Different."

"Oh, I don't mean because he's ugly and you're… Not." That gets an amused smile. "It's just… I spent days trying to get hold of the designs for some of his early work. I can easily understand how someone that brilliant, that passionate about what he was doing, could be attractive. I'm just… From what I've been able to read, his interpersonal skills were never particularly good."

"Oh, no, that's all…" She leans back in her seat. "A lot of what people who say they knew Thaddeus said after he… Became a criminal… It was all either nonsense or 'reinterpreted' in light of what he did later. Not that the newspapers thought to fact check when they had a hot new supervillain to demonise."

I glance at Beautia, but receive no guidance. "Well… I… Never met him. What was he really like?"

"Surprisingly charming. Before he came to college his parents told him that he needed to improve his interpersonal skills, so he read a book on etiquette and assumed that would do. I think it must have been from fifty or sixty years ago."

"So.. he's… Autistic?"

"He's definitely on the autistic spectrum, but I don't think he's got the full condition. But he can get upset when things don't go the way he thinks they will." She takes a sip of her tea, eyes gazing into the middle distance. "We first met when he asked me to take a look at some of his grant applications. I thought that some of his claims were a bit farfetched… So he took me back to his laboratory. It.. was…" She nods, more to herself than to me. "Amazing."

"I know."

"So.. we completed the proposal and I… Kept going back. I wanted to see what amazing thing he did next. And… He programmed a robot to cook us dinner, and…" She shrugs, smiling fondly. "He wasn't good at people, but he did try. And… Later…"

"Information retrieved." One of the Sivanadroids trundles up, its chest opening to reveal a screen which flickers to life to show… My lecture back in February.

"But the thing that really got to me, the thing that reduced me to hissing, eye watering apoplexy? Doctor Thaddeus Sivana." The picture of him -which I now realise would have been from when he and Venus were courting- appears on the screen behind past-me. "You all know him as a supervillain who occasionally goes on the rampage in Fawcett City before Captain Marvel stops him. But he was actually a legitimate scientist for far longer than he's been a supervillain. Know what pushed him over the edge?" There's a pause, and Beautia shifts around so that she's got a better view. Incidentally pressing a little harder against my left side. "No, me neither. Pretty much the first thing he did as a supervillain was try and take revenge on those who rejected his ideas and destroy all publically accessible records of his work. But I've read the reports from the survivors. Smart viruses that could target and replace damaged DNA segments, economic hydrogen fuel cells… If he'd been a better businessman…"

The Sivanadroid's chest closes again and -job completed- it trundles off again.

Venus smiles at me again. "I'm a little impressed. Quite a risk you took, speaking well of someone like Thaddeus."

"I just wish I'd met him when you did."

"You were wrong, though. The business case was solid. I'm the one who wrote it."

I frown, shaking my head. "Then..?"

"Why the rejections?" She slumps slightly. "Honestly, I still don't know. Perhaps his claims just seemed so unbelievable that investors just didn't believe it. Or.. maybe.. larger companies didn't want the market disruption that he could have created. And the college wasn't happy about him trying to become more independent… And ego was definitely a factor, on all sides."

"You left the university in ninety one…"

"We certainly weren't short of work. Or money. But Thaddeus was always frustrated by the fact that he could only sell designs that were slight improvements on things that already existed, rather than anything truly revolutionary." She sighs again. "Lost opportunity doesn't even begin to cover it."

"At what point did you notice him starting to go… Off the rails?"

"I.. think it was when we first started talking seriously about children."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
09:35 GMT -6

"I already heard part of that story from Magnificus."

Venus nods. "I didn't.. know about the test subjects.. at the time. Thaddeus had a lot of data on fetal development and.. I believed him when he said his techniques would ensure that our children had the best start in life they could get."

Beautia leans forward and pats her mother on the left arm with her right hand. "Mom, I started work in a hospital as a fully qualified MD at seventeen. I'd say it worked."

"There's.. more to life than how quickly you can start work. Your social skills may be better than your father's, but I still had to drag you out of your laboratory to go and make friends. And Paul's the first boyfriend you've ever brought home to meet the family."

"Mom."

I reach back with my left arm, putting it around her shoulder. "Do you know exactly what he did?"

"Thaddeus… He thought normal zygote selection techniques were wasteful. You have to fertilise a lot of eggs and then test them… So he did a full genetic work up of both of us and used that to calculate the optimal-" Mmmmmmmmmm! "-combination of genetic characteristics and womb conditions." She leans forward slightly. "And -let me tell you- I wasn't exactly flattered by that. Making a child is a very chemically complicated business, but Thaddeus was on top of it. I must have taken more dietary supplements during those nine months than the rest of my life put together."

"That sounds a bit…"

"He was.. trying to help. To do something good. And if anyone had actually been prepared to invest in the technology he developed we could have eliminated congenital deformity worldwide by now."

"And.. the Beresfords?"

"He never exactly said he was going to give our children super powers, just that they'd be as fit and healthy as humanly possible. I suppose he.. just had higher standards for Humans."

"I've certainly never had a problem with my strength."

Venus looks less certain. "You didn't have to breast feed two-" Beautia and I both cringe. "-super strong children." She notices our reaction and smiles. "Thaddeus ended up developing a sort of super resilient rubber nipple cover-" We cringe more as she mimes. "-which seemed to do the trick, but it still wasn't exactly comfortable. Fortunately, you both learned a degree of self control and spatial awareness before you did too much damage to our home. I don't know how the… How Missus Beresford managed with that."

"Breast pump and putting them on formula early. Please don't ask me how I know that." She was perfectly happy to talk, but her alcohol-lubricated ramblings were somewhat disjointed. Still, her children's rehabilitation is.. if not going well, then at least going. Magnificus has actually phoned them a few times, and his sheer condescension has spurred Tuppence into paying attention in class. "Their father used to take them out to an abandoned quarry where they could cut loose with their full strength." Which is almost certainly where the positive association with smashing comes from.

Beautia shrugs. "I never really cared about being strong. Dad.. emphasised intellectual development. I suppose I always thought that I was as strong as I'd ever need to be so I may as well focus on things that actually interested me."

"And.. Magnificus? I'd have thought.. at school…"

"We were always the youngest in our year. It wasn't such a big deal for me, but for him being shorter than the other guys.. did give him a few problems. And then he was.. too strong. If he got into a fight-"

Venus nods. "And that happened a few times."

"-he wouldn't just win, he'd mop the floor with them. He found it pretty hard to make friends."

"He was too clever for other children his age and too young for the other children in his classes." Two nods. "I suppose that.. in a way, Hugo Danner was luckier. He only outclassed the people around him physically."

Beautia rests her head on my arm. "I suppose that's why -despite everything- we've stayed so close as a family."

"Despite half of the family being supervillains?"

"Would you rather I leave Georgia and Thaddeus Junior with only their father for guidance? I'm not happy about the path they've chosen… But at least this way I can make sure that they're not doing anything too crazy."

"We're the only other people we all know who can understand what we're working on. Who can keep up with us when we start working on something beyond cutting edge."

"I've got the shade of Thomas Morrow on call. He's the only expert on thaumorobotics on the planet."

"I didn't say there weren't other people, just that we're the ones we know best. And there aren't many."

I nod. "Okay. Your father clearly had no illusions about his own physical attractiveness if he selected genes for appearance mostly from-" I indicate Venus with my right hand. "-you. Then why-?"

Venus raises her eyebrows. "Why do Thaddeus Junior and Georgia look like him with hair and him in drag respectively?"

"I wasn't going to put it quite that harshly, but… Yes, basically."

"That.. was.. when Thaddeus started to go more and more… Off. Our first children had the best of everything. With them… He said that if he compromised on some characteristics he could enhance certain others. Genes don't code for characteristics, they code for chemicals, so it seemed reasonable." Venus looks a little down, then perks up slightly. "Of course, since they didn't have super strength it was a lot easier on my-."

"Mom!"

"Thaddeus said that since intellectual ability was more useful for influencing the world than physical appearance he needed to do everything he could to maximise their intellectual development. Including discouraging them to have anything much to do with other children." She sighs again. "They both have better social awareness than he does, but otherwise… They have the same relentless, ruthless intellect that he has. Has now."

I frown. "But the Danner Formula wouldn't have made them less intelligent. It doesn't.. affect that at all. Unless he had some other alchemical formula for augmenting their brains."

"He said… And this wasn't until after the divorce. Because if he'd told me beforehand it would have caused the divorce. He said that that by denying them the ability to rely on their physical abilities, he was forcing them to rely on their intellect for everything. They weren't designed to be all that much more intelligent than Beautia and Magnificus, they were designed to be better motivated."

It makes a creepy kind of sense. "No one would give them anything, so they'd have to learn to take it." I frown. "That's-."

She nods. "Supervillain thinking. I've tried to encourage them to do other things… But.. it.. hasn't really worked. Particularly after the divorce. Thaddeus wanted to keep contact and.. he could help them with their projects more than I could. And then by the time he went full supervillain they were closer to him than ever." She looks pensive. "They sent me a message after Thaddeus disappeared to let me know they were alright, but this will be the first time I've seen them since then."

"Are they going to be alright with me being here?"

"I don't… They probably won't resent you more than they would resent anyone else." She takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales. "Okay, that's enough about my family. Why don't you tell me about yours?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:07 GMT -6

"So the ruddy Cat's just staring at me from the other side of the window, six metres off the ground above the concrete bit of our back garden. He sort of tries turning around, but loses his nerve part way through, because the window ledge isn't that wide." I mimic my cat's posture. "He looked a bit like he was thinking about trying to jump back through, but he was only a little Cat and I don't think either of us thought he could do it. So I ran downstairs and told my parents and Dad.. got a ladder out of the garage to go up from the outside and bring him down. And then a few days later he goes and does the same thing again. Only this time, before Dad can get the ladder up to him he jumps back through."

Odd to think about it, but this is the most I've talked about my family on Earth Prime since I got to Earth 16. Maybe it's… Sort of a taboo back in the mountain? They know that I've got no way to contact them so they don't bring it up? Don't know.

The travails of my family are a good deal less interesting than those of the Sivana family, but Venus has been politely nodding along. "We never really had pets in the house."

"What about those Crocodiles Magnificus had?"

"That was.. really more.. your father letting him help clean out his test subjects. They weren't supposed to be pets."

Beautia sighs. "Father ended up feeding them a mutagen and turning them into giant rampaging monsters. Poor little Herkimer. He was such a sweetheart when he was a hatchling."

"I imagine that Crocodiles are a bit more manageable when you have super strength. I'm afraid that I.. don't really have any stories that can hold a candle to that. Not from before I arrived on Earth Sixteen."

Beautia looks curious. "Earth Sixteen?"

"This parallel… Ah, the Earth of this parallel. We had an encounter with parallel universe versions of my team mates in February and they had some sort of numbering system."

She nods. "And let me guess: they were number one?"

"No, negative fourteen. I'm assuming it's a reference to some sort of constant, but I don't have any way to-"

There's a loud 'ping' from somewhere.

"-check." I take a moment to try and work out where it came from. There aren't any speakers, but… Ah, that's a sound induction wand! I didn't think anyone on Earth had those. Of course, with this being the pad of the Doctors Sivana, one of them probably independently developed it. "Is that important? "

Venus checks her watch. "Oh, that's probably Magnificus. He said that he might be coming up early." Beautia lets out an exhalation of frustration, earning her a warning look from her mother. "Be nice, Tia."

"Yes, Mom."

"Why don't the two of you go and fetch him while I check on the environmental systems."

"Is.. there a.. problem with them?"

"Not as such, but Thaddeus always thought it best to have Human eyes on vital systems every so often. And I've never been sure whether this base was one of the ones where he deliberately set the system to malfunction if you didn't or not."

…

What?

Beautia rises from her seat next to me, effortlessly pulling me up with her and then gently taking hold of my left hand and tugging me back in the direction of the zeta platform. I wait until we're out of earshot before asking.

"Deliberately malfunctioning environmental systems?"

"Dad.. sometimes.. liked to set us little.. practical tests. Oh, don't worry, even if it breaks down completely we'd still have hours of breathable air left. And Venus' gravity is approximately ninety percent of Earth's, so even without the artificial gravity we probably wouldn't notice the difference."

"I.. know, I'm just… How old were you when you were expected to do the eye-keeping for him?"

"Um… Six or seven? Crawling through the ducts was easier back then, but we had to use a step to check the control panels." She glances at my face and notices my stunned expression. "We knew what we were doing. Dad always said there was no point in getting an education if you weren't going to use it."

"Are we on.. Venus' surface here?"

She stops walking and closes her eyes for a moment, before starting forwards again. "Yes, I think so. There's usually a slight vibration when we're in the air."

"Can I assume that I don't need to draw attention to how amazing this place is and how valuable the technologies here could be to the Human species?"

"We have an agreement about not using each others' inventions without permission and.. Dad.. won't give anyone permission. Besides…" She looks around the corridor we're walking through. "There isn't anything here that humanity actually needs."

"Really? Because I imagine that a place like this has a pretty nifty power generator."

"Oh, it is. It generates power from something Dad calls the 'reality-Bleed membrane'. That's, ah…"

"I know what a Bleed Membrane Instability Generator is. It's on my xenotechnology database." I think for a moment. "How much trouble would I get into if I scan things around here?"

"I'm not sure. If Dad finds out that you used what you scanned to build something then he'll show up and destroy it. But I don't know if there are any actual automated anti-Lantern devices here. Dad hasn't really had anything to do with any of the Green ones."

"I.. note that you're referring to him in the present tense."

"Oh, he…" She flaps her left hand. "Might be dead. But I'm not going to assume anything. He's been declared dead, like… Five times, and there wasn't even a body this time." She releases my hand and heads towards the control console. I hover around just behind her, trying to make sense of the control system without actually scanning it. Just in case. "Seven.. relays… And…" She lowers a lever. "Activate."

There's a flicker of blue-white light from the platform, then a brighter flash as Doctor Magnificus Sivana appears. His hair is a little longer than last time I saw him and I think that he's put oil in it. He's wearing a white polo shirt and a fawn coloured leather jacket with a pair of blue jeans. I'm a little surprised, I hadn't thought of him as the dressing down type. He looks a little down, actually. "Good morning…" He catches sight of me and is momentarily nonplussed. "'Tia. And Orange Lantern." He steps off the platform, a slight frown wrinkling his brow. "You're.. looking… Well."

"Hello Magnificus. How's life treating you?"

"Oh, we.. finally got the go ahead for Human trials… On the Danner Formula, and one or two other things. I.. hadn't realised.. that the two of you…"

Beautia nods. "It's.. a little new, but I wanted him to meet the family early."

"Probably for the best." He's.. actually slouching. "I was.. going to invite Nyssa, but… She had.. a.. thing. Um… Have… Junior and Georgia turned up yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Uh-huh yet."

The three of us direct our attention to an apparently empty part of the room.

"We've been here for-" Whatever invisibility system Thaddeus Junior is using deactivates by increments, first revealing his face, then hands and arms, then torso and lastly his legs. "-nearly a week!"

"Hey Tia." Georgia's invisibility mantle fails in the same manner as her twin's. "Who's the hunk? And would it really be a problem if I cloned him?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:12 GMT -6

Magnificus looks pained. "A week?"

Thaddeus nods. "Yeah. See, we were trying to work out where Dad might have gone, and this was the only lab we hadn't checked out."

"But we're on Venus."

Thaddeus shrugs. "Yeah?"

Ow! I glance down and see Georgia looking disappointedly at the scalpel she just poked into my right arm. I might not be wearing armour but my environmental shield still works. Beautia snatches it out of her hand. "His name is Paul and yes, it would be a problem if you cloned him."

Georgia looks up at me, jaw set slightly to the left. "Are you sure? Because I could make some cosmetic modifications-?"

"Yes!"

Georgia tosses her head to the right and waves her left hand dismissively. "Fine."

"Not that I.. want to end up as a Possum or anything-."

Georgia scowls at me, and I suddenly get the 'Thaddeus Senior in drag' comment. "One time! And he deserved it! Stupid, deceitful-!"

"What exactly is he supposed to have done that justified-?"

"He only pretended to be nice to me to get close to her." Georgia points her right index finger aggressively at her sister.

"Ah. Well… That shouldn't be a problem, since I met her first."

She shakes her head. "Mom confiscated the Possumizer anyway."

"Hey, orange guy!" Thaddeus Junior waggles some sort of.. technological… "Where'd you get this?"

"That's an invisibility generator from one of Truggs' mercenaries. Are you working with him?"

"Nah, we stole it from your subspace pocket."

What? Ring, status of subspace storage.

"We were going for your lantern but I guess you left that at home."

Subspace pocket is currently empty.

What?

Georgia nudges her sister with her right elbow as she reclaims her scalpel. "Did you know he can cook?"

What?

Thaddeus Junior grins. "Yeah, turns out? Guardians don't bother locking subspace pockets." He shrugs helplessly. "Eh, what you gunna do?"

Find out how to bloody quick. "I should probably warn you that in our testing-."

"Yeah yeah, mental instability in unshielded users. But let's be honest here: with us?" He smiles at me and, yep, Thaddeus Senior with hair. "Who'd notice?"

"I thought there was some sort of truce in effect..?"

He tosses the invisibility generator to me underarm. It doesn't quite travel the full distance and I have to step forward to grab it. Ring, sub… Space. I guess. I mean, I can't carry it around all day. It's just.. whaw, I stick everything in there. Okay, okay, he can't have hacked the ring itself so at worst he's got hold of a few weapons, and he's shown the ability to make more powerful ones than anything I put in storage. He couldn't fit in my armour…

"Where's the rest?"

"Storage warehouse seven. Nice armor, by the way."

"Thank you, Thaddeus." Georgia tilts her head up, eyes rolling back into her head. Magnificus gives me a puzzled look. What? "I would be.. perfectly happy to just.. talk about the technologies I use in future?"

"Where's the fun in that? C'mon, we should go say 'hi' to Mom."

Thaddeus leads the way, but his shorter legs mean that the rest of us have to slow to a crawl to avoid walking into him. Magnificus sidles towards me as we go. "You know, since our first encounter in Qurac… I admit that the Kryptonian was a better fighter than me."

"He is trained for that sort of fighting."

"If we fought again, it wouldn't go the same way. I've been studying Systema and Judo with the mercenaries Lex hired to protect our research center."

"Have you been sparring with other super strong people? Because super strength fights are very different to the normal strength fights most martial arts are developed to be used in."

"N-. No. I mean, Arnold once or twice, but…" He frowns. "And exactly how many doctorates does 'Kon-El' have?"

"None, but he isn't one year old yet."

"He's-? What?"

Thaddeus glances back. "Yeah, Magni, it was in 'People'. He got made in an exo-womb pod and they had these weird telepathic aliens teach him stuff while he was growing."

"Oh."

"When you say 'how many'-?"

Beautia exhales sharply. "One. Are we really going to-?"

"My second thesis is nearly ready for submission."

Thaddeus grins, his posture becoming slightly more upright. "Two."

Georgia smiles confidently. "Three."

Thaddeus brings his right hand up to his mouth. "Soft subjects."

Georgia grabs his left shoulder with her right hand and jerks him around to face her. "Social psychology is not a soft subject!"

"Oh yeah? Where's your control group?"

We come to a halt as the younger Sivanas ignore their surroundings in favour of squaring up to one another.

"My control group! You can't even measure quantum energy states without changing your results!"

"That's because it's not possible, not because the underlying methodology is flawed!"

I turn to the senior Sivanas. "Should we-?" They've both fished out hip flasks. Oh. "Ah. Um, what was that about finding your father?"

Magnificus waves his flask. "Father was always meticulous about taking notes. They've probably scoured the laboratory Father was using when he disappeared -and the police evidence locker- for every bit of information they could find on exactly what he did to create that portal." He eyes a nearby corridor speculatively. "He might have left something around here, but if they've really been here for a week-"

"We have!" / "We have!"

"-they'd probably have found it by now." He takes a slug. "Father will either turn up or he won't. Whatever he made, he knows more about it than anyone else."

Beautia sighs as her younger siblings return to their bickering session. "And wouldn't that be the perfect way to spend the day."

Hm. She is the one I came here with. "Beautia, darling." She lowers her flask in surprise, blinking at me as I take her left hand in both of mine and bring it to my lips. "I find myself in need of directions to warehouse seven. Which I assume is far away from here. Would you be so good as to escort me?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:21 GMT -6

"Thanks."

Beautia walks slightly ahead of me as we travel along a corridor away from the main facility. Through the transparent walls dark storm clouds crowd out the yellow sky and splatter a liquid I know to be high strength sulphuric acid against our corridor. It's seven hundred degrees outside due to the runaway greenhouse effect and inside it's a pleasant twenty. This place has been here for years at least and shows not the slightest sign of corrosion.

People were turning this man down for grant money! Imbeciles!

"You're welcome. Do Thaddeus and Georgia argue like that all of the time?"

"Not all the time. Just whenever they're not distracted with work."

Ring, passive monitoring. Is anyone watching us?

Minor increases in activity in local circuitry. Cannot determine precise cause without active scanning.

"Magnificus seemed a bit down."

"Who exactly is 'Nissa'? Do you know her?"

"She's a daughter of the probably-late and largely unlamented Ra's al Ghul. She's been working with Magnificus.. and more than a few others now, in Lex Luthor's alchemical research centre in India."

"Alchemy?" I nod. "Maybe that's the problem. I doubt many universities award doctorates for alchemical research, no matter how original." He has a doctorate at eighteen and somehow still thinks that he's an underachiever. Bizarre. "Do you know what he's working on in particular?"

"Don't you?"

She shakes her head, eyes dropping to the floor for a moment. "Magnificus and I… We're.. very.. different people. You know how you said I wanted to be a medical doctor because of my family karmic debt?"

"I was half joking-" A brilliant bolt of lightning slams into the warehouse complex we're walking towards, momentarily lighting up the clouds. "-about that. I haven't found out whether karma is actually a thing or not."

"Let me know when you do." She smiles. "I'd like to find out how much overtime I need to put in."

"Or you could just convert to Hellenism. Hades is a very reasonable sort of God of the Dead." She snorts quietly. "But what's that got to do with Magnificus?"

"He doesn't care. I don't think he's committed any crimes exactly, but… His professional ethics-."

"When I first met him he was working for Queen Bee."

"There you go."

"Of course, now…"

"What?"

"He's working to understand the underlying principles of alchemy. And their first project is to get the Danner Formula licensed for mass use."

She stops right in front of the door, staring at me in astonishment. "Really!? But… That…" Her eyes unfocus slightly. "Everyone with super strength, super toughness and accelerated perfect healing. I… I have no idea what that society would look like."

"Good job you've got a sister who studies social science then, isn't it?"

She nods. "It kind of is a soft subject, but-" She turns to the armoured door's control panel and begins entering her code. "-that doesn't mean that it isn't useful. Where did Lex Luthor get his hands on that?"

"Some guy called Doctor Arnold Munro. He says he's Hugo Danner's son."

"Whaw, this is…" The door clanks, then opens with a slight hiss as the air pressure equalizes. "I've been wondering how long I could expect to live. How old is Doctor Munro?"

"Sixty two. Though I'd say that he looks about ten years younger. If he started using hair dye, maybe twenty years younger."

Beautia leads the way inside the storage complex's reception area. I suppose it had to be big enough for doom robots. "His hair's gone grey already?"

"I don't know, maybe he bleaches it. Or maybe the stuff they stick in cows in Brazil is so noxious that-" Beautia's eyes widen slightly as she slides forwards. "-they found something that overpowers Danner regeneration." Beautia 'lands' on the wall in front of us, then stands up at ninety degrees to me. Heh. "Artificial gravity on the blink?"

She lifts her right foot off the wall experimentally, then lowers it. "Apparently."

"Feeling any heavier?"

"I'd say.. about twice my normal weight." She lifts her foot up again. "Which is odd, because the artificial gravity system isn't designed to generate a gravitational field in this direction."

"Maybe one of your father's devices got turned on?"

"Oh, great. Well, 'down' appears to be-" She walks along the wall towards the door. "-in warehouse one, so at least I won't have to try the stairs like this."

I rise off the ground, orientate myself so that her down is my down and fly over to the opposite side of the reinforced doorway. "Should we wait and get Thaddeus and Georgia to have a look at it?"

"No, if it's only generating two g's then it's probably not that big a deal." She kneels down to enter a code in the door. "As long as the effect doesn't intensify, just disconnecting the power source should be enough to shut it down, and either of us-" She press the door open button. "-should be able to deal with it without any-" The door opens at speed. "-real difficulty."

We look inside, and a horned, three-eyed humanoid made of a black star-filled void stares back at us.

I blink. He's standing in the middle of an aisle. Around him, areas of the floor are marked out in yellow 'do not cross' lines. Within these areas are devices which I can't readily identify. Some are exposed, others are covered in shimmering force fields and a few just have tarpaulins draped over them. The tarpaulins are draped in such a way which suggests that he is now down.

"Is that one of your father's projects?"

"I.. don't.. think so..?" She kneels on the edge of the doorway. "Identify yourself."

The life form continues to stare. Ring, anything in the database about that?

Nearest match is Black Nebula of the Vanguard organisation.

Is she a good match?

No.

O.. kay…

"I am Beautia Sivana. Identify yourself."

"SIVANA." It begins walking towards us. "I AM HERE FOR THADDEUS BODOG SIVANA. YOU WILL TAKE ME TO HIM AND THEN YOU WILL DIE."