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

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:25 GMT -6

"But I can't-"

Humanoid made of space. DC don't own Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys which leaves…

"-take you to him-"

Sheeda. The Huntsman. I think I remember him killing a group of unpowered heroes and… Throwing them through time? I know he also got his arse kicked one on one against fricking Stargirl, so I wouldn't be too worried were it not for the fact that he's replacing local gravity with his own body.

"-because I don't know-"

But I am worried. Which is why I create construct armour around myself and Beautia just in time to intercept the luminous green energy beam fired from between his eyes.

"-agh!"

The armour is being abraded as I fly rapidly away from the doorway, pulling Beautia with me. The beam bends around the opening of the door, maintaining contact for a good half-second after she's out of his line of sight. Ring, local gravity?

Attraction to 'Huntsman' is now five times Earth gravity.

Oh wonderfu-.

There's a tremendous bang as the wall to the store room crumples in on itself! Through the gap I see the material of the wall floating next to the Huntsman, falling to the floor with a crash as he lowers his right arm.

"SIVANA. WHERE IS HE?"

"I just told you-!"

Armour.

I don't have my armour! Gah! Railguns! And.. I don't have any ammunition. Errr… Quick, fabricate…

I fire a short volley of Crumblers and… Were the Sheeda like fairies as far as vulnerabilities go? I don't remember. I think that the Sheeda-Sheeda looked a bit like Dark Eldar, so even if they are I'm not sure it would apply to him. Ah, what the heck. Cold iron and silver tipped rounds are added to the volley and… Every single one is a negative impact.

"-he isn't here!"

"I don't think he's going to listen. Do you know if your father was storing any-" The Huntsman fires another bolt of luminous green as we fly towards the lift shaft. I interpose a construct shield which appears to hold. "-gravity manipulation devices?"

"I haven't been here since I was eleven!"

"Oh."

"Maybe if we could just explain that whatever my Father did-."

"Beautia, I've been doing this for a while now and sometimes? Supervillains just don't want to listen to the voice of rationality."

"Yeah, he's kinda got a point. I've been a supervillain for a while now myself-"

Beautia looks around. "Junior?"

"-and sometimes you just get total tunnel vision. Ah, yeah, we've got internal communications from the hab area. Do you know what that thing is?"

"Not completely sure. I don't suppose your father's work contained any reference to 'Sheeda' did it?"

"Ah… No. We think he was working on some kinda time travel. He wanted to go visit the future and-."

"How far into the future?"

We fly past the number '3' painted on the wall. Four more to go…

"If I coulda found that out, do you really think I wouldn't just have opened another portal?"

"Okay, but, a little way, or a long way?"

"Junior, give me that." There's a bang just off the microphone. "Hello again Orange Lantern. Doctor Sivana here."

"Georgia, there's no one here called 'Sivana' who isn't also a doctor."

"But I have more doctorates than anyone else. Therefore-. Hey!"

"Magnificus to Orange Lantern."

The '5' flies past. And then goes past again in the other direction. Huh? "Go ahead, Magnificus." I look down and the Huntsman looks up. Flecks of paint are cracking off the walls to orbit around him in a miniature dust cloud. I flick both hands out to the side and release the Praexis swarm, who immediately fall towards the bottom of the shaft.

"Waaaaaaahh!"

A couple land on the Huntsman's head and scrabble to stay on.

Praexis Swarm.

The '4' goes past.

Consume.

"Yay! Foooooooood!"

Beautia looks at me in alarm. "What are those?"

"Demons bound to my service. Magnificus?"

"Do you have anything that can affect that creature?"

I glance down. A couple of Praexis Demons are attempting to ingest his horns, though I'm not sure how much good that's doing. I can't tell what he's made of. "Pass."

"Father had some rather precise gravity measuring devices in warehouse three. If you can reactivate them we might be able to assist you. Otherwise… You're the superhero. If you want to just take a swing at.. whatever it is."

Beautia looks at me. She's not properly scared yet, but I can see the yellow worries bubbling up. "Then you can put me down somewhere safe first."

"No fear. If we're the only people around I'd rather get all the information I can before running in blind." Ring, list of gravity manipulation devices.

Compliance.

"Dropping to level three. Beautia, get the door open." I shove the armour construct containing her into the doorway, then take up position in the middle of the shaft and create a gravity pulse projector construct. It's essentially a form of crowd control device designed to knock a group of people over. I target his chest just as he gets tired of the demonic assault and starts lashing out with his luminous face beam again. Three Demons shake and disintegrate before one gets to his face and starts sucking the beam at the source. Unlike when they sucked at his body this appears to be giving it a power it can use. The Demon begins to swell as I take aim and fire.

The Huntsman brings both of his hands up and grabs hold of the Demon slobbering at his forehead and there's a crack as space bends and the Praexis Demon is shredded. A moment later my pulse strikes the Huntsman in the chest. No noticeable effect, save that it's gone back to ignoring the Demons to focus on me. Okay, turn it up from crowd control to something a little more potent. My construct grows to anti-tank missile launcher size as I fire again. This time a thin cloud of blue wafts off his epidermis a fraction of a second before his green beam blasts through my construct barrier and pierces my construct gun, wrecking it.

"I'm in!"

"Go go go!"

Beautia charges through the doorway, running inside the warehouse. I try an orange energy pulse on the Huntsman (to no effect) before following her and hitting the door close button behind me.

And then I see the giant robot.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:28 GMT -6

Beautia scrabbles across the walkway around the edge of the room as I take in the sight. I've seen pictures of the second Mister Atom before on the Justice League database. Still images and footage taken at -or rather, as far as possible away from- the scene. The threat he posed to Captain Marvel wasn't just his strength, his toughness or integrated armaments, his sheer size and weight made fighting him within a city extremely dangerous. One mistimed punch and he could easily fall and flatten a building full of people. One car underfoot and he could fall against a wall, crushing it and all of the rubberneckers behind it.

Two Praexis Demons fall out of my rings.

This one isn't quite as big, and in any case Captain Marvel destroyed that one so thoroughly that there wouldn't have been much point in Doctor Sivana recovering it. This one is smaller, no more than two storeys tall at most. He's standing on the floor of the room with his back to us, the bottom of his head level with the upper gantry.

"Hey!" Beautia waves at me from the far side of the… Let's call it a hangar. "I've found his workshop, but I don't know which of these are gravity detectors!"

I fly at best possible speed across the open space between us.

"Magnificus! You with us?"

"Yes, yes. You're looking for a graviton flux detector."

"Okay, and what do they look like?"

"You don't know? I thought your ring had all sorts of technical specifications on it."

"Certainly, and if by some complete fluke-" Beautia leads the way as we walk into the workshop. Looks like weapon prototypes to me. "-he's built one according to the standard specifications of any species known to the Green Lantern Corps-" No, no, no, no, no… "-then I can identify it. Otherwise-."

"He won't have done that, Magni."

"Thaddeus, I'm trying to work here."

"Well, you're being too slow! I fight giant monsters all the time! And some of them I didn't even create!"

"Boys!" Beautia stares at roughly where the voice is coming from. "We're trying to fight a gravity monster here! Focus!"

Another Praexis Demon falls out of the ring, and I send the three of them to lurk near the door on the off-chance that the Hunter will come through there.

"Give me the-. According to Father's records, you're looking for a grey cuboid about three hundred by twenty by twenty."

"Three hundred..? Feet? Inches?"

"What? No, millimeters, obviously. There should be.. seventeen of them in stock. If you can arrange them in a circle-."

"I'm not seeing them."

Beautia heads over to the far side of the room, frantically looking for something that matches the description.

"Well... Look harder, then."

"Can you narrow down the location? What floor are they on?"

"Three, I already-."

"We're in warehouse three, which of the subdivisions of warehouse three should it be on?"

Beautia shakes her head at me. "Not over here!"

"Ah-. The.. secure part?"

Beautia and I share a look of bewildered ignorance. "Could you be a little more precise?"

"We can't see what you're-."

"Sure we can."

"Georgia, where did you get that microphone?"

"I built it, Thaddeus. And I built this-" There's a loud whir and then a series of clanks behind me. "-so I can reactivate Mister Atom Mark Two, and then we can use this to see through his eyes."

Beautia leans slightly to the side, looking out across the hangar. "Ah, guys? Do you remember what Dad programmed as the Mark Two's behavioral baselines?"

Mister Atom's head turns in our direction and the robot takes a step forward out of the gantry surrounding it. "I, MISTER ATOM, AM MEANT TO BE THE EARTH'S RULER!"

"Never mind."

"It's okay! We can still see through his eyes! And Dad would never have programmed one of his robots to attack us."

"Okay, I've got the power supply schematics." Thank you, Magnificus. "The power network shows that there are additional force fields around the room two levels-" Beautia is already running towards the stairs. "-down."

"Thank you." I fly back out into the main hangar and then drop down two levels-.

"WHO DISTURBS ME IN MY HOME!?"

Darn it. The robot isn't actually pointing any weapons at me, but its stance suggests that that could change at a moment's notice.

"Sorry, Mister Atom. Just passing through." That appears to be inadequate. "It's family day. I'm.. here as Beautia's date?"

And then the entire Praexis Demon horde pours from the rings. Most take a moment to stabilise and then fly in the direction of the entrance while two tumble to the ground and then vomit up the next generation. Okay, looks like the Huntsman will be heading our way in a moment.

"BEAUTIA SIVANA. CHECKING LOGS."

"Wait, what?"

"Magnificus?"

"He's got super moderator access to the system! I don't have that!"

"I do." / "I do!"

"Oh, that's… Splendid."

"CONFIRMED. YOU ARE ORANGE LANTERN." Oh good. "SUPERHERO."

Yike-! The electrolaser shots from his eyes strike my construct armour and he strides towards me, hands rising to either grapple me or bring other weapons to bear. Right, barrier. A new construct shield appears in front of me. "Beautia, found them?"

"I think so? Are there any other grey cuboids in here?"

What look decidedly like a pair of proton cannons emerge from Mister Atom's shoulders.

"That force field. Is it up?"

"No, I took it down to get in here."

"Might want to put it-" Two brilliant orange beams leap from his shoulder mounts, joining his electrolaser in blasting my shield! "-back on, because-" The wall behind Mister Atom explodes outwards as the Hunter enters the hangar. "-I'll find it rather tricky to-" My construct shield begins to crack. "-keep them off you."

I hear heavy thumps behind me, then Beautia leaps over my shoulder and lands back up on the upper catwalk. "Just keep them occupied while I set these up!"

Oh. Sure.

Mister Atom takes another ponderous step forwards.

No problem.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:31 GMT -6

The gantry above the Huntsman creaks, straining against its mooring as he exerts a far greater pull than it was designed to withstand just by walking past it. Beautia's having to anchor herself as down suddenly moves to the wrong direction. I think and her construct armour becomes sticky on the base of the feet. Great, now how to deal with Mister Atom? Ah. Maybe?

"Oh, what a relief! My leader, the Sheeda Huntsmaster is here! Surely he will save me from this robot!"

Immediately Mister Atom's hands drop and his head rotates to allow him to look at the new intruder.

"ORANGE LANTERN IS NO THREAT. NEW TARGET FILE NOT FOUND. BUT I HAVE NO INSTRUCTION TO LEAVE YOU ALIVE."

I dismiss my shield construct, then replace it with a fresh one. Okay, Mister Atom- He opens fire with proton cannons and electrolasers. -is occupied. Huntsman… He looks slightly irritated, maybe? That might just be because his increasing local gravity caused the Praexis Demons to get stuck to him again. Actually… I just gave Beautia non-magnetic magnetic boots and I can fly. Why hasn't Mister Atom fallen over? Mister Atom Mark One didn't have a flight system, but I suppose this fellow does? I'm not seeing any exhausts, magnetic field is about what I would expect-.

Gravity suddenly reverts to normal as the Praexis Demons are pancaked against his outer surface for a moment before dissolving. Ring, don't bother recreating them.

Compliance.

Mister Atom plays the electrolaser over the Huntsman's face for a moment before shutting it down. The proton cannons hitting him in the chest on the other hand remain active. "CURIOUSLY RESILIENT. BUT NOTHING COMPARED TO THE POWER OF THE ATOM." The small red marking on his upper chest shines and then ah crap.

I fly as fast as possible to Beautia and stick a shield around both her and the graviton flux detectors as Mister Atom fires a beam of gamma radiation that makes the amount I used on Mister Hagen look trivial. He maintains the beam for a second, then switches to alpha radiation, followed by a blast of beta radiation. Ah, maybe I should give him a clue.

"Quick, master! Use your gravity powers on this foolish robot!"

"WHAT LUNACY IS THIS?"

"BETRAYED BY THE MOUTH OF YOUR OWN ASSISTANT. MY WEAPONS SYSTEM ALLOWS ME TO COUNTER ANY THREAT."

The Huntsman holds his right arm out to the side and a… A trident apparently made of the same material as the rest of him appears in his hand. Shapeshifting? Some sort of storage ability?

"YOU WERE MADE BY SIVANA. I RECOGNISE THE DESIGN. I KNOW ITS FLAWS."

"I HAVE NO FLAWS."

A plate on his crotch armour slides aside and a small ray projector extends itself, three circular fins whose purpose I can't immediately identify leading to a small bulb at the end. Then the fins light up in pale blue and a beam of bent space connects it to the Huntsman. He staggers, blue dust pouring off him.

"NONE WILL STAND BEFORE THE MIGHT OF MISTER ATOM."

"Is the radiation back down to normal?"

"Yes? Oh." I drop the bubble shield and Beautia thrusts five graviton flux detectors at me before hurrying along the gantry. It looks like she wants to get behind the Huntsman, though I'm not sure how much-.

The Huntsman raises his left hand and makes a fist, Mister Atom's crotch cannon crumpling in response. Okay then. Ring, closest weapon to that?

Based on appearance and observable effect, graviton nullifier is closest match.

Edging towards concluding that he's a walking black hole here…

It is extremely unlikely that entity designated 'Sheeda Huntsman' is a 'walking black hole'. Peak output observed so far is two hundred thirty nine times normal Earth gravity over a small area. The gravitational pull of a black hole-.

I'll take your word for it.

Compliance.

Mister Atom takes a step back as the Huntsman strolls forwards, brings his left arm up over his head and then drops to a crouch, smashing the fist into the Huntsman!

"Magnificus, still with us?"

"Yes?"

"Exactly how do you want these sensors arranged?"

"Ah, the optimal disposition would be at variable known distances from the subject. Surrounding him in all directions if at all possible."

"Right." External surface looks fairly durable. I transmute a small amount of adhesive onto the wall and stick one of the sensors there. "Are you getting data from these?"

"Yeah, they've got a connection to the habitat's systems. I'm going over it now."

"We're going over it now."

"Soft subject."

Thaddeus Junior and Georgia on the case. I suppose that's a good thing. Considering the circumstances.

The Huntsman has been driven to his knees, hands on either side of the haft of his trident as he uses it to block Mister Atom's fist. Right, they're both fully occupied on that end of the hangar… I fly to the opposite end, near that storage area, and plant another sensor. "Do I need to tell you the distances, or-?"

"No, it's all automatic."

On the other side of the hangar I see Beautia toss one down the lift shaft before leaping over the wrecked gantry to the far side. I fly to the right side of the room, plant one on the wall and turn to check on the combatants. The Huntsman seems to be stuck-. No, he's sliding his left hand along the haft and there's a noise of tearing and crumpling metal as Mister Atom's left middle finger collapses in on itself. Next comes another bolt of green lightning from his forehead, but that skitters harmlessly across Mister Atom's armoured chassis, no more effective than Mister Atom's shots were. I create a construct hand and use it to reach to just behind Mister Atom, depositing another sensor.

"CURSE YOU." Mister Atom brings his right hand down in a chopping motion. The Huntsman has to compress to cope with the force of the impact, but almost immediately he starts to straighten again. Mister Atom points his left forearm at the Huntsman and-.

Alert! Anti-matter detected!

Oh dear.

Beautia continues running around the side of the room as Mister Atom thumps his damaged left fist into the Huntsman's chest. Okay okay, it should just be an explosion, and that's if the anti-matter encounters matter. If his body isn't comprised of matter -which is what my Crumbler negative impacts suggest- then probably nothing will happen. Whatever, they're both fully occupied. I take hold of another sensor with a construct hand and have it carry it around the side of the room, depositing it behind the Huntsman.

Where else? The ceiling? Okay, but then I think we should be heading up to warehouse seven. I really don't feel comfortable with-.

There's a brilliant flash of light from the Huntsman! The rings react immediately to dim my vision as I frantically look for Beautia! She's up above me, no closer to the centre of the blast than I am. Okay, her armour construct should hold-.

"yAAAAAAAGH!"

It fails. I'm by her side in an instant, a bubble shield going up around both of us. Idiot! The filament connection wasn't tough enough. Okay, burns, doesn't.. look like anything she can't heal.

"Magnificus, I'm heading up to warehouse seven."

"It would be better if you could plant one or two more-."

"Beautia's hit. She should be okay, but we need to move."

"Of course, then. Let me know when you arrive."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:34 GMT -6

I hold Beautia in my arms in a bridal carry as she taps the entry code to warehouse seven, leaving a smear of blood and liquefied fat on the keys from the burned scabs on her fingers.

"Are you really going to be okay?"

"The Danner Formula makes me very tough. And this isn't the worst I've ever been injured."

The door opens and I fly us inside. Ah, looks like Thaddeus and Georgia at least stored my belongings neatly.

"Really? What the heck happened to you?"

"I was learning not to play with-." She winces and shudders. "With necrotising fasciitis." She takes a couple of rapid breaths. "Danner." Another pained breath. "Doesn't make you immune. To disease." She shakes her head and takes a look at the closest shelves. "You. Cook?"

"Yes, well I make my own hours. Seems like the sort of skill-" And there's my armour! "-a man should have."

"Put me. Down."

"Are you sure? Because you look like death.. at room temperature."

"Need food. To heal."

"Right." I haven't studied exactly how the Formula deals with heavily injured recipients, but assuming that it's already been triggered… I fly over to… I think they organised my meals by colour. Danner regeneration mostly uses protein, though she'll need other nutrients as well. What's the best fit-? Cassoulet! I land just in front of the ceramic tray I cooked it in and gently put her down. "Any go-"

Beautia staggers up to the shelving and sticks both hand into the bean and meat dish, grabbing what she can and shoving it into her mouth as fast as she can swallow.

"-od? I'm.. afraid.. It'll be… Cold."

"Orange Lantern, she'll be fine but it looks like Mister Atom is losing."

"Right, Magnificus." And my ammunition is in… That box. "Picking up my stuff now."

Filaments flicker out to touch everything vaguely technological looking. All of my ammunition-. No, it looks like the younger Sivanas took a little something for themselves. I'll have to get that back off them later. Or.. is it already too late? Never mind, my library and tools can stay here… Now, my armour. Never did work out how to make it something I could put on normally. I rise into the air, dismiss my construct armour and surround myself and it with orange light before experiencing a sort of heavy metal anime transformation sequence.

And now I'm actually dressed for a fight.

Ring, link up to internal communications.

Link established.

Bleed tech is Bleed tech.

"Thaddeus, Georgia-."

"Busy working on a black hole gun!"

"Ah, Magnificus-."

"Is Beautia safe?"

"Safe-ish. She's gorging, as per the Surgeon General's recommendations for heavily injured Danner Enhanciles. And now the Huntsman is to blame-" Ring, run checks on the armour. "-for the wasting of a perfectly good cassoulet."

Armour systems in perfect working order.

"If it keeps my sister alive, then it isn't being wasted."

"That was… Pre-fight banter."

"Isn't that a bit flippant? You are about to fight an alien creature of extraordinary power with weapons which are very much not optimized for the encounter."

"It's a way of dealing with nerves, since I'm trying to ease up on using the rings-" I start walking back towards the lift shaft. "-to alter my mental state."

"Oh."

"How tough are these walls? The transparent stuff can take Venus surface conditions without getting even slightly abraded."

"Uh, look… Don't worry about it. Unless you completely destroy the interior, the building will remain-"

BOOM!

"-upright, and there are emergency force fields and repair automatons for the external walls. Georgia says that was Mister Atom's arm weapons being destroyed. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yes. Shouldn't you think about evacuating?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"I'm a superhero. There's a hostile thingy near my homeworld. What's your excuse?"

"This is my family home. As much as anywhere is. And anything clever enough to break in here will be able to track us down on Earth easily enough."

I look down the lift shaft in time to see the remains of Mister Atom's head hit the far side with a tremendous CLANK before falling a short distance and then landing on the near side of the shaft. Looks like gravity is playing up again.

"How much progress have the junior Sivanas made?"

"Working!"

"Hard to say. They've taken apart most of the kitchen and a couple of Sivanadroids so I'm assuming that most of the design work is done."

"Right. I've got about thirty different gravity based weapons to try out."

There's a scraping sound of metal against hyper alloy. I generate construct armour around my power armour.

"Any guidance for me, or should I just go through them in alphabetical-?"

I'm shooting downwards, the floor collapsing around me! Gravity nullifier gravity nullifier! The construct takes effect and I'm left feeling an unusual weightlessness as rubble and debris that was once stored in my subspace pocket rains down towards the Huntsman. Huh. That works.

"LANTERNS. RELICS."

My construct shield is in place before his green forehead lightning leaves his face. It bows and cracks, but it can hold for the moment. A single Praexis Demon drops from the left ring with instructions to intercept.

"I go!"

Next, I form a gravity nullifier ray. Bit of a novelty item rather than a weapon in most places, but I'm not going to moan as long as it works.

I point it straight at the Huntsman and fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:39 GMT -6

I see a fraction of a second of the Huntsman under the beam's effect, not looking hurt so much as puzzled. Then the space between us is filled with debris, material he crushed or shoved aside flying back into the gap between us.

"Gahh!"

The Praexis Demon I summoned is struck by Mister Atom's head and then smashed into a lump of floor. My shield is.. holding, but I don't have a clear point to shield against. None of the debris is moving particularly fast. There appear to be… Ring? Gravity has become a local phenomenon and I'm not totally sure how the form of phasing I use would interact with that.

Ugh. I don't remember much about this guy's arc in Seven Soldiers-.

Every bit of debris flies at me! The force isn't all that much, certainly not enough to break my construct armour, but it's more than a little distracting. The gravity nullifier effect doesn't actually extend all that far from my body and the mass is building up, pressing into me. Much more pressure and it'll be worth using the kinetic belt to deal with it. Okay, what now? I can still move… Oh, no I can't. Right, he wouldn't have done this if it wasn't advantageous to him so just staying here isn't a good idea. I take a small phase capable drone out of subspace into the thin gap between my construct armour and my actual armour and give it a nudge. It slips through the material surrounding me without apparent difficulty.

Guess that's as much indication as to the safety as I'm going to get. I activate the armour's phase system and the construct armour around my left shoulder buckles and fails, the prongs of the bladed weapon I saw the Huntsman using on Mister Atom slicing cleanly through the debris ball! It hits the surface of my armour and I'm already away just as fast as I can. I feel the armour shudder as it hits, as if the universe isn't entirely sure how the malleable physics employed in both my own phase generator and the Hunter's whole body are supposed to interact.

"Alert! Crushing gravity."

And since I'm phased the gravity nullifier isn't working. That doesn't really bother me directly, but the mass around me is obeying local gravity again. The Hunter's blade is knocked aside as the mass falls free of me. My vision of my environment restored, I see the Huntsman land in a light crouch on the wall of the lift shaft. No significant mass superimposed on me? Right, drop phase.

Ring, graviton gun.

Compliance.

I was astonished as anything to find that a weapon I first heard about from Games Workshop actually existed here. Doesn't have quite the same effect, the target usually being too smashed apart by the gravitational eddies to experience the immobility. But what the heck, seeing the name translated into English brought a smile to my face. Like a lot of these weapons, there's no real beam to see, though the air appears to shudder as the gravity jerks light around.

It hits home and there's a minor waft of blue before green lightning from his forehead destroys my construct.

And I don't even know for certain that blue wafts indicate a damaging hit! Certainly the crushing pull being generated from inside me doesn't appear to be weakening. My environmental shield is holding me together but I don't want to start relying on it. It really isn't all that strong against most deliberate attacks.

Ring, graviton trap.

Compliance.

This one is a bit more promising, a device used by physicists amongst species with more intelligence than sense to study one of the fundamental building blocks of the physical universe. The cage-like construct crackles with black energy… For about a second before the Huntsman waves his trident around and tears it apart.

G-GUH! Gravity shear inside my body! I felt a chunk of my right torso slide sideways, bone tearing from sinew and organs being pulped! Okay, heh, phase out and dodge the gravity effect, move and phase in and try… High powered lasers to his face.

Not a lot appears to happen.

I think he's in the same situation I am. We're both tough, hard to injure in a way which -and the ring finishes repairing my body- disables us. But we're not really sure how to put our opponent out of the fight. Okay, gravity attacks don't appear to be the solution I hoped they would be. Let's try something a little more orange. I raise my gauntlets. "Brand."

I go for wide beams of light, it having been conclusively demonstrated by this point that filaments don't last around the Huntsman. He swings his trident through the oncoming mass of orange which bends around the attack, flowing through the air around his weapon to strike the surface of his body. For a moment his interior glows orange as the light precipitates through and tries to find something to latch onto. I pour it on. I can't really see any desires from him, but it wouldn't surprise me that the Sheeda have defences against that sort of thing.

"WRETCH."

There's got to be something in there, he's clearly purposive… Unless I'm not actually looking at a living being but at some sort of projection which would-.

His trident twitches and I've moved just far enough to avoid getting the blade in the face by the time it hits me, slicing though my restored construct armour and into the material beneath. My kinetic belt triggers automatically. It fails to stop the cutting edge but tries to grab the weapon by the flat of the blade. Too late to save my upper ribs. I feel the jerk as whatever gravitational weirdness made a blade on a stick make sense for a life form like this pulls and crushes bone and flesh free from the surrounding tissue.

Gragh! Graviton converter.

The blade hasn't even fully passed through me as the boxy construct takes shape to my left and fires almost straight into his face. This thing converts gravitational energy into kinetic energy, so if the Hunter's body works even slightly like I think it does then it might make him explode, fall apart or otherwise cease to be. Instead, he narrows his eyes slightly and he takes another swing with his trident. I'm already moving, keeping the beam of the device shining on him in the hope that it will end up doing something. Dust and other minor pieces of debris disintegrate as the pull of matter to matter stops mattering and gets converted to omnidirectional thrust. Looks like the Huntsman can't fly, but his gravitational control is good enough that with a chunk of wall under his feet he can do a passable Silver Surfer impression.

I fly backwards to avoid another swing, taking an x-ionised sword out of subspace. The continual beam from the graviton converter has made the Huntsman go a bit purple. Or maybe that's just how he looks when he's tired? Or injured? I suppose one way this sort of fight -I parry his trident with the sword, which holds for a moment then disintegrates- can go is to exhaustion. I hope he's getting injured, but his gravity effects seem just as strong as before. On the other hand, so are my constructs and I know that I'm using a good deal of power doing this.

Hm. Ring, exactly how much power do I have left?

Forty three percent power remaining.

Oh dear. Another dodge and a neural chaff grenade… Which appears to do nothing.

Forty two percent power remaining.

I have the ring transmit a break down into my mind as I try using construct manacles to hold the Huntsman in place. Yikes gravity manipulation weapons are power hogs.

Forty one percent power remaining.

A chunk of power when I make one, then more to power the effect. Plus my injuries and the construct armour. The Huntsman takes another green lightning bolt shot at my weapon construct but the Praexis Demon has recovered enough to interpose itself.

"Orange Lantern to the Sivanas. Is there any chance-?"

"-because it's what I got my doctorate in! I invented this technology, Junior, and I know it better than anyone including you!"

"Did I call at a bad-" The Huntsman pulls fruitlessly at the manacles, then clenches and slices through them with intense gravity shears before lunging at me again. "-time?"

"Oh, just the boys sounding off, handsome. What can I do for you?"

"Georgia, are you anywhere near finished?"

"Uh, I usually think of myself as a 'work in progress', but I suppose-."

"Sorry, I meant the anti-Huntsman weapon you're working on?"

"Nearly. We're just trying to work out-."

"Right! I'm grabbing Beautia and heading your way. Try to be ready when I arrive."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:42 GMT -6

"Before you go-" The Huntsman crouches slightly. It looks… Tired? Hard to tell. The purple has spread through its limbs to the point that the black is almost totally obscured. I manacle him again. "-could you possibly deactivate any anti-Lantern devices your father has installed?"

"Ahh… He didn't have any last time I checked." My left eye twitches just a little. "I mean, he might have put in stuff that works on Lanterns-."

"Thank you. Carry on."

Ring, full scan. And assimilate.

The construct manacles flare as I try assimilating him through them. No, it doesn't look like that's going to work. Full scan gives me… A whole lot of really complicated information which would no doubt be fascinating to the Sivanas but is basically gibberish to me.

Alert! Thirty percent power remaining.

I scan Beautia's location. She's still eating, now looking slightly less roasted. Next, I abandon my assimilation efforts and try transitioning the Huntsman. Nothing. Try transitioning a piece of debris? That worked, but I still don't really want to risk it.

Alert! Twenty nine percent power remaining.

Time to be gone. The manacles and gravity converter are gone in an instant, eight more Praexis Demons appearing from the rings and swarming the Huntsman once more. Next, I form ion engine constructs and blast myself upward, back into warehouse seven. I dismiss my construct armour and send a second group of Praexis Demons down the shaft towards the ground floor. If I'm lucky the Huntsman will see the orange glow and assume that it's me.

"Ready to go?"

She puts down the soup bowl and wipes her hands on her jacket. "How are we getting out?"

"This place is all made of the same material, yes?"

"Ah, the structure is, yes."

"It doesn't impede my phasing. We're going out through the wall."

"To the surface of Venus?"

"We'll be phased, so the temperature and atmosphere won't be problems. Grab on."

Her eyes flick over my armour as she looks for a handhold. I open my left arm slightly and she steps up to me, wrapping her right arm around my forearm and putting her left hand on my left shoulder. I pull her in closer and float us off the ground before phasing us both and flying full pelt at the far wall. I have tested phasing with an external object before, but this probably isn't something it's wise to keep up while on low power. We pass through the wall… Hadn't realised quite how thick it was. Doesn't take more than half a second, then we're out in the open air. I also didn't really appreciate how tall this building is from the ground. Not without a casual ring scan to give me the numbers. I wonder how Doctor Sivana managed to build it? Orbital construction, then lower it? Build it on Earth then teleport it? No idea. I'll ask later. Only a short flight to-.

There's a boom behind me as an explosion rips through the wall of the warehouse complex! Chunks of building material are sent flying, then the murky clouds surrounding us are sucked in by the lower pressure. For a moment I see the twinkling lights that mark the Huntsman's body, but all I can think is 'uagh, that's a perfectly good building ruined'. I reduce my glow to minimum and drop, more decoy Praexis Demons flying away as I aim for the corridor connecting the storage warehouse to the habitat.

Okay, between the clouds and the lights if his vision works based on visible light… Or infrared, due to the armour's insulation and my environmental shield, or.. actually, most things, then he can't see me. If he can't see me, why is he looking this way? One, he can see me perfectly well. Gravity sense? I do have mass, after all. I'm not drawing green lightning… Has he given up on that, or can he really not see me?

Through into the tunnel. Quick check, door at the far end still in one piece. End phase.

"-coming back any time soon, or do we have a few minutes?"

I open my left arm. "Beautia, go. Make sure they're set up."

She nods, then sprints towards the habitat end. Huh. No quick 'what about you'? I mean, just running was far more sensible… I suppose… Full body armour does rather… Discourage…

Eh.

"Sooner would be better, Georgia. You've got maybe a minute and I'd like it if it were less."

"You know..?"

Ring, remaining charge?

Twenty four percent remaining.

Don't really want to light myself up. One thing about the Huntsman is that he doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

"Know what?"

"Just saying… 'Tia's not really one for exotic physics… She couldn't do what Junior and I are doing."

"I am fully cognisant of the virtues which you possess and which she does not. I also doubt that whatever happened with Justin was malicious on her part, while coming on to her boyfriend would be. Also, you're… What, fifteen?"

"Bet you wouldn't say that if I looked like her."

"I would, moral standards being a big part of the superhero thing. Look, shouldn't you be focusing on building.. whatever you're building?"

"I can work and talk at the same time. What do you want for one of those power rings?"

"I'm afraid those aren't for sale." Gravity based weapons had an effect… There is a beam singularity projector on file. But there are a lot of warning flags and I might want this power to run if the Sivanas' device doesn't work.

"You've got two. I could tell you how that zeta platform works."

"Okay, firstly, you wouldn't be able to recharge it without an orange personal lantern and I own the only one in existence. Secondly, if you really want one I'm happy to forward your application to the Controllers in two months' time. Thirdly, you stole my property while under the flag of truce. Fourthly… Georgia, you're an omnidisciplinary genius. If Beautia's appearance really bothers you that much, build an automatic plastic chirurgeon or something."

"Power ring would be easier. That's how you did you, right?"

"Tell you what. Deal with the Sheeda Huntsman and I'll see what-."

The tunnel in front of me implodes as the Huntsman falls through it, landing in a small crouch. Venus' atmosphere at once begins boiling in. I recreate the gravity converter and hurl my supply of neural chaff grenades even as I start flying backwards, shooting him before he is quite able to focus on me. Before I reach the habitat side I create a construct airlock and step though it. Ring, power?

Twenty two percent remaining.

I toss twenty Praexis Demons through the gap, then open the door to the habitat and fly through, closing it behind me. Okay, that should buy a few more seconds. I turn-.

"Hey, Orange!" Thaddeus Junior waves at me from the control seat of a.. contraption. There's a.. gun… I think. And a platform built on what look like robot spider legs. And some sort of computer system and a.. power supply. And that's when I notice that the corridor has a shimmering force field across it and the Sivana children are all on the far side of it. "Clear the way!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:44 GMT -6

The black blade starts in the top left corner of the reinforced door, poking through tip first before sliding downwards and to the right. Its passage is marked by the intrusion of a dark high pressure stream of Venusian atmosphere, billowing out of the gash and expanding into the lower pressure Earthly air on the inside. It looks a little like the metal itself is bleeding. Really, it's a testament to whatever Doctor Sivana Senior made this place out of that the metal isn't bowing due to the pressure, especially now that it's been weakened in this way.

The second slice is faster, moving top right to bottom left before the blade is retracted. The murk has already reached the point that the additional bleed through of gas is barely noticeable. Next come four far faster cuts, along the top, bottom and sides, angled in such a way that the external pressure starts to push the free-standing mass inward before a sudden extra force is brought to bear. The mass leaps towards us before toppling onto the floor, revealing the Huntsman as he poses in the hole.

"NOW YOU WRETCHES WILL-."

A mass of blue/green rays bend around the barrel of Thaddeus Junior's gun before striking the Huntsman in the chest. The light appears to penetrate before vanishing deep within him.

"GHU?"

For a moment the light disappears. I'm.. a little concerned-. No, it's back and it looks like it set off a supernova deep inside him. The Huntsman shudders, arms and legs spasming and locking in place. His spear falls to the ground, embedding itself blade first into the floor.

Thaddeus' eyes are locked on the sight. "And… Any… Second…"

A colossal shudder runs through the Huntsman, then his body… It's hard to describe. Like his body is some sort of inflatable object and air is being sucked out of the middle, but not all the bits are getting deflated at the same rate. There's a movement and a piece of the left side of his torso has vanished, pulling his body to one side in a way which looks quite painful. His left thigh has also vanished, knee connecting to his torso in a way which puts me in mind of Thalidomide victims. Another sudden movement and his shoulders are nearly touching his hips. A third and his fingers are all that are left of his arms. The shape I believe to be his mouth is working but no sound is coming out.

One last surge and there's nothing left.

Georgia rubs her hands together excitedly, waving some sort of tricorder at her twin. "Exactly as predicted!"

"Mm." Thaddeus Junior checks one of the readouts on his ersatz weapon platform. "Hey, Magni. Guess you were right about the circuit's tolerances."

"Well." Magnificus leans slightly forward so that he can look over his brother's shoulder. "Yes. I would be."

"How were you able to put this all together so quickly?"

Both of the younger Sivanas look smug, and Georgia points to the blasted opening with her right forefinger. "You think you could do something about that first?"

"Oh. Certainly."

A wave of orange passes through the air in front of us, pushing back the Venusian air and forming a construct patch over the hole in the wall. Next, I pick up the fallen doorway and put it back into the gap. Now, that was tacit permission, wasn't it? Scan. Hm. Not exactly revolutionary, but it would be a very nice addition to the next generation construction mix. Oh well. A flare of orange and the wall and doorway are as good as new. Another and the damage to the interior caused by the local atmosphere's ingress is undone.

"Hm. Yeah, that'll do. Georgia and I had a lotta this stuff ready to go because we're trying to replicate Dad's portal."

"Some sort of gravity weapon?"

"No, we got a clue that wasn't the way to go when you kept trying and failing. No, see, Dad's portal works by-." He cuts himself off, staring at me. "Oh, right. You're a superhero. Let's say it uses hyper-compressed black holes to make portals in space-time."

"Really? Because that sounds insanely dangerous."

"No, but that's nearly what it does and since you're kinda… Y'know…" He glances back at where Magnificus is checking Beautia over. "Usually the enemy…"

I wave it off with my right hand. "Oh, don't worry."

"I'm not worried, I'm just saying."

Georgia rolls her eyes. "Captain Marvel intervened before Dad could test it properly. I don't think there was more than a point five percent chance of anything much going wrong."

"Anything much?"

"You know, the Earth getting destroyed, that sort of thing. So what we think happened was that Dad didn't get transported to a parallel universe, he ended up somewhere in this universe and somewhere else in history. I've been trying to read up on-."

"Soft subject."

Georgia scowls at her brother. Ring, review historical records for people matching the description of Thaddeus Bodog Sivana.

None found.

"What I want to know-" Magnificus turns off the force field then looks at me. "-is how you knew what that thing was."

"If I'd known what it was I'd have done what you lot did."

"No." He frowns. "But you recognised it. You knew the name of its people."

Thaddeus looks momentarily thoughtful. "Hey, you did. What's with that?"

"That's something I'm not really prepared to tell the-" I bow slightly and hold out my right hand towards him and Georgia. "-loyal opposition."

Beautia's eyes move around the group, then get rolled. "Paul, we need to know if they could have left anything here. Any sort of monitoring devices, or anything like that."

"Okay, look, I don't know much about them. Sheeda usually look like bondage Elves-" Thaddeus sniggers. "-while some of them are-" I hold open my right index finger and thumb. "-much smaller. They stab special knives into the back of people's necks and use that to control them. Oh, and these sort of fat, non-corporeal gas cloud men who kill you by making you feel bad…" Can't remember much else from Seven Soldiers. "They're from the far future, descendants of-."

Magnificus turns to his brother, his right hand on the… Gun. Thing. "Can I borrow this?"

"Okay, but I'll want it back."

"Thank you." He lifts it off the cradle and flicks a few switches. "And… Good work."

"Oh." Thaddeus smiles. "Thanks."

Magnificus points the gun at an empty section of corridor and pulls the trigger! Blue light flares, and for a fraction of a second I see a humanoid cloud with six glowing eyes arranged in a circle around its head. "'Inherently inadequate' am I? Who's inadequate now!?"

Thaddeus and Georgia stare at the place the Misery unit disintegrated, then simultaneously reach for some sort of sensor. Beautia and I just look around nervously. "Can.. anyone else.. see one of those?"

Georgia shakes her head. "No, we're good. Ooh, is that vaporized suspendium?"

I walk over to Magnificus and pat him on the right shoulder with my left hand. "How long had that been following you around?"

He looks me in the face for a moment, then his eyes drop. "A while."

"Um." Beautia points to where the Huntsman disappeared. "I don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, but…"

A tiny black fleck floats in the space where the Huntsman vanished. It wobbles for a moment, then opens outwards into a vertical black disc. Ah, crap! Magnificus brings the gun to bear while I create a construct railgun and the younger Sivanas raise their sensors, grinning excitedly at the prospect of gathering new data.

A short bald man in a tattered lab coat steps though, and the portal closes behind him.

"Hello children. And…"

Doctor Sivana Senior peers at me through glasses held together by tape.

"I don't think we've been introduced."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
11:14 GMT -6

Doctor Sivana Senior slumps back slightly in his chair, hands steepled on his stomach as he looks at me. "I suppose it could have been worse. You could have been Captain Marvel."

"I'm just glad that you're taking this so well, sir."

"Oh, that's probably just a result of fighting for my life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with only what I could scavenge to eat, drink or build with for a year." He closes his eyes and rubs his forehead with his right hand for a moment. "What time are we eating?"

Venus leans against the wall closest to the kitchen. "I was planning a cold lunch for one o'clock, but under the circumstances I suppose that a sandwich wouldn't be out of the question."

"Thank you d-." A very faint frown marks his forehead. "…Venus. I would appreciate that."

She stands up straight, looking him over carefully as she does so. I didn't pick up on it when he first came through but he's carrying a lot of minor injuries. I haven't wanted to scan him directly -since he's clearly not in any immediate danger and he has killed quite a lot of people- but I can see bruises and long thin scabs which suggest quite serious injuries which have only mostly healed since they were inflicted. "No problem." She turns and walks away.

"So…" Doctor Sivana Senior finds himself the focus of our attention, and for a moment he isn't sure how to deal with that. "Guess I'm going to need to rebuild the warehouse." Then he stops talking.

We all wait for a few moments, but nothing is forthcoming. Thaddeus Junior loses patience first. "Where did you go, Dad?"

"The future, Junior. A little bit further than I meant to." His eyes drift away from his youngest son. "The Big Red Cheese punching things he didn't understand must have overloaded the system. Next time-." His head comes up again. "Sivanadroid!"

The closest one stops and trundles over. "Ready for command."

"Memorandum. From now on, four circuit breakers, not three."

"Command prompt recognised."

"Sivanadroid, dismissed."

"Have a good day."

Thaddeus Junior shakes his head. "How far was too far?"

"I'm not sure. I know that the sun will start dying in about five billion years and be completely dead in ten, but I can't think of any natural phenomena that would make it look like it did then. The radiation output was all wrong, and I could almost… Feel it sucking the life out of me whenever I went outside."

"Doctor, are they preparing for a Harrowing?"

"Eh, maybe, maybe not. None of the ones I interrogated knew when it was scheduled, but we do seem to be ripening up nicely."

Beautia blinks. "Harrowing?"

"Yes. You see, 'Tia, they're a dying civilisation. Their Earth's worn down to nothing, their technology is advanced, but it isn't anything like as advanced as what a civilisation like theirs should have. Every so often they raid the distant past for what they need to keep going."

"You mean it's happened before?"

"Oh yes." He smiles. "Their ruler King Melmoth stole their first time machine from some sort of time travelling Neanderthal." He smiles crookedly to himself. "If I'd known about that in advance I'd have spent more time trying to go back in time and not forwards."

"It's not just Humans they've done it to. There was an aquatic race that used to dominate the Earth. Someone -probably the Sheeda- killed nearly all of them. The handful left are Atlantean citizens."

"Sounds plausible. The thing about time travel is that they can do harvests of different eras while for them it's only a few years apart. They don't even necessarily need to do them in order."

Doesn't look like that's the answer Beautia wanted. "Dad, are they going to be sending more of those things here?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about that. Some complete lunatic was firing a gravity converter back through the link between the Huntsman and their control center. Not much left of the place now." He smiles cruelly. "Completely flattened, with hundreds of their people dead."

Oh.

"Or... Not much left of it then, I should say. After all, it hasn't been built now. Anyway, they were using a sample of my blood to triangulate on my era and I took care of it before coming back through. If they weren't aiming for now before I got there then we've got nothing to worry about."

Magnificus frowns. "I'm not sure that I'd say 'nothing', Father. A race of future Humans with highly advanced technology and a proven track record of exterminating planet-spanning civilisations have a bone to pick with our family."

"But they're not here now. Magnificus, how long will it be before Humans have faster than light travel?"

Magnificus' frown deepens. "We have it now. You took me on a trip to Proxima Centauri for my tenth birthday."

"No, no. Not things I've built. Things… Things normal people could build."

"I don't know. Forty or fifty years, I suppose."

"So if they can't do it before that, we've got nothing to worry about. They'll be too late to reset Earth civilisation." He leans forwards slightly. "They're resource poor. They can't sustain large fleets or large populations. It won't be too long before current day Earth is strong enough to beat a Harrowing Fleet conventionally. All we have to do is make sure we don't get Harrowed before that."

Thaddeus and Georgia look at each other with what could be concern. "We?" / "We?"

Sivana Senior nods. "Children, I've been doing some thinking."

Their faces fall. Georgia shakes her head. "Dad, no."

Thaddeus Junior's eyes widen. "Say it isn't so."

"I think I've… We've… Been stuck in a rut, just throwing things at Marvel and the other children. What I saw in the future… The civilisation there is.. contemptible, beyond even the idiots who rejected my inventions in this era. I'm going to rest up for a few days, then I'm going to start building weapons."

They start smiling again.

"And save them for fighting the Sheeda."

And they stop smiling again.

"We've been fighting someone we know everything about for too long. Can you honestly tell me that you're really pushing yourselves because of him? We already decided not to kill him when he was in his mortal form-."

Beautia's eyes widen. "You knew about that?!"

A faint smile appears on her father's lips. "You made it clear that you didn't want me interfering with your life. Have you changed your mind?"

"I was hitting on a ten year old!"

Magnificus' face drops. "Wait, what?"

Thaddeus Junior looks at him as if he's said something truly bizarre. "You really didn't know? Captain Marvel is really a kid called William Joseph Batson. He gets older when he transforms."

Magnificus hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. "Why would I care who he is? I've never had anything to do with the man. Boy."

Thaddeus Senior nods approvingly. "Good for you, Magnificus."

He blinks in surprise. "Oh. Um. Thank you, Father."

Thaddeus Senior returns his focus to his younger children. "The point is, we're not really learning anything new. Sure, we can test weapons on him, but there are dozens of places we could do that. He's not changing himself, he's just static. And yes, he's using his powers slightly better than he did when we first started fighting him. But so what? The Sheeda on the other hand are near complete unknowns. I lived on their world for nearly a year and I still can't tell you what they can do and how it works. Are you really telling me that studying them won't be more rewarding than picking a fight with Marvel for the umpteenth time?"

They think for a moment. Georgia nods her head to the side. "I… Guess…"

"Glad you agree, Georgia. Junior?" His son nods. "We'll get started tomorrow. But right now, I have a non-recycled sandwich to eat."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
18:54 GMT -6

I knock on the door, but there's no immediate response.

"Doctor Sivana?"

I knock again, a little louder. Okay, he knows that I'm on a truce, and if he's serious about focusing on the Sheeda then I really don't have any reason to violate it. I take hold of the door handle and push open the door.

"Humpf?"

Doctor Sivana jerks awake in his chair, momentarily confused by his environment as he blearily looks around. His left hand goes to his glasses where they rest on his desk. His right is already holding an organic looking handgun. Fortunately for me it isn't pointed in my direction. In fact, his grip on it is loose. He must have been holding it when he went to sleep. It tightens as he sees me hovering by the door, then his glasses reach the bridge of his nose and he releases it completely.

"Come to get me for dinner?"

"Actually, Doctor, I was hoping to have a word with you?"

He squeezes his eyes shut, right thumb and forefinger massaging his brow. "I'm sorry. I haven't had a lot of opportunity for regular sleep lately. A lot of late nights are catching up with me."

"A year, you said."

"There aren't any safe places in Sheeda arcologies. I didn't understand their technology well enough to build watch drones. I had to make do with simple mechanical traps. Every time one went off I had to relocate."

I nod. "A year for us. How long was it for you?"

His eyes narrow slightly, but his mouth has a thin smile. "A little bit longer, if I counted it right. The good thing about going bald early -and looking like a Goblin- is that it makes it harder for people to tell exactly how old you are." For a moment he smiles properly, a completely unguarded response to his emotions. Then it's gone again as he shuffles his chair forwards and puts his elbows on his desk, hands clasped together. "Tell me, young man. How long have you and 'Tia really been together?"

"She asked me to attend this gathering two days ago. Prior to that, my only interaction with her was during a demonic invasion of Fawcett City."

He nods. "Are you planning to keep seeing her?"

"Yes. There's some technology developed by Baroness Paula von Gunther that I'm.. trying to get into wider circulation-."

The smile is gone, his fingers unlaced and his right hand sort of rubbing around his left. "Good luck with that."

"I'm in the advantageous position of not needing external investment. With these-" I hold up my palms. "-rings, I can tell exactly how well motivated everyone involved is… Aside from problems involved in licensing -which would exist for any novel technology- I don't think anyone will be able to do to me what they did to you."

"Hn." He notices his own hands, then lays them flat on his desk. "I meant, do you plan to continue seeing her in the romantic context?"

"I don't know. We're really in more of a 'feeling-one-another-out' stage. I like her, but I don't know how compatible we are."

He nods. "I suppose that's reasonable."

I risk a smile of my own. "Have to admit, I thought having this sort of conversation with a supervillain would involve more threats."

He shakes his head. "'Tia wouldn't want me to involve myself. And… Sometimes relationships don't work out, no matter how much you want them to."

"Would you mind if I.. asked you a few questions about that? I mean… I've looked into your personal history-."

"Then you probably know everything already. What is there left to ask me about?"

"I know what, I don't know why. And I can only learn that from you. I can easily understand being angry with the people who rejected you. I'm not sure I can understand deliberately killing them. Or… I can't understand why they rejected you in the first place."

"You'd need better people skills than me to understand that." He wrinkles his nose. "Why did I kill them?"

"Given everything you could have done with your abilities… And that you'd put up with already… Why did you turn to supervillainy?"

His gaze grows a little distant. "I'm not sure I can exactly explain it. Science is my first love. One of the few vectors I have for interacting with people is sharing what I've learned. When I got turned down, I was honestly more annoyed about them rejecting Venus' business plan than them rejecting my technology."

"You killed them for being rude to her?"

"No. No. I killed them for being…" He looked puzzled for a moment, searching for the word he wants. "Wrong." That doesn't seem to quite be it. "It's like… If you want to get across a body of water, you could use a aeroplane or a boat… But you shouldn't use a dogsled. I got to a point where I just couldn't see a reason not to." He bows his head slightly. "I'm probably not explaining it very well. I've never really been one for introspection."

"Just… 'Why not kill them?'"

"I… Understood people… I mostly understood people, in terms of their roles. As a scientist, my job was to discover and invent, to work out how the universe works and how to make use of that. Venus' role is to understand supply and demand, what people need and how to get it to them. The role of an investor is to make a rational judgement about risk and reward and then either put money in or not. But if the product is good and need is there and the risks low and the reward great, someone like that should invest. One or two people I could have understood. Dozens?"

He shakes his head. "I mean, look around us. I designed this. I didn't build it, but I built the robots who did. I could have done this for NASA or the ESA or CNSA. And I would have been happy to. The sort of person who turns this down has no grounds for complaint if someone like me decides to use them as a test subject."

"Test subjects?"

"Well… Okay. I was pretty annoyed with the first few, but… Yeah. I don't have any sort of personal grudge against Captain Marvel. I don't do this because I particularly want to hurt him. I've learned a lot from testing weapons and technologies against him." He nods. "That's what it's about."

"You're just making weapons-?"

"I'm not just making weapons, they're just the only things you see because they're the only things that require that sort of field testing."

"But to use your own justification-" If I can really call it that. "-a lot of the people who die during your fights with Captain Marvel might well be quite good at their jobs. Their.. social roles."

"But I'm not really part of society anymore, am I? I don't have henchmen, I have robots. I don't trade for things other people make, I use robot miners, farmers, construction units… Anything I want to learn, I learn myself. I don't go out of my way to kill people, but if they die.. then.. they die."

"But-?"

"I didn't think like this to start with. When Venus and I got together, I genuinely hoped… Okay, not hoped. Just 'assumed', really. I assumed that my technology would revolutionise the world. Heh." He looks down at his desk for a moment. "I wasn't like this to start with. But I am now. And I'm not going to change."

"I just wish I'd met you twenty years ago."

He nods again. "Twenty years ago I'd probably have wished the same thing. This… Research thing you've set up? Are you looking for people like me, or are you hoping they'll come to you?"

"We haven't really got that far. At the moment we're just bringing established people together and sharing abilities."

"Then on behalf of my younger self, I'm going to suggest that you reconsider that approach." He brightens slightly. "Oh! And in case you hadn't spotted it, well done for calling Junior 'Thaddeus'. He likes it when people do that, but around here it would just get confusing."

"You picked it."

"Nothing wrong with 'Junior'. I'm certainly not using my middle name around people. I'm a scientist, not a rap musician."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th April
15:04 GMT +3

Donna waves as she sees me across the inner city plaza and jogs in my direction. I think I'll count the Senate agreeing to the presence of a Dolmen Gate here paired with one in the Themysciran Embassy as a minor victory. Saves me from having to ferry people here. Though not much use for Cassandra, it makes travel time for Donna about ten minutes and for Diana about two minutes.

And about twenty minutes for Io or any other Amazon who feels like sticking her toe into Man's World.

Donna comes to a halt in front of me and raises her eyebrows. "So? How was Sivana Day?"

"Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana returned from the far future, pursued by Apocalypse Elves."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I was, once Guy explained how to secure my subspace pocket against subspace pickpockets." I gesture back towards the palace. "Can we?" She nods and we start walking. "Thaddeus Senior persuaded Thaddeus Junior and Georgia to focus their energies on preparing for the next Sheeda Harrowing, so we won't have to worry about super science attacks from that quarter for the foreseeable future."

"And the bad news is that we've got Sheeda Apocalypse Elves to look forward to?"

"Yes, but we probably had those anyway. At least this way we know about it. And the Sivanas are quite good at making weapons."

She nods, then glances at me. "And how'd it go with Beautia?"

A goodbye kiss and we're meeting up again the next time the brain trust gathers. "Is that really why you came here?"

She ducks her head slightly. "Do you..? Did the results come in? Do you know..?"

"Not for certain, but… Probably. And I've also finished the secret mission I was given by Queen Hippolyta."

"Since I don't know what it was about I don't really know what to say about that." We climb up the steps and start towards the main entrance, the guards on duty giving us a nod. "Well?"

"The two are… Related. And I've got this whole monologue planned..?"

She rolls her eyes. "Fine, I can wait for a minute."

We pass into the throne room and begin walking up the central aisle. Queen Hippolyta, Captain Philippus and Diana are seated at the far end, with Acantha and Menalippe hovering close at hand. Menalippe's cat is also hanging around. Odd. Maybe it's too hot outside for her? Conversation falls away as they watch our approach. Once I reach the start of the 'audience area' I place my right fist over my heart and genuflect to the throne.

"My Queen. Thank you for granting me this audience."

Queen Hippolyta leans forwards slightly. "Paul, is there a reason why you are behaving in this way?"

"Yes, it's because I've done something very clever and I'm feeling fairly smug about it and want to wring the maximum enjoyment from the build up." I look up. "Chaos, you know?"

She looks puzzled. "I do not think I see-" I send filaments out of the throne room and down. "-what is chaotic about-" Around the corridors… "-a sense of pride in-?"

Four orange flickers as the Circle appear in front of me. They aren't merely on their knees, they're on all fours, faces pressed against the floor. "My Queen, I-." Alkyone's voice is choked. She hasn't stopped crying since I explained to them what the results I got from Sephtian meant. "We… Humbly beg your pardon for our grievous error in judgement. For our treason and attempted regicide."

Hippolyta's mouth has fallen open. Philippus' hand stills with her sword half-drawn and the guards already have their spears levelled. Acantha has covered her mouth with her right hand while… Diana looks at me with a sort of maternal irritation and gives her head a slight shake. Donna just looks confused.

I stand, my arms snapping out to the side. "Chaos."

Hippolyta stands, half-staggering forwards a pace before recovering herself. "How did you manage this?"

"When you went into Gaea's temple to create the clay figure which became Princess Diana, Alkyone followed you and watched. For reasons I.. still don't fully understand, while you were doing it she saw the Hekatonkheir Cottus standing over you. Now, they'd never seen Cottus in person before, so didn't realise that if he were physically present -even allowing for the spatial distortion at work in the grove- he'd have been visible from the city. And quite possibly the mainland. If you're used to gods and goddesses who look more or less Human, a titanic individual like Cottus is more than a little disturbing to see. That, combined with the fact that you made no mention of him upon your return, led Alkyone to conclude that your mind was being altered in some way. Since no friendly divinity would do that, Cottus' cause must have been hostile, and since it resulted in a child being created she must have been a vector for his malevolence."

"And for that, they tried to murder Diana." Hippolyta shakes her head. "But Cottus wasn't there."

"Diana, would you mind..?"

She frowns, but her mother is already looking at her and nodding. She closes her eyes for a moment, then takes the Lasso of Truth from her belt and places the loop of the lasso in her mother's hand. Hippolyta puts her fingers through and firmly grips the rope.

"I testify that I saw nothing of Cottus on that day, nor have I on any day since."

"And I can combine that with the testimony of Lord Hades, Princess Melinoë, Akhlys, Briareos and Gyges. While none of them can account for his every movement, none of them are aware of him having left Tartarus since the end of the titanomachy. And they all gave him good character references. Diana, may I borrow the Lasso?" She nods, and I link a filament to it and float it over to me. I take hold of the coil with my right hand and lower the loop so that it lies on the floor next to Alkyone's right hand.

It takes a moment, but her eyes glance towards it and then she moves her hand to take a grip on it. "My Queen, I saw Cottus standing with you that day."

I frown. Hmm. That means that her memory hasn't been altered. Or reconstructed in her own mind from ambiguous stimuli, the Lasso burns through that sort of thing.

"I can't explain that." I tug the Lasso back from Alkyone. "If it turns out that it matters, a full analysis of the site might yield more information, but I'll understand if you're not keen. Just to make sure that Alkyone's concern was unfounded I had my colleague Sephtian compare thaumic signatures from a number of individuals. To spare you the technical details, all members of the Greek mythos share certain arcane characteristics and these are more similar if there is some immediate relationship between the individuals compared. Having seen the results I can confirm that Cottus isn't drawing any power from Tartarus, or any source other than himself. His signature is simply too similar to that of his brothers. Diana has both Titanic and Olympian elements, but nothing that is uniquely like that of Cottus. While I would need to fully analyse the Five and Gaea herself to establish the relationship beyond reasonable doubt, on the balance of probability the version of Diana's creation told by Queen Hippolyta is correct."

I turn to Donna. "But Cottus might have created you."

The sudden change of direction appears to catch her off guard. "What?"

"The similarity between your metaphysique and Diana's is very high. Higher even than that of Diana and Euanthe, who were both given life by Gaea. The differences have a strong similarity to Cottus' magic, though there are other components I can't readily identify. I would hypothesise that you were somehow created in a similar fashion to Diana rather than being naturally born, though I'm afraid that more than that I don't know."

Her eyes drop to the floor as she takes that in. "Oh."

I turn back to the throne. "Alkyone has psychological issues relating to children which may have affected her judgement, but that was the trigger. I'm afraid that I can't explain every event… The information just isn't there. On the other hand, I have completed the task that you set me."

There's a flash of blinding light behind me, as if someone set off a flashbang grenade. Construct goggles form over my eyes as I turn around, and as the light dies down a blonde man wearing only a kilt, sandals and a pair of leather bracers stands in the aisle. He smiles at us.

"Perhaps I might explain?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th April
15:09 GMT +3

There's a general bowing from my Amazon compatriots. At least, those not already face down on the floor. Even Donna gives him a politely reverential nod.

I cock my head to the right, and jab my right forefinger at him a little uncertainly. "Apollo, right?"

He grins broadly, throwing his golden-tanned arms out to the side. "I am indeed he! And you-" His right index describes an arc pointed in my general direction. "-must be Eris' little boytoy. Pavlova or something, isn't it?"

A college student compared to Zeus' university student, Apollo is second only to his father for putting it about, though it seems that before reaching the modern era he either grew up or learned to use contraception. Sustained Mage Slayer fire would probably hurt him, but Menalippe was quite clear that attacking the Olympians isn't on. Instead, I send a filament outside the palace, up the wall and further up into the sky, generating a large Discordian Chao in the sky.

Some jokes are only funny once.

I take a deep breath, and Hippolyta looks at me with growing concern. "Lord Apollo. Welcome to Themyscira."

He turns his full attention to her, walking past me and-. Oh, he actually shoulder-nudged me. He actually-. Oh, okay.

"My pleasure, dear niece. I believe I can explain the remaining facts which your investigator failed to uncover."

Hippolyta bow-nods. "Please do."

"Diana's creation is of course unblemished by any power beyond those you know. Grandmother Gaea, my aunts Hestia and Demeter and my sisters Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite. But even in his prison, Cronus-."

"Used a stolen part of Cottus' body to eavesdrop on what happened in Gaea's temple, and later used sympathetic magic to duplicate the ritual to create Donna."

"Ah." His head half-turns back to me, his grin a little less sure. "You knew."

"I wasn't certain, but I could see where you were going with that. I didn't say anything because I didn't have proof. And it didn't make any sense to me. What did he hope to gain? Where did he get the power from? And why didn't anyone spot what he was doing?"

"What he hoped to gain was a powerful demigoddess servitor. Obviously." He tosses his hair and returns his attention to the throne. "Cronus didn't merely duplicate the ritual, he altered the magics the goddesses employed so that they could not tell one nascent demigoddess from the other. They… Inadvertently empowered both."

Donna nods. "So it was Cronus."

Apollo turns to her. "He arranged things, certainly. But don't feel down. The same magics animate you.. that animate Diana." He turns back to the throne. "For the most part."

"But that was eighty six years ago. Donna's not eighty six."

He doesn't look around this time. "Cronus arranged for his new daughter to appear in the hands of a group of his cultists, who kept her in suspended animation while he worked out what to do with her."

Donna shakes her head. "What do you mean?"

"Can't you tell? You know how slavishly Devastation hangs on his every word, his every order. His intent was for you to be not the spirited young woman that you are, but rather for you to be as she is. He simply didn't understand the magics he had evoked, so desperate he was for any slight advantage."

"So… Why let me go? I mean, if he couldn't trust me…"

Apollo grins again. "Dumb luck. A gas main leaked and met a spark. The cultists looking after you were all killed and their spells of binding broken."

"And of course, if they'd just brought you up normally you'd probably have been happy to serve their cult." Donna glances at me, clearly unhappy that I said it but not able to honestly contradict me. "Just goes to show that a being can be ancient and powerful-" I smile at the back of Apollo's head. "-and still understand nothing."

"I'd say-" He looks Donna over with a lasciviousness that annoys me. "-that he knew exactly what he was doing. The error probably came from the cultists. Perhaps he tired himself out in the rite and then couldn't direct them in the next stage. Who can say?"

Donna nods slowly. "And I doubt that I'll ever be able to ask him in person. Not that I'd want to."

"I'm quite glad to hear it. I believe that he used what he learned from your creation to create Devastation, substituting the magics of the goddesses for that of the Titans, the fragment of Cottus for his own blood."

"So… Devastation is my… Sister?"

Apollo shrugs carelessly. "If you like. Though you are far more closely related to Diana."

Donna shifts her eyes from the god to her mentor, whose return gaze is filled with sororal affection. "I'm… Not really sure… How I feel. About any of it."

"Of course." Apollo nods, then looks around the gathering once more. "Well, my work here is done. Donna, if you want to talk, you know where my shrine is." He turns around and starts walking back down the aisle towards the entrance to the palace.

As he draws level with me I stick out my left arm and plant my hand in the centre of his chest. "Couldn't help but notice that you didn't say why no one knew about it at the time." His eyes narrow slightly. "Or did anything about it. I mean, Cronus giving his cultists a demigoddess? That could have gone very badly." I nod my head to the right. "And you didn't explain how you know any of that."

"Providing mortals with insight of matters that are beyond them is part of my portfolio."

I nod. "Why did Alkyone see a vision of Cottus, oh God of Oracles?"

The skin around his mouth tenses, as if he just smelled something repugnant. "I thought that it was fairly clear. I've had complaints about heroes receiving ambiguous visions and omens before, so I sent one that was completely straightforward. A vision of the person whom the recipient was supposed to go to for further guidance. Cottus could have told her what Cronus had done, then she could go out into the world and recover the newly made demigoddess, and bring her back to Themyscira to be raised in an environment of love. Alkyone wanted a daughter and we gods wanted Cronus to be denied a pawn. It would have been perfect." He turns around. "How could I have known that she was so deluded as to believe that the gods wanted her to kill a newborn?"

Hippolyta bites down her initial response. I watch her getting herself back under control. "An… Unfortunate miscommunication, my lord."

I take a step to the right, getting out of his way. "And of course you couldn't just step in and tell her directly, could you?"

"We-" His head snaps around, smug smile finally gone completely. "-don't-."

Eris' fist catches him right on the underside of his jaw, snapping his head back and sending him crashing to the ground, where the back of his head takes the brunt of the impact.

"You got my-?"

"Eris signal." She nods. "Nice."

"Glad you approve." I turn my head to the mildly stunned Amazon elite. "To complete his sentence: We don't fix our own mistakes. When things don't go the way we thought they would we cut and run. We whistle and walk away and let the chips fall where they may. My Queen, there are no outstanding loose ends."

Hippolyta's eyes dip to the stunned Apollo. "No. I suppose there aren't. I will need some time to consider. Captain, escort the Circle to the guest quarters and post a guard. I will..."

"Oi." Eris pokes me in the arm. "I'll grab him under his arms, you get his legs. There's a pig farm just outside the walls. If we hurry, we can toss him in the sty before he wakes up."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Zigzag

29th April
10:58 GMT +2

Jade looks around at the bustle of activity all across the archaeological dig site. "It's certainly classier than anywhere I've been on a date before. Not sure about the food…"

I shrug, left hand holding onto the box whose strap is slung over my left shoulder. "I can take you to somewhere in Shiruta afterwards. I should warn you though… I'm quite popular there. We might not get much privacy."

Though it hasn't been a priority of his reign so far, Adom is well aware of the value of tourism to the Kahndaqi economy. He also knows the location of a great many valuable sites that have been lost in history, though I know for a fact that there have been clashes with Cairo University's Archaeology department about how to treat them. For an archaeologist, historical sites should be preserved as much as possible. For Adom, a place sacred to the gods he worships should be repaired, repainted and put back into use. What exactly is to become of the now partially buried Temple of Zehuti hasn't been agreed on, but for now it serves our purpose nicely.

I frown as we head towards the recently excavated entrance. "I.. thought you said you didn't want to-."

"I didn't say we were. But this is."

"Look, I've had enough criticism about my romantic intention communication failures that-."

"I never said that I wouldn't flirt with you." She's not looking at me, but she is smiling.

I look directly at her, then wave at the archaeology student beyond her who's excitedly pointing his camera phone at us. "I said I was interested, you said it was against your professional ethics."

"It is. We were the League of Shadows, not the League of Ninja.. Escorts."

"But you're not an assassin any longer." That gets an eyebrow. "Not professionally. This is a.. hobby thing. The rule doesn't need to apply if you don't want it to."

We pass under the awning and start down the slope into the Temple proper. "Date with Sivana go that badly, huh?"

"There was a near-unstoppable time travelling gravity manipulator and Thaddeus Junior and Georgia stole everything from my subspace pocket." Jade stops and this time looks at me with genuine alarm. I shrug. "They gave it back, but it was pretty unnerving."

Got back everything the breach of the warehouse complex didn't completely burn up or melt to sludge, anyway. After their mother glowered at them for a while I got what certainly sounded like a genuine apology… Which -given how they normally behave- is probably all I can hope for.

I pull ahead of Jade slightly as we reach the first chamber. "Beautia and I will be meeting up again. I just want to be clear that you have… First refusal." She doesn't say anything. "How's the bodyguarding thing going?"

"It pays the bills."

"No problems with the other henchmen?"

"Not after they found out I'd been to Belle Reve. Besides, I'm not supposed to get involved in the 'family business'. I'm just temptation-free protection for the boss's daughter." Her face stills for a second, and the next thing I know her sai is out, fully extended at thin air. Her eyes have narrowed. "I know you're there."

"Between you an' the Bat, think I need to work on me hidin' spells."

John… Appears. It isn't the shift that I saw when Thaddeus turned off the invisibility generator. The best way I can describe it is the reverse of what Granny Weatherwax did in Masquerade. Parts of wall and floor I was perfectly aware that I was seeing before suddenly come together in my mind as being parts of John. He holds his hands open and to the sides, trying to make clear that he isn't a threat while at the same time not deigning to pay her knife much attention.

Wait a second. No cigarette. The rings run full scans on our surroundings, bands of orange light running swiftly over everything. My rune stone comes out of one of my pouches and I turn up my empathic vision, taking a good look in all directions.

"What's wrong with you?"

"No cigarette." The stone is glowing… John usually makes it glow brightly, but the Scholars of Zehuti were big magic users back in Adom's time. This whole place sets it off. Scans don't show anything I wasn't expecting.

"Oh, come on. I can go five fuckin' minutes." His hands and eyebrows flick up for a moment in appeal at the gross slur on his personal habits.

"Almost certainly him."

"So does that mean I put the knife down, or stab him twice just to make sure?"

John smiles, right hand patting the left of his coat before tensing up and lowering itself again. "Where'd you find this one?"

"'This one' grew up in Gotham City." Jade lowers her sai and returns it to her coat. "John Constantine. The League had a file on you."

"Oh yeah?" The left side of his mouth turns upwards. "Anything good?"

Zatanna walks through from the inner chamber. "No one who has a file on you has anything good to say about you. I thought you realised that."

"Charmin'." He looks around the room, then turns and ambles towards the doorway to the inner chamber. "Adom's warmin' up the wards. We can get started in a mo."

Jade nods, then glances at me. "And the defences here are good enough..?"

I shrug. "If you know somewhere better…"

Zatanna nods. "We don't know enough about what we're up against to judge it perfectly. But this temple is as well protected as anywhere else we could go without rousing even more suspicion."

Adom stands as we enter, his normal black and gold costume covered by white robes. A display of modesty before one of the gods empowering him. Not something he does for anyone else. There's a smell of burned perfume in the air. "My preparations are complete. We may speak freely."

John nods, then looks at me. "Did'ja get it?"

I open another pouch and pull out a Golden Apple. "I asked when we were dumping Apollo in a pig pen."

"She ask what it was for?"

"I said it would be a surprise. She didn't seem to think it was such a big deal. Apparently she's got a whole grove of them."

"An' that'll work, will it?"

"We'll find out." Filaments take hold of my box, pulling out the prototype elemental rifle I received from Sephtian's workshop. "In theory, it's this simple." The Apple flickers as my constructs push, then deforms as the gold it's made of says that it should. The metal stretches over the chamber of the gun, making it the most bling firearm I've ever held. I hold it out to Jade, who takes it, works the mechanism then nods.

Zatanna makes a small beckoning gesture with her right hand and a small stone rises off the floor. "Dleihs fo redro."

A small golden barrier forms around the stone as it hovers in the air. Order magic isn't Zatanna's speciality, but we've been studying what Nabu might be able to do so much that she's picked up a few things.

Jade raises the gun to her shoulder, sights and fires. The stone explodes, its arcane shield doing nothing at all. She lowers the rifle.

Zatanna looks at her cautiously. "Remember, the aim isn't to kill him. He's holding my Dad-."

"I know." Jade nods. "My job is to disrupt his spells unless ordered otherwise. Then shoot to wound."

I nod. "You've had plenty of time to look over our plan so far. What do you think?"

"It's… Basically well thought out. But as far as the ideal outcome goes, I'm worried about what happens if your arcane mana draining device doesn't do the job. I think you need-."

I nod, looking down. I was worried it would come to that.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow."

 

[Mr Zoat]

30th April
17:07 GMT

"Again, boy."

Since I didn't want to disturb them if they were doing something delicate I transitioned myself into the next field and then walked over this way. Rob was visible for the whole of the distance, flying hither and thither in the air around the stone circle. The stone circle where Rob and Graham have their practice sessions is a good distance from any road, and since they don't customarily use giant glowing shapes high up in the air to fight with they haven't attracted the sort of attention that my sessions with Guy, John and Jordan have.

"Again."

That said, the brilliant flashes from Rob's conjured lightning blasts might end up changing that before too long. I haven't come back since the first time. It felt like I was intruding, though Rob hasn't hesitated to talk about it. Graham is a stern but fair taskmaster and Rob's combat magic has come along in leaps and bounds.

"Translocate."

Rob disappears from the air and reappears near the centre of the circle. Just in front of him I see the mist-filled uniform which makes up Graham Marrack's 'body', standing in the exact centre of the circle, hands clasped at parade rest behind his back.

"Call winds."

I brace as a gust of hurricane force air blows past me, clouds above visibly moving inwards towards the megaliths.

"Clumsy, boy."

Rob's actually panting. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't be sorry, just don't do it. Time?" Rob turns his left wrist to look at his watch. "No. Any fool can use a watch. Use your magic."

"Errr… Two hours 'til sunset?"

"Closer to three, but better than your last guess. Alright. You're clearly exhausted. We'll call it a day there, I think." Rob sags. "We've taken basic elemental casting as far as we reasonably can in this setting. We'll do something a little more sophisticated next Saturday. Pack to travel."

"Ah, okay?" He looks confused. "Can you..? I didn't think you could leave the circle?"

"Only on the mortal plane. It is well past time you were inducted into the mysteries of Otherworld."

"Oh. Ah. Okay. Sounds interesting."

I reach the edge of the stone circle and Graham's head turns in my direction. "Orange Lantern. Robert has informed me that you are the protégé of the Green Lantern." He pauses. "Though since there are now several perhaps for clarity's sake I should specify that I am referring to the one I fought beside during the Second World War."

Rob half-turns and gives me a nod.

"Yes, sir. I've been the fortunate recipient of a great deal of guidance from him."

"I remember him clearly. Good lad, I thought. My time on the Earth is nearly done, for this week at least. If you seek my counsel, speak swiftly."

"Actually sir, I just wanted to talk to Rob somewhere private. I don't want to keep you.. if it's uncomfortable for you."

"Not greatly. The living world has a.. colour to it my normal abode lacks."

Rob frowns. "Heaven doesn't have colour?"

Graham shakes his head. "We Marracks don't go to heaven, boy. Why do you think I want to show you Otherworld?"

"O-oh. Right."

As I understand it, studying pre-Christian magic might well result in a practising Christian going to the afterlife associated with that practice instead. Graham might well just be talking from personal experience and be mistaken about the general effect. Or it could genuinely be a core part of how their abilities work. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd sign up for a pagan afterlife any day of the week. The Angels are a bunch of fascists anyway."

"Think my vicar might argue that with you. Zatanna kind of warned me not to talk about Christianity with you?"

"Vicars, hah. An ignorant breed, for all their pretensions." Graham's eye-clouds glow slightly as he focuses on me. "No, you may speak."

Might want to give Rob a little longer on the 'not going to heaven' thing. If it really worries him we can see what alternatives we can arrange. "It's… Really somewhat private."

"Tchjk." Rob shakes his head. "Great granddad's dead. I don't think you have to worry."

"He might. But I know when to hold my tongue. Speak, Lantern."

Well. Poo. Still, if I'm going to do it there's no sense in dragging it out. "Zatanna and I have been researching techniques which could be used to remove Nabu from her father. Violently, if necessary."

His eyes widen. "What?"

I give him a small shrug. "Why so surprised? Did you think I would accept the status quo?"

"I… Shit… I just though-."

"Language, boy. Lantern, what has Nabu done?"

"What do you know about him?"

"He's an order-based elemental creature who relies on hosts to act in the world. I met him while Doctor Nelson was his host."

"Doctor Nelson gradually stopped using him, then towards the end of his life began looking for someone to take over the whole Fate thing. Sadly, he died before he could find someone willing. Last November, the Chaos Lord Klarion led a ritual which put the world's children on one Earth and the adults on another. To help stop it, my friend Zatanna put on the Helmet. Once the fight was over, he didn't want to let her go. Her father traded himself for her freedom. Since then, he has enjoyed not a single moment of freedom. That is not acceptable to me. As far as I know Nabu hasn't made any arrangements to secure substitute hosts-" Like William Zard, who was right there at Roanoke. "-and was aggressively disinterested when I offered to make him a golem body."

"Yeah… But… Don't.. the League, like..?"

"Not as far as I've seen. Current D-Day is the seventh of July. We intend to confront him, give him a last chance to stand down, then… If he doesn't take it, do whatever it takes to force him off. I would like you to participate. Having a thaumovore along would significantly increase our chance of bringing him down alive, which is my preferred outcome."

"Shit." Graham cuffs him around the back of the head. "Ah-! Um. But… You-. The League-. Wouldn't they-?"

"I don't know what -if anything- they're planning. But they seem to have accepted Nabu. My plan is to ambush him away from any support and have the fight finished before any help can reach him. I'm going to need a yes or no before I tell you any more."

"If I say 'yes', what happens?"

"We go and meet the rest of the group I've assembled, and bring you up to speed on the specifics."

"And if I say 'no'?"

"Then I go and fetch Zatanna and you forget this conversation ever happened. I'm sorry, but we can't risk a security breach."

"No, 'course…" He's looking at the ground, his head shaking left to right and back again. "But what's this going to do to… Like, us and the League."

"I don't know. Afterwards, I'll be leaving the Earth and Zatanna will be leaving the team. I don't think they'll be able to take any overt action against the participants due to how they lied to the world about what happened in the first place. However, I can't promise that you won't be punished in some way, particularly if we end up killing Nabu. Well?"

"I don't fucking know, alright?!" He turns away from me, shaking his head as he walks a few steps before turning back. "Great granddad? What do you think?"

"Boy, do you know how many times I have considered usurping control of your body and using it to grant me the freedom to move beyond these stones? To draw magic naturally once more and fight the good fight in the land of the living?"

Rob's eyes widen. "What?"

"I am the better mage, after all. Surely the world would be better served by me than by you? Logically, if I saved at least one more life than you would have done then the deed would be just, would it not? So: How many times? How many times do you believe that I have considered it?"

"I-I-I-um… Once or twice..?"

"No. NEVAH!" A crackle of lightning runs through his body. "My time is done. My life is over. I accept that. Life passes from one generation to the next. Great grandson, you are my heir as my own son never was. I will guide, I will steward, at your request, recognising the rightness of your independence. I will not make you my slave, fit to live only that you serve me. It would be a foul and unnatural act and Nabu should know better. If he has become so arrogant, so debased, then strike him down and worry not for the righteousness of your cause."

Rob just stares at him for a minute. Then his head dips.

"Right." He shakes his head again, then turns his attention to me. "Think I should… Probably meet everyone, then."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd May
07:54 GMT -6

I lean forward slightly towards the monitor. On the screen, Wallace approaches Challenger Mountain's front door before bottling out.

"June, how many times has he done that?"

"That's his fifth. I've got a bet going with myself that he'll get to seven before giving up completely." She tilts her head my way, eyebrows slightly raised. "Are you going to take mercy on him, or do you want me to turn the sprinklers on?"

"I'm genuinely curious as to why he's here." I tap my left fist against my lips. "I mean, I'm assuming that he's come in person because he doesn't want anyone else to find out, but I can't think of anything he'd want from me."

Sunset looks up from her tablet. "Maybe he just wants to talk to you because you're friends?" I blink. "Used to be, anyway."

"Mmmmm. No, I don't think so. Kaldur, maybe, or Artemis or Zatanna. But Richard loathes me and I doubt that I won any points with Mister Allen when I killed Klarion just outside his city."

"He's afraid, Corpsman."

I lift up my right hand slightly and stare at my ring. "Of what?"

"The lazy option, Corpsman? I'm disappointed."

Ugh, right. Using the orange ring to look at someone's desires came naturally to me. Using my yellow ring to look at someone's fears… And I do actually like Wallace. Instead, I take a snapshot of everyone's location. Chester and Vera are in the gymnasium, Chester to make sure that he's in top shape before I start giving him fieldwork and Vera to get used to her improved cybernetics. Mister Tawny is watching them and the Sphere is spending the day with Scott and Barda.

The Genomorphs are… Everywhere. With most of the heavy lifting done we've scaled back on the G-Trolls and brought in a new Genomorph type. G-Nisse are slightly larger and a good deal more physically adept than G-Gnomes, perfect for the sort of precision work this place now requires. Jean and Lynne are overseeing a 'session' in the basement. Probably shouldn't take Wallace in to see that. Neither Jade nor Miss Amane are here at present.

Wallace stops, turns around and starts towards the door for attempt number six. I turn away and head towards the door. "Sunset, pop outside and invite him up, would you? I'll be in meeting room two."

"And you can't do this because?"

I stop. "Because I'm big and intimidating while you've got that whole 'Magic of Friendship' thing going on."

"I'm not sure that's actually a thing here. And I'm still not totally convinced it was in Equestria, either."

"Look, he's clearly very intimidated and the only person he even knows here to be intimidated about is me. Please, go and say hello to him."

"Fine."

"Thank you." I walk out of the control room and head in the general direction of the meeting room. Ah, teenagers. Worth getting the practice in when it comes to handling them, and she's usually not too bad really. Of course, that could be something to do with never asking her to do anything she doesn't already want to do. I once read a fan fiction in which Twilight Sparkle was described as a 'pony shaped learning machine' and I think that Celestia has a 'type'. She already started building her own arcane laboratory and has a team of G-Dwarves transcribing and indexing every piece of arcane lore she can find. A worthwhile investment, to be sure.

"…in a minute. It's not that far to walk."

"Uh, yeah, okay."

Sunset and Wallace? What? I walk a little faster, pushing the door open with a gentle yellow beam as I reach it. Wallace is leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. He's wearing a green shirt over a white long-sleeved t-shirt, a brown coat folded over the back of the chair in front of him. He looks up as the door opens, his eyes dropping awkwardly away after a second of eye contact.

"Hey, Grayven."

"Wallace." I walk fully into the room before pulling out one of the reinforced chairs and sitting down. "Good to see you. Keeping well?"

"I've.. been better."

Not getting a clue here… "Your powers, they continue to work as they are supposed to?"

He brightens up very slightly. "Oh yeah. It's been great, being able to keep up with-." He glances at Sunset, whose attention is on her tablet once more. "Ah…"

I nod. "She knows."

Sunset pushes something on her screen. "Secret identities are dumb, and don't work against magic anyway."

"Right…"

No quip? No 'if my hair was made of bacon I probably wouldn't bother with a secret identity either'? Out of character. "Wallace." I clasp my hands together in front of me. "What brings you here?"

"I…" He takes a breath and then looks me full in the face. "I need your help. I've got a.. friend-."

I smile. "And this 'friend' needs advice on women? Well,-."

"No! Just.. don't interrupt, okay? This isn't easy."

"I apologise. Please, continue."

"Her name's Frances Kane. We were real close when we were kids-" I raise my eyebrows slightly but don't interrupt. "-but her family moved away and we sorta lost touch. I got a phone call from her last week. They were coming into Central City for a few days and she wanted to meet up. I said 'yeah', but then she didn't show."

"Okay?"

"She was in a car crash. Her dad and her brother died and she and her mom are in pretty bad shape. Her mom's out of surgery, but they can't operate on her."

He stops again, and this time it seems right to prod him. "Why not?"

"She's a metahuman. It looks like she can control magnetic fields, but right now she can't turn it off. Anything with iron in it that gets too close to her gets grabbed and anything electronic gets wrecked. You're the only guy I know who can stop her getting crippled for life. I don't know.. what's going on with you and the Light, but you helped me… Us, and M'gann.. thinks…"

"She thinks that I will continue to help you out of the goodness of my heart despite joining the opposition." I sigh. "She's incorrigible. Wallace, my fellow members of the Light would not want me to aid her. And not just to spite you, though that would be enough for several of them. They would say that if an alien such as myself heals the injured, then humanity will have less incentive to learn to heal itself, or correct defective.. cars, or roads, that cause these accidents. That through my actions and the actions of those like me humanity was being kept closeted, insulated from things that could harm it and allow it to grow and learn. Tell me: would you be asking for my help if you didn't know her?"

"I… I'm not…" He thinks for a moment, then slumps. "Probably.. not."

"Do you intend to find a way to help everyone else in a similar situation, now that your attention has been drawn to the matter?"

"I can't! I don't know how to do that!"

"No. You don't. But you come into my house… On the day my daughter is to be married-"

Sunset looks up. "No, she's not."

"-and you ask me to-."

For a fraction of a second there are two Wallaces, then there is just one in front of me. "You think this is funny?! If you're not going to help, fine, just say that! Don't make fun of-!"

"Of course I'll help, you prat." I rise to my feet. "Show me where they've got her."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd May
09:07 GMT -5

Sunset and I step out of the hush tube and into the medical wing of Star Labs Central City.

"Remind me why I'm coming?"

"You're working hard to learn magic so that you can use your skills to better the lives of others, correct?"

"If I'm honest-" A woman at the other end of the corridor spots us, her eyes momentarily widening in shock. I give her a wave. "-I think I'm mostly doing it because I enjoy it. But I think what I learn will help other people eventually."

"People could benefit a great deal from medical magic. In fact, I imagine that with a little encouragement doctors could comprehend the basics." I shrug. "If you don't want to help me with the more conflict-orientated aspect of my work, medicine isn't a bad area to get into."

"I guess…"

"You have a great deal to offer the world, Sunset. But you are actually going to need to offer it at some point." There's a whoosh of displaced air as Wallace appears. Since he couldn't-. I frown. Hey, what? "New costume, Kid Flash?"

He holds out his arms slightly so we can get a better look. "Yeah. Your brother made it. I was worried about giving up the New God protection, and…"

"Didn't want to keep wearing the suit I made. Fair enough. I burned my bridges and now I can sleep in them."

Sunset stops and squints at me. "What?"

"Never mind." I raise my eyebrows at Wallace. "So, where's the patient?"

He leads the way through the corridors, staff calming noticeably with him present. "She's in a… It's a cell they built to hold Doctor Polaris. It's the only way to stop her messing up all of the equipment. She's being medicated through a plastic tube they fed through her mouth into her stomach, but being unconscious doesn't seem to turn off her powers."

I frown. "They couldn't come up with a nonferrous needle?"

"Not quickly. And with all the blood she's lost an intravenous system might not work properly if they did."

I nod. "And they don't want to replace the blood because that will raise her blood pressure and risk breaching the clotting on her internal injuries. Can you give me a quick summary?"

"Ah… Her rib cage was basically crushed, and it's cut her lungs in several places. Worse on the right side. Her right upper arm was pretty badly smashed. Even if they didn't end up amputating it, she'd probably only ever get a fraction of her strength back. Her jaw's broken, her skull's probably fractured but they can't tell for sure because she'd mess up the machinery. She's got cuts everywhere but they've all scabbed over by now. We don't know about her spine."

"And her brain? If it's been damaged that may explain why her abilities are constantly on."

"She's concussed." He pushes through a set of double doors and into what looks like a rapidly converted high security area. Too many medics and pieces of equipment in too small a space. "And we can tell that because of how her pupils dilate. I didn't want to ask Miss Martian to take a look in case there was some sort of psychic feedback." He turns away, looking for someone. "Doctor Schmitz, can we just go in?"

A slightly overweight man in a lab coat turns around. Ah, the mad scientist bald-on-top-with-long-grey-hair combo. I image that STAR has a few of those around the place. He looks me over for a moment and then gives Wallace his full attention. "You'd better. She's stable at the moment, but…" He shrugs helplessly.

"Ah, Mister Grayven?" A short woman taps me on the arm to get my attention. "The room will have to be sealed once you're inside. This-" She holds up a microphone. "-will let you talk to us despite the magnetic flux."

I shake my head. "Thank you, but I have a power ring."

I walk towards what looks like a bank vault door. A technician looks up at me for a moment before pressing a button on his equipment. There's a clank and an oddly quiet klaxon wail. I look up at it and see that someone has shoved a sock in it. For a prison cell I suppose that you'd want it on full volume, but for a room people are having to go in and out of constantly it would get annoying very quickly. Once the door is open I step through and wait patiently for it to close once more. Through the inner door I can see a couple of nurses keeping careful watch on Miss Kane. She looks to be in a right old state.

Sinestro, scan.

Mister West's summary of her injuries was largely accurate. A picture appears in my mind. Internal bleeding is more or less stopped, but there's blood in her lungs and her brain is swelling dangerously.

Nothing we can't fix.

Explain to me exactly why you want to repair the girl.

Further damaging my relationship with the League -and my ex-team mates- serves no useful purpose. I still haven't heard from Zatanna about those arcane energy siphons I want to commission. Probably, that means she's been instructed not to contact me. If I do this, it may change a few minds.

It also lets you undermine their faith in their own cause. And your team mates' faith in the judgement of their superiors.

It's a fringe benefit. I never understood hero worship. Get me her medical records.

The door behind me clanks shut, then the inner door whirs into life as it opens up. The nurse steps away from the near side of Miss Kane's recumbent form, allowing me to come up alongside her. Now, how to build up enough fear..? From Wallace, from the nurse… Not enough. My being here is reassuring them too much, and it would interfere with my diplomatic efforts to taunt them into fearing more. Hm. I look down at Miss Kane's face and imagine Lynne in a similar position, her body smashed-.

Yellow light surges, her ribs expanding and realigning before being fused back into place. Next, I remove the blood from her lungs and fix the torn and damaged tissue. A blast at her brain undoes the bruising and swelling. Doesn't look like there's an appreciable amount of underlying damage, though there are one or two physiological oddities. Probably related to her metahuman ability. Log those. Last comes the right arm, shoulder bones and muscles. Then…

"Does she know?"

The nurses look at each other, then the one closest to me answers. "No. We didn't think it was a good idea, given the state she was in."

I could heal all of her minor injuries, but I think letting her lie here for a little while is probably for the best. "I imagine that her friend Wallace West will be along to visit her later. I would appreciate it if he were granted entry."

I don't wait for a response, but instead have Sinestro connect to the Mountain's systems and open a Hush Tube back out of the cell-ward.

"She okay?"

"She'll live. And retain full functionality. She's still unconscious for now." He sags, exhaling heavily as he does so. "But we need to talk about what's going to happen to her next."

"Ah… Look, I'm grateful and all? But I don't see what that's got to do with you."

"The Apokoliptian technology I use in Challenger Mountain is proof against the highest level of magnetic flux she's been observed producing. Is anywhere else? Anywhere she could live long term?"

"She needs to stay under observation…"

"And then?" I lean closer. "Have you checked the wreck of her car for signs of unusual magnetism?"

His face pales. "Oh God."

I straighten up. "If she can't get under control, then she'll be a danger to all around her. If she does this-" I look around the room. "-while in a drugged stupor, what happens when she sleeps?"

"Could.. you… Awaken her? That would work, wouldn't it?"

"Certainly. What's in it for me?"

He stares me in the eyes for a moment, then nods. "What do you want?"

I grin. "Someday, and that day may never come… I'll call upon you to do a service for me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd May
09:03 GMT -5

I point to the star chart being projected into the middle of the training area, my spirits falling further. "And here?"

Canis shrugs. "Perhaps? I was a cavalry commander, not a ship captain." Canis has a great deal of experience with alien civilisations. Unfortunately, most of it involves boom tubing in with a few hundred friends and looting the place. "The region here-" He reaches into the hologram with his right forefinger and indicates a radius. "-is known as The Waste. Any settlement here was taken as an affront to Great Darkseid and destroyed, the foolish people attempting it either slain or taken back to Apokolips in chains. Further out, we raided and brought ruination, but never in so focused a manner."

"What was the point?"

He frowns at me. He's not confused by what I've asked so much as by the fact that I'm asking. "To keep them afraid, of course. To remind them that every day they are given leave to draw breath by Great Darkseid, and should his merciless gaze fall upon them his gift would instantly be rescinded."

"Does he order each attack personally? "

Canis smiles, shaking his head. "No. Such matters are beneath his notice. At some point long before my birth he ordained that things should be so. And we faithfully carried out his commandment ever since."

"Faithfully?"

"We cry out his name, shout his praise and -time allowing- erect monuments to his fearsome magnificence."

I nod. From the comics it was never very clear what the peoples of Apokolips did from day to day. I'm getting a better idea now. "Now, the events which led to you being banished…"

"What is to say that you do not already know? I achieved a moment of perfect self-realisation, of communion with the greater spirit of Darkseid. I took my god-name, cut down my father and replaced him as general. My new status demanded greater targets so I ordered a raid on New Genesis itself."

"Did you have that authority?"

"We do not need special permission to fight and die for Darkseid. And I met with success! Their people cut down, their army routed, two of their sky cities left as burned out ruins!"

"And yet, you're here."

He shrugs. "Kanto has taken some exception to my ascension, and he is an assassin without peer. I cannot guard myself in my sleep. But I still do Darkseid's work, harrowing the weak and unworthy."

…

"Okay, so why don't we try tracking the world you visited after you were forced to-"

"Recognised, Kid Flash, B zero three."

"-quit your position."

Brut stirs himself as Wallace materialises in the tube's terminus. I imagine that when compared with the fast paced and highly dangerous life Brut and his master lived on Apokolips his time on Earth must be restful at best. He hasn't quite gotten to the point where he'll let the rest of us stroke him, but at least he doesn't bark or urinate at inappropriate times or places. Wallace doesn't warrant more than a quick sniff before Brut's head is once more resting on his forepaws.

"Good morning, Wallace." Oh dear. His posture is slouched and his face fallen. "What's wrong?"

"Anatole Sokolov's dead."

Ah. I nod. "I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know the two of you were close."

He trudges in our direction, looking over the star chart briefly and then dismissing it. "We weren't. I met him a couple of times when he was visiting Jay, but that was about it."

Canis frowns, this time in frustration. "Who is this person?"

Wallace looks at the ground for a moment. "Anatole was a Russian guy. A speedster like me. Ah, well, more like.. Jay, really."

"I don't know who he is either."

Wallace looks at me and gestures at the hologram with his right hand. "Mind if I..?"

I shake my head. "All yours."

He dismisses the star chart and calls up Jay's personnel file. "Jay Garrick, the first Flash." We get a picture of him in his prime. "Born, nineteen eighteen, started out as the Flash in nineteen forty. Far as we could tell, some time in the fifties the Russians got a hold of a copy of the formula he used to get super speed. Only… They didn't get a perfect copy. The first three Russian speedsters he met were Blue Trinity-" A picture appears showing Blue Trinity's members; Boleslaw Uminski, Gregor Gregorovich and Christina Molotova. "-and they ended up with crippling health problems as well as being mentally unstable. Anatole was part of the second group." Another picture, Anatole in costume with his Red Trinity team mates Bebeck and Cassiopeia. "They did better, but when they started showing the same symptoms as the Blue Trinity members they came to Keystone City to see if Jay could help them."

"And swore themselves into his service in return?"

"What?" Wallace frowns at Canis. "No. He just tried to help them. And it… Kinda worked." He presses another button, calling up a more recent image. "Until it didn't."

They look withered, and I know from when I read their files that their legs from the knee down are artificial. To say nothing of the constant tremors and headaches.

"I didn't know about any of this when I tried copying Jay's formula, but there's a reason -or rather, six reasons- why there hasn't been more interest in it. Get it wrong -like I did- and if needing a calorie rich diet is the worst that happens to you then you got off lucky." He steps back. "And the symptoms are progressive."

!!!

"You're not showing any-?"

"No, no." He shakes his head. "It just really brought it home, you know? Between that and Velocity Nine there's more examples of super speed gone wrong than gone right. My healing potion helped him, but it didn't make the symptoms vanish."

"Okay. Do you know what went wrong with the version of the formula the Russians used on him?"

"Yeah, for some reason? They weren't all that keen on talking to Jay about it."

"But would they be willing to now?" His face stills. "I mean, I could understand them… The super soldier producing part of the military, at least… Not being willing to help a defector. But if he's dead and the s-. Partner of the current Flash puts in an official request for information…"

He frowns thoughtfully. "You think?"

"They want one of theirs on the Justice League and this could win them points. They know that Jay isn't sharing with the US military." I shrug. "They might go for it. Might not, but it won't hurt to ask."

Wallace nods. "That's a great idea. I'll call Uncle Barry-."

"What happened to the blue ones?" Canis jerks his chin at their hologram. "Were they slain in battle?"

Wallace shrugs. "We don't really know. I mean, given how severe their symptoms were they'd probably be dead by now, but the last we heard of them was when they got shipped back to Russia after failing to stop Red Trinity coming over to our side."

"Then they're the first thing we ask about."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
18:29 GMT +10

The swirling lights from Canis' Boom Tube fade behind us as we walk across a small plaza opposite the Transfiguration Cathedral in Khabarovsk. Fifteen hour time difference. We're going to be feeling this in the morning.

Richard, Wallace and I attract a few stares from the passers by. They give us a little space but they're clearly not afraid. Then Canis comes through the Boom Tube on Brut's back and they start backing up in earnest. I'm not completely clear why he wanted to come. He said it was because our conversation made him aware of how ignorant he was of Earth's history, but that didn't ring entirely true with me. Maybe he's finding the lack of violence just as trying as his steed does.

Brut pads towards the curved wall of the… I don't know what that's supposed to be. "Is this some sort of monument?"

Richard has his arm computer up, a local map on the screen. "It's the local Great Patriotic War memorial. 'Great Patriotic War' is what Russians call World War Two."

"And you're not allowed to smash it."

Canis doesn't respond. He just nudges Brut forwards, heading for the start of the curved wall. I suppose that he wants to do a circuit. As he reaches the start of the curve a young woman walks around from the far side, her attention focused on the phone in her right hand. She only regains her awareness of her surroundings a fraction of a second before walking into Brut's muzzle, a sharp intake of breath marking the change.

Canis looks down at her, head tilted slightly to the right. "Human. Move." She backs up, cringing as she does so. Canis makes a flapping motion with his left hand. "To the side." She scurries crablike out of the way. Canis nudges Brut back into motion, then something appears to occur to him. He leans forward in his saddle. "Good Human. Well done."

Richard smiles. "At least he didn't call her a Lowlie."

Wallace turns his head around, taking in our environment. "Your contact said he'd meet us here, right?"

"Yes, but he's on a bit of a public relations campaign so you should probably expect-."

We all hear the roar of their thrust packs before the Rocket Reds appear, blasting heads first through the clouds before cutting their engines, orientating themselves feet first and switching to gravity repulsion. They descend slowly and elegantly to the ground just in front of us. They get greeted with cheers from the gathering crowd, and cameras start flashing. This is far from the first time I've seen the Russians' Advanced Suits, but they still look really nice. I don't think they've been deployed in any combat zones yet but the Russian government has been making every effort to publicise their existence in the run up to the Victory Day Parade next week. In virtue of the fact that they're going to be acting as our escorts, the long-barrelled energy weapons usually attached to their arms are absent. Since this is an official mission and not purely a photo opportunity they're keeping their visors down, falling into parade rest with a gap of about four metres between them.

Then Dmitri Pushkin plummets to the ground between them. His personal armour actually looks in some ways less advanced than the Advanced Suits. The chest plate is a large solid looking plate while theirs are made of overlapping segments. His shoulder guards are large and have visible articulation points, while theirs are far more streamlined. The most flexible parts of his body are covered in what looks like thick lycra when contrasted against the clearly armoured parts of the Advanced Suits.

But the appearance is deceitful, as him casually straightening up without leaving a crater in the ground demonstrates. I know for a fact that his armour is about fifty times more resilient than theirs at its weakest point and contains electronic systems a couple of hundred years more advanced than theirs. I'm actually a little curious where the Russians got that stuff from, because there's no way that Russia has the technology to invent it themselves. I don't think anywhere on Earth does.

His face plate flickers and his face appears. The helmet isn't designed to be removed while the armour is in use, but it can use integrated holographics to display his face. It's a little disturbing, actually. The curve it follows makes it look like some sort of early motion capture thing, nearly there but subtly off and not quite natural. He smiles, throwing his arms wide. "Hello, my friends! Welcome to Russia!"

"Thank you for inviting us, Sergeant. May I introduce my colleagues-."

"Kid Flash! And Robin, the Boy Wonder!" Wallace smirks at the use of Richard's extended appellation. I wonder where it originally came from? Sergeant Pushkin takes a few paces forward, his steps quiet despite the weight of his armour. "It is good to meet you!" He holds out his right hand, and I note that the Advanced Suit on the right is training its sensors on the scene. Probably taking a recording for publicity purposes.

Might be a bit cheeky, but that is why they agreed to do this. I step forward and take hold of his hand. I'm probably less well known around here than the other two, but I am still technically in charge of this expedition. I'm not wearing my power armour for the same reason that the Advanced Suits aren't carrying their guns so hopefully the visual distinction is sufficiently clear for them. "Good to meet you at last. I've heard a good deal about you."

"And I of you, my friend." His grip is firm without being crushing. If I understood the description correctly his suit uses a system not unlike the way Kryptonian resilience works to provide strength boost in every direction, rather than relying on reinforcing Human muscle systems as the other types do. It's also supposed to provide tactile feedback, though I haven't checked that for myself. "I believe we have you to thank for our warm weather this spring."

"So they tell me."

I didn't think much about it at the time, but making the arctic colder naturally caused the air over it to contract and draw in additional air from the surrounding area. The result wasn't that great, but -according to a meteorologist who had a minor rant on the subject on the League's message board- air was sucked up from the equator, resulting in slightly warmer than usual weather in both Russia and Canada. Technically, the same thing is happening now as the Ice Fortress turns its guns on the Antarctic, but with the nearest land mass being further away and over a wide ocean it will be far less noticeable.

I step aside, nodding Wallace forwards. "Hi.. Sergeant. Thanks for doing this."

"It is not a problem! We are happy to help our American colleagues!"

I can't say that the Director sounded quite as enthusiastic as Sergeant Pushkin about it when I spoke to him over the phone, but I can't imagine that he'd say this if he didn't have authorisation. Heh, I think a childhood of watching narrowly post-Cold War cartoons has me braced for some sort of daft double cross.

Richard takes his hand next. "I'm sure the Justice League will appreciate this."

"I hope so. Ah, I have a daughter your age. Maybe I could introduce you before you leave?"

"Ah…"

"Of course, she cannot become Rocket Red Girl Wonder! Hahah!"

"Ah. Yeah." He and Wallace share a slightly uncomfortable glance.

"Because she is a girl and we only have adult sized suits! And because her mother would kill me." He turns his head side to side, then returns his attention to me. "If there is no one else, we have a car-."

My eyes widen as Brut leaps over the memorial. The Advanced Suits clock him almost immediately and instinctively jerk their arms up slightly before remembering that their guns aren't there. Canis will land almost exactly behind Sergeant Pushkin, which is exactly the sort of dick move I told him not to-.

Sergeant Pushkin rotates, right arm extended, and catches Brut in mid air by the left side of his neck and shoves him aside. As the great Dog starts to tumble Sergeant Pushkin moves his arm right, catching Canis in the chest and lifting him out of the saddle before setting him on the ground.

Canis blinks, stunned, as Brut rolls to his feet and shakes his head.

"You must be Canis! I was wondering where you were hiding! That was an amusing test of my reflexes!" Sergeant Pushkin leans closer to him. "But don't try that again or I will put you over my knee, boy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
18:37 GMT +10

"So, ah… Who do I need to focus on pleasing in order to get into the Justice League?"

Richard and Wallace were ushered into one car and I into this one. They're not limousines, but they're perfectly comfortable. Cars to work in. They rather assumed that Canis would ride along on his own, which was completely accurate. He isn't really keen on Earth vehicles, preferring to ride or walk short distances and Boom Tube long ones. And haven't we had complaints about that. I asked, and while he's heard of quiet Boom Tubes he's got no idea how to make them.

Despite the fact that he's flying above the cars -either as air cover or to show off- Sergeant Pushkin's voice comes over perfectly clearly over the car's intercom. Which is interesting, because it doesn't have any radio capacity.

"It doesn't work like that. If you're actually able to help Kid Flash dig out the information he's looking for then their opinion of you will improve, but it will probably improve anyway as long as you don't let anyone actively obstruct him."

"Yes, but… Ah… Batman and the Flash are both founding members. Batman is the chairman of the League, which suggests that it is Robin I need to impress the most. But I was told that you are our fixer-."

"Whow, whow. I.. know enough about how Russian politics works to know that that's an overstatement."

"But, you were to make a recommendation. That was the deal you made in exchange for being allowed to transfer your flying fortress through the Russian side of the Bering Straits."

"Right, and I did. But I can't be seen to shill for you."

"I'm not sure that I understand."

"Any League member can nominate someone, but entry can only be granted through a unanimous vote. Formally speaking, since I'm not a Justice League member myself I can't nominate someone but Batman has been willing to look at people I've drawn his attention to. Your name and details were on a long list of people with useful skills that I gave to him and made available to other League members. However, if I actively campaign on behalf of a particular candidate or engage in horse trading it looks suspicious and risks setting people against you regardless of your qualifications. A nominee needs to avoid having anyone vote against them. One vote against, and you're not getting in."

There's no immediate response, so I have the rings feed me information on our route. Hard to tell exactly, but I'd guess that our destination is a group of buildings that the CIA believes to be some sort of intelligence storage facility. The route hasn't exactly been cleared, but some of the roads branching off the one which we're on have police temporarily blocking them.

"Horse trading? I'm not sure that I understand."

"Oh, sorry. Your English is so good that it slipped my mind that you might not know some expressions. 'Horse trading' refers to underhanded dealings or compromises. In this context, it could be getting Major Atom's support by promising to do anything I could to torpedo Major Force's application." Which -to be honest- I'd have cheerfully done anyway.

"Does that not happen anyway?"

"No. Since the League hasn't ever had political oversight, they've never had to temper their idealism. If it looked like you were causing that sort of thing to start happening, far more than one member would vote against you. If one or two people voted against you, you could build your reputation for a year or two and then apply again. If a lot of them vote against you, it wouldn't be that simple."

"I see. So, how do you rate my chances?"

"Better than most people's."

"Heh, not as good as yours, surely?"

Heh. That's funny because unless Nabu turns out to be a lot more reasonable than I think he is, Circe actually will get on the League before me.

"Don't sell yourself short. They already have three Lanterns, and if I'm off-world as often as the Greenies are then I'm a much less appealing prospect. No, your problem is that another of my recommendations was that they consider changing the structure of the League, which means everything I've said about their selection process might suddenly become invalid. And I know for a fact that Wonder Woman wants more women on the League, and Rocket wants more black people… And she's going to be getting upped herself before too long. I think I've convinced Batman that drawing on talent from a wider variety of countries is a good idea, but that means that you're competing against the best in the world rather than the far smaller pool you would have been otherwise."

"Ehh… It might have been better if you had waited a year before doing that."

"Hah, yes, you're not wrong."

"So, what are my problems? What do I need to do to convince them that they aren't really problems?"

"American superheroes act within a certain set of social assumptions. Someone from another country, particularly from the military, could be seen as a divergence from that."

"But Major Atom is a military officer. And Accomplished Perfect Physician is Chinese."

"Accomplished Perfect Physician actively fought against the Chinese military and was imprisoned by China for several years. The League aren't at all worried about him trying to do things the Chinese way because he prefers their way. Major Atom grew up in a country where superheroes operated independently. Even during the Cold War, there was never an American equivalent of the People's Heroes. Every group, the Justice Society, Infinity Incorporated, the Justice League and a lot of other teams most people have never heard of, were independent."

"I hope they don't expect me to pick a fight with my government."

"I'll be honest: it wouldn't hurt. That photo opportunity when we got here was fine, but it portrayed you as part of the Russian military. Major Atom doesn't turn up to League meetings in his air force uniform. As a League member you could be operating in any country in the world, including ones that don't have good relations with Russia. They've got to know that you're there as a League member, not as a Russian soldier. I mean… You people still have Steel Wolf on the books. What do you think would happen if someone reminded the Ukraine of that and then you tried to go there?"

"They would not be too pleased to see me."

"The last thing you need when you're trying to stop a supervillain is to get turned away at the border because your face doesn't fit. And the last thing the League needs is every country demanding that one of their people get on the League."

"I.. understand. I will need to think about it."

"What exactly are your orders about this whole thing?"

"I was told that our metahuman development program has not been interested in super speed since the defection of Red Trinity, and that as a result all of our research and historical records on the subject were to be made available. The second part is what I was ordered to ensure, so whether the first part is true or not is not entirely relevant. If we are still interested, you are permitted to find that out. I have not specifically been ordered to hide anything, though I am supposed to politely discourage you from looking into any other programs."

"Any idea why they stopped looking into super speed?"

"I was not even born when that decision was made. I have been working on this armour; I have never had anything to do with the chemical modification programs."

"Is that a no?"

"I mean to say that I do not know. Maybe they could not make it work correctly?"

That doesn't… Sound like the way the Soviet Union operated. Uh, maybe having people they publicised as being national heroes retiring seriously injured would have been a problem? Maybe they didn't want to provoke Jay into handing the formula over to the US army, given that he had the complete version? Heck, mass produced superhumans could have provoked a nuclear exchange, or a super powered war. The separation between heroes and government on the US side really limited how far things could go there. Did someone on the Soviet side realise where things could go and shut the project down? I don't know. I'm not sure it matters for Wallace, unless it's something to do with how the condition deteriorates.

I'll look into it when we get to the archive.

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
19:44 GMT +10

One of the Russian archivists assigned to help us drops another box of files on the table in front of us, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Oh joy.

Richard looks up and winces slightly. "That's thirty seven boxes of receipts and expense forms."

Wallace turns another page in the research journal he's looking through, a filament from the ring allowing him to read the Cyrillic script. "I thought they were Communist. Shouldn't all that have been 'given according to their need'?"

I lift off the box lid and have the rings float out the first folder. "The Soviet Union had to spend quite a lot of time and effort forcing people to keep working within the bounds of a theoretically utopian but basically nonsensical economic system. Modern Russian nationalism is much more rational."

The rings get to work scanning the receipts and purchase orders, adding the data to what I've collected so far. They're bringing us everything directly related to the project which created the Blue and Red Trinities, which isn't exactly a small amount given that the project started in the twenties and wasn't formally terminated until the sixties. We don't know exactly what they were doing in the twenties given that that was years before Mister Garrick first developed the Garrick Formula. My Hail Mary guess is that it has something to do with the Danner Formula, but all I've got to go on is petrol requisition orders and given what was happening in Russia during the twenties it's a minor miracle I've got those.

Wallace looks up at me. "Can't you just load all that into your brain?"

"Last time I did something like that I spent weeks uncontrollably muttering quotes in Themysciran Greek. I don't speak Themysciran Greek. Any progress?"

He shakes his head. "They kept pretty thorough lab notes, but none of this has anything to do with the Garrick Formula. Hey, you know what a 'Sopernik' is?"

Richard leans in to look over his shoulder. "'Sopernik' means 'rival'. But it's a Russian word, the power ring should translate it for you."

"Not if it's being used as a proper name. Or a code name."

Richard looks sceptical. "How does the ring know?"

"I'll ask the Controllers for you. But if you think about it, so many words' meanings change depending on context that power ring translation systems would have to be able to pick up on it somehow."

"I guess. What does it say about the 'Rival'?"

"Not much. If it was a person, then they're responsible for a lotta these experiments getting performed. This is.. nineteen fifty two."

"Were they someone working in the army?"

"It's a lab diary, Rob. It's not going to say anything like that."

Richard starts pacing. "Okay, so how many people who were around in the fifties had super speed?"

"Johnny Quick, Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, Edward Clariss… Probably a bunch of other people whose names we don't know. I mean, Marvel and Adom get very high flight speeds and fast reflexes from Shazam… Sally Sonic was still a legitimate superhero then and her peak airspeed is supersonic."

"So the odd one out…"

"Might well be one of the ones we've never heard of. We still don't know the names of all of the Red Shadow operatives, to say nothing of metahumans and magic users who might have been scooped up in the Soviet Union's metahuman development program."

Richard sighs. "Yeah, but if I start with Clariss at least I've got somewhere to start. He dropped off the radar in nineteen forty nine. Do we have anything for nineteen forty nine?"

"No." / "Nothing that helps."

The three of us look at Canis.

And we keep looking. A few moments later he lays the bundle of written orders he's reviewing down on the table and looks up at us. "Have I done something to displease our masters?"

Richard shrugs. "Trying to pounce on Rocket Red wasn't exactly League standard operating procedure."

"He was showing you off to the Russian Lowlies like prize farm animals. It was degrading."

Wallace frowns with eyebrows raised. "It's a photo-op, dude. Lets people know that we're on the case. Whatever it is and…" Another box of files is deposited next to him. "However long it takes."

"But we're warriors. Not scriveners. Do they not have slaves for things like this? Lantern, those fat orange things you used as expendable infantry?"

"Praexis Demons can barely speak. I'm pretty sure they can't read and I don't think I'd be inclined to trust them if they could."

"Robin, surely the Batman has peons whom we could rely upon to do-?"

Richard shakes his head. "I don't know what you think Batman does, but back in Gotham we usually use a computer indexing program for things like this. When the data isn't on computer… This is just how long it takes."

Wallace nods. "The Flash can read through a mountain of stuff really fast, but that only works for finding key words. He doesn't remember much of what he read afterwards."

"In other words, suck it up. Or, find something faster and we can stop sooner."

Richard fiddles with his computer some more while I continue tabulating receipts. Nothing's exactly standing out, but I suppose that I'd need to know a lot more about material availability during that period to really evaluate that. "Have you guys seen anything about what happened to Blue Trinity yet?"

"I've got some blood tests from the sixties."

"Nothing here. Probably." I'm getting a rough idea of the sorts of thing that might have been going on at particular sites. The link between test animals no longer being ordered in and pest control chemicals being ordered in large quantities nearly makes me chuckle.

Nearly.

"So.. how sure are we that they're actually dead?"

"We're not. But…" I look at Wallace. "You said that the animals they tested the incomplete formula on stopped getting worse if they were prevented from moving, right?"

"Ye-ah..?"

"So… They'd be quite old. And they'd have to have been sedated pretty much continuously… Ah, Canis, have you got anything about what they did after failing to prevent Red Trinity defecting?"

"There was a hearing, then they were ordered back to their original test centre near Khonuu. Nothing beyond that."

Wallace, Richard and I look at one another. Wallace voices the question first. "You don't think they're still there, do you?"

I tap the intercom. "Sergeant Pushkin, do you have permission to tell us where Blue Trinity are?"

"Permission, yes, but I don't know that. I had assumed that they were dead. Do you want me to ask the Director?"

"And we can go anywhere relating to the Russian super speed study program, right?"

"Unless my orders are changed, yes. But, those files must stay in this building, for security reasons."

"Can we leave them out and come back to them?"

"Yes, of course."

I take my hand off the intercom and raise my eyebrows at Wallace. He shakes his head. "Even if they are there, I don't know how it helps me."

"I can do power ring scans on someone further along the decay path. And I can get Sephtian to do the same. Look, whatever answers we can get out of this-" I look over the file boxes. "-are buried here somewhere and finding them could take weeks. Pursuing another avenue of investigation might be more productive."

"I guess." He pushes the lab diary away slightly. "Though I'm not sure that meeting the worst case scenario is gunna do much to make me feel better about all this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
21:27 GMT +11

The greatcoat-wearing sentries raise their rifles as we step out of the Boom Tube, before a spotlight illuminates Sergeant Pushkin. That causes the rifles to go back down and right arms to snap upwards in a salute.

"No, my friends!" Sergeant Pushkin steps towards them, both arms making a lowering motion. "I am a sergeant, not an officer! You don't need to salute whenever I break wind!"

This is a bit more like the Russia I was expecting. There's still snow on the ground and the temperature is below zero. Khabarovsk was positively balmy! Wallace clearly doesn't appreciate it, visibly wincing in the chill wind. His costume has heating elements but the top of his head and the lower part of his face are bare. Neither Richard, Canis nor Brut seem particularly bothered by the drop in temperature.

"Ah… Yes, sergeant." A corporal takes a few steps forwards. "I am sorry, but this is a restricted area. I will need to see your authorisation, and…" He leans a little to his right, getting a clear look at the rest of us. "Your friends..?"

"Well done, corporal!" Sergeant Pushkin walks towards him, reaching into one of his storage pouches. "Too many people would say, 'he is a famous hero, I will just wave him through'."

"Ah…"

"I respect a man who does his job diligently. You are a contract soldier?" The corporal shakes his head as he reaches out to take Sergeant Pushkin's written orders. "Why not?"

He looks over the first page, then flips through to the second. "I was conscripted out of school. Then the army sent me to Siberia. I always thought that a man needed to commit a crime to get sent out here."

"Bah! You have it easy! I am posted on the North Pacific coast!" He holds up his right gauntlet. "I am lucky they didn't need to make this with only two fingers!"

The corporal nods with a chuckle, then hands back the orders. "This seems to be in order. But I will need to check with my commanding officer."

"Of course, corporal. Lead on."

The corporal waves at the other guards and they grudgingly resume their patrol while he leads us in the direction of the guard station at the side of the road leading into the Khonuu facility. It isn't some sort of hut designed to keep the wind off; it's a genuine concrete bunker. What little glass there is in the slit windows is extremely tough and reinforced with wire.

Wallace leans towards Richard. "Anyone else feel like we're in some kind of spy thriller?"

Richard thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "Don't think you're a spy if they've got orders to let you look at their documents."

Canis peers out through the dark. "What is this place?"

"This was where a lot of the Soviet Union's metahuman research was done. These days-" As I learned through long and painful analysis of their receipts. "-it's more of a storage facility."

"I know what it is. I want to know why it is. Why does it still exist? And why did those warriors it produced not overturn your world?"

"Why is because it's in an unpleasant location. I doubt they keep anything really top secret in the archive back in Khabarovsk. Piles of receipts, sure. Actual blood samples of someone with super speed that someone might be able to use to reconstruct the Formula from, no. They needed somewhere to put that and they already had this place up and running. Easier to just run it down than build somewhere new."

"And it works for p-p-punishment duty." Wallace shivers. "Shoulda brought a scarf." I attach a filament to him and grant him an environmental shield. "And my gratitude is only slightly tempered by the fact that you could have done that two minutes ago."

"Punishment duty?"

Wallace nods. "Yeah, you know: some guys screw up but not badly enough to get them kicked out completely… You stick 'em somewhere where you need someone but where it's not worth putting your good troops. What, you don't do that on Apokolips?"

"No. Anyone who had failed that badly would be killed or tortured. Or possibly both. It would depend on who their overseer was." He thinks for a moment. "Of course, the truly devout would torture and kill themselves without the need for further intervention. Alas, few have that level of devotion."

Wallace slowly nods, then takes a step away from Canis. "Riiiiight."

"But what of their lack of success?"

Richard frowns. "Maybe they were worried about Jay handing out the Formula to the US military?"

Wallace tilts his head to the left for a moment. "Super speed mutually assured destruction. Glad that never happened."

"What do you mean, mutually assured destruction? Surely the side with most people capable of super speed would emerge victorious?"

Wallace shakes his head. "Super speed doesn't let you do everything. If someone got nuclear weapons in the air on planes or missiles there wouldn't be much that anyone could do to stop it. Plus… We had to rebuild three city blocks when the Flash and Reverse Flash fought each other. Even if nukes didn't get launched I don't know how much world there would be left afterwards."

"And?"

"What do y'mean, 'and'?"

"The two nations hated each other, were rivals of each other for supremacy over your world with near equal power. On Apokolips…" He shakes his head. "Were they gods rather than nations, there could be no peace between them. Such a weapon as these Trinities represent would be used. And your Jay Garrick would certainly not be given the opportunity to keep his discovery to himself."

Wallace holds up his hands at his sides, palms upwards. "Did you not hear how that would have destroyed the world?"

"Planets are hardy things. With reasonable preparation, some of the population of one side would be able to survive and rebuild later."

"They'd be rebuilding from nothing. Billions of people would die, including almost everyone from their own side."

Canis frowns uncomprehendingly. "But they would have won?"

Wallace waves dismissively at Canis, earning a low growl from Brut. "Apokolips is messed up."

"Okay!" Sergeant Pushkin waves goodbye to the corporal as he heads back towards us. "My orders have been checked and verified. We may enter. Again, there will be places we cannot go, but they will be polite when they let you know."

"Are they here?" Wallace sounds excited by the prospect. "Blue Trinity?"

"Ahh… He did not know."

Richard frowns. "How could he not know?"

"Operational security in places like this is very tight. If they are here, only the scientists directly working on them would know of it."

"Just them?"

"And the Director of Future Weapon Development."

Wallace shrugs. "Could we just ask him?"

Sergeant Pushkin turns to walk into the facility. "He is a very busy man. Besides, you will see for yourselves in a few minutes."

"Oh El, can you just scan the place?"

Oh dear. "Doesn't look like it. Sergeant, when was this place warded?"

"When it was built. They had gypsy witches brought here to protect it from enemy magic. American parapsychics did not spend all of their time staring at Goats."

Oh thank goodness.

"There are also.. other measures… Automated defences. Things to stop the volunteers leaving without authorisation."

Wallace looks uncomfortable. "Automated defenses?"

"Do not worry. They will all be deactivated for our visit."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
21:36 GMT +11

The Major in charge of the facility steps aside with a smile. "This is as far as I have clearance to proceed." He holds out his right hand in the direction of the doors to the laboratory as an older man in a suit comes through. "I will hand you over to Doctor Egorov. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you, sir." Sergeant Pushkin turns to Doctor Egorov. "Do I need to present my orders again?"

"No." The doctor shakes his head. "The Director informed me that you might be coming." He turns his attention to the rest of us. "And these are the Americans?"

"Actually, I'm Themysciran."

"Ah. I stand corrected." He steps forward and looks Wallace over. "And you are Kid Flash."

"Yeah, that's me. Do you know if you've got Blue Trinity in there, or is there someone else we need to talk to?"

Doctor Egorov turns around and beckons us to follow him. "Not out here. Inside."

He pushes his way back through the double doors, Wallace hot on his heels. Robin, Sergeant Pushkin and I follow on behind. Canis opted to stay outside with Brut rather than 'waste his time on more purposeless debate'. Through the doors there's a short corridor which terminates in a heavily fortified door. Doctor Egorov is leaning over an iris scanner mounted on the wall next to it, his access card pressed against the adjacent reader. There's a clunk and the door unlocks and starts to slide open. On the far side is… Another short corridor with another fortified door.

"This way."

We file on through, and I note that there are several cameras mounted at points on the wall. The door we just passed through clanks shut behind us and the lights around us dim slightly.

"Good. Now I may answer your questions. Yes, the surviving members of Blue Trinity are held here."

Richard cocks his head to the side. "Surviving?"

Doctor Egorov nods. "Doctor Krulik was more concerned with getting a functional result as swiftly as possible than with the subject's long term survival. The three you know as Blue Trinity were simply those who lived the longest. Of the rest, their remains were either cremated or they are stored here."

Wallace starts to smile. "Can I talk to them?"

"No." Doctor Egorov shakes his head. "They are kept in a state of… Biological hibernation, for their own safety."

"You mean suspended animation, right?"

"No, not suspended. But slowed down a great deal." There's a loud buzz from a wall-mounted speaker and the inner door clunks open. "You will not be able to speak with them, but you will be given access to all of our records."

"Why are they in hibernation?"

"One of the symptoms they developed was a constant super speed shaking. They became a danger to themselves and to everyone around them. In a state of hibernation, this is not a problem."

He leads us into the inner laboratory. The first things I see are the stationary gun positions and a group of soldiers. Richard frowns. "What's with all the security?"

"All of this was developed from a few notes passed to us by an informant in America in the forties. With what we have here, a person could create their own super speed soldiers. In the Cold War America and Russia did not dare use such weapons on one another, but today there are hundreds of groups around the world who would not hesitate. And once one person does it, everyone else will need to follow suit." He shakes his head. "I have no desire to live in such a world. We do not have the budget for the more extreme anti-metahuman defences, but we have taken fairly comprehensive steps against the threats we can predict."

"All of our cameras are ultra high speed, relaying their images to a high speed computer server with advanced pattern recognition programming. That in turn controls explosive shrapnel charges. I know that people with super speed struggle to fight at full speed." We go around another corner and get our first view of a laboratory. "By timing the detonations, we can corral an attacker into an area and kill them even at high speed. Particularly when the gas is taken into account."

"Wouldn't that kill you too?"

He nods. "Probably. When we found out that the current Flash had the ability to vibrate through solid objects we had the walls reinforced with multiple materials of differing density, with a constant high voltage electric current running through wires contained inside it."

"Yikes."

Doctor Egorov smiles faintly. "It would work, then? That is good, because we were working from very limited information."

"Maybe. I'm not trying it to find out."

"We also have more twists and turns than someone like the Flash could navigate at his maximum speed. Even if it is-" The corridor we're in doubles back on itself. "-a little inconvenient."

Richard taps his arm computer. "What about someone with super strength?"

"That would depend on the degree. At lower levels, we have enough conventional anti-armour weapons to cope. And again, gas has often proven to be effective. They still need to breathe, after all. If all else fails we have a nuclear self-destruct-"

!!!

"-system." We all look shocked. "Oh, there is no need to worry. It is a tactical nuclear device only, and both the American and Chinese governments have been informed of its existence. If we are forced to utilise it, it will not be the start of World War Three."

"That's not really the point."

He smiles in a rather creepy way. "Do you want to go and see it?" I shake my head. "Ah, anyway, we had to shut them all down while you are here. They all have to be automated, because normal Humans can't respond quickly enough and we did not have time to program the computers with your particulars. One last corridor."

Wallace looks around us. "So… What's protecting this place now?"

"A platoon of soldiers and four superheroes." He stops just outside another security door. "How long were you planning to stay?"

"I don't know. I need to see everything you've tried to make Blue Trinity better."

Doctor Egorov frowns. "Why? You had access to the pure form of the Garrick Formula, and I am reliably informed that he himself is in good health."

"I had access to his records, sure. But I tried replicating it with a high school chemistry set when I was thirteen."

"Hah!" Doctor Egorov smiles, slapping Wallace on the back with his right hand. "Young man, you would fit in around here very well!" Wallace doesn't look particularly pleased as the door opens and he leads us into the room.

The three pods containing Blue Trinity are raised off the floor on biers displaying their medical information. Heart beat and respiration very slow, brain activity low. Not even dreaming. Inside the pods they're technically naked, but all the equipment plugged into them does a reasonable job of disguising it. Their heads are shaved to allow better access for the brain monitors, their mouths held open by tubes meant either to make sure that their airways remain unobstructed or feed them, I'm not sure. I can see seven different tubes going into their veins at various points.

The three of us just stand in front of them, staring. Sergeant Pushkin actually gasps. Doctor Egorov nods. "A sad way to treat them, but it is the best we can do for now." He points to a computer terminal at the side of the room. "What you want is over-."

Time slows.

Doctor Egorov flying backwards, his chest compressing past the point where his lungs could be intact.

The floor approaching my face, my environmental shield flaring.

Richard falling backwards, arms trailing out in front.

Sergeant Pushkin starting to crouch as the explosive charges appear all over his armour.

And a vague black shape standing in front of the pod containing Ivana Christina Borodin Molotova, hands thrusting forwards as the machinery flies apart.

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
21:39:41 GMT +11

:41.4

Super speed attackers protocol. Construct armour begins to manifest around me along with tendrils which in a few relative moments will drop vertigo inducers onto the floor.

Wallace is blurring into motion, fighting… Someone. One of Richard's hands is reaching for a smoke bomb while the other stretches out to arrest his motion. Sergeant Pushkin's armour shudders as the first explosive goes off and at this speed I can see the expansion and compression of the air around the charge. I think that means that it failed to penetrate.

:41.7

The heavy external surface of the hibernation pod cracks and explodes away from where the black blur is standing, small pieces of metal and plastic shrapnel flying outwards in all directions.

Then there's a clear liquid in the air where the blur was standing and the blur is gone, joining in the yellow and white blurs currently making the dull grey painted-concrete walls a little brighter.

:42.0

Another explosive goes off on Sergeant Pushkin, this time on the back of his left knee. To someone unfamiliar with the design of his armour that might look like a vulnerable point, but it's certainly well beyond the capacity of a conventional explosive of that size to pierce. It does manage to make his leg jerk just as the guns on his forearms start to glow in preparation for firing.

:42.2

Doctor Egorov hits the far wall hard enough to cause the concrete immediately under his point of impact to crack and throw out a small cloud of concrete dust. I start sending a filament his way but I very much doubt that it will reach him in time to preserve his life.

:42.5

Sergeant Pushkin is wreathed in explosions as the rest of the charges detonate. I still don't think that those will be enough to actually hurt him through his armour but his sensors will probably take a second or two to adapt to the stimuli.

A cloud of smoke starts radiating outwards from Robin's smoke bomb. He hasn't bothered throwing it, he just set it off as soon as he got hold of it. He's worked out what we're fighting. One of those bombs will briefly fill this room, and this fight will be over before it can disperse. Wallace will have his goggles on, so hopefully it will impede his opponents more than him.

:42.8

The clear liquid strikes the floor and Ms Molotova's pod, whatever it touches steaming into nothingness. Wallace's Essence of Vitriol. Can't tell if it's going to hit her. One of the shapes darting around the room moves in an irregular fashion for a moment. Someone hit them? Can't tell for sure, and whoever it was recovered too quickly for me to identify them.

Sergeant Pushkin fires probably-blind across the room, two waves of purple plasma rapidly expanding outward. Area effect attack, sensible.

Richard jerks in the air, spinning around just before he hits the floor. I think something hit him in the head. Danner should be enough to keep him safe unless they really focus on him.

:43.0

Richard hits the floor, his smoke having spread around enough that the dashing speedsters are making visible air currents. I don't know what effect it's having on them. If they're saying anything it's happening too fast for my ear to make sense of it.

My construct armour is fully formed. A few cracks suddenly appear but like the Flash our assailants aren't able to hit at anything like F=MA. From the specifications the Russians gave me I know that it can take Sergeant Pushkin's shots as well, which is good because his explosion-affected aim means that I'm going to take a good hit from his right arm gun. The filament I'm sending towards Doctor Egorov is about half way across the room. I think I-

:43.1

-can reach him in time.

The white shape pauses just in front of him, right hand vibrating as it strikes out. Doctor Egorov's head bursts, flesh and bone cracking and ripping around the intruding limb as his cranium comes apart. Brains have excellent blood supplies and his is starting to spurt.

:43.2

The white shape is gone, moving back to the pods. Not Miss Molotova's pod, Mister Uminski's. Its hands touch the metal at the head end.

The vertigo inducers appear from subspace and I activate them immediately. White shape staggers visibly, and for a fraction of a second I see him.

:43.3

White body armour, looking unpleasantly like that worn by Truggs' mercenaries last year. Silver lightning bolt covering most of the chest. Flash fan? No, stupid. Given the publicity Mister Garrick's had over the years the lightning bolt is probably the image most strongly associated with super speed, if it wasn't anyway.

:43.6

Sergeant Pushkin corrects his aim at our stalled target and fires a narrow beam directly at them.

:43.9

The White Flash throws themself to the floor, ducking under Sergeant Pushkin's shot which burrows through the concrete wall on the far side of the medical bay.

:44.1

Wallace slams into the wall to my left.

:44.3

The door to the medical bay collapses as the black figure takes advantage of the momentary distraction of the one of us who can actually keep up with him to vibrate a series of holes in the metal. They don't appear to have been affected by my vertigo inducers at all. They're wearing ear plugs while their partner isn't?

:44.6

Wallace and black figure blur into motion once more while White Flash -NO!- shoves their left hand through the metal of Mister Uminski's pod. Their forearm turns red, though I can't tell whether the blood is theirs or his.

:44.8

Richard would survive chlorine gas but I'm not sure that Wallace would. And with the door open I'm not sure I could transmute enough to be disabling anyway.

My eyes glow orange as the smoke becomes too dense to see through conventionally. I try flying towards Mister Gregorovich in the faint hope that I can provide a distraction but I'm too damn slow!

:45.0

Richard rolls as he lands, reaching for a flashbang grenade.

White dashes to Mister Gregorovich's pod while black does something which appears to force Wallace to evade. Black then goes for Miss Molotova's pod.

Energy pulse!

Mental pathway damage limit reached. Acceleration discontinued.

Shit!

There's a gust of wind as Richard completes his roll and throws his flashbang towards the ruined doorway. Too late. Wallace staggers to a halt, his right hand holding his upper left arm as blood seeps through his costume. Outside I hear a series of explosions, then Sergeant Pushkin sprints for the exit.

I take a moment to check Blue Trinity. No, no good. The male members have had their heads shattered in the same fashion as Doctor Egorov while Miss Molotova has been removed, the tubes connecting her to her pod cut through. Orange light surges over Wallace as I repair his arm. It looks like Black Flash threw tiny fragments of metal at him with tremendous force. That done, I transition out to the speed wing's entrance.

"Aaaagh!" / "uuuuuuuUHHHHH."

The soldiers we passed on the way in lie on the ground, either dead or seriously injured. Black charred areas on the walls mark… The explosives. Someone must have reactivated them. But-.

Machine control. Sergeant Pushkin did it. He activated the explosives because stopping our attackers was more important than the lives of the soldiers.

He's just ahead of me in the antechamber, holding the bloody remains of the white attacker in his right arm. Black's… Not here. Must have gotten away. I scan on the off-chance, but I'm not surprised when I find nothing.

The rings glow as I turn my attention to the injured soldiers.

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th May
01:22 GMT +11

"An unfortunate -though not wholly unanticipated- event."

The Director was here within two hours of the Major reporting the attack. We're standing in the base's briefing room and the Major has been glowing bright yellow since he got off the telephone. It's a bit of a joke about excessive security precautions; so secret that even his name is classified. Major Adam's name was sort of a secret while he was being 'Cameron Scott' but it was never actually classified. The whole masquerade was technically for his benefit.

The Director's name actually is a secret. On no document that I've been able to see is his real name recorded, which is weird given that he's technically just a political appointee. I can see his patterns of emotion easily enough: green-orange with no indigo. That might mean that he's a psychopath, but lower intensity examples of psychopathy often lend themselves to office environments. Did he used to be a Soviet superhero? I'm pretty sure that was Steel Wolf with him as a bodyguard, and for that nutter to be willing to do bodyguard work he must consider the Director to be absolutely essential to the good of Russia.

The Director makes eye contact with the Major. "You have arranged to have the bodies of the deceased members of Blue Trinity cremated."

"Yes, Director."

"With Blue Trinity no longer present, this facility has served its purpose. We will discuss this further when this matter is resolved. Dismissed."

The Major about faces and marches from the room. Even once he is outside with a wall between him and the Director he doesn't relax at all.

"Sergeant. Members of the Justice Youth. Given the speed with which the attack took place, you are to be commended on the speed of your reactions." He focuses on Wallace. "Kid Flash, you will be given all computer records we possess on the treatment regime given to Blue Trinity."

"But that Black.. Flash.. guy got away!"

"I am fully cognisant of that fact. But a brief review of the case suggests that the attackers took opportunistic advantage of a gap in our defences. No one but you knew exactly when you were coming here for long enough to arrange anything sophisticated. I see no reason to deny you our aid simply because your presence coincided with this incident."

"I didn't mean that! Why aren't you going after them?"

The Director's expression doesn't change. "Kid Flash, under my direct command I have Sergeant Pushkin, ten Rocket Reds with advanced suits, two platoons of Red Rockets with standard suits, a company of soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and various other specialists. With a phone call I can call upon any of the resources of the Russian government. I have the authority -should I deem it essential to the national good- to deploy a tactical nuclear device on my own recognisance. But where should I deploy it? If this 'Black Flash' is as fast as you then he could be anywhere within three thousand kilometres and moving faster than anything we could send after him. If he is as fast as the Flash then he could be anywhere on the Earth." Wallace wilts slightly. "No. Now is not the time for rash action. Now is the time for a careful discovery and examination of facts."

Canis grimaces. He is not happy about missing the fight, though I'm not sure what exactly he thinks he could have done. "What if your people have betrayed you?"

"Operative Truth of the Alliance will be interrogating everyone who could have known, but I think it unlikely that she will find what we are looking for. Postings here are not easily predictable and all communication is closely monitored."

Richard nods. "Who knows about this base?"

"That this base exists is not a secret. Precisely what was housed here was a secret known to very few, though as you yourself discovered it is a logical place to look for someone interested in Russia's attempts to create super speed."

"Did you have any kind of tracking devices on Blue Trinity?"

"Yes. They were removed from them during the attack."

Richard looks at me. "Oh El?"

I shake my head. "Tried and failed, I'm afraid. Mister Director, do you have any idea how long it would take to reverse engineer a workable version of the Garrick Formula from Miss Molotova's body tissues?"

"When the Russian project began working on replicating Mister Garrick's work, we had more intelligence to go on and it still took us more than a decade. Now, with modern medical equipment and spectrographs, it may well take a lot less time. What is of greater concern to me is that they already have some method of bestowing super speed."

Wallace shrugs. "It was just Velocity Nine, right? That stuff still shows up in the US a couple of times a year. I guess if someone actually trained with it-."

"The initial blood test results do not appear to contain any Velocity Nine. Or show any of the signs of prior Velocity Nine use. That result will need to be checked of course, but the equipment here is advanced and the researchers are highly experienced with super speed related medicine. It is unlikely that they would make such a mistake."

Richard looks puzzled. "So if they've already got a way to give people super speed, why do they need the Garrick Formula?"

"Yes. That is an excellent question. If it is not Velocity Nine and not the Garrick Formula, what could it be? If we do not know what it is then it is far harder to narrow the range of possible culprits."

"So we've got no idea at all?!"

"I would not say that." The Director walks over to the room's podium and an image appears on the projection screen behind him. An elderly man's face, grizzled rather than frail. "This is Feodor Kerimov. He once held the rank of General in the Soviet Army. He resigned his commission during the early nineties. While he was on active duty he was a proponent of the aggressive use of enhanced soldiers, and I have uncovered people feeding him information on Russia's older programs on several occasions."

Richard frowns. "Then why haven't you arrested him?"

"As the Soviet Union's influence went into decline, he acquired certain business interests in Azerbaijan and now has a joint nationality. He has not returned to the Russian Federation for several years and has many well placed friends in the government of his new homeland. While I could arrest him, doing so would require me to send Russian operatives into an independent country."

Richard nods. "Which would be an act of war."

"Russia against Azerbaijan? No, it would not be much of a war. But the political fallout both internally and internationally as a result of Russia behaving in such a way towards a former Soviet Republic would be quite serious. I am not prepared to order that yet. Instead, I am minded to increase our intelligence gathering operations against him. If I have hard evidence to present, it may be that he would find that his new friends become a good deal less friendly."

Wallace makes a curling gesture with his right forearm. "We could go in. We're not Russian."

"If he ends up in Russian custody, I do not think that our critics will be mollified by the fact that he was put there by Americans."

"We can take a look around for you. If we find Miss Molotova or… Information he stole from Russian intelligence, you could get him arrested, right?"

The Director nods. "Yes, pressure could be brought to bear to make that happen. The Russian government would be grateful for any assistance you feel that you can provide on this matter."

"Alright, stop." Wallace twists his head in my direction. "Mister Director, are you sure that General Kerimov is responsible?"

"No, but I have no other active investigations into anyone with his proven interest and capacity. There are Russian officers and politicians who have expressed an interest in expanding our metahuman program, but none of them have been actively spying on our programs. There are paramilitary organisations who would like to gain information for terrorist purposes or for sale, but they lack the resources to perform such an attack."

"Right. Thank you for the information, Mister Director. We will relay your request for assistance to Batman."

"Oh El!" Wallace looks pained. "That could take all day! We need-!"

"We gather information covertly, Kid Flash. We wouldn't be charging in in any case. Taking a few additional hours to get there wouldn't change much. More importantly, deciding whether to deploy the team remains Batman's responsibility."

He takes a moment to get his instinctive truculence under control. "Fine."

"Since it's clearly so important to you, I will suggest that he send us. Mister Director, could you please give us everything you have on General Kerimov?"

"Of course. I would be pleased to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
10:03 GMT -6

"So when the fook are we actually gonna start doin' somethin' worth whyle?"

Chester's covered in sweat from his latest exercise session, and on his bare chest I can see the angry red marks from his not yet fully healed injuries. Given the internal damage which is similarly still only mostly healed, I can only imagine that he'd be in a great deal of pain were it not for his mental abilities. But he seems determined not to let his injuries slow him down.

"Chester, the world hasn't fallen apart in the month you've been away."

There's a tiny green-purple flare around his eyes as he squares up to me. "No, but that bunch of bleed'n' murderin' pederast tossers 're still runnin' the show back home! I don't seem to recall you bein' this slow off the mark where Klarion was concerned!"

"That was because I could kill Klarion without a nation collapsing into anarchy." I raise my hands in a gesture of surrender. "I fully accept that eventually we will have to forcibly remove a sizable chunk of the British ruling class. But before that, there are things we need to do in preparation."

"When?"

"When the preparatory tasks are complete."

"You'll 'ave t'do a damn sight better than that, cock!"

"I'm not going to set an arbitrary deadline if the result of going ahead then would be just the same as going ahead now. But, since this has clearly got you so riled up, I'm prepared to involve you in the preparations. Is that acceptable to you?"

Chester's eyes dim and he tilts his head to the right, stretching his neck. "Think it might be. What d'you 'ave in mind?"

Vera glares at me. "Chester's not fully fit yet. You shouldn't-."

He looks at her in irritation. "Leave it out, Vera love."

I shake my head. "Miss Black, it is not my intent that you or your brother should directly engage the enemy. But I am not prepared to remove one government only for them to be replaced by another which is just as corrupt. Or for them not to be replaced at all. I need to know who is irredeemable, who is tainted, who is redeemable and who is virtuous."

"Not gunna be many o' that last one, I'll tell y'that fer nothin'."

"Be that as it may, I need to know. I need you and Miss Black to act as intelligence gathering operatives rather than thugs. Find out how far the canker goes, but do not take action against it yourselves."

"So, what? If we see one o' the bastards grabbin' a kid right in front of us-."

"Chester, please don't be facetious. In the unlikely event that happens, feel free to remonstrate with them. But this is a covert mission. The aim is to avoid contact where possible. I don't want to tip our hand until the time arrives to act."

Vera puts her hand on her hips. "And how exactly are we supposed to werk under cover? The police will all have awer pictures."

"I can provide holographic and arcane disguises." Thank you Queen Clea. "Unless they're putting a great deal of effort in, they won't be able to spot you."

"Alright." Chester grins as he nods. "This is a bit more my style. I'll take a shawer, then we can get right ont' it."

"Yes, once you've had a shower you can start writing me a mission plan." His grin droops a little. "I'm not having you go off half cocked again. Doctor Robbins is going to be monitoring you full time, and she's going to be in operational command."

His face creases up. "That old biddy?"

"'That old biddy' has more experience of this sort of work than the two of you put together. So yes. When you've put the plan together, get her to approve it and you can start right away. Is that acceptable?"

"Not bloody likely, cock. I've only been doin' this me entire adult life-."

"Manny, knock it off." The siblings Black have a brief staring contest, Chester's outrage competing with Vera's growing irritation at his behaviour. "He's right and you know it."

"Chester. Do it for a month, and if you've proven that you don't need the oversight I can reconsider. You're too valuable to me to risk you dying doing something stupid."

Vera gives her head a small nod. "Again."

"Both a' yeh?" He turns his head back in my direction, rolls his eyes and tosses his head. "A'right, fine. But this better-" He jabs his right forefinger at me. "-be goin' somewhere."

I smile a little more confidently. Losing Chester's services would be decidedly unfortunate, given his abilities. "It most assuredly is." Hm. Something I was going to-. Ah! "Before you go. Is there any chance you might be able to talk your former colleagues around?"

Vera snorts. "Not bleedin' likely. You saw what they did t' Manny."

"Actually-" I frown at him. "-Chester never said exactly how that happened. I assumed police marksmen."

"Fook off. Police marksmen me hairy white arse." Chester wrinkles his nose. "Hard to shoot someone who knows what yeh thinkin'."

"Does the British government have telepath blocking technology?"

"Nah cock. They've got fookin' robots, h'ant they?"

I fold my arms across my chest. "News to me, chum."

Chester points to his forehead with his right forefinger. "Can't hear 'em 'cause they don't really think."

"They're built and operated by awer former colleague, Penny Dolmann. Doubt they'd 'ave told her why Manny did what he did."

"Not that she thought all that much a' me in the furst place. Probably jus' though I was livin' down t'her opinion."

"Exactly how good are these robots?"

Chester shakes his head. "Bit tougher than a normal bloke an' they can fly. I coulda coped, 'cept fer than fooker Derek Kelly."

I look at Vera with my eyebrows raised. "Awer old boss. He's in charge of awer unit. Used t'be in the SAS."

"Right bastard he is 'n all."

Vera nods. "My country, right or wrong."

I raise my eyebrows. "If right, to keep it right; and if wrong, to set it right?"

"What?"

"That's the rest of the quote. By a man named Carl Schurz?"

"I didn't know that, and I don't think Derek does either."

"Okay, so what's so scary about him?"

"He's invulnerable. Can't 'urt 'im at all." Chester sneers in disgust. "I can't even hear his brain, let alone mess about with it."

Vera nods. "That, and he's as strong as he needs t' be. Hit him and it won't even knock him over. Try wrestling with him and youw'll lose, however strong you are."

"Invulnerable? I was about to say that there's no such thing…"

Chester shakes his head, apparently pleased at getting the chance to lecture me. "Not 'avin' you on, cock. His dad gave him this magic jewel thingey. Don't remember what it was called. His dad used to wear it 'round his neck on a chain. Derek -bein' a crazy bastard- had 'is chest cut open so they could stick it inside."

I nod. "Logical. It can't fall off that way."

"You might wanna watch yerself. If I'm on his shit list, you'wer definitely there as well."

"Eh, if it comes to it I'll just throw him into space. Alright, I think that's everything. You can go and get started-."

"Robbins to Grayven."

I raise my ring to my ear. "Grayven here, go ahead."

"Your guests are here."

I nod. Today's other scheduled activity. "Thank you, Doctor. I'll go and greet them. Would you please ask Lynne and Sunset to join me downstairs?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th May
10:09 GMT -6

I step out of the boom tube into the mildly landscaped ruins of Challengerville. One of Jean's ongoing projects is directing the G-Trolls and G-Elves to do a bit of a tidy up, but I didn't want them to remove anything structural. Just as the US military dumps spare tanks to create havens for marine life, these ruins are now home to many different types of insects, birds and small mammals, to say nothing of all of the plant species.

"Hi Grayven."

Zatanna is in full costume… Or rather, armour. The same armour I created for her. It seems that she hasn't taken advantage of Scott's services. That pleases me. I'd judge that the gold glow is a little brighter than last time I saw her, but… That was a while ago. I should probably have done more in that regard.

Wallace merely nods at me. He's in costume as well.

I bow. "Once again... Welcome to my home. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring."

Zatanna's face goes blank for a moment, then she gets it and giggles. Wallace looks slightly perturbed. "I'm sure that was some kinda movie quote, but can you just get on with whatever you wanted us for? I've got plans for this week."

"As you wish. There is something… Somethings I wish to show you. But first… Zatanna, that commission I asked you to investigate..?"

Wallace glances at her with a slight frown. She looks down for a moment. "I can do it. But… You're with the Light now. I'm not sure I should."

Wallace's eyes narrow. "What commission?"

I decide to spare Zatanna the awkwardness. "A personal mana infusion device. It would increase the recharge rate of a mage and rapidly improve the growth of a New God's soul structures. I can create a crude approximation myself-" Or at least get Sunset to do it. "-but it would require the user to remain in one place while it's active."

"Whow. No. Zatanna, you can't."

"Wallace, what do you think the Light is trying to do?"

"Take over the world. Wipe out the Justice League. Have.. Tuesday renamed 'Savageday'! They're bad guys."

"Sort of, eventually, no… Ye-eah, okay, you've got me on the last one." I open a boom tube behind me. "Can we walk and talk?"

Wallace and Zatanna look each other in the eyes for a moment, then head towards me at a slow walking pace. I turn and lead the way through the tube into the lower part of the Mountain. "I'm sure you've read my reports on my initial meetings with the Light, but to reiterate: the Light wants to advance the lot of the mass of humanity. They see the League as a plaster over-. A band aid over a wound, falsely giving the impression that the problem is dealt with while actually encouraging people to remain indolent. Savage wants to defeat the League, mind control, kill them all, whatever. I think that's putting the cart before the horse. If we're successful, the League will be largely obsolete. Until we are, they do an essential job and it makes more sense to work around them."

"I am a member of the Light, which means that I can vote on policy and objectives. If Savage proposes an anti-League initiative which serves no other purpose, I say so, point out what else could be done with those resources and vote against. If my argument is rational, Lex, Brain and Ra's -who doesn't really mind mass murder but is actually pretty logical - vote with me. Mordru votes with Savage and they lose."

No local space coilgun for Savage. I mean, really. All the effort it would take and agents we'd have to burn to get it there and it wouldn't last more than five minutes after its first shot. I'm glad that at least Ra's learned his lesson from last time.

"On the other hand, if someone proposes a course of action that actually benefits humanity then I speak out in favour and it gets enacted."

I can feel Wallace's confusion. "So you think you're neutralizing-? Wait, Mordru!?"

"Didn't know about him? Yeah, one out, one in, as far as Lords of Chaos go. How's Miss Kane doing?"

"What? Ah. Okay..? As well as she can."

"Was my guess-?"

He looks away. "Yeah."

Ah. Unfortunate, but it's inevitable that a few first manifestations of metahuman powers would be destructive to their possessors' surroundings. And the people most likely to be in those surroundings… Sad, but there's not much I can do about it. "I realised afterwards that I should have known that it was something serious."

"What, because I came to you?"

"No, because you didn't try hitting on Sunset."

"Who's hitting on me?" Sunset emerges from a junction and falls in behind me, taking a moment to look Zatanna over. Magic goddess, meet someone who wants exactly what you have.

"Wallace wasn't. Zatanna Zatara, Sunset Shimmer. She's here to study magic."

Zatanna smiles at her. "Hi."

"Hey."

"Yeah, I guess it.. kinda put me off my game."

"Oh, you." Sunset looks him over, then appears to dismiss him. "There wouldn't be much point. I don't actually find Humans physically attractive."

Wallace frowns. "You.. don't..?" The frown is replaced with a squint. "Huh. Well, what do you find attractive, then?"

"Ponies."

He blinks, then jerks his head away. "Oh, I'm so not touching that one." He refocuses his attention on me. "Where are you taking us, anyway?"

"The vaults. It's where we keep the children I'm using as test subjects."

"Yeah, that's not as funny as you think it is."

The heavily reinforced door in front of me slides open with a quiet hiss. "Who's joking?"

Lynne is standing next to the cell containing-. I get a moment's dizziness before I stop trying to think the name. Ugh, my old name. He's in his early teens, a little older than she is. His brothers and sisters are in the other cages. Eight in total and he's the oldest of them. All the survivors of one of John Constantine's fuck ups. I'm pretty sure that I got all of them, but I left some monitoring equipment on Gruinard Island just in case.

Sunset walks over to Lynne while Zatanna and Wallace stop dead. The cells are designed to have a 'public' section and a private section, though all areas are monitored around the clock. Each one has its own toilet and shower unit, though curiously they don't produce much in the way of waste material. And I've found it's important that they can see and talk to each other all of the time. After all, they're all the company they've known for nearly their entire lives.

Zatanna's eyes widen in horror. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping them." Lynne steps away from the cell while the young man within walks around the edge until he's facing me. "Young man, would you mind providing my guests with a demonstration?"

He gives me a small shrug. I have talked with him about what I'm trying to achieve here, but I can hardly blame him for not being more enthusiastic.

Activate.

It only takes a second for him to get the scent. His eyes dart around his cell, his nose sniffing constantly. He winces, trying to resist. He's an extremely responsible young man, especially considering his circumstances.

"What are you doing!" Zatanna's eyes are blazing with golden light, triquetra forming around her hands.

"Offering him food."

And then the change happens. His face elongates, his skin darkens and his fingers sprout claws. He gets his clothes -sweat shirt and jogging bottoms- off before his body's change rips them, but after that his coordination fails him and he collapses against the inside of the clear dividing wall. His eyes turn red, the muscles on his shoulders grow and membranous wings sprout under his arms. His mouth opens and displays his pearly white fangs.

He's still fully intelligent like this. But -like the rest- he just can't resist the hunger.

"A fascinating case. He and his siblings are Vampire-Succubus hybrids. They can only feed on adults, and they don't have enough self control to stop themselves. When I found them, they'd been living in starvation conditions on a small island, having eaten both their mother and their four older siblings. I'm trying to help them learn to control their instincts." The youth regains his balance, hunched over as his gait now is. I deactivate the pheromone sprays. "That, plus I've been using the G-Gnomes to educate them."

"Hello." His voice is raspy but coherent.

Wallace's mouth is still open. Zatanna closes her hands.

"This is what I do with my time. Advancing the interests of humanity without punching people in the face. When was the last time anyone in the League tried something like this?"