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

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
01:49 GMT -5

"Thank you, Mister Cobblepot. Your cooperation is much appreciated."

Richard smiles faintly. "He's scarier than me? I think I'm offended."

Mister Cobblepot nods nervously. "Call me again when you've set a Demon on fire on national television. Even his baking is more intimidating than some sort of.. circus acrobat like you."

"He's got a point there, Robin. Now, Mister Cobblepot, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to leave you where you are and lock you in."

"What? You bastard, I helped you!"

"Yes, you did. And that buys you my silence regarding the matter of you supplying both Nylor Truggs and David Hyde with personnel and equipment. Assuming that stops now, at least. But I can't have you warning anyone, intentionally or unintentionally."

"No, you fuck! Let me-" I close the lid of the storage chest, muffling his complaints somewhat. "-oooooout!"

I take a sound nullifier out of subspace and attach it to the exterior. "Is there a protocol for this?"

Richard tilts his head to the side. "Usually we hand them over to the police. But if you're serious about not telling them about what he's been doing..?"

"I prefer to stick to my agreements. It's good for business. And there must be some reason why Batman hasn't stuck him back in Blackgate."

"He might have trouble justifying that if Aquaman ever found out about Black Manta." We turn and walk away from the disused warehouse where we carried out our interrogation, the case vibrating slightly as Mister Cobblepot struggles against his bonds. "You're actually taking the part about him supplying Nylor Truggs pretty well."

"If it hadn't been him it would have been someone else. I'm saving all my anger for the truly deserving." Still, what I just did to Mister Cobblepot was fairly nasty. There's an oxygen purifier in the chest so he won't suffocate… "Do you think we should move him somewhere?"

Richard looks around at the street as we exit the building. "Nah. He should be safe here. You.. can.. track the case you used, right?"

"Unless someone gets very creative, yes."

"Then that's fine. Batman's done worse to him before."

I let out a sigh/laugh. "Eh, Gotham. Ah, no offence."

"Some taken. So, we hitting Black Manta's warehouse tonight?"

"Pff, this morning. And, no, I don't think we should. The whole team's been rushing around all day… I think that getting some sleep first would be a good idea. I mean, I'll talk to Kaldur, but…"

"Yeah, I'm not feeling all that inhausted right now either." He pauses. "You see, it's inhausted because-."

"No, no, I got it. Not exhausted."

"Aqualad to Orange Lantern and Robin. Have you completed your interrogation?"

"All done. We've got an address, but Oh El thinks we should wait until everyone's better rested."

"Yeah. Once we hit it, they're going to know exactly how we're coming at them. Assuming that we get another location, we're going to have to go there immediately. If we run into a Water Wraith or something I wouldn't want the team to be unfocused due to exhaustion."

Kaldur mulls it over for a moment. "And we do not know if what we are doing will impede Ocean Master anyway. I agree. We will reconvene at oh eight hundred, eastern standard time. Aqualad out."

"He sounds pretty good for a guy who didn't get any sleep last night either."

"I'm not sure I'd be sleeping if someone attacked Gotham like that."

"What about Swamp Thing?"

"That was more of a communication failure than an actual attempt to level the city." Across the road a small group of local toughs see the pair of us then turn tail and run. "I mean, if Arcane had done it, I'd be sleeping with a white phosphorus grenade and an agent orange spray under my pillow."

"And one of Kid Flash's alchemical bug sprays."

"Heh, yeah. You heading back to the cave?"

"That's where I usually sleep."

"You could stay in Gotham?"

"Yes, but I don't want to wake Karon up or give Holly ideas, and Jade and I-." He's stopped, looking at me in a way that suggests that his eyebrows are raised behind his mask. "Oh, you meant with you. Right. Ah, thanks, but there's really no way to explain my presence.. in your home, if I'm spotted. If.. you're.. concerned about your home being targeted you're welcome to have my Praexis Demons stand watch. I've also come up with a couple of drone gun designs that should pierce most disguises." I pause for a moment. "I could probably do better if I had some Nth Metal, but I used up my reserves of that and it'll be a while before the Hawks can restock."

"Thanks, I… Think I'd like that." He sighs, looking forwards. "The whole point of having a secret identity was so these things can't follow us home. At this point, Batman's going to have to do the same thing to the Cave that you've done to the Mountain."

"Unless we get all members of the Light. They don't appear to have shared what they know, otherwise your home address would already have been swarmed under. And we all know where Lex is."

"Miss Martian not had any luck?"

"No. It's not so much that he's actively resisting as he's pointedly avoiding thinking certain things. Kaldur didn't want to risk her doing more in case he became aware of it."

"Makes sense." We stop at the alleyway containing the zeta tube for this part of Gotham. "Well, ah, good morning."

I step forwards, depositing twelve Praexis Demons behind me as I go. "Good morning to you too."

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

I step out into the training room-

"Identification confirmed."

-the force field parting for me. The lights are dimmed for the night cycle, but I can still see Zatanna blinking back into wakefulness from a holographic chair in the sparring ring. "Oh, y-. You're back. What.. time is it?"

"Eight minutes to two."

She rises to her feet before stretching. "You know what this room needs?"

"Pseudo-sentient magic drone guns?"

"Seats. Proper soft furnishings." I reach her and she falls in beside me, leaning on my left arm slightly. "Holograms just aren't the same."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ugh?

I slowly become aware of the duvet around me. Something.. feels… Off.

I'm not sure.. what..?

No alarms, no sounds of weapons fire. No odd smell. Not an attack, okay. Ugh. Lights… Still on the night cycle. I usually sleep better than this. I look across the pillow to my bedside table, the dim orange glow of the rings illuminating my bedside clock.

20th June
05:02 GMT -5

Uhpfff. The worst time to wake up. I've got to be up in two hours, and my mind's already sufficiently alert that I'll struggle to get back to sleep. I turn my face away from the light source and press my right cheek into my pillow. Why did I wake up? After experimenting with a white noise generator I ended up just going with a sound deadening field. Really loud noises get through fine, but sounds from other rooms, the corridor or from the mountain's equipment get stopped dead. No movement in the room, the temperature's fine. I have a dim recollection of a dream in which I was lying on a lilo on a beach… Or maybe a desert… Don't remember it being particularly scary, though.

"Green Lantern to Orange Lantern."

Euh. What does Jordan want? I turn back over and sluggishly lift my right arm out of the duvet, waving it in the general direction of the rings. At this time of the morning I have too little desire to call the rings to me. The third flap results in my palm making contact with them, my fingers wrapping around the uppermost and knocking the lower one onto the floor.

"Orange Lantern here, sir. What can I do for-?"

"Ocean Master did it."

Fuckfuckfuckfuck! My mind sharpens, right ring finger going through the ring it's gripping even as the original ring flies around to land on my newly extruded left hand. Duvet and sheet evaporate as I rise into the air over my bed, power armour appearing from subspace.

"Oceanus is free?"

"If that's not Oceanus, I'd hate to think what it is."

A zeta tube construct forms around me, and a moment later I'm atop the KordTech building.

"Recognised-."

I transition upwards to the edge of the atmosphere and look down at the Atlantic Ocean spread out below me. Nothing much-. There's a grey cloud mass just to the west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, about two thousand kilometres from America's east coast. Ring, access weather satellites.

"Compliance."

Two hours of cloud and wind monitoring rush through my head. No, that's new. And it's slowly expanding. It doesn't appear to be moving yet…

"Don't look so big from up here, does it?" I half turn as Guy appears behind me. "C'mon, Lanterns are meetin' up on the coast."

I nod. Ring, detect will and transition.

Compliance.

Another flicker and I'm about five metres away from Lanterns Jordan and Stewart, both covered in green glowing construct armour.

"How.. bad..?"

A green cutaway image of the Atlantic appears just in front of Lantern Stewart. "Currents around Poseidonis, Tritonis and Crastinus are already so strong that they've had to call magicians back from the search just to keep them from being scoured from the seabed." The three cities are just on the US side of the Atlantic Ridge, which appears to be acting as a natural water break.

"'course..." Guy shrugs. "We don't really need to search anymore."

"Is Orm in there, or-?"

Jordan shakes his head. "Not our problem right now. Our problem is the tidal waves that are about to hit the east coast." He looks me over. "Think you can shield an area that size?"

John's image shifts, showing the water flowing over the land and marking the predicted area covered at full extension. Actual tidal waves don't look like the sort of mile high waves I remember from old cartoons. They aren't much taller than a person, but they're powerful and the water just keeps coming. Of course, those are just the normal waves caused by sudden earthquakes. Oceanus.. or Orm.. might be actively pushing. Or pushing and pulling. "You'll need to put it out to sea, from the sea bed. And make it tall. The water will just keep on pushing-."

I shake my head. "I'm-. I'm sorry, but that.. sort of area… That's well beyond me. I… I could probably shield Happy Harbour and New York, but-."

"Why not?" Jordan frowns "Yeah, it's a big area, but you don't need to make anything complicated to handle it."

"Because the east coast isn't mine. I don't own it. Complex constructs aren't a problem for me, but if I'm not invested in a place I can't.. do it. I mean, if this is the best idea we've got then I'll try…"

He frowns, eyes darting towards the storm clouds which presumably mark Oceanus' position. "How about with the snake?"

"She's got even less reason to care than I do. We.. might remain aware enough of what's going on to attack Oceanus, but.. maintaining a defence of places we've never even visited..? That's... I don't think that would work."

"Uh, great. Okay. If we work together, we should be able to."

"Hal." Guy looks thoughtful. "You know how I was… goin' on about… Abin Sur's ring picking you by dumb luck-."

"Guy, this is not the time."

Guy puffs up his cheeks, exhaling slowly as he stares out across the Atlantic. "I was jus' doin' the dumb.. macho thing. Y'know, puttin' down the other guy. You're a good man, an' a great Lantern." He turns in the air, looking at the confused Jordan. "Not sayin' I couldn'a done just as well, but… You've done good."

"Guy… What?"

"You wan'ed to know how come I could break free a' Klarion without help? I had help." He holds out his right hand in front of him, looking at his ring's sigil. "I was givin' it everything I had t' try an' get away.. and it wasn't enough. I opened myself up t' anything that was listening." He lowers his ring. "This has to happen, an' we ain't enough. So I guess I gotta ask fer help again."

"Well… Yeah, that would be great, but-."

"Ion." Guy's eyes burn with green light, green vapour wafting from his body. "I'm not enough. Not by myself. No ego here. Use me, burn me up, whatever. I don't care, but this doesn't happen, you hear me? I'm not gunna let millions of people die just because it's impossible t' save them."

"Guy, you've been spending too much time with Lantern Toren. I'm pretty sure Ion doesn't work like-."

"Warning, extreme will detected."

Guy's body flares with green light! I'm forced back, and the other two drift away as well.

"We are in alignment." Guy… Ion gestures, and a green barrier appears below us and then spreads out both north and south. It's got to be a hundred metres thick.

Ring, is that enough?

Unable to calculate. However, available evidence suggests that the barrier will serve as intended.

John stares at our brilliantly glowing colleague, then turns to me with a frown. "You knew about this?"

"I watched him turn off Jordan's ring with a thought. I suggested he keep quiet about it."

Jordan shakes his head. "We can have this out later. Batman, the coast is secure. Where do you want us next?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
05:06 GMT -5

Ring, patch in.

"…is surrounded by hurricane force winds, clouds and rain. Most members of the League can't even get close enough to make an attack."

"Understood. You want some heavy artillery, you just give the word."

"Jordan, Doctor Fate is currently ten miles away from the storm front. Go to his position and protect him while he tries to counteract Ocean Master's magic."

"You got it." He nods to John, looks Guy over cautiously and me over with irritation. "Be there in thirty seconds."

There's a flicker as he transitions away.

"Stewart, do you have any constructs capable of large scale atmospheric control?"

"Yeah, but… I've never tried using them on something this size."

"Sir, KordTech has five hundred arcanotechnology weather control drones. They can shut down normal storms by themselves. They might be-."

"I know. Kord's already making them ready for transport. How quickly can you get them into position?"

Ring, current locations? "If Lantern Stewart assists me…" They're magic, so take more power to shift into subspace… I look over at him. "Can you make zeta tube constructs?"

He nods. "Long as I don't try flying through, yeah."

"Then… Ten minutes. They're in about three different places at the moment, but if I open a zeta tube in the New York warehouse and start passing them through-."

"Get moving. Stewart, it will probably be easiest if you arrange them in orbit before moving directly against Oceanus. Coordinate with Doctor Fate."

"You got it."

"Orange Lantern, now."

"Sorrysir." My surroundings flicker and are replaced with the central courtyard of the KordTech complex in New York. Right, production and testing is over there. I transition again, going in through the air conditioning and appearing inside the building.

A couple of people on the night shift look up from their efforts to move the drones to the loading bay. A second later the supervisor waves his arms. "Okay! Forget that! Let the Lantern handle it! Focus on putting the part-finished ones together!"

I transition across the warehouse to the loading bay and generate a large zeta tube construct. The final version of the weather control drones ended up being much larger than the prototype we showed Io back in March. Not much point building them too small for a storm of any size, and the perfect control Ted likes so much just didn't make commercial sense if the business is mostly going to be shutting large storms down. Over in the production area I see three Atlanteans of the same Black Lagoon type as La'gaan working on linking disassembled enchanted sections together. The eventual split of work we decided on was to have the mechanically simple/mystically complex parts made in Poseidonis and the rest being done up here.

"Orange Lantern to Green Lantern C, ready here."

"Ready."

I pick up the closest with a null-grav clamp construct and shove it through the zeta tube, white light flashing as it disappears.

"Got it. Keep 'em coming."

Alright then. Twenty more clamps appear and start drifting in the direction of the zeta tube. The drones aren't fragile exactly, but unlike in normal operation they aren't going to be checked at the other end. First one through, then the second and more clamps appear to keep the convoy up. I'll slow down if John asks me to, but at this rate we should make the estimate I gave Batman.

"Hey, Orange Lantern!" The supervisor jogs over to me. "Ted's been phoning around the guys at the Florida site, they should have everything ready we're going to get ready by the time you're finished here."

"Good, thank you for telling me."

He watches as another disappears. "Hey, are we gonna get any a' these back? Aaah, not that I'm complaining. I don't want New York flooded or anything. But if we-."

"No idea, sorry. Protecting the drones will be a tertiary concern during combat. We'll try, but no promises."

He nods, taking a look around to see if there's anything he needs to do. "So… How big is this thing?"

"The area covered by clouds is about eighty kilometres across at the moment and growing."

"Nah, nah, I mean the guy making it. Ted said something about… Ah, about a Titan?"

"We don't know. There's a storm in the way and these really annoying wizards who keep blocking me when I try scanning through it."

"Can't Superman see it? He's got, like, super vision and stuff?"

"Any heat would be masked by the storm. Any electrical activity would be obscured by the lightning which the storm is generating. Atlanteans don't really use radio or radiation so there's nothing to see there either." Okay, getting there. One third done. "There's enough water in the air that it's messing up radar and we aren't sure if Titans have dense body structures like bones, if they even have bodies in the conventional sense."

"Okay, I didn't mean like-. I know you guys probably have it all covered-"

"I wish."

"-but it just seemed like something…"

"Fine. Don't worry. How many more are likely to be ready in the next half hour?"

"Uh-?" He looks over at the assembly area. "Assuming no problems, we can get one done every five minutes for the next half-hour. Then we'll start running out of the magical parts. Why half an hour?"

"The way super power fights go, if this takes longer than half an hour then we've probably lost."

"Oh. And what happens..?"

"Ocean Master was a prince of Atlantis who wanted his brother off the throne so he could have it. He was executed for treason and brought back as some kind of undead.. thingy. I have no idea at all what's going on in his mind. Honestly, I couldn't even guess."

"A big storm in the Atlantic would be pretty bad for shipping."

"It'd also be pretty bad for the Atlanteans who live under it and no one I've been able to talk to knows what Oceanus gets out of this."

He nods. "Supervillains, huh?"

"Don't even get me started." Two thirds done. "Still managing, Green C?"

"I'm managing fine. How many more?"

"Another forty from here, then I'm moving to Florida for the rest. Can Nabu work with them?"

"He thinks he can."

"Might be better getting Red Tornado in on that." Oh. "And if he could persuade Red Torpedo to assist us, that would be good as well. The drones are basically upgraded copies of their design."

"I'll pass that on to Batman once we're done here. For now, just focus on getting your job done."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
07:21 GMT -3

Nabu raises his arms, a gold light flaring outwards and being answered by the shining ankhs appearing next to each of the weather control drones currently holding position over the storm Oceanus is throwing out. "The mechanisms are crude. But they will serve."

Didn't see you doing any better.

Doctor Lockhart looks out across the world as it lies spread out before us. "There really is no getting away from all this, is there?"

"It is unwise to mistake isolation for safety, Doctor."

"Fate seems to be doing okay. I don't know why you even wanted me here."

"Professionally, because we don't know how well he can actually manage it. Particularly if an enemy magic user targets him while he's working on it. Personally, because I think you needed a kick up the arse."

He frowns at me. "Language."

"Kick up the top part of your legs. You didn't want to go to the ceremony, fine, no problem. But you haven't applied for citizenship-."

"I -James Lockhart- have citizenship. Father faked all the paperwork when he built me."

"I actually wrote you a letter about upgrading your skin to what Danni has. And the rest, if you wanted it. Not to combat levels, just so you can live a comfortable life."

"And if I suddenly rejuvenated, I'd need to come clean about my robotic status. I told Tornado and I'll tell you: it's not happening."

"I can make the changes far more subtle than-."

"Fate to the Justice League. I am ready to begin."

"Batman here. Deploy them at once."

Nabu lowers his arms slightly and four hundred and eighty eight weather control drones wreathed in golden light flash downwards towards the storm clouds. Red Tornado is already down there, testing the edge of the storm front and trying to prevent it spreading further. It should only take a few seconds for Nabu to get them into place, then… Well, we'll see if his existence has any justification.

"I am activating the spell-matrices now."

At this point the drones are just tiny golden specks of light below us, obscured by distance and clouds. Then the clouds around the periphery just vanish, airborne water precipitating immediately and falling to the ocean surface.

"Adequate. Resistance is minimal. This may be because Oceanus is not consciously generating the storm and it is a mere side effect of his presence. I am moving the drones towards the epicentre."

Water continues to fall in a perfect circle as the storm is cut down to size. Okay, a magic user down there could strike the drones with lightning but they're highly resistant to that even without Nabu shielding them. They're shielded against anti-machine effects. Depending on how big a Titan's physical body is -and going by the Hekatonkheires I'm going to guess 'very big'- his best option might well be to just hit them with physical force.

"Doctor, once Batman has no further need of us here, would you be willing to relocate to Atlantis? Your water control abilities-."

A large grey object pierces the storm clouds from the inside, lashing outwards… Presumably towards the drones. It's… This high up the scale is lost. It… I can't scan it, but I'd guess that it's made of stone. The shape is a long thin triangle, sharp along both visible edges. One drone is cleaved in two by the blade and another is smashed by the flat. Another prong emerges and-. Wait, that configuration… The trident, the ratio and spacing matches Oceanus' Trident.

Nabu adapts, moving the drones in that area around the obstruction and continuing to have them close in. Okay, let's see. Assuming that that trident has the same proportions as the smaller one Orm uses and that the Titan's material body has the same proportions as his, that means…

Ah.

"Orange Lantern to Justice League. My calculations suggest that Oceanus is about five miles tall. If he's standing on the sea bed, he should be visible from the waist up once the clouds are gone."

"Noted."

Batman's response is dry, almost disinterested. I suppose… From a planning point of view precisely how tall he is doesn't matter.

The storm is pushed back further, the head of the trident and… A hand. A hand made from churning grey water. Another becomes visible on the opposite side and I use the distance to check my calculation. Yep, I'm about right. Further in and a bracer made of the same stone-like material as the trident becomes visible strapped around his forearms. His water-body appears to be formed with a highly defined humanoid musculature. So, big and made of water. Um. Okay, I think I'm leaning towards needing to use the Sword of the Fallen but I'm certainly not in panic mode yet.

I left that in my bedroom, didn't I?

Nabu moves the drones down underneath another ponderous swing to the trident and two grey… Pincers..? Become visible through the clouds. Ah, traditional depictions of Oceanus show the claws springing directly from his head, but the entity we're seeing uses them as helmet decoration instead. Given that his body appears to be made entirely of water I suppose that shouldn't be too surprising. Lower still, and his face becomes visible. Solid shaped water once more, though with the spray and lack of colour difference the features are a little indistinct. Appears to be Caucasian in proportions and… Not much expression. Stern disapproval, but neither mouth nor the patches of extreme churning turbulence that mark his eyes are moving much. I suppose that it's also possible that he isn't aware of us. That we're just.. too small, too mystically inert to really register. Or too far away in Nabu's case.

His shoulders come into view. Bare, unarmoured. Not sure if that's odd or not. I'd guess that he doesn't have any need for armour, lacking vital organs or blood vessels. But then, what are the helmet and the bracers for? Decoration? Given how Human the Olympians I've met so far are I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he might have a sense of pride.. or artistry?

"Doctor Fate to the Justice League. Oceanus appears to no longer be trying to maintain the storm. I am recalling the drones in case they are needed later."

The golden flecks glow brighter as they fly directly away from Oceanus in all directions. The storm still raging around his pectoral muscles appears to fade, spreading and fading to a mere sea mist. His head turns slightly up, looking in the direction of… Looks like Florida, though it isn't easy to calculate precisely. His head turns slowly northwards-. No, of course, he's looking at the long green wall. He bends slightly at the waist, left arm reaching down towards the sea's surface.

"Batman to Wonder Woman. If you believe he can be reasoned with, now is the time."

A small target reticle appears on my armour's screen as Diana flies in from the perimeter towards Oceanus. Donna might be a better choice, given that most Titans appear willing to at least talk to her. But she isn't a member of the Justice League and there is absolutely no guarantee that Oceanus isn't just going to attack. And we don't know that Titans aren't happy to talk to Diana; she's mostly avoided them due to her respect for the Olympians. Jordan's flying along just behind her, because while the winds have died down a little there's no way Diana's going to be able to shout loudly enough to make herself heard.

I don't.. really have anything to contribute to the situation. I'd ask where Batman wants me, but I don't really want to distract him. If he wants me to move somewhere I'm sure that he'll tell me.

"Aqualad to Orange Lantern."

Ring, person to person only.

Compliance.

"Orange Lantern here, go ahead."

"Has Batman given you any indication as to whether he wants us to proceed with our raid?"

"No. I… Don't really know how useful it will be with Oceanus already active, but speaking for myself I would be exceedingly happy to see Truggs knocked down a peg or two. Is everyone in fighting condition?"

"It seems that we have little choice. I will begin preparations."

I nod. "Best of l-"

The sea buckles, water streaming in from all parts of the Atlantic and building in the area around Oceanus' left arm. I can see the water level against Guy's wall drop as it does so.

"-uck. Hang on, something's-."

Oceanus half turns and gestures in the direction of North Africa, the huge mass of water he'd built up roaring as he launches it eastward!

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
07:26 GMT -3

Oh heck.

I grab Doctor Lockhart's left arm with my right hand and transition us in the direction of Africa.

20th June
09:26 GMT -1

"Doctor, anything you could do to slow that down-."

"Are you crazy?! I can't do a thing about a whole ocean's worth of water!"

"Anything you can do." Ring, show me.. water manipulation constructs.

Compliance.

I can't make a wall to defend the Western Sahara. Too large a volume of water to freeze or vaporise. That… There's some sort of molecular bond reinforcement device… No, there's no way I could maintain something that big either. Simple and powerful.

Shock wave manipulator.

Two huge sonic projectors glow into being next to me, their front ends projecting into the oddly becalmed sea. I'm a wee bit more powerful than I was back in July... Still, that is a lot of water. Okay, these things aren't quite as brute force as just slamming an opposing wave of energy at an existing one and hoping for the best, but they're not far off and I wouldn't want to be between the rapidly approaching wave and me when I fire. Ring, please tell me that no one is?

Displaying.

Oh.. dear.

Ships can't move anything like as fast as I can. Even with a couple of days' notice to get away there are still plenty of ships out there. Okay, so, stop this and grab-.

I see a green cradle materialise around an oil tanker and another miles away forms around a cruise liner. Agh, John can make zeta tube constructs but Jordan can't. He'd be better off handling this part-. A red blur grabs people from a trawler a moment before the oncoming wave demolishes it. League's on it, good.

I don't know why the wave is travelling across the surface of the water. Usually tidal waves are just waves of energy, the destructive output only being noticeable when they reach the shallows. I guess that when you're a Titan you don't have to worry about little things like the laws of physics.

"Orange Lantern to Batman. I'm in position to try opposing the wave. This is going to be very messy and I can't guarantee a high degree of success."

Hang on, if it's magic-.

I generate a railgun construct with extra construct-capacitors, angle it so that the shot will skim the wave and then fly onwards out of the atmosphere. Load mage slayer, power up to maximum, fire.

The air catches fire in my projectile's wake, a billowing red line marking its passage across the Atlantic.

"Orange Lantern, I did not say fire!"

"Sorry sir, no, that wasn't the collateral damage one." I see the round strike the oncoming wave near the crest, water vaporising and flying away from the site of impact. The wave shudders slightly but doesn't collapse. "That was the anti-magic one." Check the… I'm checking a wave for damage. Did he just put too much power into it for a mage slayer to nullify? Is it animated by multiple spells? "Minimal effect, but I've got many more."

A golden ankh appears above a cargo ship, which shudders for a moment before disappearing in a flash of gold.

"Then keep firing."

Three more railgun constructs, charge, load and fire.

John and Jordan aren't bothering to move the ships out of the way north or south, they're just lifting them over the wave. That'll.. work, unless Oceanus just repeats what he just did, and I doubt that we'll be able to clear the entire Atlantic…

Four impacts, and if the wave is weakening I can't tell.

Charge.

"Lantern, can you focus on a narrow channel?"

"I can probably limit the main beam to fifteen miles across at the point of impact."

Fire.

"Three more ships to evacuate and the defenders of Lemuria have been warned. Once the ships' crews are evacuated, fire."

"Understood."

Oh yes, they're not bothering to move the ships any more. Collateral damage.

Charge.

Is there anything else I can do? Yess… Damn it.

"Orange Lantern to Nabu. One of the ways to avoid the effect of mage slayer rounds is to use many small but unconnected spells, letting the ones affected ablate while the rest maintain the effect. I don't know that's why I'm not destroying the wave-"

Fire.

"-but it's a possibility. Can you-?"

"Yes." Two more flares of gold and Nabu appears in front of the wave, arms outstretched and ankh already appearing. Jagged streams of gold light flicker off, striking the wave at multiple locations across its surface. "The spells are bound."

Charge.

Guess Oceanus is one of the clever ones.

"Thank you."

Fire.

Oceanus dips his left hand again, a tightly focused storm cloud roiling around his forearm.

The four shots hit the wave just below the crest. There's a moment as the wave shudders, then it collapses, water falling downwards in a colossal splash.

Okay, the energy is still coming, but at least the magic component is dealt with. Which.. I think.. improves the situation. Shipping is clear.

"Orange Lantern to Justice League. Targeting wave with shock wave manipulator construct. Firing in two, one, firing."

I don't understand exactly how this thing works. The ring has a description, but my knowledge of physics is nothing like good enough to make sense of it. It does... Rather than apply force against the wave it does something to match the energy involved in the wave against itself. In a laboratory setting it can shut a wave down without the water stirring at all.

But this is a real ocean.

The wave front explodes in dozens of places, plumes of water rocket up, down, left, right, forwards and back as tiny changes in the make up of the water throw the manipulators off by tiny amounts which are magnified by the distance. Most of the energy is still oncoming, but I think I should be able to-.

Gugerhaah!

 

[Mr Zoat]

"…ke up! Come on, I'm not flying back to America by myself!"

Uh?

Wha-?

Everything hurts… Breathing hurts, but I can just about manage to take a breath. Armour's deadweight.

I smell… Bacon..?

Ring, why is there bacon?

No bacon is present. Most likely source of smell is you.

I try moving my right arm and that was a mistake!

"Aaaaaaagh!"

Ring! Fix!

20th June
07:34 GMT -3

Uaoower.

My armour blinks to life around me-

"Orange Lantern, respond!"

-and Batman's shouting at me again.

"Orange Lantern reporting. What..? What hit me?"

Warning: low power. Twenty percent remaining.

Oh wonderful.

"Oceanus used a storm cloud as an electrostatic generator and then shot you with a lightning bolt. Are you injured?"

Ring, what's Oceanus doing?

In my mind's eye I see an image of him moving slowly in the general direction of Bermuda, a storm cloud crackling around his left hand. A lightning bolt leaps out as Diana closes the distance, forcing her to block with her bracers and back away.

"The bolt blew apart my construct armour and fried my power armour. And me. The ring's put me back together but I'm on low power."

Ring, did I stop the wave?

Partially. Green Lantern two eight one four C is attempting to replicate your construct.

Yeah… Those things aren't cheap in power terms. John might be able to get his head around it… "Orange Lantern to Green C. Sonic cannon constructs would be easier for you to use. Don't worry about getting it perfect."

"Right."

Okay. "Batman, permission to disengage and recharge?"

"Granted."

Ring, zeta tube.

Compliance.

20th June
05:35 GMT -5

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

I stumble slightly as I pass through the zeta tube.

"Identification confirmed."

Ring, I thought that you fixed that?

All physical injuries repaired.

Wonderful. Okay, get rid of my armour, let's see what else has gone wrong.

"Hey, Oh El. You done already?"

I register Wallace's presence just after he walks into the training room in costume. I shake my head again in an attempt to… I don't know. "No. Oceanus shot me with a bolt of super lightning. He was in the mid-Atlantic, I was off the coast of Africa. Nearly.. died, and now it's like…"

I pat my chest, and feel for my Spell Eater. It's not there. Ring, where is it?

Spell Eater was destroyed by lightning bolt. No replacement requested.

"And now I've got magic overload. Is Zatanna up? Or.. Rob?"

"Well, ahh…" Wallace glances back the way he came. "Ah… Should you be on duty? 'Cause I remember how you used to be when stuff like that happened, and-."

"No, I shouldn't. That's why I was asking for the magic users who can fix this."

"Right, right. I've been up for, like, five minutes. Batman gave Kaldur the okay to go after Truggs. I think I heard Zatanna's voice, but Cornwall's in school today. Ah." He checks his watch. "Now."

"And this is why I wanted to wait until a civilised hour before conducting the mission. Blasted.. inconvenient supervillains. Right." I shake my head again -no, it still doesn't help- and transition to my room. Huh, that shouldn't-. Oh, I left the door open. Whaw, that was only… Half an hour ago. Uh, right.

"This is my cause, this is my fight
Shine through the void with orange light
I've claimed all within my sight
To keep what is mine, that is my-"

"Paul?" Zatanna stops in front of the doorway behind me, clanking slightly in the Sororitas power.. armour..?

"-right?" My lantern doesn't appear. "Oh, come on, don't make me say the whole thing-" The lantern appears, wisps of orange light flowing into the rings. "-again. Alright."

"You beat Oceanus already?"

"No, no we haven't." The streams of energy cut off and I flex my hands. "I'm currently experiencing magic overload again. Would you mind dealing with it?"

"Oh, of course. Ssecxe cigam emoc ot em!"

And just like that everything snaps back into proper focus. Okay. Pick up the Sword of the Fallen. And a new Spell Eater.

Compliance.

"Thank you. Right. I need to get back to the Atlantic."

Zatanna hefts her bolt pistol and presses the safety. "Ave Imperator."

"Weapon armed."

"Your magic is going to be far more dangerous than that."

"I can pull the trigger and talk at the same time."

"Those are semi-automatic armour piercing rockets. Unless it happened while I was unconscious, we're still not aiming to kill-."

"They've got zombies."

"Fair point." I nod. "Best of luck. Ring, zeta tube."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
05:37 GMT -5

I appear once more on the roof of the KordTech building. There's a noticeably larger screams-and-cars noise from the streets below. I imagine that Guy's giant wall is the cause of some of it, huge constructs generally being a pretty good sign that something is up. I don't know if anyone has been stupid enough to try flying in the combat area to record the fight. I know that in the comics Lex had drones for monitoring Mister Kent's fights that Ms Lang repurposed for pay-per-view purposes. Certainly he'd have the ability to build such things. I just don't know if he has.

Transitioning directly into the combat zone would be stupid, so I instead transition to Bermuda.

20th June
06:38 GMT -4

From here the flashes of light generated by Oceanus' lightning blasts are clearly visible to the unaided eye, as is the green light shining from John and Jordan's constructs. Bermuda's on the outside of Guy's wall and the waves on the beaches are rising far higher than normal. Fewer cars here, but I can hear the screams and see the streams of people head towards either high ground or hurricane shelters. If Oceanus sends a wave this way… That's the island done. I honestly don't think that I could justify stopping one heading this way and risking missing one going somewhere else. I can't even justify trying to shove everyone through a zeta tube construct.

Ring, update me on the fight.

Pale blue beams flash out from the Batwing, tiny sections of Oceanus' body freezing solid where they hit. The power requirements… No, he isn't maintaining fire. He probably just stuck in the biggest cold gun he could, on the grounds that if something that big couldn't get the job done then the target was probably just immune to the cold.

Mister Kent floats stationary in the air to the right of Oceanus' head, cutting loose with his heat vision as he tries to evaporate Oceanus' eyes and trusting in Diana to block incoming lightning. Oceanus turns towards them -apparently unaffected by whatever damage Mister Kent has done- and swings his trident in an arc. Diana blocks, and he maintains the pressure as he brings his other hand around. White light flares and both of them go flying in an uncontrolled tumble until Jordan gets in position to catch them with a catcher's glove construct.

Ugh. I raise my right hand to my right ear, then pull it away and look at my finger tips. Blood? In the combat zone Mister Yao is standing on a construct platform held up by John, who is also wearing a heavy duty ear protector construct. Mister Yao is shouting-. And I'm not going to try listening to him again.

Whatever it is, it doesn't stop Oceanus making the seas roil and throw rock-impregnated icebergs at them. John's forced to split his attention three ways, carrying Mister Yao, keeping his ears blocked and evasive flying. He evades two, but doesn't spot the third until it's too late. Fortunately for him Major Adams is there, blasting it hard enough to knock it off course.

Nabu's holding back, hundreds of tiny ankhs floating around his hands as he watches Oceanus intently. Probably studying him, trying to work out how he works. Sensible. It's rather difficult to harm things when you have no idea what they are. Of course… I draw the Sword of the Fallen. Brute force is an option in a surprisingly wide variety of cases.

"Orange Lantern to Batman. I am recovered and I have the Sword of the Fallen. Do you want me to take a swing?"

"Whatever it takes. Stop Oceanus."

"Sir."

I lean forwards and accelerate to my maximum safe air speed, 'safe' in this instance meaning that there's no risk of setting the atmosphere on fire. I can't hide that I'm coming in from naked eyes… No, I could, but only by slowing down a lot. I can't really use constructs to increase my speed as I am now when I'm invisible. Alright, where at the whole.. colossal bastard thing am I aiming? Hitting the eyes clearly didn't do anything worth talking about. So… Anywhere on the body… The trident, in the hope that there's some sort of magic inherent in it that's helping with this titanic water body… I mean, Gaea took the form of a normally proportioned woman when I met her. There isn't actually an automatic link between physical size and arcane power.

Is the 'real' Oceanus inside that body somewhere? No, it doesn't matter, there's no way for me to locate it quickly enough. Hang on. "Orange Lantern to Nabu. Any idea where I should be stabbing?"

"No. There is no one concentration of arcane power and his mind is not contained within any one part of his body. For the purpose of your sword, one location is as good as another."

Not what I wanted to hear… Goodness, Oceanus is big when you see him from this angle. "Thank you." Close enough, and I don't like the way that lightning cloud is glowing. Dismiss constructs, invisible and phase.

A half-second later a bolt of lightning flashes through me. Hah! Not so clever now. Not having to defend something makes this sort of thing far easier. Least.. defended place..? Not the left arm with the cloud… It's probably the face, actually. I mean, he can control the ocean and he's attacking from his arms… Alright, angle up.

In the distance I see Red Tornado flying his brother around, water stilling wherever they pass. Good to know that Doctor Lockhart is unhurt. Mister Freeman and Major Adams take a shot at Oceanus' right hand, just about managing to vaporise one of his fingers before they're blasted by his lightning. Jordan catches them and ferries them over to where Mister Yao is standing on a construct platform. Since his ear bleeding attack didn't work, it looks like he's reverted to medical duties instead. Major Adams reacts to something he says and reverts to his bleeding Human form, then Mister Yao sings to him and his wounds knit themselves back together.

I'm not attracting any attention. Invisibility? The scry wards? The intangibility? Because there's quite a lot of water in the air around here. It might be interesting to work out exactly what Oceanus responds to, but I doubt that we'll have the luxury. And… I'm feeling slightly light headed. Ring?

Spell Eater destroyed by lightning passage.

Ah. That's.. a problem. I could get pissed in this fight. That's an actual problem I'm having to-.

I pull away as I start flying through the cascading waterfall that is Oceanus' beard. Would stabbing him in the beard work? I'd.. guess not, but…

Agh, not again. Focus. Okay, his chin would be there. Go for the cheek-. I pull back frantically as he turns his head to respond to-.

Pink and red beams of light strike his face up above me, sending water exploding outwards. Pink? Where would-? Oh heck, that was the same colour as the pink barriers the OMACs used. Ring?

The ring shows me three suits of power armour holding position about two miles away, their chassis glowing with pink energy and tastefully understated LexCorp logos on their shoulders. The general design matches what I saw in the underground sections of LexCorp Metropolis in February. Of course, just because he'd rather not let Oceanus wreck the eastern seaboard that's no reason not to try and score some good PR. Wonder if Lex is in one of those himself?

Okay, that's a cheek. I stop phasing and slash outwards. There's a half-second of resistance as the Sword bites into whatever is creating the membrane effect keeping the water of Oceanus' body in shape, then the resistance disappears and a chunk of Oceanus' face collapses, cascading towards the Atlantic in a torrent.

Ring, scan?

And the rest of him is entirely unaffected. In fact-. I phase again as tendrils of water extrude from his chest and shoot towards me. Two pass through me as I try to evade and oh, I'm feeling… What am I doing? Don't… Don't need the Sword. Sheathe it.

Nothing.. I can do, really. I don't.. know anything about fighting Titans. I was not ready for this.

Do I know anyone who fights Titans? I mean, you'd have to be some sort of berserk lunatic to want to fight giant-.

I blink.

20th June
12:41 GMT +2

Marshall Haraldson looks around as I appear in front of him. The Einherjar have made a camp near the Frederikshavn naval base, and their presence in town has both reduced street crime to near nothing and increased local tourism considerably.

"Hail to you, Orange Lantern. What news?"

"There's a giant made of water fighting the Justice League in the middle of the Atlantic. You want in?"

A long sword materialises in his right hand. "Einherjar were made for killing giants! Bring our steeds down from your Watchtower and we shall fight beside you with joy in our hearts and a song on our lips!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
07:49 GMT -3

I watch as the Einherjar charge downwards towards Oceanus, shouting their battle cries. Listening in might have been educational, but I told the ring not to translate the rest of them when Lars shouted 'prepare to be sodomised'. I like to believe that's just him being an arse rather than it being their official battle cry, but I don't feel like disillusioning myself.

Alright, what next? The weapons I currently have in my possession appear to be ineffective. I could -just about- create enough cold gun constructs to freeze Oceanus solid, except that for all I know he can animate ice just as easily as he can water. The titanic body I can see is too big and whatever magics animate it too diffuse to be easily drained or nullified. I could get a working party of Atlantean mages to enchant a giant mage slayer round and try firing that, but that would take a good long while and I'm not sure how long we can keep Oceanus' attention. And it would involve me leaving here, putting me out of position if he tries another Africa-Ending Super Wave.

Of course, I do have…

I'm unable to avoid looking over at Nabu.

I do have the mana batteries Zatanna and I are planning to use on him. They're in as secure and warded a location as I can store them. If I decide to use them, there's no way I can hide from him the fact that I've got them. Or how they work. I'd rather not reveal them, but I'd rather take the hit than let Oceanus destroy the Atlantic rim.

Would they work on Oceanus?

A Human body can only hold so much mana before strange things start to happen. Nabu is far more powerful than Mister Zatara because he replenishes everything he expends almost immediately from the Plane of Order. The mana batteries are designed to drain at that rate, but they're not designed to store what they take for long. Oceanus… Probably isn't taking power from any one location. It's either innate, or he's taking it from the entire world around him. Making a storage vessel to isolate what we drained from him would take a similar amount of time to making a super mage slayer… Maybe even more, because I'd have to explain the design to the people working on it. Plus, given what happened when I tried stabbing him with the Sword of the Fallen he appears to have an innate structure that resists that sort of approach.

I think I'm going to decide against.

The Einherjar appear to be enjoying themselves, performing hit and run attacks or in a few cases leaping from their steeds to grab onto Oceanus and stab him directly. Since they don't need to breathe and.. may be immune to conventional attack, a lot of the concerns the rest of us have aren't so much of a problem.

Oh. Oceanus appears to have noticed them. Sections of his 'skin' transform into hard ice, frozen spikes stabbing at the undead Viking warhost. They're… Laughing.

"Wonder Woman to Justice League. Everyone, pull away from Oceanus now."

And.. the Vikings can't hear that, because they didn't have radios in the tenth century. Anyway, why does she-?

Oh.

There's a huge wall of water heading our way from the general direction of southern Europe. Not as tall as Oceanus -and I think he's reconfigured my mental ideas of what huge really means- but still about a mile high, and… Are those..? Horses..? Horses made of water galloping in a giant wave of water, pulling… A giant humanoid, this one not made of water. Okay, his beard and hair don't appear able to decide whether they're water or not, his skin is pale green and he sits on his chariot atop a fish tail rather than legs, but he's mostly Human.

Looks like Poseidon has decided to involve himself.

Um.

I think, and filaments extend towards the Einherjar frantically swarming Oceanus… Or at least a tiny part of Oceanus' surface area. "Guys, a god on our side is about to hit Oceanus." And I'm not joking, he's really motoring. "Get back on your horses, pull back and reform."

The response is… Mixed. Marshall Haraldson gets it at once, squinting eastward before shouting something in Old Norse and leaping onto the back of a nearby horse. A good third of his host wheel away into the sky as Oceanus notices that his old foe is incoming and turns to meet him. The rest… Not all of the Einherjar were mounted. Several of them dart back to pick up their infantry colleagues and I see John and Jordan perform a similar duty.

Lars stabs a construct reaching for him and continues his attempt to cut a passageway under the left bracer.

Okay, most of them are off, and the sea is shifting as Oceanus tries to give himself the high ground against a mounted opponent. I've got nearly a full charge. And… I've always wondered…

Rings… Beam singularity projector.

Compliance.

Targeting these things is… Tricky. Quite aside from the way they mess around with local spacetime, the beam doesn't really attenuate. And it's a heck of a power hog. Still… If you absolutely, positively have to eliminate physical force as a possible vector for destroying your opponent, it's hard to do better than a singularity.

There are still eight Einherjar on Oceanus, and they appear to have decided to stay for the impact. Lars is laughing like the lunatic he clearly is. I think he's biting-.

"Orange Lantern to League. Everyone apart from those eight clear?"

"Yes." Batman sounds like he's about as out of ideas as I am.

"Alright then. One last attack from me." I warp forwards and aim my beam singularity projector at Oceanus' back, angled so that the beam will pass through his spine at the base of his neck and carry on through his face. I'm not sure if that's actually a useful thing to do… But I can't see a better target. "Prepare for singularity."

"WHAT!?"

Light.. cuts out for a second. Water foams in a fury along the line the beam briefly cut and the whole body visibly slumps.

Ring, reset to local time.

Adjustment made.

For a moment I dare hope that did it, that the raw power and exotic effects of super dense matter might have killed the damn thing. No, no such luck. Oceanus reels for a few moments, then starts to pull himself together.

Just in time for Poseidon's chariot to hit him at full force.

And I need to pull back now! I grab a falling Einherjar and then warp again, appearing well above the grappling gods. I think the comparatively Human forms of Hephaestus and Eris misled me as to what the gods can do when they pull out all the stops. Oceanus was taking everything the League could throw at it and now every blow from Poseidon sends him staggering. His attacks do just as much, however. There.. isn't actually much skill involved that I can see. They appear to just be slugging each other-. There's probably something clever going on at the arcane level, both parties wrestling for control of the seas… I can't see it, though.

"Aqualad to Orange Lantern."

"Orange Lantern here. Raid successful?"

"Yes. No casualties on our side, and we have captured a number of computer systems. If the League can spare you, I would like you to attempt to recover their contents."

"I can try, but there have been an awful lot of anti-Lantern enchantments on things lately. I can't guarantee that I won't trigger something."

"My alternative is to have Squire guess how to access it, and she tells me that is even less likely to be successful. Between yourself and Zatanna-" ! "-you have the best chance-."

"No we don't." Ring, where's Sergeant Pushkin?

Sergeant Pushkin is currently located on the north-west coast of Russia.

"I know a man who can access any technology, risk free. I'll grab him and be with you in two minutes."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
04:57 GMT -6

We appear next to the camouflaged harbour that until recently was Black Manta's main centre for resupplying and offloading his own ill-gotten gains in America.

"…certain that the Justice League does not want me to assist in the main fight?"

Thinking about it… This was probably where he waited for Truggs when he broke out of Belle Reve and swam for it.

"Not… A-hah. Not that I am precisely eager to fight a giant made of water, you understand. But we must all do our parts. And there were other people in force armour on the scene."

Ahead of us, Roy deactivates his armour's invisibility generator and waves with his right hand.

"I appreciate the offer, Sergeant." I rise off the… Heh, they've put that plastic grass protection mesh down to cover the soil. Can't risk the grass dying off too much in case someone noticed, but they still need to drive over this because exotic transportation would be more noticeable than a regular lorry in an unusual place. I rise off the grass protection mesh and fly at speed towards the entrance next to Roy, Sergeant Pushkin just behind me. "But your armour doesn't contain any weapons that would be a substantial improvement on powers possessed by people already on-site. We have reason to believe that the data held here may well relate to the ongoing fight, and you are uniquely well suited to accessing it."

"Oh, if you are sure…"

We reach Roy, and he turns and heads inside to lead us through the corridors. "Arsenal, anything interesting?"

"A few hi-tech weapons, machine parts. Plenty of those scry wards you like so much."

"Naturally."

"Not much in the way of combat personnel. A couple of guards, and Squire and I took them down no problem."

"No zombies?"

"No. Ocean Master and Black Manta have worked together before, but Kaldur says they're not exactly close."

"One's a pirate who happens to operate in Atlantean territory, the other wants to take over the country. If Orm had won, killing Mister Hyde and his crew would probably have been fairly high up his agenda."

"Heh. With friends like that…"

An image of Nabu flashes into my mind. "Indeed. Prisoners?"

"We've got 'em all secured. M'gann's been taking a look in their heads, but it looks like Black Manta didn't include his cargo handlers on the need to know list."

Sensible enough. Black Manta is a thief, but he's been somewhat under my radar and… Frankly, I didn't consider him worth my time. Now we've got some of his people being pumped for information, and while we might miss the man himself if we can roll up the network he uses to shift his stolen merchandise then he'll find it much harder to operate in future. And most likely so will a load of other people who use the same fences.

"Injuries?"

"Nothing major. You shoulda seen their faces when Zatanna pointed that toy gun of hers at them."

"It's not actually a toy gun."

"Oh. … Huh."

He leads us into what appears to be the communications room. Kaldur and Richard are already present, Richard crouched down and running a small sonic probe underneath the server cases to get a look at their insides. Kaldur nods at Sergeant Pushkin. "Red Rocket. Thank you for coming."

"I am always happy to help the Justice League. Or.. their…" He leans awkwardly to the side to get a better look at Richard. "Sidekicks."

Barely a wince. I guess everyone's a bit more secure than they were eleven months ago.

"Orange Lantern tells me that you are able to access computer systems regardless of the security which they have in place."

"Ah, yes. But it is not well tested in the field yet. Robin may wish to move aside in case something goes wrong."

Richard stands up and steps back. "There's definitely something in there. Given the sort of technology Black Manta uses I'd guess it's some sort of plasma charge. Or several plasma charges."

"So I do not turn them off one at a time."

"No, definitely not." Richard keeps backing up. "In fact, just take the data and send it to my arm computer."

"Okay." There's a ping from Richard's arm computer. "All done."

"Huh." Richard raises his left arm and starts tapping buttons with his right forefinger. "That was fast. Give me a sec-."

Sergeant Pushkin stands completely still for a moment. "It looks like they are doing something on Porto Santo, off the west coast of North Africa. I can see that they have made equipment and supply deposits there recently."

Named by some excessively optimistic Spanish settlers, who were politely booted out by Atlantean soldiers in the fifteenth century once they realised that there were surface worlders there. It's probably.. inhabited back on Earth Prime, with no Atlanteans around to contest things.

Richard taps his computer once more and then closes his right hand. "Yeah. Looks like."

Kaldur frowns. "Islands in the Atlantic are Atlantean territory. If Orm had wanted to build a base of some kind there before he was condemned, it would have been a simple matter to arrange. Though I am uncertain as to why-."

"Squire to Aqualad."

"Aqualad here."

"There's something… The water in the dock? It's not moving right."

My eyes and Kaldur's meet for a moment, mild frowns on both of our foreheads. "Can you be more specific?"

"Does she need to? I mean, we're out of here just as soon as the police get here to pick up-."

The ground beneath our feet rumbles. Oh.. dear.

Richard's first out of the door, bouncing off the corridor wall and hurtling down the corridor towards the dock. I transition past him, appearing just outside the reinforced door leading to the place where the Manta Sub usually stops for repairs and for offloading cargo. Several of Mister Hyde's employees look up in shock as Canis flies through the opening on the end of a plume of water. I cushion his landing with a construct crash mat, don construct armour and then stride into the breach myself.

A Water Wraith stands on the water's surface, directing water spouts at Beryl, Zatanna and Kon. Kon just plants his feet and takes it, Beryl triggers her armour's phasing system but gets staggered by the attack's arcane component and Zatanna-

"Retaw wolf dnuora em!"

-takes a firing posture as the water bends at right angles about thirty centimetres before it hits her and spraying harmlessly against the wall. Then she-

Tchoom-tchoom-tchoom-tchoom-tchoom!

-opens fire with her bolter, the bolts striking the Wraith's outer membrane and exploding harmlessly.

"Zatanna." She looks my way as I draw the Sword of the Fallen. "Keep it there, keep it material."

"Right! Yats ereh dna niamer-"

Kon loses his footing and slams into a wall.

"-dilos!"

She collapses, bolter falling to the ground as the Wraith hisses like a steaming boiler.

But that's all I need. Construct jump pack forming on my back, I boost myself towards it and stab the Sword through its 'face', sword slicing through the outer membrane and into the floating stone within.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
05:01 GMT -6

Actual steam flashes out from the incision, washing over my construct armour and rushing across the room. Thick bars of orange light immediately link me to each of my comrades, construct armour appearing around them. Between supernatural toughness and fully enclosed power armour they'd.. probably have been okay, but I don't feel like taking risks at the moment. The head section of the Wraith has entirely vaporised now; the large stone that I've stabbed is sitting on the blade of my sword while the others are slowly falling through what's left of its body.

"Zatanna, still with us?"

"Ah? Uhhhh." She tries to push herself up, momentarily forgetting that she's wearing power armour. "I… I wasn't ready for how much power that would take."

I put an orange scoop construct underneath the bottom of the Wraith's 'body', catching the stones as they fall out of the bottom. That appears to be the trigger for what's left of the body to collapse into normal water, splashing down into the docking bay. Physics then snap back into force, steam freezing in the air and precipitating in tiny ice particles. I take hold of the head stone with a scaly construct hand and pull the Sword free.

"Orange Lantern to Aqualad. Situation under control."

"So I see." He walks into the room, the hardened surface of his water armour causing the ice crystals to crunch and fragment under his feet. "Can you detect any others?"

Not with a normal scan, but the stonework seemed pretty consistent amongst those that attacked Poseidonis… I send a sonar probe construct down into the water and let off a pulse. "No, we appear to be in the clear."

Beryl rematerialises and taps the side of her helmet with her right hand. "I think I might need a new spell eater."

I float back down to the floor, stones floating out in front of me as I put them in approximately the same position relative to one another that they had inside the Wraith. Hm. Check with the rune stone? Yes, powerfully magic rather than haphazardly collected detritus. I put them down. I'll pick them up afterwards and hand them over to Sephtian. Ring, check environment?

Environmental conditions safe.

I remove the orange construct armour from around my companions before connecting a filament to Beryl's chestplate. She's actually been burned where the spell eater overloaded, though fortunately it hasn't melted as mine did when Oceanus shot me. I disintegrate it, then heal her burn and deposit a replacement.

"Hey!" She puts her right forearm across her chest. "A little warning in future!"

I frown. Why would-? Oh. Oh right. "Sorry." I lean forwards, taking hold of Zatanna's hands and assisting her in getting upright.

"Thanks. Um, Aqualad? I don't… I don't think I'm going to be much use.. for the rest of the mission."

He nods. "Understood. We will need someone to remain here with the prisoners and hand them over to the police."

"An Old God!" Canis brushes off Richard as he re-enters the room, visibly limping. "That was a minion of the Old God fighting the Justice League! This is incredible!" He looks at me expectantly. "Are there more?!"

"Probably."

"Excellent."

"Aqualad to Batman. We have captured new intelligence from Black Manta's base of operations and been attacked by a Water Wraith. It now seems extremely likely that Black Manta was assisting Ocean Master. We also have a location."

"Understood. Stand by."

Kon looks at each of us. "What exactly are we standing by for?"

Richard nods. "What, you thought we were just gunna rush in with no plan and no reconnaissance? Batman's gunna want every member of the League who isn't fighting Oceanus directly to participate." He turns to Kaldur. "Does Atlantis have anything around there right now?"

Kaldur shakes his head. "The closest Atlantean city is Aurania, and they are unlikely to be able to move forces into position quickly enough to be able to help us."

"And the Spanish and Portuguese fleets are in harbour. If the sky is clear we might be able to talk them into carrying out an air strike, but without more precise coordinates than 'somewhere on the island' that's asking an awful lot of ordnance."

Canis sets his jaw. "I would prefer to confront and destroy our enemies personally, but if we are talking about simply bombarding them… Your people have fusion bombs, do you not? Three high-yield devices should utterly obliterate the island."

He.. does have a point. There's minimal risk it would trigger World War Three as the world's leading nuclear powers are aware of what's going on. The island itself is empty, and it wouldn't be all that hard for me to spend a couple of days removing radioactive material. On the other hand…

"A nuclear explosive wouldn't hit phased targets. We'd need to use some sort of phase disruptor first, and we don't have any of those attached to nuclear warheads."

"Ah." He bows his head slightly. "A shame. There is a beautiful finality to a mushroom cloud on the horizon."

Richard leans away slightly, looking at him askance.

"Batman to team. I authorize you to go to Santa Porto. Stay on the east side of the island. Once you arrive, open a zeta tube and further Justice League personnel will join you. Black Canary will have operational command. Your objective is to locate Ocean Master and disrupt whatever magic he's using. If that doesn't stop Oceanus, investigate the site for anything that might."

Kaldur nods. "Understood. Team out. Aqualad to team, convene in the docking bay."

"Right there!" Wallace blurs into view, slipping slightly on the ice. "Hey, why does Batman want us to stay on the east side of the island?"

"Because Oceanus can shoot the west side. And if he can take me down with full armour, it would kill anyone who wasn't super tough."

"Whow. Ah, east side it is."

M'gann drifts in through the wall while Roy walks through the door. She looks over to Zatanna. "I've put all of the prisoners to sleep. They shouldn't give you any trouble."

"Thanks."

Sergeant Pushkin enters the room as I flick my hands out to the sides, ten Praexis Demons led by Fatty shimmering into being. "But just in case. Robin, where did the ones I lent you end up?"

"Still at the cave. Do you need them?"

"I don't think I'm in danger of running out." I look around. "No Artemis or Rocket?"

Kaldur shakes his head. "We could not rouse them quickly enough to take part in this attack. They will most likely join us when you open the zeta tube."

"Alright." Ah. Kon looks at me, his head bowing slightly. "I can't just transition Superboy while he's wearing that armour." I generate a zeta tube construct next to me. "If you head to the Watchtower, you can come out with the rest."

He nods. "Alright. Be careful."

"I think we're a bit past careful."

He steps through the orange ring. "Recognised, Superboy, B zero four."

Canis shakes his head. "I will make my own way as well. Brut would be sorely vexed with me if I allowed such an opportunity to escape him."

"Very well." I remove the construct and attach filaments to each of my team mates, sans him and Zatanna. "First transition will be to Morocco. Then I'll test the safety of transitioning to the target and transition us onwards. Ready?"

Nods all around.

"Three, two, one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:05 GMT

We appear on a cliff side overlooking a wave-lashed beach. It's a bit… Five mile tall guy… Whatever, you know? I can see the storms he's making from multiple time zones. Other things just don't impress. The waves hitting here aren't quite as bad as the ones which Guy and Ion are holding off, but the normally inviting sands are swamped with decidedly uninviting water and this whole area has been evacuated.

"Scans say there's nothing on Porto Santo but shrubs and rabbits. Sending a test object…" A tuna sandwich disappears from my subspace pocket and dutifully reappears on the island. "Test object materialisation successful." There's a noticeable tensing from my team mates. "Two, one."

And zombies.

"Haaaaaaarrrrr."

They don't do that underwater.

Kaldur's already slashing with his water bearer-generated blade as M'gann floats into the air, raises her arms and shoves, the zombies surrounding us being sent flying.

Beryl draws her x-ionised sword. "I'm starting to feel a little under-equipped."

Two zombie foreheads sprout fletching. "Not like I brought anti-zombie arrows."

A yellow blur as Wallace dashes off, weaving in between the undead horde. With the ring's detection being rendered unreliable the mark one eyeball will have to substitute. Sergeant Pushkin begins walking slowly forwards, firing finishing shots into any zombies that are down but not out. A flash of red plasma-.

I generate a zeta tube construct and send the 'active' signal. "Since when do you carry a gun?"

Richard's face has an uncomfortable expression on it. "I usually don't."

"So?"

"Recognised, Black Canary, one three, Green Arrow, zero eight."

"Batman taught me shooting and gun safety. I don't like it, but these are zombies."

"I'm not criticising your pragmatism."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaiiiihhhhhhhhhhh!"

Against the undead Ms Lance holds back not at all. Dead flesh is flayed from the bone by the sheer power of the sonic energy. Green Arrow looks sideways at her for a moment, then looses an arrow at a zombie standing near the top of the island's highest point. It collapses, pierced through the right eye socket.

"Recognised, Superboy, B zero four."

Kon comes through in swimmer pose, flying across the ground at waist height and smashing through anything in his way. Kaldur notices that we've got some space and falls back, his water constructs turning into shields. "Miss Martian, assume Star Conqueror form and then link us up."

I avert my eyes as her flesh distorts, forming railguns and watching for higher value targets than the meat shields currently throwing themselves at us.

"Recognised, Hawkwoman, one zero, Hawkman, zero nine."

They both pace through warily, circular Nth metal shields carried in their off-hands.

"Recognised, Red Arrow, one nine, Plastic Man, two three."

R-. William takes a second to nod to his clone before nocking an arrow while Mister O'Brian shifts to a predictably Ash-like shape before charging into the rapidly-concluding melee.

"Recognised, Artemis, B zero eight, Rocket, B one one."

Where are the high value targets? Whoever's running this must realise that zombies are only going to distract us for so long. And given how these zombies are animated I very much doubt that the fact they're being destroyed has escaped their creator's attention. I fire a few railgun rounds at zombies that have so far escaped my colleagues' attention-.

Wallace skids to a halt in front of Kaldur and myself. "There's some caves. Look like they've been dug out recently."

Kaldur nods. "You should probably report that to Black Canary."

"Oh. Yeah." He looks over to where she's snapping a zombie's neck with her bare hands. "Force of habit."

**Everyone is connected.**

**Query: they know we're here. Why aren't they-?**

The sea behind us rises up vertically about fifty metres. I cease animating the zeta tube construct and switch to throwing out the Hellwraith and the Praexis Demons with instructions to hunt and consume/possess anything that isn't us. Eyes turn upwards towards the oncoming wave as it curves at the top and starts heading down towards us! I snarl, generating a barrier construct over my comrades' heads.

**Sir, I can kill Water Wraiths but keeping this up-.** The water hits with tremendous force and then doesn't run off. The Wraiths animating it are just going to recreate their preferred fighting conditions!

**Can anyone see them? Or… Anything?**

Artemis' frustration is quite understandable. Being underwater is extremely limiting for most of us, and the silt-filled water around us is reducing visibility to next to nothing.

**Give me a second…**

Not sure what M'gann has planned. Not as if we've trained for this sort of situation. I hope she's quick; we'll start losing people just as soon as our enemies realise that cutting the glowing orange barrier protecting us removes life support from most of us.

**Yahh!**

The water around us vibrates for a moment and then flies back into the ocean as a colossal telekinetic surge shoves the water off us! For a moment I spot a Water Wraith just behind what would have been the start of the wall. Immediately, I drop the barrier, draw the Sword, warp forwards and stab. As before, the blade pierces the outer membrane and slides into the stones marking its head. To my right, plasma bolts, particle beams and anti-magic arrows slam into a second. It writhes and buckles, then collapses entirely as Ms Thal smashes through its head with her mace.

Two down, then the water rises up once more. I transition back to the land, then tag Ms Thal with a construct hand and pull her to safety before raising the shield again. **Anyone see how many others there are?**

I.. feel Mister Hol nodding. **There were four. If both of the ones you struck died, that leaves two.**

**Five of them attacked Poseidonis, and Oh El killed one in Black Manta's base.**

I hope that Richard is right. There's no real reason to assume that those were all Orm has at his command, but it would be very convenient.

**Miss Martian, can you do that again?**

Miss Lance, don't you think that if she could that she'd have done it already?

**Uh. Um..? Not… For a little while. My brains are vibrating.**

**Alright then. Orange Lantern, how long can you sustain this dome?**

**At the current level of pressure, about two hours. Though I'd suggest-** Something moves in the murk. **-having Green Lantern C open a zeta tube-** Things start hammering on my shield in multiple locations. **-and flanking them.**

Cracks start radiating out across the dome's surface.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:08 GMT

**Saremite infantry.** And I can't see their desires. Some sort of ward? Must try to acquire. **The ones who attacked Themyscira didn't use enchanted weapons, but regular weapons wouldn't harm my barriers anything like this fast. Orm has hundreds available, but my barriers are only being struck in… Sixteen places. Most likely a small number using enchanted weapons.**

And this is exactly the situation where having a magic user with us would be excellent.

…

Ring, dial Rob's mobile.

Compliance.

The cracks spread further.

**Orange Lantern, can you make your constructs permeable to our attacks?**

I glance in Ms Lance's direction. **Ssssort of, sir. A barrier like this is a barrier. An environmental shield around your body would let your attacks pass through it, but you'd have trouble moving through the water and they wouldn't.**

**Hawkman, Hawkwoman. Can you confirm Orange Lantern's assessment of our opponents' numbers?**

Mister Hol peers into the murk. **Visibility is too poor for me to be certain, but I believe that there are more objects moving further back, most likely further Saremites.**

Hi, this is Rob's voicemail. Leave a message after the beep.

The only flipping teenager to actually turn his phone off during lessons. Right, message: Hi Rob, Orange Lantern here. We could really do with your help on Porto Santo right now. Let me know when you're available and I'll create a zeta tube construct for you. Message ends. Ring, dial his father.

Compliance.

**Orange Lantern, do you have any other way for me to transmit my cry outside of the barrier?**

Ah… **Yes, but I'm afraid that it involves sticking your face through the barrier. I can make the barrier permeable to things covered in environmental shields.**

**Do it.**

Green Arrow looks at her curiously. "Canary?"

**Water doesn't compress well. Hopefully, Saremites do.**

Hello?

Mister Marrack, Orange Lantern here. Rob's not answering his mobile and we could really do with his help. Could you please prevail upon him to get to a zeta tube as fast as possible?

Right… Yeah, I'll call the school.

Thank you. Goodbye.

I attach a thick beam of orange light to Ms Lance. **Ready sir?** She nods, and I float her upwards towards the barrier. Water is already trickling in… I establish a second barrier slightly inside the current one and then drop the failing barrier. Bubbles swirl at the interface where the formerly trapped air mixes with the mystically propelled water, and I use the distraction to shove Ms Lance's face through the barrier at one of the stab points.

The barrier isn't designed to conduct kinetic energy, so we only hear the part of the scream conducted through Ms Lance's own body. But from the way the water turns murky brown I don't think we can doubt the effectiveness of the attack. Certainly, efforts at piercing my barrier in that area cease.

"Batman to strike force. Oceanus has turned away from the east coast of America and is heading in your direction, ETA sixteen minutes."

Kon frowns. "What happened to Poseidon?"

"He lost."

Ms Lance ceases screaming, so I pull her back through the barrier. "Canary to Batman, message acknowledged. We'll be finished before he arrives."

**Again, sir?**

**Hey.** Mister Queen looks speculatively at an arrow with a large head. **Would that work with arrows?**

**They would pierce the barrier, but the water would stop them almost immediately. I don't know how long the mechanism would last.**

Mister Queen nods, and he, William, Roy and Artemis all notch sonic screamer arrows. **Might as well give it-** Cracks start appearing in the new barrier. **-a shot.**

Orange beams connect me to the four of them, and I make a special effort to ensure that their arrows are included in their own right before applying Ms Lance to another locus of the offence. Another scream and another cluster of Saremites back off, a proportion of their number either dead or at least seriously injured. From Mister Queen's direction I feel a mental image as he directs his students where to point their bows. A moment later they loose, he and William hitting one location and Roy and Artemis hitting another. The arrows only just pierce the barrier and water remains as it was, but at least the attack stops in those places. Mister Queen fishes another sonic arrow out of his quiver, then looks expectantly at the others.

Artemis shrugs and Roy winces slightly.

**What, neither of you?** He shakes his head as he notches again. **You can't just throw away the classics like that. One day, you'll need them.-**

Roy rolls his eyes. **Ollie, I remember the fake cat arrow.**

**There were perfectly good-** Mister Queen and William loose as I reposition Ms Lance once more. **-mission-related reasons why I had that.**

**Chief Nudocerdo couldn't look me in the eye for three weeks.**

Connection made to monitored-.

Answer!

Paul, you there?!

Yes, yes, I'm here. Where are you?

Oh, thank god. We were doing a mock exam and I couldn't-.

That's fine. Where are you?

I'm about to get inside the mountain. I'll be with you in, like, a minute.

Good show. I'll have the tube ready for you. Orange Lantern out.

I generate a new zeta tube construct. **Cornwall Boy will be joining us momentarily.** I pull Ms Lance back once more and… Curious. They've stopped attacking. I put her down and begin regenerating the barrier.

Then something long and dark swims past the front of the barrier.

And keeps swimming.

And keeps on swimming…

…

Golly, that's long.

Mister O'Brian twists his neck around. "Did that thing just swim past the barrier in order to generate an image of menace? And should we be worried that it can understand basic Human psychology? Oh, and I'm trying not to take the whole 'not telling the one guy who can't hear telepathy what's going on' thing too personally, but if someone could clue me in, that'd be great."

And then a giant mouth filled with teeth latches onto the top of my barrier.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:11 GMT

A Cetus is far too big for us to see much of it from this position. Its mouth is above us and its body is large enough to block out what sunlight the water and my barrier aren't. Richard breaks out a few fluorescent tubes and tosses them around to augment the light provided by my constructs.

**Is that some kinda sea serpent?** Wallace looks up in fascination. **Because there's no way an animal could actually get that big without magic.**

**They're supposedly Titanspawn like the Wraiths. And like the Wraiths, there aren't good modern records. And yes, my guess would be that it's the titanic magics inherent in their nature that let them get that big.**

Its leading fangs break through the barrier top and bottom, water spraying in at high pressure. The island of Porto Santo is about five kilometres across where we are and my barrier only covers one kilometre of that and is about five metres in height. From the angle of the jaw, I'd guess that the Cetus' mouth isn't even opened to its full extent.

Huh.

I bring Ms Lance back to ground level. **I can form a seal around those teeth if someone could-?**

Mister Hol and Ms Thal leap into the air, heading towards the upper canine teeth brandishing their Nth metal weapons. Kon heads for the left lower fang and Squire triggers her belt to fly at the right. Raquel… I'd missed her earlier. She's taken a pose. What's she-?

She spots me looking at her. **It's just a real big fish, right? So I figured I should be able to use my belt to stop it crushin' us.**

**Really?**

**Turns out there's a limit to how big an area-.**

Kaldur's head snaps in our direction. **Can you instruct other members of the team also wearing the belt in how to replicate your efforts?**

**Not fast enough for it to be useful.**

Ms Thal slams her mace into a tooth thicker than she is, chunks of whatever it's made of exploding away from the point of impact. Mister Hol takes a slightly more clinical approach, using his axe to sever a piece near the tip and then cutting upwards. Beryl holds position about half way down the length of her tooth and begins slicing clunks out. Kon doesn't bother with anything that precise, flying directly into the tooth where it passes through the barrier fists first. The tooth actually shifts slightly in the Cetus' jaw, and the barrier takes another impact as its tail spasms.

"Recognised, Cornwall Boy, B one zero."

Oh, at last.

Rob staggers out, still wearing his school uniform. "Right, what-?" He looks around, eyes wide. "Oh."

"Cornwall, the water over our heads is being held there by magic. Please do everything you can to get rid of it."

"That's a… That's a bit much for me, mate. But alright. Heh." He raises his hands over his head. "Give me all your en-"

Ms Lance raises an eyebrow in his direction.

"-er… Gy. Sorry." He closes his eyes. Of course, unless the water suddenly disappears above us I can't really tell whether he's succeeding or not.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

So… That's what a giant fish moaning in pain feels like. The sound is blocked by my barrier, so the noise is coming up through the rocks and soil of the island. It's really.. quite disturbing to listen to. Right, ring, show me… Magic power drain diagrams… Adapt for Cornish runic systems…

No good matches on file. Effectiveness of diagrams provided not guaranteed.

A few pictures… Okay. Maybe if I-?

Water flows across the ground from where it had pooled beneath the ruptures in my barrier, heading in Rob's direction. I immediately create a barrier around him-.

"No, that's meant to happen! I need that!"

The barrier fades before it can fully form.

"Still waiting to be clued in here." Mister O'Brian holds out his hand in a gesture of appeal to Richard and Wallace. "Anybody? Anybody at all."

Wallace is looking up at the partially destroyed teeth. He thinks for a moment, then pulls out a vial of essence of vitriol. **Hey, Superboy? Squire? Try using this stuff on it.**

Kon's taken to flying back far enough to build up speed and then ramming his tooth. Cracks are appearing all across its surface. Beryl on the other hand has cut through to expose whatever it uses for nerves, and zips down to take the proffered vial. "Cheers, flasher."

"Oh, you.. so can't call me that."

"Anybody at all."

Richard looks up at him. "Big fish try eat us. Big fish bad." He nods emphatically. "Very bad. Water men bad. Fish men bad. Drowning bad​."

Mister O'Brian looks at him askance for a moment, then nods. "You see? What was so hard about that?"

The water is.. actually forming a ball over Rob's head, writhing and sloshing as he -I'm assuming- pours more power either into or through it. Or sucks it out. I haven't really kept track of exactly how he uses magic. Frankly, it's hard enough learning the Atlantean system without also trying to work out another. Still, the basic principle of using an elemental focus that's been touched by your opponent's magic is reasonably universal.

"Please allow me." Sergeant Pushkin politely waits for Mister Hol to move aside before shoving his right fist up into the hole he's cut into the tip of the Cetus' tooth.

Warning: singularity detected.

At the same time, Beryl throws her vial into the hole she's created and-

"Rrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

-the Cetus convulses, jaw working as it tries to free what's left of its fangs from my barrier. The rate at which the water pours in briefly increases so I stick patch constructs over the holes as the Cetus finally backs off. Light filters back down to us with no giant aquatic creature obscuring it, and team tooth puncher drift back down. Of course, we still need to do something about the-.

The water, which is cascading down the sides of my barrier as Rob shudders and jerks in what looks like a very uncomfortable way.

**Does anyone have eyes on the target?**

Ring, scan with everything!

Targets located.

**[Map picture]**

I drop the barrier and boost outwards again. This time the Wraiths haven't come up to surface level, so I jam a watertight construct into the water around it and pump the water out. It gestures up at me and the blood in my arteries burns but it's too late. I dive, Sword of the Fallen finding its head stone and cleaving through as I hit it from above.

I stand on the damp sea bed for a moment, then sheathe the Sword. **Got mine. Everyone else?**

**It fled.** Kaldur doesn't sound entirely sorry about that. **And we do not have much time before Oceanus' arrival.**

I rise up into the air and head back to land, taking care to stay below the line of Santa Porto's hills. I do not want to get hit by lightning again. Landing, I look at Ms Lance. **What next, sir?**

**Kid Flash, lead the way to those caves.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:15 GMT

And that's a problem.

Ms Lance looks at me. **Well?**

**Oceanus already has a clear shot at the cave entrance. Assuming that he's actually aware of us, there's very little any of us can do to stop him shooting us.**

Yes, he's a very long way away and I'm not entirely certain how his colossal electrical discharges would interact with the sea water, sodden island or the rock, but I'm a little nervous about getting a third of the Justice League and most of my close friends fried.

Mister Queen looks a little puzzled. **Can't you just, y'know, teleport past it?**

I take my test object out of subspace. **This used to be a tuna sandwich.** I apply a little pressure and the bread crumbles to dust and the liquefied fish blobs out onto the ground. **Last time I encountered a ring FTL disruption system was Kahndaq. They're not common, but apparently Earth now has the technology to make them.**

Of course, if Canis were here we wouldn't be having this problem.

Ms Lance nods. **Can we just go through the rock?**

**Maybe. I don't know what spells there are on the place. If that's the way you want to do it, I'm going to need to know right now.**

Kaldur looks pensive. **That may not be wise. There are spells which can be used to alter space in such a way that entering a place from any direction other than the intended one results in the one attempting to gain access not encountering the interior of the structure. Ocean Master is a highly skilled mage, and it is highly likely that he has made preparations for such an approach.**

"So!" Mister O'Brian beams. "Who wants to re-enact the jumping scene from Enemy at the Gates?"

Wallace looks at him speculatively. "Didn't Flash say you were the toughest guy on the League?"

Mister O'Brian stops beaming. "Y'know? You'd think by now I'd see these things coming."

Kaldur doesn't share in the general amusement. **Orange Lantern, Squire, Arsenal and Miss Martian can all become invisible. I would suggest sending them in first.**

**I… Might…** M'gann winces. She still isn't anything like a hundred percent. **You remember when I used the Bio-Ship to hide us from Mister Twister? I might be able to do the same thing with… Me.**

**Kal-El shot out Oceanus' eyes and it didn't lose track of what was going on. It's more likely that it tracks with magic, ifff… If it isn't being directed remotely.** I frown. **No, sorry, it can't be doing that. I'm unscryable and it's been tracking me fine.**

Ms Lance looks at M'gann for a moment, then returns her attention to me. **Orange Lantern, you're in first. Squire, Arsenal, follow him in once he's given the all clear.**

**Sir.** / **Right-oh.** / **Got it.**

**I'll follow you in after that. We-.**

**Sir, that's.. not a good idea. One shot-.**

**I'll be exposed for ten seconds at most.**

**Sir, Plastic Man and Superboy could probably take a hit without being killed. Red Rocket would have a chance of survival. If you got hit there wouldn't even be ash.**

Ms Lance takes a moment to look at the other League members' faces. **Alright. Plastic Man, then Superboy. If Oceanus doesn't shoot I'll come in after that.**

Mister Queen looks as unhappy about that as I feel, but I doubt that I'll get a better deal by negotiating further. It takes a very particular mindset to fight gun-armed criminals while wearing tights. She wasn't going to back down just because the Titan of Oceans is bearing down on us.

**Sir.** My construct armour vanishes and I fade from sight. Let's activate phasing as well. New spell eater, check. Go.

Flying, it takes me four seconds to reach the cave entrance and during that time no lightning at all is thrown my way. And I'm in and breathing a sigh of relief as the watery colossus leaves my visual field. Or rather, as I leave his.

The entry to the cave looks like an actual cave. There's no path along the floor -which is submerged- and the rock is uneven, organically carved by the flow of water in and out and by the water running down through the rock above. It only takes a few moments for the ring's visual augmentation mode to pick out the unnatural parts. The marks made either by hands or fingernails on the rocks where someone has clambered over the stalagmites. No signs of heavy equipment being dragged through… Not sure whether that's a good sign or not.

I float further in. I want to take out the rune stone and check for magic, but it wouldn't be covered by my armour's invisibility system. Ring, any of those scratches runic?

Several runic patterns identified. However, simple runes may be created through repeated random scratching and this ring does not have the capacity to directly detect spellcraft.

I take a quick look at the suggested symbols. No, nothing that suggests intelligent design. Ignore them, press on. A little further in the cave opens up a little, though it still doesn't look man-made. Not seen any enemies yet. Curiously, the only weapon that I have that I can use while invisible is brute strength. And I can't use that while phased. Do I phase back in?

Yes.

**I'm inside. No one here. I'm moving deeper.**

**Understood. I'm sending Squire after you now.**

Sound judgement. No sense in putting both her and Roy in the line of fire at the same time if Oceanus is using magic-based detection. Hm. The water is still on the floor despite the cave angling slightly upwards. It's running out to sea. Where's it coming from?

I follow it in. I think Kaldur was right about space warping. This cave is continuing further than the available land suggests that it should be able to. The passageway is turning into something more even, with what is definitely a manmade channel down the middle. Not paved, this was clearly worked from the stone surrounding us and there are tiny stalactites on the ceiling.

Still no opposition. Ring scans aren't showing anything my eyes can't see. Sonic pulse, read the-.

Oh heck.

**[Image urgency]**

I drop stealth and thrust up the passageway, reforming my construct armour just in time to meet what I recognise as entropic lightning. I've only read descriptions before. Grey-white rather than white-yellow, it acts as normal lightning against most targets with the added bonus that it tends to nullify spiritual force. In effect, the target becomes more vulnerable to magic and loses magic capacity themselves. Against Atlanteans it's deadly. Against me, my construct armour soaks it without too much difficulty.

"Ah. The Lantern."

I emerge into a larger cave, with what looks like a large and vaguely Greek style folly in the centre. Ten pillars hold up a sloped roof while what looks like a statue of Oceanus pours an endless flow of water from an urn. There's an arcane design on the ground, the runes of which somewhat resemble those used in Dolmen Gates. Orm-.

I blink. No, that's not Ocean Master. Too short. He's… He's put Koryak in his old armour. Koryak is standing next to the statue, Diadem of Dominion in hand. Orm is standing a little further back. His new armour looks like it's made of the same grey stone as the armour Oceanus himself wears, and lacks the obvious holes of the Ocean Master gear. He hasn't relinquished Oceanus' trident, of course.

"I had hoped that Arthur-."

I generate a railgun construct and open fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:18 GMT

My mage slayer round hits-. It hits something about a metre from Orm. There's a flicker as… A tiny volume of water precipitates from the air, the expended round itself dropping to the ground. Fully accelerated I fire twice more, the supposedly magic user killing rounds stopping on what-.

Layered super surface tension barriers. It's the only thing I can think of that fits. Strong enough to absorb the kinetic force of the shot and separate enough from one another to cope with the magic draining. Weakness: they're more vulnerable to pure kinetic force. I load tungsten anti-armour rounds and dial up the power.

The barrier doesn't even trigger. The shot slams unimpeded into whatever that grey stuff is and-. He's barely affected. There's a slight sound at the impact so the force isn't simply being nullified by magic-.

The water's spreading out of the channel. Ring, scan? Yes, sea water is being pulled up the tunnel behind me to cover the floor. From the way it's foaming I'm going to assume that it would be extremely loud if I was thinking slower. As it is, all I'm getting is a low rumble.

Switch to crumbler rounds. Orm's trident is moving slowly, entropic lightning dancing around the prongs. I begin moving slowly to the side. Normal lightning spells use automatic aim which won't work on me, so unless he's an excellent aim his shots should just miss. Tridents aren't easy weapons to aim with and Atlantean battlemages don't train to aim precisely.

Pressure on my right foot. The moment the crumbler round leaves the barrel of my railgun I phase, construct vanishing. I fly at best speed towards the rear of the room as tendrils of water flail impotently after me… At a speed I can see. Those things must be moving faster than the speed of sound at least. Orm's work? No, he doesn't seem to be-.

Ggruh!

I materialise, slamming into the rear wall. My head feels like-. Combat with a magic user.

"There you are."

Don't reason, follow the protocol. Switch out the spell eater. With the FBI officers and my team mates I'm getting a little low on those. Same with mage slayers.

"Truggs mentioned that you have a frustrating habit of not-"

Praexis Demons, go. Eat him.

"Yay!"

"-listening to-. You think Demons will be enough-"

Orm turns to face me as they pour forth from the rings in a torrent. Tubbs leads the charge, mouth open and ravenous. To them, a magic-rich target like Orm must be a feast.

"-to stop me? Fool!"

The water around him explodes, tiny droplets hitting like railgun rounds. Praexis Demons are slammed back or flat out disintegrated, respawning from the rings and flying forwards again. This time I throw a barrier forwards and prepare a railgun. His trident shimmers and that's my sign to fire a mage slayer. The barrier meets it once more, but it delays him long enough for the Demons to get into biting distance. One I haven't bothered naming reaches him first, chomping down on his right shoulder. No apparent effect.

Blades of ice shoot up from the thigh-high water on the floor, neatly piercing every Demon save the one actually biting him. Orm's left hand forms a blade and strikes, piercing my construct Demon through the right eye.

"Aaaaaagh!"

Even with a chunk of its head gone the Demon continues to grind its teeth against his plate. Is it-? There's a tiny blemish on the surface of the plate where my crumbler hit. Dread to think what that stuff is made of if that's all it managed. On the other hand, I can make more crumblers on the fly. Orm gets a grip on the rest of the Demon's head and crushes. Alright, no point in calling more of them except as a distract-.

"Forget me?" Beryl materialises behind Orm, sword flicking out towards the rear of his knees. Shouldn't strictly be necessary with an x-ionised blade; either it'll go through like it does most things or he's got a spell that will stop it and it won't matter if the metal was thick or-. "Oh."

A pillar of water shoots up where she's floating, sending her careening towards the ceiling. She phases a moment before she would hit, shimmering into invisibility. The water level in here is getting to the point where it will seriously impede our mobility. And I don't think for a moment it will impede his.

Internal.

"Beryl, did you actually cut him there?"

"Yeah, but he bled water. Something weird's happened."

A hard gel arrow hits Orm in the back of his head, enveloping it. Alright, lacking a better idea… Double railguns and fire a volley of crumbler rounds at the areas of exposed armour. Some damage, but Oceanus is due to arrive soon and this isn't going to penetrate fast enough. Orm staggers, and I'm forced to create a construct barrier as a tornado of super hard water spirals around the room.

"Beryl, ideas?"

"What's Koryak doing?"

"Just standing there, keeping some sort of artefact under control. Probably enchanted."

My barrier fractures and I'm forced to replace it.

"What artefact?"

"The runes on the gazebo are a portal of some kind."

"Copying you again?"

"No, I got the original design from Brain anyway."

"Well, water's coming out of the portal and water's bad, so-"

"Shoot it." / "-shoot it."

One railgun diverts its attention and a mage slayer speeds towards the centrepiece. Being blocked by another sodding bubble shield. Beryl crouches behind me as Orm lets out another burst of entropic lightning. This time it's not aimed at us but at the material caked over his helmet. Relying on vision rather than a scrying spell? Worth knowing.

"You have moments until my master arrives! Mighty as you are, there is no way-!"

BOOM!

"Mighty, wizard?!" Brut runs at full charge out of the boom tube and leaps, Canis lashing out at Orm with his sword from his steed's back! "Feel the fury of a New God-" The edge hits Orm's upraised left wrist, severing his hand. Flesh and bone is revealed, but as Beryl said: water and not blood flows forth. "-and know that your master's time is done!"

"Wretch!" A blast of water vapour erupts around Canis as-

BOOM!

-another boom tube opens and Brut completes his leap, disappearing from sight.

Well, that was impressive, but I'm not clear-.

"Orange Lantern?" Sephtian is crouched next to the gazebo, the mage slayer blocking bubbles flaring into existence for a moment and then fading away. "Your way is-"

"Arsenal, anti-magic arrows at the gazebo, now!"

"-clear."

My railguns come up, targeting each runic cluster and firing with a scream!

"No!" Orm gestures and water surges towards the gazebo. I interpose a construct barrier, two shots striking the stone near the statue. Koryak moves, throwing himself in the way of my guns. But he's on the wrong side to block Roy's arrows. The stone cracks and the runic arrays fizzle and dim. Orm points his trident at Sephtian. "Bastard half-breed!"

Sephtian regards him levelly for a moment. "Better a half-breed than a traitor."

The water filling the room surges, flowing out of the room and down the passageway. Orm's trident crackles with lightning.

For about a second, before it explodes as my mage slayer round hits it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:21 GMT

"Gaaagh!"

Orm doesn't appear hurt, but the destruction of his patron's weapon appears to have shocked him. Either that, or the lightning spell he was building did something to him through that armour. He starts to recover for a second, then takes another hard foam arrow to the face.

"Got you!" Beryl grabs Koryak and wrestles him to the ground. Atlantean Pureblood or not, the armour she's wearing makes her stronger than him and the protection his Ocean Master gear provides doesn't really help with her wrestling him-. Ah, she's applied some sort of gas to his exposed face. That should do it.

BOOM!

Brut bounds back into the room, splashing as he lands. Some water still lingers on the stony floor but it doesn't seem to be about to attack us. Canis slashes at Orm's back, cutting a narrow groove through the armour protecting his back. Orm collapses.

"Nonono. That wasn't what I meant." Sephtian is kneeling down at the gazebo, taking in the spell work in place upon it. His arms move, and a dazzling array of purely etheric runes shimmering into visibility. "You've destroyed too much!"

That sounds like the most important thing going on. I dart in his direction as Beryl begins tying up the recumbent Koryak. "Explain."

He squints up at me. Is this..? Yes, this is probably the first time he's seen me in my current generation combat armour. "This… This spell, is-. It was the Titan's prison. Now.. it.. is not. I had thought that we might restore it…" He sags.

Oh dear.

"What do you need?"

"A-a-a-a-ah…" He crawls over the structure to take it all in. "Here, restore… Restore it physically."

Ring, use prior scans to restore the structure.

Compliance.

Orange light flashes over the structure, stone whole once more. Sephtian's body stills as he gets a clear look at the remaining runes.

"Can you-?"

"No. No, I cannot. This will require far more power than I-."

"Orange Lantern to Cornwall. Get in here now."

"Ah, Orange Lantern? Oceanus is, like-."

"Now!"

"Coming."

"Power, restored physical component. What else do we need to force Oceanus back inside?"

"I'm… Ah…" He shudders as he tries to get a grip on himself. "I think…" He moves his hands over the outer part of the rune network. "This is recent, based on my work. You were.. right. Atlantis was betrayed."

Rob appears in a blast of air, looking around the room. I hold up my left hand in a 'wait' gesture. "Professor, please-."

He holds up his right hand to stop me, wiggling it slightly. "It was.. linked to the trident. With that destroyed... And here and here…" Parts of the runic network dim. "This is designed to imprison him. They modified it with my work… If I had been here-."

"What do we do?"

"You." He motions to Rob with his right hand, beckoning him. "Here. Provide power."

"Right." Rob kneels down next to him, his eyes unfocusing slightly. Several runes glow more brightly. "Any good?"

"No. Ah, yes-" Rob looks at him in concern. "-you are doing well, but it is not enough. Oceanus now has too much of himself in this world. It is enough to prevent thissss… System from pulling him back. And… Some of this is not… Not working."

"Hades gets a good chunk of his power from draining Erebos. Maybe Poseidon had a similar thing set up for O-."

"Oceanus." He nods. "Yes, that would make sense. But why is it inactive?"

"They fought about ten minutes ago. Poseidon lost. Any ideas for a replacement?"

He goes completely still. "Neptune?" He shudders, then starts re-examining the runes.

"Never met him."

"Perhaps… If Oceanus' avatar was destroyed…" He shakes his head. "I am sorry, it is all I can think of."

"Hah. Hah!" I turn to see Canis holding Orm up by his cuirass. He's taken off the foam and his helmet, revealing his pale white and somewhat chewed upon face. If it was a Lazarus Pit that brought him back, it clearly didn't do a particularly good job. "Oceanus will crush you all!"

I…

I don't know how to stop him.

"Aaaahhh..? Orange Lantern to… Everyone? We've recaptured the thing that was used to imprison Oceanus. If we destroy his body… We think we can stick him back in. But I don't know how to do that. At... This point, I think we're looking at nukes. I don't have anything better."

Except the Ophidian. Could I..? Could we assimilate something like Oceanus? What would that do to me, or to the Earth's seas? Probably less harm than leaving him to his own devices, but… I honestly would rather nuke him. Something like this… 'I don't know' really isn't something I want to work on. But… If that's all I can do…

"Canis, Squire, stay here with the prisoners. Arsenal, guard Sephtian and Cornwall."

"Right." / "Okay."

Canis doesn't respond. He's using his sword to cut open the rest of Orm's armour, and as each part of the body beneath is revealed he pauses, taking time to examine, move and poke at the newly revealed flesh. Taking a firm grip on Orm's head and right arm, he leans forward and sniffs-.

I fly at high speed back out of the cave. Since I'm not really having to study it I can afford to make better time-.

Shiiiiit Oceanus looks big from the ground. He's not here yet, but he isn't far away. Once he takes up position… He can just throw out waves and then have that last Water Wraith or.. whoever, work out how to undo the bindings…

A large ball tumbles past me, about fifteen Saremites tangled up in Mister O'Brian's distended body. Razor-tipped filaments dart out from my body, jamming themselves into their skulls and stunning them. A bit of a risk, but I think we're taking a holiday from 'no killing' today. And they'll probably survive, it's just not as well calibrated as-.

**Black Canary to Orange Lantern. Batman agrees. We're going to evacuate everyone.** I can hear the defeat in her voice even as I see League members and the rest of my team locked in combat with the Saremites. **Create a zeta tube construct-.**

**Sir… Cornwall and Sephtian will need to remain in place to make the spells work.**

**I-.**

**Paul, can you get me to the sun?**

I wheel around, looking for Kon. **Um. Yeeess? But.. it won't make you that much stronger or I'd just have grabbed Superman.**

He shoves a large Saremite into the rocky surface of the island and punches it in the head, stunning it. **I'm not talking about Kryptonian power. Ocean Master isn't the only one who worships a Titan.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:24 GMT

I…

**Superboy, explain.**

Black Canary sounds irritated. Given how Greek deities behave I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Helios' offer of help was eleventh hour… Or so cryptic that Kon only just got it.

…

If that's actually what happened.

**I don't think I can. I just know-.**

**Irrelevant. Sir, do we stay or go? If go, you'll need to call in Green Lantern C for the evacuation.**

She screams in the direction of a block of Saremite infantry sheltering from arrows and more exotic blasts behind water shields of my design, breaking their formation and leaving them vulnerable to fly by strikes from the Hawks. **Go!**

I transition to Kon. **Ready?**

His jaw tightens slightly. **Guess I have to be. How long-**

I put a construct barrier over his eyes, then warp.

Warping towards the sun is.. not fun. Quite aside from the problems you get with intervening obstacles -which is why standard Green Lantern Corps protocol suggests using it for inter-system travel only- and the time distortion effect, you're essentially getting hit in the face with a laser for the entire journey. There are about 150 million kilometres between the Earth and the Sun and I need to cover that space in a few seconds. The sun's output at that distance is usually about 1.361 kilojoules per square meter every second, so if I do it in a second that's about two hundred billion joules right in my face. Even in the thirty seconds I'm planning to do it in, that would still be a constant 70 million kilowatts for the duration. And that's ignoring the fact that it actually increases as I get closer.

Sure, I'm not dumb enough to actually do that. Since I'm bending space/time anyway I also bend sideways, slipping through space like a mouse down a snake's throat. The warped pocket where Kon and I are is merely bright; the area towards the edges of the pocket is blazing white sunlight. I've tried this once before under Guy's direction and I'm.. still not sure I understand the description of what's actually going on. Still, if it-.

The warp stops, and the sun is…

Hah.

It's a wall of fire obscuring space. If I turn my head, it's like… It's too big for me to be able to see the curve. Somewhere to my left, a plume of plasma that must be…

Gods…

That's amazing.

"Alright, we're here. What next?"

"I'm.. not sure."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. Just.. give me a sec." He takes a deep breath, then closes his eyes and bows his head. His lips are moving silently in what I assume is some sort of prayer.

Okay. Well, warping back is a good deal easier. Here to the outer atmosphere in one second is no problem at all. I shake my head and turn away from the sun, looking out in the general direction of Earth. A tiny amount of the sunlight that reaches it is bounced back this way. If I look in the right direction I can see what was going on eight minutes ago in really low resolution.

Hm. I know that Earth is unusually active, mystically speaking. I know that Mars has magic users. I don't know how that applies to the rest of the system. Is the idea of the sun as it exists in the Earth's arcane systems the same as the sun-as-it-is? Not like there's anyone living down there who could be using… Sun-magic. He's not… Helios turning up in person -even if he is more personable- probably wouldn't be much healthier for north-west Africa than Oceanus. Unless he's in Human-seeming mode. No, he'd have to fight at full power… Wouldn't h-?

"Warning: plasma density increasing."

When you say 'increasing'-?

"Warning: plasma density increasing significantly."

"Ah… Kon..?" I turn back towards him. "Are-?"

A coronal mass ejection about a kilometre wide is reaching out for us, launched by… Well, they're usually launched by the sun's natural magnetic activity. This one… I slide my rune stone out of a pocket. Yep, there's a reaction. This was aimed.

Kon himself is wreathed in white fire. It's a little like when he attacked Deacon Blackfire, only more… All-consuming.

Ah. I think I understand the plan. Ring, contact Green 2814 B.

Link established.

The image forming over the ring appears, then glitches in and out. Yes, I suppose that making an orange ring show Ion was asking a bit much. "Guy-. Ion, Oceanus has moved away from the East Coast. The wall is no longer required. We're going to hit him with a coronal mass ejection." I think. "Please move to where he is and create a barrier cylinder around him."

"The wall is no longer required."

"That's right."

"We understand."

"Okay, but did you get the res-?"

He disappears. Oooooh, that could be a problem.

"Paul?" Kon looks at me with eyes that are glowing white ovals. "Can you take me back to the edge of the atmosphere? I need to be right above Oceanus."

"Yes. Yes, I can do that. Ssssstand by."

Cross my metaphorical fingers.

Aaaaand warp.

The sun vanishes and the Earth appears behind us. Kon and I reorientate, me creating a construct marking Santo Porto's location beneath us. Oceanus himself is… Not visible to the naked eye, but with a little magnification I can spot him. He's nearly there, the League having mostly evacuated the island. Ms Lance and John are standing at the entrance of the cave…

And Kon's not next to me any longer. There's a plume of burning white as he dives through the air towards his target.

Um.

"Orange Lantern to Justice League..? Superboy's heading for Oceanus and I really think everyone should be standing well back when he hits."

"Wonder Woman to Orange Lantern. What do you mean, 'hit'?"

"Helios set him on fire. It doesn't seem to be hurting him, but he's flying directly towards Oceanus at-" Quick check. "-maximum acceleration. I don't know exactly what will happen when he hits, but I don't advise being there when he does. Has Guy arr-?"

There's a flare of green around Oceanus, followed by a surge of white as he unleashes lightning in all directions.

"Never mind. About… Ten seconds to impact."

"Batman to Justice League. Fall back to five miles' distance."

John and Ms Lance aren't moving. I warp again, appearing at the entrance to the cave as Oceanus… I'm shorter than his fricking toenail! He's walking through the shallows now, stabbing at Guy's barrier with his trident and here comes Kon!

"For Heliooooooooos!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:27 GMT

"My God."

I think.. John speaks.. for all of us.

Kon strikes Oceanus in the exact centre of his helmet, which explodes outwards in all directions at the speed of sound. We don't hear it break until the pieces are already shattering against Guy's shield.

Kon then enters the top of Oceanus' head, and from the little I see before the steam and water vapour block them from sight vaporised a channel around himself with enough force to cause his entire head to explode.

Oceanus' head is-. Was about a kilometre in height and contained I shudder to think how much water.

Huh.

All that water is shooting towards the upper atmosphere as Guy's construct acts as a funnel, the air pressure forcing it out of the tube with a great deal of force. I can see the effect of the wind caused by such a sudden and rapid movement in the air as the dirt is ripped from the rocks around me.

Calculating…

"John, I… I, ah. I think you can probably drop your barrier now."

The point of Oceanus' trident shudders, sliding down the inner surface of the construct cylinder for a moment before falling back.

The steam is screaming…

"Ah. Yeah." John lowers his arm, the construct barrier fading to nothing.

"Oh, to live in such a time."

I glance left as Brut and Canis both stare upwards. "I thought I told you to watch Orm."

"I saw little reason to remain once I finished disintegrating him. And before you complain, I will point out that-."

"We're in Atlantean territory and he was already under sentence of death." I exhale as there's a sudden increase in steam pressure, the gaseous water howling as it rockets from the funnel. "I don't see any gain in making King Orin execute his brother twice. You were thorough?"

"Of course."

"Then.. don't worry, but don't boast about it. Some of the League members can be a bit strange about that sort of thing."

"I understand." We continue to watch. "Do you..? Kon and M'gann." I sigh inwardly. "Are they-?"

"To the best of my knowledge, they're not interested in expanding their relationship."

"Ah."

"Is he alright in there?"

I don't turn to face Ms Lance. I just.. can't take my eyes off what I'm seeing. "I have no idea. I don't… If I understand what Helios has done properly -and I may well not- the effect would end if Kon died. And it-."

There's a brilliant flash of light from inside the cylinder.

Oh.. dear.

Steam continues to howl forth, precipitating out of the air as it hits the colder air surrounding it. Oceanus… If there's anything left of his body… I can't see it. I can't see Kon and I can't hear him and ring scans aren't showing anything.

I fly directly upwards, construct armour increasing in volume as I do so. Water turns to steam at 100o​C but this steam is far hotter. The sun's corona is in the millions of degrees centigrade… And power rings aren't reliable guides to magic effects.

Kon's in there.

I swoop down into the steam. Armour.. holding, good. Out of the corner of my eye I spot Diana and Mister Kent heading this way as well. Actual temperature… 180o​C, both of them can take it. Fine. Assuming that Kon dived at a constant rate impact to explosion… I accelerate, steam slamming into my construct armour. Can't see a bloody thing… Radar's no good, rune stone… Too much raw magic. I dial up my empathic vision. Conscious and unwarded, Kon should-. Okay, that doesn't mean he's dead.

That doesn't-.

There!

Still burning white, he's-. He's underwater. No, he would be but it's boiling off him as fast as-. Okay, okay, think. I can't touch him directly. Gravity clamp? That should work. I generate the construct, floating him up as quickly as I can. I-. The air here is unbreathable, too hot and too moist. Can't get an environmental shield on him. Um.

Warp.

We appear a mile above the construct cylinder. No, we're still in the plume. This is why I transition everywhere! We warp again, five miles east this time. Prevailing winds are taking the damp air towards Morocco. And-and Kon's still on fire. Errrr…

"Orange Lantern to everyone. I've recovered Superboy. He's… I think he's alive? But he's still on fire. Does anyone have-?"

Brilliant golden light flares just ahead of me as Nabu appears. "His fate is safe in my hands." He floats forwards, ignoring the heat radiating out from Kon as he reaches towards his head with both hands. A golden ankh appears before them, glimmering for a moment and then flicking beams of light over Kon's body. The fires enveloping him gutter and die as they pass.

Immediately I pull him away, scanning and probing with every medical device in the rings' database. Heart rate, brain activity, breathing…

"Okay, he's okay. Green C? Any news from your end?"

"We just had a few thousand gallons of water running up hill into the.. containment statue. Professor Sephtian says that's what's supposed to happen."

Nabu's eyes glow for a moment. "I will confirm this for myself."

"You don't know enough to-." A flare of gold and he's gone. … Oh, fine. At the moment I can't muster the hate for him that I usually feel.

"Batman to Red Tornado. Keep track of that water vapor. We can't give the all-clear until we're certain it isn't going to cause a hurricane or a flood. Aqualad, the team may stand down."

"Of course."

I wait a moment, but it looks like that excludes me from the circuit. I could listen in to what he's telling the League, but at this point -I glance at Kon's recumbent body again.- I'm content to leave them to it. At five miles' distance-.

"Orange Lantern to Aqualad. Are you back at the mountain?"

"Yes, as is most of the team."

"Right." The ring shows me Diana holding station near to Guy. Her skin's mildly reddened, either as a consequence of the steam or from prior injuries. But if she's staying there then she doesn't need to see Kon immediately. "Kon and I will head back now." John can send Beryl and Rob back when they're relieved. I generate a zeta tube construct and fly through.

20th June
06:30 GMT -5

"Recognised, Superboy, B zero four, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

"Identification confirmed."

My team mates look around as we come through, M'gann immediately flying over to get a look at Kon. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he should be fine." I take another look around and spot the other absence. "I'll just.. go and pick up Zatanna. Back shortly."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
09:23 GMT -5

"…shortly, so it would probably be a good idea if you made yourself scarce.. for… About a week?"

Been a while since I've been here. I smile and wave offhandedly for the hastily raised camera phones as Captain Adams and I stroll through Inwood Hill Park. Nearly a year, in fact. I think I'm visiting in a different part of the grass mowing cycle, but otherwise it looks pretty much the same.

"And you're telling me this over the phone and not in person because?"

I, on the other hand… Heh.

"Jade, I'm a public figure these days. There are internet pages where people post sightings of me. And that's leaving aside any direct monitoring the League… Or other parties, may be carrying out."

"And they can't monitor your phone?"

I smirk smugly. "Not this phone, no."

"I am involved. I'm not the sort of girl who's content to sit the fights out while her boyfriend handles things."

"I know. But we're past the information gathering stage. This is going to be a direct raw power confrontation, not one well suited to your skills. Even if you accepted augmentation today, there wouldn't be time for you to adapt-."

"This must be big."

"Yes, it is." There's no immediate reply. "Jade. Please. I want to know that you'll be safe."

"Mpf. Fine. I can hide out for a few days. Let me know when it's over."

Hah! "Oh, you won't be able to miss it. Oh, um. Probably best you don't use a League of Shadows safe house. Just in case."

"You think the League's been compromised?"

"I don't have.. any specific information. I'm just covering my bases."

"Fine. What are you planning on doing afterwards?"

Marrying you and then, as the Americans say, blowing this popsicle stand.

"Depending on exactly how things shake out… I thought a little time away from Earth might be appropriate. I've gotten wind of a few opportunities… Not permanently, of course. Lynne's starting school this August… But for a month or so. Did you have any… Conflicting plans yourself?"

"H-hm. Why do you ask?"

"Because I want you with me, naturally. It would be such a lonely and fruitless endeavour if you weren't there to share it with. Plus, it's a unique opportunity for you. Only a handful of Humans have ever left their home system."

"Mmmmm. I'll think about it."

"Hm. You do that. I'll see you in a week or so."

There's a quiet beep as she hangs up, and I dismiss the phone construct.

"So is she in on it?"

I glance at Captain Adams. He's in full dress uniform, though the G-Gnome perched on his shoulder throws the whole look off a little. "In on what, Captain?"

He spots my implication, and does an apparently casual look around the park. "Your plan."

"Only in the most approximate terms. I felt that best. Obviously I'll explain the whole thing afterwards."

"The President seems to think that she's a vital informant."

"Yes. And that's the other reason why it's important that she's elsewhere. I don't want some trigger happy federales shooting her dead."

Clearly he knows that she isn't a vital informant. I suppose if pushed I could say that she helps my cover… Which she probably does. But she isn't vital. I can see in his face that he's weighing up whether he should push me on the issue or not.

With a small shake of his head he averts his eyes, looking down at the pavement before us for a second before looking across the road. "Why are we here, Grayven?"

"Alan Scott was the Earth's first Green Lantern. After I approached him last year he gave me his personal lantern, on the understanding that I would work under the direction of the Justice League."

He nods as we cross the road. "You had to give him his lantern back, and now you want him to give it to you again."

"It.. would be convenient, but no. That's not the main reason. When I quit, Diana told him that I'd joined the Light. Alan Scott is a very old man. I would feel… Bad, if he died believing that his heir apparent had gone over to the dark side. And.. given who our first target is…"

"I'm sure Wonder Woman would straighten him out if it came to it."

We come to a halt by the intercom. "I think there are things a person should do face to face. If at all possible." He nods. "Would you do the honours?"

He reaches forwards and presses the button. "What do you plan to do if the rest of them hear about this?"

"You're being mentally conditioned into working for me to keep General Lane on message. And I'm simply recovering my lantern."

We wait a moment more, then the intercom screen comes alive with Mister Scott's face. "Grayven. Can't say I was expecting you. And… I'm sorry… Captain. I don't believe that we've met."

"Captain Adams, sir. I work for General Lane. May we speak with you for a moment?"

Mister Scott takes a moment to consider, then nods, moving away from the camera as he does so. I push open the gate to his driveway and lead the way up the gravel drive to his front door. He's already opening it as we approach, then stands in the doorway and looks at me expectantly. Gosh, he's… Gotten old. His skin hangs loosely from his face and there's little of the original blonde colour left in his hair. His muscles have wasted somewhat as well. He looks… Well, he looks his age, I suppose.

"It might be best, Mister Scott, if we discussed this inside."

"Mm." He eyes us wearily, then steps back into his house and heads towards his living room. Turning sideways, I pass through the door and head after him, hearing Captain Adams close the front door after he passes through. I follow Mister Scott into the living room, watching as he carefully sits down in his chair, a neglected walking stick resting by the side. He looks up at me and.. I avert my eyes, proceeding towards the bay windows at the far end of the room. Captain Adams walks in, and Mister Scott gestures to the settee. "Take a seat."

I take a hologram projector out of subspace and toss it lightly towards the window. A moment of flight and it halts itself in the air and projects a false image onto the glass. I turn back and nod to Captain Adams. He waits for the G-Gnome to jump from his shoulder and onto the settee and then tenses slightly, a burst of yellow light transforming him into his Captain Atom form.

Mister Scott stares at him for a moment. "Captain.. Atom. Uh, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Grayven thought that you'd only believe it if you heard it from a Justice League member. About eight months ago, Grayven was assigned by Batman to go under cover with the criminal organization known as 'The Light'. To that end-" Mister Scott's eyes dart over to me. "-he joined them and he's been gathering information on their operations. Tomorrow, we're finally going to begin the process of shutting them down."

Mister Scott blinks, his eyes drifting. "My God." He shakes his head. "So… Everything you did..?"

"I was working on my own initiative. But the aim was to gather information so that action could be taken if necessary. I'm telling you now because our first target is an acquaintance of yours, one 'Mordru'." Mister Scott's eyes widen slightly in recognition. "He returned to Earth at some point after Klarion's demise. He's also the only member whom.. I…" I glance at Captain Adams. "Might not be able to beat."

"You're still working with the Justice League?"

"Ahh." I look away from him. I don't want to… Give him too much hope. "Given the bridges I had to burn to make my apparent defection believable, I think it unlikely that I will be on good working terms with the League anytime soon. I merely wished to convey that while I don't work like you did… While I'm not… Not the sort of superhero you might have liked…" Hm. "I am not a supervillain. The rounding up will occur in cooperation with federal authorities, their equivalents in other countries and.. with the Justice League taking a prominent role."

"Well then." Mister Scott shifts to the edge of his chair before rising to his feet. I catch sight of… A tear, just before he turns away and starts towards the door. "I suppose you'll be needing your lantern back."

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th June
11:07 GMT -5

M'gann sits next to Kon's bed in the medical bay, while Diana and I stand a little further back. Not completely sure why he hasn't woken up yet; between his Dannered brain tissues, sunlight aura and the purple healing ray there certainly isn't anything wrong with him physically.

"So, ah… How's Poseidon?"

"Better."

I turn my head to look at her. "Could you be more specific? All I got was a 'he lost' from Batman."

Diana takes a deep breath. "When the gods rose up to overthrow the Titanocracy-."

"Any Titans they caught were imprisoned in such a way that the gods could strengthen themselves with their magic. Melinoë explained it to me. Well, she only explained it in reference to Hades but I assumed that the others did the same thing."

Diana nods. "That is true. Poseidon derives much of his strength from the prison Ocean Master found. With Oceanus largely freed from it, Poseidon was far below his usual strength when they fought. Oceanus engaged him only long enough to sever Poseidon's connection to his former prison, then struck him down and ignored him. With Oceanus returned to his prison, Poseidon will swiftly recover."

"Oceanus left him alive? Why?"

Diana returns her attention to her sleeping son. "That, I do not know."

"Thinking about it… That was a… Long and hard fight, but… The estimated death toll is pretty low, all things considered. It's almost like… Oceanus wasn't deliberately trying to kill people."

"The wave which you and John intercepted on its way to Africa would have killed many people."

"Yes, but Orm knew my abilities. He might well have suspected that I could stop it… Or reduce its effect. And Oceanus only sent the one."

Diana frowns very faintly. "I suppose. Why do you believe that is?"

"No idea. Do you know why Oceanus was there instead of in Tartarus like the rest?"

"No." Her brow smoothes and a rueful smile appears on her lips. "Should I warn Menalippe?"

Should she? Hmm. "No." I shake my head. "There was a.. character, in a book written by my favourite author. The character's name was Hodgesaargh, and one of his jobs was beekeeping at Lancre Castle. There was a part in one of the books where he was getting ready to destroy a Wasp's nest, and the narration showed that he didn't hate Wasps… But if you're for Bees, you have to be against Wasps." I shrug. "So they had to go." I look at the floor for a moment. "You tried talking to him. He could have tried talking to us on his own initiative. Whether he was going all-out to kill you or.. people generally, or not…" I shake my head again. "This doesn't warrant further investigation."

"And he did shoot you with lightning."

"I'm trying not to take that personally." And the other thing I need to ask… "Those power armour suits Mister Luthor sent…"

"They fought… Competently. They attacked Oceanus without fear, and when they found that they lacked the power to harm him they instead used their energy shields to block attacks meant for the rest of us."

"Have LexCorp said anything about them?"

"Not yet. If we accept what Nylor Truggs said at face value, then he sent them into combat in order to aid us."

"Not that that will stop him using any pictures they took in his catalogue."

"You believe that he can mass produce them."

"He started with two healthy OMACs. There were three suits with the same capabilities, and Earth negative fourteen wasn't any more advanced than us. If he only sent three then they're either experimental or shockingly expensive. But yes, I believe that he can make more."

"Batman believes the same thing. I'm inclined to-."

"…through here?" Sephtian walks in, the water armour coating over his skin glistening. "Ah. Hello Paul. And Princess Wonder Woman." He gives her a shallow bow.

"Properly speaking, it should be 'Princess' or 'Wonder Woman', not both together."

Sephtian straightens, looking puzzled. "Ah… Which do you prefer?"

She shakes her head. "Either is fine. Are you able to examine my son?"

"Certainly, certainly." He walks forward towards the bed, an artefact I recognise as a diagnostic wand in his right hand. "Paul, I would ask that you inform Canis that -in future- he would be better advised to abduct an actual battlemage."

"Right. Sorry about that."

M'gann looks up as he walks around to the far side of Kon's bed, the glow in her eyes dimming. "His mind's healthy. I don't understand what's wrong."

"I have an idea, but-" He moves the wand from just above Kon's head to his stomach. "-I should confirm first." He raises the wand and stares at the tip for a moment. "Ah, yes. Paul, I believe that you are familiar with this particular malady."

I'm-? "Mana overload? Really?"

"As I understand it, he… Was in possession of a piece of a Titan's power, was he not?"

Diana nods, looking relieved. "Are you able to assist him, or will he have to wait until he has metabolised it?"

"Hm. I will have you know that I am quite competent in general arcane practice as well as theory." He stows his wand in his robes and then holds his right hand over the centre of Kon's chest. "This will take a short moment."

"How are things on Santo Porto?"

"Lord Fate is.. not.. an easy man to work with. Still, the runic systems employed by the.. artefact, were fascinating. Several of the rune forms were unknown to Atlantean thaumaturgy. I believe… That I may be able to improve upon your next generation of 'mage slayers' by incorporating elements of the design."

"Thank you. Because… I'm going to need…"

He looks up at me and nods. "I thought that you might. Give me a few days and I shall have the design for you Ah." He sits back. "There. Superboy is now in a natural sleep, and-."

M'gann's eyes flash.

"Uh?" Kon's eyes flicker open. Then they close again. Then they open fully and take in the room. "Did we win?" M'gann leans down and wraps her arms around his neck, pressing her right cheek against his forehead.

"Yes, Kon-El." Diana walks over to the foot of his bed, and I follow on behind her. "You completely destroyed Oceanus' water body, which allowed Professor Sephtian and Cornwall Boy to return his spirit to his prison."

"And is everyone okay?"

"A few bruises. Nothing that won't mend."

"What about..? Ah, Aquaman's.. son?"

Sephtian nods. "Lord Fate was able to.. deal with that. It seems that your enemies had not wholly expended their reserves of Starro-tech. One application of cure-tech and… He is in his father's care now."

Good to know. I did think a child diving in the way of my railgun was a little peculiar. Of course, in the interests of completeness… "Though I should point out that Ocean Master and a number of Saremites were killed, and plenty of Saremites, one Water Wraith and a toothless Cetus escaped."

Diana shakes her head. "Actually, they didn't. A task force of the Atlantean army moved into position to block their retreat. Many Saremites surrendered once they realised that they could not escape. The Cetus was bound with magic and I understand that Professor Vulko is looking forward to examining it in detail."

I nod. "Awesome. And the Wraith?"

"Mighty as it was, it could not stand against the combined power of the Atlantean army's battlemages."

"So.. Clean sweep. We win." I raise my hands. "Hooray us."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Last Supper

Zerox
3rd Lunar Conjugation
Sun Resplendent

A view of the sea.

If you'd asked me a few days ago… Heck, a few hours ago, I would have guessed that if Mordru were inclined to even bother with a permanent stable home, he'd be the black-iron-and-granite-Fortress-of-Doom type. Like me. Alright, he'd have the souls of Demons and brutally slaughtered rivals bound into the fabric of the place instead of the Apokoliptian technology I use, but it would be a place designed to inspire a dread of the one who ruled there and to protect him against enemy incursions. A seat of power, that any looking upon it might know the nature of the being they faced.

Instead, he's got a relatively small and tastefully designed place with a good view of the Emerald Sea.

I mean, it's not small small. It's still a fortress in the medieval style with a thick stone curtain wall. But the wall isn't very high. It's not quite fairy tale castle, but it does lean more towards open spaces, courtyards and gardens than a purely defensive structure. I can see runic brass work attached to… No, it was attached to the stone by being melted and shaped in situ.

As for the bound souls of his enemies…

Suspended from the walls by relatively solid harnesses are what from a distance I took to be labourers, since they appeared to be either cleaning or otherwise working on the wall. Now that I'm closer, I see that they are in fact altering the runes laid into the brickwork, minor magics causing rock and metal to flow in their hands. But that's not the only thing I notice. I see that their robes are of a considerably finer cloth… If a little dishevelled, than would be wise for the work they are performing. Around their necks are ruby pendants attached to chains of the expected black metal, and despite the physically demanding work they appear to be engaged in they take care never to let the gem touch exposed flesh. Through the power ring on my right ring finger, I can taste the fear they feel for Mordru.

Hm. Well, Mordru was banished from the universe for a little under fifty years. I shouldn't be surprised that he felt the need to come down hard on his would-be successors.

Still, the sun is in the sky, the waves are breaking against the rocks and the sea birds… Um. Sort of bird-like creatures are calling to one another in the air around the rocky promontory this place is built on. And the walk; I do like walking. The whole thing is making me feel surprisingly relaxed.

Figures on the top of the wall gesture in my general direction, and I raise my right hand to give them a wave. While I might be able to sneak in, I really don't see any need to try. After all, I'm just one alien tyrant coming to see another with whom he is presently allied.

I expected that Alan would react positively to the news that my defection was feigned. Quite how strong the reaction was took me a little by surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting to get the orange personal lantern back until after completing the roundup of Light members. Still, it might well be useful. Crock and Dorrance could prove to be useful distractions, and this does open up the possibility of following through on my original impulse of assimilating the entire Light. Oh, the information I could get from Savage alone…

Of course, I have to survive this first.

I approach the gates, and… I'm not impressed. These clearly aren't built to survive sieges by conventional force. I could poke my little finger through that stonework. Then again, if you're an allegedly immortal sorcerer -and didn't care at all for the people nominally under your protection- I suppose that such things are really more for decoration than anything else.

The gates part, and a group of six… Oh my goodness, they're actually knights. Honest to goodness knights on the backs of some sort of six legged and vaguely insectoid creatures. There are two per creature, the ones at the front bearing a lance and the ones at the rear aiming crossbows with crackling green energy in place of bolts. Four such teams, and a leader in a plume-covered helmet on a lizard-emu thing. The riders and the people on the walls all look pretty Human, but that's so expected at this stage that I don't think anything of it.

Corpsman, that has been your downfall before.

I mentally roll my eyes at him.

Says the red skinned Human look-alike.

There are any number of physiological distinctions between Korugarians and Humans.

There are probably any number of differences between Humans and them. But if it makes you feel any better, scan.

"Halt, stranger. You approach the keep of the Sorcerer Lord Mordru. Explain your business here."

I come to a halt, smiling pleasantly. They fear him as well, though it's more in the way a subordinate might fear a superior of unpredictable moods than the outright dread of those working on the walls. Hm. Assuming they age as Humans do, they'd all be too young to remember when he was last here. Unlike their construction-worker colleagues.

"I am Grayven of Apokolips. I am an ally of Lord Mordru and am here to request an audience with him."

He frowns. "You sent no word in advance?"

"Apokoliptian codes of behaviour are unlike those of Zerox. Sending an emissary… Would imply that he wasn't important enough to warrant my personal attention." Because Apokolips has had boom tubes and two way video communications for millennia while you people still ride around on animals.

I mean, yes, Dog Soldiers ride around on animals too, but that's because the Elite make them, not because we pretend that it actually makes some sort of sense.

The man on the… Raptor-mu..? Emu-tor? Need to find out what those are called. He tries to look down on me. Well, he is just about taller than me while on beast-back, but he must weigh about as much as I did before my upgrades. He is… Not intimidating to me in the slightest. "Accompany us. I will show you to the Chief Acolyte. She will decide whether you may meet with Lord Mordru."

"My pleasure." He pulls on the reins to turn his mount around, and I rise off the ground on my aero-discs in order to follow him. That gets me a few odd looks. Apparently, while they're the bee's knees where magic is concerned, other forms of advanced technology have rather passed the natives by. I make a point of floating alongside the.. officer? I presume? While the other knights fall in behind us. "Who are those fellows working on the walls?"

"The former ruling council. They usurped Lord Mordru's position during his absence and are now enduring his wrath."

I nod. "Doesn't seem all that harsh, as wraths go. Not that I'm criticising his judgement, you understand."

"The pendants they wear drain virtually all of their magic from them. They are forced to exert themselves mightily to cast even the simplest spells." We pass through the gate… Ah, good, murder-holes and more brass rune plates. Into the part of the gate house between the inner and outer portcullises and gates, and then out into the courtyard beyond. Clean lines, well maintained… My respect to Mordru's architect. "And if they do not complete their appointed tasks, they are flogged."

"Even so…"

"They thought themselves this world's rulers, and now they are in constant pain. And every one of them will break from the strain before long. Lord Mordru simply wishes to get work out of them before their inevitable deaths."

I nod. "Surprisingly rational. In their place, many people would have opted for a cycle of torture and healing. Maximising their suffering. My own father would have done something like that… As well as the occasional false escape, to allow them to build up hope for him to crush."

He leans away from me slightly, shifting awkwardly in his saddle. "… Yeeees… This way, Lord Grayven."

Once it becomes clear that we're heading for an entrance to one of the enclosed gardens I make a point of accelerating ahead of him. Pointless macho posturing, maybe, but it does reinforce my character before any witnesses. There's very little chance that Mordru doesn't already know that I'm here. The reason I came by boom tube and walked was to give him time to prepare himself. The leading knight doesn't say anything, though he does keep coming rather than simply leaving me to wander around on my own.

The garden has a stone pathway around the edge and a variety of well-tended plants on near-turquoise pseudo-grass. I float over it to have a closer look at some sort of woody bush-analogue with frilly orange flowers. I wonder if Jade would like a cutti-?

"Milady Mirabai, this is Lord-."

"Grayven, yes. The master told me to expect him."

I turn to see a red haired woman with a blue facial tattoo walking down the steps from one of the castle's keeps. Her low-slung trousers and breast-accentuating waistcoat rather distract from the medieval aesthetic… But maybe that's just how women dress here? I give her a polite nod. "Lady Mirabai. Would you be so good as to show me to the master of the house?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Zerox
3rd Lunar Conjugation
Sun Resplendent

Since she is actually important, I allow Lady Mirabai to lead the way through the castle corridors. She's clearly not in any hurry so I mirror her attitude, arms folded in one of Darkseid's classic poses. "How have his subjects reacted to Mordru's return?"

"We're adapting. He ruled this world for a very long time. Really, this is just a return to what we were used to."

"Forgive me, but you seem rather too young to have experienced his rule yourself."

"True. However, the political organisation of Zerox has changed little. The position he occupied was replaced by a council, but the lower levels of administration were left in place by his would-be successors."

"After being properly purged, I assume?"

There's a very slight hesitation. "As you said, I am too young to remember it."

Hm. Would be useful to know if she has any skills beyond those of a normal personal assistant. Chief Acolyte suggests that he's actually teaching her things, after all. If her position is entirely dependent on him -and he's cast down or alienated every alternative power base- then she's likely to be quite loyal. How to go about finding out?

"So… What exactly does being 'Chief Acolyte' involve?"

"It was the title given to the second of each Archmage on the former council. They acted as student and aide to their master."

"So you're Mordru's pupil."

There's a very slight tensing in the muscles of her face. "No. The Guardian Knight called me by that title because I have been.. allowed.. to take on a somewhat similar role."

"So what's your actual job title?"

"Concubine."

"Huh." Didn't.. think he'd be the type.

"The few surviving members of Lord Mordru's previous harem took their own lives when they heard of his return. Though they were no longer in the first flush of their youth. Lord Mordru's new body is considerably more… Vigorous, than the one he occupied previously. More… Libidinous."

"So… What? Rather than sending a councillor to participate in the ruling of the planet, each… Region..? Sends a-."

"I was sent as a councillor. Lord Mordru chooses to make use of me in this fashion rather than have me work on the walls."

It's a risk, but… Sinestro? Parallax Gaze. Oh, ew ew! Off! No, she's not happy about her current station. Appointed to high office, then the old boss comes back and turns you into his plaything. All the qualities you made it your purpose to cultivate, suddenly irrelevant compared to having perky tits and a well rounded arse. Would she..? No. Mordru is a league above the magic users here, and he'll have put some sort of binding spell on her so as to avoid being stabbed to death in his sleep. She won't help me, though if she has an option she won't help him either. If I win..? Perhaps she'll be able to render some sort of assistance.

"I suppose… With some jobs, it's what you make of them rather than the contents of the job description. You're not just loafing around the seraglio, you're handling the administration."

Her shoulders tense, and I see her force them to relax. "It is my joy to serve in whatever fashion Lord Mordru wishes."

Uh. Huh.

I turn my attention from her to our surroundings. Nearly a true classical castle, so far as I can tell. The windows are made from leaded glass and their frames are far wider than those of medieval castles would have been. No need to block shots from besieging archers here. But there aren't any obviously modern additions either. Most 'working' castles I've been in before have central heating and electrical sockets added to them. Here, there's nothing of the sort, though the slight movement I'm feeling in the air suggests that there are spells at work. Perhaps they serve to regulate the temperature. Assuming that I survive the next half hour, I should see whether Sunset would be interested in looking around. See how similar their thaumaturgical notation is to what the Atlanteans use.

We're heading towards the top of one of the inner keeps; Mordru's private residence I presume. Either that, or whatever he uses for a throne room. No, if he sees me as an equal he wouldn't greet me from his throne; the power statement is too overt. Somewhere else, a private sitting room or something of that nature. Somewhere he's at ease, and can pose… Without it being too obvious. He might have arcane devices on hand, but probably not. He never used any during his attacks on Earth during his fights with the Justice Society. He's a Lord of Chaos, his link to Chaos itself is his strongest tool.

"Will you be sitting in on our meeting?"

"I serve at Lord Mordru's pleasure."

I can see the hairs on her arms trying to stand on end. She's got remarkable self-possession, given how strong her involuntary physiological responses are. And there's no way Mordru hasn't noticed.

Some times I'm really glad that I'm going to be killing someone. I mean, I understand theft. I've stolen. I understand self-interested murder. When I killed Mister Crock I hesitated only long enough to make a quip. But keeping someone around just so you can.. play with them. Torment them in ways that they can't prevent because there is some novelty in their suffering…

Okay, new policy. Every Lord of Chaos I encounter dies.

Mirabai slows slightly as we approach a heavy wooden door. I stop entirely to give her time to gird her ill-used loins and to give myself a chance to look at the door. The beams are bound together by a dark metal I can't immediately identify, but otherwise it's just a regular medieval door. Its very mundanity is odd. I suppose that my own doors are simply technological portal blocks rather than a fancier force field system, but there isn't even a talking grotesque head door knocker or anything.

She exhales with a little more force and then steps forward, taking a firm grip on the ring type door knob before turning it, pushing the door open and stepping through. "My Lord, your guest."

I follow her in. Now this is a bit more like it! To my right, the stuffed corpses of animals I can't readily identify decorate shelves stacked with menacing-looking grimoires, scroll racks and other pieces of arcane paraphernalia. The light sleets in through two large windows in the far wall, with additional illumination coming down from the heavy looking wooden chandeliers above us. To my left, a large fireplace, currently empty. Mordru himself sits just ahead of us in a high-backed wooden chair that isn't a throne but which nonetheless emphasises the authority of its sitter. He looks up at me, then moves his left hand, closing a book bound in blue leather that sits on the table before him.

Mirabai has moved to stand just to his right. He doesn't bother looking at her.

"Grayven. Welcome to my home. I have been looking forward to the two of us having a private conversation for some time."

"I thank you for your hospitality, Mordru." I step forwards, closing the door behind me. "It is a most picturesque home that you have. I must admit, I quite misread you as far as your preferred abode was concerned."

"I occupy this place because it became the place of power of those who usurped my authority during my absence. My being here emphasises my authority. In truth, I do not care for it overmuch. Please." His eyes move for a moment to the plain chair opposite him. "Be seated."

Oh, a simple power play. Alright then. Crock, pull out the chair for me.

Orange light flickers from the ring on my left ring finger, Mister Crock materialising a moment later. Mirabai stares a little, but Mordru only glances at him curiously for a second.

He has eyes only for me.

Mister Crock reaches the chair and pulls it out. It's not really big enough for me, but nothing I've seen of him so far suggests that Mordru has a sense of humour. I doubt that he's going to offer me a chair that's going to collapse. I step forwards and lower myself onto it. No, no creaking at all. Crock backs off, mirroring Mirabai's position.

"I am glad to see you, Grayven, as the only member of our association who has truly surpassed mortal limits."

I modestly avert my eyes for a moment. "Oh, I have not come so far as you."

"No. But you are heading in the right direction. Now tell me: what is it that has brought you to my home this day?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Zerox
3rd Lunar Conjugation
Sun Resplendent

"It's this King of Tears business."

"Oh, that." Mordru nods. "An infantile affair."

"Ah." I frown. "I had rather got the impression that you approved."

Mordru… That's either a grimace or a smile. Not sure which. "I would experience a distinct moment of pleasure from witnessing the deaths of Wonder Woman and Red Tornado. But bringing a life form like the King of Tears to Earth risks destroying the very thing which led to my becoming interested in it in the first place."

I shake my head. "I don't believe that I ever heard what that was."

"Oh, you know more of the universe than our.. 'colleagues'. You know how infrequently sophisticated civilisations which employ magic rise to prominence."

I suppose that I… Father Box?

Ploong.

Oh. Well, yes, but I hadn't realised that they were that rare. Goodness.

"Zerox, Earth, Mars, Ysmault… Apokolips and New Genesis. Perhaps a handful of others. Approximately… One in four thousand life-bearing worlds."

"Fewer, if one counts only those with worthwhile intensity. And Humans use it so very little. Earth is a rare prize, for a sorcerer such as myself."

"You… Wish to possess the Earth… So that you may study it?"

"I am ruler of my world, master of all that I survey. I have ascended to the rank of Lord of Chaos. My mystic might is rarely equalled and never bettered. And yet… A double handful of Earth warriors were able to thwart my designs, using powers… With which even I am unfamiliar. Though I was not truly at risk, I am loath to live with ignorance. One demand that I place upon myself is that I constantly rise above my weaknesses."

"Not truly at risk?" I raise my eyebrows. "Forgive me, but you seemed to be-" I raise my left hand and generate a three dimensional replay of his last few moments on Earth. "-close to death. If that portal had gone somewhere a little different…"

"Hm." A… Worrisome smile, there. "No, Grayven. The portal could have gone anywhere and it would have made no difference at all. Unlike even other Lords of Chaos, I am truly immortal. Even if every mote of mana and atom of material in my body were destroyed in some fashion, I would still return to life." He inclines his head slightly. "Are you curious?"

You better believe I am. The.. one comic I read back on Earth Prime that contained him made reference to it, but I just assumed that it was… I don't know, we need to make this guy who features in comics less often than that clown in Gotham seem significant, let's say that he's totally immortal, unlike all of these other characters who aren't but sure seem like they are. Of course, if he actually is something else…

"Father Box has no records of… 'Super Immortality'."

"You are aware that Lords such as myself must bind themselves to some corporeal object in order to maintain themselves in the physical world?"

"Of course."

"Klarion had his cat, Nabu his helmet, The Changing Man his coat. Oggar, the Rock of Finality… And as for the Hat… I suppose that at least it's intuitive. Tell me, if you were faced with such a decision, what would you select?"

"Well, I… Don't know what the restrictions are. Though I suppose it would be unwise to make a selection for one's phylactery unless one has the perfect object for doing so." Mordru gives me a shallow nod. "The point of the ritual is to gain more power, so… The artefact itself having power is less of a concern. Something… Invulnerable? Something your enemies would not dare to destroy? The Source Wall, perhaps?"

"Logical. Sound reasoning. But while the Source Wall is as old as the universe, no one part of it is immutable. And completing the ritual in defiance of the Source would be more than anyone could perform."

"Alright. What, then?"

"Through great effort I was able to acquire a tiny part of one page of the Book of Destiny, the great tome upon which the fate of the universe and everything in it is written. I used that as my anchor point in the ritual and then returned it to its rightful owner."

My face stills. "Destiny of the Endless will be the last thing to die in this universe, and his book will continue on even after that. You've bound your existence into the very thing which.. is both a log of the universe and a guide to its events."

"Just so. I am already written into past, present and future. Strike me down, and I will simply… Reappear, at some point in the future. Or perhaps the past. Destroy the Book of Destiny and you imperil the universe, and if you did… The most likely result is that I would simply be banished to the Realm of Chaos, from which I could return in due time."

"Ingenious. I would have assumed that the magics of the Endless would resist such alterations."

"They are impressive beings, but… Limited, in so many ways. The magics of the Book reflect the contents of all existence, and I was already a part of that."

Looks like we're going with plan C, then. "Perhaps he simply doesn't care."

Mordru's face stills for a moment, the illusion of life vanishing. "Perhaps."

"And you don't experience any… Blowback?"

"What did you notice about the structure of this fortification?"

"Surprisingly orderly. Unless that's some sort of… Chaotic for a Lord of Chaos being… Orderly behaviour?"

"No. That would be absurd. The truth is that I have no ideological allegiance to Chaos, but drawing upon its power as I do, I became concerned that it would imbalance me. Change my mind, my outlook, to become more like that of the otherworldly creatures who arise directly from the Plane of Chaos itself." He turns his right hand palm-upwards, a… Golden ankh appearing over his fingers. "As such, I have made a point of studying and drawing upon those magics opposed to it."

"Very intelligent of you."

"No. All Lords of Chaos are intelligent. Otherwise they would not have been able to make the conversion in the first place. Ensuring that I am able to remain me is a sign of wisdom."

"Well… I'm… Suitably impressed."

"Are you?" Does he suspect? It doesn't change all that much if he does... I just wish he were a little easier to read. "Tell me, what do you think of Savage?"

"He is one. I am not happy to be risking the Earth to the King of Tears, and from what you were saying you aren't convinced of the wisdom of it either."

"I consider him to be pathetic. Immortal, to conventional forms of death at least. Older than Human civilisation. And yet, he has failed to build anything of lasting significance or improve himself further. He seems to believe that simply having lived a long time is an achievement, when in fact he did nothing to earn the ability to do so."

"Alright. I can't say that he's done much to impress me either, but-."

"I had… Hoped… That we might use this meeting to come to terms between us. Agree to split the universe between us. You, taking those worlds that were mystically inert, and ceding to me those that were more active."

"I'm not against that in principle, if we could agree trade and movement terms before-."

"And yet… You disappoint me." He idly waves his left hand, an illusion of Captain Adams appearing before him. "Did you really think that I wouldn't be aware of his arrival, on this world that I have ruled for millennia!" Ah. Adams, go. "And was this the best you could-?!"

The lance of golden energy hits him directly in the left side of his head.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Zerox
3rd Lunar Conjugation
Sun Resplendent

The hair evaporates from the left side of Mordru's head, filling the air with a burning smell I haven't smelled since that time back on Earth Prime when I got a little over enthusiastic with a hair dryer. The skin beneath reddens, then he casually raises his left hand and a series of purple lines appears in the air between him and the source of the beam. A small circle, various runic squiggles… And the beam stops as it hits them.

"A weak eff-."

A fusion cannon appears on my left arm as five drones drop stealth behind me. The scintillating beam of plasma takes him in the chest, setting fire to his robes and shoving him through his chair and into the far wall.

I keep it up as the drones fire. The first and second mount an oversized purple death ray, and as Mordru somehow reaches into my fusion beam and physically turns it aside…

That's such bullshit!

The wall to his left evaporates, surprisingly mundane brick unable to cope with the five thousand degree assault. Mirabai dives past me making arcane gestures as the purple beams strike home.

"Duh."

Got a grunt out of him, at least. The flesh on his chest blackens and burns as the blaster drone begins shooting at his extremities.

"Grayven, we get him?"

Crock raises the construct-ghost of his plasma crossbow, getting off two shots before a crimson beam strikes him through the forehead.

"Not yet, Captain. Keep it u-."

Everything goes black. I'm enveloped in something. The material is hard, but I'm super strong. Push! Stone explodes away from me as I rip myself free of the pillar imprisoning me!

"Keep it up!"

A shimmering phantasmal fire envelopes me for a moment, pain spiking through every part of my body as two new golden beams bore through the wall behind Mordru into the back of his head.

"Gah!"

I fall to my knees. "Aaaaaaaagh!" Get it off me! Conqueror's Pride!

The flames gutter. It still hurts, but I'm functional again. I rise to my feet as the spatial disrupter drone gets close enough to Mordru to activate. The space around him twists and bends and matter is compressed and stretched in ways it was never meant to. Grandmother used to use this for her torture parties, but it looks like Mordru-.

The drone explodes and a hail of translucent green snake-like creatures fall from the ceiling down towards me! The coilgun defence drone switches automatically from ineffectually shooting its molten iron droplets at Mordru to point defence as I duck and raise a construct shield over my head. The snake things aren't fazed by the iron, landing on my construct shield and fading slightly as they eat their way through.

A shockwave passes through the room as the spatial disrupter drone dies. I'm knocked off my feet, dismissing the snake-eaten shield as I go and raising another to replace it. The sensation of pain cuts out as the fire around me finally fails. I raise my left hand- "Assimilate!" -and an orange beam flicks out from the orange ring, only to decay into nothing a good metre from Mordru's skin.

Things seem to slow for a moment as a snake drops through the shield over my head and hands on my left middle fingeraaaagh! Skin and sinew vanish in a flash, the dull grey bone beneath flopping down and the distal, proximal and radial phalanges dropping to the ground with a nauseating click.

FUCKINGFUCKINGFUCKFUCK!

"Yaaaaaagh!" ASSAULT THE FOE!

My New God armour seems to shimmer as I charge towards where Mordru is trying to pull himself out of the wall as the drones keep shooting. He gestures, and a thin purple film appears between us. I slam into it left shoulder first and it disintegrates, my momentum disappearing with it. I bring my left arm up and generate a new shield while pulling my daiklave into my left hand. Some sort of green stream of vapour splashes off the shield as I lunge forwards again, bringing the sword around in an overhand blow.

Mordru doesn't react as it turns to rust and ash before it hits him.

He's naked now, clothes, hair and a good part of his skin burned off. At the left and back of his head the bones of his skull are on open display and his eyes have been replaced by orbs of burning purple. I bring my right fist around from my left in a clumsy swing. Strike hard! Strike true!

His left arm comes up and I see that his natural hand is gone, replaced by a four fingered construct of bubbling purple goop. There's an energy discharge, the armour covering my forearm goes dead but it's not enough and my fist keeps moving, smashing into his jaw and snapping his head around.

Impeller node!

The air between us is blasted away as a kinetic force approximately equal to that generated by a nineteen seventies strategic nuclear device suddenly blasts towards him. What's left of the wall disintegrates completely, stone shrapnel and battered Chaos Lord going flying from the keep and out into the woodland garden beyond.

I take a second to look at the space where my missing finger used to be. I better get that back.

Captain Adams flies across the wall to my right as I look into the woods, trying to spot Mordru. "Is he dead?"

"Hardly." I wave my right hand and the plasma initiator drone swoops down, matter around it becoming unstable and spontaneously converting to low temperature plasma.

"You find his phylactery?"

"If he was telling the truth-" The plasma initiator drone crumples, top and bottom twisted in different directions. "-we can't get it."

He brings his arms up and begins firing randomly into the now blazing woodland. "Doesn't that mean we're screwed?"

"Not until our prostates tingle, Captain. We can still-."

Captain Adams' beams jerk and bend, cutting through what's left of the garden's contents and then exploding outwards! Mordru stands at the centre of the now-blasted landscape, body and… He's even got his clothes back.

Balls.

He holds up his left hand, a tiny portion of golden glowing energy dancing on his palm. Then he closes his hand and-.

There's a flare of light from my right. Captain Adams looks at his dress uniform. "Oh, this ain't good."

Two guns appear on my forearms, one a singularity projector and the other a bleed overlay cannon. A black line from the first connects me to Mordru for a moment before evaporating. "Look on the bright side!" An indescribable mess of… No, it's indescribable, but it appears at Mordru's location as I intentionally break the bleed membrane where he's standing. "Maybe now you're not worth killing!" Mordru looks at it almost disinterestedly, then breathes in and draws it down into his throat.

Then two giant phantasmal red hands materialise around me, claws puncturing my armour and cutting into my skin! Aaghgruh! Dgh! I'm hoisted out of the keep as Mordru levitates upwards to my level.

"Hm. Power rings."

I don't breathe, relying on the rings to keep my body oxygenated. I'm bleeding freely where the claws sliced into my chest, but that will heal. Will To Power.

"I remember how to deal with those."

Both rings flicker and die and I desperately focus on pushing outwards with my metaphysique, trying to take control of my conceptual space. I don't think it's working.

"This has been a weak effort, Gr-." His head jerks as a pistol bullet bounces of the air near his face. He turns to look at Captain Adams and makes a gesture.

"AaaaaaagH!"

"A weak effort, Grayven. I presume that this is a prelude to you allying yourself once more with the Justice League and destroying the Light?"

"I just don't like your face."

"Oh. Really. After I told you what you were trying was impossible, you went ahead with it anyway? Pathetic."

"Not quite as pat… Pat…"

He floats closer. "Yes? Let me guess. 'Not quite as pathetic as you, you foul f-.'"

"I was going to say." The spell holding me up fails, and I fall for thirty centimetres before my aero-discs take the strain. Heal. "Not quite as pathetic as a man with a sword through his throat."

Mordru's eyes are looking down, trying to look at the two pronged golden sword blade poking through his windpipe. "Eh!"

"You may recognise the sword with which I c-cut-" Oh, this still really hurts. "-off Klarion's head. The woman holding it doesn't feature in Destiny's book. I don't know if this will keep you gone… But I'd give us good odds." I nod to Doctor Robbins. "Finish him."

"Happy to." She slices left, making his head jerk as the connective tissues are cut through. Then she takes her left hand off the handle and grabs his hair before slicing back right, Mordru's now disconnected body falling to the ground beneath us.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Zerox
3rd Lunar Conjugation
Sun Resplendent

Aaaand I really feel like going with him.

Aooooooooow.

Doctor Robbins looks at me askance. "Grayven? Are you alright?"

"Do I look even slightly alright?" I try moving my right arm sli-. That was a mistake! "Gruh." Right, right. Use the rings-. I look down at my hands. Nope, still dead. Breathe very carefully-.

No. No, that didn't work at all.

Ow.

Need to check what happened to Captain Adams. Don't really want to have to tell his children that he died, given that they've been back in touch for less than a year. I angle my feet to make the aero-discs turn me around, turning slowly to try and avoid putting further strain on my torso. He's…

Oh shit.

Mordru petrified his arms and legs. Mercifully, he's already unconscious but he won't live much longer like that. I head towards him, teeth grinding together as I move faster than entirely wise. Actual petrification doesn't work like it does in cartoons. You don't just lose feeling in the affected body part; you have a lump of stone plumbed into you. Your heart will continue trying to pump blood in that direction, your veins losing pressure and your arteries gaining it because your blood can't circulate any longer. Your muscles, nerves and bones are now fused to cold and unyielding stone. And there isn't necessarily an easy way to reverse it. I'll probably have to cut them off and grow him replacements back at base.

And I've got no rings, no daiklave… I'll have to have one of the drones-.

Mirabai stalks cautiously through the rubble generated by our fight, eyes flicker over the Captain, the exterior and then up to myself and Doctor Robbins. There, her eyes linger… Ah, the head. Of course.

"Drones, purple healing ray on me. Point defence drone-."

"Is he dead?" Mirabai addresses the question to me, holding herself in a way which suggests that she's strongly considering fleeing.

Doctor Robbins floats faster than me on her own aero-discs, Mirabai backing up somewhat as she comes in to land and holds out the head. "Take a look for yourself."

The purple beam finally finds me, the light passing through the rents in my armour and invigorating my regenerative capabilities. Doesn't.. feel like the radion blaster did, so it should all heal up fine.

"That means nothing. He used to play tricks like that on people, vanishing for months-."

I grimace. "He's as dead as we can make him. Do you know how to reverse-" I touch down. "-this petrification effect?"

"I… Perhaps… What is my aid worth to-?"

"I'm not in the mood to barter. Help him, and by the Source I will honour my obligation. If you won't, then get out of my way."

She stares at me for a moment, then her eyes dart back to the head. Then she nods. "Lie him down."

I reach out-. My face creases. "Doctor Robbins, would you-" She's already taken hold of him. "-mind?" Straining -must remember to offer her augmentation again- she lowers Captain Adams to the ground. Mirabai is quietly chanting something, green mist swirling around the affected areas of Captain Adams' body. Slowly, patches of stone begin assuming fleshy tones once more and I breathe a sigh-. Ow, ow, no I don't.

"There is nothing… Behind the spell." Mirabai has stopped chanting, though her hands are in constant motion with trails of green smoke following in their wake. "Mordru's soul is no longer maintaining it."

I nod. "Good to know. I don't suppose you spotted whether he got a message off, did you?"

Her eyes move to me for a moment. "No, I saw him send no message."

Ooooohhkaygood. I can leave Savage and the rest for a day or so while my body sticks itself back together. I want -I look down at the ring on my left hand- to be at my best. Losing all that history would be... Simply tragic.

Mirabai moves her hands over Captain Adams one more time, then nods. "He is.. whole. He will sleep for now, but he will recover in a few hours."

Father Box, how is he?

Ploong.

I nod. "You have my thanks, and my obligation. You may name your favour now, or bank it for-."

"His ring." She fortifies her resolve. "There was a ring on Mordru's left hand. I want it."

I didn't notice… I turn back towards the blasted garden and look over to his corpse. Yes, there's a ring. "Any particular reason?"

"Do-? Do you intend to take Mordru's place?"

I look up into the sky. Seems like a pleasant enough world… "No. Not that you're unattractive, but I'm quite happy with the lover I have."

"I-. I meant, as ruler of Zerox."

"Oh, goodness me, no. Feel free to make yourself Chief Acolyte, or Councillor, or whatever."

"I was thinking 'Queen'."

"Hahow." I nod. "I don't care who succeeds Mordru, as long as it doesn't cause any blowback on Earth." I send the stabbing drone down to cut off his finger. "But how does the ring help with that?"

"It drains power from those working the walls. With their power, I can compel the rest to toe the line."

Hmm. Brutal. For a moment I weigh their probable capacity for gratitude against hers.



"Very well." Doctor Robbins frowns at me. "What? Do you want to try ruling a planet about which you know next to nothing?" She still doesn't look entirely happy, but she doesn't object further. Steeling myself, I bend down and pick up Captain Adams' recumbent body. "I'm going to be busy for a day or two. And I imagine that you are as well. Once we both have some free time, we can discuss what we can do to help one another."

Mirabai nods. "I will look forward to it, Lord Grayven."

I give her a small -and slightly painful- bow. "Queen Mirabai. Father Box, hush tube."

"Ploong."

A portal opens in the air, and I float through.

21st June
09:18 GMT -6

Home again, home aga-.

"Daddy!" Lynne dashes forward to hug me, then brings herself up short. "You're hurt!"

"Comes with the job, poppet. Ms Black, would you mind-" Doctor Robbins passes through the portal and Father Box closes it down. "-taking Captain Atom? I need to get to the mana infusion system as soon as possible."

Vera nods, her new force field reinforced arms making his weight an easy burden. "How bad?"

"Well, Mordru's dead. Anything more than that was always going to be chancy." I pat Lynne on the head with my right hand. "I thought you were supposed to be with Aunty Barda and Uncle Scott."

"I.. borrowed a boom tube." She looks at me slightly nervously. "You're not mad, are-?"

"No, no, of course not. But please, when I give you an instruction in future, do try to obey it. It's my job to look after you and that's what I'm trying to do." She nods, relieved. I want to pick her up and cuddle her… But I think I'll leave that until I'm a little less blood-covered. Vera walks down a corridor in the direction of our medical facility, and I start to follow her. Ah, no, there's something I need to do first. I hold out my right hand.

"In blackest day or brightest night,
Beware your fears made into light,
Let those who try and stop what's right,
Burn with my power, Prince Grayven's might!"

My yellow personal lantern appears in mid air, a yellow beam connecting it to my yellow ring.

"Recharge complete, Corpsman. A little more care with your equipment in future."

Noted, Sinestro. Now… Phone.

I raise my right hand to my ear. "General Lane. It's done."