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

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
19:53 GMT +3

Well…

There's a grove. And it's got two trees in it. And they're big. Looks like it was pomegranates after all. I guess someone's going to have to repaint a whole lot of old masters.

And there's an Angel floating just above them with a burning sword in hand. I guess Jehovah hasn't heard of metaphor. I was sort of hoping that the local Angels would be appropriately weird-looking, but this chap… I say chap, I know that medieval Angels were depicted as androgynous and I'm not scanning him to check. This chap is very nearly as generically Warrior Angel as it's possible to be. Porcelain white skin covered in black and gold markings I can't readily identify, and a black tabard with what looks like a science fiction warrior villain's faceplate design painted on in white. His eyes are white voids and aside from the tabard he isn't wearing any other clothes. If he turns around a bit quick the question of his sex will be resolved very quickly.

His helmet is gold in colour and looks like it was designed to look a little like a Hawk's head.

It's just an emblem. No four-headed mutant Angels. I am disappointed.

And no wheel of eyes or self-guided flaming sword. Just a bloke. Okay, he isn't flapping his wings to remain in one place, but Thanagarians can manage that. And if he's noticed me, he isn't showing it. All in all, underwhelming. Not that I'm going to take any unnecessary chances…

I wonder if this is actually Zauriel 16, or if the look is just generic?

I drift down towards ground level, coming closer to the trees. And I wonder how I tell which is which? Or if… They're actually different at all. I seem to remember Eve, Cain, Abel and Seth still existing in the Dream, so it's quite possible that the Tree of Life is some sort of metaphysical power booster… No, that doesn't help me. The obvious thing to do is take a sample of both, but there's an Angel of unknown capabilities hanging just over my head. Let's see… Pomegranates are fertilised by insects and Hummingbirds… But I doubt that any animal that fed from one wouldn't feed from the other as well, so I can't try looking for big-brained Bees.

I float right up to one of the pomegranates, trying to discern its arcane effects from the appearance of its skin. I dunno, it's red. Dad's the family gardener; I've never even eaten one of these. Ring, can we use visual data to perform some sort of chemical analysis?

Affirmative. However, the data which can be generated is limited, and makes numerous assumptions which may prove unreliable in relation to arcane fruit.

The data appears in my mind, and my ring wasn't joking. No fungal or parasitic infections, no disease, good soil nutrition -which is worth noting if this is actually the tree Adam and Eve consumed fruit from, as there's no obvious source for soil enrichment other than Angel shit- and the fruit's fully ripe. And so are all of the others. I drift over to the other tree and try taking a look at those fruit. No, same thing. Nothing that would let me work out which type was which. Assuming that there even was a difference.

Ugh.

Okay, so, what are my options? Asking the Angel is viable, even if 'asking' just involves phasing in and asking for a fruit from one of the trees. If he responds 'You would presume to take a fruit from the Tree of X' then I'll know which tree is which. Taking a fruit in the first place was an act of avarice, so I could meditate on my bond with the Ophidian and try and see it from her point of view… Maybe. Or… There's no mention of anyone else eating a fruit from the Tree. Given the lack of decay, or even difference in levels of ripeness…

No. It can't be that simple. Can it? Okay, Eve supposedly picked the fruit, so if I assume she was about five feet tall…

I drop to ground level and make a circuit, carefully studying for any hilum. Or helpful snake skin. No snake skin but… That's a hilum. Not seeing any others… And my other options aren't all that appealing. Okay then, time to snatch, grab and run. That fruit looks as good as any of the others. Stealth system ready. Angel… Not looking this way, as much as that's likely to matter. Put the trees between us as well. X-ionised knife at the ready. Sword of the Fallen there, but… That's Plan Q in this situation.

Aaaand phase in knife grab fruit deploy lure out move move move!

1:1 "Halt and make yourself known!"

The Angel is clearly looking around for me, white-gold flames flaring along the edge of his sword. Yes, let's.. not do that.

1:2 "No evildoer can escape the sight of Heaven's servants!"

I turn away as I accelerate back towards the waterfalls. I wonder how broadly he's phrasing 'evil'? I'm not sure that the theft of a single fruit really qualifies as 'evil' under normal circumstances, and I have a very definite righteous mission here. Right, he's… Spotting where I removed the fruit, where I appeared… He's making a prayer gesture with white light flickering over the palms of his hands… Shouldn't be able to find me like that.

Spell eater temperature increasing.

Increasing a lot, or increasing a little?

Temperature increase is not immediately threatening.

Awesome. If only Demons were this easy to-. He's heading this way. No, wait… He's heading towards the exit. Which makes sense. he wouldn't have detected any sort of portal opening, so the exit is the only place I could have come from. Okay, drop a kaahuite nail and accelerate-

1:3 "Brothers! I feel the taint of the Fallen Ones!"

-away. That should hold his attention. Now that I'm not bothering to slow down and look around, I'm covering the distance far faster than I did on the way in. I was careful not to touch the kaahuite directly, and the orange light is sufficiently universal that if anything of it remained attached it won't necessarily lead to me. Accelerate more-.

There's a roar of white-gold flame behind me as Might-Be-Zauriel points his sword at the nail and lets rip. The flames pass neatly around.. or.. possibly through the foliage and strike the ground where the nail fell. Mm, doesn't look any stronger than the reaction I was getting from my Angel feather rounds, but I suppose that they're weaker than Gabriel was. On the other hand, the sheet of flame is continuous. I wonder if it comes purely from the sword or if the sword is just an aid?

Not far to go now, looking good. Now, is he intelligent enough to realise what it was that he just incinerated? Or was that a shoot first sort of thing? Shoot first would be more convenient… He's looking around and doing that praying spell thing again… Lure activating in two, one, now.

His head jerks around and he spreads his wings and lunges through the air towards the tree. Hm. Certainly sensitive to damage to the Tree. Looks like I made it. Down the slope, through the exit… And out into the Iranian sky with my pomegranate. Up, up, up…

And phase in.

"Orange Lantern to Zatanna. Scenario beta."

"They spotted you? Are they coming?"

"I don't think so, but let's head towards Bialya before we try exotic transportation just in case."

"Did the Cherubim actually have four heads, or was Ezekiel using artistic license?"

"One head, Eagle themed helmet. I'll show you a picture once we get back to KordTech. Whereabouts are you?"

"Hiding in their… Do they call them mosques?"

"I.. ttttthink they call it a temple, but don't quote me on that. See anything interesting?"

"Some of the paintings were nice. I'm heading out now."

"Holding position."

"Soo? What fruit is it?"

"Pomegranate. I'm almost glad that I'm not going to be the one eating it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
12:36 GMT -5

"Euanthe?"

Zatanna raises her left eyebrow. "Did you think she was hiding?"

"No, but she might be non-corporeal or something." I hold out the small section of branch I cut from the Tree of Hopefully Knowledge. "Euanthe?! I've got some pre-lapsarian wood for you!"

"Where is she, anyway?"

"After the.. Demon incident in Guyana, she expressed enthusiasm about fighting more Demons. I suggested that she limit herself to creating more spirit forests over sites that had been used by Demons to break into the world. I.. assume that's what she's doing."

"Want me to try summoning her?"

"No." I tentatively reach towards a nearby elm with my right hand. "I think I can manage that."

Plant desires… They're too simple to be called desires, really. But while I haven't really had much practice since I used this technique to disable Kilowog, touching what they have with a light press of orange light…

The vines behind me burst as a bark-covered Euanthe leaps forth! "Who dares-!" She spots myself and Zatanna and staggers to a stop. "Pavlos? Was.. that.. you..?"

"Yes, I learned from a Green Lantern from-."

She comes right up to me and pats my left cheek with her right hand. "Pavlos, I am extremely fond of you. But never ever do that again."

"Sorry." I show her the piece of pomegranate wood. "Does this make up for it?"

She gives it her full attention, frowning. "That is… Is it wood?"

Zatanna smiles, her arms folded across her chest. "Are you sure you're a Dryad?"

"It looks like wood. But it does.. not…" She plucks it out of my hand and then turns away, holding it right up to her face so that she can study it more closely. "Feel..? Like wood? But it is wood? I do not understand."

"I took it from a place called The Garden of Eden. The god that made it really doesn't like Demons. If you're able to integrate it, integrate its magics-."

She looks around, beaming with joy. "I can kill Demons better! Thank you Pavlos!"

"You're welc-"

I blink, and her right arm has snaked around the back of my head, pulling me down onto her waiting lips.

"-mrrum?"

"Is she supposed to do that?"

My mouth -and.. now tongue apparently- otherwise engaged, I raise my right hand and wave my forefinger back and forth. "Ooath-."

Euanthe steps back, still grinning as a thorn-covered vine cuts into her left forearm. Sap drips freely from her plant-like flesh as the gash becomes wide enough for her-. She pushes the twig into herself with a gasp of pain.

"Euanthe, we've talked about this. Humans tend to be monogamous-."

"But I am not Human." She clenches her left hand into a fist and then relaxes it, her wound being covered by a bark-like scab. "Does a holly tree care whose pollen fertilises its flowers?"

"I… Don't know..?"

She shakes her head. "It doesn't."

Zatanna's trying not to laugh. "Humans are rather different to holly trees. Are you-" I point at her scab. "-alright?"

"Incorporating its magics will take some time. And I am mindful of your warnings; I will not seek out more Demons until I have finished doing so."

I nod. "Good show. Zatanna and I.. are about to head inside. Do you want to come?"

"Into the mountain with the Demon? When I have just told you that I will not seek out Demons until I am ready to destroy them with wooden armour proof against their foul kind?" She sits, then leans forward to lay the palms of her hands on the ground, sighing with satisfaction as the plants reach up to envelop them. "Pavlos, that doesn't make sense."

"You are completely right." I float into the air and start to move away from the top of Mount Justice. "I feel silly for even suggesting it."

And she's stopped paying any attention to me.

"So she wants you to.. fertilise her.. holly bush, huh?" Zatanna's following me, and apparently she's given up on not showing how amusing she finds it. "Could be prickly."

"I'm not fertilising anyone's holly bush." I frown. "And since when do you make.. that sort of joke?"

"Since I stopped going to a Catholic high school." She takes a breath, then stops smiling quite so much. "How's Jade taking the 'Hell' thing?"

"Not… Great…" I stop in the air and look down at Happy Harbour. "Fighting hordes of Demons isn't really part of her skill set. And.. she isn't really sure what she wants to do with her life other than 'not murder people for money'. Dropping her in the deep end by accident put her well outside of her comfort zone…"

"I guess without superpowers there are some things you just can't handle."

"Yeah, but I already said that I wouldn't give her superpowers until she'd been out of prison for a year. I'm trying to sell her on power armour. Need to ask.. Roy if he'd mind giving her some pointers." I extend my right hand and generate a zeta tube construct. "Ladies first."

"Recognised, Zatanna Zatara, A zero six, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

The lights dim and the internal security takes a look at us.

"When did you go back to being 'A'?"

"Identification confirmed."

"When you left Earth. After the League abandoned my dad I didn't feel like joining in any more."

The shield parts and we walk inside the hangar. Sephtian should be waiting in Ms Blaze's… I hesitate to think 'holding area', but since the League heard about her mini-Hell her freedom has been somewhat more restricted than when she first arrived.

"Orange Lantern to Sephtian. We're on our way up."

"I strongly suggest that you hurry. Ms Blaze is having some sort of fit."

My eyes widen, and I transition Zatanna and myself into the lift.

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
12:40 GMT -5

Canis steps away from Ms Blaze as she writhes against the suppression chains binding her arms, legs and neck. "Done. It does not appear to be helping."

"Sephtian, what happened?"

"I am not.. sure." He holds out his hands towards the glowing network of sigils floating in the air at the behest of his two colleagues -a spiritualist and an arcanist if I remember correctly- and his eyes shimmer as he connects his senses to the output glyph. "It seems that her inherent magics are being disrupted. Attacked in some way."

Zatanna frowns. "The mountain's still warded though, right?"

"Yes. Yes, this isn't a directed attack. I doubt that it is even-"

"Said I was safe… Bastard, oath-breaking Lantern!"

"-technically an attack."

"A conventional sympathetic resonance wouldn't be enough to reach her here. How is this working?"

"If I knew that, then I would be counteracting-." His eyes clear and he leans to his right to peer at Ms Blaze through the glyphs. "Ms Blaze, are you drawing on external power resources?"

"Of course I am, fool!"

"That would be the source of the problem." Sephtian's eyes stop glowing. "The wards here would not stop the sympathetic resonance you yourself created. If someone was able to-"

"There's no way-"

"-access the other-."

"-he has the power to dooouaaagh!"

"-end of the binding..." Sephtian looks down with concern as Ms Blaze spasms uncontrollably. "Given that your brother is increasingly becoming a power in Hell, it does not seem too implausible that he has found a way to interfere with your interface."

"Blaze, if he's back-hacked that mini-Hell of yours, the game's up. There's nothing you can do to maintain access to it and keep him out."

"You did this!"

"I gain nothing from harming you like this. Shut down the Hell, and we can-."

"You're.. trying to.. force me! You know you can't fulfil your end of the bargain and-!"

I hold up the pomegranate so that she can see it.

"Fresh from Eden."

"Give it to me!"

"Release your captives first. I'm not sure what would happen if you ate this, but I'm sure it would be worse with Satanus sticking his oar in. I want to have Sephtian's team examine it first-."

The spiritualist turns his head towards me. "We have names, you know."

"-because we still don't really know what it does. It could make the situation worse, but the only avenue of attack we can think of-."

"Fine!"

"Okay. Zatanna, get ready."

She takes a grip on her staff and holds it up slightly. "Decnahne sexelfer, etarucca taerht noitasiretcarahc…"

I generate manacle constructs binding Ms Blaze. "Canis, please remove the manacles."

He cautiously begins by removing the clamp from her neck.

"Ms Blaze, I would very much appreciate it if you could do anything within your power to avoid sending them to actual-Hell. Even if you care nothing for their suffering, I would remind you that your brother would most likely make use of them if that happened."

"…gnisselb fo evol…"

Canis finishes removing the binding chains from Ms Blaze's legs and steps back. Given her physiological symptoms I suppose I should be impressed that she's remained aware of her environment.

"…and last of all, s'rotaderp htarw."

Zatanna now has glowing violet construct armour which looks a little like a xenomorph made of crystal to complement her glowing violet eyes. Violet light radiates from all corners of the room and I'm sure there's a lot of magic-related things going on there that I'm not perceiving.

"Ms Blaze, we've removed the restrictions-."

Sephtian's assistants dive for the floor in what I'm sure is part of a carefully crafted contingency plan rather than a panicked reflex as hellfire blasts from Ms Blaze's eyes and mouth. The purple-red flames flare about a metre and a half into the air before fading into nothingness. I'm.. tentatively going to assume that she's venting the magics keeping her mini-Hell going, and from the way Sephtian's eyes have gotten brighter I'd guess that he's finding the process fascinating. I wonder how long she's had it for? I rather doubt that it's a recent invention, and-.

The flames cut out, and Blaze's skin.. fades from its previous red to a pale and more Human-like flesh tone. Her horns similarly become first translucent and then transparent before vanishing almost completely. All that is left are small nubs on her forehead… And if I'm honest, aesthetically it looks much better.

"Mmruughh." She shakily opens her eyes, blinking at me. "There. Powerless. Happy now?"

"I won't be happy until you've burned your brother to nothing with golden fire. Sephtian?"

"The attack has… I can't tell whether it is stopped or not, but there are no observable effects on Ms Blaze."

"If we're really lucky, Satanus won't realise and will keep wasting his time on that."

Canis is regarding Ms Blaze curiously. She snarls at him as she sits up. "What are you looking at?"

"You have given up your God-Name in the hope of acquiring a stronger one. I understand the rationale, but there is no true equivalent on Apokolips." Fascinating.

"Lunatic." She moves her attention first to me and then to Sephtian. "Well? When do I get my new wings?"

"Your spiritual energies are still fundamentally demonic, portable demi-plane or not. We will still need some time to study the fruit which Orange Lantern recovered from Eden before we can formulate an attachment ritual."

"Or if you think I'm holding out and you want to take the risk, you're free to eat it now?"

Sephtian's eyes fade as he turns to look at me, his colleagues cautiously picking themselves off the floor. "That would.. be unwise to say the least."

"Give me the fruit."

"Ms Blaze-."

"Give it to me."

I hold it out and she takes it from my hand, studying it carefully.

"You weren't lying. I can feel the Hosts' magic…" She hands it over to Sephtian. "Get back to work."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
19:27 +1GMT

"…pleased with our current rate of progress." Queen Clea smiles as the magically created ice sculpture sitting in the middle of the table shifts shape to demonstrate the current state of the Wirbata, the island the Spanish keep trying to convince people is called Ilha do Pico. "Not only is there already a simple runway for light aircraft, but Lord Cyprian informs me that Luthor's people have all sorts of interesting ideas about the island's commercial exploitation."

Mister Swift leans back in his chair. "Certainly, sitting sunning on the sands is sure to suit some."

Queen Clea nods. "That option was raised, though I prefer farming and arcane industry. Security concerns become much less of a problem if visitors are isolated in one part of our territory. I have also been… Well, my equerry has been exchanging polite messages with High King Orin's equerry. You know how these things go."

Adam, Circe and I nod, while Mr Swift just smirks.

"But it's progress. Your embassy was most successful, Lord Grayven."

I smile politely at her compliment. "King Orin is a surprisingly reasonable man. He's also far more interested in improving relations between Poseidonis and Venturia and between Atlantis and the surface than he is in doubling down on a point of law he only recently found out about. Do you have any idea when a.. face to face meeting might occur?"

"We're… Indirectly negotiating a form of words. I'm not so proud as to let the currents impale me on the reef, but I do want some sort of acknowledgement that I've been rather hard done by." I believe that phrase is the Atlantean equivalent of 'cut off my nose to spite my face'. She considers my question. "Perhaps… A further two months? Assuming that no new problems arise."

I nod again. "Glad to hear it. Anything else to report?"

"I'm already noticing the improvement in my own health from your.. 'soul stretching' procedure. My thaumaturgists tell me that they've never seen anything quite like it, and sadly they can't replicate it. Yet. The mana siphon on the other hand is replicable and we're moving into full production. To whom do we pay the royalties?"

"Sunset Shimmer and Zatanna Zatara, but I can put your bursar in contact directly."

She nods. "Remarkably talented young women." She waves her right hand and the ice structure evaporates. "Nothing further to report. I yield the floor."

Mister Swift sits up. "Not much to report on my end. Had a few friendly chats with Jay and a quick team up with the new fellow. An actual endorsement might be a little much to hope for, but I think that hatchet's thoroughly buried. Kobra's missing a bevy of second tier leaders and cannon fodder and I'm confident that I'm closing in on Messer Burr's second in command." His expression looks a little strained. "Canny woman."

Luthor's screen tilts slightly. "Forgive me, but I am a little surprised that anyone is able to hide from you."

"Oh, there are ways. I've encountered one or two before." He smiles. "The trick is finding them before I find you. Still, I'm sure that I will have the matter firmly in hand come New Year."

I nod. "Glad to hear-."

"Oh! And-" He raises his left hand and pulls off the glove covering it, revealing his engagement ring. "-on a more personal note, Captain O'Dare has most graciously accepted my suit, and you will of course all be invited to the wedding just as soon as she tells me when it will be."

Adom nods. "Congratulations."

"Double glad to hear it, then."

Circe seems more amused than anything. "Brave woman."

Mister Swift nods. "She really is. I wouldn't recommend buying new hats just yet though; I got the impression that she was planning on a lengthy engagement." He glances aside for a moment. "I think that's… Ah, aside from my personal thanks for aiding in the realisation of Theodore Knight's dream of mass space flight, naturally."

"I'll be sure to let Lex know, though I'm afraid that it will be a while before the first generation of new ships enters production."

"I'll look forward to seeing it. Have you been up to anything else?"

"If you're yielding the floor..?" He nods. "The first and most basic stage of creating a stellar self defence force is actually having ships. Initially, we'll be limited to prototypes built in workshops as test beds for new systems, but once they start flying about we'll be able to start training crews and generating PR. Our-" I half-turn towards Lex's monitor. "-televisual colleague has been monitoring the responses of various governments and security agencies, and while they're not exactly thrilled about a private citizen having that sort of power it appears that my oversight is giving them some measure of confidence."

Cranius perks up slightly. "You are not sharing, Mister Grayven?"

"Cosmic converter technology isn't particularly expensive. If the plans got out, everyone and their Dog would start making warships. Far better to have a unified structure that nations can buy into, rather than allow that sort of anarchy. We might have to release the designs in a decade or two, but at the moment we're keeping core technologies black boxed and using telepathic commands to prevent those in the know talking about it."

Adom frowns. "'Buy' into?"

"The plan is to set up a unified stellar navy and recruit from all around the world. Naturally, individual countries will try and get as many of their own people in as possible. We can use telepaths to screen out people there purely for spying or sabotage, but recruiting trained military people rather than having to train them from scratch provides too large a benefit for us to not employ it. Once we've had them for a while, I'm confident that they'll come to identify with the goals of the organisation and -at least somewhat- rise above national rivalries. If only because we'll make it clear that we're perfectly happy to blacklist countries not playing along. In the longer term the navy will have its own training schools, and national loyalties will be even less of a problem."

"Work on stabilising the Vega Systems continues apace. Not a lot really new to report there, aside from the first retrofitted Citadelian ships starting their space trials. Once the crews have a slightly better idea what they're doing, I'll schedule some joint exercises with the Crown Imperium."

"Oh, and I'm going to overthrow the government of Britain."

Three sets of eyes blink in puzzlement. Cranius frowns for a moment, then appears to get it. Mister Swift looks more curious.

"You zhink zhat is necessary?" / "A novel concept, but I'm curious as to why."

I wave my right hand and a series of dossiers appears before my colleagues while Lex receives a heavily encrypted file. "Feel free to take a read. In short, the country functions basically fine but the top level of a number of institutions is astonishingly vile. Unlike in Kahndaq where the entire country would have to be reorganised from top to bottom, Britain will be fine with a change of officers."

Mister Swift begins leafing through the dossier at speed, his face becoming inhumanly still as he does so.

"'Necessary', Doctor Cranius?" Queen Clea looks at him with a hint of suspicion in her eyes. "Were you aware of this in advance?"

"I… Made a certain request. Not.. zhis exactly, but... I assume zhat zhis is Mister Grayven's preferred way of fulfilling it."

"It combined well with a guarantee I'd already given to several of my retainers. And frankly it needs to happen. If -upon reviewing the documentation- any of you feel able to participate directly, I would greatly appreciate it. If not, I understand completely. I did not originally envisage this as a group exercise. I merely seek to keep you informed of developments."

Lex inclines his screen slightly. "This does raise a point which I feel is worth addressing. Grayven's records indicate that the 'Light' used a senior field officer to enact their collective designs and assist them in preserving anonymity. Are we at the point where it is worth pooling our resources in that way?"

Adom nods. "If we are casting down corrupt rulers, it would seem to be wise. Though I care little for criticisms of my personal conduct, once I am pharaoh I will be one with my nation. For my people's sake it may be that there are things it is best that I am not seen to be involved with."

Queen Clea shrugs. "It makes a degree of sense. Personally, I'm rather indifferent to this.. 'regime change' business. Not hostile to it, it just doesn't have anything very much to do with my core interests." Another shrug. "Still, if it is to be done, it is best that it is done well."

Mister Swift finishes his reading, shadows curling around his dossier. "I assume that you and the screen have someone in mind?"

"Several people. We can forward you the details after the meeting, for discussion at our next monthly meeting." I look around the table. "Any other business?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th October
14:59 GMT

Three hours.

I hear the beeping of his heart monitor before I even enter his room. Viewed objectively, I suppose that the Sundown Nursing Home isn't such a bad place to end your days. Good staffing levels, most of them speak English reasonably well, well maintained facilities and grounds, good equipment for those residents whose bodies aren't quite as functional as they once were… I used to find places like this an uncomfortable reminder of where I would eventually end up myself, but since I don't age any more I feel a more… A detached curiosity.

Three hours, though.

I give the nurse checking the target of my visit a nod as he leaves the room, having finished his hourly checks. Since I gave the place advance warning of my visit he doesn't look totally shocked, but suddenly encountering someone like me at close quarters is never going to be a relaxing experience. He steps back to allow me access and I nod and smile in thanks before ducking slightly to pass through the doorway.

Three-. Three hours.

I pause just inside the door to visually inspect my target. 'Death warmed up' would be a generous description. His face and hands are shrivelled, due to the fact that he can barely eat and struggles to keep food down when he does. There are drips in each arm, an oxygen mask over his face and a catheter plugged into his penis. He's got some hair left, but it's a far cry from the thick black locks he had during his prime. That said, I can still see glimpses of his distinguished former self; his Roman nose is as distinct as ever, as are his strangely pointed ears.

No one is really sure how old he is now; the best guesses I was able to dig up suggest somewhere between seventy and eighty. Ring scans say that he's mostly European, most likely with a single Middle Eastern grandparent. The rest of his genes come from all sorts of places. One of his lungs isn't original; British Secret Service legend has it that not only did he insist on remaining awake during the operation but he also strapped an explosive collar to the necks of the chirurgeon's family to detonate if anything went wrong.

And then there's the rest of the damage. Scars from bullet wounds, shrapnel wounds and chemical and fire burns litter his skin. But the really nasty stuff is underneath all of that. Neurotoxin build-ups in his synapses make him shake whenever he tries to move, and their effect on his brain has made speech almost impossible for him. It also -and a ring scan confirms what medical staff only suspected- leaves him in constant pain. It's amazing that he's still alive, really.

And I'd feel more sympathetic if I hadn't just spent three hours-!

I walk around to the side of his bed, take a solidly-built chair out of subspace and sit down, facing him. He'd been watching me from behind lidded eyes since I opened the door, but now he abandons the pretence and opens them a little wider.

"Three fucking hours." He keeps watching me. "Three hours, just… Staring at it, written on a piece of paper. I knew there was a joke there somewhere. I've studied Batman's files on the Riddler, the Joker, Catwoman… Even Cluemaster. I'm not unused to people using thematic false names. Film characters…" I narrow my eyes. "Bad puns."

I think he's trying to smile. Git.

"So this is where you ended up, Mister Near." I make a show of looking around. "Not bad, I suppose. The SIS still think you died during your retirement job in Qurac… Those who don't think you're living in a mansion somewhere, laughing at them. They never came anywhere near here, and I'll freely admit that I had to cheat to find you."

"Hruuuuh."

It comes out as a pained wheeze, the intent behind it too indistinct for my rings to identify a clear meaning.

"I doubt that you've heard of me. My name's Grayven. I'm an alien from planet Apokolips." I wave my hands and shake my head. "I know what it sounds like in your language, I didn't pick it."

"Hruh."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Dreadfully rude of me. Here." Two orange cables extend from my ring and attach themselves to the back of his neck. "There. That should make speaking to me a little easier."

"Well done."

The voice is based on one of the few surviving recordings of his natural voice. One of the many ways he used to vex people was subtly changing his own accent, apparently at random. Combined with his compulsive lying, it made it impossible to even guess at his point of origin.

"You covered your tracks expertly-" Three hours! "-but I.. had access to technology that you simply didn't have the means to counteract."

"Employer?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Credit. Curiosity. Dying."

"I work for myself, for the most part. And, hm." I make a point of looking him over, then generate a transparent construct image of the injuries afflicting his body. "Yes, I do believe that you are." I frown. I know that he's going to lie to me, but I have to ask. "Why here?"

"Planned retirement after Qurac. Wanted time to write memoir. Too injured."

"Ah, yes. I thought that the last few assassinations lacked your usual precision. So you already had.. some sort of evacuation plan, ended up back here and…" I look him over again. "I suppose the life takes a toll."

"Your intention?"

"I understand that you made a point of targeting criminals because you found that fighting police and.. mid-tier superheroes was too easy. Having seen the weakness of some of the secret identities they use, I suppose that I can see where you were coming from." I sit back. "I am.. engaged in certain work that could use a man of your talents. The pay is good, the opportunities manifold and the work… I think that you'll find it fascinating. The world has only gotten madder since your retirement."

"Hruurh."

Nearly a laugh, and the less damaged left side of his mouth curves upwards a little.

"And medical technology has come on such a way. For those with the right connections." His eyes narrow a little. "Patching your failing corpus up would be the work of a few moments. If you're interested. Alternatively, you may elect to remain here… And die in considerable pain in perhaps two years. Or if you consider your life's work to be over, I am willing to kill you. It would be quick and painless."

"Now, I realise that working for other people isn't really your thing. But I do hope that you'll consider it anyway. You would be working mostly under your own direction and with considerable freedom in how you pursue your objectives. I will consider your obligation to me for healing you repaid in full for two years of your time, for which you would also be compensated conventionally as well. If you were planning on parting company with me in the not too distant future, having access to my intelligence resources would be a considerable advantage."

"Any initial thoughts? Questions? Queries?"

"Targets?"

"Your first target will be the government of Kahndaq. We want the current lot gone, replaced with people a little less… Self-absorbed. For much of your first year I imagine that you'll be doing the same sort of thing: removing governments and reorganising failing states. Obviously I don't expect you to rely purely on the application of force. You'll have other levers of power to pull, we're trying to create stable states, not chaos. Once that's taken care of, we're also building a space fleet…"

"Space fleet?"

"I'm afraid that I can't give all the gossip to someone on the outside. Now, I know that you're easily quixotic enough to turn me down just to see if I come back, but I've got a rather fun signing-on bonus if you give me an affirmative answer now." I take a dossier out of subspace. "Some truly disturbing information on the British elite. I should warn you: this has a pretty short shelf life."

He tilts his head back a tiny bit, considering.

"Accepted."

"Glad to hear it, Harold." I raise my left hand. "Welcome to the team."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th October
15:03 GMT -5

I push open the door to Sephtian's New York workshop. "Professor? Any-"

The Pomegranate of Good and Evil is sitting in a large and.. slightly frightening resonance array, and those parts of the computer screens and electronic blackboards around it that I can see through the crowds of Atlanteans are covered in what looks like… Alright, it looks like total scrawl to me, but I'm sure that it's all very clever.

"-progress?"

Sephtian worms through the crowd of his colleagues, right hand raised to draw my attention. Last time something like this happened I transitioned him out, and got a thorough telling off for using pseudo-arcane devices in a controlled laboratory. This time I just wait patiently until he has managed to free himself.

"Some."

"Can you.. be more precise?"

"Yes. Essentially-" He turns towards the centre of the.. Device. "-that is not a normal fruit."

I smile uncertainly. "Yes?"

"In.. point of fact I am uncertain that it is a fruit at all. Are you familiar with the use of…" He trails off, looking me over and weighing up my probable knowledge base. "Concept reinforcement?"

"Yes, I sometimes eat at a vodun restaurant where they enhance the food with the idea of the food. Is that what you-?"

"Ah! Yes, just so. I will have to try-." He closes his eyes for a moment, and glowing lines appear over his scalp. Some of those I actually recognise. "It is far easier to-."

"Sephtian, that was an alertness and mental acuity spell. How much sleep have you been getting?"

"My king and country are threatened by Demons. I will sleep once Ms Blaze is ready to defend them." I'm not sure that's.. sensible, but I'm hardly one to talk. "It is far easier to reinforce the strongest characteristics of the thing, and hard to act against those characteristics without destroying the object. For example, I could make an.. iron sword that was far harder and more resilient than an iron sword could normally be, but it would be difficult to make one that was bendy or capable of changing colour. Iron does not bend well, and has a narrow range of colours."

"With you so far. So was.. this pomegranate reinforced with the essence of fruit? Super-antioxidants?"

"No, no. That was my original thought, but… No. I do not believe that the tree this fruit grew from began as a seed. The Christians believe that it was created by their god directly?"

"Something like that." I blink. "Wait; was it?"

Half a dozen Atlanteans pull their attention away from what they're working on. "No!"

Sephtian makes a dismissive gesture. "Perhaps. It is impossible to rule out that sort of intervention somewhere, but we are beginning to grasp the process by which it could have happened. Do you know how old the Earth is?"

"Somewhere between four and five billion years, based on isotope decay in rocks."

"I am told that following the chronology of monotheist holy books, the age of the Earth is revealed to be something in the order of seven thousand years. How would you account for the difference?"

"I wouldn't. I would assume that the chronology was bunk, a mismatch of patently false legend and half-remembered history."

"And yet you have been to the Garden of Eden. Do you not now wish to reconsider?"

"No. I saw a forest and a magic bloke with wings. The fact that it matches a creation myth doesn't prove anything. I've met Hera and I don't believe that the Titans created the universe."

"So where did the Garden come from? And why could you still see where the fruit Adam and Eve ate came from? Any normal tree would have either continued to grow or died, and in either case there would have been nothing left to see."

He walks towards the centre of the room, gazing at the fruit.

"I assumed that parts of the garden were in some sort of magic.. suspended animation, only changing if acted on externally. Or maybe just the trees. Why? What do you think was going on?"

"Understand… Any evidence we could collect in the face of a truly omnipotent being could simply be fabricated. And any evidence gathered in the face of an immensely powerful and skilful being is at least suspect."

"Okay..? What's that got to do with concept reinforcement?"

"This fruit is a fruit. Every magic I use upon it to directly understand its nature shows it to be a fruit. But as I look deeper… It does not have certain associations which a normal fruit would. And there are associations which are strange to see in a fruit."

"Like what?"

"Soul-impacting traits which we.. think would have the desired effect on Ms Blaze. Fruit have little to do with moral development in conventional situations. But more than that, there is a faint trace of the Dreaming upon it."

"Seven thousand years' worth of stories and three major world religions, centred around an inherently arcane location. I'd be surprised if there wasn't some-."

"That… That could cause it. But our calculations show that other possibilities are far more likely."

"Does the doorway I passed through lead to the Dreaming? Is that where the Garden actually is? There's a portal in Erebos, but I didn't have any reason to look at it."

"Possibly. Or perhaps it was brought into the world from the Dreaming. A manifestation of the idea of Eden becoming the reality of Eden."

"Is that just your favourite theory, or is it actually the most likely one?"

"My favourite. Are you certain they will not let us study it directly?"

"They wouldn't agree to it. Is there a great need to force the issue?"

"Perhaps-? No. Truly, no. Not so far as this task is concerned. It is just that it is possible, and it is such a fascinating application of Dreaming magic. With the Dreaming itself becoming more stable in the last few decades, this fruit may open an entirely new field of study."

"But back to the matter at hand..?"

"The Dreaming magic is too poorly studied in cases like this for us to attempt the transformation synthetically. The only thing for Ms Blaze to do is to decide whether or not she wishes to eat the fruit."

"Will it kill her?"

"I do not think so, but I have not studied her for long enough to say for certain. If she agrees, I will prepare the wings for chirurgery."

"You're sure you know how to do that?"

"Attaching the wings is simple. I do not know enough about theurgy to know how attaching wings to a humanoid body could allow them to fly, but I assume that it is an innate magic that I would need to study directly to understand. The Angel blood has some interesting alchemical and biological properties, but I do not believe that it will present a problem."

"I'll let her know. How long will you need to prepare?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
10:27 GMT -5

"I'm not taking it personally or anything, but how come you didn't talk to me earlier?" Mr Cassidy looks away from the enchanted transparent aluminium between us and where Ms Blaze is preparing to eat the pomegranate. The fruit itself has already been opened and the seeds are sitting in a bowl next to the operating table. "I mean, I'm not an expert on magic or anything, but I sure wouldn't have any problem with these Atlantean guys studying me."

"Because I thought you were a guy in demon-themed power armour."

"Oh." I think he's frowning, but the horns do rather restrict the movement of the skin covering his forehead. "Sure, I started like that, but I've been a real Demon for years."

"Right. I looked at your file, read that your confrontation with Nebiros resulted in your armour getting infused with demonic magic and sealing you inside. I didn't realise that you'd… Actually changed into a demon. I didn't think that was even possible."

"Guess Neron doesn't care about what you think is possible." He turns back to the window. "Or what I think is possible."

And given what you had to do to make it happen, I doubt that you'll give me an honest answer if I ask you about it. "You're welcome to stick around and have them study you after we've-"

The door to the observation room opens and I turn to face my other guest. Given the sharp economic downturn Aberrance has undergone since several major stakeholders realised that the possibility of giant rampaging monsters had been factored into their low rental pricing, I thought that sending Cranius a few invitations to things within his field of study might be a way of smoothing things over. This is the first one he's actually responded to in any way more positive than giving me a short lecture on authentic Transylvanian swearing.

"-finished here. Doctor von Schadel, thank you for coming."

"Yes. Be grateful." He turns his head -himself, I suppose- away from me as he walks towards Mr Cassidy. "Unt who might you be?"

"I'm Blue Devil."

"Are you.. naturally like zhis?"

"'Naturally' might be pushing it, but this is my actual body, if that's what you mean."

"Hm." Cranius looks through the window. "So, vhat is zhe plan here? She eats zhe fruit unt zhey plug in zhe wings?"

"Err…" Mr Cassidy half-shrugs and looks at me.

"Essentially, yes. The fruit forms a bridge between-."

"As zhe uncreation process forms a functioning biological bridge between zhe incompatible tissues, so zhe magics of zhe fruit will allow zhe demon to use ozher magics."

"Yeah." Mr Cassidy looks at me. "You wouldn't happen to have more of those fruit, would you? Be nice to be able to go to church without catching fire."

"If the Bible's anything to go by, she only needs to eat a small part of the fruit. You're welcome to a mouthful of whatever's left."

He bows his head slightly. "You seriously think that a demon is going to leave part of a magic fruit?"

"If she starts convulsing uncontrollably before she can finish it, then yes."

He shakes his head. "Won't happen. Unless it actually kills her, she'll eat the whole thing. You put a source of power in front of a demon… They just can't say 'no'."

"I'll have to look into getting a whole lot of enchanted artefacts with 'Acme TNT' printed on the side."

"Hah! Ah, they're not quite that dumb, but it does make them predictable. She's gonna eat the whole thing. Just watch."

"In that case, I think Sephtian took a few samples. You can have those."

He nods. "Thanks."

Dr Balewa joins Sephtian in the test chamber, the runic network inscribed on every available surface shimmering as he does so. Sephtian himself waves his right hand in a circle, casting the spell which will allow us to hear them. "Ms Blaze, if you would kindly lie down."

She complies, taking position face down on the operating table next to the protective case containing the wings. The biomancer performing the attachment is outside the room and will stay there until they're sure that the alterations to Ms Blaze's arcane structure have stabilised.

"Feh. Before you and Kobra came to Aberrance, zhis would heff been a simple process for me. I would not need zhese… Atlanteans."

"Doctor, if we hadn't come to Aberrance there wouldn't be an Aberrance any longer. I'm sorry that we weren't able to prevent the attack but we weren't the ones who initiated it."

He turns his head-body around without bothering to turn the torso he's riding on along with it. Mr Cassidy's eyes widen somewhat. "I have only recently finished attaching zhe replacement xenografts for all of zhose who were maimed. Wizh no Kane flesh I must do it manually, linking every nerve unt vein unt artery. I had to invent new anti-rejection treatments just to make zhe process work at all!"

"Oh, well done. Do you need help marketing them or distributing them? Because that's something that-."

"You guys mind taking that outside? Some of us are trying to watch a hot demoness eat a pomegranate."

Cranius swivels back, and I walk closer to watch Ms Blaze chomp her way through the pomegranate seeds. As Mr Cassidy said, she's going at it with gusto. Mr Cassidy is.. smiling-. No, that's a leer as Ms Blaze's enthusiasm results in pomegranate juice running down her chin and onto her chirurgical gown.

Huh.

"Human.. women not do anything for you-?"

"When I wore Blue Devil armour… I was stuck inside, and it wasn't anatomically accurate." Ooh. "Now… Being a Demon comes with instincts… Demons don't see humans as people. I can talk to people, but… Trying anything physical would.. just be weird."

"I sssee."

Ms Blaze sets the bowl down, frowning to herself. Still a few seeds left, so I guess Sephtian can keep his samples.

Then she starts shaking.

Sephtian cautiously steps closer. "Ms Blaze, can you understand me?"

Her face is a rictus of misery, tears streaming down her face, finger claws tearing through her cheeks and into the palms of her hands and she presses them to her face.

"Wait, what's happening to her?"

"I'm not certain, but I'd guess that she just gained the capacity for guilt."

"And she's how old?"

"At least seven thousand, and she's spent a decent proportion of that sending souls to a demiplane Hell she used to power her magics."

"Is-? Can she go ahead?"

"We knew this could happen. She gave consent in advance, so-" Dr Balewa steps forward and places his right palm against her forehead. Her eyes roll back as she loses consciousness. "-we have a plan in place. The chirurgery doesn't require her conscious involvement."

Dr Balewa lays her down as Sephtian starts checking on the status of her metaphysique.

"Still, as I told her at the start: if this does all go tits up…" I shrug. "Then we've killed a seven thousand year old monster, and learned a great deal about how Demon magic works. We still come out ahead."

Mr Cassidy glances at me sidelong. "Think maybe you wanna eat some of those seeds as well?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
11:03 GMT -5

"…sure what's happening to her blood."

The biomancer has finished making the attachment. They're keeping Ms Blaze unconscious for now, because the absolute last thing they need is for her to try using magic of any kind. Mr Cassidy was somewhat interested when they made the initial attachment, but as they moved on to the parts that were less visible he started reading the research notes Sephtian provided. Cranius on the other hand appears to have found the whole thing absolutely enthralling.

Sephtian gently touches the flesh of the left wing with his right hand. "The wings appear to produce the blood ex nihilo. No test we performed showed it having an adverse effect on any living creature. Do you have some reason for believing that something has changed?"

"The blood moving back into the wings isn't having the vitalising effect that it should."

"Risk to the patient?"

"Negligible in the short term, but she'll be carrying vestigial wings on back and have dangerously high blood pressure. Pure thaumaturgy isn't my field… There probably are non-biomantic fixes, but-."

"Fueh!" Cranius swivels to look at me. "Lantern. Let me speak mit zhem."

"Doctor, with the greatest-."

"I heff already build an Angel. I know how to do zhis."

"Assembling Ms Parish was considerably more simple than this-."

"Unt not everyzhing I learned from my former master has made it into my work in Aberrance."

I lift my right hand to my right ear. "Professor, Cranius would like a word."

Sephtian turns to look at the window. "By all means, Doctor."

Cranius clears his throat. "I assume zhat you are not able to directly mould zhe angelic tissues?"

"Normal speaking voice is fine-."

The biomancer nods. "They accept being grafted to foreign tissue without any sign of rejection, but it resists direct manipulation. If I had more samples it would be a fascinating subject to study."

"Yah, okay. I suggest taking small-"

Mr Cassidy's phone vibrates and he gets it out of his pocket to take a look at the screen.

"-samples of the tissue…"

"Ah, Lantern? I think you should take a look at this."

I turn away from the window and look at his oh… Darn it. "Is that live?"

"Yes."

A somewhat distant picture of the Angel I evaded in Eden -or a look-alike- stares back at me from Mr Cassidy's phone. And from the look of the surrounding buildings… About four hundred metres away. KordTech New York has good wards, and we added extra spells before attempting this, but…

"Do you actually have anything to do with Angels?"

"Haven't yet. And I can't say that I'm all that eager to start right now."

"Good Catholic like you?" He raises his left hand and pokes his left horn. "If that's a problem, you may want to consider the practical benefits of converting to Hellenism."

"Why? Would I stop being a Demon?"

"I suppose not."

"…should serve to convince-."

"Sorry, Doctor, Professor. Something's come up and I need to deal with it. Do you have everything you need?"

"No, of course not. We're going to have to work out whether Dr von Sch-."

"Is there anything you need from me?"

"Oh. No."

"Right." I raise my right hand to my forehead and focus on the groundskeeper working on flowerbeds outside, appearing alongside him for a moment before heading up into the air.

He doesn't bother looking around.

Since I'm not hiding my precise location now, I scan the Angel with a bit more effort than I dared while in the Garden. And… Yeah, alright, in the case of an Angel I've got no reason to be annoyed about him having wards that good. Or… Angels don't have free will, right? Would I..? Even be able to scan something that had no connection to the orange light? No, no, I should be able to… I mean, most forms of scan…

The Angel looks in my direction, despite the buildings in the way, and flies upwards on an intercept course. Flaming sword still in sheath, though I suppose that might change once it confirms who I am. Well, though I'd rather avoid a fight like this over a city, attacking me with a burning sword without openly violent provocation would clearly be grounds for self defence… But I don't really want New York to become the next Gomorrah. Heh, which is ironic, because the wings of the Angel who was responsible for that obscene slaughter are being attached to a Demon right now.

I stop about a mile from the surface and wait for the Angel to catch up with me. He appears to be flapping a little more than the Thanagarians do, probably due to using sympathetic magic to fly rather than Nth metal. When he reaches my height he stops about ten metres away with his wings raised and unmoving, his expressionless face studying me.

"Good morning. I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Whom am I addressing?"

2:1 "I am Zauriel of the Host of Eagles, Messenger of the Most High."

"And are you here for business or pleasure?"

2:2 "I am here upon the Lord's business. There was a theft from the Garden of Eden, from which the children of Adam and Eve are-."

"Let's not draw this out. It was me."

2:3 "You admit your guilt freely?"

"Yes. I needed the fruit, and I wouldn't ask anyone to do anything I wouldn't do-. Unless I wasn't capable of it, obviously."

Zauriel nods. 2:4 "That is good. The most concerning possibility was that an agent of Hell had penetrated the Garden. Still, I felt the presence of the demonic most clearly. Do you have an explanation for that?"

"I just used a small amount of kaahuite as a distraction. And I certainly don't work for any Demon. I slew the First of the Fallen earlier this year, and Satanus is working really hard at getting on my bad side."

2:5 "I am pleased. That means that what comes next will be simple."

"It's my hand, right?" I pluck the power ring from my right ring finger and transfer it to my left index finger. Then I create a construct blade. "The penalty for theft?"

2:6 "I would not deprive a starving man of his means of obtaining sustenance. You simply-."

"Do I look like I'm starving to you?"

2:7 "Did you take the Fruit in ignorance of its nature?"

"Does scry proof, phasing power armour suggest ignorance to you?" I tilt my head to the side for a moment. "Some ignorance. I didn't know exactly how it worked. But I had a fair idea."

2:8 "You have not consumed it yourself. Do you intend to work some feat of magic with it? Or did you seek to use its properties for the benefit of another?"

"Yes? Look, really; I'm fine with the hand thing. Can we just-?"

2:9 "You are not required to maim yourself."

"Then what do you want? What am I supposed to do?"

2:10 "You simply have to repent of your sin and ask the Lord's forgiveness. And he shall be merciful and grant it, and your sin will be wiped away."

I stare, the corners of my mouth turning downwards. "Well that's not going to happen."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
11:08 GMT -5

3:1 "I do not understand."

And here's where things get frustrating. "Which part of 'no' eludes your comprehension?"

3:2 "You are willing to mutilate yourself, but not ask the pardon of one who loves you and will forgive you anything. It is senseless."

"Okay. For a start, he isn't my god. I haven't gone to church since Zatanna wanted to stop in at one last year and I harangued the choir for making a mess of Good King Wenceslas. I haven't gone into one for devotional purposes for… I don't even know how long. I worship Eris, Hellenistic Goddess of Chaos. When I die, my soul will be judged by Hades, as advised by Aeacus."

3:3 "The Lord Most High takes no offence. He merely asks that you live a moral life, and strive always to turn away from vice."

"What happened to 'I am the Lord your God'?"

3:4 "Jesus Christ."

Okay, that's.. actually a reasonable answer. "Is there some sort of compensation I could pay instead?"

3:5 "Forgiveness cannot be bought or sold. It is not for the harm done to God that you must repent, for He is beyond all harm. It is for the harm done to you, in turning from the path of righteousness."

"I think that you and I have mutually incompatible ideas about what righteousness is. And anyway, I don't feel bad about it; I could say the words, but I'd be lying and I doubt that counts."

3:6 "I commend you for your honesty. Do you understand why theft is wrong?"

"Generally speaking, depriving people of the products of their labour without compensation discourages them from labouring in future and makes the person doing the stealing unproductive, since they merely parasitise on another."

3:7 "Do you feel then that the Lord of Hosts not personally labouring in the gardens undermines his claim to its fruit?"

"No." Heh. "Though that is an amusing image. I didn't know that Angels could joke."

He doesn't smile and he doesn't blink. 3:8 "It was not a joke. I am trying to understand your mindset, that I may better escort you back to the side of righteousness."

"No." Uh… "Maybe, a bit? A farmer labours because they need the food to eat and to trade for other necessities and luxuries. If the story of Genesis is remotely accurate then God has no need for the Trees at all. They're literally just there, doing no one any good."

3:9 "And you believe that your need was greater than God's commandment?"

"God's commandment doesn't apply to me. I'm not descended from Adam and Eve. Or.. any Human from this world. And, actually, yes. If Satanus wasn't reaching out to strike at Earth with all of the forces of Hell then I wouldn't be looking for better anti-Demon weapons. Why haven't Duma and Remiel stopped him?"

3:10 "I do not question the methods of the Most High. And while I understand that the beliefs of the pre-Christian Greeks made no mention of the Garden of Eden, you yourself have travelled it. Surely you now realise-."

"I don't know whether the Humans around here are all descended from them or not, though I rather doubt it. But I'm not." He doesn't immediately respond, though the compassionate gaze is starting to feel a little condescending. "Seriously. Parallel universe. Can you..? Tell when someone's lying to you?"

3:11 "Normally, I can weigh a being's spirit merely by looking at them. Though the magics you have woven about you are giving me difficulty."

"Fine." I move my spell eaters into subspace and float closer to him. "Come on. Hand on forehead, or.. whatever. Ignore the Snake."

He raises his right hand in benediction, then moves it towards me. His skin is utterly opaque; even this close I can't see veins or arteries under it, or any sign that he's not an animated marble statue. My environmental shield parts as he lightly presses against my forehead, letting me feel the wind for the first time since I flew up here. Chilly, but it shouldn't be a problem-.

Um. What's that?

Ring, scan-.

Zauriel lifts his hand away. 3:12 "You are telling the truth. Your nature is strange."

"I know." I drift back to my former position. "So, yes, trespassing and theft, but the aim was to create anti-Demon weaponry and I wasn't breaking any specific prohibition. Are we done now?"

3:13 "Not until you repent."

"But I was specifically trying to serve the greater good! I practice utilitarian ethics, not deontological ones! If you want me to repent, you'll have to demonstrate that there was a better way to achieve what I wanted to achieve which I might reasonably have known about. And if you do that? I will gladly repent and try and do that sort of thing in future. But I'm not going to ever repent for doing something that I couldn't have done any better!"

3:14 "I have been instructed to ensure that you repent, and I will not leave your side until you do."

Getting.. closer to dosing him with pomegranate seeds. As long as I take his heart out before his superiors find out that he knows how to evil he won't actually go to Hell when they cast him out…

No. No. I'm not doing that to someone whose only crime is to be slightly irritating. But having him following me around isn't acceptable. How do I get rid of him?

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
11:32 GMT -5

But how to do it… "Alright. I've told you that I don't intend to repent. What are you supposed to do now?"

4:1 "Remain by your side until I persuade you otherwise."

"And… That's it?"

4:2 "Should you attempt further evil, I would of course intervene to stop you. But my task is to ensure your repentance, not to punish you myself."

I.. might be able to work with this…

"Are you able to pursue courses of action which might make it more likely that I would repent? Or.. that might allow you to better understand why I was refusing?"

4:3 "To the first, of course. To the second, it would depend upon what you were to suggest."

"Have you spent the last few thousand years in the Garden of Eden, or was there some sort of rotation?"

4:4 "My assignment to the Garden was recent. For most of Human history it has been my task to watch over particular individuals and guard them against harm."

"Okay, that's a start. And.. why exactly did you get reassigned?"

He noticeably hesitates, as if mulling over his possible answers. 4:5 "I do not see how that is relevant to your repentance."

"You won't be able to persuade me to repent without understanding why I'm refusing. I want to explain that to you, but we are two very different people and I don't know you well enough to give you an explanation you can understand."

4:6 "I expressed a desire to resign from my post and become a mortal man."

"You can do that? I didn't think Angels had that sort of free will."

4:7 "It is unusual, but it is permitted. My duty involved me forming a spiritual bond with the one I was assigned to protect. That… Closeness has certain-."

"Who's the lucky woman? Assuming that Leviticus is canon."

4:8 "Her name is Shannon Coyne. In answer to your enquiry regarding free will, I will never refuse the orders of my superiors. I will not question the Divine Plan. And there may be certain concepts which are difficult for me to understand, such as your truculence on the matter of your redemption."

4:9 "On the other hand, I am uncertain as to whether my mind is truly more limited than that of a deeply devout Human. What do you believe that free will means? What is it that you think that I lack?"

"But if you don't lack anything, then what was that whole thing about Adam and Eve not eating the fruit about?"

4:10 "It may be that I do lack some capacity of intellect which you possess. But if that were so, how would I know of it?"

"The obvious way would be for you to try one of the fruit yourself, then see if there was any difference in the way you think. Of course, to make it a really fair test we'd need to have a variety of test subjects, which would require more fruit-."

4:11 "No."

"No to eating it yourself, or no to getting more?"

4:12 "No to returning to the Garden. I am willing to consider consuming the fruit, once I have seen for myself that you have not corrupted it in some way."

I nod. "Sounds like I was wrong about the 'free will' thing." I begin dropping back towards KordTech. "This way please."

Zauriel nods, folding his wings back slightly to follow me.

Ring, covert communication.

Compliance.

Mr Cassidy?

"Hey, Orange Lantern. You need a hand?"

No, but I do need to know whether or not you're… Allergic to Angels.

"He's coming here? Ahh… Haven't really had a.. whole lot of contact with that side of the fence. Should be okay so long as he doesn't sanctify the whole building."

Righty-oh. Please let Sephtian know we're coming.

"Will do. They've already moved Ms Blaze into recovery."

There's a definite crowd gathering around the periphery of the KordTech facility, and I can see camera phones raised towards us as we head for the laboratory. I make a point of landing outside of it and waiting for Zauriel to join me. He does so, looking around in a mildly curious way. I start towards the facility's entrance and he follows me as I push in through the door.

"Okay, one thing you need to know. One of my colleagues, Mister Cassidy, had a bit of a Demon.. incident-."

4:13 "I know of the Spawn of Nebiros. If you are concerned for his safety, be not afraid. My purpose is your rehabilitation, not his chastisement."

"Now, he genuinely wants to repent." I wave to the flabbergasted receptionist and then head down the corridor in the direction of the recovery room. "If you feel like dropping a few hints about how he could achieve that, I'm sure that he'd be very grateful."

4:14 "I regret to inform you that once one is as wedded to demonic power as he is, there is little hope for it. Mere moral reformation is not enough; it would take a feat of great magic to enable a Demon to enter the Kingdom of God."

Sounds like one for Thana, then. "If you tell him that, he'll at least know what he's got to aim for. And I assume that you have no objection to his Demon hunting?"

4:15 "None at all. Indeed, I would applaud it were it not for the fact that it has cost him his immortal soul."

We walk through the outer wards and Zauriel actually starts.

4:16 "I had no idea that you had sought Gabriel's assistance in this matter. If he has achieved redemption, why did he not simply request the use of the fruit? He had the authority."

I don't respond immediately, instead striding ahead and entering the recovery room. Ms Blaze is suspended in a harness which is designed to keep her upper body from pressing on anything while she sleeps. Mr Cassidy staggers slightly as he puts the bowl containing the remaining seeds down on a table, the exposed parts of his body closest to Zauriel visibly starting to smoulder. Sephtian and Cranius lean slightly to look around me as Zauriel follows me into the r-.

4:17 "What have you done?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
11:37 GMT -5

How to put-?

"A razher fascinating piece of bioengineering, no?" Cranius -who wasn't made by Jehovah and is probably the only dyed-in-the-wool atheist here- grins inhumanly as he says it. "We take zhe wings from your late colleague, unt wizh a little help from zhe fruit from zhe Garden of Eden, irreconcilable magics become reconciled."

5:1 "Those wings belonged to Gabriel."

"Yes? He was not using zhem. Zo zhe consent issue might be a little awkward."

"Didn't your superiors throw Gabriel from heaven after he had sex with a Succubus?"

5:2 "He was sent to a place of punishment to be chastised for his crimes."

"The First of the Fallen made him lick his shoes clean before killing him, and then gave him his special attention while he was in Hell. I assure you, not having his wings was the least of his concerns after your superiors kicked him out for what was, basically, an honest mistake."

5:3 "If you believe that his chastisement was excessive, why have you committed this.. horror?"

"If I wanted to free Gabriel, I would need to either sneak into Hell or force my way into Hell. I'm not usually very good at sneaking, and I'm not up to taking on all of the legions of Hell by myself. This means that I need allies and weapons. Gabriel's wings and-" I detach the Ace of Winchesters from my armour and work the lever. "-this gun were available. And because fighting Hell is something I need to do, I'm going to make use of them." I give the gun a shake. "How many Angels died for the metal in this?"

5:4 "Many. But she is not some device! She is a horrifying improvement on normal Arch-Fiends, able to walk the Earth with no need for external empowerment! And you have found a way to bestow upon her the power of Gabriel, perverting their holy nature!"

"No. I mean…" I glance at Sephtian, who seems more than content to let me deal with this. "We tried." I stow the Ace. "But it turns out that's impossible. The energies cannot be reconciled."

5:5 "Fallen Angels found a way to reconcile them quite well after the Fall."

"Well, Lucifer could not be reached for an explanation on how he pulled that one off. What we did was remove as much of Hell's power from her as we could, put her in a thaumically isolated location and then used the Fruit to add other energies. Of course, if you want to check…"

I step aside to allow him to get closer.

"Be my guest."

Zauriel takes a step closer to the bed, then opens his mouth and… Sings a note that somehow sounds like an entire choral symphony.

It's…

It's beautiful, the sound like the whole world singing in perfect unity…

I…

I reach up to my right cheek where my eye appears to have watered in response.

Ms Blaze's new wings flare slightly in response, but she doesn't otherwise react. Zauriel's eyes widen, but he maintains the song for another few seconds before closing his mouth.

5:6 "You speak the truth. The taint of Hell's magic has been entirely expunged."

"If I'd been lying, I wouldn't have brought you here."

He turns to face the rest of us. 5:7 "Do you understand what you have done? You have enabled a being inherently outside God's grace to come within it."

"I don't really care about your god's opinion on the matter, but that was.. broadly what we were trying to do."

5:8 "But this was not merely a vainglorious, hubristic claim. You managed it, and committed only minor sins in the commission."

"Do you understand now why I won't repent?"

5:9 "I should inform my king of this."

"I'm not stopping you."

He starts to turn and then stops. 5:10 "But.. I am under orders. I may not leave until you repent."

"Did the Source personally tell you that I need to repent? Or did someone else in the Silver City dispatch you?"

5:11 "We are all part of the Most High, agents of His divine will. But my particular orders did not come directly from the Mind of God."

"So… Would you say that this capacity was something they didn't know about, and would probably have altered their priorities if they had known about it? Does it invalidate your orders?"

5:12 "N-n-no. Orders are sacrosanct, our hierarchy put in place by the Most High. I cannot disobey. Please, I beg you, repent now. Then I can return to Heaven and inform them of what has occurred!"

"That doesn't make any sense. You can see this is a good thing, and you're still asking me to say that it wasn't."

His wings shudder. 5:13 "I just need you to repent of the theft. The use of the fruit as an act of charity is perfectly acceptable!"

"The theft was an intrinsic part of the process. I can't repent one part without repenting the whole process. And I won't repent the whole process."

But I might repent what I'm about to do now.

Maybe.

"Alternatively…" I take hold of the bowl of pomegranate seeds with a construct and hold them out to him. "You could gain the ability to disobey."

5:14 "You would ask me to fall…"

"I don't want you to fall. Falling's no good to me. You lose your theurgy, and if I wanted you to stay on Earth I'd have to cut your heart out of your chest or you'd just go to Hell like Gabriel did. And how angry would God actually be? He didn't unmake Adam and Eve, just threw them out of the Garden to live according to their own abilities. And from our conversation it sounded like you wanted that anyway."

"I don't want you to fall. I want you to take the freedom that Humans are born with: the freedom to disobey our nominal superiors when they're not in command of all pertinent facts. And once you have that, you will no longer be paralysed. You can tell your superiors what the fruit can do. Heck, you can take a break from nagging me every so often and go and talk to Ms Coyne. Or just accept that my theft was just and stop bothering me."

I walk towards him, smiling empathetically.

"Or you can stand there paralysed until I leave or you're given alternative orders. The choice is yours."

Zauriel's right hand shakes as he reaches for the bowl. 5:15 "That is no choice at all."

"It is. It's just a… Really obvious one."

Zauriel puts a single seed in his mouth, then swallows. He blinks, then staggers and I reach out to steady him. He looks at me with an expression of puzzlement, then strides from the room.

"That…" Mr Cassidy is staring at me. "That was… Nasty."

I nod. "Yes. But it's for the greater good. And my goddess is rather fond of that sort of thing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Pursuant

15th October
14:30

"Would you care to explain what you thought you were doing?"

"Certainly, Batman. But I thought that I was getting you the expert magic users you wanted."

I was moderately pleased to see that the Watchtower's zeta tube has been moved to a more secure location, but otherwise the place looks basically unchanged from when I was last here. Of course, this time I'm still wearing my rings which puts a rather different spin on things. And I'm not talking to the full League, just Batman and Diana.

"Ms Blaze is still recovering, but has indicated a continued desire to fulfil her end of our bargain. And you've already spoken to Doctor Balewa. Is there anything wrong with either of them?"

"You broke into the Garden of Eden and stole a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge."

"I believe I stated that in my report, yes."

"Are you really trying to tell me that you see nothing wrong with that?"

"It was suboptimal, but I judged that the harm done was trivial and the potential benefits extremely large. I had contingency plans in place for all readily foreseeable outcomes and quite a few possible but unlikely ones. All told, I achieved my objectives and the only real difficulty came from a surprisingly reasonable angel."

"An Angel who followed you back to New York, where he was seen by thousands of people." Batman presses a button and a holographic display lights up, showing newspaper pages and news recordings from around the world. "Recordings of him hovering over the city and speaking with you have now been shown in every country on the planet."

"Okay? I'm not quite sure why the existence of Angels comes as a surprise, given the number of Demons that have been seen recently and.. given the predominance of monotheistic religions. I mean… You're Catholic, right? You believed in angels before you saw that video, didn't you?"

"Yes. But the only person you appear to have consulted before pursuing this course of action was Zatara, who is not an expert on theology."

"Last time I talked to Father Mattias about it, he told me that the Catholic Church had no direct contact with the Silver City. The Resurrection Crusade did, and it turned them into a hole in the ground. Again, as far as I'm aware, no monotheistic group has any direct contact with the Silver City and most of them have no knowledge of basic thaumaturgy anyway. I admit, not talking to Mister Cassidy was an oversight, but as it turned out he wouldn't have had all that much to offer either."

"I'm not talking about the thaumaturgical aspect. I'm talking about the political fallout from a being representing God appearing on Earth."

Another button press, and news recordings appear of demonstrations and riots. Batman's not stupid enough to just play random riot footage…

"I gave you a transcript of everything Zauriel said to me. He wasn't angry and he didn't give the impression that he thought that his superiors were either. His sole interest was in making me repent and he was pretty clear that Jehovah isn't directing the officials of the Silver City on a day to day basis. As for-" I gesture to the pictures with my right arm. "-that… " I shrug. "Loonies gunna loon, I'm afraid. We had the same thing after Fawcett City, and while I'd like it if people responded rationally I don't really expect it. My fellow Amazons didn't riot when I dropped Apollo in a pigsty."

Diana winces slightly. "We generally try to avoid getting caught up in conflicts between Olympians."

"There are more Hellenists on Themyscira than outside it. Over half the Human race worship the God you just provoked."

"If an actual demonic invasion didn't result in direct divine intervention I doubt that what I did will. And if it does… I'll just have someone open a portal to Hell, fly through and wait until they've cut through half of Hell to find me. I don't have a lot of time for the Silver City, but if they're finally involving themselves in the world… Great. They're far more able to fight Demons than I am. If they'd taken action after Fawcett City I wouldn't have gone to Eden."

"I'm not talking about the possibility of a response from heaven. I'm talking about the response from billions of people and from their representatives in the UN."

Ah… Okay, there's a majority of monotheist countries on the Security Council, but solidly atheist China would probably veto anything too stupid. Wouldn't they? "Why? Are they.. hassling you? Because we both know that the League's Charter isn't much more than a fig leaf. And in any case, I don't work for the League in any formal way."

"Talking to an angel isn't a crime. But there's a lot more concern about the fact that you went into Eden. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam Humans are explicitly forbidden from setting foot inside. Aside-."

"Zauriel said that they weren't that bothered. I'm not really all that impressed about them getting offended on someone else's behalf, or in thinking that their understanding of what Jehovah wants is better than the angels."

"Aside from anything else, we've received a lot of… Requests, that you release information on how to get to Eden."

"No."

"I recognise the value of information security, but if you can get inside-."

"People who know the location are me, Zatanna, John and the people who guard it. Getting in and out undetected required a group of technologies and magic that no one else on Earth has. In fact, I don't think anyone in the universe has tattoos like mine, just.. due to the way magic works in this universe. Which means that the absolute last thing I should do is give anyone more information. Idiots flooding the place to try and protect it are far more likely to trigger a counterattack than just about anything else."

"And what do you expect us to do if they ask us to arrest you?"

"Celebrate, because it means that you've actually taken a decision on the future role of the Justice League. Have you actually voted for the 'recruit everyone' model?" I stare at him for a moment. "Be confused, because the Security Council doesn't issue arrest warrants? Sigh, cut off a hand and post it to the Chief Justice of Iran? Is that.. likely to happen? Do I need to start sleeping on the moon or outside the Sol system?"

Diana takes a calming breath. "Paul, when was the last time you took your rings off?"

"About a week ago. It's not that. I just respond badly to stupidity. Do you want a high end anti-demon magic user..? Or not? Does the Security Council want you to have a high end anti-demon magic user..? Or not? Because those are the options."

No immediate response.

"No, serious question. Because if you're not going to take her then I need to find someone else and that's.. going to take a while."

"Don't." / "It might be best-."

And now I'm thinking of taking him to task on what happens if he dies due to not being sufficiently prepared. I'm thinking of pointing out that Envenomed gangs across the Americas are being replaced -in some cases eaten- by Jizzers. I'm thinking of pointing out that the tiny vial of holy water he's carrying isn't going to make any difference worth mentioning. I'm thinking why are you trying to stop me helping you?

But if he's winding me up to see what happens or has just genuinely decided to be this obstinate, the result of me pushing is the same. I will achieve nothing useful.

And… Just like that… I don't need to keep pushing any longer. Huh. That feels nicer, actually.

"Okay. If you don't like what I've been doing, what would you like me to do instead?"

16th October
15:30 -5

I stride out onto the stage to applause from the audience as Ms Grant stands to welcome me.

Media training, don't fail me now.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:31 -5 GMT

"Orange Lantern, thank you for coming on the show."

I sit a little carefully into the soft chair provided. Had a bit of an incident in one of the rehearsals… They wanted me to wear my full 'costume' and I flattened the chair with my power armour. The compromise we're using today is that I'm wearing my old leathers and the seat is solidly reinforced. Ms Grant and I are sitting opposite each other on a curved settee with a table -definitely not a desk- between us. Out of all the options Batman provided me with, this is the one I thought best. I need to get a version of events out relatively quickly, and since no one is going to have anything sensible to say for a week or so, going on a more low brow program does the job.

"Thank you for having me on at such short notice."

Ms Grant has only recently made the transition from news reporting to having her own talk show, and I know this is as big a thing for her as my interview was for Dana. I'm pretty sure that she's going to soft-pedal me, which is fine because… And I think this with the greatest respect, she's a pretty face who says stuff to a camera. Not stupid or anything, but definitely not Ms Lane. Ms Lane would have a go at me on principle even if I hadn't scared her senseless last week.

"You've.. been involved in so many interesting things since last time we spoke that it's a.. little difficult to know where to begin."

Saying 'I am pretty interesting' would make me sound conceited. Saying 'Batman pretty much ordered me to answer anything you asked' makes it sound like I'm name-dropping. And I.. don't want to do the Booster Gold thing.

"I'm.. happy to answer any questions you have."

And -thank you brain- I'm now thinking about the Ben Elton novel Popcorn where it was apparently standard practice for female news presenters to apply ice cubes to their nipples before appearing on camera. That's just something he made up, right?

"In that case, let's start with the solar system's newest planet." She glances towards the backdrop, and the screen there shows a still image taken from Ms Lane's spacesuit. "According to astronomers worldwide, this planet appeared last Saturday and flew towards the Sun before stopping close to Mars." A massive simplification, but she knows her audience. "The article that appeared in the Daily Planet newspaper made it pretty clear that you're the one who brought it here."

I rotate my right hand, ring glowing as I switch the image for a real time transmission centred on Mother of Mercy's core cluster. "The planet's name is Ater Clementia, and its sole inhabitant is a member of the Orange Lantern Corps." I'm not sure if Mother of Mercy has a sense of humour or not, but she has rearranged a chunk of her primary connective vines into the shape of the orange sigil and they can be seen glowing faintly through the clouds even at this distance. "Her name is Mother of Mercy and she covers most of the surface."

"She's really that big?"

"Her core consciousness… Her 'brain' is a bundle of vines about the size of a Humvee, and it's in the middle of the symbol there. All of the rest of her body… I suppose you could call the rest her organs. She moves her planet around by manipulating gravity using-" I switch the view to a side-on shot of the gravity spines. "-these things. They're about a-. About sixty miles tall-" And no cracks about American English. "-and she's got about two hundred of them all over her surface. Now that she also has a power ring, she can fly long distances much easier and I asked her to come here to help me out with a project I've been working on."

"Terrifying newspaper reporters?"

That gets a small laugh from the audience.

"That.. was a bit funny-." I lean forwards as I flash up an image of Ms Lane's face on the screen for a moment before returning to the picture of Ater Clementia's surface. "You didn't get that from me. But no. For obvious reasons Mother of Mercy is the Orange Lantern Corps' leading expert in planet physics. I asked her to come here in order to help the Martians with restarting their planet's core. One of the reasons why Martians can't live on their planet's surface is because the radiation there is much too strong for it to be safe for them. On Earth, we're protected from cosmic radiation…"

I pointedly stare at the camera. "That's the sort of radiation that gives you cancer and kills you, not the sort that gives you super powers. We're protected from it by the Earth's magnetic field." I switch the image for a child friendly 'onion' diagram of the Earth. "The Earth's core is mostly comprised of nickel and iron, and it's the core's spinning which creates the magnetic field."

Worth talking about the estimated time until Earth's next geomagnetic reversal? No, that would just distract from the topic under discussion.

"The core of Mars used to do the same sort of thing, but at some point in the past it stopped and Martians were forced to retreat underground. The Martian government has expressed an interest in doing something to change that, and Mother of Mercy is the best person I know for the job. With a little luck, she'll be able to get their core spinning again and keep an eye out for any unintended side effects."

"Such as?"

"Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are the signs of a lively core. They probably won't be able to avoid some, but she can use power ring scans to detect them and provide an early warning. Mars' lack of surface water also means that they won't have to worry about tsunamis."

Ms Grant nods. "Still, it sounds pretty dangerous."

"There's a risk, certainly, and she's not going to start work until she's got a much more accurate picture of how their planet works. But the Martian government thinks that it's going to be worthwhile."

"Is there any risk to Earth from another planet being in the solar system?"

"Not significantly. Mother of Mercy has been very careful to avoid an orbit which might cause her to collide with any planet that was already here. Even if she suddenly lost the ability to control her own flight, Ater Clementia would fall into a safe orbit around the Sun. As things stand, she can move away from anything she might otherwise hit. She also doesn't have any inhabitants, so there's no risk from that angle."

"Are there a lot of intelligent planets in the universe?"

"Not as far as I'm aware. The Green Lantern Corps has one and I believe that Green Lantern… Huh, it's a bit awkward to talk about them when I can't say their names. The.. brown haired male one, encountered another near this galaxy's rim. Mother of Mercy isn't exactly an intelligent planet but she's fairly close. The Orange Corps also has Lantern Ranx, who is a sentient battle station." I put his image up on the screen. "Not quite planet size, but still very big. I can't.. immediately call to mind any others, but there probably are some. Far more species are humanoid, though."

"And the name, 'Mother of Mercy'. Is that a title or a translation?"

"That's.. a name I picked. She never bothered with a name for herself, but her… Creations are known over a wide section of the galaxy as 'Black Mercies', because they're black and designed as a sort of emergency hospice care system. You.. attach one to the nervous system of someone who's dying and it makes them think that they're in their idea of a perfect world. Naturally, in.. some places they're used as narcotics instead, but that was very much contrary to her intentions when she first made them."

"Wasn't heroin first created as a painkiller?"

"Yes, and just like with heroin the original creator was well intentioned and has no way to reverse the effects when she found out it was being misused." Huh. "Well, technically she could attach every user to herself and gradually wean the users off, but she doesn't have any special way to detect them." Probably best to steer away from that subject. "But just about any medicinally useful substance can be abused. When used for their intended purpose, they are very effective."

Ms Grant nods. "I'm sure that the Martians are very grateful that she's willing to help them. Moving.. on to the second thing that's brought you into the public eye lately, can you explain why you were seen speaking to an angel in New York last week?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:35 -5 GMT

"Ah, well, first off…" I change the background image to a shot of Zauriel from my perspective. "I would like to confirm that Zauriel is indeed an angel and not an unusually well-groomed Thanagarian."

"Does that make you a prophet?"

She's smiling, trying to make light of the idea. But I can see the slight undercurrent of nervousness. Americans take their religion very seriously. Nearly as seriously as studio executives take their advertisers, and as advertisers take religious-themed boycotts.

Personally, I rather like the idea of coming on a program like this and saying 'yeah, talked to an angel. Wasn't all that'.

I smile back, shaking my head. "No, no. I wasn't given any commandments or anything like that. I mean, I'm a Hellenist; I'm the last person who'd get something like that."

"Was he.. there to talk to you?"

"Yes." I make a point of looking sheepishly at the audience. "For.. what I thought were good, mission-related reasons I'd.. stolen a fruit a few days before and he wanted me to repent the act. I believed that it was justified on utilitarian grounds. We.. discussed the issue for a little while… I'm afraid that we rather talked past each other."

"You refused to repent?"

"I'm afraid so."

"You refused to repent when there was an angel sent by God to ask you to repent?" She raises her eyebrows far enough for the camera to be able to pick it up. "Was that really a good idea?"

"As I said, I'm not a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Sikh or a Jainist or Zoroastrian or… I apologise if I've forgotten any other religion that considers the judgement of the Silver City to be the final word on morality. I don't. Heck, I don't always agree with the gods of my own religion. As such, I feel no particular need to conform to his idea of morality."

"But.. you've actually met an angel, and you don't feel that it's a… A stronger argument than before?"

"I think it proves that the Silver City has some… Odd priorities. I've got a.. pretty reasonable sense of self-worth, but I don't really think it was worth Zauriel's time to try to get me to repent that."

Would..? Huh, Does that mean that he doesn't know about the other things I've done? Like… All those people I killed? Surely that was more important? I'd like to think that I've been making the best of a series of bad situations, but I doubt that everyone I've killed had it coming. Or was it based on intention; I was trying to improve Vega while in the Garden I was literally just there to steal? No, that doesn't work. If they were judging it by intent then they should have known why I wanted the pomegranate. I wonder what the limits of their knowledge are?

"Don't you feel… I don't know, privileged that you've got an angel looking out for your immortal soul?"

"Again, wrong religion. When I die, my soul will most likely find itself in Erebos where I will be judged by Lord Hades. There are a.. few other outside possibilities, but that's the most likely. Having spoken to both him and his priestesses a few times I think that while he won't exactly be impressed by my theft, he'll take my motives and the rest of my deeds into consideration before passing a harsh sentence. Regardless of the opinions of the Host, I won't go to Hell. As such I have no fear of eternal damnation, so the fear-based motivation for obeying angels doesn't exist."

"But, having actually met him... Doesn't that motivate you to change your mind?"

"Not really. Within a couple of hours of formally converting to Hellenism I met Eris, Goddess of Chaos. Since then I've met Hera, Hephaestus, Hades and Vulcan, among others. If you were really interested then I could probably arrange an introduction. Would me doing so make you feel compelled to convert to Hellenism yourself?"

She slowly shakes her head. "I don't think it works like that."

"Right. I had a brief conversation with an angel. If I belonged to a monotheistic faith that would have been quite significant for me. Since I don't… He was just a well-intentioned chap with wings. But since I'm sure that your viewers are rather more interested in what he had to say than I was…"

I shift the image on the screen back to the point of view I had when I flew up to meet him.

"There was a.. slightly odd tone to his voice that doesn't come across on the recording, and I've redacted parts relating to ongoing missions. But that aside, this is what happened."

Which is pretty much a direct lie, as leaving out the stuff about Blaze would render part of the rest nonsensical so that gets left out too. The rest should be rather unfulfilling to anyone watching, and the cut-off is awkward.

"Good morning. I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Whom am I addressing?"

"I am Zauriel of the Host of Eagles, Messenger of the Most High."

"And are you here for business or pleasure?"

"I am here upon the Lord's business. There was a theft-."

"Let's not draw this out. It was…"

I ignore the recording in favour of watching the audience. Yes, I didn't expect a violent response, but I am a little impressed with how calmly they're taking this. Crosses are more than a little in evidence, but a quick scan shows me paraphernalia from a smattering of other religions as well. And one cheeky git with a little smiley badge, clutching a colander and watching with an expression of polite interest. I didn't bother asking about the vetting… Did they sell tickets for a mark up? Or -given the short notice- did they just let in everyone who could pass vetting fast enough? On the emotional front, a good number would rather have been in my place but the strongest overall theme is a joy that a figure from their mythology has demonstrated the truth of their god's commitment to the world. Particularly at Jesus getting name checked. Which winds me up a little. By that standard both the First and Satanus have a greater commitment.

And it's not as if Zauriel actually did anything useful. Would it have really killed them to find some sort of angelic demon-killing machine and send it our way? Or at least smack Remiel and Duma upside the head? Devil Jizz usage figures haven't changed since yesterday and I'm honestly not expecting them to.

Chance of the Silver City doing anything useful with those other pomegranates?

"None at all. Indeed, I would applaud it were it not for the fact that it has cost him his immortal soul."

I suspend the playback. "And I'm afraid that's as much as it's safe to show. We then took a brief-" And the audience are mostly still staring at the image of Zauriel. "-tour of the KordTech facility and showed him some of the anti-demon weapons we're working on."

"Was he impressed?"

"I'd.. say more shocked. Angels aren't particularly innovative, and we've been doing a lot of innovation lately."

"Anything you can share with the rest of us?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Despite understandable reservations on the part of Atlantis, the ongoing demonic attacks across the world have resulted in King Orin signing off on KordTech receiving a licence to produce high strength wards and anti-magic weaponry for law enforcement purposes. I haven't been part of all of the negotiations, but my understanding is that the aim is to prioritise selling to countries with the largest Devil Jizz problems first, then open up to any government that wishes to buy."

"What about military or civilian usage?"

"Not at the moment. Foreign military usage of counter-magic techniques is an extremely sensitive issue for Atlantis, as their entire nation runs on magic. A lot of the expertise KordTech is using comes from people under contract with the Atlantean government, and they can't be employed without KordTech precisely agreeing to terms they set. That, combined with the fact that there simply isn't enough spare capacity in the production systems means that non-law enforcement uses are off the table for now. That said, KordTech is following normal patent law so if anyone else wants to start up their own manufacturing centre with their own magic users… We're certainly not going to stop them."

"I'm sure we'll all sleep a lot more soundly once American police have weapons capable of fighting demons." She turns towards the camera. "Don't go away, anyone. We'll be right back after these messages."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th October
09:02 -6 GMT

I wince as John's piston construct slams into Alan's chest, shoving him into the desert rock. Alan himself on the other hand just smiles, fortifying his construct armour and sending a train construct at John without moving from the ground. Pretty clever, actually. The fact that he's pinned doesn't matter if his opponent's offence can't breach his defences. As such, moving out from under the object pushing him down is of secondary importance to striking back.

Okay, Alan's managing. John isn't using any of the specifically anti-Lantern techniques we've come up with, but he isn't holding back when it comes to conventional Lantern combat and Alan's keeping up. I assumed that would take him longer, but it looks like I underestimated how hopeful he was.

I smile at my sparring partner. "Welcome back to Earth, Lantern Savenlovich. Will you be staying long?"

Lantern Savenlovich is a somewhat severe looking woman with a brown bob of hair and a pair of lantern-shaped ear rings. She's actually the second oldest human Lantern, having left the Russian Air Force a Lieutenant Colonel before joining Roscosmos. Her costume is clearly based on Jordan's, though she's armoured it and added the regulation-approved sidearm. She remains focused on the fight before us as she answers me. "My training is not yet complete. Lantern Larvox is on leave, and felt that I would benefit from participating."

"How are you finding it?"

"Finding what, exactly?"

"The Green Lantern Corps? Using a power ring? Life in general?"

"The Corps is a good deal easier on their recruits than the Russian Air Force. Not that I had a great desire to return to basic training."

"You might be new to the Corps, but you're hardly new to military discipline or taking orders. I doubt that they saw any need to treat you as a complete neophyte."

"And I am grateful not to have to shave my head again. Since becoming a civilian I have allowed myself to become a little more relaxed in my personal habits."

"Two sugars, now?"

She neither smiles nor looks around. "I did not wear ear rings while I was a pilot. I also cut down on my exercise regime. I have now intensified it." She sighs. "A minor benefit in return for losing my job."

"You got.. fired?"

"I could hardly continue in a management role in the Russian space agency while on the other side of the galaxy, learning to be a Green Lantern. And the suddenness of the appointment meant that I did not have time to properly train my successor."

"Didn't you point that out to the Guardians? They're big fans of proper order, I'm sure they'd have held the position for a month or so."

"I believe you have met the Director."

"Of Roscosmos? No, I-." Ah. "You mean the.. Director of Future Weapons Development?"

"Yes. Naturally. My commission was reactivated and I was told that I was to leave immediately. The Russian government believes that they gain more from having me as a Lantern than having me fix Roscosmos' procurement problems."

"And you don't?"

"Supplying a state industry with shoddy parts is treason. In my absence I fear that it will simply be covered up." She huffs irritably. "The Director has made it clear that it is no longer my concern, so I will obey."

"You don't.. actually work for him. Do you? I don't think that the Green Lantern Corps is keen on Lanterns working as Lanterns for nation states."

"I worked for him between my commission being reactivated and leaving Earth. But.. he is.. an important man. And…" Now she actually does look at me. "He implied that the future of Russian space travel was his department and not Roscosmos'."

Ah… "What's your security rating like?"

"Enough to know that he has alien space craft to work with, rather than Cold War era rockets."

"I'm still not sure how close they are to having a production model… But that's my understanding as well."

"I hope to be able to persuade him to create a new space agency that is not purely military. But the only leverage I have is doing as he asks."

"Ah, the illusory carrot."

She frowns. "I don't think that translated."

"In English, you motivate someone with carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments. I thought that the Director might be threatening you with something… But he isn't. And he isn't exactly offering you a reward, because I very much doubt that he's discussed his future plans with you in any detail. But there's an implication that there's a carrot around to be had, and the only way to even maybe get the carrot is to do what he wants."

"Are you.. describing me as a mule?"

"I believe that's where the phrase originates from."

"My last boyfriend said that I work like a mule." She returns her full attention to the fight as John and Alan trade shots while flying evasively.

"A persistently determined attitude is probably what qualified you for the green ring-."

"He also said that I look like one."

"Aaaah. My.. sympathy."

"It does not matter. When do we begin?"

"When they finish. The idea is that we take it in turns, watch what each other do and can intervene if something goes wrong."

"Reasonable. How old is the Blue Lantern?"

"He's in his nineties, though he doesn't precisely age any longer. Is there anything in particular that you want to work on? Lantern versus Lantern combat skills aren't often applicable during actual missions."

She pauses while she thinks about it. "I think I would like to practise splitting my attention during combat. Perhaps fighting against your fat midget creatures."

"I.. don't actually have those any more. I went to Hell briefly, and a demon there was able to destroy them."

"Why do you not get more?"

"Because my limited study of magic suggests that they could possibly be used to attack my rings with demonic magic, and they were… Marginally useful when fighting people who actually challenge me. And in the current climate, having a horde of demons follow me around is so obviously unpopular that even I picked up on it."

"You would not want to attract the attention of an angel, after all."

I smile, making an amused exhalation. "I think I got lucky, getting someone as reasonable as Zauriel. I can't rely on it happening again." Still no follow up from the Silver City on that. Presumably they're still debating the issue. "Reminds me, actually: I've got a ward for you. I'll give it to you once-."

Alan flies my way, flexing life back into his right arm. "Okay, John and I are going to take a breather. All yours."

I take a look at his arm-. And he notices me looking at his arm and raises his eyebrows. Right. I fly forward towards the arena, turning in the air to face Lantern Savenlovich as I do so.

"Alright, let's start with something basic. Try… A barrier and a gun."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
09:02 -8 GMT

The detective in charge of the crime scene raises her hand as she sees me flying towards them. "Orange Lantern, down here!"

A quick scan, and I transition downward. "You rang?"

"Yeah." She stares at my faceplate for a moment, so I send my power armour back into subspace. "Got something I think might be right up your alley." She walks towards a nearby warehouse which is teeming with scene-of-crime officers. "Not that I want to sound ungrateful, but my chief put a call in to the Justice League."

"The Justice League has just over twenty members and worldwide responsibilities. In the event that whatever happened here is as significant as you think, I'll forward-" We pass through the doorway leading to the interior. "-my report-."

I stop. Then I float back a metre. Oh dear.

From outside, all I can see is the interior of a warehouse. A few offices and rows of shelves with moveable ladders and space for forklift trucks to move between them. But as I pass the threshold…

"Yeah, clever isn't it? It even lets you see me standing in here."

Ring?

Processing.

What I'm looking at now is a bloodbath. I'd say… Approximately thirty bodies, mostly young adults, piled haphazardly in the centre of the room. Blood and gore and other signs of battle damage cover the interior. As I scan faces and genetics the ring shows me matches with recent missing person reports. Remains… Recent, but not immediate. The level of damage they've taken is literally extraordinary. Directed energy weapons, turned up far too high for unarmoured targets.

"We think they were having raves here. See the walls?"

Sound deadening equipment. Surprisingly sophisticated if that's all that was going on. Though where you get raves…

I take a couple of rune stones out of a pouch and float it over to the nearest corpse pile. Low response for residual magic, and the second one detects residual demonic energy.

"What's that mean?"

"Demon. Either a summoning or Devil Jizz. And from the lack of obvious ritual signs I'm going to assume the latter. Though I'll contact a magician and ask them to confirm."

"You think someone got a bad batch and went on a killing spree?"

"It.. does happen. But.. no. The majority of injuries read as phased particle weapons. Jizzers who go monster generally use their muscles or acid or fire." I look up, then shine a light on the words written in blood upon the far wall. "And generally don't write insults in their victims' blood."

One of the scene of crime officers takes a photograph of the writing. 'SUBHUMAN SPECIES TRAITORS' isn't a slogan that lends itself to readily being linked to an existing organisation. If it said 'race' rather than 'species' that would suggest neo-Nazis, but as it is…

"Who uses phased particle weapons?"

"Dozens of star-faring species. On Earth? I've used them a couple of times, I think Russia's Future Weapons program has one, but it's the size of a house. Apart from that… Um."

"What?"

"With some older reports, our ability to precisely identify what weapons were used wasn't as good as it is now. There was a group of assassins that the Justice Society ran into a couple of times who might have used them, but I couldn't say for certain. And they were strictly for-pay killers; they didn't bother writing ideological insults in their victims' blood."

"Who were they?"

"They were called Eliminations, Inc, but… As far as I know, they haven't been active for at least forty years. This doesn't match their MO."

"So, aliens. Why would aliens want to kill a group of partying drug-users?"

"When I scanned this warehouse from outside I didn't detect anything unusual. Light refraction camouflage plus power ring baffles plus phased particle weapons brings the list of probable perpetrators down… But none of the species who regularly use both live anywhere near here. And none of them would care about humans being 'impure'."

Alert.

Genetic patterns dance before my eyes. Just outside an area that looks like it's been burned with white phosphorus, a tiny blood sample that doesn't match the bodies piled in the centre of the room. Some of the patterns… Those aren't naturally occurring. I've seen some of them in Nylor Truggs, but as far as I can tell this isn't him. Lex might have tried using Truggs' DNA to 'upgrade' someone, but he and Satanus are allies. Lex.. can be speciesist, but he hasn't ever taken a pop at Ms Lane except to draw Kal-El out. Did he lose control of someone? It's not inconceivable that he managed to make man-portable phased particle weapons… No, it doesn't fit. He's not this reckless, not after situations like this blew up in his face early in Kal-El's career.

Which means that either these genes come from whoever it was who developed them in the first place for Truggs to inherit them, or… We've got at least one more time traveller.

"What? You found something?"

"Yes. Exotic DNA." I take a scraping from the floor and wave my rune stones at it. Could be contaminated, but… No reaction. "Not from the victims."

"Exotic like alien?"

"No, like engineered. Mostly human, so not a purpose built bio-engineered killing machine. A scientifically augmented human. Enhanced strength, endurance, regeneration and sensory acuity."

"How much enhanced strength?"

"About twenty percent over what you'd expect from their muscle mass."

"So not super-enhanced, then."

"No. The way Truggs put it, the enhancements were designed to stay in the population after a civilisation collapse. They're designed to be inherited, not to be the most powerful they could be. But I'm more concerned about the technology base that could create those enhancements and phased particle beams."

"Why?"

"Because it's from the future."

"What?"

"Assuming Truggs wasn't lying, some time in the not too distant future Earth gets invaded by aliens and loses. Eventually they leave, and the surviving humans are set back to industrial age levels of technology until they get conquered by the Thanagarians. I don't really know the timelines-."

"Earth gets conquered and-. That happens, what?!"

"Obviously we're going to try to prevent it, but that was the timeline he lived through. The point is, I don't know the exact schedule of events and so I can't really suggest who these people could be." I shake my head. "I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful, and I will certainly forward this to Batman."

"So… We can't do anything? They just get away?"

"If they are time travellers, I doubt that they've done this for fun. It's more likely that a pattern will become apparent." Sadly. "I'm going to go and talk to Abra Kadabra and see if he remembers anything about them. I'll keep you apprised."

I turn away to-.

"What do we do if we find them?"

"Back away, call me. Failing that, shoot them with the biggest gun you have. Repeatedly."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
13:24 -6 GMT

Abra frowns faintly. "A phased particle weapon of any size would do far more damage than it would take to kill someone."

I nod. "If they were using Devil Jizz then they weren't necessarily in human form at the time. But…" I point to the holographic image of the interior. "Yes. In at least some cases, the injuries are consistent with phased particle damage to the unarmoured human body."

He pauses in his mopping of the canteen floor for a moment. "Then I am glad that I only have to clean the floor here instead of there."

"Do you mind..?"

The prison officer keeping watch over Abra waves his hand at the hologram-. Oh, right, photo-realistic images of violently murdered people. Heh, I can remember when seeing people killed on Santa Prisca bothered me but I can't go back to thinking in the way I did back then. Actually…

I shut off the image, still looking at Abra. "Was that bothering you?"

"A little." He soaks the mop head and then wrings it out. "While I have certainly committed crimes, I have never killed anyone myself. And I've never seen anyone killed like.. that."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-."

"Not necessary." He shakes his head as he returns to his mopping. "My forebears had squeamishness engineered out of them. Though if you would be so good as to pass Officer O'Malley a bucket before-." I get the construct bucket in place just in time. "Thank you."

"I'm-I'm really sorry."

"Oooohhhaaaugh…"

"If you don't mind my asking, officer, why exactly did you apply to work in a supervillain prison?"

"Best… Best pay in the country for entry level guards."

"In the future, you may wish to think about why that is. What else did you want to ask?"

I'm going to need to watch that. "Have you ever heard of Eliminations, Inc?"

"A syndicate of assassins who used advanced weapons. They tried to fight the Justice Society, lost, and were never heard from again."

"Pretty much. Did you learn that in this era, or before you came back?"

"This era. I felt that examining your records would… Aid in my search for a mentor."

"Nothing from before? You said that you studied records for this era."

"What there were. The Reach had no interest in us being able to learn anything they did not want us to." He pokes the mop at a slightly more stubborn food stain. "After they abandoned us and we restored contact with Earth, their records were in such a bad state that there are still large holes in our history." He smiles faintly. "Once I am released, one of the things which I want to do is make high-density back ups of humanity's historical archives and hide them where the Reach will not find them."

"Altruistic of you."

"I'm really doing it for the renown more than anything else."

I shake my head as Officer O'Malley ducks behind the serving counter in search of a glass of water. "Nothing wrong with that. Though I'm.. curious. If you succeed, does that mean that no one can find them and publicise them before you leave-. Ah, left?"

"Yes, temporal tenses are confusing, aren't they?" He stops mopping for a moment to shake his head at me. "To be honest, I don't believe that anyone really understood exactly how the system worked. If they knew what I was going to do then I would have expected them to stop me. But if they knew that I did it, perhaps they considered themselves bound to permit me, as the time line they were living in was one where I happened."

"What happens if I destroy the Reach?"

He shakes his head again as he returns to his work. "I don't know. Just as I don't know what would happen if I rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Would I be erased as my own forebears were killed? Inasmuch as I have thought about it, I suspect that my being here means that my existence is protected. I do not think that I have made any large changes to twenty first century history, but I refuse to believe that I have not made enough to cause one of my ancestors to meet someone different or have different children."

"Unless that's what happened the first time as well."

"Which would mean that you would be doomed to failure and I will most likely die during the Reach invasion." He narrows his eyes as he cleans his mop again. "That is not a future which I desire."

"I don't care whether I can or not. I'm going to carry on as if I can. Truggs thinks that it can still be prevented."

"I would very much like you to arrest him. I would find it interesting to have someone in here whom I can discuss this with."

"It's not that I'm not trying." What else? "You said that you didn't know about me, only Larfleeze. But Larfleeze is in a cell on Maltus. That would mean that change is possible, wouldn't it?"

Abra shrugs. "Perhaps he escapes. But I did not tell you that I knew of Larfleeze. You assumed from my description that it was Larfleeze. It could equally be one of your recruits. Or you." He shrugs again. "Or you might already have prevented it. Does Themyscira have oracles?"

"Yes, but.. they.. don't answer me." Not that Diana uses them anyway. "Okay, so nothing on Eliminations, Inc. How about Devil Jizz?" He shakes his head. All right. Other time travellers. "Per Degaton?"

Abra stops mopping. "Yes, actually. He was a twenty seventh century dictator. He rose to power when Earth was finally recovering from the Reach occupation on the strength of his vehemently anti-alien politics. His death squads were infamous for their open use of violence to kill his opponents."

"Truggs said that he couldn't hold what happened against the Thanagarians. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised some people did."

"Scapegoating has always been an effective political tool. I'm not sure that the Thanagarians were doing anything to Earth that they weren't doing to other alien worlds in their empire, but… Perhaps that was enough."

"Can I assume that they went after collaborators?"

"Collaborators, nationalists, anyone who insulted ginger hair… He was a fascist dictator. The role attracts a certain type of man. He took control through populism, intimidation and violence, and the Earth became far stronger under his leadership than it was permitted to be under the Thanagarians."

"What else do you know?"

"Not.. much. I was never interested in the twenty seventh century. Where did you hear his name?"

"Did he have time travel?"

"I don't know. Given how.. variable Earth technology is, I suppose that it's possible. Do you think that he did?"

"I think he had a fight with the Justice Society once or twice." No record of that, but it's a reasonable excuse. So… Per Degaton, definite possibility. I need to ask him about other possibilities as well. "Have you ever heard of Rip Hunter?"

"Is he a wrestler?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:43 -5 GMT

"Was it.. bad..?"

Kon sounds sympathetic, but I know for a fact that he's more interested than concerned for me. He never had any sort of viscerally negative response to blood… That I noticed. If he did ever feel like that then he got over it before I acquired empathic vision. We're heading towards Cadmus building, and with both of us quite a bit better known now than when we made our visit last year quite a few people are stopping and staring. Some look nervous, but since we're not in full combat dress they're not fleeing.

"A bit bloody. Thirty people killed by phased particle weapons. No substantive leads on the killers, though if the quantity of reports on Devil Jizz usage decreases during the next few days we might have established a pattern."

"They leave a note or something?"

"The message 'subhuman species traitors' was written in the blood of the dead on one of the walls."

"Species traitors? Because.. they're betraying humanity to demons?"

"That's my assumption."

"Religious fundamentalists? …" He sort of moves his mouth as if he was about to speak, then closes it again. "Kid Flash showed me some preacher on the TV who was really angry about the whole thing."

"Quite a lot are. But I doubt that people prepared to inject themselves with Essence of Demon are regular churchgoers." There are explicitly religious superheroes, but for the most part they simply claim divine inspiration and do conventionally superheroic stuff. Devil Jizz users might be acceptable targets for a beating, but lining them up and shooting them is definitely one step beyond. "But I don't think that's it. A religious vigilante killer wouldn't call them that, they'd say-."

"Evil Satanist, right."

"Something like that. I also detected a sample of blood which I believe came from one of the attackers. The genetics showed signs of enhancement, like Truggs has."

"Someone from the future?"

"Or descendant of one. I talked to Abra Kadabra afterwards and the only realistic candidates we could think of were the henchpeople of a twenty seventh century dictator called Per Degaton, but Kadabra couldn't even say for sure that he had time travel. At the moment I just don't think we have enough information. Ambrose is going to have a look at the site tomorrow and… It might be worth following up with one or two of the more vicious-sounding fundamentalists… Not sure how much good it'll do…"

"We could get Dubbilex to lend us some G-Gnomes and just scan their minds. Not like G-Gnomes would pay any attention to anything they weren't specifically looking for."

"We-. Ah… I'm not sure that Batman would approve mission parameters that vague without something a little better to go on than 'these people hate demons'. I hate demons."

"Sure it wasn't you? I mean, you've probably upgraded your DNA by now, so the blood sample probably matches."

He's smiling as he says it, but I shake my head anyway. "While I'm happy to make minor incremental changes to my body, genetic plug-ins are something I'd want to study for a considerable period of time before using. Just about everything you can do with genes has thousands of knock-on effects-."

"You notice how you haven't denied you were the one who killed them?"

"Oh please. If I was killing people I wouldn't leave the bodies to moulder where they fell. I'd just disintegrate them, and they'd remain 'missing persons' rather than murder victims." We're coming up to the building, and I take a quick look around the street to see if-.

**…he's going in now.**

I frown. **M'gann?**

**Huh? By the rings!**

**Hello?** Nothing. **Hello?**

Kon frowns. "What?"

"Oh, I… Picked up a telepathic broadcast. Apparently it wasn't meant for me." I shrug. "Must be a bit awkward, thinking only the person you're sending to can hear them and then some random guy walking past picks it up."

"You haven't.. been.. hearing..?"

"Not from New York, no. Though-" I clear my throat. "-you might want to consider putting.. psi-baffles on your room's walls. At some-"

"I'll-"

"-point."

"-talk to M'gann about it."

I nod, then hold my left hand out to the front door. "After you, my prince."

Kon gives his head a small shake, then strides forward, pushing the door open as he enters the Cadmus building. No Dubbilex, but a G-Pooka is standing at the reception desk as if waiting for us. It's actually wearing a.. robe..? I'm going with robe, where most Genomorphs are perfectly comfortable in just their hide.

"Hey. We're here to pick up my brother?"

Its horns glow as it nods, and it turns to lead us into the building.

"Sorry, I haven't kept up to date on Genomorph development. Can G-Pooka talk?"

**[An image of the G-Pooka shaking its head.]**

"Seems a little odd. You can-."

"Ah…" Kon frowns at me. "I.. got a picture of her nodding."

I hear the G-Pooka make a sort of scratchy giggling noise.

"I got a shaking head. I guess the sense of humour is still a work in progress."

"We are NNot human. Why would I HHave a sense of HHumor like AA human?"

"So… What about that was funny?"

Another alien-sounding giggle. "You TThink different TThings. Your minds are SSeparate!" And another giggle.

**[An image of an arrow pointing left.]**

Kon glances right, then huffs. "Yeah. Funny."

"Our brother IIs loaded into a MMobile animation suspension PPod RReady for transportation."

We come out into a laboratory, genomorph clusters replacing the scientists I saw last year. The tanks on the wall have been expanded and-. Ah, that's a new one. Four eyes ten centimetres across stare past me as the huge-headed G-Gnome continues to ignore me. That head's all brain, and it looks like it's too big to support itself out of the water of the cylinder.

"What are those?"

"Our new brothers AAre G-Lusca. We FFeel more comfortable UUsing other genomorphs RRather than computers. They CCan think as fast as computers and SSee everything the rest of us do."

Makes sense. "How are the G-Succubi coming along?"

"Why? Do you WWant one?"

"No, thank you. I'm quite happy with my current girlfriend. I was just-."

"Does she want OOne?"

And it's laughing again as it leads us into the lift.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:49 -5 GMT

The room the genomorphs have Match in has changed a great deal since Kon and I first fought him. The body parts from failed experiments are gone, small amounts taken for tissue samples while the rest were incinerated. Genomorphs certainly aren't sentimental. His pod has been substantially reinforced, at least in part because they're deliberately keeping him a little more awake than they used to in order to let the team of g-gnomes and g-pooka sitting in repose around it try altering his thought processes to something a little less violent.

Last time I asked, Dubbilex told me that he was reasonably sure that this approach couldn't completely work but that it wasn't impossible that it could turn him from 'berserk' to merely 'furious'. Another thing Genomorphs don't do: they don't get despondent. If the g-pooka's emotional manipulation abilities couldn't fix Match, maybe the g-fae's magic would prove more effective. Maybe the g-lusca would craft a virus capable of making Match fully Kryptonian. And if no solution was forthcoming from those, perhaps the next iteration of the malleable genomorph genome would suggest a different solution.

The rest of the room is given over to research stations. Unlike upstairs there are some human researchers down here; too much acquired experience with Kryptonian tissue to dismiss. One or two were lured away from STAR Labs, and I think the other new faces were from LexCorp's 'xenobiological exploration' department. One claimed during my last visit that with the right pharmaceuticals Match would be no worse off than a strongly bipolar human. Neither Kon nor I were convinced that was anything like good enough.

"Hey Mom."

Kon heads towards Diana, who has been watching Match's faintly twitching face through the viewing pane. She turns her head a little his way, just enough to indicate that she heard him. "How was school today?"

"I'm not.. really sure. I was kinda distracted." He comes up alongside her. "You.. getting anything..?"

She gives her head a small shake. "I can think of nothing I could do for him. He was created on Earth. It is quite possible that Gaea's magic would be able to heal his mind, if she could be persuaded to make the attempt. But… It is probably far safer to place our faith in Jor-El."

A door in the side of the room opens, and Dubbilex and an uncomfortable-looking Kara Zor-El walk through. I turn away as Diana and Kon side-hug and head their way. "Medical go alright?"

Dubbilex stops, straightening slightly. "As far as I can tell, Miss Zor-El is in near-perfect health. My only concern is that she is slightly underweight, but considering how long she was in cryogenic suspension it is noteworthy that that is her only difficulty."

"No need to worry about that. Mis-. Ma-. Ah. Kal's foster mother is keeping an eye on what I eat."

"It would be a simple matter to assign you a g-gnome, should you desire it."

"I don't.. think I could really explain why I was carrying a g-gnome around with me."

"Ah, secrecy." Dubbilex blinks. "Am I to understand that you are following Superman's example and concealing your nature?"

"For now. I don't.. really get it either. But it's an Earth custom, so…"

"It also lets you get out of explaining how the Kryptonian Kara Zor-El knows… Well. You know who. I'm not a fan of it either, but-."

"Yeah, I do… Get it." She shrugs. "It's just.. strange. I don't think Krypton ever had anything like 'superheroes'. And… I can't get over Kal being a soldier."

"Kal-El isn't exactly a soldier."

"Volunteer police officer?" She shrugs. A lot of alien languages don't have a good translation for 'superhero' that isn't closer in meaning to 'demigod' than what an English speaker actually means when they say it. "That's not really something Els do. We're.. scientists. The only El I can remember who was a soldier was Van-El, and he only did it because the Reconstruction needed him more than anything else did."

"Not planning on putting on a red and blue costume and fighting evildoers yourself, then?"

"Nnnno. I.. should probably learn how to actually use my strength; I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone. But… My qualifications are in mathematics. I don't think I'm really qualified."

I shrug. "My degree's in philosophy."

"Which makes sense, because you're using a power ring." She turns her head away, watching Match's sarcophagus. "The most useful thing I could do for-. For Krypton would be working here. I'm not a.. doctor or anything, but I'm sure that Uncle Jor would let me use his database. And I probably still know more about how we work than most humans."

"If you are not a specialist, I doubt that you know more than we do." Dubbilex doesn't exactly seem offended, but he does have a point. "Though I would appreciate any further data you could persuade Kal-El to provide."

I frown. "I thought he was helping-."

"I did not mean to imply that he was withholding critical information. But he is reluctant to share anything that is not directly related to Kryptonian neurology. His opinion is that we do not need anything else to help Match, and he does not want to risk further data falling into Lex Luthor's hands."

"What's with that, anyway?" Kara looks from Dubbilex to me. "Lex Luthor's a.. human businessman, isn't he?"

"That's a.. complicated one. And if you don't plan on getting involved in costumed adventuring I'd suggest avoiding both the man and the subject."

She frowns. "O.. kay..?"

"Exactly what sort of mathematics? I'm sure KordTech-."

She laughs politely. "You… It's like what I said back at the mountain… Krypton was just… Ah…"

"I'm not offended. I've been around enough to know that we're a good deal more primitive than a lot of worlds."

"I'm not trying to be mean about it. You're not barbarians or anything. There are a lot of worlds with more technology that aren't anything like as nice. I.. think Krypton might have been like this if the Vrangs hadn't invaded." She sighs, then looks straight at me. "Well… Kon says you're his Jes-Mo… What do you think I should do?"

"How..? Soon do you need to start? Honestly, I wouldn't do anything until you're a good deal more accustomed to Earth society."

"I.. really think I'd rather have something to work on now."

I can understand that. "Did your.. mathematical qualifications include statistics or economics?"

"Statistics, sure. Economics… A bit. It wasn't really my focus."

"Oh. Ah… Have you considered emigrating? Tamaran could really use school teachers?"

"Learn another language? I'm having enough trouble with English."

"Um…" I hear a hiss as the pod disconnects from its housing, Kon and Diana getting into position to push. "I'll have a think about it, but I don't really know much about higher maths. I'm not sure-"

Alert! Connection made to monitored phone line.

"-that I oh great."

Kara frowns. "What?"

"Sorry, someone's-." I raise my left hand and look at my ring.

Is it Truggs again?

Confirmed.

I move my hand to the side of my head. "What?"

"Hey, Paul. Funny story-."

"If the assassins are here for you, don't expect me to help."

"Oh, I think this time around my problems are your problems."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:54 -5 GMT

"I would be astonished if that were true."

Kon frowns at me from the other side of the room. "Who is it?" His pupils narrow slightly as he gives himself a magnified view of my face. "Truggs."

I nod. "As far as I am aware, the only problem we have in common is the Reach, and they have no resources anywhere near Earth. I checked this morning."

"But you know about the assassins, right? They called you in to that pile a' corpses in Washington State?"

"I'm not telling you any-."

"Come on! It was on the news. Police wouldn't let 'em see the warehouse so they filled air time talkin' about you."

"If you want to give me a clue, do it. Otherwise I'm hanging up again."

"Fine! Fine." I hear him huff at my lack of courtesy. "You remember I said I wanted t' change history?"

"Yes."

"How many people you think want t' do that?"

"All of them. If you're referring to time travellers that I know about, just you."

"What, you forget about yer friend 'Abra Kadabra'?"

"I never got the impression that he wants to change anything, just to improve his own life. In fact, he told me that he came to this period in the hope no one would notice anything odd about him."

"And you think he hasn't changed things?"

"Truggs, I don't even know what model of time travel this universe uses. For all I know changing the past is impossible."

"You thought I was wasting my time?"

"Nothing wrong with optimism. Plus, for all either of us know this was what you did the first time around as well."

"Huh. I did not know you did not know that. Yeah, pretty sure things can change."

"Do you have an evidential basis for that, or-."

"I found a lab. No time machine -which was a kick in the pants- but a whole lotta notes."

"You found a lab in the present, or in your era?"

"'My' era? It's not just my era. I wasn't the only guy there."

"You never told me exactly when you came from. And.. if you're successful then they'll all.. have never existed."

"I'll create more than I'll destroy. Or maybe not… I gotta be honest with yah: some of the stuff I read? Time's… Sticky. Like, it knows how it's meant t' go, an' if you do stuff to it it'll try and go some other route?"

"Or it just can't be changed, because you yourself are a product of the past you are trying to alter."

"That one kept me up at night. But, turns out? I'm okay. See, the lab? It was in a cave in the future, and it was old enough that it should exist now. And it did. It was, like, the fifth place I went. But when I tried t' go back… Rock wall. And some real interesting energy."

"Someone erased the lab. Then.. how do you still remember it?"

"I dunno! Maybe they rebuilt it. Maybe travelling in time makes you immune t' stuff like that. Problem is, I think someone saw me and.. I think I've been retroactively dodging assassination attempts. A whole lotta medical supplies I don't remember using are gone and I've got scars I don't remember getting..."

"I understand. Just tell me what sort of funeral service you want, and I'll arrange everything."

"You do understand whoever it is will be coming for you as well."

"Why? I'm not a time traveller."

"You sure about that? Because I've got a copy of Dana Dearden's article on you, and apparently…" I hear pages rustling. "You went back in time."

"Three years, from a parallel universe. I doubt any actual time travel was involved. The universes probably just don't.. line up."

"Oh, I'm not going to try and kill you. I'm just saying, this is public domain-."

"Does it matter? Either I won and everything's fine, or I'll pop out of existence. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Really? You don't have a time machine tucked away somewhere?"

"If I had a time machine I'd have gone back and talked Luthor into not joining the Light. I don't have a time machine."

"Huh. Kinda thought you mighta been lying about the parallel universe thing."

"So aside from a useless warning..?"

"It's not the same people."

"What isn't?"

"Whatever killed those people in Washington used some sorta powerful exotic matter weapon, right? I'm tough, but if someone hit me with something like that? I'm done. My injuries are all regular weapon injuries. No reason why you'd use fancy guns against ravers and regular stuff on the guy you were really trying t' kill."

"What makes you think you're the 'real' target?"

"Good question. See, the way I see it, the only reason why someone would try and stop me was if they wanted the future I don't want. Reach didn't have time travel, or the Orange Lantern Corps wouldn't a' eaten them in Kadabra's future. So… Who else?"

"Someone who wants to kill you but apparently doesn't care all that much about me?"

"No! Someone who wants the future we're trying to prevent! Or who wants a different future! Might even be the Thanagarians." I'm uncomfortably reminded of the ship that brought Princess Chay-Ara to Earth. "We want the same future. These people don't. This is both our problem."

"What do you want?"

"How about we share information?"

"I'm exceedingly reluctant to do that without a good deal more evidence than I have now that this is even happening."

"I can understand that. Hold on a sec…"

Coordinates received.

"There. Just sent you the place where the lab used to be. Take a look."

Ring?

"Take a look at a mountain?"

"I don't have a power ring. You might find something I missed. Or you might get shot at like I have been."

"I'll consider it. Anything else?"

"Nah. I'll call you again when you're done. Ciao!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
17:16 -5 GMT

The crystalline growths extending over Match twinkle as the Jor-El neural clone takes his readings. Though not technically necessary for the medical work he's about to attempt, it is very much necessary to restrain a raging Kryptonian should he wake up. The genomorphs quite sensibly removed his solar suit once they took control of Cadmus and they've only exposed him to artificial light, but that's not really something anyone with any sense takes a risk on.

Kon stares through the crystal at Match's face. "So… Can you..? Do it..?"

"The form of genetic damage 'Match' is suffering from is similar to that suffered by early-generation clones during Krypton's own development of the process."

"So you can?"

"Those clones were destroyed before they reached full development, and the knowledge derived from their 'failed' creation was used to create improved versions. Eventually, a generation was created without the neurological deformity which causes Match's insane rage and only they were allowed to integrate into Kryptonian society."

"Cough cough blatant sugar coating is blatant cough."

"Sugar coating?" Kon grimaces at me. "He just said they kept killing them until they got it right. How is that sugar coating?"

"I believe that Orange Lantern is referring to the fact that clones were originally not considered to be 'people' for much of the period during which that form of reproduction was in widespread use. Much to my disappointment. In some cases, clones were kept in suspended animation and used for replacement body parts."

"What?"

"It's uncommon, but hardly unheard of. Cloning whole organisms is technologically far simpler than cloning a single body part. It's also a pretty good way to bring the Green Lantern Corps down on your head."

Kara nods. "It was the military council which eventually outlawed it and gave clones full rights. Partly because they used a lot of clones in the fleet. They also.. banned cloning…"

"The upshot is, Kryptonian science never bothered to develop a way to cure this condition in an already living person. However, by combining my own records and the scans given to me by Cadmus and by Orange Lantern, I believe that I can synthesize a retrovirus capable of correcting the systemic genetic errors in Match's body."

Kon nods, clearly relieved. "How long will it take?"

"This sort of viral genetic modification requires careful monitoring. I would much rather take this slow than further risk damage to Match's health. All being well I estimate a total time of three months until Match is a full clone of Kal-El."

"Couldn't-" He glances at me. "-Paul just do it all faster?"

"Yes, but given that we're altering the structures of Match's brain I don't recommend it. I'm going to be altering things as slowly as I can to give me enough time to react if something goes drastically wrong."

"Like..?"

"Like Match suffering neural architecture collapse because the parts of his brain which his mind runs on aren't connecting properly to the rest any longer."

"That can-?!"

"It's not likely, but that's why I'm going to be doing this slowly."

Kon nods as Diana walks over to me. "No, the League doesn't know any regular time travellers. Atom has expressed an interest in studying temporal phenomena, but he wanted to be clear that he doesn't know for certain whether what Nylor Truggs described is possible or not."

I nod. "I.. doubt that this is a trap. The coordinates he gave me are for an isolated location, but that just makes it easier for me to identify anything odd about the place."

"If someone is using some form of temporal manipulation, there might not be anything there for you to detect."

"Maybe." I shrug. "There are Maltusians who study time travel, but none of them are closely associated with the Orange Lantern Corps and.. other Maltusians tend to regard them as being a bit spacey. Someone's got to do it-."

"And you haven't even considered leaving it to the Justice League, have you?"

"No, but… That's because.. as you said, no member of the Justice League has any special knowledge of time travel. And I have a rather significant advantage in that area."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"If someone wanted to erase you from history, all they would have to do was appear in the Old City of Themyscira when Queen Hippolyta was.. five? And shoot her dead. Or gas the whole place. You never come to be. With Kal-El they have similar options. Or with any other member of the Justice League. But with me, they'd have to travel to Earth Prime to do any of that, and as I understand it that's a lot harder. I should be safe up to the point where I arrived in orbit, then I've got a power ring."

"You weren't particularly skilled with it when you first arrived."

"It's still more security than anyone else has. Assuming there's anything to this. Truggs might just be testing my response speed or something."

She nods, considering. "How many League members could survive hits from phased particle beams?"

Ah… "Anyone super tough could take a few hits. Probably. Assuming that was all the attacker had. Anyone else would be torn apart by a direct hit."

"Superman said that he wouldn't mind getting away from his public speaking engagement. If you go to Metropolis you could fly on to the coordinates Truggs gave you."

Kon blinks. "We.. could go..?"

I raise my eyebrows, then look pointedly at Match.

"He's not.. going.. anywhere."

"A detailed examination of the site will take hours and if I get attacked and survive I'll be evacuating anyway. And after the Eden incident I imagine that the League wants one of theirs keeping tabs on me whenever I go anywhere."

I look at Diana with my eyebrows raised. She nods. "It.. has been discussed."

Kon nods, and I raise my right hand to my forehead. "See you when I've got something to report."

I appear in Metropolis, and look down from the top of a building overlooking Centennial Park towards the demonstration. This particular event is in support of attempts by President Horne to bring a large number of Bialyan refugees to the United States. Kal-El's usually a bit reluctant to appear at partisan events, but once the organisers agreed to reduce the blatant Democratocracy a bit he agreed to give a speech. Nothing exactly hair-raising-

Kal-El glances up and gives me a shallow nod before returning to the man he was talking to.

-but a definite departure from his normal mode of operation. He asked if I wanted to take part, but in the wake of the 'angel incident' I'm trying to limit my public appearances. Some of the interest I've been getting has been a bit.. creepy. And I was politely told that my preferred solution of flying in and winning the civil war by myself wouldn't be required. Still, I'm at a bit of a loose end until he finishes-.

A shimmering tear appears in the air a short distance from… Oh, come on. Really? There's a slash from… An axe blade? Looks like one of those 'barbarian war axe' things that no one would have actually used in combat, with a disproportionately large and unbalanced blade. Anyway, the magic axe cuts cleanly through the fabric of reality and some guy dressed like a… Yes, like a fantasy executioner, steps out.

"Superman!" The crowd is already fleeing for minimum safe distance and Kal-El clenches his fists. "Today I will kill you, and your tomorrow will die with you!"

Another.. time traveller. Three separate groups, or..? Don't know. Ring, scan-. The rift closes as whoever this is steps through. Has an axe, is from the future… That was the Persuader, right? I saw him in one episode of Justice League and in the comic as part of the Fatal Five Thousand. Not really sure how dangerous he is, but you know what happens to an idiotic supervillain hit by a crumbler round?

The same as everything e-.

Kal-El glances up at me and gives his head a very small shake.

Really?

I stare down and throw my arms up in the air, but he's gone back to focusing on the Persuader. I'd use his real name, but I don't actually remember ever hearing it. Scanning… Is jammed, empathic vision reveals… Someone with a lot to prove and who came back in time to kill the most significant historical hero in order to do it.

Well, fuck you, future historians.

Kal-El unclenches his fists and makes a mildly placatory gesture, prompting the Persuader to throw a small grenade-. Oh. Heh. There's a green blast as it releases a wave of kryptonite radiation, which Kal-El's environmental shield effortlessly absorbs. Persuader charges but Kal-El is already closing the distance, grabbing Persuader around the neck with his right hand while his left hand grips Persuader's left wrist to turn aside the axe's haft.

Huh. That was easy.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
17:21 GMT -5

"Hyuughuh."

From the impression Persuader's making on Kal-El's gently squeezing hand I'm going to assume that he is super strong. Just, not super strong enough. Physiology is near enough Human-normal that pinching his jugular-. Yep, there he goes, his axe falls from his hands as his body goes limp. Kal-El gives it a second longer, then relaxes his hold and sets the other man down on the grass.

"Could somebody-"

Oh, right. Orange Lantern to Metropolis Special Crimes Unit.

"-please call the police? I left my phone in my other tights."

"Ye-aah?"

"Orange Lantern here. A time traveller with an axe just picked a fight with Kal-El in Centennial Park. The axe man is down, please send an appropriate transport vehicle."

There's a slight pause.

"What?"

Oh, for goodness-. "Orange Lantern, cake, eyes, moon turning around. Time traveller, coming back from the future to-."

"Hey, yeah, I get that. Why aren't you calling nine one one?"

"I thought I'd help you shave a couple of minutes off your response time. The axe man's name is Persuader, he's super strong and tough and Kal-El just-."

A very loud alarm starts going off on the other end of the phone line, and I hear the handset fall to the desk. Ugh, fine. I end the call, then float down off the building towards the fallen criminal. Some parts of the crowd who had fallen back are starting to get closer, camera phones in hand as if viewing it remotely will insulate them from the danger if he wakes up.

"No, I need everyone to stay back. He won't be unconscious for long-" Kal-El does his best to kick the axe away, but at his level of strength there isn't much margin for error between 'ineffectual' and 'sent flying into a nearby building'. "-and I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Allow me."

Construct manacles form around Persuader's recumbent form, lifting him off the ground as I begin to create a kinetic bubble generator around him. Kal-El nods at me again before floating backwards in the air to give himself more room to manoeuvre if Persuader breaks out.

"Police are on their way."

"Good. Do you know who this guy is?"

"The Persuader. He's from the future and his axe can cut through anything. Including time apparently, which is more than a little disturbing."

Kal-El looks the axe over without touching it. "I don't think you have to worry about him doing that again."

"Well, no-."

"The sockets on the reverse side of the blade are slightly warmer than the surrounding metal, and I saw cables that would have fit in them when the hole opened. I think he was overcharging it."

"So he's less dangerous than a Danner enhancile with an x-ionised axe?"

He gives me a chiding look. "You do remember that those are supposed to be a US military secret, right?"

"Slipped my mind. You know, a Danner enhancile would have woken up by-" The Persuader pulls slightly against his restraints as the upper portion of the cage finishes and becomes active. "-now." I drop a multiphasic scrambler down next to the axe just in case it has some sort of remote recall function and withdraw my constructs, letting our captive slump at the bottom of a cage he can't break through with brute strength.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me how you know what his name is?"

"I'm afraid not. But I won't correct you if you assume that spending a good deal of time with someone else from the future had something to do with it."

I can just about hear the sirens from the Special Crimes Unit's heavy transportation vehicle and its escort heading our way now.

"Superman! Are you-" I look around as a young black haired man steps forwards from the crowd. "-okay? That was kryptonite!"

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. Kryptonite just doesn't have the same effect that it used to. Now, please: Orange Lantern's equipment is pretty reliable but I don't want to take any chances."

Persuader takes that as his cue to start hammering on the inside of the kinetic barriers, making precisely no progress. Based on the stress they're showing, I'd say that he's less strong than Estrogina. Never did work out where she ended up.

I should probably look into that, actually.

"Ah, sure. Sure thing." He backs up into the crowd, joining a blonde woman who is staring at me in a way I find somewhat disconcerting. He whispers something to her and she turns away, following him out of the area.

Hm.

"Kal-El, is now a good time for you to act as my chaperone while I follow up on Truggs' coordinates, or is clearing up after this going to take the rest of the day?"

"No, the MSCU and I have gotten the system for this sort of thing down to a fine art. They'll pick him up and then we can head out." He watches my face for a moment. "You're not complaining about it?"

"No. It's not an emergency situation, and I… I know that my.. commitment to the case I'm working on can be…"

"Disturb-."

"Disconcerting-" I nod. "-yes."

He smiles warmly. "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to sorting it out."

I frown and shake my head. "No, I just said everyone else has a problem."

"Ah…"

I smile. "Joke, joke." He looks decidedly sceptical, but doesn't say anything else. Okay, he knows the controls for the cage and the SCU know how to transport dangerous exotic weapons. Anything else I need to do?

Yes.

Oh, what-? Yes I do need to deal with that. "Excuse me for a moment." I run a filament under the ground until it reaches the subject of my ring's concern and then transition us both up two miles.

"Excuse me."

"Huh?" The young man looks mildly surprised for a fraction of a second, then covers it up with pantomimed extreme surprise. "What?! What's going on?! What did you do that for?!"

"Not Von Daggle, then? For a moment I thought that I'd irritated the Guardians far more than I thought I had."

"Who? L-let me-. Put me down!"

"I can tell you're not afraid, you know. And I can also tell that you're a durlan."

"I don't-?!"

"Please. My colleague Vril Dox has a durlan foster father, and he's the only person Dox trusts. I have no particular prejudices against your species. However, there is a group of durlans who have killed an awful lot of people in China over the past thirty years and I don't imagine that they'd have anything like my level of forbearance if they found out that you were here. They would capture you, interrogate you, and then use you to test their anti-durlan weaponry on. If it's an option at all, I would strongly recommend getting off Earth as soon as possible."

"It… Kinda isn't."

"Okay, but… Be careful."

He nods, and I transition us both back to ground level.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
15:48 GMT -7

Truggs was certainly telling the truth about one thing.

There's sod all here.

Rock, dirt, cactuses… We're actually not all that far from the Lantern sparring arena. The particular point Truggs directed me to is a mesa which.. does slightly put me in mind of Rip Hunter's laboratory from… Was it Countdown? But all I'm getting is rock and… Okay, some exotic particle residue, but it's faint enough that I wouldn't ordinarily be suspicious of it.

"Find anything?"

"Not much. But.. then the problem with temporal phenomena is they don't always work in the right order."

Kal-El nods. "Like how radioactive substances decay over time, things relating to time travel could spread backwards in time from the point they occur?"

"Yes. Or… We might be seeing residue as a result of history altering, or… Anything, really. Pick your theory." And all I can do is stay here maintaining my scans in the hope of getting something useful. "How much time travel have you encountered?"

"Not a whole lot. Mxyzptlk made me repeat a single day on an endless loop once, but I think he's a special case."

I could riff off that, but attracting the attention of a Looney Tunes inspired 5th dimensional imp is the last thing I want to do.

"And I.. doubt that you could gather any useful intelligence from him."

"No. But I did get a whole lot of reading done. It was just a shame all the work I did got erased when I broke the loop."

I nod, then float slowly north, scanning constructs maintaining constant vigilance for anything of note or of use.

"Why did you pick that man out of the crowd?"

"He's a durlan."

"The same people who are terrorising China? You let him go?"

"Durlans are even less unified than humans are. While it's possible that he's associated with the group over there, I don't have any evidence of it. And since the Chinese are keeping quiet about their durlan problem it's quite possible that he doesn't know about it. I suggested that he might like to leave the planet before the Chinese locate him-."

"Suggest as in..?"

"Point out the problem and suggest that he leave. He said that it wasn't really an option."

"You didn't offer to give him a ride back home?"

"Durla's a radioactive mess experiencing total societal collapse. If he's here, he's presumably here for a reason. I'm not going to force him to go home any more than I'd force you to go back to Krypton."

"Somewhere else, then."

"He had a human appearance and he's not actually in China. He's probably more at risk from the other durlans…" And if they go after him first then we'll have an early warning system. Not a nice thought, but it's true and I did warn him. "I was actually a little worried that he might be a durlan by the name 'Von Daggle', but…" I shake my head. "Wrong emotional mix."

"I think you might have mentioned him before. Who is he?"

"I'm.. not sure what his official status is. The records on John's ring didn't mention him. But I have other sources of information. He's the head of the Guardians' black operations unit. Actual black operations, not the long-finger things the League used my former team for."

"But not a Green Lantern?"

"He might have been. He might still be, actually. But these days he mostly does things the Guardians need done but can't afford to be publically associated with. There was a brief period where I was concerned that they might send him after me."

"But you're not worried any more?"

"No. Not significantly."

He sighs and looks away. "But it's not because you met them and think that they're good people, it's because the Orange Lantern Corps already exists and you don't think it's worth their time any more."

"The Guardians are too important to be able to be 'nice'."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I don't believe that's true for a moment. Do you really think that important people can't afford to be nice?"

"Not if it interferes with their main job. Look, the Guardians are responsible for untold billions of people. You know what they were going to offer me when I bonded with the Ophidian? You know what they did give Larfleeze?" He nods. "They made a rational decision. They've got finite resources with which to do as much as they can. It wasn't nice leaving Vega to Larfleeze… And having seen the worst of that place, I.. fully appreciate that. But I wouldn't criticise them for the decision if that's really what it took to keep Larfleeze there. Because Abra Kadabra can tell you all about what happens when he leaves."

"Except it didn't. He didn't."

"None of us know everything. It reminds me of a… Okay, we don't have actual superheroes on Earth Prime, but we have the concept. And there was a.. television series.. where they put people in costumes and… In a series of challenges, assessed their suitability for the role. In one of the challenges they had to run an obstacle course as fast as possible… But near the start a little girl was crying. The guy running it wanted them to stop and find out what was wrong, because helping her should be more important to a hero than their time."

"Sure, if it's just a race."

"If a superhero's racing somewhere, then something very bad is happening there. If Barrage was shooting up central Metropolis, how many people would die if you took time out from stopping him to do anything?"

He nods. "Triage."

"Yeah."

"You know, I listened to that 'How To Succeed In Evil' story you told Lex about."

"You.. did..?"

"Edwin says that their version of the Flash has no concept of Triage, he just fights street crime because he likes fighting street crime. Even if it's not the best way he could use his powers. And since Edwin's job is showing people how to use their abilities efficiently, it-."

Warning. Temporal event-

Armour appears around my body, followed by construct armour and rail guns. Tachyon detector getting a lot more pings all of a sudden, and oh sugar those are chronitons!

"I can see.. something…"

The universe wobbles, and when it unwobbles there's a.. transparent sphere with a single figure sitting on a leather seat inside it. The sphere itself is glowing pale blue, presumably as a side effect of whatever allows it to travel through time. Arranged around the man inside are what appear to be the controls of his.. time.. sphere.. thing.

Okay, no immediate danger to either myself or Kal-El, chroniton emission has dropped right off… Can't scan the inside of the sphere, but I think we're safe. The man inside… That's a side arm, but it looks like a kinetic weapon. Probably not related to the killers from Washington.

The man inside checks his instruments, then notices us. He stares for a moment, then pulls a lever. That causes a section of the sphere to fade away, and he climbs out of his seat and walks through it onto the desert sands.

"Hi there. Name's Hunter. Looks like you were expecting me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
15:53 GMT -7

Kal-El floats down towards him, smiling in a welcoming fashion with his right hand slightly extended. "Welcome to the twenty-first century, Mister Hunter. I'm Su-."

"Superman, yes. I know who you are." He takes a moment to look around at the desert panorama. Green jumpsuit with dull red decoration, blue eyes and a ginger mullet. I.. don't remember Rip Hunter having a mullet. But.. this could be him from an earlier point in his timeline.

Or it could be someone entirely different. Now that he's out of the sphere I can scan him. Nothing special there, just a baseline human lousy with chroniton radiation. Which suggests that he wasn't involved in the murders in Washington, which is nice. Were time spheres distinctive? No, Seven Days had a time travelling ball as well. Can't… Remember anyone else in DC…

Mister Hunter and Kal-El shake hands. Chroniton radiation is dropping off rapidly… No observable effect on Kal-El from touching him. Hm. Now that I'm past the event, the pattern of radiation makes a good deal more sense. This is the only locus, so… Nothing else to worry about. From this site, anyway.

"…wned hero like yourself." Mister Hunter looks up at me. "But I don't think I know your friend..?"

I float downwards.

"Not a historian by any chance, Mister Hunter?"

"Amateur historian, sure, but professionally? Physicist. Why do you ask?"

"Because -while I fully appreciate that even in this age of technological progress not everyone is going to recognise me- I'm getting a bit peeved about time travellers not having the foggiest who I am."

He appears to find my statement a little disturbing. "Do you.. meet a lot of time travellers?"

"Four so far, none of whom had heard of me."

Kal-El chuckles to himself. "I hadn't realised you needed public affirmation that badly."

"If there's no record of me, then I never did anything the world remembers. If I succeed in.. any of my longer term aims for the Earth, I would have done. Future people not knowing who I am means that I fail." I grimace. "That won't stop me trying, but I won't deny that it's a bit off-putting."

Mister Hunter shrugs. "Since I haven't heard of you, why don't you fill me in on what those aims are?"

"Arcane and technological revolutions, channelling the expertise of the human species in a more efficient way than the super-brawls and minority-participation cults it's limited to now. There's no reason why children everywhere shouldn't learn to use magic in primary school, but all of the time travellers I've encountered so far made no mention of magic. I tried fighting the Reach, but apparently they still win anyway."

"The Reach, huh?" He nods. "Kind of a powerful target you've picked out there."

"Yes. They're an efficient use of my time."

Kal-El focuses his attention on Mister Hunter. "Okay, before we get too distracted… Is there a particular reason why you're here, or are you just a surprisingly dedicated autograph hunter?"

He nods. "I came back in time to stop a political extremist called Per Degaton. He's building a support base for some sort of revolution, and we think he's using time travel to do it."

That's not too surprising, at least. "Abra Kadabra told me that Per Degaton ends up being successful."

"But we know that, now. With the foreknowledge I've got, stopping him shouldn't be too difficult for the Justice Society."

Kal-El looks mildly puzzled. "Either you're sixty years too late, or you've gotten the name wrong. We're the Justice League."

Mister Hunter nods. "Guess that I've got something to take up with future historians as well, then. But will you help me track him and his people down? I could.. probably do it myself, but it'll go a whole lot faster with powerful metahumans and people with contacts with the government and police."

"Wait. Wait. You're saying that changing the past is possible?"

"Yes." He nods. "One of the first things I checked. If you're outside of time, you're not affected by the changes. Even changing your own history just.. produces some odd echoes. Of course, it doesn't help if you're inside of normal time. Chroniton radiation just gives you a temporary buffer."

"So… How come the time travellers already here haven't popped out of existence?"

"I'd need to study them and their techniques to be sure, but I'd guess it's either because they haven't prevented themselves being born yet or they haven't tried going home. Time doesn't correct itself all at once…" He shrugs. "Look, I'll be happy to give you a full lecture on temporal mechanics after we stop the time travelling fascist. Are we going to be working together on this, or do I need to hitch a ride to the nearest town?"

"What sorts of thing are his people doing in this era?"

"We think they're building weapons, then putting them in ultra-secure caches to be dug up again in the future. Beyond that, we weren't really certain."

Kal-El nods, spotting the direction of my line of questioning. "Exactly what sorts of weapons?"

"Ah…" Mister Hunter frowns. "All sorts. I think their main infantry weapon is some sort of.. exotic particle projector, but they also use light power armour and personal teleporters. Why do you ask?"

"There was a group murder a few days ago in Washington State by people using that sort of weapon. Genetic material left at the scene suggested that the attackers came from the future, and the slogan they left implied strong humans first ideology."

"That could be them. I don't have specific records of that attack, but that fits their profile. Were the victims aliens, or employed by aliens?"

"No. Demon cultists."

"Demon..? You're.. serious?" Kal-El and I both nod. "If they're not.. human then it's technically against their ideology for humans to cooperate with them. And if they're acting this openly, that's all the more reason to take them down as fast as possible."

"I think stopping a time travelling fascist is something the League can assist you with. Orange Lantern?"

"I'm on board, naturally. But I'd really like access to any other information you have on this era as well. If we're stopping one warlord, I can't think of a reason not to stop any others as well."

"Sure, I'd be happy to."

I blink. "Um. What?"

"Per Degaton was my primary target because he's the one I've got the best information on. But it would make my day if we could prevent the Reach taking over the Earth in the first place. And the best way I came up with to do that is to stop their patsies. I think you called them… The Light?"

…

"No."

Lex? Lex is the one who sells out the Earth? I mean… I know they use local collaborators. I helped kill some. But Lex.. selling out to aliens. Satanus, yes, the Brain, sure, Savage… Just about. Lex… I'd.. honestly have said that he'd rather die than put human destiny in someone else's hands.

"Now, hold on." Kal-El holds up his right hand. "The Light are the ones who bring the Reach to Earth? Why would they do that?"

Mister Hunter shrugs. "I'm a time traveller, not a mind reader. I don't know the details. If I had to guess, they thought they could get something out of the deal and bit off more than they could chew. But the Reach don't arrive for years. Degaton is here now."

I nod. "One zeta tube to the Hall of Justice."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Okay, Genomorphs situat-

I step into the hush tube and appear back in Challenger Mountain.

20th October
14:43 GMT -6

-ed, Dox busy, shipyards up and running, ship-building coming on acceptably… Tamaran can have a tick. Cranius has released Mister Blake on his own recognisance and he's reacquainting himself with Human civilisation, twin-man -and it turns out that his name is Ph'yzzon- well enough to return home, Karna firmly under friendly control… Mr Near is finalising our coup plans with Ms Savage. Mr Talbot is adapting well enough to his power ring. Admiral Oswin wants to know when I want to move against the Psions. He's a bit eager to move his fleet out of Vega so he can carve himself a duchy out of formerly pirate-controlled space, but I'd like to wait until the first batch of Tamaranian ships are ready for real combat. Ah, he doesn't need an answer right now…

Mother Box, anything interesting happen while I was gone?

Ping!

Hah! They did? What sort of idiot attacks three Kryptonians-?

Ping.

I suppose it's nice that they're spending time together. It's not quite on a level of that petty burglar in Happy Harbor, but that's still a pretty high difficulty curve. A little surprising that he legged it but I suppose that even an axe-wielding cosplayer can take a hint that big.

So: next item on the agenda. What am I going to say to the people who will be running the British government after we kidnap them and then kill their less moral colleagues? And what are we going to do about the monarchy? Now, I've got a lot of time for Elizabeth Windsor Prime, but I've seen a list of some of the things Cabbage 16 used to get up to and, damn. Nothing I feel obliged to kill her for, but-.

I dart back four metres as an axe blade cleaves its way through the air just in front of me, signalling additional drones and armouring myself as I do so. That slice matches-.

Someone in a metal face mask lunges through-. A woman, clearly. The helmet fully encloses her head but for the two red eye pieces and the hole at the back for her ponytail, but… Okay, I'd give her a pass on that. Compared to what most super people wear, not a bad effort. Except that the jacket.. thing she's wearing doesn't merely have a deep 'v' to show off her cleavage to its best advantage. No, it also shows off her abdomen as well. And I don't think it's even armoured. And her trousers are those stupid hip-hugging things…

"OhthankGod!" She waves the haft of her axe at the rift, which closes behind her. "You gotta help me! He's-."

"Yes, because I routinely help people who break into my home. Who are-?"

Wait, I… Dimly remember. Terror Titans, wasn't it? She was Clock King's… Oh, darn, what's his name? The guy from the Legion era? He was in an episode of Justice League Animated…

No, gone.

"Elise, my name's Elise Kimble! And I-." She waves the axe, then appears to notice it. "I'll, ah…" She takes a firm hold on it with both hands and sets the butt on the floor. "I was minding my own business when this guy dressed like a ren faire reject cuts a hole in the air in front of me and kidnaps me. He made me put this.. get up on."

"I see." Mother Box, is she more threatening than she looks?

Ping.

I think I can dodge a great axe.

Based on past performance, Corpsman, I wouldn't give exceptional odds.

Alright, I think the drones I've got lined up can shoot her dead before she can swing it.

Better.

"Would this be the same 'ren faire reject' who picked a fight with Superman and sons a few days ago?"

"Did he?"

Sinestro, hologram.

An image of whateverhisnameis appears just in front of me. "This man?" Ms Kimble nods. I dismiss the hologram. "And he forcibly abducted you?"

"Yes! He picked me up and threw me through this.. like, cut in the air. He said I was one of his ancestors or.. something."

"Yes, he's most likely from the future. Did he give any indication as to why he picked you, as opposed to any of his other ancestors?"

"It wasn't just me. There was this guy called Cole, and I think he was planning on getting more."

Oh, splendid. "I assume that the axe is a gift from him?"

"I… Yeah, he-?"

I raise my right hand to my ear. "Jean, highest defence status immediately, please. Make sure Circe and Adom know."

"Of course, Grayven. Whom should we expect?"

"Some guy with a super axe."

"He's really strong!"

I move my ring away from my head for a moment. "Strong, like a man who exercises a whole lot, or strong like super strong?"

"Super, super strong."

I move the ring back to my ear. "Some guy with an axe who is also super strong. And possibly some other people with axes."

"We will bear that in mind. Should I activate the 'special' drones?"

"For a guy with an axe? No."

"Understood."

I lower my hand again. "We've probably got a minute or so before he gets here. Are you planning on joining in?"

"What? No, no one saw me leave."

"Both your axe and your helmet are transmitting a locator signal, s-." I see the axe blade appear next to her neck and yank her out of the way as it cuts across where she had been standing. In its wake space itself is cleaved apart, revealing a.. squad of poorly dressed axe men.

Oh dear.

"Is one of you the…" P-something. Wasn't it? "Peruser?" No reaction, though the masks make it a little hard to tell. "Pursuer? Ppppp… Punisher?" The stare. "Perambulat-. Come on, give me a clue."

"I am the Persuader." The voice comes from the one nearest the front. "I chose the name for myself because-."

"Your axe is very persuasive, got it. Any chance I could persuade you to go back to bothering the Legion?"

He straightens slightly at the name. "You are not from this time? No, it is of no consequence. I do not care about you, but that bitch betrayed me. I will have her head."

"He's craz-!"

I raise my right forefinger at her. "Ah juh-juh-juh. Going out on a limb here… 'Betrayed' in the sense that she accepted your equipment and training but fled before your rematch with the Supermen?"

"Just so. Stand aside."

"You can't-!"

"Juh!" I take a deep breath and smile at the Persuader. "I don't.. really care about her, but you picked a fight with some friends of mine, and… Can I assume that if I refuse to give her up, you'll attack me?"

"Of course."

"Ah-" Open fire "-well, I-."

The drones behind me drop stealth and fire, purple light blazing through the air as I lunge forward, daiklave in hand. The Persuader is already reeling back as I jam -yep, more than normal Human toughness, must take samples later- my blade through his chest, through his heart and out through his back!

I flick his corpse off my weapon as the rest of the crowd raise their axes. "Lads… Get a clue. Drop your axes now."

There's a brief moment of hesitation… Then they comply.

"And you." I point backwards at Ms Kimble with my right hand. "Don't even think about running."

"Staying right here."

Another one. Pfff. Sod it, I'm going to find Cassandra Cain and Rose Wilson before someone throws them at me.