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

[Mr Zoat]

Collegiality

23rd August
11:58 GMT

Kalmin nods at me as I walk into his partially completed workshop. "Illustres."

"Lan-." I note the lack of an orange glow. "Weaponer Kalmin." I look around the room until I see the ring I gave him sitting in a vice on a work bench. "Is there something wrong with your ring?"

"Yes." He nods in affirmation. "I didn't make it." He raises his hammer and brings it down on his forge, the sound of ringing metal reverberating around the room. He mmms, then turns aside and alters some settings on a nearby instrument panel.

"Controller Hannanan does good work. As far as I'm able to tell. I mean, if there was any major problem I'm sure that Clarissi Dox would have found it by now."

"Perhaps. But it's a point of pride: Weaponers do not use weapons made by other people. I will wait until my own understanding of the orange light is great enough, and then make my own. Or perhaps another colour; I'm sure that I can hate enough for red."

Could he-? Yes, yes, of course he can. "Probably, but I should warn you that the colours furthest from the centre have-."

That earns me a mild glare. "I have read your notes. Unclear as they were as to how you actually learned some of that information, I am a scientist. And much as I love destruction, I value the control of it as well. I will not experiment recklessly."

"Glad to hear it."

"But I doubt that you really want me here just to design your warships. Why did you take the risk of travelling to Qward in order to make contact with me?"

"No one reason. We do need ships and weapons, and with you right there and apparently willing to take the commission, killing you seemed… Wasteful. Secondly, you can make rings. If things with the Controllers don't work out…"

He smiles faintly. "You want someone else who can do the job."

"No. I want someone who can teach me. My understanding of avarice is flawless. It should be well within my abilities." I hold out my right hand, orange light pooling in a band over my palm while Kalmin looks on with undisguised interest. "But so far it… Hasn't gone well. It occurred to me that someone who isn't millions of years old would be far more capable of understanding the approach I'd need. Thirdly, I'd like you to make me a lantern."

"If you like Hinon's work so much, why not just ask her for one."

"It's not for me. It's for a friend of mine, a former Green Lantern."

"Hah! That didn't go particularly well for me last time."

"Oh, he wasn't a member of the Green Lantern Corps. One of their Lanterns, a man by the name of Yalan Gur, went rogue. The Guardians wiped his ring's AI and a group of primitive villagers from my homeworld killed him. Wind the clock on two thousand years, his ring ends up in the hands of my friend Alan Scott. He was able to use it to great effect for about twenty five years before entering a state of semi-retirement."

Kalmin frowns. "The Guardians accept that?"

"He didn't meet either of my homeworld's Sector Lanterns." I shrug. "Either they didn't care or they didn't know. Once my world had its first normal recruit, he asked about it and the Guardians told him that they had nothing to do with it."

"But if he had been using a ring for twenty five years, his strength of will must have been incredible." Kalmin considers for a moment, then smiles in satisfaction. "Ah. I see."

"They won't recruit him, so unless I can talk some sense into them today I'll have to get him a personal lantern from somewhere else."

"What happened to the one he inherited from Yalan Gur?"

I turn my right hand palm down and clench my fist, my lantern appearing in my hand. "He gave it to me. I owe him my ability to fight at this level, and I intend to pay my debt."

Kalmin pulls his Anti-Green ring out of his pocket and lays it on his anvil. "I made these to run without personal lanterns. Their users weren't supposed to live long enough to need to recharge. Lantern Jordan destroyed the Anti-Green Lantern Central Power Battery. I only have this one because I was still working on it when the final confrontation happened, and it only has as much charge as it has."

"Can you build green personal lanterns? Ones which don't kill the users after twenty four hours?"

He tenses and relaxes the muscles in his shoulders. "Not… Quickly. The Guardians jealously guard their control of the green light. Making my original Central Power Battery required me to work around their protections, and they've improved them since. If you brought me some Green Lanterns I could hijack their equipment without too much difficulty, but given how you were treating with those three I doubt that you'd like my methods."

"Anything less evil?"

"Hmm." He strokes his chin with his left hand. "A parallel universe, perhaps? One without Guardians?"

Blue-Me's files made no mention of Guardians… "And you could make one if you went there?"

"Parallel universes aren't an area I've studied in any depth. Maybe. If the green light worked similarly there to how it does here, I could make a lantern that maintained the connection. How soon would you want it?"

"Probably sooner than that method would allow."

"I can understand wanting to take to the field again, but why do you need to hurry?"

"Alan's a very old man. Something… About what the Guardians did to Yalan Gur's ring, caused green light to bleed into his soul. At this point, he's partially elemental. If he gets a replacement ring-."

Kalmin's eyes widen, which is a little disturbing to see in a Qwardian. "He could become as the Guardians are."

"He'd rejuvenate and have a much longer lifespan. I don't.. really care about anything else. As it is he's in danger of dying soon, so…"

"I assume that a twenty four hour extension-?"

"No. Any other ideas?"

"The yellow light is… Not entirely incompatible with the green. This.. Alan of Earth. Does he inspire great fear?" An image of 'Boss Scott' of Earth -14 appears in my mind. "If he is a warrior of great notoriety, it may be possible-."

"I don't think yellow is… His colour. What about blue?"

Kalmin frowns. "Hope? What use is hope? Hope is a poison, a trap for the spirit. It encourages gormless passivity rather than action. What is the value in hope?"

"You mean, like a whole series of Qwardian leaders hoping that they'd be the ones to break into the Golden Obelisk and so causing your civilisation to develop technologically and imperialistically?"

"That…" His frown deepens. "I don't think that was hope."

"Or you yourself. You could have just walked into Krama Dhu with a quarrel of qwa-bolts and forced Varnathon to either kill you or be killed and replaced. I don't think that you were staying at home because you were afraid, so what was it? Was it a wish that something else would happen, some honourable option that you hoped existed but could not see for yourself? How many years did that keep you going?"

His frown deepens further. "Hmm."

"Fear might drive people, but hope causes them to drive themselves on. And they're generally happier about it than they are about being afraid. Are you telling me you can't see a use for that sort of ability?"

Slowly, he starts to smile. "What a novel idea. You might be on to something, alien. I'll start looking into it at once."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Rapprochement

30th August
06:13 GMT -4

"…review of the LexPharma research schedule at seven, followed by a meeting with the department heads at nine."

I watch through the hush tube as Lex nods to Ms Graves, taking a bite from his jam-covered muffin as he does so. Strawberry, if I'm any judge. There's a small pot of coffee which the two of them appear to be sharing. Ms Graves appears to favour muesli.

Rather domestic.

Ms Graves' eyes move from her tablet to Lex's face as she moves to the next item. "The interim report from the Special Projects auditors is at one, but that can easily be moved if the meeting or lunch overrun."

I stride through. "Or you could just-" Lex chokes slightly and Ms Graves shoots to her feet, gun arm prepped. "-cancel the whole thing." I grin and spread my arms wide as if offering to hug any volunteers. "Because I'm baaaack!"

Ms Graves' eyes flick to her employer, who is trying to dislodge muffin from his windpipe without appearing at all unsettled.

"And I bring you the gift of seeds!" I toss a sack of Deca seeds to the floor next to the table they're eating from. "Trust me, those things are amazing."

"Grauhugh." Lex takes a breath, then a sip of water. "Grayven. You look well."

"You have no idea how good it was to get away from this planet and go somewhere where I could just ram fixes through." I gesticulate. "See arsehole, cut arsehole in half with giant sword. I needed that so much."

"I'm.. glad to hear that your vacation went well. Might I enquire as to-" He raises his eyebrow at the seed sack. "-where you went?"

"If you're still alive in sixty years, look towards Vega and you might see me waving." I grin. "But what have you been up to?"

Lex sighs faintly, then makes a small motion with his right hand which prompts Ms Graves to sit down and stow her gun. "Damage control, mostly. The regulatory regime LexCorps is now forced to operate under is onerous in the extreme. I've had.. feelers out, trying to acquire assets that might have been missed when the businesses owned by other members of the Light were…"

"Brutally slaughtered like the Pig-Dogs they were?"

"…yes." He sighs again. "Unfortunately, the legitimate parts of the businesses they owned were owned with several cut outs between them and any overt criminality. I suspect that their managers are quite happy knowing that their late employers will no longer be making any demands on them, but that does mean that my leverage is unusually limited."

"I'll have a poke around. I know Savage's next of kin, I'm sure I can sort something out."

"I imagine that the entire Human race is descended from the late Mister Savage to some degree."

"No, his actual heir. A woman he raised to be a majordomo, or.. something." I take a step towards the table and crouch down. "But what about the other thing?"

"The.. other thing, Grayven?"

"Yes, the other thing." He looks somewhat blank. "The other thing? You know, I persuaded Horne and Lane not to have you killed, then I came here and we had a little chat?"

"I.. remember the incident extremely well."

"And… I said that I wanted you to assemble.. a group..? People with skills on a level with the late members of the Light, but less stupid? You remember that, right?" Lex looks impassive. I turn to Ms Graves. "You.. remember that, right? I didn't just stroke the whole thing, did I?"

"Grayven." Lex sighs. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't fulfill that demand. Every one of my.. contacts in that sphere is avoiding me like I'm a plague-bearing Rat. They believe that having contact with me risks bringing down the wrath of the government, the Justice League, or worse, you. And if they weren't..? Why would I bring them and risk losing their skills on the end of your sword because you did not consider them to be suitably 'rational'?"

"You-. You.. mean you haven't got anyone?" Whaw, I was… Not expecting that. "I mean, we're not exactly short of supervillains around here."

"Oh, certainly. I imagine that I could dodge DMA snipers for just about long enough to make contact with a few utter unknowns. People who would add little to your efforts. Would you like me to write down their contact details for you?"

I screw up my face. "No? Of course not. I just…" My hands flap around as I try to organise my thoughts on the issue. "They didn't even have to be supervillains. I thought you'd-."

"I'm not a miracle worker, Mister Grayven. As things stand I'm not even certain how much I can help you. Though do feel free to destroy my window again: I've almost gotten to the point where I miss Superman doing that."

This… Is… Disappointing. And irritating. I lower my head slightly, sighing under my breath. "Can I assume that -if you can do so without being shot- you're still interested in participating?"

"I tolerated Klarion. I'm sure that I can tolerate you."

My jaw tightens, and I jab my right forefinger at him. "Not an intelligent thing to say to me, Mister Luthor." Okay. "Right, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to find people instead. I'm going to talk to them about our ideology and how working with us serves their interests too. And you don't get a veto anymore! I'll just pick people, and they'll… And they'll turn up, and you can like it or lump it! I was not expecting you to fail to network."

Lex appears unfazed, taking a small sip of coffee as I try to get my breathing under control. There's a quiet 'clink' as he sets his cup down in its saucer. "And.. I.. wish you the best of luck. I'm not sure where you hope to find such people-."

"You'd be amazed where I can find people."

"I'll look forward to meeting them. Have you…" He gestures to his table with his right hand. "Had.. breakfast? I'm sure that we can-."

"I'll be eating breakfast in two hours with my household, thank you very much." I turn away from them. "Mother Box, boom tube."

BOOM!

Ugh, but where am I actually going? The Mountain? No, I'd just be hanging around. Tamaran? No, I should get on this recruitment thing as soon as possible.

Who's going to be awake and active at this time of day?

…

30th August
09:16 GMT -1

I stride through the portal and into the Venturian palace, couriers looking around as I approach the table around which she and her inner circle are seated. "Queen Clea, sorry to barge in like this-."

She straightens slightly on her throne-like chair at the head of the table. "I would be astonished if that were true."

"Okay, it's not. I'm just being polite."

"Thank Atlan for small mercies." She puts down a scroll. "Since you're here, I assume that you want something. Are you going to tell me what it is, or do you want to pontificate for a little while first?"

"The second, obviously." I fold my arms behind my back and start pacing across the area in front of the throne. "I'm putting together a little coterie-."

"I've participated in those before. I can't say that I enjoyed the experience. Or profited much by it."

"This is more of a think tank than a fighting force. Like-minded individuals pooling resources in order to achieve greater things than they could by themselves. If you're interested, I'm planning a get-together in a few days. You can get to know the other invitees, see if you think they're people you could work with."

"Anyone I know?"

"Hopefully one at least."

"Hm." She thinks for a moment. "My biggest problem at the moment remains what it was the first time we spoke: King Orin. What do you think that your 'coterie' could do about that?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Resolution

12th September
18:13 GMT

Dox and I walk side by side along the upper gantry over Ranx's ventral docking bay. Below us, the dock crew are busy making ready our latest aid transport to Tillettit in Sector Four Nine Five. Most of them are Urrigen natives. Their new government is strongly anti-Reach, and leapt at the chance to join Dox's mutual defence pact. While I've been rushing around trying to make sure that the women I intervened to aid actually have something to look at once their sight is restored, Dox has been working on his war plans. Involving a world the Reach already made a run on is a bit of a risk, but historically the Reach have responded to temporary setbacks by holding off and watching carefully.

"In some ways, this is a useful test of our processes."

"That wasn't why I did it, and I do appreciate-."

"Your primary function here is to train new Lanterns in your methods, so that they remain sane and focused. You have now spent several days not doing that."

"I couldn't very well leave their country in turmoil."

"You did not have to create turmoil. Once you made your initial assessment, you should have realised that intervention would do more harm than good without the application of resources we are ill-disposed to provide in a location far from Reach space."

"They're late nineteenth century at most. It shouldn't require that much to-."

"I ran the social dynamics equations. Their society may not have technically been a theocracy, but it was strongly organised around their religious practices. And now that authority has gone. Violent crime will increase by between one hundred and eighty and two hundred and twenty percent, depending on precisely how well Lantern Coutara can take charge of the situation."

"And in the long term?"

He glares at me for a fraction of a second. "There are too many unknown variables to calculate with any accuracy." He heads towards the edge of the gantry and stands ramrod straight, hands behind his back. "This is a vast investment of time and effort which is unlikely to see any return within the foreseeable future. I do not want this repeated."

I walk up beside him and lean on the railing. "While I'll avoid setting out with the intention of doing something like this, I'm afraid this sort of thing will probably just come with running a Corps of Orange Lanterns. If you ask us to do something we don't want to-."

His eyes narrow slightly. "You will all disobey."

"Part of your job is finding out how to make sure that doesn't happen. I do realise that that won't come as easily as-."

"My Lord Illustres!"

Lantern Coutara zips up to our level and comes to a halt in the air in front of me, her eye sockets still glowing orange. We have offered her replacement eyes, either cloned or cybernetic, but she's turned it down. Made some comment about not being able to get used to them after so long. Which could be a genuine medical thing; I seem to remember that phantom limb syndrome is a result of the brain repurposing bits of itself when areas of input vanish. Her brain would relearn to see eventually, but the ring can show her the world around her immediately.

"Lantern Coutara, I'm not a 'lord'."

She pauses for a moment, then nods. "As.. you say, Illustres. We are ready to depart. It.. seems that my desires relating to my homeland-" Her environmental shield flares as she says it. "-are still sufficiently strong that I am the best choice for creating the required spatial warp."

"Hardly surprising. Are you adjusting alright?"

"That…" She half turns in the air, looking down to where Lantern Taranna is laughing as one of Ratchet's people decides that she's looking down and therefore needs a hug. "Doesn't matter. My daughter is, and that does."

"Have you..? Had a chance to look at the briefing material.. on-?"

"The Reach?" She turns back towards me and nods. "Yes."

"Please understand that our offer of help to your people is not conditional on-."

"No, I understand." She nods decisively. "And once my country is stabilised in a way that is not evil, I will return here to aid you." She smiles demurely. "My daughter is quite taken with the Princesses."

"I thought that they might serve as positive role models." I lean slightly to my left. "And she also appears to be quite taken with-."

Coutara's face sobers. "I will be chastising them both for behaving so in public momentarily."

"Alright, well, dismissed. The sooner you get home, the sooner things start getting fixed."

She performs her people's version of a salute, both hands rising to obscure her eye sockets. Then she flips in the air and flies back towards Lantern Taranna, whose cybernetic eyes widen as she tries to persuade her new friend to let her go in a hurry.

"And then there's that."

I wince. "I.. am her line manager. She does.. strictly speaking.. report to me."

"The entire Corps believes that I am your secretary. That is not what I agreed to."

"Alright. What would you like me to do about it?"

"Go home."

…

"Igd-? What?"

"You have explained your methodology. Lanterns Koriand'r and Komand'r are both perfectly capable practical instructors. Your interstellar teleportation ability means that in the event of an incident you can return here within a minuscule span of time. And I imagine that you will find things on Earth which will keep you occupied without causing me any further difficulty."

"Um. Yes..? What about the missing rings?"

"Controller Vosk Vit Vorlanni believes that he can remotely drain them using the Central Power Battery, or at the very least prevent their use. Construct-rings are apparently different enough from true rings that he can do so without affecting our operations at all."

"And the Ophidian? I was going to supervise putting her in the-?"

"I've already spoken to Hinon; she's ready at the Central Power Battery now." Dox has stopped looking at me. "I will call you when your return is required."

I stand up straight, come to attention and salute, letting my environmental shield flare just a little so that some of the people below will look this way and see me deferring to Dox's authority. "Sir. I will depart shortly."

"Good."

No salute back… Though to be fair, Coluans don't have an equivalent gesture.

Right then. I.. guess I'm going back to Earth.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Converse

13th September
15:34 GMT -5

"Identification confirmed."

Kon's face lights up even as he charges across the intervening space and matches my embrace, nearly knocking me off my feet as we come together. "Yeah, hello Kon."

He lets me go and backs up a pace, still beaming. "Two months, you didn't call once!"

"How was I supposed to do that?"

"What, they don't have phones in outer space?"

"Not ones that reach Earth, no. And I knew Guy wasn't here and I didn't want Alan wasting charge with personal messages."

He huffs theatrically. "Fine, but you gotta tell us everything that happened."

"Of course! With a power ring I don't even need slides!" Might… Leave out some of the mass-killing…

Kon nods and steps to the side as Kaldur approaches. "It is good to see you again." He offers me his right hand.

Ah, heck. I ignore it, step forward and hug him too. He stiffens a little, then with a quiet laugh decides to just go with it, letting go the moment I do.

**And M'gann! Hello to you-** She drifts through the air, puts her hands on my shoulders and kisses me lightly on the left cheek. **-as well. And -deadly serious- whatever you do, don't try looking into Ms Blaze's mind.**

**Ah, okay, but why?**

"Angelica." Kaldur offers Blaze his hand, and she politely shakes it exactly once. "Welcome to Mount Justice."

Canis looks mildly interested. "Have you brought us a new team mate already?"

"No, he most certainly has not." Yes, she might have picked her current visage in order to fit in with a group of teenagers, but it looks like her attitude hasn't changed at all. That could make this more awkward than it has to be. "I will be joining the Justice League to replace Doctor Fate. I will simply be staying here-."

"Because it's warded and the Light is trying to kill her."

"Barely warded." She grimaces. "If I can feel the greenery outside already. Do you really think this place can keep me safe?"

Kaldur takes her attitude in stride. "There is a grove of trees on top of the mountain tended by a Dryad. By combining her green magic and the Mountain's wards, other arcane signatures are made harder to detect than they would be by warding alone."

Canis sniffs. "And if you are to join the Justice League, should you not be able to defend yourself?"

"She's going to have some work done. We-."

Her eyes literally flame for a moment as she looks Kaldur over, then she turns her attention to me. "Please tell me that you've got someone more highly skilled than an adolescent Atlantean warrior."

Canis' hand goes to his mega rod. "I do not appreciate your attitude." "Welcome to the pack, omega."

I hold out my right palm in his direction. "Cranius isn't returning my calls, but I'd be happy to hire the most skilled biomancers in Atlantis for you. Otherwise, Kal-El was going to have a word with your father, and this may be the first thing that you've ever done that he'd actually approve of."

Kaldur raises his eyebrows at me. "Why would you wish to employ biomancers?"

I grin more than a little manically as I float the large case I brought with me forwards. Oh, hang on… "Is Zatanna here?"

Kon shakes his head. "No, she-."

"Paul." M'gann mock-scowls. "Haven't you gone to see her yet?"

"I was… Tomorrow?" M'gann looks unimpressed. "I went to see Alan, then Diana, then Batman had a job for me…"

M'gann smiles as her hands go to her hips. "And then Jade."

"Oh, you.. know about that?"

Kon nods. "Artemis called to tell us. I don't think she really believes it's happening."

I raise my hands in protest. "I wasn't that b-."

"This box feels strange." Canis is holding his hands over the case, frowning. "I feel a.. certain presence…"

I walk around the case and take hold of the lid. "No one tell Zatanna I've got these."

I crack the lid slightly, and Kaldur's already recoiling. Yeah, I can't feel a thing but for a magic-user these things do rather stand out. As I open it fully Canis frowns with curiosity, M'gann gasps and covers her mouth with her right hand and Kon makes an expression of intense distaste.

A pair of brilliant white wings lies inside the case, thin trails of silver blood dripping from the severed end of each. Canis dips his right fore and middle fingers into the small pool they've made and then brings them to his nose, sniffing them and then licking them clean.

"No one here's Christian, right?"

Kaldur blinks. "You mean to say..?"

"Gabriel doesn't need them where he is." I close the case. "Is the arcane laboratory still where I left it?"

"Yes, but I.. do not believe we have the facilities for attaching an Angel's wings to someone."

"Proper storage of reagents, Kaldur."

"I am unsure as to whether any Atlantean would be able to perform such a procedure. We do not commonly involve ourselves in the affairs of Angels."

M'gann moves her hand a little away from her mouth. "What.. happened to their.. owner?"

"The First of the Fallen crushed his heart and sent him to Hell." I frown. "Wait, why is this a surprise? Where did you think I was getting my Angel feather rounds from?"

"A single feather? Not… Two whole.. wings…"

"The metal for the Ace of Winchesters, then. And I'm sure that if Gabriel knew we were using them as weapons against Demons, he'd feel slightly better about the whole thing."

Very slightly.

Kon doesn't look much happier. "Batman was okay with this?"

"With letting Angelica stay here? Yes. I didn't ask him about all of the specifics. But the League needs a Satanus-counter, and we're-" I smile at Blaze. "-going to make one for him."

Kaldur nods. "That would be strategically beneficial. And -given your history- he could not honestly claim to be surprised that you were prepared to use extreme methods."

"No." I turn away and head towards the corridor towards the laboratory. "'Extreme' would have been killing Gabriel myself. This is just making good use of available resources." I turn my head back in their direction. "Look, I'll drop this off and get Blaze situated, then we can all catch up. Oh, and Kon? Do you have any plans for tomorrow after school?"

"Ah… No? Why?"

"I've sorted things out with Diana and Batman, but I still need to square things with Kal-El. And the one thing I know he likes is Kryptonian memorabilia, so I thought that the two of us could take a trip to the Rao system and see if there was anything to pick up. Sound like fun?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Resurrectionists

16th September
08:23 GMT +2

Adom smiles as I fly through the air towards the balcony of his private suite. "Paul. Good morning."

"Good morning, Adom." I land lightly and walk towards him, right hand extended. He mirrors the gesture, our hands clasping the other's forearm for a moment before letting go.

"How does Blaze fare?"

"The greatest magic users in Atlantis are working on the problem. She's not exactly enjoying the process, but she's keeping the moaning to within reasonable bounds." He nods, and gestures to the balcony table. I walk around to the far side and sit and he takes the near-side seat. "Do my eyes and ears deceive me, or is Miss Tomaz giving you a moment's peace?"

"My.. relationship with Adrianna-" My eyebrows rise. "-has… Improved, somewhat."

"Oh?"

"After.. discussing the matter in.. plain terms, she has come to accept that my respect for her is genuine. It… Amused her to test that respect in certain ways."

"What ways would that be?"

"Several Governorates had altered their laws to the disfavour of the women and girls who lived there. Though I do not believe that is a good policy, I had stated that I would not interfere with the abilities of the governors to set education policy. She demanded that I alter my decision."

"That is asking a lot of you. And them."

"I ruled Kahndaq for eighty years. I did learn something of subtlety."

"Then how did you square that circle?"

"I called a meeting for the educational advisors of every governor to discuss.. ways in which our methods could be improved. I gave Adrianna the opportunity to lecture them, and to field their complaints herself. I nodded, I thanked her for her input, but I did not state that her thoughts on the subject were to become national policy. Nor did I state that they were in accord with my own."

"You didn't break your word, but they're all sure what you want to happen, and.. given how popular you are, it's almost certain that it will happen." Adom nods. "And she was happy with that?"

"So long as it works, she will be."

"And what else?"

His eyes move away, and his face tightens slightly. "She said that.. if I were to become her husband, she would-. She wished to know that I could be informal. She did not wish for our children to 'have a statue for a father'."

"Adom, you are my friend and I am not sure that you can be informal."

He nods. "It was a challenge. I.. decided that… Perhaps the best way to convince her would be… If I composed a love poem for her. Without the assistance of the gods."

"I didn't know you were a poet." Though I suppose that it's not a total surprise. Nobles in ancient civilisations-.

"I am not. My tutors tried to instruct me in such matters, but I did not take to it."

"So..?"

"I attempted to woo her with a clumsy and amateurish poem. In front of witnesses. She was… Amused."

"How amused?"

"It was some time before she could steady herself. The other witnesses… I believe that they are behaving as the courtiers in 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and pretending that it did not happen." I'm trying to imagine it, and the image just won't form. "She demanded that I give her a written copy of the poem. Naturally, I acquiesced."

"Are you.. getting married, or were those just the prerequisites for being allowed to court her?"

"We are.. courting. She has accepted the Amulet of Isis as a token of our betrothal, though she has not sought to reach out to the goddess as yet." He leans back slightly. "And what of you and Miss Nguyen? You.. have spoken to her, yes?"

"Third place I went. I… Didn't have to compose a poem, but…" I'm smiling. "We're definitely courting."

Adom nods. "Have you spoken to her father?"

I nod happily. "Yes, and he didn't raise any concerns. Though to be honest, Jade is rather closer to her mother. And I already had a good relationship with her. I can't introduce her to my family, of course, but I'm taking her to meet Alan on Sunday." Hm. "I was.. wondering..? It's a bit of a personal question…"

"Please."

"You told me about your father, but I don't think you've ever mentioned your mother."

"Her name was Aneksi. She was my father's senior wife. She died of malaria when I was… Seven, I think." His eyes narrow slightly as he gazes into the distance. "I have only scattered recollections of interacting with her and I.. am unable to clearly recall her face." His face relaxes as he turns his head towards me. "Though I do remember that she was not so outspoken as Adrianna."

"Would you..? Do you want to see her again?" He raises his eyebrows. "Necromancy doesn't have the same connotations here that it does in Europe. I imagine that Lord Anubis would allow a brief conversation."

"Were I.. younger… Perhaps. But I do not fear that she would not approve. And with so much time passed, I would rather leave her to her rest." I nod. "Now, I have a question for you." I nod, eyebrows raised. "The last thing that Adrianna asks of me is that I find her brother. Since she has no other family, it is.. appropriate that he stand with her when we are joined. I do not believe that he is in Kahndaq, but there are a great many places in the world where I do not go for fear of their rulers coming to believe that I am threatening them. I have no great skill with magic, but those auguries I have been able to perform tell me nothing. If there is some technique you know that could aid me, it would be a great help to me if you would use it."

Ring, on the off chance something has changed…

Unable to detect.

"Standard ring scans still don't find him. I can put you in touch with better magicians if you like. But…"

I talked the process for quintessence waveform scans over with Hinon, and once she got over her need to express faux-surprise at my survival she was actually quite helpful. With the right constructs and existing slightly outside the physical universe it should be possible for me to do one without the Ophidian… Not exactly fun though.

"I'm happy to attempt a quintessence waveform scan for you, but I can't promise that I'll get anything useful. Last time I did one I had a clone of the person I was looking for standing right in front of me so I knew what I was trying to find. It's quite possible that I'll find his location and fail to recognise him."

Adom nods. "I understand. I would be grateful if you would attempt it anyway."

"Might take a while. If I'm still out of it in five hours, try to wake me." He nods.

Alright then. Rings, we've got a sample of Miss Tomaz's late parent's genetic material. There are only so many combinations Amon could have. That's what we're looking for. Understand?

Instruction internalised. / Get thing!

Close enough. Rings, quintessence waveform scan.

Colours and shapes, forms and ideas flash past, surround and confound me. Quarks dance and particles of brick are torn from their greater whole by the wind and the earth churns and the light from the stars impacts on-. Gah! This is.. harder without an inhuman mind used to this sort of thing! Come on, this shape, something in this shape-.

EVERYTHING=NOTHING

I tumble from my chair-. Ow! What? I raise my right hand-. My environmental shield is out. Not weak, not guttering, out.

"Paul, were you successful?"

I keep watching, and painfully slowly my shield creeps back around my body.

"No. No I wasn't. But whoever took Amon isn't a conventional gang."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Alienated

29th September
07:17 GMT -6

Ms Wor-Ul barely looks up from her weeding as I step off the veranda of her house, a crate containing some of the nicer Kryptonian relics from Amalak's hoard in my right hand. "What do you want?"

I stop on the soil and squint at her tub of weeds. "Why are you doing that?"

"Preserving my cover." Her hands move quick, faster than a Human could with any accuracy. Not super fast, though. "The fields need weeding, I don't want to risk hiring someone else to do it."

She-. How did-? Ah, she's not squatting on the ground, she's floating just off it in a squatting position, moving along as she eliminates the invading plantlife from everywhere within arm's reach. That sort of precise-and-constant-movements-that-she's-not-really-thinking-about flight is pretty hard to do, and I speak from personal experience there.

"And you can't use weed killer because..?"

"Do you have any idea what Earth weed killers do to Kryptonian plants?"

Fair point. Probably. I actually don't know if they do anything…

"Alright, but you could probably get some sort of drone-weeder..?"

She looks up, frowning at me like I've said something particularly stupid. "How could I justify Kirsten Wells affording something like that?"

"Stealth.. drone weeder..?" Yeah, okay. "Anyway, while I was out going to and fro across the universe and walking up and down on it-."

"Spare me. I get enough bible quotes from the locals."

"I picked up a few things that might interest you." I hold the case out slightly in her direction.

"Why, did you go to Krypton?" She stands, peeling off her weeding gloves as she does so. "If that's a crate full of glowing rocks I'm not exactly going to be impressed."

"Ms Wor-Ul, I have no desire at all to harm you. I came across some artefacts of Kryptonian origin and you were the first person I thought of."

She frowns as she walks towards me. "And not the boy scout or your friends Kon-El and Match? Interesting choice."

"You're the only Kryptonian I know who's actually from Krypton." I crouch as she reaches me, laying the case on the ground in front of me. "Of course, if you don't want it I imagine that Kal-El will be only too happy to take it off my hands."

"Alright." She crouches down in front of the case and opens the clasps. "Let's see what you've found in the galactic flea markets..." She opens the lid and there's a very slight intake of breath. I can see the shock in her eyes that momentarily breaks through her usually controlled manner. She actually hesitates in commenting on it, gently picking up some sort of.. commemorative plaque and carefully examining it. "Where did you get this?"

"It used to belong to a mercenary commander by the name of Amalak. He was something of a collector of Kryptonian memorabilia."

Her eyes start to glow. Just a little, but I'm watching for it. "I think I need to talk to him."

"Do you have supernatural powers? Sorry, heh." I look away for a moment as my desire to quote Terry Pratchett overwhelms my common sense. "I mean, he's dead, so unless you've trained as a necromancer…"

Her eyes turn upwards while the rest of her remains completely still. "How did he come by it?"

"It's a little hard to tell; between the Spider Guild and the Crown Imperium's fleet his records were in a poor state when I got access to them. From what I read-" A data crystal emerges from subspace and floats out in front of her. "-it looks like he was either hunting down surviving Kryptonians himself or-."

"Ro." She takes hold of a headband decorated with Kryptonian characters.

Ah. "I'm… Sorry. Someone you knew?"

She shakes her head slightly, returning it to the case. "Did you find anything else?"

"Yes, but I put the best bits in there."

"I'd… Like to go through it. All of it."

I nod. "Fine with me. I had a few things I wanted to discuss with you anyway."

I stand, and she takes a moment to carefully return the items she moved to exactly where they were when she opened it before closing the case again. "We knew... Someone was targeting us. I never heard the name 'Amalak'…"

"He was the more intelligent sort of mercenary commander. He was from a planet called Timaron, it was-."

"One of the Possession Worlds." Ms Wor-Ul stands, keeping a solid grip on the base of the case. "I visited it a few times."

"Anything you want to tell me?"

She shrugs as I lead the way back toward the hush tube opening. "No, not really. Technically, they were part of the Kryptonian Empire but we didn't intervene a whole lot in their internal affairs. We paid for supplies, protected their civilian shipping."

She looks around curiously as we walk through the tube and out into the command area of the Hny'xx facility. My Lanterns overran it a few days after the fall of the Citadel and managed to capture it largely intact. I've had the Genomorphs tidying things up a bit since then.

"You.. missed General Zod's putsch attempt, didn't you?"

"Mm. Heard about it. I didn't like the Science Council either but you didn't see me turning traitor."

"You went AWOL."

"Sure. That was my life, but I accepted the results of the election even though I knew it was stupid. And look what happened: Krypton got destroyed and there weren't any ships to evacuate anyone. Maybe if the General had won then we wouldn't be going extinct."

"As far as I've been able to piece together, General Zod manufactured a confrontation with the government of Timaron and carried out an orbital strike. The resulting dust clouds nearly wiped out the planet's population. Amalak got evacuated as a child, but most of his species died."

Her face twitches. "Rao. I knew the General was a nasty piece of work, but… That…"

"Did you ever meet him?"

"He wasn't even born when I left." She looks around again. "What is this place?"

"This is where they were growing the new generation of Citadelians. Essentially, it's a giant cloning facility." I stop and look at her. "Do you want it?"

She frowns. "Me? What for? I don't have any use for Citadelians."

"As you said, your species is on the verge of extinction. I have a staff experienced in cloning Kryptonians and the best facilities you're likely to find, as well as plenty of Kryptonian genetic records. I would rather your species did not slip into non-existence, and I would like a Kryptonian to be in charge of the project. Interested?"

Her eyes widen slightly. "Defences?"

"Isolated location, and I can have two hundred Lanterns here within a few minutes. And… Ten as a standing garrison? Plus fixed weapons, epic shields and interdiction fields as well as conventional soldiers."

"I-." She averts her eyes and shakes her head. "I'm not a scientist, I can't-."

"You're a military commander. This means that you have organisational skills. And you also have a knowledge of Kryptonian sociology that no one else does. No one else could raise a new generation to be Kryptonians rather than monochrome Tamaranians."

"It's… A lot to think about." She stares about us. "I'll need to look over the whole place."

I nod. "Of course. I've planned out a tour. Oh, and one other thing. Since you raised the point about defences…" I generate a construct image. "You'll never guess what we found buried underneath Texas…"

 

[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]

Mandated

22nd October
06:13 GMT +8

I feel a moment of disorientation-.

"…intervention of the Chinese army under General Wu in the Autumn of sixteen fifty seven, the war shifted decisively in favour of crown prince Shukoh Dara, so preventing…"

I open my eyes, reaching out across the bed for-. No, a warm patch, but she's already up. I blink a couple of times, then push myself upwards into a sitting pos-.

"I don't know how you sleep through that."

Jade is -naturally- already dressed, a towel around her hair showing that she's showered as well. She glances at me as she pulls her tunic's right sleeve over one of her concealed knives. Green tunic with the gold pagoda emblem of the Imperial Security Agency… That explains why the alarm went off at all.

"I.. thought that you.. weren't working today."

"I'm not, but I have a training course for my next promotion." Satisfied with the positioning, she drops her right arm to test the movement of the material. "It would be unwise for me not to attend."

I turn and shuffle to the edge of our bed before lowering my legs to the floor. "You need a better union." I stand, trying to work out what I should wear. Lantern Fang's message made it sound like an informal event, but I know for a fact that his ideas of 'informal' and mine are a rather long way apart. I stroll over to the wardrobe and pull open the door. Let's.. go with.. black tunic suit with orange-.

"Unless someone died, I don't recommend it."

I close my eyes for a moment. She probably-. No, certainly knows better than me, but I can't just let that go. "Yes Madam Controller. What would Madam Controller suggest?"

"Hm." She walks up behind me, looking at my selection around my left side. "The red tunic with the blue trousers. The style shows that you've thought to dress formally and so respect his position, and the colours indicate your relative inexperience and desire to grow."

As good as anything else, I suppose. I'm still not.. entirely comfortable with these sorts of.. intense colour in a formal setting, but… When in Datong… I lift out the tunic and trousers and a.. simple white shirt, and then turn to lay them on our bed while I take off my pyjamas. I get a momentary look at myself in our bedroom mirror as I pull my pyjama top over my head, and use a burst of orange light to tidy myself up. Jade was heading for the kitchen, but turns back at the doorway with a small smile on her face to watch me dress.

"Would you like me to make the alarm louder?"

"No, I just-" I push my right arm through the shirt's sleeve. "-haven't got used to this time zone yet. I'll adapt, and I don't want to drive you-" I leave the shirt open to display my chest as I slide off my bottoms. "-out of bed."

"Didn't you used to use your ring for that?"

"I couldn't drive you out of bed with my ring, Jade. I'd have to want to."

She rolls her eyes. "That isn't what I meant. You've been using your ring for fewer things since you got back."

Alas, this is now a pants on conversation. "Yess. When I was on.. Maltus, I got a full explanation of what orange light exposure could do to a person. And.. when I met Larfleeze I.. got a.. very good look at the end result. I wouldn't hesitate in an actual fight, but… I'm going to be cutting back a bit."

Her eyes dip very slightly as she considers the ramifications. "You'll need to tell Lord Fang."

"That's what back to work interviews are all about." I button the last button on my tunic and follow Jade as she leads the way into the kitchen. She opens the microwave as I bend down to take my oat porridge and her rice porridge out of the fridge and pass them to her. "That and sparring. That's the one thing about me that Lantern Fang actually likes. And I'm sure that First Lantern Sinestro has told him about our encounter."

Weird as this continuity is, I'm rather glad that their Sinestro is still on the strait and narrow. He's.. quite a bit better than me with a power ring. And was more than happy to prove it when I showed my face in his Sector.

"That's not the only thing Lord Fang likes about you. It's just the only thing he's told you that he likes about you. He has the authority to call you in for sparring whenever he likes; he wouldn't choose to operate with someone he didn't get on with."

I nod. I suspected, but given the very real conflicts we've had… "Is your.. training going to be all day?"

"No, until mid-afternoon. I'll be back this afternoon." Something occurs to her. "Mother wants to know when we can visit my parents for dinner."

"That.. depends on what assignment Lantern Fang gives me. Unless he says 'thanks, but no thanks', in which case my schedule is open until Dox calls me." She nods. "The.. Colonel.. isn't going to try and put me through one of his 'training exercises' this time, is he?"

Ah, the Colonel. Former nationalist terrorist and currently the highest ranking Zero Team field officer. Zero Teams are called that due to the odds of members surviving their first mission. They're not actually zero now, but for a period of time during the Durlan War it was pretty close to that and even a veteran wouldn't have high odds of surviving more than three missions. How their members are selected is a fairly novel concept that I was only familiar with from the imperial guard: they recruit criminals with military backgrounds. If they survive a certain number of missions, they get a pardon. If they die, their debt to society is considered paid and they get an honourable funeral. Sort of like the canaries or a less secret Suicide Squad.

In theory it makes sense: high powered super functionaries are thin on the ground. On the other hand, violent criminals are common. In the event of a super powered attack, it's more likely that violent criminals will be close to it than a super functionary who would stand a realistic chance of stopping it. And if they can't, the super functionary following them in will be better informed of the nature of the threat.

Committing a violent assault while a serving member of the military might result in a survivable tariff of one or two missions. The Colonel… Lawrence Crock, was given a 'die with honour' tariff of thirty missions, and by a combination of skill and tenacity actually lived through them. And after he was released he came right back and put in for officer training because he'd found those fights more fulfilling than anything he'd ever done before.

I think he's mental. And so does most of the military. He thinks I'm a bit of a wuss. And by his standards he's almost certainly right.

"Mother spoke with him about that, and he won't."

"Thank you. And I'll.. thank her as well."

"You shouldn't let him intimidate you so much."

"Everyone gets intimidated by the Colonel."

"I don't-." Her jaw clenches, and I notice as a half-second later she realises that she snapped at me. Her eyes move aside and she shuffles her left leg-.

I walk up to her, bend slightly and kiss her lightly on the lips. Then I pull back slightly and smile affectionately down at her, prompting her to exhale with a sort of pleased irritation.

"Actually…" She looks me in the eye. "That reminds me."

"Clearly I need to kiss you more often, then."

"Will Lady Yifei be at your 'return to work' interview?"

"I.. don't know. I haven't seen her since I got back. I'm not even sure if she's on Earth. I mean, I'll.. ask after her-."

"She got back to Earth yesterday." She smiles. "Now is the perfect time to ask her out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Embattled

23rd October
21:03 GMT -5

There's a noticeably different feel to the audience than last time I was on Ms Manning's show. For one thing, there aren't any empty seats in the audience. For another, she looks much less happy with me. To an actual journalist, the fact that I've been uncharacteristically unhelpful to anyone asking me questions must have been a bit obvious; I mean, even Dana worked it out.

Or.. maybe it's because I went on Ms Grant's show first.

But, now is the time to be totally-

"Orange Lantern, my first question is fairly obvious. There's been a lot of speculation online and in the press about exactly what sort of fruit you might have stolen to draw an angel's attention. The obvious possibility is that you stole an apple from the Garden of Eden-"

-honest.

"-and unlikely as that-"

I raise my right hand slightly. "Ah?"

"-seems…" She raises her eyebrows.

"Yes, that's exactly where I took it from." There's a sharp intake of breath from the audience. And a lot fewer smiles. "Though I should point out that they're not apples. They're pomegranates. I entered the Garden of Eden uninvited and stole a fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I did this with the intention of feeding it to a demon in an attempt to give her the ability to make moral decisions rather than act in a purely malevolent way."

"Ah-" She blinks, but swiftly recovers "-and did it work?"

"It.. appears to have done so. Testing is in the early stages, and we don't really have anything to compare it to. The subject is.. more than a little traumatised." I shrug. "She only just gained the capacity to feel guilt and she's got a lot to feel-"

"God damn you!" / "You call yourself a hero?!"

"-guilty about."

"That angel should of burned you!"

Ms Manning turns towards the audience as an increasing number rise to their feet, shouting. "Please. I understand-."

"-lesbian whores like Sodom and Gomorrah!"

"I understand that you're upset, but-."

The shouting continues, and Ms Manning's eyes dart towards the bouncers. I glance down, shaking my head slightly. Then I generate a construct above our heads showing the words 'You have questions. I can't answer them if you keep shouting over me. Silencing in 5.'

Some quieten down, and some of them even sit back down. The rest… I suppose that 'heretic scum' is fair enough, and I am mildly impressed that they knew the word 'heretic', but… Gosh, I hadn't realised that people were still prepared to say things like that about Themyscira.

But the 5 ticks down to 1, and I generate sound deadening constructs on either side of the seating area and activate them. The noise drops off immediately, then dies almost completely as I fine tune the area effect.

"I'm sorry about that. Feel free to shout at me on your own time, but stop ruining it for everyone else. But if I-" I glance at Ms Manning. "-can treat some of those as actual questions?"

"You may as well."

"O-kay. You, madam." I point the first respondent out. "As I've repeatedly stated, I'm a Hellenist. So… Jehovah's opinion on the subject doesn't matter to me. I have physically entered Erebos while still alive. I know where my soul is going, and I don't regard the Silver City as the highest authority on morality. It is quite possible that if I went before the angels for judgement that I would indeed be damned. Fortunately, that will never happen."

"In answer to you sir-" The second respondent. "-while I have used the term 'superhero' to describe myself, I use it in the sense of being an altruistic costumed vigilante, not in the sense of being someone everyone should admire. And yes, while I did steal the fruit, I was giving it to someone else for their benefit and so it was an act of altruism. I quite understand if you think I should have acted differently; I just disagree."

I turn towards the third shouter. "Zauriel didn't appear interested in harming anyone who wasn't literally a demon. He was shocked and confused at what I'd done, yes, but at no point did he become angry. Please understand that 'turning the other cheek' and 'letting he who is without sin cast the first stone' weren't metaphors, but literal instructions on how Christians should conduct themselves. Demanding that holy agents kill someone is something which you are not supposed to do. What you're supposed to do is what Zauriel tried to do, which was gently and rationally persuade me that I have sinned and try and get me to change my ways. And I'm going to be more inclined to listen to him and to everyone who didn't start shouting at me than I am to you."

"I'm afraid the shouting got a little blurred together-" Just about everyone has sat back down, though a red-faced hardcore are trying to shout over the suppression system. "-but if I can address your… Point, madam. Themyscira doesn't exactly have a currency any longer. They used to, but the island has finite amounts of metal and… Well, for various reasons it just didn't make sense to.. keep using it. As such, there isn't any prostitution, because there isn't any point in making an exchange. And while there are residents who are.. open minded about sex, at this point just about everyone has settled down into stable relationships. Your description of them as 'lesbian' is inaccurate, as only a few have ever spent any time on Lesbos. Though obviously their sexual and romantic relations are almost exclusively with other women."

"And the angel who murdered the populations of Sodom and Gomorrah has been dealt with." I turn back to Ms Manning. "I'm sorry. Please carry on."

She takes a moment before carrying on. "I'm sure a lot of our viewers at home will be thinking that what you've said in.. previous interviews was somewhat misleading. The pomegranate you stole was a fruit, but it's also quite a bit more than that."

"Yes, I was deliberately misleading everyone."

"Why? You were perfectly happy to tell us now. What changed in the past few days?"

"No, this.. was always planned. I wanted people to have time to think about.. under what circumstances they'd consider it legitimate to steal a fruit, without prejudging the issue because it was their fruit."

"The fruit belonged to God."

"Yes, and I've never disputed the fact that I stole it. But as I see it… You can't steal from an omnipotent, omniscient being who wants to stop you, simply because they know and you can't overpower them. So -assuming Jehovah has those characteristics- either he wanted me to do it or flat out didn't care. Because any other position would have resulted in it not happening."

"What I meant was that you're treating stealing from God the same as stealing from anyone else."

"No, I'm treating it far less seriously. Jehovah is the only being who might be considered to own things who can effortlessly replace any of them. Therefore, stealing from him is less significant than stealing from someone who has to work for it."

"If you're confessing to theft, should we hold you here until the police arrive?"

"Um. There are questions to which I'll plead the fifth, but I don't mind being questioned by the police. The problem is, no complaint has been made to the police and very few people know to which police force such a complaint should be made. As such, unless an angel makes a complaint or I'm called to appear before a panel of archangels, it's unlikely that any proceedings could be initiated."

"What police force should the complaint be made to?"

"That's not entirely clear." Maybe the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but a reasonable argument could be made that it's extraterritorial. They might be able to get me on transporting stolen goods, though. "And I can't tell anyone without revealing how I got into Eden."

"What's wrong with that? If it's fine for you to go there, why shouldn't.. I.. have that opportunity?"

"Because while one person fishing in a lake isn't a problem, a thousand people doing it kills all of the fish. I had a good, mission-related reason for going there and I spent no more time there than I had to. Why do you want to go?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Grind

29th October
14:21 GMT +1

"…pretty sure Catherine wouldn't share that opinion."

"Why, what was wrong with it?"

Donna frowns at me as if I've said something bewilderingly stupid. "You deliberately picked a fight with your audience, then you had to use your ring to make them stop shouting."

"Yes, exactly. They had to stake their colours to the mast, then have me play a recording of an angel saying that the things that made them do that actually weren't a problem. Meaning they are, by their own terms, in the wrong."

"They don't think like that, Paul."

"True, but like the fellow in 'Thank You For Smoking' said: I wasn't after them. Unless I suddenly converted to.. some branch of Christianity or.. started my own, I was never going to keep the Christian religious right's approval. But I could give them a platform to publically demonstrate their hypocrisy, so that's what I did."

"Alright: I don't think like that."

"Do you believe that I should have let Satanus kill Blaze?"

"No."

"Do you believe that I should have helped Blaze hide somewhere where she would continue to help people damn themselves to sustain her magic?"

Donna sets her jaw. "No."

"Do you think that I should have killed her myself? Because Adom-."

"Paul."

I twitch my mouth, giving the impression that I'm trying not to laugh. "You're getting really good at doing the 'Diana' voice."

"I'm basically a clone of her. I can probably do her exact voice."

"I'll make sure to get you larger bras for Christmas, then."

Her eyes widen very slightly. "I-. Er, no what?"

"Okay, but I've seen Diana's old pictures, and if you're basically a clone-."

"Would you offer to get Kon a bigger jockstrap!?"

I blink. Yes, but… "Kon.. isn't ever going to grow, so, no. He also prefers boxer shorts-."

"What do you mean?"

"Er, Kon, not going to grow?" She nods. "It's because of how the genomorphs assembled his chimeric tissues. His hair gets longer, and.. eventually it'll go grey-" Probably. "-but that's about it. He'll always be shorter than Kal-El. Actually, he'll.. probably end up being the shortest man on the team. Unless Helios decides to do something about it."

"Why haven't you?"

"Because he's healthy and happy. I can use my power ring to.. alter people in all sorts of ways. But… I'm.. still surprised that Kon works as well as he does-. You know, as a biological organism. Of all the ways I could think of to.. alter him, none of them were… There isn't a solution that's simple and good. Nothing that just fixes the problem. Inasmuch as being at the lower end of 'average' height is a problem."

"And… What about Match?"

"Minimal chimerism. And I think Jor-El might be going to remove that. Aside from the eyes, he'll end up looking just like Kal-El."

"Okay." She nods. "But none of that makes it okay for you to make cracks about my breasts."

"I wasn't making a crack, I was making a light-hearted observation. Based on the similarities-."

"Well don't do that either."

I nod. "Noted." We begin our descent onto the volcanic soil of Mount Etna. "Am I allowed to make comments about shaving, on the grounds that I know Kon and Kal-El shave?"

"I'll.. allow it." She lands, just ahead of me. "Can we go back to talking about you offending three major world religions and how that isn't a good idea?"

"Actually, we'd moved on to how it offended you, which was why I attempted a light-hearted deflection. But alright: what do you think I should have done?"

"Asked Zauriel if you could have a fruit when you saw him in the Garden of Eden."

"So you don't have a problem with the Gabriel part of the story?"

"Yes, I have a problem with it, but that had already happened and wasn't anything to do with you. I don't… There are places that have compulsory organ donation and I don't mind that, so… Using his wings when he can't use them any more isn't necessarily bad."

"Alright, but what happens after he says no?"

"He said that he didn't have a problem with you giving her the fruit. Why would he say 'no'?"

"Because he doesn't have the authority to say 'yes'. Regardless of what he thinks of the idea-" And I'm momentarily reminded of many years ago when I worked at Asda, and a man asked me why I wasn't discounting nearly out of date fruit. "-he wouldn't do it without appropriate authorisation."

Her shoulders tense slightly. "And you don't think God would let you save a demon?"

"I don't remember him saying anything about getting orders from any god. Zauriel said that he was going to inform his king."

"Yes. That's God."

"No, the way he spoke about his god was different to the way he spoke about his king. And he directly stated that his instructions did not come from the Mind of God."

"Maybe if anyone had heard the full transcript I'd know that! This is the problem with anyone telling you what you should have done: no one knows everything you know! You don't tell anyone!"

"Not.. unreasonable. But you need to understand, the Source is not some.. sort of.. super powered Morgan Freeman. It isn't Highfather Izaya, who can do a decent impression of what most people think when they hear capital 'g' god. No one really knows why it does things or -beyond certain obvious things- that it's even what's doing them. I wouldn't even want to claim any degree of certainty that it created the Silver City."

"The Source? That's what you call God?"

"That's the most common name across the universe for the singular almighty divine power, believed to in some sense be physically located on the other side of the Source Wall. 'God' is a fairly generic name, easy to confuse with the class of being that the Source is not a part of."

"Okay, let's… Leave that. Why don't you think Zauriel's king would have said 'yes'?"

"Because Fawcett City. Because.. every atrocity ever committed, including the ones committed by them. I don't know what instructions they're operating under, or what they consider an appropriate time to intervene, but I've got enough evidence at this point to determine that it isn't the same as the one I use."

"Am I..?" Hephaestus waves his right hand as we look around. "Intruding? I thought we had a meeting, but to be honest this sounds a whole lot more interesting."