5th May
19:50 GMT +4
Wallace checks Mister Garrick's pulse and breathing, but I already know that he's... 'Fine' would be pushing it, but he's physically whole and unlikely to expire immediately. I turn to the Atlanteans.
"Tempest, check Flash Senior for lingering influence. Aquagirl, same for Max Mercury.
"
"Right." Garth jogs over to kneel next to Wallace, his tattoos lighting up. Tula just nods before heading towards Max.
"Well, that went alright." Being mildly burned by holy fire doesn't seem to have overly diminished The Demon Constantine's spirits. "Guess you'll be sendin' me back to Hell now."
"No. That didn't work last time and I'm not inclined to-.
"
General Kerimov shoulders his way out of his guard huddle and marches in my direction. "You! Lantern! Is this your doing?!"
He's clearly well past his physical prime. I'd guess that he weighs two stone less than me when I'm not wearing the power armour which I'm
currently wearing. And yet he's storming up to me in what is very clearly a fighting mood. We've probably missed our chance to get anything useful from him personally as far as this investigation goes. If we can't tie him to the demonic element we'll be relying on Kaldur to get something useful from their offices. Still...
Internal communication only.
"Tempest, if you can do it without looking obvious, put a truth compulsion effect on the General, would you? Don't activate it until I say.
"
His eyes flick up towards my faceplate and he nods. Good man.
I send my armour's helmet section into subspace and smile at our target.
"Good evening, General Kerimov.
"
"Stick your evening up your arse!" His face has reddened, but empathic vision shows that he isn't anything like as angry as he's pretending to be. His gaze slips to the side for a moment. "Why have you got some sort of bondage faggot behind you?"
"I'm afraid that Mister Constantine is under arrest and will be facing some rather serious charges.
" I'm not seeing anything that would indicate recognition, but.. then I wouldn't, necessarily.
"What, and that's how you treat people you arrest?"
"When arresting supervillains I find that it's generally best to remove anything they could use as a weapon. If he'd had tattoos I would have had to remove his skin.
"
Cold hard eyes narrow slightly, but I think I see... Approval? "Who is this... Constantine?"
Again, no indication of deceit. My goodness, someone with a possible supernatural connection who
hasn't heard of John. I'll have to tell him.
"I'm afraid that's a bit complicated, sir. And I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you a few questions before-.
"
"Fuck off. You can talk to my lawyer."
"General, are you fully aware of how the Azerbaijani legal system treats people who may be under the influence of demonic magics?
"
"Demonic?" He frowns fiercely, trying to indicate by his posture that he isn't going to let something that trivial stop him getting the result that he wants. "Bah! Nonsense. Some sort of metahuman terrorist. Yes." He nods. "You can-."
"I'm afraid I
can't, sir. I have two Atlantean mages with me who will confirm my findings. The standard Azerbaijani reaction to suspected diabolic influence is a month's solitary confinement
minimum for each person at risk. Which means you and all of your guests.
" His pupils dilate slightly, but his expression remains controlled.
"Alternatively, if you'll answer a few questions for me, I'll have my Atlantean colleagues check everyone over and report to the local police that they're all clear.
" He narrows his eyes slightly.
"I'm sure that both they and you would find that more convenient.
"
On the other side of the garden a few guests try edging toward the front gate. Brut interposes himself and
very slightly bares his teeth. They stop.
"Mpf. What do you want to know?"
Hm. Max 'Mercury' Crandall doesn't have a secret identity... Well, he used to, but you don't stay active for two hundred years without people noticing a thing or two. I think that these days most people just assume that 'Mercury' is his real surname. I half turn to see Tula helping him into a sitting position. He looks pretty out of it, but he's conscious and at least somewhat aware of his surroundings. And he's physically Human. A lot of possession victims don't get all of those things back.
"When did you first meet that man?
"
Fairly innocuous question to begin. He certainly can't deny that they know each other. Whatever answer he gives, I'll have to check it. Doubt that Mister Crandall will be able to remember with any certainty.
"Mercury? A few months ago. He wanted me to find him work."
"Is that sort of thing a frequent occurrence?
"
"People will pay a lot for metahuman security. Usually I just deal with kids who can make a few sparks, but someone who fought the Nazis? He could name his price. That was why I invited him here."
Hmm. I don't know what Mister Crandall's financial situation is like. His preferred way of life doesn't lend itself to building up a financial reserve. Or investments, given what
inflation's been like for the past half century. It's not
impossible that he'd genuinely have been interested in a job.
I make eye contact with Garth once more.
"And what did
you hope to get out of it?
"
The
great thing about most truth compulsion effects is that you often don't realise that what you're going to say is 'off' until after the words leave your mouth.
"I wanted to reverse engineer super speed and use it to create a generation of Soviet super soldiers, like that fuck who runs the Russian super power program is too cowardly to do."
"Do you have any sources other than Max Mercury?
"
"Not ones that are worth a damn." He stops, looking perfectly content with his answer. Then the faintest trace of a frown appears, closely followed by the
oh fuck, what did I just say?
"And the Demons?
"
"You can't trust them to do anything. You-." He actually grabs hold of his own mouth to stop himself talking, glaring at me ferociously for a moment before turning and stalking away.
Hm. Suspicious, but if he already had Mister Crandall's willing participation...
Garth gets up and walks towards me. Mister Garrick is still out of it, but it looks like he's clear. "Was that helpful?"
"I'm not sure. Oh, The Demon Constantine had some sort of ritual going in the basement. I think I disrupted it, but take Aquagirl with you and go and make sure that it's shut down properly.
"
He nods and heads towards his girlfriend. I attach filaments to the senior speedsters and float them off the ground and towards me. I can get Canis to boom tube them to the mountain's medical bay in a few minutes.
Wallace follows Mister Garrick's recumbent body. "They gunna be okay?"
"Can't say for sure. The possession was brief, we've got magic users available to check on them... So, hopefully.
" He nods, slightly reassured.
"Couldn't help but notice that you seemed faster there..?
"
"Jay always said that he was faster than Max, but Max always had more tricks. One of those is how to... Kinda...
Borrow speed from other super fast guys."
"And you just.. picked it up?
"
"I've been doin' a lot of research into this stuff. I guess I already kinda knew how it should work. And I still wasn't as fast as the Flash. Ah, the current one. But it was just enough to let me keep up with Jay." He opens his arm pouch and fishes out a nutrient bar and a healing potion. "Hasn't done anything for my eating habits, but..." He nods to himself. "Probably worth looking into. Once Max is back on his feet."
