Falling Action (part 13)
- Location
- Hampden Park
10th July
17:47 GMT
I lift the last of the ramparts off the ground, a smattering of cheers rising from the crowd. Orange lights circle around it for a moment before my point to point zeta tube construct activates, transporting it to its twin on the Moon. Check that it's arrived… Good. I've still got to hand my report over to Sir Bernard and Boris, but I'm going to give the League a little longer before doing so. It maintains their preferred lie and there's still a chance -a small one- that they're going to want to admit their deceit and be honest. If they do that, then I hand over the other report, and… Whether the League want to press murder charges or not, the City of London have a number of things they could charge me with of which I am completely guilty. As a Justice League affiliate I didn't have to worry about lying to local authorities but as a Special Constable it's a much bigger concern.
I shake my head and take a look at Hyde Park. Nabu's ankhplosions aside, there wasn't actually all that much damage to our immediate environment during the fight. The plant life doesn't seem to have been harmed by the order magic… Then again, I don't imagine that it's all that easy to knock a plant out. Some surveyors from the Royal Parks have been around to look at it and rope off anything dangerous looking, but they've held off doing any work on the perfectly sensible grounds that it will be easier and cheaper to just have me do it.
Hm.
I drift over the area of the fight. The trees that lost bark or branches are easy enough to fix; just a matter of accessing the rings' records of the state they were in before the fight, then recreating and reattaching the missing material. Same with the pressure waves; just use the rings to gather up the loose soil and sod and return it to where it should…
That's a part of Mister Siskin's body.
I float it up towards me and look at it. I'm not exactly sure what Nabu did to the rock, but it's.. flaky and brittle now. His family… They'd already gotten over the shock of it when I visited them. They… Accepted my condolences… Sombrely. My lies, my… His-. Rescuing him from the Terror Thing was one of the things I was most proud of. Perhaps even more than my work rehabilitating the Beresfords, it was a life snatched back from the maw of ruination. He was alive, and if not happy then at least with the potential for future happiness. I'd found a life locked in constant torment and rescued it not just from that but from Nabu's callousness.
And Nabu killed him. Because I brought him here.
I mean, I told his parents that he was a vital part of the team, because of course I did, but that's bullshit. Nabu flared with yellow as they grappled and went pretty much back to normal after killing him. I could have achieved the same result by just keeping Nabu talking a little longer. I didn't know that at the time, and… Disabling him with fear and then chaining him involved far less risk of killing him than doing a full drain in a rush…
Is that what I should take away from this? That I should be more ruthless? Take their first refusal to surrender as definitive? I don't… I would prefer not to operate like that, but I… Whatever position I end up with in my Lantern Corps, I will have people die. People I'll have trained, people under my command. It's unavoidable. Did I..? Give Nabu extra chances because I hate him? Did I want to prove I was being fair? Give him enough rope to hang himself with? I don't think so…
Uh. Obvious downside of alienating the League: I can't talk to them about things like this. That leaves Adom and Alan, and I am planning on speaking to both of them before I leave.
Alan. That's a conversation that I'm looking forwards to almost as much as the one with the Siskins.
I return my attention to the park. Like it never happened. Okay, what next? Zatanna doesn't want to move her father until he's a little more recovered. I think that'll end up being the last thing I do on Earth.
Whaw, that sounded ominous. I take the report out of subspace for a moment and look at it. Should that be the next thing-?
**Paul?**
I look up from the report, and then around. With my accustomed barrier down, feeling out M'gann's location… Ah, there she is. She's in Megan Morse mode with Kon at her side.
**Yes?**
**'Yes'?** Kon frowns. **That's all you've got to say about it?**
**I'm not sure what there is to add. You know what I did and why. I can.. spare the time if you want to talk about it. Where do you want to do it?**
He and M'gann look at each other, and… I can't tell if they're whispering or excluding me mentally. Not that I'm going to probe the matter. A moment later Kon nods and turns back in my direction. **The roof over there.** He points in the direction of the Access Self Storage building. **Two minutes.**
**Of course. Though I should warn you that British buildings aren't built with rooftop superhero confrontations in mind. Try to go easy on it.**
He and M'gann turn away, moving through the crowd to look for a place to… Change, I suppose. In Kon's case that just means taking off his shirt and brushing his hair slightly differently. M'gann just needs somewhere out of line of sight so that she can shapeshift. I give the crowd below a half-hearted wave and then ascend at speed, swiftly getting too high for them to easily see. Not many clouds, and we've got hours of sunlight left. Not great for a private chat, but then I don't think that the building has roof access and London doesn't have any resident fliers.
Okay, that should do it. I transition downwards to the centre of the roof, as close to the surface of it as I can without touching it. Ring, check structural integrity.
Structure will bear both your weight and that of your companions.
Alright then. I land, dropping my aura down to next to nothing as I do so. I don't want to look like any aggression I feel is directed at them. O-kay, what do I do after this meeting? I think I'll go and speak to Adom. He kept things on track after the Ambush, and I need to thank him for that as well as for his participation. Might be worth pointing out that what Nabu did to him rather proves that picking a fight with Shazam would be a bad idea…
"Hey."
I turn to see Kon floating over the lip of the building's roof, M'gann just behind him.
"Good after-."
"Why didn't you tell me?" He comes in to land just in front of me, staring me in the eyes. "I get why you didn't tell the League, but why the hell didn't you tell m-us?"
"Several reasons. In order to maintain secrecy, I didn't want to include anyone I didn't absolutely need. Too much chance of a telepath overhearing something, or Wonder Woman talking to you and hearing a lie. Or Nabu doing.. something. You're strong, tough and a capable fighter, but you don't have any specific anti-Order Lord abilities. Any harm you did to him would have been felt by Mister Zatara more than Nabu, and that was exactly what I was trying to avoid if the confrontation turned violent." A little of the irritation fades from his face. "And then there's Wonder Woman."
He looks away for a moment. "Yeah. I don't know why she didn't… I mean, all the League-."
"No, I don't mean 'why did she accept Nabu'. I mean, the damage it would have done to your relationship with her when she found out that you'd been helping me with this behind her back. She's.. usually big on honesty and openness. And could you? Lie to her convincingly, with that lie detection ability she's got, for months?"
"No." He looks down, shaking his head. "No, I don't think I could. I don't even get how you did it. Do your.. tattoos block it or something?"
"Not as far as I know. But when I was studying her abilities, I noticed that it only triggers for direct lies. You can talk around a subject or say something misleading and as long as you're not too obvious about it nothing triggers."
"What about Teekl? Wolf hasn't come out of her basket since we got back to the Mountain."
I bow my head slightly. "I'm… That wasn't supposed to happen. I still don't.. really know why it did. Something about… Transferring the link, between Klarion and the Plane of Chaos." I shake my head. "But again, telling you wouldn't have-."
M'gann folds her arms across her chest. "And what about me?"
"M'gann, you're a terrible liar, and you're from a planet where sharing thoughts all the time is the norm. Can you imagine if you'd had to keep people out of your memories during our trip to Mars?"
"I-." She thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, but I'm not a terrible liar. None of you knew I was a White Martian-."
"I knew since the campfire."
"… You did?"
"You backtracked too hard, and the expression on your face made it pretty obvious. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but-" I point my right forefinger at my right eye. "-I've got pretty good night vision."
"Oh."
"Look… I'm not going to apologise, because it was the correct decision. I'm not even going to say that I regret it. Nabu killed Siskin, and he could well have ended up killing either of you. But I really don't want to-."
"Kon, M'gann." Diana flies out of the sky, hovering just above us. "Would you please give my student and I a moment?"
17:47 GMT
I lift the last of the ramparts off the ground, a smattering of cheers rising from the crowd. Orange lights circle around it for a moment before my point to point zeta tube construct activates, transporting it to its twin on the Moon. Check that it's arrived… Good. I've still got to hand my report over to Sir Bernard and Boris, but I'm going to give the League a little longer before doing so. It maintains their preferred lie and there's still a chance -a small one- that they're going to want to admit their deceit and be honest. If they do that, then I hand over the other report, and… Whether the League want to press murder charges or not, the City of London have a number of things they could charge me with of which I am completely guilty. As a Justice League affiliate I didn't have to worry about lying to local authorities but as a Special Constable it's a much bigger concern.
I shake my head and take a look at Hyde Park. Nabu's ankhplosions aside, there wasn't actually all that much damage to our immediate environment during the fight. The plant life doesn't seem to have been harmed by the order magic… Then again, I don't imagine that it's all that easy to knock a plant out. Some surveyors from the Royal Parks have been around to look at it and rope off anything dangerous looking, but they've held off doing any work on the perfectly sensible grounds that it will be easier and cheaper to just have me do it.
Hm.
I drift over the area of the fight. The trees that lost bark or branches are easy enough to fix; just a matter of accessing the rings' records of the state they were in before the fight, then recreating and reattaching the missing material. Same with the pressure waves; just use the rings to gather up the loose soil and sod and return it to where it should…
That's a part of Mister Siskin's body.
I float it up towards me and look at it. I'm not exactly sure what Nabu did to the rock, but it's.. flaky and brittle now. His family… They'd already gotten over the shock of it when I visited them. They… Accepted my condolences… Sombrely. My lies, my… His-. Rescuing him from the Terror Thing was one of the things I was most proud of. Perhaps even more than my work rehabilitating the Beresfords, it was a life snatched back from the maw of ruination. He was alive, and if not happy then at least with the potential for future happiness. I'd found a life locked in constant torment and rescued it not just from that but from Nabu's callousness.
And Nabu killed him. Because I brought him here.
I mean, I told his parents that he was a vital part of the team, because of course I did, but that's bullshit. Nabu flared with yellow as they grappled and went pretty much back to normal after killing him. I could have achieved the same result by just keeping Nabu talking a little longer. I didn't know that at the time, and… Disabling him with fear and then chaining him involved far less risk of killing him than doing a full drain in a rush…
Is that what I should take away from this? That I should be more ruthless? Take their first refusal to surrender as definitive? I don't… I would prefer not to operate like that, but I… Whatever position I end up with in my Lantern Corps, I will have people die. People I'll have trained, people under my command. It's unavoidable. Did I..? Give Nabu extra chances because I hate him? Did I want to prove I was being fair? Give him enough rope to hang himself with? I don't think so…
Uh. Obvious downside of alienating the League: I can't talk to them about things like this. That leaves Adom and Alan, and I am planning on speaking to both of them before I leave.
Alan. That's a conversation that I'm looking forwards to almost as much as the one with the Siskins.
I return my attention to the park. Like it never happened. Okay, what next? Zatanna doesn't want to move her father until he's a little more recovered. I think that'll end up being the last thing I do on Earth.
Whaw, that sounded ominous. I take the report out of subspace for a moment and look at it. Should that be the next thing-?
**Paul?**
I look up from the report, and then around. With my accustomed barrier down, feeling out M'gann's location… Ah, there she is. She's in Megan Morse mode with Kon at her side.
**Yes?**
**'Yes'?** Kon frowns. **That's all you've got to say about it?**
**I'm not sure what there is to add. You know what I did and why. I can.. spare the time if you want to talk about it. Where do you want to do it?**
He and M'gann look at each other, and… I can't tell if they're whispering or excluding me mentally. Not that I'm going to probe the matter. A moment later Kon nods and turns back in my direction. **The roof over there.** He points in the direction of the Access Self Storage building. **Two minutes.**
**Of course. Though I should warn you that British buildings aren't built with rooftop superhero confrontations in mind. Try to go easy on it.**
He and M'gann turn away, moving through the crowd to look for a place to… Change, I suppose. In Kon's case that just means taking off his shirt and brushing his hair slightly differently. M'gann just needs somewhere out of line of sight so that she can shapeshift. I give the crowd below a half-hearted wave and then ascend at speed, swiftly getting too high for them to easily see. Not many clouds, and we've got hours of sunlight left. Not great for a private chat, but then I don't think that the building has roof access and London doesn't have any resident fliers.
Okay, that should do it. I transition downwards to the centre of the roof, as close to the surface of it as I can without touching it. Ring, check structural integrity.
Structure will bear both your weight and that of your companions.
Alright then. I land, dropping my aura down to next to nothing as I do so. I don't want to look like any aggression I feel is directed at them. O-kay, what do I do after this meeting? I think I'll go and speak to Adom. He kept things on track after the Ambush, and I need to thank him for that as well as for his participation. Might be worth pointing out that what Nabu did to him rather proves that picking a fight with Shazam would be a bad idea…
"Hey."
I turn to see Kon floating over the lip of the building's roof, M'gann just behind him.
"Good after-."
"Why didn't you tell me?" He comes in to land just in front of me, staring me in the eyes. "I get why you didn't tell the League, but why the hell didn't you tell m-us?"
"Several reasons. In order to maintain secrecy, I didn't want to include anyone I didn't absolutely need. Too much chance of a telepath overhearing something, or Wonder Woman talking to you and hearing a lie. Or Nabu doing.. something. You're strong, tough and a capable fighter, but you don't have any specific anti-Order Lord abilities. Any harm you did to him would have been felt by Mister Zatara more than Nabu, and that was exactly what I was trying to avoid if the confrontation turned violent." A little of the irritation fades from his face. "And then there's Wonder Woman."
He looks away for a moment. "Yeah. I don't know why she didn't… I mean, all the League-."
"No, I don't mean 'why did she accept Nabu'. I mean, the damage it would have done to your relationship with her when she found out that you'd been helping me with this behind her back. She's.. usually big on honesty and openness. And could you? Lie to her convincingly, with that lie detection ability she's got, for months?"
"No." He looks down, shaking his head. "No, I don't think I could. I don't even get how you did it. Do your.. tattoos block it or something?"
"Not as far as I know. But when I was studying her abilities, I noticed that it only triggers for direct lies. You can talk around a subject or say something misleading and as long as you're not too obvious about it nothing triggers."
"What about Teekl? Wolf hasn't come out of her basket since we got back to the Mountain."
I bow my head slightly. "I'm… That wasn't supposed to happen. I still don't.. really know why it did. Something about… Transferring the link, between Klarion and the Plane of Chaos." I shake my head. "But again, telling you wouldn't have-."
M'gann folds her arms across her chest. "And what about me?"
"M'gann, you're a terrible liar, and you're from a planet where sharing thoughts all the time is the norm. Can you imagine if you'd had to keep people out of your memories during our trip to Mars?"
"I-." She thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, but I'm not a terrible liar. None of you knew I was a White Martian-."
"I knew since the campfire."
"… You did?"
"You backtracked too hard, and the expression on your face made it pretty obvious. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but-" I point my right forefinger at my right eye. "-I've got pretty good night vision."
"Oh."
"Look… I'm not going to apologise, because it was the correct decision. I'm not even going to say that I regret it. Nabu killed Siskin, and he could well have ended up killing either of you. But I really don't want to-."
"Kon, M'gann." Diana flies out of the sky, hovering just above us. "Would you please give my student and I a moment?"
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