18th March
14:27 GMT -6
Beneath us, traffic slows as people stare at my construct. Sinestro,
monitor and let me know if anyone's about to crash.
If I must, Corpsman.
"Why the Light?"
"Fair question. The Light… Have identified a real problem, but are trying to address it in supervillain ways. But, with Klarion dead… I think… I think I might be able to persuade them to alter the way they work a little. I mean, within limits, they're certainly not going to become 'nice guys'. You know, retarget their energies a bit."
"You.. do remember that time they mind controlled the entire Justice League?"
"Yes, and what did they get out of it? Earned themselves a place on China's shit list as well as ours. I'm.. going to try and make them see that."
She looks away from me, taking in our environment as we step off the bridge. I'm tempted to make it start evaporating from the back so that Orana has to hurry… No. "Are we going somewhere for my check-up?"
I shake my head. "You don't need a check-up. You're fine. The magic is integrating perfectly into your expanded metaphysique, and according to Father Box it's going to keep doing that."
"So, why did you want to see-" She glances back at Orana. "-us?"
"Conversation isn't reason enough?" I smile winsomely at her. She's not buying it. "While I was on Earth Fifty, I met your alter ego. She was able to speed up the rate at which I heal by dumping raw magic into me. It occurred to me that if we had a
device that could do that… Some sort of mana siphon or infuser… Then I and everyone else who's gone through the Awakening could power themselves up faster. I want to commission you to design and build it. Obviously I'll pay you for your work-."
"Hey, whow." She shakes her head. "That's..
way outside what I know how to do."
"Zatanna, you're the New Goddess of Magic. This is your domain. This is what you're
for. Unless you'd rather get a weekend job… Delivering papers.. or.. pouring coffee? I've culled a few ideas from some Atlantean books, but it isn't my area…"
"I'll.. think about it." She looks around again. "Where exactly are you taking us?"
"I'm taking you to meet my new landlady. She lives in
a nearby old people's home, just around-. Ah! There we are." Zatanna falls behind a little as I push open the doors and head on past the front desk towards the assisted living wing.
The receptionist looks up in shock, but gets himself together after a few moments. "Excuse me? Who are you?"
I stop dead and stare at him incredulously. "
Seriously? I'm huge and grey, who am I going to pretend to be?"
"Ah, right. I mean, are you here to see someone?"
"Yes."
"I don't remember you visiting before. Are you family?"
"No, just nosy." I start towards the door again.
"W-! You can't just go barging in on people!"
I chuckle. "I would be fascinated to see how you intend to enforce that." I push the door open and stride through. Now, whereabouts-. Yes, there it is. The door bangs again as Zatanna runs through after me. She draws breath to speak, so I decide to pre-empt her. "Do you know what's
very scary?"
She looks around for a moment. "Getting old? Dying?"
"Bit mundane. I was thinking about Alzheimer's Disease. Consider: in the early stages, you're compos mentis enough to know what's happening. You forget a thing, and you
know you've forgotten something, but it's just not there. A thing that was in your head for so long… How to dress yourself. Where a room in your house is. As it progresses, everyday objects and people.. become strange and unfamiliar. People you've known for years… Your own children. You can't recognise them anymore. And then.. you get brief moments, where your memories and thoughts line up for once and you're briefly yourself again. And you know it's going to go, that in a few moments all the 'you' is just going to dribble out your ears… That must be absolutely terrifying."
"Yes, it's a horrible disease. But what does that have to do-?"
I shove open a door and glower at the frail old woman sitting in a comfy chair in the corner. "
Hey June!
We've never met!
I'm big and scary!
Rarr!"
The seventy four year old Doctor June Robbins
quails at my appearance. Excellent! I've learned that one of the great things about a yellow power ring is that I can use it to heal people I don't give a monkey's about. No personal investment required. Just fear. And as a woman who these days is
afraid of just about everything even slightly out of the ordinary because her failing brain just can't cope with it any longer, Dr Robbins is giving me
exactly what I need.
I stick out my right hand, a yellow beam linking my ring to the cranium of the last surviving
Challenger of the Unknown. And therefore, owner of the
Challenger Mountain facility. There are a lot fewer secret mountain bases around than you'd think, and after living in Mount Justice anything else would feel like a downgrade. I monitor the ring's progress as it uses her
fear of everything to repair her surviving neurons, add in new ones to the degraded areas of her brain and tinker a little with her DNA to make sure this can't happen again. Oh, and to give her a general health boost as well, the years during which she's been here haven't been kind to her formerly athletic frame. She won't get her whole mind back; I can't recreate memories that are just
gone. But she will get her
self back.
I continue walking across the room as her fear starts to drop off and her eyes focus as her alertness increases. Brain… Yes, that looks done to me. I shut off the beam and kneel down in front of her as behind me Zatanna lowers her hand slightly where she had a golden triquetra ready to blast me. And Orana lowers her sword slightly, which is nice of her. Doctor Robbins' eyes unfocus for a moment and she
blinks, probably trying to get her reconstructed brain back into working order.
"Hello there. My name's Grayven. Back with us?"
"Yes. I…
Am."
"Glad to hear it. Do you know where you are?"
She looks around. "A home for old people. How long..?"
"You've been here about eight years, too doolally to look after yourself at all for about five of them."
"Grayven!"
I look back at Zatanna. "You don't join the Challengers of the Unknown because you want life sugar-coated for you."
"And I doubt you fixed my brain out of the goodness of your heart."
I grin, my attention focused on her. "Sophoncy to suspicion in ten seconds. You should give classes!"
"I outlived my closest friends that way. I'm not sure it was a total positive, but it got to be a habit."
"I fixed your brain because I want to rent your mountain. Fix it up, use it as a base. And a home."
"Wouldn't it have been easier to finish me off and buy it from the estate?"
"Probably. But then I'd lose the pleasure of your company. And the chance to study the most interesting thing about you of all."
"My glamor model looks?"
"Your
immunity to destiny."
She looks at me for a moment. "Okay, sure. But you have to run everything by me and I'm going to be living on site. I think I had to sell my home to afford a place here."
"You did. But it's no problem."
"And…" She looks down at her shapeless, easy-to-clean apparel. "Get me some clothes. I look like an old person."
"You
are an old person."
"That's no excuse." She waves at her wardrobe. "Go on."
I raise my ring again. Still plenty of fear left over from her
narrow escape. The yellow beam hits her in the chest, taking the clothing I prepared out of subspace.
Pale grey cargo trousers, dark grey work boots, white vest and a vaguely Star Trek looking jacket in purple with grey trim and with the Challengers' hourglass insignia in place of the rank pips at the neck. "Any good?"
"Mm." She looks it over, then shuffles to the edge of her chair and cautiously pushes herself upright. "I think I can make it work."
