With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Twelve)

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
17:02 GMT +8

I sigh, then lower myself into the seat across from the hulking monstrosity opposite me. "Fabiao. Been a while."

He doesn't.. look too badly injured, but his hardened epidermis makes it a little hard to tell. The facility we're in isn't equipped with a power suppressor but the sheer weight of titanium-tungsten carbide chains on him should do the job about as well.

"Yeah man."

He sounds.. utterly miserable, which given what happened isn't too surprising. The accent is different too, as I'm listening to him through the ring's translation effect rather than his strongly accented English.

"So I… Assume that Bane went to visit his father after all?"

He tries to nod, but his heavy metal collar means that he can't complete the gesture. "Yes. Perdición wanted to talk to him in person. I don't…" He looks past me to where Colonel Fang is giving him a look of total contempt. "I don't know exactly what he wanted-" He tries to shrug and fails again. "-but he is the boss."

"He was the boss."

You'd think August Colonel in Iron's voice would be metallic. Raspy. But it isn't. There's a distortion from where his mouth isn't quite as flexible as an unaltered Human's mouth would be, but otherwise he sounds pretty normal.

Fabiao looks up at him for a moment and then looks away. "Yeah. The woman in the green dress shot him with… Like a crossbow? I thought it was a plasma weapon but the… The arrows? They stuck in him and stayed there."

"Ghost Fox Killer. It's an arcane weapon."

"Is she a superhero?"

"No. She's a superfunctionary. That means that she works for the Chinese government rather than being independent. Which in turn means they're happy for her to use lethal force against dangerous opponents."

"Were those.. people with her..? The see through ones? Were they ghosts?"

"Yes. She harvests the souls of the evil to use as a power source. I'm a little curious as to how you survived."

"You can't pay me enough to die for you. There were police, soldiers, Chinese super-. Superfunctionaries. When Perdición died, I just knelt down and put my hands up."

I half turn. "Was the Socialist Red Guardsman pulling a sickie?"

"I was concerned about bringing a radiological hazard to a densely populated area."

"Right." I turn back to Fabiao. "Obviously, I notified the Chinese authorities that you might be heading their way after we met in Gotham. They really don't like people with superpowers committing crimes in their country."

"Yeah man. I noticed."

"I'm somewhat sympathetic to your position, but I'm still not entirely clear on why you asked for me."

"What? You think I should have called a lawyer? I know America puts people like me in Belle Reve. I don't know what the Chinese do with us."

"For metahuman criminals who resist arrest, they usually summarily execute them. Since they're actually holding you, there's a prison camp out in the Gobi Desert. I imagine you'll get… You haven't committed a serious crime in China, so…" I turn back to Colonel Fang. "Five years' hard labour, followed by deportation?"

"Eight. He was in the company of an international fugitive. And then I imagine that the Americans will want him after he has served his sentence."

I turn back, nodding. "You're looking at Felony Murder for Gotham-."

"The old lady?" I nod. "That was Truggs, man. We were going to hold her hostage, maybe ransom her. Then he just pulled out some weird looking pistol and shot her."

"He admitted to similar murders before. But felony murder just requires them to prove that you might reasonably have suspected that someone could die during your crime, and I'm afraid that breaking into someone's house to commit a robbery counts. Then you've got the drugs smuggling, illegal entry to the country and.. Taiwan's going to want you and any other survivors over the attack on the Rhelasian peace conference."

He sags as much as his restraints allow him. "I'm done, man."

"On the other hand, you did hand yourself over willingly." I raise my hands slightly, rings glowing as I take a detailed scan of his physique. "And I did promise." Two fat beams of orange light strike the centre of his mass and flow across his body.

I hear a scrape of metal behind me as Colonel Fang folds his arms across his chest. "He isn't worth your time."

"That's… Not the point."

"He is undoubtedly a murderer many times over. His surrender prevented me killing him immediately as I did the other two like him, but I know him for the scum he is. The only reason he is still here is because he mentioned your name and the Chinese government considers itself in your debt for Roanoke Island. And for compelling the Physician to accept our authority."

I lower the rings and the light cuts out. Fabiao looks himself over. I could have done a full purge of his system, restored him to a Human baseline physique. But he told me in Gotham that his plans for the future involved keeping his enhancements, so I limited myself to healing the rifts in his skin and performing minor fixes on all of the other damage the Venom Buster did to him. He actually came out of it okay compared to Mister Huang. The changes to his brain were fairly minimal. He probably didn't get much worse than headaches. I guess the late Bane Dorrance knew his stuff.

"Eh. Thanks, man."

I get up and walk out of the room, Colonel Fang following a moment later. There's quite a lot of activity in the police station as Xeno-Team soldiers rub shoulders with Hong Kong police and both try to avoid Ghost Fox Killer's ghosts.

"Obliged or not, I'm still not sure why you showed me that."

"I imagine that my superiors would rather repay you by reducing the punishment of an inconsequential thug than something important."

I nod. "King Snake?"

"Dead. The police had him under observation for his links to the gangs. The presence of the Great Ten expedited matters."

I suppose I could… No.

"I suppose it would be the nice thing to do, but to be honest? He's committed some very serious crimes and I think he should be punished for them. Eight years hard labour?" Colonel Fang gives me a sidelong look, then nods. "Sounds a little excessive to me, but China has much less of a supervillain problem than Britain or the States. Do as you see fit."

"Hm." There's approval in his eyes. "Had he tried to fight on, the lives of several of my men would have been lost to the criminals. And his potential utility is obvious. We may consider offering him employment."

"You want to bring him into the Great Ten? Really?"

"The Physician is a murderer. And you clearly have suspicions regarding Socialist Red Guardsman. Mister Matos has self discipline and power. We may be able to make use of him."

"What would he get out of it?"

"Better food, better conditions. And we would quietly repatriate him to Brazil at the end of his sentence instead of extraditing him. Or allow him to stay on in honourable service, if he so chose."

"That sounds reasonable. And I think he'll probably go for it." I hesitate for a moment. "Just curious… Can I assume that if those responsible for Roanoke Island found themselves in your custody, you would give them to Ghost Fox Killer as well?"

"Naturally. They are not fit to draw breath."

"Hm. Something to think about."

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
17:56 GMT +2

"…like to see more a' her, but you know how much time this job takes."

Guy and I descend through the air towards the entrance to the entrance to Dyrehavsbakken, which apparently is the world's oldest operating amusement park. He's wearing a green shirt with a suit jacket and trousers in a slightly darker green, and as a result looks a little like a Leprechaun bodybuilder.

"I will in three months, yes."

I'm wearing fawn trousers with an orange sigil belt buckle along with a blue shirt under a darker blue jumper. Not exactly warm at this time of the year and while neither Guy nor I have secret identities I doubt the evening would be improved by us being pestered for autographs or some sort of performance.

"Oh yeah." He frowns slightly as we touch down behind some streets just off the main road. "What you planning to do when your probation runs out? Just head off out there, straight to Maltus?"

"No, I was thinking about visiting Vega first. Get the lay of the land in one of the few places John's ring didn't have up to date information."

He glances at me with a raised left eyebrow. "And run right int' that Larfleeze guy? That really a good idea?"

I shrug. "I have the Sword of Second and Third. If it really comes down to it I can probably kill him."

"Why's it called that again?"

"What, the sword?" He nods as we come out onto the pavement and turn towards the amusement park. "Because it was made from the remains of the Second of the Fallen and the Third of the Fallen to kill the First of the Fallen."

"So… Why don't ya just call it the Sword of the Fallen?"

…

"Um."

He smirks. "Didn't think of it, did ya?"

…

"No."

Smirk has evolved into Grin. And learned Beam.

"Anyway, I'm not sure who would win in a direct fight between myself and Larfleeze, but I need to know he's not assimilating the whole population of Okaara or something like that."

"Okay, so you have a look around. Then what?"

"See what needs doing. Do it. Gordanians, Psions, Spider Guild, Branx Warriors… As I understand it, the place is a bit of a mess."

He nods approvingly. "Okay! Now you're talkin' like a real Sector Lantern."

"Might even-" I hold up my right hand and have the ring sparkle. "-pick up a recruit."

"Yeah, the guy I got this suit from said somethin' about that. You really lend it to that assassin girl?"

"Yes, and she did an excellent-."

"Hey." He fans out his hands. "I ain't complaining. She did good work. I had t' have Kilowog shout'n at me fer a few weeks before I could even create constructs." He regards me curiously. "You, ah… Plannin' on takin' her with you?"

"Probably not. It's three months away and I want her to have a chance to experience normalcy before making that kind of decision."

"Y'know, sometimes you can give a girl too much space."

"Alright. First one to make a romantic relationship last a year wins."

"Psh. I've got a four month head start and even I ain't dumb enough to mess things up with Tora."

"One year continuous. Break up for a fortnight and it's back to the start."

"You're on. But I ain't worried." We reach the park entrance and come to a halt. "Where do we buy the tickets?"

"We don't. Entrance is free and you buy tickets or armbands at the kiosks for rides. It's probably easiest if we wait for Ms Olafsdotter and f-."

"You ain't actually gunna call her that, right?"

"Tora and friend, then buy armbands." Guy nods, then looks around, then checks his watch. "You could just scan-."

"Nah, that's just creepy. I don't want her thinkin' I'm looking over her shoulder the whole time." He tries looking through the crowds again. "Alright, so, what you gunna do when you're done sorting out Vega?"

"Maltus. If Larfleeze confronts me and I win, I'll pick up the Central Power Battery and go straight there. Um, can you.. tell me if Central Power Batteries have any sort of area effect I should know about?"

He screws up his face in thought. "I dunno. I always feel better bein' next t' the Green one, but that might just be 'cause it's the center of the whole Corps, y'know?"

"Well, anyway, I can't just leave it there. I'll have to take the risk. But otherwise, I think I'll probably try and meet up with a Darkstar inside Reach territory. Help them out, get an introduction. Then on to Maltus. What happens after that depends on the Controllers."

"What d'you want-"

"Hah."

"-to happen?"

"I want them to help me defeat Larfleeze without killing him. We will get Orange Lanterns who can't cope, who get overloaded like I nearly did a couple of times-."

"You did get overloaded."

"The Ophidian doesn't count. I mean, just normal usage. You remember when you and Diana talked to me after the thing with the intelligent Gorillas?"

He nods. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"The rings the Guardians give you aren't green because they want to make your lives harder. Not going crazy is a pretty big bonus. And if we can help Larfleeze, we can help the others too. Anyway, then we'd transport the Orange Central Power Battery back to Maltus and start recruiting. Any Darkstars who can handle it, probably, and I've got a list of people I want to talk to."

"Yeah? Like who?"

"First would be Vril D-."

"Guy!"

We look around, and Guy smiles beatifically as Tora climbs out of the taxi and walks in our direction. I think she'd be running if the heels on her boots allowed it. Guy moves away from me and meets her half way, their arms wrapping around each other as Tora lays her head on his chest and he kisses her hair.

Aww.

Guess whoever I'm supposed to be escorting is still in the taxi. I head towards it, ready to open the door and help her out.

"Oh, hey." Guy and Tora separate a little, though I notice that he's holding her left hand in his right. "This is my friend Paul."

"Good evening, Tora. And whom do I have the pleasure of escorting this evening?"

Her eyes widen slightly as she sees me. "Ah. Oh!" She turns back towards the taxi as a woman with pale green hair gets out. "Bea-."

"Okay, so who did Gardner saddle me-?"

She stops as I step forwards. "Hello there."

She blinks, looking me over. "You're the guy who-."

"Giant cake, yes, I kn-."

"-put those eyes everywhere!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
18:02 GMT +2

I grin at her. "This is the first time anyone's opened with that!"

"What the hell were you doing?!"

Behind me, Tora groans faintly and Guy winces.

"Looking for any League of Shadows operatives who escaped the initial wave of arrests."

She storms around the taxi and up to me, fists balled and… I think her hair's puffed up a little? I did do a little research into her as part of my attempt to investigate potential future Justice League recruits and this version of her isn't yet capable of the feats of pyrokinesis that the modern comic version is. Rather than covering her body in green fire as in Justice League Unlimited she can't project her flame further than about eight inches. It's steel-melting hot, but the short range combined with the summoning delay makes her DPS potential fairly low. She can't fly, either. Her background in Brazil's intelligence agency is a little more interesting but for whatever reason most of the files describing exactly what she got up to with them weren't on computer when I did my data gathering sweep.

"I'm sorry if I.. caught you at a bad time-"

"I was in the shower, you pervert!"

Fists back, face thrust forwards towards mine. She's about three inches shorter than me, though the heels make it more like one.

"-but I was a bit possessed at the time and I don't really remember-" And suddenly I remember seeing her. Thank you Ophidian. "-most of what we saw."

"'We'?"

"I was possessed-" Sorry Ophidian, but it's easier than a full explanation. "-by the Embodiment of Avarice. As you know the eyes were spread across the whole of the world so it wasn't like I was-."

"Whatever." She takes a half-step to the side and then shoves past me. "Gardner, I thought you said you were bringing someone from the Justice League, not the world's greatest peeping tom."

"Err, he had to pull out at the last minute."

"Don't talk me up too much, Guy." I turn around. So, Beatriz da Costa. Alpha personality and -at the moment- insufficient raw power to back it up in superheroics. And her best friend is dating a member of the Justice League.

Might be a slight chip on her shoulder, there.

"But hey, Paul's probably getting upped in a few months and he's already working for Wonder Woman."

Ms da Costa walks past Guy and Tora in the direction of the entrance, nose turned up.

"Bea…"

And she stops, sagging slightly. "Fine. I'll try making the most of it."

She's being fairly rude to me, but to be honest I find this situation more amusing than anything. "Gracious of you."

Beatriz turns back around to face me, pointing at me with her right index finger. "Don't you start with me. I was supposed to be networking tonight."

Tora pats her on the shoulder as she and Guy walk past. "Beatriz, try and be nice." Beatriz' hair flattens slightly-. Oh! It's part of her power set. I hadn't made that connection before. Internal heat or something else?

Something occurs to Guy. "Hey, Paul, didn't Bats have you doing that performance review thing? How am I doin'?"

I take a few hurried steps to catch up. "Pretty well. Based on the performances I've been able to analyse you're the most adaptable Greenie. High DPS, high utility in rescue operations and-."

Tora's head pokes around from the far side of Guy's chest. "DPS? Is that some sort of Justice League code?"

Beatriz falls in on the far side of Tora as we enter the park. "It means 'damage per second'. You mean you've actually worked out how much damage members of the Justice League can inflict?"

"It's hard to be completely precise, but yes. In order to evaluate how well the League is doing I had to work out what they're actually trying to do, and it fits into certain broad categories-."

"Paul's basically the reason why I got in."

"No, come on. I might be the reason why you got in when you did, but you'd have got in without me eventually."

Beatriz suddenly looks more interested. "So are you the guy I have to convince to let me in?"

"No, you have to convince a League member to nominate you and the whole of the League not to object. At the moment. I'm going to be trying to persuade them to change the criteria… About a week and a half from now? I'm supposed to be giving a presentation-" Beatriz crosses behind Guy and Tora and takes hold of my right arm. "-about the League's organisational structure."

She smiles sweetly at me. "And what would this 'change' mean for me?" I think she was pushing her original Brazilian accent there, rather than the North American one she's picked up from practising her English with Americans. "And Tora?"

"I'll.. just be laying out a series of options. I don't have any decision making authority-."

"I mean, is there a shortlist..?"

"Sort of. Once I came up with an evaluation criterion I added it to the list of possible future recruits-."

"There's a list?"

"There's a database of all active superheroes, and a long list of those who meet the minimum requirements."

"I am on that, aren't I?"

"On the.. long list, yes."

"How long?"

"As in, not an auto-recruit but worth considering once they have a better idea of what they're actually recruiting for. And my environmental shield is up, so squeezing my arm harder won't help."

"Hmpf."

"Bea, this is supposed to be a date. Do you have to talk about work all the time?"

"So what would I have to do to improve my position?"

Looks like she does. "Giving me your ESG and SNI files would probably help-" Her eyes widen by a very small amount. "-as it would let me assign a more accurate value to your investigative and intelligence handling skills. Beyond that, a heck of a lot more combat practice against people with super powers than you currently have."

"Nothing like it." Guy nods. "Think you can find videos of Paul an' me goin' at it on the internet."

"And, um…" Tora's head reappears. "What about me?"

"Your ex-nihilo ice construction ability is amazingly versatile and useful. I'm not sure exactly how precise your control is, but the potential during disasters… Floods, fires or.. droughts, actually, is considerable."

"Oh." She smiles sweetly at me. "Thank you."

"Are you saying that she's higher on the list than me?"

I look straight ahead. "I'm carefully avoiding saying any such thing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
18:57 GMT +2

Guy sheepishly hands a very small mouse doll to Tora, who accepts it with princessly grace. "Guess rifles aren't really my thing."

Tora hugs it and smiles at him. "I think it's sweet."

Beatriz steps towards the stall and looks pointedly at me. I turn my lower lip down slightly, nod, and then step up myself, laying my right hand on the stall and depositing a twenty krone note from subspace as I take it away.

"The American doesn't know how to shoot but the English guy does?"

The stall holder passes an air rifle to each of us before moving out of the way.

"I used to go to a rifle range twice a week. These days-" I move the rifle butt to my shoulder. "-I mostly practise with exotic weapons, but the training stood me in good stead. You?"

She checks the iron sight. "Grandpa taught me."

"Ah, yes, I suppose he would have done."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"He was in the army, wasn't he?"

She raises her gun to her shoulder. "Exactly how thorough was your background check?"

"Thorough as it needed to be." Huh, gun's slightly bent. Used to always annoy me when arcade light guns were misaligned. Minute amounts of orange light flow along the barrel as I correct the flaw.

The chap manning the stall pulls a lever and the decorative wood covering the target papers rotates out of the way. The aim is to shoot out the perforated paper around the star in the centre using as few of your limited supply of pellets as possible. Having never attempted this particular exercise before I have no idea how many shots you need to make and Guy's placement was frankly terrible.

Beatriz opens fire a split second before I do, perforating the paper of her chosen target just outside the perforated ring. Let's try… Five shots? My first hits the twelve o'clock position of the perforated ring perfectly as Beatriz adjusts her aim and hits hers at the three o'clock. I hit the six as she hits five and seven. Ah, I'm not used to shooting for speed with this sort of gun. Three, nine and centre? No, the shot just overpenetrates without spreading the force out. Half one, half four, half seven and half ten? Done! Okay, next-.

Beatriz is already half way through her second target. Picking up the pace, then. Seven, even placement? It works, but I'm falling further behind. Again. And again.

"Hey, she's pretty good at that."

And click.

The fellow manning the stand smiles at me as he reaches to take the rifle from me. "The lady wins! Four to seven."

"Hm." Beatriz tosses her hair as she puts her rifle down. Guess I have.. got kind of out of practice…

"Do you want to combine your score for the prize..?

I look at Beatriz. "Do we?"

She doesn't look at me. "We will have the big pink fluffy one."

"Excellent choice, madam." He pulls it off the prize stand and passes it to her. It's… I think it's meant to be a cat of some sort. Too big to really do much with.

Beatriz turns away from the stall, looking at it for a moment. I step away as well. "Would you like-?"

She thrusts it into my chest, causing me to instinctively take hold of it. "Here you go."

"Um. Thank you?" Tora puts her right hand to her mouth to disguise her snigger while Guy doesn't even bother. I take a moment to try and put it into a position that will let me carry it… No, I don't think there is one. Subspace with you, foul abomination.

"Hey!"

"It's fine, it's in ring storage. I will forever carry it as a memento of the affection you feel for me."

Guy pulls Tora into him. "So what next, babe?"

"I thought… Maybe one of the rollercoasters?"

"They're kinda small.. but if you like?" He shrugs and they start walking towards the closest. Wooden, rather than the metal structures I've gotten used to. Never really been much of a rollercoaster aficionado. I don't mind the high speeds and sharp turns -not any more, and not even in my pre-ring days as long as I'd had a travel sickness tablet- but all the screaming of the other riders annoys me. Stiff upper lip, guys.

Beatriz glances at me for a half-second, then returns her attention to her friend. "You two go on ahead. I just need a quick word with my.. 'date'."

Guy smiles a bit too quickly at the idea, but Tora doesn't exactly look disappointed as she nods and tugs Guy away faster. Uh..?

"No, really, it's fine." I take the fluffy thing out of subspace again. "See? Completely-."

"How did Green Lantern Three even hear about Tora?"

"Three?"

"Gardner."

"Two eight one four B. And if you're talking about Green Lantern Corps members from Earth, he'd be two."

"I thought the black guy was the second one."

"No, Guy got his ring before he did."

"Stop trying to change the subject. You're the one who told him about Tora, weren't you? What, were you just looking through your big file of women superheroes and picking out the hot ones for your friends?"

I sigh. "Is that a serious question or do you just want to shout at me some more?"

Her hair's puffing up again. "What did you tell him about her? Did you.. coach him on how to seduce her?"

"Shouting it is, then."

"I knew there was something creepy about that guy!" She takes a step backwards, away from me and in their general direction. "I'm going right over there-!"

"While possessed I gave him a file of information. He flicked through it once then threw it away for exactly the reasons you're complaining about. I haven't been tutoring him. What Tora's getting is.. the real Guy. And I certainly don't regard my professional research as a pick up hit list when I'm in my right mind."

She stops moving away, but she doesn't look much happier. "Do you know how many times he's just.. turned up when I was spending time with Tora? I bet he's using his power ring to just watch her the whole time. And some of the stuff he said to me when she wasn't around-."

"Guy's actually quite a nice fellow once you get to know him. But at first, he's got this habit of pretending to be all macho and getting defensive if things don't go right. But, Tora's-" I give her a level look. "-somehow learned to deal with bad tempered people-"

"Hey, I'm nothing like-!"

"-and once he's built up his confidence a bit he usually relaxes and you can get at the nice guy inside."

"How long does that take?"

"Well he.. did.. set you up with a highly powerful and internationally well regarded superhero who is in possession of effectively unlimited wealth because Tora asked him to find you a date."

She simmers down a little. "And dating you would 'help my career'?"

"Wasn't that why you asked? But yeah, I don't mind helping with your training. In a strictly platonic way."

She looks away, eyes down and breathing pointedly regular. "Okay. I'll give.. Gardner a chance." Back at me. "But if he does anything-!"

"Then he and I will both be ahead of you in the queue to beat him up about it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
08:17 GMT -11

"Okay… Now try both hands?"

Beatriz points both palms forward, steady green flames sitting about a centimetre from her skin like someone turned a candle flame through ninety degrees. My temperature monitor constructs register almost no change in the temperature of the surrounding air except where they intersect with my girder construct. That is already starting to give way, so I delete it and replace it with a slightly tougher one.

Hmm.

One hand or two, the flame has roughly the same effect. She's not splitting power, which could have explained the limitation if it were true. She can't burn herself with them; she can wave one hand through a flame floating over the other without taking any injury at all. The flames don't consume oxygen from the surrounding environment and the conditions in the air around them don't seem to affect them at all. Gloves which can fit under the flame will survive it being summoned above them. Thicker ones which touch it don't.

"Okay, stop." She shuts off her flames and closes her fists. "Still not feeling tired?"

She shakes her head. "Have you actually learned anything, or have I wasted my evening?"

"The rune didn't react at all, so it's definitely metahuman. Your brain structure appears to be normal, though there are a few unusual patterns of activity in your cerebellum when you generate your flames-"

"I knew that."

"-suggesting… It's linked to your capacity for proprioception. Hm." I think for a moment. "Have you tried making flames while drunk?"

She nods her head to the side. "Yess?"

"I mean, falling down drunk? It would be interesting to see how it affects your control."

She puts her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"Urgh." I remove my remaining constructs and sit down on the deck of my fortress. "Are you going to keep doing that?"

She frowns for an instant, then looks blank. "Doing what?"

"You've been snapping at me all evening. I got.. the first thing, the Ophidian and I scared a lot of people with those eyes. But we were using them to hunt down the League of Shadows and.. the unaided Human brain can't retain all of that information. And I saw everyone, young and old, beautiful and ugly… I wasn't looking for wank material. And the thing with Guy-."

"No, I was just…" She looks off to the side for a moment, then walks over and sits down next to me. "That time, I was trying to joke about it."

"Oh. Sorry, I-."

"No, I didn't judge it right."

We stare out across the Bering Straits for a moment, admiring the view.

"You really don't remember what you saw?"

"I remember the bits we were actually looking for. The place in the Himalayas where the remaining League officers were hiding out. And.. occasionally, I.. see something or hear something and I suddenly-" I gesture at the side of my forehead with my right hand. "-get a flash of something we saw, but for the most part I really don't."

She glances at me, a playful smile on her lips. "So you really don't know what I look like naked?"

"No, pretty much as soon as you said it I got a flash of you." I shrug. "Sorry."

She goes back to looking out across the ocean. "Oh."

"If it helps, I'm.. pretty much team medic, so I've got detailed scans of both my team mates and the Justice League."

"You know what Wonder Woman looks like naked?"

"And Superman. And Plastic Man. And.. Guy, actually. You ever had a male gynaecologist? Because for me it's pretty much the same thing. It's not.. erotic, necessarily. It's just what they look like under their clothes."

She doesn't say anything for a few moments. Then she nods to herself. "Last time I was drunk, I could make the flames go further but I couldn't control where they were going. Tora had to stop me burning our apartment down."

"Hm. Well, there are exercises you can do to improve your proprioception. I can't promise they'll actually help with your flames, but it's the simplest idea I have at the moment. There are some things we could try with magic, but I'm dumping quite a lot of stuff on my magic guy already."

"You said my power wasn't magic."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that you can't affect it with magic. We could-."

"Proximity alert."

Oh, right.

Beatriz sits up slightly, suddenly alert. "What does that mean?"

"It means that something's getting clo-." She glares. "Probably the Russians noticing that I've come further south this time. I thought that they might radio first, but I guess that they want to make an impression."

I flick my right forefinger out, creating a glowing, curved-cornered rectangle in the air, marking the location of the incoming power armour suits. The elite model, I note. I create a construct of them just in front of us.

"Are they a problem?"

"No. Unless they're a lot better armed than I think they are they wouldn't be able to pierce the Fortress' force fields. But I'm trying to maintain good relations. You know that evaluation thing Guy said I was doing for the League?"

"Yes?"

"They want a guy because the Chinese have a guy."

"How highly does he rate?"

"Pretty high, actually. His power armour's good even by my standards and it includes some sort of localised machine control." I stand up and walk towards the edge closest to them. "If the summary they gave me was honest. I could forcibly check, but that seems impolitic."

I remove the constructs as they come in, gravity repulsors on their legs stabilising them in the air just over the edge of the rim. There are three, the one at the front possessing a Major's two lines containing a single star. "Orange Lantern. You are moving uncomfortably close to Russian waters."

"I made a deal with your government. I'll be recommending to the Justice League that they consider offering your colleague Dmitri Pushkin a spot. I was told that would be enough that they wouldn't bother me about coming south."

"Ah, that is good! I was worried that we might have to stop you!"

"Yes, that would have been awkward. Do you intend to escort me the whole way?"

"No, the air force can handle that." He begins floating backwards. "Just remember not to go too close to the shoreline. This is still a restricted area."

"I'll be certain to keep that in mind."

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
20:14 GMT -6

"…punched you through a wall because she was looking to get hitched?"

I nod as the chap next to me at the bar stares at me incredulously. "Yeah. I guess that's how they do things on Almerac."

"And now she's going to marry her assistant because she can't be bothered to do her job?"

I take a sip from my glass of non-alcoholic root beer. "That part of her job, certainly. The structure of their government does quite a lot to centralise certain types of decision-making power and she isn't really able to offload it to anyone else. Formalising her assistant's authority actually makes a lot of sense."

"Lucky fellah."

I smile. Currently illegal in Colorado, and I don't particularly want to antagonise my new neighbours over something not happening in this sector. "Ye-ah, lucky fellow."

My companion -his name is Mitchel- takes a look around the bar of the Wingnutz Bar and Grill. Neatly shaven handlebar moustache, slight gut overhang and one of those cowboy hats I sort of assumed that real Americans didn't wear. I got some fairly extreme looks when I walked in, shock, fear and confusion mostly. Mister Tawny and Doctor Robbins entering just behind me flat out didn't register for almost a minute until I ordered them some wings.

Hey, the sign says 'No Dogs'.

Mitchel was the first person to find the courage to speak to me, though I can feel everyone else staring at the back of my head.

"So, ahh… What is it.. brings you out here?"

"This is my local, now."

He blinks. "You.. moving in?"

"Doctor Robbins-" I point at where she's overseeing Mister Tawny's kitty rides. "-owns Challenger Mountain. I moved in just over a week ago, and Rifle's the closest town. You're probably going to see a lot of me around the place."

"Challenger Mountain? But that's way over…"

I shrug. "Not like I walk it." I raise my tankard and drain it before wiggling it at the barwoman. "That was a good deal less loathsome than I thought it would be. Another, if you would."

"Non-alcoholic, again?"

"I know it doesn't fit the image, but I can snap steel beams with one hand. Me getting tanked up is a very bad idea."

She nods, taking my glass. "Non-alcoholic it is."

"Um. Saw you on TV."

"Yeah? Which time?"

Off to my left Mister Tawny rears up and the boy perched on his head squeals in delight while his mother looks on in horror. Mitchel looks around at the sound. "Ah… Is he… Y'know, trained?"

"Hm?" I make a show of looking around. "Oh, I don't imagine his mother would have brought him here if he wasn't." I nod to the barwoman as she puts my new drink down in front of me. "Thank you."

"No, I mean… Your Tiger?"

"Mister Tawny? I don't own him. He just sort of follows me around sometimes." I turn back to Mister Tawny. "Mister Tawny, no eating the children, okay? You don't know where they've been." Mister Tawny looks at me, grunts, then lowers his head back to his plate of wings and bites down on a few. "Huh." I turn back to Mitchel. "Just keep feeding him wings, I guess."

"Aaaaaah. Um, on TV, your award ceremony?"

"Oh right. Thought it might have been one of the other times. Don't think I've actually watched an award ceremony on television my entire life."

"You go on TV a lot?"

I chuckle. "Whenever I go out and about, someone points a camera at me so they can film the early parts of my rampage and sell the footage to the networks. Sometimes I feel like I should just.. buy something and then break it so they don't feel that they've wasted their time. I think some footage of me ended up being broadcast after Roanoke but if you're not Justice League you're not national news."

"Hey." I turn around as some guy on a nearby table speaks up. "I saw you on TV when you were in Fawcett City."

"Oh yeah, that got national coverage, didn't it. Sorry, it's… There's a bunch of things I do, and I don't necessarily assign them the same importance the networks do. Hey, I'm Grayven." I wave. "Who're you?"

"Ah, my name's Jacob?"

"You sure about that?"

"Ah-." He shakes his head. "Yeah, it's just… We don't see many superheroes around here. And, ah, this is my wife Ella."

The woman in question waves a little nervously at me. "Hey there."

I nod back. "Howdy neighbours. Pleased to meet you both. Can I get you a drink?"

They look at each other for a moment, then Jacob nods. "Yeah, thanks." They get up and walk over to take the stools on my left.

"What are you having?"

"Lemonade for me, and..?" He looks at his wife.

"If the root beer's good?"

I take a sip. "Wouldn't go that far."

"Um." Ella leans forward slightly. "I wanted to.. thank you? For killing that.. Klarion. Our-" Her eyes flick to her husband. "-little girl, she's seventeen months now, and when that thing happened… It was terrifying, not knowing where she was. Bastard had it coming."

"Happy to oblige."

A woman on the far side for the room slides her chair back and starts in my direction. "How can you say that? He cut a boy's head off on television!"

Jacob turns to face her. "Yeah, well that 'boy' killed more other kids than you've had hot dinners your whole life. What's your problem?"

"Oh, I just get worried when someone goes on national television saying they want to repeal the Bill of Rights and everyone applauds!"

I turn fully around. "Guys, guys." I make a placatory gesture with both hands. "We're all rational adults here. We can talk through our differences like civilised people. Okay?" Jacob and the new woman glare at each other for a moment, then look away. "In answer to your concern… As you may have noticed, I'm an alien. I don't have the same attachment to -or awareness of- the Bill of Rights that you do. Honestly, I…" I shake my head. "I have a little difficulty in getting my head around the idea that there might be a law that stops you killing people like that."

Jacob rolls his eyes. "Shouldn't be."

"Well, in the United States we do. Due process means they have to be there when the trial happens."

"And that's an absolute? I mean, I gave the matter some thought and I couldn't think of a way to make Klarion go anywhere he didn't want to."

"Yes, it's an absolute. He was clearly a monster, but the law that gives him the right to a fair trial is the same as the one that protects everyone else."

"You do realise that he was powerful enough to happily slaughter his way through any police force or military force sent to bring him in, right? As far as I'm concerned it comes under the constitution not being a suicide pact. The Founding Fathers can't have given thought to how the laws they were signing off on would relate to beings that powerful. Isn't it.. better than there not being any sort of court process?"

"It would never stop at just people like him."

"Because the alternative would be a politician giving a kill order, and that's far more-." The door opens, and Scott and Barda walk in. Wasn't.. expecting a visit from them. "Hey Scott, hey Barda. Everyone, my brother and sister-in-law."

Mister Tawny looks around and sniffs at them. Scott looks surprised at the people nodding at him and Barda's glowering. What crawled up her?

"Grayven. Can we.. talk to you outside for a sec?"

"Oh, great, my first time in the local bar and I'm getting called out by my own brother." I rise to my feet, sigh theatrically and put two hundred dollars down on the bar before stepping away. "Next round's on me, guys."

Scott looks like he's trying to work out what's going on, like he thinks that he's missed something important but isn't sure what it is. Barda steps back out the door and moves off to the side to let me out. I walk past her and then turn around as Scott brings up the rear. "Okay guys, what's this abou-?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

31st March
20:19 GMT -6

I wince as I push myself up into a sitting position. "Okay, people need to stop hitting me in the face now. Ow." I blink as my sister in law strides across the car park in my direction, fists clenched. "Barda? What the hell was that about?" Drones, activate. Low lethality pattern.

"Oh, don't you even try that with me."

I get to my feet as she gets closer. I see Mister Tawny come through the doors of the restaurant as the other patrons line up at the window. "Barda, I don't know what's got into you-."

She lunges towards me. I duck down slightly and bring my arms up in a guard as she swings her right at my head again. Easily blocked. She isn't wearing armour or carrying a weapon. This isn't a serious attack. Or at least she isn't trying to kill me. Her left smashes into my lower guard with enough force to lift me off the ground, then she's at my side, grabbing me and hurling me across the car park!

Okay, had enough. My armour appears around me and my ring's flight aura catches me just before I smash through a row of cars. I right myself in the air and then float back down as Scott and Barda start walking towards me. "First one's free. Second one, I'll let you off because you're family. I don't recommend trying a third."

Barda narrows her eyes. "We've beaten you before."

"What, sparring? Sure, I'm not a melee fighter-."

Scott gives his head a very slight shake, his eyes remaining focused on me. "She's talking about the White House."

White-? Sinestro, if I were to ask you where my brother and sister-in-law are at the moment-?

I would tell you that they are in their home in Hartford, Connecticut.

Oh.

"So, you're the two from Earth Fifty. How did you work out where I was from?"

"How do you think?" Scott 50 raises his eyebrows. "We tried visiting our Grayven."

"Oooooooh. Bad idea. Ah, sorry about that. Although in my defence, I did rather assume that you wouldn't."

"We had to dodge fire from a few hundred Gordanian soldiers."

"Hey, no. If you didn't bother checking better ahead of time, that's on you. He doesn't even look that much like me. Grayven Fifty has a mullet. A mullet!"

"I hadn't ever seen our Grayven before. He hasn't ordered the Gordanians to paint pictures or sculpt statues of him. But he has shielded his command ship against remote viewing. The first we knew that we had the wrong guy was when we walked into his briefing room."

"Oh. Yeah. Okay then, my bad. How's.. things with him and the Thanagarians?"

Barda makes a short rumbling noise in her throat. "He destroyed their fleet and has occupied their homeworld."

"Excellent. That should keep him entertained for a bit."

Scott tilts his head to the side a little. "How did you recover so fast? You were pretty crispy at the end of our fight, yet you came back here after only a few days fully healed."

"How do you know when I came back here?"

"My Mother Box picked up the Bleed radiation from your transit. I didn't think much of it until I realised that you weren't our Grayven."

"Turns out, the souls of New Gods can feed on raw magic. I just had to find a wizard willing to pour it into me and my body regenerated fast enough for me to leave after a few days."

Barda takes another step forwards. For an instant Scott looks a little concerned and lays his right hand on her right arm. She brushes him off, but appears to get herself back under control. "How much of what you did was a set up?"

"I didn't get nuked intentionally."

She stares at me ferociously. "The fight before that."

"I wasn't trying to kill you. I mean, if you'd completely failed I.. really would have taken over. You just had to meet a-" I hold my right hand out level with my chest, palm down. "-minimum threshold. And refuse my offer, of course. Where everyone could see you doing so."

"You played us!"

"I gave your world the heroes it needs. Heroes it can survive. I made the world better for my presence and better still by leaving it." I pause for a moment. Am I actually getting through to these two? "How are.. 'Stormwatch'.. getting on?"

"We beat up a jury-rigged Brimstone Servitor and got turned into children."

"Good for you!" Wait. "You mean, at the same time, or in sequ-?"

Scott holds up his right hand to stop me. "What are you planning for this Earth?"

"You remember all that stuff I said I was going to do on your Earth?"

"Yess?"

"That. Only-" I combine harvester my hands. "-less overtly, more covertly. And legally, without, you know, outright conquering the place. I just want to prove to myself that I can do subtle, you know? Oh, and hey, I've got a mountain fortress now! And an awesome-" I point to Mister Tawny, who's crept up to pouncing distance behind them and is crouching to do just that. "-cat I can stroke when I'm being evil. Heeeee's great!"

Barda's hand goes for the mega rod she's not wearing.

"Look, this has been… Fun? But I don't have any plans to go back to Earth Fifty. Really I don't. Was there something else you wanted?"

Scott and Barda look at each other for a moment, Barda looking like someone just made her gargle sewage. Then Scott reaches into his jacket and pulls out his Mother Box.

"Okay, well, it's been.. nice seeing you-" He holds her out slightly as a Boom Tube opens. "-but you shouldn't probably-."

!!!

Lynne Wayland steps out of the portal. Her hair's a little longer than when last I saw her, pulled back into a short black ponytail at the back of her head. Her face... She's obviously been eating better. She's wearing tight fitting black trousers and a grey coat. She sees me- "Grayven!" -and scurries in my direction, a huge smile on her face. I kneel down as she reaches me so that she can throw her arms around my neck. Why is..? Why did they..?

Scott's looking down on me. "You imprinted your soul on her, Grayven. I don't know what you were thinking, just leaving-."

"I was thinking 'I'm a supervillain'! You'd have a much better chance of giving her a normal life-."

"I don't want a normal life." Lynne pulls away slightly, looking up into my face. "I want you." "Being here feels right."

Well sssssssugar. It feels right to me too. I can feel my aura harmonising with hers, like a part of me that was missing is suddenly returned. I hadn't realised…

"Lynne… I…" What the heck do I say? "I'm…" I shake my head. "I'm not a very nice man. I'm violent, my life is violent. This isn't a safe place for you-."

"And back home was? Grayven, I killed my parents. I turned off their minds without even realising…" She looks away for a moment. "And then I… I got given to SHADE and they put me in a room with the Anti Life. You're.. the only thing that makes me feel truly safe. Please, don't.. send me away?"

…

I stand, lifting her up as I do so. "Very well then… Daughter." She leans into my side, hugging my shoulder as I turn to Scott. This could be... The word I'm thinking is 'inconvenient' and I feel.. bad about it. Her need for me is obvious and at this point in my life I clearly have the resources to cope with a child, but... "Scott. Do you have any other business here?"

"No. We'll be.. headed back now."

"Alright. Wink lasciviously at Kara for me." But my heart's not really in it. He and Barda turn away to walk through the boom tube. "Thank you. For bringing Lynne here." Scott turns back for a second, giving me a small nod. Barda's eyes linger on me for a few moments as if she's not sure what to make of me.

But thankfully Barda 50's unresolved personality conflicts aren't my problem. I stride past her towards the door to the Wingnutz Bar and Grill. Mister Tawny watches my back for a few moments, then turns around to follow after me just before I hear the boom tube shut down.

I shove the door open with my left hand, ducking slightly to make sure I don't knock Lynne's head against the lintel. My fellow bar goers are in various stages of returning to their seats as I stroll back to my seat, Lynne held in my right arm. I sit down and then transfer her to my lap.

"Lynne, sweetie? Do you want something to drink?"

"Um. Orange juice?"

I nod to the barwoman as Mitchel takes a look around and realises that he's been deputised. "Hey, ah, Grayven? What was that all about?"

"My brother felt that I'd been neglecting my daughter." I put my left arm around Lynne, pulling her against my chest. "And he was right."

Mitchel nods in understanding. "Yeah, I think my sister in law would probably throw me across the parking lot if I did something like that, too."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Fool's Canon

1st April
06:26 GMT -6

I open my eyes, shifting my right shoulder at an obstruction. Why am I-? Right, the lounge, because I gave Lynne my room. And… I lift my left arm, catching sight of the top of her head. And she didn't use it. Okay, so, priorities for today: finish the guest rooms. Need her input for hers. Find out stuff about her, birthday, how old she actually is… I'd guess somewhere around twelve? I'm going to need her whole personal history at some point, though that can wait. I'll need to sort out a school and… She's going to need some sort of immigration paperwork, isn't she? Ugh, I'm probably going to have to formalise that whole 'Apokoliptian Ambassador' thing? Probably easier than popping over to Earth 50 and getting her old paperwork from SHADE and creating law for parallel universe travel.

And I've got to work out how to tell Jade. Somehow… I suspect this isn't going to go over too well. Or maybe she'll be fine with it? I did talk to her about children after I got back from Earth 50 and once she reassured herself that I didn't mean 'imminently' she told me that she does want children. And the really horrid stuff like Lynne waking up at all hours of the night and needing us to clean up her excrement has already been taken care of. And, um…

"Mister Grayven. I see that you are awake." I turn my head as far to the side as I can, spotting Jean standing just inside the room. Took her a little while to get used to not asking me things telepathically, but as she pointed out the extra speaking practice is probably good for her. "Should I have breakfast prepared, or do you intend to sleep in?"

"Um." I look at Lynne again. She grew up in a military holding centre, right? I assume that they kept a fairly inflexible schedule. "Lynne, sweetie?"

"Mmmmnnmf."

"Are you awake?"

She grudgingly opens her eyes and looks around. "No?"

"Well, I'm afraid that your mattress is, so unless you want to go back to your actual bed…"

"Mmf." She sits up, still mostly on me. "I'm awake. Who was-?" She spots Jean, her eyes widening oh dear.

"Didn't have a chance to introduce you last night." I sit up slightly, picking Lynne up and then setting her down on the floor. "This is Jean. She's a G-Goblin and she more or less runs the place."

"Oh." Lynne calms down a little as I come fully upright and swing my legs over the side of the settee. "What are… G-Goblins?"

Jean looks to me. "If I may, Mister Grayven?"

"You know what you are better than I."

Jean's horns glow faintly-. Oh, that might not be a good idea. I lean forwards and rest my hands on Lynne's shoulders. And much of her upper arm, given how large my hands are. Hm. I'm not.. feeling any fear, and it doesn't look like Jean's suffering from the mind crush. At least, she isn't showing the symptoms the military facility which held Lynne described. Okay then, I guess I'll let them get on with it.

I shuffle sideways and rise to my feet. Pyjamas, right. A quick flare of yellow and my sharply-pressed trousers and tartan shirt appear. As part of my normalisation campaign I'm making a point of wearing normal clothes while out and about. Actually, replace the suit trousers with jeans and I'm copying Dad's preferred mode of casual dress. Oh, it is nice to be able to think that without thinking 'Darkseid'.

"Oh." Lynne shakes her head slightly as Jean's horns dim. "And… All of you… Think together?"

"In a manner of speaking. Forgive me for bringing the others in like that, but your mind was a little overwhelming."

Add telepathy training to the slate. Hm, if I check that no one on the Light wants Doctor Cizko for anything I could assimilate or brand… My eyes flick down to the yellow ring on my right forefinger. Ah.

How I weep for you, Corpsman.

Or I could just hire Henry or something. I mean, if she can burn out people's minds by accident she clearly needs some sort of instruction. I'll put Chester down as a doubtful… Wait, Mars! It's lousy with telepaths! M'gann said that she had a White brother, and if he's not interested or appropriate there'll be plenty of others.

I smile down at my daughter. "Lynne, what do you eat for breakfast?"

"I don't know. What do you have?"

Hmm. As New Gods, we can eat whatever we want. We can't get tooth decay, we can't get fat and aside from certain raw material requirements we can get away with eating pretty much anything. On the other hand, children need structure to their lives.

"I usually eat porridge, but since this is your first morning here… Jean, could you ask the G-Prometheans to prepare a Full English?"

Her eyes flare for a moment. "Done, Mister Grayven. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, get the work crew to focus on Lynne's room. Just get it liveable, we can worry about decorating it tomorrow."

"Of course, Mister Grayven." She bows slightly. "Miss Wayland." She turns away and walks out of the room.

"Her mind felt weird."

I lightly rest my right hand on her left shoulder. "She isn't Human. Have you spent much time with aliens in the past?"

Lynne shakes her head. "Not apart from people from Apokolips."

Right, I'm… going to be lying to her about that, aren't I?

"There's that, and the fact that all Genomorphs are part of a mental network."

"I know. I felt the others through her."

"Okay. Breakfast should be ready in about-."

Her eyes unfocus slightly. "Six minutes."

"Right. So, today we're going to be sorting out your living.. situation." She turns her head slightly-. "No, not like that. You're living here, but you need clothes, toiletries, stuff like that. You need to think about what you want your room to look like. Um. Were you enrolled in a school on Earth 50?"

"Doctor Hol was home schooling me." She looks uncomfortable. "Do I..? Have to go to school?"

"Have to? No. It will be far more efficient to have the G-Gnomes-. They're the little telepathic-."

"Jean showed me."

"Okay. It'll be far easier to have them load the factual information you need into your mind, and in any case it's probably best to give you time to get used to your new environment. But. Going to school will force you to learn all sorts of essential social skills and give you the chance to build social relationships with children your own age, as well as giving you formal qualifications which may well be useful to you in future." She nods. "But we can worry about exactly how that's going to work later. Come on." I smile at her and transfer my right hand to her back, giving her a small push. "Let's head to the canteen."

She starts moving, opening the door and then walking out into the corridor beyond. "Who else lives here?"

"Myself, Doctor Robbins, Mister Tawny, the Sphere-."

"The Sphere? What's that?"

"Like a circle, but in three dimensions." She turns back to give me a confused look, then gets it and rolls her eyes. "The Sphere is a New Genosian artificial intelligence that can shift between ball and flying bike forms. Then there's the Genomorphs: Jean, the G-Prometheans, and-" The corridor comes out into one of the workshop areas and I point. "-the G-Trolls, G-Gnomes and G-Elves."

She hesitates slightly, but now she knows what they are the isn't worried by them. Excellent. Now, what do we do after breakfast? What did my dad used to do with me?

"Lynne, have you ever flown a kite before?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st April
13:47 GMT

"Ready?!"

Lynne nods uncertainly at the other end of the string as I hold the kite aloft. After breakfast we came to the area of grassland abutting Beachy Head, which unlike my home village is more or less the same on Earth 16 as it was on Earth Prime. The weather is perfect for kites, overcast and windy with little sun to attract other people. There are a few hardy souls walking the paths around here, mostly retired people with dogs. I've been on the receiving end of a few odd looks, but seeing me with Lynne must be convincing them that I'm not about to start anything.

"Okay… Now!"

I release the kite and she pulls on the strings as it turns to face the wind and rises up into the sky. I watch it go with a smile on my face. Haven't done this since I was… I don't even remember. Not very old. Maybe… Fourteen? Not sure.

Lynne gives one of the strings a tug and the kite obediently tacks to the right before resuming its normal flight posture. "Okay, now try paying out the string a little!"

She twists her left wrist, rotating the plastic handle to unwind the string. That causes the kite to suddenly have more slack on one side and begin moving through the air. Lynne spots what's happening, works out why and tries to rotate her right handle to compensate but loses her grip. The handle goes sailing out of her hand straight into my construct hand as she rapidly switches her attention from kite to handle and back again.

"Yeah, bit tricky, aren't they?" I walk around behind her and pass the handle back to her. "You've really never flown a kite before?"

"No, I… I think… Before my grandparents gave me to the army, I think I remember playing ball with my-" Her eyes flick back to me for a second. "-dad in a park, but after everything that happened, it's.. hard. Remembering that."

Hm. "I know a few telepaths who might be able to help. If you want to recover those memories."

"I don't know." She gives the strings a tug, watching the kite dance on the wind. "I don't think.. going inside my head-."

"If you're not comfortable with it, that's fine. I'm usually not either."

"It's not that. People who touch my mind… That's how my birth parents died, but when the army were testing me, they.. exposed me to other telepaths. They died too."

!!!

"Lynne, I'm so sorry. H-how old were you?"

"I think… Six?" I kneel down, wrapping my arms around her torso and pressing my right cheek against hers. "They stopped after a while. I never really knew what they were trying to do."

"Okay. No telepaths. Do you..? Do you know how long you were there for?"

"No. Not really. It mighta been… Five years? Maybe longer. I don't know. Then I got taken to the SHADE base."

I briefly consider going back and.. remonstrating with America 50's military. No, no, everyone involved is going to be in hiding or in prison from the… From either the Lords' or Stormwatch's follow up investigation. "How old are you now?"

"Eleven. I'll be twelve in two months."

"The first of June?"

"No, April sixteenth. Why would you think it's in June?"

"Ah, yes, of course. I noticed during my visit to Earth Fifty -your Earth- that the calendars don't quite line up. You've come forwards about seven years and one and a half months."

"That's.. weird."

"Do you want to.. celebrate it on the sixteenth of April, ooooor move it backwards a month and a half to when you'll actually be twelve? I kept mine on the same date when I came here from Earth Prime, but it's up to you."

"I think I'll… Keep it the same. That means.. it's only two weeks away, right?"

"That's right." I suppose I could just invite all the local children. Might be a bit of a hassle getting anything in place to host them… Maybe we could use the ruins of Challengerville? Some sort of.. adventure themed thing? Wait, would some of them have been living in the area when the place got wrecked? Note to self: check before sending out the invitations.

"So… I'm a goddess now, right?"

"Technically, a New Goddess, yes."

"Do I get any cool powers?"

"In addition to telepathy? Yes, you will. Slowly. You're already stronger and tougher than a normal girl your age, and you'll heal faster as well."

"Will I get as strong as you?"

"As physically strong as me? Probably not. On the other hand, I'm as telepathic as a brick. The other people I've done this to-."

She stiffens. "Other people?"

"Oh, um… You're the only one upon whom I've bestowed a part of my soul,-" She relaxes. "-but I have invoked a divine awakening in some of my f-. My allies. They gained thematically appropriate abilities based on what they could do already. Based on what happened to Wallace, I imagine that the first thing you'll find is that it will be easier for you to control your abilities precisely."

"I hope so."

"Development beyond that will be based on how rapidly you absorb ambient arcane energy. I've got Zatanna-. She's a magic user, I'll introduce you later. I've got her working on a mana siphon which should speed up the process." Hm "I'm going to test it thoroughly before giving one to you. If you don't want one, you don't have to have one."

"Um. Maybe?"

"Hey, that kite's gone pretty high, huh?"

"Yeah." She looks up. "It really has. Do we just.. keep doing-?"

"Sorry to interrupt, Corpsman, but there is a matter which requires your attention."

"Who was-? Was that your ring?"

"Yes. The.. AI is patterned after the mind of its former wielder, a man named Thaal Sinestro. He's… He has his uses."

"One of which is monitoring Lantern Grayven's system wide sensor network so that I can notify him if -for example- an alien probe of unknown origin is hurtling towards the Earth at extinction event velocity. Of course, if you would rather continue with your kite-flying, I'm sure that the population will quite understand."

"Sinestro, was the Universe Fifty version of you ever married to Arin Sur?"

"No. She was a… Remarkable woman, but with my political work... Things never came together. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering if you knew anything about child rearing. Lynne, do you want to go and see an alien space probe?"

"What happens if we don't? Will it really destroy the planet?"

"No, I'll just tell the Justice League to sort it. There's got to be at least one Greenie in the neighbourhood. On the other hand, alien space probe, probably unknown to the Human species. Could be interesting."

"Um. Yeah does sound more interesting-. I mean, the kite's nice-."

"It's fine. Kites aren't for everyone."

"Right." She starts turning the handle to reel in the kite. "Do I need a spacesuit?"

I release my hold on her, stand and step back. "Yep. One moment." Yellow light flares along her body as her clothes are replaced with Apokoliptian body armour. Half-remembered Justice League Animated images result in her suit being black and white with an Ace of Clubs tron line design on the chest. It also includes an enclosed helmet and aero discs. If something goes wrong she'll be able to get back to Earth safely. "Grayven to control. Are you there, Doctor?"

"Robbins here. What's going on?"

"Alien probe. Lynne and I are going to have a look. Are the electronics complete enough for you to provide monitoring?"

"Just about. Okay, got you. Mission is go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st April
13:58 GMT

"We're in space!"

I glance at Lynne as we accelerate towards the ship. "You've been in space before, haven't you?"

Actually, having had the chance to give it a scan I think it's actually some sort of escape pod. There appears to be a climate control system but it isn't a full suspended animation set up. We didn't pick up an explosion in this system but if the species who created it used a space warping form of faster than light travel they would have formed the warp at the 'send' end. I can't build sensors for everything. It would just take too long.

"On the Wrath of Thanagar. But they never let me just go outside!"

"It gets boring fairly quick."

"I can see forever! How could this get boring?!"

Okay, schedule some time off planet with her. The object is a tube. No generators, but there are a power cell and kinetic dampeners, it's definitely slowed down since we first picked it up… 'Soft crash landing' design, then.

"How fast are we going?"

"Hm? Oh, about three hundred times the speed of sound." Planet Earth is a slowly growing dot up ahead and the Watchtower is on the opposite side of the planet. I could try grappling the pod, but I'm a bit worried about the fact that parts of it are resisting my scan. Even Father Box-

Ploong.

-is having difficulty making sense of it, and there aren't many things that can defy his observation.

"Is that safe?"

"It would be a bit risky in an atmosphere, but we're in space. My environmental shield combined with our divinely resilient armour means that impact with the handful of particulates that there are this far from Earth isn't a problem." That said… I ease off a little. "Doctor Robbins, it looks like the object is heading for the South Pole. Please confirm?"

"Right in the middle of Antarctica, according to your computer. Near Dome Argus."

"Anyone there?"

"It'll be quite close to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Whether they're in danger or not depends on how hard it hits."

"Shouldn't hit all that hard at all. I'm more worried about the shock waves as it goes through the air."

"Oh no. Who will save us. From this terrible peril."

Lynne giggles treacherously.

"Yeah, yeah. Lynne, watch carefully what I do. You won't get many opportunities to see things like this."

Leaving her a little way behind me I get closer to the pod. Disruption's still there. Quick check shows that it isn't construct proof. Could try just dumping the whole thing into subspace, but I'm worried about how the bit which I can't scan will react… I take another look at the force field that's protecting it.

Is that a button?

There's a sort of.. plasma eddy in one spot. The design looks deliberate. Alright then. Construct finger and press.

"Hello!" The message is coming over about seventeen different forms of advanced communication system simultaneously. A slightly extreme precaution, but a sound one if the sender had no idea who the pod might meet at the other end. "You've reached the messaging service-" Eh? "-of Brum-El." A Kryptonian? I don't remember-. "No, I'm not a Kryptonian. Why do people always ask that? They're not the only species who frantically jettison things from their dying home planet, you know!"

Huh?

"Preserved in this pod are the things most precious to me." Okay, alien baby. Babies. The Genomorphs can handle-. "My clothes." What? "My sock collection, all fifty two pairs. My fabulous hats, all in their original boxes." What? "My oven gloves, my beautiful, beautiful oven gloves." I hear a whimper. "Oh, and that weird bug facemask my brother bought me for my birthday that time and my green union suit. To be honest, I really just wanted to get those off the planet. I mean, can you imagine if I died wearing those? Yikes, right?"

…

I think we can pretty much rule out the wisdom of the universe.

"Anyway, meteorites coming, I gotta go. The pod should land safely on the first inhabited planet it comes to. So if that's you, congratulations! I guess… Put them in a museum or something? Oh, oh, and there might possibly have been a small infestation of radioactive space robo-insects. Maybe! But it's probably nothing to worry about. All you need to do is crackle. Crackle! Crackle? Yeah, that sounded believable. Okay, future fashion worshippers, this is Brum-El, signing off! I'm off to leave life the way I came in: naked and screaming! Leave your message after the beep."

I wait for a moment.

There is no beep.

"What a flipping waste of time. Sinestro, get me Lex Luthor."

"Dialling now."

I hear the phone being picked up, but no one says anything. "Lex, Grayven here."

"One moment." Miss Graves' voice. Oh, come on. I don't rate being put straight through? Sinestro, I show up on caller ID, right?

A terrible oversight on my part, Corpsman.

"Grayven. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Lex, hi. Alien supply pod on collision course with the South Pole. Apparently it contains someone's wardrobe, but you could probably get something useful from the technologies of the pod itself. Interested?"

"Their wardrobe?"

"You can keep the socks, no charge."

Lynne laughs again.

"… Thank you. Once you've performed a preliminary investigation, please transport it to LexCorp's secure warehouse in New York."

"No problem. Tell them to expect me in about an hour."

Sinestro, hang up.

Earth's bigger now, almost the size of my thumb nail. "No sense following it in." I bring Lynne and myself to a relative stop, the pod zooming away from us. "Father Box, boom tube to the Antarctic."

Ploong.

A glowing portal opens in space, a white wasteland on the far side. I send Lynne through first and then float through myself, closing it behind me and looking upwards. Can't see it yet with my unaided eyes, but I have Sinestro plot the location and distance on my eyes and Lynne's visor.

"That was weird. Are we really on the South Pole?"

"No, the Pole's a little way-" I point to the south. "-that way. Magnetic south is about a kilometre south east of us."

"Can we go see it?"

"Um." How long have we got? "Yes, alright. First thing though." I activate the aerodiscs in her boots before triggering my own and rising off the hard packed ice. "I want you to try getting there using your aerodiscs."

"I have those?"

"Everyone worth mentioning on Apokolips has those. You just have to lean a little and angle your feet-." She gets about three inches off the ground before losing her balance, flailing her arms around for a few desperate seconds before falling onto her back. "Nearly. It's like riding a Segway." I float over and offer her my right hand. "It's only not intuitive if you expect it to be unintuitive. Now." I give her a friendly smile. "Try again."