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

[Mr Zoat]

13th April
10:07 GMT +2

"Good morning, Falil."

Adom's harried-looking Principal Personal Secretary looks around from his discussion as I walk down the corridor towards him. "Orange Lantern. Good to see you."

"Falil, why are there severed heads on poles outside the palace?"

"Ah. Yyes, his Excellency wished to talk to you about that."

"Goood. Is he free now?"

Falil looks distinctly nervous for a moment. "Ah… Possibly. I will check for you. Would you please wait here?"

"Of course."

He walks off in the direction of Adom's new office. Having thoroughly.. liquidated the previous government, one of Adom's first acts was to pass a law authorising the seizure of their assets. It wasn't particularly hard to prove rampant corruption and other forms of.. barbarity. The Swiss banks they used were reluctant to comply with the confiscation order, but fortunately I have a power ring. Adom didn't want to move the centre of his government to Cairo so that part of the reclaimed money which didn't obviously belong to someone else is being put towards the construction of a new government building. Some of the more hostile media pundits have taken to describing it as a palace, but in fact it will be no more a palace than the White House is. When finished it will very much be a working office building. But for the moment the Kahndaqi provisional government is operating out of another hotel.

Adom already has the approval of his neighbours and the tolerance of the United States. The UN Security Council has removed a few sanctions and discussion on the rest is being held off until the ratification of the new Kahndaqi Constitution. I know several European countries-

"…primary education, like they do in…"

-have… I frown and look in the direction of Adom's office. Female voice, clearly very angry. I only got a burst of what she said while Falil had the door open. Might get another burst when Adom throws her out of the window, I suppose. What sort of person thinks that berating a demigod is a sensible thing to do? Adom responds fairly well to reason; vitriol like that just annoys him.

"Uh, Orange Lantern sir?"

"Hm?" I look around as one of the other civil servants nervously holds up his phone.

"Would you mind if-?"

Heh. I shake my head. "No problem."

He grins, then turns around while holding his phone out. Despite spending far more time in the United States than I do here, Kahndaqi people identify with me far more than most Americans. Hardly anyone called me the Cake Man, particularly after last month. He leans backwards until his back touches my chestplate and then presses the button to take a picture. Selfies aren't something I've ever got into, but given that this man's predecessors were probably killed by a giant alien robot I tend to feel that I should make an effort.

"…excuse not to…"

Falil closes the door as quickly as he can as my latest admirer checks his picture. Apparently he likes it. He smiles at me -"Thanks!"- then spots his boss heading our way and hurries back to whatever he was doing before.

Falil approaches with an air of discomfort. "His Excellency will see you now."

"Thank you, but what.. was.. that..?"

Falil closes his eyes and sighs. "That.. is.. one of the things he wishes to speak to you about." He opens his eyes again. "It is probably best that he explain himself."

"Okay? Should I just..? Go in?"

He nods distractedly. "Yes. Please.. excuse me. The deputation from Qena have raised some sort of problem with the veto procedures, and-."

"You're a very busy man, I understand. Keep up the good work."

He nods and turns to walk away, giving me a very brief flicker of a very small smile. Kahndaq… I'm constantly worried that the country is going the way of Iraq Prime, a universally hated dictator being overthrown leading to chaos as different armed groups try to establish control. Kahndaq at least had the advantage of leaving most of the government structure in place.

Those still occupying positions of authority after Adom killed the old government took the hint and left, without the need to spend the next decade running trials. Lower level types are being allowed to keep their heads down as long as they stay away from the offices of state. The only comparable situation I'm aware of is when the Russian oligarchs got the deal from Putin that he wouldn't look into how they acquired state assets so cheaply in the post-communist fire sale as long as they stayed away from politics, and I know that didn't work. But those left here aren't anything like as powerful and they're surrounded by a country that hates them. Adom's amnesty and personal popularity might be the only thing keeping a lot of them safe from a mob right now.

I push the-

"…accepted limited authority because that is the way things are done now."

-door open-

"You are making excuses. You could do anything with Kahndaq, and you know-"

-and the first thing I see is a woman five and a half feet tall staring Adom down, despite the fact that he's above her, being both taller than her and slightly off the ground. Adom's abandoned his dispassionate arms crossed pose and is currently winning in the battle to keep his temper under control. Just about.

"-that!"

"Excuse me?"

Both their heads snap in my direction, the woman's eyes narrowing slightly while Adom actually.. looks.. relieved? "Orange Lantern." He floats upwards a little, arms folding in front of his as his body posture relaxes. "Miss Tomaz was just leaving."

And she snaps back to him, right index finger extended. "This is not over." She extends her glare for a few seconds, then turns and walks past me through the door. And slams it closed behind her.

"Um."

Adom doesn't groan. I can feel him not groaning. "The heads belong to a deputation from a criminal syndicate which had dealings with the former president. They wished to continue that relationship with me. I turned them down."

"Did they give you a name?"

"Yes. Intergang."

I nod. "They're a 'known'. Shouldn't be too hard for me to do damage control. Um..?" I point after Miss Tomazzzzzz. Tomaz. As in 'Amon Tomaz'. As in the woman who becomes Isis. That's… Interesting. "May I ask..?"

"Intergang is engaged in 'people trading'. Slavery. They offered her to me as a gift." He takes a deep breath. "And she has seen fit to remain despite the fact that I have freed her."

"Why?"

"Intergang's allies still within Kahndaq have her brother. I told her that I would hunt them down and free him once the country is stable. Perhaps she has remained to remind me of my promise. Perhaps not. Whatever her reason, she spends her time berating me over every aspect of my conduct which does not meet with her approval."

"May I ask why she is allowed to do that?"

"She is not… Always, entirely incorrect in her statements. All too many of my advisors are reluctant to gainsay me in even the smallest way. She is… By and large, helping." He grimaces. "I merely wish that she would choose a less infuriating manner in which to do so!"

"She hasn't known you long, Mighty One. I'm sure that you'll grow into each other. And I don't need to remind you of the value of honest counsellors."

"Hah! True. In my first life, only my wife would defy me so openly. Her latest complaint is that I am not ensuring that each governate will offer equal educational opportunities to boy and girl children. As I told her, that authority is devolved, and I will not undermine those who make such decisions by… Giving with one hand, and taking with another."

"About that, Mighty One. When you said during your last interview that you were considering restricting voting to the heads of each household..?"

"Yes, I.. heard." 'Ancient Pharaoh Denies Women Vote' was not a headline I expected to have to deal with. "I apologise for any difficulty it caused you. I was not trying to disenfranchise women. It had not even occurred to me that their menfolk might vote without reference to their wives. It was off the cuff, and the idea was that they would vote on behalf of the whole household. If it had become law younger men would not have been able to vote for themselves either."

"Can I assume..?"

"It will not become policy. It was a misstep. One which Miss Tomaz has already lectured me on." Another sigh. "At length."

"Glad to hear it. So, I'm at Kahndaq's disposal for the rest of the day. What do you want me working on?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th April
20:33 GMT +3

Miss Shimmer blows her nose loudly, then wads the tissue up into a ball. She holds it up, staring down her still red nose at it. After a few seconds thin wisps of smoke begin rising from the top, and for a split second I think I see a smile on her lips. Then she notices that I'm watching and returns to dourness, flames consuming her tissue as she tosses it over the side of the construct platform she's standing on.

Then Miss Amane grabs her, wrapping her arms around the other girl with an expression of purest joy on her face. "You can use magic again! I'm so happy for you!"

Miss Shimmer holds her arms out to the sides as if she's not entirely sure what to do with them. "What did she say?"

Miss Amane pulls back. "You." She prods Miss Shimmer in the abdomen with her right forefinger. "Can use magic." She holds up hands and wiggles her fingers. Then she grins. "Again."

Miss Shimmer's command of English has advanced a great deal since she learned a short Atlantean ritual for memorising data tables. Unlike me, she understands the formal rules of grammar well enough to actually use it.

"Okay, thanks, but… Slower, okay? Just not as slow as that."

Miss Amane places her hands on the sides of Miss Shimmer's shoulders. "I Will Speak At Normal Speed."

Miss Shimmer sets her jaw, then places her own hands on Miss Amane's upper arms. "Thank You."

"You don't need to talk slowly for-." Miss Amane realises what she did, then bites her lower lip for a second before beaming again. "Okay!"

"Besides, it's not much magic. It's just so hard to form an etheric connection without a horn!"

"Um." Lynne looks a little self conscious when the two older girls turn their attention on her. "You, um. You neighed the last bit."

"Ugh." Miss Shimmer sags slightly, then focuses her ire on me, "Why are we here? Where is 'here', anyway?"

"To answer your second question, we are about eight thousand metres above a place called Darfur. To answer your first, we are here for a lesson."

She rolls her eyes. "Great."

"I'm glad you approve. Today's lesson is about moral theory, in particular-."

"Is it about friendship?"

"Only tangentially. Rather, I-."

"Is this going to be a lecture?"

"I will deliver a short lecture, then you will-" I make a horizontal circle with my right index finger. "-discuss the matter between yourselves before acting on the decision you make. Then you will observe the consequences of your actions and compare them to what it was that you were trying to achieve." I lean slightly towards Miss Shimmer. "And most likely try to work out where you went wrong."

"Oh." She seems unfazed. "Field work. Okay. That could be fun. I thought this was going to be another one of P-p… Celestia's pointless lectures."

"Take that, sun horse." I straighten up. "Now-."

"Sun horse?" Miss Amane looks at Miss Shimmer in puzzlement for a moment, then her eyes widen and she looks back at me with her hands over her mouth.

"Princess Celestia is planet Wilson's-" Miss Shimmer snorts. "-sun goddess. Or possibly demigoddess." It really wasn't clear from the cartoon how powerful she was. The beam of war with Chrysalis suggested 'not very' but I'm not about to treat an animation in which none of the characters have genitals or arseholes as entirely reliable. "She was also Miss Shimmer's teacher before they parted on bad terms." Oh, what's the line again? "I'm perfectly happy to answer questions, but please try to keep them to the end of the class."

She nods. I'm glad that Miss Amane isn't some sort of mindlessly obedient death puppy, but I… Probably should have thought through what I was going to do with her a little better than I did. At least she's replaced that nice looking but impractical Apokolips tech scythe with an Apokolips tech war scythe. I didn't want to instruct her in her choice of weapon because she would have obeyed without question, but when I showed her a few variants that she might 'find more practical in some circumstances' she jumped at it right away.

"Miss Shimmer. When is it appropriate to use force to compel another to your way of behaving?"

"Um?" Her pupils dart to the side as she tries to work out what sort of answer I want. "Never?"

"No, don't be daft. Do I look like Celestia? What's your real answer?"

She rolls her eyes. "Why does it matter?"

"I'm helping you become a goddess. I'd like to think that you'll be able to use that power responsibly. Well?"

This time she actually thinks about it. "When they'll hurt themselves worse if you don't?"

"Okay." I create a construct blackboard… Huh. Yellow on yellow. That's not going to work. I dismiss the construct blackboard and take a holoprojector out of subspace, writing 'WHEN THEY'LL HURT THEMSELVES WORSE OTHERWISE' in the top left. "Iname?"

As ever, she brightens slightly at the use of her 'superhero name'. She also doesn't hesitate to answer. "When they're bad people."

I nod. An expected answer. I write it in the top right. Those are the two main categories I want to focus on, but… "Lynne?"

"When they'll.. be.. better if you.. do..?"

I write 'THEIR OWN BETTERMENT' in the middle.

"Alright, that should get us started. Miss Shimmer, how badly would someone have to be about to hurt themselves before you would step in?"

A mild frown. "Well… As long as they get hurt less than they would have done… That's okay, isn't it?"

I raise my right hand, ring pointed towards her. "So I should purge you of your current viral infect-?"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Her eyes figuratively blaze with indignation.

I nod, making a circling motion with both hands. "So..?"

Her eyes widen slightly as she realises what I mean. "Sometimes people get hurt for their own good."

"That's one way to put it." I add 'HOW MUCH HARM' under her suggestion. "Keep going."

"Aaaaaaaah… They'd have to be getting seriously hurt? Something they couldn't get better from?"

"What if you're not sure whether they will or not?"

Miss Shimmer's face appears to shut down as she's forced to actually think about some of the things Celestia tried to teach her. Guess who actually was paying attention all those times you ranted about her? "The.. risks of intervention have to be offset against the risks of inaction?"

I blow her a raspberry.

"Whaaaaaaat?"

"Of course they do. What you need to know in your own mind is 'how much risk'. 'How much injury'." I add those to the hologram. "And you should have a pretty firm idea of where you think the 'intervention point' is before you put yourself into a position where you might be expected to intervene. Which you will in a couple of hours."

"We will?"

"Iname. How bad does a person have to be?"

She hesitates, though in her case she's trying to work out what answer I want because in her mind that is the right answer, rather than because she thinks that the question is stupid. "You can only do as much harm as they would do."

I write 'EYE FOR AN EYE' on the board. "Alright, but do you mean to them, or in total?"

"I.. don't think I understand."

"Let us take the example of a murderer. According to the principle you stated, killing them would be correct. But what if they've got a dependant who requires them to live in order to survive themselves? Or if they have some vital job lots of other people rely on? You would be harming lots of other people when you killed them."

"Grayven?" Lynne raises her right hand. "Why are we having this lesson over Darfur, rather than somewhere else?"

"Because there's a rather nasty war going on down there. And once the three of you have decided on your moral beliefs, you're going to stop it in accordance with them."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th April
17:45 GMT -6

"…realise this is a silly reason to contact you."

"Oh no, Mister Grayven. It was necessary to test your system and of all of us I am least likely to be distracted from my work."

"Yes, but that's not why I picked you." I exhale, not quite able to look at his screen. Okay, yes, that would make sense. He designed the communication system we Light members use to contact one another for official business, using it to contact him is the logical thing to do in case any problems arise. But that wasn't why. "Ever since our last meeting, I… I can't get the fact that no one knows your name out of my head. It's been bugging me."

"I see."

"I've tried getting the rolls for every university that's had a student from southern France for the last fifty years, I've tried examining your old haunts and trying to get a genetic sample… I even tried going back to Gorilla City and asking the residents-."

"Sacred blue, Mister Grayven."

"I know. They were neither pleased to see me nor inclined to be helpful. Eh, they couldn't really describe you and I wasn't prepared to ease off on my mental defences for them to try showing me telepathically." At least Lynne enjoyed the trip. "So there's really only one way for me to find out left." Well. Other than have Chester rip it out of the Ultra-Humanite's mind I suppose, but there's no guarantee that he knew.

"And what would that be, Mister Grayven?"

"Brain, will you please tell me what your name is?"

He pauses for a moment. "Mister Grayven, is that a Wizard of Earthsea reference?"

Ah? "Sort of. I mean, I don't need you to tell me in order to leave the building."

"You have read it?"

"Yes, while I was on Earth Prime. I wasn't.. massively impressed, but it held my attention at least." I think my dad read it to me for a bedtime story. I may have tried reading it again later, I don't really remember. I've been reading Enid Blyton's Adventure series to Lynne. I don't think she's really.. developed her own tastes yet. That and the fact that we spend most of our time together meant that shopping for her birthday party was a bit tricky. Fortunately, I have a personal shopper with super speed. "Soo… Will you tell me, please?"

"Of course, Mister Grayven. It is Doctor Marcel Durant."

…

"Oh."

"I am sorry if it is not a great revelation. I did not choose my name. I would say that The Brain suits me somewhat more."

"Yeah, I think I agree with you th-."

Lex Luthor's screen activates. "Grayven, I'm-" There's the tiniest hesitation as he spots that the Brain is online as well. "-glad that you're there. We may have a small problem."

"Is it a problem which requires the attention of the entire Light, Mister Luthor?"

"No. In fact, I would have just handed it over to our enforcer."

Hm. "Oh yeah, who is that at the moment?"

"After you killed the last two, the position has remained vacant."

Ah. That. I frown. "Seems like an important job to remain unfilled."

"It will be on the agenda at our next meeting, Mister Grayven. It was decided that it would be best to wait until the new members were confirmed."

"Fair enough. So, what, we'll be deciding between David Hyde and Slade Wilson?" Wasn't really surprised that he extracted himself from custody, though I was a little disappointed.

Lex inclines his head slightly. "They are the leading candidates, though there are one or two others that may be worthy of consideration. Is there anyone you wish to nominate?"

Chester doesn't have the planning skills, Vera hasn't fully acclimatised… I have been meaning to track down Scandal Savage -or whatever her real name is- but I don't have any information on her career. "No, not really. So, why were you calling?"

"One of our secure storage facilities has failed to respond to a check in attempt. Given the nature of what we are storing there, the matter was escalated to me immediately. I dispatched a security detail, and they report that the place is now empty."

"Don't keep us in suspense, Lex. What were you keeping there?"

"Among other things, the exotic remains which the Shadows recovered from STAR Labs during the Roanoke Incident."

"And.. what do they do?"

"It formed the basis of the mind control technology which Mister Klarion used to control the Justice League, Mister Grayven. That, the technology provided by Professor Ivo and Mister Klarion's own magic made for a most potent combination."

"Did wonder where you got that from." I glance back towards the door. I kept one myself, but with everything that's gone on I haven't had the time to study it in any detail. I think the League kept the rest, though I seem to remember Wallace saying something about keeping one as a souvenir. "Do you want me to track down the thief myself? Shouldn't take all that long."

Lex nods. "I was hoping that you would volunteer your services. I'll forward you all of the information we have been able to gather on the creature."

Yes, and then you'll feel obliged to answer when I ask about the Genomorphs, so that works for me… Wait a moment. "Creature?" I frown. "I thought all you had were more of those mind control chip things?"

"Not all of the creature's flesh was consumed creating those. It showed truly remarkable regenerative properties. That was why we kept studying it."

!!!

"You had a living alien in your possession?"

"We were not able to confirm its origin, Mister Grayven. It may indeed be of extraterrestrial origin-."

"No, I know this species. They're called 'Star Conquerors', and at their peak they mind controlled the inhabitants of three Space Sectors. That fight was the last time the Green Lantern Corps really took their gloves off. Do you know how big the one you got your sample from was?"

"I believe Ocean Master said it was something like thirty meters along its longest axis."

"Okay. Okay, that's.. less scary. If it was one of the really big ones…"

"It is interesting to see you so discomported, Mister Grayven. How much of a threat do they pose?"

"I'll send you my files. The closest equivalent in Human popular fiction would be a telepathic Morning Light Mountain from the Commonwealth Saga. If we can contain it quickly, not much. If we can't, if it makes contact with one of its larger kinsmen, very much. Grayven out."

I cut my connection and send Sinestro's files on the species before heading to the door. Blast, what a crap time for it. I'll need to grab… Eh, Chester's still in no fit state... I'll see if Jean's awake. She and a G-Gnome or two-.

"Master!" I look down at the 'thump'. Miss Amane is genuflecting to me, face pressed against the floor. "I have failed you! Please, forgive me!"

…

…kay..?

Miss Shimmer and Lynne follow along behind her, Miss Shimmer looking more than a little nervous. "We.. couldn't come up with a strategy that didn't just result in lots more people dying."

Miss Amane looks up, tears shining in her eyes. "Master, please tell us what we are supposed to do!"

"Miss Shimmer. What did you come up with?"

"Ah…" She ducks my gaze. "If… We thought that if Linn stunned each war band and Iname killed the leaders, that might be enough to convince the rest to back off."

"I don't see a big pile of heads. Did you just leave them there?"

"But we'd have to kill hundreds of people! And that's not even counting the government officials who covered it up for so long! And that might not even have worked!"

I nod, smiling pleasantly. "Oh, so you were paralysed in the face of-?"

"It wasn't possible." Lynne is frowning slightly, as if she's been thinking hard and has just realised something. "The war has been going on for years. You must have known that we wouldn't be able to come up with the right solution in a few hours."

"I would have been surprised."

"Hey!" Miss Shimmer looks irritated while Miss Amane looks like she just got a reprieve from death row.

"If there even was a right answer. In the real world, there may well not be a good solution. Or if there is, the information you would need to make it isn't available. Deciding that there must be a right solution and refusing to take any action until you find it is a rather daft way to proceed. But a few hours was a ridiculously brief target for me to give you. Lynne, well done for standing up to me. But the three of you need to keep studying. I do expect a solution eventually, and more people die while you delay."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th April
20:17 GMT -5

I smile as Jade opens the door. "Good evening, Catgirl."

She rolls her eyes, turns away and walks back into the house. "Holly and Karon aren't here."

I wince in sympathy as I follow her in, closing the door behind me. "Job interview.. not go so well?"

She stops, but doesn't turn around. "I-." There's a sharp exhalation. "It was a good idea, but apparently they were looking for someone who 'looks a little more intimidating'."

Darn. Jade isn't exactly unwilling to take something minimum wage, but I can well understand that it's a bit of a step down from the sort of thing she used to do. Thing is, she doesn't have much in the way of formal qualifications and she doesn't have anything remotely resembling a reference. I thought 'bodyguard' was quite a good fit… But, yeah, I see their point. Bodyguarding is about keeping the principal safe. A slightly built Asian woman doesn't intimidate people unless she's got a reputation and they know what it is. There are people in Gotham who'd give her that sort of work, but they're all career criminals and probably wouldn't be interested in tolerating her moral hang-ups about doing anything more assertive than guarding.

"This is Gotham. There'll probably be other openings."

"Yeah. Great." She walks over to the closest settee and lithely lowers herself into it. "Guess you heard about me going out with Selina."

I blink. "Well darn. Looks like I misread the situation."

Another eye roll, though this one is slightly better humoured. "Not like that. After working with the League, working out in the gym just doesn't cut it." She pauses as I walk over to sit in the chair across from her. "You're not going to try telling me this violates my parole, right?"

"Not as far as I know." I flick out my right hand. "Don't kill or maim, don't let bystanders get hurt and keep the evidence more or less in one piece and there shouldn't be a Bat-problem." She nods. "New costume?"

"Selina's not a fan of the kimono."

"Gotham's not exactly classy. Not in the sort of places you're needed."

"Plus it's probably better if there isn't an obvious connection between a new vigilante and a recently released ex-League of Shadows operative."

I nod. "Right. Um, look. About... Two weeks ago…" Her eyebrows arch slightly. "It's.. been explained to me… By Artemis… That after you asked about Doctor Blight… You were probably expecting me to…" I make a combine harvesting motion with my arms. "Press my suit. Rather than back off."

"You asked my sister about that?"

"It came up in conversation." And I got away with only a mild ear bashing. "Um. I'm not… Very good at-."

She shakes her head. "I honestly hadn't noticed."

I close my eyes for a moment, exhaling lightly. "Not something I've got a lot of experience with. I just.. took that as you saying 'no', and…"

"Oh."

"I mean, I thought I was making a clear statement of interest, you backed off…"

Her eyes flick away. "I wasn't.. backing off, exactly…"

"Okay, well, I'll.. take that as having your permission to be a little more assertive in future."

"Huh." She treats me to a Cheshire grin. "That'll be fun."

"But in more serious news…"

Sad face. "Aww… And I thought you might have come over while Holly and Karon were out to… Assert."

"N… No. There's a.. situation that's arisen-" Her eyebrows rise again. "-that you not like that!"

"Can't blame a girl for hoping."

"A situation has occurred that.. your particular expertise may be able to help with. Obviously, this is a job, I'd be paying you for-."

Her eyes narrow. "This better not be a pity offer."

I raise my hands in mock surrender. "Wouldn't dare. I'm completely serious. I'm planning something, but I don't have any actual experience-"

"I think I worked that out."

"-with this sort of mission. Oh." I take a ward stone out of subspace and toss it to her. She catches it in her right hand without otherwise moving as I have the ring do a quick scan of the immediate area. I think we're in the clear. "You'll need that."

She looks at the stone carefully. "The only thing… I have experience with… But you don't…"

Killing people, presumably. "Actually, there was a fellow a few days ago-."

"So you don't need my advice on boys?"

An attempt at humour, but her lips aren't smiling. "I'm planning an assassination. Hopefully, it won't-" She looks away. "-come to that, but I need to be sure that I'm prepared just in case. I think I'm covering all the angles-."

"Is this..!" She glares at me. "This better not be some sort of messed up test."

"The Lord of Order Nabu is possessing the body of Mister Giovanni Zatara, and he has no plans to give it up."

Her face creases. "What?"

"Nabu's spirit is bound to that golden helmet. If anyone puts it on, they get shoved into a black featureless void while he gets complete control. Mister Zatara hasn't been taking a leave of absence, he's been a prisoner in his own body since Roanoke Island."

She relaxes a little. "Do the Justice League know?"

"Yes. Which is rather why I'm not going to them… To the rest of them with this."

"That girl, Zatanna. She's his daughter."

"Yes."

She lays there, thinking it through. "Who did you kill?"

"A man named Albrecht Krieger."

Her eyes flick up for a moment. "You killed Captain Nazi?"

"Yes. Of course, killing Nabu is rather more problematic. He's a member of the Justice League-."

She nods. "And we can't risk killing his host."

"Not without a reliable way to resurrect him." Vandal Savage's surviving tribespeople appeared to be my best bet, but I haven't been able to trace them.

"Is that even… Possible..?"

"I believe so. I have a… Scenario in mind. It won't be possible to disguise what we did afterwards, but as long as you're not 'in at the death', we can probably keep your name out of it."

"And if I say no?"

"Then.. you.. forget we had this conversation. I'll understand if you need to think about-."

"I'm in." The look on her face is deadly serious. "Show me what you've got so far."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
09:19 GMT -5

"Soooo?"

I look up from the book John got me on Norse runes to where Artemis leans against a nearby bookshelf, looking rather pleased with herself. "So… What?"

Since I definitively eliminated the Kriegers as a way back to Valhalla for the Einherjar, Batman assigned me the task of coming up with an alternative. The Einherjar themselves don't seem all that bothered. Can't say I'm surprised; some of them have been there for well over a thousand years and are metaphorically chomping at the bit at the prospect of being able to fight something else. Presently they're being entertained by some sort of pagan society in Norway, who are delighted to have tangible evidence of the truth of their faith.

"So? You? Jade?"

I return my attention to the book. "Your analysis was broadly correct. We talked about it…"

"And?" She walks towards me. "You two dating now, or what?"

I smile slightly. "We're probably going to be seeing a little more of each other, certainly."

Artemis pulls out the chair opposite me. "And Zatanna's okay with that?"

I glance up and nod. "Oh yes."

I love sophistry. I handed Jade the standard League of Shadows deposit for a well defended high value target and a summary of the techniques we believe can be used to kill Klarion. The folder it's in is warded and designed to self destruct if anyone else looks at the contents, but even so I'm not comfortable having our actual plan written down anywhere. I have been thinking about how to kill Klarion as well; my hate for Nabu doesn't blind me to the fact that he has to go first. Nabu is a reasonable Klarion counter, killing Klarion is a better one. Once Nabu no longer serves any purpose I won't feel that I'm imperilling the world by threatening him.

"Fine. Don't talk to me about it." She looks around the room. "I thought Gardner was supposed to be here at nine?"

"He said 'nine-ish'. Guy's the only local Green Lantern not to have spent any time in the military. Nine-ish doesn't mean 'at nine, unless something comes up', it means 'somewhere around nine, to within half an hour, probably'." I shrug. "Besides, I train with Guy a couple of times a week anyway. I already know everything relevant to the job that he knows. I'm half expecting him to walk in, ask what we're normally doing at this time of day and tell us to carry on with it."

"The only one who wasn't in the military?"

"Two eight one four A-."

"Hal."

Ah. "Oh, okay, I didn't know that you knew."

She shrugs. "He introduced himself when I was in Central City one time."

"Okay, well, he was in the US air force and B was in the marines."

"What about Mister Scott?"

"He was conscripted during the Second World War. He went through basic training before being transferred to work on Stars and Stripes. He's still got the uniform up in his loft, though he said he hardly ever wore it."

"How did he handle the secret identity thing?"

"With difficulty. When he was in boot camp Green Lantern basically disappeared because he couldn't sneak out. Then, he still had to go where he was sent and he could only act in places where his airspeed could take him there and back." I half-chuckle. "Just a good job he wasn't a paratrooper. If he'd been ordered to drop somewhere inside the Nazi control zone things might have become rather tricky." I frown. "What were you doing in Central City?"

"Hanging out with Wally."

"Oh. Hadn't realised you.. did that."

Her eyes narrow. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"I've been going out with Wally for, like, a month now."

I blink. "You have?"

She gives me an odd look. "You didn't notice..?"

"Notice what?" My gaze grows vacant as I try to remember. "You've.. been.. sniping at each other lessssss?"

"Oh.. my God. You must be the least observant guy I know!"

… "Sorry? I guess… You didn't seem to be having a problem…" Weird. "Really you and Wallace?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I.. can see why he'd find you attractive, but you just seemed to find him annoying. Aside from this hobby we share, I.. don't really see what you've got in common."

"Yeah, I guess we don't. But-."

"Hey." We both look upwards as Guy's voice comes in over the intercom. "Paul, Artemis, unless I'm intrudin' on your 'personal time', get up here. Got a mission for yeh." Artemis gets up as I close the book. "An' if I am intrudin' on your personal time, I'm turnin' the sprinklers on in five."

"That ass!"

"He… Grows on you." I rise to my feet. "Want me to create a zeta tube?"

"No, he can wait while we walk up."

"Buut." There's a flare of orange as I don my armour. "Mission."

We head out of the library and start along the corridor. "Jerk probably wants us to wax his car or something."

New topic, new topic. "How did your mother react to Batman's telling her about the money?"

"She was… Happy." Batman agreed with dividing it as I suggested and he agreed to handle.. laundering it. Unfortunately, most of my team mates aren't going to be able to access the majority of it until they're eighteen. "She sort of started giving me a lecture about bounty hunting and how that wasn't the heroic identity thing I was trying to make for myself…"

"And then?"

"We got talking about some of the bounties Mom and…" Toss of the head. "Went after? We don't really talk about Huntress very much."

"Bounty hunting is a way to make a living while still being heroic. As long as you're careful about which ones you accept."

"Yeah, and I remember you saying Green Lanterns get paid like that. But… She's right. And, now I can definitely afford to go to college, I think I'd rather do something else."

I nod. "Have anything in mind?"

"I dunno. Grandpa would probably like it if I joined the army."

"And your father would hate it, so it has that going for it."

She shakes her head. "I don't.. care what he thinks. Wally's been trying to persuade me to study chemistry with him… I'm not used to having to worry about it. Oh! I was supposed to tell you. Mom's got a new job."

"What happened to the old one?"

"They paid minimum wage. She's working at the gym now. They saw her working out and said she'd be perfect."

"Good for her."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
09:27 GMT -5

Artemis pulls ahead of me as we get to the training room, moving at a not-quite-jog towards our double line of team mates. A few absences today, I note. I wasn't expecting Troia, but we're also down a Squire and a Speedy. They might be busy, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that Guy just didn't bother reading the SOP manual for how to notify people when there's a mission.

Guy looks around from the holoscreen. "Arty, Orange. Good of you to join us."

I generate a construct umbrella and -Ring, chemical structure of Artemis' lipstick?- add a few minor decorations to my face and neck.

"Sorry we're late, Lantern Gardner."

He looks… Ooo. He wasn't joking about having trouble sleeping. Lanterns can go extended periods of time without sleep, but Guy told me that he has that function deactivated after he found out what the consequences of using it too much were. Think he might need to rethink his policy.

"Kinda surprised you were cuttin' class-." His eyes widen slightly, looking at-. Hah! Got him! He blinks and looks away as I dismiss the umbrella. "Uh, whatever. Okay gang, listen up."

Artemis takes up position next to Wallace… Which now I think about it she's been doing… Whaw, I really did miss that. I thought she just wanted to be within slapping range. I join the end of the line next to Kon, Wolf giving me a greeting sniff as I do so. The holoscreen is displaying images of the Starro-tech, the Cure-tech and what appears to be archival footage of larger Star Conquerors from the Green Lantern Corps' last encounter with them.

"Last July an Atlantean expedition to the Arctic found a big one of these-" He points to one that would be about the size of the one destroyed in Poseidonis. "-hidden in the ice. If any of you haven't heard already, these things are flying, telepathic alien starfish."

Wallace splutters in surprise and disbelief. "Alien starfish?"

Guy glances at him for just long enough for him to start feeling self conscious about the fact that the rest of us didn't react. Then Guy returns his attention to the screen and has it play the attack we watched when I spoke to the Greenies about those things last December. "Yeah, everyone says that to begin with, but these things are no joke. Originally, they used ta be pretty small. They'd just mind control animals on their homeworld, kinda like how that weird fungus reproduces using ants." Someone's been watching the Discovery Channel. "The animals would move 'em around, fight predators, whatever." There's a picture of a herd of… Some sort of alien armoured octopuses, most of which have Star Conquerors on their… I'm going to assume that's their face. "Since they couldn't move much on their own on land and there were other things that ate 'em, they weren't much trouble."

M'gann cocks her head slightly to the left. "That doesn't sound too dangerous. But then how did they get so big?"

"Part of their thing was they could use the brain of whatever they got stuck on. Do that to an animal, it learns what the animal eats, what sorta thing's a threat to it, that's about it. Stick on somethin' a bit smarter-."

Richard nods. "And it gets smarter too."

"It was worse than that. Looks like the first intelligent species they ran into were telepathic themselves, so the Star Conqueror that got stuck on one a' them could share its smarts with the rest. We're not really sure what happened next, but a couple a' decades later they'd given themselves a full upgrade." New images appear. "The big ones are Mother Stars. Their telekinesis is so strong they can fly faster than light with it, protect themselves from capital ship weapons and rip things apart. Not to mention their mind control powers."

We get a short clip of one coming under fire from a small flotilla of warships. It's approaching them eye first, the smaller Star Conquerors hiding behind its bulk. The warships open fire with scintillating beams of energy… Which fade to nothing before hitting home. The Mother Star's eye narrows slightly and one ship ceases firing. One tentacle bends slightly and another ship crumples.

"Real bad news. Good news is, we think they're all dead."

Kon raises his right eyebrow. "You think?"

"After the war between them and the Green Lantern Corps was over, the Corps checked alla the systems anywhere near where they'd been and destroyed any Star Conquerors they found. But y'can't check alla space. It's too big. Could be some a' the big ones cooled down and hid in deep space." He shrugs. "Way I see it, if they were gunna make trouble they'd have done it by now."

"The medium sized ones are Star Hunters." The video turns back to showing the Green Lantern fighting two of them I saw last December. "Like the one the Atlanteans found. They actually come in a bunch a' different sizes… Anyway, they're flying weapon platforms. Mostly they use their telepathy t' paralyse people and then stick the little ones on their faces with their telekinesis. They're tough, but once you actually start hittin' them they tend to go down quick enough. The real problem on the ground is the little ones."

More archival footage, this time showing the descent of a small group of Green Lanterns into a city where every citizen wears a Star Conqueror. Thousands of cyclopean eyes turn to track their progress.

"When they're like this, every one has a hostage they can make fight fer them."

"I can't imagine what that's like."

I hear Zatanna mutter, and from the uncomfortable look Richard gives her it looks like he did as well. Guy didn't.

"They'll know everything the host knew an' since they're all networked together if one's seen you they've all seen you. They don't really have any sense of self preservation; as far as we can tell only the big ones are intelligent on their own."

Wallace nods. "So they're like.. Starfish Zombies."

Artemis doesn't hit him.

"Sure, if Zombies can do all the things they did when they were alive. Watch." A new video appears, humanoid soldiers from the same planet as before taking up position. A Star Hunter moves out from behind a building and immediately comes under fire. It narrows its eye and the soldiers closest to it shudder. The video pauses. "See that? Needed line of sight. These guys are gettin' their nerves jammed." The video resumes, a flight of small Star Conquerors descending from above and landing on the faceplates of the paralysed soldiers, which swiftly give way. "The little claws on their undersides can be reinforced with telekinesis. Rip through just about anything." He makes eye contact with me. "Including constructs." The soldiers flail around for a moment then with precise coordination assault their colleagues with their fists. "They're not using weapons there because they want more warm bodies more than they need the ones they're wearing to stay alive." The images speed up, then return to normal speed, showing the newly Star Conquered soldiers manning anti-aircraft emplacements and firing at local aircraft. "Here, they need the local fighter planes down more than they need the pilots."

Kaldur nods. "Do you believe that we will need to fight these creatures?"

"Hope not." Guy turns off the hologram. "Since December I've been keeping tabs on the Atlantean team who dug out the first one. They've found some biological remains they want taken someplace safe." He shrugs. "I'd say it wasn't anything to worry about, but the Light created Starro-tech with hardly anythin' and the Star Conquerors were notorious for bein' able to regenerate. We're transferin' what we've got to STAR Labs in Gotham City."

Artemis frowns. "Wasn't that where the last piece got stolen from?"

"Yeah, but it got put there in the first place 'cause they've got the best people for checking this sorta thing out. They're workin' on beefin' up the security, but in the meantime I want there to be a bunch a' superheroes on hand in case anyone tries anythin'." He smiles. "And that's you. Your job is to make sure that the samples get to Gotham and make sure they stay there. Any questions?"

"Ah, yeah." Wallace nods. "What sort of size are these samples?"

"Starro slushy, basically. They're being transported in six nitrogen-cooled and heavily insulated shipping crates. Don't think you have to worry about anythin' jumping out at yah."

"Can I just FTL transfer them to Gotham?"

"'Fraid not. The Star Conquerors fought the Green Corps for a long time, and they're sensitive to all kindsa energy and radiation. You understand exactly what happens when you do an FTL transfer?"

"Not.. exactly."

"Then it ain't worth the risk. Any-?" His ring blinks, and he winces as he looks at it. "Ah, heck. I gotta be on the other side a' the Sector an hour ago. You kids can handle this by yourselves?"

Kaldur takes a confident step forward. "Yes, Green Lantern. You may leave this with us."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
11:57 GMT -5

I ignore the glowing around me as the rings react to my displeasure at the dilapidated and bird poo covered state of STAR Labs Gotham's roof by performing a tidy up and look out across this part of the city. You know, for a wretched hive of villainy it doesn't look all that bad. I can hear police sirens, but not more than I would be able to in New York at this time of day. No screams, no gunshots, no screeching tires… With Hugo Strange in prison in Louisiana a Doctor Young is running Arkham Asylum and incidents of escape and violence are well down. There are still gangs and the occasional minor supervillain sticks his/her/its head up, but at the moment things are surprisingly quiet.

I tap my communicator.

"Orange Lantern here. Everything calm and peaceful on the roof. Robin?"

"Robin here. STAR's electronic security is actually pretty good."

"Oh?"

"They get supplied by WayneTech."

"Ah. Are you occupied?"

"There's some spyware I need to get rid of and their physical electronic security could use a little work. I'll have done everything I can in about an hour."

"Rightyho."

Wallace strolls over to stand next to me. "Is that really a thing English people say? Or are you just.. trying to make a catchphrase happen?"

I set my communicator to 'off'. "It's an unusual turn of phrase, but I believe that other English people use it."

He leans against the wall surrounding the edge of the roof. "You know you've still got that makeup on, right?"

"Makeup?"

"Yeah, okay, it was kinda funny? But you're overplaying it." He's probably right. Got a few funny looks from my team mates on the way over here, not that anyone said anything. "And I'm not insecure enough to let it actually bother me. No way did Artemis kiss you."

I make a vague gesture with my right hand and the lipstick evaporates. "I'm afraid that I lack your highly refined sense of comedic timing."

"Guess I finally get to teach you something. Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you about-."

"I just.. need to finish the ring around. Then you'll have my undivided." He nods. "Zatanna?"

"I've put wards on each external door and I'm.. trying to work out what the best way to create a ward for the whole building is."

"We need something that will alert us to an intruder.. and something that will block scrying and magic-based teleportation. Anything else is gravy. Don't worry about how long it can last. I'm sure we can persuade Atlantis to send up a battlemage or two to create something really strong if we think it's necessary."

"Okay, I can do that. Call it… An hour and a half?"

"Okay, let me know if there's any problem. Artemis?"

"I've finished the background checks on all of the staff and most of the suppliers."

"Anything turn up?"

"Nothing worth mentioning. The only tie to the Light is that they get some of their lab equipment from LexCorp, and that all looks legitimate."

"Okay, good work. Let me know when you've finished. Rocket?"

"Seven force field emitters in place, eighteen to go."

"Okay, that's-."

"Some of the security guys are getting a bit unhappy about this."

"Once we've finished up you and I can give them a demonstration of how the things work, let them talk it out. For now, focus on getting them assembled."

"I hear you. Rocket out."

"Canis?"

"FTL jammers and teleport jammers in place. And one of the staff is making an obscene gesture at me."

"If it is weak, either kill it or ignore it. Anything else honours it."

"Then I will ignore it. Though… The individual in question is not unappealing."

I tap my communicator again. "Sorry, Kid Flash. You were saying?"

"How come you're not putting up the force fields? Off-loading the boring jobs onto other people?"

"Because I know how to assemble mobile force field generators and Rocket doesn't. Or rather, didn't." I walk over to the surrounding wall and take a look over the edge. Heights used to scare me, but somewhere along the line I lost that fear. Probably all the flying I've been doing. "I've.. been thinking… About my leaving."

"Going to Maltus?" I nod. "But you'll be back, right?"

"I don't know. Hopefully, but I've got no idea what the timeline will be. If they want me to teach classes it could be a year or two before I can get away for any length of time."

He nods thoughtfully. "So… When is it you're leaving?"

"Haven't picked a date yet. My obligation to remain ends on… In the middle of the night on the fifth of July, Eastern Standard Time. I'll probably leave-" Depending on how things go with Nabu. "-a little after that. I mean, heh, I'd hate to go through all the trouble of keeping my oath and then mess it up by working out a time zone difference wrongly."

Wallace gazes off into the distance. "Huh."

"What?"

"Oh, it's just… I knew the team wasn't a permanent thing. Roy's going to want to join the League eventually. Probably Kaldur too."

"And you?"

"I don't know. Unless I can get my Garrick Formula fixed I'd still be the slow Flash."

I wince slightly. "Sorry, I've… Been kind of occupied. How's that been going?"

"It kinda hasn't." His eyes drop to the ground for a moment. "Nyssa's been doing her best, but the knowledge just isn't there."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think…" Something appears to occur. "Can you give me Rush Hour's number?"

"I can. I'd.. rather check with them first. Why do you want it?"

"We know that whatever the Garrick Formula did to my body, it was alchemical, right? And 'alchemical' means 'making magic with chemicals'."

"Basically."

"Which means my next step is to get an actual magic user to take a look. But since there aren't any super speed magicians around the place they're probably not going to know any more than Nyssa does."

"Not immediately, no."

"But the Rush Hours already use magic to get super speed. If I can learn what they're doing, that might work."

"Might. But we thought that about Jesse Quick. You really shouldn't-."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He waves me off. "Probably won't. But, it might. So I'm gonna try it."

"Alright. I'll talk to them about it once the Starro slushie is taken care of."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
13:31 GMT -5

The large roller shutter door at the rear of the building opens, revealing the heavy goods vehicle carrying our crates. Raquel waves at me from the passenger seat as the driver drives forwards into the loading dock.

Doctor Wilson Farr steps up beside me. He's the head of STAR Labs: Gotham, having worked on any number of highly sensitive projects for various concerns, Batman and Superman being amongst them. "Heh, well, I'm glad that went smoothly."

The roller shutter door closes as the lorry comes to a halt. "Please avoid tempting fate, Doctor Farr." I raise my left hand. "Orange Lantern to team, scanning package now." Standard scan, sonic pulse -which makes both Canis and Beton Brut wince- and gravity resonance scan. Nothing unexpected. Be a bit surprising if there was, but I'm not about to muck this up by not taking it seriously. "Scan shows no abnormalities. Zatanna?"

Outside the observation booth the driver goes to open the door, only for Canis to shake his head and point. Something about the fact that he's sitting on a giant Dog seems to make people more obedient. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but 'no one gets out until we're sure they are who they should be' seems to be a reasonable precaution in a situation like this.

"I can't wait to get started." The other man in here with me is Doctor Silas Stone. He'll be heading the team working on the Star Conqueror material. "It's not every day someone gets to work on an alien life form." He glances at me. "Not in Gotham, anyway."

Zatanna walks around the lorry. From here I can see her lips moving, though whatever she's saying is too quiet for me to make out. Once she completes her circuit a band of blue-white light passes over the lorry, running up from the wheels and coalescing in the middle of the top surface. She taps her communicator. "Everything seems to be in order."

"Thank you. Step back." She retreats to the edge of the room. "Artemis, Robin." Though they're both about as strong as Canis, they look less intimidating. "Rocket, please open the rear doors."

"Ahright anal retentive Lantern."

Artemis and Richard take up station on either side of the door, far enough back that they'll have time to respond to a sudden rush. The rear doors open… Revealing exactly what we thought would be there. Six crates designed to maintain a very low temperature within them.

"Robin, visual inspection."

Doctor Farr gives me a sceptical look. "Is this.. all really necessary?"

"Probably not, but I've seen enough of what Star Conquerors can do to not want to take any risks."

Richard jumps up into the rear of the lorry while Artemis puts an arrow on string. As he enters the code to pop the hatch on one I close my eyes and mentally prod Fatty to peer over the rim of this building's roof. A moment later I get an unobstructed view of the surrounding streets. Nothing out of the ordinary. I could be using a full swarm for this, but I don't think Batman would be best pleased if I started a citywide demonic invasion panic. Unlike in the comics people around here do remember what happened a few episodes ago. I don't like to draw the link, but Fawcett City made it clear to everyone in America that the Roanoke Island incident might well not be a one-off thing. Places and people who used to scoff at magic and its practitioners -heh, 'ancient religion'- are now wising the heck up all around the world. The Atlantean mission to the UN has expanded to a proper embassy, though they aren't having to process a significant number of visa applications as yet. Hopefully, the cultural immersion will encourage the mages Atlantis is renting out to broaden their horizons. Wait, would that phrase mean anything to an Atlantean? They don't often.. see.. horizons after all…

"All clear in here."

"Okay, send in the unloading team."

"We could just.. carry them. I mean, we do have super strength."

"Which is why I don't want you encumbered. You're here to fight off attackers, not rearrange furniture. Besides, there's probably some sort of training course you have to do first or their insurance gets invalidated."

"Okay."

Richard leans out of the back and makes a beckoning motion at the staff member on the forklift truck. Artemis slowly walks out of the way as they put it in gear and drive towards the opening.

"Rocket, you and the driver can get out now."

"Thank you." She smiles sarcastically in my direction before getting the driver's attention and pointing at the door.

Aaaaaahh?

Chubbs sends me a mental image of three people entering STAR Labs' reception area. A bit hard to tell as he doesn't process clothing images in a particularly Human way, but from what I can tell they seem to fit in. Ugh, I wish Teekl had been cooperating this morning. Her mental images are far clearer. I send him a 'keep watching but take no other action' instruction, but now he's set off my paranoia. Outside… The pavement seems a little busier, but I don't know how busy it usually gets during the lunch period.

Aaahh! Aaahh! Aaahh!

Oh, what is it shiiiit! Where there were three Humans there are now three hulking Demons. Ugh, can't tell-. Ring, security camera! The largest is eight feet tall and looks heavily muscled, though with Demons there's no guarantee that mass means what it would to a Human. Its skin is a dull red-brown, with darker armour-like sections protecting its vitals and two sets of curved horns extending from each side of its head. The second has bright blue skin, its head pulled into its torso and its arms and legs stretched out to extreme lengths. The third looks something like a Human corpse, oily black liquid dripping from numerous pins stuck into its skin and evaporating as it hits the carpeted ground.

Right then.

"Kid Flash, Artemis, attack at the entrance."

Doctor Farr's eyes widen. "What do you-?"

I hold up my right hand to stop him as Chubbs observes the receptionist flee for safety, then transition out into the loading bay. "Three Demons, unknown power level?"

"Demons?" Canis grins. "Demons! I have yet to face-!"

"Canis, stay here, guard the cargo. There could be more." Artemis leaps over to me, steadies herself and then gives me a nod. "Transitioning."

We reappear in the corridor leading to the reception area just as Wallace dashes up. "Someone not say grace at lunch?"

I create a railgun and load cold iron rounds, then put construct armour around both Artemis and myself. "Hail Eris, full of chaos."

Artemis notches an anti-magic arrow. "I got yer grace right here."

"Think I shoulda picked up some holy water."

The doors at the end of the corridor buckle inwards as the blue Demon shoves its fingers through the middle and grips them from the inside. I hold up my glowing rune stone for a moment as they're ripped free. Yep, definitely a magic life form and not an unfortunate metahuman. Always best to check. The Demon behind the doorway awkwardly lowers its body to look at us. Huh. It's gained a few extra arms from somewhere. Looks a little like the Oni from Roswell Conspiracies.

"Raaahwrawrwaw!"

Its chest opens, revealing its teeth-ribs, dripping noxious digestive juices and seven prehensile tongues.

Artemis and I fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
13:36 GMT -5

My round strikes it near the centre of mass -just missing where its spine would be if it were Human- and punches clean through. I experience a split second of fear that the overpenetrating round might hit someone before I see that the larger armoured Demon was in the way. Artemis' arrow hits it directly in the upper right shoulder, the head burying itself in the joint.

"Grahhhgahggahhhh!"

The transferred kinetic force from my railgun round slamming into it causes the Demon's torso to jerk away and Artemis' arrow causes it to lose hold of whatever it was gripping onto with the hand on that arm. It staggers back and Wallace uses the opportunity to dash out into the reception area.

"Lord Satanus, bless my claws!"

My second shot blasts through the blue Demon's left leg, severing it entirely. Artemis' second arrow was a quick hardening foam which erupts within the hole that appears to serve as the Demon's throat, covering its visible insides and thoroughly clogging up its pseudo organs.

It collapses to the floor, deep blue ichor leaking from its wounds. Must be a weak one. Artemis and I advance past it. That should hold it for now, I can get Zatanna or John to interrogate it later.

"Blmvrl."

Wallace is running circles around the large Demon as it slams its huge three-fingered claws into the ground in an attempt to strike him. Were he less experienced in using super speed the vibrations passing through the floor might be enough to cause him to trip. As it is, he jumps, runs along the wall and then rushes back down towards his target. The Demon swings its right arm -another area effect attack, must be one of the intelligent ones- only for Wallace to handplant on the top of its forearm, bounce from there onto its left arm and then dash up onto its shoulder and smash something in its face.

For a moment the Demon just looks confused.

"GRAAAAAAGHHH!"

I can hear hissing as whatever Wallace just hit it with begins to eat away at its head, armoured plates and horn visibly abrading as we watch. The Demon collapses to its knees, clawing at its face. The only obvious result of that is that its upper left horn snaps off.

Wallace precipitates out of the air just behind us. "Essence of Vitriol. Just what a budding alchemist needs when fighting Demons."

The Tar-Covered Corpse flows away from us slightly, careful to keep its face towards us.

"Alright, you." I load a Mage Slayer. "Answer our questions and I send you back to hell not much worse for wear. Refuse, and… Well. Chubbs!"

The 15-rated Slimer wannabe descends from its hiding place near the ceiling, waving its chubby right arm. "Haa-iiy."

The Corpse turns its head to look at Chubbs for a moment, then turns back to us. Can it not rotate its eyes? Does it actually have eyes, or are the black holes it? Face fixed on us, it makes a strange sort of yawny-hiss noise which the ring's translator can't make sense of. The black gunk appears to stop dripping, instead choosing to defy gravity and pool on the vertical surfaces of its body.

"Was that hiss-yes or hiss-no?"

"Orange Lantern?"

Without taking my eyes off the Demon I tap my communicator to respond. "Not a great time, Zatanna."

"Are you certain they're Demons?"

I take a second to review the camera footage of their arrival. "Walked in Human shaped, turned into inhuman monsters with non-functioning physiology. Possession doesn't work like that… Pretty confident. Why?"

"They didn't set off my ward. Anything as magically powerful as a Demon should have done so."

Hm. She's right. "Maybe someone in Hell's been a bit cleverer than usu-?"

The Tar-Covered Corpse opens its mouth and zooms towards us, black filth spraying from its mouth! The creature just sort of leans forwards and flows across the ground, no leg movement required. Artemis instinctively jerks back as the first few droplets splatter against our construct armour and begin eating through it! I erect a construct barrier but that dissolves too as the Demon reaches us. Fine then. I step up as Artemis' anti-magic arrow strikes it high in the chest and appears to be engulfed in black goo, battering ram construct swinging for its abdomen.

"Orange Lantern! More Demons assail us!" "Finally!"

The goo almost completely absorbs the energy of the strike and begins eating away at the construct. The Demon takes the time to hiss again.

"Have fun, Canis. Keep them away-" I turn the battering ram into a railgun and fire a Mage Slayer round. "-from the lorry."

"Pwaghhuhuhh!" The Demon recoils, thick globs of Tar sloughing away from its body as it tries to cope with the sudden power drain. The noise cuts out as Artemis puts an arrow in its throat, though the Demon still isn't going down.

"Zatanna, if reasonably practical try to capture one. Otherwise, stay back. Robin, make sure the civilians are out of the way."

"Already done, Oh El."

The Tar-Covered Corpse flicks its arms at us, inky droplets spraying off the skeletal fingers. I generate another construct barrier as Wallace darts away, the large Demon lying still on the floor groaning piteously in pain as he kicks its exposed flesh on his way past. This time the droplets don't melt, but rather begin to mix in with the orange, darkening it. I abandon construct. Don't know what that was but it didn't look good.

"Okay, fine, you want to be difficult?" I open both palms to face it. "Brand." Thick bars of orange energy slam into the Demon, battering its personal oil slick and exposing more of its ruined flesh. "Artemis, I've got this one. Make sure the other two stay down."

"Right."

"Laaaanteeeeern."

"Oh good, you can talk. Let's start with your name."

"Laaaanteeeeern."

Oh, for goodness sake. The oil is almost all gone now. If I were a better thaumaturgist I'd probably find the way it behaved utterly fascinating. As it is… I'd guess that the oil isn't inherently magical but the control mechanism is? Oh, that's interesting, there's some sort of design scrawled on the Demon's flesh.

Orange sigils form in its eyes.

"You overreach, Laaaanteeeeern."

"Critical power drain detected."

The runes cut into its flesh light up orange in a design that reminds me a little of the ones Dark Druid used in Liverpool.

"My power naow!"

Cut the connection cut the connection!

"Heeyhaaaaagh!"

Not cutting. With two quick hand motions I pull the rings from my fingers and back the heck up. The beams cut off and the Demon takes the opportunity to pose as dull orange oil covers its flesh, sigils shining through the murk from underneath. It exhales and a cloud of orange wafts from its mouth.

I put the rings back on. Rings, what's the damage?

Thirteen percent remaining.

Ooooh poop.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th April
13:39 GMT -5

"Orange Lantern to everyone." I draw my sidearm and point it at the Demon. "One of the Demons just ate my ring charge. This isn't going to be-" Two Arrows of Unmaking strike it in the chest and trigger.

"Raaaaargh!"

"-as easy as I thought."

The Tar-Covered Corpse flows away from us, the two round holes ripped in its chest swiftly being swallowed by dull orange goo. It slaps its right hand against the fallen form of the Juggernaut Wallace melted, and orange strands glow across the brute's skin, matching the runic patterns I briefly saw on the Corpse's own flesh.

Okay, power armour, go for my personal lantern or try fighting like this? Call for help? No one could get here- I note another arrow moving into my field of vision in slow motion- fast enough, at least no one with the necessary anti-Demon skill set. I pull the trigger on my pistol, sending an iron bullet towards the Corpse. Doubt that'll do much. Angel feather railgun round? In situations like this I'm really supposed to retreat but I can't leave Artemis and Wallace in the lurch, to say nothing of all the squishy civilians. Fingers moving in slow motion I pull the trigger again. Disadvantage of polytheism is that I can't just pray to my preferred jumped up Elemental to make the Demons go away. I'd have to get a god with a particular pre-existing hostility.

Wallace runs forwards, another vial prepped. The Corpse's eyes flash orange for a moment and a tar tentacle bubbles outwards from its chest, lashing out at his most likely approach. Wallace jumps, twisting in the air to throw himself over it. Next to the Corpse, the empty pits in the Juggernaut's face that once held its eyes flare orange.

Right.

My power armour appears around me-

Warning, twelve percent remaining.

-and I activate the flight system and phasing.

"Ragh!"

Things move back into normal speed. The Corpse's tentacle intercepts Artemis' arrow while the Corpse itself slides out of the way of Wallace's hurriedly thrown vial. My bullets hit but appear to do no damage. Par for the course, really. Artemis' second arrow -this one an Unmaker rather than a anti-magic arrow- punches a hole in the tentacle and causes the part severed from the Corpse to fall to the ground, where it… Ugh, where it shimmers and vaporises in a decidedly unhealthy-looking fashion. I raise my right arm, construct railgun reforming and a cold gun appearing from subspace. Cold gun is a bit iffy as Demons don't always bother creating bodies from matter, but if Crumblers worked they're probably solid enough to have their vibrations impeded. Wallace is moving too fast for me to precisely track him, but from the way the Corpse's head is constantly jerking and the presence of numerous small but heavy airborne objects I'm going to assume that he's super speed throwing things.

The cold beam hits the Corpse in the chest, coating its epidermis in frost as super cooled whatever-it's-made-of causes the water to precipitate out of the air. The Demon itself actually seems mildly perturbed by this, looking down at itself and making a weird sort of choking-panting noise. The Juggernaut starts to pull itself to its feet, a sort of crystalline construct growth appearing along its forearms. I've been reluctant to use angel feather rounds because I only have a very finite number of them, but I think I've found the time for them.

An Unmaker from Artemis hits the Juggernaut hard enough to make it jerk away, and the detonation causes the orange runes to blink out. I load an angel round and fire it directly at that point.

The round punches cleanly through the Demon's skin and into its pseudo organs.

"Yaaaaaahhh!"

It collapses, flares of gold and black flickering around it as the magics conflict and counteract one another. The Corpse takes one look at what's happening to its colleague and propels itself my way on a plume of orange ichor, mouth unhinged and hissing. I go to dodge, but its oil coated talons still pass through.. me…

Ooh, that feels disgusting. The physical component went through, but I think.. I just caught the edge of its magics and-

Warning, ten percent remaining.

-got drained further. I'm going to need Zatanna to check me out fully after this. Artemis rolls out of the way as the Corpse has a moment of indecision: go for me again when the first attempt appeared to achieve nothing, or try reinforcing its other fallen comrade? I come back into phase and fire the cold gun again as Artemis looses another Unmaker, trying to create another hole in its oil coating. It shudders under the beam's effect but doesn't seem notably disabled. Artemis' Unmaker gouges another break, but the oil covers it once more before she can capitalise. Wallace blurs past, another vial breaking on the Corpse and a patch of green sludge spreading across its back. It doesn't hiss in the way the acid did, but the Corpse flails around for a moment trying to reach it anyway. The bits I froze are stiffer, but not nearly as much as they should be. I can see the heat being leached out of the air from here; absolute zero is bloody cold.

Wallace drops back to normal speed just behind me. "Aim for the green stuff!"

Okay then. I raise my railgun and load an angel round as Artemis hurries around to this side and notches an anti-magic arrow. We fire simultaneously, my shot striking home just ahead of hers. Both finally penetrate the Corpse's outer defences and burrow into its insides.

"Nraaaaooooow!"

The Corpse collapses to the ground, more of its body appearing as the oil streams off and runs across the floor.

Right then. Rings, get my gosh darn power back.

Orange vapour leaps out of the muck and towards my gauntlets. Okay, I'm going to assume that means that the spell binding it is broken. Rings, we got a recording of the rune layout, right?

Confirmed. Ninety percent of image available. Charging in progress. Eighteen percent available.

Good to know.

"Master! Please!" The Corpse claws at the air, presumably begging either its summoner or its overlord. "Aid meeee!"

"Mrrruhhhhmrm." Keeping the rings scanning the Corpse I turn to the fallen Juggernaut. It's shrivelled as the angel round leaches its power, horns vanishing and its grey blood turning… Red? What?

"Ah, Oh El? Is it meant to do that?"

Charge at twenty three percent.

I quickly review the footage once more. The Juggernaut was that one, so… The horns vanish and the hair begins to grow from the top of its head in replacement. Behind me the outer flesh of the Corpse begins to reappear, covering its exposed muscles and bones. The injuries we inflicted are now painfully visible, and from the way the Corpse is thrashing about I'm going to assume that they can feel them now as well.

What?

"Kid Flash, healing unguents."

"But they're De-."

"That's not how Demons work. I don't know what they are."

"Okay, God, ah…" He pushes the woman who became the Juggernaut firmly onto her back, revealing the full extent of her facial burns and the hole in her chest made by my railgun round. He pours the content of one vial over her face as I go to work on the rapidly bleeding puncture, cauterizing and reknitting the damaged flesh. As well as extracting my round. Those things don't grow on trees. My constructs fade once I'm reasonably sure that she isn't going to die immediately. Wallace's efforts on her face have restored it to third-degree-oil-burns level, back from skull-with-some-meat-attached. The eyes are still gone, but that's to be expected. Don't think we caused any brain damage, but it's too early to be certain.

"Okay, next one."

Artemis just stands there, staring in shock as we rush to patch up the Corpse. I use the rings to bring her temperature up… Not sure what happened there, having part of your body at absolute zero should be pretty lethal for a Human but she seems to be getting off with extreme-but-survivable cold. Wallace splashes healing potion on the holes all over her torso.

"A-Artemis to team. The Demons, they're… People. People turned into Demons! Try not to kill them!"

How is this even possible?