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

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:25 GMT -6

"But I can't-"

Humanoid made of space. DC don't own Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys which leaves…

"-take you to him-"

Sheeda. The Huntsman. I think I remember him killing a group of unpowered heroes and… Throwing them through time? I know he also got his arse kicked one on one against fricking Stargirl, so I wouldn't be too worried were it not for the fact that he's replacing local gravity with his own body.

"-because I don't know-"

But I am worried. Which is why I create construct armour around myself and Beautia just in time to intercept the luminous green energy beam fired from between his eyes.

"-agh!"

The armour is being abraded as I fly rapidly away from the doorway, pulling Beautia with me. The beam bends around the opening of the door, maintaining contact for a good half-second after she's out of his line of sight. Ring, local gravity?

Attraction to 'Huntsman' is now five times Earth gravity.

Oh wonderfu-.

There's a tremendous bang as the wall to the store room crumples in on itself! Through the gap I see the material of the wall floating next to the Huntsman, falling to the floor with a crash as he lowers his right arm.

"SIVANA. WHERE IS HE?"

"I just told you-!"

Armour.

I don't have my armour! Gah! Railguns! And.. I don't have any ammunition. Errr… Quick, fabricate…

I fire a short volley of Crumblers and… Were the Sheeda like fairies as far as vulnerabilities go? I don't remember. I think that the Sheeda-Sheeda looked a bit like Dark Eldar, so even if they are I'm not sure it would apply to him. Ah, what the heck. Cold iron and silver tipped rounds are added to the volley and… Every single one is a negative impact.

"-he isn't here!"

"I don't think he's going to listen. Do you know if your father was storing any-" The Huntsman fires another bolt of luminous green as we fly towards the lift shaft. I interpose a construct shield which appears to hold. "-gravity manipulation devices?"

"I haven't been here since I was eleven!"

"Oh."

"Maybe if we could just explain that whatever my Father did-."

"Beautia, I've been doing this for a while now and sometimes? Supervillains just don't want to listen to the voice of rationality."

"Yeah, he's kinda got a point. I've been a supervillain for a while now myself-"

Beautia looks around. "Junior?"

"-and sometimes you just get total tunnel vision. Ah, yeah, we've got internal communications from the hab area. Do you know what that thing is?"

"Not completely sure. I don't suppose your father's work contained any reference to 'Sheeda' did it?"

"Ah… No. We think he was working on some kinda time travel. He wanted to go visit the future and-."

"How far into the future?"

We fly past the number '3' painted on the wall. Four more to go…

"If I coulda found that out, do you really think I wouldn't just have opened another portal?"

"Okay, but, a little way, or a long way?"

"Junior, give me that." There's a bang just off the microphone. "Hello again Orange Lantern. Doctor Sivana here."

"Georgia, there's no one here called 'Sivana' who isn't also a doctor."

"But I have more doctorates than anyone else. Therefore-. Hey!"

"Magnificus to Orange Lantern."

The '5' flies past. And then goes past again in the other direction. Huh? "Go ahead, Magnificus." I look down and the Huntsman looks up. Flecks of paint are cracking off the walls to orbit around him in a miniature dust cloud. I flick both hands out to the side and release the Praexis swarm, who immediately fall towards the bottom of the shaft.

"Waaaaaaahh!"

A couple land on the Huntsman's head and scrabble to stay on.

Praexis Swarm.

The '4' goes past.

Consume.

"Yay! Foooooooood!"

Beautia looks at me in alarm. "What are those?"

"Demons bound to my service. Magnificus?"

"Do you have anything that can affect that creature?"

I glance down. A couple of Praexis Demons are attempting to ingest his horns, though I'm not sure how much good that's doing. I can't tell what he's made of. "Pass."

"Father had some rather precise gravity measuring devices in warehouse three. If you can reactivate them we might be able to assist you. Otherwise… You're the superhero. If you want to just take a swing at.. whatever it is."

Beautia looks at me. She's not properly scared yet, but I can see the yellow worries bubbling up. "Then you can put me down somewhere safe first."

"No fear. If we're the only people around I'd rather get all the information I can before running in blind." Ring, list of gravity manipulation devices.

Compliance.

"Dropping to level three. Beautia, get the door open." I shove the armour construct containing her into the doorway, then take up position in the middle of the shaft and create a gravity pulse projector construct. It's essentially a form of crowd control device designed to knock a group of people over. I target his chest just as he gets tired of the demonic assault and starts lashing out with his luminous face beam again. Three Demons shake and disintegrate before one gets to his face and starts sucking the beam at the source. Unlike when they sucked at his body this appears to be giving it a power it can use. The Demon begins to swell as I take aim and fire.

The Huntsman brings both of his hands up and grabs hold of the Demon slobbering at his forehead and there's a crack as space bends and the Praexis Demon is shredded. A moment later my pulse strikes the Huntsman in the chest. No noticeable effect, save that it's gone back to ignoring the Demons to focus on me. Okay, turn it up from crowd control to something a little more potent. My construct grows to anti-tank missile launcher size as I fire again. This time a thin cloud of blue wafts off his epidermis a fraction of a second before his green beam blasts through my construct barrier and pierces my construct gun, wrecking it.

"I'm in!"

"Go go go!"

Beautia charges through the doorway, running inside the warehouse. I try an orange energy pulse on the Huntsman (to no effect) before following her and hitting the door close button behind me.

And then I see the giant robot.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:28 GMT -6

Beautia scrabbles across the walkway around the edge of the room as I take in the sight. I've seen pictures of the second Mister Atom before on the Justice League database. Still images and footage taken at -or rather, as far as possible away from- the scene. The threat he posed to Captain Marvel wasn't just his strength, his toughness or integrated armaments, his sheer size and weight made fighting him within a city extremely dangerous. One mistimed punch and he could easily fall and flatten a building full of people. One car underfoot and he could fall against a wall, crushing it and all of the rubberneckers behind it.

Two Praexis Demons fall out of my rings.

This one isn't quite as big, and in any case Captain Marvel destroyed that one so thoroughly that there wouldn't have been much point in Doctor Sivana recovering it. This one is smaller, no more than two storeys tall at most. He's standing on the floor of the room with his back to us, the bottom of his head level with the upper gantry.

"Hey!" Beautia waves at me from the far side of the… Let's call it a hangar. "I've found his workshop, but I don't know which of these are gravity detectors!"

I fly at best possible speed across the open space between us.

"Magnificus! You with us?"

"Yes, yes. You're looking for a graviton flux detector."

"Okay, and what do they look like?"

"You don't know? I thought your ring had all sorts of technical specifications on it."

"Certainly, and if by some complete fluke-" Beautia leads the way as we walk into the workshop. Looks like weapon prototypes to me. "-he's built one according to the standard specifications of any species known to the Green Lantern Corps-" No, no, no, no, no… "-then I can identify it. Otherwise-."

"He won't have done that, Magni."

"Thaddeus, I'm trying to work here."

"Well, you're being too slow! I fight giant monsters all the time! And some of them I didn't even create!"

"Boys!" Beautia stares at roughly where the voice is coming from. "We're trying to fight a gravity monster here! Focus!"

Another Praexis Demon falls out of the ring, and I send the three of them to lurk near the door on the off-chance that the Hunter will come through there.

"Give me the-. According to Father's records, you're looking for a grey cuboid about three hundred by twenty by twenty."

"Three hundred..? Feet? Inches?"

"What? No, millimeters, obviously. There should be.. seventeen of them in stock. If you can arrange them in a circle-."

"I'm not seeing them."

Beautia heads over to the far side of the room, frantically looking for something that matches the description.

"Well... Look harder, then."

"Can you narrow down the location? What floor are they on?"

"Three, I already-."

"We're in warehouse three, which of the subdivisions of warehouse three should it be on?"

Beautia shakes her head at me. "Not over here!"

"Ah-. The.. secure part?"

Beautia and I share a look of bewildered ignorance. "Could you be a little more precise?"

"We can't see what you're-."

"Sure we can."

"Georgia, where did you get that microphone?"

"I built it, Thaddeus. And I built this-" There's a loud whir and then a series of clanks behind me. "-so I can reactivate Mister Atom Mark Two, and then we can use this to see through his eyes."

Beautia leans slightly to the side, looking out across the hangar. "Ah, guys? Do you remember what Dad programmed as the Mark Two's behavioral baselines?"

Mister Atom's head turns in our direction and the robot takes a step forward out of the gantry surrounding it. "I, MISTER ATOM, AM MEANT TO BE THE EARTH'S RULER!"

"Never mind."

"It's okay! We can still see through his eyes! And Dad would never have programmed one of his robots to attack us."

"Okay, I've got the power supply schematics." Thank you, Magnificus. "The power network shows that there are additional force fields around the room two levels-" Beautia is already running towards the stairs. "-down."

"Thank you." I fly back out into the main hangar and then drop down two levels-.

"WHO DISTURBS ME IN MY HOME!?"

Darn it. The robot isn't actually pointing any weapons at me, but its stance suggests that that could change at a moment's notice.

"Sorry, Mister Atom. Just passing through." That appears to be inadequate. "It's family day. I'm.. here as Beautia's date?"

And then the entire Praexis Demon horde pours from the rings. Most take a moment to stabilise and then fly in the direction of the entrance while two tumble to the ground and then vomit up the next generation. Okay, looks like the Huntsman will be heading our way in a moment.

"BEAUTIA SIVANA. CHECKING LOGS."

"Wait, what?"

"Magnificus?"

"He's got super moderator access to the system! I don't have that!"

"I do." / "I do!"

"Oh, that's… Splendid."

"CONFIRMED. YOU ARE ORANGE LANTERN." Oh good. "SUPERHERO."

Yike-! The electrolaser shots from his eyes strike my construct armour and he strides towards me, hands rising to either grapple me or bring other weapons to bear. Right, barrier. A new construct shield appears in front of me. "Beautia, found them?"

"I think so? Are there any other grey cuboids in here?"

What look decidedly like a pair of proton cannons emerge from Mister Atom's shoulders.

"That force field. Is it up?"

"No, I took it down to get in here."

"Might want to put it-" Two brilliant orange beams leap from his shoulder mounts, joining his electrolaser in blasting my shield! "-back on, because-" The wall behind Mister Atom explodes outwards as the Hunter enters the hangar. "-I'll find it rather tricky to-" My construct shield begins to crack. "-keep them off you."

I hear heavy thumps behind me, then Beautia leaps over my shoulder and lands back up on the upper catwalk. "Just keep them occupied while I set these up!"

Oh. Sure.

Mister Atom takes another ponderous step forwards.

No problem.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:31 GMT -6

The gantry above the Huntsman creaks, straining against its mooring as he exerts a far greater pull than it was designed to withstand just by walking past it. Beautia's having to anchor herself as down suddenly moves to the wrong direction. I think and her construct armour becomes sticky on the base of the feet. Great, now how to deal with Mister Atom? Ah. Maybe?

"Oh, what a relief! My leader, the Sheeda Huntsmaster is here! Surely he will save me from this robot!"

Immediately Mister Atom's hands drop and his head rotates to allow him to look at the new intruder.

"ORANGE LANTERN IS NO THREAT. NEW TARGET FILE NOT FOUND. BUT I HAVE NO INSTRUCTION TO LEAVE YOU ALIVE."

I dismiss my shield construct, then replace it with a fresh one. Okay, Mister Atom- He opens fire with proton cannons and electrolasers. -is occupied. Huntsman… He looks slightly irritated, maybe? That might just be because his increasing local gravity caused the Praexis Demons to get stuck to him again. Actually… I just gave Beautia non-magnetic magnetic boots and I can fly. Why hasn't Mister Atom fallen over? Mister Atom Mark One didn't have a flight system, but I suppose this fellow does? I'm not seeing any exhausts, magnetic field is about what I would expect-.

Gravity suddenly reverts to normal as the Praexis Demons are pancaked against his outer surface for a moment before dissolving. Ring, don't bother recreating them.

Compliance.

Mister Atom plays the electrolaser over the Huntsman's face for a moment before shutting it down. The proton cannons hitting him in the chest on the other hand remain active. "CURIOUSLY RESILIENT. BUT NOTHING COMPARED TO THE POWER OF THE ATOM." The small red marking on his upper chest shines and then ah crap.

I fly as fast as possible to Beautia and stick a shield around both her and the graviton flux detectors as Mister Atom fires a beam of gamma radiation that makes the amount I used on Mister Hagen look trivial. He maintains the beam for a second, then switches to alpha radiation, followed by a blast of beta radiation. Ah, maybe I should give him a clue.

"Quick, master! Use your gravity powers on this foolish robot!"

"WHAT LUNACY IS THIS?"

"BETRAYED BY THE MOUTH OF YOUR OWN ASSISTANT. MY WEAPONS SYSTEM ALLOWS ME TO COUNTER ANY THREAT."

The Huntsman holds his right arm out to the side and a… A trident apparently made of the same material as the rest of him appears in his hand. Shapeshifting? Some sort of storage ability?

"YOU WERE MADE BY SIVANA. I RECOGNISE THE DESIGN. I KNOW ITS FLAWS."

"I HAVE NO FLAWS."

A plate on his crotch armour slides aside and a small ray projector extends itself, three circular fins whose purpose I can't immediately identify leading to a small bulb at the end. Then the fins light up in pale blue and a beam of bent space connects it to the Huntsman. He staggers, blue dust pouring off him.

"NONE WILL STAND BEFORE THE MIGHT OF MISTER ATOM."

"Is the radiation back down to normal?"

"Yes? Oh." I drop the bubble shield and Beautia thrusts five graviton flux detectors at me before hurrying along the gantry. It looks like she wants to get behind the Huntsman, though I'm not sure how much-.

The Huntsman raises his left hand and makes a fist, Mister Atom's crotch cannon crumpling in response. Okay then. Ring, closest weapon to that?

Based on appearance and observable effect, graviton nullifier is closest match.

Edging towards concluding that he's a walking black hole here…

It is extremely unlikely that entity designated 'Sheeda Huntsman' is a 'walking black hole'. Peak output observed so far is two hundred thirty nine times normal Earth gravity over a small area. The gravitational pull of a black hole-.

I'll take your word for it.

Compliance.

Mister Atom takes a step back as the Huntsman strolls forwards, brings his left arm up over his head and then drops to a crouch, smashing the fist into the Huntsman!

"Magnificus, still with us?"

"Yes?"

"Exactly how do you want these sensors arranged?"

"Ah, the optimal disposition would be at variable known distances from the subject. Surrounding him in all directions if at all possible."

"Right." External surface looks fairly durable. I transmute a small amount of adhesive onto the wall and stick one of the sensors there. "Are you getting data from these?"

"Yeah, they've got a connection to the habitat's systems. I'm going over it now."

"We're going over it now."

"Soft subject."

Thaddeus Junior and Georgia on the case. I suppose that's a good thing. Considering the circumstances.

The Huntsman has been driven to his knees, hands on either side of the haft of his trident as he uses it to block Mister Atom's fist. Right, they're both fully occupied on that end of the hangar… I fly to the opposite end, near that storage area, and plant another sensor. "Do I need to tell you the distances, or-?"

"No, it's all automatic."

On the other side of the hangar I see Beautia toss one down the lift shaft before leaping over the wrecked gantry to the far side. I fly to the right side of the room, plant one on the wall and turn to check on the combatants. The Huntsman seems to be stuck-. No, he's sliding his left hand along the haft and there's a noise of tearing and crumpling metal as Mister Atom's left middle finger collapses in on itself. Next comes another bolt of green lightning from his forehead, but that skitters harmlessly across Mister Atom's armoured chassis, no more effective than Mister Atom's shots were. I create a construct hand and use it to reach to just behind Mister Atom, depositing another sensor.

"CURSE YOU." Mister Atom brings his right hand down in a chopping motion. The Huntsman has to compress to cope with the force of the impact, but almost immediately he starts to straighten again. Mister Atom points his left forearm at the Huntsman and-.

Alert! Anti-matter detected!

Oh dear.

Beautia continues running around the side of the room as Mister Atom thumps his damaged left fist into the Huntsman's chest. Okay okay, it should just be an explosion, and that's if the anti-matter encounters matter. If his body isn't comprised of matter -which is what my Crumbler negative impacts suggest- then probably nothing will happen. Whatever, they're both fully occupied. I take hold of another sensor with a construct hand and have it carry it around the side of the room, depositing it behind the Huntsman.

Where else? The ceiling? Okay, but then I think we should be heading up to warehouse seven. I really don't feel comfortable with-.

There's a brilliant flash of light from the Huntsman! The rings react immediately to dim my vision as I frantically look for Beautia! She's up above me, no closer to the centre of the blast than I am. Okay, her armour construct should hold-.

"yAAAAAAAGH!"

It fails. I'm by her side in an instant, a bubble shield going up around both of us. Idiot! The filament connection wasn't tough enough. Okay, burns, doesn't.. look like anything she can't heal.

"Magnificus, I'm heading up to warehouse seven."

"It would be better if you could plant one or two more-."

"Beautia's hit. She should be okay, but we need to move."

"Of course, then. Let me know when you arrive."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:34 GMT -6

I hold Beautia in my arms in a bridal carry as she taps the entry code to warehouse seven, leaving a smear of blood and liquefied fat on the keys from the burned scabs on her fingers.

"Are you really going to be okay?"

"The Danner Formula makes me very tough. And this isn't the worst I've ever been injured."

The door opens and I fly us inside. Ah, looks like Thaddeus and Georgia at least stored my belongings neatly.

"Really? What the heck happened to you?"

"I was learning not to play with-." She winces and shudders. "With necrotising fasciitis." She takes a couple of rapid breaths. "Danner." Another pained breath. "Doesn't make you immune. To disease." She shakes her head and takes a look at the closest shelves. "You. Cook?"

"Yes, well I make my own hours. Seems like the sort of skill-" And there's my armour! "-a man should have."

"Put me. Down."

"Are you sure? Because you look like death.. at room temperature."

"Need food. To heal."

"Right." I haven't studied exactly how the Formula deals with heavily injured recipients, but assuming that it's already been triggered… I fly over to… I think they organised my meals by colour. Danner regeneration mostly uses protein, though she'll need other nutrients as well. What's the best fit-? Cassoulet! I land just in front of the ceramic tray I cooked it in and gently put her down. "Any go-"

Beautia staggers up to the shelving and sticks both hands into the bean and meat dish, grabbing what she can and shoving it into her mouth as fast as she can swallow.

"-od? I'm.. afraid.. It'll be… Cold."

"Orange Lantern, she'll be fine but it looks like Mister Atom is losing."

"Right, Magnificus." And my ammunition is in… That box. "Picking up my stuff now."

Filaments flicker out to touch everything vaguely technological looking. All of my ammunition-. No, it looks like the younger Sivanas took a little something for themselves. I'll have to get that back off them later. Or.. is it already too late? Never mind, my library and tools can stay here… Now, my armour. Never did work out how to make it something I could put on normally. I rise into the air, dismiss my construct armour and surround myself and it with orange light before experiencing a sort of heavy metal anime transformation sequence.

And now I'm actually dressed for a fight.

Ring, link up to internal communications.

Link established.

Bleed tech is Bleed tech.

"Thaddeus, Georgia-."

"Busy working on a black hole gun!"

"Ah, Magnificus-."

"Is Beautia safe?"

"Safe-ish. She's gorging, as per the Surgeon General's recommendations for heavily injured Danner Enhanciles. And now the Huntsman is to blame-" Ring, run checks on the armour. "-for the wasting of a perfectly good cassoulet."

Armour systems in perfect working order.

"If it keeps my sister alive, then it isn't being wasted."

"That was… Pre-fight banter."

"Isn't that a bit flippant? You are about to fight an alien creature of extraordinary power with weapons which are very much not optimized for the encounter."

"It's a way of dealing with nerves, since I'm trying to ease up on using the rings-" I start walking back towards the lift shaft. "-to alter my mental state."

"Oh."

"How tough are these walls? The transparent stuff can take Venus surface conditions without getting even slightly abraded."

"Uh, look… Don't worry about it. Unless you completely destroy the interior, the building will remain-"

BOOM!

"-upright, and there are emergency force fields and repair automatons for the external walls. Georgia says that was Mister Atom's arm weapons being destroyed. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yes. Shouldn't you think about evacuating?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"I'm a superhero. There's a hostile thingy near my homeworld. What's your excuse?"

"This is my family home. As much as anywhere is. And anything clever enough to break in here will be able to track us down on Earth easily enough."

I look down the lift shaft in time to see the remains of Mister Atom's head hit the far side with a tremendous CLANK before falling a short distance and then landing on the near side of the shaft. Looks like gravity is playing up again.

"How much progress have the junior Sivanas made?"

"Working!"

"Hard to say. They've taken apart most of the kitchen and a couple of Sivanadroids so I'm assuming that most of the design work is done."

"Right. I've got about thirty different gravity based weapons to try out."

There's a scraping sound of metal against hyper alloy. I generate construct armour around my power armour.

"Any guidance for me, or should I just go through them in alphabetical-?"

I'm shooting downwards, the floor collapsing around me! Gravity nullifier gravity nullifier! The construct takes effect and I'm left feeling an unusual weightlessness as rubble and debris that was once stored in my subspace pocket rains down towards the Huntsman. Huh. That works.

"LANTERNS. RELICS."

My construct shield is in place before his green forehead lightning leaves his face. It bows and cracks, but it can hold for the moment. A single Praexis Demon drops from the left ring with instructions to intercept.

"I go!"

Next, I form a gravity nullifier ray. Bit of a novelty item rather than a weapon in most places, but I'm not going to moan as long as it works.

I point it straight at the Huntsman and fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:39 GMT -6

I see a fraction of a second of the Huntsman under the beam's effect, not looking hurt so much as puzzled. Then the space between us is filled with debris, material he crushed or shoved aside flying back into the gap between us.

"Gahh!"

The Praexis Demon I summoned is struck by Mister Atom's head and then smashed into a lump of floor. My shield is.. holding, but I don't have a clear point to shield against. None of the debris is moving particularly fast. There appear to be… Ring? Gravity has become a local phenomenon and I'm not totally sure how the form of phasing I use would interact with that.

Ugh. I don't remember much about this guy's arc in Seven Soldiers-.

Every bit of debris flies at me! The force isn't all that much, certainly not enough to break my construct armour, but it's more than a little distracting. The gravity nullifier effect doesn't actually extend all that far from my body and the mass is building up, pressing into me. Much more pressure and it'll be worth using the kinetic belt to deal with it. Okay, what now? I can still move… Oh, no I can't. Right, he wouldn't have done this if it wasn't advantageous to him so just staying here isn't a good idea. I take a small phase capable drone out of subspace into the thin gap between my construct armour and my actual armour and give it a nudge. It slips through the material surrounding me without apparent difficulty.

Guess that's as much indication as to the safety as I'm going to get. I activate the armour's phase system and the construct armour around my left shoulder buckles and fails, the prongs of the bladed weapon I saw the Huntsman using on Mister Atom slicing cleanly through the debris ball! It hits the surface of my armour and I'm already away just as fast as I can. I feel the armour shudder as it hits, as if the universe isn't entirely sure how the malleable physics employed in both my own phase generator and the Hunter's whole body are supposed to interact.

"Alert! Crushing gravity."

And since I'm phased the gravity nullifier isn't working. That doesn't really bother me directly, but the mass around me is obeying local gravity again. The Hunter's blade is knocked aside as the mass falls free of me. My vision of my environment restored, I see the Huntsman land in a light crouch on the wall of the lift shaft. No significant mass superimposed on me? Right, drop phase.

Ring, graviton gun.

Compliance.

I was astonished as anything to find that a weapon I first heard about from Games Workshop actually existed here. Doesn't have quite the same effect, the target usually being too smashed apart by the gravitational eddies to experience the immobility. But what the heck, seeing the name translated into English brought a smile to my face. Like a lot of these weapons, there's no real beam to see, though the air appears to shudder as the gravity jerks light around.

It hits home and there's a minor waft of blue before green lightning from his forehead destroys my construct.

And I don't even know for certain that blue wafts indicate a damaging hit! Certainly the crushing pull being generated from inside me doesn't appear to be weakening. My environmental shield is holding me together but I don't want to start relying on it. It really isn't all that strong against most deliberate attacks.

Ring, graviton trap.

Compliance.

This one is a bit more promising, a device used by physicists amongst species with more intelligence than sense to study one of the fundamental building blocks of the physical universe. The cage-like construct crackles with black energy… For about a second before the Huntsman waves his trident around and tears it apart.

G-GUH! Gravity shear inside my body! I felt a chunk of my right torso slide sideways, bone tearing from sinew and organs being pulped! Okay, heh, phase out and dodge the gravity effect, move and phase in and try… High powered lasers to his face.

Not a lot appears to happen.

I think he's in the same situation I am. We're both tough, hard to injure in a way which -and the ring finishes repairing my body- disables us. But we're not really sure how to put our opponent out of the fight. Okay, gravity attacks don't appear to be the solution I hoped they would be. Let's try something a little more orange. I raise my gauntlets. "Brand."

I go for wide beams of light, it having been conclusively demonstrated by this point that filaments don't last around the Huntsman. He swings his trident through the oncoming mass of orange which bends around the attack, flowing through the air around his weapon to strike the surface of his body. For a moment his interior glows orange as the light precipitates through and tries to find something to latch onto. I pour it on. I can't really see any desires from him, but it wouldn't surprise me that the Sheeda have defences against that sort of thing.

"WRETCH."

There's got to be something in there, he's clearly purposive… Unless I'm not actually looking at a living being but at some sort of projection which would-.

His trident twitches and I've moved just far enough to avoid getting the blade in the face by the time it hits me, slicing though my restored construct armour and into the material beneath. My kinetic belt triggers automatically. It fails to stop the cutting edge but tries to grab the weapon by the flat of the blade. Too late to save my upper ribs. I feel the jerk as whatever gravitational weirdness made a blade on a stick make sense for a life form like this pulls and crushes bone and flesh free from the surrounding tissue.

Gragh! Graviton converter.

The blade hasn't even fully passed through me as the boxy construct takes shape to my left and fires almost straight into his face. This thing converts gravitational energy into kinetic energy, so if the Hunter's body works even slightly like I think it does then it might make him explode, fall apart or otherwise cease to be. Instead, he narrows his eyes slightly and he takes another swing with his trident. I'm already moving, keeping the beam of the device shining on him in the hope that it will end up doing something. Dust and other minor pieces of debris disintegrate as the pull of matter to matter stops mattering and gets converted to omnidirectional thrust. Looks like the Huntsman can't fly, but his gravitational control is good enough that with a chunk of wall under his feet he can do a passable Silver Surfer impression.

I fly backwards to avoid another swing, taking an x-ionised sword out of subspace. The continual beam from the graviton converter has made the Huntsman go a bit purple. Or maybe that's just how he looks when he's tired? Or injured? I suppose one way this sort of fight -I parry his trident with the sword, which holds for a moment then disintegrates- can go is to exhaustion. I hope he's getting injured, but his gravity effects seem just as strong as before. On the other hand, so are my constructs and I know that I'm using a good deal of power doing this.

Hm. Ring, exactly how much power do I have left?

Forty three percent power remaining.

Oh dear. Another dodge and a neural chaff grenade… Which appears to do nothing.

Forty two percent power remaining.

I have the ring transmit a break down into my mind as I try using construct manacles to hold the Huntsman in place. Yikes gravity manipulation weapons are power hogs.

Forty one percent power remaining.

A chunk of power when I make one, then more to power the effect. Plus my injuries and the construct armour. The Huntsman takes another green lightning bolt shot at my weapon construct but the Praexis Demon has recovered enough to interpose itself.

"Orange Lantern to the Sivanas. Is there any chance-?"

"-because it's what I got my doctorate in! I invented this technology, Junior, and I know it better than anyone including you!"

"Did I call at a bad-" The Huntsman pulls fruitlessly at the manacles, then clenches and slices through them with intense gravity shears before lunging at me again. "-time?"

"Oh, just the boys sounding off, handsome. What can I do for you?"

"Georgia, are you anywhere near finished?"

"Uh, I usually think of myself as a 'work in progress', but I suppose-."

"Sorry, I meant the anti-Huntsman weapon you're working on?"

"Nearly. We're just trying to work out-."

"Right! I'm grabbing Beautia and heading your way. Try to be ready when I arrive."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:42 GMT -6

"Before you go-" The Huntsman crouches slightly. It looks… Tired? Hard to tell. The purple has spread through its limbs to the point that the black is almost totally obscured. I manacle him again. "-could you possibly deactivate any anti-Lantern devices your father has installed?"

"Ahh… He didn't have any last time I checked." My left eye twitches just a little. "I mean, he might have put in stuff that works on Lanterns-."

"Thank you. Carry on."

Ring, full scan. And assimilate.

The construct manacles flare as I try assimilating him through them. No, it doesn't look like that's going to work. Full scan gives me… A whole lot of really complicated information which would no doubt be fascinating to the Sivanas but is basically gibberish to me.

Alert! Thirty percent power remaining.

I scan Beautia's location. She's still eating, now looking slightly less roasted. Next, I abandon my assimilation efforts and try transitioning the Huntsman. Nothing. Try transitioning a piece of debris? That worked, but I still don't really want to risk it.

Alert! Twenty nine percent power remaining.

Time to be gone. The manacles and gravity converter are gone in an instant, eight more Praexis Demons appearing from the rings and swarming the Huntsman once more. Next, I form ion engine constructs and blast myself upward, back into warehouse seven. I dismiss my construct armour and send a second group of Praexis Demons down the shaft towards the ground floor. If I'm lucky the Huntsman will see the orange glow and assume that it's me.

"Ready to go?"

She puts down the soup bowl and wipes her hands on her jacket. "How are we getting out?"

"This place is all made of the same material, yes?"

"Ah, the structure is, yes."

"It doesn't impede my phasing. We're going out through the wall."

"To the surface of Venus?"

"We'll be phased, so the temperature and atmosphere won't be problems. Grab on."

Her eyes flick over my armour as she looks for a handhold. I open my left arm slightly and she steps up to me, wrapping her right arm around my forearm and putting her left hand on my left shoulder. I pull her in closer and float us off the ground before phasing us both and flying full pelt at the far wall. I have tested phasing with an external object before, but this probably isn't something it's wise to keep up while on low power. We pass through the wall… Hadn't realised quite how thick it was. Doesn't take more than half a second, then we're out in the open air. I also didn't really appreciate how tall this building is from the ground. Not without a casual ring scan to give me the numbers. I wonder how Doctor Sivana managed to build it? Orbital construction, then lower it? Build it on Earth then teleport it? No idea. I'll ask later. Only a short flight to-.

There's a boom behind me as an explosion rips through the wall of the warehouse complex! Chunks of building material are sent flying, then the murky clouds surrounding us are sucked in by the lower pressure. For a moment I see the twinkling lights that mark the Huntsman's body, but all I can think is 'uagh, that's a perfectly good building ruined'. I reduce my glow to minimum and drop, more decoy Praexis Demons flying away as I aim for the corridor connecting the storage warehouse to the habitat.

Okay, between the clouds and the lights if his vision works based on visible light… Or infrared, due to the armour's insulation and my environmental shield, or.. actually, most things, then he can't see me. If he can't see me, why is he looking this way? One, he can see me perfectly well. Gravity sense? I do have mass, after all. I'm not drawing green lightning… Has he given up on that, or can he really not see me?

Through into the tunnel. Quick check, door at the far end still in one piece. End phase.

"-coming back any time soon, or do we have a few minutes?"

I open my left arm. "Beautia, go. Make sure they're set up."

She nods, then sprints towards the habitat end. Huh. No quick 'what about you'? I mean, just running was far more sensible… I suppose… Full body armour does rather… Discourage…

Eh.

"Sooner would be better, Georgia. You've got maybe a minute and I'd like it if it were less."

"You know..?"

Ring, remaining charge?

Twenty four percent remaining.

Don't really want to light myself up. One thing about the Huntsman is that he doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

"Know what?"

"Just saying… 'Tia's not really one for exotic physics… She couldn't do what Junior and I are doing."

"I am fully cognisant of the virtues which you possess and which she does not. I also doubt that whatever happened with Justin was malicious on her part, while coming on to her boyfriend would be. Also, you're… What, fifteen?"

"Bet you wouldn't say that if I looked like her."

"I would, moral standards being a big part of the superhero thing. Look, shouldn't you be focusing on building.. whatever you're building?"

"I can work and talk at the same time. What do you want for one of those power rings?"

"I'm afraid those aren't for sale." Gravity based weapons had an effect… There is a beam singularity projector on file. But there are a lot of warning flags and I might want this power to run if the Sivanas' device doesn't work.

"You've got two. I could tell you how that zeta platform works."

"Okay, firstly, you wouldn't be able to recharge it without an orange personal lantern and I own the only one in existence. Secondly, if you really want one I'm happy to forward your application to the Controllers in two months' time. Thirdly, you stole my property while under the flag of truce. Fourthly… Georgia, you're an omnidisciplinary genius. If Beautia's appearance really bothers you that much, build an automatic plastic chirurgeon or something."

"Power ring would be easier. That's how you did you, right?"

"Tell you what. Deal with the Sheeda Huntsman and I'll see what-."

The tunnel in front of me implodes as the Huntsman falls through it, landing in a small crouch. Venus' atmosphere at once begins boiling in. I recreate the gravity converter and hurl my supply of neural chaff grenades even as I start flying backwards, shooting him before he is quite able to focus on me. Before I reach the habitat side I create a construct airlock and step though it. Ring, power?

Twenty two percent remaining.

I toss twenty Praexis Demons through the gap, then open the door to the habitat and fly through, closing it behind me. Okay, that should buy a few more seconds. I turn-.

"Hey, Orange!" Thaddeus Junior waves at me from the control seat of a.. contraption. There's a.. gun… I think. And a platform built on what look like robot spider legs. And some sort of computer system and a.. power supply. And that's when I notice that the corridor has a shimmering force field across it and the Sivana children are all on the far side of it. "Clear the way!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
10:44 GMT -6

The black blade starts in the top left corner of the reinforced door, poking through tip first before sliding downwards and to the right. Its passage is marked by the intrusion of a dark high pressure stream of Venusian atmosphere, billowing out of the gash and expanding into the lower pressure Earthly air on the inside. It looks a little like the metal itself is bleeding. Really, it's a testament to whatever Doctor Sivana Senior made this place out of that the metal isn't bowing due to the pressure, especially now that it's been weakened in this way.

The second slice is faster, moving top right to bottom left before the blade is retracted. The murk has already reached the point that the additional bleed through of gas is barely noticeable. Next come four far faster cuts, along the top, bottom and sides, angled in such a way that the external pressure starts to push the free-standing mass inward before a sudden extra force is brought to bear. The mass leaps towards us before toppling onto the floor, revealing the Huntsman as he poses in the hole.

"NOW YOU WRETCHES WILL-."

A mass of blue/green rays bend around the barrel of Thaddeus Junior's gun before striking the Huntsman in the chest. The light appears to penetrate before vanishing deep within him.

"GHU?"

For a moment the light disappears. I'm.. a little concerned-. No, it's back and it looks like it set off a supernova deep inside him. The Huntsman shudders, arms and legs spasming and locking in place. His spear falls to the ground, embedding itself blade first into the floor.

Thaddeus' eyes are locked on the sight. "And… Any… Second…"

A colossal shudder runs through the Huntsman, then his body… It's hard to describe. Like his body is some sort of inflatable object and air is being sucked out of the middle, but not all the bits are getting deflated at the same rate. There's a movement and a piece of the left side of his torso has vanished, pulling his body to one side in a way which looks quite painful. His left thigh has also vanished, knee connecting to his torso in a way which puts me in mind of Thalidomide victims. Another sudden movement and his shoulders are nearly touching his hips. A third and his fingers are all that are left of his arms. The shape I believe to be his mouth is working but no sound is coming out.

One last surge and there's nothing left.

Georgia rubs her hands together excitedly, waving some sort of tricorder at her twin. "Exactly as predicted!"

"Mm." Thaddeus Junior checks one of the readouts on his ersatz weapon platform. "Hey, Magni. Guess you were right about the circuit's tolerances."

"Well." Magnificus leans slightly forward so that he can look over his brother's shoulder. "Yes. I would be."

"How were you able to put this all together so quickly?"

Both of the younger Sivanas look smug, and Georgia points to the blasted opening with her right forefinger. "You think you could do something about that first?"

"Oh. Certainly."

A wave of orange passes through the air in front of us, pushing back the Venusian air and forming a construct patch over the hole in the wall. Next, I pick up the fallen doorway and put it back into the gap. Now, that was tacit permission, wasn't it? Scan. Hm. Not exactly revolutionary, but it would be a very nice addition to the next generation construction mix. Oh well. A flare of orange and the wall and doorway are as good as new. Another and the damage to the interior caused by the local atmosphere's ingress is undone.

"Hm. Yeah, that'll do. Georgia and I had a lotta this stuff ready to go because we're trying to replicate Dad's portal."

"Some sort of gravity weapon?"

"No, we got a clue that wasn't the way to go when you kept trying and failing. No, see, Dad's portal works by-." He cuts himself off, staring at me. "Oh, right. You're a superhero. Let's say it uses hyper-compressed black holes to make portals in space-time."

"Really? Because that sounds insanely dangerous."

"No, but that's nearly what it does and since you're kinda… Y'know…" He glances back at where Magnificus is checking Beautia over. "Usually the enemy…"

I wave it off with my right hand. "Oh, don't worry."

"I'm not worried, I'm just saying."

Georgia rolls her eyes. "Captain Marvel intervened before Dad could test it properly. I don't think there was more than a point five percent chance of anything much going wrong."

"Anything much?"

"You know, the Earth getting destroyed, that sort of thing. So what we think happened was that Dad didn't get transported to a parallel universe, he ended up somewhere in this universe and somewhere else in history. I've been trying to read up on-."

"Soft subject."

Georgia scowls at her brother. Ring, review historical records for people matching the description of Thaddeus Bodog Sivana.

None found.

"What I want to know-" Magnificus turns off the force field then looks at me. "-is how you knew what that thing was."

"If I'd known what it was I'd have done what you lot did."

"No." He frowns. "But you recognised it. You knew the name of its people."

Thaddeus looks momentarily thoughtful. "Hey, you did. What's with that?"

"That's something I'm not really prepared to tell the-" I bow slightly and hold out my right hand towards him and Georgia. "-loyal opposition."

Beautia's eyes move around the group, then get rolled. "Paul, we need to know if they could have left anything here. Any sort of monitoring devices, or anything like that."

"Okay, look, I don't know much about them. Sheeda usually look like bondage Elves-" Thaddeus sniggers. "-while some of them are-" I hold open my right index finger and thumb. "-much smaller. They stab special knives into the back of people's necks and use that to control them. Oh, and these sort of fat, non-corporeal gas cloud men who kill you by making you feel bad…" Can't remember much else from Seven Soldiers. "They're from the far future, descendants of-."

Magnificus turns to his brother, his right hand on the… Gun. Thing. "Can I borrow this?"

"Okay, but I'll want it back."

"Thank you." He lifts it off the cradle and flicks a few switches. "And… Good work."

"Oh." Thaddeus smiles. "Thanks."

Magnificus points the gun at an empty section of corridor and pulls the trigger! Blue light flares, and for a fraction of a second I see a humanoid cloud with six glowing eyes arranged in a circle around its head. "'Inherently inadequate' am I? Who's inadequate now!?"

Thaddeus and Georgia stare at the place the Misery unit disintegrated, then simultaneously reach for some sort of sensor. Beautia and I just look around nervously. "Can.. anyone else.. see one of those?"

Georgia shakes her head. "No, we're good. Ooh, is that vaporized suspendium?"

I walk over to Magnificus and pat him on the right shoulder with my left hand. "How long had that been following you around?"

He looks me in the face for a moment, then his eyes drop. "A while."

"Um." Beautia points to where the Huntsman disappeared. "I don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, but…"

A tiny black fleck floats in the space where the Huntsman vanished. It wobbles for a moment, then opens outwards into a vertical black disc. Ah, crap! Magnificus brings the gun to bear while I create a construct railgun and the younger Sivanas raise their sensors, grinning excitedly at the prospect of gathering new data.

A short bald man in a tattered lab coat steps though, and the portal closes behind him.

"Hello children. And…"

Doctor Sivana Senior peers at me through glasses held together by tape.

"I don't think we've been introduced."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
11:14 GMT -6

Doctor Sivana Senior slumps back slightly in his chair, hands steepled on his stomach as he looks at me. "I suppose it could have been worse. You could have been Captain Marvel."

"I'm just glad that you're taking this so well, sir."

"Oh, that's probably just a result of fighting for my life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with only what I could scavenge to eat, drink or build with for a year." He closes his eyes and rubs his forehead with his right hand for a moment. "What time are we eating?"

Venus leans against the wall closest to the kitchen. "I was planning a cold lunch for one o'clock, but under the circumstances I suppose that a sandwich wouldn't be out of the question."

"Thank you d-." A very faint frown marks his forehead. "…Venus. I would appreciate that."

She stands up straight, looking him over carefully as she does so. I didn't pick up on it when he first came through but he's carrying a lot of minor injuries. I haven't wanted to scan him directly -since he's clearly not in any immediate danger and he has killed quite a lot of people- but I can see bruises and long thin scabs which suggest quite serious injuries which have only mostly healed since they were inflicted. "No problem." She turns and walks away.

"So…" Doctor Sivana Senior finds himself the focus of our attention, and for a moment he isn't sure how to deal with that. "Guess I'm going to need to rebuild the warehouse." Then he stops talking.

We all wait for a few moments, but nothing is forthcoming. Thaddeus Junior loses patience first. "Where did you go, Dad?"

"The future, Junior. A little bit further than I meant to." His eyes drift away from his youngest son. "The Big Red Cheese punching things he didn't understand must have overloaded the system. Next time-." His head comes up again. "Sivanadroid!"

The closest one stops and trundles over. "Ready for command."

"Memorandum. From now on, four circuit breakers, not three."

"Command prompt recognised."

"Sivanadroid, dismissed."

"Have a good day."

Thaddeus Junior shakes his head. "How far was too far?"

"I'm not sure. I know that the sun will start dying in about five billion years and be completely dead in ten, but I can't think of any natural phenomena that would make it look like it did then. The radiation output was all wrong, and I could almost… Feel it sucking the life out of me whenever I went outside."

"Doctor, are they preparing for a Harrowing?"

"Eh, maybe, maybe not. None of the ones I interrogated knew when it was scheduled, but we do seem to be ripening up nicely."

Beautia blinks. "Harrowing?"

"Yes. You see, 'Tia, they're a dying civilisation. Their Earth's worn down to nothing, their technology is advanced, but it isn't anything like as advanced as what a civilisation like theirs should have. Every so often they raid the distant past for what they need to keep going."

"You mean it's happened before?"

"Oh yes." He smiles. "Their ruler King Melmoth stole their first time machine from some sort of time travelling Neanderthal." He smiles crookedly to himself. "If I'd known about that in advance I'd have spent more time trying to go back in time and not forwards."

"It's not just Humans they've done it to. There was an aquatic race that used to dominate the Earth. Someone -probably the Sheeda- killed nearly all of them. The handful left are Atlantean citizens."

"Sounds plausible. The thing about time travel is that they can do harvests of different eras while for them it's only a few years apart. They don't even necessarily need to do them in order."

Doesn't look like that's the answer Beautia wanted. "Dad, are they going to be sending more of those things here?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about that. Some complete lunatic was firing a gravity converter back through the link between the Huntsman and their control center. Not much left of the place now." He smiles cruelly. "Completely flattened, with hundreds of their people dead."

Oh.

"Or... Not much left of it then, I should say. After all, it hasn't been built now. Anyway, they were using a sample of my blood to triangulate on my era and I took care of it before coming back through. If they weren't aiming for now before I got there then we've got nothing to worry about."

Magnificus frowns. "I'm not sure that I'd say 'nothing', Father. A race of future Humans with highly advanced technology and a proven track record of exterminating planet-spanning civilisations have a bone to pick with our family."

"But they're not here now. Magnificus, how long will it be before Humans have faster than light travel?"

Magnificus' frown deepens. "We have it now. You took me on a trip to Proxima Centauri for my tenth birthday."

"No, no. Not things I've built. Things… Things normal people could build."

"I don't know. Forty or fifty years, I suppose."

"So if they can't do it before that, we've got nothing to worry about. They'll be too late to reset Earth civilisation." He leans forwards slightly. "They're resource poor. They can't sustain large fleets or large populations. It won't be too long before current day Earth is strong enough to beat a Harrowing Fleet conventionally. All we have to do is make sure we don't get Harrowed before that."

Thaddeus and Georgia look at each other with what could be concern. "We?" / "We?"

Sivana Senior nods. "Children, I've been doing some thinking."

Their faces fall. Georgia shakes her head. "Dad, no."

Thaddeus Junior's eyes widen. "Say it isn't so."

"I think I've… We've… Been stuck in a rut, just throwing things at Marvel and the other children. What I saw in the future… The civilisation there is.. contemptible, beyond even the idiots who rejected my inventions in this era. I'm going to rest up for a few days, then I'm going to start building weapons."

They start smiling again.

"And save them for fighting the Sheeda."

And they stop smiling again.

"We've been fighting someone we know everything about for too long. Can you honestly tell me that you're really pushing yourselves because of him? We already decided not to kill him when he was in his mortal form-."

Beautia's eyes widen. "You knew about that?!"

A faint smile appears on her father's lips. "You made it clear that you didn't want me interfering with your life. Have you changed your mind?"

"I was hitting on a ten year old!"

Magnificus' face drops. "Wait, what?"

Thaddeus Junior looks at him as if he's said something truly bizarre. "You really didn't know? Captain Marvel is really a kid called William Joseph Batson. He gets older when he transforms."

Magnificus hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. "Why would I care who he is? I've never had anything to do with the man. Boy."

Thaddeus Senior nods approvingly. "Good for you, Magnificus."

He blinks in surprise. "Oh. Um. Thank you, Father."

Thaddeus Senior returns his focus to his younger children. "The point is, we're not really learning anything new. Sure, we can test weapons on him, but there are dozens of places we could do that. He's not changing himself, he's just static. And yes, he's using his powers slightly better than he did when we first started fighting him. But so what? The Sheeda on the other hand are near complete unknowns. I lived on their world for nearly a year and I still can't tell you what they can do and how it works. Are you really telling me that studying them won't be more rewarding than picking a fight with Marvel for the umpteenth time?"

They think for a moment. Georgia nods her head to the side. "I… Guess…"

"Glad you agree, Georgia. Junior?" His son nods. "We'll get started tomorrow. But right now, I have a non-recycled sandwich to eat."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th April
18:54 GMT -6

I knock on the door, but there's no immediate response.

"Doctor Sivana?"

I knock again, a little louder. Okay, he knows that I'm on a truce, and if he's serious about focusing on the Sheeda then I really don't have any reason to violate it. I take hold of the door handle and push open the door.

"Humpf?"

Doctor Sivana jerks awake in his chair, momentarily confused by his environment as he blearily looks around. His left hand goes to his glasses where they rest on his desk. His right is already holding an organic looking handgun. Fortunately for me it isn't pointed in my direction. In fact, his grip on it is loose. He must have been holding it when he went to sleep. It tightens as he sees me hovering by the door, then his glasses reach the bridge of his nose and he releases it completely.

"Come to get me for dinner?"

"Actually, Doctor, I was hoping to have a word with you?"

He squeezes his eyes shut, right thumb and forefinger massaging his brow. "I'm sorry. I haven't had a lot of opportunity for regular sleep lately. A lot of late nights are catching up with me."

"A year, you said."

"There aren't any safe places in Sheeda arcologies. I didn't understand their technology well enough to build watch drones. I had to make do with simple mechanical traps. Every time one went off I had to relocate."

I nod. "A year for us. How long was it for you?"

His eyes narrow slightly, but his mouth has a thin smile. "A little bit longer, if I counted it right. The good thing about going bald early -and looking like a Goblin- is that it makes it harder for people to tell exactly how old you are." For a moment he smiles properly, a completely unguarded response to his emotions. Then it's gone again as he shuffles his chair forwards and puts his elbows on his desk, hands clasped together. "Tell me, young man. How long have you and 'Tia really been together?"

"She asked me to attend this gathering two days ago. Prior to that, my only interaction with her was during a demonic invasion of Fawcett City."

He nods. "Are you planning to keep seeing her?"

"Yes. There's some technology developed by Baroness Paula von Gunther that I'm.. trying to get into wider circulation-."

The smile is gone, his fingers unlaced and his right hand sort of rubbing around his left. "Good luck with that."

"I'm in the advantageous position of not needing external investment. With these-" I hold up my palms. "-rings, I can tell exactly how well motivated everyone involved is… Aside from problems involved in licensing -which would exist for any novel technology- I don't think anyone will be able to do to me what they did to you."

"Hn." He notices his own hands, then lays them flat on his desk. "I meant, do you plan to continue seeing her in the romantic context?"

"I don't know. We're really in more of a 'feeling-one-another-out' stage. I like her, but I don't know how compatible we are."

He nods. "I suppose that's reasonable."

I risk a smile of my own. "Have to admit, I thought having this sort of conversation with a supervillain would involve more threats."

He shakes his head. "'Tia wouldn't want me to involve myself. And… Sometimes relationships don't work out, no matter how much you want them to."

"Would you mind if I.. asked you a few questions about that? I mean… I've looked into your personal history-."

"Then you probably know everything already. What is there left to ask me about?"

"I know what, I don't know why. And I can only learn that from you. I can easily understand being angry with the people who rejected you. I'm not sure I can understand deliberately killing them. Or… I can't understand why they rejected you in the first place."

"You'd need better people skills than me to understand that." He wrinkles his nose. "Why did I kill them?"

"Given everything you could have done with your abilities… And that you'd put up with already… Why did you turn to supervillainy?"

His gaze grows a little distant. "I'm not sure I can exactly explain it. Science is my first love. One of the few vectors I have for interacting with people is sharing what I've learned. When I got turned down, I was honestly more annoyed about them rejecting Venus' business plan than them rejecting my technology."

"You killed them for being rude to her?"

"No. No. I killed them for being…" He looked puzzled for a moment, searching for the word he wants. "Wrong." That doesn't seem to quite be it. "It's like… If you want to get across a body of water, you could use a aeroplane or a boat… But you shouldn't use a dogsled. I got to a point where I just couldn't see a reason not to." He bows his head slightly. "I'm probably not explaining it very well. I've never really been one for introspection."

"Just… 'Why not kill them?'"

"I… Understood people… I mostly understood people, in terms of their roles. As a scientist, my job was to discover and invent, to work out how the universe works and how to make use of that. Venus' role is to understand supply and demand, what people need and how to get it to them. The role of an investor is to make a rational judgement about risk and reward and then either put money in or not. But if the product is good and need is there and the risks low and the reward great, someone like that should invest. One or two people I could have understood. Dozens?"

He shakes his head. "I mean, look around us. I designed this. I didn't build it, but I built the robots who did. I could have done this for NASA or the ESA or CNSA. And I would have been happy to. The sort of person who turns this down has no grounds for complaint if someone like me decides to use them as a test subject."

"Test subjects?"

"Well… Okay. I was pretty annoyed with the first few, but… Yeah. I don't have any sort of personal grudge against Captain Marvel. I don't do this because I particularly want to hurt him. I've learned a lot from testing weapons and technologies against him." He nods. "That's what it's about."

"You're just making weapons-?"

"I'm not just making weapons, they're just the only things you see because they're the only things that require that sort of field testing."

"But to use your own justification-" If I can really call it that. "-a lot of the people who die during your fights with Captain Marvel might well be quite good at their jobs. Their.. social roles."

"But I'm not really part of society anymore, am I? I don't have henchmen, I have robots. I don't trade for things other people make, I use robot miners, farmers, construction units… Anything I want to learn, I learn myself. I don't go out of my way to kill people, but if they die.. then.. they die."

"But-?"

"I didn't think like this to start with. When Venus and I got together, I genuinely hoped… Okay, not hoped. Just 'assumed', really. I assumed that my technology would revolutionise the world. Heh." He looks down at his desk for a moment. "I wasn't like this to start with. But I am now. And I'm not going to change."

"I just wish I'd met you twenty years ago."

He nods again. "Twenty years ago I'd probably have wished the same thing. This… Research thing you've set up? Are you looking for people like me, or are you hoping they'll come to you?"

"We haven't really got that far. At the moment we're just bringing established people together and sharing abilities."

"Then on behalf of my younger self, I'm going to suggest that you reconsider that approach." He brightens slightly. "Oh! And in case you hadn't spotted it, well done for calling Junior 'Thaddeus'. He likes it when people do that, but around here it would just get confusing."

"You picked it."

"Nothing wrong with 'Junior'. I'm certainly not using my middle name around people. I'm a scientist, not a rap musician."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th April
15:04 GMT +3

Donna waves as she sees me across the inner city plaza and jogs in my direction. I think I'll count the Senate agreeing to the presence of a Dolmen Gate here paired with one in the Themysciran Embassy as a minor victory. Saves me from having to ferry people here. Though not much use for Cassandra, it makes travel time for Donna about ten minutes and for Diana about two minutes.

And about twenty minutes for Io or any other Amazon who feels like sticking her toe into Man's World.

Donna comes to a halt in front of me and raises her eyebrows. "So? How was Sivana Day?"

"Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana returned from the far future, pursued by Apocalypse Elves."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I was, once Guy explained how to secure my subspace pocket against subspace pickpockets." I gesture back towards the palace. "Can we?" She nods and we start walking. "Thaddeus Senior persuaded Thaddeus Junior and Georgia to focus their energies on preparing for the next Sheeda Harrowing, so we won't have to worry about super science attacks from that quarter for the foreseeable future."

"And the bad news is that we've got Sheeda Apocalypse Elves to look forward to?"

"Yes, but we probably had those anyway. At least this way we know about it. And the Sivanas are quite good at making weapons."

She nods, then glances at me. "And how'd it go with Beautia?"

A goodbye kiss and we're meeting up again the next time the brain trust gathers. "Is that really why you came here?"

She ducks her head slightly. "Do you..? Did the results come in? Do you know..?"

"Not for certain, but… Probably. And I've also finished the secret mission I was given by Queen Hippolyta."

"Since I don't know what it was about I don't really know what to say about that." We climb up the steps and start towards the main entrance, the guards on duty giving us a nod. "Well?"

"The two are… Related. And I've got this whole monologue planned..?"

She rolls her eyes. "Fine, I can wait for a minute."

We pass into the throne room and begin walking up the central aisle. Queen Hippolyta, Captain Philippus and Diana are seated at the far end, with Acantha and Menalippe hovering close at hand. Menalippe's cat is also hanging around. Odd. Maybe it's too hot outside for her? Conversation falls away as they watch our approach. Once I reach the start of the 'audience area' I place my right fist over my heart and genuflect to the throne.

"My Queen. Thank you for granting me this audience."

Queen Hippolyta leans forwards slightly. "Paul, is there a reason why you are behaving in this way?"

"Yes, it's because I've done something very clever and I'm feeling fairly smug about it and want to wring the maximum enjoyment from the build up." I look up. "Chaos, you know?"

She looks puzzled. "I do not think I see-" I send filaments out of the throne room and down. "-what is chaotic about-" Around the corridors… "-a sense of pride in-?"

Four orange flickers as the Circle appear in front of me. They aren't merely on their knees, they're on all fours, faces pressed against the floor. "My Queen, I-." Alkyone's voice is choked. She hasn't stopped crying since I explained to them what the results I got from Sephtian meant. "We… Humbly beg your pardon for our grievous error in judgement. For our treason and attempted regicide."

Hippolyta's mouth has fallen open. Philippus' hand stills with her sword half-drawn and the guards already have their spears levelled. Acantha has covered her mouth with her right hand while… Diana looks at me with a sort of maternal irritation and gives her head a slight shake. Donna just looks confused.

I stand, my arms snapping out to the side. "Chaos."

Hippolyta stands, half-staggering forwards a pace before recovering herself. "How did you manage this?"

"When you went into Gaea's temple to create the clay figure which became Princess Diana, Alkyone followed you and watched. For reasons I.. still don't fully understand, while you were doing it she saw the Hekatonkheir Cottus standing over you. Now, they'd never seen Cottus in person before, so didn't realise that if he were physically present -even allowing for the spatial distortion at work in the grove- he'd have been visible from the city. And quite possibly the mainland. If you're used to gods and goddesses who look more or less Human, a titanic individual like Cottus is more than a little disturbing to see. That, combined with the fact that you made no mention of him upon your return, led Alkyone to conclude that your mind was being altered in some way. Since no friendly divinity would do that, Cottus' cause must have been hostile, and since it resulted in a child being created she must have been a vector for his malevolence."

"And for that, they tried to murder Diana." Hippolyta shakes her head. "But Cottus wasn't there."

"Diana, would you mind..?"

She frowns, but her mother is already looking at her and nodding. She closes her eyes for a moment, then takes the Lasso of Truth from her belt and places the loop of the lasso in her mother's hand. Hippolyta puts her fingers through and firmly grips the rope.

"I testify that I saw nothing of Cottus on that day, nor have I on any day since."

"And I can combine that with the testimony of Lord Hades, Princess Melinoë, Akhlys, Briareos and Gyges. While none of them can account for his every movement, none of them are aware of him having left Tartarus since the end of the titanomachy. And they all gave him good character references. Diana, may I borrow the Lasso?" She nods, and I link a filament to it and float it over to me. I take hold of the coil with my right hand and lower the loop so that it lies on the floor next to Alkyone's right hand.

It takes a moment, but her eyes glance towards it and then she moves her hand to take a grip on it. "My Queen, I saw Cottus standing with you that day."

I frown. Hmm. That means that her memory hasn't been altered. Or reconstructed in her own mind from ambiguous stimuli, the Lasso burns through that sort of thing.

"I can't explain that." I tug the Lasso back from Alkyone. "If it turns out that it matters, a full analysis of the site might yield more information, but I'll understand if you're not keen. Just to make sure that Alkyone's concern was unfounded I had my colleague Sephtian compare thaumic signatures from a number of individuals. To spare you the technical details, all members of the Greek mythos share certain arcane characteristics and these are more similar if there is some immediate relationship between the individuals compared. Having seen the results I can confirm that Cottus isn't drawing any power from Tartarus, or any source other than himself. His signature is simply too similar to that of his brothers. Diana has both Titanic and Olympian elements, but nothing that is uniquely like that of Cottus. While I would need to fully analyse the Five and Gaea herself to establish the relationship beyond reasonable doubt, on the balance of probability the version of Diana's creation told by Queen Hippolyta is correct."

I turn to Donna. "But Cottus might have created you."

The sudden change of direction appears to catch her off guard. "What?"

"The similarity between your metaphysique and Diana's is very high. Higher even than that of Diana and Euanthe, who were both given life by Gaea. The differences have a strong similarity to Cottus' magic, though there are other components I can't readily identify. I would hypothesise that you were somehow created in a similar fashion to Diana rather than being naturally born, though I'm afraid that more than that I don't know."

Her eyes drop to the floor as she takes that in. "Oh."

I turn back to the throne. "Alkyone has psychological issues relating to children which may have affected her judgement, but that was the trigger. I'm afraid that I can't explain every event… The information just isn't there. On the other hand, I have completed the task that you set me."

There's a flash of blinding light behind me, as if someone set off a flashbang grenade. Construct goggles form over my eyes as I turn around, and as the light dies down a blonde man wearing only a kilt, sandals and a pair of leather bracers stands in the aisle. He smiles at us.

"Perhaps I might explain?"