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

[Mr Zoat]

Undermined

10th June
14:57 GMT -5

Ted leans closer to me as we wait off-stage.

"We're good to go, right?"

I take a moment to look at one of the television screens showing the crowd of people gathered in front of the stage set up outside New York's newest power plant. Quite a lot of people. Journalists and technology correspondents mostly, and a few people who were invited specifically. I gave Boris a lift here at his request, and I think I've got an inkling that a station like this will be on his wish list. Diana's here as well as a show of support for me and my work and Alan arm-twisted an invitation from someone at his old agency. Just about everyone else I know is either at school or at work.

"Ted, the only thing that I can check which you can't is the generators themselves."

"Yeah, I know. Why do you think I'm so worried? Usually before one of these presentations I keep myself busy checking everything but this place is so simple that I've got nothing to do."

"You check everything?"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't you… Own the company?"

"Technically the shareholders do." He sets his jaw to the side as he thinks about it. "Though I have been thinking of buying back an absolute majority. Y'know, given the work we're doing… Just in case some of them turn out to be evil or something."

"Stupid worries me more than evil, but whatever you think best." Naturally, I've bought enough KordTech shares that we command an absolute majority between us. He's right; given the work we're doing, anything less would be foolish. Having Lex Luthor or Edwin Alva or… Some other business villain trying to stick their oar in would be irritating. I haven't told him because I don't want to look like I'm muscling in on his thing. Also… Because -and I don't like to think this- at some point I might need to nudge him out. Or at least into a different role. He really isn't temperamentally inclined to let the people beneath him do their jobs. In a small company, that's great. In a large company… Lex Luthor doesn't spend time in the flipping post room because he worries about falling out of touch.

Agh, and I feel bad about doing it. He's such a nice guy.

"You guys about ready?" Mayor Bloomberg raises his eyebrows slightly as he looks at us. "Because at this point it's kind of late not to be."

Last check… "Everything's ready to go, sir. The system functions as designed."

"I hope you don't mind me not cutting the city off from the nation's power supply just yet, Orange Lantern."

"Oh no, sir. To be honest…" I look at the screens again. "I'm half-expecting a supervillain attack the moment you throw the switch."

This whole thing has actually gone okay, potential supervillain threat notwithstanding. I mean, our project to rewire New York is nothing like complete. The substations are all done, but there are still people with houses covered in lead paint so I'm not exactly surprised that we haven't gotten around to rewiring everyone's homes in the time available to us. But we do have an agreement from the mayor that all future wiring will be made from Jovium and since we're the only source of the stuff that pretty much gives us a monopoly. All in all, I'm feeling pretty upbeat about this whole thing.

"Is there some information you didn't pass on to the New York Police Department?"

Ted looks confused. "How would that help?" Mayor Bloomberg looks mildly affronted. "I mean, Orange Lantern's here and Wonder Woman's in the audience. And there are already police all around."

There were a few protests around the site as Ted's people put it together, mostly amateur physicists who want me to believe they know anything about the Bleed and its potential dangers. Reminds me a bit about the people who went to court to try and stop the Large Hadron Collider being turned on in the belief that it stood a significant chance of creating a black hole. A few were families of people employed in conventional energy generation protesting about the jobs we'll be destroying. I don't feel bad about coal, gas or oil based production, but harming research into other forms of power does rather go against my stated aims.

"No, Mister Mayor. It's just that in my line of work supervillains tend to just… Show up. Um, we're ready when you are."

Mayor Bloomberg huffs. "You realise that I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for supervillains the whole time now?"

I shake my head. "I'm probably just being paranoid, sir." Um. "But just in case." I take a small portable force field generator and hand it to him. "You may want to clip this onto your jacket."

"A-?" He stares at me for a moment, before attaching it to his lapel. "Alright then. I think we're about ready to start."

I nod, and lead the way out onto the stage. No flashes. Ah, to have been alive in the age of flash photography. I still remember the little flash cube thing I used on my first camera. My last camera too, as it happened. Never could be bothered to put them in albums. Think I ended up throwing the lot out.

I stop at the podium emblazoned with the KordTech logo and look out at the crowd, making a point of making eye contact with Alan and Diana. Then I return my gaze to the approximate middle of the crowd. "Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. It's, ah… It's been a little under five months since I announced that I was getting into the power generation business. A little less than that since Mayor Bloomberg was kind enough to allow us to use New York City as the first location to build one of these. And in a minute or so, you'll be able to see the system formally connected to the New York electrical grid."

No supervillains as yet. Promising.

"Now, I've been hearing…" I look theatrically over at where the protestors are standing at the far side of the fence. "One or two complaints at my use of alien technology to… One moment." I pull a copy of the Washington Post out of subspace and make sure the title piece is visible as I rifle through it until I come to the interview. "'Unfairly distort the energy supply market in this country, and reduce the ability of other parties to remain competitive.'" I shrug theatrically, paper in hand. "I'm sorry, I thought we were running businesses in a free market economy here! I didn't realise I was supposed to hobble myself so you can keep doing what you've been doing for the last… Hundred years? Human civilisation is crying out for better sources of energy. I'm not stopping anyone else doing what I've done. But I sure hope I'm stopping people who were planning on sitting on their arses. Ah." I switch my hands to a 'hold on' position. "I'm sorry, American audience. Their asses. Asses."

That gets a small laugh.

"Innovate or… Expect to go out of business. Part of the reason why I got involved in building this place is so that I can light a fire under the energy sector. And every year they don't come up with something that will let them compete, I'll open more. Our order book will be full for the foreseeable future. Get to work. Innovate. You've had decades and the most exciting thing that's happened recently is that you've learned to get oil out of sand." I nod a couple of times. "Very twenty first century. Sand… Really makes me feel space aged."

"We're only going to be providing part of New York's power for the next four months while we assure people that there aren't any problems with the system. After that, we'll be taking over all power supply for the whole city… And maybe a little beyond that. Anyone living in that area can expect to see their bills cut to one tenth, and we'll be investing that profit into charge points for electrical cars. Because it's going to be cheaper to fill up a battery than a petrol…" I frown. "Hang on, I have an app for this." I pull out my phone and press a few buttons. "Gas, yes, because it's a liquid and that makes perfect sense. Electricity will be a lot cheaper than gas."

I think I just saw Boris write something in his notebook.

"I'm not doing this for the money. Not only am I rich already, I don't get paid for this. Not one penny of the profit for this enterprise comes to me. I'm doing this in an attempt to kick start Human technological progress. To make sure that we have a tech-base fit for a twenty-first century space age civilisation. I don't want this to be a.. just-me thing." I bring my hands to my chest. "That defeats the object. I want lots of people to try and do the sorts of thing that I am. Human scientists with the knowledge power companies need in order to keep up with me are out there. So, to my competitors… Go find them."

"And now, to press the big red button and connect us to the New York power grid, please give a warm welcome to Mayor Bloomberg!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th June
16:19 GMT -5

Lois Lane looks at the outer casing of the Bleed Torsion Generator. "I was expecting something bigger. And more sparkly. And… Orange."

"I can go and get some glitter or paint if you think it would make a better visual, Ms Lane."

She gives me half of a small smile before turning to Mister Olsen. "Jimmy?"

The young photographer gives her a helpless shrug. "It's a grey box, Ms Lane. There's only so much I can do to make it look interesting."

"If you don't mind me asking… I was a little surprised that the Planet sent you."

"Oh? And what's wrong with me?"

"You aren't the Planet's technology or economics correspondent. I mean no offence, but wouldn't a-?"

Ted puts his right hand on my left shoulder and smiles at her. "Not that it's a problem. We've got people from plenty of tech magazines to talk to later."

She nods. "It's a reasonable question. The answer is, I got the gig because I'm the Planet's main superhero correspondent and because we've met before."

"I was rather hoping not to see everything I do get pigeonholed as 'super life'. This sort of work has the potential to revolutionise Human civilisation."

"I'll try and take it as seriously as it should be." I nod. "Though while we're on the subject, I didn't see Prince Kon-El in the audience. You had some kind of falling out?"

"No, but he's at school at the moment, and… It wasn't really practical to do this outside of school hours."

She knows from his original 'coming out' interview that he goes to school in the US, though obviously we didn't tell her which one.

"And the rumor that you're dating a former League of Shadows assassin?"

"I asked, she said no. She served the sentence for the crimes she was convicted of, and she's never been convicted of killing anyone."

"Okay then." She waves her tablet in the direction of the Generator. "For someone who isn't a technology correspondent, how does this thing work?"

Ted politely pushes me back a little. "Most forms of electricity generation work using what is basically a boiler. You burn coal, or methane or biomass, and you use the energy given off to heat water and generate high pressure steam. This steam then turns a turbine which converts the energy from the steam into electricity. Now, that's not even a twentieth century technology. A British guy called Sir Charles Parsons came up with the basic design in eighteen eighty four. There've been improvements since, but it's essentially the same device. Even nuclear power does pretty much the same thing, generating steam and funnelling it into a turbine."

"Then you've got renewables. Geothermal power gets its heat from the Earth's mantle, and wind and hydroelectric generators take their kinetic energy directly from their environment. Then you've got-." He grins. "Hey, I always get a kick out of this. Did you know that the photovoltaic effect was first noticed in eighteen thirty nine? A French physicist called Edmond Becquerel wrote a paper on it when he was nineteen. Of course, it wasn't until the nineteen fifties that anyone could make a solar panel that was anywhere near commercially viable."

"Thank you, NASA and the Soviet Space Program."

Ted glances at me, nodding. "Yeah, they needed something to power satellites and spacecraft once they were in space, and batteries just didn't have the life expectancy they were starting to need. Um, anyway…" Ted momentarily has the look of someone who has the chance to explain a subject he loves to someone who volunteered for the lecture, but doesn't want to scare them off and isn't certain where their 'scare point' is. "Okay, what do you know about thermodynamics?"

"Ah…" Ms Lane looks like she's not sure what he's decided her scare point is either. She's probably covered enough super… Stuff over the years that he could go in a little higher than that. "Energy can't be created or destroyed."

"Okay, but why not?"

"That's the First Law of Thermodynamics."

"What, so someone will come and arrest you if you create energy ex nihilo?"

I think he's pushing her. "No, that's just not how the universe works."

"Why not? Wouldn't it be really convenient if we could ignore thermodynamics and create energy wherever we want?"

"I suppose it would. Is that how it works? You're altering a universal law to make electricity?"

"Well… I think this is…" He turns to me. "Paul, you wanna handle this bit?"

I nod. "What I'm about to say is wrong in every particular, but is a… Lie that the greatest physicists in the universe use to have a hope in hell of understanding what's actually going on. The Bleed is the raw chaos from which stable universes emerge. The Bleed.. has no rules… Except when it does. The Bleed is infinite and yet full of finite spaces. Like all others, our universe is in the Bleed and yet held apart from it by the laws which give it definition. These generators-" I wave at the closest with my right hand. "-exist partially outside those laws. And if they're outside the laws, they can just create energy."

"And that doesn't risk causing our universe to collapse back into this… Bleed, right?"

"No, that can't happen. The maths proving it is… Far more complicated than I could understand. In slightly more comprehensible terms, lots of species use this technology. Earth is very much not the centre of the universe. If it were going to happen, it would have happened by now."

"How do they work?"

"Very well. Next question." That gets me a mildly indignant glare. "I don't understand how they work. I have a schematic, I build the object described, they work. That sort of ignorance is why I really hope that someone comes up with something better that they can understand."

"Like who?"

Ted shrugs. "Plenty of superheroes and supervillains come up with their own exotic power supplies. Any one of them could have become titanically rich by selling the technology. I mean, take Doctor Morrow, the guy who built Red Tornado. He built a robot that can make hurricane force winds. That could turn a turbine pretty well. People with the right skill are out there."

"Or Star Man One. He was operating from nineteen thirty seven and could fly into orbit with a stick-" I hold my hands out, palms spread to the length of the Gravity Rod. "-this big."

Ms Lane frowns. "So why didn't someone ask him?"

I do a mini frustration dance, forearms raised, head shaking. "I don't know. I mean, how clever do you have to be to work out that a device that can do that might be worth using to generate electricity?"

Mister Olsen shrugs. "I don't know. How clever do you have to be?"

"If you can build it, if in the nineteen thirties you can build a device that can generate force fields and allow a man to fly, then you should be clever enough. And if you're not clever enough, then at least one of the people in the electricity industry whose job it is to work out how to make electricity cheaply should be able to do it for you. I mean, they'd have destroyed the competition…" I turn away slightly, exhaling and shaking my head.

Ms Lane looks from Ted to me. "Is that going to be your next thing?"

"No, it-." / "We don't-."

Ted and I look at each other.

"One of the aims of this is to spur other companies into action. I have a power ring with a massive xenotechnology database. I know dozens of ways of generating electricity. I'm not aiming to establish a monopoly. If that happened, I'd consider the whole thing a failure."

"So you're leaving options available for other people?" I nod. "You wanna give them any hints?"

"Certainly. With Atlantis back in contact with the rest of the world, magic-based methods would be worth looking into. If that's too much like hard work, using Dolmen Gates to transfer power from a remote generation point to the point of need means that someone could… Stick some giant photovoltaic panels in near-Earth orbit and run a cable through a Gate directly to the ground."

"Dolmen Gates are those things that the Mayor of London wants to use to replace trains."

"And now anyone with ten million dollars burning a hole in their back pocket can buy a pair." She gives me an incredulous look. "We're hoping to bring the price down, but at the moment the production facilities just haven't been built."

Ms Lane nods. "Wouldn't mind doing a story on that."

"Then why don't you just ask me?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th June
19:54 GMT -5

Ugh.

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

I step out of the zeta tube and into the hangar. I don't mind doing interviews, but there were a lot of them today and it did get a bit repetitive. I had thought that I might feel a bit triumphant now, having completed that project. But I don't. It's like I've ticked one item off a very long list and immediately there's another item to get on with.

"Hey Paul. How'd it go?"

I look up from the rock floor as M'gann smiles down at me. She's wearing her uniform and a set of telekinetic amplifiers I created for her based on the designs I found on Lantern Stewart's ring. Since they can't shapeshift with her she's been a little slow to take advantage of them, and like any device that someone's not used to they need a lot of practice time before the user can get the most out of them. The amplifiers take the form of a thin cream band wrapped around the palm and the back of the hand, with tiny glowing purple spots dotted along the outer edge.

"The Bleed Torsion Generators are now providing New York with power. No significant problems were encountered."

Her smile grows. "That's great! Did you-?"

She cuts off as a huge, steam-wreathed wave leaps from the hangar pool and heads straight for us. I raise my hands, rings glowing, but M'gann's already ahead of me. She holds out her hands, her eyes glowing white as the water slams into an invisible barrier and splashes back towards the pool. "Careful!"

Garth's head comes out of the water- "Sorry!" -before ducking back down again.

Aquatic combat was the bread and butter of our Atlantean colleagues' training before they came here, and they haven't used it once while on the team. More than that, what the team really needs from them is their knowledge of thaumaturgy and their training was more focused on learning magics directly applicable to combat. They've pretty much been forced to multiclass during a time in their training in which they are supposed to be learning how to function as part of an Atlantean military unit. Usually there's a separate training track for battlemages and pure arcanists, with the latter not being attached to particular military units.

**Who else is here?**

M'gann turns back, looking pleased that I spoke mind-to-mind rather than by… 'Flapping my meat'. I've been making an effort since our visit to Mars back in April. I actually had to go back and study some of the less effective techniques for dealing with telepaths, since those revolve around misdirection rather than outright blocking them. But, I've got to a point where I'm prepared to engage with her in something like the fashion I used to.

I instinctively raise my barriers before I even think 'less than a month to go'. But at least I drop them immediately afterwards.

**Conner is sparring with Artemis in the training room. Robert and Zatanna are… Um.** She looks at me slightly awkwardly. **Doing something..? Together..?** She trails off and I nod in an attempt to encourage her to continue. Yes, I could just scan the place but passing on information like this is the fur cleaning of modern Human society. That, and our magic users at least are practising scry-deflection so my scan isn't as reliable as it used to be.

**Okay.**

She hesitates a moment before resuming. **Kaldur was sparring with Canis, but they should be heading-**

The lift doors open.

"…utterly pedestrian!" Strain the leash!

Kaldur leads the way out of the lift, wearing his Ocean Master gear and carrying the Trident. "I appreciate your concerns, but my training was primarily in the manipulation of an aquatic environment. Though I am reluctant to admit it, it is possible that I lack what is required to truly master the Trident of Neptune."

Canis follows on behind him. "What sort of talk is that?! I did not master hit and run warfare inside of a few months! It takes time and dedicated application." He shakes his head viciously. "Only a fool would give up an artefact of such power simply because it temporarily defies their mastery!" Nip the alpha's heels!

Kaldur stops and half turns back towards him. He's got good self control, but I've known him long enough to spot when he's forcing himself to maintain his usual level of politeness. "If you have some insight you wish to share, I am willing to listen."

Canis' eyes narrow as he nods. "You are not a God as I am, but your arcane power and the tattoos upon your body allow your metaphysique to act a little like mine. My divine powers are an outward expression of my soul, my passions. When I am moved to create it is as if the universe itself moves with my tools. But… If you asked me to study an.. architectural plan…" He shakes his head. "It would merely be my own intellect that undertook the task."

Kaldur nods. "You think that I should focus less on studying the spells that can be cast using the Trident, and instead redirect my efforts to using it for spells with which I am already accustomed."

Canis scowls. "Noo. Are you incapable of seeing it as anything other than a weapon?"

"I am a soldier. Combat is my occupation. If I cannot use it as a weapon-."

Canis tosses his head. "Only a Lowlie has their purpose assigned to them by their master, existing not at all beyond it. If you are any sort of person worth speaking to, there must be more to you than that! Open your soul to the Trident. Commune with the magics inherent to it, then… Do not fight. Express yourself through it."

Kaldur keeps looking at him as he considers the suggestion. "There… May be wisdom in that." He nods. "How do you suggest that I begin?"

**-this way now.**

I nod. **Nice to see Canis trying to make friends. Anyone else around?**

**I don't think so. I know Robin's out with Batman and Arsenal is helping Squire with learning to use her new power armor.**

I glance at the lift doors. Inexperienced power armour users are a recipe for widespread environmental damage… No. She and Roy are sensible people. I'm sure that they'll take the necessary precautions. Or at least call me if something goes wrong.

**Right, well… I should probably go and do some more work on the runic designs for Diana's armour. Oh, how are you finding-** I flick my right forefinger at her amps. **-the amplifi-?**

Water explodes upwards from the pool, the plumes waving in a Helix around the place where Kaldur is crouching on the water's surface. The water immediately under him isn't frozen… It looks like he's just increased the surface tension to the point where it can support his weight. He leaps sideways, spinning in the air and bringing the Trident around in an arc, making the plumes shift and follow him. His right foot touches the surface and he bounds back into the air, back flipping while bringing the Trident over his head. The water helix inverts, opening an air passage under the water into which he dives head first. The head and base of the trident are connected to the two streams, he's hanging off it as it drags him at high speed down and then across the pool near to the pool's bed before turning upwards again. Water is peeled away from the surface as his air tunnel breaks the surface again and lifts him high into the air above the hangar. The plumes then bend, creating an ice platform just underneath the apex of his leap. He lands lightly and then leans forward, the water protuberances following his lead and allowing the ice platform to slide towards the Bio-Ship's platform.

Canis is staring at him, eyes wide and breathing hard. And he's smiling. "Remarkable." "Stirring!"

Kaldur steps lightly from the ice platform, which then tumbles back into the pool. Following its descent, I notice that Tula and Garth have both surfaced and are staring at Kaldur too.

Kaldur holds the Trident out in front of him, looking it over. "It seems that you were correct. I was too narrow in my focus."

Canis steps towards him, his hands going to Kaldur's shoulders. "I have not seen someone embrace the concept so readily. It took me many years, even with the guidance of Mother Box, before I learned how to exist in such a harmonious fashion. This is no slight achievement! It should be commemorated!"

"If you think that it is appropriate, you may-."

Canis pulls him into a clinch and kisses him passionately on the lips.

Oooh…

Whoops. No one's explained to him…

He breaks his hold a moment later smiling in satisfaction, then turns away, a gobsmacked looking Kaldur staring after him. "You are a most impressive individual, Kaldur'ahm. Perhaps I should grace you with my presence more often."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th June
09:36 GMT -6

I touch the fingers of my right hand to Chester's forehead. Awaken.

He continues staring at me, then turns his eyes upwards to look at my hand. "This gonna take long?"

When Chester decided that he'd quite like to be Awakened, he grew somewhat frustrated by my suggested timeline for actually seeing a practical benefit. Spending time in the mana infuser didn't appeal to him either, not that I'd have been entirely happy with him doing that on company time. He complained about it loudly enough that Miss Shimmer overheard, which leads us to where we are now.

Miss Shimmer's understanding of earthly magic has reached the point where she feels ready to undertake original research. Her suggestion was that I actively feed power from the mana infuser into Chester's soul at the same time as I perform the Awakening. While I wouldn't have been willing to do that during my first few attempts, Father Box has accumulated enough data on Human souls that it thinks that we should be able to do that safely. Miss Shimmer herself wanted a look at the process in action, and all of those factors together led us to where we are today.

There's a slight something in the arcane sigils that Miss Shimmer has surrounding us. A little outside the regulation runic circle there are a number of Atlantean devices whose purpose I don't entirely understand. Miss Shimmer herself is wearing a lab coat and a pair of brass goggles of her own design which she tells me are capable of letting her perceive magic energy directly with her eyes, rather than indirectly and imprecisely via her soul.

I must admit, I'm paying a little more attention to the process myself rather than just acting as a vector for Father Box. I can feel Chester's soul like this. When I Awakened Artemis I could feel her, but I had little understanding of what it was I was feeling. Now… I wouldn't be so bold as to call myself an expert, but I recognise certain… Parts? Flavours in the mix.

"Ploong."

I felt that! There's a definite reaction from Chester's soul as it begins to resist the power flow. I immediately remove my hand-.

"Couldn't you keep going? Something was happening-."

"I'm not going to risk something unfortunate happening to Chester's soul in order to improve your experimental data. Not while he's got work to do, and not unless the experiment is very important."

"So… That's it?" Chester holds up his right hand. "I'm a god now?"

"You're a weak New God. That felt like…" I turn my head towards Miss Shimmer. "Miss Shimmer? I'd have said about an eighth of what I've got."

"Hm." She lifts the goggles off her eyes and walks over to what looks to me like a small stone tablet with decorative stone hoops around the edge. Her eyes unfocus slightly as she points it towards us. "Maybe, but you started at a much lower level than most people. He's only gained about one twentieth as much as you have above the normal baseline for non-practitioners."

Chester shrugs. "Which means what, exactly?"

Miss Shimmer beams. "I have no idea! You're the first Human telekine to have undergone this process!"

"Oh, great."

"So what I need you to do is go into the training room and run through some standardised exercises so I can compare-."

"Errr… No thanks, pet." Miss Shimmer scowls at the back of his head as he returns his attention to me. "You need me fer anythin'?"

"No, Chester. If Mister Talbot has no immediate need of your services, you may consider yourself dismissed for the day."

"Cheers, cock." He puts his hands in his pockets and strolls towards the door. "I'm going to go and do some damage to me liver. If y'need t'get in touch, don't expect much intelligence out of me."

"Remember, somewhere visible but not in the home city of a Justice League member."

He waves his right hand dismissively as the door slides shut.

"Hm." Miss Shimmer is looking at… Some sort of graph? "I suppose it's… Reasonable data."

"Learn anything interesting?"

She looks at me like I've said something stupid. "From a sample size of one? Hardly. Still, I had no idea that an Awakened soul would resist additional power." She stomps her right foot in an adorably horsey gesture. "If only I had a better way of monitoring what was happening!"

"I'm perfectly happy to Awaken you, if you think it would help."

Her eyes widen. "No! That would completely ruin my objectivity. Besides." She slumps slightly. "I don't think I'm compatible."

"I had.. wondered. You've checked?"

She nods. "Getting a Human body didn't give me a Human soul. Deep down where it counts I'm still one hundred percent Pony." She looks down at her instruments for a moment. "Do you remember why I came here? Why I left Equestria, I mean?"

"You fell out with your mentor Princess Celestia over your desire to become an Alicorn."

"Right. Alicorns exist. Before I left I read everything I could about them, and Celestia isn't the only one to ever exist. Which probably means that there's a spell or.. some other way for regular Ponies to become Alicorns. And even if there isn't, I know what Celestia's magic signature looked like. Even if there isn't an existing technique -And there totally is.- I should eventually be able to create one on my own."

"So you need to study soul transformations."

"And-" She exhales sharply. "-just about everything else as well. I'm spending most of my time trying to work out what all of the Equestrian spells I know look like in Atlantean thaumaturgical notation."

"So that you can become an Alicorn even without Celestia's help?"

"No. So I can go home to Equestria and ascend in her stupid judgemental face and show her what happens when she tries to get in the way of me reaching my full potential."

Guess… Tearful reunion is off the agenda, then. "And then what?"

She frowns. "Well, at that point I'd know more about Equestrian magic than anyone except her. I suppose I'd take students of my own, so they didn't have to deal with her non-teaching."

"A word of warning?"

"Does it go 'friendship blah blah friendship blah'?"

I chuckle. "I don't think any Apokoliptian has ever said anything like that."

She rolls her eyes. "Go ahead."

"I would advise you to avoid defining yourself in terms of your opposition to Celestia. Instead, define yourself in terms of you, your traits, your characteristics, your skills and special talent. You're doing this to benefit you, not merely to spite her. She isn't worth getting fixated over."

"Mrpfh." Miss Shimmer doesn't make eye contact, folding her arms across her chest and flicking her hair aside. "She kinda is."

"Look, do you want to be the Alicorn of Magic or the Alicorn of Winding Up Celestia?"

"…" She slumps slightly. "Magic."

"Then there you go." I look around the room. "Can I leave you to clean up in here?"

"That's what G-Prometheans are for. I'm going to the Center for Paranormal Studies for the rest of the day." She looks up, pressing her right forefinger to her right ear. "Doctor Robbins? Could I have a hush tube, please? Thank you." She strides off, disappearing into mid air.

Hm.

No. I've put this off long enough already. Father Box, hush tube.

Ploong.

Doctor Robbins looks around as I walk into the control room. "Oh? Made a decision, then?"

"Yes. Much as it pains me, it seems that the Light are committed to their stupidity. Let's talk about what we're going to do about it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th June
06:28 GMT +5:30

Canis holds the Kobra cultist up with his right hand, fingers wrapped around the struggling woman's neck. She's struggling viciously, kicks striking his arms and chest repeatedly. Canis ignores her efforts. "Kaldur expressed his disinterest.. politely. I understand that some part of my approach was ill-conceived, but cannot fathom exactly what."

I generate a construct barrier between us and the Naga unit running out of the barracks, fire from their Kalashnikovs plinking off harmlessly. "You understand that Hum-. That in Earth-society, interpersonal relationships work somewhat differently to how they do on Apokolips?"

"Naturally." He tosses the cultist away with some force. She strikes a nearby corrugated iron wall and slumps to the ground. "Obviously, the use of physical force as a coercive measure was quite out of the question."

"Yes. … Good."

Beryl appears for a moment, binding the arms and legs of the cultist with zip-ties. Donna drops from the night sky, directly into the middle of the Nagas. Thing about Nagas is that you're never sure whether they've got superpowers or not. Reconnaissance didn't show anything suggesting superpowers and the guns imply not. No, from the way they're reaching for knives and grenades or raising their guns I'm going to assume that these are the unpowered variety.

"I respect his abilities as a warrior and I believe that he respects mine."

"There's a bit more to it than that."

Canis looks thoughtful for a moment. "Is he involved with someone? I am aware that Humans tend to be monogamous, but I have not seen evidence that he has an existing paramour."

"No, I don't think he is." The thing with Dana which I was trying to encourage appears to have.. not happened. Kaldur's mostly focusing on work, but… He seems a bit more cheerful than he used to be, having the other two around. There's still violet, but… Eh.

"I had thought that perhaps he and-." The door to the nearest hut opens and a woman dashes out… Nearly running right into Brut.

"Gwrrrrrrr."

"Ah!" She falls onto her arse and frantically tries to crawl away as he pads forwards, saliva dripping from his mouth. And.. she's.. four months pregnant? I send filaments into the hut… Nursery, right. Brut darts forward, closing his teeth around her right shoulder and lifting her to her feet. She'll have bruises later from that but I know that Brut won't break the skin without his master's instruction.

"Canis, please ask him to stick her back inside and then have him guard the hut."

"Very well." "Guard the den."

Brut snorts, then jerks his muzzle in the direction of the doorway as he releases her. "Rhrw."

"Madam, I strongly suggest that you get inside."

Her eyes dart to me for a moment, then she turns and runs back inside. "Devil dog! Oh Kali, strike it down!"

Ah, Kobra-brand Hinduism. I look around the settlement. Things seem to be dying down a little. I'll ask Tula and Garth to have a look at the particular form of scry wards this lot use. See if they were bodged together locally or they actually had a Bestowed in residence. Trying to track down every Kobra devotee is an exercise in futility, but they'll be a lot more manageable after a thorough decapitating.

"As I was saying before the Lowlie interrupted, I had thought that perhaps he and the other Atlanteans would form a group. But when that did not happen, I concluded that he was available."

"Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"

He looks around as Artemis runs forwards into the centre of the camp, then shrugs. "The short, for now."

"Most Humans tend only to be sexually interested in the other gender."

"Oh." He frowns deeply. "Really?"

"There are a lot of social factors affecting it… But basically yes."

"So his rejection stems not from his relationship with me, but from the fact that I am male?"

"The fact that he's not interested in men doesn't necessarily mean that if he were he'd definitely be interested-."

Artemis glances back, arrow on string. "What're you two talking about?"

"I am in search of relationship advice."

Artemis boggles. "And you're asking him?"

"He knows more of Apokoliptian culture than the rest of you. And he is involved with Zatanna. It seems reasonable to me."

"He isn't-." She turns to me. "You're still not, right?"

"No. Um, yes. Not."

A small growl escapes his lips, causing Brut to turn an eye his way. "Humans are strange and annoying. Are we finished here?"

I float upwards, over the huts. "Looks like. I'll do a full scan, then we can call in the Indian arm-."

A hut over to my right is torn in half as a hulking figure explodes from within! Donna looks up from the last of the Naga just in time to interpose her bracers as his right fist slams down on her. Still she's driven back, a grimace on her face as the ground beneath her feet buckles.

Quick as-. Nearly as quick as a Flash, Artemis looses a hard foam arrow at the… That looks like Venom Buster. At the Venom Buster enhancile's head. It strikes true, the payload swiftly enveloping his head. In a predictable response his hands go to his face and push as much of the gunk as he can along his cheeks. Usually that only works to cover the target's hands as well, but his large size makes it just about viable as a recovery technique. If Artemis hadn't fired twice more since then.

"RAAAAAAGH!" Both legs and most of his torso are enveloped, and the stuff coating his arms is hardening up nicely.

Donna glances at Artemis- "Thanks!" -before pulling back her right fist.

"Troia! Lasso. Squire, check that-" Squire reappears in the hut he broke out of. "-hut."

Artemis puts another hard foam arrow on her string as Donna unwinds her lasso. With Donna's divine origin established beyond reasonable doubt, Hippolyta opened the reliquary in order to give her a weapon equal to Diana's. The Lasso of Persuasion is a good deal less invasive than Branding or Assimilation, and harder to evade than telepathy. If the user has the strength of will to make it work.

Donna throws the hoop over his head and pulls it tight. "Speak openly and honestly. Where is everyone?"

His face twitches slightly. "All of those who remain loyal to Kobra are still here!"

"And everyone else?"

"Bah! Those worthless criminals who follow the False Kobra fled in the night of his overthrow. And those traitors who now follow the Cult of Savitr left here months ago. These are nearly all of the forces I have left. We aren't strong enough to do more than minor robberies any more."

Guess not everyone was on board with Lady Eve throwing Jeffrey Burr aside. Never heard of the Cult of Savitr, but I'll pass that on to our contact in the Indian army.

"Where did you get the Venom Buster?"

"Brothers and sisters who work in South America. We have a network for transporting goods. I don't know everyone involved."

Artemis and I grin as Donna nods. "You will tell me the names of the people you do know."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th June
09:11 GMT -6

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot around here, sir?"

Ms Thal's mouth tightens slightly. "This is only the second time."

Opposite us, her robotic doppelganger crouches slightly, sword and shield at the ready.

"If whoever's controlling the robot is listening, the US military would love to buy your technology! You have absolutely no need to support yourself by theft!"

"Has that ever worked?"

"First time for everything, sir."

Today's field exercise involves each member of the team being paired with a member of the Justice League whom they don't normally work with. Beryl's squiring for Superman, Kon's prowling the mean and probably under-levelled streets of Star City, Zatanna's enchanting Central City and I'm down here in St Roch with the Hawks.

And someone's made a Hawkwoman robot.

"Tactical assessment?"

Scan. Ugh, surprise surprise. Sonic, infrared and radar? That's a little more helpful. "Single mechanical opponent of unknown strength, toughness, speed and skill level. Bystanders are already absenting themselves and she doesn't seem interested in taking hostages."

"'She', huh?"

"Unless there's something you want to tell me, sir. I can't detect any others and I don't detect any attacks on local financial institutions, indicating..? Pride attack? Personal vendetta?"

"I'm not seeing any Nth Metal. That's just a shield and sword."

Ms Thal's helmet isn't just for looking ridiculous. Though it does do that rather nicely. There are some pretty sophisticated sensors in there. That said… "Your sensors wouldn't detect the x-ionisation process reliably."

"Fine then. No energy barrier or phasic component. No exotic radiation." She lifts her mace. "This shouldn't take long."

"Sir, what exactly has it done?"

"Brandishing a weapon in a pub-." She spots me looking at her mace. "I have a licence."

"Yes sir, but-. Sorry, one moment." I turn back to the robot. "Excuse me ma'am, are you an artificial intelligence?"

There's a slight change in the direction of her head.

"I ask, because you may be unaware that recent changes in American law have granted AIs full citizenship, with all of the rights and responsibilities that entails." I hold out my hands, palms forward. "If you're under some sort of compulsion, we can-" I take a step towards her. "-modify-."

She lunges forwards. "Hhaaaah!"

My eyes widen and I transition a short distance aside to evade the swing of her sword. Okay, evading her should be simple enough. Then I can get a better idea of the technology being used and start working out who could have made it and where-.

"HhhhhhhhhAYAH!"

Ms Thal on the other hand opts to mirror the robot, pushing off thin air with a flap of her wings and pulling back her mace.

W-? "Sir-!"

The robot started turning back towards her as soon as I got out of its line of sight. As soon as it sees her coming on it accelerates again… Some sort of gravitic booster on the back or built into the feathers? The two of them crash together, mace discharging its fury against the robot's shield and sword slicing at Ms Thal's wing guard. The sword sends sparks flying as it slides along the surface and the shockwave generated from the shield's force field reflecting the power of the mace-strike sends dust and debris blasting away from the impact.

Then their bodies come together and it's Ms Thal who gets knocked back. The robot wasn't moving significantly faster than her so it must have more mass. Ms Thal twists her mace, using the butt to lever the shield out of the way even as her back slams into the road.

Then the chains from my crane construct wrap themselves around the robot and haul her off my supervisor and into the air. Ms Thal instinctively swings her mace at the robot as she's pulled away, narrowly missing. "Kkkkkkrah!"

"Sir, if you don't use actual words my translator-."

She rises, mace constantly at the ready and eyes fixed upon the struggling robot. "I'm not seeing any signs of sophisticated intelligence."

"No, and empathic vision isn't showing anything. And that looked like attempted murder to me. Permission to dismantle?"

"Do you let Wonder Woman have any fun?"

"Sir?"

She lowers her mace slightly. "Yes, fine, dismantle it."

"Thank you, sir." Ring, visual inspection. Looks for a seam, weld or panel which could be re-.

The robot's wings glow brilliant blue white, burning away my construct hoist and spitting… Something through the air at us. Ms Thal dives aside and I fortify my construct armour. Construct… Takes the hit, getting moderately damaged. Blue fire now burns in the robot's eyes, on its sword and its wings have become apparently solid sheets of flame. No, that's plasma. How..? Is it..? I mean, there's no way it's making that with gas from its environment, and its internal volume isn't anything like great enough-.

It flicks its left wing, sending a sheet of highly energetic plasma in my direction. I generate a construct tower shield to hide behind and send a wide orange beam down into the road surface beneath me. My usual filaments really aren't going to cut it under these conditions. My shield is getting abraded, so I create a second behind it and then let it collapse.

Ms Thal zooms past her doppelganger, mace swinging through the robot's left wing. The flames buckle and flare outwards from the point of impact, causing the robot to fall to the ground in a semi-controlled tumble. The attack on me suddenly drops in intensity and I take advantage, sending a blade-construct up through the asphalt beneath her and into her torso. She jerks back, a slash from her blazing sword destroying the construct, but I can see the cut in her abdomen where my blade entered. Okay, that works.

I'm a little nervous about using a railgun inside a city, but I suppose it can't be helped. I move my railgun construct so that it's poking out around the shield construct, load a crumbler round and then-.

Ms Thal swoops down on the robot's back like a…

…

Like a hawk. Fine, I thought it. Her mace strikes the top of the robot's head, the metal of the cranium noticeably compressing under the assault. The robot staggers forwards, trying to remain upright. Too close for another mace swing, Ms Thal hooks her left foot around the robot's left ankle and flaps backwards. This results in her disengaging as well as causing the robot to fall face first into the increasingly molten ground.

Target centre of mass, fire.

My railgun hums as the crumbler round is launched, covering the intervening space in a fraction of a second and striking dead on target. The left wing joint, left shoulder and a chunk of the left torso cease to be, the rest of the wing fading back into metal as it loses contact with the main body.

Ms Thal immediately lunges at the opening, bringing her mace down for a final time on the left side of the torso. The robot's body cracks and shatters, legs going one way and the upper torso going the other as shrapnel from the outer casing and bits and pieces from the internal systems spray across the street. Ms Thal studies each part for a moment, presumably looking for anything that's still active or a self destruct device. Ring, see if you can scan-.

She crouches, picking up the robot's sword. "Think this would make a good battle trophy?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th June
09:43 GMT -6

"Peacock!" Ms Thal throws open the double doors leading to their St Roch residence. "We have returned from battle!"

I follow on behind her, the remains of the robot floating in an orange aura. The location of the Hawks' residence in St Roch is known to the general public -pretty much unavoidable when you fly in and out of it- so Ms Thal didn't bother with any sort of subterfuge on our journey back. I think she rather likes the attention we got.

Mister Hol looks up from his workstation, the holographic display in front of him playing a recording of our fight. Looks like it's from Ms Thal's point of view. He's wearing his basic uniform, but without the armoured plates or helmet. "Yes, I saw." He peers slightly to the side, getting a better look at it. "Thank you for bringing it back more intact than normal."

Ms Thal stops just in front of him and waves her new sword back and forth. "Where do we have room for this?"

"Oh, just put it on the bench there. I'll get to it in a little while." He gestures to the side with his right hand, indicating a work station as he gets up for a closer look at what's left of the robot. "I'm more interested in the robot's flight system. Powered flight of that sort on a planet like Earth could-."

"Hey!" Ms Thal shoves him lightly with her left hand to get his attention. "This is a battle trophy. I'm not letting you dissect it, I'm putting it on display."

"You still need to put it on the bench. I'll need to check that it isn't booby trapped before you hang it on our wall."

She stares him directly in the eyes. "There better not be a single scratch on this."

He nods, turning fully to face her with his wings slightly extended. "I'll try to stick to non-invasive methods, Magpie."

"See that you do." She leans into him, reaching up to put her hands behind his head and pull it down to a more kissable-.

I turn around, looking for a sensible place to put the robot. Ah, that's a… Holographic imaging tank. Okay. I run one last radiation scan over the head part. No electrical activity, no concentrations of heat, no alpha, beta or gamma radiation and… I take my rune stone out one of my armour's pockets and hold it close to the surface. A slight reaction, but it doesn't look like there are any aggressive enchantments running on it. That done, I deposit it at the far end of the tank and then repeat the process on the lower part before going back to trying to make sense of the smaller parts. I didn't get a great recording of where they came from and a lot of them were damaged by the impact and the heat. I think these.. sort of.. purple plasticy bits came from here-.

"Oh, don't bother putting them in there." I look around as Mister Hol lifts his face away from his wife. "The holotank's only worth using for large pieces. I can look at the shrapnel later if I need to."

"Right you are, sir. Ah." I look at the next table over. "Is there alright?"

"Certainly. Just grab a container first."

Container, contain-ah. I pick up a small plastic tub and deposit the shrapnel into it before putting it on the table. "Anything else, sir?" I look around to see Ms Thal leaving through a door in the far side of the room.

Mister Hol has already moved up to the control systems on the holotank. "No, you're dismissed. Showers are through those doors and on the right."

I… Don't know anything about Thanagarian attitudes to nudity, but-.

"Shayera will be using the one in our room."

"Oh. Right, yes. But I wasn't planning to have a shower, sir."

"No?" He glances up. "Even in a short fight, you can work up quite a sweat. Particularly in fully enclosed power armour. I suppose it's not a problem for me as long as you keep the armour on, but you may find that other people don't look on it too kindly."

"A benefit of environmental shields, sir." I return my armour to subspace. "I'm fresh as a daisy underneath."

"Convenient." He presses a few buttons and the scanners on the holotank go to work. Nothing I can't replicate with the ring, but the drawback to having as much data as I do is that there's too much stuff. Mister Hol has his workshop to look for things that are likely to be there. Plus, it doesn't take ring charge. "Something like that would certainly make life aboard Thanagarian navy ships a good deal more comfortable."

"I'm sorry to say, sir, that the shield is part of the whole thing. Force field based personal cleaning units have a… Patchy history."

"I know. The last time Thanagar tried to implement one it took a layer of skin off the user one time in three. Green Lantern was talking to me about America's space program, and I found it a little depressing that we still use essentially the same system."

"There are forms of techno-organic armour that deal with the problem rather well, sir… But you might not like who you have to deal with to get it."

"Do you intend to keep calling me 'sir'?"

"Sir?"

"I don't hold any particular rank in the Justice League and I'm not a member of the Thanagarian police force any longer. You aren't required to address me as 'sir'."

"Very well, sir. What would you like me to call you?"

He looks up again, a smirk on his lips. "I thought the local form of address was 'Hawkman'."

I exhale, bowing my head. "Yes sir, but to be frank I've always-."

He frowns. "To be what?"

"Frank. Er, open and honest? Oh! You're getting a-" I wave my right hand back and forth between us. "-translation. It usually manages a best match for non-literal turns of phrase."

"Hah. Have you any idea how duplicitous it sounds to need to specify that you're being honest this time? Why would anyone believe you?"

"I suppose… Sometimes people talk about a subject obliquely? Or hold things back?"

"I only speak two Thanagarian languages, but I don't think that either of them has a phrase like that."

"Is that a… Thanagar thing, or do the Lizarkon languages have the same feature?"

"I don't know." He presses a button and a cutaway image of the robot appears. "You'd have to ask one of them. Hm."

"Something interesting, sir?"

"The basic structure is quite a lot like the robotic duplicate of Shayera that was built last year by-."

"Johnny Law, sir. I contacted the prison where he's being held, and they confirmed that he's still there."

"Good work. Similar basic structural layout… But the controlled plasma reaction is nothing like anything I've seen on Earth before. The gravitic slingshot could have come from Earth, but only from a handful of places." He presses other buttons, magnifying particular systems. "To get the effect you observed when the robot moved or attacked, the plasma would have to be expelled at extremely high pressure. But that's not consistent with the comparative lack of damage to the surrounding environment."

"Some sort of exotic containment system, sir?"

"Probably." He nods to himself. "You're.. going.. to keep calling me that, aren't you?"

"I was planning to. But if you'd prefer 'Peacock'-?"

"'Sir' is fine. Now,-" He leans forwards. "-let's take a closer look at this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th June
10:14 GMT -6

"Which brings the list of possible supplier-species down to seventeen." Mister Hol takes a moment to review the images. "Assuming that it's a government-approved action. Any progress with those runes?"

Without an obvious reactor or battery, all that power had to be coming from somewhere. That 'somewhere' appears to be three circles of rune-covered metal, with more plates of a similar design in other places throughout the robot's body. My rune stone glows a little more brightly when I bring it closer, though as far as I can tell the system is now 'dead'.

"It's not Atlantean or Nordic." I sigh. "But yes, I've got a match. Remember the demonic incursion in Fawcett City?"

"I'm unlikely to forget."

"I've only matched two runes to what I saw there, and the quality of the design here is much higher. But the general composition matches runes I saw at the Beelzebub and Belial sacrifice sites, as well as on the tower."

"Demon magic? That's a little surprising. Justice League files say that Demons are virtually incapable of doing anything creative."

"I wrote that file, sir. And while it's true to the best of my knowledge, I'm willing to accept that there are things outside of my knowledge. I also don't have the full measure of what Demons consider to be old hat, or what they know instinctively."

"A fully functional robot would be a significant departure."

"I'm not exactly chuffed that my challenge to energy providers was taken up by Hell, sir. Still, Demons aren't the only ones who use magic drawn from Hell."

"Cultists? Magic users who should really have known better?"

"Honestly, my first guess would be an Atlantean. This is… Really sophisticated. The design, the way it's made… It's very strange for a surface world magic user to know how to do this, or think in this sort of way."

"And Atlanteans do?"

"They do now, thanks to Sephtian and I."

"Arthur said that your projects have been quite a revolution. But from how he described it, it sounded like only a few people were fully in the know."

"Yes. But… That doesn't necessarily mean that someone directly tied to my project was involved with making this robot. Sephtian has been telling everyone at least the broad strokes of how he does what he does. He's… Very good at arcane smithing, but there are others who are just as good and it's entirely possible that they could have done some… Parallel inventing. Then you've got the people supplying Atlantis with computer equipment, they'll have at least seen some designs."

"Hn. Doesn't narrow it down as much as I'd hoped."

"It isn't by eliminating the impossible that you get at the truth, however improbable; it is by the much harder process of eliminating the possibilities."

He nods. "Batman?"

"My favourite author, Terry Pratchett. One of his leading characters is the Commander of the City Watch in a… Fantasy city that actually functions like a city. He had a bit of a thing about Sherlock Holmes types when his experience of the job said that half the time it was luck."

"Hah! It's not quite that bad." He sighs. "Do you have any way of working out whether the magic elements of the design are doing anything other than powering the robot?"

"Yes, but it's called 'phone a friend'. I only know enough about Demon magic to say 'yes, that's Demon magic'. Or summon something I really shouldn't, but that's actually worryingly easy."

"I can't think of any species who have access to this technology and Demon magic other than Humans."

"And Thanagarians."

"Wh-?" He nods. "Thanagarians could get a hold of this technology, but we don't use magic. Certainly not to the extent that Humans do. If you meant that someone might have learned something from Shayera or I, we don't send home any information that detailed."

"Actually, I was thinking about Syn, sir."

He frowns, shaking his head. "I'm… Not sure I follow."

"I may be mispronouncing it. Some sort of Thanagarian Demon? Inhabited a body made of Nth metal?"

His frown deepens. "I… Are you talking about Onimar Synn?"

"Maybe? The Guardians don't bother adding information about mythology to the rings of people who shouldn't even be in the Sector it refers to. I'm operating on incomplete information."

"I suppose… It's possible. Before I came to Earth I assumed that he was either just a myth or… Some sort of alien whose presence survived only in myth. No one on Thanagar worships the Seven Devils. That would be like… Worshipping the Wicked Queen from Sleeping Beauty."

"Not even people who've heard of Earth and know that Demons can be real?"

His face hardens slightly. "I have to admit, it's possible. And I'm going to have to get in touch with my former commanding officer and make sure that the need-to-know on Earth is as small as it can be. But we've got sensors here capable of detecting significant concentrations of Nth metal and Nth metal is used in all Thanagarian starships. Our faster than light drives literally won't work without it. No Thanagarian ships other than ours have come to Earth while we've been here."

I nod. "So we're left relying on pure luck?"

"No." He uses some sort of tongs to move some of the Demon magic circles into a heavy duty container. "I'll get this to Doctor Fate. You take what's left to your consultants, and we'll see if we can learn anything." He closes down the hologram before turning to me. "The Demons who sponsored Sabbac. Didn't you report that Satanus managed to escape?"

"If the Demon Constantine is to be believed, he may have set up the whole thing to get rid of the competition. Or have planned it with that potential outcome in mind."

"Do you know anyone who knows anything about him?"

"Most Demons would know something about him. The only one who'd be worth putting effort into locating would be his sister, Blaze. And the only thing I know about her is that she's red. In her default form. And she can almost certainly change it." I shrug. "I can ask when I speak to John, but I'm planning on heading to Poseidonis first because Sephtian is the most likely person to be able to work out what this is supposed to do."

"I didn't think that Atlanteans used Demon magic."

"It's a death penalty offence unless carried out under a royal warrant, though knowing about it isn't a crime. Sephtian has access to everything and has a warrant. And a secure arcane laboratory with lots of safety precautions."

Mister Hol nods. "I'll forward our initial findings to Batman and then contact Doctor Fate. Then I'll ask local police to put out an appeal for information. I doubt that a flying robot-" There's a 'bang' as something hits the outside of the wall behind us, prompting us both to turn around. "-could have got-" Another bang and he's reaching for his mace. "-inside the city with no one seeing it."

Two sections of the wall bulge and then liquefy, partially dissolved brick and metal collapsing as a demonic Caterpillar throws itself through and into the workshop. A more human figure with a burning pentagram on his chest strides through after it.

"Harm believes he now has Its attention."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th June
10:18 GMT -6

A dragon talon construct grabs the front end of the caterpillar and shoves, bending its segmented body into a 'U' as it vomits. The blob of green slime slams into another section of wall and begins dissolving it.

"Harm?"

The man smiles. There are three red tattoos over the left side of his face, designed to look like a bleeding slash from some animal's claws. "Harm is pleased that It knows who Harm is."

"It's a funny name for a Caterpillar, but who am I-" The Caterpillar bucks and writhes, but my construct's grip remains strong. "-to judge?" Strange creature looking like a large Caterpillar and spitting solvent? Ring, anything in the database?

No good match found.

Probably demonic. It was a bit much to hope that Devil Jizz was just going to go away. I have a filament pick up my rune stone and float it over.

"Harm believes that It misunderstands. Harm is-."

"William Hayes. The chap who stole the Sword of Beowulf and got beaten by Artemis in under a minute. How are the ribs? And the shoulder?" The rune stone glows. "I seem to remember that they were horribly crushed."

Mister Hol is staring directly at Mister Hayes. "Orange Lantern, can you handle this man?"

"Him and… About fifteen copies of him. Why?"

"My home has numerous security devices. They have not activated. And Shayera does not usually take this long in the shower."

Mister Hayes smiles. "Harm has used his time wisely and learned a lesson on the subject of teamwork."

"It's fine, sir. I've got this."

Mister Hol backs away, mace at the ready until he reaches the door and leaves the room. Right then. See if I can get some useful information out of this idiot.

"So… Burning pentagram. I guess that makes you Sabbac Three. Congratulations on keeping your appearance Human."

"Harm is not concerned with Its opinion of Harm's appearance."

"Really? Because if you weren't a psychopathic murderer and… Maybe lost the tattoos..?" And I'm not even joking. He's a… Nice looking chap. And… Confident in his physical presence.

Kind of like if… Jade was male…

I take a half-second to check my Spell Eater.

"Harm understands that his masculine beauty can be somewhat overwhelming, but Harm does not dally with prey."

"Yeah, it probably wouldn't work. So. What are you and the Caterpillar here for?" He opens his mouth to respond. "Oh and… Thanks for clearing up who was behind the Devil Jizz." I shake my head. "I honestly hadn't worked that out. Satanus. Should have… Realised."

He sneers. "Harm does not use simple narcotics. Harm has found a purer method for channelling the power of evil."

"That's kind of impressive, actually. Usually it takes years to learn magic well enough to cast anything worthwhile."

"Harm is nothing if not dedicated." The Caterpillar wiggles its legs in his direction, drawing his attention. His eyes narrow slightly. "Some of Harm's followers are less dedicated. This is not something which Harm is prepared to tolerate."

What does-? My armour appears around me from subspace, construct armour appearing around both me and the Caterpillar. Just a little too slowly. Harm's right hand blurs and a huge gash appears in the Caterpillar's torso, corrosive Demon goop pouring out. Right, Sabbac, speedster.

Accelerated Perception.

I have no way to heal the Caterpillar in its current form. To repair it I'd need to return it to Human form. Sadly, the only anti-magic weapons I have on me at the moment are Mageslayer railgun rounds. I manifest ten from subspace on the inside of the construct armour that has just formed around most of its body and shove them inward. It begins deflating almost immediately.

Mister Hayes has already thrown a blob of goop at me. Assuming that the goop is as solventy as the vomit- Yes, the construct armour I put over the Caterpillar's injury has been dissolved. -then it will pierce my construct armour and probably my power armour with little difficulty.

Railgun, load Mageslayers.

A thick lead sheet appears out of subspace directly in front of my face a relative second before the blob hits, bubbling and dripping as the demonic gunk gets to work. A ring scan of my surroundings shows Mister Hayes picking up and flinging goop, what's left of his gloves burning and his hands smouldering. I transition left, towards the demonically enchanted pieces of metal still on the table. Goop sails past and strikes various pieces of equipment across the room as I send my research materials into subspace.

The Caterpillar has shrivelled significantly. It doesn't look Human yet, but- Mister Hayes tries to stick his right hand into its wound, then jerks his hand back with a scowl. -it looks like he can't get any more goop. What he's already thrown is busy eating through things and in doing so becoming neutralised. Mister Hayes glares at me, opens his mouth and exhales a cone of black/red fire. I transition right to avoid it, firing my railgun construct at his centre of mass.

The former Caterpillar has now shrunk to little over normal Human size and the construct armour has shrunk along with… Her, as it turns out. With no more acid goop coming from the wound in her left side the armour now encompasses the whole of her body. Mister Hayes grabs it and swings it to intercept the Mageslayer round. At the comparatively low power I'm firing the construct armour I created is easily capable of absorbing the shot and isn't vulnerable to the magic nullification effect.

Of course, if I don't hit the brain…

I dial up the power and fire again, once more aiming for his centre of mass. He moves the Jizzer to block, putting her upper right torso in the path of the shot with a cruel grin.

I drop the construct armour front and back.

The material the Mageslayer is made of doesn't penetrate armour particularly well. Sure, with sufficient velocity all things become possible, but the spells bound to it won't last. But in this case all that intervenes is weak Human flesh and bone, not even enough magic left to trigger the spell. Her body jerks and in my accelerated state I can see the shockwave pass through her body and the burst as flesh and bone fragments explode from her back.

Mister Hayes takes the rest of the shot directly in the centre of his chest, flying backwards with the pentagram on his chest flickering. I transition forwards, firing at his centre of mass again while I frantically try and knit back together the flesh of his Jizzer companion. Brain is… In less than stellar condition. Drug use, by the looks of things. Blood loss and shockwave damage aren't healthy but as I thought they are manageable.

The second shot strikes Mister Hayes directly on the pentagram, slamming him into the floor and leaving a crater. The pentagram is almost extinguished at this point and the Jizzer's body is knitting back together nicely. Manacle constructs flow around his body, orange light battering at whatever remains of his Asmodeus-granted exotic attack resistance. Hm. Based on what the First did, the spells on him should maintain a constant link to the caster.

Rings… Assimilate the spell.

Unable to comply. Energy not compatible.

I summon three Praexis Demons and desire them to swim along the bonds of arcane energy-.

The pentagram fizzles out.

Something is happening with Mister Hayes, but he's not-. I'm still accelerated. I drop back to normal speed. He's shuddering, gasping and choking. Can't see anything physically wrong-.

There aren't any colours. He isn't feeling anything. His brain… Looks like it's ticking over, but his connection to the emotional spectrum is gone.

Whatever spell turned him into Sabbac… It tore out his soul as well.

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th June
10:21 GMT -6

The Hawks don't keep their medical equipment in their workshop, not the sorts of things I'll need anyway. Ring, remaining power?

One hundred eighty three percent remaining.

Right then. First step with the new Hollow Man is to keep his body alive while it tries to shut down. I hold out my right hand slightly and fabricate a heart rate stabiliser. This useful little gizmo sticks on the chest above the heart and maintains a constant heart rate. Quick scan of his body… No narcotics, though it looks like he's been injecting steroids. Next, I fabricate a… I call it a cortical stimulator, though that isn't its proper name. Just the thing to keep his brain ticking over. Hollow people aren't well understood even in Atlantis, but that covers what I need to keep his body functioning so that there's somewhere for his soul to go back to.

Assuming that it's all in one piece, and not shredded by whatever unholy magic he used to become Sabbac.

Then I take a set of titanium manacles out of subspace and bind him ankle, wrist and neck. Next come the magic suppression chains and spell eater. That should stop anyone funnelling power back into him. I don't… Think that he could be remotely reactivated with no soul, but it isn't beyond the realms of possibility.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhgh."

I turn around as the Jizzer moans. She's not in anything like fighting shape… I listen for sounds of a struggle coming from the rest of the house. Nothing. I'm going to assume that the lack of sound, smoke and broken walls means that if there was anything that they've got it under control. That gives me the time to finish up with these two.

Ring, message to John. 'Got another man without a soul. Feel like making magic history? Also, less urgent, need to consult on thaumaturgical matters.'

Message sent.

Thank you.

Getting a message to Sephtian is less easy. There's a Dolmen Gate between the now expanded Atlantean embassy in New York and Poseidonis and Sephtian has modern computer equipment, but there isn't the sort of communication network in Atlantis that there is up here.

A set of conventional hand and leg cuffs emerge from subspace and attach themselves to her. As an afterthought, I also take out a set of overalls and put them on her. I don't know what she was wearing before she got jizzed up, but whatever it was it didn't survive her transition to Caterpillarhood.

Five Praexis Demons appear from the rings, three taking up station above the prisoners and the other two floating over to the holes in the wall. Nothing on scans, sonic or infrared, or empathic vision. Right. The situation here is as stabilised as I can make it without leaving. I need to check on the Hawks first.

"…"

The heck?

"…"

I felt my mouth move and my throat move but no sound came out. Mister Hayes was talking fine a minute ago…

No sound.

I transition backwards to the door into the rest of the house, turning to face it as I do so. I hesitate at the door… Oh, the workshop will need to be rebuilt anyway. I accelerate to a jog, barging into the door in full power armour and smashing it, the casing and a chunk of the surrounding wall aside.

It lands silently on the floor.

Some sort of small demonic creature throws itself at me immediately, dark slashing claws darting towards my armour's neck. It looks a bit like a cross between a Monkey and a Praying Mantis and is about forty centimetres tall. I hit it with a bolt of orange energy and it falls back, outer carapace smoking. No screech, no thump. I stamp my right foot. I feel the vibration but hear no sound.

Clever.

I look down at the fallen imp-thing, and-. My vision goes blank and a rumbling-clicking sound enters my ears.

"Orange Lantern to Hawkman."

"Hawkman here. We're under attack by some kind of Demon." I send out a pulse of orange light, an image of my environment appearing in my head. "It can block senses."

"I'm being blinded now."

"Do you need assistance?"

"No, I'm just having the ring put a map in my head. You?"

"Thanagarians have excellent hearing as well as vision. I only saw the primary Demon briefly, but there are smaller ones everywhere."

The little one that attacked me isn't there any longer. Evaporated or fled? No idea.

"Hawkwoman?"

"I'm here. Does your ring have data on Thanagarian physiology?"

"Of course. Are you injur-?"

My construct-armour buckles as something slashes it. Not breached, but… Where is the fucking thing? I manifest orange construct-blades around me and slash them in all directions. I don't… Feel any impacts. Still can't see it. Okay. I take my rune stone out of my equipment pouch and… Ah, no light. But there is a slight increase in heat when it detects something.

"Orange Lantern?"

"Still here. Something I couldn't see just hit my construct armour." I take a small biological specimen out of subspace and transition it a short distance in front of me. It reappears without any difficulty. Worth knowing. "Are you injured?"

"A few light wounds. Nothing critical, but I hate being injured in combat."

"I have good enough data to heal you as long as your central nervous system wasn't the part that was damaged. That would be trickier." I take a few steps into the large central area of the house. It's a bit too broad to be called a hallway, but its main purpose appears to be to connect other places to each other. "Can you tell me anything about the little ones?"

"Fast, aggressive and they don't stay down."

My construct armour registers another hit, this time on my upper right arm. Another swing with a construct blade. Nothing.

"Where are you, sirs?"

"Main hangar."

The world reappears around me. Have I got sou-? Wha! Ring, stabilise armour.

Compliance.

Sound and sight, but touch is gone. I'm still in my armour, but I can't feel anything. My Spell Eater doesn't appear to be activating… That's some pretty sophisticated magic, affecting the world in a particular area without directly touching the physical. It's okay, the ring can just take direct control of my legs and keep me going. The hangar is through the aerial combat training area and down one level. Perfectly navigable. Feels… Well, it doesn't feel anything. How is it that I can still see if I'm numb? Ring, can you fake kinetic input?

Attempting. … Attempt ineffectual.

The construct armour on my back registers another hit and I transition backwards before swinging my blades around again. This time the Demon-thing is sliced through in six places, starting to evaporate even as it falls to the ground. Bit better. Armour, pick up the pace.

Compliance.

Three steps and the room goes dark again. The ring restores armour control to me automatically and I jog towards the next door highlighted in my head.