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

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
02:46 GMT +3

I walk across the bare earth surrounding Lalibela's famous cut-rock churches. At this hour just about everyone is asleep, but I tread lightly past pilgrims slumbering with their packs for pillows. I should-. Well. Maybe it isn't as important as it was before we killed Nabu, but I wonder if Zatanna would be interested in coming here? I'm not sure exactly what Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity thinks of magic, but there isn't any bar on female visitors. I'm sure that she'd get more out of it than I would.

Maybe she'd like seeing St Mary's as well? I've mostly tried to avoid the place where Westham isn't, but St Mary's still exists and it's nearly a thousand years old. I'll ask. I could understand her having an interest in the history of Christianity, and St Mary's has still just about spent longer as a Catholic church than as a Anglican church. But the point is, I've got no idea why the man I'm here to visit is anywhere near here. He certainly isn't Christian. Ah, not unless the information John gave me is really out of date. I mean, there's no reason why he couldn't have converted. It just strikes me as improbable.

Since I don't want him to just up and vanish as soon as he sees me, I've taken steps to make sure that he knows I'm coming. I'm unscryable, but my Praexis Demons aren't. I'm also.. making a point of lightly touching the desires of the sleeping pilgrims and tourists around me. Not doing anything to them, just making enough contact to ensure that anyone keeping an eye on them would be able to spot that it had happened. Hopefully. At the moment the only things watching me are the Rock Doves.

I mean, what does it say about my life that I can turn up in the Sivanas' lab and nothing much happens, but if I turn up in the Batcave I get shot? Shouldn't there have been some sort of warning? I mean, in other circumstances I'd applaud his preparedness but his computer had at least enough time to identify me after the initial volley-.

I stop.

That's a lot of Rock Doves. Silent, watchful Rock Doves. Like a very old man's Gimball drone. A simple yet intelligent way to bypass my ward. I guess you don't live eleven thousand years without learning to keep watch. Okay, I don't really want to raise my voice…

I head towards the closest tree and look upwards as the Doves carry on looking down.

"I'd like to speak to Doctor Balewa, if that's at all possible."

They blink unintelligently at me, and-.

I look down, seeing that the earth under my feet has rearranged itself so that a path of pressed earth now leads away from me and towards one of the nearby shacks. I suppose that's my invitation, then. I hear a flapping and look back to the tree as half of the Doves fly away and the rest twitch and compulsively preen.

"Thank you, Doctor."

I walk along the path a little faster than before. Nommo Balewa has been around for a very long time. John told me that he's a good guy, altruistic and certainly powerful… But on the two occasions the two of them met he told John that he'd rather never see him again.

John just has that effect on some people.

Mostly the people who've had to clean up one of his messes.

"Come in, young man. Come and speak to me."

I hesitate for a moment outside his door. His accent is a little hard to place; he's wandered all over the world before, though for the most part he has stayed in Africa. If the stories about 'Doctor Mist' are even slightly right then he came from somewhere called Kor, but… Given how old some of those stories are, that could be just about anywhere on the continent. His English is flawless, if a little slow.

"Having come so far, why do you hesitate now?"

I push open the door, seeing an old but still vital man sitting on a camping bed. He's got various tattoos across his arms and on his chest -a few whose purpose I can guess, the rest might be decoration or just.. something else- and a series of dots painted across his forehead. The combat trousers and heavy boots seem a little at odds with his legend, but I suppose there's really no reason for him to have to wear robes all of the time.

"Doctor." I bow. "I hesitate because this meeting is important, and I cannot read you as I do most people."

He nods. "It is not wise to become so dependent upon your supernatural abilities that you lose your capacity to make judgements without them."

I nod. "I like to think that I'm not there yet, but it does take me a little longer."

He nods, then gestures to a camping chair opposite him with his right hand. I sit, leaning forwards with my hands on my lap.

"What can an old man such as I do for a young superhero such as yourself?"

"Normally, I'd… Try to build up to it… But last time I did that my target punched me in the face."

"I am not much given to committing acts of violence against my fellow men." He smiles, pearly white teeth gleaming in the dull light of the overhead lantern. "But I suppose I can understand."

"The Lord of Order Nabu is dead. I killed him."

He nods. "I felt his ending. What was your reason for killing him?"

"He required a host to function. When he takes them, he's in total control of their body. He extorted his most recent host's servitude by holding the man's daughter hostage. And then he refused to either accept my alternatives or submit to arrest. You can… Read my full report, if you want..." He nods. "But his death has left the Justice League without a magician."

He nods again. "And you wish to recruit me?"

"You and… One other. I thought that relying on any one person was a bad idea. Single point of failure…"

He leans back, regarding me carefully as he ruminates on the request. "If you had asked me last year, I would have refused. I have.. a great power." He holds out his left hand and purple not-lightning dances around it, seemingly distorting space as it does so. "And I do not believe that men such as myself should rule over mortal men. I do not like what you and Adom have done in Kahndaq."

"We improved the lives of millions of people."

"By making an immortal demigod their king. A 'single point of failure', as you say. No. Mortal men should rule over mortal men."

"The Justice League don't rule people."

"They go where they like, they do what they like. I do not mean to say that I think that they are bad people; I know that they are not. But they are too… Big, what they are doing is too big, too much. The effect which it has on society is not a good one."

"So… Is that a 'no'?"

He sighs, then sags slightly. "A year ago, it would mean 'no'. But, in a single year, Wotan attempted to block the sun, Klarion divided parents from children and a Titan attempted to drown the world. I have reached the conclusion that if I want there to be any world left for my descendants, then I must participate more in its affairs. So." He stands. "I will speak with the Justice League. And if we can reach an agreement, I will stand with them in the battles to come."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Just so long as I do not have to work with that man Constantine. He brings misery and discord wherevah he goes. I cannot stend him."

I consider my response for a moment. "John Constantine is not a member of the Justice League."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th September
19:02 GMT -5

Solstice Fitness is unusual in Gotham City in that despite having an ominous name, it actually isn't owned by a supervillain or secret society. The owner/manager is a member of the Gotham Business Association, the legitimate successor to the mob-owned Gotham Small Traders Association. A couple of the staff have criminal records, but since one of them is Paula Nguyen I'm not going to throw any stones. Selina and Holly come here too, though when last I asked Artemis didn't.

But Jade does.

Doctor Balewa said that he wanted to contact the Justice League on his own, so I took the hint and left the runner-up in the Oldest Living Human competition to get some sleep. That's the thing about using wards: while they do protect you from minor magics, from the point of view of an ancient magician all they do is shout 'there's something interesting here' really loudly. Doubly so if you're using one in a location where hardly anyone uses wards, like Gotham City. I assume that Batman…

Should I still be calling him that? He isn't my controller any longer. I mean, obviously I'd call him that when we're on duty or on a mission, but in a secure environment or in my own head… What should I call him? I guess.. 'Mister Wayne' being three syllables means that 'Batman' wins out over it. Calling him 'Bruce' would just be weird. Or is it? I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what Lex calls him and Lex has tried to kill him at least once. As Bruce Wayne. I wonder if he'd call Batman 'Bruce' to his face just to needle him? No, of course he would, but 'as a matter of course' or 'if it were useful in a specific case'? Oh, I'll just stick to calling him 'Batman'. I doubt that I'll be spending any time with him socially.

Anyway, Bruceman-.

…

Anyway, Batman has almost certainly realised that, and then gone on to realise that a magic user powerful enough to do that isn't going to find it all that hard to work out that Batman = Bruce Wayne anyway, so he might as well encourage them to teleport into somewhere with automated defences.

But enough of work. I'm here for something personal. Jade doesn't work Mondays, and at this time of day she's usually having a post-exercise massage, and.. she's there now. While her masseur is currently heading home early because an orange-glowing stranger offered him $2000 to go home early. After I got my ring to record his vocal cadence and the pattern of his footfalls.

This is either a really great idea, or a terrible idea.

I push open the door to the massage room. Jade doesn't even bother looking up. I can barely imagine the Jade I first met not carefully watching the door of any room she found herself in. "Hi there, Jade."

"Hey Todd."

Or disarm hers-. No, she hasn't locked her locker and there's a knife-. Under the towel she's laying on. She's still wearing her knickers, but aside from them and the towel covering them she's naked.

My word, she's beautiful.

"Anything in particular you want me to work today?"

"My neck."

"Sure, I can manage that." I stick my right hand under the spout of the industrial massage ointment bottle next to the bench and squirt a blob onto my fingers. Then I approach the right side of the massage bed, rubbing my hands together to spread it over both of them. "Tough workout session?"

"Too much time on the uneven bars."

Too much time parkouring across Gotham with Selina, more like. Rolling might deal with momentum without breaking your legs, but it doesn't do much for your spine. I lay my hands on her shoulders for a moment, then gently begin spreading-.

And there's a knife against my throat and Jade's glaring at me, towel held over her breasts. "Did you th-?!" She stills, staring into my eyes. "Paul?"

Ring, dismiss mimicry program.

Program dismissed.

I smile, ignoring the knife. "Good evening."

"You're back."

"Yes, yes I am."

"What happened to Todd?"

"Went home early. I thought I'd surprise you. How'd I do?"

"Somewhat surprised." She lowers the knife. Slightly. "Todd's been my masseur for a while. Your hands feel different from his."

"I'll bear that in mind should I feel the need to masquerade as your masseur in the future."

She leans lack slightly, shifting her legs into a more comfortable sitting position and raising her eyebrows. "Did you want to surprise me, or did you just want an excuse to put your hands on my naked body?"

I smile. "Why can't it be both? I like to think that I've made no secret of my interest in you, naked or otherwise."

"All finished in space?"

"More… I annoyed my boss so much that he sent me home. But I'm going to be able to stay on Earth for a while."

The ghost of a smile appears, which she does her best to conceal. "And all the green-skinned space girls could bear to let you go?"

"While I have met green humanoid females, I didn't.. become involved with any of them."

"Are you going to make me guess the colour?"

"One or two orange-skinned Tamaranians expressed an interest. I.. turned them down. Oh, and a blue-skinned Okaaran with a fairly impressive set of-" I make a curving gesture with both hands. "-tusks."

Jade tilts her head downwards slightly and raises her eyebrows. "Tusks?"

"And she was seven feet tall and five feet wide. I mean…" I shrug. "Perfectly attractive by Okaaran standards-" I lean towards her slightly. "-but not really my thing. How about you? Meet any nice Earth boys?"

"None worth more than two dates. Hm."

"What?"

"I just thought half the reason why you said 'no' before you left was so you could have some fun before you came back. And the other half was that you didn't know how long it would be. But you didn't, and it's only been two months."

"If I'd known it would only be two months…"

"You really didn't have any sex at all?"

Uum. I pull away slightly. "What..? Exactly counts?"

She raises her eyebrows. "If you have to ask, it probably counts."

"Uuugh." I look away for a moment. "Well it… It didn't… Do anything for me, but…"

"Now I'm curious." Jade looks amused by my discomfort. "What didn't do anything for you?"

I avert my eyes for a moment. "She said they were spiracles."

Jade blinks, then frowns. "Spiracles?"

"They're what.. insects breathe through. Spider Guilders don't really-. They're not exactly spiracles, but that was the closest translation. And… She needed anti-chafing cream applied-. And the back one was okay, because that actually was a spiracle-."

Jade's expression has sort of frozen. "Uh-huh."

"But then I got to the gap between her second and third sets of legs, and the hole looked a little different? But she didn't say anything?"

"Oh God."

"So I thought, 'okay, just carry on', and... Now all of Vega thinks I'm a macroarachnophile."

Jade's mouth sort of opens and closes a few times. "Oh-h…"

"But that was it, and like I said, it didn't do anything for me and I didn't even realise it was sexual at the time. Moving-"

She nods. "Yes."

"-swiftly on, I am a fully trained humanoid masseur, so would you like me to finish your session? And then.. we could.. go and have dinner somewhere?"

"Are you actually asking me out?"

I lean further forwards, and kiss her lightly on the lips. "Yes. I am. So?"

She puts her knife down, and twists so that she's lying face down again. "My neck could use some attention."

"Ok-."

"And my inner thighs."

I grin. "Happy to be of service."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
Something's buzzing

I open my eyes, the blackout curtains covering the window of Jade's bedroom maintaining their dutiful watch against the encroachment of the day.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Jade's still dead to the world, face down in the pillows next to me. She doesn't appear to have curled up against me in her sleep, but she was pretty tired-.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

I lean up slightly and sight her phone on the bedside table, then transition out of bed, pick it up, and then transition into her kitchen.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

I look at the phone for a moment.

07:23 GMT -5

Artemis, right. I press the answer button and hold it to my ear.

"Good morning."

"Hey Jade. Arte wants-." There's a pause as Wallace's brain readjusts. "Oh El?"

"Wallace. Good morning."

"Ah, yeah, hi. How long have you been back?"

"A few hours short of a-"

"Is she ready yet?"

"-day. I was meaning to-."

"Hold on a sec. Artemis, Oh El's back."

"Why's he answeringohmyGod."

I look slightly nervously around the kitchen. Jade moved out of Holly and Karon's house shortly after I left. I suppose this is more convenient for work. "Um."

"Heh. Pretty smooth, Oh El."

"It's not like we hadn't been… I mean, we've spent a lot of time together during the past year."

"Oh, I wasn't trying to say you were easy or anythi-."

"Give me-! That!"

"Um."

"Hey Paul."

"Ow! Careful!"

"Good morning, Artemis. How have you been?"

"Ah, yeah, I'm good. Uh, so… You and Jade, huh?"

"Yes." I walk over to the closest cupboard and pull the door open. "You don't know what she eats for breakfast, do you?"

"Ahh-I think she just has a coffee before we go running. Is she.. there?"

"Yes, but-" I glance back towards her bedroom, sniffing the air. Probably.. should do a quick ring-clean of the place… "-she's still asleep and she was pretty tired-."

"Oh, ew!"

"Be.. cause we were out late… Cccatching up?"

"Yeah, that's not gunna stop me seeing-."

"Err…"

"Ask him if he's going to come 'round the mountain this afternoon."

"Wally wants to know if you're coming to the mountain this afternoon. Or.. at all, I guess."

"What? Why wouldn't he-? … O-kay."

"Um… Yes, I.. plan to. Batman's got me chasing down-."

"You've.. spoken to Batman? I mean, since you've been back?"

"Yes, and I've got the electrified anti-metahuman bolas to prove it."

"He shot you?"

"Batman shot Oh El? What's going on?"

"No, Batman's automated defences shot me after I teleported into the Batcave. There wasn't any specific malice."

"Oh, okay."

"What's okay about that? Gimme the phone b-."

"Ggh!"

"He wants me to find a couple of replacements for Nabu-. Um, as League magic users, I mean. I already knew about one but the second one's going to take a bit longer. I don't think it's really… I'm not going to be moving back in or anything at least until I've finished doing… Finding her." … "Are you still-?"

"Yeah! Still here."

"Totally unfair."

"So who'd you get?"

"Batman… Ah, and the rest of the League, they haven't approved it yet. But he's an African man called Nommo Balewa. He sometimes works under the name 'Doctor Mist'."

"I've… Never heard of him."

"How many African superheroes can you name?"

"Ah-. Ssseven?"

"Really?"

"Rocket did a lecture. She didn't mention him."

"Mention who?"

"Some African guy called Doctor Mist."

"Who? No, it's Oh El, there's no way I'm gunna have heard of them. I'm gunna go look him up."

"He's powerful and non-interventionist. And doesn't need a host-slave. And I think he's actually older than Nabu was. Ah… Maybe."

"'kay. Who's the other one?"

Yeah… "You remember Satanus, right?"

"Heh, the Devil Jizz guy?"

"Yeah, that's the one. He's the son of the wizard Shazam and a Succubus."

"Really?"

"Shazam spends all of his time on his own in a magic rock fortress. And if you're a powerful enough wizard to get away with it without getting your soul ripped out…"

"Okay, ew again, but so what?"

"He's got a sister. And they hate each other. And she was friends with Adom. So if Satanus has made new friends-."

"You think she might want new friends too. Huh. It's… Kinda twisted. But I can see you doing it."

"Thank you."

"So… Is she a superhero, or..?"

"Last I heard, she ran a nightclub and did some 'magic for hire' work. But… Guarantees about her behaviour can be part of our negotiation."

"Wait, is he talking about Blaze? Ask him if she's hot, because-."

"You better not be-!"

"I'll.. talk to you later?"

"O-okay. See yah."

I take a look at the phone to make sure it's off, then put it down on the work surface. That went okay, and it was nice to hear-.

There's a knock on the door.

Ah..? Oh, it's Paula. I walk over and open the door. She blinks at me in mild surprise. "Good morning, Paula."

"Hello, Paul. Are you joining us for our morning run?"

"Run?"

She nods, and I notice that she's wearing tight-fitting sportswear. I do good work.

"Yes. Artemis, Jade and I have been running together-."

"Oh, Jade's still asleep." I point my right forefinger in the direction of her bedroom. "I don't think-" Paula raises her eyebrows. "-she's going to be…"

I look at her.

She inclines her head slightly and raises her eyebrows a little more.

"I shouldn't have said that, should I?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
08:11 GMT -5

"Of course." I find myself nodding, even though there's no way that the man on the other end of the construct phone can see me. "That's fine. Teth Adom is a busy man."

"In your case, if it is an emergency, I can-."

"No, it's not. I'm just trying to get into contact with a friend of his and hoped that he could point me in the right direction. It isn't urgent. Just… Pass that on when the meeting's over."

"Of course, sir. Um, would you like to give me the friend's name?"

I wonder if he realises exactly how few friends Adom has in this era? Particularly ones I wouldn't know how to find. "Probably best if I don't. No offence intended, but the fewer people who know…"

"Not a problem, sir. I understand completely."

"Thank you. Have a nice-" A dressing gown-clad Jade walks awkwardly into the kitchen. "-day."

"Thank you, sir. You as well."

I dismiss the construct and rise to my feet, arms wide. "Good morning, oh-!"

"Just-." Jade raises her right hand in a warding gesture. "Just give me a minute."

"Um." She walks over to a cupboard and opens it, pulling out a mug and a jar of instant coffee. "Okay?" Next, she switches on the kettle and opens a drawer to take out a teaspoon. I note that her arms aren't straying much from a folded, defensive position. In fact, she seems to be doing everything a bit gingerly. "Jade..? Are you… Alright..?"

Two teaspoons of instant coffee go into the mug as the kettle comes to the boil. "Tired and.. sore. I wasn't expecting… Some of that."

"Oh." Um. "Ssorry?" I raise my left hand. "I can-."

"No." She half-turns my way. "No, that's… That's fine."

"Are you sure? Because you don't look fine. Um. Are we far enough into our relationship that I can say that and-?"

"I… Know how I look." She picks up the kettle and pours hot water into her mug, then puts the kettle down and gives the coffee a stir. "I wasn't…" She stops, looking down as she works out what she wants to say. Perhaps… Playing for time, she turns away again and awkwardly bends down to open the fridge door and pull out a small container of milk. She then straightens up and puts it down next to the cooking mug. Only then does she turn to full face me. "I… I didn't think you had much sexual experience. I think I assumed that I'd be taking the lead-."

"Oh, I don't."

She raises her eyebrows slightly. "Really?"

"Any, actually."

Her face falls slightly. "Any?"

"Well… Assuming that you don't count the.. Spider Queen." I nod. "That was my first time having sex. I mean, I'd done research, but-."

"Oh God."

"So..?" I wiggle my head side to side. "How'd I do? I didn't expect to get everything right first time, but I'm always willing to accept feedback."

Jade picks up her mug and holds it up to her nose, breathing in the scent for a moment. She closes her eyes and controls her breathing. "I wasn't expecting the power ring."

"Most people don't. I mean, for most of power ring history there were only Green Lanterns, and the level of mental focus they'd need means it isn't really practical for them to use it like that." Huh. "I mean, there are probably a few-."

"I meant-. I wasn't expecting what you did with it."

"Jade… The spirit is eager, but the flesh is that of a male humanoid. I couldn't have done most of that without-."

"And I don't remember you…" Her eyes widen slightly, not looking at me. "You didn't..?"

"Didn't what?"

She transfers her mug into her left hand and picks up her milk carton in her right. Then she… Twists her wrist so that milk splashes out into the coffee. Then she raises her eyebrows slightly in my direction. Then she spills another splash of milk into the coffee.

Why is sheoh.

"Um. No."

"Oh God."

"You see… You… Sort of..."

"Oh God."

"Stopped… Responding near the end of the second hour-"

She puts mug and milk down and brings her hands to her face. "Oh God."

"-and I don't really know the etiquette, but I thought… Carrying on wasn't really-."

"Oh God."

"Jade." I take a step towards her. "Jade, it's fine."

"Ohhhhh." She semi-flops against my chest as I gently put my arms around her waist. "Uuuugh."

"Too much?"

She takes a couple of breaths with her face against my chest. "Next time, you don't use your rings."

Next time. Which there will be. Good-oh. I nod. "I'm perfectly happy to not use my rings. And.. um… If you don't want me to deal with the… Soreness, with my rings, I have a purple healing ray?"

She manages a somewhat fragile smile. "Not going to offer to kiss it better?"

"My kisses don't have any particular healing properties. I'm happy to try, but… To be honest, that would probably just make the situation worse."

"Mpf." She pulls back slightly, and I release my hold to allow her to pick up her coffee. "Did Mom come by?"

"Sheeeee did."

She takes a sip, watching me over the rim of the mug. She's smiling as she swallows. "You told her I was still asleep, didn't you?"

"Yees, I did. And.. Artemis phoned."

"I wasn't planning on keeping this a secret, Paul. Mom and Artemis both like you. And you certainly weren't my first."

I nod my head to the side. "Anyone I need to worry about?"

"I wasn't with either of them for long." She walks around me and pulls out one of the chairs around the table. "And I haven't thought about them much, either. I suppose they're either dead or in prison after the League of Shadows was shut down. Given how I wasn't picked up, I think they'd probably come after me before you." She puts her mug down on the table and then carefully sits and jumps back to her feet a second later, her buttocks clenched. "I think I'll stand."

"The purple healing ray-." I take it out of subspace and put it down on the table next to her mug. "I'll just leave it here. Use it.. if you want."

She gives me a look of combined amusement and irritation. "Thank you."

"Um. Speaking about your mother… Is there a… Good time to introduce you to…"

She frowns slightly. "Your family?"

"No, my family is on Earth Prime. But there are.. people… I'm close to. Who I'd like you to meet."

"I'm drinking this, taking a shower and then going back to bed. But.. my next day off is next Sunday. I could meet them then?"

I walk up to her and kiss her gently on the forehead. "That would be splendid."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
08:17 GMT -6

I press down on the writhing carapace of the horror beneath me, doing my best to keep my head away from its flailing raptorial forelegs. Perhaps the most disturbing part of this is that rather than chittering or screeching as I'd expected, the abomination is near completely silent as it tries to bring its natural weapons to-.

Gughuh! And it reminds me with a spray of toxic gunk from its spinnerets that it's anything but natural.

I turn to the observation window. "Do you need samples of this as well?!"

Cranius raises Otto's hand to his mouth. "If it is not too much trouble!"

I nod, taking a syringe in my right hand and doing my best to suck up the larger congealing pools. Insectoid Unmen. I have no idea what Arcane was thinking when he made these and frankly I'll be perfectly happy if I never do gain that sort of insight. This poor bastard used to be Corporal Frank Cruz before his disastrous assignment to General Sutherland's research project. Real zombies don't have infectious bites. In fact, they usually won't bite at all, lacking the animating spirit from which normal people derive motivation. These things on the other hand are totally infectious, symbiotic cells in their blood, digestive systems and venom glands straining with all their might to turn any animal they come into contact with into more Insectoid Unmen.

I turn my head aside and spit, a wad of transformed Unphlegm flying from my mouth. It has.. veins growing on it, the mass twitching as it attempts to develop a heart beat. My divine resistance is enough to prevent my body being transformed, but anything else…

I slide the syringe back into my armoured holdall, then take out another. This one is a bit tricky, and there's next to no chance that the creature itself will cooperate. Extreme option, then. I lift my hand from its thorax, braced for it to start writhing again. There's a token wriggle, but I think even its animal intelligence has worked out that it can't throw me from this position. Okay, step two. I slam my fist forward, striking it directly on the vertex. Nothing like a full strength hit, but hopefully… Yes, its eyes aren't focusing on me. I shove the needle into its mouth, piercing its venom gland and sucking a syringeful out.

Okay, done. I activate my aero-discs and rise off its body, forelegs swiping at me instinctively but being harmlessly turned aside by my armour. Well, that was revolting. I send a wave of orange light over myself to burn away any lingering goop. Mother Box, boom tube.

BOOM!

I slide the venom syringe into my satchel as I fly through, shutting the tube down as I land on the observation platform.

Cranius turns around on Otto's shoulders to grin at me. "Excellent work, my boy! Usually taking samples from zhe insectoids takes us weeks and costs us a great deal in equipment."

I unclamp the satchel from my armour and hold it out. "Happy to help, Cranius."

"Unt… You are not suffering any… Ill effects?"

Oh, my mouth is dry. Mother Box?

Ping.

Ring?

No abnormalities detected beyond the usual.

Huh. I think it might be learning bad habits from Sinestro.

"No, none that I can detect."

Otto turns around to face… To chest me and takes the satchel before walking in the direction of the stairs back into the main part of the Uncorporation headquarters. Cranius manoeuvres himself so that he can look back at me as Otto ascends. "I am very glad. You, I zhink, would be an even more troubling specimen zhen zhey are."

"I'd like to think so. What.. do you intend to.. use that for?"

"Eh, a back burner project of mine. I do not zhink zhat reversing zhe effects after zo long would… Be of use to zhose poor unfortunates. But, if anyone were infected in zhe future, possessing a way to arrest zhe changes would be wizhout price."

"And it would serve to improve your understanding of Doctor Arcane's workings."

His face twitches slightly. "Even I would stop short of creating somezhing like zhat."

"Glad to hear it." We leave the insectoid vault proper and step into the airlock, an entirely sensible precaution against airborne toxins and transmutative agents. And people trying to come back through without knowing that they'd been infected. The inner door clanks closed behind us and Cranius hops onto his perch while Otto begins stripping himself of clothing. "And your work more generally?"

"Zhe next round of zhe implantation procedures begins on Wednesday, unt zhen I will be fully occupied with zhe testing." He strums three fingers. "I am… Finding it an adequate replacement for zhe uncreation." He looks me over. "But… Zhis is not a purely social visit, no? You want my answer."

"I want to give you the opportunity to ask any questions so that I could allay any remaining concerns you may have."

"I…" He looks down for a moment. "I will be honest wizh you: I am minded to accept wizhout furzher qualification." He looks up again. "For zhe work you have done for me, for us, and zhe opportunities you have provided for us… I owe you zhis. And I believe zhat it will benefit us to continue zhis relationship. However."

"Yes? Please, any reservations-."

"I have no knowledge of my own expiration date. I could drop dead tomorrow, or… I could still be as I am a century from now. If I am to devote myself fully to zhis great transformative work you would heff me perform… I need to know zhat my people can continue wizhout me. My… Students are capable unt my brozher Crassus is skilled… But zhey do not have my experience, my insight."

"If you need me to go looking for more of Arcane's books..?"

"No." His neck bulges briefly as he passes more air through it, sighing. "At zhis point, zhere is little more a written text could teach me. Razher… Zhere are two.. furzher… People, who might lend zheir efforts to my work. I know where one is unt where zhe ozher was, but zhey are both beyond my reach. If you could get zhem, persuade zhem to come here…." He nods. "Zhen I am your man."

"Alright. Who are they?"

Cranius smiles in satisfaction. "Many of zhose… Zhe papers call 'mad scientists', zheir work has no obvious predecessor. In science, we are always standing on giants' shoulders, but sometimes… Zhat freeze ray you are so fond of. It is contrary to everyzhing in heat physics. Mister Snart read some zhings und zhen 'poof', it just appears in his mind. Arcane… It was nearly zhe same, but! Zhere was one man whose research he sought after and acquired, one man who inspired him."

"Victor Frankenstein."

"Jah. Yes. Frankenstein himself had long since died in zhe arctic circle, unt he destroyed many of his own records… But in his creations lie zhe secrets of his work. Find zhe creature or zhe Bride, unt we will heff zhat. Zhe last record we heff for zhem is zhat zhey worked for zhe American government during zhe Second World War. Your contacts in zhet area are better zhan mine."

Looks like I'm going to have to talk to Katarina again… "Okay, I can probably manage that. Who else?"

"Doctor Arcane had no true friends or peers… But for several years, he had an assistant. An Englishman wizh whom he had a certain… Familiar relationship. He came to us in zhe fifties, stayed for several years. Zhey parted on good terms."

"That… Really?"

"He was a somewhat unusual man himself. His name was Grymleigh Gartside Fiendstein, unt he continued his work after he returned to England. He is currently in zhe special prison underneath zhe Tower of London."

Well, I was planning on overthrowing the British government anyway… "What was he convicted of?"

"Robbery, arson, murder unt gross indecency." I raise my eyebrows slightly. "What? You zhought a friend of Arcane's would be a 'nice man'?"

"Probably not. On the other hand, I doubt that an eighty year old is much of a threat to anyone. Are you sure that he's still alive?"

"No, but his crimes had a certain notoriety unt zhere has been no announcement. I hope."

I nod as the exterior door opens. "I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
08:32 GMT -6

Harleen looks at me with considerable scepticism. "You rilly wanna see him?"

I nod. "Yes, I really do."

"'Cause this ain't gunna be like with Kadabra or Tommy an' Tuppy. I don't think this guy's evah gunna change. I mean, I ain't givin' up or nothin'-."

"But he doesn't have the same sort of deep-seated psychological issues as the others, considers mercenary work a career in which he's had considerable success and has multiple life sentences so there's no reason for him to cooperate with prison authorities unless it gets him closer to pulling off an escape."

She looks thoughtful, then nods. "Yeyeah, you pretty much gawt it."

"I don't think I'm going to rehabilitate him either. It's just-" We turn the corner, and I see Warden Waller at the entrance to the interrogation room with a couple of armoured heavies. "-that there's one or two things I need to say to him."

Waller's eyes narrow slightly. "I hope you've got a better reason than that for wanting to talk to Sportsmaster." For a fraction of a second I consider telling her my actual reason. "And don't think I don't know he's your convict girlfriend's father."

"I'm not going to stab him, if that's what you're worried about."

She screws up her face. "What?"

"Warden, Jade hates him. If I helped him in any way, she'd dump me. If I did something that impacted on him adversely, she'd be gratef-." I catch sight of Harleen rhythmically poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue. She stops when she notices me noticing. "Be grateful."

"'least you're not trying to pretend you're not involved with her any more."

"That's a.. recent thing, actually. So… Are you letting me in, or..?"

"You know what I found out about five minutes ago?" Oh dear. "I found out your Justice League permit got cancelled." She looks.. mildly satisfied. "Which means you can't just demand to talk to prisoners whenever you feel like it."

I nod. "That's… True. However, I was under the impression that you.. didn't have a problem with my scheduled visits."

"No, I don't have a problem with your scheduled visits. Prisoners who behave themselves are entitled to those. I have a problem when you turn up and expect to be able to see the most dangerous man in Belle Reve with half an hour's notice."

Most..? Ah, yes. With the power suppression on he probably is. Not just for his physical abilities and combat experience, but for the fact that I'm sure he has every aspect of Belle Reve operation memorised. "I.. can see that I've rather taken advantage of your hospitality, and I apologise." She looks.. mildly less disgruntled. Mildly gruntled? Huh, actually yes, that is the correct usage. "If you'd rather I didn't speak to him, then I can… Just leave. Has he caused you any trouble?"

"He's getting the inmates organised. Watching my guards, recording shift patterns. And we only found out thanks to a random cell check. And unlike the rest of them-."

I nod. "He knows how to fight without super powers. But nothing… Overt?"

"Not yet."

"If it helps, my empathic abilities might give me a clue about what's going on." I smile at her.

"He's trained to resist telepathy."

"Perhaps, but I doubt that he's trained to resist empathy. I won't be reading his mind, I'll be taking a look at his soul. It can be remarkably informative."

She nods. "Okay."

"You know… In future, if you want me to do things for you, you can just ask?"

"I'll bear that in mind." She steps aside, turning to the guards as she does so. "Open it up."

The outer door is armoured -though not to 'Superman-proof' standards- and is designed to resist prolonged assault by someone hopped up on regular Venom. Someone on Venom Buster or the original Blockbuster wouldn't fit in the passageway. I stand still and wait for the heavy metal locking mechanism to clamp into place, then the inner door swings open.

Mister Crock is thoroughly chained to the floor-bolted and welded seat set in the centre of the room. He regards me with mild disinterest, though he does make a point of keeping his eyes constantly trained on mine in an attempt to unnerve me. Fortunately, I can tweak my awareness so that I just register a sort of blur where his eyes are, and as a result the usual instinctive nervous response just doesn't trigger. I could just tweak my brain to achieve a similar result… But I'm still trying to cut down on that sort of thing.

"Good morning, Mister Crock. How have you been?"

There's another seat for the interrogator, as well as a clearly painted 'DO NOT CROSS' line around the prisoner seat. I walk across it, generate a construct chair within arm's reach of him and sit down.

"Biding my time."

"No offence meant, but I am a little surprised they haven't executed you. Given the plethora of capital crimes you've committed."

He graces me with a small smile. "Prove it."

Ring? Oh, seriously? Now I get the whole 'no witnesses' thing. It's not just professionalism, is it? No one alive to bear witness means no one who can be called to the stand to prove you did something. Sure, prosecutors know he was there when people died, but proving he killed any particular person within US jurisdiction… And I doubt Paula's going to give testimony.

Ah, what the heck. Short of a small war, he's not getting out of here before his death anyway. I narrow my eyes slightly and gaze deep inside him. Given the.. green, I suspect that he's doing the whole counter-telepathy mental exercise thing. Not that he'd think I could-. Oh, of course; a telepath in the observation room adjacent to this one would be a risk. Okay, from what I'm seeing he doesn't have a specific escape plan, just a way of keeping everyone organised to take advantage of any opportunities that emerge. Fine, I'll tell Waller.

I take a holocube out of subspace and toss it behind me, blue strobes flashing out as it scans the room and then projects a false image to anyone watching. Next, I have my rings start lying to the electronic monitoring systems.

Mister Crock watches with mild interest. "What, you planning on working me over, kid? You think you're Batman now?"

"Don't be absurd, Mister Crock. I never do anything by half. It's simply that the information that I wish to relay to you is of a personal nature. Jade and I are romantically involved, and no, because I'm sure you're about to make a comment, I'm not asking your permission or anything stupid like that. You see, I don't really care about you one way or the other, but Jade really hates you. So I thought I'd say from the outset, that if you become involved in the life of your natural family -or with me- in any way, I will kill you." He doesn't look impressed. "Nothing exciting; you'll just go to sleep one evening, develop a series of air bubbles in the arteries of your brain and.. not wake up." I shrug, a sociable smile upon my face. "That means your parents, brother, nephews, sister in law, ex-wife and daughters. No communication or skulduggery of any kind."

He looks at me for a moment, apparently as at ease as a man chained to a chair can be. "Do you seriously expect me to believe you'd carry that threat out?"

I raise my right index finger. "I thought you might say that. I thought you might say that." I nod. "You know, I was thinking a little while ago: what Human has killed the largest number of people in history? A lot of people would say Hitler or Stalin, but their-" I shake my head and wave my right hand dismissively. "-governments killed people for them, their armies killed people. I mean, personally. What individual has personally killed the greatest number? If you ignore really long-lived people like Vandal Savage, I reckon until a couple of months ago it was Thomas Ferebee. You know, the man who dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima? That was at least ninety thousand people, plus… The rest of his war record. Sound about right? I mean, there might have been some sort of.. extermination camp operator who really put in the overtime who beats that, but-" I shake my head. "-probably not."

"Now… I'm beating him. I mean, I killed a few people before I left Earth, but it was a handful. That was because Human society is essentially well-ordered. But when I got out-" I gesture towards the ceiling with my right hand. "-into space, I came across places that weren't like that. Murderous rampaging pirates, slavers, and, memorably, a religion that blinded all its womenfolk. So I killed them. Not all; I'm not a professional killer, some of them ran away. But quite a lot. I'm really not sure what my total is… I mean, when you drop a space station on a factory complex, who's counting exactly how many people got crushed? But it's a lot more than ninety thousand."

"Now, I know I'm not going to scare you or intimidate you by saying this. That's.. not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to save your life. Because if you disobey me, I will kill you. I will not feel happy or sad about it, but I will not hesitate, and I will not lose any sleep over it. I will simply consider it necessary and do it." I rise from my chair. "Goodbye, Mister Crock. I hope I never see you again."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
10:13 GMT -5

"…reunion went better than expected?"

I turn the phone handset away from my mouth a little as I sigh, and try to distract myself from the amused tone in Alan's voice by studying the burned out remains of 'Blaze's' on Van Lew Street in the New Troy borough of Metropolis. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the idea that a Demon would want to turn a former church into a nightclub, but I am surprised that a church in a major American city could get so starved of funds that it would sell up like that. Far less surprising was the fact that it got torn apart by people hopped up on Devil Jizz a little over a month ago. Kal-El dealt with the Jizzers before they could destroy much else, but their presence nicely ties it to Satanus.

"It was… Yes. Sorry for not phoning you, but… By the time I knew I wouldn't be heading to-."

"That's fine. I was young once, y' know." A quiet chuckle. "So when do I get to meet her?"

I've got a small team of Praexis Demon constructs going over the site now while Detectives Leocadio and Jase of the Special Crimes Units look on. The owner, 'Angelica Blaze', disappeared in the aftermath and as a result the police's first thought was fraud. Except no one ever claimed on it. Beyond that, their investigation hit a dead end. Oh, they picked up a few conventional drug dealers and users while their investigation went on, but any actual cause for the place being targeted? Nothing. When Ms Blaze didn't reappear they actually upgraded it to a murder investigation, which I most sincerely hope it isn't. The next highest magic user on my list is quite a step down from her.

"Is it alright if I bring her around for dinner on Sunday? Her work schedule is pretty unsociable, but she has a day off and I do want to introduce her to… You."

"I think I can manage one more guest. So do you actually need my spare room, or what?"

"She's.. used to having her own space, she works different hours to me and… I don't want to crowd her. So, yes, please."

"Not a problem. I'll be cleaning up the place today."

"I can.. help with-."

"No, no. This'll give me a chance to learn to use my new ring for regular things. I want to make sure I don't make a fool of myself when we start training for real. So, ah… How'd it go with Batman?"

"I'm doing a job for him now. Once that's done, relations… Normalised. With him, anyway."

"Oh? What's that?"

"The League needs a replacement magic user. I found one yesterday and now I'm trying to find a second."

"Anyone I'd know?"

"Maybe? Did you spend any time in Africa during the Second World War?"

"I spent a couple of weeks in Palestine while they worked out whether they wanted to send me to Italy or Greece, but after what happened to Al Fiske the All-Star Squadron were kind of nervous about sending us to places still being affected by the Spear of Destiny."

Ah, yes. Unlike we comic book readers, the Allies didn't know that the Nazis planned to counter their superheroes with magic. They knew that the Society of Thule existed, but it was common knowledge in government circles at the time that magic was a real thing and the Thulists were only unusual in how well connected they were. And while the fact that people like Captain Falcon, Gougeman and White Eagle were quite happy to work with the Nazis was known, it certainly wasn't unthinkable that they were ideological converts to fascism. Or at least considered Germany less bad than the Soviet Union.

The young Master Man's sudden conversion was what finally clued them in to the fact that something more extreme was going on after his brilliant 'why don't I just run up through Spain and deck Hitler in the snozz' plan came a cropper. Later, they found out that while Franco wasn't quite prepared to declare war on the Allies, he had no objection to High Magister Krieger popping over to Madrid to extend the Spear's influence across Spain. Baron Reiter held Master Man off just long enough for the effect to take hold, and then…

Bloody good job that Rommel wouldn't have anything to do with Thule, otherwise they might have got Doctor Balewa as well. Now there's a scary thought.

"Probably not, then. He's an African chap, about eleven thousand years old. He operates under the name 'Doctor Mist'. I've got no idea what Batman plans to do for an interview process, but he isn't really in a position to be picky."

"Eleven thousand..? However did he manage that?"

"There are ways to extend Human life a great deal. Just look at Savage." Doctor Balewa had white light dancing around inside him in a way vaguely reminiscent of Clarice's strange black and white combination. Whether the Life Entity decided to grant him immortality or whether his own sorcerous abilities were sufficient I don't know.

"Well, sure, but eleven thousand years is a very long time. And Savage isn't a great example of how people should behave. I'd be impressed if someone that old could still get along with normal people."

"I suppose that in eleven thousand years you and I will find out what it's like ourselves."

The phone goes silent.

"Alan?"

"Oh! Sorry, I was just… Two days ago I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the end of the week. Now you're saying I could still be here in eleven thousand years. I can't even imagine what that's going to be like."

"Good show. Novel experiences are supposed to get more infrequent as you get older, so you should be glad that you can't imagine it."

"I'm not… I'm not sure that follows."

"It shows that you've already found something novel, and you've only known about it for a couple of minutes. You have a literal universe of possibilities; more, if we can get a planar portal to work. Don't worry about having something to do."

"Heh, I suppose you're right. Mala.. wanted me to visit Themyscira with her, see what they've done with the place since the prison shut down."

I consider coming back with a witticism along the lines of 'Sounds like I'm not the only one whose reunion went better than expected', but I… I don't really think that's appropriate here. I mean, there's no reason for Alan not to pursue a romantic relationship now, but I suppose that's an adjustment for another year. "I got the impression that they thought pretty highly of you there. I'd appreciate it if you could persuade a few more Amazons to visit the US. I'm trying to encourage them to get more involved in the modern world. Oh, and you noticed that your ring has a universal translator now, right?"

"I-. Huh. Well that explains… So I can talk to them, the ones who don't speak English?"

"Yep." I note that the Praexis Demons have stopped sniffing around in a purposive way and appear to just be trying to look busy. "Okay, time for me to get back to work, I'm afraid."

"Alright, I'll leave you to it. I'll see you this evening."

I close my left hand, dismissing the phone construct. Then I hold out my left arm in the direction of the building site and pull the Praexis Demons back into my ring. A confusing mishmash of images flit through my mind as the memories of what they tasted become mine. Okay, that's what Blaze's magic tastes like.

"You get anything?"

Corporal Jase is noticeably less fazed by what I did than his partner, who's trying to hide her expression of disturbed surprise.

"Not much yet." I rise slightly into the air. "I'll let you know what I find."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
11:45 GMT -5

Ah, looks like my complete lack of respect for privacy has paid off again. Ms Blaze might have been able to conceal the link between 'Angelica Blaze' and other public faces of the sort that a demonic magic user would find it easy to set up, but in a wave of ring-based forensic accountancy and CCTV checking I can see people who had been leaving traces of themselves suddenly stop at the moment her club was destroyed. Some I can account for as employees, but I suspect that some-.

"Orange Lantern." I open my eyes to be greeted by the sight of Kal-El floating a couple of metres in front of me. We're a couple of miles above Metropolis here, clouds obscuring us from the ground below. "Captain Sawyer told me you were looking into the attack on Blaze's nightclub. Anything I should know about?"

Hm. While I think I know which camp he fits into on the Nabu matter, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he'll have something useful to contribute. "Good morning, Kal-El. And that depends; are you wearing your ward?"

"Yes." He taps one of his belt pouches with his right hand. "That came in pretty handy when the attack happened."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"You think Satanus is behind it?"

"Almost certainly. I forget: do you have a go-to person for magic related things, or do you just fall back on your own abilities?"

"Not a lot of wizards in Metropolis. But, no, I don't."

I nod, then take a hologram generator out of subspace. "Did you mention the case to Captain Marvel?"

"Not that I remember."

"Exhibit one." I generate a hologram of the woman the police are looking for. "Angelica Blaze, surprisingly wealthy small business owner and Metropolis resident for at least eight years. Exhibit two-" A second image joins the first. "-Blaze, daughter of Jebediah of Canaan, aka the wizard Shazam, and a Succubus whose name I don't know. Given the demonic magic my Praexis Demons tasted on what's left of her club and the fact that Satanus is her brother, I believe that the two are one and the same person."

Kal-El considers the images for a moment. "Seems a bit much for sibling rivalry. Are you sure they're the same person?"

"Not completely. Ideally, I'd check an artefact that I knew for certain was infused with power by Blaze and compare the two. Unfortunately, my demonic magic contact has gone to ground, and the only person I know who knew Blaze socially is busy running a country. And confirming that won't help me track her down; finding Angelica Blaze is an end in itself."

He nods. "So what's your next step?"

"Data analysis suggests that she was using a number of aliases while in Metropolis. I was planning on checking whether any of them turned up anywhere else, but… Five different plane tickets, all seats occupied by women who vanished shortly after arriving at their destinations. Which probably means that none of them were her. So…" So I should have brought Doctor Balewa with me so he can track her. "I either need to search out every trace of demonic magic on the planet, or…" Huh. Well, I did need to see them anyway. "Or I get someone to summon a Succubus, bribe her to tell me who Blaze's mother is, summon her-."

"I don't think that summoning Demons is such a good idea."

"Okay, well, I only know of one Succubus who's out in the wild, and I sort of lost track of her after we turned her into a Love Elemental."

He smiles, ducking his head slightly. "You know, if you were anyone else, I'd say you were spinning a tale. How did you pull that one off?"

"The Star Sapphire. Then… We could just ask Jebediah. I'm sure he'd remember, but he might not want to talk to me about it."

"Or we could do both. Why don't you talk to Zatanna once she gets out of school while I talk to Shazam?"

I think for a moment. "Because Batman set me the task, and I'm not sure if using League resources invalidates the challenge or not."

Kal-El folds his arms across his 'S'. "This crime happened in my city. I think I'm allowed to investigate it."

"Okay, well… Good luck with Jebediah. I'll try tracking Chantinelle down myself, see if I can get it done before the end of school. I'd go with you, but I doubt being seen in my company would help you plead your case."

He nods. "That's probably true." He begins floating backwards, waving with his right hand as he goes. "Good luck!"

Hm. Luck. Alright, not really sure what a Love Elemental looks like or if her copy of the wards tattooed on my skin would defeat my empathic vision, but I'll try most things once. I open up my empathic vision all the way and look out across the world. U-uh. Yeah, there's no way I'm going to be able to find her like this. If I can see her then I doubt that I'd be able to pick her out from more than a few miles away. I could try a few places at random just in case, but… No, hang on, she said that she was going to go and fix broken relationships. And she mentioned Danita Wright, the woman John was involved with. A relationship she ended by getting in bed with John shortly before Ms Wright arrived back in their home while John was asleep.

Ring, where does Danita Wright work now?

Danita Wright is currently employed by the Roche City Gazette.

Right. Marvellous. Present location..? Ah, nowhere near the Hawks or their residence, good. And transition.

13th September
10:48 GMT -6

I ignore the starts and gasps around me as I appear next to Ms Wright's desk. "Excuse me, Ms Wright?"

She keeps looking at her monitor for a moment. "Missus Daniels actually. What is-" She turns towards me. "-it Orange Lantern?"

"Yes. I'm trying to track down an acquaintance of mine, and I believe that she might have made contact with you. Bat wings, glowing violet, name of Chantinelle? You once walked in on her in bed with John Con-."

"Constantine." Her jaw tightens. "Yes, I know who you mean. She came to see me months ago, but I haven't seen her since. I thought she was some crazy woman. And.. that was years ago. Why, who was she?"

"She was a Succubus turned Love-Elemental. I'm trying to track her down. I don't suppose she told you where she was going, did she?"

"What? No." Missus Daniels shakes her head. "She.. told me she posed John just so I'd break up with him and that she was.. really sorry about it. Was that true?"

"Yes. They'd had a professional falling out and she was trying to alienate all of his friends. John's done a lot of dodgy things, but he didn't cheat on you." I consider that for a moment. "To the best of my knowledge."

"Oh." She frowns as she thinks about that. "I.. probably owe him an apology."

"I'd be happy to relay it to him just as soon as I see him. Excuse me."

Sigh. Indiana it is, then.

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
12:25 GMT -5

I step around the custard smooshed across the pavement and the overweight man being swarmed by squirrels, then push my way through the cluster of rubberneckers watching through the bar's doorway and into the bar itself. My target is facing the bar, shoulders hunched as he nurses his whiskey.

"Excuse me." I stride across the intervening space as the chittering from outside reaches a crescendo. "I'm looking for Ambrose Bierce?"

"Ambrose Bierce?!" He wheels around none too steadily, glaring at me from under a messy mop of blonde hair that Boris Johnson would envy and.. probably attempt to emulate. "That clown?! You impertinent-." He cuts himself off and blinks. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

His diction's better than John's, that's for certain. The cigarettes in the ash tray next to him are roll your owns, rather than Silk Cuts, his coat is a little shorter and his face… They don't look anything alike.

"I said: I'm looking for Ambrose Bierce?"

"Ooooh, right. Sorry, got into a bit of a habit, there. What is it you want?"

"Selina told me you were the man to talk to about street level magic."

"Selin-? Catwoman?"

"Yes? She's a friend of mine. Can I..-" I point to his drink as I take a seat next to him. "-get you a top up while we talk?"

He nods. "Don't mind if you do."

I wave my right hand at the barwoman, then point it at Mr Bierce. "Whatever he's drinking?"

"I'm a bit surprised, you coming to me. I thought you were connected to the Atlanteans."

"I was. Then I royally pissed off King Orin and left the planet for two months." The barwoman puts a new whiskey down in front of Mr Bierce, and I pass her a twenty dollar bill. "Besides, they need a royal warrant to study Demons without it being a death penalty offence."

"You're connected to the Justice League, aren't you? What about Zatara? I heard he came off his leave of absence a couple of months ago."

I raise my eyebrows. "Are you interested in buying a bridge?"

He nods. "Thought it might be something like that." Then he turns in his seat to face me, looking at me sceptically as he does so. "And you didn't-?" He cuts himself off. "No. You know what?" He takes a sip of his whiskey. "I'm not questioning it. What can I do for you?"

"A while ago I and.. a couple of friends turned a Succubus by the name of Chantinelle into a Love Elemental. Now I'd like to track her down. Unfortunately, she's totally immune to scrying. And multifunction power ring scans. So it's a bit tricky." He looks at me in incredulous astonishment, his cigarette drooping and then falling from his open mouth. "Failing that, I need to know who Blaze's mother is."

"'Blaze' being..?"

"You remember when the Hawks and I fought a large Demon in front of the Hall of Justice?" He nods. "That was Satanus. His sister. He's attacking her holdings and I'd like to find her before he does."

He frowns. "Demons only have siblings metaphorically."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that. What happens if a Succubus possesses a Human woman, gets pregnant, then returns bodily to hell for the pregnancy and delivery?"

"Fucked if I know."

"I mean, they wouldn't be able to build a soul out of Earthly magics like happens with normal foetuses. So if they developed at all-."

He stares off into the distance as he thinks it through. "No, you're right. All that's left is Hell magic. Huh. Obvious, when you think about it. So she's a Human with a Demon for a soul who's also her."

"Just a working hypothesis. Superman's going to try and talk to her father, but I'd like to find out where she is before he does."

He frowns. "So what's Chantinelle got to do with any of that?"

"She's the only Succubus I know who might know the information I want and be prepared to give it to me."

"But you don't need-need her."

"No. Just Blaze. She's in hiding, and her scry defences won't be as good as Chantinelle's. But they're probably more aggressive."

"Well, standard thing there is to get something they own and use that to scry for them."

"I can get anything she left in Metropolis when she fled out of the police's evidence locker. I also had my Praexis Demons sniff around the remains of her club and I'm pretty sure I've got her magic resonance pattern."

"Whaw. You're a lot better prepared than most people who come to me with stuff like this." He knocks back what's left of his first whiskey and picks up the second. "So, you just need me to do a bit of scrying for you, is that it?"

"I was sort of hoping that you might have a lead on Chantinelle's location, but if you think that's the best approach… Yes."

"A bunch of people I usually use for that sort of thing went a bit peculiar recently. Divination pendulums spinning three sixty, flames made of water, dogs and cats living together, rains of cheese, the Black Squirrel being seen as far afield as Luton…" Another sip. "It's going to be a while before they've got anything sensible to say for themselves."

I frown. "That sounds like something that should concern me. When did it start?"

"Beginning of July, actually. Something big happened, and the.. shockwaves are still radiating out around Earth's magic systems. I'd guessed it was something to do with the Justice league fighting that Titan, but-" He leans slightly closer to me. "-I can see from your face it was you. So what happened?"

"I'm afraid it would invalidate assurances I've given to various people if I were to tell you. The best I can do is to say that large amounts of order and chaos magic found themselves in the same place."

"Because the Chinese got Klarion, and… No one's seen Doctor Fate-"

"Nabu."

"-for a couple of…" He looks at me, downs his whiskey and then slams his glass down, coughing and wheezing. "A-grrah. Okay. Decided I don't want to know about that either." He flops back slightly on his stool. "At least I know that's all above John bloody Constantine's level as well." He looks at my face for a moment. "Oh, fuck off."

"Sorry."

He sags further. "Don't know why I'm surprised. So why isn't he helping you with this?"

"He's indisposed."

"Dead?"

"Indisposed."

"Dead's pretty bloody indisposed. Though if anyone could weasel out of it…" He gets up and straightens his coat. "Alright then, your place or mine?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th September
16:11 GMT -2

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, Ambrose Bierce."

"Welcome to Ice Fortress Two. Sorry about the dust."

Mister Bierce looks around a little uncomfortably as he follows me along the corridor, hands wedged into his pockets. "What dust?"

"Any dust the Russian secret services might have tramped in while I was away. I have cleaning robots, but none of them have rug-shampooing attachments."

"R..ight. Have you got some sort of ritual room in here, then?"

"No." I take a left turn and head towards the exterior access hatch. No frozen bodies, that's a good sign. "Most of the interior space is given over to flight, power generation and cold guns. Then you add in computers, environmental controls and living quarters, and there really wasn't space for it."

"So whereabouts were you expecting me to do the scrying?"

"The South Atlantic." I send a signal to the Fortress's computer, and the power to the anti-gravity system increases to push us higher into the air. "We can use the cold guns to draw out the symbols on the ocean in ice. That would work, right? Doing it on the ocean isn't a problem?"

"The ocean? No, of course there's no problem using magic on the ocean." He sniffs. "Fire magic, maybe. Scrying? Might even make it easier."

"Might?"

"Probably will. I don't really know. For some reason it doesn't come up very much. What sort of precision can those freeze rays do?"

"Fine as a Human hair, wide as you want. Do you think freezing an area would be better, or just leave it liquid and draw on top of it?"

"Did you do this sort of thing with John?"

"What, this specifically?" The inner hatch closes behind us, clanking sealed just before the outer hatch swings open. "No, as far as I know you'll be the first person to do this."

I stride out onto the observation deck, Mister Bierce hesitating slightly before following me. Rain lashes the defence screen around us, granting us a wonderful view of the interior of the storm while leaving us dry enough to appreciate it.

"Bloody hellfire."

"Let's hope not." Another mental command and the cold guns deploy from the dorsal surface of the Fortress. A flicking gesture with my left hand and a swarm of Praexis Demons fly outwards, passing through momentarily-appearing holes in the screen to take position over the ocean. "Now, if I remember correctly, a scrying diagram should look like-" I take a datapad out of subspace and copy out a standard Atlantean diagram. "-this."

"Errr… Basically. Can I just-? Right."

"There's a stylus on the side, and it's got a built-in inscription-assistance tool."

"Nifty."

Lances of blue-white light flash out from beneath us, rain converting to hail as they punch through the storm and strike the ocean surface below us. Mister Bierce's eyes flare and he starts stabbing the pad with the stylus in an effort to-. "That wasn't you. I'm just-"

"Oh. Right."

"-drawing the outer circle."

"You know what her father's strongest magical influence was?"

"Order. Probably.. followed by divinity?"

"What, was he an angel or something?"

"No, he was blessed by a prehistoric pantheon, then became a Lord of Order. I.. don't know the names of the gods involved."

"No, that's fine. Order's simple enough. I'm going with 'order', 'hell' and 'mankind' as the three strongest magic influences. Father, Mother and-.

"Holy Spirit?"

"Heh. Probably not. But the correspondence might help. Lesser influences… Fire, Demons, conflict… Mystic squiggles…"

"You can leave those out. I'm not a tourist."

"They help me, alright? Here." He passes the pad back.

Uum, yeah, looks like something that should work. "Are you sure you can make this work?"

"How badly would it mess up the planet's weather if I didn't?"

"A tiny bit, if I didn't fix it first. Which I will." Ah… "Unless Blaze's countermeasures do something to it, but that's what I've got mage slayers for." He raises his eyebrows as I send the complete design to the targeting computers before putting the pad back into subspace. I take a round out of subspace and hold it out to him. "Built in magic draining enchantment fired from a railgun." He nods uncertainly. I'm.. going to have to dump a lot of information on him to bring him up to speed if I'm going to use him again. Probably worth doing just in case…

I wave my right hand, a construct appearing on the ground at our feet displaying the progress being made by the cold guns. "Do you want cash for this, or would you prefer payment in kind? I've built up quite a library of Atlantean arcana, the Complete Annotated Book of Truth…"

"Ten large, a couple of books of basic Atlantean stuff and a phone number."

"Not that you're unattractive-" He is unattractive. "-but I'm already seeing someone."

He rolls his eyes. "Another thing that separates me from John is that I'm straight. But I can't have a working relationship with someone I can't contact."

"Alright, done. And…" The symbol below us completes. "Done."

"Alright." Mister Bierce shakes himself out, rubs his hands together and then closes his eyes. "This will take a minute or two. I'll be able to get you range and direction, maybe a mental image of the place."

"Go for it."

I nod, then form a construct seat and sit down. Depending on the defences being employed, this may well not take all that long. The Ice Fortress itself has basic wards in case of counter-scrying attempts… I bring the exterior defence cold guns online and generate some point defence constructs. Targeted summoning is a perfectly viable counterattack tactic for-.

A sheet of flame explodes over the exterior defence screen, blood red and purple flames biting into the super stable plasma making it up! The screen fails in a couple of places and I immediately fire mage slayers at the fire, punching holes in it and beating it back.

"GGGGGRAAAAAHHH!" Mister Bierce staggers, blood dripping from between his closed eyelids and down his cheeks. "Got her! Got the bitch! North East! Eight thousand miles, North Africa somewhere!"

Oh dear. "Hold still."

"It's one of those 'struck blind' curses." He waves his right hand and blinks-. His eyes are ruins. "They usually wear off after a day or two. Don't worry about it."

"Right. Let's.. see if I can't take a little off that." Orange light shines from my rings… Ah, good, no resistance. His eyeballs reappear and I clean the blood from his cheeks as an added bonus. "There we go."

He blinks, looks around and then nods. "Thanks. So, I reckon… Israel… Maybe Libya?"

"Or Kahndaq."

"Yeah, could be. I got a pretty good feeling for the place. When we get a bit closer, I'll be able to direct you."

"No, I mean… I think I know where she is."

He looks annoyed for a moment, then puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs. "Whatever. I'm getting paid either way." He frowns slightly. "Right?"