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

[Mr Zoat]

5th October
09:27 GMT -6

"…investigation for his Court Martial."

Arnus' 'Augustus Freeman' personality is as different from his 'Icon' personality as Clark Kent is from Superman. Gone is his taciturnity and growly delivery, farewell his static posture. Mr Freeman is all smiles and animation and I'm forced to wonder which -if either- is Arnus' real personality.

"I will testify without hesitation."

Lantern Xor on the other hand is still barely animate. Outside of combat, he doesn't let his emotions show all that much. Graak has left his former client's shoulder in order to peruse Arnus' office, clearly rather enamoured with the comforts which our civilisation allows a successful lawyer.

"I wouldn't be quite that eager. Exactly how much reading have you done on America's legal system?"

"I sleep. I eat. I read and study. Last time I stood before magistrates I lost my freedom, my name and my voice. I will not enter a fight unprepared again."

"I don't recommend thinking of it as a fight. Particularly given how we're having to fight the image of you being an 'alien invader'. I'll go over-."

"Image?"

Lantern Xor's hands have formed fists, and Graak looks around from the leather-bound book he was reading with a look of alarm.

"Do they care more about appearances than truth? Am I simply to go from one travesty of justice to another?"

But he doesn't smash anything, which is definite progress.

"Not.. exactly. The problem is that in a lot of these cases, the penalty that gets levelled depends on things that can't be determined by a study of the physical evidence. A jury or a panel of officers have to be persuaded to… Let's say, correctly understand a person's motivations. And while they're supposed to limit themselves to evidence and testimony, it's unavoidable that they're going to interpret the way a person giving evidence behaves when they try and decide whether they're a credible witness or not."

Lantern Xor calms down a little.

"And since you're from a totally different culture and species, that's obviously a little awkward for you."

"I will not lie."

"I wasn't going to ask you to lie. I'm going to teach you how to present yourself so they believe you when you tell the truth."

Lantern Xor doesn't look entirely happy, but his anger is subsiding.

"What will happen to the General?"

"That's up to the Court Martial. If I were the one defending him, I'd probably try and make out that he had to make a decision based on incomplete information, that as far as he knew based on the police reports you were a belligerent attacker and needed to be taken down as quickly as possible to prevent things escalating further. That fact that he's written any number of reports on the potential for using military force in policing metahuman criminals shows he might have his own biases, but it'll be hard for the prosecutors to prove that he acted purely for that reason."

"You will not be able make them punish him?"

Arnus shakes his head. "I won't be prosecuting the case. The military has appointed a prosecutor, and General Hardcastle will select his own defence attorney. I'll be in court, but I'll just be there to advise you."

Lantern Xor snorts. "The American military tries an American general. My expectations are low."

"Even if some of them agree with him on using military power against superpowered criminals, General Hardcastle didn't make any friends amongst his peers when he shot up an American town. To say nothing of how his blatant disregard for the lives of the American civilians in the area is playing on Capitol Hill and in the news. Taking time to heal them was an extremely intelligent move."

"They were not military, not attacking me."

"Even so, it's strong evidence that you weren't planning on attacking Thayer's Notch when the police started shooting you." He looks at me. "Did you have anything to do with that?"

"I suggested that it couldn't hurt. But he's using an orange power ring."

He nods. "He had to want to do it in order to make it work. Okay, that's good to know. But… I do need to know why you didn't just leave town as soon as you got attacked. The police didn't have anything that could have hurt you, and even if you couldn't get away from the military the collateral damage from fighting them outside of town would be far less than fighting them inside it."

"I will not flee from an attacker. Especially one in uniform."

"I understand the attitude, but that's a problem in Massachusetts. A civilian who comes under attack is obligated to retreat rather than attacking unless that's.. clearly impossible. In your case, you could reasonably be considered to have known that the police issue firearms couldn't hurt you after the first few shots bounced off your skin. The prosecutor in your case will almost certainly make the argument that you had an obligation under law to leave the area. Did you..? Think they had heavier weapons available?"

"I did not think about it."

"Do you have a..? Lot of military experience?"

"I have been a soldier for two thirds of my life. I was a Warhound of the First Array."

"Okay, so… Would you say that you responded in the same way you would have on a battlefield?"

Lantern Xor frowns. "If I were on a battlefield I would have attacked them first."

"Alright, but if you suddenly found yourself confronted by.. enemy soldiers you weren't expecting..?"

"I would have recognised their weapons, so I would have prioritised them differently. But I would have attacked in the same way."

"Alright, that's something. Do your people have any enemies in this part of the universe?"

Lantenr Xor considers the question, then calls up a galaxy map and studies it intently for several moments. "Not that I have fought before."

"The reason I ask is that if you might reasonably have believed that you were attacking people allied to your species' enemies, it becomes a lot easier to justify your reaction."

"We might. I had little interest in high politics. I had not even thought to find out our location until you asked me."

"You didn't know where Earth is?" Lantern Xor shakes his head. "How did you get here?"

"Something went wrong on the prison transport. They didn't tell the prisoners what it was, but the containment system failed when main power did, and by the time I had freed the other prisoners the crew had already evacuated. The automatic navigation system locked onto Earth as the closest survivable destination. I expected there to be other survivors here."

"You broke the other prisoners out?"

"They would have died in their cells if I had not."

"And the crew didn't have time to open the doors?"

Lantern Xor shrugs. "I do not know why they did what they did. I am not responsible for their behaviour."

"No, of course not. Okay, we're going to need to go over a lot of details about your personal history and species' legal system. And we've got another police interview in a couple of hours. Now, I know-" He glances at me. "-that you've been living on Paul's Ice Fortress, but it would help me manage your case if you could start living inside US territory. Is that something you're prepared to do?"

Lantern Xor nods, grudgingly.

"Thank you. I'll-".

"I can move the Fortress back-."

Arnus holds up his right hand. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I'll have my assistant sort something out, somewhere secure and large enough for you. Why don't you.. tell me about your full military record?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
13:47 GMT -5

"You do not want to raise any more people from the dead?"

Euanthe and I are sitting in the grove at the top of Mount Justice, enjoying the autumn sun. She doesn't really look confused, but by now she knows that Humans do things that don't make sense to her and I'm pleased that she's learned to check.

"Not at the moment."

"Does Jade not want you to return the people she killed to life? Does she still hate them, or fear their vengeance?"

"No, she doesn't hate or fear them. I mean, she doesn't like being reminded of her guilt-."

"But if she feels guilty because they are dead, and now they are not dead, why does she still feel guilty?"

"Because people don't feel based on rationality. It's… It's mostly that she doesn't like having been the person that killed people in those circumstances. Jade was lukewarm on doing it anyway, and I was mostly doing it to assuage her guilt."

Euanthe nods. "And you cannot travel to the past to prevent her from having killed them."

"Not easily, and that would change a load of other things as well... Plus, Satanus knows what I'm doing and will almost certainly be trying to find her other victims, and as we can't be completely sure where their souls ended up, it also isn't a good idea for that reason." Euanthe frowns as she tries to adjust to a meat people mindset. "How did you feel about confronting Demons again?"

She grins, the soft bark of her faux-mini dress darkening and thickening and growing curved thorns until she's doing a decent Demon impression herself. "It felt good. It was wrong and should not be in the world and I made it leave and die."

"I'm not totally sure whether or not what you did resulted in Mister Okereke ceasing to exist. More likely, a little bit of him returned to Hell and will regenerate eventually."

"I do not mind. I am happy to kill him again and again." Her armour dress is accessorised with bramble knuckledusters as she clenches her fists. "I think it was a shame that I did not travel to their home with you. There would have been so many more of them to kill."

"And you might have had trouble accessing the green to empower yourself. And their magics might have been more effective, and the place itself might have been toxic to you."

"Perhaps. And I do not think that eating more of the Great Warrior's flesh would help with that." She crawls across the ground between us and leans forwards until her bark-cowled face is centimetres from mine. "How do I learn to kill Demons better?"

"Um. There probably… Are ways, but I'm afraid that with most of my magic-using contacts occupied with other projects, and given that what happened last time I didn't have thaumaturgists studying what I was doing was that I got sucked into Hell…"

"What are they doing?"

"Studying how to.. make a high-powered anti-Demon magic user. Once they've done that, we can look into it. And until then, I'll call on you whenever I'm planning on fighting Demons so you can get more experience."

"Will that be soon?"

"Um. Pppprobably not. I.. can ask Diana to notify you of Demon-related Justice League cases? To be honest, I'm not planning on going after Satanus for a while, so…"

She slumps back dejectedly, bark coverings thinning.

"You could always try looking for Demons yourself? I wouldn't recommend confronting them on your own in case something goes wrong and you need backup, but Demons are persona non grata in most places. I doubt anyone would mind about you attacking them."

Notification: Kal-El has completed his press conference.

"Ah." I try to get up, then realise that I've been undergrowthed again. "Euanthe, would you mind letting me get up?"

She tilts her head to the side as the creepers retract. "Was it right to make that forest near the first pit?"

"It would have been better to discuss it first, but-" I rise to my feet. "-on balance, yes."

"Would I be able to fight more Demons if I made more forests?"

Ah..? "I don't.. quite see the link. I imagine that there being a stronger green presence would strengthen you slightly and weaken them… Maybe you could find sites of demonic magic and plant forests over them?" She smiles and-. "But check with the local Humans first!"

She smiles and waves as she drops into the soil of the grove floor.

…

Oh, she's managed this long. Now, Metropolis. I fly upwards far enough that the presence of the green isn't quite so overwhelming, then I step out. Kal-El's barely-noticeable and classically small town American set of desires doesn't exactly leap out at me, but it's visible enough that finding it doesn't represent much of a problem.

I appear on the roof of the Daily Planet-

"Orange Lantern. Didn't realise you could teleport."

-building, nodding politely at Ms Lane as I do so. "I learned all sorts of things while away from Earth. Kal-El? Are you ready to go?"

He nods, but opens his mouth to respond slightly slower than Ms Lane does. "'Kal-El'? What's wrong with 'Superman'?"

"It's not his name."

She folds her arms across her chest, shifting her weight to her right hip. "Sounds like you're throwing stones from a glass house there, 'Orange Lantern'."

"Ms Lane, you are welcome to call me by name. Or you may address me by my rank; it's Illustres. But I grew up in a world without superheroes and I can't help but find some of the naming conventions daft."

Kal-El nods. "He used to call me 'sir' the whole time."

"What stopped him?"

"I stopped working for the League. Are you ready to leave?"

She nods, then looks to Kal-El. He nods as well. "Kon's going to meet us at the Fortress. Kara's.. not.. ready to go out in public quite yet."

I frown slightly, then glance at Lois. She shakes her head. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try interviewing her. Getting a first hand look at Krypton is plenty to keep me busy."

I nod. "Very well, then." Orange filaments connect me to both of them. "Transition in three, two, one, transition."

Metropolis disappears and is replaced by the arctic wilderness, Ms Lane shivering for a second before I extend an environmental shield around her. Ahead of us Kal-El flies over to the front door and opens it.

"Welcome to my home away from home."

Spoiler: Former ending

I look down from the top of a building overlooking Centennial Park towards the demonstration. This particular event is in support of attempts by President Horne to bring a large number of Bialyan refugees to the United States. Kal-El's usually a bit reluctant to appear at partisan events, but once the organisers agreed to reduce the blatant Democratocracy a bit he agreed to give a speech. Nothing exactly hair-raising-

Kal-El glances up and gives me a shallow nod before returning to the man he was talking to.

-but a definite departure from his normal mode of operation. He asked if I wanted to take part, but I don't have the general popularity to make that sort of public impact. And I was politely told that my preferred solution of flying in and winning the civil war by myself wouldn't be required. Still, I'm at a bit of a loose end until Sephtian and company finish work on Blaze and I want to see if I can-.

A shimmering tear appears in the air a short distance from… Oh, come on. Really? There's a slash from… An axe blade? Looks like one of those 'barbarian war axe' things that no one would have actually used in combat, with a disproportionately large and unbalanced blade. Anyway, the magic axe cuts cleanly through the fabric of reality and some guy dressed like a… Yes, like a fantasy executioner, steps out.

"Superman!" The crowd is already fleeing for minimum safe distance and Kal-El clenches his fists. "Today I will kill you, and your tomorrow will die with you!"

Time traveller, then? Ring, scan-. The rift closes as whoever this is steps through. Has an axe, is from the future… That was the Persuader, right? I saw him in one episode of Justice League and in the comic as part of the Fatal Five Thousand. Not really sure how dangerous he is, but you know what happens to an idiotic supervillain hit by a crumbler round?

The same as everything e-.

Kal-El glances up at me and gives his head a very small shake.

Really?

I stare down and throw my arms up in the air, but he's gone back to focusing on the Persuader. I'd use his real name, but I don't actually remember ever hearing it. Scanning… Is jammed, empathic vision reveals… Someone with a lot to prove and who came back in time to kill the most significant historical hero in order to do it.

Well, fuck you, future historians.

Kal-El unclenches his fists and makes a mildly placatory gesture, prompting the Persuader to throw a small grenade-. Oh. Heh. There's a green blast as it releases a wave of kryptonite radiation, which Kal-El's environmental shield effortlessly absorbs. Persuader charges but Kal-El is already closing the distance, grabbing Persuader around the neck with his right hand while his left hand grips Persuader's left wrist to turn aside the axe's haft.

Huh. That was easy.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
20:27 GMT

Ms Lane stares out through the faceplate of her helmet at the slowly drifting continent-sized chunk of Krypton. "I'm seeing it, and I still can't quite get my head around it."

I don't bother nodding. It wouldn't be visible in this armour. "I can't either." I hold out my right hand, generating a construct of an exploded -hah- view of the late planet. "This bit here."

She studies the image, her eyes moving from it to the floating rock as she tries to reconcile the two in her mind. A moment later she gives up. "Think I could use that for an infographic?"

"Sure."

"I.. went there once." Kara drifts in our direction. "Krypton's first spaceport was.. built outside Erkol, I visited it with my class."

"I thought space travel was officially disapproved of?"

"We aren't-." She sighs. "We weren't a monoculture any more than humans are. A lot of science council-associated families wanted to preserve places like that: where our species took great strides forward in our development. It's just-." Kal-El floats up behind her and lays his right hand on her left shoulder. "I just wish there'd been more ships available. No one was allowed faster than light ships. If they'd had-."

I hear her sob for a moment, then she turns her communicator off.

Kon snorts. "Guess you were right about Zod."

Kal-El looks my way. "What was that about General Zod?"

"Oh, I just… I thought that if his coup had been successful, he'd have built more ships. So.. this…"

"He'd have built warships. He'd probably have invaded Earth by now."

I don't know enough about the psychology of Dru-Zod the Younger to properly evaluate his likely behaviour. It's been.. what, forty years? Conquering and settling his neighbours might well have taken up all of that time, particularly if someone made a decent counterattack. And he wasn't widely popular; it's quite possible that he'd have faced internal resistance, even from the rest of the military council.

"Possibly. We'll probably never know for certain."

From the look on Kal-El's face, he's strongly considering saying something else on the subject. Then he turns away to stare in-system. Ms Lane gives up trying to appreciate the size of the colossal rock and follows his gaze. "Is all that kryptonite safe?"

"I-" I was thinking of saying 'I wouldn't recommend breathing it', but.. perhaps not. "-would think so. Your space suit is rated against that level of radiation and your force field makes sure of it. If either fail I'll shield you with an environmental shield, but outside of the strongest concentrations kryptonite radiation isn't rapidly fatal to humans."

Communication system shows the Kryptonians have a discussion between themselves. Probably trying to comfort Kara. I did.. say this might not be the best idea for her.

"So, what, as long as I don't wanna have kids it's nothing to worry about?"

"No-." Huh. "The chance is low that your reproductive health would suffer, and if that happened I could get hold of a purple healing ray or Atlantean biomancer fairly easily, so… Don't worry about it."

"Mm." She reaches for her suit's controls and awkwardly turns herself around. "Still can't get over kryptonite not being a problem any more."

"It's still not safe. It could kill them if they swallowed it or breathed it in, and a kryptonite laser or plasma weapon would still be fairly lethal."

"First time I interviewed Superman, he bent some steel bars to show how strong he was. Once he'd been working in Metropolis for a while I started to think he was indestructible. Then, someone found the first piece of kryptonite and suddenly… He could get taken down by some thug with a glowing rock."

"Has Metropolis really not had superheroes before?"

"No one on Superman's level."

"No one's on Superman's level. He's the strongest and most durable superhero I'm aware of, to say nothing of him being the fastest natural flyer. But.. most of the difference is by degrees; I could find you a dozen people who could bend steel bars in their hands."

"My point is, have you seen Metropolis' crime figures lately?"

"No? Why, what's happening?"

"Way down. First time he just ignored someone waving a kryptonite crystal at him, all the gangs who'd been depending on the stuff booked it."

"And the figures in neighbouring regions went up?"

"Not all the way. Small amounts of kryptonite aren't expensive or hard to get hold of. Other weapons that can hurt Superman aren't anything like as common. I think they're having to lay low."

"Good show." I switch over to broadcast. "Are we ready to move on?"

Kal-El turns to my direction. "Yeah, I think so."

"Plotting course to Har-Zod's redoubt." I warp space, bending the universe around us to give us a view of the Rao system as we travel. The three Kryptonians and I start flying in the direction warped, but Ms Lane appears to be having a little trouble with her thrust controls. I attach a filament tether to her instead, pulling her with me as we head inwards.

"So why are you doing this?"

"Kon's my friend, and Kal-El's done enough for the world that I don't mind doing him the odd favour."

"I mean, specifically: why are you taking a Kryptonian moon base?"

"That's…" Hm. "I have been meaning to ask you something as well. I'm sort of feeling like… Did you ever watch Friends?"

"I've heard of it."

"The episode where Phoebe and Rachel work out that Monica and Chandler are dating? And they try and get them to admit it by having Phoebe hit on Chandler?"

"Ahhh…"

"And then Monica and Chandler work out that they know, and I don't even remember why, but they decide to try and make them admit that they know? And Joey's privy to both sets of revelations-."

"Are you going somewhere with this?"

"What do you know? Because for me it's confusing what I'm allowed to say around you."

"What do I know about Superman?"

"Yes, and the League in general? I mean, I haven't wanted to pry, but I also don't want to give away anything I'm not supposed to."

I hear a quiet laugh from Kal-El. "I think what Orange Lantern's trying to ask is whether you know who I am when I put my glasses back on."

"Could be awkward if she didn't."

That gets a chuckle from Ms Lane as well. "Yes, I know about his amazing double life as a mild-mannered reporter."

"And… What do you think happens in the Hall of Justice?"

"Tours for sightseers?"

Ah. "Well then, quite aside from its value as an archive of Kryptonian society, I noticed that Earth has barely any orbital defences. So I thought that we might stick it somewhere near Earth and then expand it."

"You want the Justice League to have a space station?"

Ooh. Someone's going to be in for an unfun conversation when his girlfriend finds out about the Watchtower. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'orbital battle fortress', actually. But I leave that up to the Kryptonian contingent."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
20:42 GMT

"…a military dictator."

Ms Lane has her hands on her hips as she interrogates the neural imprint. Har-Zod doesn't appear to be particularly troubled by her hostility.

"I'm afraid that I don't have files on your planet's government. As such, I wouldn't know how to characterise the precise differences between them. I would not describe myself as a dictator. I was head of the military council during a time when the military council was pre-eminent, but the council as a whole was elected to that pre-eminence by the population as a whole. And that pre-eminence itself was hardly an unusual state of affairs. Krypton's first contact with alien races came when we were invaded by the Vrangs. After their occupation force was destroyed, it became quite normal for the military to set policy with regard to our interactions with other species."

"The.. Vrangs?"

"An alien species which occupied Krypton during our industrial age." His head shrinks, and an image of the military council's organisation chart appears next to him. "The military council was comprised of senior officers retired from active service, the field commander of Kryptonian military forces and the heads of each branch of the services. Depending on election results, additional individuals from areas not directly associated with Krypton's fighting force might also act in an advisory role."

"So if it got popular enough, the military could take control of whatever it wanted."

"In theory, the military council could take control of anything the people of Krypton wanted it to. In practice, that should not have ever happened. What I meant to imply was that at times it made sense to coordinate closely with the science council in the design of new ships or with the labour council in planning ship building projects. The results of elections would determine exactly how forceful that 'coordination' would be. Likewise, when the military council was not pre-eminent we would follow the policy direction set by whatever council was."

"I should also point out that it was the science council who thought that isolationism was a good idea."

"Hm." Ms Lane steps away from the display as I come closer.

"Har-Zod, do you have any particular problem with us moving this base?"

"I would have liked to remain here, in case any other surviving Kryptonians manage to make the return journey. But I suppose the chance of that isn't particularly high."

"I'm happy to leave beacons in place to relay any message you wish to send. And I think we can give them Earth's location. It will just take them a little longer to reach you."

Ms Lane raises her left eyebrow. "You're giving Earth's location to potentially hostile aliens?"

"I'm not doing anything which the Voyager probe isn't doing. Besides, anyone who can track Kryptonian FTL could follow Kal-El's wake and find us eventually. This is just a slightly more polite way of doing it."

Har-Zod's head nods. "That's acceptable. Do you intend to try to move the whole moon?"

Hm. Not sure. Putting Xenon at a Lagrange point would work, but it might also cause the governments of Earth to throw a bit of a fit. On the other hand, digging this place out is… Well, it's doable, if not exactly quick. And it can grow more space if we need it to by consuming some of Luna. Someone might spot it if we put it on the light side, but if we put it on the dark side we could keep it secret…

Of course, while I sort of have the final say since.. I'm the one moving it, it would be impolitic to ignore what the Kryptonians think of the situation.

I raise my right hand to my right ear. "Orange Lantern to Superman."

"Go ahead."

"Har-Zod's given the go-ahead. Have the three of you talked things through?"

Ms Lane stares at me for a moment. "You were serious about the League having an orbital battle station?"

"As both a non-signatory and as a non-state actor, the League is exempt from the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. The UN has de jure accepted that, otherwise they couldn't allow space-capable League members into space. The League is presently the Earth's only way of stopping space-borne aggressors reaching Earth and their capacity to actually do that isn't anything like as good as you might think."

She opens her mouth to respond, but Kal-El gets there first. "And this has nothing to do with you constantly installing new weapon systems in.. your own facility."

Subtle. I know that he means the Mountain, but Ms Lane might think he's talking about the Ice Fortress. "The reason I do that is the same as the reason why I'm arguing for this. Either the League has military responsibilities, or it doesn't. Since none of you told me that I was mistaken during my performance review when I assessed you on it-."

Ms Lane blinks. "You gave the League a performance review?"

"Yes, and if you want a copy you can ask them for it. Anyway, if you actually want to do that job, you need deep space sensors which the Guardians can't turn off on a whim, you need weapon platforms and.. preferably ships. And I don't mean Batman's space plane."

From the lack of response I'm going to guess that he's still mulling it over. Either that or I was excessively frank again.

"Or if you want to um and ah about this a bit more I can drop Xenon off outside the Sol system while you discuss it amongst yourselves and clear it with the Security Council."

"That does sound a little more sensible."

"No, it sounds more reasonable. In fact, it forces you to take people out of their comfort zones without giving you the advantages that a space-based facility would provide, and thus is less sensible."

"Kal, I… I know Earth is less advanced than Krypton was, but Paul's right. It isn't safe to not have some sort of defence system. And if there was some kind of natural disaster-."

"Earth doesn't have the same structural problem Krypton had."

"We…" I can hear the reluctance in Kon's voice. "Do… Have super volcanoes and crazy supervillains… I'm not saying we need this, but it.. could be useful. Y'know. Just in case."

And I'm getting Joeyed again. Kon and Kal-El both know that the League has a space station, giant floating target that it is. Lois apparently doesn't. I imagine that the arguments I'm advancing in favour are similar to the ones raised when the League discussed whether or not to use the Watchtower. I still don't agree with the decision to keep its existence a secret. The number of supervillains who could even try to reach it is tiny compared to the ones who could reach the Hall of Justice, located conveniently as it is in the middle of a major city. Carrying on using the Mountain would have made more sense, seeing as it's a reasonable distance from Happy Harbour and Happy Harbour has a low population anyway.

Of course, what I really want is for the team to start using this place. But that's probably a stretch too far.

I hear Kal-El sigh. "Alright. We'll move the moon, but I don't want you taking it close to Earth. Could you put it in orbit around Jupiter?"

Ring? "Yes, though if that's the route you want to take my personal preference would be putting it in a off-plane orbit around our sun."

Ms Lane looks at me askance. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"I've already asked another member of my Corps to visit us to help me with another project I'm working on. I doubt that she'd mind babysitting it."

Kal-El thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, whatever you think best. Will the rest of us be able to meet her? I'll be interested to see what sort of people you've been recruiting."

"That shouldn't be a problem." I step away from Har-Zod. "Shall we start back now? Even with all three of you pushing, I imagine that it will take us a while to get up to speed."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
21:14 GMT

"I've heard people joke about Superman being strong enough to push a planet, but this is something else."

The universe sails past us in a cylinder of orange and white as the Kryptonians put their backs into it. Obviously, just having them shove Xenon wouldn't do very much, so I've got a construct spreading the force out over the.. west..? The western side. The effort involved in sustaining that along with the warp itself is preventing me from helping with the thrust, but it looks like they've got it covered.

"Second time on a faster than light planetoid for me. Though I should point out that without anything to push from, their strength is basically useless. It's really more their resilience combined with the power of their flight that lets them push it."

"Any reason you couldn't just teleport it back?"

"I teleport to people. Teleporting to someone I know on Earth while towing a moon didn't sound sensible. Plus, I'm not sure what happens when I try to bring very large objects with me. Besides…" I spread my arms out to the sides. "Look. Look."

"You enjoyed it so much the first time that you just had to try it again?"

"You're now part of a very exclusive club. I doubt that more than a handful of people in the universe have done this." Skrk. No, a mile high club joke would not be appropriate. "The stars are all the more beautiful without an atmosphere, but like this you've got a horizon so your brain-."

"Yeah, I'm… Trying not to look at it. I don't usually get air sick, but-."

"Oh." Ah. "I can give you some travel sickness pills?"

"I can cope." She turns to face me, carefully focusing her eyes on my face and not the breathtaking -or in her case stomach churning- panorama behind me. "So is this what you spend your time doing?"

"How do you mean?"

"Superman… Clark, splits his time between his work for the Daily Planet and being Superman. He patrols Metropolis, he helps the emergency services, things like that."

"I.. suppose you could say it's the sort of thing I do? I like locating useful technology and knowledge and putting it to better use. Even if nothing else comes of this, at the very least Kon will have access to a record of Kryptonian history."

"And he couldn't get that from Clark?"

"Um? I suppose he could, now. I started.. planning this before their.. recent rapprochement…"

"I thought you didn't want that to happen."

"Is this about what I said to Kal-El last New Year?" She nods. "Kal-El.. avoiding Kon didn't really give me the best impression. Then I… Then Diana agreed to adopt him after taking him on as a student… And then Kal-El decides that now was the time to reach out to him. A month earlier or later and I'd probably have been friendlier about it. But that really wasn't the time. Now? Sure, no problem. If Kon's happy, I'm happy."

Kon was.. a bit vague when I asked him how it went. I suppose that Lex wouldn't have bothered giving him any farming-related programming, and Themysciran farming techniques are a little more primitive than what farms in Kansas employ. Still, he seemed pretty upbeat afterwards. Not sure what I'll do if he asks about Lex's side of the family. Lori's about his apparent age, but Kon's genetic heritage is public knowledge. And Kon hasn't spent a good chunk of his life idolising Lex.

"So what have you got going on at the moment?"

"Batman asked me to locate…" And another Joey; she almost certainly doesn't know about Nabu. "A couple of magic users who have the potential for League membership, as that's an area of weakness in their current line-up. I've so far got one, and a second who needs a little work. And there were some.. magic field experiments I ran… Got some useful data-."

"Experiments you were running with the North Rhelasians? Experiments that created a forest out of thin air which the military cordoned off from the locals?"

"A series of experiments of which I performed one in North Rhelasia. The forest was a result of an oversight on my part; I didn't explain to a dryad friend of mine why making an enchanted forest wasn't a good idea."

"Because the locals will just cut it down for firewood?"

"Because the locals might try to cut it down for firewood and be brutally slaughtered by spriggans."

"That explains the military build-up."

"Yes, and I've explained why it wasn't a good idea and she won't do it again."

She nods. "These wizards. Who are they?"

"I doubt that you'd have heard of Doctor Mist. The other… I suspect that you'd know her actual name and she hasn't selected a nom de guerre as yet. Doctor Mist is a multi-millennial African magic user of considerable ability. Beyond that, I suggest asking him yourself."

"Any comment on the recently appeared Blue Lantern?"

"He used to be a member of the Justice Society, and he's a good friend of mine."

"And the resemblance between him and retired television executive Alan Scott?"

"He's just got that sort of face."

"Rrrright. So what else do you do?"

"Else?"

"You know, like other teenagers do? Do you have any hobbies? What sports teams do you like? Do you have a girlfriend.. or boyfriend?"

Ah. "In order? As little as possible. I didn't become a superhero because I wanted a normal life. Uplift is my hobby, and everything else has rather fallen by the wayside. I have no interest in sports beyond a small feeling of residually nationalistic pride when England wins something. I do have a girlfriend, and she's coping admirably with.. me. And that's all I'm saying about her."

"Alright, so why did you become a superhero?"

"Kal-El became a superhero due to noblesse oblige, Batman due to a drive for revenge. With me, it was an act of desperation to preserve my own life. As I told Ms Dearden, by the standards of Earth Prime this world is mad and has all too many novel and horrifying ways to die. Heck, your population is a billion less than my own Earth. I needed to keep my ring going and I needed training."

"So you dived straight into a bunch of dangerous situations to keep yourself safe?"

"It's not the ones you see coming that get-"

"Approaching destination."

"-you. Orange Lantern to push team, we're nearly there. Feel free to stop pushing once the universe reappears."

"Thanks for the notice."

"Ms Lane, if you watch-" I point upwards and to my left. "-there, you'll see something truly remarkable. But it might also make you quite ill. Up to you."

"Great."

"Three, two, one, end-"

The universe reappears, our view mostly consisting of the surface of Ater Clementia.

"-warp."

"WRAAAGH!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
21:21 GMT

"…GOD DAMNED LUNATIC!"

"Ms Lane-."

"WHY WERE YOU FLYING US AT A PLANET?"

"Our relative velocity-."

"YOU HAD AN ENTIRE UNIVERSE NOT FILLED WITH PLANETS TO AIM AT!"

"The universe is filled with all the planets, Ms Lane. Look, we're safely orbiting around-."

"And how could you be sure the Lantern down there could catch us!?"

"Lantern Mother of Mercy is a planet. Catching moons is what planets do. See those big spine-?"

"I'm trying not to look at it."

"Basically, those are Mother of Mercy's gravity sensing organs. She could feel-."

Kal-El flies over Xenon's horizon at some speed, barely sparing Ater Clementia a glance. "Lois, are you okay?"

"Just..! Super."

He looks at me. "I take it this was intentional?"

"Yes, of course it-."

"Then I'd appreciate it if you could give the rest of us a little more warning in the future. And no, telling us that we're going to see another Orange Lantern isn't the same as warning us that we're about to run into a planet."

"We were never going to hit the planet." I hold out my left hand. "Mother of Mercy, back me up."

A projection of her central nexus appears next to me. "I felt the Illustres' spatial distortion as soon as you left the Rao system. Catching you was simple. I have already put Xenon into a stable orbit around me."

"And the lack of warning?"

"I thought that it was a better visual spectacle like this. The planet just appearing like this. But, I will certainly take your concern onboard and avoid doing this again."

"Thank you." He turns, looking at the sky. "We're in the Sol system, and… From the position of the planets we're near Mars' orbit."

"We're at right angles to Mars' orbit."

"And did it occur to you to make sure that the Martians didn't object?"

"Yes. I popped by for a quiet chat with Prince J'emm a couple of days ago. You see, the biggest barrier to Martians repopulating the surface of their world is their weak magnetic field. So I thought that I'd bring in the Orange Lantern Corps' greatest expert in geophysics to see if she could sort that out for them. Don't worry, she'll check with them before she starts manipulating their planet's core."

Ms Lane seems to have regained a degree of composure. "I know that putting another planet in the star system won't significantly affect the orbit of anything already there, but if she's planning on getting close to Mars, won't that cause earthquakes?"

"I used gravity to fly through space before I became an Orange Lantern. I am perfectly capable of preventing the gravity distortion created by my mass from affecting anything else."

"You see? No-" I raise my right hand to wave as Kon and Kara fly towards us. "-problem. Do you-?"

"Is that…" Kara stares at Ater Clementia. "Planet.. supposed to be there?"

"Yes, that's an Orange Lantern."

"The-? The whole planet is a Lantern?"

"No, but I cover its entire surface. The Illustres has rendered my name as 'Mother of Mercy'."

"What are you?"

"I am unique. I cannot be readily compared to any life form with which you are familiar. Parts of my body function like plant material, others like animal tissue and the rest is organic technology. I understand how to create and use it instinctively. Now that I have a power ring and personal lantern, my few restrictions have been lifted."

"I…" Kara shakes her head. "Huh."

"We're close enough to Earth here that I can zeta tube everyone back. Or you can mount the first ever tourist expedition to Ater Clementia-."

Lois definitively shakes her head. "Perry's gunna want a piece on why there's a new planet in the system on his desk tonight."

"He needs to work on his work-life balance."

She gives me an odd look. "Yeah. He's the weird one."

"No, he's fairly normal. But I don't have high blood pressure and too much cholesterol and hence am at a far lower risk of heart attack." I wave my right hand and a zeta tube construct appears. "After you."

"Recognised, Lois Lane, A four six."

"Kal-El? Kara? Heading back to-?"

"Actually? I was talking to Kon, and…" She glances at him and he nods reassuringly. "I think I'd.. like to meet your friends."

"Oh? Great. They're lovely people-" I set my communicator to 'just Kon'. "Are Canis or Blaze-?"

"Canis is out with his Aunt, and Blaze is at KordTech."

Back to 'all'. "-and I'm sure they'd be delighted to meet you."

Kal-El nods, smiling. "I'm glad you're feeling up to it. I'll just tag along in case-."

"Actually? I think.. this is something I need to be able to do by myself."

Kal-El regards her carefully for a moment. "If you're sure. Call me at the Planet if you need anything."

"Recognised, Superman, zero one."

Kara takes a deep breath, then floats towards the zeta tube. "Okay. Here I go."

"Recognised, Kara Zor-El, A four five, Superboy, B zero four."

I turn to Mother of Mercy's projection. "I hope you enjoy your time in our little system."

"I have found that I enjoy meeting new people."

"Contact me if you need anything."

I float through the zeta tube.

8th October
16:24 GMT -5

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six. Identification confirmed."

Looks like just about everyone's here, and Kara's working through her initial nervousness. Roy waves, his modified light armour moving more easily than it used to. M'gann's talking nineteen to the dozen to Kara already, and-.

"Hey, Oh El." Wallace blurs to a stop just in front of me. "You sticking around today, or-."

Kara spins, her eyes metaphorically blazing. "You're Kryptonian too?! Why didn't you-?"

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not. Wallace, I told you that would happen eventually."

He looks at her, then looks at me. "What?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th October
17:34 GMT -5

"Plato?" Raquel looks more curious than surprised. "I thought you liked Theory of Justice?"

I slide the next batch of chopped celery into the cauldron-like saucepan. I'd rather gotten out of the habit of cooking for this many people. But given the amount of time I've been spending in the mountain since my return to Earth I can't really complain about getting kitchen duty every so often.

"Sure, as a work of political philosophy. It just occurred to me that the only work of philosophy that covered superheroes was Republic."

That gets a frown. "What you talking about? You were the one saying that Truggs was right about superheroes being a bit crazy but not crazy enough. Doesn't that match what Nietzschie-"

"Nietzsche."

"-said about creating new moralities? That it was confusing, uncomfortable and most people wouldn't do it."

I nod as I start adding the stock. "Yeah. Yeah, fair point. It's just that from what I remember of Nietzsche, he thought that once someone did it-. "

"They'd stick with it 'cause they'd already decided their old moral code was stupid. Whereas what you and Truggs think the League is doing is trying to stay within their old moral code while doing something that.. sometimes can't fit inside it."

"I'm not sure that Nylor and I see it in quite the same way. But broadly…"

She squints slightly. "Anyone ever tell you you've got a nasty mind?"

"Not that specifically, no. But what I took away from Nietzsche was that having a morality you don't believe in is self destructive. So if none of us feel like joining the police force but insist on saying that police are important to law enforcement…"

"That's a contradiction 'cause we don't act like we do. We fight crime, hunt down criminals and none of us really care what the police think about it 'cept when they actually try an' make an issue of us being vigilantes."

"But if we don't actually believe in law and order, what do we believe? Or what should we? I mean, to my mind that's at least as important as hand-to-hand combat training. We're not just going to have to hit things in the field, we're going to have to make decisions with massive legal and political ramifications."

"More you than me."

"Really? Have you ever been to Arnus' homeworld?"

"No. But… Huh."

"Right. If he ever does decide to visit home, he'd probably-."

She shakes her head. "I asked, and he told me he thinks of Earth as home."

"Oh. Okay, well, his former home. You'd be the first Human to visit there. Not.. a government or UN appointed diplomat. You. And they'd probably form policy relating to us based on what you said. Remember how you felt when I said I'd started making more kinetic belts? Not doing that was a decision you made."

"And you think I was wrong."

"I think you were wrong. I don't know you were wrong. And I don't know what metric you were using to make that decision."

"I didn't even think about it." Her eyes unfocus slightly as she sits back in her chair. "If you wanna make the world a better place…"

"Take a look at yourself, and then make a change."

"Which is how you got to Plato. Because of how he said guardians should be educated to be guardians, which is kinda what's happening to us."

"The guardians weren't supposed to own property. Superheroes don't get paid. The difference is that the Guardians' upkeep was paid for by the state, while we're volunteers doing it pro bono publico. I still find it amusing that the most avowedly capitalist nation on Earth idolised Kal-El, a man who has never been paid for the work he does as Superman."

"Do you think he should? Hell, do you think I should get Icon to release more Terminus technology?"

"I don't know. What metric do you think you should use to decide?"

She glances aside. "Whether Icon'll let me or not."

"Heh. Well yeah, that's… Important. Given that he hasn't for.. two hundred years? I think we can guess what he thinks. But if we're talking about cultivating virtues in ourselves-."

I look around as the door opens and Kon wanders in, followed by Roy and Kara. "Didn't Plato say that guardians shouldn't marry and people shouldn't know who their biological parents are?"

"There's a logic to that. If-."

A look of distaste passes over Kara's face. "If they don't know who their family are, they can't show them any preference."

Raquel shakes her head. "No, they'd still identify with other guardians more than anyone else. And I'm pretty sure that anyone with a calendar could make a pretty good guess about which kid was whose."

"Which leads us onto the problem of groupthink, and Mill and Taylor's insistence that free discussion on all topics was essential-."

"When are we eating?"

We all look at Roy. He shrugs.

"Sorry to bring down the tone, but…"

"About two hours." Chicken legs, bay leaf and turn up the heat a little… "You getting hungry already?"

"Just wanna know if I've got time to rebuild my armour's targeting system before dinner."

Kara sags. "I'm really sorry-."

"Hey, it's not a problem."

"What happened?"

"She-." / "I-."

They look at each other and Roy shrugs. She sighs. "Earth technology is… It's so much more primitive than what I had on Krypton. I keep thinking that I should be able to use what I know to improve things. Except it's so much less advanced and.. just.. alien that nothing I know applies to it. And I got frustrated and I.. kind of forgot I had super strength, and…"

Ooh. I look at Roy. "Can you fix it, or do you want me to-?"

"Really, it's not a problem. I like working on my armour." He turns away, smiling as he does so. "I'll be finished before dinner."

Maybe Red Arrow gave me a rather slanted impression, but he's surprisingly easy-going.

Raquel sits back so she can look at Kara without straining her neck. "If you're having trouble with your flying, you could try out the ring course."

"I'm.. not sure that it's a good idea for me to fly inside a mountain. I can fly through mountains."

Kon shakes his head. "It's not a problem. After I bounced off the walls and ceiling a few times we added in kinetic barriers. If you miss your turn now you just stop."

"Okay…" She nods, perking up slightly. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. But… Do the barriers cover the floor as well?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
11:12 GMT -5

"So… What you're saying is, it's impossible."

"No! No." Sephtian shakes his head. "It clearly is possible, in.. the same way that.. your people understood how a fission bomb could be created well before they had the means to actually build one. We understand how the arcane structures in Blaze function. If we wanted to create another like her it is quite possible that we could manage it. And we understand what she needs to look like after the transition has occurred."

Ted's made a real effort to help the Atlanteans feel at home here. Moving weather control system production away from KordTech's main research centre made a lot of sense, and he's having the building which used to house it converted into an Atlantean style arcane laboratory. And given the subject of the project they're currently doing for me, one of the really high security ones. Unfortunately there isn't a high security way to move Blaze from the mountain to here… Well, not yet.

"But you can't actually make the transition."

"The Demon you fought in Guyana was able to maintain a link using the remains of the soul of the man it once was, combined with the magics of the Lazarus Pit. That kept the Earth end of the gate open."

"Yes, I realised that."

"The Human soul naturally combined the elements. Blaze does not have a Human soul. She has a structure of Hell magic which behaves somewhat like one. There is no attachment point where we could begin to replace the energies."

"Is there any way around that?"

He makes a sinuous wiggling gesture. Yes but no. "If we had an object or creature who could combine those energies, we could use them. Have you located the First?"

"No. And if we haven't at this point then I don't expect to." The Greek police were grateful -even if they weren't sure they could believe me- when I explained who 'Theo' was, and since he killed at least eight people during his stay in Greece they're as alert as they can be.

"I am aware of no other source of such magic. Are you?"

"No, I'm afraid-." Huh. "Maybe."

"If you are referring to a mythological artefact, I would not expect.. complete certainty. But without one we are forced to start from first principles."

"And how long will that take?"

"Perhaps three decades? We will of course learn a great deal… But I suspect that you would like results sooner." He watches me for a moment. "If.. I may ask..?"

"What do you know about Christian mythology?"

"We have all been doing some reading. But a faith two thousand years old -not counting the Hebraic tradition which preceded it- will create a great deal of literature. If you could be more precise..?"

"The Garden of Eden. More precisely, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge."

"The most empirically-based interpretation I could imagine is that it was a reference to the transition from hunter-gatherer society to settled farming. Knowledge in that instance representing early Humans taking control of the land and causing it to conform to their desires. Since that is usually accompanied by an increase in disease and decrease in general health, that might explain the 'curses' Jehovah bestowed upon the people for defying his will. And the difference in his treatment of Cain and Abel-."

"And the less empirical interpretation?"

"There is literally a tree somewhere which grants people the ability to comprehend ideas which are considerably more complex than those their social world contains within it. Perhaps which even creates sophoncy itself. Though that idea does rather fly in the face of the fossil record. On the other hand, it is very hard to observe evolution, While the orthodox view is that greater brain size amongst hominids is a result of random mutations in favourable conditions, it is not impossible that it was the result of externally applied magic. But not on two people; the gene pool would have been too small, even if they were prepared to mate with more mentally simple hominids."

"But the specific description; the God-like ability to know good from evil and choose between them?"

"There are any number of evils which cannot exist in the most simple societies. Professional thieves cannot work their trade if they must follow the herds. There is little to steal, and all of the other members of their tribe would see them. It is nearly as hard in small farming communities, particularly before currency was invented-."

"This is a little outside your normal area, isn't it?"

"I had to study surface society in order to understand what I was reading." His head fronds ripple. "But what you want me to say is that the fruit is a magic banana which will enable us to perform the arcane transfiguration you require."

"Banana?"

"Banana or mushroom or apple or tomato or pomegranate or perhaps something else entirely. If you actually get to the Garden of Eden, I recommend taking samples of everything. Several, perhaps."

"But does it.. sound like something that could work?"

"Based on the limited information available to me… Yes? Perhaps? It would.. prove an interesting object of study in its own right, regardless of how helpful it would be to our current project."

"One miscellaneous fruit from the Tree of Knowledge coming up. If I'm not back in an hour, watch for a crater."

"Might.. it be prudent to wait until.. one of your allies can accompany you? Your.. last fight with monotheistic elementals did not go as well as it might."

True. I doubt that Euanthe would be much help, my team mates are either at school or… They'd want Batman to sign off on it. And… Helpful as getting access to Eden would be, I am.. basically planning on directly defying the Lord of Hosts here. I mean, I'm working on the assumption that the Silver City is going to have a collective aneurysm when we finish Blaze, but I might have been able to talk myself out of it. This is straight up breaking, entering and theft. And if the Cherub with the flaming sword is still on station, assault with a deadly weapon as well.

Am I..? Really doing the right thing here? I mean I.. think I am. If we can get this to work, it doesn't just get Blaze into the field, it might let us teach morality to all sorts of beings not inclined to learn it through conventional methods. And… Angels don't have free will. This isn't like dealing with a Human where I could try trading something… And if I try, then any help my tattoos would give me in avoiding attention will be gone.

It's like Nabu, but with lower stakes.

I don't think I'd be bothered all that much by it afterwards, but… Is that a sign something's wrong in itself?

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
11:22 GMT -5

I float over New York while the phone of the Zatara residence rings. No cheating; heads I get Zatanna who will most likely support whatever I want to do, tails I get Mister Zatara who will almost certainly try and talk me out of it. In either case, arguing against their position will give me at least a reasonable outline of both sides of the argument. Assuming that one of them does answer, otherwise I'm going to have to give Father Mattias a b-.

"Yes?"

Tails it is, then. "Mister Zatara, do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course. If only because I am worried about what you might do if I say 'no'."

I'd say 'thanks', but he does have a point. "Right. You know I'm working on turning Blaze into.. something other than a Demon?"

"Zatanna may have mentioned it once or twice."

"I may have found a way to do it in a few weeks, rather than a few decades. Unfortunately, it involves stealing an item or.. items."

"And you do not believe that you could simply purchase the items in question?"

"I'm happy to try, but the.. prospective seller has traditionally been rather against that sort of thing."

"The Justice League can get a court order to legally confiscate magic artefacts in a number of countries."

Hm. "Including Iran?"

"Hm. No, I don't believe so. But the Justice League might be able to persuade them to confiscate one for the purpose of improving our ability to fight Demons. What exactly is it you are looking for?"

"A fruit from the Tree of Knowledge."

There's a few moments of silence.

"You wish to go to the Garden of Eden,-

"Is that Paul?"

"-and steal one of the fruit which God specifically instructed Adam and Eve not to eat?"

"It is! Nioj ni enohp llac!"

"Yes, but they did, and -philosophically speaking- I rather like having the capacity to know right from wrong." Huh. "Though since I come from a parallel universe and therefore aren't descended from Adam and Eve, I suppose that I.. don't."

Bananas are smaller than my head, but I think I'll wait until we see what it does to Blaze before I try eating it.

"You're finally going!"

"Good morning, Zatanna. And, maybe. I wanted to run it past your father first."

"Can I come?"

"Um. If I actually go-" I hear Mister Zatara taking a breath. "-and it's reasonably safe, certainly."

"You believe that you can sneak past the guardians set in place by God?"

"I snuck up on the First of the Fallen. The Book of Truth isn't exactly clear on relative angelic power levels, but he's about as powerful as they come and he didn't detect me until I started stabbing him."

"You will not face just one Angel in the Garden. Genesis states that God placed many Cherubim in the Garden, as well as a flaming sword."

"Actually, it says that the Cherubim were placed in the east of the Garden, so as long as you stay away from the east they shouldn't be a problem. And the flaming sword guards the way to the Tree of Life, not the Tree of Knowledge."

"Zatanna!"

"I didn't write the Bible, Dad."

He takes a deep breath. "Be that as it may, you are talking about stealing from God. That is not something to take lightly."

"And that's why I'm talking to you about it first. Now, I could say… Since I'm not descended from Adam and Eve, the ban on entry doesn't apply to me and it was clearly a public space before that. But I'm mostly planning on doing it because with Satanus becoming more active we need better anti-Demon weapons."

"Can I assume that you have developed a way to fight the Cherubim should they detect you?"

I glance at the case I'm using to carry the kaahuite-enhanced Ace-type rifle I had built for that exact purpose. I call it the 'Hellblazer', because, why not?

"Yes, though I'd rather disengage and flee. I'm not sure that Angels are moral agents, but if Genesis is even remotely accurate then I doubt that they'll pursue beyond the borders."

"If you have already decided to do it then why did you bother to contact me?"

"Because sometimes… Things that seem perfectly rational to me don't seem rational to other people. And I think that I may be missing things. Given how non-interventionist Jehovah is these days and how he's apparently fine with people injecting themselves with Essence of Demon, I'm struggling to see how what I'm planning is worse. But that might be me. Is taking fruit from a tree a bigger deal than I think it is? Would it kill the Tree and condemn everyone to ignorance?"

"Possibly. The translation 'knowledge of good and evil' is not necessarily entirely accurate. The phrase could also mean 'knowledge of all things'."

"So Adam and Eve were forced to live out their days as simple farmers, never able to build any of the amazing machines they could now envisage or go to any of the fantastic places they now knew existed? That might be worse than the 'pain in childbirth' thing."

"Pain and death. Death in childbirth hasn't gone away."

"Zatanna, I'm happy to make exo-wombs my next project, but they're not exactly easy for other people to build."

"The point I am trying to make is that it might not give you what you are looking for."

"Knowledge of all things would work nearly as well. Even if it actually only gives accelerated learning or something, that would still speed up the research." Ooh. "Unless it turns out to actually be more along the lines of a Two Thousand AD obelisk or something… No, that could still be helpful."

"And if you are wrong, and the Cherubim do follow you, for having trespassed against God's garden and stolen from it?"

"They're free to press charges in an Iranian court. Having my hand cut off really isn't a problem for me. Otherwise, I will beat them down using escalating levels of force, starting from the lowest amount that has an effect and then increasing until I use the Sword of the Fallen. Which -as previously stated- works on anything. The immediate area around the entrance is inhabited, but there's a lot of desert once you get past that and it's as good a place for a super fight as anywhere."

"I see that you have given this some thought."

"On and off since last year. Any other problems?"

"Does the idea of enduring God's personal wrath not bother you?"

"Not my god. And there are plenty worse than me. So… No. Not really."

"Then I have nothing else to say, and I pray that you are right."

"Great! Og ot s'luaP noitacol!"

There's a puff of violet mist next to me as Zatanna appears and immediately starts falling.

"Aagh! Ylf!"

Recovering, she rises through the air until she pulls level with me.

"Do I need to change before we go to Iran?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th October
19:31 GMT +3

"That's it?"

We look down from high above the mid-sized oasis town built in what looks like the middle of nowhere.

"Welcome to Enoch. Population… About twelve hundred. Primary industries: textiles, goat herding, moisture farming and smuggling."

"Wohs em regnad." Her eyes flare violet.

"I thought I was."

Her eyes dim. "Automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades."

"And possibly a few theurgists."

"Wohs em cigam." Another flash. "A few low-level artifacts and practitioners. I don't think they're much of a threat."

"And if I told you the number of people who used to say that about John Constantine..."

She turns her head to look at me. "Have you heard from him? I've tried getting in touch a few times, but he isn't answering."

"No. He told me not to get in touch for a while and it's only been a few months. Is there a spell that could send him a message without requiring him to reply?"

"There's a spell that does just about everything."

"I'll write him a letter." The area next to the plateau matches John's description. Since Angela somehow wasn't detected going in or out, they haven't increased the guard at all. Detection appears limited to three men and a couple of wires stretched over the stone pillars marking the entrance. "Ready?"

"Do you really think it's not safe for me to go in?"

"Unless Jehovah has personally let you off original sin… Maybe. I don't know. After getting sucked into Hell I'm feeling a bit more cautious. You don't have my tattoos-."

"Dad won't let me get tattoos until I'm eighteen."

"I don't think they'd work unless you rewrote your soul at the same time. And don't do that."

"John didn't have the best magic education. I can't do it permanently, but I'm pretty sure I could make tattoos that work like Kaldur's. I'd just have to charge them every time I used them."

"Or you could put it on armour."

"No, it has to be something living."

"Okay, this… I'm having all kinds of ideas, but we should get this done first." I need more magic researchers… "I'm going to be phased, and I'm not going to risk communicating with you just in case the giant wheels with eyes can detect it."

"Oh no, that's the Ophanim. The Cherubim are the ones with the four faces: Human, Eagle, Ox and Lion."

"Fewer eyes." I take my armour out of subspace, and check my weapons. "Sounds good. Keep an eye out, and use your best judgement." She nods, and I phase out.

Dox briefly tried to explain how -despite not being able to interact with the world- I could still perceive it. I'm mildly pleased that I made it into his second sentence before he lost me, but I still don't really understand it. I remember the issue of Planetary where the Four's Invisible Woman expy couldn't see without a special visor. It made sense, but… I mean, the visor was invisible too, wasn't it? I thought maybe it was sensitive to light that was slightly forward or backwards in time or something, but when I said that Dox just groaned…

I make it to just above street level without any noticeable reaction from the locals. Huh. Guns and.. a couple of rugged off-road vehicles aside, this place is pretty much as I imagine it was when they built it. No good transportation links… So most things they can't make here don't get here. No electricity, outhouses for toilets… No refined sugar. Must be good for their dental health.

Zatanna didn't mention the gate area being enchanted, but I carefully float around the guards and wires just in case. Through… No warning from my spell eater, so I haven't been sent somewhere. It literally is a magic wormhole. That would be fascinating to study in its own right, but I don't think that the locals would be onboard.

Angela had to scrabble up the side of the plateau when she came this way, but my armour's flight system can manage it far more easily. Up and over…

Huh.

Okay, yes, to desert-dwelling nomads I can see how this would be paradise, but it doesn't really look… Special. The waterfalls are pretty enough, especially with the rainbows which the light creates as it refracts through them, but…

Waterfalls from two sides feeding into a lake. Cheat. Still, as Samuel Vimes remarked: two types laugh at the law, those who break it and those who make it.

Plenty of woodland for fuel, food and shelter. I rise a little further, getting above the canopy and looking out across the Garden. A long way in and on both my left and right I see two flecks of white/gold which I'm going to tentatively assume are Cherubim. Much as there are creatures who can hear it when you speak their name, there are some who can tell when they're under observation. So my interest will have to wait.

Now, how to find two trees in a forest? Working from Genesis, it should be one with precisely one fruit missing. Except that was thousands of years ago, and trees generally fruit every year. And we're currently out of season. Unless it's a mushroom after all… And a mushroom tree would certainly stand out…

Okay, where's the centre?

Map available. Please note that 'Garden of Eden' has irregular topology.

Show me.

An image appears in my mind. Hah! East indeed. The place is large, far larger than it could have been if the local terrain matched what I saw around Enoch, but it isn't as infinite as it looks. Things repeat. It loops back on itself. You can keep walking in one direction forever but you'll start seeing your own footprints after a while. Gravity is the same as on Earth proper, and light is behaving as if a straight line was a straight line… There's no horizon. I didn't spot it at once because-

I momentarily fight down a wave of nausea.

-the trees cover up where it should be. Ugh.

I lower myself until the panorama is a little less offensive to my stomach.

Okay, so there's dust or moisture or something in the air, so you can't see forever. I can see birds and insects… Which must be eating something. So… Look for a clearing where they aren't eating? Because if they were then there would be intelligent immortal animals around the place.

I pick a direction at random and start flying a search pattern. I may have underestimated how difficult this part would be. Though I suppose that if I'm being forced to spend time somewhere, an idyllic oasis isn't a bad place for it. Hm. There are dead twigs on the ground. Do I risk scooping one up? I'd have to dephase something… No, that can wait until I've got the fruit. I can come back for it or get it on my way out.

I wonder if there are any extinct species here?