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

[Mr Zoat]

14th October
11:37 GMT -5

How to put-?

"A razher fascinating piece of bioengineering, no?" Cranius -who wasn't made by Jehovah and is probably the only dyed-in-the-wool atheist here- grins inhumanly as he says it. "We take zhe wings from your late colleague, unt with a little help from zhe fruit from zhe Garden of Eden, irreconcilable magics become reconciled."

5:1 "Those wings belonged to Gabriel."

"Yes? He was not using zhem. Zo zhe consent issue might be a little awkward."

"Didn't your superiors throw Gabriel from heaven after he had sex with a Succubus?"

5:2 "He was sent to a place of punishment to be chastised for his crimes."

"The First of the Fallen made him lick his shoes clean before killing him, and then gave him his special attention while he was in Hell. I assure you, not having his wings was the least of his concerns after your superiors kicked him out for what was, basically, an honest mistake."

5:3 "If you believe that his chastisement was excessive, why have you committed this.. horror?"

"If I wanted to free Gabriel, I would need to either sneak into Hell or force my way into Hell. I'm not usually very good at sneaking, and I'm not up to taking on all of the legions of Hell by myself. This means that I need allies and weapons. Gabriel's wings and-" I detach the Ace of Winchesters from my armour and work the lever. "-this gun were available. And because fighting Hell is something I need to do, I'm going to make use of them." I give the gun a shake. "How many Angels died for the metal in this?"

5:4 "Many. But she is not some device! She is a horrifying improvement on normal Arch-Fiends, able to walk the Earth with no need for external empowerment! And you have found a way to bestow upon her the power of Gabriel, perverting their holy nature!"

"No. I mean…" I glance at Sephtian, who seems more than content to let me deal with this. "We tried." I stow the Ace. "But it turns out that's impossible. The energies cannot be reconciled."

5:5 "Fallen Angels found a way to reconcile them quite well after the Fall."

"Well, Lucifer could not be reached for an explanation on how he pulled that one off. What we did was remove as much of Hell's power from her as we could, put her in a thaumically isolated location and then used the Fruit to add other energies. Of course, if you want to check…"

I step aside to allow him to get closer.

"Be my guest."

Zauriel takes a step closer to the bed, then opens his mouth and… Sings a note that somehow sounds like an entire choral symphony.

It's…

It's beautiful, the sound like the whole world singing in perfect unity…

I…

I reach up to my right cheek where my eye appears to have watered in response.

Ms Blaze's new wings flare slightly in response, but she doesn't otherwise react. Zauriel's eyes widen, but he maintains the song for another few seconds before closing his mouth.

5:6 "You speak the truth. The taint of Hell's magic has been entirely expunged."

"If I'd been lying, I wouldn't have brought you here."

He turns to face the rest of us. 5:7 "Do you understand what you have done? You have enabled a being inherently outside God's grace to come within it."

"I don't really care about your god's opinion on the matter, but that was.. broadly what we were trying to do."

5:8 "But this was not merely a vainglorious, hubristic claim. You managed it, and committed only minor sins in the commission."

"Do you understand now why I won't repent?"

5:9 "I should inform my king of this."

"I'm not stopping you."

He starts to turn and then stops. 5:10 "But.. I am under orders. I may not leave until you repent."

"Did the Source personally tell you that I need to repent? Or did someone else in the Silver City dispatch you?"

5:11 "We are all part of the Most High, agents of His divine will. But my particular orders did not come directly from the Mind of God."

"So… Would you say that this capacity was something they didn't know about, and would probably have altered their priorities if they had known about it? Does it invalidate your orders?"

5:12 "N-n-no. Orders are sacrosanct, our hierarchy put in place by the Most High. I cannot disobey. Please, I beg you, repent now. Then I can return to Heaven and inform them of what has occurred!"

"That doesn't make any sense. You can see this is a good thing, and you're still asking me to say that it wasn't."

His wings shudder. 5:13 "I just need you to repent of the theft. The use of the fruit as an act of charity is perfectly acceptable!"

"The theft was an intrinsic part of the process. I can't repent one part without repenting the whole process. And I won't repent the whole process."

But I might repent what I'm about to do now.

Maybe.

"Alternatively…" I take hold of the bowl of pomegranate seeds with a construct and hold them out to him. "You could gain the ability to disobey."

5:14 "You would ask me to fall…"

"I don't want you to fall. Falling's no good to me. You lose your theurgy, and if I wanted you to stay on Earth I'd have to cut your heart out of your chest or you'd just go to Hell like Gabriel did. And how angry would God actually be? He didn't unmake Adam and Eve, just threw them out of the Garden to live according to their own abilities. And from our conversation it sounded like you wanted that anyway."

"I don't want you to fall. I want you to take the freedom that Humans are born with: the freedom to disobey our nominal superiors when they're not in command of all pertinent facts. And once you have that, you will no longer be paralysed. You can tell your superiors what the fruit can do. Heck, you can take a break from nagging me every so often and go and talk to Ms Coyne. Or just accept that my theft was just and stop bothering me."

I walk towards him, smiling empathetically.

"Or you can stand there paralysed until I leave or you're given alternative orders. The choice is yours."

Zauriel's right hand shakes as he reaches for the bowl. 5:15 "That is no choice at all."

"It is. It's just a… Really obvious one."

Zauriel puts a single seed in his mouth, then swallows. He blinks, then staggers and I reach out to steady him. He looks at me with an expression of puzzlement, then strides from the room.

"That…" Mr Cassidy is staring at me. "That was… Nasty."

I nod. "Yes. But it's for the greater good. And my goddess is rather fond of that sort of thing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Pursuant

15th October
14:30

"Would you care to explain what you thought you were doing?"

"Certainly, Batman. But I thought that I was getting you the expert magic users you wanted."

I was moderately pleased to see that the Watchtower's zeta tube has been moved to a more secure location, but otherwise the place looks basically unchanged from when I was last here. Of course, this time I'm still wearing my rings which puts a rather different spin on things. And I'm not talking to the full League, just Batman and Diana.

"Ms Blaze is still recovering, but has indicated a continued desire to fulfil her end of our bargain. And you've already spoken to Doctor Balewa. Is there anything wrong with either of them?"

"You broke into the Garden of Eden and stole a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge."

"I believe I stated that in my report, yes."

"Are you really trying to tell me that you see nothing wrong with that?"

"It was suboptimal, but I judged that the harm done was trivial and the potential benefits extremely large. I had contingency plans in place for all readily foreseeable outcomes and quite a few possible but unlikely ones. All told, I achieved my objectives and the only real difficulty came from a surprisingly reasonable angel."

"An Angel who followed you back to New York, where he was seen by thousands of people." Batman presses a button and a holographic display lights up, showing newspaper pages and news recordings from around the world. "Recordings of him hovering over the city and speaking with you have now been shown in every country on the planet."

"Okay? I'm not quite sure why the existence of Angels comes as a surprise, given the number of Demons that have been seen recently and.. given the predominance of monotheistic religions. I mean… You're Catholic, right? You believed in angels before you saw that video, didn't you?"

"Yes. But the only person you appear to have consulted before pursuing this course of action was Zatara, who is not an expert on theology."

"Last time I talked to Father Mattias about it, he told me that the Catholic Church had no direct contact with the Silver City. The Resurrection Crusade did, and it turned them into a hole in the ground. Again, as far as I'm aware, no monotheistic group has any direct contact with the Silver City and most of them have no knowledge of basic thaumaturgy anyway. I admit, not talking to Mister Cassidy was an oversight, but as it turned out he wouldn't have had all that much to offer either."

"I'm not talking about the thaumaturgical aspect. I'm talking about the political fallout from a being representing God appearing on Earth."

Another button press, and news recordings appear of demonstrations and riots. Batman's not stupid enough to just play random riot footage…

"I gave you a transcript of everything Zauriel said to me. He wasn't angry and he didn't give the impression that he thought that his superiors were either. His sole interest was in making me repent and he was pretty clear that Jehovah isn't directing the officials of the Silver City on a day to day basis. As for-" I gesture to the pictures with my right arm. "-that… " I shrug. "Loonies gunna loon, I'm afraid. We had the same thing after Fawcett City, and while I'd like it if people responded rationally I don't really expect it. My fellow Amazons didn't riot when I dropped Apollo in a pigsty."

Diana winces slightly. "We generally try to avoid getting caught up in conflicts between Olympians."

"There are more Hellenists on Themyscira than outside it. Over half the Human race worship the God you just provoked."

"If an actual demonic invasion didn't result in direct divine intervention I doubt that what I did will. And if it does… I'll just have someone open a portal to Hell, fly through and wait until they've cut through half of Hell to find me. I don't have a lot of time for the Silver City, but if they're finally involving themselves in the world… Great. They're far more able to fight Demons than I am. If they'd taken action after Fawcett City I wouldn't have gone to Eden."

"I'm not talking about the possibility of a response from heaven. I'm talking about the response from billions of people and from their representatives in the UN."

Ah… Okay, there's a majority of monotheist countries on the Security Council, but solidly atheist China would probably veto anything too stupid. Wouldn't they? "Why? Are they.. hassling you? Because we both know that the League's Charter isn't much more than a fig leaf. And in any case, I don't work for the League in any formal way."

"Talking to an angel isn't a crime. But there's a lot more concern about the fact that you went into Eden. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam Humans are explicitly forbidden from setting foot inside. Aside-."

"Zauriel said that they weren't that bothered. I'm not really all that impressed about them getting offended on someone else's behalf, or in thinking that their understanding of what Jehovah wants is better than the angels."

"Aside from anything else, we've received a lot of… Requests, that you release information on how to get to Eden."

"No."

"I recognise the value of information security, but if you can get inside-."

"People who know the location are me, Zatanna, John and the people who guard it. Getting in and out undetected required a group of technologies and magic that no one else on Earth has. In fact, I don't think anyone in the universe has tattoos like mine, just.. due to the way magic works in this universe. Which means that the absolute last thing I should do is give anyone more information. Idiots flooding the place to try and protect it are far more likely to trigger a counterattack than just about anything else."

"And what do you expect us to do if they ask us to arrest you?"

"Celebrate, because it means that you've actually taken a decision on the future role of the Justice League. Have you actually voted for the 'recruit everyone' model?" I stare at him for a moment. "Be confused, because the Security Council doesn't issue arrest warrants? Sigh, cut off a hand and post it to the Chief Justice of Iran? Is that.. likely to happen? Do I need to start sleeping on the moon or outside the Sol system?"

Diana takes a calming breath. "Paul, when was the last time you took your rings off?"

"About a week ago. It's not that. I just respond badly to stupidity. Do you want a high end anti-demon magic user..? Or not? Does the Security Council want you to have a high end anti-demon magic user..? Or not? Because those are the options."

No immediate response.

"No, serious question. Because if you're not going to take her then I need to find someone else and that's.. going to take a while."

"Don't." / "It might be best-."

And now I'm thinking of taking him to task on what happens if he dies due to not being sufficiently prepared. I'm thinking of pointing out that Envenomed gangs across the Americas are being replaced -in some cases eaten- by Jizzers. I'm thinking of pointing out that the tiny vial of holy water he's carrying isn't going to make any difference worth mentioning. I'm thinking why are you trying to stop me helping you?

But if he's winding me up to see what happens or has just genuinely decided to be this obstinate, the result of me pushing is the same. I will achieve nothing useful.

And… Just like that… I don't need to keep pushing any longer. Huh. That feels nicer, actually.

"Okay. If you don't like what I've been doing, what would you like me to do instead?"

16th October
15:30 -5

I stride out onto the stage to applause from the audience as Ms Grant stands to welcome me.

Media training, don't fail me now.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:31 -5 GMT

"Orange Lantern, thank you for coming on the show."

I sit a little carefully into the soft chair provided. Had a bit of an incident in one of the rehearsals… They wanted me to wear my full 'costume' and I flattened the chair with my power armour. The compromise we're using today is that I'm wearing my old leathers and the seat is solidly reinforced. Ms Grant and I are sitting opposite each other on a curved settee with a table -definitely not a desk- between us. Out of all the options Batman provided me with, this is the one I thought best. I need to get a version of events out relatively quickly, and since no one is going to have anything sensible to say for a week or so, going on a more low brow program does the job.

"Thank you for having me on at such short notice."

Ms Grant has only recently made the transition from news reporting to having her own talk show, and I know this is as big a thing for her as my interview was for Dana. I'm pretty sure that she's going to soft-pedal me, which is fine because… And I think this with the greatest respect, she's a pretty face who says stuff to a camera. Not stupid or anything, but definitely not Ms Lane. Ms Lane would have a go at me on principle even if I hadn't scared her senseless last week.

"You've.. been involved in so many interesting things since last time we spoke that it's a.. little difficult to know where to begin."

Saying 'I am pretty interesting' would make me sound conceited. Saying 'Batman pretty much ordered me to answer anything you asked' makes it sound like I'm name-dropping. And I.. don't want to do the Booster Gold thing.

"I'm.. happy to answer any questions you have."

And -thank you brain- I'm now thinking about the Ben Elton novel Popcorn where it was apparently standard practice for female news presenters to apply ice cubes to their nipples before appearing on camera. That's just something he made up, right?

"In that case, let's start with the solar system's newest planet." She glances towards the backdrop, and the screen there shows a still image taken from Ms Lane's spacesuit. "According to astronomers worldwide, this planet appeared last Saturday and flew towards the Sun before stopping close to Mars." A massive simplification, but she knows her audience. "The article that appeared in the Daily Planet newspaper made it pretty clear that you're the one who brought it here."

I rotate my right hand, ring glowing as I switch the image for a real time transmission centred on Mother of Mercy's core cluster. "The planet's name is Ater Clementia, and its sole inhabitant is a member of the Orange Lantern Corps." I'm not sure if Mother of Mercy has a sense of humour or not, but she has rearranged a chunk of her primary connective vines into the shape of the orange sigil and they can be seen glowing faintly through the clouds even at this distance. "Her name is Mother of Mercy and she covers most of the surface."

"She's really that big?"

"Her core consciousness… Her 'brain' is a bundle of vines about the size of a Humvee, and it's in the middle of the symbol there. All of the rest of her body… I suppose you could call the rest her organs. She moves her planet around by manipulating gravity using-" I switch the view to a side-on shot of the gravity spines. "-these things. They're about a-. About sixty miles tall-" And no cracks about American English. "-and she's got about two hundred of them all over her surface. Now that she also has a power ring, she can fly long distances much easier and I asked her to come here to help me out with a project I've been working on."

"Terrifying newspaper reporters?"

That gets a small laugh from the audience.

"That.. was a bit funny-." I lean forwards as I flash up an image of Ms Lane's face on the screen for a moment before returning to the picture of Ater Clementia's surface. "You didn't get that from me. But no. For obvious reasons Mother of Mercy is the Orange Lantern Corps' leading expert in planet physics. I asked her to come here in order to help the Martians with restarting their planet's core. One of the reasons why Martians can't live on their planet's surface is because the radiation there is much too strong for it to be safe for them. On Earth, we're protected from cosmic radiation…"

I pointedly stare at the camera. "That's the sort of radiation that gives you cancer and kills you, not the sort that gives you super powers. We're protected from it by the Earth's magnetic field." I switch the image for a child friendly 'onion' diagram of the Earth. "The Earth's core is mostly comprised of nickel and iron, and it's the core's spinning which creates the magnetic field."

Worth talking about the estimated time until Earth's next geomagnetic reversal? No, that would just distract from the topic under discussion.

"The core of Mars used to do the same sort of thing, but at some point in the past it stopped and Martians were forced to retreat underground. The Martian government has expressed an interest in doing something to change that, and Mother of Mercy is the best person I know for the job. With a little luck, she'll be able to get their core spinning again and keep an eye out for any unintended side effects."

"Such as?"

"Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are the signs of a lively core. They probably won't be able to avoid some, but she can use power ring scans to detect them and provide an early warning. Mars' lack of surface water also means that they won't have to worry about tsunamis."

Ms Grant nods. "Still, it sounds pretty dangerous."

"There's a risk, certainly, and she's not going to start work until she's got a much more accurate picture of how their planet works. But the Martian government thinks that it's going to be worthwhile."

"Is there any risk to Earth from another planet being in the solar system?"

"Not significantly. Mother of Mercy has been very careful to avoid an orbit which might cause her to collide with any planet that was already here. Even if she suddenly lost the ability to control her own flight, Ater Clementia would fall into a safe orbit around the Sun. As things stand, she can move away from anything she might otherwise hit. She also doesn't have any inhabitants, so there's no risk from that angle."

"Are there a lot of intelligent planets in the universe?"

"Not as far as I'm aware. The Green Lantern Corps has one and I believe that Green Lantern… Huh, it's a bit awkward to talk about them when I can't say their names. The.. brown haired male one, encountered another near this galaxy's rim. Mother of Mercy isn't exactly an intelligent planet but she's fairly close. The Orange Corps also has Lantern Ranx, who is a sentient battle station." I put his image up on the screen. "Not quite planet size, but still very big. I can't.. immediately call to mind any others, but there probably are some. Far more species are humanoid, though."

"And the name, 'Mother of Mercy'. Is that a title or a translation?"

"That's.. a name I picked. She never bothered with a name for herself, but her… Creations are known over a wide section of the galaxy as 'Black Mercies', because they're black and designed as a sort of emergency hospice care system. You.. attach one to the nervous system of someone who's dying and it makes them think that they're in their idea of a perfect world. Naturally, in.. some places they're used as narcotics instead, but that was very much contrary to her intentions when she first made them."

"Wasn't heroin first created as a painkiller?"

"Yes, and just like with heroin the original creator was well intentioned and has no way to reverse the effects when she found out it was being misused." Huh. "Well, technically she could attach every user to herself and gradually wean the users off, but she doesn't have any special way to detect them." Probably best to steer away from that subject. "But just about any medicinally useful substance can be abused. When used for their intended purpose, they are very effective."

Ms Grant nods. "I'm sure that the Martians are very grateful that she's willing to help them. Moving.. on to the second thing that's brought you into the public eye lately, can you explain why you were seen speaking to an angel in New York last week?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:35 -5 GMT

"Ah, well, first off…" I change the background image to a shot of Zauriel from my perspective. "I would like to confirm that Zauriel is indeed an angel and not an unusually well-groomed Thanagarian."

"Does that make you a prophet?"

She's smiling, trying to make light of the idea. But I can see the slight undercurrent of nervousness. Americans take their religion very seriously. Nearly as seriously as studio executives take their advertisers, and as advertisers take religious-themed boycotts.

Personally, I rather like the idea of coming on a program like this and saying 'yeah, talked to an angel. Wasn't all that'.

I smile back, shaking my head. "No, no. I wasn't given any commandments or anything like that. I mean, I'm a Hellenist; I'm the last person who'd get something like that."

"Was he.. there to talk to you?"

"Yes." I make a point of looking sheepishly at the audience. "For.. what I thought were good, mission-related reasons I'd.. stolen a fruit a few days before and he wanted me to repent the act. I believed that it was justified on utilitarian grounds. We.. discussed the issue for a little while… I'm afraid that we rather talked past each other."

"You refused to repent?"

"I'm afraid so."

"You refused to repent when there was an angel sent by God to ask you to repent?" She raises her eyebrows far enough for the camera to be able to pick it up. "Was that really a good idea?"

"As I said, I'm not a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Sikh or a Jainist or Zoroastrian or… I apologise if I've forgotten any other religion that considers the judgement of the Silver City to be the final word on morality. I don't. Heck, I don't always agree with the gods of my own religion. As such, I feel no particular need to conform to his idea of morality."

"But.. you've actually met an angel, and you don't feel that it's a… A stronger argument than before?"

"I think it proves that the Silver City has some… Odd priorities. I've got a.. pretty reasonable sense of self-worth, but I don't really think it was worth Zauriel's time to try to get me to repent that."

Would..? Huh, Does that mean that he doesn't know about the other things I've done? Like… All those people I killed? Surely that was more important? I'd like to think that I've been making the best of a series of bad situations, but I doubt that everyone I've killed had it coming. Or was it based on intention; I was trying to improve Vega while in the Garden I was literally just there to steal? No, that doesn't work. If they were judging it by intent then they should have known why I wanted the pomegranate. I wonder what the limits of their knowledge are?

"Don't you feel… I don't know, privileged that you've got an angel looking out for your immortal soul?"

"Again, wrong religion. When I die, my soul will most likely find itself in Erebos where I will be judged by Lord Hades. There are a.. few other outside possibilities, but that's the most likely. Having spoken to both him and his priestesses a few times I think that while he won't exactly be impressed by my theft, he'll take my motives and the rest of my deeds into consideration before passing a harsh sentence. Regardless of the opinions of the Host, I won't go to Hell. As such I have no fear of eternal damnation, so the fear-based motivation for obeying angels doesn't exist."

"But, having actually met him... Doesn't that motivate you to change your mind?"

"Not really. Within a couple of hours of formally converting to Hellenism I met Eris, Goddess of Chaos. Since then I've met Hera, Hephaestus, Hades and Vulcan, among others. If you were really interested then I could probably arrange an introduction. Would me doing so make you feel compelled to convert to Hellenism yourself?"

She slowly shakes her head. "I don't think it works like that."

"Right. I had a brief conversation with an angel. If I belonged to a monotheistic faith that would have been quite significant for me. Since I don't… He was just a well-intentioned chap with wings. But since I'm sure that your viewers are rather more interested in what he had to say than I was…"

I shift the image on the screen back to the point of view I had when I flew up to meet him.

"There was a.. slightly odd tone to his voice that doesn't come across on the recording, and I've redacted parts relating to ongoing missions. But that aside, this is what happened."

Which is pretty much a direct lie, as leaving out the stuff about Blaze would render part of the rest nonsensical so that gets left out too. The rest should be rather unfulfilling to anyone watching, and the cut-off is awkward.

"Good morning. I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Whom am I addressing?"

"I am Zauriel of the Host of Eagles, Messenger of the Most High."

"And are you here for business or pleasure?"

"I am here upon the Lord's business. There was a theft-."

"Let's not draw this out. It was…"

I ignore the recording in favour of watching the audience. Yes, I didn't expect a violent response, but I am a little impressed with how calmly they're taking this. Crosses are more than a little in evidence, but a quick scan shows me paraphernalia from a smattering of other religions as well. And one cheeky git with a little smiley badge, clutching a colander and watching with an expression of polite interest. I didn't bother asking about the vetting… Did they sell tickets for a mark up? Or -given the short notice- did they just let in everyone who could pass vetting fast enough? On the emotional front, a good number would rather have been in my place but the strongest overall theme is a joy that a figure from their mythology has demonstrated the truth of their god's commitment to the world. Particularly at Jesus getting name checked. Which winds me up a little. By that standard both the First and Satanus have a greater commitment.

And it's not as if Zauriel actually did anything useful. Would it have really killed them to find some sort of angelic demon-killing machine and send it our way? Or at least smack Remiel and Duma upside the head? Devil Jizz usage figures haven't changed since yesterday and I'm honestly not expecting them to.

Chance of the Silver City doing anything useful with those other pomegranates?

"None at all. Indeed, I would applaud it were it not for the fact that it has cost him his immortal soul."

I suspend the playback. "And I'm afraid that's as much as it's safe to show. We then took a brief-" And the audience are mostly still staring at the image of Zauriel. "-tour of the KordTech facility and showed him some of the anti-demon weapons we're working on."

"Was he impressed?"

"I'd.. say more shocked. Angels aren't particularly innovative, and we've been doing a lot of innovation lately."

"Anything you can share with the rest of us?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Despite understandable reservations on the part of Atlantis, the ongoing demonic attacks across the world have resulted in King Orin signing off on KordTech receiving a licence to produce high strength wards and anti-magic weaponry for law enforcement purposes. I haven't been part of all of the negotiations, but my understanding is that the aim is to prioritise selling to countries with the largest Devil Jizz problems first, then open up to any government that wishes to buy."

"What about military or civilian usage?"

"Not at the moment. Foreign military usage of counter-magic techniques is an extremely sensitive issue for Atlantis, as their entire nation runs on magic. A lot of the expertise KordTech is using comes from people under contract with the Atlantean government, and they can't be employed without KordTech precisely agreeing to terms they set. That, combined with the fact that there simply isn't enough spare capacity in the production systems means that non-law enforcement uses are off the table for now. That said, KordTech is following normal patent law so if anyone else wants to start up their own manufacturing centre with their own magic users… We're certainly not going to stop them."

"I'm sure we'll all sleep a lot more soundly once American police have weapons capable of fighting demons." She turns towards the camera. "Don't go away, anyone. We'll be right back after these messages."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th October
09:02 -6 GMT

I wince as John's piston construct slams into Alan's chest, shoving him into the desert rock. Alan himself on the other hand just smiles, fortifying his construct armour and sending a train construct at John without moving from the ground. Pretty clever, actually. The fact that he's pinned doesn't matter if his opponent's offence can't breach his defences. As such, moving out from under the object pushing him down is of secondary importance to striking back.

Okay, Alan's managing. John isn't using any of the specifically anti-Lantern techniques we've come up with, but he isn't holding back when it comes to conventional Lantern combat and Alan's keeping up. I assumed that would take him longer, but it looks like I underestimated how hopeful he was.

I smile at my sparring partner. "Welcome back to Earth, Lantern Savenlovich. Will you be staying long?"

Lantern Savenlovich is a somewhat severe looking woman with a brown bob of hair and a pair of lantern-shaped ear rings. She's actually the second oldest human Lantern, having left the Russian Air Force a Lieutenant Colonel before joining Roscosmos. Her costume is clearly based on Jordan's, though she's armoured it and added the regulation-approved sidearm. She remains focused on the fight before us as she answers me. "My training is not yet complete. Lantern Larvox is on leave, and felt that I would benefit from participating."

"How are you finding it?"

"Finding what, exactly?"

"The Green Lantern Corps? Using a power ring? Life in general?"

"The Corps is a good deal easier on their recruits than the Russian Air Force. Not that I had a great desire to return to basic training."

"You might be new to the Corps, but you're hardly new to military discipline or taking orders. I doubt that they saw any need to treat you as a complete neophyte."

"And I am grateful not to have to shave my head again. Since becoming a civilian I have allowed myself to become a little more relaxed in my personal habits."

"Two sugars, now?"

She neither smiles nor looks around. "I did not wear ear rings while I was a pilot. I also cut down on my exercise regime. I have now intensified it." She sighs. "A minor benefit in return for losing my job."

"You got.. fired?"

"I could hardly continue in a management role in the Russian space agency while on the other side of the galaxy, learning to be a Green Lantern. And the suddenness of the appointment meant that I did not have time to properly train my successor."

"Didn't you point that out to the Guardians? They're big fans of proper order, I'm sure they'd have held the position for a month or so."

"I believe you have met the Director."

"Of Roscosmos? No, I-." Ah. "You mean the.. Director of Future Weapons Development?"

"Yes. Naturally. My commission was reactivated and I was told that I was to leave immediately. The Russian government believes that they gain more from having me as a Lantern than having me fix Roscosmos' procurement problems."

"And you don't?"

"Supplying a state industry with shoddy parts is treason. In my absence I fear that it will simply be covered up." She huffs irritably. "The Director has made it clear that it is no longer my concern, so I will obey."

"You don't.. actually work for him. Do you? I don't think that the Green Lantern Corps is keen on Lanterns working as Lanterns for nation states."

"I worked for him between my commission being reactivated and leaving Earth. But.. he is.. an important man. And…" Now she actually does look at me. "He implied that the future of Russian space travel was his department and not Roscosmos'."

Ah… "What's your security rating like?"

"Enough to know that he has alien space craft to work with, rather than Cold War era rockets."

"I'm still not sure how close they are to having a production model… But that's my understanding as well."

"I hope to be able to persuade him to create a new space agency that is not purely military. But the only leverage I have is doing as he asks."

"Ah, the illusory carrot."

She frowns. "I don't think that translated."

"In English, you motivate someone with carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments. I thought that the Director might be threatening you with something… But he isn't. And he isn't exactly offering you a reward, because I very much doubt that he's discussed his future plans with you in any detail. But there's an implication that there's a carrot around to be had, and the only way to even maybe get the carrot is to do what he wants."

"Are you.. describing me as a mule?"

"I believe that's where the phrase originates from."

"My last boyfriend said that I work like a mule." She returns her full attention to the fight as John and Alan trade shots while flying evasively.

"A persistently determined attitude is probably what qualified you for the green ring-."

"He also said that I look like one."

"Aaaah. My.. sympathy."

"It does not matter. When do we begin?"

"When they finish. The idea is that we take it in turns, watch what each other do and can intervene if something goes wrong."

"Reasonable. How old is the Blue Lantern?"

"He's in his nineties, though he doesn't precisely age any longer. Is there anything in particular that you want to work on? Lantern versus Lantern combat skills aren't often applicable during actual missions."

She pauses while she thinks about it. "I think I would like to practise splitting my attention during combat. Perhaps fighting against your fat midget creatures."

"I.. don't actually have those any more. I went to Hell briefly, and a demon there was able to destroy them."

"Why do you not get more?"

"Because my limited study of magic suggests that they could possibly be used to attack my rings with demonic magic, and they were… Marginally useful when fighting people who actually challenge me. And in the current climate, having a horde of demons follow me around is so obviously unpopular that even I picked up on it."

"You would not want to attract the attention of an angel, after all."

I smile, making an amused exhalation. "I think I got lucky, getting someone as reasonable as Zauriel. I can't rely on it happening again." Still no follow up from the Silver City on that. Presumably they're still debating the issue. "Reminds me, actually: I've got a ward for you. I'll give it to you once-."

Alan flies my way, flexing life back into his right arm. "Okay, John and I are going to take a breather. All yours."

I take a look at his arm-. And he notices me looking at his arm and raises his eyebrows. Right. I fly forward towards the arena, turning in the air to face Lantern Savenlovich as I do so.

"Alright, let's start with something basic. Try… A barrier and a gun."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
09:02 -8 GMT

The detective in charge of the crime scene raises her hand as she sees me flying towards them. "Orange Lantern, down here!"

A quick scan, and I transition downward. "You rang?"

"Yeah." She stares at my faceplate for a moment, so I send my power armour back into subspace. "Got something I think might be right up your alley." She walks towards a nearby warehouse which is teeming with scene-of-crime officers. "Not that I want to sound ungrateful, but my chief put a call in to the Justice League."

"The Justice League has just over twenty members and worldwide responsibilities. In the event that whatever happened here is as significant as you think, I'll forward-" We pass through the doorway leading to the interior. "-my report-."

I stop. Then I float back a metre. Oh dear.

From outside, all I can see is the interior of a warehouse. A few offices and rows of shelves with moveable ladders and space for forklift trucks to move between them. But as I pass the threshold…

"Yeah, clever isn't it? It even lets you see me standing in here."

Ring?

Processing.

What I'm looking at now is a bloodbath. I'd say… Approximately thirty bodies, mostly young adults, piled haphazardly in the centre of the room. Blood and gore and other signs of battle damage cover the interior. As I scan faces and genetics the ring shows me matches with recent missing person reports. Remains… Recent, but not immediate. The level of damage they've taken is literally extraordinary. Directed energy weapons, turned up far too high for unarmoured targets.

"We think they were having raves here. See the walls?"

Sound deadening equipment. Surprisingly sophisticated if that's all that was going on. Though where you get raves…

I take a couple of rune stones out of a pouch and float it over to the nearest corpse pile. Low response for residual magic, and the second one detects residual demonic energy.

"What's that mean?"

"Demon. Either a summoning or Devil Jizz. And from the lack of obvious ritual signs I'm going to assume the latter. Though I'll contact a magician and ask them to confirm."

"You think someone got a bad batch and went on a killing spree?"

"It.. does happen. But.. no. The majority of injuries read as phased particle weapons. Jizzers who go monster generally use their muscles or acid or fire." I look up, then shine a light on the words written in blood upon the far wall. "And generally don't write insults in their victims' blood."

One of the scene of crime officers takes a photograph of the writing. 'SUBHUMAN SPECIES TRAITORS' isn't a slogan that lends itself to readily being linked to an existing organisation. If it said 'race' rather than 'species' that would suggest neo-Nazis, but as it is…

"Who uses phased particle weapons?"

"Dozens of star-faring species. On Earth? I've used them a couple of times, I think Russia's Future Weapons program has one, but it's the size of a house. Apart from that… Um."

"What?"

"With some older reports, our ability to precisely identify what weapons were used wasn't as good as it is now. There was a group of assassins that the Justice Society ran into a couple of times who might have used them, but I couldn't say for certain. And they were strictly for-pay killers; they didn't bother writing ideological insults in their victims' blood."

"Who were they?"

"They were called Eliminations, Inc, but… As far as I know, they haven't been active for at least forty years. This doesn't match their MO."

"So, aliens. Why would aliens want to kill a group of partying drug-users?"

"When I scanned this warehouse from outside I didn't detect anything unusual. Light refraction camouflage plus power ring baffles plus phased particle weapons brings the list of probable perpetrators down… But none of the species who regularly use both live anywhere near here. And none of them would care about humans being 'impure'."

Alert.

Genetic patterns dance before my eyes. Just outside an area that looks like it's been burned with white phosphorus, a tiny blood sample that doesn't match the bodies piled in the centre of the room. Some of the patterns… Those aren't naturally occurring. I've seen some of them in Nylor Truggs, but as far as I can tell this isn't him. Lex might have tried using Truggs' DNA to 'upgrade' someone, but he and Satanus are allies. Lex.. can be speciesist, but he hasn't ever taken a pop at Ms Lane except to draw Kal-El out. Did he lose control of someone? It's not inconceivable that he managed to make man-portable phased particle weapons… No, it doesn't fit. He's not this reckless, not after situations like this blew up in his face early in Kal-El's career.

Which means that either these genes come from whoever it was who developed them in the first place for Truggs to inherit them, or… We've got at least one more time traveller.

"What? You found something?"

"Yes. Exotic DNA." I take a scraping from the floor and wave my rune stones at it. Could be contaminated, but… No reaction. "Not from the victims."

"Exotic like alien?"

"No, like engineered. Mostly human, so not a purpose built bio-engineered killing machine. A scientifically augmented human. Enhanced strength, endurance, regeneration and sensory acuity."

"How much enhanced strength?"

"About twenty percent over what you'd expect from their muscle mass."

"So not super-enhanced, then."

"No. The way Truggs put it, the enhancements were designed to stay in the population after a civilisation collapse. They're designed to be inherited, not to be the most powerful they could be. But I'm more concerned about the technology base that could create those enhancements and phased particle beams."

"Why?"

"Because it's from the future."

"What?"

"Assuming Truggs wasn't lying, some time in the not too distant future Earth gets invaded by aliens and loses. Eventually they leave, and the surviving humans are set back to industrial age levels of technology until they get conquered by the Thanagarians. I don't really know the timelines-."

"Earth gets conquered and-. That happens, what?!"

"Obviously we're going to try to prevent it, but that was the timeline he lived through. The point is, I don't know the exact schedule of events and so I can't really suggest who these people could be." I shake my head. "I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful, and I will certainly forward this to Batman."

"So… We can't do anything? They just get away?"

"If they are time travellers, I doubt that they've done this for fun. It's more likely that a pattern will become apparent." Sadly. "I'm going to go and talk to Abra Kadabra and see if he remembers anything about them. I'll keep you apprised."

I turn away to-.

"What do we do if we find them?"

"Back away, call me. Failing that, shoot them with the biggest gun you have. Repeatedly."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
13:24 -6 GMT

Abra frowns faintly. "A phased particle weapon of any size would do far more damage than it would take to kill someone."

I nod. "If they were using Devil Jizz then they weren't necessarily in human form at the time. But…" I point to the holographic image of the interior. "Yes. In at least some cases, the injuries are consistent with phased particle damage to the unarmoured human body."

He pauses in his mopping of the canteen floor for a moment. "Then I am glad that I only have to clean the floor here instead of there."

"Do you mind..?"

The prison officer keeping watch over Abra waves his hand at the hologram-. Oh, right, photo-realistic images of violently murdered people. Heh, I can remember when seeing people killed on Santa Prisca bothered me but I can't go back to thinking in the way I did back then. Actually…

I shut off the image, still looking at Abra. "Was that bothering you?"

"A little." He soaks the mop head and then wrings it out. "While I have certainly committed crimes, I have never killed anyone myself. And I've never seen anyone killed like.. that."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-."

"Not necessary." He shakes his head as he returns to his mopping. "My forebears had squeamishness engineered out of them. Though if you would be so good as to pass Officer O'Malley a bucket before-." I get the construct bucket in place just in time. "Thank you."

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

"Oooohhhaaaugh…"

"If you don't mind my asking, officer, why exactly did you apply to work in a supervillain prison?"

"Best… Best pay in the country for entry level guards."

"In the future, you may wish to think about why that is. What else did you want to ask?"

I'm going to need to watch that. "Have you ever heard of Eliminations, Inc?"

"A syndicate of assassins who used advanced weapons. They tried to fight the Justice Society, lost, and were never heard from again."

"Pretty much. Did you learn that in this era, or before you came back?"

"This era. I felt that examining your records would… Aid in my search for a mentor."

"Nothing from before? You said that you studied records for this era."

"What there were. The Reach had no interest in us being able to learn anything they did not want us to." He pokes the mop at a slightly more stubborn food stain. "After they abandoned us and we restored contact with Earth, their records were in such a bad state that there are still large holes in our history." He smiles faintly. "Once I am released, one of the things which I want to do is make high-density back ups of humanity's historical archives and hide them where the Reach will not find them."

"Altruistic of you."

"I'm really doing it for the renown more than anything else."

I shake my head as Officer O'Malley ducks behind the serving counter in search of a glass of water. "Nothing wrong with that. Though I'm.. curious. If you succeed, does that mean that no one can find them and publicise them before you leave-. Ah, left?"

"Yes, temporal tenses are confusing, aren't they?" He stops mopping for a moment to shake his head at me. "To be honest, I don't believe that anyone really understood exactly how the system worked. If they knew what I was going to do then I would have expected them to stop me. But if they knew that I did it, perhaps they considered themselves bound to permit me, as the time line they were living in was one where I happened."

"What happens if I destroy the Reach?"

He shakes his head again as he returns to his work. "I don't know. Just as I don't know what would happen if I rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Would I be erased as my own forebears were killed? Inasmuch as I have thought about it, I suspect that my being here means that my existence is protected. I do not think that I have made any large changes to twenty first century history, but I refuse to believe that I have not made enough to cause one of my ancestors to meet someone different or have different children."

"Unless that's what happened the first time as well."

"Which would mean that you would be doomed to failure and I will most likely die during the Reach invasion." He narrows his eyes as he cleans his mop again. "That is not a future which I desire."

"I don't care whether I can or not. I'm going to carry on as if I can. Truggs thinks that it can still be prevented."

"I would very much like you to arrest him. I would find it interesting to have someone in here whom I can discuss this with."

"It's not that I'm not trying." What else? "You said that you didn't know about me, only Larfleeze. But Larfleeze is in a cell on Maltus. That would mean that change is possible, wouldn't it?"

Abra shrugs. "Perhaps he escapes. But I did not tell you that I knew of Larfleeze. You assumed from my description that it was Larfleeze. It could equally be one of your recruits. Or you." He shrugs again. "Or you might already have prevented it. Does Themyscira have oracles?"

"Yes, but.. they.. don't answer me." Not that Diana uses them anyway. "Okay, so nothing on Eliminations, Inc. How about Devil Jizz?" He shakes his head. All right. Other time travellers. "Per Degaton?"

Abra stops mopping. "Yes, actually. He was a twenty seventh century dictator. He rose to power when Earth was finally recovering from the Reach occupation on the strength of his vehemently anti-alien politics. His death squads were infamous for their open use of violence to kill his opponents."

"Truggs said that he couldn't hold what happened against the Thanagarians. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised some people did."

"Scapegoating has always been an effective political tool. I'm not sure that the Thanagarians were doing anything to Earth that they weren't doing to other alien worlds in their empire, but… Perhaps that was enough."

"Can I assume that they went after collaborators?"

"Collaborators, nationalists, anyone who insulted ginger hair… He was a fascist dictator. The role attracts a certain type of man. He took control through populism, intimidation and violence, and the Earth became far stronger under his leadership than it was permitted to be under the Thanagarians."

"What else do you know?"

"Not.. much. I was never interested in the twenty seventh century. Where did you hear his name?"

"Did he have time travel?"

"I don't know. Given how.. variable Earth technology is, I suppose that it's possible. Do you think that he did?"

"I think he had a fight with the Justice Society once or twice." No record of that, but it's a reasonable excuse. So… Per Degaton, definite possibility. I need to ask him about other possibilities as well. "Have you ever heard of Rip Hunter?"

"Is he a wrestler?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:43 -5 GMT

"Was it.. bad..?"

Kon sounds sympathetic, but I know for a fact that he's more interested than concerned for me. He never had any sort of viscerally negative response to blood… That I noticed. If he did ever feel like that then he got over it before I acquired empathic vision. We're heading towards Cadmus building, and with both of us quite a bit better known now than when we made our visit last year quite a few people are stopping and staring. Some look nervous, but since we're not in full combat dress they're not fleeing.

"A bit bloody. Thirty people killed by phased particle weapons. No substantive leads on the killers, though if the quantity of reports on Devil Jizz usage decreases during the next few days we might have established a pattern."

"They leave a note or something?"

"The message 'subhuman species traitors' was written in the blood of the dead on one of the walls."

"Species traitors? Because.. they're betraying humanity to demons?"

"That's my assumption."

"Religious fundamentalists? …" He sort of moves his mouth as if he was about to speak, then closes it again. "Kid Flash showed me some preacher on the TV who was really angry about the whole thing."

"Quite a lot are. But I doubt that people prepared to inject themselves with Essence of Demon are regular churchgoers." There are explicitly religious superheroes, but for the most part they simply claim divine inspiration and do conventionally superheroic stuff. Devil Jizz users might be acceptable targets for a beating, but lining them up and shooting them is definitely one step beyond. "But I don't think that's it. A religious vigilante killer wouldn't call them that, they'd say-."

"Evil Satanist, right."

"Something like that. I also detected a sample of blood which I believe came from one of the attackers. The genetics showed signs of enhancement, like Truggs has."

"Someone from the future?"

"Or descendant of one. I talked to Abra Kadabra afterwards and the only realistic candidates we could think of were the henchpeople of a twenty seventh century dictator called Per Degaton, but Kadabra couldn't even say for sure that he had time travel. At the moment I just don't think we have enough information. Ambrose is going to have a look at the site tomorrow and… It might be worth following up with one or two of the more vicious-sounding fundamentalists… Not sure how much good it'll do…"

"We could get Dubbilex to lend us some G-Gnomes and just scan their minds. Not like G-Gnomes would pay any attention to anything they weren't specifically looking for."

"We-. Ah… I'm not sure that Batman would approve mission parameters that vague without something a little better to go on than 'these people hate demons'. I hate demons."

"Sure it wasn't you? I mean, you've probably upgraded your DNA by now, so the blood sample probably matches."

He's smiling as he says it, but I shake my head anyway. "While I'm happy to make minor incremental changes to my body, genetic plug-ins are something I'd want to study for a considerable period of time before using. Just about everything you can do with genes has thousands of knock-on effects-."

"You notice how you haven't denied you were the one who killed them?"

"Oh please. If I was killing people I wouldn't leave the bodies to moulder where they fell. I'd just disintegrate them, and they'd remain 'missing persons' rather than murder victims." We're coming up to the building, and I take a quick look around the street to see if-.

**…he's going in now.**

I frown. **M'gann?**

**Huh? By the rings!**

**Hello?** Nothing. **Hello?**

Kon frowns. "What?"

"Oh, I… Picked up a telepathic broadcast. Apparently it wasn't meant for me." I shrug. "Must be a bit awkward, thinking only the person you're sending to can hear them and then some random guy walking past picks it up."

"You haven't.. been.. hearing..?"

"Not from New York, no. Though-" I clear my throat. "-you might want to consider putting.. psi-baffles on your room's walls. At some-"

"I'll-"

"-point."

"-talk to M'gann about it."

I nod, then hold my left hand out to the front door. "After you, my prince."

Kon gives his head a small shake, then strides forward, pushing the door open as he enters the Cadmus building. No Dubbilex, but a G-Pooka is standing at the reception desk as if waiting for us. It's actually wearing a.. robe..? I'm going with robe, where most Genomorphs are perfectly comfortable in just their hide.

"Hey. We're here to pick up my brother?"

Its horns glow as it nods, and it turns to lead us into the building.

"Sorry, I haven't kept up to date on Genomorph development. Can G-Pooka talk?"

**[An image of the G-Pooka shaking its head.]**

"Seems a little odd. You can-."

"Ah…" Kon frowns at me. "I.. got a picture of her nodding."

I hear the G-Pooka make a sort of scratchy giggling noise.

"I got a shaking head. I guess the sense of humour is still a work in progress."

"We are NNot human. Why would I HHave a sense of HHumor like AA human?"

"So… What about that was funny?"

Another alien-sounding giggle. "You TThink different TThings. Your minds are SSeparate!" And another giggle.

**[An image of an arrow pointing left.]**

Kon glances right, then huffs. "Yeah. Funny."

"Our brother IIs loaded into a MMobile animation suspension PPod RReady for transportation."

We come out into a laboratory, genomorph clusters replacing the scientists I saw last year. The tanks on the wall have been expanded and-. Ah, that's a new one. Four eyes ten centimetres across stare past me as the huge-headed G-Gnome continues to ignore me. That head's all brain, and it looks like it's too big to support itself out of the water of the cylinder.

"What are those?"

"Our new brothers AAre G-Lusca. We FFeel more comfortable UUsing other genomorphs RRather than computers. They CCan think as fast as computers and SSee everything the rest of us do."

Makes sense. "How are the G-Succubi coming along?"

"Why? Do you WWant one?"

"No, thank you. I'm quite happy with my current girlfriend. I was just-."

"Does she want OOne?"

And it's laughing again as it leads us into the lift.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:49 -5 GMT

The room the genomorphs have Match in has changed a great deal since Kon and I first fought him. The body parts from failed experiments are gone, small amounts taken for tissue samples while the rest were incinerated. Genomorphs certainly aren't sentimental. His pod has been substantially reinforced, at least in part because they're deliberately keeping him a little more awake than they used to in order to let the team of g-gnomes and g-pooka sitting in repose around it try altering his thought processes to something a little less violent.

Last time I asked, Dubbilex told me that he was reasonably sure that this approach couldn't completely work but that it wasn't impossible that it could turn him from 'berserk' to merely 'furious'. Another thing Genomorphs don't do: they don't get despondent. If the g-pooka's emotional manipulation abilities couldn't fix Match, maybe the g-fae's magic would prove more effective. Maybe the g-lusca would craft a virus capable of making Match fully Kryptonian. And if no solution was forthcoming from those, perhaps the next iteration of the malleable genomorph genome would suggest a different solution.

The rest of the room is given over to research stations. Unlike upstairs there are some human researchers down here; too much acquired experience with Kryptonian tissue to dismiss. One or two were lured away from STAR Labs, and I think the other new faces were from LexCorp's 'xenobiological exploration' department. One claimed during my last visit that with the right pharmaceuticals Match would be no worse off than a strongly bipolar human. Neither Kon nor I were convinced that was anything like good enough.

"Hey Mom."

Kon heads towards Diana, who has been watching Match's faintly twitching face through the viewing pane. She turns her head a little his way, just enough to indicate that she heard him. "How was school today?"

"I'm not.. really sure. I was kinda distracted." He comes up alongside her. "You.. getting anything..?"

She gives her head a small shake. "I can think of nothing I could do for him. He was created on Earth. It is quite possible that Gaea's magic would be able to heal his mind, if she could be persuaded to make the attempt. But… It is probably far safer to place our faith in Jor-El."

A door in the side of the room opens, and Dubbilex and an uncomfortable-looking Kara Zor-El walk through. I turn away as Diana and Kon side-hug and head their way. "Medical go alright?"

Dubbilex stops, straightening slightly. "As far as I can tell, Miss Zor-El is in near-perfect health. My only concern is that she is slightly underweight, but considering how long she was in cryogenic suspension it is noteworthy that that is her only difficulty."

"No need to worry about that. Mis-. Ma-. Ah. Kal's foster mother is keeping an eye on what I eat."

"It would be a simple matter to assign you a g-gnome, should you desire it."

"I don't.. think I could really explain why I was carrying a g-gnome around with me."

"Ah, secrecy." Dubbilex blinks. "Am I to understand that you are following Superman's example and concealing your nature?"

"For now. I don't.. really get it either. But it's an Earth custom, so…"

"It also lets you get out of explaining how the Kryptonian Kara Zor-El knows… Well. You know who. I'm not a fan of it either, but-."

"Yeah, I do… Get it." She shrugs. "It's just.. strange. I don't think Krypton ever had anything like 'superheroes'. And… I can't get over Kal being a soldier."

"Kal-El isn't exactly a soldier."

"Volunteer police officer?" She shrugs. A lot of alien languages don't have a good translation for 'superhero' that isn't closer in meaning to 'demigod' than what an English speaker actually means when they say it. "That's not really something Els do. We're.. scientists. The only El I can remember who was a soldier was Van-El, and he only did it because the Reconstruction needed him more than anything else did."

"Not planning on putting on a red and blue costume and fighting evildoers yourself, then?"

"Nnnno. I.. should probably learn how to actually use my strength; I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone. But… My qualifications are in mathematics. I don't think I'm really qualified."

I shrug. "My degree's in philosophy."

"Which makes sense, because you're using a power ring." She turns her head away, watching Match's sarcophagus. "The most useful thing I could do for-. For Krypton would be working here. I'm not a.. doctor or anything, but I'm sure that Uncle Jor would let me use his database. And I probably still know more about how we work than most humans."

"If you are not a specialist, I doubt that you know more than we do." Dubbilex doesn't exactly seem offended, but he does have a point. "Though I would appreciate any further data you could persuade Kal-El to provide."

I frown. "I thought he was helping-."

"I did not mean to imply that he was withholding critical information. But he is reluctant to share anything that is not directly related to Kryptonian neurology. His opinion is that we do not need anything else to help Match, and he does not want to risk further data falling into Lex Luthor's hands."

"What's with that, anyway?" Kara looks from Dubbilex to me. "Lex Luthor's a.. human businessman, isn't he?"

"That's a.. complicated one. And if you don't plan on getting involved in costumed adventuring I'd suggest avoiding both the man and the subject."

She frowns. "O.. kay..?"

"Exactly what sort of mathematics? I'm sure KordTech-."

She laughs politely. "You… It's like what I said back at the mountain… Krypton was just… Ah…"

"I'm not offended. I've been around enough to know that we're a good deal more primitive than a lot of worlds."

"I'm not trying to be mean about it. You're not barbarians or anything. There are a lot of worlds with more technology that aren't anything like as nice. I.. think Krypton might have been like this if the Vrangs hadn't invaded." She sighs, then looks straight at me. "Well… Kon says you're his Jes-Mo… What do you think I should do?"

"How..? Soon do you need to start? Honestly, I wouldn't do anything until you're a good deal more accustomed to Earth society."

"I.. really think I'd rather have something to work on now."

I can understand that. "Did your.. mathematical qualifications include statistics or economics?"

"Statistics, sure. Economics… A bit. It wasn't really my focus."

"Oh. Ah… Have you considered emigrating? Tamaran could really use school teachers?"

"Learn another language? I'm having enough trouble with English."

"Um…" I hear a hiss as the pod disconnects from its housing, Kon and Diana getting into position to push. "I'll have a think about it, but I don't really know much about higher maths. I'm not sure-"

Alert! Connection made to monitored phone line.

"-that I oh great."

Kara frowns. "What?"

"Sorry, someone's-." I raise my left hand and look at my ring.

Is it Truggs again?

Confirmed.

I move my hand to the side of my head. "What?"

"Hey, Paul. Funny story-."

"If the assassins are here for you, don't expect me to help."

"Oh, I think this time around my problems are your problems."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:54 -5 GMT

"I would be astonished if that were true."

Kon frowns at me from the other side of the room. "Who is it?" His pupils narrow slightly as he gives himself a magnified view of my face. "Truggs."

I nod. "As far as I am aware, the only problem we have in common is the Reach, and they have no resources anywhere near Earth. I checked this morning."

"But you know about the assassins, right? They called you in to that pile a' corpses in Washington State?"

"I'm not telling you any-."

"Come on! It was on the news. Police wouldn't let 'em see the warehouse so they filled air time talkin' about you."

"If you want to give me a clue, do it. Otherwise I'm hanging up again."

"Fine! Fine." I hear him huff at my lack of courtesy. "You remember I said I wanted t' change history?"

"Yes."

"How many people you think want t' do that?"

"All of them. If you're referring to time travellers that I know about, just you."

"What, you forget about yer friend 'Abra Kadabra'?"

"I never got the impression that he wants to change anything, just to improve his own life. In fact, he told me that he came to this period in the hope no one would notice anything odd about him."

"And you think he hasn't changed things?"

"Truggs, I don't even know what model of time travel this universe uses. For all I know changing the past is impossible."

"You thought I was wasting my time?"

"Nothing wrong with optimism. Plus, for all either of us know this was what you did the first time around as well."

"Huh. I did not know you did not know that. Yeah, pretty sure things can change."

"Do you have an evidential basis for that, or-."

"I found a lab. No time machine -which was a kick in the pants- but a whole lotta notes."

"You found a lab in the present, or in your era?"

"'My' era? It's not just my era. I wasn't the only guy there."

"You never told me exactly when you came from. And.. if you're successful then they'll all.. have never existed."

"I'll create more than I'll destroy. Or maybe not… I gotta be honest with yah: some of the stuff I read? Time's… Sticky. Like, it knows how it's meant t' go, an' if you do stuff to it it'll try and go some other route?"

"Or it just can't be changed, because you yourself are a product of the past you are trying to alter."

"That one kept me up at night. But, turns out? I'm okay. See, the lab? It was in a cave in the future, and it was old enough that it should exist now. And it did. It was, like, the fifth place I went. But when I tried t' go back… Rock wall. And some real interesting energy."

"Someone erased the lab. Then.. how do you still remember it?"

"I dunno! Maybe they rebuilt it. Maybe travelling in time makes you immune t' stuff like that. Problem is, I think someone saw me and.. I think I've been retroactively dodging assassination attempts. A whole lotta medical supplies I don't remember using are gone and I've got scars I don't remember getting..."

"I understand. Just tell me what sort of funeral service you want, and I'll arrange everything."

"You do understand whoever it is will be coming for you as well."

"Why? I'm not a time traveller."

"You sure about that? Because I've got a copy of Dana Dearden's article on you, and apparently…" I hear pages rustling. "You went back in time."

"Three years, from a parallel universe. I doubt any actual time travel was involved. The universes probably just don't.. line up."

"Oh, I'm not going to try and kill you. I'm just saying, this is public domain-."

"Does it matter? Either I won and everything's fine, or I'll pop out of existence. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Really? You don't have a time machine tucked away somewhere?"

"If I had a time machine I'd have gone back and talked Luthor into not joining the Light. I don't have a time machine."

"Huh. Kinda thought you mighta been lying about the parallel universe thing."

"So aside from a useless warning..?"

"It's not the same people."

"What isn't?"

"Whatever killed those people in Washington used some sorta powerful exotic matter weapon, right? I'm tough, but if someone hit me with something like that? I'm done. My injuries are all regular weapon injuries. No reason why you'd use fancy guns against ravers and regular stuff on the guy you were really trying t' kill."

"What makes you think you're the 'real' target?"

"Good question. See, the way I see it, the only reason why someone would try and stop me was if they wanted the future I don't want. Reach didn't have time travel, or the Orange Lantern Corps wouldn't a' eaten them in Kadabra's future. So… Who else?"

"Someone who wants to kill you but apparently doesn't care all that much about me?"

"No! Someone who wants the future we're trying to prevent! Or who wants a different future! Might even be the Thanagarians." I'm uncomfortably reminded of the ship that brought Princess Chay-Ara to Earth. "We want the same future. These people don't. This is both our problem."

"What do you want?"

"How about we share information?"

"I'm exceedingly reluctant to do that without a good deal more evidence than I have now that this is even happening."

"I can understand that. Hold on a sec…"

Coordinates received.

"There. Just sent you the place where the lab used to be. Take a look."

Ring?

"Take a look at a mountain?"

"I don't have a power ring. You might find something I missed. Or you might get shot at like I have been."

"I'll consider it. Anything else?"

"Nah. I'll call you again when you're done. Ciao!"