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

[Mr Zoat]

5th July 2010
Mid day

Ouwgh!

The lawn flashes past my eyes and then agh!

I'm.. folded around a tree. Urg, what? OW! Fix. Ah. Turn around and.. shield..?

Lantern Sunao walks lightly across the lawn, glowing ring on the middle finger of his right hand. He raises it, and a glowing green hand reaches out and takes his lantern from the plinth and brings it to him. Lantern Sunao is clean shaven and bald, but his musculature is solid and his gestures certain. The lantern in his hand, he takes a moment to check it over before regarding me carefully.

And then just stands there, green light spilling from his ring.

Okay?

The ring isn't a simple circular sigil attached to a circle of… Whatever power rings are made of. It looks like a small carriage lantern attached to a ring. The glow is constant, but now I'm looking at it I can see the faint green aura all around him. It's.. not stable in the way mine is. Rather, it's.. like a flame, billowing around him. I frown slightly as I look at my own left hand. Is it.. supposed to do that? I'd say not, but-. Wait. That's what Alan Scott's ring did, isn't it?

"And who might you be?"

"I'm-."

I stagger, my construct shield flickering for a moment.

He raises his eyebrows, smiling politely. "Are you unwell?"

"I-. No, I…" I frown. "I'm-."

I'm on my knees, propping myself up with both hands on the grass. I.. can't say my name? That's ridiculous. P-.

I shudder, but I don't collapse this time. Great, I can't think my name either.

"Are you having difficulty remembering?"

I rise to a crouch, frowning. "No. I remember, but if I think about it too directly…"

"I see." He nods. "And do you know who I am?"

"Yes. Green Lantern Sunao Souma."

He nods. "And do you know where you are?"

"A.. park? I came here because this is where the-. Where your personal lantern is."

"And before that?"

"The sky above it, then space."

"And before that?"

"Aaaah… Not.. clearly? I think I was at home in bed-." I stand. "I'd very much like your lantern."

He nods. "I had gathered that from your attempt to steal it."

I flick my right hand to the side. "I didn't think you were using it. Heck, I didn't think you were even here. Ring, why did you tell me he wasn't here?"

"Subject not detectable by standard scan."

"Tremendously helpful. So, yes, since you don't appear to be using it I would very much like it. I've.. got no idea what currency is used around here, but if you'll name a figure.. I can probably work something out."

He blinks. "You would offer to buy the lantern of Jong Li from me?"

"Yes..? It was just in the middle of nowhere, the ring couldn't find any recent records of you being active and I couldn't detect you. For all I knew you were dead or something. But since you're not, yes."

His eyes fix on my left hand. "Where did you get that ring?"

"I-. I don't know, it was just there."

He nods. "Had you heard of me before you decided to take my lantern?"

"No." Ah. "Ah, hang on. Ring, anything I'm not remembering?"

A series of images flicker through my mind, too fast for me to really perceive them individually. Weirdly, that's actually easier to cope with than trying to think my own name. I just shake my head.

"And my fellow Heavenly Guardians?"

I shake my head. "Is that a Japanese superhero team?"

He appears to find that very slightly amusing. "No. No, it is not. Have you noticed any things which… Seem strange to you? Facets of the world which are different to how you think they should be?"

"Yes. Why would anyone fire a nuclear weapon at Mount Fuji? In fact, why are there so many nuclear blast points in Japan and China?" I point upwards with my right forefinger. "And there were actual space ships up there."

"Hm." He nods. "Then I have two possibilities in mind. But I wonder; what would you do if I refused to relinquish my lantern?"

"Um."

!Get lantern!

My environmental shield flares and I take a step towards him. He doesn't really react… What.. would I do..? "I'd… Ah, ask you why?"

"You know nothing of my character." He waves his left hand. "Assume that all reasonable avenues have been exhausted."

"Then…" I don't like it, but… "I'd.. try and take it from you. Using.. the minimum amount of force."

"I see." He nods. "That is generous of you, considering my age."

"I-. Yes, I'm not exactly feeling proud of myself, but I.. do need it."

"You don't get to make that decision."

Lantern Sunao and I look up as a woman -yes, that's very definitely a woman- glowing with the power of a green power ring flies over the clearing, construct dragons hovering to either side of her. That's a bit stereotypical, isn't it? Her eyes are solid green in colour -some sort of visual enhancement?- and she's got small construct lanterns placed over her ears.

Lantern Yifei. Problematic.

Ah, ring? Can I go faster than light from a standing start?

Affirmative.

"Lantern Yifei, I feel this young man is somewhat confused. Until he takes directly aggressive action-."

"All he's guilty of is trespass and theft? And dealing with whoever gave him that cheap power ring knockoff?"

Oh no you didn't.

Orange plate materialises around my body as I match her height. "I assure you, Lantern Yifei, this is very much a power ring." Hm. Dragons are obvious, but… "What's that you're doing with your eyes? Some sort of.. expanded visual field..? I'm using a heads up display myself but I haven't had time to experiment yet."

"What?"

"As I said, Lantern Yifei, he is confused. He does not know who we are."

She doesn't turn her head. "How can he not know..? Is he from one of those crazy European monastic community things?"

I frown. "No."

"Possibly. I was endeavouring to find out. I really do think that a less confrontational approach is called for."

"Alright. No, I'm not doing anything with my visual field. I'm blind. They just.. glow like this when I'm wearing my ring."

Huh. I'd have thought that the Guardians could have fixed that. Or they'd have cloned eyes or cybernetics or something like that. Odd.

!Perfect!.

On the other hand, given what the ring did to my body, it shouldn't be too hard…

I smile, raising my left hand. "Let me help you with that."

"Hu-?"

Orange light flashes from the ring, punching through her environmental shield and striking the upper portion of her face. The eyeballs themselves are basically fine, but there's damage to the optic nerve and.. visual cortex. Nasty, but perfectly fixable. Change that change that good-good-.

And then the giant sumo wrestler construct slams me head first into the soil.

"Jade. Are you injured?"

And it's holding me here and I'm really not sure that my armour can take this. What's going on?

In my mind's eye I see Lantern Yifei pick herself off the ground, blinking as she does so. Lantern Sunao comes forward to cover her. Her constructs fail and her environmental shield dims as she stares at her hands with her fully healed eyes.

"No, I-. I can.. see."

"Are you certain that is all that occurred?"

"Ah." She turns to face him, pointing at her eyes. "Yeah."

"I see." He waves his hand and the pressure vanishes with the sumo wrestler.

I pick myself out of the hole and turn to face him as he looks me over carefully.

"Young man, would you care for some tea?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
07:17 GMT +8

"So… What do you think?"

The Harmonious One tilts his hat back slightly, the mandala surrounding him oscillating as he does so. "You have the sort of problems most men would kill for."

I look away as a particularly bright conjugation appears in his aura, turning to look at the space dock where the last dockside checks are being made to the Zheng He before its scheduled launch later this week. Something else that makes this version of Earth different from every version of DC Earth I remember: it's a lot more technologically advanced-.

I glance down towards the clouds covering Europe.

In most places it's more technologically advanced. China, Japan, India, Persia and the Songhai Empire all maintain space fleets. They're… Not exactly advanced by the standards of the wider universe, and the schizo tech I'd expect from a DC universe is almost entirely absent… Or at least I think it is. Given how advanced everything else is, I might just not notice it.

"Killing I understand. Modern Chinese culture is… I still haven't adapted to it."

He carefully lifts his hat from his head and pulls out a copy of the Book of Rites before returning his hat to his head and thumbing through the book. "There are good Confucian reasons for refusing. Since you do not come from a society where polygamy is normal and she comes from a society where monogamy is one of the normal relationship structures, your relationship would be rendered more stable by not deviating from that model. I can quote…" I shake my head. "No?"

"I've read Confucius' work because it was a set text. I'm not a devotee. I can hardly claim that defence."

"Very well." He tosses the book aside, sending it drifting through the void. "And what does Harriet Taylor say on the subject?"

"She was against political or economic marriages, but that's.. not really relevant. Both Jades have their own careers… I wouldn't expect them to comply with any restrictions which I wasn't complying with myself…"

The Harmonious One looks shocked. "Do you mean to say that you married Ms Nguyen without telling me? That was jolly rude."

"No, wh-? No, of course not. It's just that a lot of 'traditional' scholars-."

"I would hardly call someone who wrote less than two hundred years ago 'traditional'."

"You know what I mean. Extended monogamous cohabitation wasn't really a thing back then. Or at least it didn't get written about. Though Harriet would probably have approved of people learning what marriage entailed by experience, at least where children weren't involved."

"Ah." He nods. "You are treating your present arrangement as equivalent to marriage, gaining the restrictions but not the benefits."

"I suppose?"

"And even with the power of avarice on your finger. Truly, you are a virtuous prince among men."

"Larfleeze made it very clear to me how important virtue is. Also… I like to think that I'd behave… You know, appropriately to anyone I was involved with anyway."

"Hm. Speaking as a long time observer of Chinese culture, I imagine that Lady Yifei is the best person to tell you how practical such an arrangement would be." He frowns. "Un.. less she's got no more idea than you do, having not been in a serious relationship since she acquired her power ring and everyone would just sort of be muddling through with no one miraculously having-"

"Yes, thank you."

"-all of the answers." He smiles brightly. "Glad I could help." He looks up at the Zheng He and gestures grandly towards it with his right arm. "Tell me, what would your China governed by drug-addled Levellers-"

"They're not-"

"-make of this?"

"-drug addled, and they're not even really Levellers any more."

"You said they were communistic?"

"No, I said-. Political ideologies and political realities are often very different things. They actually-"

"And just like that, communistics are not communistical. It must have been very confusing for everyone involved."

"I try to judge people by what they actually do, not by what they say they do. And to answer your actual question, I think they'd be thrilled that there was an Earth where China was the most powerful nation on Earth. And then they'd steal the designs and start copying them." He bows his head, smiling. "What do they have you up here for, anyway?"

"Just.. in case." He shrugs grandly. "The Zheng He is rather expensive, and is protected against most predictable forms of attack. And -as was pointed out- I am quite skilled at reacting to unpredicted forms of attack. I'm sure that it has absolutely nothing to do with Lord Lord Fate replenishing the wards around Chengdu and wanting me out of the way."

Ah, yes. The antipathy which the longest serving member of the Heavenly Guardians feels for my chaos magic using friend is certainly not something which he would ever allow to interfere with the conduct of his offices. No. Another problem with the.. frankly toadying that happens with some of the Guardians. Or maybe I'm just being 'perniciously individualistic' again. Lord Nabu tolerates other magic users but… Well, there have only been a couple of chaos magic users in the support tier ever. And none have ever received the Mandate and actually joined the Heavenly Guardians. Harmonious One himself hasn't actually complained in my hearing, but he does make sarcastic quips at Lord Nabu's expense.

"Have they found you a new partner yet?"

"No, no. With Khyber dead, I'm afraid that they have 'sent me to Liao' literally."

I frown. "What did you do to deserve that?"

"It's technically a promotion, so I can't complain." He turns his head to look at me. "And I do mean that."

"That it's a promotion?"

"That I can't complain. The super criminals are few, the weather fair and I'll have plenty of time to work on applying chaos magic to stochastic analytics…"

"It's a waste of your talents."

He shrugs. "We are but functionaries, yoked to the great destiny of our nation. And so on and so on and so forth."

"If you're interested in transferring, I can put in a word with Dox. We don't have any magic users in the Corps at the moment."

"Now that does interest me. Might I assume that wearing a ring is not required?"

"You can assume that."

"But would I be right?"

"The Darkstars don't wear them and the fleet won't either. I'm sure that you'll be offered one."

"Mmmmmmmn. I don't think that the hat would approve. I'll give it some thought, see how things pan out. But." He raises his hat once more. "I thank you for the offer. Most generous."

"It serves our needs too. The Reach can counter Lanterns."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting a free ride." He returns his hat to its proper station. "When are you meeting Lord Fang?"

"A few minutes."

He momentarily covers his face with his hat, and when he moves it away he's borrowed Lord Fang's face. "Would you like me to growl at you a few times to reacquaint you with the sensation?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
07:22 GMT +8

Chengdu. Largest city in the world, and capital of China since Beijing was reduced to radioactive vapour during China's last war with Japan. As well as containing the Imperial Palace and the head offices of more companies and government branches than I can easily call to mind it's also the home of the Imperial Security Agency. Much like how -back on Earth Prime- British stamps didn't have their country of issue on them, the Imperial Security Agency doesn't consider it necessary to state who the lucky Imperium is. If you have to ask, then you're probably not a threat to world security and can safely be ignored.

My ring pings me a dozen notifications as radar and lidar stations politely point out that they can see me. This place is routinely staffed by half a dozen high powered super functionaries in addition to any of the Heavenly Guardians who are using its facilities, and if Lord Nabu is down there that inevitably means that thirty or so of his acolytes are in town as well. Easily enough force to hard stop me if they had to. I wave for the benefit of whoever the camera operators are, then head towards one of the building's upper entrances. I touch down, then walk into the upper lobby. If I wasn't on record I'd have been intercepted before I got anywhere near the building. As it is -I raise my hands and stop walking as the security team head towards me- I'm still going to have to put up with them scanning me in detail to confirm my identity.

The ISA… It's not the CIA. And despite what its -mostly European- critics seem to believe it's not the Authority. China's territorial ambitions end with its borders, and it values stability even more than it values dominating its trade partners. And it values trade more than it values… Shall we say… 'Moral convergence'. While the Heavenly Guardians -most of whom used to work for the ISA- are considered to be above such things, those of us who work for the ISA are state employees and are obliged to toe the government line.

One of the members of the security detail is a Persian woman with an ankh tattooed under her right eye. It shimmers gold for a moment as she holds her right hand out towards my forehead, then returns to normal as she steps back with a nod. One of Lord Nabu's acolytes; it makes sense that they'd be giving the local magicians a day off if they're in town. I've met Lord Nabu… Twice, and quite aside from the somewhat creepy possession aspect of how he works he has quite an abrasive personality. But… I have to say that I admire the infrastructure that he's built up and the efficiency with which he works. If you can only act upon the mortal world through hosts, it makes sense to have a few hundred training to take up the job at any one time. And since they're all training to be order magic users, they can accomplish a great deal even when not doing duty as hat racks. The really good ones only take up his helmet at times of planetary crisis; it's just not efficient for them to do so the rest of the time because it stops them using their own magics.

The ISA gathers intelligence from hundreds of thousands of sources, and uses that information to advise government ministers. Its remit includes gathering intelligence both on criminals acting within China and those acting outside of it. That was the part which I worked for, and where most super functionaries the government admits to employing work. Having us work for a conventionally military organisation or for a more interventionist intelligence agency would risk increasing international tensions, so it's careful to keep us nice and visible so that the world can be suitably impressed by China's largess.

Security check and 'welcome back, sir's complete, I stride into the building proper and head in the general direction of the office which Lantern Fang is using. Flying and teleporting around the building is 'officially discouraged' and to be fair the Heavenly Guardians are pretty good about following the rules they set for others. I get a few respectful nods from the office workers I pass, and I make sure to return them. Another thing that I was politely told was officially discouraged was plundering every database I come across and as such I genuinely couldn't say who a lot of these people are.

I've been somewhat impressed about how open-handedly the ISA shares the information it collects with states that the government doesn't have a good relationship with; it was explained to me that China benefits so much from the established world order that it would be foolish not to. And getting large parts of eastern China incinerated by Japan gave the Chinese government a useful reminder about the wisdom of 'shaming barbarians into submission' by setting the best possible example rather than confronting them directly.

After they returned the favour.

The ISA also gathers political intelligence, though unlike back home they don't go in for blatant industrial espionage. If only because there isn't really anyone advanced enough for the risks to outweigh the benefits. I… They haven't asked me to involve myself in the 'normal' spying part.

Jade was kind enough to inform me -after I turned up for my first meeting with Lantern Fang about half an hour early- that he prefers it when the other party arrives either exactly on time or a few minutes later. His justification is -apparently is; he wouldn't tell me himself- that if you were hanging around like that you clearly didn't have anything better to do, and anyone important enough to meet with him should have something better to do. Except the point of this meeting is that I don't, so… Maybe I'll get away with it?

I come to a halt outside the door of his audience chamber. Yes, not a mere 'office' or 'board room', this is a full-on stately chamber. There'll be intricately painted wall panels, ornamental pillars, gravel flooring and stepped dais and… I think this one even has ornamental fountains. Minimalist design exists on this Earth, but it's considered to be a Japanese thing and hasn't ever caught on amongst the ISA's decorators. Quick self-check… Yes, everything's in order. I step up to the door of his audience chamber and knock hard, twice.

"Enter."

Lantern Fang's voice. I firmly push open the door and step through, marching-.

I hesitate for a split second when I see who else is seated on the dais, then I blank my face, recover, and continue my march up the central pathway.

Lantern Fang is up there, but he doesn't have the central position. That is occupied by Lord Nabu by virtue of his seniority. Lantern Fang is to his left, while at his right sits Souma-. Lantern Sunao. Again, he might be retired but the only way to stop being a Heavenly Guardian is to die. His ring glows dimly; the last dregs of its power from the charge he got from Jade's lantern before the final battle with Khyber. Lantern Sunao doesn't smile at me, but I've long since learned that no one keeps a poker face like an elderly Japanese man. Lantern Yifei on the other hand -safe in her position on the side and slightly back from her senior colleagues- can't stop herself flashing me a smile. On the far right, the woman in the minimalist costume is Warrior Maiden. Anywhere else, having five Heavenly Guardians in one place would be a sign of the apocalypse; they'd be there to prevent it. I'm.. not sure why they're here.

I march until I reach a spot just before the foot of the dais and then bow from the waist until my torso is parallel to the ground.

And I don't say anything. This.. whole.. complex formal behavioural thing was rather hard for me to get my head around, and I'm sure that's why Lord Nabu doesn't immediately tell me to rise. They want to make sure that I can play the part of a well behaved super functionary operative.

"Rise, Operative."

I come erect at once, hands clasped behind my back and my eyes trained deferentially at Lord Nabu's feet.

As well as posture, when to speak and when not to are also important. Saying 'reporting as requested' would be completely wrong. Obviously I'm reporting as requested; the alternative is that I just happened to wander into the right room at the right time by complete fluke.

"You have requested to return to active duty. When you left the Imperial Security Agency, you indicated that you intended to found an Orange Lantern Corps. I had assumed that you would remain with it."

He stops, which is an invitation to explain myself. "While I am skilled in the use of the orange light, I lack the organisational skills which the task required. After I located a man who possessed such skills, I passed the responsibility on to him. When he informed me that he felt that my ongoing presence undermined his authority, I offered to return to Earth until he had established himself."

Whatever happened to change Earth's history from the DC history I am familiar with, it didn't to anything very much to the wider universe. Dox was where I thought he'd be, as was Vega.

"Why did you return here and not Tamaran?"

I don't look at Lantern Fang. He almost certainly passed on what the Green Lantern Corps knows about what I did, so I don't need to describe that.

"In Tamaranian culture, personal achievement is essential for achieving political power. Given the.. impact I'd already had, I felt it best to avoid taking further action there myself when the princesses are perfectly capable of dealing with matters themselves. If my presence is required, they can contact me by ring. Also, as an Orange Lantern I have found that having a stable social group is helpful for avoiding the adverse psychological effects of orange light use."

"You have no desire for personal glory?"

Odd.. question… "I do not care about personal glory, saving that possessing it makes it easier to achieve my objectives. I think that the universe should work a certain way, and I work as best I can into making it work like that."

"Acceptable." He looks right and then left. "Do my colleagues have any questions?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
07:41 GMT +8

"…applying myself to wider scale problems is simply a more efficient use of my abilities. Stealing a million fen results in the same amount of money being acquired as stealing ten thousand yuan, and is far harder for conventional authorities to detect."

Darna doesn't precisely seem happy about my answer, but she doesn't press the issue. Traditionally, Marte natives prefer the direct and violent approach to heroing. It's clear that she doesn't believe that the month and a half I spent investigating tax fraud was an appropriate use of my abilities. Nabu on the other hand actually nods approvingly. Distort well ordered systems for your personal gain at your peril when a Lord of Order is around.

"I also have concerns about your stated desire to acquire examples of Khyber's technology, particularly when I consider that you were present when his.. research centres were breached."

"Lady Darna, learning how our enemies' weapons work-."

"I understand the advantage. But you believe that such knowledge is valuable enough that you were willing to take significant risks in penetrating his facilities rather than destroying them at a distance?"

"While I could not know for certain in advance, I felt that that was a possibility."

"And you were not at all motivated by your desire to acquire Khyber's secrets for yourself?"

Of course I wanted them. Not that they did me a lot of good. I don't study alchemy and while I could use the cybernetic stuff… I'd rather not. On the other hand, plenty of other people across the world can pick over what we acquired and won't have to undertake the dangerous work of dissecting existing specimens or interrogating the few surviving members of Khyber's inner circle. Khyber's own life extension techniques and cyber chirurgeries will probably make their way into the mainstream, given time.

"In part, yes. Finding better uses for the technologies of the malevolent is an aspect of my work which I find particularly satisfying. But I still believe that it was the correct strategic decision, a belief that was supported by my superiors at the time."

"Did the sight of their inner workings not horrify you?"

"I would say 'disgusted' more than 'horrified'. Based on initial studies of the remains of those cybernetic organisms which we had already encountered, I already had a fairly good idea how they were made. Seeing it.. was… Deeply unpleasant. Particularly the.. rendering machines. But it was an evil I could understand."

She regards me for a moment, then leans back in her seat. "I have no further questions."

Nabu nods, then raises his hands. Golden ankhs shimmer-.

The universe seems to skip for a moment. The room is more or less the same, but the faint air currents in the room have left the tapestries at slightly different points in their wafting. The splash of water doesn't quite line up, and the Heavenly Guardians are sitting in slightly different positions. Except Nabu. He's in exactly the same position. Some sort of.. time bending effect? I'm not really sure why they didn't just send me out of the r-.

"Orange Lantern." Nabu stands, waving his right hand in a glowing arc and summoning a small wooden chest into existence. "We have reached a decision regarding your future."

"My Lords, I am ready to serve."

I'm not sure I was supposed to respond-. No, it's Nabu. If I wasn't, he'd have said something. There's a faint golden glow as the lid of the chest opens-.

I genuflect, my head bowing as my right knee hits the ground. I was not expecting that, though it does explain why Souma is here. The scroll currently floating out of the chest is a Mandate of Heaven.

Sort of. The Mandate of Heaven is China's more capricious version of the Divine Right of Kings. 'Capricious' because rather than simply saying that the king rules because God says that he should, it's more of a franchise arrangement. Dynasties which are cast down are considered to have had the Mandate withdrawn, and as such the incoming dynasty is perfectly righteous in taking care of the merely temporal matter of booting them out of the palace. If 'Heaven' permits it, then clearly it was meant to happen.

Ever since Jong Li put his adopted son on the throne of China, however, there's been a… Tradition of the reigning Emperor or Empress licensing certain individuals to act in his or her name, outside the bounds of normal government structures. Extending the Mandate to people outside of the imperial dynasty. Jong Li didn't want future Emperors to rule at the convenience of people with super powers, and after the defeat of Yalun Gar he had a healthy appreciation of the damage super powered people could do. But at the same time, he wanted good people to have the power to cause change without needing to refer to Emperors who might be corrupt or incompetent.

Back in the old days, it was the Green Lantern and perhaps a couple of other individuals. Then a Persian archaeological expedition found Nabu's temple and.. things expanded. 'Heavenly Guardians' is the modern name given to the group of people who have all made the grade and become a full part of the Earth's leading superhero team.

And… Apparently… I've made that grade.

"This quorum of the Heavenly Guardians finds that your deeds and righteousness make you a worthy addition to our number. Kneel no more, and accept this honour."

And he isn't joking. In China at least this gives me authority equal to that of the Emperor; I don't even have to give him more than a respectful nod. And he has to nod back. How it works in other places… Varies. Though I doubt that my friend Caliph Kassam al-Rashid would expect me to bow to him.

I lift my head, hands outstretched to take the scroll representing my new authority into my hands. Nabu for his part puts it into my hands with his own, rather than levitating it there. The vellum feels softer than paper, and the pagoda seal is printed in the wax holding it shut. I create a small blade construct and slice through it, standing as I unroll the scroll.

Oh. The text inside is written in Chinese -obviously- but they've also included an English translation. Not that they need to, I wear a universal translator whenever I'm on active duty. And I doubt that anyone will actually ask to see this; my membership will be widely publicised. Still, it's a surprising-

A faint golden light flows from the open scroll and into me as the identification spell triggers.

-concession. I roll up the scroll and send it into subspace. "Thank you, honoured colleagues. I will strive to be worthy of this responsibility."

"Good." Nabu's eyes flare faintly. "That is the necessary attitude to possess."

"Is there.. an area of the world which presently needs my particular attention?"

"No. Your formal audience with the Emperor will be tomorrow. Until then, I suggest that you spend your time updating yourself with ISA intelligence reports."

I nod. "Sound advice." And it is just advice. While Nabu has seniority he can't actually give me orders any longer. "I will also read up on the customs relating to the audience. I.. wasn't expecting this."

Nabu nods, then walks past me towards the exit. Darna follows him a moment later, leaving me with my fellow Lanterns.

"Lantern Fang. I.. am a little surprised that you consider me to be ready for this."

He nods. "I would have preferred to wait a year or two. But your conduct has been good, and having your rank on Earth be so at odds with your rank in the Orange Lantern Corps would be foolish. I would not have given my approval if you were unworthy."

I close my eyes as I nod back. "Thank you. I will prove you right."

He looks me over, then glances back at our two colleagues who are clearly waiting for-. He gets the message, and heads for the door at a march.

I watch him go as Jade and Souma come down off the dais to stand next to me. But I wait until the door is firmly shut before turning to them.

Jade is grinning, while Souma's smile is far more restrained but just as genuine. My eyes are wide as I shake my head in visible disbelief. Then I lunge forward and wrap my arms around the old man's chest.

"Hah!" He hugs back for a moment before pushing me away. "Off, you excessively emotional barbarian!"

I comply, grinning. "Thank you, oh ancient and venerable master."

He shakes his head. "You have earned this, and I am proud that you are my acolyte."

"Thank you." I turn to Jade. This.. might make things a little easier. "Jade."

"What, I don't get a hug?" She puts her right hand on her right hip. "After all the time I put into training you?"

"Thank you, oh sagacious and cunning tutor who totally knew that construct coilguns were a thing before I shot her with one."

"I totally did." I lean down slightly as I wrap my arms around her shoulders. She hugs back without any of Souma's reservation. "So are you really-" She pulls back slightly, hands on my arms. "-going to spend the day reading intelligence reports? Right after getting mandated?"

"Not.. all day. I.. was hoping that you'd join Jade and I for dinner this evening."

"Oh?" She tilts her head back slightly, glancing momentarily at Souma. "Do I get to bring a date too?"

"I.. spoke to Jade this morning, and… Ah." Do it. "We're the dates." She raises her eyebrows. "Assuming that you're interested."

"Ohh." She looks me over a little more closely, a saucy smile on her lips. "I.. might be. If you've got time for a prac-." She blinks. "Both of you?"

"I said I was only interested in a love triangle if the triangle was equilateral."

"I'll try most things once." She floats up to bring her head level with mine. "But maybe we could practise with a line first?"

Souma blinks slightly as Jade and I lean towards one another.. "Ah. How… Modern."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
08:37 GMT +8

Still…

Those intelligence reports weren't going to keep forever.

It looks like -to the surprise of absolutely no one- the Dream Thieves are trying to acquire Khyber-derived cybernetic technologies, and whoever wrote this isn't shy about laying the blame firmly at the feet of Harun al-Rashid in what I consider a frankly unhelpful distraction from actually giving the reader information-.

Wait a moment. I just received a Mandate.

Check the source identification code… Don't want to be too harsh…

'While I appreciate your efforts in assembling this report, it is not necessary to repeatedly remind the reader of Harun al-Rashid's actions in creating the Dreamers. Unless information has been uncovered suggesting that he gave specific instructions for a situation, their nature is background reading not appropriate for a bulletin.'

And.. send.

It's going to my head already, isn't it? Ugk, I know that I was right; I've read the SOP on writing intelligence bulletins five times and my ring gives me perfect memory. Should I have.. e-mailed the author's superior instead? I still don't really understand how normal Chinese people actually think about Heavenly Guardians. I mean, sure, they'd show deference, but-.

Incoming communication.

Oh? I straighten up slightly. Let's hear it.

"Hey Paul." I frown. "Sorry this took s' long. Guess that purple guy dropped us both in it, huh?"

My frown deepens. Ring, trace.

Compliance.

"I'm sorry; who are you?"

"Oh, come on. You gunna play it that way? You an' me are about the only guys who remember how history's supposed ta be. We need ta put our heads t'gether before they track us down."

"No, seriously. I've got no idea who you are. Let alone how you managed to contact my ring. You know cold calling on government communication channels is illegal, right?"

Ring, do you have a location yet?

Unclear. An unidentified form of obfuscation is being employed.

Probably magic. Do I think I can keep him on the line long enough for a magic user to back hack him?

"Ah no. It got you too?"

"What got me? Look, if this is something dangerous it's my job to help. And knowledge of how to block ring communication back tracking-."

"Sorry! Think I got a wrong number. I'll ah… I'll see you whenever-."

"No-. Look, I'm not annoyed-."

Connection lost.

That was.. strange. Ring, access intelligence voice print archives. Any matches?

None found.

"Any evidence of vocal distortion in the incoming communication?"

None found.

"Background noise?"

None found.

None? So he's.. in some sort of sound filtered environment..? But hasn't bothered to disguise his voice? Does he.. not know that China is a surveillance state? Ring, create a voice print file, list whoever that was as a 'person of interest, unknown risk'.

Which might result in whoever that was getting shot.

Ah, add 'report contact to Orange Lantern before engaging'.

Compliance.

Create standard format report file for miscellaneous contact.

Compliance.

Contents… Analysis… What language was that?

Subject spoke English. Unable to determine origin of accent or dialect.

I frown. Really?

Accent appears to have characteristics of the form of American English spoken in the United States of America.

Aah. With Zheng He's voyages of discovery happening about fifty years before the start of European settlement of the Americas, the USA is a rather different affair to what it was back home on Earth Prime. China didn't start shipping people over until the start of the sixteenth century, but the result was that post-independence USA didn't really have the option of westward expansion. The Sinoistic Provinces of America were already there. A few wars with the world's most powerful country later and the young country more or less fragmented… It's all a bit of a mess.

Can you narrow it down further?

Accent appears to have characteristics of the form of American English spoken in the United States of America on Earth Prime. The accents do not exist on Earth Sixteen.

What?

This ring has access to your memories. Those they do not contain a complete analysis of available accents, two have close matches.

My ring plays.. snatches, of Loyd Grossman and Heath Ledger's Joker talking, matching parts of their speech to.. whoever that was. I don't know what parts of the United States either of them come from, but.. I suppose that you wouldn't have to change history much to change a culture enough to change accents. Especially given the greater roles of Far Eastern languages in world communications.

Huh.

Okay. 'Purple guy'. Nothing comes to mind. I mean, there was that Italian terrorist organisation where the leaders wore purple… But I wouldn't call any of them 'purple guys' and I didn't.. get the impression that whoever that was was trying to deceive me. There are plenty of super functionaries who have purple in their costume somewhere, but only a few where it's a major component. And I don't have anything in common…

Kassam had a purple cloak. He was wearing it before the assault on Khyber's last redoubt at Alamut. There were.. cameras…

No, no, no. It doesn't fit. He expected me to recognise him. Okay, possibilities. He's a nutter, one of the highly skilled ones. He just thought he knew me, and my not responding the way he expected me to threw him off. Like Edward Nygma with Bruce Wayne in the novelisation of Batman Forever. I actually have forgotten. I can't forget things due to conventional means as long as I wear this ring, but I can get memories erased by telepathy. Simple enough to check; just pop along to the Martian embassy. Or get one of the local telepaths to look me over. Ditto with magic.

What does that leave?

Parallel universes and alternate time lines, those old standbys for when nothing makes sense. I've only travelled between parallel universes once and I haven't ever travelled through time. I.. think I'll leave trying to investigate those until I'm eliminated the more likely options.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
19:23 GMT +8

I look up at the restaurant's frontage. Yifei Jade smirks as she watches my face for my reaction, while Nguyen Jade is carefully keeping her face blank.

"Oooooh, very funny."

Before I came here, I'd eaten Chinese food in a restaurant… Twice, I think? Once for an office pre-Christmas gathering and again with my family. On neither occasion was I exactly impressed. But; okay, restaurant eating isn't 'normal' eating. Maybe being completely surrounded by Chinese culture for a year would help me get into it?

Nope.

I abuse my barbarian status ruthlessly in order to use a fork and a knife whenever I go out to eat. It took months for Jade to stop giving me the evils when she found out. I can use chopsticks, even without using a power ring to grip the blasted things. But why would I when a fork does the job better? If I'm picking the restaurant I generally choose somewhere Indian. As Britain had far less success confronting a unified India than it did a divided one the cultural exchange that resulted in the curry I know never really happened, but they're still far closer to what I'm used to than anything else on this world.

But tonight Jade has decided that we're going for an English.

The grinning pie merchant on the sign is wearing chef whites. Which are French. With no imperial-age competition relations between Britain and France are pretty good, far better than I would have expected given how they were when British culture was as it.. is.. now. In addition to the chef's hat he's wearing a crown and a golden chain. The place is called Aethelred's Pie Emporium and -ring?- it's written in English with a Chinese approximation underneath.

I'm feeling decidedly nervous about this.

"Is it… Any good..?"

Yifei Jade shrugs. "I've never been here before. I thought we could experience the-" She holds up a leaflet. "-'wonders of traditional English cookery' together for the first time."

Nguyen Jade already has her personal organiser out. "Reviews are generally favourable. Though apparently we should avoid the 'Star Gaze Pie."

"You can just cut the heads off, it's not really that weird." I look around-. We've already drawn something of a crowd, though Yifei Jade's status means that they aren't asking us for autographs or anything. Though given what Yifei Jade is wearing they might just want a look. Nguyen Jade dressed surprisingly conservatively, though she is wearing more makeup than I'm used to. I'm wearing an Earth-Prime style suit of a kind which doesn't exactly exist here. But again, being a barbarian has its advantages. "How did you get a reservation this quick-" Yifei Jade starts to laugh again, while Nguyen Jade appears to be trying to work out whether I'm serious or not. "-ly?"

Yifei Jade leans into my right hand side, reaching across to pat my chest with her right hand. "It wasn't a problem. Shall we?"

Jade and I let Jade take the lead-. Oh, I need to come up with pet names or something. This is silly. Maybe I can just refer to them both as 'Miss'… Which would work until we actually get married.

Miss Nguyen and I let Miss Yifei take the lead as she pushes through the front door and into-. Oh, what the heck? The interior decoration isn't bad, though with that much bare stone it will probably be expensive to heat during the winter. But the miniskirted pseudo-Beefeater waitresses are throwing me off, as are the… Ugh, the longswords and claymores which decorate the walls, lending the interior a surprisingly martial.. castley theme. The staff are mostly European, and someone whom I assume is the manager is already bowing to Miss Yifei and gesturing to a windowside table in the corner of the room.

Miss Nguyen sidles up to me on my left. "How cringe worthy is it?"

"It could be wor-." I spot a waiter dressed as a Morris Dancer, including bells and handkerchiefs. "I'll live."

Miss Yifei has been given the place facing the door and with the best views of the restaurant interior. I hesitate for a moment, then Miss Nguyen flickers her eyes at the next seat and I take my cue and sit down. Miss Nguyen has barely sat down on my left before the manager -not quite running but certainly hurrying- returns with our menus.

I smile at him. "Thank you."

He bows, a full right angle from the waist job. "You are welcome, sir."

Oh… Right. I've got that to look forward to. The downside to being important enough that I don't have to bow to anyone is that a lot of them are going to feel obliged to bow to me.

Miss Yifei is already looking over the drinks menu. "I don't know these tea blends." She gives a small shrug and then looks at me. "Which do you think is best?"

"Ahhhh." I… Don't know anything about tea. Britain is still a nation of tea-drinkers here, but for obvious reasons British tea brands don't get sold to China. I'm.. assuming that these are sourced locally based on blends popular in Britain… "I think.. Earl Grey is.. generally well regarded?"

Miss Nguyen looks for a moment as if she wants to interject before my horrible taste in boiled leaves ruins everything. Miss Yifei just nods and raises her eyebrows slightly. "What do you suggest?"

"I'm going to be drinking apple juice. British craft beer is pretty good… But…"

"You don't drink alcohol so can't point anything out."

"Yes. British-" I notice the manager giving me a slightly odd look. Why-? I'm not deferring or calling her 'my lady'. "-wine isn't great, but the Spanish and French varieties are probably perfectly palatable. Though again, I can't really…"

I shrug and she nods. "Two.. apple juices, then. Jade?"

"I'll just have.. sour plum juice."

"Oh, come on! The whole point of coming to a foreign restaurant is to try new things. You can't just drink what you'd drink normal-. Normally."

Miss Nguyen is already doing a sort of sitting bow. "Of course, my-"

"No, I didn't-"

"-lady."

"-mean it like, I-."

I look directly at the manager and lean slightly forwards. "Two apple juice, one sour plum juice and don't rush back."

"Yes sir." He bows again, turns and strides away from the table.

Miss Nguyen is clearly tense, rigidly sitting straight up. Miss Yifei on the other hand is slightly slumped, her eyes avoiding both of us. I take a privacy filter out of subspace, set it to two metres and then set it in the centre of the table. The restaurant noise drops to nothing immediately, neatly taking care of the 'public disrespect' angle.

"Jade." I lay my right hand on Miss Yifei's left. "Jade isn't used to you yet. Please -for now- try to avoid giving instructions that she feels obliged to defer to."

"Yeah, I-" She looks across to Miss Nguyen. "-didn't mean it like that. I just meant that it's... That I think it's boring to go somewhere new and then.. do what you'd have done anyway. I wasn't ordering you to drink something else."

Miss Nguyen nods stiffly. "I apologise. I should have realised."

"No, don't-." Miss Yifei sighs. "This is-."

I nod. "That's not really something you want in your personal life. Jade,-" I put my left hand on Miss Nguyen's right shoulder and give her a small shake in an attempt to encourage her to become less stiff. "-do you think you can do that?"

"I-." She nods, looking Miss Yifei directly in the eye. "Yes. I will. I'm-."

"Oh no, don't apologise. This… I've tried to have relationships before, and they always… Since I've been Mandated, whoever I'm with just starts doing that and... And then I found out that Captain Marvel was really twelve, and…"

I nod. "You stopped trying."

"And that's why-" She rotates her left hand so that we're holding hands. "-I want this to work. You.. never have and-" She stands and leans across the table, holding her right hand out to Miss Nguyen. "-I really hope you don't feel you have to."

Some of the tension leaves Miss Nguyen. She also stands and extends her right arm, clasping hands in a barbarian handshake. "Thank you, Jade. I will try."

I smile as they sit back down. "Great! Now what pies do people want?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd October
08:30 -6

I smile at Ms Kimble as she enters the living room, escorted by a smiling Miss Amane. "Miss Kimble, thank you for joining us."

"Like I had a choice." She glances back at her escort, who closes her eyes and smiles at her. "Am I getting out of here now?"

"Perhaps. Please." I gesture to the chair across from me with my right hand. "Be seated."

Bit quicker on the uptake than some, this one; she does a quick scan of the room and then takes the seat I've offered her. Miss Amane takes up position a little way behind her, pole arm in hand.

"First, a quick update for you. The rest of Persuader's recruits have been taken into custody by the Department of Metahuman Affairs and their equipment confiscated. Their training area is being occupied and picked apart by forensic investigators and any interesting technology will be passed to their research teams. You have the thanks of a grateful nation. Even Kal-El asked me to thank you on his behalf."

"Great. So I can go now?"

My eyes narrow slightly. "Do you really want to go home?"

"Beats being locked in a room here." She smiles viciously. "Or are you going to make me an offer?"

I lean back slightly, and nod. "Something like that. As you can tell from Miss Amane's presence, I do recruit people with useful skills. And in return for their work, I both pay them and.. help them in certain ways. In your case, locating your father was a simple matter and you're now old enough to request that you be transferred into his care regardless of your mother's wishes."

"You found D-?!"

She bites down her wave of excitement, most likely realising how much it weakens her negotiating position. Stuart Kimble didn't exactly impress me, but as far as I can tell he's just about the only person Miss Kimble actually cares about and I believe that it's best to steer clear of recruiting outright sociopaths.

"To forestall your next question, when he and your mother separated she told him that if he attempted to gain custody of you she would go to the police and claim that he had been assaulting her for the duration of their marriage. And since I've had telepaths studying her mind for the past few days, I think I can write that one up as a believable threat. One which she will not have access to any longer. Your father has indicated that he is very much interested in getting custody, so if you'll give it the nod we can get started on that."

She nods.

"Having looked over your school records-."

"Those are private."

"I'm a Federal Agent investigating a supervillain. I can get access to all sorts of things." Legally, even. "Your grades range from C to D in every subject save P-." Ugh. "Save gym class. Not helped by the fact that you stabbed your maths teacher to death."

"What the fuck! No I d-!"

"Oh, don't even. One stab through the neck with a serrated blade which you kept. Though I was mildly amused by the fact that one of your classmates apparently paid you for the hit." I slouch back in my seat. "To be honest, that surprised me more than the fact that you killed him."

"I wanna talk to a la-."

"No you don't. You want this to go away. You want to have a tearful reunion with your father, change school and put the whole thing behind you." I raise my eyebrows. "Don't you? Because the rules concerning evidence gathering while investigating supervillains are fairly generous. If you insist on talking to a lawyer, I have to stop talking to you. But you will be convicted of the vicious murder of a loving husband and father and spend the next forty years in prison. So: think carefully before insisting on exercising your legal rights."

She glares at me for a moment.

"What do you want?"

"Assuming that you remain at large… Where do you see yourself in a few years' time?" She doesn't reply. "Now, be honest. I already know you're a murderer, it's not going to make me think any less of you." Still nothing. "You see, one thing I noticed about his body was the lack of bruising. You didn't assault him first, you just… Snuck up behind him and stabbed. The level of missing persons reports in your home town are fairly normal so I'm guessing that you haven't been practising… Did you plan to continue that sort of work? Because without some very particular connections it isn't easy to get work as a freelance assassin. Did you plan to join the military?"

"I dunno. Yeah?"

"Not a terrible choice, but I think you would have found being constantly shouted at by the drill instructors uncomfortable. And of course there's the chance that someone might have found out about the murder... Though… They're not exactly thorough about background checking, you might have gotten away with it, and.. some people respond better to that sort of physical discipline than they do a classroom…"

"Are you actually going to make me an offer at some point?"

"I've employed people with.. shady pasts before. To flat out kill someone like that, at your age and without formal training, takes a very particular mental state and I'm sure that I could find a use for you. My problem in your case is the potential for blowback if anyone else works out that you killed your teacher. But, you brought my attention to the Persuader and I'm loath to simply hand you over to the police. So here's your choice. You can move in with your father and make the best life for yourself that you are able. Or, you can enter my employ."

"Do I get my axe back?"

"If you work for me, yes."

She eyes me cautiously. "What does it pay?"

"During your apprenticeship, you get expenses. You also get a telepathically implanted education to replace the one you didn't bother paying attention to at school, superior equipment, physical augmentations that will allow you to survive the rigors of super powered combat and training in how to use them. Once you are ready, your pay will be proportionate to the tasks I set you."

She nods cautiously. "Is.. that it..?"

"That's it." There's a boom as a tube opens to my right, and I gesture to it with my right hand. "You are free to go. I will be in touch in a week for your decision."

She waits for a moment, presumably to see if there's another shoe coming down. I lean forward and wiggle my hand a little. "You can go."

She gets up and strides through the tube, which shuts down as she passes. Hm. I'd say there's a seventy percent chance of her accepting. Getting her out of a toxic environment might lead to her reforming on her own… But I rather doubt it.

"Master?" Miss Amane pointedly glances at the door, then nods her head towards it.

Again? I get up and walk over to the door, kneeling down before I open it.

Ten year old Cassandra looks up at me, then down, then all around as she tries to make sense of my body language. I bring my hands up to where she can easily see them as her G-Gnome escort scampers up behind her.

"Hello, Quiet Girl." I sign as I speak, and since there isn't a sign for 'Cassandra' I settled on that as the name least likely to get confused with anyone else. "Were you looking for me?"

She doesn't actually understand sign language any more than she does spoken or written language, but the G-Gnomes think it should be easier for her to learn it. They can't implant language without completely messing up her existing neural pathways, and from what Jean was saying I got the impression that wouldn't just cost her her combat skills as it did in the comics. The less violent way is to nudge her brain to increase its plasticity so that it becomes easier for her to learn languages the normal way, and that's what we're doing. She does have concepts of things, just not concrete labels for them.

She raises her hands and signs 'Hello Gray hello Man hello'.

"Just one 'hello'. At the beginning."

She just blinks, then signs 'play now play now now'.

I nod. "Yes." I stand and step back into the living room. "Fast Girl, could you fetch the Frustration board, please?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd October
21:37 GMT +2

"What was it like for you?"

About the same, probably. The ritual's been the same since the Heavenly Guardians came into existence. Jade pauses. Your-? Ah, the ambassador..?

"Was there, tried to make a speech of some kind. We're not even from the same country!"

Except that… You literally are.

Ugh. "I hope one day to be able to take you and.. Jade…"

Don't even think about calling us One and Two.

"Back to Earth Prime. Show you what Britain's supposed to be."

I'd like that too, but he's the Britain you have to deal with while you're here.

I nod, focusing my attention on our target. Just because Khyber's dead, that didn't suddenly mean that his underlings all vanished. Picking up spies and traitors was simply a matter of subjecting everyone in critical areas or roles to basic telepathic scans, but those who'd actually undergone augmentation are a trickier business. Ghostwolves are a pain; hiding to avoid detection but still operating, still attacking.

We're still not exactly sure what Khyber's ultimate goal was. And given how thoroughly my fellow Heavenly Guardian He Who Follows killed him, I doubt that we'll ever find out. But he had cybernetically enhanced operatives sneaking around the world for decades, if not centuries. They're far more accustomed to irregular action than to direct combat. This is a return to normalcy for them.

Ophidian's Gaze.

My normal vision disappears, being replaced by swirling traces of want and need. Ghostwolves usually have spiritual training in addition to their cybernetics, but this close to an objective…

There. The image is.. distorted, but there's someone who very much wishes to be inside the military dockyard where a relatively small quantity of the cyberware taken from other cyborgs killed during the war is being stored. I can't tell whether the individual is following the last orders they received in the least crazy way they can, trying to get parts for their own repairs or getting parts to make more like them.

"Spotted… One."

There's never-

Just one. / -just one.

I feel a momentary itch on the left side of my chest. Purely psychosomatic, but if someone punches holes in you hard enough it's very difficult to forget. I… Despite its obvious utility, I don't like using my ring this way. It's.. too.. distracting. And… Though there was a.. sort of amnesty for Khyber's followers immediately after the war, that deadline has come and gone. Anyone we take alive will be interrogated until the ISA has learned everything they know, then if they're still alive they'll be executed. Using the Ophidian's Gaze I see people's most fundamental desires, and.. to an extent, experience them myself. I'm… Still not comfortable enough with killing to.. be entirely happy about.. directly experiencing the personhood of someone I'm about to kill.

Still. Needs must where Khyber drives.

…homeeatrest…

Pretty typical. Routines are habit forming, and even doing something you enjoy gets wearing after a while.

…homeawayavoid…

And not everyone's fortunate enough to have a job they tolerate.

…hornycompany…

Ah, not that one. Most of the Ghostwolves examined so far kept their reproductive systems, but often the neurochemical or hormonal modifications they had made them rather disinterested in sex. Strangely, that appears not to be a problem Khyber himself had. Or maybe he just lay forwards and thought of Persia.

U-uhh.

…sustainrevengemachine…

Aaaaaand there we go.

"Found another one." The chador does have the advantage of looking quite a lot like the red robes the Ghostwolves prefer to wear when in uniform. "Marking target. You got anything?"

No unusual activity amongst the personnel, no unusual bank transfers and no one requesting access to materials without a good explanation.

"How about that musical.. thing Rot Lop Fan and you do?"

Ghostwolves have vibration nullification fields. They don't sound any different to anyone else until they go active.

"Do the locals have any sort of idea how many there actually are around here?"

No. No one knows who the original Dream King's spymaster was, so they're even more limited in that regard than we are.

I remember well the comic in which Harun al-Rashid moved all of the glory of his kingdom into the Dreaming. I can't imagine what that must have been like, having your whole world vanish because your king desired eternity more than his people's happiness. But the thing about the Dreaming is that people in the real world can access it. Bits that used to be part of the material world are even more accessible, particularly to people who live in the region affected. So when enough people started dreaming of a glorious city, some of the more experimental type of magic user started investigating the subject. Long story short, it looks like the particularity of the people affected stayed on Earth, but the idea of them was taken into the Dream. Connect to that idea when you're awake, and all sorts of strange things happen.

As Dream Prince, Karram was able to channel the core concepts of the ideal Crown Prince. He gained strength, resilience, skill with weapons and enhanced charisma at the cost of partially becoming someone else for a large chunk of the time. As Dream King… Well, that happened while I was off Earth. But the point is, other Dreamers can also gain supernatural levels of ability in a field if they can make a connection to the skills of the person who did that job for Harun al-Rashid in the Dreaming.

It was quite a scandal when they learned that he had both male and female concubines. Which is not to say that people don't try to channel those skills.

Gonow!

The chameleon systems employed by Ghostwolves are highly effective, as are the magics they employ to encourage people to ignore and avoid them. Fortunately for me they only work against conventional vision.

"They're moving. Do we take them now, or wait for them to breach the perimeter?"

There are fewer civilians inside. Plus, I put an EMP mine in each of the crates.

"Earth-EMP mine or the good stuff?"

If anyone asks, it's an Earth mine.

I grin. Ghostwolves are hardened against Earth's EMP devices… Well, the infantry grade ones. Artillery scale ones are a different matter. But the Green Lantern Corps under Sinestro has become a good deal more 'open minded' about sharing low lethality weapons amongst its members. Given how comic-Sinestro started his own Corps in order to force the Guardians to relax the 'no killing' rule, I'm a little concerned about how long he'll be satisfied with keeping it to 'low'. But for now…

The patches of orange beneath us move, passing through the outer fence and heading for the wall-.

They just went through the fence. They still haven't fixed the electrical induction problem with their phase shifters.

I blink back into normal vision-. She's right. The steel of the fence now has a weak magnetic charge where they went through.

"Fighting an omniscient foe would be a little tricky." I blink again as the Ghostwolves go up the wall with impressive speed. "Attack as they land, or wait for them to penetrate further?"

Two Lanterns against two Ghostwolves? I don't see the point in waiting.

"Agreed. Three, two, now."

We drop through the cloud cover energy pulses firing!

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd October
21:41 GMT +2

And shield, because-

Two beams of pale green lance through the air and impact on the construct plate protecting me as the Ghostwolf firing them dodges aside in a wild momentum defying leap to evade my shots.

-they can do that. Ghostwolves are cyborgs, so it came as an unpleasant surprise to everyone that their ocular weapons are actually technomantic rather than plasma or laser based. My construct shield withers and dies, so I let it fade before replacing it with another. Unless they've upgraded, there should be a short delay before that Ghostwolf can fire again.

A flash of pale green to my left shows me that the other Ghostwolf has tried the same thing with Jade. Firing at me would have been a better choice, but if these two haven't had cogitation upgrades they might not have the perfect synchronicity some of their kind possess-.

I dodge left as a glowing knife flies past me, the Ghostwolf who threw it tumbling between rows of shipping containers in a way that would throw off shots from conventional weapons. Hm, if it's just the two I can take a risk…

Ring, evasive flight pattern.

Compliance.

Laser. Track, predict, and fire when the target is in phase.

Compliance.

A small turret appears on my right forearm. The wraith form of the Ghostwolves makes them extremely frustrating to fight. A single Ghostwolf can fight an unlimited number of conventional soldiers armed with nothing more than a phase sword, entirely proof against their weapons and still capable of inflicting damage themselves. Phase disruptor weapons can make them phase in… If the insane agility the mist form grants them doesn't stop you hitting them. But they're very clumsy fliers and the sword only works within arm's reach, which means that against fliers-.

The Ghostwolf I'm pursuing flips, throws a pair of daggers and then goes to turn for their landing. Unfortunately for them, my ring predicted the throw based on their movements immediately prior and fires my laser construct. The beam of ruby red light strikes them during the instant they're completely in phase for the throw, causing their robes to flare with flame where it passes. It also -yes!- hits the external circuitry of their armour. The ghostly green glow being emitted by it flickers and the Ghostwolf tumbles as their weight suddenly increases. They're well trained though, and turn the tumble into a roll as they hit the concrete. They're on their feet a moment later, sword in hand to parry the two orange bolts I throw at them. Another laser shot to the face, but this time the air around them shimmers as the beam is split and diffused over their face and upper torso. Their robes start burning in earnest, before being tossed aside as the Ghostwolf adopts a guard pose.

I stay a safe distance away, dismissing my laser construct and creating an amplifier. "Ghostwolf. The war is over. Khyber is dead. Surrender and you will live."

"Still your tongue, dead man. The master will live again. She will herald his rebirth."

"A fanatic, t-" There's an explosion of emerald green off to my right, and I smile. "-hen. I don't think there's a single piece of Khyber bigger than a raisin left whole and Lord Fate warded the entire planet against the possibility of his soul returning in a new body. He's gone."

The Ghostwolf crouches slightly, a faint glow around their lower legs giving me all of the notice I need to yank myself aside just in time to dodge their sword stroke as they shoot into the air! That's an upgrade! I evade again as they try to press the attack, then generate a coilgun construct and take a couple of shots. Their armour trembles but holds and I'm shield!

The twin green beams from the Ghostwolf's eyes strike my shield as they surge forward again, sword outstretched! The rushed shield construct rots and my environmental shield bgruuuh. Heal and catch!

A construct arm grabs the Ghostwolf's right forearm and tugs it aside, pulling their charge off target as the ring gets on with healing my necrotising flesh. Next, I generate a pneumatic ram construct above them and slam it down with all possible force.

They twist in the air and punch it, the circuitry on their arm glowing as the construct breaks and fades.

Another upgrade. Irritating.

I generate another pneumatic ram and slam it into their side, armour cracking and flaking as they go sailing out to sea. Not the most efficient sort of strike, but now the sea can absorb any excess force.

Coilgun. Dial it up.

Compliance.

I can hear the hum as the coils charge, and the projectile leaves a blue trail in its wake as it flies through the air and strikes the Ghostwolf in the back. Their force diffusion field activates again, but all that does is cause all of the armour facing me to explode rather than just what was covering the point of impact. I drop the coilgun and accelerate towards what's left of the corpse, gripping what's left of it with a construct crate. Just in case their usually anaemic self destruct systems have been upgraded as well I keep it a little way away from me as I turn and head back towards the quayside. Can't.. see any green glows…

"Jade, are you finished as well?"

There's a green blur and then she's next to me. "Yes. And I managed it without getting shot." She sighs. "You asked yours to surrender, didn't you?"

"Yes."

She shakes her head disappointedly. "You need to try learning sonic constructs again. And stop being so nice to the people trying to commit genocide."

'Nice'. I had thought that my willingness to kill sufficiently bad people would mark me out as unusual amongst superheroes. And it might have done, but super functionaries are ISA or military and they were quite surprised that I thought that taking the target in alive was the objective.

"Yours..?"

She holds up her still-glowing ring. "My EMP grenade shut down something vital." And hence no automatic ring shut down for killing, as she was trying something she genuinely thought would disable them. "Did yours say anything useful?"

"They seemed to believe that Khyber would return."

"Pfw." She looks down at the docks for a moment. "We both saw what was left of his body. He isn't coming back from that."

"Cloning, maybe?"

"Even if they had a tissue sample somewhere, that wouldn't be Khyber." She drifts back down towards the dock and I follow on behind her. "It would just be some unfortunate boy. He wouldn't have the knowledge they require."

"A mental download?"

"It-. Possible, but we didn't recover any records of them having anything like that technology. Usually, these 'immortal overlord' types get to a certain age and assume that nothing is going to kill them."

Yes. Reading what one of Jong Li's earlier heirs did to Vandal Savage when he tried taking over China did make me smile. I can only wonder at the malice it must have taken to fly to the sun without an AI, and the self control it must have taken to maintain the focus on will and not hate.

Still…

"I.. think I'm going to talk to Kassam. Find out if one of his seers has picked up anything."

She halts in the air as a support team of base personnel fan out across the dock.

"It can't hurt. When do you plan on us going?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th October
10:12 GMT +4:30

The Royal Palace of the Persian Empire is an astonishing structure of marble and magic, the result of a Dreamer Architect's attempt to realise in the real world the building he saw in his mind every night and which increasingly plagued his thoughts. I'm.. given to understand that he wasn't entirely successful, and… Later generations added modern amenities like electricity, running water and flushing toilets, which purists claim distract from the purity of the original vision. Still, it's a blooming impressive building.

It's also in Baghdad, because that's where Harun al-Rashid had his capital. Virtually every Dream King has -having learned from the example of Emperor Wei- instead maintained a somewhat modest home in the administrative centre of the Empire, in Tehran. It makes it just a little bit harder to nuke, though Kassam did tell me that a good part of the reason is that -grateful as they may be for the supernatural wisdom that comes with the position- no Dream King wants to be entirely subsumed by their role.

The Royal Residence in Tehran is a building on the model of Medinat az-Zahrat, a series of low-built buildings separated by gardens and surrounded by public parklands. Though any Dreamer can claim the right to reside in the Royal Palace, many of the full time residents of the Residence are Dreamers themselves. Since their abilities both make them exceptionally skilled in their chosen field and tend to make them extremely loyal to the current Dream King, it isn't hard to understand why that happens.

On the other hand, that very skill means that quite a lot choose not to. The three hundred or so Dream Soldiers generally regard hanging around the Residence to be a total waste of their time. Dream Concubines… Well, social attitudes change. Kassam told me that he was monogamous last time I asked, and that he intended to pension off his predecessor's harem. Demand for that particular skill set is high enough that I doubt they'll suffer for his decision. A lot of Dream Cooks choose to run their own restaurants, Dream Merchants tend to prefer to live in private apartments even if they work for the government…

On the other hand, Dream Groundskeepers tend to stay put and Dream Sorcerers seem to appreciate the 'neutral ground' the palace represents, as well as the advantage of having their sovereign around to break up any arguments before things get out of hand.

Caliph Kassam al-Rashid, the Dream King, is already walking across the garden as Jade and I descend towards the designated landing zone. He's dressed in white with gold embroidery, including a turban of the sort he used to make snide comments about. Are we.. disrupting a diplomatic reception of some kind?

A little way behind Kassam himself are his Grand Vizier Muhamed al-Tikriti and his chief and only wife Aairah. Never met the Vizier, though ISA reports say that he's quite capable. Aairah had a job with.. some sort of financial services firm, though I don't know if she still does it. Muhamed is a Dreamer, though he dreamt of one of Caliph Harun's ministers and not Vizier Jafar. That's actually pretty normal; while Jafar was perfectly competent at a job which appears to have consisted of getting the Caliph functioning again when he was in one of his moods, he wasn't actually all that good at organising a government. On the one occasion I asked whether she had any interest in Dreaming, Aairah made it very clear that she had no interest in channelling Zubaidah. Which is a bit of a problem for female Dreamers; virtually all of the powerful positions in Harun's court were held by men and while possible it's far harder to channel wrong-sex archetypes.

Kassam raises his arms as Jade and I set down on the paved landing area. "My friends! Welcome to my humble home!"

"We thank you-." / "It's good to see-."

Jade and I look at each other while Kassam just smiles. "My Dreaming brothers and I used to toss a coin to determine precedence. Maybe you could try that?"

I graciously bow to Jade, right arm across my chest and left extended towards our host. "Lantern Yifei, you have seniority."

Kassam frowns in an amused sort of way. "With your recent elevation, I don't think you're supposed to bow any longer."

"No, it's okay." I stand. "I checked, and it's perfectly fine to bow sarcastically."

Jade steps towards him. "Caliph Kassam al-Rashid, the Heavenly Guardians thank you for your hospitality."

"Lady Yifei, it is always an honour to work with the Guardians. Particularly when they spent the previous evening fighting Ghostwolves."

They loosely embrace, then kiss three times on alternate cheeks before Jade moves down the line to kiss Vizier Muhamed. Kassam smiles at me. "Lord Nameless! In virtue of the fact that you come from a barbarian land I.. will of course simply offer you my hand."

He holds out his left hand. Technically that's an insult; in Islam, the left hand is for wiping your arse and that's about it. But I know why he's doing it. When he asked about my Britain I made the mistake of telling him about the Scouting Association. Finding out that there was an organisation that shook hands with their left so that they could keep hold of a weapon in their right was something which he found utterly hilarious.

"Caliph Kassam." I reach out with my left to take his hand, then use the grip to pull him closer so that I can kiss him. Right-left-right don't get it confused because kissing the lips of a straight man channelling the skills of a bisexual is awkward for both parties. "Kissing a bearded man. Just the way to start the day."

"Surely it is better than kissing a bearded woman?" He turns to his left. "I don't believe that you've met my Grand Vizier?"

Muhamed nods politely. "My Lord Lantern."

"Grand Vizier." Him I don't grab, my political training having made it clear that a miss-kiss is perfectly acceptable for people you don't actually know well. Sadly even an acceptably near miss results in me getting beard oil on my lips, the vizier wearing his in the long and straight Chinese sage style as opposed to Kassam's neatly trimmed short style..

"And my Queen, Aairah."

I nod. "I believe that I have had the pleasure of meeting Her Majesty before."

"Before she was queen; it's an entirely different matter now."

Aairah looks my face over carefully. "And you hadn't received a Mandate. I believe that you are the first European to receive one?"

I nod awkwardly. "More significantly, I'm the first person from a parallel universe to receive one." I lean down slightly to lightly kiss her cheeks.

She responds with good grace. "Are you disowning the continent?"

"Your majesty, I never owned it."

I take a step back as the party turns to face Kassam, who claps his hands together. "I understand that you want to speak to my seers?"

Jade and I look at one another, and I bow my head slightly. She turns back to Kassam. "One of the Ghostwolves claimed that they were working to resurrect Khyber. It would be helpful to know if they'd seen anything relating to a disaster like that."

"Or if they could identify the man who managed to directly contact me via my power ring."

He nods, and turns away to march in the direction of the closest palace buildings. We all follow on behind him. "I can think of no reason to refuse you. Though as ever I would caution you that any warning they can give will likely be approximate at best."

I shrug. "We just need to know if there is anything to it."

"They might be able to manage that." He drops back for a moment, letting Jade come alongside him and glancing mischievously at me. "Am I to understand that congratulations are in order?"

"Ah-? Not.. yet."

"But the two of you are together?"

"The three of us have been on a couple of dates…" She glances at me. "It's… I think it's working."

He raises his eyebrows. "That's a bit 'traditional' for you, isn't it?"

"I… Thought.. it was..? That it would be? But when it's people you.. actually know… You're dealing with a reality rather than an abstract idea." She shrugs. "I don't think someone should avoid doing something just because it's traditional, even if tradition isn't for everyone. Maybe it won't work out and we'll.. carry on being friends. But at the moment it… Yeah."

"I can't say I'm surprised. Given the way you two were with one another the first time I saw you together."

"That wasn't-."

1st December 2010
07:28 GMT +5:00

Jade shakes her head. "It's no good; I still can't fight properly like this. Blindfold me."

I look around in mock astonishment as she turns away from me. "Ah… In.. public..?"

She freezes, and Prince Kassam bursts out laughing.