With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

[Mr Zoat]

3rd December
06:36 GMT +5:30

That's a lorry.

And I very much doubt that it was locally produced. The Daimler-Benz badge is still visible on the front of the cab and I'm reasonably confident that they don't sell to mythological Hindu princely states. I float down to just above the road. Quite a lot of wear and tear, including.. bullet damage..? Yes, aged blood stains and… It hit the fuel tank, causing a slow but ongoing leak. The tank's now empty, and since I doubt that they distil petrol in here there wouldn't have been a way for the owners to replenish their supply even if they did repair it.

Someone's opened a portal before. Probably within the last fifty years. Interesting.

But not strictly relevant.

Hm. The only supervillain organisation in this part of the world is Kobra, and they've been… I wouldn't say 'quiet'.. lately… But less overt than they were. There was a… With Jeffrey Burr being recognised as Kobra, the organisation was gripped by whatever the Hindu equivalent of millennialist fervour is. With him gone and derecognised, the crazy outward attacks on civilisation have more or less stopped. These days they've mostly gone back to financially motivated crime and shooting each other, so I doubt that it was a group of Bestowed who opened the portal.

India does have superheroes, but almost nothing in the way of higher organisation for them. The ones I've heard about come from major cities, and none of them are close to here. And most of them have spontaneously manifesting abilities, rather than being studied magic users. So not them either.

Which is actually a very good thing for me. It means that the people in here aren't totally isolated and that Rama Khan -or his successor however generations removed- probably opened the barrier himself. Which is… Interesting. I remember that in Justice League he was a pretty strict isolationist.

So… Ring, wide area scan, if you please.

Compliance. Warning, limited feedback available due to-. Spell Eater-.

The countryside disappears, replaced instantly with… An audience chamber. A richly dressed bearded man sits cross-legged on a pile of cushions. Armed guard surroundagh! I squeeze my eyes shut as looking at one sends a painful flash of light into my eyes!

"You would be advised not to look too deeply into the spirits of my bodyguard, outsider."

I return my attention to the entirely calm man sitting at the focus of the room. "I apologise." I bow my head slightly. "I was merely curious."

"Curiosity would not be sufficient to bring you here. How did you breach the barrier protecting this land?"

"An ancient and powerful wizard opened a portal while looking for one of our enemies, who use a similar technique to the one used to remove Jarhanpur from the world."

"'Ancient'? Who is he?"

"His name is Nommo Balewa, though he is also known as Doctor Mist."

"Yes." He nods. "I have heard of him. Will he attempt to breach our protection again?"

"I.. didn't ask, but I have no reason to believe so. He was specifically looking for anyone working with Apokolips, and since it was immediately evident that what he found here did not belong to them, he left." I risk a smile. "I rather get the impression that he's a bit overworked at the moment."

"Why did you not leave with him? You have no place here."

"I'm sorry, may I ask? You are Lord Rama Khan, sovereign prince of Jarhanpur?"

He straightens slightly, expression firm and proud. "I am."

"Excellent." I bow from the waist until my torso is parallel to the floor. "My lord, I humbly beg your pardon for my intrusion and thank you for permitting me to stand within your home."

"My pardon will be granted as soon as you leave. Why did you come here when it was clear that we are not what you sought?"

I straighten up. "You aren't what he sought. I would have stood with him against Apokoliptian soldiers, but I was looking for you."

"And what do you want of me?"

"One of my friends-. Two of my friends I should say, are getting married shortly. Since they don't really want for anything in the way of material possessions, I thought that I should try and work out something that they actually desire as a gift."

He smiles very faintly. "You are free to visit the bazaar before you leave."

"Thank you, but that wasn't what I meant. They're both somewhat short on family and friends, so I thought I'd try tracking down a few. Locating the current incarnations of Prince Khufu and-" His face falls and his eyes stare. "-Princess Chay-Ara was relatively straightforward-."

"They would not retain their memories."

"With all due respect my lord, you are mistaken. About eighty years ago his then-incarnation purchased the knife Hath-Set used to murder them. The moment he saw it, memories of his past lives filled his mind. The same thing happened with a woman named Shiera Sanders, Princess Chay-Ara's then-incarnation. Both have since died and been reborn again."

"That is… Remarkable. They remember every detail?"

"The current incarnations are trying to decide whether or not they want to remember everything. I'm expecting an answer tomorrow."

"Who do you know who knows both myself and the Hawks?"

"Teth Adom."

That doesn't appear to have been well received. "Teth Adom is dead. Murdered by the treacherous wizard Jebediah of Canaan. And if he were alive, he would not remarry."

"Yes, he was killed and his soul was bound to his corpse by the wizard. Five thousand years later an archaeological expedition opened the tomb and one of its members used a blood magic ritual to transfer Adom's soul from his corpse to an amulet, and used that to use the powers the gods of Kahndaq had granted him. He rampaged for a few years, then he met me. Teth Adom now controls the man's former body while he was consumed by Ammut. He has recently deposed the current Kahndaqi government and is establishing his own. A criminal gang tried to bribe him with slaves and he -predictably- killed them and freed the slaves. One of them decided that he needed someone close to him who wasn't in total awe of him and stuck around to berate him when she felt that he was failing in his duties." I shrug. "I suppose it was a choice between marrying her or exiling her."

Lord Rama Khan looks to my left, and a robed functionary there gives him a cautious nod. Rama Khan blinks in astonishment, then his eyes drop. "I.. did not know that the wizard had interfered with his soul's passage. If I had, I would have undone whatever he had worked, or not rested until I found someone who could."

"It was five thousand years ago. But can you come to the wedding?"

He shakes his head. "No. Since my predecessor's death, I can no longer leave Jarhanpur. But." He raises his right hand and part of the stone floor liquefies and leaps into it, reshaping itself into an urn. "I can send an avatar. Please, take this in my place and break it open before him."

A servant walks over to him, carefully takes the urn and carries it to me.

"Thank you." I take it. "I know that he will be delighted to see you again."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th December
10:03 GMT -7

Hector Hall looks at Frederick Cantrell more than a little nervously. "Hey… Dad..?"

"Not… Ah…" Mr Cantrell glances at me, but really all I can do is shrug. I don't know exactly how it works. "If I… Understand this right, I'll end up with his memories and.. I might start to act a little like him… I'm not convinced I'll actually be him."

"Right. No, of course."

Mr Hall has kept rather more in shape than Mr King: he kept working as a superhero and while his armour is strength-enhancing it isn't actually powered. The silver outer surface is actually reflective enough that it's uncomfortable to look at, even out of direct sunlight. I'm not completely certain why; Nth metal is usually a dull grey. I can only assume that it's something to do with the impurities in it.

Diana glances at Ms Parker, who hasn't stopped staring at the case containing the dagger since I put it on the table. "Sharon, if you don't want to look at it, no one is going to force you. Hawkman kept it in a display case and never once used it in combat."

Ms Parker shakes her head. "No, I'm not-." She breathes out, smiling -nervously, but still smiling- for the first time since we arrived. "All the times I've had… Déjà vu, looking at something and… Thinking that I should remember something about it. When Freddy told me about…" She nods at the case. "This… It just.. made sense. Actually having that knowledge… I think it will be a relief more than anything."

"But..?"

"But I'm still a little worried that it's actually some sort of magic alien brain parasite, and as soon as I see it my mind gets eaten and I get replaced with whoever it took its first imprint from."

Diana nods. "As Shiera explained it to me, she also remembered all of her other lives as well. The dagger was still in Libya for every incarnation between her and Chay-Ara, so I don't think that it could have recorded them."

Ms Parker nods. "O-kay, that's a little reassuring."

Mr Grant nudges me in the side from his wheelchair. "Never thought I'd see an old friend come back from the dead."

"You saw Solomon Grundy come back from the dead, didn't you?"

"I don't call people who break my left arm in three places 'friends'."

"Ah… Wait, you really never saw anyone come back from the dead?"

He looks up at me, frowning in bewilderment. "Alan, what have you been doing with this boy?"

Alan shakes his head. "Oh no. He does that to himself."

"Okay, smart guy." He nods at me. "How many people have you seen come back from the dead?"

"Depending on what you count… Fifteen? Ra's al Ghul and company using the Lazarus Pit, Teth Adom taking Theodore Adam's body, Edward Clariss-."

Mr Garrick winces. "Don't remind me. I won't say he didn't deserve Hell. I just wish he'd stay there."

"On the plus side, if he does come back, we can probably contain him."

"With a super speed demon, you ideally want to be a bit more sure than that. Doesn't the.. Justice League have an angel now?"

"The Justice League has an ersatz angel who can perform theurgy but doesn't have any sort of direct line to God. Angelica can't just forward a zoning complaint."

But Mammon was kind enough to offer to sit on him for me, so there's that.

"And then there's my construct lanterns, who aren't exactly alive or dead. Actually…" I look around the room and note the obvious absence from amongst the surviving members of the Justice Society. "Do you know where.. Red Tornado put Doctor Morrow? I'm… Hinon said she was going to look into whether it was possible to turn them back into people, and I… People were pretty okay about me having demon constructs, but I think seeing a human would be a bit much."

"I… Think…" Alan glances at Diana. "Diana said that Red was looking after him."

"Um. At the Mountain, or in his civilian identity home? Because I don't think-."

"Okay!" Mr Cantrell walks over to the case containing the dagger. "We might as well get on with this."

Diana looks slightly concerned. "If you are not sure-."

He and Ms Parker look at one another, reach down to take hold of one edge of the case each, then flip the lid and stare at the knife.

And…

"Ah…" / "How do we..?"

Mr Cantrell picks up the dagger and takes a closer look at it. Then he offers it to his girlfriend with a shrug.

"Hah!" Alan bows his head, grinning. "Guess maybe we were getting a bit ahead of ourselves, there."

"Oh, come on Alan." Mr Cantrell turns around. "It was a reasonable enough assumption-." He blinks heavily. "You-. And-."

"Ah. Are you okay?"

"I just remembered that time in forty seven when Al P-. Ah, Atom, tried using a sun lamp on Eclipso. I…" He frowns. "Why are you blue?"

"Diana." Ms Parker puts her hands on her hips, knife still in hand. "Your hair is still exactly the same." She walks over and.. runs her non-knife hand through Diana's hair. "It's been fifty years and I'm-." She jumps back as if Diana's hair became electrified. "I'm… Really sorry. I-I don't know what came over me."

Diana doesn't seem particularly bothered. "I think it was Shiera. Though I should say that I grew my hair out when I returned to Themyscira. I didn't cut it down again until I joined the Justice League."

"But you looked good with curls and I'm doing it again."

Diana smiles beneficently. "It's good to see you again, Shiera."

Behind them I see Mr Cantrell flex his right arm, then wince.

"No. No, I'm… Still Sharon. But I can remember fighting Rakshasa with you in nineteen forty eight, after we tracked that band of Thule holdouts to Turkey. I remember when you broke that French guy's leg after he slapped you on the-. Ah…"

Diana nods. "I remember the incident. He shouldn't have slapped me anywhere if he wasn't prepared to be slapped back."

Sharon covers her mouth as she laughs. "Oh God, he ended up in the hospital! It was dreadful! Why am I laughing about it?"

"Mom? D-dad?" Both Mr Cantrell and Ms Parker turn to the stunned Mr Hall. "It is-? I mean, you remember-?"

"That you've still got that stupid beard I told you that you should shave off, yeah." Mr Cantrell blinks. "I'm-I'm sorry, that was-."

"No, no, that's what you said before you died as well. I shouldn't have expected you to think different." He huffs quietly. "Lyta's fine with it. Daniel says it looks cool."

Ms Parker smiles joyously. "Daniel?"

"Our son-. You died before we even-." He shakes his head. "Well, you have to come meet him. I mean, it's going to be kind of weird…"

"Hector." Mr Cantrell looks rather pointedly at his… Son's..? Armour. "Where did you get the Nth Metal to make that?"

"Ah… You remember that spaceship you used to have?"

"Used to-?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th December
10:03 GMT +3

"Intergang." Adom looks moodily down at what's left of Queen Beena's memorial. "They were behind the attack on Shiruta."

I nod. "And they were probably the ones behind the theft from Metropolis Federal Reserve last year, and the people who sent the children from New Genesis to Apokolips in tribute."

He nods slowly. "When I killed her, I did so for her attempt to dominate my mind. But I went to our meeting firmly believing that she was the one responsible. I know that she was far from innocent, but now I cannot help but feel that I have done her some injustice."

"She did plenty of things for which it was worth despising her. But…" I look around at the abandoned centre of Al-Qawiya. "I don't think there can be any doubt that leaving her in post would have been… Better."

"Who is her heir?"

I shrug. "She had no children. Her father had only one other daughter, and she was killed a few days later. Her father's sister married into the Saudi royal family and his brother was sent into exile. He died a few years ago and does have surviving children… But not only did his exile formally remove him from the line of succession, the marriages of members of the royal family have to be approved by the monarch to be valid and his wasn't. After that…"

"So. Not the youth the parliamentary faction have as their figurehead."

"He might technically be? Monarchies aren't usually set up to cope with the death of that many people. Heck, there's a good chance that Queen Beena didn't produce an heir precisely so that anyone deposing her would know that doing so would cause chaos."

"Hm." He doesn't sound too amused. "And have I not done the same?"

"I thought that your preference was that no one follow you. Because without the Wisdom of Zehuti, they wouldn't be able to exercise your authority as well as you can."

"But now I have a male heir." He sighs faintly. "If I were to die a year from now, with Amon more familiar to the public and my marriage to Adrianna sanctified, it may be that the governors would attempt to grant him sovereign authority regardless of my wishes."

"And you don't want them to?"

"Amon is a good boy, and he has all of the makings of a great man. But a year is not enough time to train the greatest man to be a king. And… I would not wish to set him against his nieces and nephews."

I smile. "Oh, congratulations!"

He turns to look at me, a slight frown on his-. "Ah. No, she is not yet pregnant. But we both wish to begin having children soon, and with the powers of Isis at her command, that will happen."

"How is she adapting?"

"Slowly but steadily. The powers of Isis are intuitive, but do not specifically come with the knowledge of how best to wield them. She has taken to experimenting with the desalinisation magics which Theodore Kord's company developed."

"Oh no, did I cost him a sale?"

"No." He shakes his head. "Adrianna will be focusing on using her magic to ensure the health of the plants we are using to de-desertify Kahndaq until the ecosystem stabilises. She will be taking water only to settle them in."

"Why.. restrict herself?"

"We have heard what both you and Doctor Balewa have said on the subject of the role of demi-gods within a society. Initially I wished to argue the point. Then I realised that my concerns regarding my successor were due to the very reasons he cited. And if I thought them true for that, then perhaps they were true for other issues as well. Turning the Sahara green by conventional means would be the work of centuries and require quantities of money which Kahndaq cannot provide. Providing water for ordinary uses should be something which the infrastructure of the nation is able to-" There are a series of gunshots and his head jerks away, his eyes searching for the source. "-do."

Another second passes and then he's gone. Ring, track and follow.

Compliance.

The city blurs underneath me. The fighting was heaviest around the government buildings, and with both sides wanting them and the buildings themselves not really being designed for surviving combat there isn't much left of them beyond piles of rubble. Further out the buildings are more intact, and that part of the population which has stuck around has adapted to the collapse of their civilisation as well as can be expected. Under Queen Beena private gun ownership was only legal for military veterans, but just about everyone who has stayed in what used to be the largest and most prosperous city in the country has made sure to lay their hands on a gun of some sort.

I come to a halt just behind Adom, staring down at the aid centre trying to keep the people here fed. People are fleeing from one part, but I see a smiling Amon intercept a volley of shots with his body before darting forwards and grabbing an ex-military AK-47 out of the gunman's hands.

"You don't need this." Amon pulls the magazine free, then takes hold of the gun with his right hand on the barrel and his left on the main body. Then he squeezes, the metal deforming and crumpling.

Adom shakes his head. "No, a poor choice. He should have shown the man that he was powerless, then demanded the gun."

"We have enough food for everyone. We're trying to give it to you, it just takes time." A squad of UN Peacekeepers push their way through the crowd and move to arrest the man, but stop when Amon holds up his right hand. "Why did you do-?"

"Your brother did this to us!" That.. guy really doesn't know when to quit. "He murdered the Queen-!"

And now his brother is holding you off the ground by your neck. Given what Amon has been through recently I'm a little impressed that he's exercising that degree of control.

"Your queen attempted to control his mind. This-" He points to where Kahndaqi civil engineers are overseeing the removal of rubble from a building levelled by artillery. "-is what happens when members of a government who had to be mind controlled into working together are no longer mind controlled. This is what happens when you give freedom to brutes and idiots. Are you a brute? An idiot?" He looks away, eyes scanning the crowd. "Are any of you? Your own military, your own government, they forced you from your homes with their fighting. We are the ones who are trying to build! Do you not want your country to work again? Together, we-."

The man he's holding gets a stable grip and uses the leverage to spit in Amon's face. Amon stares at him for a moment and then lets go, wiping it off with the back of his left sleeve. The man hits the ground and falls onto his back. The Peacekeeper corporal looks to Amon for a moment, and Amon closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"No. He's not worth it."

The man looks around, but while the crowd might not be all that happy about Kahndaq being the main participants in this UN mission they aren't going to pick a fight with the brother of the man feeding them. He turns away, the crowd shrinking away as he strides towards the outskirts of the camp.

"And if he comes back… Forget that this happened. Unless he has a gun."

The corporal nods. "Yes, Excellency. Everyone else, get back in line. We're working as fast as we can."

Amon rises a little way into the air, watching as order gets restored. Then he looks up at Adom and I and flies to join us, confusion written all over his face.

"My brother, I do not understand. We bring food and shelter and we are barely tolerated! If someone had offered this to me when I was a prisoner I would have kissed their feet."

Adom raises his eyebrows slightly. "Do you want someone to kiss your feet?"

"No, of course not."

"Then you are not here because you wish for one of them to kiss your feet. Why are you here?"

"Because I want to help people, as I wish someone had helped me."

"Yes. We do this because it helps them, not for their thanks. The work of a warrior or hero or leader is far more thankless than you know. You will meet many such as him." Adom looks down as the man leaves. "That man may have been wealthy once. He may have lost family. I am not solely to blame for what happened and you are not to blame at all, yet he lashes out because we are a part of it and we are in front of him. Others will do the same. Your conviction must be strong enough to hold true to what you know to be right when confronted with the mindless beast of their anger." He drifts forward and lays his right hand on Amon's left shoulder. "My brother, I approve of the way you handled the situation, but you should not assume that everyone will love you because you declare yourself a hero."

Amon nods. "Okay. So… How do I become a better hero?"

Adom thinks for a moment. "Perhaps… I should introduce you to the Justice League."

Amon looks puzzled. "The who?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th December
18:33 GMT -5

Amon shakes his head a little nervously. "I am sorry, but I do not know who you are."

Kal-El smiles. "It's nice to know there's still someone in the world who can honestly say that. Your parents not big on television?"

"I don't remember. The people who controlled the Intergang slave factory where I worked for as long as I remember did not play television for the labourers."

"Oh, I'm.. sorry. I knew you'd been in a place like that, but I didn't know how long for."

Amon shrugs. "Neither do I. But you should not worry. Last week I was being tortured to breaking point by an evil god, now I am here, in the greatest city in the world, having breakfast with the Justice League."

Lantern Stewart bows his head slightly. "Who you only just found out existed."

"Yes, but I will read everything I can about you very quickly. And this is much better even if I do not know who you are."

Kal-El nods. "I'm glad to hear it. I'm Superman. This is Green Lantern."

Amon nods enthusiastically. "Like the Blue Lantern and the Orange Lantern."

Stewart glances at me. "Not too much like. I couldn't settle those law suits."

"I'm.. pretty sure that being on the Justice League gives you immunity, as long as you're on the job at the time."

"And how exactly would I convince a court that I made a cake the size of Manhattan Island for Justice League related purposes?"

"Attack by a deadly..? Christmas Cat..?" He gives me a look. "Yeah, I don't know."

Stewart exhales quietly and shakes his head. Kal-El seems… Almost lost for words. "Orange Lantern tells me you want to be a superhero?"

"I think so? My brother wishes to train me himself, but he is busy running a country. And… Given how strong I am, I agree with him that it is best that I have some sort of supervision."

"And having a social circle of people with the same sort of powers as you would probably be quite helpful as well."

"Yes." He nods. "Everyone my age I knew growing up is dead, so it would be nice to meet new people my age."

"Ah…" Kal-El tries to keep smiling, and just about manages it. Ah, Third World problems. "I'm… Yes, I'm sure it would be."

"I tried to make friends in Kahndaq, but…" Amon shrugs. "They kept calling me 'my lord'. Given my brother's position, it is.. difficult…" His face actually falls a little, then he rallies. "But I am sure that things will be better here."

"Recognised, Troia, B one two."

The lights flare and then fade as Donna walks out into the Hall of Justice library. "Hey-"

Amon smiles. "They are better here."

"-guys." She flies across the room, Amon rising a little off the ground in an apparently unconscious response. "You're.. Amon, right?"

"I was thinking of calling myself 'Osiris'."

"Osiris? I thought Isis was your sister. Wouldn't-"

"And that idea's strange to a Greek demi-titaness because..?"

"-Horus make more sense?"

Amon shrugs. "I was dead, my soul banished and my body placed in a coffin by an evil god. And then I was resurrected by the gods' power. That is closer to what happened to Osiris than what happened to any of the other gods."

I roll my eyes. "You've got a public identity and 'Osiris' is three syllables to the two in 'Amon'. I barely remember to call Donna 'Troia' on missions as it is."

He glances my way for a moment before deciding that he likes looking at Donna more. Something occurs to him and he holds out his right hand. "I am pleased to meet you?"

Donna takes his hand, and.. he raises hers to his lips and lightly kisses her knuckle. She looks a little uncomfortable with the gesture but decides not to do anything about it. "Ah… Is Diana here yet?"

Kal-El shakes his head. "No, something came up in India. She'll be along in a little while. Amon, why don't we head into the canteen and talk a little more about what we do here?"

Amon nods, he and Donna land and the group-.

"Orange Lantern. You got a minute?" Kal-El glances back, but Lantern Stewart just waves him on. He waits until the three of them are out of the room before turning back to me. "I thought of a couple of things after our talk in Argentina. About the situation with Nabu. You still talking to people about that?"

I shrug. "Yes. You know, when Batman first suggested it, I thought it would be a waste of time that would just result in more arguments. But actually… It's… Generally been a good way of talking about the underlying disagreements about the superheroic modus operandi. But it's also a nuisance, because I'd much rather have rejoined the team right away and it's not as if I usually have much to do with most Justice League members. This week was the first time I'd ever spoken to The Atom one to one. So?"

"So?"

"What exactly did you want to talk about?"

"You ever look at Doctor Fate's mission reports?"

"Yes. I read all of them several times. And I don't forget."

"Then you know how much work he was doing." I nod. "All the dangerous mystic artefacts he collected and put into storage, all the ancient evils sealed away he made sure stayed that way."

"Yes, as I said-."

"And we still don't have a replacement on the League."

"I found you two perfectly capable replacements. Both of whom have more experience than the rest of the League put together. And you should have been looking for additional magic users anyway. Heck, I gave Batman a list of possibles last year. Look, if there's been some sort of magical break out-."

"How about introducing us to the new Fate? You took him to Belle Reve before you brought him here."

"I… Can, but he doesn't have Nabu's knowledge. Honestly, I think-."

"Wonder Woman to the Justice League."

Stewart raises his ring. "Green Lantern here."

"Ram-uh. Rampaging earth elemental in India. If you can spare the time, I would appreciate your help."

"On my way." He lowers his ring and heads for the zeta tube. "You coming?"

I nod. "Might as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th December
05:08 GMT +5:30

Two, one-.

Lantern Stewart appears just in front of me. He spots me, and frowns. "You left after me."

"I'm an Illustres." I point at where a depressingly familiar giant figure made of shapeshifting rock sends a volley of stone tentacles at Diana, who weaves around most of them and punches the last into gravel. "Wonder Woman appears to be covering the retreat of the civilians there."

Five people: three adults, an adolescent and a child being carried by someone I presume to be his mother. They're carrying backpacks with food and cooking paraphernalia. They planned to travel. No other humans around. Terrain is rocky and lightly forested.

The giant stone creature has two thick legs and a mound of a body which is currently projecting two limbs on each side. It could be local… But I read this issue of Justice League, and there are plenty of ways to ruin someone's day when you control earth that it -or more likely he- isn't using. Soil elements match what I scanned in Jarhanpur, and it's shifting density and composition as it moves. Stone to hit, sand to move. Most forms of earth elemental I've read up on can't do that.

Diana punches the stone creature in the centre of its torso, rock cracking under the force of the impact! And then sealing back up again because it's a creature of magic. No blood to bleed, no permanent structures to break.

"I'll shield the civilians. Your mage slayer rounds should deal with that thing pretty easily, right?"

"No, not in this case. I'm afraid this is the time for reasoned discussion between intelligent adults."

"I'll get the civilians anyway."

He accelerates, the party ceasing their efforts to get away as they see him get into position to protect them. Diana-. Ah, yes. Not being limited to the human form for reasons other than convenience, the elemental fired a pillar of rock out at right angles from an existing arm, blindsiding Diana and slamming her into the ground. It stands still for a moment, then starts lumbering toward the refugees.

"Excuse me!" I zip in front of it… Can't see anything that looks like an eye. Just have to hope that the rocks are photosensitive. "Excuse me!"

Diana… Ah, I see. It's left a portion of its mass around her, reformed as carbon nanotubes and osmium. Her mouth is uncovered, but her arms and legs are bound and she's blindfolded by the stuff. I'm… Pretty sure that she can break out of that, given a few minutes to work at it. Assuming that the elemental can't remotely reform it. As soon as she feels the pressure forcing her into the ground ease up she shoots into the sky, attempting to get out of range.

Against a normal earth elemental, getting off the ground is a sound move. In this case…

"Excuse me?! May I have your attention for a moment, please?!"

The elemental stops, 'facing' me.

"Might I ask why you're doing this?"

Rock shifts, the outline of a face…

I bow in mid air. "Your highness. What brings you here?"

A rendering in stone of Rama Khan's face scowls at me. "I am apprehending fugitives."

"With all due respect, your highness, that's an awfully big avatar for chasing down five unarmed civilians."

"It is a matter of supreme importance, and they had a four day head start. I have been lucky to find them so swiftly."

Four day-? Ah. "Might I enquire as to why you are attempting to apprehend them? Or.. preferably, would you mind creating a smaller body so that we could discuss the subject like civilised people?"

"So long as you guarantee that they will not use the opportunity to flee, yes."

I glance over to Lantern Stewart. Ring, message him.

Compliance.

"Green Lantern, allow me to introduce His Highness Rama Khan, ruler of Jarhanpur. Since there could be legitimate reasons for him pursuing people and since Jarhanpur isn't a signatory to the League's charter, I'm going to request that you stay put for the moment."

The people within his bubble hear and appear to be protesting, Stewart himself doesn't look entirely happy, but gives a grudging nod.

"And could you possibly-?" Shards of something dense-. Osmium. "Wonder Woman-."

She floats down until she's beside me, pulling the last of the binding material from her face. "I heard. If he had spoken when I first arrived, I would have negotiated with him myself."

"You obstructed my attempt to enforce the law and save my people. I had no reason to speak to you."

The bulk of the elemental avatar falls backwards in a controlled collapse, shifting and gaining colour as it does so. It flows into a decent replica of his audience chamber, pillars supporting a slatted roof while a rough stone humanoid body for Rama Khan himself sits on transformed cushions. Diana and I descend, landing at the entrance and walking inside. I hang back slightly, letting Diana take the lead. Since she actually has legal authority to act here and I'm technically just a powerful nosy person.

"Lord Rama Khan. I am Princess Diana of Themyscira."

A very slight inclination of his head.

"Why are you pursuing these people?"

"The boy Jivan is my heir." Expected. It was either going to be him or the teenager, and it was a young boy in the comic. "He must remain in Jarhanpur until his education is complete."

"He is your son?"

"No. Jarhanpur's rulers are chosen by the land itself. We form a unique bond with it, and are enabled to shape it in accordance with our will." He holds out his right hand and a section of faux-flagstone fountains up to wash over his fingers before resuming its former appearance. "I have occupied this role for a long time, and now the land has chosen another. My last responsibility is to see that he is fully trained for the role, that when I finally die he will be a capable prince."

"Why does he flee from you?"

A scowl. "He flees because his mother is deranged. Four years ago, a group of refugees approached the entry point to Jarhanpur, fleeing from units of the Indian military. I opened the border and allowed them inside to protect them, granted them citizenship, healed their sick and injured and saw that they were educated in our ways. The land chose the young son of one of the refugees as the next prince, and so he was brought into the palace to receive instruction."

"And his family?"

"His only living family is his mother. She was given rooms in the palace as well. It has been many years, but I remember my own instruction, and I would not separate a child from his mother without good cause."

"I take it that his mother did not approve of the situation."

"When the wizard Nommo Balewa forced open a portal and allowed Orange Lantern in-" Diana glances at me and I nod. "-she and a group of confederates took the opportunity to flee. It was an insult to the hospitality I had extended, but I would not have taken action had they not abducted my heir. He will be returned to me, or I will take him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th December
05:15 GMT +5:30

"What has he told you? When are we leaving?"

Jivan is being comforted by one of the group's menfolk while his mother -her name is Ailani- speaks to me. Since an actual dialogue is taking place Lantern Stewart has dropped his bubble shield, while the glow from his ring strongly suggests to me that he could bring it back up very quickly.

"He told us that your son is the person chosen by the spirit of Jarhanpur to succeed him, and that you kidnapped him."

"I do not care what the demons in his head tell him! I will not have my son grow up in that place!"

Hm. India has some… Interesting laws on religion, but on the whole they're merely 'stupid' rather than following the monstrous example set by its neighbour. Most Muslims here are of the conservative persuasion when it comes to both magic and innately magical beings: they're all either evil demon worshippers or actual demons, kill them with fire. Or whatever else is to hand. And if she actually feels like that then I'm not sure that any sort of rational arguments canwork here.

On the other hand, condemning thousands of people to death without their shaman-prince isn't something we want to do, and neither is having Jarhanpur declare war on India even if that is technically what happened when Rama Khan crossed the border. Or… If they accepted Jarhanpuri citizenship and violated Jarhanpuri law by doing anything to the shaman-prince then Rama Khan might be able to get them extradited. I haven't looked into how Indian courts handle this sort of thing.

"I… Would respectfully suggest that you not.. use that approach to argue your case here. Wonder Woman and I are Hellenists, and are unlikely to be swayed by it." She frowns in puzzlement. "The religion of the pre-Christian Greeks. It's polytheistic." Her face takes on a decidedly dour cast. "Now, Lord Rama Khan has given us his version of events and opening arguments. We would like to hear from you as well." I step back and indicate the gazebo. "If you'd like to join us..?"

"That madman tried to kill us! Why have you not taken us to safety?!"

"Because the Justice League is not actually empowered to do whatever they like wherever they like. Your precise legal status is sufficiently debatable that a negotiated agreement which we would enforce is far better than trying to work it out. While Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are obliged to protect your life, they're also obliged to protect the people of Jarhanpur, and if your son being removed endangers them…" I shrug. "They're technically obliged not to do what you want them to do."

Her face falls, then she gives her head a small shake and marches towards the pavilion. I.. seem to remember that in the comic version Diana admitted that she was wrong to insist that the child be put in the custody of his mother regardless of other factors, but I don't remember what else happened. Other than factually inaccurate beliefs briefly becoming true due to the broken lasso. I'm… Genuinely not sure which way Diana would jump on this one. Not even sure which way I want to go. Removing the child from the country seems stupid when he's not in any danger, but then again that system is inherently unstable. One guy falls off a horse and suddenly the whole nation falls apart. It would be safer in the medium term to return it to a normal relationship with the Earth. Why do they even need a shaman-king?

"You going with her or what?"

Right, yes. I raise my right hand to wave at Stewart, then fly rapidly back to the pavilion. Ailani hesitated at the steps, but glances my way as I approach, straightens her back and walks up them.

Rama Khan glowers at her for a moment, then turns his head back to Diana. Diana on the other hand is far more gracious, smiling warmly at Ailani. "Thank you for joining us."

Ailani's face unclenches slightly as she makes eye contact with Diana. "Thank you for protecting me from the demon."

"You see?" Rama Khan gestures to Ailani with his right hand while keeping his eyes on Diana. "She has no understanding of magic. She has insulted me continuously since-."

"Your evil has corrupted my son."

"Since I allowed her to escape to safety in my lands." He sneers. "Do not expect a rational discussion."

Diana keeps her attention on Ailani. "Ailani, why don't you tell me how you first entered Jarhanpur?"

She shrugs. "Militants attack the Indian army, the army attacks everyone. That's life here. When they came for our village, I had no desire to be raped and murdered. As many of us as could fled before they arrived. We were not fast enough. Or perhaps they were more eager than usual. They pursued, shooting at us…"

"You were not trying to enter Jarhanpur?"

"I had never heard of Jarhanpur until the people who live there told us where we were."

"Did the portal opening help you escape?"

"Those who were still alive."

Rama Khan frowns. "I had no way to move the portal to you. Nor do I seek to interfere in the internal affairs of other states. My people have known five thousand years of peace thanks to Jarhanpur's separation from the rest of the world."

Diana turns her head his way. "My lord, please. I have listened to your version of events. Allow me to hear Ailani's version as well."

"There are no mosques in that cursed land, no imams, and devils and sorcerers walk freely through the streets."

"If they cut contact with the outside world five thousand years ago, that would have been long before the start of Islam. Lord Rama Khan, would you have any objection to an imam being brought in to provide pastoral care?"

"As long as they do not constantly insult myself, my heir or my country as she is wont to do, I have no objection. We have any number of priests of any number of gods. One more will not make a difference."

Okay, I can probably find a moderate imam somewhere. Probably Kahndaq. The religious establishment there has become noticeably disinclined to criticise Adom's choice of gods. He hasn't actually banned them doing so or anything, but he has gotten quite serious about the protection of religious minorities and… Well. They know how popular he is with their parishioners.

"And what about his family? This is the first time you have allowed anyone to leave!"

"Yes, because his instruction has barely begun! If I die before he is trained it will be nearly as big a disaster as if I allowed you to abduct him!"

Diana raises her right hand slightly. "How much of his time do these lessons take?"

Rama Khan shakes his head slightly. "I was older than he is when the land called me, and my family knew what an honour it was. It was decades after my mentor's death that I gained the same understanding of our power, our connection that he had. But… After six years, he considered that I had learned everything I could from lessons alone."

"And he let you leave Jarhanpur?"

Rama Khan nods. "Of course. I was a prince and his heir, not a prisoner. If my duties required me to sacrifice certain things then I accepted that. The heir.. has a great degree of freedom once they are capable of succeeding their mentor."

"And that just involved them learning to communicate with the land?"

"There are many other things they should learn. I am not just the land's priest, I am its temporal ruler, as he will be in turn. But the need is less desperate once he possesses that skill."

"And once he rules in his own right?"

"I will be dead. And no others may gainsay him."

Ailani leans forward slightly. "You could not stop him leaving?"

"I will either have transcended the wheel of life or been reborn to it. In either case I will not be involved in what comes after."

Ailani's lip curls. "Your soul will lie in Hell."

Rama Khan's gaze is contemptuous. "You have many lives still to live."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th December
05:19 GMT +5:30

Diana sighs very slightly. "Ailani, do you want all of the people living in Jarhanpur to die?"

Ailani-. Oh shit, she actually… Ah… Okay, so this is what real religious intolerance looks like. Yikes. I guess with Afghanistan being all moderate on Earth 16 all the craziness had to go somewhere.

"I would point out that answering 'no' would give an opportunity for making converts to Islam unparalleled in modern history."

I mean, that's… Basically how Islam worked. Egypt-. Kahndaq was Christian before Islam existed. And Hinduism in all its myriad forms was the religion of India until clerics and armies headed this way from the Middle East. Rama Khan was fine with his fellow Ancients -who didn't call themselves that, obviously- practising other religions… Probably a bit too fine in Tezumak's case. Without hundreds of years of invasions and intercommunity violence there's no real reason for Rama Khan to care about that aspect-.

"So long as its priests can interact peacefully and respectfully. I will not have them tell my heir that his gifts are evil or demonic when they are essential to the wellbeing of our people."

"Your people."

"When you entered my country you accepted everything that came with it. You cannot simply pick and choose which laws you are subject to when you live in a place."

"I did not want to enter your country!"

"Then why did you!?"

"Because I wasn't driving!"

Rama Khan's lips turn down for a moment before he manages to return his face to neutral. Yeah. He made a point of what he thought was helping some refugees who were about to die, and not only were some of them really ungrateful but the mind of his country picked the son of one of them to succeed him.

Diana seems a little nonplussed. "What exactly are the laws and customs regarding your office?"

Rama Khan takes a moment to regain his equilibrium before responding. "I am the ruler of the state of Jarhanpur. I can make laws and unmake them at will, subject to the land itself replacing me if I err too greatly. As one of my abilities I -and Jivan- have an awareness of the state of our country and its people. This enables us to ensure that the laws and bureaucracy serve the civilisation. If a significant proportion of my people are unhappy about something I become aware of it and am able to make the appropriate changes."

"Do you have to?"

"I am only answerable to the land itself. But I am advised and aided by numerous functionaries. If my closest advisors all felt the same way it would be unusual for me to gainsay them, even if I could."

"Have all of your predecessors felt the same way?"

"No. Not all. There have been those who abused their position. Some through madness, some through self-indulgence and others through cruelty. My predecessor four times removed began the current tradition of bringing the heir to the palace to be trained and educated. Each of us who have lived in that way have held the good of our people to be the highest good."

"Why can you not wait until he is an adult?"

"Since the founding of Jarhanpur, there have not been enough rulers for us to have a firm idea of how long they usually last. I am the oldest there has ever been, but I am far from the first to live longer than the normal mortal span. What we do know for certain is that when a new heir is chosen the old ruler will not live much longer. By the time he is an adult I may be dead. I may be dead before he reaches his tenth year. I do not fear my own death. I fear failing in my duty to my people. And my duty to Jivan himself."

I don't think he's lying, and if Diana's picking up anything she not giving an outward sign.

"And what of his family?"

"I do not like the idea of Jarhanpur opening its borders. If they wish to enter, they can do so. Then they must remain either until he reaches fifteen or until I die, whichever happens first."

"Why are you so afraid of opening the borders?"

"Have you seen this part of the world? The communal violence, the poverty, the simple lack of infrastructure? Jarhanpur is a shining jewel surrounded by detritus. No, there is nothing Jarhanpur needs from the rest of the world."

Ailani scowls. "Except our children."

"He is of Jarhanpur. I do not make a habit of it, and I did not choose him."

"Then why not tell your demon to choose someone else?"

"I cannot. And it is not a demon."

"I-" Diana holds up her hands. "-don't think that's a helpful line of debate." Rama Khan and Ailani break eye contact with one another. "Ailani. Lord Rama Khan has agreed to allow you to stay with Jivan. You can have access to an imam, and once his training is complete he will be able to live his life as he chooses."

"You're just.. abandoning us to this monster?"

"If I thought that Jivan would be suffering at all, I would do everything in my power to rescue him. But so far I haven't heard anything which suggests to me that he would be hurt in any way by returning to Jarhanpur. You're asking me to condemn hundreds of thousands of people due to an.. inaccurate belief that magic is innately evil." Diana looks disquieted, but soldiers on. "And without a much better reason, I am not prepared to do that."

Ailani's eyes widen in shock and horror. "But I am his mother! I love him, and I am the only person who can decide what is right for him!"

"I don't.. like the situation, either. But if Jarhanpur will not choose someone else, you are asking me to condemn thousands of other children as well as their parents to destitution, if not death. Do you believe that they do not love their children as well?"

"So they have to work for their bread rather than just having their demons make it for them! I grew up with less than that!"

"No." Rama Khan slowly shakes his head. "When there is no one forming the link between the people of Jarhanpur and the land itself, the land is barren. And the weather is hostile. I never lived through such a period, but our oldest records speak of it, and… When my mentor died and I returned from Kahndaq, things had noticeably decayed. Healthy plants withered in the fields and the sky was grey and stormy as if the land itself mourned for her. The only alternative would be to resettle the entire population, and that would mean the end of our culture. Our history as a people."

"What about my people! Jivan is all I have left of my h-husband…"

"And I am not taking him from you! You would have been a princess, the mother of Jarhanpur's ruler! You could have watched over and guided him for your entire life, as he safeguarded an entire country! What could he learn to do here? Be a subsistence farmer until one group of bandits or another slew him?!"

"What could he learn in Jarhanpur? You have no electricity, no machines, no radios or telephones-."

"We do not need those things."

I look pointedly at Diana. Feeling my eyes on the back of her neck, she bows her head slightly and then turns slightly to make eye contact with me.

"My lord Rama Khan, might it not be in Jivan's interests to be educated in as many matters as possible? Discharging his core duties would obviously be most important, but he could not make decisions on what degree of contact with the external world was appropriate without knowing anything about it. It would be a simple matter to arrange additional tutors."

"That… Is not unreasonable." Not that he looks happy about it. "I know little of Islam. Could you also locate a priest who could be relied upon to conduct themselves appropriately?"

"Not personally, but I can introduce you to Adom's religious advisor. He's an extremely reasonable man."

Rama Khan nods. "Then I will accept. And in return, you-" He glares at Ailani. "-will cease your slanders and will agree not to attempt to remove Jarhanpur's heir again."

Ailani is shaking, tears quietly running down her face. "It seems that I have little choice."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th December
09:44 GMT +2:00

Arm in arm, Jade and I walk towards Adom and Adrianna's reception room. Ancient Kahndaq didn't actually have a formal wedding ceremony, and there isn't anyone still living to whom Adom could pay a bride price. For the same reason, the Ancient Kahndaqi custom of a prenuptial agreement isn't exactly… Appropriate. Again, Adom isn't gaining a father-in-law and.. doesn't actually own a great deal of property in his capacity as a private citizen. He wasn't even getting paid until quite recently, and his remuneration isn't exactly exorbitant now. He's certainly the least well paid Middle Eastern head of state.

"Orange Lantern!" Amon swoops down, coming to a relative stop in the air just before us. "Thank you for coming!"

"I'm delighted to be here. How did your meeting with the team go?"

"Ah… Well? I think?" He frowns a little. "Canis Minor was very friendly. It was…" He shakes his head and stops frowning. "Perhaps I am not used to people being so nice."

I wince internally. "He wanted to ask all about your Anti-Life exposure, didn't he?"

"And paint pictures of my time there. He showed me a sketch. It was… Disturbing."

"Canis grew up in a place where nearly everyone lives like they did in that place. He finds everything else weird."

Amon looks distant for a moment, then nods. "I… Yes, I think I understand how he feels."

I reach forward and pat his right shoulder with my left hand. "No. No you don't. And you should be glad of that, because he is a very strange man-" Jade coughs. "-indeed." I smile. "May I present my paramour, Jade Nguyen."

Who insisted on keeping her right hand free just in case she needed to save a half second on drawing a knife. And is wearing a tang suit because she wasn't willing to compromise her mobility -she can be so mission-focused- and that was the best we could do which met with Kahndaq's clothing… Customs, for women. Burka aren't required -and are actually pretty uncommon- but the local standards for 'modest dress' are quite a bit less generous than in America.

"Miss Jade, I am pleased to meet you." He holds out his right hand, which is now strong enough for him to squeeze iron through his fingers if he clenches.

Jade smiles politely and takes it with hers. "And you're Amon Tomaz."

"Ah, when I am in costume, please call me 'Osiris'."

"Oh? Was I supposed to bring my 'Cheshire' mask?"

Amon beams. "Are you a member of the Justice League too?"

Jade… Doesn't look sure whether he's serious or not. "No, but I.. have been known to work as a vigilante."

Amon nods. "We should fight crime together sometime."

For want of a better response, she nods. "Yes, that's certainly something we could-" Amon's head jerks away "-do."

His head snaps back. "I am sorry, but the chief steward is calling for me. I hope that you enjoy the service."

There's a slight gust of air as he speeds away. Jade blinks. "He seemed… Nice?"

"He's a very nice young man. He had a horrifying upbringing but appears to have responded by deciding never to behave-" Her eyes are already rolling. "-like the people who-." And that's why she's rolling them. "Not.. that I was… Making that comparison… In my head."

"No, I'm sure you weren't." We start walking again. "But if the people you associate with have certain similarities in their lives…"

"Then they can relate to one another's experiences and my friends can become friends with each other. Amon probably would help out in Gotham. And he does want to make new friends."

"Hm." She looks around at the corridor's wedding decorations. "What do you think their chances are?"

"Who? Adom and Adrianna?" She nods. "Pretty good. They're both working in fields they find very rewarding and can't be fired or made homeless. That means that two of the major sources of relationship stress aren't a problem. They've hashed out all of their disagreements ahead of time -quite loudly, at some points- and they know where each other stand. They trust and love one another. And… There aren't really any supervillains with both the power and motive to attack them." Jade gives me a decidedly patient look. "Oh. Ah, did you..? Make a.. decision about the Darkstars?"

"I'm going to join. It's just a question of when, really. I want to study Reach periphery languages and culture so that I know what I'm getting into. And I want to practice with an exo-mantle."

"Okay. But… I can visit Maltus whenever I want, but if you're training or being deployed, I'm not going to be able to communicate with you."

"I know. When you left-."

"We're not in that-." I shake my head. "We're not in that place. I'll miss you, but I'm not-" I get a small smile. "-breaking up with you over it. But… I don't.. want to get married until we're actually… Living together in one place. I'm not complaining; if this is what you need to do for your career then do-"

She leans into me, clearly not entirely happy about the situation. "I think it is."

"-it." I tilt my head over until my cheek presses against the top of her head. "If I could ignore the catgirl throwing herself at me, and the planet of the orange swimsuit models-"

"And the giant spider."

"-then I can-. I didn't ignore her, but… Yeah. Are you planning on saying 'no' to that corporate intelligence company?"

"I've already said 'yes'. I can quit without notice during the first three months. Assuming that the Darkstars accept my application."

I nod. "How… Hands off do you want me to be about that?"

"I want to know everything about their recruitment criteria. I don't want to get the job because you pulled strings."

"They… Usually only recruit people from the Periphery. Taking a human -or anyone from this far away- at all is going to be an oddity, regardless of your prior experience."

"You said that the Reach will eventually take control of Earth."

"Time travel… Yes. They might. And… That might be enough, and there are other Darkstars who don't look like any of the species in the Periphery. But they might turn you down for that reason."

"I've failed job applications before. And the corporate intelligence job would probably pay better."

"I.. don't know." I hadn't really… Thought of myself as marrying anyone. Not in the 'don't want to be tied down, not a one woman guy' sort of way. Just… Never imagined myself ever being in this position. If.. the Darkstars say 'no'…

We slow as we approach the door. "Ready to say 'hello' to Adom?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th December
09:48 GMT +2:00

"Paul!" Adom is openly smiling. I mean, sure, he's got cause, it's just a little strange to actually see it. "Thank you for coming!"

He walks towards me, arms outstretched-. Ah. Whaw. Okay. We embrace, Adrianna smiling fondly at him. And I can see why. This is a huge transition from where he started.

He pulls away slightly, still smiling. "Mighty One. It's going to be an impressive celebration, especially given how quickly you put everything together."

Adrianna shakes her head as Adom returns to her side. "He had been arranging matters secretly since I agreed to marry him once we rescued Amon. I think that he is a repressed romantic."

Pretty heavily repressed. "Who did you decide to have perform the ceremony?"

Adom bows his head slightly. "None of those who came forward professing to worship Isis knew anything of any significance about the old ways of the religion. There are… A few whom I have been instructing, but having them bind us would be absurd."

Adrianna nods. "And since we commune with our gods directly, we have no need to seek their approval for our union. We decided to have a civil wedding ceremony instead. The Chief Justice will be solemnising our vows."

"I suppose that having an imam do it would be a bit awkward. Is now a good time to present my wedding gift?"

Adom shrugs. "If you like. But it was unnecessary for you to get us anything. We are not in need of the crockery or furniture with which to provision a new home."

Adrianna watches me with interest. "What did you get?"

"A jar of dirt." I pull said jar of dirt out of the bag hanging from my shoulder and hold it out slightly. "Which I will now break." I drop the jar, using a weak construct spike to crack it because on a carpeted floor it probably wouldn't break.

My hosts say nothing, content to stare at me and at the mess I just made. Adrianna shakes her head in confusion. "Is it..? Symbolic..?"

Something occurs to Adom. "No. Paul is a Discordian, a member of the Themysciran cult of their Goddess of Chaos. I do not believe that there is-" The soil shifts slightly under its own power. "-any greater meaning here. Or perhaps-" The material of the pot itself is absorbed into the loose earth, which rises upwards. "-the meaning…"

Adom looks mildly alarmed as the earth takes on a humanoid form, then his eyes widen further as features begin to appear.

"Rama?"

A moment more passes, and his features are fully formed. Next, coloured crystals are shifted to the outer surface to replicate the colours of his robes. It's still clearly not a person, but it's a far more lifelike facsimile.

Then his eyes glow light green and the face gains animation. "Adom. It has been some time."

"How-? I… How.. is..?"

"Your friend Paul visited me in Jarhanpur to invite me. And you-" He turns his attention to Adrianna. "-are the new Isis. You must be a remarkable woman to have found a place in Adom's heart. I am pleased that you have found one another."

"Who are you?"

Adom looks a little unsteady as he takes a step towards his old friend. "But… Jarhanpur is gone. I looked. It was the fourth place I went after I regained a body. I thought-."

"Husband."

"This is-. This is Lord Rama Khan, prince of Jarhanpur, and… He was a friend of mine, in my first life. It is you, not a successor?"

The living statue nods. "I am still me, my friend. I would have come in person if I could, but my mentor returned to the wheel a mere eight years after your own passing and I can no longer leave Jarhanpur."

Adom nervously holds out his hands, then embraces Rama Khan as he did me. "How? Where did Jarhanpur go?"

Rama Khan pulls away slightly, his eyes downcast. "Do you know what became of us after your death?" Adom shakes his head. "Then… I should leave it until another day. It is not a happy tale." Adom nods sombrely. "When I returned to my homeland, I altered its connection to the rest of the world… Cutting it off and making it physically inaccessible. Unless you flew very close to the entry point I would not have seen you."

"It does not matter. I am…" He turns his head in my direction. "This is your gift? This is more than I-."

"No. That's a third of the gift." I hold up my left hand and tap my ring twice. "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing with an insane intensity until it is completed to the most perfect extent possible. That's the Orange Lantern Corps way."

Adom's mouth opens slightly, then closes. He blinks. "Khufu."

Rama Khan's eyebrows rise. "Khufu?"

I look out of the window. "He was supposed to be-."

His mostly repaired spacecraft flashes across the Shiruta skyline and halts just outside. Adom marches out onto the balcony, Rama Khan and Adrianna following a little way behind him. Repairing the ship's system from Hector's… Work took the rest of my Nth metal, and it's still not entirely fixed. But it's at least a generation in advance of what the League's Hawks use and easily capable of supersonic no-shockwave inertially dampened flight.

A flicker of ruby coloured light, and Mr Cantrell and Ms Parker materialise. They're wearing slightly updated versions of their Justice Society era costumes, including the wing harnesses which they recovered from their son. Mildly ghoulish things, but Mr Cantrell's is the one he used as Prince Khufu so it's nothing that Adom hasn't seen before.

"Mighty One! It has been some time." Mr Cantrell strides forward and offers Adom his right hand. "Forgive me if my Ancient Kahndaqi is less good than it once was. I have never before spoken it with this mouth."

"Your-." Adom takes his hand. "The visions were true. You reincarnated."

Ms Parker walks towards them, Adom offering her his other hand. "We have both died and been reborn many times since we last spoke to you, Mighty One."

"You have no need to call me that." Careful to avoid touching their wing harnesses, he embraces them both.

Adrianna looks a little puzzled, clearly unused to Adom being this demonstrative. Rama Khan inclines his head towards her. "Millennia ago, a great evil arose who would have burned the entire world to ash. His followers acted against many peoples, and those of us who overcame them formed an alliance to slay the monster and exterminate his devotees to ensure that he could never rise again. And in the fires of that conflict we formed a lasting friendship, which bound us together in a hundred battles against the greatest monstrosities this world has ever known."

"An ancient Justice League?"

"I think that the League would consider us far too brutal, but the purpose was the same. And then Gamemnae…" He shakes his head. "I had thought that I had outlived all of my comrades. It is pleasant to know that I was wrong."

Mr Cantrell looks up. "Rama!"

"Your pardon." Rama Khan walks forward to join his old comrades.

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th September 2004
01:09 GMT -5:00

"Young lady, I don't think that belongs to you."

The figure in the hood stands completely still at the sound of the man's voice, freezing just inside the shopping mall fire exit. Green light shines down from the sky, leaving her in no doubt as to who had spotted her. Exactly why her dad decided to make the family home in a city protected by the most experienced superhero on Earth was a mystery to her, but 'why' wasn't any help right now.

Weapons? None that would make any difference. She'd seen recordings of Green Lantern catching anti-tank missiles, then ignoring them as they exploded against his barriers. Heard from her dad about him blocking super strength punches without flinching, or training against the new Green Lanterns two-on-one and knocking them both into the Atlantic.

Evasion might be possible. She had smoke bombs-. But only a couple. And those would make it obvious that she wasn't a normal thief. Assuming that he couldn't just blow the smoke aside with a glowing emerald fan before she could get away. Running through the building and trying to lose him that way? No, that wouldn't work. His constructs weren't light speed, but they were faster than it was possible to run through a shopping mall. Assuming that he didn't just put a glowing green wall around the whole building, or fly through the walls like a ghost.

Damn it!

Head slightly down, hat covering most of her face, she slowly raises her hands and takes a step outside. Getting away from a top tier superhero is way too difficult. But once he leaves, escaping from the police should be far easier.

"Little young to be out this late, aren't you? Whereabouts do you live?"

She doesn't say anything, trying to judge from the surrounding illumination exactly how close he is. Staring directly at a glowing object at night would ruin her night vision for when the time to run arrived. Just wait for him to call the police-.

"Oh, f-." The light dims dramatically. "How old are you?"

The voice is coming from just in front of her. She looks up.

Dull green translucent flame drips off him, failing to quite obscure his brilliant red pullover and the lantern symbol in the center of his chest. Loose green jogging trousers are held up by a thick black belt, and from his neck trails a green and black cloak. Originally, she'd assumed that the cloak's black outer surface was there to allow him to conceal himself at night. But when she'd mentioned it to dad, he just laughed.

He said that Green Lantern doesn't hide. He was too powerful to need to, and in any case his green glow would make it impossible. Of course, being dad, he'd also said that Green Lantern probably wore the cloak because he picked it up in a costume shop seventy years ago, thought it made him look cool and hadn't ever thought about changing it.

For some reason, that made her think of the mask in her rucksack.

She looks up, making eye contact with him for the first time. His eyes are impossible to see. He wears a domino mask across them, and the eye pieces which she assumes are either holes in the material or clear plastic are glowing green. His hair is gelled back, and she knows that under the green glow it's blonde-. No. No, it isn't. With the green light reflecting off it, it should look slightly darker. But it looks the same green as the rest of him.

He holds out his left hand. "Hand it over."

She grudgingly passes over the satchel she picked up from the department store, along with the things she was keeping in it. Not most of the cash -that went into her jacket's inner pockets- but the things she was going to use to maintain herself while she got out of Gotham. That would mean breaking into somewhere else before she left. Perhaps in Blüdhaven? She didn't know the gangs there quite so well, but if it was just a snatch and grab before leaving the city anyway that shouldn't be a problem.

Huh. Lying publicity photos, taken from fifty years ago. Either that or he forgot to take his Clairol this morning. His skin looks older than it does in his usual photos as well. Less flesh on his face, wrinkles on his forehead and… Yes, his hairline is further back.

"If you take a photograph, it'll last longer." He nods at her. "Come on. Tell me where you live and I'll give you a ride back there."

Not the police? She's not sure whether the insult is worse-. No, take the opportunities you're presented with.

"I'm sure your parents are really worried."

She can't help but snort faintly. "I doubt it." Mom's in prison, and dad-. Why exactly isn't the world-famous superhero going after the internationally wanted mercenary assassin, instead of a teenage shoplifter?

"You'd be surprised. This won't exactly be the first time I've brought someone back home."

"Why do you even bother?"

"Because it's the decent thing to do." A green tendril conveys the satchel back through the door. Probably to be stolen by the first person to get in later this morning. Having someone else get the benefit of her work irks. "If you've had some kind of falling out-."

"Was stopping me really the most important thing you could be doing right now?"

"Anywhere in the world? Probably not. But it was the thing happening right in front of me."

So she didn't set off a silent alarm. "No, not in the world. In Gotham."

"Are you getting at something? Is someone making you do this?"

Another snort, this one with a little black humor in it. "Do you know the name 'Sportsmaster'?

"Yeah. He's a mercenary. I don't think he uses children to steal for him, though."

She glares, pulls her hat from her head. "My name is Jade Crock. Lawrence Crock -Sportsmaster- is my father."

A slight intake of breath. "In that case-."

"He's been living in this city for fifteen years."

"What?"

The green flames surge, brightening and filling the surrounding area. She folds her arms, trying not to squint as she settles her weight slightly on her right hip. "Yeah, him and Mom decided to move here when they found out she was pregnant with me. We've been living here on and off ever since." The green flames flick outwards, and she forces herself not to flinch as they touch her. "I think Uncle David spent a couple of years here as well. David Cain? The most dangerous assassin in the world?"

"In my city?"

"So when I ask if this is the most important thing you could be doing… I know it's not. So why don't you go and bother dad and leave me-."

The flames are sucked inwards, the green glow from the Green Lantern growing in intensity. "Is he here right now?"

"No, but he'll be back in a couple of days."

"You gunna tell me where he lives?"

She shrugs. "What's in it for me?"

"A serial killer gets the chair. And I don't think you'd be telling me about this if you cared what happened to him."

"No. I want to be there when you take him in. He's broken out of prisons before. I want to make sure you make it stick."

"Okay." The Green Lantern nods. "I can live with that. You got somewhere you can stay until then?"

She shrugs again.

"Alright. Let me make a call real quick."

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd October 2004
21:34 GMT -5:00

"…funny!"

A giant green hand swings the plainly dressed man hard into the station concourse by his legs, a hastily thrown explosive discus being effortlessly intercepted by a construct brick wall. The man gasps as his right shoulder breaks in two places, but barely has time to react before the hand moves again, lifting him up and then slamming him down on his back! A flash of green and the hand transforms into a pair of manacles.

"I surr-."



A pile driver construct appears over his stomach and slams down far harder than his concealed armor can withstand. The air rushes out of his lungs as the pile driver rises again and this time-.

From behind the police cordon, his eldest daughter smiles as her father's ribs fracture.

Green Lantern floats a little closer, though not too close. No need to give the man a cheap shot. "Had enough, Crock?"

Unable to respond verbally, the man has the wherewithal to visibly tap out with his still functioning left hand.

"Glad to hear it. I strongly advise you not to give the police any trouble, because right now they're the one thing protecting you from me."

Lawrence Crock, the Sportsmaster, lays back bonelessly and tries not to die. Green Lantern rises a little higher in the air, maintaining watch as the riot police with heavy chains come forward to bind his victim. He keeps watching as Crock is loaded onto a gurney and chained to it before being wheeled towards the armored police transport borrowed from New York.

Then he flies back towards the police lines, and his informant. Commissioner Bradley watches him a little cautiously, while the young woman looks at him with no expression at all.

"Took him down a little hard there, Lantern."

"He's killed at least thirty police officers arresting or transporting him. I thought that you would rather avoid adding to that number." He drops to ground level, landing a small distance away from him. "And I sure didn't hear him surrendering."

"I.. suppose not." Commissioner Bradley turns toward the young woman. "We're going to need to do a formal interview with you at some point, but there isn't any hurry. Are you willing to testify ag-?"

"Yes."

Bradley nods. "I'm glad to hear it. We.. have counselling ser-."

The young woman shakes her head. "I don't need therapy."

"And what about your sister?" The young woman's eyes dip for a moment. "Look, you said you don't have any other family in America. With both of your parents in prison, you need-."

"Does she need to decide anything right away?"

Bradley sighs. "No, but this isn't going to go away. I can have someone from child services visit your apartment tomorrow."

"What was the bounty on dad, anyway?"

"I don't know. And I'm not sure it can get paid to family members. But I'll find out for you and let you know. Do you need someone to give you a ride home?"

"Don't worry. I'll take her home myself. Ready, Jade?"

She looks at him cautiously for a moment, then nods. Green flames flicker around her for a moment, then she and Green Lantern shoot into the sky. The Commissioner, the station and eventually the city itself become impossible to distinguish from their surroundings as they vanish below.

Then the Green Lantern stops. "Bradley had a point. I think I went a little overboard, there."

"He had it coming."

"A lot of them do. But if you let it get to you, you end up like Judson Caspian." They look at each other for a moment. Her expression gives nothing away, while his… At this range it's easy to see through his aura and study his face. He doesn't just look old, he doesn't even just look old and tired. He looks drained, like someone sucked the life right out of him. "How many others are there?"

"Other master criminals?" He nods. "Not many. Dad said that you being here makes it too much of a risk. Most crime in Gotham is a lot more subtle."

He nods sadly. "There's a lot more of that going on than I think there is, isn't there?"

"If you want to operate in a city with a powerful superhero, you have to know how to bypass them. You're too powerful for robberies or assassinations to be profitable, but there are plenty of ways to make money that don't need those."

"You got anything specific you want to share with me?" She shrugs. "Alright. What do you want in return?"

"I don't want Artemis to end up in a children's home."

"Not worried about that yourself?"

She rolls her eyes. "They couldn't keep me anywhere I didn't want to be."

"Would you be okay with a foster carer? No offense, but you don't strike me as the maternal type."

"That… Depends."

"Alright. How about I find a couple of places and you tell me what you think?" She nods. "Anything else?"

"I want to be there. When you take down the mob, I want to watch."

"If it's safe. I'll probably need to bring you along anyway so I know where I'm going, but I'm not just going to leave you somewhere you could get killed."

She nods. "And I want your ring."

His eyebrows shoot up. "Excuse me?"

"My parents were training me to be an assassin. I didn't-. I don't want that. I don't want to be anything they want me to be. I know how to fight and I want to fight against people like them." Her eyes narrow as she looks at his ring. "You're old. Tired. But Earth's got three Green Lanterns and you're still the strongest. I want you to teach me."

He regards her for several moments.

"I can't promise that. I've had people try and use my ring before, and they could barely do anything with it."

"That's my problem."

He thinks about it, his eyes drifting away from her and to the landscape below them. "We clean up the city, you stay in school and get decent reports, and you don't get into any trouble. You manage that, and I'll train you. You okay with that?"

She nods.

"Okay then." He reaches up with his left hand and peels his domino mask away from his face. His eyes… They certainly don't make him look any younger, but there's a certain softness in them that she hadn't expected. "My name is Alan Scott. And since you and your sister are looking for somewhere to stay... I've got a spare room."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Excavation

10th December
15:48 GMT

"Mister Grayven."

Lord Sheldrake stares up at me, generally affecting an air of being mildly displeased by my presence but also of being far too polite to mention it. I can't help but smile. Not sure exactly what the cause of his attitude is. I mean, yes, I toppled his country's government with very little notice, and… Despite my best efforts there has been a degree of civil unrest. Not sure what the point of protesting is when all of the offenders are already in prison, but…

"Lord Sheldrake." I extend my right hand. "Good to see you again."

He takes it, and I get exactly one shake before he releases it again. "Likewise."

I watch out of the corner of my eye as Miss Amane twirls her scythe like a majorette's baton for a mildly impressed Miss Hutchinson.

"How are things?

"It could be worse."

I nod slowly. "If there's anything I can do to help..?"

"I'm not sure we'd survive more of your help." He sighs. "The acting Home Secretary signed off on the release paperwork. We're a bit short-staffed at the moment, so I hope you don't mind us not having a formal parole hearing."

"No no, quite understandable. If anything I'm a little impressed that things have been turned around as quickly as they have."

Lord Sheldrake turns away and starts walking into the grounds of the Tower of London. "If you'd like to come with me, I'll introduce you to the Chief Warder."

Arms folded behind my back, I stroll after him. Miss Amane is talking about something to Miss Hutchinson, but cuts herself off as soon as she notices me leaving and blurs to my side. Scythe over her left shoulder, she smiles brightly up at me and has a decided spring in her step. Miss Hutchinson brings up the rear.

Crowds are… We're definitely drawing attention, but the Yeomanry are on guard and keeping them back. Ordinary Yeomen, who include guarding John Dee's magical prison as part of their duties. They're wearing rather fetching red, gold and white uniforms and are armed with mostly-ceremonial-but-still-perfectly-sharp spears. No 'ER' on the clothes, but…

Ah. Magic. Probably more of Magister Dee's work. I wonder exactly how tough it makes them?

"I take it that you've familiarised yourself with exactly why Mister Fiendstein was imprisoned here?"

"Certainly." And despite the convictions I'm personally not convinced that there was anything sexual in it. For him, at least. "But I don't think that we'll have anything to worry about."

"They were children, Mister Grayven. And you're letting him out."

"I am aware. And his family are as well. I have ensured that the agreed upon conditions will be fulfilled."

He exhales with frustration, glancing back as he does so. "I know that you're lying. I know he doesn't have any family. What are you playing at?"

I frown. "Hey. Family isn't just about blood, you know." I reach out and pat Miss Amane on the head to her obvious pleasure. "Even Mister Fiendstein has people who are concerned about him."

"Un-Men." I glance back at Beryl Hutchinson, aka Squire, 'the brains of the outfit'. "You're talking about the Un-Men."

Lord Sheldrake stops and turns around just before the entrance to the Tower itself. "Squire?"

"Synthetic organic people created by Anton Arcane. Most of them live in the States now. Grayven's known to be working with them… I hadn't put it all together, but the time Fiendstein was out of Britain corresponds to when Arcane was still in Romania." She looks up at me. "Right?"

I nod. "True. There's knowledge in his head that doesn't exist anywhere else. Shall we-?"

Lord Sheldrake still isn't moving. "Are they dangerous?"

"They do exotic medical research. Kobra stole some of their drugs back in January and people died, but that wasn't really their fault. I.. don't think that having Fiendstein is going to make them more dangerous, and they mostly keep to themselves. I'd.. say not." She gives me a hard look. "Except for the fact that Grayven was trying to avoid telling anyone."

"They don't want news of the association getting around. They appreciate that they're unsightly-" Intellectually appreciate, at least. "-but they've got a good thing going on and don't want the bad press. And that's how you can be certain that they'll keep him under control."

"And what do you get out of it?"

"Improved biotechnology. Fiendstein will most likely be perfectly happy to share with them, and they can give him enough to do that he won't… Wander off, as it were." I pointedly nod toward the door. "Shall we?"

Lord Sheldrake turns and stalks through the entrance, irritation visible in every motion. Well, what did he think I wanted the man for? I follow him inside, feeling a mild tingle as I pass through the outer wards. These were a later addition, and aren't anything like as potent as what Dee put on the cells beneath our feet. Inside, it looks like a prison reception. The interior doors are barred and locked, and the yeomanry on duty put the 'beef' in 'beefeater'.

The Chief Warder exchanges nods with Lord Sheldrake, then approaches me with a clipboard. "Mister Grayven. If you could please sign here."

I take it from him and give it a quick once-over. Looks simple enough. "Of course." Sign and date, sign and date… I pass it back, and he countersigns it and then nods to the yeoman at the desk.

She picks up a phone. "Bring him up."

Drama aside, the actual prison isn't particularly large and they knew I was coming. It shouldn't take-.

The door opens with a clank, and a yeoman leads Mr Fiendstein out into the light.

Mr Fiendstein's various 'procedures' have made him an odd-looking man, especially without the coat which he used to wear continuously. His mouth is constantly just a little open, granting his improved scent and taste receptors access to the air. It also grants anyone near him the opportunity to spot his extended incisors. Not sure why he bothered doing that. Nothing in the reports I read suggested that he ever bit anyone, though his teeth are hardened. Maybe it was a side effect?

His head is unusually round due to his additional glands and jaw-broadening modifications. For similar reasons his neck is more or less non-existent, the flesh of the lower part of his head merging seamlessly with his shoulders. The bones are still there and he actually doesn't have all that much body fat, but all of those modifications needed space. His ovoid blob of a torso similarly looks like he should be fat, while in fact it contains an advanced organic chemical plant that lets him digest almost anything and usefully utilise it. His legs are strangely thin and short, the result of his altered musculature and skeletal structure. His visible skin is a very pale grey and the texture is rough in a way which in anyone else would suggest an unpleasant skin disease.

He grins as he spots me. "Oh, Mister Grayven! What a wonderful day! To be back in the bosom of my delightful family once more!"

"Mister Fiendstein. Ready to go?"

"Am I?" He sounds completely mystified as he turns to the desk. "Am I?"

Two slightly mildewed bags are passed over the desk by a glove-wearing yeoman. "Please confirm the contents and sign here."

Mr Fiendstein picks up the bags and flicks out his tongue, lassoing the proffered pen and pulling it into his mouth while he makes his search. I watch his grin grow as the yeoman recoils slightly.

One down.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th December
08:02 GMT -5

Sam sticks his head out into the waiting room and makes a beckoning motion with his right hand. I smile pleasantly and approach at a stroll as he heads back inside the complex proper.

I'm not sure if Project M is still properly classified. I couldn't get the files easily, but I'm pretty much convinced that was because no one has bothered putting them onto computer rather than any sort of super-advanced security measure. Still, I managed to acquire a copy of Vincent Velcoro's suppressed biography and… Well, I'm not sure how accurate most of it was, but it gave me a decent overview.

Sam glances back as he leads the way further into the Project's former home. "I take it there's no chance of you changing Luthor's mind about the starships?"

The corridors are too narrow for me to walk alongside him, so I settle for hanging back at a non-neck-straining distance. "Legally acquiring designs and engaging in legitimate commercial activity is not something I've been asked to prevent. Neither of them are acts of supervillainy."

"Until he sticks an armed ship in orbit. I've seen reports on how much damage Doctor Knight could do with the handheld version, and you can't tell me that Luthor doesn't already have bigger versions on the drawing board."

"And if he fires them-" I step aside as a technician comes past. "-then I'll kill him. But there are a lot of dangerous things in space."

Sam puts his hand on a palm print reader next to a heavy vault door. "Samuel Lane, delta seven five nine. Albuquerque."

A moment passes, and it beeps a rejection.

"Oh, God damn it." He sighs, and turns his head back towards me. "These old sites are a pain in the ass. We can stick all the new gizmos in we want, but the infrastructure is all so old that it's a coin toss whether any of it will work." He turns back to the device and leans closer. "Sam-u-el Lane, delta seven five nine. Albuquerque."

This time there's a more pleasant beep, followed by a clank as the door unlocks.

"Having trouble getting funding?"

He shakes his head. "We're rationalising. I want to completely refurbish some sites and completely decommission whatever we're not going to use. Half of these places are only still going because no one checking the budget really knew what they were for." He leads the way inside, a couple of scientists within looking around as we enter. "The president's using his popularity surge to browbeat Congress into reorganising the defence budget. It's going to end up with a whole lot more useful spending and about twenty percent less barrels of pork."

The door clanks shut behind us. "Only twenty percent?"

Sam shrugs. "He's not a miracle worker. Maybe if he gets a real good result in the election next year."

"Does he have your vote yet?"

He looks mildly amused. "No comment. From an organizational point of view, Senator Knight has already said that he's firmly behind the new spending commitments, and I can't see any of the other potential Republican nominees doing much to reduce them. We'll be able to keep working on this whoever wins." He looks over to the scientists. "Doctor Castle?"

The man steps forward. "General. Grayven." I nod politely. "We've had most of the surviving 'Creature Commandos' down here since the early fifties, in… Officially, it's 'suspended animation'. In practice -given how crude the techniques were- I don't know how they expected any of them to wake up again."

Sam's jaw hardens. "We're working on that. These people sacrificed their humanity for their country. They shouldn't have been stuck down here and forgotten about."

I frown. "I'm not even clear why the unit was created in the first place."

"Simple, really." Doctor Castle looks a bit pleased with himself. "The allies were looking for ways to circumvent the Spear of Destiny. Professor Mazursky had been trying to get federal funding for a unit of enhanced… Monster soldiers. He got approval for a small unit… Essentially to see if they were affected by it. They weren't. The commandos undertook a number of missions on mainland Europe prior to D-Day… But the techniques used to create them…" He steps up to a control panel and presses a large green switch. "See for yourself."

A heavy screen slides away from a… Bed? Open-fronted iron maiden? Given the tubes running into the poor bastard it looks like it was intended to be medicinal, but those manacles make it clear that he's staying medicated whether he wants to or not.

"Warren Griffith, codename 'Wolfpack'. Werewolf, obviously, with all the enhancements that entails. The process also reduced his mental acuity, and it was progressive. By the time they hooked him up to this he could barely write his own name. We don't know whether that decay is inevitable -just something all werewolves go through- or a sign that there was a fault in the process."

"Did you ever recover Mr Velcoro?"

Sam shakes his head. "No, and given that he's a vampire there's a good chance that he's still alive. For a given value of 'alive'. We never had any contact after he went AWOL, but I haven't heard anything about exsanguinated bodies. As long as he's keeping his nose clean he's not really our problem."

"And he wrote a book."

"We think he wrote most of that while he was still with the Commandos." I get a sidelong glance. "And its content is still technically classified."

I don't even dignify that comment with a chuckle.

Doctor Castle presses another button and… Not who I'm looking for, but perhaps the next best thing. "Elliot Taylor, Project M's attempt to replicate Victor Frankenstein's work."

"Fairly successfully, as I understand it."

"No, not really. The original creature was sewn together from dead parts. Introducing its body fluids to a critically injured but still living man… He had difficulty forming sentences-. Though as far as the researchers could tell, his actual intelligence was as good as it was before the procedure. His flesh was numb, resulting in poor coordination… He needed infusions of electricity in order to regenerate, becoming increasingly tired if he didn't receive it. He had immense trouble sleeping normally, suffered from severe headaches…" He looks at the cryogenic unit storing the man. "He's in there at his own request. As is Doctor Rhodes."

This bed doesn't have restraints, though it does have the refrigeration/drug combination. The images of her which I'm familiar with show her either as a baseline human or possessing that odd snake hair. Unlike Petra, the lines of her head stayed normal… Which presumably indicates magic rather than exotic biology.

It appears… That the change didn't stop at snake hair. Goodness.

No, irrelevant for now. "Have you considered inviting Cranius to take a look at them? It's his area of expertise."

Sam nods. "Not a bad idea. But -I'm sorry to say it- the work he's doing for us right now is more valuable. And given how long these guys have been here, I doubt that another year or two will make much difference."

"And the original creature?"

"He's in suspended animation in the next room. Originally, they didn't want to wake him up because they didn't know how he'd behave. That's why they made Taylor. Then the base they were keeping him in got attacked, and it got taken out of their hands. He worked with the team for a few missions, but when he found out about Taylor he stopped cooperating. Shut himself down. The letter he wrote to the old project head said that he didn't want to be disturbed unless… The.. 'sheeda' returned."

"Yes, and I need to brief you about them. But let's get the fellow back to his own people first."

11th December
07:33 GMT -7

"Uuuuhhhhnnhhhhh."

The figure on the slab stirs, his eyes flickering open.

And the first thing he sees is a joyfully beaming Cranius.

"Grandpapa!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
10:14 GMT -5

Missus DiCarlo nods to me. "Mister Grayven."

This is a first for me, and the first time I've had a meeting like this that I've felt even slightly nervous.

"Madam President, members of the Security Council."

And Diana. Somewhat amusingly, she has actually been on the Security Council, as Themyscira's ambassador in the early fifties. I think that at the time the United States was hoping to encourage Themyscira to come out of isolation. And let them build an airbase in the Aegean. It.. didn't really work out. Diana in her early twenties might not have been the headstrong girl she was during the Second World War, but she had yet to become the Diana now who is in her early nineties.

"I am here today to brief you on an upcoming threat to planetary security, and to encourage your nations to take such measures as to improve your defensive capacities in the build up to its arrival."

Amusingly, the British Ambassador is absent. I couldn't find any hard evidence that London's woman in New York had done anything unpardonable, but she moved in the right circles. That, plus an understandable hesitancy in recognising a 'revolutionary' government means that the British seat is currently empty. Mildly irritating that it was China who insisted on waiting a little, but I suppose that even forty year delayed turnabout is still fair play.

"The group in question call themselves the sheeda, and those amongst you whose nations have gravity distortion detectors most likely noticed the first sign of their activity last April when an individual referred to as 'The Huntsman'-" I bring up a selection of the best images Doctor Sivana was able to get. "-attacked a facility on Venus. He possesses super strength, virtual invulnerability and gravity manipulation, which by itself isn't too scary."

"The scary thing is what happens during the main offensive. I will tell you now that while I have been aware of the existence of the sheeda for a while, a good deal of the intelligence I will be presenting to you comes from a single source. A criminal and scientific genius by the name of Thaddeus Sivana, who contacted me a short time ago with a view to forming an alliance to stop them."

"The footage you're about to see is from approximately sixty six million years ago." I dismiss the image of the Huntsman… It's another Flash situation, isn't it? The Huntsman or the Huntsman. I dismiss the image and replace it with one of the skies over ancient Earth. Sivana wasn't sure exactly how many Harrowings there had ever been, but by observing periods of history that were harder to get to he could make educated guesses. Sending a camera back far enough to dodge the temporal eddies generated by their time displacement drives and still be capable of recording was difficult, but he came up with a working solution eventually. "I have more footage than I'm going to show you here, but I want to give you some idea of the scale."

The silent image shows an inhuman city. A sprinkling of frost covers many of the buildings, while the bipedal near-reptilian inhabitants walk along the street protected by transparent heated passageways. No flying vehicles are in evidence, but their car-analogues float on low-thrust repulsors. The large buildings we can see are somewhat brutalist in their construction, the few windows being nearly entirely obscured by a complex network of heating and cooling pipes.

Then for a fraction of a second, a series of glowing green lines appear in the sky above it all. They form a cylindrical web, shimmering and glowing for several seconds before the harvest ship appears. The angle isn't great and we couldn't make it show scale at this point, but it's clear from the reaction of those locals who spot it that it very much isn't supposed to be there. The armatures hanging from the lower cone immediately orientate themselves and start firing, while from the upper part a grey cloud emerges.

I press another button and bring up a magnified image of the cloud. A swarm of winged arachnoids, each being ridden by a pair of sheeda soldiers.

"Roughly as fast and manoeuvrable as an attack helicopter, roughly as tough as a modern main battle tank. And they can deploy legions of them over any city they want in moments. And those guns-"

The rear soldier in each pair stands, aims the mounted weapon and fires.

Towering skyscrapers fall.

"-are far nastier than anything any earth polity has of an equivalent size. And these aren't the elite. They are completely standard air cavalry."

The swarms descend, and the camera spins for a moment before cutting out.

"Obvious questions, then. Where do they come from? Answer, in the vast majority of cases, the far future. Those are your descendants, circa one billion years from now. Who were those people? Sentient dinosaurs. The Earth has played host to civilisations before this one. Why isn't there any sign that they existed? Two reasons. Firstly, the sheeda are very thorough. Secondly, there are signs, but they're few and far between and often partially erased by subsequent cultures. How many times have they done this? We don't know. They've levelled at least one civilisation raised by biologically modern humans, one of genius Neanderthals, the dinosaurs and an aquatic species who now survive only in an Atlantean protectorate. I have details on each, but I'm afraid that we can't check to see if there were any others due to the sheeda's temporal countermeasures."

"When should we expect them? Their fleet will get here when it gets here. They're time travellers, so things like travel time are non-issues. They activate their temporal shift drives and they're here with perhaps a few seconds' warning at best. Their scouts are already here." I raise my right hand and make a beckoning motion.

Magnificus Sivana pushes in a large containment unit containing a sheeda mood three mind destroyer. A humanoid form made of dull orange vapour gazes blankly at the assembled dignitaries. His father got to him shortly before he could follow through on its advice and kill himself. Working out how to contain it once they knew what it was didn't prove to be that difficult; apparently their programming doesn't allow them to retreat.

"This model of scout attaches itself to people feeling particular emotions. In this case, shame. They then follow their victim around, learning from their mind even as they provoke them into destructive action. We haven't quite learned how to hack its operating system yet, but it's being worked on."

"The other sort of scout that we need to be worried about is the spine rider. Mister Mayer, could you please lean forward slightly?"

The German ambassador blinks, gazing around as if seeing the room for the first time. Magnificus already has his sidearm up, the dull green light of its targeting system strobing through the air until-. There! I generate a construct sphere around the blasted thing before it can fly away. Magnificus keeps the beam on it until its attempt to stab my construct is met with failure, then holsters his gun and pulls out a small containment unit. I move my construct until it is entirely inside the containment unit, then deactivate it, the captured sheeda creature inside now visible and unable to escape.

I turn back to the Security Council. Most are on their feet, several slapping the backs of their own necks. Diana's watching the corners of the room. Her senses aren't kryptonian acute, but I always suspected that she was better at spotting things than the average Jane. Armed security rush in with pistols drawn, but hesitate in the absence of a target.

I raise my right hand in their direction. "Thank you, gentlemen, but you can stand down. That was the only one in the room. But there are others, and they've been around for a while."

The head of the detail looks at Missus DiCarlo and Diana. The first nods, while the second looks like she's already planning my next browbeating. Literal or metaphorical, I wonder? I'd have said metaphorical, but she's been spending a lot of time with Barda lately.

Immediate panic over, the ambassadors start to return to their seats while a medic attends Mr Mayer.

"Several people, including my friends in the American and Chinese governments, have queried why I'm assisting Lex Luthor in building a space fleet. The answer is simple. While I value the friendships of those nations, the continued existence of the world-spanning civilisation of which they are a part is far more important. Giving any one country a space fleet is a recipe for international conflict. Putting it in the hands of a man with operations in every corner of the world, a man genuinely committed to the future glory of your species, is a far superior option. The model works for the Justice League, and I think it also works here, for the collective defence of your homeworld. Before too long, he will be opening training centres for people wishing to join his space fleet. I would respectfully suggest that your nations all participate in the program."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
10:23 GMT

Doctor Palmer slumps. "That's got to be the most depressing thing I've ever heard. One billion years later, and all that's left of the human species is a world full of sociopathic scavengers."

Kal-El seems to be taking it more in his stride. "A billion years is a very long time. Maybe the human race just moved on?"

I shrug. "The sheeda remains I've been able to examine are human. Different from modern humans, even before their augmentations are taken into account, but recognisably human. Which is.. not to say that mainstream humanity is not elsewhere and the sheeda are an escaped supervillainous science project."

William smiles broadly. "I'm just glad that Doctor Sivana's still alive. I was really worried about him. Yeah, he's always come back before, but it doesn't usually take him this long. And now he's a good guy!"

Diana gives him a sceptical look. "I would not be so quick to give him that accolade."

"But he wants to help Earth fight against the sheeda. He's never done anything that helpful before. Maybe seeing the future all messed up changed him." He looks around at the rest of the Justice League, who for the most part duck his gaze. "It could happen."

I sigh. "Captain, I'm afraid that morality.. and.. human behaviour are a little more complicated than 'good guy team' and 'bad guy team'. Sivana never really hated you. The sheeda killed most of his family."

Batman looks thoughtful. "Do you think that he can be relied upon to maintain his focus?"

I stare incredulously at him. "You're asking me that? Yes, yes I think he will."

Batman directs his attention toward Captain Marvel. "Captain?"

He shifts in his chair. "Ah… I dunno. I mean, I hope so, but I've never really been in this situation before. Most of the people I fight don't really have rational goals. But he always got on well with his kids…" He looks at me. "You.. sure Miss Tia's dead?"

"I only checked briefly myself, but the facility on Venus was almost completely destroyed. And I can't imagine him lying about it."

William nods. Beautia Sivana tutored William in an attempt to bring his school marks up to par after he was fostered by Mr Dudley. He's taken the news of her death reasonably well, but I suppose that at his point he's painfully used to people dying on him.

Kal-El looks down the table. "Green Lanterns? Does the Green Lantern Corps have any records of these sheeda?"

Lantern Stewart shrugs. "About a civilisation that doesn't exist yet? I doubt it, but we might have recordings of their previous attacks. How long does this 'Harrowing' take?"

I shake my head. "No idea. We weren't able to record the whole thing before they learned how to jam us. Aquaman?"

King Orin shakes his head as well. "The Saremites who are living in Atlantis were in suspended animation when the Harrowing started. They say that if we can find any recording devices from their era they're happy to decode them for us, but given how much time has passed I doubt you'll have any luck doing so."

Lantern Jordan sighs. "Both of our rings were made long after when the last Harrowing is supposed to have happened. I can take a trip to Oa and take a look in the archives."

I frown. "What, you can't put in a request for a data transfer?"

"The Guardians don't like messing around with time travel. Too much can go wrong when you don't know what you're doing. Any data relating to time travel can only be accessed on Oa."

I.. suppose it's not that unreasonable.

Stewart glances at him, takes a breath and then continues. "And.. then there's the risk that they might decide that it's not a problem for the Corps to deal with."

I try not to grin. I fail. Yes, Sinestro was rather pleased to be able to tell me about that oddity in the Corps rules of engagement.

Hawkwoman is.. probably frowning under her helmet. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Corps doesn't interfere in the internal political disputes of a society. Even if they're turning violent. That's… Part of what got Sinestro expelled."

"The three major polities of my homeworld turned their radiological arsenals upon one another. I stopped the exchange and I stopped the war. I'm proud of what I did."

"Yeah, and you also took over the planet as its dictator."

"Jordan, would you rather I left the people who just tried to have an atomic war in office?"

"Point of.. information. Sinestro fifty-" I point to my yellow ring with my left index finger. "-did rule as an autocrat. Sinestro sixteen was technically just an advisor to the regime of Coordinator Arsona."

"Sure looked like he was running the show when he took me there." Jordan glares at the ring for a moment before dismissing it. "Point is, Guardians take a really long term view on 'internal'. If we're 'human'-. Ah…" His eyes flick to Kal-El and the Hawks. "I mean, if Earth's civilization is human and the sheeda are its descendants, then without any other treaty being in place they might decide-"

I just throw my head back. "Hahahaha!"

"-that we're part of the same civilization."

"Hahahaha." I get more than a few hostile looks. Alright, alright. I wave my right hand. "Sorry, sorry. It's just-. The Prime Directive sounded like such a good idea on paper."

Kal-El nods. "Until we know what the Guardians' position is, it seems premature to laugh about it. I'm more concerned about your preferred option of letting Lex Luthor build a space fleet."

"H-a… Kal-El, maybe if you hadn't personally ripped off all the guns I built on this station last January I'd have given you first refusal. But you can't refuse my guns and act all surprised when I don't try giving you any more."

"It's not that I think that the Earth doesn't need a military. It's just that I want to know why you didn't pick anyone other than the only surviving member of the Light to run it. Even you running it would make a whole lot more sense to me."

"Lex Luthor is considerably more intelligent than me, has a better contact network than me, understands business better than me and -no offence guys- likes humans a lot more than I do. There's no chance of him vanishing off to Tamaran for months on end… And.. he's got an ego: if I don't give him something important to do he'll just start acting out and I don't.. really want to kill him. And I'm keeping an eye on him anyway, and I'm.. pretty sure that you are as well."

Nods from Kal-El and from Batman, who activates a holographic display. "Do you know what this is?"

Scrub, desert, perimeter fenoh.

Yeah. That's one of the sites Lex is using to dig down to the Doomsday. I still don't really know how we're going to get the thing out, but just getting access to the database would be a major boon.

"I.. believe that's one of LexCorp's.. deep-bore sites in Texas? I think they were looking for oil originally, but with LexPower switching to cosmic converters I think they're going to use it for long term radiological material storage. I mean.. I haven't checked… It didn't seem important."

"I've noted several LexCorp sites in Texas being expanded, with substantial volumes of soil and rock being removed. Since you're supposed to be keeping him under observation, I thought that I would draw your attention to it."

"I'll ask next time I see him. I can't think of anything it could be that's more dangerous than the space fleet I've already okayed, but if it's worrying you… I'll check."

Batman presses another button, and the image disappears.

"Next item on the agenda: Magnificus Sivana's sheeda detection system…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th December
11:22 GMT -5

Lex pats the site foreman on the back, smiling and nodding as he does so. The man nods back, then walks back to his unsubtly-rubbernecking team, gesturing to them to get back to work. Lex's eyes follow him for a moment, then drift over the rest of the site.

Earth's first starship factory.

Or, rather, the building site that will eventually become a starship manufacturing factory. Three months from the official announcement and the site has been cleared and the shell of a building mostly completed. Clearance work is ongoing in the adjacent plots, but Lex didn't want to flood the depressed Detroit economy with short term employment which would suddenly vanish once the initial construction was completed. So he rushed the initial building but is content to go a little slower with the expansion.

Which makes sense. Sivana's a once-in-a-generation genius, but we need him to focus on anti-sheeda technology. Mr Truggs is an excellent project manager and his neural enhancements make him good at cross-disciplinary coordination, but by his own admission he's not a genius or visionary. Dr Metcalf got burned hard by his experience with Mr Alva, and while Lex and I are going to continue trying to tempt him to come fully on board, at the moment he's limiting himself to designing equipment.

So -much as we'd like to- we don't have a super-genius heading the design team. Which is not to disrespect Dr Vekko, in any normal situation his decades in aeronautic engineering would make him a prime candidate. It just means that we've got to put up with normal development cycles, rather than the ridiculously accelerated 'super science' ones. So that we can get something into space and have ships to train people in, the first generation are pretty much just going to be updated Starseekers. Then it's.. anti-sheeda warships until either the Harrowing is over or we're all dead, and only then will we be able to switch to the exploration, trade and colonisation mandate that we're telling the public that it's all about.

His inspection finished, Lex walks towards me. "I think it's all coming along nicely."

"I defer to your experience."

"Really? You were only telling me last week how rapidly Tamaran's production facilities were expanding."

"Yes, but that was in orbit, and largely seized as a prize of war. They haven't really had to build anything from scratch yet. And they didn't have to train everyone from scratch either; I arranged for their government to hire thousands of skilled workers from one of their neighbours. Which isn't an option here."

Lex nods. "True. But my own ideological objections aside, could we?"

"Hm." This region of space does have several spacefaring species… None of them use anything similar to a cosmic converter or a luminal drive, and the core technologies do rather define the form the ships need to take. "We could, but I'm not sure how much benefit there would be. There are plenty of ancillary technologies Earth doesn't need to import… There's some value in getting someone to consult with… But it's not necessary and I don't think it's worth it. What makes you ask?"

"The sheeda's timetable." Lex turns away, making a sweeping gesture with his right arm. "Of all those earthly civilisations they extinguished, not one had the capacity for interstellar travel."

"Not that we were able to confirm, but I'll remind you that we weren't specifically checking that."

"But you didn't find any evidence in other parts of this system, did you?"

I shake my head. "No. Though… At the end of a Harrowing, the sheeda aren't really in any sort of hurry. It wouldn't be that hard to destroy anything in-system."

He nods. "And outside of the system?"

"We didn't get any footage of them using faster than light travel. Problem with that is that I can't check with our stellar neighbours. None of them were spacefaring during the most recent Harrowing." Ugh. "Which might mean that asking the Green Lantern Corps is a waste of time. They might well not have had a Lantern in the Sector at the time."

"With the luminal drive, we can slip the bounds of earth in a permanent way. We have stealth technology and a galaxy to choose from. If the Harrowing doesn't occur within the next twenty years, they'd have to scour the galaxy to find us. And from Doctor…" He glances around. "Sivana's report, we know that they don't have the manpower for that."

"And I'm sure they know that. If it really comes to it, I can open boom tubes and perform evacuations. It'll suck, but…" He nods. "I.. don't think we'll have twenty years."

"Neither do I, though I would still work on the assumption that we didn't even if I did."

I nod. "Wise. Look, I need a quick word with you about something.. private."

He turns back to me and gives a single nod. "My office?"

Mother Box, hush tube.

Ping.

I stride through, walking over to the main window. Lex follows me while the ever-attentive Ms Graves walks over to his desk to activate the office's observation countermeasures. I spot the air in front of the window shimmer from the one-way hologram projector, but I wait until Ms Graves gives Lex the nod before saying anything.

"Batman asked about Texas."

"I see."

"I told him it was for long term radiological storage, but since it's you and me I think he's suspicious."

"How bad would it be if they knew what we were doing?"

"My relationship with President Horne and General Lane would take a hit. They might want you killed, which I'd rather avoid."

"Yes."

"The US military getting the Doomsday would escalate international tensions in such a way that we'd probably be forced to share the luminal drive, and the Justice League getting it wouldn't be much better. Worst of all would be the sheeda getting it, especially if they don't have a faster than light drive of their own."

"I've already started installing Magnificus's detection equipment at all LexCorp sites. But I agree." He glances down at the carpet. "I'd actually consider destroying the thing. If only I had a weapon that could reliably do it." He looks back up. "I can increase security checks, but using the genomorphs would be rather a giveaway."

I nod. "That's probably for the best. Oh, and do you know a reliable, deniable, out of work mercenary? A professional, but not totally evil?"

"The Light got good service out of Black Manta. He's a consummate professional. I assume that you're planning to move on Kahndaq?" I nod. "I can get in touch if you want. Though there would be the question of what guise I should use. "

"Why not use L-3? I mean, did he know who you were?"

"Not so far as I know. But he might suspect the channel, given that we've been out of contact and you so publically tore through our colleagues. He did know at least two of them."

I shrug. "If he doesn't bite then he doesn't bite. But I didn't interact with him at all. It will be far easier for you to convince him."

"I can do that." He looks past me, nodding to Ms Graves. "While we're in a secure environment, information has come to light which I feel I should share with you."

"Oh?"

"You recall decapitating Klarion the Witch Boy earlier this year?"

"Yes, and I've got the pardon to remind me."

"At the time I didn't question it, but you did intend to kill him, didn't you?"

Where's he going with this? I frown. "Yes?"

"Did the sword you used have any particular magical properties?"

"Yes. Not sure exactly what they are, but it's been used for killing powerful magic lifeforms before."

"'Killing'." Ms Graves presses a button, and an image appears. It's… It's not Klarion, but a youth who somewhat resembles him. "This was taken three weeks ago. Police in Pennsylvania arrested him for attempted murder. He gave his name as 'Klarion Bleak'. When they recognised the resemblance they were concerned, but as he demonstrated no arcane abilities they assumed that the name was an invention."

…

Multiple Klarions or the old one stripped of his power? Does the Sword not kill people? I need to warn Mirabai. But first…

"Where exactly are they holding him?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th December
09:29 GMT -7

"Mister Constantine, do you have a minute?"

A red-eyed John Constantine glances up from his mug of Sundollar tea and plastic-looking baguette. "It's too early for anything, and it's definitely too early for you."

"Thanks." I generate a construct chair and sit down across from him. We're not in a café, of course; John's smoking habit hasn't slowed down since he got lung cancer and just about every establishment in San Francisco is smoke-free. He considers it to be a violation of his civil liberties. "Not got over the jetlag yet?"

"Guess I'm feeling my age."

"You certainly are if a sinister man sits down and asks for your help and you don't immediately leap at the chance. Maybe you're learning?"

"Heh. Yeah, I doubt it." He takes a sip of tea and manages to only wince slightly. "What d'you want?"

"I believe that you're familiar with this?" I pull the Sword of the Fallen out of its holster and hold it up.

His eyes lock onto it. "Oh, cheers, I've been looking for that." He reaches out with his left hand.

I raise my left eyebrow and pull it back. "Fuck off, Mister Constantine. I know full well that Chantinelle made this sword. What I want to know is: why a man I killed with it is up and about again?"

"Did you check his body?"

"Yes, his head was removed, his intestine and his brain pierced. I even got convicted of his murder." From the look on his face I think he knows who I'm talking about. I frown. "I'm starting to feel a little hard done by there."

"So… What? You knew about that sword, but you didn't know what it did?"

"I knew Chantinelle killed the First of the Fallen with-" He's grinning in a decidedly unfriendly way. "-it… What?"

"No." He flicks his eyebrows up. "She didn't."

Oooooooh dear. "She didn't?"

"Oh, she stabbed him. Looked like he died. And then Buer found a way to bring him back. According to him, he got stuck somewhere in Greece for a bit."

"'Stuck'?"

"As a normal bloke." He takes another sip. "Which could mean that the same thing happened to whoever you killed with it. I've never touched the thing, and I didn't really have a chance to study it. Usually I'd just dig up something someone else wrote about it, but what with it being new and all there isn't anything to find."

"Powerless normal bloke, or did the First retain his capacity for magic?"

"I wouldn't be quite that quick to call a normal bloke 'powerless'… But, yeah, no magic."

I nod. "Appreciate your input. What's your consultancy fee?"

"If you can do anything about my head..?"

I raise my left hand. Let's see… Oh, look at that, a combination of age and years of drug and alcohol abuse, how completely unexpected. "Mister Constantine, I don't understand. You've already had lung cancer."

"Are you really going to nag me about smoking?"

"No. They're your lungs, do what you like with them. What I don't understand is why you don't set up a.. sympathetic resonance with a rat or.. something, and transfer the poisonous aspect into them. Seems to me that would be a lot safer."

"Yeah." He nods. "Right up until someone stole the rat and used the link to kill me."

"As you will." I could leave him a copy of Miss Shimmer's notes, but he'll have access to all of that via Circe's school soon enough. Right, ring, give him the full detox.

By your command.

Orange light strobes over his face before heading down. His heart and lungs get a blast, and then his liver.

"Right." I cut the beam off and close my left hand. "Feeling better?" He should, he looks like I took a decade off him.

"Yeah." He puts down his tea and extracts a packet of Silk Cuts from his coat's inner pocket. "Ta very much."

I close my eyes for a moment. I shouldn't be surprised. That's how he works. "Good day, Mister Constantine."

Mother Box, hush tube.

Ping.

I toss the hologram generator through-

13th December
11:33 GMT -5

-and then step through myself. Hm, cells aren't very big in this part of Pennsylvania. Klarion-.

"What are you doing here?"

Hmm. Seeing him with normal coloured flesh is weird. And.. no hair horns. Quick check… Yes. That's my murderee.

"Give you three guesses?" He's making.. sort of.. clawing gestures in the air. "Huh. Guess you really are powerless. Did you resurrect fast enough to watch my trial? Because if so, dick move."

"You stole my power!"

"In point of fact-" The pillow hits me in the face. I ignore it. "-I killed you. As far as I know your 'power' was destroyed. I didn't steal anything. And then Mordru came back and I had to kill him… So how's life been treating you?"

"YAAAAAGH!"

He throws himself at me, spaghetti arms pounding against my armour like gentle snowfall.

"Oh, come on, you're just embarrassing yourself. You couldn't beat me while you were at full power, this isn't going to work."

"…HATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOU..!"

"So be it." I grab the top of his head with my left hand and lift him off the ground. Ring, assimilate this miserable waste of flesh. We will use his knowledge far better than he ever did.

Identity theft in progress. One percent complete. Alert: intense hate detected. Intense hate will slow progress.

Fair enough. Calculate…

I slam Klarion's head into the wall hard enough to stun him.

Intense hate no longer detected. Progress accelerating. Ten percent complete.

"Uuuuuggh?"

"You know, I actually felt bad for some of the people I did this to. But you? No. You deserve this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th Lunar Conjugation
Sun Ascendant

Didn't there used to be a castle there?

I mean, sure, the view is undoubtably much improved by its absence… And as castles go it wasn't particularly large. Presumably Mirabai could have ordered it destroyed by magicians under her command, banishing it along with the memory of its former owner. I'd have kept it as a holiday home, but then I wasn't the man's unwilling concubine.

Sinestro, any ideas where she is?

I'm afraid that what I suspect to be multiple layers of defensive spells are interfering with my scans, Lantern Grayven. I can direct you to the main metropolitan centres, but beyond that you'll have to get directions from elsewhere.

That's going to be fun. Okay, okay, someone in the.. biggest building in the capital ought to know where she is. Mother Box?

Ping.

I can.. feel her approval. Oh, come on, it's not that out of character.

Ping.

Well somebox isn't getting a Christmas card this year. I fly through the hush tube and out into the sky over a… Huh. Puts me a little in mind of Themyscira, actually. Perhaps by way of the Academy or Canterlot. Technically there's a cleaned-up medieval city in there somewhere, but there's so much magic going on with its own-

Four spheres of orange light materialise around me and crackle, wiggly orange lines wobbling into existence between them. The areas of space between those lines are then filled in with orange sheets.

-purposes that it's clearly its own thing.

"The lower council of Jejune cordially reminds you that unlicensed flying is prohibited within twenty miles of the city perimeter. Please remain where you are until the duty justicator arrives."

Efficient, I approve.

"Is this two-way?"

"The imprisonment triamid is controlled by a simple geist, capable of answering basic enquiries. A justicator will be with you in.. eleven.. minutes."

"Where do I find Queen Mirabai?"

"No such person known. Do you mean: High Councillor Mirabai, also called 'The Forlorn', a member of the Council of Sorcerers. Defànt Mirabai, a noted painter of the-."

"The first one."

"The precise location of High Councillors is not a matter of public record. Her primary place of work is the Grand Senate, located in the south-west of the city."

Yep, I think I can see it. Mother Box?

Ping.

No, of course not.

"A justicator will be with you in.. thirteen.. minutes."

"Thanks for your help."

I walk through the hush tube and into the.. garden in the centre of the Grand Senate.. building? It's open air, plants in the full bloom of life intersecting artfully with carved stone. It's really quite delightful. Oh, and there are some guards in glowing armour and armed with glowing weapons heading my way, and behind them richly dressed folk, a couple of whom I recognise from Mordru's wall decorating detail.

"Hello everyone, good to see you again."

"Grayven." Queen High Councillor Mirabai stands from her not-throne. This time she's dressed in some decidedly non-slutty robes, and when she raises her right hand to halt the guards I catch a glimpse of Mordru's old ring on her hand. "What brings you to Zerox?"

"I've recently discovered a small problem with the sword Doctor Robbins used to kill Mordru. Turns out-."

"That it does not kill them so much of strip them of almost all arcane power, end any ongoing spells and recreate them in a mortal body."

"… Y-eah. And you already knew that."

She picks up a large staff with a glowing crystal embedded at the end and walks toward me. "I'm surprised to hear that you didn't."

"I've had a lot on, okay? It's not like it came with a user manual. I don't know where Mordru would have ended up, but if you need any help dealing with him, I'm considering it 'unfinished business'."

Mirabai glances left and right at the assembled luminaries. "It turned out that the combined arcane might of the Planet of Sorcerers was enough to deal with one powerless man. He will trouble us no more."

…

"Okay, clearly this was an unnecessary waste of everyone's time." I raise my hands. "Sorry to have intruded. I'll show myself-."

"You came here to warn us?"

"Yes? Oh, and I.. can't help but notice that you're not wearing a crown..?"

She bows her head. "I had been working under the assumption that you were another violent conqueror, much like Mordru. I thought that a strong show of ambition would impress you more than stating that I wanted nothing more than a return to the status quo ante tyranny."

I shrug, raising my hands in a gesture of ambivalence. "I am a violent conqueror, but the aim of my conquests is to create a stable and prosperous empire. The sort of place that a few generations on the people will thank you for making them part of. I wouldn't presume to think that I know better how to harness your people's abilities than their own unfettered civilisation."

"It seems that I misjudged you."

"Eh, I thought that you were going to use Mordru's ring to control the other councillors in the same way that he did… So I was doing just the same." Panic over, then. "Though while I'm here, an ally of mine is setting up a magic school-."

"Your world has magic?" A middle-aged man with entirely too much wax in his facial hair stands, apparently fascinated by the idea.

"Both Earth and Apokolips have active communities of magic users, but Earth's arcane education system is woefully underdeveloped. I'd be happy to.. brief a committee at your convenience."

Mirabai glances back at the speaker before returning her attention to me. "I am sure that we have much to learn from one another. In light of this development, I am going to motion for a recess…"

Wizards raise their left hands, most glowing blue.

"Motion carried. Grayven, if you could spare me an hour or two, I would like to get relations off to a slightly more honest foot." I nod. "Councillor Endor, please join us."

"But of course." Wax face lifts his robes as he leaves his bench, then hurries after her.

"Tell me, Grayven." Mirabai walks past me and I turn to keep pace. "What became of Captain Atom?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:53 GMT

I look around at the Hny'xx facility's command centre. "How are the new guests fitting in?"

Karsta Wor-Ul shrugs. Now that she no longer feels the need to feign humanity she's gone back to wearing her old kryptonian military uniform. Including a patch of Krypton's weird flag and another of her House emblem. It's a near-recreation of her dress uniform, which historically wouldn't have included the sunstones she's wearing on her belt. The image of what looks like a black sun with an inverted 'S' stitched in silver on it is original, too.

"I think that you wiping out the rest of their species is motivating them rather well." She waves her right hand over a crystal -a Kryptonian addition to an otherwise still largely Citadel installation. A holographic image of the team appears, hard at work directing the g-elf work crew as they remodel the interior. "I've got Ecksey keeping an eye on them, and g-gnomes are monitoring their thoughts full time." She turns her head in my direction. "How long am I supposed to have them here for?"

"Until you've got a large enough defence force that a security leak isn't so important."

"If it's in anything like working order, the Doomsday is powerful enough to destroy anything this region of space has to offer. And then some."

"Certainly, but it's still one ship. The local powers might not be a match individually, but their fleets-."

"I was talking about fleets. Krypton was the pre-eminent power in our region of space for a reason."

Worth knowing, with the Spiders almost certainly heading this way. "Can you build more?"

"No." She turns fully around, shaking her head. "The species comes first. And Kryptonian ships need Kryptonian shipyards, which need all kinds of infrastructure I don't have and don't know how to build. Hopefully, Dru-Zod put a full database on the Doomsday, but if sending it to Earth was a spur of the moment thing he might not have thought about it."

"That.. seems…"

"It's not like we knew the planet was going to explode. It was just supposed to be a symbolic display of defiance to the.. Science Council. It's possible that he even set the central computer to wipe itself once it reached its destination."

"And if he did?"

"Then it's a hulk. I don't have the programming skills to program it and the computer on my ship isn't adaptable enough to work in its place."

"So, we'll need programmers."

She raises her right eyebrow. "Do you have a time machine?" I hesitate, and she notices. "Do you?"

"Not.. immediately to hand. Getting one would.. require me to devote significant resources to the task, and I'd really rather not unless it's essential." Human technology can do all sorts of things, but the fact that even Doctor Sivana appears to be shying away from two-way time travel suggests that there are very good reasons why it isn't more widely employed.

Ping.

Shit, really?

Ping.

Rrright, I'll bear that in mind.

"So, yeah, sorry, but unless it's that or the destruction of the universe, no time machine. But I can probably get you someone who can learn to program Kryptonian computers."

She frowns. "Like who?"

"More Coluans? They're pretty good at that sort of thing. We're probably going to have to fight the Machine Tyrants eventually anyway, and I'm sure that Dox is looking forward to remonstrating with his father. Or.. there's Daxam-."

"Pff. Those primitivists probably don't having anything more sophisticated than a spoon. They certainly won't have anyone who knows anything about spacecraft."

"Okay, but isn't it worth checking? It's not like you'll have to undertake a long flight; just step through a boom tube-."

"Okay." She closes her eyes for a moment. "I think this is one of those differences between Earth culture and Krypton culture. If an entire bloodline decides to do something completely stupid, you leave them to their folly. I'm not talking about one guy; every family has its black sheep. But everyone who went to Daxam followed their moronic anti-technology belief system and I'm not prepared to deal with their descendants at all."

"Alright. I.. don't really understand, but this is your project." I tap my left arm with my right forefinger. "What's with the.. black sun and… An upside down 'S' is 'resurrection', isn't it?"

"We're trying to resurrect my species. As for the sun… You've heard of Black Zero?" I nod. "Black Sun was their less well known political.. wing. We're not using exactly the same techniques here, but it.. felt appropriate."

"What..? Ah… What did you decide about their..? I don't want to say 'life cycles', but you know what I mean."

"Grow them to late childhood, then decant them so they can experience all of the joys of adolescence naturally. Basic implanted education, they can learn the rest as part of their socialisation and if they really need something the g-gnomes can implant it later. And I don't intend for this to be a long term thing; once we get enough to form a stable population I won't be making any more."

I nod. "How large is the first generation?"

"Ten individuals. One of them is even an El. I'm.. probably going to need some help. I haven't ever had to-."

I nod. "Not a problem. I'm sure Tamaran will be happy to lend you a few childminder.. s…" Wait a moment. Which version of Kara-El is this universe using? I didn't.. think to ask… She's not on Earth… Might be worth looking in to. An actual Kryptonian-kryptonian would be more than a little helpful. "And we can hardly leave it to the psions."

"I was slightly worried that was what you intended for me to do when they said they were child education specialists."

"I'm not going to give you a thing to run and then tell you how to run it. I'd never get anything done if I acted like that." She nods. "How long until the first batch are ready?"

"Three months. We're taking it slowly to start with. Once we know that the tissue scaffolding technique works on whole organisms like we think it does, we'll probably be able to reduce that."

"Makes you wonder why anyone gives birth naturally at all."

"Hormones. Bad planning. Built in biological triggers designed to make parents bond with their offspring. Exowombs were used on Krypton for a while, but then the technique got associated with cloning and fell out of fashion. Some of the Possession Worlds used it, but it never really caught on for wide scale use."

I nod. "Okay, well, thanks for bringing me up to date. How about we take a trip to Texas?"

She nods, and picks up a small Kryptonian personal communicator. "Ready."

Mother Box.

Ping.

15th December
09:57 GMT -6

We step out inside of the small prefabricated office block attached to the dig site. Having a kryptonian naval officer spotted here would be a little awkward, but with a quickly-donned set of overalls Karsta Wor-Ul looks just like another site manager. I'm using my illusion ward.

She looks around for a moment. "Lot of lead around here."

"Lex Luthor has a bit of a thing about kryptonians."

She looks up at -and presumably through- the plasterboard ceiling. "Does some guy called 'Wayne'?"

"Ah… Why do you ask?"

"A couple of satellites with his name on them are watching the site." She blinks twice and then returns her attention to me. "Problem?"

"I… Really hope not."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
10:07 GMT -6

Karsta Wor-Ul glances away from her personal communicator as a security patrol walks past. "Are those kryptonite weapons?"

"Probably." I shrug. "Problem?"

"Not so long as they don't fire them. I can get treatment. Humans get cancer."

"How do you even know about kryptonite?"

She shrugs, returning her full attention to her communicator. Except obviously not; she's a kryptonian who has had decades to get used to her enhanced senses. Bit of a shame she wants to avoid Kal-El, actually. He could learn a lot from her-. And now Kon and Match can't because I recruited her. Huh. Feel.. a little bad about that, but I think the ends justify the means if it means the kryptonian species comes off the 'endangered' list.

"Kryptonite turned up on Krypton sometimes. Something about our planet's core…" She shrugs. "Sometimes geologists found tiny amounts in metamorphic rock samples. I only know about it because it was a radiological hazard." She shakes her head. "I can't make contact with the Doomsday. Not from here."

I extend my left hand, making my ring glow. "If you need a more powerful broadcaster..?"

"No, that wouldn't be it. Dru-Zod would have known that the Science Council might have sent a ship or an Eradicator after the Doomsday. He wouldn't want them to be able to just signal a recall."

"If we got you on board, what could you do?"

"I worked with Dru-Zod for years, but he didn't give me any warning about this stunt. If the computer is still set up properly it should respond to my commands… There must be some reasons why he didn't tell it to fly right into Rao. But without knowing why he did it or what else he did, I don't know."

"How fast could you make an assessment?"

"About a minute, probably. The computer will either respond to me, or it won't. Then I can see whether he sabotaged the core. If he did that…" She sighs. "I don't want to just leave it here, but there won't be any sense prioritising it."

I nod. She's right, of course. Getting this thing out of the ground involves a lot of money and a moderate amount of risk, and if we can't get a capital ship out of it then it really isn't worth it. Worse, Lex will probably want to find a way to rig it to explode just in case Dru-Zod Junior knows about it.

Another security detail enters the room. "I don't suppose you can do any sort of super-drilling, can you?"

"I could probably punch through the rock, but the shockwaves would flatten-."

"Ma'am? Sir?" The head of the detail approaches us, while his colleagues stand back with their guns pointed at the floor, safeties off. "Can I see your identification, please?"

"Certainly." We're far enough underground here that I should be alright. I pull off my ward and put it in one of my pouches. Immediately the man stops looking at my chest and turns his face up to where my head actually is. "And this-" I hold out the keycard Lex gave me. "-and you can phone Lex for confirmation."

"Ah… I'd say I don't need to, but we're under orders to run random checks on everyone in case of shapeshifting or telepathy. Sorry, sir."

I nod, smiling. "I approve of your thoroughness. Please, go right ahead."

"Alright. Please wait here. Ma'am?"

Karsta Wor-Ul sighs quietly, but hands over her card as well. "I'm afraid I'm not wearing a magic disguise, but I-" She reaches for the zip of her overalls. "-had a tattoo done on my-."

"That's fine, ma'am. Excuse me."

He walks off, his subordinate staying on station just in case. "I thought Luthor had a thing about kryptonians."

"He has a thing about one kryptonian. If Kal-El had never gone to Metropolis and Lex had heard about him, he'd probably have offered him a job."

"Giving security guards kryptonite weapons is a bit extreme for a man with a grudge against one kryptonian. Aside from anything else they probably wouldn't hit him."

"Light speed weapons stand a better chance than anything else he could give them, and… K-lasers have the advantage of working on humans perfectly well as well."

"And on gods?"

The left side of my lip rises in a mini-gurn. "Eventually. Anyway, point is that LexCorp security guards are mostly just normal security guards."

"Yeah, thanks."

I don't look at the mutterer. "In the nicest possible way. Lex doesn't bother indoctrinating at this level. Now, if we were in Metropolis-."

The head of the detail walks back in, our keycards in his outstretched hands. "Thank you both. Ms Graves was able to confirm both of your identities."

Karsta Wor-Ul and I take them back. "Thank you. It's nice to see that you're so diligent. Had any trouble so far?"

"Not much. We're far enough away from everything that no one's really bothering us. Had a bit of a scare when one of the researchers got a high reading with a Geiger counter and there was a camera drone with a holographic disguise, but that's it so far."

"You get radioactive sand here?"

"It could happen, but it turns out the guy just hit the 'test' button by mistake. Bit of a relief all round when he realised. I'm a big John Wayne fan, but not that big a fan."

"And the drone?"

He shrugs. "No one's claimed it. If it wasn't for the hologram I'd think it was some kids playing around. Maybe a journalist? If it was kids we'd give it back after having a talk about respecting private property, but no one's come forward."

"And if it was a journalist?"

"Hold it while we get instructions from head office." He exhales with amusement. "We're digging a big hole. We don't even have explosives on site. We'd probably get told to let them look around then kick them out."

"No explosives? This is Texas, isn't it?"

"Hey, we're a guns state. You want bombs, that's Nevada!"

I nod, smiling. "I'll bear that in mind. Are we authorised to see the drone? I might recognise the more advanced components."

"Of course, sir. Ma'am. This way, please."

A short walk through the facility later, the guard shows us into an electronics workshop. The woman working there stares for a moment, her eyes widening in shock. The guard nods at her. "Katherine, you mind showing Mister Grayven the drone?"

"Ah..? Sure, no problem." She walks over to a chest of drawers and uses her own keycard to unlock one of the lower drawers. Pulling it fully open she picks up what looks like a commercially available four-rotor drone and turns around to put it on the workbench. "There's not a lot to it."

I gesture to it with my right hand. "May I?"

She steps back. "Sure, go ahead."

I raise my left hand and scan it.

No sign of Doctor Palmer, which is a major relief. Yes, he'd have to grow to a detectable size to see anything and there are three different types of sensors monitoring every part of this facility, but he's basically impossible to keep out of somewhere. But the drone itself…

Batman has two basic types of drone. First, the bat-themed ones. They're pretty high end and have unbranded custom made components. The new versions also contain a minibot, on the assumption that they might get brought down by someone who'd keep it for bragging rights. This isn't like that. The second type are designed to look like commercial drones, though they mostly use parts from smaller Rhelasian companies rather than WayneTech or LexCorp stuff like most commercial drones in the US actually do. He uses these a lot more these days because putting them together is less of a pain.

This is built almost entirely of LexCorp parts. Which means that either Lex was testing his people…

Or we're being Robinned.

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:22 GMT

"That's easy, Mister Chairman. Because she's lying."

This causes a certain amount of muttering in the public gallery, and a none too pleased stare from the representative of the plastic cheese merchants. With public opposition to the bid rampant and my counteroffer edging up the price, Irene Rosenfeld herself is sitting only a few metres from me. That was dumb, but it's not as if any of them have any idea how to cope when your opponent is a superhero. I checked, and while superheroes have acquired companies in their secret identities before none have done so in their superheroic identity and none have done so while openly superheroic.

On my left, Mrs Loudon suppresses a smirk.

Mr Luff doesn't seem particularly perturbed. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"She told you that Kraft will keep the Somerdale factory open. She's lying. Under Kraft it will be closed within two years, while I actually will keep it open. She told you that Kraft will continue Cadbury's ethical sourcing practices. She's lying, they'll be breaking with the Fairtrade brand within five years in a frankly disturbing race to the bottom. I won't. In point of fact, I will go to war torn countries, bring the wars to a close, and lend my own money to the locals if they want to start farming cocoa."

On my right, Mr Queen groans quietly.

"I will pay corporation tax because I'll buy Cadbury's with money and not debt. Kraft will use every dodge it can to avoid paying tax. Kraft will mess about with the recipes and quantities in order to lower their costs. They will switch from cocoa butter to palm oil, and I hope I don't need to explain the environmental consequences of that. I won't. She's lying."

"And you're not."

I smile. "No. With regard to Cadbury's, and in consultation with the management, with Unite-" I gesture towards the gallery where the Unite representative is sitting. "-and with the general public, I don't feel the need to change much, to be honest. The management has a good growth strategy… Heck, their distribution chain is why Kraft are even doing this, clearly the strategy is a good one. The only thing I plan on changing is buying a few dolmen gates to speed up travel between factory and distribution centres."

"And you're guaranteeing that?"

"Of course. My complete, one hundred percent guarantee. Personal integrity is vital to my public work. Heck, I can remember when my parents banned my sister and I from buying anything from Nestlé because of their powdered milk sales practices. And despite the money I could have made, I stopped handing out Bleed Torsion Generators when LexCorp premiered their thaumokinetic generator and Stagg Enterprises revealed their cosmic converter." No idea how a pharmaceutical company got the rights to Dr Knight's work, but it's nice to know that someone is finally using it. "If you want me to post a bond somewhere, I'm happy to do so."

"That won't be necessary, thank you. Mrs Rosenfeld?"

"I.. can't stop wars, but I completely deny that Kraft will-" I reach down and pick up my briefcase. "-go back on the guarantees we have already-" I put my briefcase down on the desk in front of me. "-given. Orange Lantern has offered no evidence in a spurious and frankly insulting manner."

"Okay." I open my briefcase, revealing the Lasso of Truth. "I borrowed this from a friend of mine this morning. Would you mind putting the loop around your wrist and repeating that?"

Her mouth sort of wiggles.

Mr Luff sighs. "Orange Lantern, we don't habitually tie up our witnesses."

"Of course, but it seems to me that if this whole thing hinges on which of our guarantees are actually believable, using the Lasso of Truth could simplify matters considerably. Since it's literally impossible to lie while bound by it. I've given evidence with it before personally, and no one affected by it has ever suffered any sort of long term consequences." Mr Luff leans back slightly, whispering something to one of his colleagues. "I'll go first?"

One of Mrs Rosenfeld's lawyer-beasts leans towards his microphone. "Testimony derived from magic isn't reliable, and it can't take into account changes in the market."

"And? I'll be undergoing the same process."

Mr Luff nods. "There isn't a statute-defined standard on what sort of magic can be used in court, but this isn't court. I think I'd quite like to hear from both of you."

I pick up the loop of the lasso and pull it tight around my right forearm, then use my ring to float the opposite end over to Mr Luff. "Take hold of that and state a question."

He somewhat cautiously takes hold of it with his right hand and I release it from my construct. "Orange Lantern, is the testimony you have given here today honest?"
Truth
"For the most part. There aren't that many wars going on in places where it makes sense to try growing cocoa, and if the market was getting totally oversaturated I'd probably encourage them to grow something else instead. But I wouldn't alter the recipe or weights, dodge taxes or close the factory long term, or let my employees or other agents do it."

"'Long term'?"
Truth
"It might make sense to close it short term for refurbishment or if there was a fire or something."

"Fair enough. Mrs Rosenfeld?"

Lawyer-beast leans forward again. "I'd be happy to-."

"Thank you, but I'm not asking you. Mrs Rosenfeld?"

She turns to me. "I'd like to know how you came to the conclusion that Kraft has misrepresented its true intentions."
Truth
I'm still wearing that Lasso, but this is as good a time as any. "Kraft did the same thing in the parallel universe I originally came from. Also, I hacked your computers and stole your business plans." I take a print out version out of subspace and deposit it on my desk. "I'll be handing a copy over to the committee and such newspapers as want one. It's remarkable how different-."

"I completely deny the authenticity of anything you claim to have stolen."
Truth
"Oh, I totally stole them from you. I needed to show the world what a pack of lying liars you are, and I have a diplomatic passport. Which means that I can't be arrested or charged unless Queen Hippolyta withdraws it. And I thought, I should use that ability more."

I take the loop off my arm and toss it over to Kraft's desk.

"Your turn."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th December
09:11 GMT -5

Lex shrugs. "I'm.. not really sure what you expect me to do about it."

I lean back in my chair. "I'm not sure what I want you to do about it. As you may have noticed, I'm a bit more direct. You -on the other hand- toed the line of legality and snuck around the Justice League for years. I'm hoping that you have insight that I lack."

"Grayven… I don't know what you think LexCorp actually does, but only a very small proportion of what we do is in direct defiance of the law. It's always proven far simpler to employ lawyers to work at a.. potentially profitable avenue until they find a way to do it legally. It saves trouble and preserves plausible deniability for me personally. In.. this case… We have a hole in the ground. A very secure hole in the ground, but until we actually get access to the ship that's.. all it is." He leans back, looking thoughtful. "It might actually be preferable if the children did break in at this stage. There really isn't anything for them to see, and if they discovered that for themselves they'd be far less likely to go back at a more critical juncture."

"It's… Your site, but I'm not comfortable with that level of risk."

"If it came to it, I could have a convincing case made that LexCorp owns it legitimately. Or that Ms Wor-Ul does."

"Except that gets you shot. Or results in the League or the government sharing data on the Light and destroying your reputation."

"I have.. contingencies for that. Though they're not exactly pleasant." He raises his eyebrows slightly. "Not concerned about your own reputation?"

I shrug. "Not over this. Digging up a spaceship in order to return it to its owner and gain Earth an ally isn't supervillainous behaviour. If Sam thinks that it is then he should have given me a different definition."

Lex smiles. "Perhaps being open and honest from the start might have been a better idea."

I quietly chuckle. "I think it's a bit late to start on that now, for either-" There's a soft chime from his computer. "-of us."

His eyes dart down. "Mister Truggs has arrived. He has a proposal regarding our.. time line concerns which he wishes to put to us."

I nod. "I don't need to be in Opal until ten. Is this a.. group thing, or…?"

"Mister Truggs is publicly in my employ. Introducing him to the group effectively gives up my anonymity. Or at least my plausible anonymity."

I nod again. "As you see fit."

Lex presses a button, and a moment later Ms Graves opens the door to admit Mr Truggs. I hadn't really noticed before, but he's doing the Doctor Who suit with trainers thing. Makes sense. Wearing armoured boots makes more sense for me, but I never did like 'office shoes' myself.

"Lex. Grayven. Good to see you both." He takes the seat next to mine, leaning forward towards Lex's desk. "I had an idea about the AI, needed to run it by you."

I raise my eyebrows. "AI?"

Lex nods. "There are distinct benefits to having a single mind which can intelligently monitor every part of my infrastructure, or act as the guiding brain of an interstellar capital ship. Obviously, we're still at the planning stage now."

"Not so much. Not if you give me the okay."

"Mister Truggs, this is not an area where I want to take risks. Reliability is even more important than capacity where artificial intelligence is concerned. Covering our weaknesses is more important than being perfect in an area where we already perform well."

"I know. Hear me out." Lex nods and makes a small circling 'get on with it' gesture with his right hand. "Earth already has AI. Had it since the forties: the Red androids, GI Robot… And the Chinese had those Shaolin Robot things since two hundred BC. Problem is, they were clever but not adaptable. Programmin' learnin', learnin' the sort of things you want, that's tricky. An' risky, because you can't be sure they're learning the things you want until it's too late an' it turned out they learned things you didn't want."

"Originally I figured on doin' an upload. Get someone trustworthy, simulate their brain an' use that. But no one's got alla the skills we need, an' you can't get everything you could out of an AI setup if it thinks like a human. An' worse of all, everyone like that is bound to have something kinda screwy about them. I mean, take, ah… Leonard Snart. Nearly failed high school, smart enough to build a freeze ray in a prison workshop. An' what does he do with it?" I'm already nodding. "He uses it to rob banks. Or Steve Jobs. Founded a major computer company, revolutionised the electronics industry… Aaaaaan tried to cure his cancer with a Juice Weasel. An' I don't think making these people an AI is going to improve things. Human minds are built for human bodies. Get someone a bit messed up, end up with someone a lot messed up. So, back to square one?"

"But then it struck me: why upload one person?" He looks between myself and Lex, as if hoping for a sign of appreciation. "We got g-gnomes, we got ultra-resolution brain scanners… Give up a little time, an' we can copy the most useful thought patterns into a synthetic brain. Set it up so it has the higher functions of all of the greatest minds and the lower functions of a calculation engine. An' best of all, we can edit out everything not useful. Everything that makes whoever we're scannin' less than they could be. Take me, for example. I'm adaptable, rational and I learn quick. But I'm an instinctive iconoclast and I've got an arrogant streak a mile wide." He shrugs. "So we take the patterns and use them for the machine. An' then-" He swivels in his chair until he faces me. "-there's you. Determined an' patient, but you've got a temper."

I nod. "You're not wrong. I was going to therapy… But I've shot myself in the foot and damaged useful relationships because people made me angry."

He turns back to Lex. "An' then there's you. Intelligent, ideologically focused -which is a big deal for an AI- an' you've got the social skills of a psychopath without actually being one. But…"

I nod. "Yeah. Is it really that simple? I would have thought that the flaws were part-."

"Excuse me?" Lex raises his eyebrows. "What is it that you believe to be my psychological shortfall?"

"Aaaah." Truggs look at me. Then back at Lex. "You don't..?"

"Out with it, Mister Truggs."

"Paranoia. You don't trust people, you're on your guard, you need to know you could destroy everyone…"

Lex blinks, exhales and bows his head slightly. "I'm not paranoid, Mister Truggs."

Truggs looks at me, and I frown. "Ah, Lex… You remember when Kal-El first came to Metropolis?"

Another small exhalation. "Yes?"

"You remember how many risks you took? How much money you spent on anti-Superman technology?" He looks decidedly truculent. "Now, compare that to how much of a threat someone like… Well, like Karsta Wor-Ul has been, or Wonder Woman. What's the difference?"

He's frowning. "I'm.. not certain that I…"

"They're not living in your city. You can't stop him and he's in your face. So.. you.. took foolish risks and made the situation worse."

He frowns at me, his hands starting to clench for a moment before he forces them flat. Then he frowns at Truggs. Then he half-turns as if to consult Ms Graves, but thinks better of it. "You.. believe that I'm paranoid?"

Truggs shrugs. "Not 'totally crazy paranoid', but 'incapable of trusting people in a normal way'… Y-eah. You.. didn't know that?"

I lean forward. "Growing up as you did, the way your parents treated you, it's not surprising that you learned to.. cope. But it wouldn't be a sensible trait to include in an AI mind designed to run a military spacecraft." Lex looks decidedly disquieted. "No offence intended. I've long been impressed by how you function in spite of it."

"I.. suppose that -to an outsider- some of my decisions might seem-." His frown deepens. "Confrontational, but in business a strong stance can often grant superior returns."

I shrug. "True enough. But if that's all it is, why haven't you spoken with Lena recently?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th December
11:38 GMT -5

"Thank you both very much for coming."

Richard smiles warmly at Jay and Joan Garrick, while Hope seems somewhat less sure of herself. Jay's been 'out and proud' since the beginning of his career, but there's a slight difference between dealing with Jack Knight and dealing with a World War Two veteran and national institution. A bit of a rub as far as the wedding goes: Richard doesn't have any living relatives and most of his friends from the old days are either dead, in prison or wanted by the police. Clea's having a stiltedly polite conversation with Diana in one corner of the reception hall and Hope's brother Matthew is doing Best Man duties, but his side of the church is going to be rather empty.

Jay smiles. "I'd heard you'd gone straight. When I got the invitation I decided I had to see it for myself."

Richard raises his hand in mock surrender. "Straight as a die. Or she'll arrest me."

Hope bows her head slightly as Mr Garrick raises his eyebrows. "I wasn't going to make the joke myself, but how exactly did The Shade get involved with a policewoman?"

"My brother introduced us. We kind of knew each other through Jack Knight, after the Merritt case-" Mr Garrick nods. Yes, he and Jack's father were colleagues in the Justice Society, weren't they? "-but him and Matt had been working together against a drug trafficking network-" Who if I remember Starman correctly had been bribing Matt to look the other way before he had his epiphany and bit off the hand that had been feeding him. "-and he tried setting us up."

"Looks like it worked."

Richard looks mildly pleased with himself. "Actually, she dodged me for two months."

Hope sighs. "I wasn't dodging you. I was working. But… Yes, despite my reservations-"

Richard nods. "I have a bit of a reputation."

"-it actually has."

"Grayven."

I blink, turning away from the happy couple and their guests to face Diana. I smile politely. "Diana. Decided to stop stalking Clea?"

"It was.. interesting to see her again. Orin told me that you were working with her, but it was strange to hear her sounding so conciliatory."

"Just a matter of knowing what a person wants from a situation. There usually isn't anything particularly unreasonable about people's desires-."

"Rrrraaaahhhhh!"

I stop as we both turn to watch Kyle Knight charge past the open door, closely pursued by Hope's nephew. Lynne follows a moment later at a slightly more sedate pace. Nice to see her spending time with other children.

"People's desires, but if they want things they can't get, there can be problems."

Diana nods. "She told me. Her nephew becomes her heir-"

"Is recognised as her heir."

"-and she opens up relations with the rest of Atlantis."

"With the rest of the world. Thank you for making me aware of her. That engagement has been one of my more fruitful projects." Oh, hang on, she'd have-. "You were around during the forties. You can't shed any light on her mess of a marriage, can you?"

Diana shakes her head. "I didn't stay in touch with Queen Cora after our meeting. Not that I really imagine that the exact truth of what happened back then would have much effect on things today. Most of the people involved are dead."

"Yes, but a person who knew the truth could sell it to Atlantis for a high price. If Queen Clea turned out to have overreacted, she would most likely moderate her position in her future dealings. That would make Orin's life easier."

"And if she was right?"

"She's bitter about Queen Cora's actions anyway. But I think that if Orin found out that his grandmother was in the wrong, he would say so openly. And that would convince Clea that she could trust that he would deal honestly and fairly with her. It's a benefit either way. And as you say, any guilty parties are undoubtably dead now."

"But not Ptra."

I frown. "What stake do you have in it? At this point she doesn't have the skills to rule a city, even if they did reconcile. And I don't intend to put another idiot on a throne for the Justice League."

"Queen Adilah appears to be handling her office well enough."

"With a little help."

Her eyes narrow slightly. "From you?"

"From me, and from someone who actually knows how to run a country. Some of the things she's told me about the woman…" Ms Savage's feedback has been illuminating. Amusing. Frustrating. At least the.. stupid woman has the sense to follow good advice. Or maybe she thinks that I'll have her killed if she doesn't.

Can't say I wouldn't be tempted…

"One of the few things that her sister got badly wrong was not sorting out the succession. What's the point of building something if someone knocks it all down the moment you die?"

"You don't think dealing with Apokolips was a mistake?"

"Depends. Trying to trade with aliens in general isn't, and there wasn't really any way she could have known exactly what we're… They're like. There would have had to be a rehabilitation process, but it would have been easier than trying to turn Adilah into a competent ruler."

"And Lex Luthor-."

"-to do with that." We look around as Richard raises his voice. Hope and Joan left at some point, and Richard is looking decidedly apologetic. "Yes, I was with Injustice Unlimited while Zard was running it, but the only thing Dummy's incarnation had in common was the name."

"Zard wasn't exactly a good guy. But, alright, we never had you for anything worse than assault and theft. But that doesn't explain why you did any of it."

"It was the only thing that made me-" He holds up his left hand and lets it turn into dripping shadow for a moment. "-feel alive. I don't know whether that was Culp or.. my own mental state. But competing against people like you in a contest of power and wit was the only thing that stopped me feeling like I was sleepwalking through my own life. I'm not proud of it, but that was why."

"And you don't feel that way any more?"

"No. I'm actually happy just being." Richard risks a chuckle.

"I understand that he's been active in India."

I turn back to Diana. "Among other places. After Circe and I removed Culp, he felt that he wanted to do something to pay off some karmic debt. I suggested South America, but a couple of cities shut down in terror and they asked him to stop."

"We used to stop him by knocking his cane out of his hand. I would have thought that South America would have at least one person capable of doing that."

I snort-laugh. "Yeah. About that… He… Doesn't actually need the cane."

"Has he altered the machine? Is he concealing it somewhere else in his clothing?"

"No. He never needed it. He channels the power of the Shadowlands through his body. Since he's basically unstoppable and he only picked fights with the Society for fun, he… Spotted you… All of his pawns, so you'd have a hope of winning."

Diana blinks, the rest of her face losing animation. "You're saying… He was sandbagging."

"He was beachbagging. If Father turned up on Earth tomorrow, he's the one being I'd count on to win. He'd scare me if he weren't so chipper these days." Diana appears not quite sure what to make of that. "So… Given that he only picks fights with superheroes when he's bored… Does the League have anything to keep him occupied?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th December
11:38 GMT -5

Lex's mind raced as he skim-read another e-mail. Another cosmic converter completed and shipped. Low risk parts from the nuclear reactor it was replacing being transferred for recycling. Highly radioactive parts being transferred to temporary storage until the backup storage sites in Texas were complete. Slightly ahead of schedule, but not to a degree which suggested that corners were getting cut.

Paranoid.

His right hand didn't twitch as he considered checking what progress his anti-alien researchers were making with Savage's holdout weapon. Kryptonians were powerful, but their strengths were direct and their counters relatively readily available. New Gods weren't, but Grayven's reports of the nature of his homeworld were supported by enough evidence that he didn't think attempting to purchase such weapons from Apokolips was a sound strategy. Bitter experience with the Al-. The other alien, taught that simply trying to out-escalate people that powerful was frequently ineffective at anything other than distracting them for a few minutes.

Paranoid.

One of the sites in Texas had discovered a small robotic vehicle moving under holographic camouflage. On-site engineers confirmed that it was a LexCorp toy upgraded with LexCorp electronics by someone highly skilled in electrical engineering. They didn't have the facilities to check it for DNA fragments or fingerprints, but the chance of finding anything seemed remote.

Paranoid.

Not that he wasn't ordering it shipped to somewhere that could anyway. If by some miracle it didn't turn out to be from the Justice Youth it indicated that there was a highly skilled electronics engineer out there with time on their hands and a strong familiarity with LexCorp products. The Theodore Knight scholarship fund had only attracted a few truly worthwhile applicants, but having met Dr Thaddeus Sivana he'd come to suspect that the particular form of practical brilliance the Foundation was designed to support might frequently be paired with psychological iss-.

Paranoid.

With psychological issues which might make them less likely to apply for funding. He began typing an e-mail to the Head of Personnel about investigating the feasibility of modeling 'science genius' behavior and predicting their actions so that they could be approached before they became committed costumed criminals.

Paranoid.

Nylor Truggs was naturally under constant observation. He had so far given no outward sign of disloyalty, and if he did, killing him was a far more simple matter than killing Grayven. But there was no immediate need to do so. Even if his-. Even if he was wrong -and he clearly was- employees being willing to respectfully inform you of what they believe to be problems was useful and something he generally encouraged. He hadn't made any sort of threat to Lex or issued any sort of ultimatum. If anything, he seemed to be unconcerned by his-. His obviously flawed analysis. Facial analysis of his expression during the meeting supported that conclusion.

Paranoid.

How does a crazy person know-?

No. No.

How would a person, a random member of society, come to realize that their behavior was well outside normal bounds? The fact that psychopaths tended to do well in management was a well established fact, but therefore by the standards of their immediate environment they aren't unusual.

Family.

Yes, well, the less he learned from them-.

Which was rational. Completely rational. Even under other circumstances, given his diet and lack of exercise, it was unlikely that his father or mother would have lived past fifty. They made little to no effort to improve either themselves or their situation. Errors he strenuously avoided. So perhaps it had been a valuable learning exercise? A worthwhile illustration of what could happen if he fell into their habits? In any case, they never paid enough attention to notice his behaviors one way or the other.

Under normal circumstances, a person's parents were a source of guidance and protection. It would be.. natural, for a child denied such things to learn not to assume that they were safe.

Paranoid.

His hands move over his keyboard, dismissing his e-mails and bringing up the intelligence file on Leonard Snart. Yes. Abandoned by his mother and beaten by his father. Obviously clever. Possibly brilliant. Capable of designing the ice fortresses in months while denied access to more than basic writing or reference materials. But incapable of using that brilliance in a rational way. Why? Why does any social relationship function? Because people share assumptions and are generally prepared to act within them. In his case, the expectation was violated. He learned lessons which make it harder for him to act within a normal social framework. Not impossible; reports from the Central City Police Department indicated that he had a leadership role within the local costumed criminal community.

But if he could address his behavioral problem, he could better himself.

…

Yes. Human beings don't stop learning things in childhood. Leonard Snart could spend time with his colleagues without feeling obliged to freeze them solid. Lex himself had hired elocution teachers to help him rid himself of his Southside accent, and an expert in body language to improve the way he presented himself. There was nothing weak about being taught something by an expert in the field.

…

A genuine paranoid would not be able to do that. They would naturally assume that they were being fed misleading information by people who wished them ill. Mr Snart knew that a cooperative operation would reflect badly on everyone if it went wrong, so assumed that his colleagues would generally pull their weight. Likewise, Lex assumed that experts he hired would do the best job they could in order to gain future employment.

…

How does one learn to take a risk based on trust? What is the fundamental difference between Grayven and a chess grand master? The most obvious answer is that a chess grand master is simple to kill or threaten. Is that a proportional response to the potential threat they respectively pose, or… Evidence of poor socialization?

Hm.

How would he have behaved in Grayven's position? He would not have reformed the Light. With a position that powerful, raising people to his level would be a waste of time and resources. He.. might not have killed all of his former colleagues, but they would have been permitted very little freedom afterwards. Grayven had acted differently. That suggested that Grayven prioritized things differently.

Given that, when pushed, he didn't use anything worse than harsh language, was investing millions of dollars into researching ways to kill him rational?

…

Yes, yes it-.

Was it?

Normally, there were experts he could hire to advise him. But -in the abstract, with no concrete plans to follow through regardless of the answer- was there anyone he knew who would be able to relate to his position? A wealthy human businessman who had to work with powerful aliens and superhumans, earning his place amongst them with his intellect and wits?

A moment's thought revealed that the only such person he knew of was the entirely inappropriate Bruce Wayne.

Grayven is a potential threat, so putting resources into research may be a reasonable course of action. However, that justification only applies to physical threats. Atypical socialization can produce outcomes beyond a hesitancy to trust. Lex realized that his behavior might be 'off' in a number of small ways.

What other behaviors had Grayven and Truggs mentioned as being unusual concerning people who weren't a threat?

…

Lex reached across his desk, picked up his phone handset and dials.

A few moments passed, and then with a quiet beep the person at the other end picked up.

"Yes?"

"Lena. It's Lex."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th December
09:38 GMT -7

"Thank you all for coming."

Not a huge audience. Only twenty two of the forty I invited responded positively, and three of them didn't actually turn up. Fair enough, really. They're in an industry where when a job becomes available you don't have much choice but to take it.

Kurt Damsen, former Head of Development at a recently downsized computer game studio, takes a moment to pointedly look around the room. His eyes momentarily arresting as his gaze alights upon a former colleague. "I was mostly curious about what a superhero wants to talk to us about."

"I'm hoping that you can help me with something that's been… On my mind." I sigh. "Essentially, I want to offer you -collectively- data on a politically complex and turbulent region of space, with a view to making a computer game based on it."

A couple of exhalations, and I've definitely got everyone's attention.

"The reason I want to do that -aside from the fact that you're all talented individuals who have been ill treated by your former employers- is because I was the one who in real life was obliged to deal with it, and I'm really not sure that I did the best job I could have done. I'm.. curious to see if a player base would -when confronted with the situation- make similar choices or different ones."

Heidi Rose, award winning game developer and programmer with twenty years' experience who quit after her third hundred hour a week month in a row, glances up at the sky. "Is this somewhere close? Are we going to have to worry about extra terrestrial critics? I don't want to be probed."

"No, that's… No. It's extremely unlikely that most of the people mentioned would ever come to Earth, and the few that would probably wouldn't care."

"Are these well armed aliens who could come to Earth?"

I nod. "Oh, very well armed. Then again.. I.. know that several of you have worked on licensed games depicting superheroes before." A slightly wry shuffle from the people who worked on 'Justice League Adventures', a fairly generic action RPG which to this day has the League's founding members wince slightly whenever they see it. Except for Jordan, who got cut in favour of Lantern Stewart, and King Orin, who got cut entirely. "And that contained several alien races who hadn't decided to complain about it."

Kurt nods. "So, where is it?"

"A cluster of star systems about sixty light years-" I point. "-that way." I generate a map, though at this size it's impossible to make out individual planets and the stars are points of light. "As a result of a pact between the Guardians of the-" Ugh "-Universe…" Blank faces. Consider your audience. "The people who run the Green Lantern Corps." A few nods. "And one of its more infamous residents, Green Lanterns aren't allowed inside. How big a deal that is probably isn't obvious, so let me explain a little about how interstellar law enforcement works."

"The first thing you need to understand is that the species of the universe have no common set of laws. There is no Space UN. The nearest thing to a galactic legal authority is the Guardians, and though they're generally respected they don't have a generally recognised universal jurisdiction. There are civilisations who bar their operatives entry, and the Guardians accept that. Beyond that, given exactly how far criminals can run when they have access to faster than light travel, there are networks of bounty hunting organisations of varying degrees of… We'd say 'legitimacy', but in the context of there not being an overall law I suppose that they're technically all as legitimate as each other. Similarly, the vastness of space makes the sort of extradition agreements we have on Earth impractical except between near-neighbours."

Neil Cohen, lead writer on two of Wallace's favourite games and recipient of exactly zero dollars in royalties, raises his right hand. "So it's all handled by NGOs?"

"Courts on particular worlds often offer bounties and have agreements with particular organisations about standards and prices. But generally speaking, a stellar polity will only use its navy to enforce its own laws in systems where it has colonies, and maybe on the routes between them. Taking a fleet towards someone else's territory is obviously an extremely aggressive action. If a regional power is strong enough they might do it, but if all of the local powers are approximately equal then border hopping to avoid capture is quite viable."

"Green Lanterns can and do pursue violent criminals wherever they go, but then they're stuck with what to do with them. Quite aside from the fact that they probably won't know much about any political motivations they might have, they might be in a position where they know that the people they capture might suffer a grotesque punishment, or… Be able to buy their way out of trouble. Depending on local conditions they might return people they capture to one jurisdiction or another, or they might opt to maroon them instead."

"In places of widespread civil anarchy, the Green Lantern Corps might decide to move in in force and restore order. This acts as a sort of encouragement to spacefaring civilisations to maintain a degree of control over their own citizens and keep their interactions with their neighbours at least somewhat civil."

"As a result of there not being a major local power strong enough to assert itself, and the Green Lanterns being excluded by treaty, Vega was until recently a major pirate safe harbour. Two local civilisations were flat out evil, while several others were either cowed by them or willing to go along with it as long as they could benefit too. The nearest thing to a resistance movement was near-useless. And returning to why I'd like a game made, I.. fixed the situation partly by diplomacy with some fairly unpleasant people and partly by outright genocide."

A wave of unease passes around the room.

"On Earth, there are systems of law. Out in the wider universe, it's hit and miss." I take a handful of data sticks out of subspace. "There was no higher authority to turn to, and refusing to make a choice myself would have resulted in far more death… And those deaths would largely have been amongst those who weren't totally monstrous."

"Ahhh…" I focus on Kurt, who realises that he has the floor. "We make.. computer games."

"Yes. I think a modern game would be capable of modelling the relations between different parties in Vega, and having both a trading and fighting game play loop and faction missions to progress the.. main story in the direction of the player's choosing. Even if the finale is some orange deus ex flying in and dealing out frontier justice." I shrug. "Though I personally think that the end game coming out of nowhere is poor writing. Having fought two of the local boss characters myself I'm confident that you could come up with something better."

"No, I meant... Fictional space law is.. one thing and… Deciding to wipe out a civilisation because they're evil in real life…"

"If you were confronted by a xenomorph facehugger-" I generate a construct. "-and you had a gun, would you kill it?"

"If I could, yeah."

"Would you kill a hundred, if you could? They're newborn babies, remember."

He nods. "Yeah, yeah I guess I would."

"Would you have nuked Hiroshima, if it was the only way to stop Pingfang camp? Would you have flattened Dresden if it was the only way to close Auschwitz? Would you order a hundred men to charge a trench line, knowing that it was the only way to take it? And how could you be sure that those justifications were true?" He shrugs. "In my professional work I sometimes find it frustrating that people aren't prepared to make certain types of decisions. I'm hopeful that putting it in a semi-fictional context will encourage decisiveness and the development of appropriate decision making schema. And to make people more aware of what space age civilisations are capable of."

Sharon Pombo, unofficially blacklisted from working in any mainstream game company or games related media company after agitating for trade union membership and worker's rights, raises her left hand. "So.. are you.. hiring people to make this.. game..?"

"Not precisely. I hope that I have here the nucleus of a company. I'm willing to invest considerable amounts of money, do PR work for free and provide background information on the Vega Systems themselves. But it's up to you to form the company. Or not, if you choose. I imagine that your former employers would be quite willing to take the property off my hands."

There's a general tightening of jaws.

"Any further questions, or shall we start going through the data?"