12th August 1997
23:58 GMT -7
"A few hours, Angelika."
I shake my head at her, trying not to look at the burning pits Red-me burned into the Sunnydale landscape. It's not that I don't understand why. Empathic vision shows clearly that she's now part way towards resolving her internal contradictions. In any circumstances other than one in which we'd been told specifically not to encounter parallel universe versions of ourselves I'd be delighted.
"I-. I know."
"Fucking red wanker!"
"Heart ready for-"
There's a quiet poof as William the Bloody turns into a pile of dust.
"-harvesting."
Can't say Red isn't efficient. With Mayor Wilkins, Spike and Glory dead, I guess Buffy can take a year off to actually have a life. A few years, actually. I wonder if her desire to get her slayer-work done as quickly as possible would make her a good choice for an orange ring?
"Are you finished?"
Red nods. "That's it for now."
"We're work-." I make a point of flying through Red Queen's portal and waiting for them. Angelika is through a moment later, followed first by Red and then Black. "We're working for a time traveller. Why could none of you wait?"
"Red ring."
"And if you were a feral monster I'd accept that for an answer."
"I'm not making an excuse, I'm saying-. It encourages you to think-" The portal closes. "-in certain ways. And-."
"And I use an orange ring. I wanted them dead too, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't wait until we're done."
He frowns. "Really? I'd have thought that you'd have had to embrace our impulsive side."
"I learned not to indulge myself."
Komand'r flies over my head with an unpleasant chuckle. "Bet that makes your girlfriend happy." She kisses Red. Loudly. "Hey bae. Kill anyone good?"
"No, I only kill bad people. And you know vampires don't leave good skulls."
She floats on to take a look at Black. "And this is the new you?"
He leans away. "Tamaranean. I don't like sunlight."
"Yeah, I see that."
"The point I was making is that I've learned to act when I'm angry. The things that make me angry are -I think- things that a right-thinking person would get angry about, but condition themselves to accept. Time Trapper didn't tell us not to kill people, we know they're bad-."
"Get over here!"
We look around at Time Trapper's exclamation, then fly over to the spire.
"Alright, simple question: have any of you had any contact with parallel universe versions of yourselves before?"
Angelika glances awkwardly at me. Red and Black shake their heads, while I nod.
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Ten different versions. I met the blue version of me-. Us, from Earth negative fourteen. I also visited his parallel. I also.. got.. visions of three other versions of us; an indigo version, a version with an anti-green ring and-" I nod at Red. "-you."
"Me?"
"I saw you rescuing Komand'r from some police officers and… I think you had a good argument, there. And then I.. saw you return to your home with her, stow your armour-. You keep skulls?"
"I feel immense satisfaction whenever I look at them."
"You've met before?!"
"No, just-. Ambush Bug did something that made me see parts of their lives from their perspective. And then the next year I got visions of a yellow ring user, someone with angel wings grafted to his back and several other orange ring users."
"And you didn't think to mention that?"
"You came to me, having met me before. You didn't ask. I don't know how this works."
"And it was Ambush Bug who did it?"
"Irwin Schwab, yes."
"Wait." Komand'r's starting to smile. "Do you insist on using everyone's real name as well?" Her smile grows, and she elbows Red. "You do!"
"Indigo." The Time Trapper nods. "Indigo. We can work with that. The indigo light can serve as a link… Did he have a staff?"
"Yes." I frown. "Which… Seems a little unfair." I look at Red. "Did you-?"
He shakes his head. "Lord Atrocitus gave me one. You?"
"Alan Scott gave me his. Black?"
"I don't use a lantern. I don't even know where this ring came from."
"'This ring'?"
"Yes?"
"Say 'my ring'."
"Why?"
"I spent a year being literally incapable of saying 'my ring' until I met my ring's creator and she gave me the ability. It was always 'this ring' or 'the ring'."
Red raises his eyebrows. "You met your ring's creator?"
"You haven't?"
"No, this-. My ring, the ring I'm wearing now, was made by Lord Atrocitus. He took the ring I started with because he didn't trust it."
"Can you call it 'my ring'?"
"The ring-. The ring-." He blinks. "No, I can't."
"Did you ever talk to the Controllers?"
"Why would I? Lord Atrocitus hates them for being part of the Manhunter development program."
"Black?"
"If I left the Earth, I might forget 'why' and just float there for eternity."
Time Trapper exhales. "Though it does suggest that Controller Hinon is disturbingly insecure, it's just a memetic program. Red Queen, please open-."
A new portal opens.
"Thank you. You need to acquire this Indigo Lantern, or confirm his disappearance. If you get him, I can get to work on-."
"That portal isn't mine."
