12th April
17:15 GMT +7
He-llo…
My eyes widen slightly as I look at a member of the ground crew. A thought and his employee file appears in my mind. Corporal Mikhail Kuznetsov, air force man from when he left high school until he moved to the Director's command. Certain… 'Unreconstructed' Russian military units don't keep useful records for… Various frustrating reasons, but all the ones I'd consider
reliable paint a glowing picture. Which is why the Director moved him to this project; no one here isn't highly motivated and skilled.
Batman noticed the slight change in my posture.
"Orange Lantern?"
"Corporal Kuznetsov. Some of his… Recent memories don't have the emotional depth that they should.
"
"You believe they've been edited?"
"Can't say for sure. Could even be stress, but… Since we're a bit desperate...
"
"Is he dangerous?"
"I don't think so. His deeper memories appear unaffected, which
should mean that they haven't tried rewriting his priorities… But I couldn't swear to it.
"
Batman raises his right hand to his cowl, activating his communicator. "Director, please bring Corporal Kuznetsov in for questioning. We believe that he may have been under the influence of something. "
There's a momentary delay, then I see a couple of military policemen move forward to apprehend him. Fortunately, he goes with them without complaint. Everyone at the launch site is going through a detailed interrogation, and Russia doesn't have any of those frustrating laws against telepathic or arcane compulsion when it comes to gathering evidence. They
also don't have enough telepaths or magicians to make
much use of it.
Pravda's already here and
Firebird's being flown in… Heh, it's taking her longer to get here from Moscow than it took
me to get here.
Interesting that the Director had a zeta tube set up here just in case. I can't see an American general doing that, no matter how much sense it would make. But if you
really need the Justice League, you don't want to have to hang about.
A project like this has thousands of people working on the site, and tens of thousands more in the supply chain. The President might have unusual levels of personal authority but
someone has to have oversight on things like this, which means that a number of politicians are at least
somewhat in the know…
And they're all going to have to speak to the Director's people. They're got two security cleared telepaths. They'll probably accept Mr J'onzz and…
Maybe M'gann, but the League's not exactly blessed with a plethora of security-vetted telepaths
either.
And I don't think that Ted's Thinker's Cap is…
Quite ready for this. Even if the Director could
probably secure volunteers prepared to put up with the implants, and the headaches and occasional auditory and visual hallucinations that the current version causes.
"I'm going to check his barracks. I'll let you know if I find anything.
"
Batman nods very faintly, his eyes fixed on the records of this site's working life as I
step out
and reappear in the enlisted barracks. They're… Well, I've seen worse. The benefit of working on a highly classified project out in the middle of nowhere is that they make an effort to keep the workforce happy. The downside being that if you
don't like it then you're rather out of luck.
I scan in detail, orange light strobing off his bunk, wardrobe and trunk. Not… A… Lot… I take out a rune stone and carefully-.
A member of the military police -brought in from another facility entirely, though still thoroughly vetted- sticks his head around the door.
"Orange Lantern? Is there anything you need?"
"Nothing that isn't already being worked on, thank you.
"
His emotions are… Well, he's a little anxious. Annoyed, too. The Director likes to employ people with strong patriotic inclinations, and this mess has turned what should have been a day of nationalistic triumph into a potential tragedy. I don't feel it
quite so personally, but…
Oh. That's… Odd.
There's a slight… Change in the structure of the wall. It's not a
lot; unusual patterns of ionisation and stress in the brickwork. But that's not something that should occur naturally unless they were using radioactive paint or something.
Certain types of energy weapon could do it-.
And certain types of phasing.
Check the project history. No, no work was done here that might cause something like that. The patch is too small for a humanoid. A drone, perhaps? I'm only seeing the one patch, but that might just mean that whatever it was came through the same place each time.
"Orange Lantern to Batman. I believe that something phased into Corporal Kuznetsov's quarters. Not sure if it was by magic or technology; I suggest sending Doctor Mist when he's next available.
"
"Understood."
Hmm.
I look at the building from the outside and try to detect anything similar, but… No, nothing. In by air? They've got pretty good detection systems here, but nothing is infallible. Basic wards again… They really need to hire an Atlantean to do the job. Heh, or at least a Londoner. All they're doing is giving themselves a false sense of security.
I need to raise the idea of a worldwide magic detection network again. Perhaps a little more forcefully.
Would whoever did this rely on one person? Ordinarily, I'd say that was a bad idea. At least, if it was something that absolutely
had to work. But… If one infiltrator was discovered, the result would be a shutdown while they examined the site with a fine toothed comb. Any others would have to flee or simply accept being discovered. So it would only be worth using more than one if it made the one attempt more likely to succeed-.
"Batman to the Justice League. Hawkman has been attacked at the supply depot and-"
I look south east, focus my empathic vision on the pattern I recognise as being Mr Hol and
step out
, appearing a short distance from him with construct armour appearing around me!
He stares at me for a moment as I note the unconscious warehouse staff and Lantern Koriand'r floating in the air with
her ring glowing.
"-alert for other mentally influenced individuals."
Right. Batman wouldn't make an announcement if the attack was ongoing.
But since I'm
here…
I look into the souls of the unconscious men, and… Again, it
could be the concussion, but I'm definitely seeing odd emotional attachment in their recent memories. No, not just recent. This goes deeper, and… Guard dogs. Someone set them to attack under certain circumstances.
"Orange Lantern, please attend the warehouse and investigate for possible mental alterations or the use of phasing technology."
"Already here, sir. I confirm the mental alterations, stronger than what the Corporal has. I'll check for phasing now.
"