Earth 12
10th February 2005
13:14 GMT
Oh my.
Oooooh my.
Lantern Stewart leads the way through the corridors of the Watchtower, past the staring gazes of the various.. superheroes I can… Mostly recognise. Red Tornado, yes, Elongated Man, yes, and… Bwana Beast? Others… Don't ring immediate bells, though with the more conservatively dressed ones I'm not completely sure that they're not part of the crew.
The whole thing's a bit out there, and-
"Hey, Mister Wynne!" / "Hey, Peter."
I wave back. "Hi guys."
-Courtney and Patrick are the only people here I actually know.
"So… A space station with artificial gravity. Human technology, or did you import it?"
"Wayne Technologies reverse engineered it from crashed Thanagarian ships after the occupation."
Perfectly plausible. While I employ a large number of Thanagarians, plenty work in other places and my employees are mostly ex-soldiers rather than technology specialists. And there's nothing stopping a company with the right connections mastering Thanagarian technology with human scientists. I know perfectly well the sorts of things that human technologists can do when they set their minds to it.
"I see." I look around and… That's Crimson Avenger. I've tried to get my head around this… Whole thing. I know my DC, and Crimson Avenger was chronologically one of the earliest superheroes. If that holds true here then he should be about eighty by now, if not older. And yet he's a contemporary of someone like Bwana Beast rather than the far older Wildcat. "So is Batman planning to give me the ring he stole from me back at any point, or do I have to sue you people in open court?"
John Stewart doesn't turn around.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Do you really think I don't know the difference between a glowing piece of plastic and an actual power ring? I was willing to chalk it up to a temporary attack of Bat-paranoia, but since it hasn't reappeared in my safe yet I thought I'd use the opportunity this represents to raise the issue directly."
"You'll have to talk to Batman."
"Or I could talk to the Sector's senior Green Lantern, who he almost certainly asked about it. Lantern Stewart, that's theft. The Justice League does not have the authority to confiscate private property on its own recognisance."
This time he does stop, and glances at me. He looks slightly uncomfortable, but I suspect that's more due to being discovered than actual guilt.
"That depends where you got it from."
"Lantern Stewart, I employ a great many lawyers. I've checked in every jurisdiction in which I do business. And I can tell you now: it does not. I could have stolen it from Ganthet's laboratory and it wouldn't make the slightest difference to the legal position. Earth does not have extradition treaties with other planets. If you think I stole it from someone on Earth you can apply for a confiscation order and have me arrested. What you can not do is steal from me."
He looks mulish, which I suppose is a job requirement for a Green Lantern. Or maybe it's not? I'm not sure whether the local version of the Corps works on pre-War of Light principles or post-War of Light principles.
"Do you want me to serve him papers in his public identity? Because I'm not playing around here; you will be returning it to me, or that's what will happen."
"We don't take kindly to threats."
"And I don't take kindly to theft."
We spend a few moments staring each other down, but dealing with recovering supervillains on a daily basis has caused me to grow a considerably stiffer spine than I had when I first arrived on this Earth. While I don't think I could win a staring match against someone with an environmental shield under neutral circumstances, he knows that he's in the wrong and that if it came to it I'd probably win.
He looks away.
"We don't have it anymore. It's on Oa."
"Do you routinely trade in stolen property, or am I uniquely privileged?"
"We wanted to make sure you weren't dealing with Qward. Since they're the only other people who can make power rings, it seemed like a reasonable guess."
I frown.
"All the maltusian factions have the ability to make power rings. You've met Star Sapphire. It's not like the Guardians are the only ones who can do it."
His eyes glow for a moment.
"So you're saying you got it from someone the same species as the Guardians."
"No, I'm saying that if you can't produce the ring, plan legal action is a go."
"I'll-. Ask them."
"They've got until my legal department complete the forms." I look around as Booster Gold and Blue Beetle try to pretend that they're not listening in on our discussion. "Though I'm willing to extend considerable leeway if I get an orange personal lantern out of it."
"That isn't gonna happen."
"I can't sue the Guardians, but I can sue their agents. I haven't expanded my operations off-world yet-."
"Just-. Come and meet the rest of the founders. We can talk about this together."
I nod and shrug, and he continues to lead the way through the Watchtower, towards some sort of meeting room.
"Yes, in a meeting where I'm outnumbered seven to one. That sounds completely reasonable."
"If you're this angry about it, why-" The door opens and he leads the way through. "-did you agree to come here?"
I raise my right hand to greet the rest of the founders.
"Because I thought it was just Batman being sticky-fingered." I glare at him. "And yes I did realise that you stole the ring from my safe, Mister Wayne. You'll be hearing from my lawyers. And imagine how disappointed I am to learn that you are all in on it. Is your new motto 'Truth, Burglary, and the American Way', Mister Kent?"
He exhales. "Batman.. told us about that after he did it."
"And did you tell him to give it back? Or did you rubber-stamp him sending it to Oa, the last place I'd want it sent? Handling stolen goods. Is a crime."
"So… Okay." Flash raises his hands defensively. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Ah. Yeah, the ring thing… Probably didn't make the best impression, but we just got our asses kicked by a parallel universe version-"
Batman, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman are glaring at him.
"-of you, and we were worried you might be planning something."
"I'm planning a court action, yes."
Okay, I think I've made my point there. The ring will either come back or it won't.
"I've never met a parallel universe version of myself, so I can't vouch for them. But there are counters to any approach; some better known than others. If you fought a version of me and lost then he probably had more resources to draw on than I do; I'm pretty sure that even if I had the ring back I couldn't beat you. So I can't help you there."
I shrug.
"What else did you want to talk about?"
Batman leans forward slightly.
"I'm interested in getting your take on League operations. You've clearly given the matter some thought."
"My first thought is that breaking the law in front of someone who knows your secret identity is a good way to bring the whole thing crashing down. Governments do not like losing the monopoly on the legitimate use of force, but they tolerate you because you're popular and generally do a good job. Lose one of those and you'll see anti-vigilante laws getting enforced again." I shake my head. "What sort of guns does this station have?"
Manhunter's face betrays nothing. "That is highly secure information."
"Because I've looked at the publicity images, and I couldn't see any gun ports. With lasers and railguns you could cover something like… Sixteen percent of the Earth's surface with flak batteries to intercept missiles and attack craft. You'd need more platforms to complete the network, but I doubt that Earth's governments would complain about guns that couldn't target the surface. If you want any other advice, I'll need access to your databases."
"And the God damned ring back."
