Earth 12
12th February 2005
14:16 GMT -5
"
General!"
A bald man in dress uniform turns away from the buffet table as Max leads me closer, smiling broadly. The.. General manages a small smile back after a moment to warm up.
"Lord. And…" I get a quick threat assessment. "Mister..?"
"General Eiling, Peter Wynne. Peter, this is General Eiling. He's in charge-"
For a fraction of a second General Eiling's face hardens and his eyes narrow.
"-of America's exotic weapons development program, under Project Cadmus."
I offer him my right hand. "Pleased to meet you."
He grasps it firmly and gives me one quick shake. "You're the power guy, right?"
"That is my biggest and most profitable project, yes. Though I'm not sure it's my most significant."
"Tell that to every oil producer in South America. Hell, every oil producer in the Middle East. Your work's made a massive improvement to our fuel security. It's even shored up our position in Europe since demand for Russian gas fell off a cliff."
I nod. "I was aware that it had an impact."
"It's made the strategic situation a hell of a lot simpler." He thinks for a moment. "I still can't work out why you won't sell to us directly."
"I'm.. pretty sure that I'm supplying the US military with power."
"No, not
that. A cosmic converter powered plane or tank would outperform anything on the market. It'd make you billions-. Even
more billions, and ensure US dominance for the rest of the century."
"Well, the US-."
"
Fine, NATO then. I don't mind selling to our allies."
"I'm not doing it because I promised Doctor Knight that I wouldn't. The patent's publically available, so other than collecting a fee we can't stop other people developing that sort of thing for you."
"Sure, and Luthor's already put a proposal together. But his people are starting from nothing. You're the one with all of Knight's records and I
know he didn't just use the cosmic converter for making power."
"Doctor Knight spent time in a asylum after working on the Manhattan Project, because the guilt of getting so many people killed was too much for him. I.. get the impression that you'd be fine with it-"
"Only mistake we made
there was not nuking
Russia when we had the chance."
"-but he
wasn't and I feel obliged to respect his wishes."
He visibly swallows his distaste. "Alright, but what about all of the other weapons your employees built?"
"I'm… I really don't think that encouraging them to be violent is a good idea for anyone. It's a bit of a 'lunatics running the asylum' situation."
"And everything
else?"
"Supervillains are my
focus, but I don't personally have a problem making or selling weapons to.. parties I can trust not to do something stupid with them. And… Well, anyone I've got under contract has a buy-out clause and the contracts are fixed term
anyway. If you like something they're making and want to hire them directly, you
can. Just… Be aware of their natural inclinations. If they were inclined to work well with authority, they-."
"They wouldn't have become criminals in the first place." He frowns. "Alright, Lord, I don't get it. What's your angle? Why are we having this conversation?"
"Peter told me that he was having trouble with the Justice League."
"Oh? Is that s
o? What kind of trouble are we talking about?"
"They stole something from me. And I'd get it if it was something my employees built, but it was a personal possession I can't replicate. If they don't fold I'm going to end up suing them in open court, which isn't going to be much fun."
"You..? Can prove that they stole it?"
"I walked in on Batman mid-steal. But it was the middle of the night and I didn't realise that he'd actually
taken it until the next morning. I also have a recording of the League founders admitting to it and telling me their motive. The only thing making my lawyers nervous is that unless the League fold I'm going to use their real names on the court papers."
"You..?" His eyes narrow for a moment. "Know their
names? What, did you used to be buddies with them or something? I didn't think Wayne Technologies could be funding the
whole thing."
"No. But I've got access to exotic scanners, analytic equipment and… Frankly, it isn't that hard to work out once you abandon certain preconceptions."
He's trying not to smile. He's doing pretty well. It's like his own face can't remember how to make the muscles move that way.
"You're gunna sue the Justice League?"
"What.. can I say? I believe in the rule of law. I'm.. not
massively fond of vigilantes and I'm certainly not going to let them get away with robbing me."
"That's, ah… An interesting idea. I guessed you'd be more of a
fan."
"Saving fifty people doesn't give you the right to murder forty nine. I don't.. think that I… I don't understand why governments aren't.. more involved in… I don't know, formalising? A relationship with what is essentially a paramilitary NGO. I mean, particularly given how many of them are American. I don't think… Law enforcement is one of those things that should be
outsourced."
"Hell, I don't either. That's what Project Cadmus is all about."
I nod. "I assumed that the American military was recruiting metahumans, but I didn't think you were allowed to undertake law enforcement duties?"
"Actual
soldiers can't. But we can train metahumans who are members of a civilian agency, just so long as they don't join up themselves."
"That's… Not where the Royal Flush Gang came from, is it? Because-."
"No,
that shit-show was the
God-damned CIA. I had to explain that had nothing to do with us to
three separate congressional hearings. I treat my people
properly."
"I'm glad to hear it. I-."
There's a loud knocking on the window, and we turn to see… A
young man knocking on the pane with a glowing green hand. That's not John Stewart.
"
Package for a 'Peter Wynne'?"
"Great." General Eiling smiles. "I've been wondering what javelin missiles do to Green Lanterns. Keep him talking while I get a squad together."
He pats me on the back and turns to leave.
"I'll… Do that." I smile apologetically to Max. "Excuse me."
I jog out of the manor's patio doors and wave down the… I'm guessing that's Kyle Rayner.
"I'm Peter Wynne." He
floats closer. "What do you have for me?"
"Do you have some ID?"
I take hold of the name badge I was issued upon arrival and hold it up. He nods.
"Right, just a sec."
He
reaches out with his right arm, his forearm disappearing into… A subspace pocket, and pulling out a.. ring case, which he tosses to me.
"The Guardians say they didn't realise it was stolen. Ah, sorry…"
I open the case and
touch the ring… Yes, it's either the ring or a functional duplicate. I'm happy either way.
"You didn't steal it. I trust that the
other local Green Lantern has had his knuckles rapped?"
"Ah… Sssomething like that."
"Thank you." I close the case and slide it into my jacket pocket. "Please express my gratitude to the Guardians and inform them that I'm happy to negotiate access to the ring, if they're still interested."
"I'll do that." He floats there for a moment. "So, ah… About suing the Justice League?"
"I think I can put that on the back-burner. For now."
