"Lord. And…" I get a quick threat assessment. "Mister..?"
"General Eiling, Peter Wynne. Peter, this is General Eiling. He's in charge-"
I can already see friction. Eiling
will have heard of Peter before. If only because of the whole 'hires supervillains' thing...
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."
Yep,
there it is. He's instantly pegging Peter as a 'disruptive element', possibly a 'limey hippy pinko' too...
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?"
Short, dismissive. Yeah, you can tell he's not sure what to make of Peter.
"The was 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."
Well, I suppose he's happy about being less reliant on foreign imports. Puts his country in a much more independent position.
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."
More than likely a promise he made to Ted Knight or his descendants, that the Cosmic generator tech wouldn't be used for war.
"I'm.. pretty sure that I'm supplying the US military with power."
"No, not that. A cosmic converter powered plane of 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."
I hardly think Peter needs
more money, other than to further his goals of uplift. And that won't help much if some warhawk decides the rest of humanity doesn't need to exist...
"Well, the US-."
"Fine, NATO then. I don't mind selling to our allies."
Yeah, shows you what he thinks of 'those damn fool foreigners.' The worst kind of patriot, probably thinks the Government can do no wrong by virtue of being the Government... Unless he's decided that the Government is full of 'pinkos, hippies and traitors to Amurrica!'
"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."
Yes, which is
why Ted doesn't want it used for that ever again. Superhero work, okay, but war?
No.
"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."

Yes,
totally the type of person you want in charge of your government super-soldier programs...
"-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?"
Those would be
their patents. If you want to get your hands on them, take it up with them.
"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?"
Yeah, some of these guys, you don't want backsliding...
"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?"
And being criminals, former or not, clearly taints them with original sin in his eyes. I bet if Eiling had his way, every one of them would be in front of a firing squad... Once they'd turned all their designs and theory over to the proper authorities, namely
him.
"Peter told me that he was having trouble with the Justice League."
"Oh? Is that so? What kind of trouble are we talking about?"
Oh, I can just picture the shit-eating grin he has right now, internally at least. The thought of the League in trouble with a 'normal' guy, even a Brit...
"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?"
Good lord, how does he not have orange in his speech right now (besides the fact Peter doesn't have empathic vision, anyway...) He must be salivating inside at the thought of being able to get dirt on the League.
"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."
And now Peter's back to being an enemy, either for possibly funding League operations or because of what he knows... Peter better watch his back...
"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.
Well, his default expressions seems to be variants of a disapproving frown. I doubt he's had much to smile about since the Thanagarian Invasion, at the minimum.
"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."
Well, some things just aren't
done, you know. He is British. He doesn't have the same in-grained belief in the 'lone man fighting injustice' that Americans do...
"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."
Not said: "Especially if
I'm in charge of making sure they know who and what they
ought to be fighting for. Namely,
me."
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. Be we can train metahumans who are members of a civilian agency, just so long as they don't join up themselves."
Before anyone asks:
Posse Comitatus Act. American military forces can't be employed as Law Enforcement on American soil without Congressional approval. Naturally, this doesn't apply to National Guard, which are more
auxiliaries. But mobilizing them without good reason can get you in trouble.
"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 was nothing to do with us to three separate congressional hearings. I treat my people properly."
Suuure you do. Admittedly, the DCAU Royal Flush Gang was a hell of a shitshow... Poor Ace.
"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.
Kyle Rayner. A rare appearance by the DCAU's less-well known Lantern. I bet John Stewart
really didn't want to do this...
"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."
Probably the same thing most conventional weapons do to a Lantern with his shields up: Stuff and All. At most, they'll knock him around. Also, you're an asshole for suggesting it.
He pats me on the back and turns to leave.
"I'll… Do that." I smile apologetically to Max. "Excuse me."
Good show of a stiff upper lip, Peter. Try not to crow about what's about to happen too much the next time you run into Batman...
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?"
Holy hell, he actually has Common Sense? No wonder he became a White Lantern in the comics!
I take hold of the name badge I was issued upon arrival and hold it up. He nods.
"Right, just a sec."
But still a little bit gullible. No ring scan to compare it to previous logs from John Stewart? Unless he did so off-screen...
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…"
Suuuuure. Man, to have been a fly on the wall in that session of the Guardian council.
I open the case and touch the ring… Yes, it's either my 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 wrapped?"
Probably a minor disciplinary note on his record.
Guardians, after all.
"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 hope he plans to crack it open when he gets home, check the charge level. I doubt they bothered to charge it up, but you never know. If only to place their own tracking programs and malware on it...
"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."
The threat is still there if any of them poke their nose into his business without being asked again, I trust. I foresee an amusingly discreet conversation with Bruce Wayne somewhere down the line.