With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

8th January
21:35 GMT

Boom!

I stride through the boom tube into one of Xan'Xie's caverns. "Hello there!"

This cavern is designed as a sort of three dimensional park, steps cut into the side walls are covered in greenery -some of which is actually green- with trailing vines covering virtually all of the vertical surfaces. Tree-analogues block my view of the… Let's call it west side, but I can see a few brave families taking advantage of the fact that Whites are no longer prohibited from using it to engage in telekinetic ball-toss and… Other Martian family games I don't immediately recognise.

Circe and Lord Cyprian step through after me, Circe taking a moment to bend down and touch the… Grass-moss? Whatever this is, which covers the ground.

"Whatever fighting there was, it didn't take place here. No floramancy and no anguish."

"Good to know." I turn to look at Cyprian as he takes in the panorama. And the staring locals. "Cyprian, are you sure that you being here is a good idea?"

"Of the three of us, I'm the only one with an official government position. I'm also the only one of us with experience in peace negotiations."

"I don't know, Darfur's pretty peaceful these days." I spot a squad of White Martians in appropriated Manhunter gear heading our way, the red X replaced by an orange vest with a green line running across it. "Though I'm not sure that Iname could function quite so well here."

"That wasn't really a negotiation."

"Negotiations are ongoing, but there have definitely been some."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Taking all of the weapons away is certainly an efficacious way of halting a conflict, but it would be rather more difficult to achieve in a place where the weapons are built into the bodies of the citizens."

"No, it just takes a sharper knife." The… What am I going to call them? Hunters? That'll do. The Hunters land, adopting a skirmishing formation a short distance from us with plasma beam weapons not quite pointing at us. "Hello there. My name is Grayven-."

One of their number strides forward. "How did you come here?"

"It's called a 'boom tube'. My people have the technology to open portals between locations."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm hoping that a neutral arbitrator such as myself could act as a go-between between whoever is running Xan'Xie and the Planetary Council, with a view to reaching a peaceful settlement between belligerent parties."

"Did the Council send you?"

"The Council are aware that I'm involving myself, but no, they didn't send me. Karmang asked me to come here."

"Karm-?" The squad leader's eyes glow for a moment and I feel a weak pressure against my mind. "That seems unlikely."

"We were visiting one of those monasteries the Sorcerer Priests run when he and his clansmen attacked it. Pure coincidence as far as the timing was concerned."

"Which clansmen?"

Odd.. question. "L'atroma, N'Rixot and K'emra…" I turn to my companions. "Did the ones you saw give their names?"

Circe nods. "One introduced himself as L'Sufux. The other was too focused on impaling our hosts to engage in social niceties."

"I recognise the names." He looks at me, then at Circe and then at Cyprian. "Why do you all block your minds? I only wish to see what you saw."

Cyprian smiles in a friendly way. "I'm afraid that our species aren't natural telepaths. We can block our minds completely, but beyond that we have no way to regulate what you can see. As such, we generally prefer to maintain a barrier. I could create an illusory image if that would suffice, or Grayven could create a hologram."

There are a few moments of hesitation, presumably while the Hunters talk about it amongst themselves telepathically. Or… I don't know what sort of range most martians have. Perhaps they're communicating with their superiors.

"Who are you here to speak to?"

"Well…" I wave my right hand negligently. "Whoever the new Prelate is. Assuming that one has been appointed."

"We're not just letting a Red Martian take control of the city again!"

"I'm.. sorry. I… Didn't mean to imply that you should. I don’t know what title would be applied to a city ruler of another colour."

"Oh. No, I assumed that you were referring to the normal succession arrangements."

I wait for a moment, but he doesn't say anything else.

"So… Who is in charge?"

"I'm in charge of looking after the park."

Oh. Darn. A genuinely spontaneous revolution. I didn't think those existed. I mean, there was that time in East Germany when a demonstration happened because a stoner told a journalist that he heard there was going to be a demonstration, the journalist reported it, the report got broadcast and hundreds of people turned up to a demonstration that wouldn't have occurred if he hadn't told the journalist about it… But genuinely spontaneous?

"And… Did someone put you in charge of looking after the park, or.. did you just assume that responsibility?"

"I flew past this park a hundred times as a child. I was never allowed in." He holds out his arms slightly. "Now every White Martian can enjoy it."

"I'm not saying that you did anything wrong. I'm not taking any position vis-à-vis anything that's occurred. I'm just a bit stuck if there's no one to negotiate with."

Cyprian smiles, though I'm not sure that martians understand the gesture. "Perhaps if you told us why you decided to take direct action? As you said, you flew past this park hundreds of times without doing so..?"

"The broadcast. If finding out that we only felt… Reverence for the Reds because they look more like our monster ancestors… I just felt that all my doubts were… From that. I just came here as an act of civil disobedience to begin with, and then when the Manhunters tried to evict us B'enn B'lanx and P'torex Z'orr attacked their armoury. Then the fighting really got going."

Oh dear. "And removing the Prelate? Who.. decided..?"

"You mean killing her? That was pretty much a.. mob decision. This city used to be… Not equal, but not as bad as it became after she took over." He watches my face for a moment. "Wait, you're not telepathic. When I say 'mob decision', I mean that we were all of one mind. We all felt that killing her was essential."

"And the Manhunters?"

"We didn't kill the ones who surrendered. But they enforced Red supremacy. They needed to go."

"And…" Cyprian looks around at the rest of the group. "The rest of you feel the same way?"

"Yes." / "Yes." / "Yes." / "Yes." / "Yes."

Cyprian nods. "And what plans do you have for the future?"

"Ah… Defend the city against the Planetary Council? B'enn is organising a militia, and we're doing rotations to get training with weapons."

"I meant, do you have any opinion on what shape the government of your city should take? How M'arzz should be governed?"

"Whites need to be involved. The whole caste system needs to stop. Everywhere."

Cyprian nods. "Alright. But what else? What form should the government take?"

One of the others steps forward. "A council of representatives, comprised of representatives of each colour."

Circe frowns. "Have none of you had the colour restrictions removed?"

The first martian visibly starts. "No? How does that work?"

She smiles, purple sparks flickering around her fingers. "Magic. Perhaps I may be of service?"