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

17th February
01:30 GMT -5

"Orange Lantern to Robin. In position."

I look around. He's either not here yet or has already left. Off-duty police officers are already being called in to deal with the situation throughout the city, but I'm not a priority. Which is fair enough; the stuff in here isn't easily weaponisable and no one is in danger. It'll probably be morning before a proper search can take place.

"So you're sure nothing was missing?"

"Nothing in the main warehouse. There might have been smaller items that I didn't get around to looking at."

Apophenia is seeing patterns where none exist. I don't remember the man's name, but I think it was the writer of Invincible who said… Something like… That while for a super powered criminal committing a crime their encounter with a superhero will be the most important thing that happens to them on that day, for the hero it's an annoying distraction from what it was that they wanted to be doing instead. If it's your city to protect and things start blowing up, you turn up and sort it out. But while it looks like a lot of similar things happening from your point of view, in reality-hello.

Part of the wall now has an empathic glow. Not a.. big part, but it's growing-.

Mud.

Ring, current location of Matthew Hagen?

Given Mr Hagen's nature, neither metahuman suppression collars or binding chains would work on him, so he's mostly kept separate from Belle Reve's other prisoners. His H-dial use is carefully monitored, but with a degree of humanity restored and Ted's research team in daily contact he hasn't demonstrated any sort of desire to act out.

Matthew Hagen remains in Belle Reve.

And I know that Ra's didn't like other people having access to Lazarus Pits. No League of Shadows member has reported anything like 'Clayface' being used by the organisation before, and Talia didn't know exactly what would happen. As far as I know, the only other person who knows how to make them is Nyssa, though I suppose there's no particular reason why Ra's couldn't have had other children before her who were also in on the secret.

Or this could be some sort of elemental… No, that would have made the rune stone light up. A mud person from some other source, or someone might have discovered the Lazarus process independently… I'll have to ask.

The area displaying an empathic resonance is creeping forward. Not as much of a resonance as a living person usually displays, though I don't have a great deal of experience in using this ability on a distributed intelligence. Or however clay people function. I deliberately turn away, looking around the area while directing the wraith to approach it from behind. I don't know how stretched it is, though I can probably grab it fast enough to stop it getting away.

Or… I know roughly what Mr Hagen's maximum speed is. I could just grab it along with the building around it and then just rebuild it afterwards. Or leave that for the locals. They have a supervillain civil repairs budget-. No, no. The best way to handle this is a civil conversation, but since I strongly doubt that whoever this is will listen and respond sensibly I'll let them get more of their bulk out before making a grab. I don't know exactly how much of their body needs to be in a place before that becomes the 'main' part and I don't want any disassociation incidents.

Master.

The wraith is behind an object doing an impression of a cleaning cart, the presence of a mortal soul clearly visible to its arcane senses. The clay person's arcane feel is off enough that the wraith's usual desire to consume appears to have been suppressed. Course plotted…

I turn to face the clay patch.

"Charlie, can we talk about this?"

It doesn't stop moving, but it does slow ever so slightly.

"Once I found out that you weren't who you claimed to be, there was basically no way for you to escape. Good work mimicking the cleaning trolley; Matthew Hagen still struggles to maintain the form of other objects for any length of time."

Now it stops.

"Look, I don't.. really derive any satisfaction from violence. Certainly not for its own sake. You've been spotted. Unless you've got a lot of additional abilities compared with the other clay person I've met, there's no way for you to escape. Please, surrender. If you're having a problem of some sort, I can help. We can help. If someone has some sort of hold on-."

And it's pulling back and go go go!

I thrust down the corridor, construct grabber already in motion as the main mass leaps towards the vents in the ceiling! There's a brown smear as I cut the clay mass in… Half? Maybe? I seal the struggling mass in a construct sphere even as I run a construct up into the ventilation system after it, passing by the squirming mass and sealing it in. Good work, me.

"Orange Lantern to Robin. It was another clay person. I have them contained. Please ask Batwoman if she's ever heard of such a thing during your next scheduled contact."

"Will do. You think they came from the same place?"

"I don't want to assume-" I'm not detecting any Lazarus chemicals, but I don't detect them in Mr Hagen either. "-but that's the first thing I'd check."

"Are you going to stick around there?"

"I kind of have to, now. Fortunately, they were a good deal more talkative than Mister Hagen when he first put in an appearance, so hopefully they won't mind having a conversation. Otherwise, now that Belle Reve knows how to contain a clay person I can drop them off there."

"On what charge?"

"Trespass. And it'll only be until we can calm things down enough to actually do an investigation and find out what happened to Mister Adelsen."

"Okay, I'll talk to Waller. You try getting something out of whoever they are."

"Will do. Orange Lantern out."

I pull the mud out of the ventilation shaft with an airtight shield and add it to the main ball, then create speaker constructs on the inside.

"I'm afraid that the police are a little busy at the moment. Could I persuade you to talk to me?"

The pressure on the interior surface of my construct decreases slightly, and a pair of glowing red eye holes appear.

"Can you actually talk like that?"

The eyes just stare for a moment, then a vague face appears in the mud around them. Still somewhat dim, emotion-wise. In fact, looking a little closer…

I don't.. think that's a person. Which means that this is either automated somehow, or… Or it voluntarily split itself and the intelligent part is somewhere else. Does it need the rest of its mass? Is it stuck at one size, or can it just absorb more mud? Mr Hagen wasn't terribly clear, Waller hasn't wanted to give him ideas by letting him practise and I haven't wanted to push it because he already suffers from mild alien body syndrome and I haven't wanted to make it worse.

But… The orange light does show some images, weak and pale imitations of what the full mind would show. And while the wards on this building are blocking my vision, if the rest of the mud person wants to escape they're going to have to leave that effect area. Alternatively, I could turn up my vision power all the way and try and burn out the wards. They're probably quite weak. I can't see Gotham splashing out on a high-tier magician after all; it's probably the default warding sigil etched onto light switches or something.

…

No. No.

I fly up and out of the building, gaining enough height that I can see around it easily. Then I wait and watch.

 

16th February
22:30 GMT -8

I lean back in my chair slightly, giving every sign that I'm giving the question the consideration it deserves. Despite the fact that I've obviously prepared for something like that coming up, and the fact that the questioner is far less aggressive about it than Sunset was.

"No, I'm not a member of the National Firearms Organization. I don't think that -as a foreigner- it's appropriate for me to involve myself directly in American politics. My discussions with President Horne have touched on the area of armaments, but only in relation to military and paramilitary policy. My.. understanding of the President's position is that his stated position -that he's in favour of restrictions for practical reasons but doesn't think that they're constitutional at the Federal level- is.. his.. actual position and I can't think of any obvious reason for him to change it if he were re-elected."

The richly bearded man who asked the question looks mildly disgruntled.

"I mean… I'm sure that Jon Horne has done a lot of things that people around here don't like, but he doesn't mislead people about his policy objectives. He'd have a far easier time of it professionally if he did."

There's a small laugh, but gun control is an extremely partisan issue in this part of the country and they want a lot more than that. Horne really isn't winning here, and I'm honestly not sure that he's trying. And with anyone else I'd say that was strategy but with him..? The Source alone knows.

Though what happened is classic Jon Horne: he effectively stated outright that he wouldn't sign any gun control Bills and yet he sounds so hostile to private gun ownership that hardly anyone in the pro-gun lobby heard him do it and he's gotten absolutely no credit for it. Honestly, hand the man a shoo-in election and he manages to turn it into an actual fight. Even with an opponent who knows that it would be electoral suicide to attack him directly. It's the acme of anti-skill.

And objectively, Senator Knight is making a worse case. He hasn't promised not to sign new Bills and despite what the people answering opinion polls seem to think he certainly hasn't said anything about repealing existing Federal restrictions. But he's making nicer noises and shaking hands publically with arms manufacturers and advertising in the right places because he actually knows how to-.

No, it isn't that. Horne knows how to run that sort of campaign; he just doesn't want to. And so he isn't. I like the man, but sometimes…

"Now, personally, I've gotten access to a whole arsenal of alien weapons, as well as all of the weird supervillain stuff that a man in my profession runs into from time to time. But in terms of human weapons… Well…"

I hold up my right hand and take my M134 out of subspace.

"I'll admit that I've taken this out on the range a few times and shot a few targets to splinters. I'm heavy enough and strong enough that I can keep it on target without much difficulty and… I didn't have much contact with explosive-kinetic weapons until I came to Earth and they're.. kind of viscerally satisfying in a way that lasers and plasma weapons aren't."

And that's true, but the flipping rifle rounds it fires aren't going to do a thing to anything I'm going to fight. And since Jon will complain if I tell a direct lie I'll tell the man asking the question that if he directly asks… But I'm hoping that he won't.

I return the gun to subspace.

"How about your kids?"

"My eldest -Lynne- has access to my arsenal. She was taught how to use low calibre pistols before we first met, and I've made sure that she knows how to use some of the more accessible energy weapons. She's not a particularly large girl, and I don't think she's going to be using my guns for a few years yet. My younger children share a.. medical difficulty which means that I'm holding back on teaching them to fight."

And honestly, I think they'll be focusing on magic combat rather than gun fighting.

"But we all live in a fortified mountain surrounded by telepathic guards. We don’t exactly have to worry about home-invaders, and last time someone went after one of my children I decapitated their country's government."

That gets an approving nod.

"Did you own a gun back on… Er… Apocalypse?"

The moderator frowns slightly at one man monopolising the microphone, but I'm pretty sure that it's the sort of thing that everyone wants to know and I'm not keen on using debate procedure to refuse to answer civil questions.

Instead, I smile. "Oh yes, definitely."

"Is that.. normal?"

"Ah…" Why is he asking about Apokolips? "Everyone who can get their hands on a gun gets one. Except Father, who has eye beams which make Superman's look like pea shooters and so doesn't need one."

I lean forwards slightly.

"But the difference between America and Apokolips is that you're a constitutional democracy while Apokolips is a totalitarian visocracy. You're an American Citizen; most Apokoliptians are literally called Lowlies. Citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities as part and parcel of the arrangement. On Apokolips, nothing like that exists. There's order because my grandfather.. and after him my father, are so much stronger than everyone else that they can enforce it, not because there's any sort of agreement between the people who make up the society."

"In America, you have constitutions and laws, and mechanisms for enforcing and changing them. On Apokolips, people issue orders and if they're strong enough to enforce obedience then they'll be obeyed. If someone gets a gun and is strong enough to hold onto it when someone above them tells them they shouldn't, then they'll probably get a promotion. If someone above them even bothers to notice. And then? They behave exactly as the person they replaced did, except maybe a little less complacently."

The man nods. "So how d'you think a citizen in a democracy should learn to fire a gun?"

"Guns… Well, any weapon, but we're.. talking about guns here. So it's not that I think a person should be prohibited by law from giving a five year old a magnum at a shooting range… I just think that a responsible citizen should realise that that's a dumb thing to do and not do it. Guns are implements for hurting and killing, and that's the context in which they should be presented. Whenever I see a picture in a gun magazine of a woman posing with an AK Forty Seven while wearing a bikini I think that's a person who doesn't take the weapon they're carrying as seriously as they should."

"If you live in a rural environment, take your children out hunting with you a few times. Let them see what your rifle rounds do to the animals you shoot before you let them touch the thing. Make it very clear what the result of pulling the trigger with something or someone at the other end is. And if you know someone who spent some time in the military and has a story or two about someone who made an unfortunate mistake, make sure they share it. And when you're sure they're not going to do something stupid, then supervise them practising with it before you take them out hunting with it."

"And if you live in an urban environment, try talking to the local police because I'm sure that they'd love to share some images of gunshot injuries to help you impress upon your children the seriousness of picking up a gun. If you're having one in the house, make sure that they see those before they get the stupid idea that guns are cool toys into their heads and decide to play with one."

"Guns are tools for killing, and even when that killing is necessary or good should always be treated seriously."

The man asking the questions sits back, nodding in approval. I'm just glad he didn't ask whether Jon's children were taught how to use guns.

The moderator nods to one of the sound engineers. "Boy on the right there."

I relax a little. While children are perfectly capable of wrong-footing even the most seasoned political professional, the chance of the question actually being-.

The boy -who can't be more than ten- looks at me like I just ran over his puppy. And he decided that I'm going to spend the rest of my life paying for it.

"I have a question about Mister Grayven's relationship with the Chinese government."

…

Oh shit.