"Are you sure about this, Mister..? Ah. Constantine?"
"Given that I know what Lords of Chaos and Lords of Order are, and what the Anti-Life is, I consider it my solemn duty. And if we are truly successful, I hate to imagine what the resulting being would be without my input."
Gotta wonder how this sort of stuff went down in
his alternate reality. I'm guessing his world was a lot more Silver-age.
"Yeah, that's…"
"Are you a Christian, Mister Sandman?"
Pretty safe bet. Let's not quibble over
denominations, though.
"Yes. I.. go to Saint Patrick's every Sunday."
"Do you understand the nature of Heaven?"
I mean, what mortal mind can? Where's this going, Golden Boy?
"Ah, yes but… No. I mean, vaguely."
The Golden Man smiles. "Well, that rather undermines the metaphor I wished to use. You understand at least that it isn't like your mortal life?"
And depending on the author, it
can actually be pretty laid-back. Remember
Quiver, which saw the soul of Oliver Queen living in a super-hero's version of a heavenly pasture?
"Yes."
"I never truly lived. In this world I am a product of the strange magic which surrounds John Constantine. I remember having a long and fruitful life and now, rather than being asked to die, I am merely asked to adopt a new form. To be myself, and something a little different. To fulfil a purpose that I never really had. Do not morn. Rather, rejoice that I had this opportunity."
...I almost hope some of
this niceness remains in John if he recombines. Original John always seemed kinda light on this kind of attitude.
"What.. do you mean, you're a product of Mister Constantine's magic?"
The Golden Man looks at me. "How well do you know the story?"
Since OL seems
unnaturally well-informed to everyone who knows him...
"Ah, short version? Their mother was pregnant with twins. In our timeline, John lived and he died. In his, John died and he lived."
"Made all the more confusing by the fact that my name is 'John' as well. Though I note that you didn't mention that my death was due to a botched amateur abortion carried out by my father, which also caused my mother's death."
...Well, that darkened the mood
considerably.
"What?"
"That's.. because I didn't know that."
Joy of working from half-remembered readings of a story from years earlier. Honestly, I'm surprised that kind of misremembering or not knowing
details hasn't bitten him in the arse
worse than he's gotten so far.
Damn. Did John know-? No, the two of them were merged, he certainly knows. And that might go some way to explaining his extremely strained relationship with his father.
I set the booth down on this side of the central walkway, Alan carrying The Demon down to the other side where Dr. Balewa is working on interfacing with the machine without destroying himself.
Just like matter and anti-matter. Let them get too close without proper precautions and
boom, there goes the planet.
What's the line from Hogfather? If it's kill or cure and the subject is immortal, I think we're on to a winner.
"Oi, Golden Boy!"
Doesn't mean it won't hurt like hell, though. And not the
fun kind of hell.
"Yes, Sickly Boy?"
The Demon ambles over to the part of the platform closest to us, crouching down and peering at the booth.
Well, got something to
say, worm-food?
"I don't hate you personally. John never gave me any of his memories of you." He shrugs. "I just hate you on principle."
"But you're prepared to do this anyway?"
Nothing like giving John a big middle finger as he ceases to exist.
"I hate him more."
"That seems like a poor reason. Are you certain-?"
It's John Constantine, Golden Boy. Hating him is
easy, especially if you know him.
"Might be poor, but it's mine." He stands, and looks over to Dr. Balewa. "You planning on taking all day?"
"I believe thet I am ready. Everyone?"
Anyone want to take a moment to practice bending over and kissing your ass goodbye, just in case things go poorly?
I take a moment to draw upon what I remember of John Constantine's desires from the Honden of Avarice.
"Yes. Ready to purge the Anti-Life. Or as ready as I'll get."
Here's hoping there's
something left of John when this is all over.
Alan nods. "Same here. You sure you can keep him from powering himself up with this machinery?"
"No. Sandman?"
But what
better option do you have, in the time you've got?
"I'll start throwing Dream dust as soon as he shows up. Or they show up, I guess."
"Then we are ready. Demon."
Might might stop the Demon, at least. Quinn will probably have defences against it...
"Right."
He lowers himself over the edge of the platform, getting his legs around the underside before himself around and upright on our side.
Hooray for weird and variable gravity.
"Crossing over the threshold has appreciably increas-ah. " There's a faint crackly of red energy around him, but it doesn't appear to directly harm him. "Increased the strain."
The Golden Man is standing pressed up against the glass as The Demon stares at him.
Man, I am starting to get a real 'Flynn versus CLU' vibe at this point. Let's hope it doesn't end quite as
explosively.
"Second thoughts? Or do you want to do this tantrically? If so, I'm afraid that I'll need a little blue pill, and half an hour to warm up."
"Hah!" The Demon walks right up to the outside of the booth, inclining his head so that if the glass wasn't in the way their foreheads would nearly be touching. "Nah. How about Blood Brothers style?"
Nice to see they both share the Constantine sense of humour, at least.
He pulls back his right his and punches through the glass, bringing his hand up and clasping The Golden Man's right in an arm wrestling gesture.
Faint flickers of red and gold energy crackle around the crystals running throughout the machinery.
Manly cooperation! Though probably a little less
impressive without the Schwarzenegger physique...
"Hope being… Unmade hurts… Less than being created."
"Why? Are you planning..? On complaining..? To someone?"
Hey, whatever John Constantine
results from all this might well
remember all of your deaths. So bonus!
Alan and I float away, trying to keep the whole area in our sights. I take a half second to glance at Dr. Balewa and I see that his forearms are wreathed in gold and red lightning, and that his eyes are glowing the same. That doesn't look too good, but he didn't reach his current age by taking on challenges that would kill him permanently.
Dream stuff is seeping out of the hole in the glass, but The Golden Man is going to be a memory in a little while anyway, so it's not a big-.
Lots of moving parts in this plan, and lots of places for the excrement to go rotary cooling device-wards...
Gold lightning explodes from the central shaft, enveloping the entire chamber! Under my reinforced environmental shield and steadily heating spell eater I brace myself as I see lines of crystals explode and add to the conflagration.
I can't see our Constantines any more.
Looks like someone's
unhappy about their interference. Good.
Ah, the readied action to attack anything that comes through the door... Or the wall... Or out of a magic portal... A classic adventuring schtick.
The room's moving-. No, the circular platform around the central shaft. Other parts of the machinery in the upper portion of the room have come to life as well, even as the crystals binding the spells together come apart. I-.
The booth explodes, Dream stuff wooshing around the lower portion of the room before I abandon my pipe-constructs.
Betting some of those other bits were backups or safety containment systems. Just in case one of the captives managed to get loose.
And-.
"Oofaugh-duh."
A Constantine stripped to his underwear and with a Seal of Solomon on his forehead appears in the upper gantries, hits a platform and slide off the edge, plummeting-
...Well, at least he has his pants on. No-one needs to see John's undercarriage.
-into Alan's catching mitt construct. Okay, that's ours back, where did-?
"Oh, it's you." Quinn rises out of the Dream mists, Helmet on head and… Some sort of sceptre in hand and his body covered in something that looks suspiciously like blue and gold New God armour . "How dis-"
Looks like he's been making some
upgrades to the Fate gear. Let's see how well they stand up to
all the railgun ammo.
