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

Earth 534834

8th February 1992
12:13 GMT -7

My point defence constructs shoot down the handful of missiles that are actually on target, ring weaving me out of the lines of travel of the rest.

Ring, get him back on the phone.

In progress.

"Oh, hey Orange. What do you n-?"

"We 'might' be testing some missiles?"

"Yeah. Y'know, it's a desert, Stark Enterprises does weapon testing-"

Alert.

I generate a shield construct as a laser cannon deploys from beyond a camouflaged hatch in a nearby mesa, the brilliant red beam hitting the shield and achieving nothing.

"-around here… Huh."

"I have no particular objection to helping you improve your weapon systems, Mister Stark, but I'm a bit narked about doing it without warning and for free."

"No, I just… Spotted that the whole system's live. It's not supposed to be."

"Do you want me to forcibly shut it down, or are you good to fix it yourself?"

"Ah… I'd rather you didn't write off twenty million dollars worth of equipment, but if you need to. I'll just have to make my investors understand."

"Oh, don't worry. It's not that good."

He sighs. "Yeah, okay. I had that coming. On your-"

My point defence construct fires, hitting the stealth missile's fuel reserve and causing it to ignite.

"-six… Huh."

"Missiles aren't tough. You don't need a laser powerful enough to cut through tank armour to destroy one. Far weaker lasers will do the job, and far faster and more accurately than kinetic flak. The only issues are power, which this ring handles perfectly well, and the computational power to target it accurately in flight, which this ring handles perfectly well."

"What about chaff or flares?"

"Sure, if your battery or computer can't handle it, being able to maybe dodge three missiles is better than-" Ah, that actually is a flak emplacement. I reinforce my armour and ignore it, because my armour is a lot tougher than aluminium. "-nothing."

Shells burst around me, doing a grand total of nothing as the shrapnel fails to penetrate.

"But if you can do lasers, in an atmosphere you effectively just need to know where the target-."

"Where the target is, because you hit it at the speed of light rather than three thousand feet per second. I need to talk to some of our product users-."

"Have you shut the system-" A rather large plasma cannon turret emerges from a bunker in my line of travel. "-down, or-?"

"I can talk and work at the same-" I hear a dull tone from his end, and the turret stops tracking me. "-time. There, clear for approach. What was it you wanted to talk about, anyway?"

"I actually wanted to talk to Mister and Ms. Maximoff, if they're available."

"Ah… Who?"

"Mister Stark, the ring can locate anyone anywhere on the planet who isn't specifically protected against it. And the only things I know block it are some types of magic and some types of alien technology."

"That sounds like a horrible violation of civil liberties."

"No, it's only a violation of civil liberties when the government does it."

"I… Don't think that's how it works. Quicksilver's going to meet you outside. Scarlet Witch will be along in a few minutes."

"Thank you, Mister Stark."

And there's the main bunker, complete with runway, cargo helicopter landing pad and white-haired man in a skin-tight silver and grey costume. I'm a little surprised that Mr. Stark hasn't insisted on something a little more professional, but maybe he wanted superhuman protection more than he wanted uniformity.

I raise my right hand in greeting as I come into land. "Mister Maximoff."

He regards me with a degree of suspicion for a moment. "Were you tracking me all around the world for a reason?"

"Ah, yes. Though strictly speaking, I wasn't tracking you all around the world, I just had the ability to find out wherever you are at any point in time. Point is, I just got back from having a conversation with your elder half-sister, and it turns-"

"What?"

"-out that she didn't know that you exist either. Or who her biological father is. It's all getting a bit soap opera-y, so I thought that I'd stop that silliness and just tell everyone the stuff they were probably missing. I don't know what your phone number is, so-."

There's a sort of glimmer in the air, and… Glam rock Thor appears with a twirl of his axe, Ms. Maximoff next to him. I… Think his name is Sentry?

"Scion of Maltus. I offer you warm greeting."

I blink.

"Thank you. You're the first person I've met since I got here who's heard of Maltus."

"In my life I have walked many strange roads, and forgotten more than many have ever learned. I fear that I recall no more than the name and the image of rings such as you now wear."

Ah. Well, it would have been a bit easy if I found the place through a chance encounter. "Ah. Well, it's still worth knowing."

Mr. Maximoff looks at me for confirmation. "Sister?"

Ms. Maximoff looks at him. "Yes?"

"No, a…" I shake my head. "You both have an elder half-sister by the name of Lorna Dane. You have the same father. His name is Erik Lensherr, though I believe that at other points of time he's used other names."

Ms. Maximoff stares. "Magneto… Is our father?"

"Yes. Given how confused he was when I told him, I don't believe he knew. Given how you both have the x-gene, I expect that he will want to make contact soon-. So you might want to advise Mister Stark to make a suit of non-ferrous armour."

Mr. Maximoff's eyes narrow. "How do you know that? We-."

"I compared your genes to his and noted the fifty percent match. It's not impossible that someone like Nathaniel Essex got hold of some of his genetic material and created you as partial clones, but given that Mister Lensherr was married when you would have been conceived and they were separated when you would have been born, there's really no reason to add more steps to the process."

"We-." Mr. Maximoff and his sister just look at each other for a few moments. "We should talk about this."

"I understand." I fabricate a card with Ms. Dane's home telephone number on it. "You can reach her here. And on an unrelated note, is anyone on your team happily married?"