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

6th February 2013
07:01 GMT -5

"Robin."

And there's Mister Atom. I know he's not in the Justice League's computer network, but he gets notifications whenever anyone does anything. And if he wants to talk to you, you're not getting anything done until he's done. And I get it: he's one of not many people who are immune to the Anti-Life, so he has to check up on the rest of us. Doesn't mean it's not annoying. And if I'm annoyed-

"Hey, Atombot."

-then I'm gunna annoy him right back.

Not my best work, but… I'm not feeling it, right now.

"Robin."

And the problem with Mister Atom is that he will just keep saying my name until I give him the response he's looking for. He won't get bored, and because of how his voice control works he's not getting distracted from everything else he's supposed to be doing.

One time I tried to keep it up, and he kept up with me for two hours. I gave up when Wally told me to knock it off.

"Mister Atom."

He doesn't look happy. His face can't move or anything, but there are really subtle tells in his posture. I don't actually know if he can be happy-happy, but he sometimes gets… 'Less annoyed' when humans do what he thinks they're supposed to.

"Your father worked himself to exhaustion this morning. I require you to speak with him and attempt to persuade him to avoid doing so again."

"Ah… That ship's kinda sailed. Batman's… That just how he is."

"Incorrect. Batman's neurosis decreases substantially in your presence. Your input alone increases the chance of him changing to a healthier behavioural pattern by thirteen percent."

"Just thirteen percent?"

"Batwoman is already working on him."

I pulls a face. "Oh, ew. I don’t need to know-."

"Not sexually. Most humans respond well to the physical presence of people they trust. Simply by being close to him, Batwoman is making it easier for him to get rest."

"Oh." That's-. I mean, yeah, they're married, and-.

"Though you make a good point. I will raise the issue of their mating behavior with her later. I do not have a good understanding of the psychological effects of human mating. In fact, it may be best if we discuss Batman management as a group."

No. No.

"When can you return to the Batcave?"

Double-no.

"Whenever you're planning on having that talk?"

"Good. I-."

"After that."

"That is awkward. If you are not present, the resulting plan may require your absence from particular rooms or buildings at times not convenient to you."

"I'll cope. Look, can I start work now, or-?"

Mr. Atom… Kind of… Twitches.

"Thank you for participating in the trial of my 'sense of humor' program. If you have any feedback, please-"

"Ya-huh?"

"-send it to my office by e-mail. Sense of humor now disengaged. Returning computer terminal to your control."

"W-why?"

"So that you can work."

"Why did you pick now to get a sense of humor?!"

"I have not. I have a separate program based on my analysis of human behavior-"

"That's not the point!"

He got me! Wally's gunna hear about this later, and then I'm never gunna hear the end of it!

"-which I occasionally allow to guide my speech in order to improve my emotional fulfilment quotient. Analysis of positive-."

Oh.

"You make jokes, because… It keeps the Anti-Life out."

"If it did not, I would postpone my research. Your update."

A second holoscreen pops up, showing troop movements and-.

"That's not right."

"The figures shown are accurate."

"I mean, it doesn't match what Mannheim's been doing up until now."

"Yes." New numbers appear. "Consider the demographic data."

"Okay, so he's given up attacking cities for now. The countryside is handling the Anti-Life broadcasts better than the cities, and he hasn't got enough Justified to control food distribution directly."

"Build-up of personnel-."

"He's planning on going to Gotham? He must know that isn't gunna work. If he moves an army, we'll grab them and free them. If he sends Justified, it'll be harder, but we'll still take them down. Mistress controls everyone who's Anti-Lifed, so he can't just throw local people at us…"

"Yes. All cities are now under someone's control. League-affiliates control a minority. Mannheim directly controls a minority. Most are ruled by dominant personalities who have internalised the Anti-Life. In the case of Gotham, Mistress."

"We destroy broadcasters as fast as he puts them up. He can't spread like that outside of the places he already controls. Does he want to make a deal or something?"

"Apokolips is ruled by Darkseid. However, senior New Gods still retain a high degree of agency."

Yeah. I mean, Canis has been loving this whole thing, and Barda-.

"So it's not just about making a deal. He wants to find out if he can control people through other Anti-Lifed leaders."

"Attempts to enlighten people in cities so affected have been less effective than attempts to enlighten people in cities that aren't, to a statistically significant degree. The difference can not be explained merely by the difference in their material conditions. Once Anti-Life saturation reaches a critical mass, it is self-sustaining."

"So why hasn't he done it before now?"

"Unknown. I speculate logistical issues."

"But if he goes himself…"

We'll know where he is. Attacking Mannheim isn't exactly easy when his bodyguards all have Apokoliptian weapons and his tower is made of Apokoliptian super-materials. But Gotham isn't. Can he just take Finality Man with him? I mean, yeah, he can, but if we know where they both are we can do a whole lot of missions that we can't do when we don't.

"So what's the plan?"

"It would be helpful if your team could infiltrate Mistress's coterie, and provide information on events. More information on her control techniques would improve our understanding of Anti-Life compliant society. More information on her interactions with Mannheim would allow me to model what happens when he repeats the process with other cities."

"Yeah." Because why wouldn't he? "I'll talk to Kaldur."

 

November 3rd, 1999
8:00 MDT

Right on the dot.

I hear the keys before General Rinaker actually makes it onto the stage for the briefing. It's kinda funny seeing displacement activity in a guy like that; it's the only thing about him that deviates from the perfect g-man image he-.

My eyes widen as Ling walks in behind him. On crutches. His left leg is in plaster and there's a sterile dressing on the left side of his face. And from the way he's moving, I think he's got other injuries under his uniform.

"Yesterday morning, oh one hundred hours local time, a team under the command of Agent Ling was dispatched to intercept a vampire arms shipment."

An image appears on the screen, docks-. Signage is in English, the way the cars are parked suggests they drive on the left. People are opening and unloading a shipping container. No signs of vampire poison, but plenty of people work for vampires without knowing that the boss is literally a snake. Security seems… Light, for something important.

The image splits in four, showing feeds from the body cameras of the agents taking part in the raid. We see them move, hear Ling shout at everyone to surrender, see them dive for cover as the agents open fire-.

The cameras cut out.

"All cameras in the area were destroyed. We only have this much footage due to it being automatically backed up to the command vehicle, which has EMP shielding."

"Um." Fitz raises his hand. "Do the agents have EMP shielding? Because it doesn't look like Ling does."

"We were attacked." Huh. Usually Ling only sounds that angry when he's talking about me. He steps forwards and winds the images back. "The dock workers tried to flee, but we had all of the exits covered."

He brings up a new image, showing their positions… Yeah, I gotta agree with Ling. I can't see any way for them to get out of there without shooting their way through a squad plus their support vehicle, and that isn't easy.

"Some went for their concealed weapons, as we threw stun grenades and then moved in to mop up. I underestimated them."

Sh'lainn nods. "Did the vampires get the drop on you?"

"No. The Green Knight did."

Sh'lainn starts in surprise. "The Green Knight?"

Ah… Arthurian legend. And not one I've read up on. I think he got Sir Gawain to cut his head off, survived, then gave him a year to live. But I might just be remembering a movie. There's nothing about a Green Knight in any Alliance files I've read.

Ling's eyes focus on her. "A glowing green man in 16th century figure plate armor, riding a glowing green horse. He rode out of the sea and attacked us. Our grenades didn't affect him and our guns couldn't pierce his armour."

"You sure it wasn't a hologram-?"

"No, Agent Logan, it wasn't a hologram." He looks down at his leg and bangs his plaster-covered heel against the floor. "He broke my leg with a mace, defeated my men and assisted all of the targets to escape."

Perrera frowns. "What's the exposure risk?"

Rinaker catches his keys. "This may be beyond our ability to fully conceal."

Fitz actually looks offended. "Hey, now, I don't mean to toot my own horn here-"

"An entire squad of Alliance soldiers are in the custody of the London Metropolitan Police, and most of their equipment was delivered to the British Ministry of Defence."

"-but okay that's a tricky one."

I frown. "The Ministry of Defense?"

"An unusual move for the vampires, but not entirely unprecedented. While we have contacts in most governments, the Alliance is a secret organisation. Very few officials have knowledge of our existence or activities. If only a small number of individuals had access to Alliance equipment, all that would happen is that they would be given a choice between signing the Official Secrets Act or spending the rest of their lives in prison. But things have moved beyond that. Dozens of people have seen examples of our vehicles switching between disguise and combat modes, and while I don't doubt the integrity of our agents, things will become difficult if the British police are able to successfully identify any of them."

Perrera nods. "There's no way that they won't realise what they are, even if they don't know who they are. And if they think that a foreign country is carrying out anti-terrorist activities on their soil, they’re going to start calling in ambassadors."

I nod. So wandering into the station with fake documents claiming they all have diplomatic immunity might work, but it'll cause a diplomatic incident. And make the US government start looking at things on their end. I haven't gone peeking into everyone's files, but I hear a lot of American accents around the base, and most of them probably have a service history. All the British police need to do is send the US embassy mug shots and they will get IDed.

Sh'lainn's frowning. "And the Green Knight did all that? Without being spotted?"

"Possibly." Another key-flip. "Or possibly he left the area immediately and that was done by his associates. Since we have no information on his motives or affiliation, it would be premature to say. But we need our agents released, and we need our equipment either recovered or destroyed."

Wait.

"What happened to the vampire weapon shipment?"

"Long gone, along with the people we IDed. Agent Trueblood will be leading a separate team to follow up on that."

"But if the Green Knight's working with them, won't he be where they are?"

"It's certainly possible. Which is why his team will be carrying heavier weapons and won't be taking prisoners, but that isn't your concern."

Perrera frowns. "How… Aware, is the British government? If the police just think that a gang shot up the docks, then they probably won't call the Home Office until they get an ID. If we set up fake IDs and tell the agents what they are, we can get them released on bail and then have them disappear."

Fitz looks amused. "Hey, I liked Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels as much as the next guy, but the British police get real serious when guns are involved. Private gun ownership isn't really a thing there, and… They're not gunna be all that eager to let them out at all."

Rinaker flips his keys again. "Work on your plan on the way to London. This needs to be done quickly. Dismissed. Agent Ling, get back to medical."

We file out, Trueblood heading towards the barracks while the rest of us heading for the hanger. This won't be the first time I've planted data for the Alliance, or the first time I've broken into a government facility. Not sure who we can finger without making things worse. Dissident Irish Republicans?

And Agent Ling… Something tells me that it might be a good idea to take a look a the docks. Plasma bolts don't leave the same marks as bullets, and unless there's a good explanation their scene-of-crime officers will notice the difference. And vampire weapon transfers are almost always overseen by an actual vampire. There not being one there… Doesn't fit.

"Nick…" Sh'lainn looks pensive. "There's something about the Green Knight. I've… Heard of him."

"Yeah?" Fitz grins. "Is he a guy-banshee? Do we finally get to find out what banhees look like?"

"… No. I don't know what he is, but… The stories I heard didn't have anything bad to say about him. And most banshees aren't all that fond of outsiders."

I frown. "Would Queen Mab have a way to get in contact with him?"

"If we ever had a way to send messages to him, it hasn't been used for a long time. And I don't think she'll be too keen on me showen my face around there."

I raise my right eyebrow. "How long is a long time?"

She pointedly looks away. "Quite a while."

"Any idea why he's working with the vampires?"

She shakes her head. "No. That doesn't match the stories at all."

Perrera glances at me. "Figuring out that isn't our job, Logan."

"No. But that doesn't mean it's not a good idea."