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

Prep Time

15th February 2013
08:55 GMT -5

I nod as another wave of crew teleport up, the crew chief stepping forward to hand out orders. I give them a scan but I don't really expect… Lex Luthor to try anything. Because these are LexCorps employees with backgrounds in aeronautics, the space program or electronics, and they're the most mentally stable of the survivors.

Truggs isn't greeting them. Because that's something that could be used to prove prior collaboration, and Truggs has a long record of criminality.

Just a couple of things to take care of before I head back down to Earth.

I press the activation button on my pilfered Dhorian communicator. "Mister Standing Bear, are you occupied?"

"You want to talk?"

"Seems like a good time."

"There is no good time. I'm in my barrack."

"Be with you in a few moments."

It's not practical for us to replace the lift in the prison ship, but we captured this ship entirely undamaged. It's… Well, it's obviously not Maltusian quality, but the build is decent. Some of the signage was clearly designed for people with non-standard eyes, but otherwise it needs no work to make it habitable for humans. Kadabra's busy adding Earth languages to the control system so that people without power rings can actually use it. Fortunately, the Dhorians aren't advanced enough to use anything really weird, or biologically different enough to perceive things differently to have an inhuman control scheme.

Lex's people will adapt.

Mr. Standing Bear picked quarters as far away from everyone else as possible. He said something about not having anything to contribute now that the fighting is over, but I wouldn't have to be an empath to know that was rubbish. Dhorian soldiers had communal sleeping areas, and the officers had fold-away bunks in their offices. Mr. Standing Bear is so big that he had to push three beds together.

I knock on the door, and it opens.

He's taken his helmet and amulet off and stuck them on a shelf in the room's cupboard, doors open so that it's in view the whole time. The man himself is standing at parade rest at the foot of his freshly made bed. Well, I am an officer, so I suppose that's a reasonable approach to take.

"Let's get this out of the way. Eiling implied something about a funeral?"

His face hardens. "Yes."

"What happened?"

"I got acquitted. Army paid me to leave anyway."

"Right, but acquitted of what?"

"Murder. Man came at my squad with a gun. Shot him dead, bullets kept going and hit the people behind him. Three died."

"How does that relate to a funeral?"

"They came from a funeral. Didn't like American soldiers being near it. We were ordered to be there in case trouble broke out. It did."

"Sounds like military thinking to me." I bow my head slightly. "You got off because there was a clear and present danger. If he hadn't wanted to get shot then he shouldn't have drawn a gun. It's unfortunate that anyone else got hurt, but that's what happens when you draw a gun in a crowd."

"That's what my lawyer said. Didn't change much. Too many people decided to blame me."

I don't need to look particularly deep to understand the issue. The army gave him structure that was missing from the rest of his life. With the army gone, he didn't have anything. His friends were other soldiers, his family… I'm not seeing strong bonds there.

"You're assigned as security for this ship for the duration of this crisis. After we're done… I don't know if you're interested, but I suspect that Eiling will be able to find work for a man of your talents. If he isn't, I can."

"Mm."

"If you want to talk to anyone about-"

His face, which had been relaxing slightly, hardens up again.

"-your experiences under the Anti-Life, I'm effectively a chaplain. Or I can find someone else, if you prefer."

"As long as I don't have to go back to Earth, I'm just fine."

I'm sceptical, but there isn't anything to be gained by pushing him at this point.

"As you will. Thank you for speaking with me-. Oh, is there..? Anyone you want me to get in touch with? Tell them-."

"No."

"I see."

Honestly, it's more surprising that some organisation or other didn't pick him before now.

I turn and head out of the door. I've got a meeting set up with Batman and Mister Atom, but they're both very busy people and can't just drop everything to speak with me. I need to fix my rings at some point, but I've got no real idea how to do that.

I raise my right fist as I walk down the corridor.

"Ring, contact Controller Hinon."

Nothing happens for a moment, then a sort of static-laden crackling construct appears. That… Might be Hinon, I suppose.

"Controller Hin-"

The image collapses.

"-on?"

Now, radio communication works fine. I was able to notify Guy what had happened without any difficulty. Is range a problem? It shouldn't be. The orange light? Did the contamination get further than I though? Don't know, don't know. I can't just ask Guy to try with his ring because they're blocked from long range communication by the Guardians due to the potential for Anti-Life contamination. Alan should-.

"Hey." Tuppence is waiting by the lift entrance, looking… Pensive? It's not a normal expression for her.

"Hello Tuppence. How have you been?"

Her eyes narrow lightly. "What's that suppose ta mean?"

"It means you've been stuck in an environment with the Anti-Life for a prolonged period of time and I'm concerned about you."

She holds my gaze suspiciously for a moment before looking away. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Ah. Do you want me to put a privacy shield up?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Is Thomas alright?"

She shakes her head again, but her face come up to meet my eyes again. "Nah, he's fahn. Last I saw him, anyways. Lahks bein' a heero."

"And you?"

"Got a voice in mah head, tellin' me ah'm a simple-minded killuh. An' ah don't think it's wrong. Only thing that troubled me 'boud this whole thang is when ah couldn't kill someone."

And I can see the need in her. Now that she's started talking, she wants to keep going, to unburden herself.

"Why don't we.. go to my quarters, where we can get some privacy? I can even magic up some of that cold tea you people like so much?"

 

15th February 2013
09:03 GMT -5

I dumped Volgar Zo's personal effects into the hold of the ship that we gave them to fly home with, minus anything that might contain useful data. As a result it's bare walls, bare bed and a bare desk and that's about it. Matter transmutation with a yellow ring appears to be more difficult than it was with orange rings, but with a little effort I manage to produce a glass containing a cool brown liquid.

Tuppence takes it, not looking entirely convinced.

"Sorry, new power ring."

"You ain't gaht no beer?"

"I could look around the pantry. The Dhorians do drink alcohol, I'm just not sure how it tastes to the human palate."

She shrugs, looking for somewhere to sit. I gesture to the desk chair, making a construct chair for myself.

"So…"

"What happened t'that..? Gong.. thing."

"Teleported to a Justice League holding centre before the first of Luthor's people came up." She frowns, confused. "Luthor's involved in quite a lot of criminal activity, and has been intelligent enough that it's been quite hard to prove any of it in court."

"Lex.. Luthor?" She frowns. "Y'all sayin' he's a criminal?"

"No, as I said, he hasn't been convicted of a crime."

She clearly doesn't get it.

"Alright, see, there's overt crimes, like those you and your brother committed, where no one's in any doubt that you're the ones who did them. You might outrun the pursuit, but if you ever got caught then you'd get convicted. Same with the Sivanas; Doctor Sivana Senior might try and hide what he was doing in a particular place and time, but he's generally perfectly happy for everyone to know that it was him who unleashed that giant robot. Then there's covert crimes, where something happens and it's not clear who did it, or even if it was criminal in the first place. For example, an elected official having a consultancy fee paid to an off-shore holding company they own and are the sole employee of for work relating to their district."

"Whut?"

"Okay, so an elected official probably shouldn't accept money for work for companies in their constituency, because it makes it look like they're taking a bribe. And when they get paid money it 'should' be paid to them and taxed at the appropriate rate, but if it gets paid to a non-US company then it's possible to avoid quite a lot of tax. And best of all, neither are necessarily illegal and both are quite lucrative. Especially when you compare them to the risks and rewards associated with smash-and-grab jobs."

"So he's secret-. Not-caught-yet criminal?"

"Yes."

She frowns. "What's he dun?"

"He's tried to have Superman murdered a dozen times or so. Plenty of financial chicanery, which may not sound impressive but it's made him a great deal of money. We're reasonably sure he was involved in that mass child murder thing a few years ago, though that connection's a little more tenuous. But I… Fear that we're getting away from the point."

She looks away, takes a sip of tea and then pulls a face before putting the glass down.

"I didn't lihk bein' froze up by th' gong."

"Yeah, I… I hate being powerless, too."

"Y'all gaht out of it."

"True, but it was a near thing. I don't think it would have worked if Icicle wasn't there."

She looks at me incredulously. "Yeah. Raht."

"No, seriously. I'm nothing like as good with a yellow ring as I am with orange rings. I could have frozen that whole room and been stuck there until I died. From dehydration." Hm. "Actually, I don't know it if would have stopped me recharging my ring, so it's possible that I would have stayed alive on an increasingly empty starship while Eiling, Icicle and Kadabra died of asphyxiation or dehydration."

Her face falls slightly.

"But they wouldn't have done that to you. They wanted to use you as a weapon. There wouldn't be any point in killing you."

"Ah ain't.. immortal. Raht?"

"That's correct. You can live a very long time and in good health, but you're not immortal. All of Hugo Danner's original Sons of Dawn died."

"'cause they got sick."

"Yes."

"Ah've bin in a lotta faghts. Got hurt sometimes." She looks away for a moment. "But ah ain't never been… Just… Stuck."

I nod sympathetically. "Not a lot of fun, feeling powerless. Especially when you're.. used to being able to change things."

She sort of nods and shrugs at the same time.

"Ah know the voice is… Anti-Life. We all geht it. Ah even… Talk ta Tommy abowt it, some."

"About being a weapon?" She nods. "We are… Basically using you as a weapon at the moment. I understand that helping people isn't really… Something that motivates you, but is there… Something that you want to.. do, outside of violence?"

"Dunno. Never thawt aboud it. An… Then ah… Ah nearly-. Ah felt like ah'd nevah get the choice."

"Now's not a great time for a voyage of self-discovery, but you nearly got pardoned after your last brush with heroism. This time it's a certainty. I can get you a tutor if you want to give school a try-. Kadabra's probably going to be busy learning magic."

"Ah ain't really one fer schoolin'."

"It was just a suggestion. And it could be different if you're doing it because you want to rather than because you're told to. I know that you're doing alright in Belle Reve's educational program. But hey, you can spend a few years smashing boats and seeing if anything appeals to you."

"How d'y'all stop a gamma gong?"

"If I knew how to block a gamma gong I wouldn't have been paralysed myself. Now that we've got one, I… When this is over, I could try having a look at it. Basically, I don’t know."

She nods. "An… Y'all know why Tommy gehts somethin' outta this an' ah don't?"

I shrug. "You're different people with different drives. Being able to protect people makes him feel good about himself. If you really don't feel the same way… Then… You don't. It might come when you expand your social circle outside of violent criminals, build actual social relationships… Or maybe you'd do better in an organised structure. Once you're free then you can volunteer for my organisation if you want. Heh, and if that doesn't work there are some mushrooms I can recommend."

She frowns, then shakes her head.

"Ah'm sayin' 'no'."

"Good call. Anything else you want to talk about right now?"

She shakes her head, getting up with her tea untouched after the initial sip. "Thanks."

"No problem. If you want to talk about anything, you know where I am."