Mr Zoat
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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- Tags
- self insert young justice
RoninSword
Sky God
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The gold power ring Lex himself did show up, but he showed up without a gold power ring. He wqs from that fanfic where he had been dosed with a variant of fear toxin to cause paranoid tendencies. Part of that fics Guardians trying to use Warth as essentially a weapon storage location while using undercover manhunters to sabar9gw human advancement.
He showed up, looked for undercover manhuntets, couldn't find any, and then he never showed up again so who knows what happened to him. Left for a new parallel?
He showed up, looked for undercover manhuntets, couldn't find any, and then he never showed up again so who knows what happened to him. Left for a new parallel?
Codominion (part 5)
Mr Zoat
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15th April 2013
10:21 GMT -5
Well this brings back memories.
Bleez awkwardly tries to navigate the bayou foliage in the air, mud still dripping off her boots where she briefly gave up and tried walking. Donna waves around a broken branch as she channels Gaea's magic to try and work out where Swamp Thing is hiding. Kara-
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
-is busy flying around checking his abandoned bodies, which will at least make this faster than the first time we tried this.
Pamela and Euanthe aren't interested in helping with farming, but South America will have enough fruiting plants to ensure that starvation shouldn't be an issue. Though reclaiming land… Might be. I don't know, maybe I'm just too set in my ways to accept shamanistic culture as an equal to material technological culture even in a world where it can be. Adrianna will similarly prevent starvation in North Africa, with enough produce left over to take the pressure off the Mediterranean basin and central Africa. Swamp Thing… Could be really helpful. Even if he's not prepared to go all-out, we could stop worrying about a significant chunk of the planet if he could do a little reforestation. Or design a super fruit or two for us.
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
"Kara! Kar-"
And she's right in front of me, arms folded behind her back and smile beaming.
"-a! Can you tell how old any of the bodies are? He's around here a lot."
"Um. Kind of? He makes magic-plants, and I don't really know how fast they break down or go mouldy? But you said in your report that he looked different last time you saw him because he had a computer plant-brain, and I haven't seen any computer plant-brain bodies."
"Drat."
Her eyes widen. "And double drat!"
"No, no, it's 'drat, drat, and double drat'."
"But then you've already got two drats."
"No one's calling Dick Dastardly a rational agent. Donna, anything?"
She shakes her head. "He's used so much green magic that this whole area is inundated with it. I couldn't tell you where he's been recently. Maybe… You should have asked for Zatanna."
"No, she's working on the Atlantis situation, Garth and Tula are inside Atlantis and Robert is actually doing farm work. If you can't find him then you can't find him."
Super strength's lack of utility presenting a problem again. Donna did a remarkable job of keeping peoples' hopes up after the Broadcast as well as engaging and defeating the Justifiers without inflicting a single fatality, but there honestly isn't much she can do to help fix things in the aftermath. Which includes using Cronus's blessing on farmlands because apparently being ritually castrated messed up his ability to do anything… Generative.
"Did his wife say anything?"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
I shake my head. "Hasn't seen him since the Broadcast. Which isn't all that unusual because he sometimes loses track of things, except that he'd stopped doing that recently thanks to his newly functional brain. Might have been the fungoids, might have been the Anti-Life, might… Actually have been something entirely unrelated."
Bleez awkwardly drifts a little closer. "I don't think I understand how big a deal this is."
"We don't understand how big a deal this is. The Parliament of Trees has been missing since the Broadcast, but earthly plant life has carried on just fine."
I very vaguely remember something from the Hellblazer comics about the Parliament being killed, and Swamp Thing refusing to allow plants to regrow in the place they died because he was tired of them messing him about and wanted to make a point. It could.. be that there's no problem because Euanthe and Pamela are doing the required part of the job. Euanthe was clear that she didn't think the Parliamentarians died, and I assume that she could feel that.
"So..?"
"So a head of state being kidnapped doesn't necessarily cripple the state, but they're probably going to know a lot of things you don't really want their kidnappers to know, plus kidnappers aren't usually particularly nice people."
"Okay, so what is he?"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
"Once upon a time, there was a man named Doctor Alec Holland. His life's work was the creation of a formula which would allow plants to grow in extremely adverse conditions. For that, he was repeatedly shot, doused in his own work, set on fire and then…"
Huh. That could work.
"'And then'..?"
"And then thrown into the swamp where he died. Then the semi-conscious magical world of plants copied his mind and created a new life form with that as its mind but with a body made of plant matter which it could control." I smile. "With me so far?"
"Why didn't they just use..? Him? If he was trying to help plants…"
"Because apparently that's not how it works, and I don't know anyone who wants to study a magical mechanism which involves burning someone to death. So he wandered around for a bit, survived John Constantine by being able to switch to new bodies due to being a magic energy based life form rather than an intelligent plant, killed the most evil man on the planet, married his niece, fought some other things and tried to make a life for himself." I sigh. "In theory, he should have been hit by the Anti-Life while the Parliament should have been at least a little insulated due to not being in the material universe. But it looks like something else happened to them."
Bleez frowns thoughtfully. "Does Thanagar have a Parliament of Trees?"
"Probably not. As I understand it, your thaumosphere is weaker than ours. You might have had a single weak plant god, but I imagine that the Seven Devils would have taken action to prevent a consciousness like that emerging."
"Can we borrow one of yours like we did Vulcan?"
Huh. Um.
"That might be possible, if your plant life is similar enough to ours for them to be compatible. I'm not sure they'd want to go, though. If we track them down, you're free to-"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Full!"
"-ask."
The water in front of me erupts as Kara throws… A man-shaped mass into it.
"Found him!"
Ah. Well, that was simple enough. "Swamp Thing?"
The mass under the water moves slowly towards us, head breaking the surface-.
Hunched back, and a head that merges into the torso. Swamp Thing hasn't ever used a body that shape.
"Who am I talking to?"
Weakly yellow-glowing eyes take us in, what little emotion I can see in the face suggesting uncertainty.
"Can you understand me?"
The creature stops, focusing on me a little. "Yes. Around here they used to call me the Good Gumbo Man. When I was human… No. The human I was made from, he was called Alexander Olsen."
"Swamp Thing? The Parliament? What happened?"
"Ah yes. That. Nothing good, I'm afraid."
10:21 GMT -5
Well this brings back memories.
Bleez awkwardly tries to navigate the bayou foliage in the air, mud still dripping off her boots where she briefly gave up and tried walking. Donna waves around a broken branch as she channels Gaea's magic to try and work out where Swamp Thing is hiding. Kara-
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
-is busy flying around checking his abandoned bodies, which will at least make this faster than the first time we tried this.
Pamela and Euanthe aren't interested in helping with farming, but South America will have enough fruiting plants to ensure that starvation shouldn't be an issue. Though reclaiming land… Might be. I don't know, maybe I'm just too set in my ways to accept shamanistic culture as an equal to material technological culture even in a world where it can be. Adrianna will similarly prevent starvation in North Africa, with enough produce left over to take the pressure off the Mediterranean basin and central Africa. Swamp Thing… Could be really helpful. Even if he's not prepared to go all-out, we could stop worrying about a significant chunk of the planet if he could do a little reforestation. Or design a super fruit or two for us.
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
"Kara! Kar-"
And she's right in front of me, arms folded behind her back and smile beaming.
"-a! Can you tell how old any of the bodies are? He's around here a lot."
"Um. Kind of? He makes magic-plants, and I don't really know how fast they break down or go mouldy? But you said in your report that he looked different last time you saw him because he had a computer plant-brain, and I haven't seen any computer plant-brain bodies."
"Drat."
Her eyes widen. "And double drat!"
"No, no, it's 'drat, drat, and double drat'."
"But then you've already got two drats."
"No one's calling Dick Dastardly a rational agent. Donna, anything?"
She shakes her head. "He's used so much green magic that this whole area is inundated with it. I couldn't tell you where he's been recently. Maybe… You should have asked for Zatanna."
"No, she's working on the Atlantis situation, Garth and Tula are inside Atlantis and Robert is actually doing farm work. If you can't find him then you can't find him."
Super strength's lack of utility presenting a problem again. Donna did a remarkable job of keeping peoples' hopes up after the Broadcast as well as engaging and defeating the Justifiers without inflicting a single fatality, but there honestly isn't much she can do to help fix things in the aftermath. Which includes using Cronus's blessing on farmlands because apparently being ritually castrated messed up his ability to do anything… Generative.
"Did his wife say anything?"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
I shake my head. "Hasn't seen him since the Broadcast. Which isn't all that unusual because he sometimes loses track of things, except that he'd stopped doing that recently thanks to his newly functional brain. Might have been the fungoids, might have been the Anti-Life, might… Actually have been something entirely unrelated."
Bleez awkwardly drifts a little closer. "I don't think I understand how big a deal this is."
"We don't understand how big a deal this is. The Parliament of Trees has been missing since the Broadcast, but earthly plant life has carried on just fine."
I very vaguely remember something from the Hellblazer comics about the Parliament being killed, and Swamp Thing refusing to allow plants to regrow in the place they died because he was tired of them messing him about and wanted to make a point. It could.. be that there's no problem because Euanthe and Pamela are doing the required part of the job. Euanthe was clear that she didn't think the Parliamentarians died, and I assume that she could feel that.
"So..?"
"So a head of state being kidnapped doesn't necessarily cripple the state, but they're probably going to know a lot of things you don't really want their kidnappers to know, plus kidnappers aren't usually particularly nice people."
"Okay, so what is he?"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Empty!"
"Once upon a time, there was a man named Doctor Alec Holland. His life's work was the creation of a formula which would allow plants to grow in extremely adverse conditions. For that, he was repeatedly shot, doused in his own work, set on fire and then…"
Huh. That could work.
"'And then'..?"
"And then thrown into the swamp where he died. Then the semi-conscious magical world of plants copied his mind and created a new life form with that as its mind but with a body made of plant matter which it could control." I smile. "With me so far?"
"Why didn't they just use..? Him? If he was trying to help plants…"
"Because apparently that's not how it works, and I don't know anyone who wants to study a magical mechanism which involves burning someone to death. So he wandered around for a bit, survived John Constantine by being able to switch to new bodies due to being a magic energy based life form rather than an intelligent plant, killed the most evil man on the planet, married his niece, fought some other things and tried to make a life for himself." I sigh. "In theory, he should have been hit by the Anti-Life while the Parliament should have been at least a little insulated due to not being in the material universe. But it looks like something else happened to them."
Bleez frowns thoughtfully. "Does Thanagar have a Parliament of Trees?"
"Probably not. As I understand it, your thaumosphere is weaker than ours. You might have had a single weak plant god, but I imagine that the Seven Devils would have taken action to prevent a consciousness like that emerging."
"Can we borrow one of yours like we did Vulcan?"
Huh. Um.
"That might be possible, if your plant life is similar enough to ours for them to be compatible. I'm not sure they'd want to go, though. If we track them down, you're free to-"
"Empty!" … "Empty!" … "Full!"
"-ask."
The water in front of me erupts as Kara throws… A man-shaped mass into it.
"Found him!"
Ah. Well, that was simple enough. "Swamp Thing?"
The mass under the water moves slowly towards us, head breaking the surface-.
Hunched back, and a head that merges into the torso. Swamp Thing hasn't ever used a body that shape.
"Who am I talking to?"
Weakly yellow-glowing eyes take us in, what little emotion I can see in the face suggesting uncertainty.
"Can you understand me?"
The creature stops, focusing on me a little. "Yes. Around here they used to call me the Good Gumbo Man. When I was human… No. The human I was made from, he was called Alexander Olsen."
"Swamp Thing? The Parliament? What happened?"
"Ah yes. That. Nothing good, I'm afraid."
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Ngamer11
Experienced.
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The fact that Swamp Thing's predecessor is active again is a big indicator that something big happened to both the Parliament of Trees and Swamp Thing. At least now that plot thread will be resolved soon.
moralrelativity
Recovering pendant.
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Lord Ernest
At the End...
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The heck is she doing back in school? Are the other members of the Team back in school as well? Why? With the current situation I would have expected an "all hands on deck" for the Justice League and its affiliates.
In the first place, how are schools back in operation? The government is in shambles but school administration isn't? There are places in danger of possible starvation and some others can just open their schools?
I don't know why but hearing schools being opened so soon after the world as we know it almost ended, figuratively speaking, doesn't sit right. Maybe I disliked my school too much.
Chojin Patriarch
Veteran Lurker
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Heh. What, the first time he went looking for Swamp Thing, with the Team lending a hand? At least this group is comprised of all fliers, so no need to worry about getting stuck in the mud.
Though in most cases, it's easier to tell his fresh bodies from his older ones. The latter are usually less green.
Now, whether he'd bother to do so for beings of the Red...
Sheesh. At least give a person some warning when you practically teleport like that.
...How big a difference could it make? He's not going to have, say, a giant exposed mass of brain.
Heh. She's learning to curse a little, eh? At least, in the family-safe kind of cursing old cartoons use.
At least they have taste. I still prefer Captain Haddock's method: String together various foreign-sounding words that at first sight look rude, but aren't.
Bit at odds and ends for magical support, eh? I suppose the mystical big guns of the league are busy elsewhere, of course.
Kind of fits with the myth, certainly.
Kara's almost like ASMR isn't she? Just a quiet background noise...
...Hmm. Is it possible he's gone walkabout off-planet. That's a thing he did in the comics.
Just because the engineers are asleep or missing, doesn't mean the engine will stop running (Fortunately, no deadman's switches here.) It might start to play up, but the Green can generally get on with things by itself.
Still, you can't rely on the two of them forever. Sooner or later, one or the other will grow old and pass on. Maybe they'll form the core of a new parliament, maybe not...
Such as the mechanics of elemental avatars.
Still going in the background, I see. Must be a lot of old bodies around.
OL, if you're thinking of recreating the original process, don't.
Given that each of the parliament's members were an animal transformed by fire, I suspect it was something of a tradition.
Which raises all manner of concerns.
If anything, I expect one of the Seven devils fills the role.
There's bound to be some amongst the many nature deities of Earth. And perhaps one or two might be willing to relocate temporarily in hopes of new worshippers...
Given that Swamp Thing was able to build a body on a planet of techno-organic creatures... It's possible? Heh. Wonder if that world was anything like Cybertron in its more psuedo-organic variations...
I hope he's not too upset by the manhandling.
Wonder how she told it apart form the rest? Something about the 'liveliness' of the plant matter? At least one variation of Kryptonians could see life energies...
It sounds more simian than humanoid. Does it walk on all fours with the knuckles?
Well, given he appeared to be napping when Kara so rudely hauled him out of his garden-bed...
Interesting.
Drat, drat and double drat.
Well, that's an ominous statement to end a segment on. Hopefully he'll explain himself tomorrow, though looking at his background, he may struggle to find the right words for a little bit. So, then: Bets on what happened? Mass ego-suicide by the parliament thanks to Anti-Life? Catatonic state induced by it? Or a war with the Red or the Grey within the mystical realms they inhabit, perhaps...
The water in front of me erupts as Kara throws… A man-shaped mass into it.
Darko
Connoisseur.
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Manheim did have Black Orchid as a prisoner and was doing something to her.
Maybe he used her to infect the Green.
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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Thank you, corrected.
Learning stuff.
Most of them.
Doing what? They were all in the field while Mannheim ruled the world, but 'societal breakdown' isn't something that you can punch in the face. The only one it would really make sense to take out of school to help with that is Beryl.
Yes. While most countries today have a comprehensive education system controlled by the national government, it's perfectly possible to have schools run on their own. National government isn't anything like as essential as it like you to think that it is.
A school needs teachers and children. The teachers probably need to be paid, but they usually don't care who signs the cheques. Anything else might be useful but is unnecessary.
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thebishop8
Umm, ackchyually...
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The title of the episode being Codominion makes me wonder if the Dominators are involved, but I don't feel strongly about that guess.
Here's a better one: Anton Arcane. He's still unaccounted for as a prisoner missing from the Tower of Fate. We've even had Cranius show up this episode, which makes this guess feel a little stronger.
Here's a better one: Anton Arcane. He's still unaccounted for as a prisoner missing from the Tower of Fate. We've even had Cranius show up this episode, which makes this guess feel a little stronger.
Neruz
HISSSSSS!
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I would assume because there was no actual sign of anything going wrong; plants were still growing and the environment was still operating as intended, therefore there wasn't really any rush to address the issue.
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CTrees
Chasing the ring
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Their computers are involved, at least. Dominator malware infecting Alec Holland before the anti-life? He did apparently use the computer to make himself smarter.
Chaoswind
Lord of nonsense
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This is true in both the renegade and the paragon timelines, even if the details of how it was done are slightly different.
BartlettMagic
peekaboo, you fucks you!
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oh boy, a Swamp Thing story. how exciting! probably one of my favorite aspects of this fic.
insufferable
Mr Zoat
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Are you sure?
Oh. Okay. Let me change that...
Ardy
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Also, what's up with mercury, er the mercury shadow/clone thing. Haven't seen her since their I'll-fated attempts to reach hades during the anti-life crisis
Ngamer11
Experienced.
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I see the change, but now there's a new error.
That should say 'situation'. Also, I don't remember if it was ever mentioned that Garth and Tula were in Atlantis when the Anti-Life Equation hit. Can anyone find any mention of this? As well as any mention on Aqualad's status?
Edit: I found the part that says Zatanna got her GED in the Paragon timeline, Episode 65: Converse, but I'm still not sure where it says she also did this in the Renegade timeline.
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Chaoswind
Lord of nonsense
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Renegade Zatanna became a goddess of magic and eventually took Grayven suggestion to download the entire school/college curriculum using genomorph telepahy (just like Paragon Zatanna), to save herself some time and focus on her god given nature.
God its been years since that entire thing was even plot relevant, I think when the negade dealth with the beast with no name that wanted to kill everyone.
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CrazyNoVa
Not too sore, are you?
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Oh, I think I might know a guy…
View: https://youtu.be/zDRUn_wvWWA
What is he talking about? Do I even want to know?
PDV
Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer
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extra l
RoninSword
Sky God
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Cranius has been very explicit about how Arcane is dead and not just imprisoned.
Remember in Justice Society International how he cheated with the first Canary? It looks like he got close to doing that but didnt actually in this parallel.
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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Who? The SI has a clone left and has no idea where it is, if that's what you mean.
Thank you, corrected.
RoninSword
Sky God
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Mercury created that sending rather then take 5 minutes to actually speak to Paul. Presumably it decided to stay in Otherworld since it already decided that it wasn't going to go back and merge with Mercury.
Mercury has presumably come to terms that part of her psyche isn't returning.
Chaoswind
Lord of nonsense
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He is talking about the hippie commune with the shaman lady that grew drugs.
She showed up when Paul was looking for fairy rings.
thebishop8
Umm, ackchyually...
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The plant computer Alec Holland was using was apparently designed independently of Dominator tech:
Being dead doesn't mean he can't show up, especially because he has before:
So, Nabu imprisoned Anton Arcane, Dark Druid, Onomatopoeia, Wizard, Blackbriar Thorn, and Felix Faust in the Tower of Fate. The latter three were infected with the Anti-Life and were their when Paul and Co. fought their way into the Tower and defeated John Quinn. Onomatopoeia showed up briefly while the Earth was Anti-Lifed before disappearing again. Anton Arcane and Dark Druid are still M.I.A.
CTrees
Chasing the ring
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Ah, looks like I misinterpreted the bit in Codominion 2 that mentioned Isley and Swamp Thing. In my defense, it's been almost two years since the chapter you quoted, and I forgot just how many different plant-based computers were independently designed in this story.
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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He did, but it was huge and inefficient. What he has now is much better.
Codominion (part 6)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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15th April 2013
10:26 GMT -5
"The oldest of us knew that the…" He unfocuses for a moment, raising his arms and growing leaves and garlands of vines. A human taking that posture would struggle to maintain it, but I suppose things are rather different for a tree.
He doesn't resume talking.
"Mister Gumbo Man?"
"Oh. Yes. I'm sorry. I've been a tree for so long that I've… Forgotten some things."
I glance at Donna, but she seems content to let me take the lead. "Like what?"
"How to be human. I've been a plant for longer than my memories tell me I was a man. Everyone I knew is long dead, now, feeding the roots. It feels natural to plant myself and watch the world. That is why Alec Holland was chosen. I struggle to move, but I can move slowly if I must."
Kara frowns. "Why did they pick you, then?"
"Speaking is something I remember where the rest of the Parliament has long forgotten. Choosing someone new on short notice would be too much of a risk."
I nod. "Not that many naturalists being burned to death." And… During that 'Sprout' mess, wasn't there someone random..? Bloke who got roped into it? "So where is Swamp Thing?" I frown. "And why aren't you going to Euanthe with this?"
"She is not one of us. She doesn't think like us. She does not share our responsibilities."
"But you don't work for a higher power. Do you?"
"Only the Green."
"Then aren't your responsibilities more.. self-appointed than anything?"
He stares at me blankly. "I suppose. But that doesn't mean that they're not important."
Literal jumped-up elementals. Marvellous. On the other hand, Swamp Thing has been nothing but helpful to me so far.
"And I don't know where Swamp Thing is. Before the Anti-Life spread across the Earth, the eldest of us called upon him to leave the physical world for a time. They were concerned that-."
"Wait a second." Donna holds up her right hand. "Are you saying that you knew that was going to happen?"
"I didn't. The eldest did. They dwell deeply within the roots of the world. Many things are known to-."
"And you didn't think about maybe telling the rest of us?"
"No. The affairs of meat are none of ours."
"And you thought that Swamp Thing was just going to abandon his wife?"
"It would have been better. He was powerless to protect anyone, and the creatures of the Grey nearly broke through."
"You're welcome, by the way."
"You helped them? Why?"
"No, I stopped them. I sent them back to their own realm."
"Oh." … "Thank you."
"So he couldn't cope with the Anti-Life, the fungoids attacked, and..?"
"He tried to flee, but he didn't arrive with us. We're not sure where he is."
"And the Parliament? Where are they?"
"Deep in the Green, repairing it and hiding it. The Anti-Life reached us, too."
I sigh. "They've already started work on a replacement, haven't they?"
Ah, that's new. I've never see a tree look sheepish before.
"Um."
"Is it called the Sprout? When we get Swamp Thing back, is the Parliament going to try and get him to eat it because they don't want two champions active at once? Again?"
Gumbo Man manages to frown in confusion. "Did one of the others get here first?"
"I read the script. Why are you even trying to get Swamp Thing back if you've already started on a replacement?"
His leaves waggle for a moment.
"Because we're vulnerable without him. It takes time to grow a new sprout. And because I like Swamp Thing, and he's not ready to move on from the material world yet."
"And the new Sprout?"
"The plant world is in constant conflict for water, soil and light. The sprout is just a bundle of green energy at the moment. Consuming it is perfectly natural. It may even make him stronger."
"That's up to him, though I doubt that he'll go for it. But you're sure that he vanished after the Anti-Life broadcast?"
"Yes."
"And you haven't heard from him since?"
"I have not. We have not."
"Did you see or feel anything that might let you know where he went?"
"No."
In the comics, Swamp Thing escaped being burned to death by the Sunderland Corporation while Lex Luthor's jammer prevented him from using floramancy by switching to a different 'frequency' and matching himself to alien plant life. If he's done that here, then we're going to need a serious magician to track him. Or we could just leave him; while it might be useful to have him around, it's not strictly essential.
Okay, it's not worth searching the galaxy, but if he's still in Sector 2814 then we should be able to find him. There are only so many planets with plant-like life.
"Do you at least know where he was when he left?"
"Oh. Yes."
"Can you take us there?"
He looks at me, and then down to where he's taken root.
Kara perks up. "No problem! I can pick up this whole-."
"Can you tell us where he was?"
"Yes. North of here. I will mark it out for you."
"In what-" His eyes dim and his tree-like body hardens. "-way." I sigh. "Kara, could you-?"
A blur as she flies away, and a blur as she flies back
"There's a really tall tree with really pretty flowers that wasn't there before."
"Then that's where we're going next."
10:26 GMT -5
"The oldest of us knew that the…" He unfocuses for a moment, raising his arms and growing leaves and garlands of vines. A human taking that posture would struggle to maintain it, but I suppose things are rather different for a tree.
He doesn't resume talking.
"Mister Gumbo Man?"
"Oh. Yes. I'm sorry. I've been a tree for so long that I've… Forgotten some things."
I glance at Donna, but she seems content to let me take the lead. "Like what?"
"How to be human. I've been a plant for longer than my memories tell me I was a man. Everyone I knew is long dead, now, feeding the roots. It feels natural to plant myself and watch the world. That is why Alec Holland was chosen. I struggle to move, but I can move slowly if I must."
Kara frowns. "Why did they pick you, then?"
"Speaking is something I remember where the rest of the Parliament has long forgotten. Choosing someone new on short notice would be too much of a risk."
I nod. "Not that many naturalists being burned to death." And… During that 'Sprout' mess, wasn't there someone random..? Bloke who got roped into it? "So where is Swamp Thing?" I frown. "And why aren't you going to Euanthe with this?"
"She is not one of us. She doesn't think like us. She does not share our responsibilities."
"But you don't work for a higher power. Do you?"
"Only the Green."
"Then aren't your responsibilities more.. self-appointed than anything?"
He stares at me blankly. "I suppose. But that doesn't mean that they're not important."
Literal jumped-up elementals. Marvellous. On the other hand, Swamp Thing has been nothing but helpful to me so far.
"And I don't know where Swamp Thing is. Before the Anti-Life spread across the Earth, the eldest of us called upon him to leave the physical world for a time. They were concerned that-."
"Wait a second." Donna holds up her right hand. "Are you saying that you knew that was going to happen?"
"I didn't. The eldest did. They dwell deeply within the roots of the world. Many things are known to-."
"And you didn't think about maybe telling the rest of us?"
"No. The affairs of meat are none of ours."
"And you thought that Swamp Thing was just going to abandon his wife?"
"It would have been better. He was powerless to protect anyone, and the creatures of the Grey nearly broke through."
"You're welcome, by the way."
"You helped them? Why?"
"No, I stopped them. I sent them back to their own realm."
"Oh." … "Thank you."
"So he couldn't cope with the Anti-Life, the fungoids attacked, and..?"
"He tried to flee, but he didn't arrive with us. We're not sure where he is."
"And the Parliament? Where are they?"
"Deep in the Green, repairing it and hiding it. The Anti-Life reached us, too."
I sigh. "They've already started work on a replacement, haven't they?"
Ah, that's new. I've never see a tree look sheepish before.
"Um."
"Is it called the Sprout? When we get Swamp Thing back, is the Parliament going to try and get him to eat it because they don't want two champions active at once? Again?"
Gumbo Man manages to frown in confusion. "Did one of the others get here first?"
"I read the script. Why are you even trying to get Swamp Thing back if you've already started on a replacement?"
His leaves waggle for a moment.
"Because we're vulnerable without him. It takes time to grow a new sprout. And because I like Swamp Thing, and he's not ready to move on from the material world yet."
"And the new Sprout?"
"The plant world is in constant conflict for water, soil and light. The sprout is just a bundle of green energy at the moment. Consuming it is perfectly natural. It may even make him stronger."
"That's up to him, though I doubt that he'll go for it. But you're sure that he vanished after the Anti-Life broadcast?"
"Yes."
"And you haven't heard from him since?"
"I have not. We have not."
"Did you see or feel anything that might let you know where he went?"
"No."
In the comics, Swamp Thing escaped being burned to death by the Sunderland Corporation while Lex Luthor's jammer prevented him from using floramancy by switching to a different 'frequency' and matching himself to alien plant life. If he's done that here, then we're going to need a serious magician to track him. Or we could just leave him; while it might be useful to have him around, it's not strictly essential.
Okay, it's not worth searching the galaxy, but if he's still in Sector 2814 then we should be able to find him. There are only so many planets with plant-like life.
"Do you at least know where he was when he left?"
"Oh. Yes."
"Can you take us there?"
He looks at me, and then down to where he's taken root.
Kara perks up. "No problem! I can pick up this whole-."
"Can you tell us where he was?"
"Yes. North of here. I will mark it out for you."
"In what-" His eyes dim and his tree-like body hardens. "-way." I sigh. "Kara, could you-?"
A blur as she flies away, and a blur as she flies back
"There's a really tall tree with really pretty flowers that wasn't there before."
"Then that's where we're going next."
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