[Archive] With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

25th July
16:33 GMT -5

Making most things is easy when you have a power ring. But most things I make aren't much easier to make, Kon's inner ear being the obvious exception. When I bake, a construct whisk is a little better than an electric whisk, but the main advantage is that you can hold a conversation at the same time due to the lack of noise, not that the whisking gets done any faster.

Making ice cream on the other hand becomes ridiculously easy. Though the first stage is the same as doing it the normal way, the cooling and freezing is much faster when you can play around with thermodynamics without having to wait for a comparatively inefficient freezer to do the cooling. The gooseberry ice cream that we'll be having with the chocolate pudding later is floating in a freezer construct in the middle of the kitchen, simultaneously being solidified and whisked.

Turns out that as a long time bachelor… No, that isn't right, he was married… Widower? Does it count if the marriage was annulled? Whatever, a single man. As a long time single man Alan is quite a good cook, and has many years' barbecue experience. The main course today is a selection of marinated chicken parts, sweet corn and vegetable skewers. I think that the last part is a concession to me, given my distaste for salad. He's in the back garden now setting it up.

I can't put the chocolate pudding together until it's cooking time plus fifteen minutes before we want to eat it. A strobe of orange light has already cleaned the surfaces and the few physical utensils I've used. Really cuts down on washing up duty. Sticking a lid on things that you're whisking is pretty useful as well. Alan told me that he'd never thought to use his ring for such mundane matters, but that having seen me do it he could see the benefit.

Ding dong.

"I'll get it!"

I deposit the frozen ice cream into a large bowl, cover it with cling film and put it in the freezer section of the kitchen fridge. Then I walk to the door and open it. Diana's wearing a pale cream blouse and dark blue trousers. A flicker of OrangeVision reveals that she's wearing her armoured bustier underneath and has her bracers and tiara in her handbag. Standing just behind her, wearing blue jeans and a red t-shirt with some sort of gold-coloured bird across the chest, is Troia. I smile. Need to thank Wallace for cluing me in.

"Hello! Come on in, Alan's just setting up."

"Thank you, Paul." I step back into the hallway and she steps forwards across the threshold. My eyes flick to Donna's and I smile a little more. "Paul, this is-."

"Donna Troy, aka 'Troia'." I extend my left hand as she comes into the house. After a momentary pause she takes it. "Orange Lantern two eight one four. You already know my name."

She isn't wearing her -I presume armoured- costume.

"Hello." Her face is in neutral. Not sure whether she's making an effort to be reasonable, or if Diana gave her enough notice for the shock to have worn off.

Might as well ask… "When'd you find out about me?"

Her eyes move to Diana for a moment. "Yesterday."

She doesn't sound happy about it.

"If it's any consolation I only found out about you a few hours ago."

"What?"

And suddenly I can't move my hand. Super strength demonstrated at close quarters in this way is alarming in the same way Wallace's bursts of speed are. You're forced to confront the fact that you are dealing with someone who isn't playing by the same rules as you. I noticeably outmuscle her, but unless I use the ring my hand is not moving.

"You haven't seen any of the news footage of all the times Diana and I fought together?"

"I've been here three weeks, and I've mostly been researching supervillains, not heroes. Did a quick search to see if there was a Wonder Girl, but, um…"

She releases my hand. Her eyes move to the side, her hands on her hips. Alright, so she's clearly not okay with me. "The Ares-worshipping cult in Utah?"

I shrug. "Sorry."

"The Sirens off the coast of Michigan?"

"Um, look, I've been-"

"What about the time Doctor Psycho took the entirety of Staten Island hostage?"

Doctor Edgar Cizko is a scary little man. I've actually read up on that mission, but I think she was listed as 'other League assets'. Probably not the best angle to take.

"Have you heard of Accomplished Perfect Physician? Or John Constantine?"

She pauses for a moment, brow furrowing slightly. "No. Who are they?"

"The first is a super… Well, in China they call them super-functionaries. You've never heard of him because China doesn't like people with super powers and independent turns of mind. The second is a notable member of London's magic scene. I think Mister Zatara knows him. Knows of him, anyway."

"Your point being?"

"I'm very new at this. There's a lot of things I don't know. You, are one of those things, and I'm not saying-." She goes to interrupt but I plough on, hands making the praying gesture. "I'm not saying what you've done isn't important. It is. I'm just saying, it's a big world with lots of stuff in it and you're one of the things I haven't got round to finding out about yet."

Her arms cross at her chest, weight shifted back. "… Fine."

Diana tries to ease the tension. "Paul, is Alan in the garden?"

"Er, yes, he's setting up the barbecue. Said something about using the right types of wood?"

"Very well. Donna, shall we?"

She holds out an arm and waits until a slightly hesitant Donna walks past her down the hallway towards the back door. I guess she's been here before. Diana waits for a moment. "Paul, I didn't tell you about her because-."

"You wanted to be sure I could be trusted before introducing me to your apprentice. I'm not offended. It's a perfectly sensible thing to do."

"That was part of it, to start with, but… Really, I assumed that you'd have found out by now. After all…" She makes circles with her hands and raises them to her eyes. "She doesn't even wear a tiny mask."

She lowers her hands, and with a smile in my direction follows Donna out the back. I stand stock-still. I'm not surprised that the mountain has cameras. I'm not even all that surprised that she saw the recording of me talking to Wallace. What I can't quite get my head around, is…

Did I just get trolled by Wonder Woman?

 

25th July
16:49 GMT -5

"I'm somewhat curious, what made you choose the Latin version of your surname as your code name?"

"You introduced yourself as Orange Lantern. You can't be worried about secrecy."

I shrug. "Out and proud. Plus, I can't say my actual name without choking. Robin had to print it on business cards, makes me look like a complete ponce when I hand them out. I thought.. secrecy was the name of the game around here?"

I planned to stay in the kitchen for ten minutes or so while Diana and Donna said hello to Alan. Give Donna a chance to calm down a bit. But from what I could see Diana said something to her and, after standing still for a moment, she came back inside and I had to pretend that I'd been doing something about pudding so I wouldn't have to explain why I hadn't followed them out. At the moment she's leaning against the wall on the other side of the room, arms still crossed.

"I'm not that recognizable. Apparently."

"Yeah, but all it would take would be a tourist with a camera posting a picture online. Then, someone uses some facial recognition software…"

"Most fights Diana and I get into are either too far away from people for it to be a problem, or I'm moving too fast to give them a good picture. Besides, have you any idea how dangerous it is to fight that close to people?"

Ah!

"Yes, actually. My first supervillain fight in Happy Harbour-."

"Which I've never heard of."

Touché.

"Right, well. We're fighting a robot that can throw tornados, and he's decided to level the seafront. By the time we got there, he was throwing boats around and he'd crushed a couple of houses. Was a big wake up call for me."

"Wait. Tornado robot? Like Red Tornado?"

"Same tech, different guy. We checked."

"And who's 'we'?"

I pause for a moment. This is Donna Troy. I know I can trust her, and it sounded like Wallace knows her, but I should probably stick to code names. "Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and myself."

She looks puzzled. "No Speedy?"

"Kid Flash told me that he wasn't keen on joining the kiddy team."

"And you are?"

"I need the training too much to be precious about it."

She looks off to the side again. "I didn't even know that Superman had a sidekick."

"He… Doesn't. He has a partial clone that Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash broke out of a lab. Oh, and they really hate the 'S' word."

She looks back at me, one eye squinting. "What do they call themselves, then?"

"Apprentices. Students. Partners."

"And you're okay with being Diana's sidekick?"

"Well.. I.. I.. would be, but I'm not." I gesture towards her. "You are. I've only been on actual combat missions with her a couple of times, and she hasn't really let me do anything. I think she's mostly leaving my training to the team, and whoever the League assigns to us."

"Oh. I'd assumed you were…"

"What? No! No. I mean, she might start taking me out on missions once the school term starts and the team can't get together on missions as often."

"Planning on skipping school?"

Huh?

"I've finished full time education. Also-" I raise my left hand palm forwards and point to the ring. "-I have a job."

"What's the pay like?"

I make a finger clicking gesture with my right hand and call a gold coin forth from subspace. "'S alright. Benefits are pretty good too."

"The Orange Lantern Corps pays you in gold?"

"No, but outside work I can use the ring for whatever I want. And what I want includes enough asteroid mining that I never have to worry about money again."

"And this is what you want out of life?" She stands up and paces a circuit of her side of the room. "You actually want to be a full time superhero. All the things you could do and that's what you picked?"

Hm. Interesting point, actually. Once I knew I could charge the ring I just sort of assumed that this is what I'd do. I intend to do things a little differently from the norm once I get enough experience to know what I'm doing, but I never questioned that ring equals superhero. I wouldn’t have a problem with some theoretical future member of my Corps using their ring solely for engineering or chirurgery, but I never considered that for myself. Have I been memetically programmed by years of comic books and cartoons?

Answer honestly.

"It's what I want to do at the moment. Once my year's up, then there might be something else I want to pursue."

She stops and looks at me again. "Why a year?"

Oh. Haven't actually told anyone about that.

"The only way I could think of to get Diana to take me on was to swear an oath to Gaea that I'd do what I was told. And if I hadn't, Alan probably wouldn't have given me his lantern. The oath lasts a year, so any other plans I might have are on hold until then."

"Oh." A frown. "You didn't have your own lantern?"

"Nope. I brought the ring, though."

"What do your parents think about this?"

I'm not sure what they'd think. Mum said that she'd disown me if I joined the army. Not sure this counts. After three weeks she'd probably be too relieved to hear from me to care.

"Didn't Diana say? I come from a parallel universe. I have no way to contact my parents."

"A parallel universe?"

Warding gesture. "If my story didn't check out, I'd've been truth lassoed by now."

Her eyes drop. "Oh. I'm… I'm sorry to hear that. About your parents, I mean."

"I prefer to think of this as an opportunity. No point dwelling on things I can't change."

"No, I suppose not."

 

25th July
18:56 GMT -5

"…with my last year of high school coming up, I haven't been able to spend as much time with Diana as I'd have liked."

We’re out in the garden. Alan had a wooden trestle table in his garage and I gave it a ring clean before we sat down. Dinner was good, and pudding is in the oven. I nearly made a bit of a faux pas when I completely ignored the dip stuff Alan had prepared, but I spotted it in time. Only ended up putting a teaspoon's worth of each on my plate, and I tasted them very gingerly. When they noticed, Donna laughed out loud and Diana was covering her smile with her left hand.

"That's a commendably far-sighted attitude, Donna. I didn’t start as Green Lantern until I was in my twen'ies."

Alan opened a bottle of wine for himself and Diana. Donna's having coke -I didn't recognise the brand- and I'm drinking milk. Their choice of tipple prompted a brief discussion about the differences in alcohol consumption laws in Britain and the US. I don't think they believed me when I said that the youngest age it's legal to drink in Britain is five. I have trouble believing that it's twenty one in the US, and Alan admitted that it doesn't make much sense. Also, I was surprised to learn that squash is basically unknown in the US. Must remember to check whether Ribena here still uses the gloriously sugar filled recipe that they used in my childhood, or the bland one they use now.

"Well, my parents pretty much insisted. But I do think they're right."

So, no Troia on the team until at least the end of the next school year, which if memory serves correctly is in May or June. Maybe I could persuade her to spend some time on the base before the school year starts?

"Do you have any plans for what you want to do when you finish high school?"

I'm a bit surprised that Diana hasn't talked about that with her before.

"College, I guess. I haven't really thought much about it."

I can't think of any obvious ways to make money using her power set. Boxing, maybe? Cargo transportation? I hesitate to suggest modelling, though I suppose she could. Strength and toughness just aren't very haxable powers. I certainly don't remember what she did employment-wise in the comics. Maybe she could try actual law enforcement? There must be some sort of Federal agency that hires metahumans for that sort of work.

"What about you, Paul? Any plans for your future?"

I've been quiet for too long and Alan's spotted it.

I raise my left hand, and point to the ring with my right index finger. "I'm a Sector Lantern. As far as I'm concerned, that's a full time job. I haven't even been to Mars yet, let alone any of the other inhabited worlds in this sector. I'm not going to bother trying to create a cover identity and I'm certainly not interested in mundane employment."

"The League could set up a cover identity for you."

"Diana, I appreciate the offer, but it wouldn't work. I mean, I think I was careful on the way over here but there's no way I could live like that full time. All respect to the two of you-" I wave at Donna and Alan. "-for being able to do it, but I'd be climbing the walls."

I fork some courgette and a small piece of chicken, dab it into the.. yellow.. goo.. stuff, and then put it in my mouth. I'm not sure whether to credit Alan's skill as a chef or the ring for augmenting my sense of taste, but this is great stuff.

Diana and Alan share a glance. Oh dear.

"Alan tells me that he offered you the chance to move in here full time."

My mouth is full, but I nod.

"Would you mind telling me why you turned him down? Mount Justice isn't exactly homey."

I wave a fork for a moment, then swallow. "I am grateful for the offer. But, fact is, I'm an Orange Lantern. My ability to assist my team mates in combat is directly proportional to my, um, my level of emotional engagement with them. The orange ring runs on selfishness, so I've been training myself to want what they want, to identify success for the team with success for me. If I spend more time away from them, it hinders that."

"I was impressed when I read the report of you healing Superboy's ears."

Donna looks interested. Ohhhhh… "What happened to Superboy's ears?"

"During the fight with Mister Twister -that robot I mentioned?- I used a sonic weapon construct. Those… Really don't mix well with super hearing." Donna winces, and Alan looks concerned. "When we got back, I read up on Kryptonian physiology, and I was able to rebuild the parts of his inner ear which I'd destroyed. I could do that because it was my fault, and I really wanted to undo my mistake. I can't just pop down to the local hospital and start healing people."

"He's alright now?"

I look at Donna. "Yeah. Better, actually. The only Kryptonian whose details were on record was Superman, so Kon's hearing is now exactly as good as his."

"Kon?"

"Oh, right. Superboy didn't have a name when Kaldur and co. broke him out of Cadmus. He picked Kon-El last week."

Diana sits back, and blinks heavily twice.

"I was meaning to ask, actually. I know you can't commit to the team full time, but is there any chance you could pop by before the end of the school summer holiday? I'm sure Kon would appreciate having someone in his own weight class to spar with."

"You're not in his class?"

"Not in his weight class, no. I can block his attacks okay, but I'm a ranged fighter. And, completely unskilled at hand to hand combat. He just finds sparring with me annoying."

She looks to Diana for approval. After a moment she gets a small nod, and looks back to me. "I.. still.. don't know when I'll be able to make it. But thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. Kon punches like a speeding locomotive."

"I'll manage." She's smiling at me for the first time since we met. If I'd have known that offering her a sparring match would brighten up her day I'd have volunteered myself.

"Anyone else want that last skewer?"

I think the ring can cope with transmuting whatever I eat. I'm not sure that I even need a digestive system any more, as long as I wear it. But if I stuff myself full of things I think of as unhealthy my self concept might change. Pretty sure barbecue vegetable skewers are safe, though. I get three negatives and put it on my plate. Donna's smile turns into a smirk.

"You know you said that your ring only helps people you care about?"

I hastily swallow a bit of pepper. "Yes?"

"If you could rebuild his entire ear, you must care about Kon a lot."

!Kon is mine!

"I do. He's quite important to me."

"I think you've spent more time talking about him than your other team mates combined."

I shrug. "I've spent more time with him and M'gann than the others. Living in the mountain, and with Kaldur spending time off with King Orin."

She's smiling more. Should I be worried?

"You haven't been talking about M'gann as much."

"She's more… Self sufficient? She finds Earth society fascinating. Kon… Needs me more. He doesn't have much social experience, hasn't seen much of the world for himself. He thinks of himself as a weapon, and mopes if he goes too long without a mission or mission related task. Even more than the others do. He idolises Superman, who won't give him the time of day… I guess.. I.. like being needed. He just gets so frustrated sometimes… I want to help him become a fully functional person, make him happy. I've been trying to find things for us to do together… That reminds me, what's happening with those plant samples we got from Swamp Thing's place?"

Diana pauses a moment. "Batman.. has.. people working on it."

There's a 'ping' from the kitchen. "Oh, excuse me, I have to go and check on that."

As I leave the garden I hear Donna say: "I guess that explains why he was staring at your armor when you first met."

"Donna, that's not helpful."

 

3rd August
07:36 GMT -5

"So, yeah, I get where she was coming from. She tells Wonder Woman that she's not going to be able to work with her for a year, then a couple of weeks later I turn up."

Kon and I are on an early morning walk through Metropolis. Not completely sure what he wants from the trip. He seems to know his way around; Metropolis doesn't quite have the rigid grid of Manhattan but he's leading the way just fine. Since this is Superman's home town perhaps Cadmus included route maps in his programming? He certainly hasn't been here before in person. Maybe he's trying to reconcile what he knows with what he's seen?

No sign of Superman himself. I could do a scan for him, but this is Kon's thing. I don't want to risk harming the relationship he clearly wants to build with his… Okay, not father exactly, but I don't have a better word to describe the male source of half of someone's genes.

"It wasn't like you were waiting for her to leave."

"Not the point. She was feeling bad about the decision, and then I appeared and she had something to focus her bad feelings at."

We're walking near what the ring informs me is the Metro-Narrows Bridge. Bit of an odd name, but then I used to live in a place called Hampden Park.

Used to live. I've pretty much accepted at this point that I'm not going home anytime soon. I haven't definitely decided that I don't want to as yet, but I'm leaning towards concluding-my-life-there and holiday visits only, rather than moving back full time. I have no way to know whether the ring would work back home, and I am completely sure that I wouldn't move back without it.

"Can you… Hear that?" Kon's stopped walking. He's looking at the ground and squinting, turning his head from side to side.

"No, but if you can describe it to me I can probably scan for it."

"I don't know…" He stops trying to listen, and peers at the bridge. From what I've been able to tell Kryptonian eyes do some sort of gravity lensing thing to enable long distance vision. When active, Kon's focus becomes extremely narrow. He's basically blind apart from the thing he's looking at, and he gets a headache if you stick something in the way close to his eyes.

"Ring, scan the bridge. Report structural anomalies or explosives."

"Structural weakness detected in suspension cables around south western pylon. No significant explosives detected."

"When you say 'weakness', what-."

Oh no.

Kon's already moving as in the distance I watch two suspension cables part company with the suspender cable and slam into the road. Only pure luck prevents them from smashing into one of the vehicles and I'm not a bystander, god damn it!

Kon gets a momentary surprise as I grab him mid leap and then we're both at the site of the accident. A yellow school bus and a couple of cars have swerved to a halt near where the cables are lying. I'm momentarily puzzled as to why the cables' own weight hasn't dragged them over the edge, but then I'm no structural engineer. The front end of the bus is slightly up on the rim of the bridge, but pulling it back shouldn't be much trouble. Then a LexCorp lorry that couldn't brake in time shunts it, pushing the bus further over the rim and going out of control itself. The lorry and another white car that had managed to avoid the bus veer across the road and slam into the crash barrier.

Time to make Kon look good for Superman.

"I'll get the bus, you deal with the accident."

He nods, and I drop the construct platform we're standing on. We're only about four metres from the surface, and Kon lands easily. I fly to the front of the bus and stick a platform under the front wheels. As I work I remember not to narrow my awareness -thank you Batman's post Santa Prisca performance review- just in time to shove aside a red car that was heading for the back of the bus, and cushion its deceleration. Negative acceleration, whatever.

Fucking front engine models. I have to take a moment to look at the faces of the panicking children on board before I want it enough to lift it off the crash barrier and fully on to the road. This bridge is going to be out of commission for a few days at least but the fastest way for these people to get off is to drive off. I should be able to hold-.

There's a flash of red in the corner of my eye, and the section of bridge I'm over seems to lift slightly. OrangeVision reveals Superman underneath supporting the bridge with his strength while heat visioning the snapped girders. Is that really a good idea? Doesn't steel lose a lot of its strength above a certain temperature? I could probably have fused it myself, but I suppose this is only going to be a quick fix until the civil engineers can get in to do a survey anyway.

Oh, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Something like this is probably a weekly event around here. I drop down to just above the surface of the road. Superboy's already lifted a car that had been hanging over the other side of the bridge back onto the road. Not sure an overhead lift was really the best approach, but it's working. He's also checking on the other cars that have hit things or been hit. One took a side impact and he had to rip the door off to get the passengers out. Other damaged cars are leaking petrol and he's shepherding the people back behind the crash barrier away from the potential fire.

Right, what should I be doing next? I could try to reattach the cables, or move cars out of-.

"Nice work you're doing."

That's Superman. Superman's next to me. External underwear with pointless yellow belt, weird hair curl, truly huge muscles, -I don't care how loose his shirt and jacket are, the Planet staff must be blind not to notice that one of their reporters looks like a professional bodybuilder- pointless red cape… It's Superman.

"Thank you sir. How would you like us to proceed?"

He frowns slightly, then his gaze sweeps the bridge and alights on Kon, who appears to have the moving damaged cars out of the way thing under control. He puts a blue one down near us, freeing up several intact but trapped cars to drive away, and walks over.

Oh, am I about to be a third wheel at the most awkward father-son conference ever? Of course I am.

"Superboy."

Kon looks Superman in the eye, then drops his gaze off to the side. "I… I have a name."

Should I do something about the cables? Or maybe contact the emergency services? Someone will have already done that, right? Oh god I can't move.

"Oh? Batman didn't say anything about that. What did you choose?"

Ah shit, I didn't think about how he'd respond.

"It's…" Kon looks at him again. "It's Kon-El."

I'm not looking at Superman's face, but I feel him twitch and jerk back in the air as Kon says it.

Kon goes back to not looking at him. He turns, and takes in the bridge. In the distance I can hear the sounds of sirens as the ambulances arrive. I didn't see anyone who needed them, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to make sure.

"Did..? Did I, did we do a good job?"

I feel displaced air as Superman floats backwards. "The situation here seems to be under control."

"Well, yeah, but…"

There's a chime, and Superman raises his left hand to his earpiece.

"Superman. Wait, Arrow, slow down. What's attacking..?"

Superman turns away from Kon and myself, focusing on his conversation. Kon doesn't slump. I've noticed that about him. He gets angry first, fists clenching, muscles tensing, jaw setting. He only gets depressed after he's had time to calm down.

Superman flicks an eye back at Kon. "No, I'm definitely available. Coordinates?"

Kon can hear what Superman's saying even better than I can. He can probably hear Mister Queen's end of the conversation too. And I know he wants nothing more than for Superman to ask him to come along.

"Acknowledged."

But he isn't going to.

"On my way."

Superman turns back to us. I've drifted to just behind Kon's left shoulder. United front.

"Sorry… Superboy. Duty calls." He nods at me. "Orange Lantern."

He lifts up from the bridge and accelerates, heading south. At the near end of the bridge I can see a barricade being erected to prevent traffic. Kon's staring at the ground again.

"Aaarrrhhh!"

He crouches, then leaps up onto the nearest bridge tower, then away to the next one.

!Kon needs me!

Professionally, I know I should stay here and talk to the investigators. Personally, I'd like to go after Kon, but I doubt he wants to talk at the moment, and getting into an argument now won't help him. The ring glows brightly as my need builds with no productive channel.

Action plan, action plan. Paralysis helps no one. I need to talk to someone. Alright, New York's not far from here. Once I know this situation is under control, I can go and see if Diana's at the embassy. She's known Superman for years. She can probably suggest something.

 

3rd August
08:01 GMT -5

The Themysciran embassy doesn't seem to do a lot of actual embassy work. No visas are granted -aside from very special occasions, and Diana handles those personally- and there isn't really any trade to organise. She told me that they handle some post, mostly from historians and, well, fetishists, but most of the work that goes on there is work for the women's charities that Wonder Woman founded or supports.

I bypass the outer gate by landing inside the walls, and use the ring to open the security door. The orange glow hasn't really died down on my flight over here, frustration at the delay in getting someone to take an official statement from me giving me no outlet for my drive. You'd have thought that the Metropolis police department would be more geared towards handling people like me, but apparently not.

There's a chubby blonde woman in a suit behind the desk in the small lobby. I stride towards her.

"And whawt c'n ah do fer you, sugar?"

I stop just before the desk, pausing to regain my focus and calm. "Good morning. I am Orange Lantern two eight one four. Is Her Highness likely to be available anytime soon?"

She gives me a look. What am I doing wrong? Oh! I walk right up to the desk and offer her my left hand.

"Sorry about that. Rude of me."

She looks at my hand, and frowns. "Y'know, in mah lahn o'work, y'get a mite cautious abowt touching glowin' rings."

"Oh. Right, sorry." I withdraw my left hand and offer my right instead. She looks at me for a moment before taking it.

"A'hm Etta Candy, Princess Diana's PA. Y'know, you're a good deal politer than most people who come burstin' in through those doors."

"Bursting in? Oh, whoops. Should have used the intercom, sorry, sorry."

"Not t'worry, sugar. I'll cancel the call t'the police." I cringe. She smiles. "Just mah little joke. We'll geht you a pass card so you don't feul enclah'n'd t'do that egain."

"Actually, if you could just set me up on the system? I'd be entering my code with the ring anyway."

She nods. "Diana saw y' comin' in, an' called down. Y'c'n go right urp."

"Thank you."

I smile, and take to the stairs. Ring, where's..? Right.

Two landings up and I'm outside her door. I usually hate opaque doors in places I've never been before, as it used to mean that I would have no idea whether or not I'm in the right place until after I'd opened it. Now, I can use OrangeVision and see her sitting at her desk. Useful. I step up to the door and knock twice.

"Paul, you can just come in."

I open the door.

The room is carpeted in lilac, with walls papered in a paler shade of the same colour. There are shelves and racks with what are either trophies or mementos of home. Some of it looks historical, but I suspect that the spear is still razor sharp and that the breastplate could take a hit or two. Diana herself is wearing a white chiton with some sort of lacework along the edges, and she smiles as I enter.

A thought and I shift from my medium armour to my actual formal wear: white shirt, dark grey trousers and jacket with orange pinstripes. Gotta love the Vietnamese. I'm still surprised they even had this cloth.

"Thank you for seeing me at short notice."

"That's quite alright." She pushes some papers aside and gestures for me to take the chair opposite her. "What can I do for you?"

"Kon and I… There was an accident on a bridge in Metropolis. A couple of the suspension cables snapped off. We… I mean, Superman and we, handled it. No one seriously hurt."

"That's good to know."

I didn’t really think this through. What do I say to her?

"Kon tried talking to Superman, afterwards. Superman wasn't exactly rude, but he made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with him. Kon idolises Superman. He wants, more than anything else, to have some sort of relationship with him."

"Superman hasn't spoken to me about him. I know that he was gravely concerned about the work that was being done at the Cadmus labs."

"Right, and if he'd heat visionned the whole place to ash, then I'd've understood. But it seems like he's taking it out on the only guy at Cadmus whose fault it wasn't. I get that he finds it weird, but he's more prepared to spend time with complete strangers than with the only other Kryptonian on the planet."

Diana brings her hands together in front of her. "Okay, and what would you like me to do about it?"

"Could you… Please, could you try talking to Superman? Find out what his problem is? He can't just pretend that Kon doesn't exist."

Her eyes drop for a moment. "I will admit, his behavior has been a little.. uncharacteristic, where Superboy is concerned." She nods, and looks back at me. "I'll try and talk to him about it. I can't promise how he'll respond."

"I know. Thank you anyway."

"Now, would you like to explain to me why your ring is still glowing?"

Oh. That. I flap my left hand a little. "It's my need to help Kon. It's like when I wrecked his ears and didn't know how to fix them right away. I need to help Kon with Superman, but I don't know what to do."

"That seems surprisingly altruistic for the power of avarice."

I wave my right hand. "Like I said when we dealt with the Harpies, I'm not a psychopath. Kon-El is my team mate and my friend. This hurts him, so it hurts me. His wellbeing is part of my wellbeing."

"You don't feel tempted to try something more direct?"

!Superboy Mine!

"Oh, you have no idea. Before I found out about Donna I did consider asking you to take him on instead. Or if a family connection is what he's looking for, I could…"

Not sure I should talk about that.

Diana leans forward. "You could what, Paul?"

That may have been an order.

"I'm, I'm having a very hard time justifying to myself why I don't just fly him down to Kansas and introduce him to his grandparents."

Diana stiffens almost imperceptibly for a moment. Really, all that shows is a stilling of her hands and a slight tension around her eyes. Then, she forms an expression of benevolent puzzlement.

"What makes you think Superboy has grandparents living in Kansas?"

"Tracking Kryptonian spacecraft isn't that hard. Tracking materials not native to Earth is even easier. Then, match up timelines and birth records."

"So, you know..?"

"Yes."

She thinks about that for a moment, then in a stern voice asks one of the questions I was concerned about.

"Who else do you know?"

"Pretty much everyone else." My eyes drop to the desk. "Yeah, I know I shouldn't have done it, and I'm sorry, and if I'd known when I got to this parallel what I know now, I wouldn't have done it. But at the time, finding out, it seemed like a sensible precaution."

For a moment she says nothing.

"Be that as it may…" Her face hardens. "Orange Lantern, this is a direct order. You are not to reveal the secret identity of any League member or affiliate without an order from myself or Batman, unless you have their express permission."

I nod. "Sir."

 

3rd August
08:04 GMT -5

"Like I said when we dealt with the Harpies, I'm not a psychopath. Kon-El is part of my ingroup. His wellbeing is part of my wellbeing."

"You don't feel tempted to try something more direct?"



"Oh, you have no idea."

She looks at me curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

"Kon wants familial ties. If Superman is unwilling, there's always his Human parent."

"Doctor Desmond won't be leaving-."

I hold up a large grey hand. "Wait. You think Doctor Desmond was the source of his Human DNA?"

She frowns. "If it wasn't Desmond, then who was it?"

"Alexander Luthor."

Colour drains from her face. "What?"

"That was news? You hadn't checked? Next you'll be telling me you haven't checked him for telepathically implanted commands!"

Her face stills. Oh, for goodness sake…

"Really? You did know that he was educated entirely by telepaths, right?"

"Well, yes…"

"And you have considered the legal issues concerned with keeping knowledge of his existence from his natural parent? Particularly given his age?"

"Lex Luthor is a scheming criminal-."

"Lex Luthor is a legitimate businessman until you can prove otherwise in court. Why are you trying to give him ammunition to use against you?"

 

3rd August
13:05 GMT -5

I'm not sure if Kaldur really thought it through. Clearly he knows that Wallace can move at incredible speed, but it doesn't look like he appreciated how fast his reflexes are. They've set up some sort of tactile air hockey hologram to pass the time waiting for our hand to hand combat training session with Black Canary to start. Or for Kon to get back.

We haven't heard from him. M'gann was a bit worried when I came back without him, explained what had happened and that I didn't know where he was. I could have scanned for him, but I thought it best to give him some privacy.

Everyone else is in their regular uniform, but I'm in my light armour instead. The point of this is to learn how to strike and avoid being struck, and I already know that a baseline human can hit my medium armour more or less indefinitely without doing anything but bruising themselves. The light armour is a little easier to move in and weighs less. I don't intend to wear the ring during this session; if I'm having to fight hand to hand then I've either lost the ring or run out of power. I'm more than a little nervous about getting into an arena with these people without it, but I suppose I can heal any injury after each bout.

I had thought that the fact my oath is punishment based and not literally unbreakable would be an advantage. Ultimately, it doesn't remove agency. If the need is great enough I can break it and accept the consequences. But in a case like this, not knowing if I'm about to violate an order is a bit tricky.

Everyone here knows the real names of everyone on the team bar Robin. And my surname, but that doesn't really matter. I know who Robin is, and I assume that Wallace does as well, but to be honest I pretty much think of him as Robin at this point. Kon, I think of as Kon first and Superboy a distant second. Is that a secret? He introduces himself as that, but he has a very limited social circle. If he does end up using 'Conner' as his 'Earth name', which one counts? The fact that Superman's name is Kal-El is in the public domain but most people don't know it. Would that count?

I haven't told the others that I know what I know. I suppose the fewer people who know, the better. I probably shouldn't have told Diana, but I got caught up in things and having her feel that she needed to order me to reveal information would probably have produced worse results.

Wallace is now winning twenty two to nothing. To show off to M'gann he's doing it while making a show of not really paying attention. And eating a banana. Kaldur's taking it pretty well, considering.

"Recognised, Superboy, B zero four."

Thank goodness. Practice was supposed to start at one o'clock, but the League had something big on earlier -presumably whatever Superman left to deal with- and Black Canary is a little late.

Superboy materialises in Zeta Tube A. He doesn't look any happier.

M'gann smiles at him. "Hi, Superboy. Are you ready for our training session?"

He stalks through the hockey table, causing the hologram to lose cohesion.

Black Canary and Martian Manhunter emerge from the gloom. Must have come in through the ground entrance. She clears her throat to attract our attention.

"Ready for training everyone?"

"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!"

Not the shapeshifting telepath not the shapeshifting telepath…

Ah, thought that too loud. M'gann gives me a puzzled look before scurrying forwards to give her uncle a hug. He responds by just standing there, though I may have seen a slight smile. Maybe he doesn't convey emotions in the same way humans do?

"M'gann. I was.. in the neighbourhood, so I thought I'd see how you are adjusting."

"A few bumps, but I'm learning."

I'm not sure I could take him in a confined space even with the ring. More importantly, I don't think I'd learn anything from the experience of getting my arse kicked by him without it.

"That's all I can ask."

Where'd Kon go? I turn and see him walking away from the training area. Fiddlesticks. He'll probably enjoy this if he stays. More than I will, that's for certain. With the ring I rate myself pretty highly, effectiveness wise. Without it, I'd struggle against a guard dog. I'm certainly the weakest pugilist here. M'gann isn't much better skill wise, but she can increase her strength and toughness before a fight and get an advantage that way.

Black Canary's noticed him trying to walk off too. "Stick around. Class is in session."

Kon turns back, arms folded across his chest. Truculence mode. Maybe I shouldn't have left him earlier.

Black Canary walks into the centre of the room, and the base's computer creates a circle of light covering most of the floor. The sparring area is a little larger than I was expecting. "I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you, everything I've learned from my own mentors,-" She doffs her jacket. There's a bandage on the middle of the upper part of her left arm. Should I offer to heal that? No, given how nervous I am about this there's no way I could want it enough to heal a potential opponent. "-and my own bruises."

Analysis of what else she's wearing? The choker looks like a bad idea, as does the long loose hair. It doesn't seem to be moving, though. Lots of hair spray or gel? Might be flammable. Her bustier doesn't look armoured. The boots look sensible. The forearm gloves and tights don't. What do these people have against sensible clothing?

M'gann voices concern about her injury. "What happened?"

I think about replying. Something along the lines of 'Her job. Ours too.' but I decide that smart mouthed is not the correct approach.

"The job."

Ah. Maybe I should have, then. Not having to carry injuries is an area where I have a definite advantage.

"Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting."

Not sure I agree with that. I'm more concerned about overextending. Letting them come to me gives me more preparation time. But, here to learn.

"I'll need a sparring partner."

By dint of tensing the muscles in my legs I manage to avoid taking a step backwards.

"Right here! Yeh!"

Wallace actually waves. He's still holding the banana. For goodness sake, man.

He walks to where she's standing in the centre of the arena. Standing in front of Black Canary, he finishes his banana. "After this:" He throws the banana peel to the bin at the side of the room. Hmm, wonder if he can pass momentum on to thrown objects, or remove it from them? I know he could in the comics… "Swish! I'll show you my moves."

Ring, tone down my embarrassment. Oh, that's better, thank you. I'm not going to complain about the age difference, but she's our teacher and he and I both know that she's in a relationship with Green Arrow. That is not on.

The 'challenge accepted' expression on Black Canary's face should tell Wallace to get his head in the game, but I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that that isn't going to happen now, and possibly not ever.

She lunges forward with right fist, he turns it aside with his left. She drops, spins, and sweeps his legs out from under him. He hits the floor hard, and a circle of light appears around him as the computer registers his loss. I'm not sure what the various components of the circle mean, but the 'Kid Flash Status: Fail' is pretty obvious. And true.

"Hurts so good."

I nearly find it in myself to admire his perseverance, but that's only because I'm not having to deal with my embarrassment any more.

"Good block."

Yes, between his ears. Wallace pushes himself into a sitting position, and Black Canary pulls him to his feet.

"But did anyone see what he did wrong?"

I tentatively raise my right hand, with the answer 'he got into close combat with a close combat specialist' on my lips. Robin is more enthusiastic.

"Ooh! He hit on teacher and got served?"

"Dude!"

"Orange Lantern?"

"Sir?"

"What do you think he did wrong?"

 

3rd August
13:10 GMT -5

"Black Canary. Multiple high level martial arts qualifications. Short ranged sonic attack from the mouth. Since you're primarily a short range melee fighter, his mistake was getting that close to you in the first place."

"Hm. Think you can do better?"

"No sir. But I think I'd fail with more class."

Robin sniggers behind me. Wallace pulls a face as he walks back to the rest of us. As he walks past me to the back of the group I stick out an arm to stop him.

"What?"

"Wallace, I'm going to share with you some wise words which Batman shared with Robin just before the first time he met Wonder Woman."

"O-kay. And they are..?"

"Think clean thoughts, chum." I pat him on the back. He looks a little puzzled, trying to work out whether I'm mocking him or Robin.

Black Canary addresses me again. I just volunteered myself, didn't I? I never learn…

"Is that what Wonder Woman taught you?"

I shrug. "I can fly, move fast, and make attacks from outside a melee specialist's strike range. It just seemed obvious. I'm not strong enough to really spar with Wonder Woman."

"Think you're strong enough to spar with me?"

"I rather think I'm about to find out, sir." I sigh, take a step forward and pull the ring off my finger. Immediately my armour stops glowing.

Black Canary looks puzzled. "You're not planning on wearing your power ring?"

"Wouldn't that rather defeat the object, sir? I mean, if I get that close to someone like you and I have the ring, the first thing I'd do is back away. Only reason I wouldn't would be if it wasn't available. I thought this lesson was about teaching us hand to hand combat?"

I look at the ring sitting in my right hand for a moment, then underarm throw it outside of the arena. I felt bad doing that. Deep breath.

"What if you couldn't back away?"

I frown. "Why wouldn't I be able to back away?"

"Perhaps there was some sort of barrier you couldn't break. Or hostages whose lives would be at risk if you weren't there."

"Then I'd maintain the maximum distance possible. I'm not sure what I'd do about the barrier, but for the hostages I'd try to keep my opponent's attention on me while removing them from the area."

She considers this for a moment, then taps her left foot twice. The arena area shrinks so that rather than being near the middle, we're now both near the edges. "Put your ring back on."

That's, that's, what?

I just stand there for a moment. "Are you sure, sir?"

She loosens her muscles and rolls her neck. "Yes."

"Sir, you understand that that thing isn't on cadet mode or anything. It is a fully functional power ring."

"I've sparred with Lanterns before."

Kid Flash chips in. "What was it you called them? Muscle brains?"

"That's not what I s… Uuuhrr."

I stick out my left hand and want it back. There's a slight jolt as it flies back onto my ring finger. My armour relights. Huh, hadn't noticed that Kon was standing on the other side of the circle.

I've warned her… Right, this is happening. How to go about it? We're about three metres apart. She said that it's always best to act. I need to look like the most passive person ever to step into a ring. I need her to believe that I'll hesitate, that I don't know what I'm doing.

Shouldn't be too hard. Even with the ring, that's pretty much how I feel.

I crouch slightly.

"You're completely sure about this."

She's looking me right in the eyes. I intentionally don't make them orange.

"Yes."

"I'm not… Errr…"

"Not what?"

I stand up straight again. "I'm not going to get in trouble with Green Arrow about this, am I?"

"He knows better than that."

I raise my fists, then lower them. "Look, would you mind if I put a barrier around the fighting area? I'm a bit worried about what happens if I miss you and hit a wall or something."

She exhales, and rolls her eyes. "If it makes you feel better."

I point my left hand out to the side, and extend a barrier construct directly from the ring. She might know that I never do that, but if she thinks about me in terms of what the Greenies do it'll look normal. The barrier forms much more slowly than I am capable of creating it, and once it's in place I leave my left hand sticking out slightly. As if I have to leave it there.

I duck my head down and bring up my fists in a poor imitation of a boxer's pose, left hand forwards. I'm right handed, but with a little luck she'll think about me in terms of a ring-assisted brawler. I bend my legs slightly. I probably look like a complete idiot to my team mates. But… If I can win, their opinion of me will dramatically improve. If I don't, well, then I've only done as badly as Wallace.

"Okay then. Er. Three, t-."

The countdown may have been pushing it, but it did cause her to focus on me, preparing for my charge on 'one'. As I start to say 'two' orange manacles on orange chains extrude at the speed of thought from the barrier directly behind her. One locks around her neck, four more capture her upper and lower legs, two get her upper arms and a larger chain with no clamp wraps itself around her torso. A fraction of a second later she's yanked backwards off her feet and pinned to the barrier. An opaque mask forms around her head, blocking her vision and preventing her from opening her mouth to use her scream. The chains grow, removing her capacity for movement completely. Feedback through the constructs lets me know that she's struggling, but she doesn't have the raw strength to break them and can't get any leverage. Dropping the barrier around the fighting area, I float her over to next to where Kon is standing, rotate her so that her back is facing down, and remove the binding constructs. She drops ten centimetres to the ground with an astonished expression on her face. The computer beeps my victory.

"One."

I'm going to die now, but I got the result I wanted. Kon's smiling again.

 

3rd August
13:16 GMT -5

There's silence as Black Canary pulls herself up. I'd offer to help, but I haven't moved from my starting position and I'm not sure that I can at the moment. Fear is warring with smugness for dominance in my head. It feels tingly. Everything's a bit unreal.

More so than normal.

A huge view window appears to my left, Batman's face filling it. Oh, thank goodness.

"Batman to the cave."

My team, Mister J'onzz and Black Canary walk to optimal viewing distance of the screen. Trembling slightly, I manage to turn to face it.

"Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary."

The head and upper torso of a man appear in the top left of the screen. Pale skin, pointy ears… No, not a man. A robot. That's Amazo. Comic Amazo, not Justice League Unlimited Amazo.

"The attacker was capable of attacking, then duplicating-"

The view pulls back. We see Amazo standing in a ruined street. He looks right, then grabs the oncoming Superman, spins and uses him to batter away Red Tornado and the Flash.

"-the powers and abilities of his opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements-"

Amazo hurls Superman away, then starts blazing away with heat vision.

"-which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"Whaaw. One guy with the powers of the entire League?"

Wallace, stop being impressed and start thinking. Can this version of Amazo use multiple powers simultaneously? How mentally sophisticated is it? I know that machines can use the green light, but if it doesn't have its own wants and needs it shouldn't be able to use the orange. On the other hand, if it is mentally sophisticated I can probably assimilate it. Does it gain weaknesses as well as strengths? Not sure trying kryptonite would have been an option…

Oh. I don't know if this Batman has any.

I need to find time to go through the original footage of the fight. See if I can work some of it out for myself. And I need to try to remember what Kid Amazo's name is. If I could get to him before he went off the rails…

"In the end it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

Four hours? I can't imagine what that sort of fight would have been like. The devastation it would cause… What was Amazo there for? Hang on, where was there? Are we talking about… Where were they from… Star City? I hope this summary gets followed by an actual briefing.

"An android? W-who made it? T. O. Morrow?"

At least someone's thinking. Well done Robin.

"Good guess, Robin. But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

Mister J'onzz answers instead. "The technology bears the signature of.. Professor Ivo."

Something else I haven't bothered researching. Mad scientists. I had… Have? I have a good science GCSE and a reasonable chemistry A-Level, but if these people can do what even other genius leaders-in-their-fields struggle to comprehend it didn't seem worth the time.

Also, I'm going to have to remember not to call him Professor Robotnik. This parallel doesn't even have Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Ivo… But Ivo's dead."

Thanks Kaldur, that's actually a pretty good excuse for me not knowing anything about him. Shouldn't take me long to read at least a summary of the League's file.

Black Canary answers his nonquestion. "So we all thought. Or hoped."

Am I..? Is death a revolving door here? I'm not sure how well that works for me. If it is, then at some point I'm going to have to find out how death interacts with assimilation. Is the existence of an afterlife verifiable?

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralised we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo -or anyone- tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yyyyes!" Wallace likes the idea, then. "Road trip."

I check to see how Kon's responding, but he seems to have shifted back into neutral. It's a mission, right?

Kaldur's personal communication computer thing beeps. How advanced does a thing have to be to stop being a communicator and start being a computer? Or am I using outdated terms? Since I have the ring I haven't bothered getting either.

"Coordinates received. On our way."

They turn to leave. I guess we're not getting a full briefing then.

"Sir.. s, I have a question, and a request."

Black Canary turns to me. "What is it?"

"May I ask why you haven't simply had me or one of the Greenies fly one of the larger components into space? That way, even if someone recaptured all of the rest, they still can't reactivate the android."

Batman lowers his head slightly. "I considered it, but we have no way of knowing whether or not this will turn out to be an isolated incident. If there are more androids like this one out there, we need STAR Labs working on this as soon as possible."

I nod. Makes sense.

"What is your request?"

"I'd… Like you to unlock the League's files on kryptonite radiation for me."

Black Canary starts, then exchanges a concerned look with Mister J'onzz. Batman appears unfazed. "Why is that?"

"I've been studying Kryptonian physiology, the way their powers work. As far as I've been able to tell with the sources available to me, kryptonite radiation works by disrupting a mechanism intrinsic to those powers. So, if the android has Superman's abilities then it should also have his vulnerabilities. I don't know enough about kryptonite radiation at present to replicate it. If it came to a fight, I'd like to have that option available to me, and it's hardly practical for me to fly to the Rao system to get some."

Batman appears to think about it. "Information on kryptonite is kept highly secure for a reason. If, and only if the android is reactivated, will I consider doing as you ask."

I nod again. Shouldn't be surprised that's a red line, really. "Thank you sir."

I turn, and follow my team mates to the hangar.

 

3rd August
20:01 GMT -5

Hurry up and wait. That's how it goes, isn't it? Can't say I blame the League for wanting to make sure that everything is set up just right, but three hours in a muddy wood is pushing it. I've read Ivo's summary, and I'm now going into the detail. He was a pioneer in the field of cybernetics, but made his advances through vivisection -including a few homeless people- and brute force trial-and-error integration. The Locus Industrial Group covered up what he'd done, and made it look like he'd made his progress through more acceptable means. He made himself and them a lot of money and a great deal of good publicity… Until Red Tornado was able to infiltrate his lab and show the world how he'd really achieved his results. He escaped just ahead of retribution, and went underground with his money and research.

This was back in the eighties, before the League got together. Since then his work has mostly come to light during the clean up of various other high-tech crime groups. His signature cybernetic interfaces and advanced weapons, as well as more unusual pieces. He also seemed to be collecting other forms of advanced technology for himself, though he wasn't slow to abandon a doomed theft attempt if his own capture looked likely.

The man himself was notoriously difficult to track down. The League finally cornered him on Santo Pietro, a small island off the south coast of Italy. Once the ground team found him they also discovered that he'd imprisoned the inhabitants and replaced them with Human-seeming robots, who attacked to liberate their master once he was caught. His apparent death in the aftermath, combined with the lack of any more recent sightings or technology had led the League to assume that he was permanently out of the picture.

Worth mentioning that all modern cybernetics owe at least a small amount to his work. If Victor Stone ever becomes Cyborg here, it'll be in part because some poor bastard named Casey Williams was strapped to a table and cut apart in the name of science.

I don't really remember him from the comics. I guess the Kid Amazo thing will be a bust, given the man's age. Certainly there's no record of a daughter, and if he had one she'd probably be in her thirties by now, noticeably past the age she was in the Kid Amazo comic. Ah well.

The reaction of my team mates to my victory over Black Canary was perhaps milder than I was expecting. Kon was most happy about it. Not sure if he's happy for a friend or if it's a 'show-the-League-what-we-can-do' thing. He actually put his arm around my shoulder when he congratulated me. Odd really, but until he did that I think he was the only team member who'd never touched me. Kaldur shook my hand when the team first got together, just before Kon and I had to deal with that telepathic flashback nonsense. Still haven't got around to looking into anti-telepath techniques. M'gann in the kitchen before Mister Twister, Robin on top of the mountain afterwards, Wallace on Santa Prisca… Yes. Even when I tried to help him up when we were fighting Mister Twister he just pushed me away.

Robin was briefly amused, but switched to full mission focus almost immediately. His 'genuinely amused' laugh is a lot less creepy than his 'antagonising the bad guys' laugh. A nod from Kaldur, a smile from M'gann… Wallace…

"I still can't believe you did that!"

I rub my brow with my right hand.

"Kid Flash, what exactly is it about my actions which defies your belief?"

We're sitting on motorcycles just behind the trees from the field where the Amazo parts are being loaded. Or rather, will be loaded once we actually get started. After I finished the Ivo summary I had a little ride around. Since failing my driving test practical for the second time -all minors, I should point out- the largest thing I've driven is a quad bike, and I only drove that once. In a desert.

I did tell them that I don't have a driving licence.

Doesn't seem that hard, and I suppose it would rather give the game away if the bike glowed orange the whole time. Nevertheless, I've had the ring scan it thoroughly and it tells me that it can take over should the need arise.

"You were just.. just.. standing there -looking stupid, by the way- and then.. just…"

"Looking stupid was part of the plan."

He unisquints. "Really?"

"There was no way I could beat her in a fist fight, so I didn't try. I wanted her to assume that I was hopeless, and to be looking at me when I started my attack. My pose and the countdown achieved that aim."

Kaldur looks over and nods. "She lost sight of your advantages and in doing so let you take control of the situation. She allowed you to engage on terms where you were strong and she was weak."

"Rrrrright… Actually Kid Flash, I was meaning to ask: you didn't seem to be moving particularly fast during your bout-."

"Except straight down!"

"Dude!"

"During your bout, and I rather had the impression that your reflexes were as fast as your movements?"

He shrugs. "Yeah?"

"From your point of view, wouldn't her leg sweep have been really slow?"

He averts his gaze. "I kinda have to be moving a bit for that to work."

Oh. When he was super speed walking from one side of the hockey table to the other I had assumed he was just showing off. Guess it's kind of like Ravager and her adrenaline inhaler? I wonder if there's a way around it.

"Have you tried vibrating on the spot? Or intentionally accelerating part of your body?"

"Vibrating on the spot digs a hole in whatever I'm standing on, and my super speed's pretty much all or nothing. I'm either moving or I'm not."

"The Flash can vibrate parts of his body."

Wallace turns his head towards Robin. "Yeah, well, I can't."

"That was another issue I wanted to raise; you said gained super speed by duplicating Mister Garrick's formula, yes?"

"Well, Uncle Barry might have modified it a bit, but basically, yeah. What about it?"

"I was going through the records, and it seems that the current Flash is faster than both his predecessor and you. I was wondering if you knew why that was?"

He slumps slightly. "Uncle Barry created the formula under controlled conditions. And with better equipment. I mean, Mister Garrick was in a lab, but that was back in the forties. I was using stuff from the attic. Why d'you ask?"

"It seemed to be a sore point with you. I was thinking… Well, I can't promise…"

"What?"

"I was thinking that if I had a good enough scan of yourself and your uncle, I might be able to work out precisely what changes the formula made to your body, and to his. If I could work out the different ways you had both been affected-."

"You might be able to fix the differences! Make me as fast as him?"

I shrug. "It's not impossible. But, like I said, I can't promise. I don't know enough about how it works. I mean, have you tried-?"

Kaldur beeps his bike's communicator.

"They're finishing loading now. Helmets on."

I put my helmet on my head, and activate OrangeVision. When I do, it's as if the helmet has disappeared. My vision is totally unobscured, and the coming dusk is illuminated like clear day. I'll be heading to Manhattan with Robin and Kon. Speaking of Kon, what's he looking at..?

Oh. Of course. Superman.

 

3rd August
20:09 GMT -5

Kon snaps his head forwards, scowling. Did he make eye contact through the trees? Does Superman's x-ray vision work like in Smallville where it gives him actual x-ray footage, or like in New Adventures where it can peel away layers while leaving the image in full colour? As far as I know Kon can't do that, so maybe he magnified the view between the leaves?

There's a general revving of engines as the others don their helmets, and M'gann shifts to 'Human mode'. Kon and Robin have red bikes, Wallace has a yellow one, Kaldur and M'gann's are blue and mine's orange. Was this painted for me? Has it been sitting in a shed because no one told me motorcycles were being provided? I say motorcycles; mine and M'gann's look more like scooters on steroids. Does learning how to use it represent an efficient use of my time? I'd've said not, but here I am.

Heh. Just realised that I'm wearing my light combat bike gear on an actual bike.

Now, let's see. Ignition button, right. Engine's on. Gears are automatic. It's got gyroscope stabilisers, and they'll definitely be in use. There's a sort of super GPS and some integrated weapons, but they're inferior to what the ring can do and I don't intend to use them. As we prepare to leave I just about stop myself from creating construct stabiliser wheels.

"Star Boston is a go."

"Star Manhattan is go."

The second voice was Green Arrow. Didn't recognise the first. Someone -I assume Batman- gives the signal and the armoured trucks begin to move out. The first three head east towards Boston, then the second three move out west for their journey to New York. Aside from the armour of the trucks -which looked pretty darn thick to me- there are also soldiers of some sort on board. Not sure quite what branch of the military or law enforcement they're from. Maybe I should find out and get Donna a career pamphlet?

Once the trucks get out onto the road, Kon and Robin twist the accelerator and move out, followed by Kaldur, M'gann and Wallace. Taking a deep breath, I gingerly turn the handle.

Woooookay… Okay. Under control. I take a right out of the woodland, and with the road ahead empty apart from my team mates and our charge I increase my acceleration further. Glad I'm doing this in America. I know Jeremy Clarkson goes on about how dull US roads are to drive on but I think long and straight is about my level.

As I leave the starting area I risk a quick look at the assembled League members. I see Green Arrow and The Flash watching us go, while Captain Atom and Red Tornado take flight. Superman crouches slightly as he prepares to launch, but Batman lays a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Wonder Woman's next to them, and she looks like she's saying something? Probably the follow up on the Ivo investigation. I suppose it's still possible that someone is building on his work rather than it actually being him. Not like he can sue for breach of patent.

Standard mission process is… I tap my helmet communicator. The ring is better but there's no harm in following established process. Plus, this requires less mental focus and doesn't drain the ring's power.

"Orange Lantern two eight one four, comms check."

"Robin, reading you five by five."

"Superboy here, I hear you."

"Sergeant Ramones, truck hears you fine."

I experience a moment of confusion as we join the main motorway before remembering yes, Americans drive on the right, we're supposed to be feeding on from this side. A quick review of the route shows me that it will be at least half an hour before the trucks can split up. Really, if they're all going the same way they might as well have just sent one truck. I switch my comm to 'transmit to team only'.

"Robin, I realise that I'm probably trying to teach my gran how to suck eggs here, but we have put tracking devices on the android parts, right?"

"Ch, obviously."

"I mean, one to find, one not to find, one that broadcasts after a certain period of time…"

"Batman's got it covered, Oh El."

I nod, though there's no way he can see me as he's well in front of me.

In other circumstances I might have enjoyed the scenery, but scootering is too new to me for me to take my attention off the road. There's very little traffic around. Doesn't that make us a bit obvious? I remember when Bucky got hold of Captain America's shield after his death. Tony Stark had three armoured cars leave the storage facility by different routes, then sent the car that actually contained the shield a couple of hours later with a single superhero inside.

"Did Batman put decoy robot parts in the other trucks?"

"Eh, wasn't time to make them look realistic enough."

If it turns out we are the decoy, the others will be irate. Makes sense to me, though.

"You know Canary's gunna want a rematch, right?"

Oh, he was saving it up. That is more in character. "I suspected."

"She'll probably use you for every demonstration."

"I doubt that she's that vindictive."

"You punked her in front of the class."

"I'm not a good match up for her."

Kon joins in. "Because you're much more powerful than she is."

Robin dissents. "Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig."

"No no. It's not about power. It's like… I'm at my strongest blocking direct physical attacks, right? And that's what she uses. My constructs can't hold someone as strong as Kon or Wonder Woman, but they can reliably hold baseline Humans, and she is, physically, a baseline Human. Like you and I are. She's agile, but it's easy for me to stop her being able to move."

"Are you saying you think you could take Batman?"

There's an edge to Robin's voice. I'd rather he not try and find out. "Batman beats people in my weight class through careful study and preparation. He can't really research my background without talking to me, because none of it happened on this parallel. I imagine that he's been studying the footage of me, probably knows how I'll respond to different situations better than I do myself, and he's probably working on some sort of anti-Lantern gear or techniques in his spare time, but until that's complete… Yeah, I could probably beat him in a straight fight if he was limited to using his standard equipment."

"Whatever."

There's a break for a few minutes as I focus on driving. Then Kon asks a question. "If you're a bad match up for her, what do you think's a bad match up for you?"

"Telepaths, 'cause they can mess up my ability to use the ring. Tested it with M'gann once and it takes her about eight seconds to reduce my construct strength to the point where I can't even float myself. Maybe… Magic users? Simple attack spells shouldn't be a problem, but I don't know how my constructs interact with the more… Abstract stuff. You're not a particularly good match up in a spar, because I don't really want to hurt you and you're too tough for my gentler approaches to work."

"Last time we sparred, you slammed my head into a wall."

"Big baby, your skull's far tougher than the wall. And I only did that because I couldn't hit you hard enough with constructs alone, or bind you in the way I bound Canary. If I was seriously fighting a Kryptonian, I'd go for sonic energy projection constructs."

"I know I wouldn't wanna get hit by one of those again."

"Attack where your enemy's vulnerable."

And Robin rejoins the conversation. "So aside from telepathy, what else are you vulnerable to?"

"HAHAhahahaha!"

 

3rd August
20:44 GMT -5

Two of the trucks take a turning off the motorway, leaving us following the one which we've been told contains the Amazo parts. I suppose us following it isn't that much of a give-away. This is the main route between Gotham and New York after all, and if we've been under observation since we started it wouldn't matter anyway.

"No, vert would just mean object. So, invert means turn the object over."

"You might be right there."

"Okay, my turn: if dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong they go right."

"Might not mean that at all. In The Divine Comedy, Dis is a city in Hell, right? Aster might mean situation, and so a disaster is a situation which would be found in a city in Hell."

"Huh."

"So, going right would be antiaster. No, hang on, that would just mean a non-situation, that doesn't make sense. Shangri La aster? A situation that would be found in paradise?"

"It's a bit long."

"Shanaster?"

"La-aster?"

"That just sounds like you came last and hiccupped."

"Divaster? Like, a divine situation rather than a hellish one?"

"Sort of works."

"Can we please talk about something else?"

Kon's not feeling the shanaster.

"What's wrong?"

"Black Canary."

Aw. Sweet of him. "I'm not really all that worried about it. I'm sure we can trust her to behave in a sensible ma-."

"No, not that."

Kon and Robin are still ahead of me, though not by quite as much. I can't see his face to guess at his mood. I wait for him to carry on. "I just don't see how she's going to be able to teach combat skills to a guy with super strength."

Robin responds. "There's a lot more to combat than how hard you hit someone. Canary learned that the hard way, same as Batman and, well, me."

"Uh, yeah, but he's sort of got a point. If you're training with Batman and you don't dodge fast enough, you get hit, get a bruise. At worst, you might, what, break a bone? That'd put you out for a month. If you're training against someone with super strength and you aren't super tough, you can end up with bits getting ripped off. Wonder Woman was very careful checking that my construct armour could take her attacks before we started sparring."

"Maybe. But there's a whole bunch of other stuff to learn. Like, how to distract people, how to avoid being seen, how to predict what they're gunna do, how to fight groups so they all get in each others' way. Ooh, there's this great thing Batman showed me, where you sorta pick guys off from the edge of the group without getting spotted, and you leave the unconscious guys around and the rest of them find them and get completely panicked, and they've got no idea what to do. Then they either spread out and make taking them down even easier, or huddle up just asking for a gas grenade."

"I'd have trouble working like that due to the bright orange glow. And, you know, you could teach him that. What Kon really wants to get taught is how to fight other super strong people, and that requires different techniques to fighting baseline Humans. Wonder Woman told me that she finds it hard to keep her skills sharp, because there just aren't that many people who she can train with."

"I bet Superman doesn't mind practising with her."

Don't laugh don't laugh don't laugh…

"Not many guys would."

Rob-in!

"Actually, he's one of the few she can practise with. But it doesn't really help."

"Why not?"

"No offence to Superman, but Wonder Woman's been doing this since nineteen forty at least, and she grew up in a society of veteran warriors. He's a bit stronger than she is, but her skill level is quite a lot higher. Heck, she told me that she's spent some time training him."

We ride in silence for a moment.

"You… You said you were going to talk to her. About training me."

"I did."

She didn't tell me not to tell him. Did she assume that I'd assume? I tend to think she'd have told me directly.

"She said that she wanted to talk to Superman about the whole.. you.. thing. Er, in the meantime-"

Don't say Donna don’t say Donna

"-Troia said that she wanted to pay us a visit before the next school term starts, and she should be able to give you a basic lesson or two. Not inside the mountain, though."

"Why not?"

"When two super strong people go at it, the surrounding environment really suffers. We live in a cave. If you two start slamming each other through the walls…"

"Oh. Right."

"You got Troia to join the team? Why didn't you tell me!"

"She's not joining, Robin. She's had to put heroing on the back burner this year to concentrate on her final year high school stuff. She might join up later. Hope so, she seemed nice."

"Exactly how much time have you spent with her?"

"We just had dinner that one time." I pause, and play that sentence back to myself. "With Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. They introduced us, to try and make sure she didn't feel like she was being pushed out or anything. I mean, it's not like there's a rule about only having one student at a time. I'd be perfectly happy to work with her more often."

"I bet you would."

Um, no. "Not like that. Honestly, it's more like-."

Something, then a lot of somethings, fly out of the sweet corn at the side of the road and latch onto the truck ahead of us. OrangeVision shows me… robot Monkeys..?

What?

Robot Monkeys with jetpacks?

What?




What?

 

3rd August
20:50 GMT -5

They even make Monkey noises!

I can see about twenty of the little blighters. They're not at all aerodynamic, so I can only assume that they're either very light or have some sort of antigravity system. The first wave fly alongside the truck for a few moments after clearing the maize then swoop in and land on the side, rear and roof.

Okay, so we're being attacked by tiny weak robot-. How the hell do they have plasma cutters mounted in their eyes!?

Battle mode battle mode battle mode where's the button ah!

"Robin, Superboy, Orange Lantern! Our truck is under attack!"

"Orange Lantern to Aqualad, ours too. Robot Monkeys, about twenty of them. You?"

"The same."

"I hate Monkeys."

Kon's voice is filled with loathing. Guess that thing with the Joker hallucination left a bigger impression than I'd realised.

"Robot Monkeys, huhah! Totally Ivo's tweak style."

Looks like Gotham living just makes you jaded after a while. I press the battle mode button, and the screen between the handlebars is overlaid with an orange lantern sigil. Okay, so what happens…

"Hey Superboy, switch to battle mode."

Way ahead of you what the fuck!

The back of the scooter falls off. I yelp, and the ring replaces it with a construct and covers me in armour. Did I just press the wrong button? What sort of idiot puts a 'fall apart' button on a bike!? Okay okay, no time to worry about that now.

"No point."

No shit. How the hell is Robin balancing that? Ring, take over running the bike, grab the nearest Monkey bot and run a standard scan.

Compliance.

An arc of orange flows from my right shoulder and yanks a Monkey from the rear of the truck. It twists around, then tries to reactivate its jetpack. A thought smothers it. It tries its plasma cutter on the construct, but I respond by clamping its head and pointing it at the other Monkeys. Two are sliced in half before it shuts it off. And then I know the scan results. The circuitry doesn't make much sense to me, but the Monkeys aren't being remote controlled. Can't hijack them all, then.

Kon revs his bike and -what the hell?- leaps onto the roof of the truck. I catch his bike before it can hit Robin.

"Kon, a little more care, please."

Daft though that was, he's still mine. An orange arc connects me to him and the armour construct forms around his body. Bolts of red plasma come from somewhere behind me and shoot a couple of Monkeys out of the air. Did Robin buy a gun? Shit, don't tell Batman. Right, got this little guy here, not going to get a better chance to try this.

Ring, assimilate Monkey.

Unable to comply. Target possesses insufficient emotional substance.

Worth knowing. I form construct pliers and settle for decapitating the thing.

Robin's riding around to the front of the swerving van-. It's armoured you moron, swerving won't…

"Orange Lantern to all points. If we're under attack by things that can keep up with the trucks, there isn't much point continuing driving."

…won't help with jet pack Monkeys- and is tasering robots off the front window. While balancing on his bike's one remaining wheel. I thought he was a trapeze artist, not a unicyclist?

Some of the Monkeys have been distracted from their cutting to deal with Kon. I see a green beam hit the armour in front of his eyes, distracting him while others grab on and try to fly him off the roof. Nope. A turret construct takes shape in the air to my right. My charged particle beam projector construct is the most environmentally friendly of the weapons I learned to create while on Titan. Precision purple shots bore neat holes in every Monkey that dares try to take what is mine from me. Kon smashes off the last one himself before returning to the attack. I stop generating the construct the moment he's clear; it was probably overkill, and is a massive power hog.

There are a couple of explosions behind me, but since they're moving away I ignore them. I ride around to the right side of the truck and plier the necks of the four Monkeys trying to cut their way inside. Oh, idea. Rather than leave the remains on the road I grab them and stick them in subspace. Not sure exactly what I'm going to use them for, but those plasma beams looked a bit tasty.

Huh? Oh, four of them are getting clever and trying to lift my scooter. This time I'm more precise, the pliers cutting vital wires while leaving the chassis intact. Dead, dead, dead, dead, subspace. Actually, the scooter isn't really helping at this point. I subspace what's left of it and fly up to the top of the truck.

Kon's pretty much just posing at this point. The Monkeys made a decent start on cutting a hole in the roof, but he destroyed them before they could get inside and grab the Amazo parts. I shove his bike at him.

"You dropped this."

He starts, looks at the bike, then back at me. "Ah… Thanks?"

"Be more careful in future. You could have caused a nasty accident."

He blinks, then looks at the roof of the truck and the Monkey wreckage behind us.

I start laughing before he turns back. He looks puzzled for a moment, then lets out a chuckle of his own.

"Robin, you clear?"

"All done here."

Ring?

No animate Monkey robots remaining in this area.

"Sergeant Ramones, you in one piece?"

"Ah, ah, yeah. Yeah, you know. Hanging in."

"As far as you can tell, is the truck mechanically sound?"

"Seems to be. Lucky they didn't try cutting in through the windshield. Ah, look, I gotta ask: is this a regular thing for you guys?"

"I've only been doing this job a month. This is my first bunch of robot Monkeys. Superboy and I had to deal with telepathic illusion Joker-Monkeys one time, but that's the closest I can think of."

Kon flexes his fists. "Some of the Genomorphs were kinda like Monkeys."

"Yeah, I suppose. I wasn't with the team at that point."

Robin chips in. "The Penguin used Penguins with rocket launchers once. They didn't cackle, though."

"Rather you guys than me. I think I'll try and stick to armed robbers in the future."

Robin contacts our team mates. "Hey, Aqualad, the Monkeys are scrap. You about done with yours?"

There's a pause, just long enough for me to start to worry.

Then, Kid Flash responds. "Ah, done? Yeah, I'd say we're done."

 

3rd August
20:57 GMT -5

Well, that sucks.

The Monkeys got the other set of Amazo parts. Not sure how much danger half an Amazo is, but it would probably cut down the rebuild time by quite a lot. We're driving towards New York while Kaldur decides what to do about the lost shipment. Kon's back to riding his bike behind the truck. Robin's inside plugging his arm computer into one of the more intact ex-Monkeys to gather information. I'm flying overhead. With Ivo clearly knowing where we are there doesn't seem much point in pretending. Plus, some of the left over Monkeys from the attack on the Boston truck might try something. I doubt they'd have the fuel to get here, but I don't know for certain.

The decoy trucks are so far unmolested. I think there may be something black in my lentils.

I just realised something. Professor Ivo used robot Monkeys. So did Ivo Robotnik. I'm rather glad my scan didn't show any animals being wired in as processors, because from what I read this Ivo is probably technically capable of doing that and that would be one freaky thing too many.

"Orange Lantern, would you be able to fly your android pieces to Manhattan faster than the truck can take them there?"

"Iiiiiin theory, yes. But we don't know how the mechanism by which it acquires new abilities works. It hasn't scanned a Lantern yet, and I'm a bit worried about what would happen if it turns out its learning ability is passive."

"Understood."

I haven't risked scanning the Monkeys who took their set of Amazo parts for the same reason. Being back in friendly hands might have caused them to reactivate. Our truck has another three hours of driving to our final destination, assuming we keep going.

Better check power level.

Ring, charge?

Seventy seven percent remaining.

Acceptable. While Kid Flash and I could probably find the Monkeys easily enough based on their last known vector, that would reduce the defences around our truck. Heck, we don't even know for sure that the Monkeys are from the same guy as sent Amazo. Worse, it could be that it was and there's another one waiting for us.

"Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"

M'gann doesn't sound eager. As when we fought Mister Twister, notifying him certainly seems like the sensible thing to do. But, actually, I don't want to either. Aqualad gives a more reasonable sounding voice to my feelings.

"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves, and the mission can still succeed if we recover the missing parts before they reach Professor Ivo. Robin, any progress?"

"It looks like the Amazo parts were designed to give off a signal to attract the Monkeys."

Oh, come on!

"And we didn't know the lumps of killer robot were signalling for pick up because..?"

"It wasn't emitting it earlier! It only started doing it after receiving a signal from the Monkeys first! As far as I can tell, the Monkeys were all around the road just past the place where the other trucks turned off. Looks like they sent out a signal of their own, and only started swarming us once they got a response."

Aqualad asks the key question. "Do you know where they are headed?"

"Assuming they maintain their current heading… Gotham City!"

"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there any time soon."

I have other concerns. "Are the parts in our truck still signalling?"

I hear the noise of Monkey chatter over his line.

"Robin!"

"Not any more." I can feel the smug. "The Monkeys were laughing the whole time because they need to constantly hear the reply from the android parts. No laughing, no signal. Hah!"

Kaldur begins to plan. "Orange Lantern, could you transport Miss Martian and myself to the site of the signal?"

"I haven't actually transported people at full speed before. Should be alright, but I wouldn't want to pancake you because I was wrong. At slower speeds, sure, but how long do we have?"

"Not enough. Superboy, are you able to move cross country to intercept the Monkeys?"

"No problem."

"Robin, send the predicted destination to Superboy and Kid Flash. They can attempt to intercept while M'gann calls in the bioship for us to follow in."

"Wouldn't it be better for me to transport Robin along with them?"

"No. You said yourself: the android has not yet had an opportunity to scan a Lantern. I do not want you near it unless there is no other choice. Besides which, there may be subsequent attacks on your truck. I would rather you were there to defend it."

Damn. He's right, but…

Oh, idea. "Superboy, could you carry Robin safely while you're bounding?"

"Ah, probably."

"Wait a minute-."

"Robin, you're the IT guy. If they're going to be facing down an android, they're going to need you."

Aqualad agrees. "Orange Lantern is correct. I would like you there when Superboy and Kid Flash confront Ivo, and he should be capable of protecting the truck alone long enough for that confrontation to take place."

"Yeah, it's just… Uh. No one takes any pictures."

The truck pulls over and stops, and Kon pulls up next to it and dismounts. Robin exits the truck through the rear hatch, and I float Kon's bike inside, propping it up next to the Amazo parts and the front half of Robin's bike. Kon turns in the direction that should allow him to intercept the Monkeys, and bends to a crouch. Robin walks up behind him and puts his arms around his neck.

I shake my head. "Guys, I don't think that's going to work. Superboy puts out a lot of force when he launches. You won't be able to hold on."

Robin lets go, and sags. "It's not going to have to be a bridal carry, is it?"

"Fireman's carry might work, but that would probably be safer."

He points at me. "I'm serious: no pictures."

I raise my hands in surrender, then move my ring hand behind my back. He walks around Kon, and lowers himself gingerly into his arms in the approved manner.

"Okay, I think I'm about-." Kon launches, cutting off Robin's sentence. Since I don't hear him crying out in pain or see him drop off he's probably alright. I close the rear of the truck and walk around to the passenger's side.

"Sergeant. Shall we?"

 

3rd August
21:26 GMT -5

The truck has no radio, so I've spent my time getting to know the good sergeant a little. Two brothers and a sister, elder brother and sister both working as primary -no, sorry, elementary- school teachers, and younger brother in college. His wife works as a chef and they currently have no children. He was surprised when I was willing to share both my first name and my family situation, but accepted my explanation as to the reason why I could do that with a 'yeah, I hear that can happen'.

"I've been meaning to ask; what part of the military or law enforcement are you actually from?"

"Police, Metropolis Special Crimes Unit."

"Metropolis? Isn't this a bit out of your way?"

"Commissioner Henderson's got some kinda deal with Superman. Guess the League find it useful to know where they can find people trained for this sorta thing. Well, trained as you can get, anyways."

"You seemed a little alarmed by the Monkeys earlier."

"The sorts of supervillain we usually get in Metropolis? If they get that close to you it's all over. I mean, I've seen ray gun eyes before, but those Monkeys were just creepy."

"I don't really have much to compare it to."

"You really don't have stuff like this where you're from?"

"Not even slightly. We could build an armoured van like this, but those Monkeys are at least fifty years more advanced than anything on my Earth. The android? Pfff, I couldn't even begin to guess."

"Must be pretty weird for you."

"Nah, not any more. Total immersion. At this point the shock's worn off, and this is the new normal."

"This ain't normal, pal."

"Is if I don't see anything else."

Have they reached Ivo yet? I don't want to risk scanning them to find out. Shouldn't use the ring to communicate with them for the same reason. Where did I put my regular… Ah, there it is!

"Orange Lantern to Robin. Are you able to give me an update?"

I hear an explosion.

"Little busy right now, Oh El!"

"Access Captain Atom."

The communicator cuts off. I don't recognise the second voice. Didn't sound like the recordings of Ivo I listened to earlier. Access..? No, doesn't ring a bell. Could be Amazo, but we've still got half of his body in the back. I checked. Would Ivo have had spare parts? Probably, but his usual MO during operations was to start heavy and then be ready to evacuate, not hang around in a fully equipped lab.

"They gunna be alright?"

"I.. don't know. If they were getting completely overwhelmed I'm sure they'd call for help."

"Did you see the recordings of what that android did?"

"Yes. Oh, not the whole thing, just highlights of the fight so I'd know what to expect."

"No, I mean-" He risks glancing away from the road for a moment to catch my eye. "-the aftermath. All the damage that thing did."

"Not specifically. Four hours, I know there's going to be a lot of wreckage-."

"Not the buildings. That thing focused on the League as soon as they got there, and they did the best job anyone coulda done. But last I heard? There were thirty confirmed dead and at least a hundred seriously injured. And once they start clearing wreckage, you better believe both those numbers gunna go up. And now The Flash's sidekick and Batman's sidekick and... Superboy? They're gunna try and fight it?"

"Half of it's still in the back. At most, they're fighting its head, shoulders and waist."

"If I had a dollar for every time-."

"Oh El! Guess who just did something totally awesome?"

"Kid Flash. I'm going to guess: Robin."

"J-. Okay, he did kinda awesome, but it was mostly me."

"Please just tell me what happened."

"Well, bad news, Ivo put Amazo back together. Sorta. Good news, since he didn't have all the parts it wasn't anything like as powerful as when the League fought it."

Remember that you don't know what they don't think you know. "Amazo?"

"Yeah, that's what Ivo called his super android. We caught up with them at the train depot. He did the whole 'sending children after me' speech, then we kicked his tin can's can."

"Do you have Ivo?"

"Nah, some of the Monkeys flew him away after Amazo reactivated. Dude, you shoulda seen it; looked like the Terminator with half his skin ripped off."

"What?"

"You know? The Sylvester Stallone film? Or doesn't your world have that?"

"We, we, Stallone? Er, different lead actor."

"Half the parts looked like he got them outta junk yard! Which is where we sent him."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it. How're Robin and Superboy?"

Nothing for a moment.

"Ah, Rob's good. Rob's good. Yeah."

"Kid Flash, I swear to the gods that if you don't give me a straight answer right now I will fly there and take it from your still living brain. What. Happened. To Superboy."

"Jeez, chill, dude. I dunno exactly. He went after Ivo, and it turned out the Amazo thing wasn't quite as down as we thought it was. Once we finished it off Rob tried finding him, but his communicator musta got lost or something."

!Kon Mine!

"Please confirm that the android is completely out of the fight."

"Yeah, I stuck one of Robin's EMP mines right in its brain. It's fried."

Ring, location of Kon-El. Thank you.

"Superboy's at the Gotham City Academy. Ivo and all the remaining Monkeys I can detect are there as well."

"I think Superboy can take some Monkeys."

I summon a view screen. Kon recoils as a glowing beam grazes his arm.

"No, I'm watching him now. Think they've upgraded the eye beams."

"Okay, well… Hey, Rob! How far's Gotham Academy from here? Okay. I can be there in, like, a minute."

"I'll be there in four seconds. Good evening, sergeant."

 

3rd August
21:29 GMT -5

"I'm not usually one for the 'hands on' approach, but this is too good an opportunity to miss."

I'm directly above the playing field behind the main Gotham Academy building. The seven remaining Monkeys are arranged in a loose circle around Kon, rockets inactive. Ivo's sitting on a nearby picnic table, watching with interest. There's no way seven Monkeys are a threat to him. What am I missing?

One of the Monkeys leans forward, and two beams of red light blast from its eyes and strike Kon in the chest.

"Ggghhhurrrhh!"

Another two join in. His t-shirt burns off and his skin smokes and oh no you fucking don't!

I haven't yet found a safe and reliable way to enhance Kon's Kryptonianness, but my studies have given me an insight into how Kryptonians recharge. And why the red parts of the visible spectrum can be a problem. My photon beam illuminates the area around him to recharge him even as my construct armour materialises around his body. Kon seems surprised for a moment, then looks up at me and grins savagely.

"Ah. And who might you be?"

I lower myself to just above ground level, between Kon and Ivo. "Yes, because helping supervillains is what I'm all about. Superboy, do you want the Monkeys or-."

The first Monkey explodes as he lunges through it, creating a crater which bowls over two more.

"Rightho then." I look directly at Ivo, who cringes and draws a controller of some description. Jam. He presses it once, twice, then throws it aside and starts to run. I don't even bother holding him in place as a ShockCrown construct appears around his head. He freezes, trips, and slams into the ground.

Ring, make sure he doesn't leave.

Compliance.

A window shatters. Turning, I see Kon rip apart the last of the Monkeys. A flash of OrangeVision shows that the window was pulverised by the remains of the second to last Monkey, propelled at great force.

"RAaaaaaggghh!"

"Kon, you injured?"

His face is a picture of frustration and rage, and the remains of his t-shirt have flaked off. He raises his left leg and stomps down hard on one of the larger pieces of Monkey, throwing up a large cloud of dust and creating another depression in the ground.

Their groundskeeper is going to hate us.

Ring, check his health.

Vital signs within acceptable parameters. No significant injuries detected. No harmful microbes or parasites detected.

Right. I land, and walk towards him, removing the armour constructs around us and sending my regular armour to subspace as I go.

"Kon, what's going on?"

"Rrrrruh!" He turns, head down, and stalks away from me, booted feet leaving deep footprints in the soil.

I should probably tell Aqualad and the others what happened.

!Kon needs me!

But I suppose Ivo's not going anywhere. Kon doesn't seem to be walking in a particular direction, so I leave the ground and drift along after him. After a few moments he slows, then stops.

"He thought I was Superman's son."

Ah. I float around to his front. He still won't look at me.

"Urm, strength, toughness, 'S' on the chest. It was a logical deduction."

"He kept going on about it. Comparing us. Saying I wasn't as good as he is."

"Kon, supervillains are arseholes. Talking you down is what they do."

He looks up. "But I'm not, am I?! I'm never going to be able to do the things he can do!"

I'm at a loss. "Maybe not, but Superman style isn't the only way to be a superhero. There's other skills you can-."

"That's what they showed me."

"What who showed you?"

His eyes drop again, and he exhales heavily. "The G-Gnomes. When I was in the tank. They showed me being as strong as Superman. Stronger. Fighting him and winning. And now I'm out, and I can't… They showed me him so many times. And even though they wanted me to hate him, I don't, I just…"

He looks up. The anger is gone now, and he just looks lost.

"He was the only person they showed me who was like me. Even when they made me fight him the whole time, I felt… I dunno, a connection. A similarity. And then I got out and met him, I, I thought…"

"You thought that he'd feel the same way."

He sags. "It was stupid. There's loads of other superheroes around."

I don't think a rational argument is going to work here. I land about a metre in front of him. I don't know what to do. I take a step closer. No response.

I need to know what to do.

!Superboy doesn't need nasty Superman. He needs me!

Another step closer. We're only ten centimetres apart now. I reach out and put my right hand on his left upper arm, next to his shoulder. He moves his head slightly, looking at it.

Then I step forward again and hug him. My left arm goes around the right side of his chest, under his right arm. My head on his right shoulder, my right arm over his left. My hands against his bare skin. Touching him like this, I can feel it as he tenses slightly. I hadn't really thought about it, but now I do I suppose it's quite possible that no one's hugged him before. Maybe I shouldn't have done this? Then I feel him lean into me a little, and his previously loose hands reach up to touch my back. I feel him relax a little. We stand like that for a few moments. I don't know if this is actually helping him, but I hope so.

"Hey! You got Ivo! Nice work g-!" Wallace skids to a halt just past the place where Kon pasted the Monkeys. "Oh. Um. Oh." He's staring. He bends his right arm back, right hand behind his head. "I'll just. I'll just be over here. With Ivo. You just, just carry on. With… Whatever."

He walks backwards, narrowly avoids tripping on a crater and then turns and walks back to the recumbent malign hypercognitive.

Kon takes a half pace back, his hands still touching me. He's actually looking at me as well, and I can see the ghost of a smile.

"Um, thanks. That felt… Nice. We should, we should probably, probably clear up the Monqis, or something."

"Yeah, I hear that term time starts soon."

 

4th August
01:06 GMT -5

"The Amazo android is in pieces again, safely being analyzed at the two separate STAR Labs. Ivo is in custody, and since he originated the tech I would strongly advise that the greatest possible security measures be put in place to ensure that he remains there."

We're standing opposite Batman, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. Kon didn't have a spare t-shirt with him, so I've lent him one of mine. It just about fits; the shoulders and sleeves are a bit tight and he had to roll up the cuffs. Have to see about persuading him to try other clothes.

I returned to my original truck to see Sergeant Ramones safely to Star Manhattan, while the rest of the team dropped a still paralysed Ivo off with Metropolis SCU. They then flew what was left of 'Termanazo' -Robin's choice of description- to STAR Labs in Boston. No further incidents.

Just in case, I avoided using the ring directly on either part of the android.

I'm actually not sure why we didn't just use the bioship in the first place. Maybe the League were concerned about what would happen if Amazo reactivated in a confined environment? Some sort of public relations thing after the fact? Doesn't seem… Politic..? To question it. I know that I'm very junior here and there's probably something I'm not seeing.

Wallace keeps staring at me. Not sure why.

"Making sure the Professor remains in detention will be a League priority."

I'm glad that Black Canary's on top of things. If the police here are anything like in the comics then they're either incompetent or vastly outmatched. I took a few moments to look at the revised dead and injured count from the League's fight with Amazo and I fear the sergeant may have been being optimistic. Does this US have the death penalty? I'm not generally in favour, but I can see strong arguments for it in a place with people like Ivo. One man can do a lot more damage here than was possible back home.

Hm. Wonder if truth compulsion enchantments are used in trials. There must be some level of public awareness of that form of magic just from Diana's lasso. But then, I expected magic schools to be a fairly normal thing and they're virtually unheard of.

Martian Manhunter crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. "But we understand your mission encountered.. other.. complications."

What is he..? Does he mean where Kon went after Ivo? Because that was a reasonable decision if Amazo was down. Should I suggest something else? I'm honestly a little concerned that Ivo knew how to build red sun weapons.

Batman steps forward. "Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."

Kon leans back a bit, and crosses his arms. It's… No. Might have been nice if Superman was even slightly interested in him, but apparently that isn't happening. Wonder if Diana's talked to him yet.

"Of course there's no shame in asking for help; that's why the League exists, because there's some problems even we can't handle individually."

Robin responds to what I assume he sees as mollycoddling. "Please. If we needed help we'd never get the chance to ask."

I have no idea what that sentence means.

"Look familiar?"

He holds up an arrow Wallace found while checking the area around Gotham Academy in minute detail while Kon and I stood guard. He was very thorough. Useful, as I wouldn't have known what to scan for. There were a number of wrecked Monqis that Kon says he didn't destroy himself, as well as several arrows like that one.

"You were following us."

One arrow does not a League posse make, but he wouldn't hear it when he aired his theory on the bioship ride back. The arrow has green fletching, but now I've had a chance to scan him the ring tells me that the shaft and the shape of the tip are noticeably different to what Green Arrow uses.

"Babysitting, you still don't trust us!"

Green Arrow steps forward and takes the arrow out of Robin's hand. He examines it closely, while Batman answers the accusation.

"We didn't follow you."

Green Arrow holds up one of his own so Robin can compare them. The head of his is curved, rather than serrated like the ones from the Gotham Academy. I had wondered about that; serrated arrows are designed to be hard to remove from flesh without causing further harm and seemed a bit.. nasty for a clean cut superhero. Robin sees it as the rest of us do.

"And that's not your arrow. But that means-."

Wallace is grinning. "Speedy!"

If it isn't an apple, it must be a banana. How does that make sense? Speedy uses red arrows, this one is green and brown. And I doubt he uses serrated heads either. But if it makes them happy…

"He has our backs."

Kaldur, if you seriously believe that then I've got an underwater bridge I can sell you.

Air displaces, and Wallace has the serrated arrow in his hand. "Souvenir."

Wallace and Robin walk off in the direction of the trophy room. I guess that part of the debrief is done then.

"Sir?" Batman looks at me. I glance in Kon's direction. "The red light weapons which the Monqis attacking Kon were using. Has that sort of thing been used before? Against Superman?"

"No. After you described the process by which it operates I spoke with Captain Atom. He tells me that it would be within his abilities to replicate the spectra necessary to achieve that effect. Possibly, Ivo learned of it from the recordings contained within the android, and redesigned their weapons with that in mind. But you're right, it is a concern, and the League will be on the look out for similar technology in the future. If Ivo learned of it from someone else, we will find them."

"What..? What do you intend to tell the school?"

"The team did a thorough job of cleaning up evidence of anything… Unusual. Sadly, criminal damage is not uncommon in Gotham. It is unlikely this will raise any eyebrows, and it shouldn't delay the start of the new term."

"Thank you sir. If you'll excuse me?"

A tiny nod, and I turn away to walk back to my quarters. Uh, I need sleep. With one thing and another I missed meditation today. Yesterday. Missing one day every so often shouldn't matter and I'm far too tired to maintain the necessary mindset now. No need to charge the ring. None of what I did took all that much power, and I'm not planning anything much first thing tomorrow. First thing today. Second thing.

I haven't even reached my door when I switch to my pyjamas. They're the only clothing I currently own without some orange on them. Blue tartan pattern trousers and a thin grey pullover. Only thing that came with me from home. A pulse of orange cleans me. I actually have to pause for a moment as my tiredness means that my usual revulsion at the prospect of dirt is dampened enough that the process is noticeably slower than normal.

"Paul, do you have a moment."

I turn, not even trying to keep how I feel from my face. "Kaldur, I'm about to fall asleep on my feet. Is this something that can wait at all?"

"I wanted to commend you for your decision to preserve the Monqi specimens intact. It will make reverse engineering them a good deal easier."

"I hate seeing useful things getting broken."

Anything else? Yes, it seems there is.

"M'gann tells me that you do not believe the arrow was fired by Speedy."

"Kaldur, there's a lot of arrows out there. If you want to know whether it was him or not, just phone him and ask. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."

 

9th August
18:31 GMT -5

Batman, Red Tornado and Green Arrow stand with our newest recruit, waiting for us to respond to her presence. I wait for one of the others to say something. Kaldur, really. Nothing. Rolling my eyes, I step forward with my left hand extended.

"Orange Lantern two eight one four. Pleased to meet you, Artemis."

She seems a little surprised. A small smile and… Is that a blush? Hard to tell with that face mask thing. Not a bad effort, as masks go.

"Ah. Likewise." She takes my hand lightly, holds it for a moment and then releases. Not big on skin contact?

"Seems it falls to me to introduce the rest of the squad. You'll have to forgive them, they're a bit shy."

Another eye roll from me for her to see. I don't know exactly what Batman and Green Arrow were thinking, dropping her on us like this with no warning. Come to think of it, I don't know why they didn't give the first four warning about M'gann or myself.

I turn, and gesture to my team mates in turn. "Superboy, Miss Martian, Aqualad and Robin. Real names are extended on a case by case basis. Mine's on this card."

One appears and I hand it to her. She looks at it and raises an eyebrow. "Isn't this supposed to have your cell on it?"

The large areas of her face showing do rather ruin the otherwise sensible idea behind her mask.

"It's not a business card. I am physically incapable of saying my own name." I shake my head. "Don't ask why, I have no idea."

Kaldur finally gets his act together and extends his right hand. "Artemis, welcome to the team. My name is Kaldur'ahm."

She takes his hand with a nod, and the others step forwards to greet her. This whole thing brings to mind a group of dogs sniffing the posterior of a new member while the Human owners look on to make sure things don't turn nasty. I think I'd be a Collie…

"So are we getting a mission out of this?"

I think Robin would be something small and yappy. A Chihuahua, possibly. My Gran used to have one. Ancient thing, name of Fang. Blame my great uncle.

Red Tornado and Green Arrow look to Batman. "Yes. The briefing will be held once Speedy arrives."

Robin and Kaldur share a look. Kaldur speaks first. "Will Speedy be joining the team as well?"

Green Arrow winces slightly, but Batman answers. "He has been given that option, but so far has chosen not to make use of it."

"Yeah, said he wanted to go solo for a while."

Green Arrow isn't making eye contact as he says it. Looks like they had a bit of a falling out over the whole 'junior team' thing.

I don't remember Artemis from the comics at all. Not this Artemis anyway. I think that alien queen Booster Gold ran into was called Artemis, and there was almost certainly an Amazon by that name. I also don't remember anything about Green Arrow having a niece. A son, yes, and a couple of wards. No other family. Maybe Artemis is this parallel's version of Conner Hawke? Or Mia Harper? I haven't bothered putting either of them on my mental list of possibles due to me not really getting the whole.. bow thing.

It's a bent stick that fires pointy sticks. Even for trick arrow stuff, guns are just better.

Wait. Is he lying about the niece thing? Oh, yes, yes he is. Hm.

"Did he say when he was getting here?" I point towards the kitchen with my right thumb. "I ask because I'd started dinner. Wanna know if I've got time to finish…"

Green Arrow shrugs. "Roy said he'd get here at eight. He's usually pretty punctual."

I look at Batman. "Sir? Do you need me for anything in the meantime?"

He considers for a moment. "No." He turns to the rest of the team. "Reconvene at nineteen fifty. Aqualad, a moment."

Hm. Not sure what that's about. Team leader probably needs to know stuff about the newest member. With whom we've done no training at all.

My medium armour is replaced by my civilian clothing and Orange Corps apron (legend: You Know You Want This), and I walk towards the kitchen. Robin looks like he wants to hang around and wait for Wallace to turn up. Turns out that American school holidays can finish a lot earlier than they do in Britain, and he had to miss our time on the beach. A shame; I enjoyed it more than I was expecting and it would have made for a better team bonding exercise if he was present.

I suppose the rest will be starting back soon as well. I hope Kon agrees to attend. It would do him good, and I'm sure M'gann would appreciate having someone to keep her company. Means that I'll be rattling around here with Kaldur. Haven't had a really good personal conversation with him yet. I've read his file of course, but it would be nice to get to know him as a per-.

"What're you making?"

Oh. Artemis followed me.

"Chilli. I'd appreciate your input, actually. I know that chilli is a big deal in Green Arrow's family."

Maybe cruel, but she needs to learn that good cover stories don't just happen.

"Oh. Uh, of course."

I have two large frying pans full of beef mince on the hobs. I think of them as 'team' and 'Wallace'. I turn them back on and float up my notebooks while I wait for them to get back up to temperature. They're black covered, with orange bindings and an orange sigil front and back. One for League stuff, one for team stuff and the third…

The third is for my Corps.

I know I lack the skills that will be required to run it. Having seen the way the Guardians treat the Greenies I'd like a structure where authority is more in the hands of Corps officers. Since I can't be sure exactly who is available until I can get out into the wider galaxy I can't get too attached to a particular choice, but I've got a few names so far.

Since Starfire isn't on Earth, she is most likely still a prisoner of the Psions. The same may be true of her sister Blackfire as well. If Starfire is as she was in the comics then she'd make an excellent recruit. Her sister might as well, depending on the exact circumstances of their detention. I seem to remember that she was partially to blame for it? Not sure. Tamaranians seemed to get made into the galaxy's chew toy for a while, and I'd like to prevent that.

Though I wasn't specifically thinking of her at the time, Soranik Natu is the perfect example of someone who might use a ring for medical purposes and never get into a fight. How much she can actually get away with living like that will depend on the political and social situation on Korugar at this point in time, but I’d wish her all the best.

Who could actually handle running it? Who do I want for Clarissi? One name stands out, but will he be available?

The fat and oil in the pans starts to sizzle. I form a spatula and move it around a little. Time to haze the new girl.

"What sort of chilli powder do you think is most appropriate? We've got a couple of different types but it's all one to me."

 

9th August
18:36 GMT -5

It is fast becoming apparent that Artemis knows nothing about chilli. Asking whether or not I should add vinegar got an uncertain affirmative. Asking what type resulted in her looking wide eyed at the three types proffered before picking 'the brown one'. I say that I heard that the Arrows like it hot, she responds by telling me to use the whole jar of chilli powder, plus a generous measure of Tabasco sauce. I had to suggest that the rest of us don't have their tolerances in order to stop the whole thing getting ruined. Maybe she's more worried about the whole 'niece' thing than I thought she would be? Am I being a bit mean about this? Might be easier to just scan her background, but I really don't want to keep doing that sort of thing. Didn't J'onn J'onzz nearly get kicked off the nascent Justice League for doing exactly that?

Finally got the mince, onions, tomato and spice transferred into the large saucepan, and now it's on to simmer. I'm currently sitting in the air while jotting things down in the notebooks. The man I want as Clarissi is Vril Dox. Managing the Corps would be a trivial task for a man of his intellect, and his desire to create interstellar security will most likely make him a capable ring user in his own right. Legion, the Darkstars and my Corps as part of the same organisation? Suddenly the job starts to actually look possible. Depending on what point in his personal timeline this is, getting him will either be trivially easy or very hard. If he's-.

"What are you doing?"

"Planning."

"What are you planning?"

Her tone makes it clear that the unspoken word at the end of that sentence was 'ass'.

"Theft, brigandage, torture, the subjugation of all free peoples, and puppy golf."

Nonplussed. "Puppy… Golf?"

I put my feet back on the floor, look up, put my fists together and pull them back behind my shoulder. "It's like normal golf, only instead of a ball you-."

"I get it! I get it!"

I move my arms as if swinging a golf club. "Ruff!"

She grimaces. "You're disgusting."

"I try." I give her a smile. "I'm trying to plan -among other things- the future structure of my Corps. The sort of people I want in it, how I'll persuade them to sign up. That sort of thing."

"Wait. You can just give out power rings?"

"Noooooooott yet. That's something else I'm working on."

One of the things the ring actually does have instructions on is how to make more rings. At the most intense level of desire I could generate under test conditions the ring tells me that it would take me five months' continuous effort to forge one. At my actual peak output it would be more like a week, but there's no way I could sustain that. Think I'll put that on the back burner.

"Ah! But I'm being rude. How long have you been involved in vigilantism? I mean, if it's a family thing-."

Her eyes narrow. "You know." She turns away from me and clenches her fists. "Damn it!"

"You didn't put much effort into the cover story. If it helps, I don't actually care that you're not his niece. I'm not related to anyone around here either."

"What gave me away!?"

"Green Arrow's an only child and unmarried. Of all of the relations he might refer to as 'niece' to keep things simple, none of them are half South-East Asian."

I've actually got a fairly good idea which country, province and ethnic group that parent was from, but no need to completely freak her out.

And now she's right in my face. "Have you been spying on us!?"

Remember the cover story. "You, no. Him, yes. You got a ring scan when I wanted to check whether or not you were actually his niece. He got a thorough scanning when I first came to this planet and tried to work out what the hell was going on with the weird costumes."

Anger and confusion, now.

"You're an alien?"

"Ah, no. Parallel universe. With no superheroes. Point is, I was in a strange place without any backup, and I wanted as much information as I could get to keep myself safe."

She backs up a little. "Oh." She's looking to the side. Did I get away with it? "I guess that makes sense."

"Look, I don't know what your real name is, and I don't intend to use the ring to find out. I no longer feel the need to do that sort of thing. I know I can depend on everyone on the team, and they know they can depend on me. That's kind of what brought me and Superboy closer together."

"Ah..."

Now she's gone back to uncertain. Oh, right.

"You probably saw us fighting Professor Ivo's Monqis, right? You were at the school?"

"Um, yeah. I saw you both, y'know, together."

"You should have said something at the time."

"I… I didn't want to interrupt."

"We're professionals. The job takes precedence. And it might have been nice to get a little warning that you were going to be joining us."

"Batman and Green Arrow only came to talk to me after that. I'd been.. doing stuff.. since the end of July. Stopping robberies, stuff like that."

"I got the ring at the beginning of July. Waking up in orbit is not a fun way to start a day. But, you must've been in training for a long time to use a bow for something like that."

Wariness, this time. Surrender gesture with my hands.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

Looks like she doesn't.

"You really woke up in orbit?"

"Ermmm… Sort of? In space between the Earth and the Moon. I'm not sure I was actually orbiting."

She frowns. "So… Does your universe have Orange Lanterns rather than Green ones?"

"If we do, none have come to our Earth at any point in recorded history. I'm fairly sure that the orange ring I wear came from this parallel."

"How does that work?"

"I've no idea. If you find out, let me know. I'd quite like to tell my parents where I am."

 

9th August
19:53 GMT -5

Green Arrow said that my chilli was 'okay'.

I can now die happy.

He said that he usually serves it with crackers rather than rice. I've only really seen crackers eaten with cheese as the last part of a meal or as a snack. It would never have occurred to me to eat them with chilli. He also made significant use of the Tabasco sauce I offered him as a condiment. I think his super power must be heat resistance. I could probably have equalled him with my ring-granted resilience, but why bother? Food shouldn't be an endurance contest.

Aqualad turned up when I started slicing peppers to give Artemis a tour of the facility. I suggested that she claim a bedroom now to avoid disappointment later. Red Tornado sort of sat in for dinner, but Batman said that he wasn't hungry. Everyone else was, and I like to think that eating together brought us closer together. Wallace actually ended up missing dinner. I was a little surprised by that. I don't think American schools finish all that much later in the day than British ones. Maybe he got loaded with homework? Doesn't matter all that much. No matter how pained the idea made Green Arrow look chilli freezes perfectly well.

Now we're waiting for Red Arrow to arrive with our briefing. Hope Wallace gets here as well; he'll be annoyed if he misses it. Robin tried the comm link a few minutes ago and apparently he's on his way.

"Do'ya know what Speedy's been up to lately? We've sorta been out of touch."

I think that's the first thing Robin's actually said to Artemis. He isn't happy about the whole 'replacement archer' thing. I'm trying to work out if I should suggest getting a better weapon, maybe a nice coil gun or something? I might be able to build one that can fire the specialist tips DC archers like so much.

Not a boxing glove arrow, obviously. I have standards.

Artemis' cover story is still paper thin. Obviously she would have met Speedy if she were actually Green Arrow's niece, and she clearly hasn't.

"Um, yeah, I've seen-."

"Recognised, Kid Flash, Bee zero three."

The zeta tube glows with white light and… Oh my…

Wallace has prepared for the beach. Robin did try and tell him there was a mission in the works, but it looks like it didn't get through.

"The Wall-man is here!"

He has a sunshade, a picnic basket, some sort of music player, a beach ball, two other bags and he's wearing swimming shorts. Maybe trunks really are that unusual here?

"Now lets get this part-ay star-." He hurries forwards and trips on the sunshade's support pole. I catch him, remove some of his encumbrance and stack it to the side before propping him back up. "Uh, thanks."

"Wall-man, huh? Ha, love the uniform." Is it really a uniform if it's not uniform? At least I have the excuse that other Corps members genuinely do dress like me. Inasmuch as they dress. "What exactly are your powers?"

I think I'm getting to like Artemis.

Wallace just looks blankly at her. "Uh, who's this?"

"Artemis, your new team mate."

"Kid Flash, never heard of you."

Green Arrow steps forward and places his right hand on her shoulder. "Urp, she's my new protégé."

"W-w-what happened to your old one?"

"Recognised, Speedy, B zero seven."

Everyone turns their attention to the zeta tube.

His clothes are black, except for the red 'shoot me' sign on his upper chest. He's wearing some sort of straps around his waist and shoulders. There's a red bow over his right shoulder, and a black quiver full of red arrows. Short orange hair and the de rigueur pointless tiny mask. Looks like he's actually thought about what it makes sense to wear, but was too concerned about the mockery of his peers to go full unretard.

"Well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore." Red Arrow it is then. Makes sense to me. "Call me Red Arrow."

Ah, should have made a bet with someone.

Green Arrow is first to respond. He sounds… Concerned? "Roy. You look-."

"Replaceable."

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub?"

Maybe no one at all thought the cover story through properly?

"Can she even use that bow?"

Artemis steps up to him. "Yes, she can."

Wallace gets back to what he considered to be the most important question. "Who are you?"

"She's my niece." / "I'm his niece."

Red Arrow's going to know that's nonsense, isn't he? He doesn't say anything. I'm going to assume that someone who's been around superheroes as long as he has knows when not to argue someone's identity.

Kaldur steps forward to reassure his friend. "She's not your replacement. We've always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick."

Wallace, we're going to have to work with this woman. Was that really necessary?

Huh, with Robin, Wallace and Kaldur moving towards their friend M'gann, Kon and I have sort of been shuffled to the back. I don't think any of us have actually met him before. No, hang on, Kon went with them the morning we fought Mister Twister. Maybe he just didn't make a good impression?

"Whatever, Baywatch. I'm here to stay."

She took that better than I was expecting.

Red Arrow takes a step towards his friends, and Kaldur tries to bring us to the point. "You came to us for a reason."

"Yeah, a reason called Doctor Serling Roquette."

 

9th August
19:58 GMT -5

Never heard of him. I did actually check the mad scientist files after the thing with Ivo too, so he can't be an existing supervillain.

Robin looks at his arm computer. "Nano-robotics genius-" Screens appear in mid air with parts of-. Her biography, and a current photo. I am so glad Diana wasn't listening to what I was thinking a second ago. 'So, you think that women don't belong in science, Orange Lantern?' Her eyebrow would be raised so far… "-and claytronics expert at the Royal University in Star City."

Royal? I think not.

"Vanished two weeks ago."

"Abducted two weeks ago. By the League of Shadows."

Wasn't that what Batman Begins renamed the League of Assassins? If we're going up against a bunch of people with swords, this is going to be the shortest mission ever.

"Whaw! You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?" Robin likes the idea. None of these people will have heard of Cliff Richard, so there's no point trying to make a joke of it. "Hardcore!"

Wallace fist bumps Robin. Seems he likes the idea too. Not sure what's so exciting. Frankly, I've read up on them and I'm fairly confident that I could take down a cell single-handedly. The only reason I haven't suggested this to anyone is that the cells are darn hard to find. If we already know where they are, this actually will be the shortest mission ever.

"I already rescued her."

Ring, has he filed a mission report? No, that would have been a bit much to hope for.

Red Arrow walks over to the display. A new screen with technical schematics pops up. "Only one problem. The Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon."

Ring, take a copy of all this stuff. It might be useful later.

Compliance.

"Doc calls it 'the fog'."

No no no! Not nanotech! Not the blooming code word for nonsense techno magic! It could do anything here! The only thing I remember about how it's supposed to work back home is that it's supposed to be bad at dealing with heat. And I learned that from a Deus Ex discussion thread. And I haven't practised a maser cannon construct! "Comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nanotech Infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete. Steel. Flesh. Bone."

One of the pictures is a slightly insect looking robot. How is that going to fly in a controlled manner? Would my shield block a nanoswarm? It should, it isn't made of matter and it's only porous to the things I want it to be porous to. Just have to remember to cover the ground and I should be safe.

"But its true purpose isn't mere destruction; it's theft. The Infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system-" We are now in comic book technology territory. Abandon the scientific method all ye who enter here. "-and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech."

So, not guys with swords.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking… Yeah, sounds like the Shadows." The tone suggests that Artemis isn't impressed. Or maybe she thought the last bit was kind of obvious…

Hang on. I can do all of that.

…

It would actually be easier for me to take that data with the ring than it is for the nano fog stuff to get it.

I could get it right now.

…

I don't think I'll mention that to anyone.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows."

Wallace has decided not to let the perceived slight against Red Arrow of Artemis' existence go unmentioned. Is this going to become a regular thing? I mean, there's plenty of information about the Shadows in the League database and I suspect that Batman's given her access to the same sort of partial version that I got before the team started.

Artemis smiles, not at him, but he can see it from where he's standing.

"Who are you!"

Does he think that she isn't famous enough to be here or something? Red Arrow ignores him and carries on with the briefing.

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the fog inert."

Robin tenses. "But if the Shadows know she can do that…"

"They'll target her. Right now, she's off the grid." An image of a large building appears on the screen. There's a red dot, presumably marking the location of the Doctor. "I stashed her at the local High School's computer lab."

Green Arrow is concerned. "You left her alone?"

"She's safe enough for now."

Ring, check that, would you?

I blink heavily and I get an image not only of the Doctor and the lab, but also of every weapon within two hundred metres. She's fine, but the school really needs to do a locker search…

"Then let's you and I keep her that way." Green Arrow walks towards Red Arrow, hands down by his side, tone friendly. Superman, take some fucking notes.

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"

Green Arrow goes to take another step, but Batman puts a hand on his shoulder. He pauses, and reconsiders.

"You brought this to the team." He gestures in our general direction. "It's their mission, which means it's hers now too."

"Sshh. Then my job's done."

He walks past us, straight to the zeta tube. We watch him go.

"Recognised, Speedy-."

"That's Red Arrow." He looks at the ground, apparently frustrated at the need to define himself in terms of us. "Bee zero seven. Update."

THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT!

The zeta tube activates, and he's gone in a glow of white.

 

9th August
21:51 GMT -5

"That's how nanotech is supposed to work where I'm from."

Artemis and I are walking down a dark locker-filled hallway. Doctor Roquette was getting a wee bit testy at me asking questions about her Infiltrators, so I took the hint and went for a patrol. I asked Artemis to come along because I need to get to know her better in order to properly assist her with the ring, and because putting her in the same room as Wallace for a prolonged period seemed like a bad idea.

"And I thought scientists were supposed to like talking about their specialist subject."

We're not really patrolling to find Shadow Assassins, or whatever they're called. I've instructed the ring to notify me of any weapons breaching the perimeter, and frankly it'll do a much better job than any number of eyes. Unless… What was his name? That shadow guy the Hawks fought? Blinth, or something? Don't really remember, and I haven't seen him in the files. Could turn himself into an actual shadow. Not completely sure I'd pick him up.

"Not when they're trying to concentrate."

Kaldur, Robin and Wallace are in with the Doctor. M'gann's on the roof. Kon's on patrol somewhere... Oh, the roof as well? Alright.

I stop walking when we get to the locker I was looking for. I turn towards it, and set the ring to the task of opening it nicely. Artemis stops as well, and puts her right hand on her hip.

"Are you robbing a locker?"

"Technically, yes." The door comes open and I float out a small selection of knives. I take hold of one with a blood flow groove running down the side and hold it out to her. "Think these can go and live on the Headmaster's desk. With a note of the locker number."

She frowns. "How did you know they were there?"

I close the locker door and relock it. I realise that America is a bit more relaxed about weaponry than Britain, but I doubt that even their relaxed uniform policies allow for knives of this sort.

"Scanned the whole place for weapons, just in case."

"Really?"

"Yep." My eyes flash orange. "There's a couple of flick knives and a flare gun over in the western corridor, but I think we can-."

**Miss Martian, link us up.** If we're not linked, how am I hearing that? Maybe because M'gann's hearing it? Maybe Kaldur's been practising with her? Despite their earlier moaning, the others have got the hang of telepathic communication quickly enough. **We do not want the Shadows intercepting our comm.**

M'gann tests the network. **Everyone online?**

Artemis winces, and rubs her head with her right hand. **Auwa. This is weird.** For some reason she's staring at her right hand.

**And distracting.** Why did M'gann add the Doctor to the network? **Coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen-think in my skull?**

Kid Flash fails to de-escalate. **Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?**

I need to stop him. **Orange Lantern to Miss Martian and Aqualad. I don't see any point in intruding in the good Doctor's valuable headspace.**

Kaldur agrees. **Miss Martian, are you able to exclude Doctor Roquette from the link?**

**Sure. Just a moment… There, that aughta do it.**

There's a momentary pause.

**Doctor Roquette confirms that she can no longer hear us.**

**Good to know. Orange Lantern and Artemis resuming patrol.**

I mapped the place earlier. The Headmaster's… No, hang on, the Principal's office is two corridors and a flight of stairs away. Can't think the title without thinking of Princeps. Not sure if anyone would hear the difference with the ring translating.

**What are we actually looking for, anyway?**

"Nothing really. If the Shadows knew where we were, they'd have acted already. It's more to stop us dozing off than anything else."

**You're supposed to be looking for the Shadows, remember? I'm sure Red Arrow would have been happy to explain, if you hadn't driven him off the team.**

Not again…

Rage flashes over her face and she thrusts her head in Wallace's approximate direction.

**That's so not on me.**

**Kid Flash, please try to remain professional while we're on duty.**

**She started it.**

**Not the point.**

I don't hear anything else from him. I wait until Artemis' attention returns to our environment, then start walking again.

"You can just speak out loud, you know. If you want to talk to just me, rather than the whole team."

**I'm having… Uh…** She holds the heel of her right palm against her forehead. "Don't you have trouble keeping, y'know, keeping it separate?"

"No, not really. According to M'gann I have an unusually open mind."

She skips a step. **M'gann?**

**Yes? What is it?**

**No, uh, was.. talking to Orange Lantern. Never mind.**

"She and I spent some time practising telepathic communication. Seemed like a good idea, given how much we rely on it."

"Yeah, I can see what you-."

**Aqualad to team. I have asked Doctor Roquette to begin tracking the Infiltrator swarm. This will mean that the Shadows will be able to use the signal to track our location. Please remain on high alert, and report anything suspicious before investigating.**

I catch Artemis' eye. She nods.

**Orange Lantern and Artemis, message received and understood.**

**Superboy, got it.**

**Miss Martian, I'm ready.**

We reach an intersection and I stop. Making an opening gesture with my arms, I bring to life screens covering the surrounding area. Artemis seems a little taken aback.

"Whaw. Can you watch everything from here?"

"Nnnnn. Tried watching everything once, gave me a massive headache. The ring detects potential threats and draws my attention to them."

One screen is following a cat. I like cats, but it wouldn't be right, keeping one in the mountain. I instruct the screen to look for something dangerous instead, and it turns out that cat is the fifth most dangerous thing near the perimeter. Huh.

**Orange Lantern to team. Monitors are live, no sign of trouble so far. I will report every five minutes.**

Artemis walks up to the screen showing the front entrance, where M'gann has just been joined by Kon, who drops down from the roof. Artemis looks at him for a moment, then turns to me, left arm across her chest, right elbow on her left hand and her right index finger tapping her chin.

"So, you and Superboy, huh?"

 

9th August
21:56 GMT -5

"Superboy and I what?"

Nothing of note on the screens. The most notable weapon is a shotgun in the boot of a car about eighty metres from the front entrance. Is that good practice? I don't think that's good practice.

"The two of you seemed pre-tty friendly, when I saw you in Gotham."

"Yes, we're good friends. Four of us live in the mountain full time, and he, M'gann and I have spent a lot of time together this last month."

"But, the two of you, y'know-."

**Miss Martian, Doctor Roquette has located the fog. Reconfigure the bioship so Robin and Superboy can pursue.**

The bioship drops down into the field of view of the screen covering the front lawn, hovering just off the ground. Robin leaves the building, and he and Superboy jog over and board it. Superboy's actually more proficient at flying the bioship than I am now. Maybe because he has fewer preconceptions about how flying is supposed to work? Or maybe the bioship flies more like Kryptonians fly? Not sure.

The screen covering the front entrance shows M'gann walking back inside the school, while the one covering the lawn homes in on a bush… Oh. Hah! They actually are sending guys with swords!

**Ladies and gentlemen, we have a ninja on the front lawn. Weird mask, couple of bladed weapons. Ooh, a pistol bow. Haven't seen one of those before.** I move the screen out a little, giving me a better view. M'gann freezes on the front steps. **Don't stop. Either keep walking, or attack immediately.** She lowers her head slightly, and walks up to the doors. **Ah, cheeky devil's going for the fence on your right.**

M'gann surges into the air, hands outstretched in the direction of the first Shadow, who had been executing a rather elegant leap over the perimeter fence. The Shadow -wearing what appears to be a tunic and thigh boots- is suspended upside down in mid-jump, facing away from the school. Nice to know it isn't just the heroes whose ability to dress themselves sensibly gets stolen away. Ah, the first Shadow is a woman. I seem to remember that Ra's was somewhat patriarchal. Female Ubu's certainly weren't allowed to fight until… Nyssia? Talia's sister, whatshername, took over. Am I misremembering that, or is it just different here?

M'gann flies over to the would-be attacker, and I hear Kaldur give warning just before I do. **M'gann, do not get too close.**

M'gann lowers her so that the fence is between them. That won't be much of an obstacle if she turns out to be one of those ridiculously able comic book fighters. Not sure exactly how resilient M'gann is, and I really don't want to find out the hard way. In training, we found that while M'gann can hold many objects at once with telekinesis she can only maintain a really strong force in one place. She says it's just a matter of training and experience, but she could end up in serious trouble if she misjudges this.

**"Well, this is embarrassing."**

I don't recognise the voice. Female. Wait. I think I'm hearing the assassin. We've shared visual images before, but this is new. Interesting.

**Aqualad to Miss Martian. Try to find out who else the Shadows are sending. Orange Lantern, are you detecting any other Shadows?**

**Not at present.**

**Miss Em, if you need backup I can be down there in a sec.**

M'gann pulls her hand back, yanking the Shadow against the wire of the fence. **I think I can manage.**

**"You're the Martian, right? Guess I need to think quieter."**

**"Who else are the League of Shadows sending?"**

Think we need to work on interrogation technique during our next lesson.

**"I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just coming here to use the gym."**

**"R-iiiight."**

**"The middle of the night's the only time I can use it without a bunch of guys staring at my ass the whole time. Kinda flattering at first, but it got old really fast."**

I hear a burst of music.

**Can't get anything from her mind. She keeps thinking of this song.**

How to get around that? **You could try breaking her concentration.**

**I don't really want to hurt her if she isn't fighting back.**

**Can you get any information past the song that you could use to surprise her?**

I almost don't see it. The Shadow's arms move slightly, and something… somethings fly towards M'gann. She jerks back in the air and brings them to a stop mere centimetres from her face. Are those shurikens? Wait, that one-!

One of the projectiles explodes, covering the area in smoke. I can still see M'gann just fine, but I doubt she can see a thing.

**M'gann, go for height in case she follows up!**

**No, she's gone.**

M'gann rises out of the smoke, the Shadow's tunic still in her telekinetic grip.

Kaldur can't see what's happening. **Miss Martian, report.**

**The Shadow threw some knives at me. They went right through the fence, but I stopped them before they hit me. I didn't spot the smoke bomb until it exploded. She got away.**

Another monitor tracks the Shadow as she sprints away from the building. Sports bra. Practical, though not exactly well armoured. Maybe armour doesn't go with her build? Combat build, not physical build. I doubt that she could leap like that if she were wearing my armour.

**I'm still tracking her. She's leaving the area. Aqualad, do you want us to pursue?**

**No. The Shadows will try again. We need to focus on stopping the Infiltrators and protecting Doctor Roquette.**

Robin to Aqualad.

Rather than wear an earpiece that might throw off my hearing, I decided to have the ring relay radio communications. Sounds a bit… Off. I'm not used to hearing a voice other than the ring's in this way.

We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadow's next target. STAR Labs.

That wasn't the one with the Amazo parts, was it? Because that would be a bit of a problem.

We're too late.

I flick my right hand and an image of the collapsing building appears.

It's destroyed. Totally destroyed. The fog decimated it.

It destroyed one in ten buildings? I doubt it.

This is bad. STAR Labs is cutting edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy.

He pauses for a moment. Artemis takes a look at the orange rubble heap projection.

What's our next move?

Kaldur's already decided. We scan for the fog. Find it. We're moving the Doctor.

 

9th August
21:58 GMT -5

**I don't really want to hurt her if she isn't fighting back.**



**Try telling her you think she has a nice arse too.**

There's a moment of silence. Then Kid Flash speaks. **I'm on board with that plan.**

M'gann's less sure. **Err…**

**You just need to stop her thinking about the song for a moment, right?**

**Well, yeah…**

**Reacting in a way which shocks her might well disrupt her concentration.**

**I… I suppose…**

Kaldur isn't keen. **Miss Martian, if you are not comfortable with the suggestion then do not make use of it.**

**No, it… It could work.**

Artemis stares at me as I cover my mouth with my right hand to try and prevent myself from laughing.

"Okay, that's mean."

"A bit. Funny though."

On the monitor M'gann's lips move. I've no idea what she's saying, but I doubt it's very convincing.

The Shadow responds by bending slightly and pressing her derrière against the wire of the fence. She then makes a circle with it.

M'gann jerks back in the air.

"Hah!"

She snerks, "Yeah, okay, that was funny."

"Serves her right for taking what Wallace said at face value. I give Superboy a reassuring hug and suddenly everyone on the team thinks we're romantically involved. It's ridiculous."

"I.. suppose it was, kinda…"

"Particularly considering what I've been doing in Japan."

Her face shifts back to neutral and she moves her gaze from the screen to me. "What have you been doing in Japan?"

I look at her from the corner of my eyes. And now the target has changed. "Ogre sex cult. With orange tentacles."

Stunned. "You, you what?!"

"Well…" I wave my huge grey right hand down my front. "It's all in proportion, isn't it? There's no way one woman could possibly-."

He expression becomes a gurning rictus of horror and disgust. "Oh, eww!"

She's actually gagging! I grin. "Funny you should make that expression…"

 

9th August
22:36 GMT -5

I still can't do stealth.

I could have carried whatever equipment the Doctor wanted to bring easily with a construct. Heck, I could have powered it and given her a roaming internet connection so she could keep working while conveying her in a sealed, vibration free and climate controlled module. But the whole thing would have glowed orange and everyone would have known where we were. And the Shadows have got to have someone who can threaten me, right?

I did briefly consider suggesting that we take her back to the mountain. It would make an excellent defensive position, but would rather give the game away about our residential location.

The Doctor vetoed my suggestion of Atlantis.

We ended up scurrying from place of concealment to place of concealment, stopping only for me to create a small screen with which to track the assassin we knew about and check for any we didn't. Aqualad and I carried the computer equipment by hand, while Artemis scouted ahead and M'gann hovered invisibly above us. Credit where credit's due, Kid Flash managed to knock off the bickering for the journey while he performed rear guard duty.

Oh. Rear. Right. He wasn't anywhere near her.

We've set up shop in the local internet café. Hang on… **Aqualad, if the computers are already here, why did we bother bringing this stuff?**

He turns to me from where he was standing just behind the Doctor while she works. **To set up a decoy. I will remain here with Doctor Roquette. I want everyone else to move to the Sailor's Rest Bar and Grill up the street. Miss Martian will assume the form of Doctor Roquette to act as bait.**

Ring, update on our attacker's location. I see her several streets away. Looks like she had backup clothing stashed somewhere. She gestures and… Oh, that's her backup, is it? **If I may make an alternate suggestion?** Kaldur nods. **The Shadow we encountered at the school has been joined by two others. None of them are carrying weapons which are a threat to me. Why don't I sally forth and deal with them before they get here?**

This seems to surprise him a little. **Members of the League of Shadows are highly skilled-.**

Give me strength. **They're armed with sharp bits of metal and glue guns, Kaldur. They are no threat to me. At absolute worst, one could slip past and maybe make it ten metres before I stop them. Artemis, would you mind covering me from a concealed position?**

Her eyes dart between us. **Aah, no. I.. can.. do that.**

**There. Not even ten metres and they get an arrow in the foot.** I raise my forearms, palms towards me, in a gesture of appeal.

**Hey, how come she gets to help?** Kid Flash doesn't want to get left out.

**Because we need our more experienced team mate covering Doctor Roquette.** That mollifies him slightly. **And because I'm going to be throwing heavy constructs around and we haven't really practised that. I wouldn't want to accidentally pulverise you. Artemis attacks from a distance.**

Kaldur doesn't look convinced. **I am not happy about sending you to face multiple opponents-.**

Armour.

The construct covers me completely. **Kaldur, take a Water-Bearer and stab me in the face.**

"What?" I think I shocked him.

"My armour is not breakable by levels of force a baseline human can bring to bear. And I'm not completely convinced you can break it either. Stab me. Punch me. Whatever you need to do to assure yourself that my assessment is correct."

He waits for a moment, then reaches out with his right hand, pushing lightly against the faceplate. Then, he pulls his arm back and hammers his fist into the armour. Chest, diaphragm and face each take a hit without noticeable effect. I don't move even slightly, though I do have to suppress the blink reflex when his fist comes at my eyes.

If I'd set the armour to 'reflect energy' I'd have broken his hand just then.

He looks at his hand, opening and closing the fist a couple of times. **Very well. Artemis, accompany Orange Lantern and cover him from a place of concealment.**

**Don't worry. This orange light is dreadful for stealth, but it's great for keeping people's attention.** Artemis and I walk towards the door. I open it, step aside and smile. **Ladies first.**

That gets an arched eyebrow, but she walks through anyway.

I'm not normally a violent man, but I'm actually kind of excited about this.

"So, which way are we going?"

Flight aura.

And up we go.

"Hey!"

We shoot five blocks in moments. "Faster than walking." We touch down on the roof of a warehouse. The air conditioning outflow should give Artemis plenty of cover. If she needs it for some reason. "Three opponents: the ninja from earlier, redressed, some guy with glue guns strapped to his wrists and a guy with a big hook for an arm."

I create images of all three of them. Their little party remains in a dispersed formation, but are heading in the same direction closely enough to support each other. Artemis looks at the images for a moment. "I don't recognize the ninja, but those last two are Black Spider and Hook."

"Anything I should look out for?"

"Are you serious about fighting them on your own?"

Incredulity? Please. I hold out my left hand, palm first. My right index finger points to the ring.

"Do you see this ring? This is an example of the most powerful tool ever devised by a species that reached the limits of the technology curve, and then used their knowledge to build more curve for themselves. While I am in no sense an expert in its application, I am more than up to the task, of taking down, three baseline Humans, armed with primitive weapons."

"Cocky much?"

"There is no challenge here! But, if you have any doubts, feel free to watch so you can drag me out of the way when I lose."

Now, who to attack first? Think I'll go for the spider guy. Want to get the chance to clobber him before Marvel Comics do.

 

9th August
22:39 GMT -5

I'm nearly giggling as I lurk behind a warehouse, waiting for my first target to reach me. My lights are on low and the solid wall should prevent me from being spotted. It wouldn't matter much, but I'd prefer not to give them the chance to disperse.

OrangeVision live… Ah, there we are. Spider-Man… No, Black Spider, has leapfrogged past the other two and moved into cover on top of a greengrocer's on the side of the road opposite the other side of this warehouse. Interestingly, he doesn't seem to be using the web spray thingies on his wrists to assist his movements. Instead he seems able to vault and safely fall considerable distances under his own power. Maybe a metahuman? Or perhaps that's just what peak fitness baseline Humans can do here. Still not strong enough to actually threaten me, but I can afford to be a little rougher with him. The other two are at ground level. No time like the present, then.

Armour to full, I rise up behind the warehouse, a draconic four fingered claw manifesting around my target. It isn't quite instantaneous, but it's fast enough that he has no chance to dodge it before being lifted up two stories further and then slammed down into the middle of the road with some considerable force.

As I complete my arc to hover over the street about eight metres away from him -two other targets on his far side- I feel for a moment that maybe it would have been more satisfying to mirror the construct's actions with my own arm? Perhaps, but it would have been foolish and I want to avoid the mistakes the Greenies keep making.

Ring, keep him pinned and give me amplification.

Compliance.

"Good evening, members of the League of Shadows. I am Orange Lantern two eight one four."

A minor construct releases the wrist webbers from Black Spider and floats them over to me. Might be useful.

Ninja girl goes for height while Hook dashes forward more boldly, keeping the parked cars along the side of the road between himself and me as much as possible. Futile hope, or standard training misapplied? Another claw manifests around him and tosses him roughly into open space next to Black Spider. He rolls to a crouch.

"Okay, the ninja girl and the Spider man I kind of get, but what the fuck are you supposed to be?" A grimace, then he aims his hook and me and fires it like a harpoon. That bulky cybernetic actually has a chain in it. Unbelievable. A series of needle-like constructs pierce the links before the hook reaches me, arresting its movement and holding it in place. I send a line construct directly down from me into the ground and towards him. "Were all the good weapons taken or something?"

He snarls, and tries to pull it back like a fishing line. Nope. The line I send underneath him breaks through the tarmac and encases his hook-arm, then extends to generate an angle grinder from it. Now, how much of that arm is still flesh? Hmm. The cybernetic covers pretty much the whole arm, but some skin and nerve tissue -and enough blood vessels to keep them alive- is still intact. The bone and muscle appear to have been entirely replaced with the material used in more normal, natural seeming cybernetics. The bone replacement looks neat. I suppose they'd have to have reinforced parts of his body to take the extra weight and strain of the harpoon gun.

Didn't that come up in Global Frequency? About how you can't just add a little if you want to augment someone with cybernetics, because the body pulls itself apart? Think that was why the guy in Cowboy Bebop had a light and not very strong cybernetic as well.

Now he actually looks scared. Oh well. He yelps as the grinder slices neatly through the arm just above the elbow. Another souvenir. I drop the needle constructs and trigger the reel-in mechanism. Once it snaps back in place I stick the limb into subspace. We're going to need a bigger cupboard at this rate.

With the construct that had been holding his arm in place dropped, Hook falls to his knees, cradling his stump. His eyes are watering and his breathing is shallow and rapid. Oh hell, does he get pain feedback from that arm? I scan for the interface implants before sticking a ShockCrown over his head. He slumps bonelessly to the ground. Right, he's still in pain, he just can't move. Assuming that his arm is basically a customised standard model, destroying that and that should stop any signals reaching his organic nervous system. Another scan and yes, no impulses detected. Great.

Lifting Hook and Black Spider up -Black Spider showing some signs of life now- I spray them both with a good coat of Black Spider's own web solution before sticking them to the warehouse wall with the rest of it. Now, logically he'd keep a supply of solvent here… Yes, there we are. I know what I can do with that. I stick the dispensers in the still-hardening webbing next to Black Spider's head, and take off his helmet.

Hook won't be able to move for hours, and Black Spider isn't going anywhere fast unless the ninja cuts him free. Where'd she go? Ah, as far away from me as she can get in the time available. Rather than head towards the seafront and the Doctor, she's heading parallel to the seafront, over the rooftops. Does she really think that will help?

Ring, plot route.

Compliance.

A fraction's worth of blur and I'm standing directly in front of her. She's running at full pelt and doesn't have time to stop before crashing into me, and bouncing off my armour. Respect to her though, she uses her bounce back to roll away from me and into a crouch. A movement of her arms and three shurikens hit my construct armour, only to bounce off.

The area is fairly well lit, and I get my first direct normal-vision look at her. "Oh, GREEN! Green tunic and white mask! You're Cheshire, right?"

She draws two… Don't remember what they're called, knives like Raphael uses, and lunges for me.

"That's-." A group of clamps projected from my right hand grab each of her arms and legs -upper and lower- mid leap. She tries to twist out of their grasp, but makes no more headway than Black Canary did. "That's really not going to work."

Ring, scan for weapons.

Compliance.

A series of small claws projected from my chest home in on her every weapon. The two knives in her hands are pulled free first, with some resistance. Then the pistol bow, bolts and the shurikens attached to her back, and two weirdly blunt looking knives… Collapsible swords? Those exist? Whaw, learn something new every day. I snap the bolts in half before dropping the other equipment to the floor. Explosive pellets from her belt come next, then… Oh.

"Sorry about this, but if you will store things inside your tunic…"

She stiffens as the claws go inside her tunic. I feel really uncomfortable about this. Two normalish knives and a selection of throwing weapons join the pile on the floor. Maybe she really doesn't need armour with all this stuff in her clothing.

Please say she doesn't have a knife up her… No? Fffwww. That's a relief.

Having thoroughly disarmed her, I get a bit closer.

**Orange Lantern to team. Hook and Black Spider are stuck to a warehouse wall, and I've pinned and disarmed the ninja. Her codename's Cheshire, by the way.**

There's a moment, then Aqualad responds. **Good work. Do you detect any other Shadows in the area?**

Ring?

No threats likely to be in the category requested detected.

**Not at present. How's the program coming along?**

A pause, presumably to check with Doctor Roquette. **The Doctor informs me that it should be complete within half an hour.**

**Do you need Artemis and I back? I'd like to see if I can get anything out of the assassins before we hand them over to the police.**

**If there are no further attackers whom you can detect, then there is no need for your return. Try to find out if they know what the next target of the Infiltrators is.**

**I'm on it. Would you mind sending Miss Martian over? I'm fairly sure that I can keep Cheshire's attention away from annoying music.**

**Miss Martian, join Orange Lantern but stay invisible and out of line of sight.**

 

9th August
22:43 GMT -5

**Uh, Orange Lantern, do you still need me covering you?**

**Can't hurt. Move up so you can overlook my current position.**

Soooo… What do I remember about Cheshire? Nothing from the League database.

Ring?

No record on file.

Nice to know my memory's still working. All I remember of comic Cheshire is that she had a child with Red Arrow, poisoned her weapons -Ring, check? Yep.- and once blew up a country with a nuclear weapon. I only remember that detail because someone compared her action to that of Black Adam, commenting that it was hypocritical to consider her actions beyond the pale while not condemning him with equal vehemence.

First, that mask can go. An orange aura forms around her head as I unbuckle it and lift it off. Wait, that's her actual hair? I thought it was part of the mask! How much hair spray does she get through?

Ring, scan the mask.

Scan complete.

Huh. Decoration aside, it's pretty much the same as Crock's mask. Wonder if they have the same supplier?

Facial structure slender… Maybe Asian? Not sure. There's light here but it isn't great, so I can't judge skin tone. Her expression is fairly blank, but her eyes suggest that she'd quite like to tear my heart out right now.

"So, as I said, I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four. And you're Cheshire."

I move to a sitting position, hands clasped in my best 'sincere guidance counsellor' position. M'gann was right; I do like doing this.

"So, I don't know anything about you yet, but before we get started, is there anything you'd like to know about me?"

"Your real name, home address and a list of your vulnerabilities."

"Hm. Can't say it, don't have one, finite power reserve."

"How finite?"

"If you can hold out for two days or so, then I might have to recharge."

Her eyes move from my face. Oh, she's seen the ring. "That actually is a power ring, isn't it?"

"'Fraid so."

"I thought they only came in green."

I open my palm facing her, the glowing sigil clearly visible. "Actually, they come in a bunch of colours. It's just that everyone's heard of the green ones."

Another pause, as she looks away for a moment. "It wasn't the Martian who detected me."

"Nope, that was me. Oh, sorry, that can't be comfortable."

I use the clamps to push her into a sitting position, then extend them to create a comfy chair. She's still clamped to it, but she'll hopefully feel a little more at ease.

She looks more puzzled than relaxed. "Can't say I thought I'd ever be interrogated in an armchair."

"I'm a bit new at this. Please, forgive me if I get some details a bit wrong."

"I don't suppose it has a massage function?"

I grin. "It can if you give me a list of the targets which the League of Shadows is planning to use the Infiltrators on."

An incredulous look. "Really?"

"Sure. It isn't hard; I can apply pressure with a construct however you want."

Sometimes when I talk at cross purposes with someone, it's accidental. I have a bit of trouble following another's thought processes sometimes. More often these days I use it for humour instead. Cheshire blinks heavily twice before she dismisses what I said.

"Of course, I'm not actually trained in massage therapy yet. I've been thinking about taking lessons, but I've… Been busy with work."

"Are you actually planning on interrogating me at some point?"

"Well, yes, but… Ah! Shall we see how Hook and Black Spider are getting on?"

I make a sweeping gesture with my left hand, and a screen appears with the Chuckle Brothers in the centre. Hook's still out, but Black Spider has managed to take hold of the web fluid dispenser in his mouth.

"Oh, good effort there. Kinda like one of those crazy Japanese game shows, isn't it? Endurance, or something? Do you have that here? Contestant number one thinks he's about to get the web dissolving solvent, buuuut…"

He bites down on the trigger.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!"

We hear his scream from where we're sitting.

"Some complete bastard replaced the solvent with pepper spray!" I make a face of comedically exaggerated astonishment, right hand covering my mouth with fingers pointing upwards. "Who would do such a thing?!"

She's back to her serious face. "Are you allowed to do things like that?"

"Eh, no one's going to care about pepper spray. If I'd made Fear Toxin or Smilex…"

No expression again.

"Did you know that Smilex started out as an antidepressant? Not a lot of people know that. Never made it as far as Human trials." I pause for a moment. "Well, obviously it's been tried on Humans now. I think Fear Toxin was supposed to be for riot control. You know, make rioters too afraid to start anything. That did get to Human trials. The stuff can actually be useful in interrogations. In low doses, anyway. High doses…" I make a circling motion with my right hand. "So! Anyway, is there anything you'd particularly like to tell me at this point?"

No response. Oh well. Ring, what's her name?

Gotham North High School records list her as 'Jade Crock'.

Crock? Interesting…

"Miss Crock, it would really help if-."

"That isn't my name!"

Furious again.

"Okay, what would you prefer?"

Sour taste face. "Nguyen. Jade Nguyen."

 

9th August
22:47 GMT -5

"Right, well, Miss Nguyen-."

Ring, where does that name come from?

The surname is the maiden name of her mother, Paula Nguyen.

Who'd she marry to get the surname 'Crock'?

Lawrence Crock, aka 'Sportsmaster'.

"Huh, small world! I actually ran into your dad a couple of weeks ago."

"I don't care."

Ooooh, fierce. Not a good relationship, then. Worth knowing.

Ring, Ophidian's Eyes.

Everything changes. Scenery fades away to irrelevance. I still see Miss Nguyen, but I also see inside her mind. Not her thoughts, but her desires, her underlying fundamental drives. She needs structure and duty. She needs to be respected and to have someone she respects to look up to. I see glimpses of a face, sort of General Iroh meets pirate chief. I can't feel any drive towards conventionally moral behaviour. I suppose she doesn't define herself in those terms. And, yes, a huge jagged ball of do-not-want linked to an image of her father. I don't remember him being that big. Hmm.

Ring, end.

Back in the room.

"What did you just do?"

"Hm?"

"Your eyes turned orange."

"Night vision. Orange is, ah, kinda my thing." Not sure if she believes me, but she doesn't have any evidence to the contrary. "Would you like a biscuit?" A small plate with a chocolate cookie in the centre materialises from subspace. "I've finally got the hang of making them crunchy without being too dry."

She looks at it suspiciously.

"Oh, come on. If I'd wanted to drug you I'd just have done it."

"This is ridiculous."

"I need the feedback! The Martian tells me she likes them, but I think she's just buttering me up so she can skive off kitchen duty."

**Hey!**

I smile. **Miss Martian, you're in place then. How am I doing?**

**You're making her confused, but after a moment she goes back to counting pi. I'm getting some things, but not the location of the next attack.**

I float the plate closer to Miss Nguyen's right side, and remove the restraints from the lower part of her right arm. I still have hold of the plate with the ring though, I'm not stupid.

**I'll try and keep her off balance. Let me know when you have it.**

Gingerly, she reaches out and picks up the biscuit. Slowly she moves it towards her face, taking the time to study it carefully. An inch from her nose she stops and sniffs it.

I grin. "Not bothered by the power ring, but my chocolate biscuit's clearly a deadly weapon."

Perhaps realising how silly I'm making her look, she takes a tiny bite. Her face is a picture. In fact, ring?

Image stored.

Failing to detect anything untoward, she takes a larger bite. I hear the crunch.

"I understand why you don't want to be associated with him, you know. Supervillains are famous for making terrible fathers."

Her eyes narrow slightly. Another bite.

"You know Slade Wilson? Deathstroke the Terminator? Sword nut, blue and orange costume? Once it became clear that neither of his sons were going to follow in his footsteps, he decided that there was nothing for it but to turn his daughter into the perfect Stepford assassin. His chosen method? Obedience drugs. Only they don't work quite right, and she ends up completely obsessed with him. Rose Wilson ended up gouging her own eye out so she could be a bit more like daddy."

Another bite.

"Of course, she had it easy compared with Cassandra Cain. David Cain… He's one of your lot, isn't he? Anyway, to test a theory about how the Human brain processes information, he denies her access to any form of spoken or written language until she's in her teens. Completely messes her up."

Another bite.

"Finding out that he trained her to resist pain by shooting her, then shooting her again if she flinched, that cost me some of my faith in humanity."

Last bite. Nothing yet…

"Then you've got Raʾs al-Ġūl-."

"Lady Talia has never been mistreated by her father."

"Oh, no, not her. Always easier to get on with the obedient ones. No, I was referring to her elder sister, Nyssia. The one who ended up in a concentration camp?"

Her expression shifts slightly. Something there. Probably not enough for M'gann…

"Must be a relief to know that yours is in prison, really."

A blink of surprise, then hardening again. "How?"

She didn't know? "Like I said, I ran into him a couple of weeks ago."

"You really expect me to believe that-."

Ring, plasma crossbow.

I hold it up so she can get a good look at it.

"Look familiar? If it makes you feel any better, it didn't do much more to my armour construct than your shurikens did."

"You, beat Sportsmaster."

"The EMP mine in his helicopter didn't exactly help him, but yes. I knocked him out and the Justice League escorted him to Belle Reve."

"Hah!" An honest smile. I send the plate and crossbow back into subspace. "Did you hit him a lot? Please, say yes."

"Um, no, not really. The actual fight can't have taken longer than fifteen seconds. One construct to yank the weapon out of his hand, another to short out his motor neurons." She looks surprised, and a little impressed. Why? Oh. "Temporarily, temporarily."

Slight pout face.

"Might have accidentally bumped him into a few trees on the way back…"

The grin is back.

**She doesn't know! They didn't tell her what the target is.**

Darn.

 

9th August
22:52 GMT -5

**Aqualad to Miss Martian, are you able to get anything useful?**

**The man using the Infiltrators is called Professor Ojo. He wears a helmet with a really powerful energy weapon built into the face. He might have a couple of other people with him, but they aren't fighters. I'm transmitting an image now.**

The helmet reminds me a bit of Triclops from He-Man. And that moustache? Really?

**I will inform Robin and Superboy.**

"So how did it feel, taking down one of the most feared mercenaries on the planet?"

Exaggerated facial cringe. "Honestly, I'd never heard of him. Thought he was Casey Jones until my team mates corrected me."

Puzzlement. "Who is Casey Jones?"

"Have you ever seen the film 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

"Yes..? Wait, you thought he was-?"

"It's the same mask!"

"You thought Lawrence 'Crusher' Crock,-"

"Yes."

"-Sportsmaster,-"

"Yes."

"-was Casey Jones, the idiot from the Turtles films."

"And. And the animated series'."

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Her head drops down.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

She's actually gasping for breath.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"It's not that funny."

She gets herself under control and takes a couple of deep breaths. "Yes, yes it is. I almost want to go and visit him, just so I can tell him. Do they let you take cameras in? Do you think I could get a picture?"

"I've… Never looked into it."

"I could probably sneak in."

"It’s supposed to be very secure."

"Eh, that's what they said about Stryker's Island."

That statement concerns me a little. The holding facility for the people Superman fights is not somewhere I want supervillains to think of as 'not all that secure'.

**Doctor Roquette has resumed tracking the Infiltrators. Orange Lantern, Miss Martian, continue to question Cheshire. I'm sending Kid Flash to stand by near a zeta tube in order to travel to whatever location the Shadows strike at next.**

"What's the pay like?"

"I'm sorry?"

"For being-" She waves her free forearm. "-Orange Lantern. I don't remember what the exact bounty on Sportsmaster's head was. Is that how it works?"

Maybe I should ask about that? There's probably some sort of reward. I don't need the money but it might be nice to make a charity contribution in my own name… Well, title at least.

"Miss Nguyen-."

"Oh, call me Jade." A dismissive gesture. "It's not like I can keep my identity secret."

"Ah, alright, thank you. Jade, I have a power ring, and a short flight from here at faster than light speed is the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt. And in that belt is as much precious metal as I could ever spend."

I rub my right thumb against my right index and middle fingers, a single platinum coin emerging from subspace. Paola chased me down in New York three weeks after my original visit and informed me of the existence of US Mint issued one hundred dollar platinum coins. Their metal value may not match their face value, but it's close enough that I don't melt them when I pick them up. She's negotiating with someone at the Mint to get a whole batch struck for me. For a decent percentage, obviously.

I asked about getting 'All Others Pay Cash' on them, replacing the odious 'In God We Trust' motto. Doubt it'll happen.

It's a bit of a strain, but I create just enough normal light around the coin that Jade can see it clearly. She appears to be thinking about things.

"So you're rich, powerful and handsome."

Wa?

"Um, thank you?" I return the coin to subspace.

"Who's the lucky girl? Or guy?"

"No, I'm... Single at the moment."

**But, Superboy..?**

**Artemis, he's a month old. That would be completely wrong.**

**R-? Really?**

**Really. Grown in a pod. You really should read our mission reports. I mean, I like him, but… No.**

"Hm." And now she's smiling and appraising and I'm remembering that I'm sitting across from an athletically attractive Asian woman wearing what is -basically- fetish wear. And she's tied to a chair. I was ignoring these things. Now I'm not.

Construct strength isn't a problem here.

Maybe I should have spent more time on the intimacy parts of the Hierarchy.

My hands have moved together into my preferred meditative posture. My legs from dangling to crossed. I breathe out. Her smile grows.

"You know, I should probably thank you for dealing with… With my father."

That sounds…

!Really good!

…like a bad…

Is it, though?

"Um, what do you..?"

"How about a kiss?"

!Really good!

That sounds like something I shouldn't do. On the other hand, she isn't armed, she's tied to a chair and I have a power ring. And Batman… Well, Talia and Selina.

The Hierarchy flashes through my head. This doesn't appear to be contrary to any other levels of Need. I've always been a bit reticent where this sort of thing is concerned. Maybe, now is a good time to change that.

I lower the chair to the rooftop, and drop to the ground myself. "Are you sure? I wouldn't... I mean, I don't want to pressure…"

"If you'd had to live with him, you'd understand."

!Really good!

I walk two paces forward, alongside the chair and her free forearm. I increase the height of the chair slightly, so her head is only slightly below the level of my own.

Ring, she doesn't have a cyanide tooth or something, does she?

No poison detected inside her mouth.

And I'm out of excuses, and the orange light has dealt with my reticence.

Ring, drop armour.

I lean forwards and across, head tilted slightly to the side. I tense slightly as her hand touches the back of my head, but I suspect that my inexperience is showing. She presses me forward gently, and I move with her, eyes scanning her face before settling on her eyes. Closer, and our noses rub against each other. Our lips come together. Soft, warm, and.. slightly damp? Lipstick, probably.