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

2nd November
22:34 GMT -5

"Of course." He adjusts his coat, apparently unconsciously. "But the fact I can't hear it is significant."

"There are counter magics that can disrupt magic detection. I know a magician who can remotely cause any written or electronic records about him to spontaneously vanish."

"No, it's more than that. I can't hear anything here. If they had some way to disguise their trail I would still hear the echo of all of the other trails. The street here is dead."

Hm. There aren't enough 'street shamen' for there to be standard terminology, let alone good records of the state of the mystic systems of America's cities. "Is it.. similar to how you couldn't feel anything when you touched her?"

"No." He hesitates. "Perhaps. In the morgue I could hear the sound of the city, you, a little from the other bodies. Here, it's as if the city has stopped existing."

"Are you aware of anything which could cause that sort of phenomenon?"

"New or heavily redeveloped streets are sometimes quiet. Not quite part of the city yet. This is new."

"Can you guess what could cause it?"

He takes a last look around and then heads towards the closest industrial unit. "A better magician than me."

I float after him. "A slightly better magician than you, or a really strong magician?"

"I don't know." He looks at the door, then reaches into his coat pocket.

"Allow me." I attach a filament to the mechanical code lock and open it. "Question, I don't know your style at all. I don't know what's possible with it, or how hard it is, or what level of experience it requires. If you were trying to do this, could you?"

"No." He hangs back slightly as the door opens and I attach a filament to the burglar alarm, then pulls a small torch out of one of his pockets and strides forward. "All I can do is listen. The teachers in Nanda Parbat said that someone at one with their surroundings could do other, more dramatic things. But I had a job to go back to."

This company describes itself as a building supplies warehouse. As we walk through the empty building I send filaments out in all directions. Nothing that shouldn't be here as yet. Pallets of wood, cement, brick…

"And I imagine that killing the spirit of a place is fairly antithetical to what Nanda Parbat is about."

"Quite." He accelerates, moving quickly along the main walkways in the warehouse area. "This appears to be in order."

I nod. "Offices next."

Not much in the way of offices here. I suspect that most of the business is somewhere more central and this is just a pickup and drop off point. Ring? Ah, yes, there's an office towards the centre of the city, in a subsidised redevelopment zone. It wouldn't be practical to have large lorries drive in that area.

"If a thief dies in the commissioning of their theft, then they've brought it on themselves." Mr Sage checks the desks while I scan the server. Nothing relating to this case, though I'll make the results available to him in case there's anything else suspicious about the company. "However, if their minds have been altered they cannot be considered morally culpable. I assume that the Justice League does not have a secret pro lethal force policy."

"You assume correctly."

We head back towards the door, Mr Sage turning off his torch before we reach it. "You stated that the thieves died in all previous encounters. Do you have a plan for keeping this one alive?"

"Neither physical restraint nor telepathic suppression are sufficient. None of the magic users present said that they felt anything when thieves at the other locations died. Autopsies didn't show any kind of implant. I'm coming up short on things it could be. I have a purple healing ray, and I can use constructs to interface with every part of his body… But I can't guarantee either of those will work because I don't understand what's killing them."

He takes a quick look around the exterior before motioning me to follow him. Next unit, this one allegedly empty.

"The safest technique would simply be to monitor them rather than intervening directly."

"Unless we can get a lead on whoever's doing this, and that enables us to prevent it happening to anyone else. And since we really don't know what's going on or why a bunch of worthless statues are being stolen… We've got no way to make an informed decision."

The lock on this door is broken. I switch from 'investigation' armour to 'combat but in reasonably narrow corridors' armour and lead the way inside.

"You favour intervention."

"Yes, but I know that's not necessarily correct."

"How many dead so far?"

"Eleven that we know about. Six from the original investigation, five including Ms Sugden who turned up in various morgues with the same mortal injury. The original thefts only came to our attention by chance and the original briefing was to capture a mundane criminal gang." Dust, cobwebs, some damp… I lead the way deeper into the building. "I suspect that Batman would want us to hang back and observe. Attempt to follow them back to a controller."

We start checking abandoned rooms. This used to be a courier office. Now it's just dead.

"A sound idea. You still believe it would be better to intervene."

"In the unlikely event that we can approach one of these people undetected, I'm happy to hold off. But I would remind you, we don't know what the trigger is. If it does go off, the first I'm going to know about it is the target falling over with parts of their brain turned to mush."

"Difficult."

I take the offices while he goes through what used to be the sorting room. No sign of recent occupancy. A few discarded folders with mouldering paper work. Whoever stuck around to clear the office out did a reasonably thorough job-.

I hear the faint rumble of a car engine. Immediately I turn my environmental shield down to the minimum and I see Mr Sage's torch go out. Ugh. Did I miss some sort of alarm? We didn't conceal the car, but I doubt that Hub City police would follow up on us taking it quite this quickly. If it's something to do with the theft, would they recognise it? Can I risk scanning?

Mr Sage carefully picks his way across the office. He's got some sort of light amplification glasses on, but I've used those things and they're not the easiest to navigate with. "Who is it?"

"Power ring scans are detectable."

"Mm." He gets a… That's a periscope, out of his pocket and heads for a window. Taking care to keep out of sight himself, he removes his glasses, puts one end to his right eye and the other onto the glass.

I doubt that he can see much. There aren't any artificial lights out there, and that periscope doesn't appear to have any enhancements. I could take an infrared sensor out of subspace, but subspace evacuations are even easier to detect than ring scans.

"One figure. Humanoid. No apparent weapons. Heading for a disused unit on the opposite side. Knows where they're going."

"Did they see the car?"

"Can't tell. Also can't tell if there is anyone else inside their car." He pauses, then steps back from the window. "They're inside."

I'd prefer to intervene, but I'm trying to get back in with the team…

"I'll check their car, bug it if it's suspicious, then we'll monitor them from here."

He nods, then turns back to the window.

 

2nd November
22:40 GMT -5

I remember the film 'Ghost Dog'. There was a quote… I don't remember where it was from originally. Ring? Ah, Hagakure. And apparently the line in Ghost Dog 16 is 'In the words of the ancients, one should make his decision within the space of seven breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break through to the other side.'

I'm not a wannabe samurai. I'm an Orange Lantern, but that entails that I do what I want to alter the universe to be more like I want it to be. It is a way which encourages introspection, but only outside combat. Mr Sage is watching someone through a periscope, a passive action which contains a minimal risk of discovery. And I'm not scanning with my super advanced xenotechnological hyper-tool because they might be able to detect that.

I carefully pull both rings from my fingers, then manually trigger my armour's phasing system to drop through the floor.

Irritating thing about encountering an ability I don't even begin to understand is that I don’t know what else I don’t understand that the user can do. If the person out there is something to do with this and not just picking up their house keys then they might have detected my phasing and killed the man we're trying to recover. Or they might have installed some sort of sensor in all of these buildings and know we're here already. Or they might have had some disenchanted Kobra Bestowed muck around with local magic, take a payoff and leave them to their own devices.

I don't know, and I don't know what it is that I don't know.

I drift through the ground in the direction of the car. One of the systems that got cut back to make this armour was the flight system: it's there, but it's not what you'd call fast. Now, how to approach this? I saw the direction in which the figure went, and I can easily keep the car between myself and that building. In addition to being invisible. Does it matter-? Agh! Annoying!

I drift up through the ground, the underside of the car suddenly being right there as my head pierces the asphalt. Drift up a little further, careful-. Someone ins-! No. Some body, tied to the passenger seat by the cord around their neck. Body still somewhat warm. Recent, then.

Not here for their house keys.

In most cities I'd inform the local police at once. In Hub… I think I'll leave it until we're done here. Without using a light or the ring I can't get a good view of their face… Given their approximate dimensions, there are any number of people on Hub City's missing persons list it could be. But the great thing about being dead is that your condition is unlikely to deteriorate.

I move around to the front of the car. This number plate hadn't been reported as stolen an hour ago, but if the owner was murdered when it was taken there's no reason to believe that it would have been.

I sigh. Nothing.

Okay, check the angle… Phase in, attach a tracking device to… The underside of the wheel arch. Tap twice to activate the molecular bonder, hold for a second… Done. It won't let us track the car, because if we can track it then so can anyone else with the right gear. Instead, it will respond to a particular sort of energy wave and give us its location when we choose to look for it. Safer, but less useful.

No point attaching a second. If they can find one, they can find two. If they can't find one, adding a second just increases the chance they'll find either of them. But… What now?

Were I a less enlightened Orange Lantern, I'd either be charging in or having some sort of episode trying to hold myself back. As it is, I'm… Confounded. There is no way for me to know the course of action most likely to keep the last thief alive. Assuming that was him. Assuming that he's in there. I would let him die if that was what it took to locate the ultimate perpetrator, but there's no guarantee that would work. Another body gets me no more information than I already have.

Tracking device on. The options are fall back and wait, or advance. And it's my decision. Yes, I could pass it on to Kaldur or Batman. I'd need to leave the area to do so, and there's the risk of detection… But any form of monitoring risks detection. And I'm well aware that I'm already verging on paranoia now, but… If they couldn't detect observation, what are the chances they could stop me? Heck, motivated like this I could simulate the parts of the brain that were collapsing as they collapsed and replace them when the effect ended. So: intervening it is.

Do I get extra help? I could retreat and call in… Who? Doctor Balewa and Angelica both have skills which I lack, but neither have specific knowledge of this case. And from the description in the team's reports, death happens quickly once the process begins. Something that matches my examination of the injury. John Fate might be similarly useful… Really, the time to call him in was when Mr Sage started driving, except there was no way to know this would actually lead to a contact and I'm sure that he's a very busy man.

Alright then. I'm going in, but I'm not going to rush things. I walk around the car-.

There's a note in the driver side window. Couldn't see it from the other side, but in the starlight I can just about make out the orange sigil drawn on it. Settles that question. I take a half-step away from the car and slide my rings back on, keeping my environmental shield to minimum. Immediately I regain the ability to see my surroundings. The person inside… Male, black, business-casual dress. As far as I can see the envelope is just paper. I can't see any poisons, electronics or arcane sigils.

Ring, scan the writing.

Compliance.

'To the Acolyte of Greed'

Close enough.

'What you seek is inside, and will be offered to you freely if you have the wit to take it. Come without fear.'

Lure or genuine offer?

Again, an imponderable. My presence in Hub City isn't a secret, but I can't know if they just put this here on the off-chance or if they actually know I'm here. Does luring me in actually get them anything? The sort of weapons that would be needed to successfully ambush me don’t really care about precise relative locations. At most, it would buy them a fraction of a second. And it may be pride talking, but I'm increasingly dubious about my own worst imaginings.

Okay, going in. I raise my left hand towards Mr Sage's window and send 'going in' in Morse code ring flashes. Then I phase and drift towards the unit the car driver headed into. Not the front door, obviously. Assuming that the units were built according to a standard design I can go through the wall here and enter the neighbouring unit. Empty of anything concerning. I drift further in, heading towards the back of the building. Turn up empathic vision a little… Two people, both shot through with… Veins of black? One is otherwise fairly normal, while the colours in the other are translucent. Barely there at all. Something weird is going on, but frankly I've seen worse. And since they're not reacting I can assume they can't feel this.

Excellent.

Phased and invisible, I float through the wall behind them. The main lights are off, but there's a window letting in starlight and I can just about make their faces out. Karl Wilson, thirty seven, from Nebraska. Pale skin, orange hair and moustache, faint colours and not wearing any sort of concealing gear. Like the others, no significant criminal record. Almost certainly the thief. The other person is a bald mixed race woman with many scars and a number of facial piercings which would shock me if I hadn't met Raquel. I don't recognise her face. She's dressed in baggy trousers and a tube top, but it looks like it's a sports bra type thing rather than a normal garment. Something for exercising in. The other distinguishing items of clothing are the bandages wrapped around her forearms.

She… Reminds me of something. I'm not sure what. I've read so many comics -and League intelligence files- that… Well, they don't blur together, but there's a lot of very similar looking distinct things in my memory. Nothing about her triggers one specifically.

Oh well. I'll ask in a minute, when she'll want to give answers as much as I want to hear them. I could phase in and brand them both, but the displaced air might clue them in that I was there fast enough to trigger the suicide effect. Another approach. Record her face.

Compliance.

I float back through the wall, phase in, then send a filament underground in the direction of Mr Wilson. Tagging his foot is fine… Physically healthy. Nothing odd in his blood or bone or muscles… Or peripheral nervous system.

That black. Not as all-encompassing as Dark Druid, not as controlled as Ms Sackville. I could paralyse the woman right now, but… They both have the black. Could be sympathetic, magic or thought-activated… No, I need to purge them both at the same time.

Ring, filament to her as well, then brand.

 

2nd November
22:44 GMT -5

Branding in progress. No resistance from unknown woman. Branding of unknown woman complete.

And Mr Wilson?

E-error error ERROR.

Make her want to help me.

Compliance. Alert! Unknown woman already wishes to help you. However, her concept of 'help' is significantly divergent from yours. Concept amended.

Thank you. Dare I ask exactly how she was planning to 'help' me?

Cult indoctrination.

Nothing serious, then. And what's that 'error' stuff?

error.

Yes, I got that. Explain the cause of the error message.

Unable to comply. If cause was know-.

You would have stated it, yes. Is there anything about him other than that black stuff that stands out as unusual?

No.

Are you able to preserve the structure of his brain?

No special impediment detected. However,-.

You can't tell what's going on, so can't be certain. Fine. Construct bio-regulator sarcophagus. Muffle sound, then use construct blades and cut through this wall.

Compliance.

Buzz saw constructs make short work of the plasterboard and corrugated steel. Another construct grabs the doorway-sized portion as it comes free and leans it up against an adjacent wall. The revealed room is illuminated by the glow of my constructs and the glowing sigil on the unknown woman's forehead as she stares beatifically at me. I didn't pay attention to it during my first look, but the stolen statue is standing in the centre of the room and…

Someone's covered it in blood.

"Good evening." I walk into the room. Full scan, please.

No further anomalies detected.

The orange sigil is struggling to form on Mr Wilson's forehead. For a moment it's complete, then it shimmers and flickers and vanishes again. Decidedly odd.

"Would you be so good as to-" And she's kneeling in supplication. "-tell me what's going on?"

"I was awaiting your arrival. Now, I wait at your pleasure."

"What have you done to Mr Wilson's brain?"

"Nothing, O Acolyte of Greed. Our Master speaks, and the dissolute who hear his words become like that."

"And those who are not dissolute?"

"We hear His truth, and are moved to serve Him."

"And how exactly are these thefts serving him?"

She raises her head slightly. "What reason would you have?"

What is she-? Oh. I nod. "Because I want it. No greater or lesser reason than that." I look at the sarcophagus holding Mr Wilson. "And if you've burned out a man's soul anyway, you may as well use him for something."

Her head dips again. "You grasp the lessons readily, Acolyte."

"Who is your master?"

"Our Master Is."

That's tremendously helpful. "Does he have a name?"

"Our Master transcends labels, rather it is we who bear labels to distinguish us from him."

"Did he..? Used to have a label I might have heard of?"

"If so, I do not know it."

"Do you know where he is at the moment?"

"No."

"Do you have a way of communicating with him?"

"His spirit moves through us. We are His hands as He is our will."

So, magic. Area effect compulsion? They feel a slight nudge to do something, not overwhelming, but enough to recognise it as him. Reasonably clever. "Why do they die?"

"Loyal in life, loyal in death."

That doesn't really… No, she's a cultist, I doubt that she's been told exactly how her master's mind control works. "How did you know I was here?"

"Your arrival was recorded on a superhero fansite. This-" She glances at Mr Wilson. "-dissolute one noted that you attended the morgue. Since your friends amongst the Justice League's sidekicks are investigating the thefts, it seemed likely enough that you would come here for me to attend in person."

"Have you been ordered to meet me?"

"No. I did it because I wanted to."

"And what did I do to deserve that honour?"

"You mastered Cain's lessons without instruction!" She's smiling, and her expression is making me uncomfortable. "Cain himself required the example of Har-Mammon to comprehend the power of greed."

Cain. Religion. Oh.

"The Dark Faith. Cain went to Har-Mammon, and the city's ruler tried to bribe him to go away. The more he gave, the more Cain wanted the rest where before he would have been happy with… What was it?"

"Water."

"But now he'd had a taste of the rest, he wanted it all." I bow my head slightly. "That parable stuck with me. Which means that you're a member of the Order of the Stone."

"You know it? You've..? Been inducted?"

"That depends what you mean." What were the lessons again? "I've deceived people who trusted me, killed people I didn't need to, stolen things that it was convenient for me to have and taught others what I've learned. All for the greater good."

"And lust?"

"Never really been a big part of my character, but my girlfriend has no complaints."

A few, actually, though not about that so long as I'm not using the rings. Hm, maybe I should consult with her about this? She's got more experience of personality cults than I do.

"You have learned much, Acolyte. But Cain teaches us to indulge at will, not control."

Alert! Neurological decay occurring!

"And it seems that the Master wants you to receive another lesson."

 

2nd November
22:48 GMT -5

"Oh yes?" Ring, construct neurons. And assimilate the black. "And what would that be?"

Att-error. At-at-attempting to comply.

"Superheroes tend to risk themselves to help worthless people, and berate themselves when they fail. None of my order would do so. This dissolute one is here to show us what you do."

My construct neurons are flickering and failing just as fast as the brand is. I'm restoring them just as quickly, but this isn't a viable strategy. Replacing the tissue is just resulting in the new tissue being destroyed as well. "I'm not sure I understand why it matters."

Black isn't death per se. I've seen any number of dead and dying people without the tiniest hint of black in them. It's more… A longing for nullity, or drawing on power that feels similar enough. So what I'm looking at is an implanted desire for death. But while doing that to a person might result in risk taking behaviour or suicide it doesn't usually result in living cells dying of their own accord.

"Cain's lessons are for all who have the wit to hear them." She stands, drawing a knife. "I was supposed to attempt to put out one of your eyes as Cain did unto the Caitiff, but I don't think I need to now."

Hooray for mind control. My mind control.

"I've been blind before. It didn't stick."

Okay, synthetic neurology. Not really true cybernetics, just novel chemical structures. No, lasts a fraction of a second longer but gets destroyed as well. Ring, rate of power consumption?

Approximately point eight percent per second.

No rush, then.

Total charge will be consumed in approximately two minutes.

Yes, I-. Never mind.

All three significant examples of black I've seen so far are magic based. Let's try that. I take a mage slayer round out of subspace and have the construct sarcophagus press it against Mr Wilson's head. No effect. Either not magic, or the round would need to be touching the location the spell is bound to. Opening up his skull seems like a bad idea.

My rings had a bit of an episode when I tried assimilating the black. It's not as if I want the black for itself; becoming a Host of Nekron sounds like a very bad idea. What else, what else…

His other colours are faint. I should be able to imbue him with orange light. That might-. That almost certainly will cause problems in its own right. And it might cause the black light to lose its connection. Mr Wilson… The missing person file mentioned that he went bowling..? Ugh, no, too specific. Can I manage generic desires? Maslow level one.

Food. Yes, his digestive system is running on empty. I suppose that whoever… Wait, that… Thing, they were going to sacrifice Batwoman… Bruno Mannheim. Bruno Mannheim 16 is a minor crime boss… No recent records, and no history of cannibalism. Still, it's a lead.

Neural structure decay reaching-.

Right right sorry. Food. Hunger. The basic desire to eat. The empty feeling soon to be sated. The satisfying crunch, the warmth, the sudden alertness of a burst of sugar. The calm relaxation, the smell.

Water. Dry patched tacky mouth cleared out and cool and damp. Sweat and dirt and stress wiped off and sent down the drain. Warmth. Life returning to your extremities on a cold day, the play of sunlight on your skin on a clear day. Rest. Come on, I can feel how tired your body is. The lack of focus as you relax and everything fades away.

Ring, progress?

Black light infection still present.

Next level it is, then. Know that you are next to a superhero who has your wellbeing foremost in his mind, and who will be escorting you to a very secure location when this is over. Walls all around, and competent personnel to guard you when you sleep.

Progress?

There is no measurable decrease in the extent of black light infection.

Alright. Um, since Mannheim or whoever's doing this clearly knows that I'm here: ring, message Alan and ask him to come to my current location at best possible speed. Include my location.

Compliance.

Infusing him with my desires hasn't worked. Imbuing him with desire externally doesn't appear to work. What do I do what do I do?

That…

I take Larfleeze's ring off my right ring finger, reach into the sarcophagus and put it on his left middle finger. Cease branding efforts.

Compliance.

The ring fizzles and crackles on his finger as it attempts to make a connection. What else, what else..? My tattoos. They are designed to hold and channel energy into me. I create constructs in their image on Mr Wilson's skin. And… She said that he heard her master's voice.

Inducing short term memory loss in humans is relatively easy. Harming long term memory is… Not. Even for a telepath, they'd usually have to wipe everything and start from scratch to remove the chance of things coming back. That or renew the effect every so often. Short term memory suppression is possible, though most methods involve turning off conscious thought.

Minor innate orange light resonance detected.

Progress! I'm only using enough orange light to drive most people insane-. Actually… Ring, if the black light infection vanishes, cancel all of my efforts at once.

Compliance.

Ah… Okay, if I'm working on the assumption that my desires -even the fairly common parts- can't embed because there's nothing to embed in… The Honden. There… Should be an imprint of every desire he's had there… And… I'm down one Ophidian and I can't risk withholding my constructs for a moment. But… My ring and his ring both have connections to the Central Power Battery. Could that work? Well, it worked when the Ophidian was with Larfleeze…

I take my personal lantern out of subspace, and touch it with my left hand.

Ophidian.

No, nothing. Alright, she's got a whole Corps to listen to now and I don't want to save this one man anything like as much as I wanted to prevent the rest of my friends being killed…

"Will his death hurt you?"

"No, not really. I don't even know-" That he's on his second marriage, two children from the first and one from the second, has good relations with them and.. never needed court orders to oversee his relationship with his ex-wife, at least. That his employer considers him reliable and gave a glowing account of his character to the police when questioned. That he's got a couple of parking tickets on his police record but paid them both promptly, and one fine for smoking marijuana when he was nineteen. "-him."

I'm not denying he's a person. He's just not my person.

"Then why are you trying to fix him?"

"I want the world to work in a certain way. People who are productive members of my society being turned into someone else's instruments is contrary to that. Not because it is injurious to them -plenty of things injure people whom I don't care about as individuals- but because it's a frustrating distraction. It means I've got more work to do to fix things. Like this! Have you got any idea how much work I could be doing now if I wasn't saving one guy?"

"Then why do you?"

"Would Cain have let Har-Mammon retain its independence? You can't put something like this in front of me and expect me to walk-" There's a sudden flare of blue light from the exterior door. "-away. BLUE LANTERN, IN HERE!"

The woman starts, her eyes widening as she turns to the door. "He must-!" Then she reorientates on me. "Purpose=Failure."

 

2nd November
22:50 GMT -5

I frown. "No it doesn't. BL-!"

Alan comes in through the door, plate armour style blue construct armour around him. Lantern Stewart and I barely had to spend any time beating that habit into him at all. "What have you got?"

"Karl Wilson. He's been mind controlled, and his controller is trying to make his brain collapse. His emotional resonance is almost nonexistent. I've been trying to infuse him with orange light with partial success, but it's not enough. He needs your help."

He nods. "Of course. Ah… How?"

"See the symbols I've put around his body? Copy those. And.. try and.. project things that make you hopeful into-." I put a construct manacle around the woman's arm as she lunges for me, the sigil on her forehead now glitching in the same way Mr Wilson's was. "Into him."

"Alright." He raises his right hand, blue cables extending from his ring and attaching themselves to Mr Wilson. "What's her story?"

"She's a member of the Order of Stone. Evil worshipping warrior monks." She swings up her right leg, kicking at my head. I catch her ankle in another construct manacle and then float her back against the far wall. "And-. Actually." I put a construct muzzle on her. "She's got the same thing he has, but it doesn't seem to be affecting her in the same way."

Alan squints slightly. He still doesn't find fine detail as easy as I do, but blue lines in the pattern already traced by my construct begin moving across Mr Wilson's skin. "I.. think I can feel what you're talking about. What is that?"

"Not sure, but it doesn't look too healthy. Any joy?"

"Black light infection fading, Orange Lantern. Mister Wilson will be restored shortly."

"Blue Lantern?"

"She's been getting more talkative the longer I wear her. Should I be worried?"

"Not unless she turns yellow. Fear isn't useful without a yellow ring."

"Alright then."

The blue ring's right. I can see the black lines fading slightly. Maybe if we had other colours to go with it we could go faster? Seems logical, but I don't particularly feel like having a tête-à-tête with Sinestro, so… That can wait. I reach into the sarcophagus and recover my ring, because I don't think dealing with that should be the first thing Mr Wilson has to do when he awakens.

Rings, total charge remaining?

Fifty four percent.

Drat.

"This isn't a viable long term solution."

"Seems to be working fine to me."

"One Blue Lantern in existence. Two Orange Lanterns on Earth, one of whom has agreed not to use his ring until his trial date. Between zero and four Green Lanterns. Orange Lanterns don’t come more powerful than me, and I couldn't purge him on my own. That means we need to grab… Green Lantern A is on Earth at the moment, right?"

"I haven't spoken to him since our last training session."

"Even if three of us makes it faster, that means it takes three Lanterns to fix. Per person. We need a better solution-" The last black strands evaporate, and the colours behind them surge-.

I step back, cancelling my infusion constructs. Alan glances my way.

"That it done?"

"Hope's a little less… Dangerous than avarice. Give him a moment or two."

Ring, is his brain still collapsing?

Decay has ceased.

Restore his brain to its original organic state. I'm.. not exactly sure what happens to a human who has not-exactly-organic parts to their brain for a prolonged period, but I don't have any reason to find out.

Compliance.

Mr Wilson's eyes snap open. "Uuuuuuumgh?"

I transform the sarcophagus into a camping bed and set it down on the floor. "Okay, Blue Lantern, that should do."

Alan withdraws his hand, his construct fading. "How are you doing, sir?"

"Uh?" He shudders. "Like-. Like everything I've ever tried has been a total failure. Oh God."

"Sir, do you remember your name?"

"Um. Karl. Karl Wilson."

"Do you know where you are?"

"Aaaah…" He looks around, spotting the woman attached to the wall. "Wh-?"

"Mister Wilson, please try to focus. I appreciate that you've been through a trying time, but I need to assess your mental state."

"Right, right, sorry. No." He shakes his head. "No, I don't. I don't… I don't remember…"

"Don’t worry, sir. That's probably for the best."

"Oh. Oh God, what did I do?"

"That we know about, one act of petty theft. I-."

Alan puts his right hand on my chest. I stop talking. "Which wasn't your fault, and neither was anything else you did while you were being controlled."

Mr Wilson looks stunned for a moment. "Ah. Yeah. Of course not."

"Now, I realise that you've been through a traumatic experience, but when you've had a chance to-."

He smiles. "Actually, I feel pretty good right now. If you want to ask me any questions, you can go right ahead."

I glance at Alan for a moment. "Thank you, Mister Wilson, but I think we should probably wait until you're in a police station." He nods cheerfully. "Blue Lantern, if you'd be so good as to escort him outside?" Alan offers Mr Wilson a hand up. He takes it, and they walk out of the room. I dismiss the bed construct and turn back to the woman. "And now you. What exact-?"

Ah. Darn.

I lift her body off the wall, pick up the statue and follow Alan out of the building.

 

4th November
09:21 GMT -5

Batman nods. "And the statue?"

"Since.. I couldn't prove that it was stolen property, I returned it to Mister Hatch. He was sarcastically grateful." From his expression, I think that Batman is well aware of Mr Hatch's business practices. "On that subject, sir, if you wish to pursue Mister Hatch, I would be perfectly happy to sub in for you in Gotham while you carried out a comprehensive investigation."

"That's irrelevant at present. Do you believe that the monk you encountered was behind the thefts?"

I shake my head. "Now I know who to look for I can start going through CCTV records, but I rather doubt it. I don't know whether she was the source or if her 'master' was making personal visits… Heck, since we still don't really know what the black stuff I was seeing was, I don't know whether or not it's something all members of the Order of the Stone can induce."

"Where did you first hear about the Order?"

And this is why it's important to take the time to cover yourself in advance of talking to the World's Greatest Detective. Especially if you're known to have a perfect memory. "They were mentioned in the League of Shadows' database, and again in various police reports passed to the Justice League. The same with some parts of their philosophy. I have a.. particular interest in alternate moral systems." I sigh. "Unfortunately, theirs is rather stupid."

"Purpose equals failure."

"It doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, on one level, yes, if you're not trying to do anything then you can't fail to achieve it. I'm just not sure why she said it to me like that."

"Was anyone else close enough to hear when she did?"

"Mister Wilson, but otherwise no. The Question was still in the building opposite and Alan hadn't arrived yet."

Batman bows his head slightly. "How reliable is the Question?"

"He's been working in Hub City for years. He's had appreciable success against the city's criminals, and has a number of scars which would have come from life threatening injuries. Empathic vision shows that he's genuinely committed."

"And his allegedly magical abilities?"

I shrug. "Plausible. It didn't make my rune stone glow, but since he's claiming to be using a form of psychometry that's not too surprising. It's something Nanda Parbat could probably teach someone who knew nothing about magic within the available timeframe. You'd need to have an actual magician speak to him to draw a firm conclusion."

He nods, then turns and walks away from the table to look down through the armoured glass into the examination area where Dr Balewa is studying the woman's corpse. I fall in just behind him. Mr Wilson was examined first of course, but they couldn't find any trace of whatever it was which caused the black light I saw. Dr Balewa was able to confirm that a part of Hub City has been gutted of arcane energies, but… He could also list several entities that could have done it and couldn't come up with any idea why they would have felt the need to.

Doctor Balewa is currently painting lines on the woman's naked corpse. Something to aid him in measuring particular flavours of arcane energy, I assume. It looks a little like what I've got-.

"Would the person who made Blue Lantern's ring be prepared to make any more?"

"I don't know. I'd imagine that he'd charge quite a lot, and I don't have another candidate."

"Hope isn't that rare."

"You're welcome to ask him. I'd.. suggest having Lantern Stewart and I have a crack at the next one. Or myself and Zatanna. I still don't know exactly what it was that finally broke its hold."

Below us, Dr Balewa raises his hands, closes his eyes and starts chanting.

"You would recognise it if you saw it again."

"Yes. I'd never seen anything quite like it. Even in those.. few people who have appreciable amounts of black in them anyway."

"We don't know how many there are or where they are. We don't know if there's an upper limit on the number there can be. We have no way to stop it, and we can only undo it by having Lanterns present before the suicide effect takes place."

Dr Balewa frowns as he concentrates.

"The other statues?"

"There were no traces of magic on them, or any exotic phenomena we could detect. They've been returned to their owners."

"Geh." The tips of Dr Balewa's fingers smoke and smoulder as he staggers away from the examination table!

Batman leans forward and presses the intercom. "Doctor Mist, report!"

Dr Balewa angrily shakes his hands, the smoke dispersing. "A minor side effect, Batman. I am afraid that I must confirm the Question's assessment. The woman's body is completely devoid of arcane influences. I cannot feel any part of her soul, or her life."

"Was her soul stolen or destroyed?"

"No." Below us, his body… Simplifies, colours merging and textures smoothing-. He vanishes, then reappears in the room with us. Batman and I turn to face him. "The magic involved in such a thing would leave its own mark, both upon her and upon her surroundings. There is nothing. It is not merely her soul that is missing, but every other arcane influence which I should be able to feel."

"Was her soul..? Nullified? Or have they just wiped her body clean?"

"If I am to seek out her soul in the hereafter, I will need more information on the practices of her Order."

"They regard morality and restraint as weakness, and learn to channel their desire for vice into a drive to act. I don't know what they believe as far as afterlives are concerned."

"What spirits do they worship?"

"A re-imagining of the biblical figure of Cain. Instead of being punished by Jehovah and leaving to found the first city, he wanders around the ancient world, steadily learning more and more about how to empower himself and control others with their cardinal vices: deceit, greed, lust and murder. I've no idea what they think happens to their souls. I don't even know if they believe in souls."

"Are they a large Order?"

"The League of Shadows didn’t think so. I don't know."

"Doctor Mist." We both look at Batman, who is looking thoughtful. "Could the arcane presence you are looking for be hidden in a way that would make it impossible for you to find it?"

"No." He considers for a moment. "There are ways in which they could blur specific details, but that there was something there? No."

"How can you be certain? There are other ancient magicians-."

"And they are all younger than me, but that is beside the point." He looks at me for a moment, then gives a slight nod. "In… My early life, before…" He looks at his robes. "Before this. I had been a minor magician for a long time, and I wished to… I had been born a slave, and though I had risen far I still wished to know if there was more to life than I had experienced. So, I passed my authority on to my eldest son, set a great wooden pillar at the most powerful geomantic site known to me and sat upon it. I meditated, my spirit drifting free from my body, for… I do not know how long. I… Saw so much, all of the magics of the Earth, peoples I had never seen in the flesh, lands I had never walked upon. And as my body died… Just for a moment-". He smiles at the memory. "-I saw something beautiful." He shakes his head. "Batman, I have seen life's purpose, and now it is my owen. That." He points to the window. "That is not life. That is…"

He shakes his head.

Ah. I can't say I'm entirely surprised.

"Anti-Life. It's Anti-Life."

 

5th November
17:22 GMT -6

A rooftop in Central City, out of line of sight of any security cameras and within convenient travelling distance for a man who can run at light speed. He was supposed to be here twenty two minutes ago, but Wallace said that's pretty normal for hi-.

Then he's there, the coffee cup I put out already in his hand and at his lips.

"Thank you for taking the time to see me, Flash."

"Ignoring you didn't seem like a good idea." Mister Allen lowers his cup slightly as he looks at me. "Sorry I'm late." He shrugs. "You know how it goes."

"Only from Kid Flash. Though I imagine that if I had a secret identity to maintain I'd see the other side quickly enough." I gesture to the other chair with my left hand. "Would you like to sit down?"

He nods and takes his seat, putting his cup on the arm rest. "So. Bats has got you visiting everyone in the League."

"Batman suggested that it would help restore working relationships in the long term, yes."

"How far was I down the list?"

"Seventh. Diana, Batman, Mister Zatara, Green Arrow, Superman, Icon, you."

His face mask conceals his brows, but I think he's frowning slightly. "You meet up with the GLs all the time."

"Yes, and we.. talk about lanterning. Or the Russian space program." Having worked in administration, I appear to have the ability to appreciate Lantern Savenlovich's travails better than our other colleagues. "I mean, what do you think the chances of getting a heart to heart with-."

He nods. "Gardner."

"I was going to say 'Jordan', actually. Guy and I might have done, if we weren't mostly concerned with inter-Corps relations."

Another nod. "Alright. What did you want to say?"

I shrug. "What did you want to say? I was putting the whole thing behind me. The only reason I'm bringing this up at all is because Batman made me rejoining the team contingent on me doing so."

"You want to get back.. on the.. team? Aren't you.. eighteen?"

"Nineteen. And M'gann's forty nine and we're not sure how old Canis is. Do you think I've learned everything I-"

He inclines his head slightly. "No, I-."

"-need to?"

"-suppose I don't." He leans back a little. "You're saying this is for my benefit?"

"Flash, we can talk about baseball for half an hour if you want. I'm ticking a box, but I'll answer honestly any questions you have."

"Okay, ah… First off, I always thought Nabu would change his mind after a while."

"Okay."

He watches me for a moment. "You don't.. care..?"

"It's not impossible. I have not at any point claimed that I had access to all pertinent information. I don't understand his thought processes well enough to suggest if or when he might have relented, but it certainly wasn't impossible."

"No, I mean… Do you not care why I wasn't as gung ho about it as you were?"

"I-." I take a moment. "I don't consider eight months' careful investigation to be 'gung ho', Flash. I do consider eight months to have been a reasonable time period for him to have made alternate hosting arrangements on his own. Perhaps he would have after nine months. Or a year. It's an imponderable. I also don't think there's any point in me asking you how long you were going to wait. Though if you did have a figure in mind, feel free to share it?"

He tilts his head slightly to the right for a moment. "No. I can't say I did."

I shrug. "There you go. We can't discuss our different decision making processes because you didn't make a decision."

He leans back. "I suppose you're right as far as that's concerned. If he'd stayed on Kid Flash… I don't think I'd have killed him, but… Maybe."

I nod. "So… How 'bout them Stars?"

"We're not done yet. Kid Flash showed me your holiday report."

I do briefly consider a remark along the lines of 'One of you read my report?!', but I decide against it. "Fortunately, I very much doubt that such methods will be required anywhere near Earth."

"How many people did you kill?"

"I really don't know. Depending on how you assign the team efforts… Maybe a few million? Very few of whom will be missed by anyone. I take it you read the parts where I described Citadelian rules of engagement? And their behaviour in general?"

"Oh-" He nods in a very definite manner. "-yes. When I'm talking to you I want to make sure I know what's going on. And how did.. killing millions of people make you feel?"

"I didn't feel much. When you're not actually seeing the bodies, there's much less trauma, even for normal soldiers. Given how I detested their whole vile state, I didn't even feel bad intellectually."

"Did you feel..?" He looks at me with morbid curiosity. "Good..?"

"Mildly satisfied. One chore down, Vega made a bit less repugnant. I was happy about freeing Captain Comet and freeing their slaves, but… No, it didn't feel especially good."

"And when you killed the ones who helped you?"

"The ones I mind controlled into helping me. They weren't much different to the ones I'd killed. Literally, given that they were clones. Yes, I could have put them in prison, but that's really not how Vega works. No prisons exist for that sort of thing. I could have handed them over to the Tamaranean government, if they had the facilities. They would have killed them out of hand. The Crown Imperium would probably have had a show trial… Then killed them. Marooning was an option, but they didn't have wilderness survival skills and I didn't want to risk them rebuilding."

"Sure, it's all… Very logical. You do know that Robin's fourteen, right?"

"Yes. I'm also aware that he's seen quite a number of murders already."

"I'm not talking about his exposure to death-. Though you better believe I had a talk with Batman about that. I'm talking about their exposure to you."

"Um-." I blink. "Okay?"

"Kid Flash told you I never wanted him involved in this, didn't he?" I nod. "If he'd turned eighteen and he still wanted-." He shakes his head. "Maybe. You know how violent what we do can be. I try keeping him away from the worst of it, let him fight people like Snart who pull their punches. You're a soldier?" He shrugs. "Fine, so's Captain Atom. But I don't want kids learning to be soldiers. They've got to have normal lives outside of this, and.. frankly I hope they give it up. I sure don't want them regarding what you do as 'normal'."

Huh.

"I… Understand your concern. And while working for the Justice League I will follow Justice League rules of engagement. And I certainly won't glamorise what I do."

He picks up his cup again. "I guess that'll have to do."

 

5th November
19:47 GMT -6

Ms Thal drops a would-be mugger to the pavement, frustration visible in her expression. She hasn't even taken her mace out. Not really surprising; she's strong, tough and well-trained enough that a opportunistic assailant would have to be very lucky, even if she didn't just swoop down on him. And while operating in 'policing mode' she doesn't use her mace as it's rather too lethal.

Even for Louisiana.

I descend slowly as she waits for the police. "I appreciate there's-" Now the mace comes out. "-never a good time-"

"What do you want?"

"-for this sort of conversation, but I was wondering if you'd like to talk about Nabu?"

She beats her wings, shooting into the air to gain a slight height advantage. The mugger isn't sufficiently coherent to take advantage, but I take a moment to attach plastic ties to his ankles and wrists.

"You've got some nerve…"

She's staring at my face, her focus total and.. frankly a little disturbing. Ring, blur.

Compliance.

Thank you.

"This isn't a job for people who don't. And I'd lose respect for myself if I was afraid to face…" I shake my head. "What? My acc-."

"One of the people you accused of abandoning an ally to an enemy."

"Well… You… Did that." Her hand tightens around the mace's grip. "And maybe you did it in ignorance, maybe you.. were busy, the situation wasn't given your full attention… But the result was…" I look around. We're a bit low to be openly talking about this, really. "I think I made it clear what I thought of the results when last we spoke."

"And now you… What, you want to be friends?"

"I'm aiming to rejoin the team. Batman wants me to talk out the Nabu situation with each League member first. We don't have to reach an accord… In fact, you can tell me to get lost right now-"

"Get lost."

"-and I'll just have to hear that from your husband as well, and I can go."

She reaches up to activate her helmet's communicator. "Katar, come to my location. The Orange Lantern wants you to tell him to get lost."

"I get the impression that wasn't actually what Batman had in mind, but I'll be fulfilling my end of the bargain. Really, if there's anything you want to get off your chest at all-."

"You directly accused me of cowardice before witnesses. If you were Thanagarian, I would have challenged you to a duel."

"And how would that have changed anything? Realistically, I don't have any chance against you without my ring, and you don't have much chance against me with one. So why don't we just say we had a duel and toss a coin-?"

"Orange Lantern." I float back in the air, bringing Mr Hol into view as he glides past me to float beside his wife. "I may share your opinion that a duel is not appropriate in this situation, but do not trivialise it. Or the offence you have given to both my wife and myself."

"If I thought that was trivial, I'd have told Batman he was being ridiculous about this whole thing and that it would blow over. So?" I sit cross legged in the air. "'Get lost', it's two words."

"Do you understand why what you did was wrong?"

"I've heard several people's opinions on why it was wrong, certainly. That I should have talked to the League, that I should have indulged Nabu more, that I'm-. Actually, Flash made a good point about me being a PEGI category above what the team's supposed to be. And.. it costs me nothing to hear your version. So, go ahead. Tell me."

"You should have asked us to join you."

"Why?"

"Because as you pointed out, Giovanni Zatara was our team mate."

"And not because you had something useful to offer? Do you have some particular anti-magic technique I'm not aware of?" I shake my head. "Even if I thought I could trust you -which I didn't, given that you agreed to let Nabu join in the first place- I wouldn't have involved someone who wouldn't have been able to materially assist."

"Katar…"

He takes a deep breath. "Even if you thought that we had nothing to contribute to the planning, unless you believed that we would have sided with Nabu, you should have informed us and asked us to participate. We would both rather have fought Nabu -even if that meant dying- than let him continue to hold our comrade hostage. And we both feel that was regardless of how efficacious involving us would be. For a Thanagarian soldier, there are few things more shameful than leaving an ally in the hands of an enemy."

"Then why did you? How many meetings did you have, Hawkman, where you sat with him and heard his voice speak from a stolen larynx and saw him look at you with stolen eyes? If that was supposed to be the worst thing a Thanagarian can do-."

"I was gathering information. Preparing to act against an individual who would have been an extremely difficult foe."

"And the vote?"

"How would sending him away have helped?"

"I would still trust you if you'd done that."

"Should I value your trust more highly than Zatara's life?"

"Should you have valued the trust of the superhero closest to his daughter, who is unscryable, who started a revolution in arcane technology and has numerous magic contacts? Who literally chained Nabu up at New Year? Yes, probably. How were you planning to do anything against him without me?"

"I had not yet gathered-."

"Yeah, you and Batman both, apparently. So.. I've.. caused you great offence by not including you in my plan even though you weren't including me in yours."

Ms Hol's wings are fluttering, a sign of extreme agitation. Mr Hol merely grits his teeth before continuing. "Not including us in the planning is insulting, but we did the same to you and in any case it isn't a mortal insult. Not attempting to include us in the attack is."

"Right, I'll bear that in mind in future. I'd rather there not be a next time, but…" I shrug. "Anything else?"

"I still want to fight you."

"Fine. The next Lantern training session is on Wednesday. Show up bright and early, but don't expect any satisfaction. Good evening."

 

6th November
14:21 GMT

"You, er…" The police officer assigned to keep watch over me leans in a little bit. "You.. like… You know Batman then, do yuh?"

I'm sitting in a small office in Cardiff Central Police Station. With Alan making friends with a cross section of Alliance members and the team somewhere in southern Africa, I've been assigned to check John Fate's background.

"Ah… Yes? I wouldn't say we're social acquaintances at this point, but we've been colleagues for a little over a year now. I've been on a number of missions at his instruction."

"Could you.. like… Get his autograph fer me?"

"I can… I can certainly ask for you, but he.. hands those out only very occasionally. Usually for charity, after Superman has smiled at him for a couple of minutes."

She grins. "Ah, that'd be brilliant!"

"As I said, no promises, but-" A CID officer walks in, and the police officer moves away slightly. "-I'll certainly ask."

"Alright, Constable Williams. I think I can handle this one, thank you."

"Right you are, sir." She heads towards the door. "Shout if you need anything fetching."

"I will." The detective looks me over, apparently not very impressed. "What happened to the fancy armour, then?"

"I didn't think it appropriate to the situation. And it's not exactly chair-friendly." I open my hands, letting her get a good look at my power rings. She's a stout, middle aged woman with short brown hair. "If you want to phone the League and confirm my identity-."

"What do you think I just did?"

"Good, so you know who I am. Would it be possible for me to ask you some questions?"

"Just as soon as I'm shuwer we're not going to have some lunatic start knocking over buildings."

"No, no-. Ah, not as far as I know. I'm just checking the references of someone who might be working with the League at some point."

"Don't have a lot of costumed mental cases around here. I think we'd have spotted them."

"I don't think that the individual in question wore a costume." I take a picture out of subspace, showing John Fate's face attached to an approximately-correct body wearing a suit. "Does this man seem familiar at all?"

She frowns with mild irritation, then her brows unfurrow slightly in recognition. "He does a bit, though I'm jiggered if I know where from."

"He claimed that he offered to assist the Cardiff police during a series of ritualistic killings with a magic motive."

Her eyes widen. "That's never John Constantine. You send him on a body building course, did yuh?"

"You're right, that isn't John Constantine. Not unless something very strange is happening." Moderately strange. John's a common first name and Constantine is three thousand five hundred and sixtieth most common. My own is too rare to feature on any of the lists I saw. It might not even exist here. "But he claims he was around here at the same time."

"Might be." She reaches out for the picture and I hand it to her. "Several of the officers involved in that were moved off front line duties. Mental health." I nod sympathetically. That sort of thing doesn't bother me any longer, but mutilated bodies are a bit of a shock if you're not used to them. "I can show them the picture."

"I'd appreciate that. I just need to confirm that he was here and trying to be helpful."

"Alright. I'll get that done for you. Is there anything else?"

"I would appreciate a copy of the relevant case files. I'm not expecting a copycat or anything like that, I just want to make sure that I'm being thorough."

"The Justice League can request that. I'll have it scanned and sent via the proper channels."

A couple of days' wait, then. And it's mildly painful that it isn't all on computer. "Thank you."

I offer her my right hand, which she takes briefly before indicating the door. "Can you find your way out?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll look forward to hearing from you." I raise my right fore and middle fingers to my forehead in a mock salute,

-then step out and back-

6th November
09:25 GMT -5

into the city of Chicago for my next Justice League member meeting.

"Hey, ah, Nancy? I'll call you back. Looks like my nine thirty just arrived."

Mr O'Brian in civilian mode. He can't really hide what he is, but he makes an effort. His suit and shirt are red, material from that weird.. leotard.. thing he was for whatever reason wearing when he took the chemical bath which turned him into living rubber repurposed into office wear. His hair looks stranger still, a solid unmoving mass stuck on top of his head. He's not wearing his gog-. No, he is, the goggles have just merged with his eyebrows.

"Do you have a moment, Plastic Man?"

"Eh… Sure." He falls backward, morphing into an office chair as he does so. "Sit down, I'll get someone to make you coffee."

"Thank you, but I don't drink coffee. Also, I'm…" I shake my head. "Not sitting on you." I generate a construct chair and sit down opposite him. "I'm sure you know why I'm here."

"Because you need someone to sportscast your match with Hawkwoman?" He shifts back into humanoid form, his right hand now holding a microphone. "In the red corner, all the way from Thanagar, give it up for-!"

"No. Nabu."

The microphone merges with his hand, his whole body sagging. "Yeah, well, see, I didn't actually know-."

"Diana told me. You somehow managed to miss that he was possessed."

He shrugs. "It's not the first thing you think of. I mean, what was his name-?"

"Kent Nelson."

"Right! Kent Nelson was fine wearing the helmet for decades."

"And Nabu wanted to keep Kid Flash as his host-."

"Ah, hey." He holds his hands out in a placatory gesture, expanding them to three of four times normal size. "I wasn't even on the League when that happened. I didn't get access to the reports until New Year."

"And you didn't read through them."

"I read some. The ones about things we were actually doing. There are a lot of reports in there!" He returns his hands to normal size. "I don't even particularly think you were wrong, but… I thought if there was anything going wrong with Zatara then Batman or someone would have said something."

I could bear a grudge about this. Being on the Justice League should mean that you do the blasted reading. But I think this episode has already given him the kick he needed on that score.

"I.. suppose that's.. fair. Anything you want to ask me?" He shakes his head. "Then… Have a nice day."

I raise my fingers to my forehead again.

 

9th November
10:09 GMT -6

"Uuuuuuuuugh."

Ms Thal wheezes, her right hand grasping spasmodically for the Nth metal mace I've sensibly moved out of arm's reach. Since I regard this whole thing as stupid, I haven't been using the sort of high-lethality ordnance which Thanagarian duelling custom would allow me to. I've -I sigh as I think it- been using… Giant… Orange… Boxing gloves. Of course, at this point they're pretty powerful boxing gloves, because… While she isn't the only Justice League member to severely irritate me where Nabu is concerned, at least the others were prepared to discuss the matter without challenging me to a duel.

But… This is a bit much.

I look over towards Mr Hol. "Is that it? Can you call it now?"

He makes eye contact with me, then gives his head a small shake.

"Oh, for goodness-." Ms Thal staggers to her feet, using her wide spread wings to maintain her balance. "You're clearly in no condition to fight and I don’t like you well enough to heal you. Why don't you stay down this time?"

"Nrgh."

She.. either weaves, or narrowly avoids collapsing, then begins a staggering run towards me. I shoot her in the face with a construct bean bag round, forcing her to stop, staggering back to maintain her balance. A construct circular saw cuts through her helmet's strap and a construct hand hurls her battered helmet aside. It appears to have protected her face reasonably well, but the lower part of her face is already swelling from bruises and I can see a dozen cuts from where I slammed her into the desert.

"Please. Give up."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Alan say something to Mr Hol, who waves him off.

Another stagger, then she squares up to me again.

"Okay, can I yield? I literally-" I create a flimsy boxing glove construct, then let it evaporate. "-don't want to hurt you sufficiently strongly to make a construct. You win, well done. Honour is uphel-."

"No." She takes a step closer. "Fight me."

I fall back slightly. "Alright, you've convinced me that you'd have fought against Nabu. I doubt it would have been much more one sided than this."

"Not… Not convincing you."

"Look, if you're willing to get your face beaten in pointlessly-" She takes three hurried steps closer and swings her right fist. I turn it aside with my right hand and punch her hard in the face. She takes it.. pretty well. Stupid extra tough skeletal structure. "-I'm sure-" She tries to hit me with her left wing, but I counter with a construct shield. "-that you'd do it where it-" I step right as she pulls her wing back and swing a fist at the unprotected underside. That gets a wince. "-it actually mattered."

"I'm not-" She manages a clumsy hit on my faceplate. "-doing this for you!"

"Fine." I create a construct covering her mouth and nose, then start replacing her air with Thanagarian-safe-ish knock out gas. Another pair of constructs bind her arms and wings. "I hope you've impressed yourself, then."

She struggles, but Thanagar knows its people and this stuff is designed to weaken them fast. As her eyes roll back I remove the construct feeding her the stuff and create a stretcher construct for her. Then I wheel toward Mr Hol. "Is that enough?! Or do I need to hit her a few more times?"

He flaps his wings once to leave the ground and a second time to enter the combat area, gliding towards his wife. I move the stretcher towards him as he lands, his helmet staring at her as he uses the sensors to check her condition. "She is unable to continue. You are victorious."

"Wooowh. Is she going to try this again when she gets up? Am I going to need to give her a power ring just so I don't feel so-?"

Alan follows Mr Hol, and I pass Ms Thal to him. There aren't any medical facilities around here… There isn't anything around here, that's why we started doing this here. The Hawks' ship has basic medical equipment… Ugh.

"Why did you offer to surrender?"

"Because it was pointless! She's going to be recovering for… Two weeks?"

"I doubt that I'll be able to make her stay still for that long."

"Which means that no one gains anything from this. If it meant I didn't have to beat her unconscious, why wouldn't I surrender?"

"Pride in your abilities as a warrior?"

"I'm not doing this to win a flipping contest! I wear this ring to make the universe a better place. That did nothing!" I grimace. "The last Thanagarians I met weren't this mental. At least I don't think they were, maybe they were just hiding it better."

"Some.. parts of the military take.. certain parts of Thanagar's military traditions more seriously than wider society. Were these Thanagarians civilians?"

"No. Mercenaries. Nice bunch. Met them in Vega. Had a few drinks, helped them with a riot and got them a job training the Tamaranean military up while they rebuild."

"I'm not aware of any Thanagarians being in that region of space. What is the company called?"

"The Blades of Alstair." Who-. Oh.

"I see." I can't tell whether Mr Hol's frowning or not, but I suspect that he is. "No. They wouldn't have adopted that tradition unless Hyathis ordered them to. Excuse me." A downbeat of his wings and he's flying back towards his ship.

Yeah, probably shouldn't have mentioned that I was on good terms with them to an agent of the Thanagarian government.

Lantern Jordan drifts down. "Well. That was a… Thing."

"And let's hope that really is it."

He looks mildly curious. "What, you never felt like challenging someone to a fight?"

"Not for honour-related reasons. But while we're all taking five, and you're actually on Earth, do you?"

"With Guy once or twice, sure."

"No, not-. Batman's got me talking to every League member about Nabu."

He shrugs. "Why? You got a way to bring him back you're not sharing?"

"No."

"Then what's the point? However I feel about it, you did it, it happened."

"That's what I said. But are you sure? Nothing you want to ask, nothing you want to get off your chest?"

"I still don't think you should have killed him."

"Okay, what should I have done?"

"Kept working at it until you had a way to take him down without killing him."

I shrug. "Diana took the chains off at New Year. Given how powerful and skilled Lords of Order are, I would have to have been very lucky to get another opening like that."

He raises his eyebrows. "You're saying you couldn't do it?"

"I'm saying I don't know how to do it and I don't know if it could be done."

"Because if Zatara was alive after eight months, he wasn't in danger of dying. Look, I wanted to fly for the US Air Force. And if.. things had gone differently, I'd probably have killed plenty of people by now. But I'm not. I'm a space cop with a fancy ring. Superheroes aren't military, they're police. The Justice League isn't a military."

"The Orange Lantern Corps is a military."

"Maybe that's the problem. The US military doesn't do policing outside of disaster zones, because that's not what it's for. The rules of engagement are different, for good reasons. I don’t have a problem with you wanting to be a soldier. But if that's what you want?" He drifts back slightly. "Then this is the wrong organisation for you."

 

10th November
13:08 GMT -5

"No, I think I understand."

I watch Jade as she takes another bite of her sandwich, shaking my head slightly. "You do?"

She chews for a moment, then swallows. Then she carefully watches my face. "And you actually don't."

I shake my head again. "If I did, I wouldn't ask."

"It's about confidence. She needed to know that if she had to fight someone more powerful than her, she could do it."

"But.. she could. She actually does that several times a year. Everyone knows that."

"Did you?"

"I… Yes, I.. honestly assume that of everyone on the League. I didn't ask her because I didn't think the risk-reward made sense." I watch her take another bite, the news program playing in the background saying something about a series of earthquakes in Argentina. "Is that.. something you… Feel..?"

"Not… Exactly."

I lean forwards slightly. "Please don't ever pick a fight with a ludicrously out of your league superhero."

"If your enemies know that you're willing to fight them, it changes how they evaluate whether to attack you or not. They know beating you would cost them more."

"Oh no." I frown. "Thanagar's doing a John Byng."

"Or training their soldiers to think like Meiji Restoration era samurai. Who was John Byng?"

"A British naval officer executed for not 'doing his utmost against the enemy' in the eighteenth century. Voltaire put a joke about it in Candide, ah… 'In this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others'." She.. nods. "The result.. was supposed to be that British officers became more aggressive, always attacking when in doubt."

"And they ended up controlling the largest empire in history."

"There was a bit more to it than that, but… It may have helped." I frown. "So that's what it looks like on the ground."

"What would have happened to her if she didn't challenge you?"

"Noth-." She raises her eyebrows. "Ah… Assuming that she included it in her report… I don't know. The most recent copy of Thanagar's Articles of War I've got predates the Equalisation Plague, two hundred years and a major social upheaval out of date."

"A dishonored samurai who didn't commit suicide after being dishonored would be reviled by other warriors and lords. And so would their family."

"I-." Can I.. say..? "Hawkwoman grew up in a military orphanage, so-."

"So her sense of identity is entirely tied up in being a loyal soldier and her entire 'family' would think the same way she does."

And who does that sound like? "Jade." I reach across the table and put my right hand on her left forearm. "If you want me to beat you unconscious as well-?"

She smiles, a slight hiss of air escaping from her lips. Then she rolls her eyes. "No, I'm-. It's been an adjustment, but the League of Shadows' disciplinary system didn't work like that. Experienced operatives were too valuable. And Ra's didn't want anyone thinking that a code was more important than him."

"So.. you.. don't feel-?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Can't you see?"

"I… Could. I choose not to."

She nods, turning her left arm slightly so her hand rests on my forearm. "I don't feel the need to.. lose a fight to maintain my identity because I've changed my identity. I chose not to be an assassin. She's still a soldier." I nod. "And I'm not really keen on losing fights or picking fights I can't win."

"But Hawkwoman was fine with it because anything else looked dishonourable to her." I shake my head. "I'd like to say it's crazy, but it's.. no."

"No." She pulls back her left arm slightly, so that our hands are clasped. "Challenging you to a fight without some sort of equaliser was crazy. Challenging you at all was just being true to her code."

She takes another bite of her sandwich, her eyes moving briefly to the people staring at us -me, really- from the other parts of the deli. I've got sound suppression on so they can't hear what we're actually saying, but at this point my visits and relationship with Jade are public knowledge.

"Thanagarians don't have equalisers to power rings. That was actually a factor in the formation of their policies towards aliens during their expansions; they knew that they couldn't risk pushing the Corps more than a certain degree."

"How close are they to Earth?"

"Pretty close in interstellar terms, not close at all in terms of absolute distance. They could send a fleet here, but unless we look like we're becoming an imminent threat it seems unlikely that they will." I shrug. "They don't have any rivals in this direction, but integrating other species into their empire… Well, settling their worlds over their objections, takes time and effort."

"Do you think the Hawks are sending information home, so-." I'm already nodding, and she narrows her eyes slightly. "You knew that?"

"It's obvious. But since we're not planning on picking a fight with Thanagar, there's no harm in it." Couldn't even if we wanted to. The one benefit of the Equalisation Plague was that in the aftermath internal disputes became unimportant, whereas Earth doesn't have a unified space program. When we finally get serious about space it probably will end up being a superhero-led effort. "In fact, reassuring them benefits us."

She takes another bite of her sandwich. I deliberately look past the gawkers -and the manageress who is making it clear that the seats are for patrons- and give the television my attention. Depending on the situation on the ground, an earthquake might-. No, it's moved on to covering a flare up of hostility in Kashmir. With that part of the world being a good deal more stable on Earth 16 than Earth Prime, I can probably leave that to local diplomats.

"How are your meetings with the Justice League going?"

"They're manageable. I'm getting a much better idea of where they think I went wrong."

A small smile. "Do you agree with any of them?"

"The Flash had a point, and I think… Green Lantern echoed it."

"Oh?"

"He's not happy about children being involved. And he's especially not happy about someone with my body count and modus operandi being involved with children."

"Children who can run at the speed of sound and break someone in half by talking backwards."

"Impressionable children who might decide to use those abilities in non-superheroic ways if I make a good enough case for it. And it is true that I'm a bit of an awkward fit." I shrug. "How are things in the mob? Any interesting assassination attempts?"

"One, by Two Face." She grimaces. "Or it might have been, but I get paid to protect the principal, not fight crazy people. I'm actually… Thinking about quitting. A corporate intelligence firm in San Francisco got in touch. They're interested in employing someone with my background."

"I imagine that's more up your street. And less likely to involve anything illegal. Want me to check them out for you?"

She looks at me sternly. "I'd like you to check them out as well. They look legitimate to me, but I don't have all of your resources."

"Not a problem. What are they called?"

 

10th November
16:49 GMT -5

The train of lawyers, politicians and bereaved family members walks past me down the hall, Adom and Mr Tuckman waiting until there's some clear space before following them out of the meeting room. The lawyers are muttering to their clients, none of whom look particularly happy about the outcome. I wait until they're all past me before rising from my chair to approach my colleagues.

"So? Result?"

Mr Tuckman manages a satisfied smile. "There's still room for individual challenges, but I think we've convinced most people that 'Theodore Adam' and 'Teth Adom' are two legally distinct people, and that Teth Adom bears no responsibility for Theodore Adam's actions."

Adom is still looking fairly sombre, though that might just be as a result of Mr Tuckman's strongly phrased advice that he wear a suit. "I have no wish to insult the families of his victims, but I refuse to believe that this is the best way for them to gain redress. There were more jurists present than relatives."

Mr Tuckman looks just a little bit smug at that. "Welcome to America."

"No." Adom shakes his head. "That could have been resolved in mere minutes if a single individual had the authority to make a determination, subject to learned advice. Instead, it has been months. It serves neither me nor them." His eyes narrow slightly. "When I rule Kahndaq once more I will ensure this cannot happen there."

Mr Tuckman raises his right eyebrow slightly. "The Kahndaqi people might have something to say about that."

"My people will see my wisdom. And they will learn not to question me."

Best head this off. "Any problems? Or was it all…"

Adom's jaw tenses for a moment. "They required that I return to my mortal form."

Mr Tuckman nods. "Yeah, that was a little uncomfortable. I didn't realise that he still looked like…"

I frown mildly at Adom. I hadn't either, but then William Batson still looks like William Batson when he turns back. Why should Adom be any different just because he and his host are both adult men?

"A problem I will solve by not turning back at any other time."

Obvious solution, but perhaps here isn't the place to bring it up. "Mr Tuckman, do you need us for anything else?"

He shakes his head. "No, not today." He turns to Adom. "I'll contact you with a copy of the written text for your approval once it's been drafted. Should be within a week."

Adom nods, and offers him his hand. "Thank you."

Mother Box, hush tube.

Ping.

10th November
15:52 GMT -6

Adom and I walk back into the Mountain, hush tube closing behind us. "You know, I've been meaning to ask: beyond the gods' blessings, have you considered..? Looking for other advantages? Better weaponry, or further augmentations?"

He glances at me suspiciously. "As I have said before, I am content with the power that I have."

"Hey." I shrug noncommittally. "If you say so. But you're the one who wants to fight Shazam. And -correct me if I'm wrong here- last time they weren't enough. Were they?" His jaw clenches. "Adom, I'm your ally. I'm offering you aid to make both our lives easier. You don't have to take it, but it's there."

He considers for a moment, then his face relaxes slightly. "Your pardon. Having been betrayed by the one I once considered my friend and mentor, I find that I am… Reluctant to put my faith in those who make similar offers."

"Think nothing of it."

"I do not believe that there is a power I could gain within a short span of time that would improve my ability to liberate Kahndaq. No, my time is better spent in study. But… In the fullness of time, I may consider such measures before confronting him once again."

I nod slowly. "Perhaps something more trivial, then?" He raises his eyebrows slightly. "William's transformation changes his face. I should have realised that you still look like Theodore Adam under-" I wave my right hand at his face. "-that.. before now, and I apologise for my lapse. If you like, I can change that, make your faces match. Cosmetic work is far less involved than alterations to your arcane architecture."

"I would need to.. change?" I nod, and he grimaces. "I am loath to speak the Wizard's name even once more." He considers for a moment. "But, I appreciate you making the offer. I have no great fondness for looking like a murderer. Perhaps I will-."

He cuts himself off as the door to one of our secure storage repositories opens and Circe walks out. "Oh." She frowns at Adom's choice of attire. "Did someone die?"

I nod. "Theodore Adam. Legally speaking. Not that anyone will miss him all that much."

"Oh, you finally got that sorted out. Well done."

"A minor trial of my patience. It was no great achievement." Adom hesitates for a moment. "How is your school progressing?"

"Plans are being finalised and the demolition is done." She looks at me. "I decided to bind the rat thing in a crystal and put it in storage."

I nod. "Fine, as long as Miss Shimmer checked the seals."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, even though I've been sealing elementals since before the rise of Rome, I had Sunset check my work."

"I'm sorry if it's inconvenient, but it's a standard process and a second pair of eyes-."

"Yes…" She waves her right hand dismissively. "Yes. I understand. And I do enjoy talking to her. Did you know that her people dealt with a Lord of Chaos?"

I nod. "I think she mentioned it."

She smiles. "I'm constantly surprised by what even I can learn from talking to her. Particularly concerning beings like that."

Adom raises his eyebrows slightly. "You have encountered a Lord of Chaos yourself?"

"I… Misjudged a situation involving a Lord of Chaos named Oggar." She carefully watches his face. "You recognised the name, Teth Adom. Did you know of him?"

He nods. "I did. He was once a mighty ally of the Wizard, but broke with him due to his own egotism. He felt that his power meant that he should have been the leader of their alliance rather than the Wizard's subordinate. After that, he wandered the world, finding his amusements where he could. I encountered him only many years later, when he decided to attack my nation in an attempt to wound the Wizard by proxy."

She looks curious, her eyebrows rising slightly. "You survived his attention, then."

Adom nods. "I had learned to use the Power of Atum to increase my ability to resist baleful magic. But it would not have been enough to stand against a Lord of Chaos. The Wizard lent me a portion of his own might, the Power of Ribalvei, so that I could stand against Oggar's magic."

Circe looks distinctly impressed. "You mean to say that you.. won?"

"Once I closed the distance, I unleashed the full extent of Lord Montu's berserk rage. Oggar's physical form was strong, but not strong enough to withstand my attack."

"And?" She shrugs. "He is a Lord of Chaos. Could he really die from mere physical injury?"

"No." A thin smile. "But he could feel pain."

Circe's smile on the other hand isn't even slightly thin. "You hurt him so much that he fled?"

"In a manner of speaking. I broke his body, and then waited for his magic to repair it. And then I broke it again. And again. And again, until he abandoned this world and returned to the Realm of Chaos."

"How long did that take?"

"Perhaps twenty days of constant activity."

She smiles, this time one of genuine pleasure rather than social lubrication. "Really?" She steps forward, linking arms with him and pulling him in the direction of the nearest living room. "Oh, I am going to want more details than that, pharaoh."

 

12th November
17:32 GMT -5

"So… This is it, huh?" Dr Highwater carefully lifts the Medusa Mask from the padded Justice League case Lantern Stewart transported it in.

"Yeah."

Lantern Stewart doesn't look entirely happy about this, but KordTech has all of the licences required to analyse supervillain technology and is the only surface world site with enough qualified magic users to produce useful results with arcane equipment. If anyone is going to do something with this, it's KordTech.

Dr Highwater performs a brief visual inspection. "Mask is gold in color, but weighs more than this volume of gold should. Mask…" He prods it. "Is immobile, despite reports that it can form expressions. Mask has no visible way to attach itself to the wearer's face, despite reports that it remains attached during strenuous physical activity."

"Kid Flash was able to pull it off Roger Hayden's face just prior to his arrest."

"But why didn't it fall off?" He holds it up slightly. "I mean: look at it."

He's right. Not only is it taller than a normal man's face, it isn't clear how it was able to stay on Mr Hayden's face at all.

"It's a shame Charles Halstead wasn't able to provide a better explanation before he was committed." Dr Highwater tears his eyes away from the Mask to look at Lantern Stewart. "You're sure Mr Hayden hasn't suffered any of the same side effects?"

Lantern Stewart shakes his head. "Not according to the prison shrink."

Yes, that was something I hadn't known before I started reading up on the case. After getting a whole life sentence and passing his equipment on to Psycho-Pirate 2, Psycho-Pirate 1 gradually lost all ability to feel emotion. There are emotion-affecting magics which could have that effect, but that wouldn't explain why it stopped doing that for the second wearer.

"Mister Hayden claimed to have amalgamated the many masks Mister Halstead used into a single mask."

Dr Highwater nods. "Then I think we're ready for human testing."

I nod, and create a frame construct around the Mask. I remember that the comic version of this mask gave medium awareness but I haven't seen any sign of that in the League's records on either of the local Pirates. Which I suppose might mean that the Earth 2 version got that power not from the Mask but from living through the Crisis.

Lantern Stewart leans slightly to the left. "That seems a bit sudden."

"After.. what happened to Bobo, we decided that testing telepathic equipment on animals wasn't a good idea."

"How's the little scamp doing?"

"He's reached eighth grade now."

Lantern Stewart frowns. "Who's 'Bobo'?"

"He's the chimpanzee KordTech tested the updated Thinking Cap on. We've removed it now, but it appears to have given him human-equivalent intelligence." But not the capacity for speech. His vocal systems just aren't the right shape, so he mostly communicates by writing. "We're not.. really sure how, but we're not going to be testing it on any other chimps."

Lantern Stewart looks decidedly uncertain at that news. "So you're skipping straight to human testing?"

Dr Highwater nods. "Nothing in either Psycho-Pirate's background indicates a particular level of arcane knowledge, and Abraham Carlyle and Wolf Krieger were able to use it without any adverse side affects. This is just a quick trial run so I can get some idea of what it feels like to use, so I can pass that on to the arcanists so they can narrow down the range of things they're investigating. And we're not allowed to do human tests on objects of this class without a member of the Justice League being present."

"So it's my fault." Lantern Stewart nods. "Great."

"I don't think you understand exactly what this can do for the Green Lantern Corps."

"Make us all feel fear so we can train to work through it?"

"Why not just amp up your will?"

He frowns. "Is that possible? I didn't think that 'will power' was really an emotion."

"Should be. And the best thing about it is that it can affect as many people as the wearer can see. Marginally useful for a single Green Lantern, but in any situation where you need a whole task force…"

He nods. "One Lantern can hold back and enhance all of the rest."

"If they're a natural empath, they could use what they're doing to the rest of the force to enhance themselves as well. And they can suppress any conflicting emotions that the rookies are feeling."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Rookies shouldn't be in that sort of situation." He nods slowly. "But I take your point. That could dramatically cut down the casualties during major operations."

I beam. "Thank you for volunteering."

He blinks. "You want me to put that thing on?"

"No, of course not. Doctor Hightower is going to put it on and use it on you. I've already got recordings of how strong you are without it from our training sessions, now we just need to find out how strong a pre-m'eelam na'aquall Sector Lantern gets with it."

"Why don't we use it on you?"

"Do you want another giant cake?" He bows his head slightly, smiling as he does so. "Besides, I need to be available to yank the mask off Doctor Highwater if something goes wrong."

He nods. "Alright, but take things slowly."

Dr Highwater nods. "Of course. We don't even know if I can use it yet." He steps up to where I have the mask suspended in a head height frame. "Here goes."

He presses his face into the inside of the mask for a moment, then pulls it back. There's a slight tug on the frame, but otherwise I don't see anything unusual.

"Feel anything?"

"I felt it stick to my face, but I didn't get any sort of impression of the emotions around me. It might be that it only senses strong emotion, or it might be that the effect is only one way; it can create emotions but not detect them in the people around it."

"It put a small amount of pressure on the frame when you pulled back. It looks like it does stick. Try again?"

He nods, and presses his face back into it. "Okay, I'm-. It's moving, the mask is moving with my mouth as I speak. That.. feels.. weird."

"Yeah." Lantern Stewart walks around to the front. "I can confirm that from the outside. It looks different from how it looked when Krieger was wearing it, but that might be because your face is a different shape from his."

"Okay. If you're ready, I'll-" Lantern Stewart's ring flashes. "-try to-."

"Just a moment." He holds his ring out. "Go ahead."

"Batman to Green Lantern. The team was investigating a LexCorp facility in Argentina. They've just missed one of their scheduled check ins."

"I can head down there and take a look. What were they investigating?"

"A geology research center. I had no specific intelligence that they would meet any significant threats there."

"Understood." He glances at me. "Orange Lantern is here as well. Should I bring him along?"

"As if I'm giving you a choice."

 

12th November
19:37 GMT -3

The world flickers around me and what the hell happened here?

This part of the world is a wasteland anyway, but the added lines of molten rock suggest that Kon needed to unleash-.

The air turns white as something very hot armourarmourarmour! Okay, regular heat vision, not Kon's version. Deflect towards the ground! The rock beneath me begins to liquefy as the beam pours heat into the volcanic rock, then cuts out. Appropriate response-

Lantern Stewart generates a construct shield.

-is kryptonite radiation. Since my run-in with an asteroid made of the stuff, I've had the opportunity to get hold of kryptonite samples of a variety of colours. Gold kryptonite is safest-.

A grey shape blurs past me, slamming into Lantern Stewart and sending them both careening out of-. Shit, where's he gone? Ring, accelerated per-.

Perception already accelerated.

There's a small landslide as part of the caldera wall explodes. There, right, moving! Saturate the area with gold kryptonite radiation and show me who we're fighting!

Compliance.

Predictably, Mr Luthor's done something to the area to disrupt ring scans, but optical scans show-

Lantern Stewart goes for height and distance, battering ram construct shattering as his opponent rams through it!

-a large, naked, grey-skinned humanoid with a pearly white horn jutting from his forehead. I'm guessing that's Doomsday 16, but if so then this version has kept his humanoid form better than the comic and animated versions. Though the bony plates covering his back are forcing him to hunch over somewhat and though he's notably over scale when compared to a human his proportions are fairly normal for someone seven feet tall. I think he's even got facial hair.

I don't remember anything about Doomsday being affected by kryptonite, but I don't remember him flying either and I've got the gun ready and he isn't faster than light. The laser strikes home and.. he isn't slowed in the slightest. Fine, green, and fire. This one… There's a slight shimmer before it hits his skin and nothing. He doesn't even look my way as his right fist crunches through Lantern Stewart's construct defences. I can't tell exactly what injuries he just took, but from the slow motion look of shock on his face and the approximate speed… Shattered lower ribs and severe internal bruising at least.

"Stewart, orbit."

And I transition forward, x-ionised broadsword coming out of subspace as I reappear. Construct armour to deflect. Doomsday's head is already turning my way, eyes lighting up as Stewart weakly tries to push away-. Innate interdiction? Darn.

My sword cuts into Doomsday's side as the heat vision is once more reflected away by my construct armour. This time the angle causes it to shoot skywards, then as he tosses Stewart aside and lunges at me the deflected energy spins in an arc across the sky! That could have hit-! He punches my right arm, construct armour cracking at once. I move the sword into a guard posit-. He redirects his heat vision, striking the side of the blade and melting through it. Fine, crumbler gauntlets it is-

There's a flash of green as Stewart disengages.

-then. Light flash, maximum intensity, kryptonite-enhanced smelling salts, ultrasonic pulse and punch the fuckwhereish-!

Blooughf!

I can't keep up, blows are slamming into my construct armour too quickly for me to perceive even with my mind accelerated. It's cracking and gone, kinetic barrier blocking the next few hits-. Right bubble.

I get maybe a second to look at him and then his heat vision starts up again, slashing across my armour! Agh, yep, that hit the projectorphase!

There's a sort of grunt from Doomsday as his arms blur and his eyes burn as he tries to strike me. I try flying away as fast as conventional ring flight allows me, but he's keeping up easily. Flying down through the ground around an extinct volcano while a Kryptonian weapon life form is trying to punch me seems like a bad idea… Where's the team?

I step out-

-and I reappear in.. what looks-

"Who the hell are you?"

-like a barracks, someone in full body armour levelling a gun at me.

"He-. Ugh." Kon tries to push himself up off the floor, his face covered in cuts and swelling with bruises. Sunlight shines out from him, but that doesn't actually make him heal much faster. He's not wearing his armour, but rather yellow LexCorp-branded overalls. A scan through it shows that the rest of his body isn't in much better condition than his face; his left arm is broken in three places and he's got fractures across his ribs, skull and spine.

Shit. Okay, that's going to result in a nasty concussion-

I take a purple healing ray out of subspace and shoot him with it.

-but the Danner Formula will knit his internal injuries together faster than those suffered by a normal human. He holds out his right arm and I carefully pass him the ray, being sure to maintain the beam.

Other overalled figures lay on the beds. Some have tourniquets over severed limbs, others have their uniforms torn away so bandages could be applied to lesser injuries. Visible skin appears to have… Grey, discoloured patches. I quickly spot Kaldur and Canis, both unconscious. Kaldur doesn't have any visible injuries while Canis looks like a normal person would if someone took a cricket bat to their face.

One of the injured shakes for a moment, then lies still.

"Superboy, what's going on?"

"You see the big grey guy?"

"Yes. Briefly."

"He happened." The man with the gun semi-slumps back against his own bed. Looks like volcanic gas inhalation. And a few bruises. "Fucker just came right out of the ground and started-." He emits a wheezing cough. "Started burning everything. Some sort of mutant kryptonian."

I take out another ray and shoot him, then pass it to him. "Use this on everyone."

He takes it, then looks at Kon who has just stopped using it on himself and is testing his left arm. "Ah, okay."

"Right. Big grey guy-."

Kon stands. "Do you know where he is now?"

I send my battered armour back into subspace, then shake my head. "No. Green Lantern A had to fall back, and I teleported here."

"Great." Kon nods. "This place is designed to be Kryptonian resistant. Lead lined everything, structural reinforcements and-"

"Wards."

"-w-. Yeah. Radio can't penetrate, which is why we missed our check in. And the reason it's like this is because this is where Luthor gets most of his kryptonite from."

The guard looks around from raying one of his injured colleagues. "Nothing illegal about digging for minerals. Plenty illegal about spying on private property."

"My team's the reason why you're still alive!"

"Digging for kryptonite, fine. And you didn't know there was a kryptonian down there as well."

"Seismic scans and ground penetrating radar showed nothing like… That thing." He exhales sharply. "Not that I think any of us would have recognised it."

"Alright. I wasn't briefed on your mission. Start from the beginning."

 

12th November
19:39 GMT -3

Kon's sitting on his bed while the LexCorp loyalist walks around with the healing rays. As expected, no one regrows limbs and the dead don’t rise, but cuts close up and broken bones start to knit together. Kaldur remains unconscious, while Canis groggily grunts and unsteadily pushes himself upright.

"Batman told us that LexCorp had started sending extra personnel out here, along with a lot of specialist equipment-."

"And that's no grounds for the Justice League to do anything! We applied for and received all of the appropriate licences from the Argentinean government. LexCorp is a legitimate business and does not have to explain itself-."

"Look. I'm asking so that I can try and learn why there's a crazy mutant kryptonian flying around outside. The more you interrupt, the longer that takes. So please stop talking unless you've got something pertinent to say."

"Fine. I'm sure the League will be hearing from LexCorp's lawy-." I glare, and he stops talking.

Kon smiles in thanks. "We.. took a look around-" Because clearly we're not talking about the bio-ship in front of LexCorp employees, who will no doubt be debriefed in considerable detail once this is over. "-and planted a few bugs. And then we sat back to watch." He shrugs. "We spotted the kryptonite right away, along with the cloning cylinders."

"Human cloning is illegal in Argentina."

Kon glances down the line of injured and diseased LexCorp employees. "I doubt they were planning on cloning humans."

"Okay. And the disease?"

"Canis said some of the workers smelled sick, but someplace like this… If someone caught a bug, everyone would get it."

Hm. While we're on the subject. Ring, what's causing that skin condition?

Novel bacterium, not on file. Symptoms will include increased aggression followed by dizziness, lethargy, comatosation and death.

Explains why he sounds so angry despite the lack of red light. Time frame?

Varies. Approximately one week from first symptoms appearing in an otherwise healthy adult.

"Oh dear."

Quick check. Kaldur's infected. Canis isn't, and neither's Kon. Canis said that New Gods of any power shrugged off conventional disease, so that isn't surprising. In Kon's case, alien physiology.. or his personal environmental field might be keeping him safe. Kaldur's infection is in the early stages. If they've been here less than a day that's a blooming fast rate of infection. Ring, transmission vector?

Bacterium is capable of airborne transmission.

Oh dear. I'd cure him, but he'd be reinfected almost immediately. This whole place is going to need to be quarantined very carefully.

"When did the rash start appearing?"

Kon shrugs and looks at the guard. He shrugs too. "I don't know. Three days ago? Why, is it Kryptonian too?"

"It might be. I don't have complete files on Kryptonian diseases. However, given the physiological differences between humans and kryptonians I'm not considering it especially likely."

"Is it.. serious?"

"Yes. Fatal within a week."

"Ah…" He looks down the row again. "Shit."

"I'm assuming that you weren't doing biological weapon testing-."

"No! No.. micro-scale.. stuff. The cloning cylinders were for synthetic life forms."

Kon glowers. "Improved genomorphs in a country that doesn't recognise them as being people."

Oh.. dear. "Can you please confirm for me that the psychotic kryptonian outside isn't one of yours?"

"We aren't fully set up yet. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't. You can see for yourself!"

"That wasn't actually a 'no'."

"I don't-! Okay, look, I can't swear to it or anything. I'm Deputy Head of Security, not the Director! But I've been through the labs plenty of times and none of the equipment was in… Y'know, full use yet."

"And if anyone knows how to keep a kryptonian/rhinoceros contained, it would be LexCorp."

"What?!"

"The horn?" I generate a curved horn construct on my forehead. "You saw the horn?"

Kon shakes his head. "I saw him for about two seconds before he hit me. Once."

I generate a construct image. "This is what he looks like. And he's immune to gold and green kryptonite."

Kon frowns. "Didn't you say kryptonite works on kryptonians by using the same mechanism we use for collecting solar power?"

"Yes, but there're ways to block one without blocking the other. But we're.. skipping. You spotted the cloning cylinders..?"

"We wanted to find out exactly what they were cloning. And why they were doing it here."

"We're not cloning anything yet! I just told you-."

"The first stage of the infection results in unusual irritability. So I'm not getting annoyed. But please try and stop."

"Ah… Anyway, some of us snuck in, some of us held back… Then there was some kind of explosion-."

"From the excavation site." The security deputy nods. "A lot of our injuries happened when it first broke through. When you're that fast and that strong you don't need to be coordinated to kill people."

"Did you break through to where he was, or did he-."

"I don't know! We weren't even digging for more lab space, just for more rock samples."

"Okay, so we don't know why he woke up now. Then what?"

"I was there, in disguise. When he used his heat vision I tried talking to him in Kryptonese. That was when-." He moves his left arm. "He wasn't even looking at me, he just heard it and bang."

"But he didn’t kill you."

"I don't think he was specifically trying to kill anyone. Just.. lashing out."

"Did he say anything?"

"No. I think he…" Kon concentrates. "I hit my head pretty hard, but I think he was.. groaning?"

"Yes." Canis nods. "But not one of pain. One of confusion. Bewilderment. As if the universe itself was utterly incomprehensible." It was quite tuneful. Ah, for a violin!

"You and Kaldur?"

"Aqualad was concussed when a flash of heat vision made part of the machinery explode. I was kicked in the face. At least twice."

"Everyone else?"

The security deputy points at the door. "Still here. The martian said she was doing something to its mind to make it forget about us. And Robin is going through our files. Like I said: lawsuit."

"Right. We need to check in with Robin, then I'll use my ring to contact the League. Because a rampaging super-kryptonian is definitely League business."

 

12th November
19:41 GMT -3

Wallace looks around as I walk in, then smiles and raises his right hand to wave. "Hey, Oh El. You take care of the crazy kryptonian already?"

I look at him for a moment, then take my armour out of subspace.

He looks at the bent and battered plates and the burned slashed, then nods slowly. "I'm guessing 'not', then."

I return it to subspace. "Immune to kryptonite. Green Lantern A had to pull back. I teleported here."

He grimaces. "Immune to kryptonite? That's cheat-" Kon follows me into the room "-ing. All the different types of kryptonite, or..?"

"I tried gold and green."

"Not blue?"

"Fight lasted less than a minute. I needed to get out before he found a way to bypass my phasing as well as my kinetic barrier." I gesture to the door on the left with my thumb. "Is it safe to go in?"

Kon nods cautiously. "It depends on how fast he's moving. Miss Martian has trouble affecting him when he's moving at full speed. She nearly lost him when he left the facility the first time."

"And the-."

The door opens, and a moderately bandaged Tula walks out. She blinks in surprise as she sees me, then nods. "Batman sent you when we didn't check in?"

"Me and Green A. I'm afraid we lost. You found the wards?"

She nods. "They're not demonic, but I could taste the blood in the air. Ritual sacrifice, maybe something Aztec or Mayan." She sees my expression. "No, the sacrifice wasn't human. One or more large animals, but they were definitely killed to bind the spell."

"Lex found another expert. Someone local. But it's holding?"

"Between the changes we made to the spell and Miss Martian… He hasn't come back."

I nod and walk past her into the room she just left. Garth is studying the symbols etched into the walls to my right while M'gann's sitting cross-legged against the opposite wall, her eyes open but glazed and unseeing. Kryptonians aren't any more resistant to mental influence than humans, Torquasm Vo masters excepted. But when someone moves as fast as a kryptonian can move it can make it hard for the telepath to maintain contact. Wallace discovered that while sparring with M'gann, and Mr King said that he had the same problem with Ms Tyler.

"Miss Martian?"

Garth glances my way. "Did you fly in or teleport?"

"Teleport."

"If this-" He returns his attention to the wall. "-isn't blocking your teleport, we should be glad that kryptonians can't see people's souls."

"Paul?"

I return my attention to M'gann. "Yes. Are you managing?"

"Conner-."

"First place I went, he's all healed up."

She nods weakly. "It's… Hard.. to stop him remembering we're here." She looks up slightly, her eyes still somewhat unfocused. "Can I..? Let go..?"

"I could teleport in but I can't scan out. And I didn't have time to study what he wanted."

"He wants to die. It's the only clear thing I can feel from him. I think he's… Ill, or insane or… I don't know."

I nod. "How are you coping?"

"I can… Keep him from coming back. But-. You remember you said I should… Think about working with the mentally ill?"

"Yes."

"I-. I don't think I could do it. Not.. if this is…"

"On the bright side, if the disease the LexCorp employees have contracted somehow came from him, he might just be like that because he's physically ill."

"Really?"

"Kryptonians can get ill, even when they're powered up." I shrug. "Maybe. I still need to examine where he came from."

M'gann lowers her head again as Garth nods. "Robin's already taking a look around, but he doesn't have a power ring." I nod and turn back towards the door. "Kryptonians can't get immunity to magic, can they?"

"Not by any method I'm aware of them having historically. Having trouble?"

He smiles wryly. "We've modified it so that he should think that he can't sense us." He gestures to some.. vaguely familiar inscriptions. "But if we have made a mistake, then the first we will know about it is when an insane super alien smashes through the wall and kills us."

I smile back. "There's some good news, then."

"Could you..? Could you beat him?"

I tilt my head to the left for a moment. "I don't know. I.. can kill most things, but he's… Very fast, very tough and very strong."

He nods. "We can keep hiding until M'gann gets exhausted. Unless he decides to go somewhere else. How far can kryptonians see?"

"Depends on the atmosphere. On a clear day? Perfect vision to the horizon, which they can magnify so that it's as if it's standing next to them."

"So he can already see all of South America."

"If he's looking, most of it. And he can see radio waves and hear.. just about anything he focuses on. If he wants to find a population centre there's nothing we can do to stop him."

He frowns, and looks around the room. "No, we.. could… With more time, we could modify this to stop him perceiving the rest of the world and stop him noticing that he can't perceive the rest of the world."

"If you can-" My ring blinks. "-manage, that's a good plan." I head back out, raising the ring to my ear. "Orange Lantern."

"Paul? Oh, thank God."

"Hi Alan. Green Lantern A made it back in contact? Is he alright?"

"Physician sung him back into full health. Are the kids okay?"

"Miss Martian's getting a bit worn down, but apart from that, yes."

"That's a relief. Is that really a kryptonian down there?"

"Aside from the kryptonite immunity, he certainly acts like it. There's also been some sort of disease outbreak here that might be linked to him. I'm looking into it now."

"Okay. Batman's getting a strike force put together, but it's not going to be able to reach you for an hour at best. And we're going to need to hear everything that happened first."

"Okay. Let me just find Robin and I'll give you a full run down."

 

12th November
19:46 GMT -3

Richard looks around for a half-second as Wallace and I walk into the laboratory. "Hey."

Several of the other scientists give me a considerably more wary look, but swiftly bend their efforts towards their work. A cone-shaped part of the facility has been punched out from the rock below, the sky above obscured… Presumably by the hiding spell. Rubble litters the area where rock and interior walls were thrust outwards rather than up, and while they made an effort to clear away the human remains there's still quite a lot of blood.

"What happened to Rocket?"

He looks out of the hole where the wall used to be at Doomsday's emergence point, eyes alighting on our-. On his team mate where she sits inside a kinetic bubble. "Grey guy punched her so hard it overloaded her kinetic belt. She can't turn it off. Can you get her out?"

I send a filament underground-. No, that would be too easy. I write 'Air okay?' with a construct in front of her. She gives me a depressed nod and a half-hearted thumbs up.

"Not in a way that was reliably safe. Any progress on the disease?"

He looks at me for a moment, then looks at the researchers. "Because you can heal us, but not them." I nod. "Know anything about the disease?"

"Nothing about its origin or how to regularise a cure."

He nods. "If it's an alien disease that can actually infect humans, we're probably not going to have antibodies that can kill it."

"Healing potion?"

Wallace shakes his head. "Already tried it. Helps with the symptoms, but it doesn't do anything about the actual disease." I nod. "Y'know, if anyone's got antibodies, it's gunna be that guy outside."

I nod. Assuming they're human-compatible as well. "No other.. team members?"

I'm assuming that if any of us had died they'd have said something, but no Artemis, Robert or Roy makes me-.

"No." Richard shakes his head. "The Arrow Clan are busy and Cornwall Boy is on some kind of vision quest."

"Alright. Kaldur should be up soon but the League-."

"Ah, Oh El?" Wallace points behind me. "Something-" I turn as two large black creatures-. No, red glowing sigils and curved horns. Genomorphs. Step through a shimmer in the air and take up position around the hole in the ground. "-you forgot to mention?"

"Ah, no? Those-." Horns at the sides of the head and curved downwards, actual rune glyphs, built like oversized gibbons… "Those are G-oni. I didn't know they had any of those finished."

Wallace takes a half-step back, shifting his weight so he can dash forward at a moment's notice. "And who was it told them using demon magic was a good idea?"

"Technically, as long as you-."

Their horns glow for a moment. Then one drops down into the hole and the second ambles towards us. I suppose that they'd know me best.

"Hello." I stride forward, making myself the obvious target in case anything goes wrong. "The Justice League didn't tell me you were coming. I'm afraid that M'gann-."

"Blood. Speaks."

I nod politely. "I hadn't realised that Dubbilex was going to give your type the ability to speak."

"Not give." It opens its mouth a little more widely and I can see that its teeth are covered in what looks like blood. "Take."

Concern… Increasing. "And what brings you here?"

"Source. Of our blood. Where?"

"Th-?" They're.. made from.. that-? Okay, I suppose-. Some of them do have a certain Doomsdayish look to them. I just don't remember any comic version of Doomsday being telepathic. "Up in the air somewhere above us. He's extremely hostile and possibly not in his right mind."

"Why not. Here?"

"Given the damage he did, we felt that keeping him away would be a better idea. At the moment we're-."

"You. Keep away?"

"Yes, we're keeping him away because-."

For a fraction of a second I see the runes on its skin burn with purple fire-.

Then I'm slammed against the far wall as the torrent roars into the place I was standing.

"Sorry, Oh El, but they don't-"

The g-oni turns, fire blazing forth once more. I generate a construct shield as Wallace throws himself-. The flames go through the shield and I'm forced to transition a metre right to stay out of the cone of hellfire!

"-seem to be the nice-"

The one in the pit blurs as it claws its way to the surface and lunges at Wallace!

"-kind of-"

He moves sideways, rolling under its claws then coming to his feet with practised ease before throwing a small pellet at its outstretched limb. It hits home, smoke violently hissing from the G-oni's skin as the essence of vitriol goes to work. It doesn't react in pain, but it does slow as its runes turn a deeper purple and the smouldering decreases.

"-demon monster!"

The flaming one lines up with me again and in the corner of my eye I see a somewhat panicked Raquel gesture frantically at the bubble which means she can't move energy bolt! Two shots of orange light hit the G-oni in the face and cause chunks of flesh to vaporise. In response its runes flare grey and its form wavers into intangibility.

"Orange Lantern to everyone."

It lunges at me, shadowy claws slashing towards my head! I swing two construct blades through its torso to no effect-.

Minor power drain detected.

No significant effect, before flying upwards to keep Raquel out of its arc of fire.

"We're under attack from magic-using genomorphs."

Wallace gets in behind the G-oni dashing after him, throwing a vial at its back. This time it isn't just smoke that erupts; white-gold flame envelops its body, and it rolls around on the ground in a frantic attempt to put it out.

Looks like G-oni kept the weakness to holy water.

The one pursuing me makes several leaps off thin air to try and reach me, then looks over to its burning brother and then leaps away, passing through a nearby wall.

"And we've lost sight of one! Look out!"

 

12th November
19:49 GMT -3

I take a set of manacles out of subspace and clamp them to the still-burning g-oni as Wallace dashes off in the approximate direction the other one left in. "Robin, can you-!"

He uses some sort of bolas to attach a small device to its forehead without having to touch it. "Go!"

Ring-

I start flying in the direction Wallace headed in.

-can you detect it?

Not at present.

Great. Okay, most people are in the barracks but Kon's there. The magic room where the people keeping Doomsday away are located is probably its destination, assuming-.

"Hruagh!"

Garth's voice. I don't transition, because that's a good way to smash into someone. But I do accelerate, corridors blurring gahh!

I tumble to the floor, orange light flaring over my body as I try extinguishing the hellfires enveloping my left side! I don't want to burn! Agh, how are they strong enough to-? I dart back around a corner as the g-oni exhales again, spell eater finally turning hellfire back into normal fire so I can tend to my burns. Did Dubbilex literally feed these things demons?

"Contact, my location."

It comes forward, exhaling again. Fine! Railgun, mageslayer rounds. Not enough room for me to dodge properly, but the same goes for-.

The g-oni has about a half-second to spot my railgun before the flames gutter and it goes shadowy, my round passing harmlessly through its ethereal frame and punching through the wall behind it! Aaah… Magic phasing or altered states of being… If I had any angel feather rounds left I could have used those-.

"Mine too. It's trying to-." A disturbing roar drowns out Wallace's words.

"Superboy and I will protect the sick." Kaldur's up, good. "This facility will not survive if he returns. Describe the attacker's abilities."

"Breathes hellfire, which bypasses-" I just about see the claw coming through the ceiling in time to dodge, the tips of the talons justow! "Ugh, which bypasses armour and force fields. And selective phasing, which lets them do the same with their claws while hiding in the walls."

Just before the claw is fully retracted I see-. Wait, that's my-. Ring, physical status of my tattoos?

Small portion from right abdomen removed.

Oh.

"Yeah, and they can move pretty fast too!"

Manual restore of the ink… Just have to hope whatever's doing duty as my soul can cope.

**A-agh!**

The walls shake as I hear M'gann's exclamation of pain.

Right then.

Orange spikes shoot out in all directions, piercing the flimsy walls, floor and ceiling. I feel a tiny drain from seven o'clock high-

"Banishment works, but it hit M'gann. He can think about us again!"

-and brand you ungrateful bastard! I'm the reason you're legally a person!

Branding in progress.

Good. Maybe when it's complete, I'll-.

Connection lost.

Know no more than I do now. Right, ring, monitor for-.

"It's trying to-!"

And now my ring scans are working again. Doomsday's heading this way, though not at anything like his full speed. If this Doomsday is Kryptonian, I'm assuming that he gets an expanded visual range as part of the package. LexCorp means lead lined, but there are probably things he can see anyway. Wall's too thick for body heat-.

"Ward just failed. He's heading this way slowly."

"Maybe he's ugh." Kon doesn't sound hurt, so I'll assume that was an exertion-grunt. "Calmed down? If LexCorp was doing the same thing to… To him they did to me and Match…"

I start flying towards the magic room. "Lost contact with my G-oni."

"The one in the walls here…" I arrive to see Wallace uncomfortably prodding a mound of rubble and shredded genomorph while Tula stands back. "Ah, I think it.. died when Aquagirl did her anti-magic thing, but the other one vanished."

"Our attacker has similarly vanished. Injuries?"

M'gann walks out of the magic room, using telekinesis to dribble healing potion over the burns covering her forearms. **I'll live. Networking everyone now.**

**Bah. I had hoped-** Canis walks out of a connecting corridor. **-for better. When is the insane kryptonian arriving?**

**No injuries here.** I get a brief glimpse of Richard looking around the laboratory again. **And the G-oni Kid Flash set on fire… I think it's dead.**

**Ah… Darn it. I didn't even use that much.**

Tula crouches down, tattoos glowing as she holds her hands out towards the pieces of meat that used to be a g-oni. From her grimace I'm going to assume that she doesn't see anything wrong with killing demonic life forms. **I.. can't feel anything other than demon magic in the remains of this one. If you used something that nullified such magics, it would probably have been made hollow. The shock alone-.**

Alert! In-.

"The kryptonian's coming b-!"

I frantically create construct barriers as the ceiling collapses and the walls explode! Tula scrambles back as a concrete pillar falls towards her, narrowly getting her foot out of the way as it smashes down! Plaster, concrete, mangled electronics and office equipment follow it, making a solid feeling dome above us.

**Mghrh.**

Behind me, Garth uses water projections to hold up the wreckage above him and M'gann. Okay, probably easier to crumble this than actually put it back in any sort of order…

**Canis?**

**Uninjured, but trapped. Th-.**

**He's here.**

Fuck. **Aqualad, we can't get to you.** "Tempest, Aquagirl, M'gann, can you hold the ceiling up without me?"

Tula nods as she and Garth send more water out of their armour, running it over every visible surface.

Wallace watches them work. **Really wishing I could move through solid objects. Aqualad, what's he doing?**

**He is simply watching Superboy. He is ignoring both myself and the diseased LexCorp employees.**

Sounds positive. Because the only thing in there I'd rely on being able to hurt him would be Kon's heat vision. Kryptonians aren't magically immune to suns simply because those are the most common source of the wavelengths which empower them, but neither is anyone else in that room.

**Okay.** Garth nods at me. **That should hold.**

I nod, don my still-battered armour and phase out.

 

12th November
19:53 GMT -3

I can see Kon's desires clearly. Kaldur's are somewhat dimmer, possibly due to him wearing magic armour.

Doomsday…

I hadn't ever given much thought to what Doomsday wanted. In the comics I'm not sure that he ever really had a motive. I did see a comic where he started getting intelligent and ended up trying to fix Superman being killed by Gog, and his Earth 12 alter ego either wanted power and control or was just following his programming to kill Superman. Oh, and he got possessed by Brainiac that one time. But Doomsday himself never really had a motivation beyond 'smash things'.

This one?

Frankly, I can't tell. There are patches that are dull, dull as Mr Wilson under the influence of the Anti-Life. There are flashes of light of all colours, appearing and disappearing at random as far as I can tell. That suggests either that he's insane or that someone has messed with his mind. Of course, if we're dealing with the undirected living weapon version from the comics… That might well just be what he looks like.

On the other hand…

Comic characters are family resemblance characters. There are certain characteristics to 'Superman' that make him Superman, but not every version of Superman is the same. The difference between 'I don't like that version of Superman' and 'that's not Superman' is more or less in the eye of the beholder. Klarion 16 looks right, but he's far more powerful than any version of Klarion I recognise from the comics. On the other hand he does look right, whereas this Doomsday doesn't look like 'Doomsday'. No bone spurs, the shell and the single horn… To say nothing of the fact that Doomsday can't fly or use heat vision, obviously.

So… What if it's someone else?

I break through the rubble wall and see Maybe-Doomsday floating just above Kon, looking down at him.

"Who. Who are… You?"

The voice is slurred, as if the speaker hasn't got full control of his own mouth. And there's a wheezing tone, as if he's inhaled a lungful of dust and hasn't got it out yet. If my x-ionised sword actually did anything during our brief fight, the wound has completely healed over.

Kon folds his arms across his chest. "I'm Kon-El. Who are you?"

Kaldur's visibly straining to hold the rubble thrown aside by the grey kryptonian's entrance. I don't want to set him off, but… Have to risk it. I start grabbing bits of rubble from Kaldur's watery grip and piling them in the clear areas of the room.

"Ron. Dor."

"You're kryptonian, aren't you?" This.. Ron-Dor trembles slightly, but I can't see any corresponding emotional resonance. I don't know what's going on with him, but it must be extremely confusing for your emotions to bear no link to what's happening to you. "How did you get here?"

"Iiiii… I don't…" Hm. Kryptonians do have an equivalent condition to senile dementia, and confusion and fear are certainly symptoms. "Sickness…"

Okay, we can.. stick him alongside Match. If we can keep him this calm, anyway. Lashing out in a panic is a lot easier to explain than-.

"I. Made myself. Sick."

O.. kay… Not sure what that means. Kon glances my way, but this armour doesn't really allow me to convey body language and I don't want to risk breaking Ron-Dor's focus. Actually, with the Faraday cage.. firmly broken along with everything else… Ring, location of Kara Zor-El?

Kara Zor-El is presently located in the Kent residence in Smallville.

Phone them.

Compliance.

"If you're sick, we'll.. try and help. We just need you to calm down, okay?"

Kaldur breathes a sigh of relief as the last of the rubble is made safe, his tattoos dimming. Okay, if we can turn whatever's left of the ward into an anti-magic field to keep the g-oni away, we might-.

A grey blur as a g-oni leaps from the wall.

Kon seeing it and rising into the air to push Ron-Dor away.

Ron-Dor's eyes starting to light up-.

I'm forming a reflective shield and fuckfuckfuck! Two burning beams scythe through the barracks, slicing through three people-

"Airaaghr!"

-before I can interpose my shield and it's not reflective enough! Most of the energy is now burning through what little of the facility is left intact above us, but my construct is still receiving enough that it starts to fail almost immediately!

Kon's efforts to move Ron-Dor aside come to nothing as the man flails, sending Kon spinning into the far wall just in time for the g-oni to stab into the grey kryptonian with demonically augmented claws! It envelops his right side, talons sinking into his back and chest while its teeth bite into his shoulder! He spins and flails some more in response, smashing through an occupied-!

I frantically stick deployable kinetic shields around them, two immediately getting overstressed by the force of the impacts. Kaldur tries to hold him in place with his water bearers but Ron-Dor doesn't even seem to notice that he's being bound. I just about catch another blast of heat vision with a new construct deflector before Ron-Dor gets a decent grip on his attacker and squeezes. The g-oni's runes flare hot pink for a moment, then its body comes apart in his hands!

Okay, that's-.

The pink glow stays as the surprisingly small wounds the g-oni inflicted heal over.

Ron-Dor blinks, then-. I brace at the blast of air as he takes to the sky again.

Shit.

Hello? Who is it?

What-? Oh. "Hi, Missus Kent. I'm a friend of Kara's. Would you mind putting her on?"

Al-right, just a minute. Kara!

"Orange Lantern, are you able to track him?"

Ring, show me-. "Heading south west toward San Miguel de Tucumán-. No, he's already there."

He looks around to assess the state of the room and the injured.

Who is this?

"Hi, Kara. Sorry to bother you, but it's a bit urgent. Have you ever heard of a 'Ron-Dor'?"

Hu-? Ah, yes. Rondors are an extinct Kryptonian species, kind of like a cross between giant armadillos and unicorns. Why do you need to know?

Grey, with a single horn. Starting to work out the sort of thing that's going on.

"And can you think of any reason why a kryptonian would be big, grey, have a horn and be insane?"

Nam-Ek? I didn't think he actually existed, but he's supposed to be the one who made them extinct searching for a way to make himself immortal.

"Thanks, brilliant, call you back."

I hang up as Kaldur reaches a decision. "Follow him. Protect the people around him if he continues to be violent, and if possible protect him from the g-oni. I will direct reinforcements to you-" Kon picks himself up out of the rubble. "-as soon as they become available."

I nod, then I'm gone.

 

12th November
19:56 GMT -3

San Miguel de Tucumán is a city of about a million people in northern Argentina. I've never been before, but from this height it reminds me of the better planned American cities; the roads all laid out in grids rather than the higgledy-piggledy European design. The area surrounding it looks like farmland and-.

Dust and chunks of road fly into the air as probably-Nam-Ek slams into a road and bounces into a building and I really hope there wasn't anyone in the way.

Kryptonian-tier brawls in cities are very bad. The sort of devastation I flat out can't cause, two Kryptonians can do in seconds without really trying.

I transition down as the screaming starts. Some places have drills for this sort of thing. Others are unlucky enough that this is a regular enough occurrence that everyone's learned how to respond. Here, people who have reached what they think is a 'safe' distance have already stopped running and turned back to look at the rubble Nam-Ek is pulling himself out of. Several have taken out cameras-.

"Run, you idiots! Run!"

Construct armour, start making repairs to my armour… The problem with integrating so many advanced systems is that that process takes longer than it otherwise would. Kinetic barrier gets prioritised, because I once calculated what would happen when a properly motivated Kryptonian hit someone like they meant it and the target basically gets vaporised. Not sure what went wrong with Raquel's system that it generated a persistent bubble, but I'll just be using the personal defence type so it shouldn't matter too mu-.

The building Nam-Ek's pulling himself out of visibly shakes and fuck he took out a load bearing column! I send filaments into the building behind him and create a girder construct to prop up the upper two floors. People are… Some of them are fleeing, but all too many are seeking cover inside which is a bad idea in super fights of this level.

Nam-Ek staggers into the road, drunkenly turning his head around as he peers at the city surrounding us. "Nam-Ek. Please! Calm down!"

He doesn't react to his name being spoken, so… Still wrong name?

My ring blinks for attention.

How would I fight him?

Filaments begin reaching around for materials to replace the column as I consider it. He's not showing any injuries from his landing or even from the g-oni's claws. Repeatedly shooting him isn't likely to work. Decapitation with an x-ionised blade or the Sword might work. Branding, perhaps, but it wouldn't be easy given that I can't see him wanting anything in particular.

Answer.

Orange Lantern, report.

Lantern Stewart certainly sounds better. "The kryptonian is in San Miguel de Tucumán and I'm not confident of my ability to contain him."

If you've got any kryptonite-.

"Didn't work." I do have the radiation signatures for other colours of kryptonite now, but that sounds like a good way to make the situation worse.

Flash and Superman are heading your way from the nearest zeta tube.

"Good. Orders?"

Damage mitigation. Superman knows how to fight these people. Just try and stop him killing anyone.

"Got it."

If they start punching each other… No, no, that could work. The surrounding landscape is relatively empty. If Kal-El gets him out of the city-.

Two g-oni shimmer into being behind Nam-Ek. Both blur towards him, grabbing him before he has a chance to fly away and digging into him with teeth and claws! Right, mageslay-.

Nam-Ek's eyes light up and nononoshield!

Two beams of red light burn through the neck of one of the g-oni and lash across the road, melting the tarmac, turning the paving stones red, turning a car to burning scrap and scorching the frontage of one of the buildings before I can get my shield in the way! Nam-Ek doesn't turn it off, he just turns himself to try and line up his shot better!

Ring, predictive-!

Another shot, this time lined up with the centre of a building where people are watching-. Why aren't you running away yet?! I send construct signs with 'EVACUEN AHORA' written on them down… Balcarce street, apparently. Better shield and moveitmoveitmoveit!

His eyes flare again, and this time I'm only just able to send the energy skywards as the g-oni claw around him to escape the burning heat! A second later my shield fails and a lance of heat pierces the building! The people inside have fled the site of the strike, brick and glass melting and the soft furnishings within catching fire from the intensity of the radiated heat alone.

The column in the initial building is repaired, so I abandon that and focus on-. Nam-Ek's gotten a grip on one of the g-oni, but this time it isn't ripping quite so easil-.

Another explosion of air and he's gone, passengers with him. Street reasonably intact, fire-. I dismiss the evacuation sign and generate cold guns, giving it a short burst of the physics-breaking beams. Out, good.

Now, where's he gone?

North east, towards Paraguay. He's tearing at them as-

A red blur precipitates out of the air next to me.

-he ploughs into and through the ground in an attempt to force them to release him.

"Where'd he go?"

"East-north-east, sir. I'll create a marker when I arrive."

I transition, firing up a broad beam of orange light as I appear and fuck! National Route 24 is only two lanes here, but the force of Nam-Ek's passage has torn the land apart and the cars are going too fast to stop! I take hold of them with construct crane grabs, lifting them over the new cleft in the landscape and-

Mister Allen is already past me, looking for an angle of attack. He's not like Wallace, where I can sort of keep up with what he's doing if I accelerate my perception of events hard enough. I couldn't even say where he is.

-setting them down on the road beyond. Ah! Inefficient! A bridge would-.

Another flash of heat vision, this time intersecting with a car before I can get a shield in position. The tires are on fire and metal frame molten as the car skids to a halt. The people inside-. Flash fried. Nothing I can do for them.

I generate a construct bridge over the torn area, put a 'SIGUE MANEJANDO' sign over it and move the wreck off the road into an adjacent field. Given the speed-. He's already out of effective range. My effective range, anyway. Okay, can't stay here, people are using the bridge… I start shoving earth back into place. I don't have time to properly restore the road. Shove, shove… Get enough gravel, fuse it into a.. temporary surface. Cool.

Right, good enough. I lower the angle of the bridge until it evaporates into the new road surface. Ring, where's Nam-Ek gotten to?

…

I watch in drop-jawed horror as he ploughs through the lower floors of a block of flats in Asuncion, the building fracturing and tilting in his wake.

 

12th November
19:58 GMT -3

Transition.

Ring, show me the structure.

I can't try supporting with some sort of giant scaffolding construct. The shockwaves and demonic fire have done too much damage to the skeleton frame for the building to be able to support its own weight. I'm going to have to try to grab the whole thing -from the inside- and replace those parts.

This is going to be heavy.

I don't bother with filaments this time. The air between myself and the building turns orange, constructs burrowing in through the walls and merging with the still-whole parts of the skeleton. Large construct girders smash their way through the lower floors to attach themselves to the foundations as I frantically try to hold the whole thing together without crushing any of the people dashing about in a panic inside. Or worse, crouching and praying in terror in really inconvenient places!

The building's still tilting, but at least the rate at which the tilting is increasing has decreas-.

A chunk of fascia falls off from the foremost side, near the top. Everyone in the street below has had the sense to run, but the problem isn't just the failing skeleton any longer. The whole of the interior and exterior is starting to fail. I construct a construct mesh over the front… And, that floor and that floor and-. And-. And a bunch of arrows pointing to the exits because if I didn't have to worry about you stupid people I could just-! Throw this stupid thing into space with less effort!

Now.. get.. upright… Yes, good, keep going… I mean, yes, at this point the whole thing is more construct than building, but my effort will not be wasted! No, stop falling apart! I'm in charge here, you stupid building! See these rings?! Right, thank you!

Okay, that's… Upright, Now, to just… Fuse that, replace the missing parts of the skeleton with… Materials from the surrounding environment… Ugh, they're going to have to tear it down anyway unless I-. No, no, I've got an ongoing job to do. Put some cables between the parts of the skeleton to hold the floors up and make sure that the stairs are safe…

That'll have to do.

I remove my construct and turn away, trying not to look at the remaining chunks of the fascia as they part company with the building's exterior.

At least nothing else has collapsed while I've been busy. Ring, location.

Location available.

Why is he flying through central Brazil? What's he.. heading for? Is he just flailing around until he hits something which he can't punch through? Should I try talking to Dubbilex-? No. Someone will be doing that already. My job is to stop him hitting anything e-

Another blur, this time a blue one, shoots overhead.

-lse. Transition.

Far above Nam-Ek, I can see Flash's activity as he acts to remove people from their path. Not individual actions, but their results: people appearing in groups outside of their houses, vehicles and previous route of travel with confused looks on their faces and with slightly windswept appearances. Having Mr Allen convey you isn't anything like as traumatic as moving at near-light speed should be, but it still feels a little like standing in a wind tunnel.

If he's limiting himself to that, then he's out of offensive options. Against a flying opponent, that means that arm-generated tornado blasts didn't do anything very much. Did he get Mr Mercury to show him how to bestow and steal speed? I never thought to ask. An object thrown by someone at super speed doesn't automatically act like an object moving at the speed it appears to be actually would. At full speed, they usually go a couple of metres and then explode due to the air resistance.

Okay, if Nam-Ek started rampaging due to coming under attack by g-oni -either due to an entirely understandable reaction to things trying to eat you or something to do with their magic- then it seems reasonably logical that blasting them off would help him calm down. How to-?

Below me, he throws one off only for it to shimmer out of reality and then reappear ahead of him, leaping into his flight path while he was looking away. They're definitely getting stronger and tougher.

How to hurt them? If he can heal from attacks then I don't have to worry too much about harming him. I don't want to get within arm's reach for a crumbler gauntlet attack-

Armour systems fully repaired.

-and a railgun shot wouldn't… Firing down is inaccurate at these speeds and firing along risks a miss flying into something at supersonic speeds, which would be rather terminal unless Mr Allen caught it. Radiological weapons in a rainforest would be bad. And probably wouldn't even work. Gravity based weapons strong enough to actually hurt them, similar problem. Okay, apart from general purpose anti-magic and theurgy, what are demons weak against? Bigger demons?

And doesn't the fact that that was the first thing that occurred to me show that I've spent too much time with John Constantine.

What else..? Iron? Was that just fae, or..? Doesn't matter. A shotgun style blast of supersonic iron filings shouldn't cause much environmental damage, will pack a punch and doesn't have to be completely accurate. And if it has some extra effect on demonoids, then so much the better.

I generate a railgun, a far fatter one than usual, and start charging up the capacitors. While it's not going to cause long term damage to the area, in the medium term it's going to shred the rainforest quite effectively. Have to ask Euanthe to come here and fix it up afterwards.

"Orange Lantern to Flash, permission to engage."

"Whatwith?"

"Supersonic iron filing shotgun."

Another plume of earth erupts as Nam-Ek tries to scrape the g-oni off by burrowing underground.

"Goforit."

Scanning, calculating… "Sir, you'll need to be further away than that."

"Fastestmanalive. Givemeasecondnotice."

Okay, wait for them to come up for air. I can already see the Amazon river-. There! I form construct thrusters to go with my construct armour and blast after them.

"Firing in one."

Aim the gun and-.

The rings stop all external sound as the blast of millions of tiny slivers of metal shoving through the air reverberates around me. Trees evaporate, the air turns to dust and the ground beneath jumps at the force of the shot. I use my thrusters to jump away and start scanning for-.

Nam-Ek and company fly freely out of the far side of the new dust cloud.

"Didn't work. Resuming monitor du-"

And then Kal-El slams into the melee, making a dust cloud that makes mine look like a fart by comparison.

"-ty."

I watch as he grabs one g-oni, carefully breaks its arms and legs and then tosses it aside. The second gets what must be the weakest heat vision shot I've seen to its eyes. It recoils for a half-second, then ducks its head behind Nam-Ek's body and-.

Nam-Ek uppercuts, striking Kal-El right on the chin and sending him careering into the sky.

Okay, if he's not helping…

Ring, sonic detonator.

Compliance.

 

12th November
20:00 GMT -3

Everyone thinks of kryptonite. Hold up this glowing green rock and see the strongest man on Earth fall before you. The sheer thrill of it might even explain why Mr Luthor keeps a ring with stonesetting made of the stuff in his desk drawer, despite the questions that would be asked if anyone else found out about it.

Everyone knows about kryptonite. What most people don't know is exactly how rare it is. There isn't a market price. It can't be openly traded due to being radioactive, and the people who have it aren't sharing. And similarly, people don't know that even before I made him immune to the stuff he'd gotten used to dealing with it; keeping his distance, wearing lead suits or grabbing lead plates from his environment as a shield, or just taking the person waving it at him down before he was weakened too greatly.

Though there are plenty of things he could do more efficiently, Kal-El is very far from being stupid. I honestly think that the reason why Kal-El never attempted any sort of information control is that kryptonite actually isn't a particularly good weapon to use against him. And as long as people think they need an ultra-rare rock, they fixate on the idea. And they don't try any of the other things he's vulnerable to.

There was an episode of New Adventures of Superman where a couple of 'criminal geniuses' tried to get Superman to use his powers faster than he recharged them, then trapped him in a building shielded from the sun. As far as I can tell, the sheer speed with which he recharges means that that wouldn't actually work, but a shield blocking the radiation wavelength which empowers him should be possible for someone to create with Earth technology. And yet, not even Lex Luthor has ever used that technique.

His enhanced senses are another potential avenue of attack. Intense light, sounds, even smells are decidedly unpleasant when your senses are as acute as his. And while Kal-El's used to it, I know that Kara tends to turn her environmental shield up when she goes into uncontrolled environments. And Nam-Ek should be even less used to it.

The sonic detonator goes off, and things don't get loud. Any human down there would explode, starting with their ear drums and then moving on to their bones. Nam-Ek's force field protected flesh means that those effects aren't a problem, but his force field protected ear drums are going to be reporting to his brain at full volume.

I don't hear him scream, but I do see him scream and clamp his hands to his ears. I do see the g-oni shudder, their grip slipping and-. One gone, the others only remaining on by holding onto each other as Nam-Ek slams into the ground and writhes in agony. I send a filament at one of them, only for it to fail about twenty centimetres from its skin. Ugh, no transitioning to the upper atmosphere, then.

"You can…" Kal-El floats down towards me, his hands over his ears as well. "Turn that off now."

"Certainly, sir."

Ring?

Compliance.

"I will warn you that the g-oni appear to have become considerably stronger."

He nods. "Understood." And he dives again, striking the uppermost g-oni with both fists. Its head jerks back and it loses its grip on Nam-Ek completely.

Another thing worth noting about Kal-El is that he's the League's strongest natural flier. Which means that when he hits someone he doesn't have to worry about the 'opposite' part of the 'equal and opposite reaction'. He can hold himself in the air with sufficient force to bring enough power to bear to beat almost anyone. It's one of the reasons why his actual skill level is fairly low, but in a situation where the enemy wants to grapple a kryptonian it's just the ticket.

The g-oni staggers to its feet just in time to take a super strength hook to the side of its head. It goes head first into the ground, rolling and skidding to a halt. Nam-Ek is groggily attempting to rise-.

The g-oni that fell off changes to their fire breathing colour, only for a red blur to deposit a medium sized stone in its mouth. It starts to choke as the red blur goes to town, punches swinging in from every direction. The attack appears to confuse it more than hurt it, and a moment later it simply crushes the stone in its teeth and then lets the fire flare outwards from its body. Not fast enough to hurt Mr Allen, but area denial is a very good technique to use against speedsters and the g-oni appears to have picked up on that lesson.

Nam-Ek recovers faster than the g-oni still attached to him, grabs its torso and squeezes while simultaneously blazing away with his heat vision. It struggles for a second, then switches to its tenebrous form and drops through his grasping arms. Nam-Ek stares for a second, then rises into the air-.

"Nam-Ek! I am Kal-El, of Krypton! Please, stop running!"

A flash of… Recognition? Is he actually-?

Then Nam-Ek's eyes flare, shooting Kal-El right in the eyes!

"Ah!"

Kal-El staggers, turning his face away and putting his right hand over his eyes. Okay, two can play at that game. Ring, photon accelerator.

Compliance.

Like with the sonic detonator, I can't perceive the precise result directly. Most of the energy is at wavelengths that humans eyes can't detect, and the power would be enough to burn through any eye foolish enough to try. But again, his own resilience works against him here.

"Guh!"

Stealth systems go, because he can easily see me from there if he decides to look my way. Kal-El recovers, blinking heavily, as Nam-Ek collapses again. Only for the burning g-oni to send a torrent of flame sweeping towards both of them. Mr Allen tries to tornado blast it away, but that doesn't work on hellfire! I'm already loading mage slayer rounds into a railgun construct but I'm not the fastest man alive! Kal-El spots it coming slightly too late, dive-flying aside and getting away with no more than a mild burn on his right arm.

Nam-Ek takes the full brunt of the attack to his back.

"Aaagh!"

He staggers forwards, but I can already see his regenerative abilities kicking in. A slight purple glow-.

Another explosion of air and he's gone again, heading north. Though at least this time he's got the sense to stay far enough above the ground that he's not likely to get grabbed by g-oni.

"Sirs?"

A g-oni tries to take advantage of Kal-El's distraction and gets an uppercut to the chin. "Can you hold him in place?"

Um. Brute force, no. Kinetic cage won't work because he can heat vision through it. I can't put a construct inside the cage without being in there myself, and any reflective surface… It won't be good enough. He'll burn through it. On the other hand… Ah, given how kryptonian flight works… If I'm just stopping him moving quite so fast… "I can slow him down. I can't promise more than that."

"Do it. Green Lantern's coming this way-" Another g-oni lunges for his back, only for Mr Allen to catch its rear left leg and toss it into a tree at supersonic speed. "-with a phantom zone projector."

"On it, sir."

Ring? Heading into Bogotá? Is he actually aiming at somewhere..? No idea, and beside the point. Transition.

Huh. Apparently that scrappy bit of nothing down there is called 'Siberia'. I wonder why?

The kinetic barrier goes into place first. He's doing a blind rush, but as far as I can see his back has already healed up. He's got kryptonian vision but between his confusion and my anti-eye beam he doesn't appear to be using it. He hits the barrier full on, immediately stopping. Not injured, though.

I send the projector back into sub-. No, I can't, it's locked in place. Fine. Artificial gravity generator. I need to nullify the planet's gravity exactly before he recovers.

He drifts back in the air, looking around for me-

Nullification available.

-and drops like a stone to the ground.

 

12th November
20:02 GMT -3

Lanterns fly by running a force field through their bodies and pulling themselves around, relying on that same field to prevent them from pancaking when they take a tight corner.

Martians fly with telekinesis, shoving themselves this way and that with mentally projected force. The technique also neatly bypasses the whole 'equal and opposite reaction' thing, though I don't really understand how.

There isn't a lot of difference, but if you look carefully martians generally struggle to remain completely stationary. M'gann and Mr J'onzz bob up and down slightly while the Lanterns next to them remain fixed in place.

Kryptonians on the other hand fly by futzing about with space-time. Which is not to say that they fall towards a point in front of them, though wouldn't that be fun. No, that would be far too simple. According to Har-Zod, the actual process was never well understood, but they're certainly doing something which allows certain types of artificial gravity generator to interfere.

Nam-Ek glares up at me for a fraction of a second-

Better reflective shielding.

Compliance.

-before opening up with his heat vision, which is reflected nearly harmlessly from me and renders a chunk of Siberia a little more desolate before I correct the angle and send it right back at his face.

"Nrgh!"

He staggers back, trips and falls onto his back, right hand covering his eyes. My little trick still allows him to run and bound at extreme speed, and won't actually stop him flying once he's had a chance to adapt. But every moment for which he doesn't realise that and stays put is another moment Lantern Stewart gets closer with the phantom zone projector.

Of course, if he does try and run…

As he shakily regains his feet I fabricate more kinetic barriers and drop them into place, their projectors protected by heat-nullifying dampening fields. Nothing a kryptonian can't overwhelm in relatively short order, but I'm just buying time here.

"Nam-Ek-."

He exhales, hurricane force wind blasting from his mouth in my direction and being effortlessly nullified by the kinetic barriers.

Okay, ah… More kinetic barriers? I could make more x-ionised weapons, but I think he'd be too fast and… I doubt that the League would be happy with me killing him. I'm not sure that he's deliberately killed anyone up to this point.

Get to work.

"We've got people fighting the G-oni who were attacking you. We can-."

There's an explosion of gold-white fire to the south of us. I'm guessing that was Angelica dealing with the g-oni. If I understood correctly, Argentina was quite clear that it wasn't ever going to recognise demons as being people under the law and has an automatic death penalty for consorting with demons. Regardless of exactly what she's just done, it won't be considered murder, but if she's killed clearly intelligent people it won't win her points with the League either.

"We can help with whatever problems you're having. We have Kryptonian-"

He throws a clumsy but still kryptonian punch at one of the barriers, which shimmers into existence as Nam-Ek falls onto his back. Yes, he hasn't worked out how to get around the gravity nullification yet, which means if he hits it hard enough to overcome his friction, down he goes.

He struggles to get back up-. "Dnnwraawrah!"

Not a coherent word. Not a coherent thought either, otherwise my ring would have translated it. Heh, despite the insanity plea being a rather stupid comic book trope for people it shouldn't actually cover, I honestly think that this is someone it should. He clearly doesn't know what he's doing.

"Dnnwraawrahghwh!"

He -ah, he's floating again- shoots at the kinetic barrier again and strikes with enough force to overload it. And then he doesn't back off, he just keeps pushing… Do those things have a maximum amount of force they can take? I've been assuming not, but I haven't checked with the level of force a demented kryptonian can bring to b-.

Heat vision flashes out, burning through the protections I put in place and rending the issue irrelevant. Ring, adapt the gravity nullifier.

Attempting to comply.

I swing another barrier into his path, being sure to interpose a reflective construct as well. I also form another photon accelerator, which he spots before it's even fully formed and heat visions-. Damn it. Form more than-

Warning: total power reserves-

-one photon accelerator. Is he flat out tanking it, or is he.. hearing where they're appearing?

-at forty percent.

Yes, it turns out that getting beaten up by a kryptonian, accelerating yourself to cope with the situation and repeatedly fabricating complex objects does a number on your power stores. Ring, contact John Stewart and ask him how long he's going to take.

Compliance.

And sonic detonator again.

Compliance.

Nam-Ek collapses to the ground, then rallies slightly and punches the ground beneath him. I watch the earth around him exploding upwards into the air in response. Ah… Okay, this isn't an earthquake zone. A relatively small shake shouldn't do anything too-.

His heat vision flashes out, soil and rock melting as he sugar! I thrust beams of orange light into the ground, trying to reach-. Right, crumble! Grab him and drag him back before he can-.

"No time at all."

Nam-Ek twists, destroying his bonds even as Lantern Stewart activates the phantom zone projector! Hold him hold him hold h-!

"Gragh!"

"Firing."

There's no sound as the phantom zone projector activates, but Nam-Ek's body begins to shimmer and…

He's gone.

I dismiss my constructs, land, then call out my personal lantern. "That it?"

Lantern Stewart lands as well, checking the projector over as I tap my rings against my lantern to recharge. "We think so. I didn't…"

He falls to his knees, and I abandon my lantern in order to use constructs to hold him up.

"What's wrong?"

He takes a few breaths to steady himself. "Superman didn't have one of these lying around. Had to.. create some of the parts using constructs, with Martian Manhunter showing me what they should look like telepathically. It was… Strange."

He rises to his feet and I remove my supporting constructs.

"I don't suppose we can pin any of this on Luthor?"

"Probably not. Though I expect that he'll try and get as much mileage out of it as he can. You got a moment?"

He takes another deep breath. "Why? You wanna talk about Nabu?"

"Batman was rather insistent."

He shrugs. "You made your reasons clear enough for me. On my end, I was busy, I didn't have anything that I knew could counter a Lord of Order and I thought Batman was dealing with it." He looks at me curiously. "Is Batman making you ask so you can join the Justice League?"

"I just asked to rejoin the team."

He frowns. "I guessed we weren't exactly your favorite people in the world, but what's the point of having you in a recon team?"

"Think you just answered your own question there, Lantern Stewart."

 

12th November
22:43 GMT -3

Mr Yao sings, and the grey fades from the skin of the LexCorp employees still in the makeshift medical ward. Mr Allen and Lantern Stewart assembled the plastic containment dome over the site in record time, so if we're really lucky and Nam-Ek wasn't carrying it, all that we need to do is a thorough decontamination of the site and we're good.

Actually…

"Accomplished Perfect Physician?"

Still singing, he checks the most seriously ill of the patients before closing his mouth. "I can treat the sickness in the bodies, but I can do little against the bacterium in the environment."

"That's-."

"We're-?" One of the patients presses his hands against his face, then rolls up his sleeves to examine his arms. "We're cured?"

"I am sorry, but as the bacterium is airborne all I have really done is reset the symptoms."

"But we can just leave, right?" Mr Yao and I look at each other. "Right?"

"Hopefully, yes. However, there's a chance that the disease has already escaped this facility. In which case, there isn't much point."

"Shiiiit." The man leans back against his headboard. "So… You can fix that. Can't you?"

Mr Yao smiles calmly. "We are studying the problem most judiciously. I am confident that with the resources at-"

"Ugh." The man pulls himself upright, checks his balance and then straightens his overalls.

"-our disposal, we will."

"I'm cured, right?"

Mr Yao nods. "Presently, yes. However, you are not immune to reinfection."

"I'm a microbiologist. If we're still working on the problem, I need to get back to the laboratory." He makes it halfway to the door before stopping. "Ah. Thanks."

Mr Yao inclines his head slightly. "You are welcome."

Several others rise to go after him, Mr Yao getting a nod or a wave. The rest of the staff are either still injured from Nam-Ek's rampage or not part of the medical team. For them, keeping out of the way is probably the most useful thing they can do now.

Mr Yao takes one last look around and then heads through a side door. I follow him, carefully closing it behind me. "So… Prognosis?"

"Until tests are completed upon Nam-Ek's blood samples, it would be premature for me to speculate."

The drawback of not having an actual super-doctor. Batman's a decent microbiologist, but the biological team here are so much better that we're leaving most of the research to them. And actual science is a good deal slower than super science.

"Could you heal an entire city?"

He nods once. "Certainly. But that would not prevent them from becoming infected again. And if the disease spreads outwards from the places Nam-Ek travelled, then the number of infected may well surpass my ability to cure."

I nod. "My best plan is going back to the Rao system and seeing if I can find-." My ring blinks. "Excuse me."

He nods, then lowers himself cross-legged to the floor. Powerful as his sonic abilities are, his reserves of energy with which to power them aren't inexhaustible. And he's not going to have much time for sleep if our worst-case scenario turns out to be true.

I raise my left hand to my ear and create a sound nullification bubble around myself. "Answer."

"Orange Lantern." Mr Luthor sounds reasonably composed for a man who's about to lose his kryptonite supply. "I understand that I have a problem in Argentina."

"Optimistically, yes, you only have a problem in Argentina. In summary, Batman spotted that you were building a cloning facility here and sent in a reconnaissance team. While they were here, apparently by chance, an insane kryptonian we've identified as Nam-Ek flew out of the ground, laid into the place and then went on a rampage. In the aftermath, we discovered that most of the workers here were infected with a lethal bacterium. Standard antibiotics are not having any effect. We're checking the local area to see if the disease has been transmitted to anyone else. Mister Luthor, anything you can tell us at this point would be extremely helpful."

"The Cerro Galán facility is built around the site from which LexCorp recovered the genetic samples used to create the first genomorphs. I suspected that they were alien, but I had no idea that they were from Krypton. I wonder why they lack Superman's abilities."

"Nam-Ek appears to have combined his genes with those of another species. Assuming that the other species was where you got your sample from and assuming that that species split with the humanoid kryptonian evolutionary tree before they gained their photosensitive abilities… It sort of makes sense."

"And if this Nam-Ek designed a technique for combining the biology of different species, that might explain why an alien disease is infectious to humans."

"Mister Luthor, if you were doing any sort of microbiological work here, we need you to release the relevant files and tell everyone here that they're supposed to be helping us."

He chuckles quietly. "While I like to think that my workforce are relatively loyal to LexCorp, I rather imagine that discovering that they're fatally ill would cause them to re-evaluate their priorities. But, certainly. If you put me through, I will be happy to clarify their priorities for them."

"Were you doing that sort of research?"

"The facility was not specifically set up to study novel diseases. It certainly wasn't set up to create new ones. I authorised the expansion of the facility in order to see what else could be learned from the study of the genomorphs' genes, and to see whether or not further samples could be discovered."

"And the kryptonite?"

"Radioactive substances have any number of industrial and medical uses. It would be foolish of me not to exploit one of the few earthly sources of the substance."

"Wasn't that a bit of a clue about where the DNA came from?"

"Biologists in the employ of LexCorp are somewhat familiar with the genetic structure of humanoid kryptonians. While it's certainly a common assumption that all kryptonite comes from Krypton, logically there's no real reason why it couldn't also be created in other places."

…

True… I mean, I make the stuff myself…

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mister Luthor. I'll transfer you now."

"Good luck, Orange Lantern."

I lower my hand and cancel the noise filter. Mr Yao raises his eyebrows. "Did you learn anything?"

"Nothing much." Okay, what else can I do? I certainly don't care enough about the people around here to cure them…

Rondor. Why would Nam-Ek drive them extinct trying to make himself immortal?

"Ring, contact Kara Zor-El."

Compliance.

 

13th November
04:11 GMT

The Har-Zod projection looks thoughtful. "I was aware that Nam-Ek was an actual historical figure, but I had no idea that he had made his way to Earth. If he were truly immortal -or at least very long lived- he would have had more than enough time to acquire a spacecraft and make the journey."

"Do you have any more information about him?"

"I'm afraid not. While law enforcement was one of the Military Council's responsibilities, I rose up through the fleet. I was only ever directly involved in an oversight role, and certainly not with cases that went cold centuries ago."

"Kara to Orange Lantern. I think I'm ready here."

Ah… "You think?"

"The worst-case scenario is that we accidentally let everyone out of the phantom zone. You've got a power ring and I'm charged up with solar radiation. They're not, and we're inside a shielded space station."

"Except for Nam-Ek."

"That's why we've got multiple kinetic barriers and a completed phantom zone projector ready."

I nod, and start walking down the corridor towards her temporary workshop. "I'd have thought us getting sent into the phantom zone was a worse outcome."

"Ah..? I suppose it would be, but that's… That's not just unlikely, it's more like impossible. The equations-."

"I'll trust you."

Kara Zor-El's education in higher maths included dimensional physics. That didn't just cover faster than light travel, it also covered the techniques used to send criminals to the phantom zone. Since there's little I can do to help on Earth, I thought coming here with her was the most useful thing I could do.

"It's not that complicated." The crystal door flows away, granting me access. She looks around and favours me with a smile. "It's certainly far less complicated than what you do every time you use your ring."

"Yes, but I offload a lot of that onto the AI." I look at the result of her work: a phantom zone viewer. The actual overlay projector is a small red dish about a metre across on the floor, but it's plugged into the station's computers and a cluster of additional energy capacitors. In theory, this should allow us to communicate safely with people being held within the zone without risking them escaping. Krypton used to use a similar setup for locating inmates who had finished their sentences. "You know, we could use a system like this for returning inmates to the material universe."

"I.. don't think that's a good idea." She holds her hands over the control system, which glows faintly in response. "On Krypton we could parole them. On Earth, they'd be some of the most powerful people on the planet."

"There are other places we could put them."

"Well… Maybe." She shakes her head. "I'm not really sure how much I want Krypton's legacy to be defined by people like Tra-Gob or Ak-Var. Let's just get this done first." Her hands move and the computer chimes. "Okay, I've locked onto the quasi-." She looks at me and then looks away. "The place Green Lantern sent him to. As long as he hasn't moved too much, we should be able to find him without worrying about getting the wrong person."

I don my heavy power armour and generate construct armour. "Go for it."

"Initiating spatial overlay. It should only take a few-" Grey… Light begins pulsing inside the area above the projector. "-seconds. Just a moment while I fine tune it…"

The cone of off-white light flickers and then stabilises.

"Okay, so what do we need to do to get hold of him?"

"We actually can't. If he doesn't want to talk-."

A vague outline appears in the centre of the light cone. "Who's there?"

Kara and I share a smile, then I step forward. "Who am I talking to?"

"Doctor Nam-Ek of Xan. And you?"

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. We met earlier today."

"Today..? I don't… What happened? Where am I?"

Kara nods. "He pre-dates phantom zone technology. He won't understand-." She steps forward. "Nam-Ek? My name is Kara Zor-El. You're in a place called the phantom zone. It's a realm outside the material universe. You're insubstantial and-."

"Of course! Wonderful!"

She frowns. "Wonderful? Ah..? I don't understand."

"My mutation. The virus I created to meld the rondor's genes with my own… Something about being here… I'm thinking clearly for the first time in I don't know how long."

"What do you remember since you did that to yourself?"

"Some things? I.. had to stay away from the anti-crime patrols… I think-. Oh lightbringer, the disease!"

"Yes. What is it?"

"Sacred Rao… Ah, it was a suicide attempt. You have to understand, I couldn't stand the isolation any longer! And everything else… Most things couldn't hurt me, and the few that did, I just recovered from."

"What is it?"

"The bacterium houses a programmed virus, based on the one I used to turn myself into… What I am. I thought that whatever it was that lets rondors cure sickness and heal injuries might not notice a disease that incorporated rondor genetic material. Since I'm still alive, I-. It didn't work."

Marvellous. "As far as we can tell, you managed to remain infectious. We've got a transgenic plague that's about to kill… If we're lucky, only a few thousand people. How do we stop it?"

"I never designed a way to stop it. I was trying to die."

Well. That's a problem.

"Nam-Ek, if there's anything you can tell us…"

"I… Think… Yes, I still remember its genetic structure. The bacterium is resilient, but the virus can't survive for more than a few minutes outside a living creature. I.. should be able to design a bacteriophage to target its host. If you deliver it by aerosol over the affected area at regular intervals, that should deal with any remaining cultures in the general environment. Are either of you bio-engineers?"

"No, but now we know that this works I can get hold of some at very short notice."

"Nam-Ek." Kara takes another step closer. "Is there anything we can do for you? You clearly weren't in your right mind, and if the cure works on you as well…"

"For me? Kara Zor-El, I feel better now than at any point since I drank my 'immortality serum'. I don't look like a monster, I don't stink like a midden… And I can dimly perceive that there are other people here as well. Company for the first time in centuries. Thank you for your kindness in offering, but I have everything I want."

"Ring, contact Batman and pass on the good news."

Compliance.

 

13th November
13:35 GMT -5

Dr Balewa nods, and the last of the pieces of equipment used to create the g-oni is carefully lowered into a warded case for safe disenchantment. Across the laboratory, g-elves perform cleanup duties, tidying away equipment wrecked in the g-oni's escape.

"Okay. What happened?"

The g-pooka's horns shimmer for a moment as it makes contact with the nearest g-lusca and the pair of g-dwarves overseeing the cleanup. Dubbilex was here to supervise the g-oni's introduction to the world and given how he looked when I stopped in at the hospital on my way here I don't think he'll be answering questions for a while.

"WWe had finished the PPreparations. Our new brothers had RReached physiological maturity and WWere ready to be released. TThey were aware of their surroundings, their MMinds were in constant contact with us. TThen…" The g-pooka's horns are flickering and its body is shaking. "They complied with the physical TTests and their minds were NNormal and then we wanted to check their MMagic and then they started AAttacking everyone."

"Was there anything unusual about how they were thinking before that?"

"They were the FFirst g-oni. We did not know how they would TThink."

"Alright. Were there any signs of hostility before that?"

"They were designed to BBe a combat type. They WWere taught how to be hostile, and they TThought about it while they grew. BBut they were taught control AAnd social skills as well. We HHad no reason to fear them."

"How much demon magic were they supposed to be able to use?"

"A tiny TTiny amount. LLess than most HHumans." The g-pooka twitches more and glances at Dr Balewa. "WWe do not incorporate MMana well."

"Thet was most likely the source of your problem." Dr Balewa walks slowly towards us, patterns of light writhing around his right hand. "A human who encounters demon magic may resist it with the power of their soul. A newly born creature who had such power fed into them from the instant of their conception would have no such resistance." He looks at me solemnly. "You have experienced this yourself."

"Mana overload, sure, but that just intoxicated me."

"We CChecked the data from Atlantis. TTheir data on synthetic piscine CCreatures. It should have been SSafe."

"Atlanteans modify creatures native to the Earth. Their spiritual presence is greater than what genomorphs possess. Any reports which you received from them would make those assumptions for the creature's baseline state." He shakes his head. "Individual genomorphs have barely the tiniest scrap of spirit. The demonic presence would have been overwhelming." He sighs deeply. "I cannot yet tell whether they were truly possessed or turned into some form of incarnate demon like Miss Blaze. Whichever it is, they are a grave and ill-defined threat."

"Why would their minds have felt normal if they were that demonic?"

"They would have known what they were meant to be. The tests which you had planned would have revealed their true nature. I trust that you have no plans to create more."

"NNo no NNo."

Dr Balewa turns away, looking around the facility. "You will not create further genomorph types with innate arcane abilities. For those that you are already growing, you will not release them until I am here to supervise. Am I clear?"

The g-pooka cringes. "Yes. WWe are very sorry. We DDid not mean for this to happen."

He bows his head slightly. "People seldom do. How many of your own died?"

"Two g-trolls, three g-gnomes, eight g-dwarves and one g-elf."

"You have my condolences. But I hope that underlines why caution is required in-."

"I WWas HHere too. WWhen they attacked, I ran away AAnd they did not bother to CChase me." The g-pooka is twitching, and the twitching is spreading to other nearby genomorphs. "And I CCould feel what they were FFeeling. WWe are NNot meant to FFeel like TThat."

Dr Balewa frowns in confusion, while I lean down to hug the g-pooka, removing my mental shields as I try and project reassurance. G-pooka aren't good telepaths, but this one had an empathic scan of an incarnate demon. A moment passes, and while the g-pooka hasn't stopped shaking the other genomorphs have.

Dr Balewa blinks, his face falling. "How old are you?"

The g-pooka doesn't turn to look at him. "I FFinished growing TThree months ago."

"Children, I am surrounded by-." He takes a deep breath. "Orange Lantern, can you assure me that they will comply with my requirements?"

I look down at the g-pooka for a moment. "Yes. I'll keep an eye on things. And… Despite this g-pooka's state, she was speaking for all of them. They know this was a foul up."

"They built souls from demon magic. Even you were not so foolhardy." He takes a deep breath. "I must also tell-" He looks around at the rest of the genomorphs in the room, who are looking at him with horns glowing. "-you that at least two of the five g-oni which you created were successful in escaping from the Justice League. We do not know how they will behave, and we will expect you to report it if they attempt to contact you."

"WWe will contact the JJustice League." Tremors having died down a little, I release my hold. The g-pooka pulls free, stands a little straighter and looks up at Dr Balewa. "We do NNot want them as part of UUs."

"Very well. Orange Lantern, please come with me."

He turns and walks away. I give the genomorphs another look over, then go after him. As we walk he makes a languid motion with his left hand and the air around us stills.

"Can these genomorphs be trusted?"

"Based on my experience with them and on what my empathic vision showed me, I have no reason to believe otherwise. Did you detect any other demon magic here?"

"Nothing that could not be explained by things being as they claim that they are. But there is more going on than that."

"Because they were decanting the g-oni at the exact moment that we were investigating LexCorp's facility?"

"Yes. There cannot have been more than minutes between them leaving their pods and their arrival in Argentina. Perhaps the martian ship was detected the very moment it approached? The magic of the one who placed the wards would have been capable of that, and I-" His eyes narrow. "-will be speaking with them personally before the end of the day. But, the genomorphs made no reference to doing anything but following their own processes."

"If they were feeding them demon magic, information could have been passed to the g-oni that way. The maturation process for genomorphs is finished when the individuals think it's finished. They could have 'decided' to become more awake at that point."

"Do you understand why they attacked Nam-Ek?"

I shake my head. "No."

"They were feeding upon his strength, using their magic to add it to their own. A new-born magician should not have the knowledge required to do that, nor any of the other magics they performed."

"At the time, I assumed that it was.. 'built in'."

"They may share knowledge readily, but that knowledge must come from somewhere. Giving someone power does not grant them the wisdom to use it well."

"So. Satanus again."

"Not certainly, but it is likely."

I nod. "Then perhaps we ought to take action against him sooner rather than later."

 

14th November
15:37 GMT -5

"…agreed to meet you, but you need to understand that he's not anything like as excited about this as you are."

Lyrissa nods, clearly puzzled as she walks along Sworth Way beside me. While the locals are blasé enough about super power activity to ignore me, she's-.

One of the observers wolf-whistles, which earns him a slightly nervous chuckle from his companions and a sour look from me. Lyrissa herself doesn't react, presumably due to not understanding the cultural context.

She's getting more than a few curious looks, one or two of the more observant rubberneckers noticing how the shadows around her feet aren't moving in the way optics suggest that they should. Which around here would ordinarily mean Mr Swift was out and about. Except he clearly isn't.

"Why not?"

"He's… Just.. generally aloof. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that he agreed to speak to you at all, given how long it took me to convince him to speak to me."

"So aloof that he-" She raises her right hand, a gauntlet of solid darkness forming around it. "-shows no interest in people who share his power source? Or aliens? Your world doesn't have interstellar travel."

"Djeergh..? We… Sort of do, it's just that the man who invented it has trouble dealing with people and so never bothered sharing the design with anyone outside of his immediate family. And our Lantern count is up to six." I raise my own right hand and shake it dismissively. "But I take your point. I suppose it does seem a bit odd. You.. got your translator set for English?"

She nods, then stops and looks upward at the apartment building before us. "Mister Swift lives here?"

"Yes? Something wrong with it?"

"Given how powerful you told me he was, I was expecting-." The shadows flow away from her, and she steps back with a gasp.

"What?"

"I just-." She sort of wiggles her hands for a moment, to no observable effect. "I just lost control of my shadows."

"Ah, well it appears that he's noticed you then. I suggest you go on up."

"I was.. my planet's champion, and he disarmed me without even-." She looks up, and I follow her gaze to three floors above us where Mr Swift is raising his teacup in a mock salute. "Without making an effort."

"Welcome to Earth."

"And he lives.. in a modest apartment in a small city."

"Oh, it's not that the rest of us are unaware that he's ridiculously, terrifyingly powerful. This is where he wants to live, what he wants to do with himself." I shrug. "I think it's a waste too, but it's… Proving rather difficult to change his mind. Heck, he only protects this city because he's got a personal investment in some of its people."

"Yes, you told me. It's just-" She looks up again, but he appears to have gone inside. "-that seeing it makes it more real. It's… Strange to see a being who could rule a world just not care."

I shrug. "Makes sense to me. Why take more power when you don't really want it?"

She smiles faintly. "I suppose that attitude is a privilege that comes with living on a peaceful world."

"Yeah. Peaceful." I nod towards the door. "You probably shouldn't keep him waiting."

She nods in return, and heads towards the apartment build-.

"Jade know you're palling around with alien women behind her back?"

I roll my eyes, then rise into the air to face Guy. "I told her about the Spider Queen as soon as I got back to Earth, so… Yes."

He looks like he's going to respond in kind, then his eyes narrow slightly. "She's from Talok Eight, right?"

"Yes. Her planet traded her to the Dominion in exchange for not totally crushing them."

"And you know what they're doing with the place now they don’t have her?"

"Absolutely nothing. Thanks to the Guardians' negotiations on the return of the Dominators we took prisoner at Starlag." He starts to look smug. "Of course, there wasn't anything keeping them from invading anyway… And I may have sent a message informing them that in the event of an attack I would freely distribute orange power rings to the population."

"Ain't that a bit of a risk?"

"Risk? No, I'm positive the outcome would be dreadful. But it makes Talok Eight a high risk low reward target because the damage to the Dominion would be far worse than the damage to them." He thinks for a moment, then grudgingly nods. "So what's an Honour Guard Lantern like you doing in a place like this?"

"Chaselon liked your idea of using the Medusa Mask so much he sent me here right away t' pick it up. And I need t' ask a couple a' favors."

I shrug. "Sure. But first, Batman-."

"John told me. I didn't know what it was like for the guy being controlled, I didn't know Nabu was gunna make it permanent and thought if it was a problem someone would have said something." He looks away. "And… I guess maybe I didn't want to rock the boat too much. I mean, if you'd talked t' me I'd'a had your back…"

"Makes sense. What can I help you with?"

"You know how the Green Lantern Corps' got rules on sharing technology with primitives, right?" I nod. "I haven't spoken t' Tora in, like two weeks-."

"There'll be a universal communicator in her apartment by the end of the day."

He smiles, clearly relieved. "Thanks, man. I knew I'd be away from Earth a lot when I took this job. I just didn't really think about that part a' it."

"That's why Medphyll never took a promotion. And I've been assuming that the same was true for Abin Sur as well."

"Yeah, probably. The other thing is, I got talking t' Apros about how t' become a better Lantern, and he said I need t' confront things that 'undermine my certainties'."

"I'm not sure that's true, post-enlightenment."

Guy shrugs. "Maybe. But it can't hurt, can it? And I thought-."

"You thought of me. Thanks, Guy."

"You told Wondy she killed that botanist chick, you didn't tell Aquaman he had a son, you told Kaldur his pa wasn't his biological pa…" Ah… "You got anything fer me?"

I watch him carefully. I… "Yes."

He looks thoughtful. "I already know you know about my family. That's all… Dealt with." I don't quite meet his eyes. "What, did I accidentally kill someone? Did one of the guys back in the prison turn int' an axe murderer 'cause of me?"

"No. Guy, are you s-?"

"Yeah." He folds his arms across his chest and nods confidently. "Give it your best shot."

"There were at least three Ernie Ernests that I know about, and were probably more. When one died as a result of General Glory's complete inability to comprehend that the people around him weren't as tough as he was, the US army recruited someone no one would miss and stuck him in the costume."

Guy's aura dims, and he actually drops a little in the air as his eyes widen in shock and horror. "No."

"Having reviewed the records, I believe that General Glory was only able to operate in mainland Europe because he was too insane to be affected by the Spear of Destiny. Sacrificing a few young men to keep him fighting probably made sense."

"God. Ah." He shakes his head and regains his height. "That was a curveball. Y' got any more like that?"

"No, that's it. I genuinely can't think of anything else that could undermine you."

"Okay. Y'got any evidence of-?"

I take a folder out of subspace and pass it to him.

"Right. I'm gunna.. go read this. You take it easy."

I wave him goodbye as he flies unsteadily up into the sky.

 

15th November
21:11 GMT -5

I never really thought about it in quite these terms before, but one of the nice things about an environmental shield is that it makes you immune to rats.

I mean, totally immune. If a squad of soldiers opens fire with armour-piercing rounds they will eventually hurt me. Rats on the other hand are totally out of luck. There is literally nothing an unaugmented rat can do to hurt me through an environmental shield, other than make me feel slightly bad.

"Mr Flannegan, this is pointless. You clearly need-"

"You were supposed to be Batman!"

"-professional help of a sort that Blackgate failed to provide you. If you stand down I'll see what I can do about getting your.. friends rehoused. How about it?"

Mr Flannegan himself is a bit of a mess. He's wearing a soiled and torn version of his old Gotham City Sanitation Department uniform, complete with an air tank plugged into a full face mask. I can also see seven rats perched on his person at various points and a look of total mental disconnection on his face. This is not a man at home to reason. But I have to try.

"…committer of mass raticide..!"

And when it fails, at least the City of Gotham will have a substantially reduced rat population. Now, how is he controlling the rats? I'm not reading genetic abnormalities or unusual brain structures, and his equipment is nothing like as complicated as it would need to be in order to grant radio-telepathy.

"…clubbed them and drowned them…"

Which leaves training… No. While rats can be trained, they can't be trained to continuously attack a hardened target. Chemicals? Air reads as normal, for a sewer tunnel. The rats' blood stream is similarly… Well, it looks like they've been getting steroids in their diets, but nothing that would explain this sort of behaviour.

"…eyes of every rat…"

Which leaves magic. That might explain his dentistry; there are certain forms of object-kinship which result in the practitioner taking on parts of the form of the subject of their craft. And it's not impossible that a mildly demented rat exterminator might develop enough of a bond with his targets to intuit it. Of course, without a way to understand what was happening, his mildly misfiring brain has filled in the explanation with whatever he's been ranting about while I've ignored him.

Right. I run filaments under the rat horde and block every exit to this corridor I can find. None of the rats are trying to get away, focused as they are on their attempt to get at me.

Then I begin transmuting the air into something a little less breathable. I do have a binding chain in subspace, and if I put it on Mr Flannegan it should remove his control. But that would send a huge swarm of rats rampaging across Gotham and I don't think that would impress my host overmuch. So I'll just stick it on him when he-

He dashes towards me and brings a length of pipe down on the top of my head, achieving no more than his rodent assistants did.

-gets picked up by the police. No, no, I can make the effort to drop him off. I'm pretty sure there was a confession at some point in that rant-

Confirmed.

-and that plus the more circumstantial evidence I've already collected should be enough for a conviction. Or at least, that should be enough for them to obtain warrants and question witnesses, all the sorts of busywork that large organisations are designed to handle and which superheroes aren't. And the pipe's broken. Rats are losing consciousness… He doesn't appear to have noticed, but it's honestly a little hard to tell given how completely deranged his expression is. Is that a result of him having contact with the rat swarm while they lose consciousness, or just… Him.

I suppose that I should probably give the GCPD a phone call and let them know what's going on. Ring, contact Detective Bullock.

Compliance.

There are a couple of rings-

Mr Flannegan finally notices that the rats aren't responding any longer. He turns away, grabbing one apparently at random and hugging it to his chin.

"Archibald! NOOOOO!"

-and then a quiet click as someone picks it up.

"Bullock."

"Good evening, Detective."

"Oh. You. What is it this time?"

"I'm in the process of apprehending the perpetrator of a series of rat-themed assaults and killing his minions."

"When you say 'killing'-?"

"They're rats. But don't worry, I don't need a licence since I'm not killing them for money or leaving poisonous substances unsupervised. I have an evidence folder to pass over, but I would appreciate it if someone could pick the perpetrator up. Or failing that, be ready to receive him when I bring him in."

"Ah, yeah, I'll get on to the front desk. Crazy or not crazy?"

Mr Flannegan pulls off his air mask and tries to bite me.

"Fairly crazy. But it might be a side effect from his untrained magic use. I'll try and normalise him before handing him over."

"Appreciate that. So… You covering for the Bat?"

"No, I just need a word with him so I thought I'd clear his schedule." I catch Mr Flannegan around the neck with my left hand and slide his mask back over his face with my right. "I don't think that chasing down fools like this is really an efficient use of Batman's time."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"He's the chairman of the Justice League. He should be making strategic decisions and investigating wide scale criminal activity, not spending days pursuing individual petty criminals. He should be offloading that onto people like me."

"Didn't realise you liked it here that much."

"No one likes Gotham."

"Heh. Yeah, you're right there."

"It's just that it's trivially easy for me to capture people like Ratman here while I'm not as good at complex investigations as he is." Mr Flannegan in hand I walk towards the exit, spraying white phosphorus powder in my wake. It starts burning almost immediately, burning the rodent remains to a crisp. "Plus, a swarm of rats is actually a threat to him while it isn't to me."

"I suppose you've got a point. Not like the Commish investigates jaywalking."

"I barely understand why that's a crime. I mean, if someone gets hit by a car, do you really need to fine them as well?"

"Not considering what health insurance costs. Where are you? I'll see if we've got a car nearby."

"I'm in Farrow. Ah, ring says 'Burwick Street' but I didn't see any signs."

"Yeah, think I know it." I use constructs to lift Mr Flannegan out through a manhole before phasing through myself. "I'll send a car."

"Thank you. I appreciate-"

Three individuals in loose-fitting red clothing with a white butterfly logo are walking down the street towards us.

"-it, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to call you back."