I tether him and transition us to the gallery.
"I realise that this is a shocking transition and I promise to answer all of your questions later, but-."
More urgent matters than comforting a confused kryptonian, yes.
"Something's happening, I understand. What do you need to know?"
"Please confirm: you are Non-Du, and you worked under Jor-El?"
At least he's quick on the uptake, and willing to help. I suspect Lyla would be a little more...
Combative.
He nods. "Yes."
"You are aware that Krypton was scheduled to explode to due the transmutation of the core?"
"Yes. That's.. happ-?" He bites his lip. "Sorry. Carry on."
Yes, yes, entire world gone, everyone you knew is dead. But on more time-critical matters...
"You were in communication with Dru-Zod about Jor-El's discovery?"
"Yes."
"What action had he taken at the point you were sent to the Phantom Zone?"
More important, was he sent as a prisoner, or in a more spontaneously
informal fashion?
"He…" He considers for a moment, looking around and then.. staring at my sigil. "He wasn't arresting us. I think he was trying to get Jor-El's findings confirmed."
"That's all?"
"Yes."
But he
doesn't remember any sort of dark alley or head injury or anything like that. I think i can see what happened: Lyla nobbled him and Zoned him, then replaced him only to be the one who got lobotomised. And then OL fixed 'his' brain...
The alley. That wasn't him. So what did I-? I did brain chirurgy… Didn't I? Or was that just… I wasn't wearing a mindshield at the time, and I… I haven't… Seen Non since I started. But psychics can create illusions, and not just-. False sensory impressions, it's just usually they don't because it's inefficient. Or did I find Lyla and then… She erased my memory of it?
Argh, psychic illusionists are always such paranoia fuel. More worryingly, what happened to her when you fixed her brain? Is she running around with a hodge-podge of empireth and kryptonian brain matter, or did the Ring correct it based on the genetic model
it saw, which would have been empireth in nature, even if
OL saw kryptonian...
Damn it. I scan him just in case, but aside from a little… Cut in his arm-.
"How did you end up in the Phantom Zone?"
I'm guessing she took a blood sample or something, presumably to copy his DNA for the illusion so that it would fool biological scanners...
"I don't know. I was cross-referencing some seismic data, and…" He shakes his head. "The next thing I knew, I was there. I did not even know it was the Phantom Zone to begin with."
"Ring, contact Lantern Jordan."
That would be when he got swapped out, then. And the last time we saw Other Non on-screen was... Aboard the Doomsday?
My ring blinks once, and then his face appears.
"What you got?"
Damn, he was waiting for you to call, it looks like. Or he was about to call you.
"The Non-Du on Xudar is a fake. The real one was still in the Phantom Zone. You need to locate him as quickly as possible."
He smiles wryly. "I got one better. Looks like Lyla was a dominator asset."
I'm betting they gave her whatever shapeshifting ability she may have used to pose as Non-Du. Whether a potent psychic illusion or physical restructuring...
…
"Kan-Z wasn't an engineer or physicist. He couldn't-. Gods, how long were they-?"
"Who?"
Kan-Z. And boy, is that art of him 80's or what?
"Kan-Z was the leader of Black Zero. The people who-."
His eyes widen. "Bombed Krypton."
And since he wasn't a bomb-maker, someone else had to have made it.
"Kryptonian society was easily advanced enough to build a bomb like that, I didn't think to ask how he got it. The city-states just used conventional nukes…"
"How long ago was that?"
I suspect the average kryptonian scientist or engineer wouldn't have gone along with making a bomb capable of killing their world anyway.
"Pre-Empire. They had to rebuild from almost nothing."
"Why the change in strategy?"
That is a pertinent question. This would have been something like ten thousand kryptonian years ago... Some Dominator may have been playing a
long game.
"The Dominion's been around for a while, but it's hardly a total monolith. Individual high-caste dominators come and go. Or maybe they considered slowing down Kryptonian development to be a success, even if the planet wasn't destroyed." I shake my head. "Or maybe I'm just speculating. Have you found the fake Non?"
...OL, you barely told them about it a couple of minutes ago. I know Lanterns can work
fast, but there are
limits.
He shakes his head. "The starports are in lockdown, the prisoners are secure and we've got people out looking."
"Secure how?"
In other words, Lyla has probably already mind-whammied someone and is just waiting for a chance to flee...
"Security robots. I figure, they've got no brains, so-."
"She was directly observed by both Har-Zod and Jor-El's sensors. I think she's got better illusions than that."
Could well have physical shapeshifting, given her posing as Non. Unless that was a
very good illusion too. Was 'he' even
actually brain-damaged or did she just make that play for an advantage?
"The telepath's got better illusions than-. Fine, fine. I'll-. Call Miss Marvel back."
"I thought she was just going with Mary-?" Not the point, focus. "Superboy should have a mind ward-."
For a second, I wondered if you meant Miss Martian, but I remembered Mary Marvel was there too because if you have one Kryptonian-level combatant in Osiris, another one is
better..
"He's not back from her homeworld yet. Not everyone's as fast as you. Actually, how come you haven't just appeared already?"
"I wanted to check that Lyla wasn't in the Phantom Zone-. Long story short, all of the prisoners got released and I'm on guard duty."
And that is going to take some explaining
later.
"What? How did-?" He stares at me. "Have you called in the League?"
I shake my head. "They're not empowered. I'll call in the Karas when you hang up."
Good plan. Especially Kara-One, who is
probably stronger than any local kryptonian from the get go.
"Get your team, too. It'll be good experience."
"My t-?" Oh, he means… The team, not-. "Will do. Is Superman or Karsta Wor-Ul on the Doomsday?"
Really, they need a catchier team name to avoid that sort of confusion...
"No, Ak-Var's in command. Why?"
"Well, Lyla might want to get away, but equally she might be trying to send a message to her handlers. Dominators can go to ground for a long time if it's useful to them to do so, and I haven't checked the entire Sector for them."
Ah, good, he realised that possibility. And the last thing they need is a Dominator fleet turning up and trying to steal kryptonian stuff
again.
He nods. "They might wanna pick up the Doomsday."
"They do want to pick up the Doomsday. The only question is how highly they prioritise it."
And would living kryptonians also be highly prized for genetic research, or considered a threat to said acquisition...
"I'll get Carol to pick up Karsta. Send me anything else you find out. Green Lantern out."
His face vanishes.
Man, this day is just getting worse and
worse, isn't it...
Okay.
I look at the somewhat lost-looking Non-Du. "I don't suppose that you know how to use the theta wave state, do you?" He shakes his head. "Does the name Lyla mean anything to you?"
Damn, OL needs to invest in developing compact mental-influence protection for allies now... One more thing for the to-do list.
"No. Who is she?"
I point to one of the seats. "It's easier if I explain the whole thing. But first I need to talk to some people. Orange Lantern to Aqualad."
I'm guessing OL is confident this isn't a fake, not only because of their willing assistance, but also thanks to his own mental protections. No illusions here!
Joy... She's probably looking to try and get in touch with her Dominator boss for new orders, depending on how strong their control is. All while OL is stuck on Earth babysitting the former Zone inmates.
