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

[Mr Zoat]

12th October 2013
17:55 GMT -5

Kal-El blinks. "Excuse me?"

"It's not a complicated idea, son. Washington and Lincoln both exercised extraordinary power during times of crisis. Hell, that's why we have an executive; someone's got to make a decision."

"Are you.. saying that you want me to become President? Because-" He slowly shakes his head. "-that can't happen."

"The Hell it can't. According to the original Constitution, the runner up became Vice President. You came third."

"That was changed a long time ago."

"Clark, if there-" Kal-El can't quite stop himself reacting. "-was an election today, between you, Knight, and… Horne, or Suarez, or whoever else the Democrats put up, who would win?"

"I… Don't have a party supporting me. I wouldn't have.. the organisation."

"Phooey. Between your fan club and all the people you've helped out over the years, you could get one if you needed it and I don't think you would."

"I wouldn't have support in the House-."

I choke-laugh.

"… Orange Lantern?"

"Sir… No one is politically suicidal enough to say 'I voted against Superman'. If it happens, all you'd have to do is publically announce how sorry you were that the people on this list, from these constituencies, didn't feel able to support your reconstruction efforts, and they'd all be hit by recall elections before the news spot ended. There are good reasons for not doing this, but 'it wouldn't work' isn't one of them."

"We're not due another Presidential Election for three years, and by then the situation won't be the same."

"So get the Vice President to resign, have Knight nominate you and then resign himself."

Kal-El shakes his head, looking away from his interrogator. Unfortunately, his wandering eyes alight upon me, and I'm clearly looking like I think it's a decent idea.

"Okay, it-. It would make it harder for me to work with other countries if I was formally representing America, and I'm not eligible. I wasn't born in this country. I was born on Krypton, and I don't want to have to confirm my exact age."

Because while Kryptonian society appears to be fairly John Byrne, infant Kal-El was born on Krypton and came to Earth in a spaceship, rather than having his parents' genetic material loading into a hyperspace-capable artificial womb.

"And who else knows that?"

"My parents, most of the Justice League… Ah… Lex Luthor almost certainly knows. And I can't stand as Clark Kent either, for the exact same reasons. Look, I'm not going to pretend that I don't see an argument in favour of having a strong focal government figure during a time of national crisis, but doing that would completely undermine democracy, the rule of law… America."

"We… Could…" Zatanna looks nervous. "Try and get a constitutional amendment passed?"

Kal-El shakes his head. "That would be incredibly self-serving. I'm not-."

"No it would not. It would only be self-serving if you wanted it. You becoming President would make the office of President relevant again. Because right now, the highest authority in America is you, and the government is doing sweet Fanny Adams to help you out."

"I know it's not ideal, but we can't afford to step back yet."

"And I don't want you to. I want you to use the mechanisms of state that exist to handle these eventualities."

"Ah, if I may?"

Kal-El gives me an uncomfortable nod.

"The age thing is manageable. We can find a parallel universe where time moves at a different rate, you can take a two year holiday, won't even be a lie. But we can't do anything about 'natural born citizen' that doesn't involve lying. Which we can do, I can fabricate evidence pretty well, but I understand that you don't want to, and… Uncle Sam? I've beaten my head against this wall before. Kal-El isn't interested in becoming optimally efficient. He has red lines, and they're not moving. Lying to the American public to achieve public office appears to be one of those lines."

Uncle Sam sighs. "I respect your convictions, but I need you to understand that this is going to fray the fabric of American society in a way that's going to take decades to repair."

"I thought they'd handle it through devolution. Though if it really bothers you, why not run yourself? You're over thirty-five, and you were definitionally born in the United States."

"Because scarcely anyone remembers when I was a superhero. I don't have the personal renown to overcome the limits of the party political system. Can I at least be assured that you don't think that Knight is fit for office?"

"That's… Not my decision."

"On the contrary, 'President' is an elected office. It's everyone's decision."

"He… Hasn't recovered well."

"The nation needs dynamic, forceful leadership and it's stuck with an empty vessel who repeats back what the last person he spoke to told him. I don't hate Knight, there are plenty worse, but he should not be in office, and the only ones who can remove him are the members of the Justice League."

"We felt that backing him was the right thing to do."

"Being wrong isn't a crime. Not fixing it is making the entire population of the United States of America decide that their federal government isn't worth a wooden n-."

"How about Nathaniel Adams?"

They both look at me.

"I mean, I'm told it wasn't official, but he was the man we put in charge of the U.S. when the entire federal government was Anti-Lifed. He's well known, doesn't have a secret identity, he's over thirty-five as a matter of public record, he was born in the United States… I mean, it's him or Green Arrow, and Green Arrow isn't actually all that well known in his public identity."

Uncle Sam mulls it over. "He's not the man I want. He doesn't have the same degree of acclaim, and wouldn't really be much better than an actual politician. But he could do the job required."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I can't agree to something like that. But.. I'll.. bring it up at the next Justice League meeting."

Uncle Sam nods. "You do that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tree to water."

He turns away and ambles back into the shed, while Kal-El looks like he doesn't know what to make of what just happened.

"You know, we could just make you king."

"Orange Lantern, it's still not the time."

"Alright. But can you bring up the idea of leaning on people about the Eye Drive? I'm used to government inefficiency, but not being able to fix Alzheimer's now that I know I can is going to wear at me."

"I'm sure Batman has a plan for that. Let's…" He sighs. "Let's just get out of here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th October 2013
18:21 GMT -5

I turn to Richard as the Gotham police handcuff the people being held in my constructs.

"So..?"

"How do you feel about monarchy?"

"Can't say I've ever really thought about it."

"Really? Not with Queen Hippolyta, or Teth Adom, or Aquaman?"

"Those all have democratic legislatures."

"Yes?"

"How much power does a monarch have to have to really count? When was the last time the king or queen of Britain refused to sign a Bill?"

"Seventeen Oh Eight. Queen Anne vetoed the Scottish Militia Act. She was worried that they'd back a French invasion."

"Well, you grew up in Britain. How would you feel about it if Queen Elizabeth vetoed a Bill?"

"I remember having rather mixed feelings when the House of Lords blocked a particularly stupid Bill the government were trying to pass… I don't actually remember what it was now. And… The Lords doesn't actually have many hereditary peers in it these days. But it was more 'Why are we having to rely on these people to stop this?' rather than 'How dare these appointees block the will of the Commons?'. Particularly given that the Bill wasn't in the government's manifesto."

"Ah. Is that important?"

"Ah… You know how Britain doesn't have a constitution, and in theory any government can upend our entire civilisation on the basis of a simple majority?"

"I knew the first part." He frowns. "Can they really do that?"

"They need a majority in the Commons and the Lords, but-" I nod. "-yes. And one Prime Minister a few decades ago managed to pass a law which says that if the Lords block a Bill three times and the Commons approve it a fourth time, they don't need the Lords' approval."

"Huh."

"The problem is that they usually run out of time to pass the Bill if that happens… But yes, that can happen. It just doesn't, because… If you're winning anyway, why flip the board and risk it all?"

"Because that gets you more power, duh."

"Ask how well that went for Cromwell."

"Didn't he rule until his death?"

"Yes, and he was so unpopular that we've been a monarchy ever since. But, seriously. Monarchy."

"I can't see us doing it, Oh El. But if I was gunna pick a king, Superman's probably our best option."

"I'm sure Batman would be hurt to hear you say that."

He sighs. "I'm not sure he would."

"Problem?"

"He's prioritising. Between me, Batwoman, Batgirl and Artemis, Gotham's pretty much under control. I think I even saw.. 'Cheshire' a couple of times. And he's overseeing everything, so… Yeah."

"Ah." Hm. "I do like that he's prioritising properly, but I appreciate that you miss him. But isn't he effectively king anyway?"

He takes a slow breath. "…yeah. And I was thinking about this whole situation, and what you said to Green Arrow, and I think… Superman would organise the people who are supposed to be fixing things, and help them when they needed it. Batman's… He's building parallel structures, and doing the fixing with them. He hasn't said anything, but I'm starting to think this is what he wants the new normal to be."

"Ah."

He regards me quizzically. "What do you think?"

"I… I'm not really… Where Batman's concerned…"

"You gotta stop beating yourself up about that." I frown. "Not because you shouldn't be beat up about it, but we kinda need your ruthless planning powers right now, and you can go back to beating yourself up after."

"Oh."

"And we're not making Superman king." One of the Gotham police officers looks around with a frown, then appears to decide that he didn't hear anything. "Not saying it wouldn't be cool, but there's no way he'd go for it."

"Uncle Sam was in favour of it."

Richard frowns at me. "Really?"

"Well, Caesar, anyway. He thinks that the system won't work unless someone makes it work, and that having an alternate system around will just encourage people to switch their loyalty to that. You know… Kahndaq doesn't really have political parties?"

"Oh? So how's it work?"

"Politicians don't so much get elected as pass a public approval check. They all support Adom having supreme power-. Well, almost all. All the ones who actually get elected. And the assumption is that unless they do something stupid they'll just stay in office. They're more like civil servants, really."

"And that wasn't what he wanted."

"Yeah. Though he's.. not unhappy with it, because he's never lived in a democracy and doesn't really value it. But okay. We're going to keep going as we are, the American government will either learn to do its job properly or it won't, and the League will either go back to its corner or it won't. That's not what I'm.. thinking about right now."

"Really? Because I am."

"Well, good, but… Boss Smiley."

"Do you think he got to Uncle Sam?"

I stare at him, and slowly begin to smile. He looks puzzled for a moment, and then rolls his eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"No. But I think he's getting to us. When you get right down to it, what is corruption?"

"Using a position of power to do what you want, not what you're supposed to do."

"And what does the League's U.N. mandate say about what the League's role is in situations like this?"

"It doesn't.. have one."

"Yeah. I'm not sure that Boss Smiley's just about narcissistic corruption. The League's riding roughshod over the rules it's supposed to be championing while compelling other people to follow them. Does that count? Serious question, because every time I try to quantify Boss Smiley I come up short."

"And what happens if it does count?"

"I don't know, Robin. I don't know."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th October 2013
18:39 GMT -5
Antonio 'Tony' Moretti

Mom's… Actually smiling as she does a meet-and-greet with an Alzheimer's support group. She used to come here a lot, 'til she stopped recognising them. I think it's coming back to her, I think she's remembering some of them. And she's got Toni looking after her just in case, and she knows who she is, and they've talked about things they did together before her memory started going.

And that's…

Ah, I'm putting this off. Not like I've never taken meetings I didn't want to before.

I nod to a couple of people I half-recognise, good people, constituents, but… I'm not really in the mood for people right now. Or non-people, but I knew what I was getting into.

Down the back corridor and through a door with a key they gave me because 'my Mom's illness is a private thing and I don't want reporters all over this', down another corridor and into the 'art' room they let some of the kids mess around in with their spray paint.

And the big yellow smiley face.

It's not even that big. Or particularly good. I mean, none of this is my thing, but some of the designs at least show they had skill. This one is just a yellow circle and some black blobs for eyes. Someone tried to do some shading… I think it might have started out as a sun or something, but it's…

I sigh.

And then I kneel.

And I wait. The Justice League report I read said that he can see out of every smiley face on Earth, and if that's true then he knows I'm here.

Didn't think the guy I'm selling my soul to would make me work for it.

"Boss Smiley, he's doing it."

"Of course he's doing it."

Yeah, that moving paint face thing he does still creeps me the fuck out. I can see it's still paint, I can see the texture of the brick, the way it changes slightly when there quantity of paint moves a little, just… Flowing. But it's just paint, but he's here…

"Orange Lantern can be a surprising individual, but his behaviour is still fairly predictable."

There's no where for his voice to be coming from. And I'm not even sure it's not just in my head. I remember when I tried recording it one time, and when I tried to play it back all I got was him telling me not to do that again and then my cell melted.

"So..? We're good?"

"Tony, I think at this point a man should be honest about his moral calibre."

"I mean… I've done what you wanted."

"Yes, you're a surprisingly useful fellow."

"So… Mom…"

The paint-face blinks, and then looks passed me towards the door. "That is her party in there, isn't it?"

"Uh, kinda?"

"Then I'd say we're about square."

Huh? "But… That wasn't you. That was Orange Lantern."

"Orange Lantern and a design that had been sitting on the shelf for two years. I was confident that he'd just give your mother one, but I removed a few of my usual impediments just in case."

"But-. She's not cured. The Eye Drive just treats the symptoms. Underneath that she's still getting worse."

"I see." And now the damn face is looking at me like I'm an idiot, and punching it isn't gunna do any good, but if this fucker's ripped me off-. "Tony, what exactly do you think I am?"

"I dunno. Some kind of demon, probably."

"I'm not a demon, Tony. And if I were, you wouldn't interest me."

"What, sell my soul to a demon, sell my soul to whatever you are, what's the difference?"

"Hah. Oh, Tony, Tony, Tony!" It rotates its head like it's shaking it. "You are in no position to sell your soul to me. We made a simple transaction-."

"What the Hell does that mean?"

"Tony. You've made deals for favours. You've abandoned political allies when they became inconvenient. You've filibustered legislation because the sponsor cut you off in traffic the year before. You've taken money from drug cartels active in your city. And none of that's a problem for me; I applaud your industriousness. But let's not pretend what the result of that was going to be, hm?"

…

I mean… I didn't think I was that bad. It's just how things work, right? But hearing it from someone like him-.

"Hey, no." I get to my feet. "Orange Lantern's still the one who fixed Mom."

"Tony, that's how I work. I arrange things, and things happen. I don't wave my hands and magic your mother healthy again. I pull strings until she gets better. And considering the minimal work and risk involved, I'd say you got a pretty good deal."

"But it's not permanent."

"Neither's she. But you're all paid up with me, so if that really bothers you, just make another deal."

"Another deal."

"Another deal. You've made plenty before."

"…for what?"

"Some of the new people joining the House could use a mentor. Someone to help them understand the practical side of how things work."

"And that's it? Show them where the coat pegs are, and you'll-. Arrange things so that some new treatment appears?"

"No more bad proteins in her brain… And I'll throw in a nerve restoring agent, too. It won't remove the risk of a relapse, but it'll be a treatment for a chronic condition she can ignore."

I haven't heard about anything that can do something like that, and I've been looking. And all he wants-.

It's probably more than it sounds like it is, but if there's no risk to me…

But that Hell thing. I can't let that go.

"So how come I'm going to Hell, anyway? If this comes out, my career's over, and I can forget a post-Washington career if the Justice League tell everyone I'm bad people. Does that score me some points?"

"That's not really my department, Tony. But as far as I'm concerned? You're breaking the promise you made to your constituents so you can make yourself the exception to the rule. You wouldn't care if it was someone else's mother, but you sold out to me -alongside everyone else you ever sold out to- because the rules are for other people."

And then he grins.

"But if it really bothers you, we can make a deal for that, too. Accept me as your master, and I'll make sure you have a place in my realm as my footstool for all eternity."

"F-fuck you."

"Your decision! Let's see how you feel when your life ebbs away and you can start to smell the sulphur." The face shifts back towards its original position. "Now go be a mentor, okay?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Penal

16th October 2013
15:32 G.M.T. -5

Beautia looks up as I descend from the sky, a pair of heavy duty purple healing rays held on a construct loading crane. "Thanks, Paul. This is great."

I set them down on the helipad tarmac. "I'm just sorry we can't build them faster. Themyscira doesn't-."

"Doesn't have any manufacturing-" She nods to the hospital porters, and they carefully load the purple healing rays onto transport dollies. "-and KordTech is busy, I know. Frankly, I'm surprised-." She frowns, then gives me her full attention. "Has something happened in Washington recently?"

"Y-eah."

Her face relaxes slightly, trying to divine more information from me. "Is it something you can tell me about? I already heard about Senator Leahy. "

"Something like that. A lot of people in Washington found a good reason to be more agreeable and cooperative to League efforts. Why do you ask?"

She glances back at the hospital. "I wasn't exactly ready to publish my final report yet. With something like this we like to have good information on how the device affects everything, just in case there's some corner case adverse reaction. But we've officially gone from a regular study to a 'technically-we're-doing-a-study-but-in-practice-it's-a-full-roll-out' situation."

"Are there any reasons to go slower?"

"Yes. We don't know what the long term affects are on cancer rates. But… If what you're really asking is 'Is it worth doing anyway?'…" She nods confidently. "Yes. Definitely. I'm just surprised that we're getting an official go-ahead."

"As opposed to what?"

"I.. guess the.. Justice League just telling us to do it? I'm still going to have to oversee the rollout, train the doctors and nurses, and… As you know, there's going to be a huge bottleneck when it comes to building them… We're not eliminating traumatic injuries worldwide just yet."

"Is there some reason not to celebrate that I'm not hearing?"

"I just got off the phone with LexCorp. They're fishing for a contract to supply us."

"Er… Certain unsubstantiated allegations aside, is there a reason to reject them? Surely we want as many purple healing rays in production as we can get?"

"He wants to provide them at cost."

"Oh no."

"It's a problem because-."

We're both nodding. "Because he must be making back the money somewhere, and if you can't work out where then you're being bamboozled."

She rubs her forehead. "He's wanted to get more involved in the arcane technology market since you opened it up. It could just be a way to build his brand reputation."

"It's not just that. The Justice League took over funding a lot of government projects when the banking sector collapsed. This will involve the League paying him, which I'm sure he'll find profoundly satisfying."

"Oh. I was surprised when my research grant kept getting paid. I just thought that maybe Mannheim didn't mess up anything fundamental."

"Technically, he didn't mess up the Federal Government. It's just all the bits that it's connected to." I take a moment to think. Mr. Luthor is handling a lot of stuff to do with rebuilding. This isn't the first League-related contract he's taken, not by a long way. And it's a healing tool. "Do we have a real problem with working with LexCorp?"

"Can purple healing rays be turned into weapons?"

Can they? Baroness von Gunther's research was focused on non-destructive devices. Weaponisation potential wasn't something that she wrote about. From what I understand of how they work..? Not… Easily. Even if you messed around and reversed the energy flow… That would be really hard, because the system they work by causes energy to flow from high density areas to low density ones. If you try to make it go the other way around then you're talking about active uptake which requires a lot of energy to come from somewhere. With that much energy you'd be better off using a plasma gun outside of very specific circumstances, and it would need a lot of work.

More radical transformations… I do remember something from the comics called a 'purple death ray', but I've got no idea how it worked. Could you change a load of things and blast unhealth into someone? Maybe? Probably? But again, there must be easier ways to do it. Nothing else immediately comes to mind.

"Everything can be a weapon, but I can't see an efficient way to make it a weapon. I'd be more worried about them using it politically, but given the state of the world… We've got bigger problems than LexCorp returning to profitability."

"Alright, I'll-" My ring blinks. "-tell the administrator-."

"Excuse me." I move my ring to my ear. "Orange Lantern."

"The North American OMAC conversion facility has come under attack. Highest priority."

"Yes, Batman." Scan. "Beautia, sorry, need to go, keep up the good work."

Armour.

"Stay s-."

Transition.

16th October 2013
14:35 G.M.T. -6

Construct armour, full scan.

Turning people into OMACs doesn't take a lot of space, but between the training school, barrack, commissary, mass teleportation array, briefing rooms… I think the League -or possibly just Batman- bought an abandoned university campus.

There isn't much left of the actual conversion centre. Surrounding buildings have flash damage but no fires, suggesting a disintegration effect. Perimeter security… Walls and barbed wire still in place, though the force field dome is gone. Primary and backup emitters damaged, no collateral damage. Either an area effect attack designed to cause feedback or a large number of small devices. Main power plant, backup power plant and reserve batteries destroyed…

Relay scan results, deploy hydra heads.

Compliance.

With the teleportation system down, whatever OMACs live here wouldn't be able to return quickly. But the OMACs should be spread out all over the area, and I'm not seeing a single one.

I gesture towards the campus and the hydra heads fly out, searching for points of interest. Getting closer to the conversion facility… Yeah, disintegration is looking more likely. The damage pattern matches what NEMO demolition munitions-.

Ah Hell.

"Orange Lantern to Batman. Main conversion facility destroyed, moderate damage to other locations. OMAC garrison absent, no bodies detected. No hostiles detected. No radiation or other signs of ongoing risk. Recommend a full forensic examination. Staying on overwatch."

While I get hold of Jade.

"Orange Lantern out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th April 2258
14:03 G.M.T. +1

I'm sure that Mayan can keep herself out of trouble for a few hours, but just in case, monitor her.

A picture forms in my mind, of her reading poetry to a distracted class of eight year olds, which fades into the back of my mind as the Psi Cops walk back into the interrogation room I'm sitting in, the man handing me…

I look over the short document.

Ah… Yes, that certainly looks like a liability waver.

Lawyers?

None of us know human law well enough to assess it. / Seems conclusive to me, but a local lawyer would be better.

Huh. Honestly, that's fewer lawyers than I assumed I'd have.

On behalf of the politicians, I will tell you that you are sitting in a cell controlled by telepaths who have no reason to treat you well. The worth of a legal document in your hands may be judged by the number of other people who could attest that it exists.

Except we know that they can't do anything to my mind.

We don't know that. We know that a single telepath less than half as strong as them and with far less training struggled.

Ah, but I have a secret weapon.

Yes? / Oh? / We're in your head. You don't.

Because you don't remember it.

Eh?

Psi Cop Zhang Li dips his head slightly. "Mister Underwood?"

I look up, smiling broadly. "Looks fine to me. Are you doing the scanning?"

"No, I'll be asking the questions. My partner Miss Schmidt will be scanning you."

I glance sideways-. Still mildly hostile.

I nod, smiling. "You're really good at this good cop/bad cop thing. I'm genuinely impressed."

He actually hesitates, smiling slightly awkwardly. "I don't think I'm that bad."

I fold up the waver and put it into my pocket before scanning it and putting it into subspace.

"Right, let's get going."

"Do you know where Lyta Alexander is?"

"No."

"Do you know where she might be?"

Assuming that vorlons use hyperspace travel at a speed no greater than ten time what humans do..?

I shrug. "In theory, a lot of places? I really don't know where she was ultimately hoping to go."

Officer Zhang glances at his partner, who doesn't overtly respond but I do detect a brief period of increased activity from the telepathic centres of her brain-. She twitches very slightly, and Officer Zhang immediately returns his full attention to me.

I shrug. "I did say."

"You did." His keeps facing me, but his eyes point at his partner until she's fully recovered. "Have you ever had any contact with any telepaths who aren't members of Psi Corps."

"Yes."

"You.. are aware that all telepaths have to be registered with Psi Corps?"

"I am aware that all human telepaths have to be registered with Psi Corps. I am not aware-" He draws back slightly. "-of any such rule for telepaths of other species."

"There's… A slightly different process if they want to work in Earth Alliance space, but, no, in neutral or foreign territory human corporations are free to hire telepaths of other species."

"Sorry, you didn't specify. The other telepaths I've encountered-. Knowingly encountered, weren't human. As far as I know, the only human telepaths I've met are Lyta and the two of you."

"Alright, what species were they?"

"A couple of minbari when I was on Minbar, and a centauri when I was on Brakir. I didn't spend a lot of time with them."

There's a very quiet gasp from Officer Schmidt, which Officer Zhang ignores.

"Are you a telepath?"

"Not to the best of my knowledge. Doctor Hernandez did a scan of my brain during my check-up on Babylon Five. I assume that if I had the-" I wiggle my right hand at the side of my head. "-brain… Abnormalities? She'd have said something."

"Some doctors don't.. check too closely."

I raise my eyebrows. "They don't? I did want to make sure that my brain is healthy, it's kind of important."

Officer Zhang takes a moment to consider how best to answer.

"Doctors are required by law to report certain things to law enforcement; for example, if they believe a child is being abused. They're also supposed to report evidence of telepathic activity so that we can offer the appropriate support, but… Some feel that if no one's getting hurt it should be covered by doctor-patient confidentiality."

"That sounds like a bad idea."

"And it is." He nods. "But… It comes from a place of compassion, and that sort of thinking probably saved the lives of a lot of us back when the telepath panic was in full force. But, now it just makes things worse, and we only get called in after things have gone wrong."

"Huh. Uh, well, I haven't heard anyone's thoughts, so I don't think I am." I shrug. "You're the ex-" Another increase in activity from Officer Schmidt. "-perts."

"Did Lyta give you any impression that she was in contact with unregistered t-." He smiles. "Unregistered human telepaths."

"Not specifically. She said that she'd arranged to meet someone when I showed up, but that might just have been her trying to get rid of me. Or… They might not have been a telepath…"

"Did she give you a name?"

I shake my head. "No."

Another pulse, and-. Oough, I actually-.

Alright, talk amongst yourselves. Encourage her to leave.

I remember when… / This is a sloppy interrogation. / I've made my decision. / Mayan will wonder where you are.

Officer Schmidt slumps slightly, eyes watering, and I feel less ill.

Officer Zhang shoots her a glance, and then gives me his full attention, his brain lighting up too.

"Are you sure that you don't know where-?"

P-.

I catch myself before my face can hit the table, but neither of the Psi Cops can and hit it with a thud. I turn to the one-way glass and wave my arms!

"Hey! Get a medic!"

I sit back, as obviously unthreatening as I can, as another Psi Cop and a couple of Psi Corps medics dash in to check on them. The Psi Cop gives me a deeply suspicious look and has a hand on his P.P.G., but after a moment as I just sit there he appears to write me off.

One of the medics looks up. "Unconscious, no other obvious damage. I need to get them to-."

The Psi Cop nods- "Go." -and then he turns to me as an emergency stretcher is brought it, his face expressionless. "Thank you, Mister Underwood. I don't believe there's anything else you can do for us at this stage. Psi Corps appreciates your cooperation. We'll be in touch if we need anything else from you."

I nod and smile-

"Happy to help."

-and then head for the door without looking back.

 

[Mr Zoat]

It's interesting, exactly how much of a presence the desires of the Sivana family have created in the Honden. I suppose that people as unrestrained as a villainous part of the family would give their emotions free range… But it looks like they're also good at focusing them.

Huh. Maybe that idea of giving Thaddeus and Georgia power rings isn't such a bad idea after all. Have to see if they're interested.

16th October 2013
12:06 G.M.T.

I appear inside the Venusian atmosphere, armour in stealth mode and environmental shield down to an absolute minimum. I've even put the gravity field neutraliser on just in case Batman's got some way to detect gravitational fluxes as small as a person.

And I wait for a moment, just in case.

And then I don't scan, because those can be detected by the power ring Batman's wearing. But I've been here enough that I can fly to the Sivanas' home away from home by memory.

Alright, so the neutral possibility is that they were investigating the conversion centre, got spotted and… Destroyed it to cover their tracks. Far more likely is that there was something objectionable going on there and they destroyed it as part of their opening salvo against the Batman-Industrial Complex, in which case my life is about to get decidedly unfun.

But you shouldn't ask questions if you don't want to know the answer, and if Jade has decided that now is the time then I trust her judgement.

But would it have been too much to ask for a tip-off in advance? We were literally sleeping next to each other six hours ago. She knows that I can control my expression, Batman hardly ever talks to me these days anyway, and our home is about as secure as I can make it.

Again, I trust her to make that decision… But I'd be happier if she'd decided differently.

There's the facility, there's the door, transmit the access code, wait for the scanner…

Which takes several seconds longer, so I assume that they've added something to it. Sivana security is as good as they choose to make it, but sometimes they let tomorrow's test subject deliver themself.

And I'm in, and… No one around. Wait for the door to shut, use the wall computer to check that the normal protections systems are working…

Drop stealth.

"Anyone home!?" I head further into the structure, towards the room they've made their centre of operations. "Your boss is here, and he feels like he was probably denied critical information!"

"Confirm identity."

I boost power to my empathic senses and point to Darkstar Click Click-Click, who appears to have taken the opportunities provided by Earth to improve their stealth system. And then I

step out

and appear directly in front of them.

"I realise that you are not obliged to provide me with information, but-" Click Click-Click deactivates their stealth system and performs a gesture of abeyance. "-I would have very much appreciated it."

"Illustres. I remained here while the others carried out the mission. I am not expecting them back for several hours."

"So it was this team which destroyed the OMAC facility?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I would be better if-."

"Summarise, if you please."

"We have uncovered evidence that OMACs are not volunteers."

Oh… Dear.

"That would do it. Where are they coming from, then?"

"We are not sure. Part of the aim of the attack was to acquire OMACs to be deprogrammed so that we would have sentient intelligence sources."

"Best guess?"

"At least some were condemned criminals. For the rest, we genuinely do not know."

I clap my hands together just beneath my chin. "Marvellous. Does Jade plan on hitting other conversion centres next, or is the next step data gathering?"

"We are not completely sure how to undo OMAC programming. Part of the reason for using disintegration devices was to conceal the removal of conversion technology."

Ugh. None of Jade's team are xenotechnology specialists, so unless the machinery used in conversion is a near-copy of something the Reach use, they're going to be struggling to make much sense out of it. And if it is a near-copy of something the Reach used, then my current level of panic is sadly inadequate.

"Sensible. Do you have any idea when they're going to be back?"

"Their latest estimated return time for a fully successful mission is two hours from now."

I exhale slowly.

"Alright. I can wait."

"Yes, Illustres."

"How does Jade intend to undo the OMAC transformations?"

"Our hosts are assisting her."

"…which ones?"

"Thaddeus the Younger and Georgia. They were surprised that Batman had advanced the technology so greatly, and were interested in acquiring samples."

Marvellous. Marvellous. They've… Proven that they can avoid committing crimes against humanity even without constant oversight, so I… Right.

"So that I know how much I need to brace myself, are we about to pick a fight with Batman?"

"I do not have the information to recommend that course of action at this stage."

"That's a relief."

"But that recommendation may change within the next two hours."

"Good expectation management." I sigh again. "Anything useful I can do around here?"

Click Click-Click wiggles their mid-legs indecisively. "The field team might be hungry when they return, and NEMO field rations lose their appeal rapidly."

"Not quite what I meant, but… Sure. I can prepare a meal." I amble in the direction of the kitchen. "Any preferences?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th April 2258
09:17 G.M.T. -5

"…can't promise anything with a longer duration than that…" Thomas McMahon, deputy editor… Sub-editor? One of those, of Universe Today, shrugs at Mayan. "We'll have to see what the reader engagement is like."

Mayan nods. "I would be happy to reach any quantity of people, but I do understand that is not a viable financial proposition for your company."

"Honestly, if we do end up extending your contract, it's probably going to be because of an increase in minbari readership. Right now…" He shrugs. "Alien columnists aren't going to be a draw to most of our human reader base."

"There are minbari who read-"

I don't need to be here. I should just leave them to-.

Wait.

Before you ask, yes, that was definitely external. / We should go downstairs. / We don't need to be here. / Shaal Mayan is a grown woman, and the angles are wrong for an amateur sniper.

Huh. Not just me, then.

"-Universe Today?"

Mr. McMahon nods. "Usually minbari who've moved away from the Federation. We're the only human news organisation who've got any full time correspondents on Minbar, and apparently getting information out of you people is like pulling teeth."

Scan… Where did I feel like going? The lobby. Scan the lobby. Anyone surprising?

Mayan sits forwards slightly. "I was unaware that any human news organisations had representatives on Minbar."

Oh look, another Psi Cop. Scan his records-. Wait, sending me a suggestion like that is very illegal without a warrant, and I know they don't have one. Who is he?

"Yeah, see? I think awareness that journalism exists is what's holding us back from increasing our minbari market."

A file appears in my mind. Jason Ironheart, apparently. Not a Psi Cop, but an instructor at the Psi Corps Academy. No legitimate reason to talk to me, as far as I can tell. Unless they still think I'm a telepath and have decided that a teacher would be a better avenue of approach than a police officer.

I sit up slightly, drawing Mayan's and Mr. McMahon's attention. And look at Mayan, mirroring his body language! "I'm sorry, there's a minor matter I have to attend to."

Mayan looks a combination of frustrated and disappointed. "Again?"

"Something different this time." I stand up. "Excuse me."

Out of the office, internal cameras there and there, office half-full, step around the corner to break line-of-sight and move to the bottom of the stairwell, then step out and walk towards the man sitting in the waiting area behind the… Copy of Universe Today.

If I go outside and wait in the car park-.

Really? / Overconfident.

So instead, I sit down opposite him and create a privacy field generator construct.

I only have to wait about ten seconds before he lowers his newspaper. "Can I.. help you?"

"An explanation for the telepathic assault would be nice, Mister Ironheart."

He tenses up at the mention of his name, then appears to notice the privacy field. "How-?"

I smile, tilting my head slightly to the left.

"How do you know who I am?"

"I'm afraid that as a public servant your employments records are publicly available information. A little facial recognition to sort through them all, and here we are. The assault, Mister Ironheart? I'm sure that the Psi Cops assigned to my case are quite capable of interrogating you, if you'd prefer."

"No. I'm-. Sorry. I wanted to meet up somewhere… Private."

"I've protected Shaal Mayan from five assassination attempts since we've arrived on Earth. I do not want to leave her alone for too long. What's this about?"

"I need to get off Earth."

"I'm not running a passenger liner, Mister Ironheart. I haven't even decided where I'm going next-"

The Nest.

"-and-"

I don't recognise that voice.

We'll talk later.

"-so I'm going to need a little more information than that."

"I wanna go wherever Lyta Alexander went. I know you made her disappear-."

I grin. "Heh-heh. Oh yes, this doesn't look like entrapment at all. I told-."

"It's not-. I was part of a secret Psi Corps program to try to increase my power. It… Worked, and-"

"Ah, neat."

"-I learned that the program was actually intended to create telekinetic assassins."

I nod. "Those could be useful."

"To assassinate the political enemies of the Psi Corps."

Oooooh. That could… Be a problem. If… True, and not associated with any other government assassination program… Because I'm sure that Earthforce has agents specialising in that sort of thing. But if the telepath regulatory authority is carrying out assassinations…

His eyes widen as I drop the privacy screen.

"Hm. Okay, look. If you want to go on holiday, I don't mind giving you a lift."

He frowns. "L-? She's on holiday?"

"Mm. I would of course need to apply for a visa for you. Please make sure that you have all pertinent documentation with you, particularly if any of it relates to criminal activity. They'll likely want you to declare it in advance."

"I don't.. know…" He looks away, thinking it over. "I can get it, but we'll need to leave right away."

"Certainly, Mister Ironheart. Let me know when and where you'd like to be picked up, and I'll be there in a jiffy."

"Right." He nods uncertainly. "…thanks."

"Not at all, Mister Ironheart. I hope you enjoy travelling with us. Now, if there's nothing else, I really should get back to Mayan."

"No, ah… That's it. How much notice are you going to need for-? To pick me up?"

"Well, more is better, of course, but whatever you can manage is fine. I'm not planning on leaving Earth anytime soon, so go at your own pace."

"Alright." He gets up, and I rise with him. "I will. Thanks. I wasn't sure you'd be able to help-. But this is a huge.. for me."

I shrug, and say the line. "I guess I just like helping people."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
13:44 G.M.T.

Huh, this is actually fun.

I don't get to cook like this much. Kryptonians can eat everything humans can, as well as a few things we can't. Thanagarians prefer organ meat to vegetables, but they can handle most Earth food plants. Clickers, shoon and momorans on the other hand have a far smaller overlap. Shoon effectively have a shellfish allergy but need a mineral content that would be dangerous for humans. Momorans can't really chew, and prefer to gulp down food in large chunks. And they can actually be ill if they try to eat something with too much moisture in it. Clickers get ill if they try to eat something with too high an energy density.

So I could just make four different meals, but as a social human I'd prefer for us to share at least some parts of the meal.

So… Bread. As long as there's no added sugar in it, that should be alright for all of us. We can all handle butter and garlic, so garlic bread. Calpri will need a dipping bowl of mineral powder, but that's fine, he's going to be used to that. Rotisserie chicken with sauce as an optional aside, and Calpri and Lasksh can both eat the bones no trouble. The Sivana kitchen can handle roasting whole root vegetables, so that works for all of us. I can toast a nut medley-.

A sivanadroid to my right activates. "Message. Guests have returned. End message."

And then it shuts down. Okay… Nothing's really ready yet, and the oven has a shut down timer, so that's fine. Jade's perfectly capable of abbreviating a report.

I enter the cooking program for the chickens, and then turn away from the kitchen and head back towards the part of the facility the Darkstars have made their own. Click Click-Click will of course tell them that I'm here, but given that they're not shouting for me I'm going to assume that no one needs urgent medical attention. I don't know where they're-.

A door slides open.

"…out of there, but-." Thaddeus Junior blinks as he sees me. "Oh, hey Paul. You want in on the research?"

"No, I'm happy to leave that to yourself-" He smiles brightly. "-and your sister-" He rolls his eyes. "-but I would like to know-."

An OMAC lumbers into view just behind him. He balls his fists when he sees me and then opens them with a sneer, his right hand moving up to brush the remains of his severely trimmed Mohican.

"Hello."

"Fuck you."

"Hello, Fuck You. I'm Orange Lantern. And-."

"Name's Faceoff."

Faceoff. Minor British vigilante and serial killer. His facial structure is currently OMAC-standard and I never bothered to scan his genes.

"I'm a little surprised that you volunteered for OMAC-hood. Or were you conscripted?"

"Like you don't know."

"Why would I bother lying? As a Justice League associate I can call upon an entire species of telepaths to drawl your brain if I need to, or just fill you with an overwhelming desire to talk to me."

He glares at me. "Try it."

"Eh." Thaddeus shakes his head. "Even with your OMAC enhancements working, you aren't really much of a threat to Orange Lantern. Not without Brother Eye, and we had to cut that."

"You couldn't get around Batman's data security?"

"Yeah I could! Just not while running everything else at the same time!"

"Then maybe Georgia-?"

"Hey!" FaceMAC tries to grab me, but his hands are stopped by my kinetic barrier. "Don't you dare ignore me!"

"Ah, talking now, are we? So I suspect, you in fact did not volunteer for OMAC-hood."

"Fucking right I didn't volunteer. I got dumped in that place without trial, and someone's gunna pay for it."

"Rightoh. What were you not tried for?"

"Murder."

"Going back to the telepaths-."

"That fuckweasel had it coming."

"You're not making me sympathetic, h-."

"He supplied homeless people for the Caligula Club."

"I'm sorry, but that name doesn't-."

"Your angel friends burned it to the ground."

"They aren't my friends. Though I will make a note to ask Zauriel if he knows why it was chosen."

"Might have been the rape. Might have been the murder. Might have been the cannibalism."

"Ah. Was it possible to hand the individual in question over to the police?"

"The plod aren't the problem. Not the main problem. It's their bosses. If I actually get someone important then they'd mysteriously vanish."

"Really?" Thaddeus sounds more interested than appalled. "Hey, Paul, does Dad's deal cover murdering other villains?"

"Your father's deal is not invalidated by any of you using lethal force to protect someone. However, I would strongly encourage you to-."

"Yeah yeah." He flaps his right hand. "Leave it to the actual heroes."

"I was going to say 'use low lethality force', because I appreciate that you don't have the best moral judgement and I can't give you a checklist for every situation you might encounter. I would personally prefer it if you kept helping NEMO fight the Reach because it doesn't require complex judgement on your part, but if you want to vary things a little, I would urge you to bear in mind your ethical limitations."

Faceoff frowns. "'Ethical limit-'. What are you talking about?"

"This is.. Doctor Thaddeus Sivana Junior. He's an evil scientist."

He grins. "The second most evil scientist on Earth! Well, not at the moment, obviously. But when Father and I and all of the rest are on Earth, I'm number two!"

"No one as insular as you can possible claim-" Georgia scurried closer. "-that title! A true scientist doesn't limit the horizons of their discoveries!"

"They do if they want to get anything done. I thought you were still working on the neural remapping, anyway."

"I was, and then I realised why your method wasn't working."

"Girls, you're both very clever. But I'd like a full explanation as to what's been going on."

Georgia smiles. "It's not working because their neurology has been far more modified than we initially assumed."

Thaddeus frowns. "What do you mean? You can't modify the human brainohhhhhhh."

"Oh?"

They both look up at me. "He's using aliens." / "He's using aliens."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
13:49 G.M.T.

From the observation deck I look over the dozens of rows of animation suspension tanks that it shouldn't surprise me that the Sivanas own. Most contain an OMAC, a few contain… What I suspect to be an OMAC part-way through reverting to whoever they were before they were changed. In addition to the four Darkstars -and I decide to restrain myself from hugging Jade- there are a couple of people I suspect were OMACs before they were changed back.

One is human. The other is a large yellow-skinned individual who resembles Mongul. I don't actually know what his species is called, but Mongul is super strong and super tough, and the record I have been able to access state that Mongul was overthrown in a violent revolution.

Thaddeus comes up alongside me. "It will take a while for us to process all of them. Georgia and I will be focusing on reverse engineering the machinery which converted them in the first place."

Georgia gives her brother a mild scowl. "I will be studying their connection to 'Brother Eye'. I'm hopeful that we can use it to infiltrate Batman's data architecture."

"Careful with that. He's using both power ring and New God technology."

They both grin. "We know." / "We know."

Jade finishes talking to the Monguloid and turns to look up at me. I raise my right hand in greeting, and she rises off the ground and flies towards me, halting on the other side of the railings.

"Illustres."

"Darkstar Senior Agent. Had a busy morning?"

She nods. "I should brief you. There's a room we can use one level up."

I nod and drift upwards, letting her take the lead… Ah, it's like the room Beautia and I occupied before I activated Mr. Atom Mark 2. Along the catwalk, through the door and into the workshop, Jade closing the door behind us.

She looks… Slightly awkward. "I know-."

I step forwards and kiss her, and I feel some of the tension leave her as she kisses me back. And then we stay standing there, with our arms wrapped around each other.

But… We do have to have a conversation about this, and I pull away.

"So… What happened?"

"We found out where Batman was getting his recruits. I didn't think that we should wait."

"You..? Found out after you left this morning?"

"Yes. And you said that you didn't want to be told what we were doing."

"I didn't, but it might have been useful to know before Batman sent me to investigate, and I had to pretend that I don't know what LEGION disintegration charges look like."

"We made it with Tuttle's technology, but…" She nods, eyes tightening slightly. "The yield is the same. I thought it would be best if it had a blast radius that everyone was familiar with."

"You're probably right, but I put records of all standard NEMO munitions in the League's database just in case we had anything they might find useful."

She nods. "So we might get found out."

"So he might call me in for an explanation. How close are we to needing to take direct action?"

"We did this morning."

"Are you..? Planning on doing it again right away? Because you have my support but I'd like-."

"Thank you."

"I'd like a little warning so I can work out what I'm going to tell everyone."

She thinks it over for a moment. "No. Not.. yet. I want to finish interviewing all the OMACs we captured, and then we'll need to find out how they ended up here. And then we'll have to follow up on that."

"Okay. But… If they're outside of his Sector… Do you want me to stick around for that?"

"Are they expecting you back?"

"I don't have any particular task assigned to me."

She regards me with mock-scepticism. "Myra can spare you?"

"Of all the people it's worth being jealous of, the poor woman responsible for governing Hub City isn't one of them." Ah… "Though.. since Beautia's research program is turning into a rollout, I might also be spending slightly more time-."

Jade shifts her weight to her right hip, raising her eyebrows.

"Time with her."

"Now why might you feel the need to warn me about that?"

"Because she's an attractive woman I went on a date with once." She nods. "And if you had flat out turned me down, I might-" I nod. "-well have considered dating her."

"I did flat out turn you down."

"No, you said 'not right now'. That was the best result I'd gotten from a woman."

"Oh?"

"Melinoë called me an idiot, Selina said I wasn't old enough and Donna implied that she might say yes if every other man was dead and there were no-." I frown. "What's the equivalent phrase to 'and there were no sheep' for women?"

"There isn't one."

"Maybe the Amazons have got one."

"At least Mom wasn't on the list." I nod. "I'm waiting for 'she wasn't'."

"Honestly didn't occur to me."

"Oh."

"But returning to the subject of work, what led you to realise that Batman's recruitment practices were a cause for concern?"

"We couldn't tell where they were coming from. They're supposed to be volunteers, but people don't exactly rush to get their minds erased. So we started looking for people who wouldn't be missed; homeless, prisoners, orphans, things like that. Finding Darren Blake was a fluke-." I frown. "Faceoff, was a fluke." Oh, that's what that feels like. "We managed to follow him to the facility where he was being transformed."

"He seemed to be himself."

"Mind editing is the last part of the process. We got him out before they got that far."

"Facility workers?"

"There might have been some originally, but it was all OMAC operated by the time we got there."

"Right." Hm. "I was preparing a meal for your team. Given the number of people you've recovered, I think I'll have to get back to it."

"I am a little hungry. And that'll give us time to do the census."

I nod. "I'll be interested to find out how the aliens are getting here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April 2258
13:56 G.M.T. -5

"Well-." Ugh. "Yes, in a military context-. Though there have been times when that hasn't been the case."

Mayan looks like she has a headache. "There have been times when senior officers have received commands from junior officers?"

"Yes. Uh. In the British context, groups of junior naval officers during the Age of Sail might stage a mutiny and turn pirate. The main period where I'm aware of something like that happening as an ongoing situation was in Japan during the early twentieth century, where-."

My ring blinks.

"Ah, excuse me." I raise my left hand to my ear and generate a handset. "Matthew Underwood."

"When you said… 'Whatever I can manage'… How fast can you-"

Scan.

Ah, I see. He's… Hiding in an underground car park, and it looks like police in the area are looking for someone.

"-pick me up-?"

Move.

Mayan and her room vanish, replaced by… A car park time forgot. I lay my right hand on Mr. Ironheart's shoulder and transition us into orbit.

His head jerks around, staring in shock! "What the fuck!"

"Mister Ironheart. Do you have it?"

He looks down at the planet slowly turning below us. "Eh-. How? Telekinetic flight is... Possible, but there's no record of anyone strong enough to actually pull it off."

"An elder species gave me a magic ring. The records?"

He nods jerkily, reaching into his jacket to pull out a data chip. "Everything I could get. They don't exactly keep the backups where anyone can reach them."

Scan.

Oh dear.

"Keep it, you'll likely need it later. And now that I've confirmed your affidavits, I will now tell you that Lyta is a guest of the Vorlon Empire."

"The.. Vorlons..? Because she scanned their ambassador?"

"That's what she gambled on, yes. I've got no idea what they've actually done with her."

He looks around again, his composure somewhat restored. "Can we be spotted here?"

"In theory, yes. But the normal spy satellites are actually closer to the planet than we are, and I'm not actually emitting much light."

"Are we going to your ship?"

"First place they'd look." Hm. "Alright, put the chip away, I've taken a copy. Our next stop is Babylon Five, because that's the one place I can speak to a vorlon without intruding on their territory again."

"No one who's gone into vorlon space has ever come back."

"I can ask the other ambassadors if they'll grant you asylum. Ambassador Delenn seemed quite reasonable when I spoke to her. You'd have to abandon your current identity… Honestly, you wouldn't be able to come back from there any more than you would from the Vorlon Empire-. Look, you were on the inside track, right?"

"Of what?"

"Psi Corps." He nods carefully. "How big is the telepath underground? I mean… Are a lot of people trying to avoid Psi Corps, or is it a small number, or what?"

"We don't know. Trying to avoid the Corps is a crime, so people doing that try to avoid detection. I can tell you about people we found who agreed to join the Corps, or who joined after they decided it was better than the telepath suppression drugs, but I have no idea how many there are in total." He frowns. "I am surprised that you think that the minbari would take me in."

"Minbari society is rigid, with everything in its place. Including the telepaths. Generally, minbari assume that they're regulated by their own superiors just like everyone else. There are a few jobs that require telepaths, but generally they're not treated differently to anyone else. That said, joining Minbari society is a lot like joining a monastic order, so it's not for everyone. You might be better off on one of their protectorate planets rather than an actual minbari world."

"I think-. Uh." He cringes, like he just had a stomach cramp-. And… Pale translucent bands of blue-white light run over his visible skin and clothing like a low quality nineties special effect.

"Are you alright?"

"No. Psi Corps' attempt to increase my power had certain… Side-effects."

Scan.

Huh.

"I could probably undo the changes to your body, if you wanted. I've got a copy of your pre-experiment medical data."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I'm not a pilot either, and I fly pretty well."

"No, thank you. I would prefer to ride it out."

"As you wish. Ready to leave?"

He frowns. "Are you going to fly to the jump gate?"

"No, the jump gate has cameras, and there are a lot of ships in the area."

Set course. Good job Babylon 5 is closer to Earth than to the Vorlon Empire. And engage.

The stars blur around us.

Mr. Ironheart's eyes widen. "Faster than..? That's… Possible?"

"Yes. They are really quite advanced elder species. Two, one."

And there's Epsilon Eridani. Mr. Ironheart has another quick blue pulse, and then goes back to looking normal.

"So my plan is that I'm going to drop you off in my quarters and then try to get an audience with the ambassadors. Psi Corps is probably watching the space ports, but they're not going to be trying to look for you off Earth yet. That said…"

Fabricate and hack.

"Here's a fake identification card." I pass it to him. "It'll only work on Babylon Five, and only if they limit themselves to a quick scan."

"'Harvey Dent'?"

"I've got a theme going. To be clear, 'Harvey Dent' isn't a telepath, so don't read anyone's minds."

"I can't completely stop myself; no telepath can."

Synthesise.

A syringe of telepathy suppressant appears in my hand.

"I'm not sure what the glowing thing you're doing is about, but a lot of people live on Babylon Five. I'm fine with taking risks for myself, but I don't intend to put innocent people in danger, or cause unnecessary trouble for my allies. If you're telling me that you have yourself under control, fine. Otherwise…"

He nods, and takes the syringe, while I fly us towards the station.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
14:31 G.M.T.

I frown inquisitively at Thaddeus. "Is it really alright, leaving the recovering OMACs in the storage vault?"

He cranes his neck slightly, a pose judged precisely to imply that I'm an idiot for asking. "The thing about 'suspended animation' is that it suspends… Animation." He glances pointedly at our guests. "Unless we choose to let them out. I don't mind your squad using our family home to spy on Batman, but I don't like the idea of a superhuman army living here."

Jade puts down her drumstick. "We can sort through them while they're unconscious. Aliens, we can send back to their homeworlds. The humans, we can dose with amnestics and send them wherever they should go."

"By 'we', she means 'me'."

"Ah." Narran, the large yellow alien man who was recovered pre-transformation, nods slowly. Given his size, I gave him a turkey. "Do I have to go back?"

"Er. It… Would be better. We're happy to free you, but this is a covert operation we're running here."

Jade raises her eyebrows. "By 'we', he-"

"Yes, sorry."

"-means 'me'."

"I would prefer to take any form of work, no matter how demeaning, than return home."

The rest of the table -myself included- sort of stare at him, but he's focusing on his food, quickly and efficiently putting it into his mouth and down his throat.

"Would you care to expand upon that? I thought your people overthrew Mongul."

"We did, and we were fools. The man we raised up in his place is far worse." He looks up. "Is there a place for me here? If not, I would like to know, so that I can better appreciate my last meal."

"We're not going to execute you."

"No, I will kill myself."

"Ah… I don't know about keeping you here, but the galaxy is a big place and I'm sure we can find somewhere that isn't Debstam Four for you to go."

"Ah." He smiles. "Thank you."

"How is the new guy worse than Mongul?"

"Mongul was violent, prideful, vain and callous. But he had ambitions to rule more than one world, and to do that he needed skilled labourers, fighters, scientists… All the parts of a complex civilisation. The Arkymandryte decreed that we have developed our civilisation contrary to the will of the gods. His fanatical followers targetted the most educated first, aiming to destroy all knowledge that has been earned since the death of our last prophet. By his command, we have torn our civilisation down and flagellated ourselves for our moral failings in not doing so sooner."

"… I see. I'm happy to take five minutes out of my day to kill him, if that helps?"

"He commands magic."

"Ten minutes."

"And has a ring like yours."

Oh? "Two minutes."

"But yellow."

Arrrrrrrrhhh…

"Do you know where he got it?"

"Do I know where the ruler of my world got his jewellery? No. I only saw him for a few moments before he sentenced me."

Faceoff grimaces. "What were you sentenced for?"

"I made a better harness for my family's farm animals, to make it easier for them to plough the soil. Such a thing did not exist in the Godly Days, and so I was punished."

Darren crushes his fork. "Well shit. Lantern, take me there. I'll kill the bastard."

"Faceoff, you have no way to kill a Lantern, and you couldn't pass for local to infiltrate them."

"So you give me a ring, then. I know you can. I even took a look at your book."

"Did you read it all the way through?"

"Skimmed it."

"To summarise, you'd be terrible with it, and then you'd go mad. If you're actually interested in learning to be an Orange Lantern, I can take you to Maltus for training."

Though taking a closer look, I suspect that he'd be a better red, at least if it was possible for a normal person to use a red ring without going berserk. I suppose that I could suggest it and let him try it as a way to encourage him to abandon the idea of becoming a Lantern all together..?

Narran turns to me. "Could I do that?"

I take a look… "No, sorry. Entirely wrong way of looking at the universe. Though I'll keep your name in mind if we ever get a reliable source of blue rings. Uh, I'm going to have to go to your homeworld and look around, find out what's happening."

Jade gives me a mild glare. "And by 'I', he means 'we'."

I smile affectionately at her. "I'm always delighted to have the opportunity to work with you, darling."

She rolls her eyes, smiling faintly as she turns to Faceoff. "If you're not joining the Orange Lantern Corps, have you got any idea what else you'd like to do?"

"For how long?"

"Until we work out what Batman's doing, and either stop him or close down the investigation. We can't send you back to Britain because if you get spotted you'll be interrogated."

"Yeah. Right." He spears a carrot with more than necessary force, bent fork making it awkward. "What are my options?"

"Spend some time away from Earth? Plenty of places for a decent man who knows how to use weapons."

"Or?"

"I could give you a new face-."

"Another new face."

"And drop you off in England. You wouldn't be able to contact anyone until our investigation is concluded, and you couldn't go back to vigilantism in the style of Faceoff. Or we could put you in suspended animation with the others. You would be able to go back to your life with only a brief gap."

"I'll have t'think about it." He considers me for a moment, and then gives his meal his full attention.

I turn to the full Darkstar squad. "Other than Batman getting OMACs from novel places, is there anything else that you would like to tell me?"

Jade nods. "He's been using his ring to contact other Yellow Lanterns."

I slump slightly.

"I wish I could say that I'm surprised, but… Yes. Alright. Tell me everything."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April 2258
19:23 G.M.T.

"NNNNO."

I smile at Ambassador Kosh's very narrow face sphincter. "I'm not sure that I understand the difference between Lyta's case and Mister Ironheart's."

The sphincter relaxes slightly. "You do not understand what he is becoming."

I nod. "That is entirely true. And you do, which makes you the subject matter expert, which is why I came to you. If you choose not to help, that is of course your right, but the impression I got from one of my passengers-."

"NNO."

I raise my hands, still smiling. "Very well, I'm sorry to have bothered you." I reach out-.

"You do not understand the power which you wield."

"True, again, but not particularly helpful. Humans do things we don't understand for reasons we don't understand all the time. I gave you the opportunity to provide guidance, and you didn't take it. Have you changed your-?"

"NO."

"Well then. Good day."

I transition out of his quarters in a fairly isolated part of the station, and then-.

The ring blinks.

Answer.

"Mister Underwood, thank you for replying."

"Mister Lennier. I apologise for the delay. I was speaking to Ambassador Kosh."

"I understand. Ambassador Delenn has an opening in her schedule, and is willing to speak with you now. If your discussions with Ambassador Kosh are concluded."

"Yes, he sent me away with a metaphorical flea in my ear. Where is convenient for Ambassador Delenn to meet me?"

"The Ambassador is currently in her quarters."

"Then I will be there momentarily. Thank you for your assistance."

Alright… Scan… Yes, there's enough ductwork and gaps in the superstructure for me to accelerate my journey without risking detection. Push through there and move, repair and move, poke and hole, scan to check, and then move and repair.

And press the Ambassador's doorbell.

"Yes?"

"Matthew Underwood, Madam Ambassador. Mister Lennier said that you had a moment?"

There's a brief delay, and then the door opens to reveal the Ambassador. She looks puzzled for a moment, then steps back to allow me inside. I follow her as she heads towards the seating area. "I trust that your visit to Minbar was productive."

"Yes. I was actually the last person to see the Unfinished Basilica in its unfinished state. Well, me and Mayan."

"Yes, that was.. strange. Minbari buildings do not usually complete themselves."

"I think it looks better now, but I wouldn't claim to be an expert on minbari architecture."

"There is some debate about whether the changes should be left in place, or if it should be returned to the state the original architect intended."

And there's no scream of rage from inside my head. Zeen Matan was certainly a memorable character while she remained, but her soul has now passed on to wherever the souls of opinionated minbar architects go.

"How is Mayan finding Earth?"

"I think she'd like it better without the assassination attempts. I don't think she really-."

She jerks her head around to stare at me. "Assassination attempts?"

"Um." Hm. "I'm sorry, Ambassador, but I think this part of the conversation is going to go a good deal easier if I share certain information with you."

"If you have information regarding a plot to assassinate my friend, then I would be grateful."

"Oh, no. It's…" I wave my right hand dismissively. "A target of opportunity thing. As I'm sure you can understand, minbari aren't particularly popular or common on Earth, and people with more courage than sense have decided to do something about her. I've been stopping them, and she's currently in a secure location. Uh…" I look aside for a moment, catching sight of Lennier in the kitchen area preparing tea. I wave when he glances my way, and receive a nod in return. "Oh, it's easier to show you."

I raise my left fist and float into the air.

Delenn leans back, blinking, her hand-. She's touching her ring-. Some sort of gravity manipulation device.

I lower my hand and myself as Lennier stalks out of the kitchen, hands in a martial pose.

I raise my palms. "That was not intended as a threat. I wished to demonstrate that I have unusual abilities. I know that Mayan is safe because I left her on Earth less than half an hour ago. I left Ambassador Kosh and appeared outside of your quarters because I can move very fast. I completed the Basilica under the instructions of the soul of the architect, and I've been intercepting various would-be murderers because I can see the malice in their souls. And I know you're a member of the Grey Council because whatever you've-."

Her eyes harden and her presses her ring-. And suddenly I weigh a good deal more.

I adopt a meditative pose and float into the air. And then I wait patiently.

Delenn deactivates her ring with a slightly defeated air, and I return to my chair.

"Whatever you've done to disguise your forehead tattoo, I can still see it. Mayan seems to think that some previously unknown elder species has granted me their favour. I make no claims, but have no better explanation. The reason why I'm saying any of this is that I've got a bit of a problem, I'm hoping that you'll be willing to help, and Ambassador Kosh just said 'NO' a lot."

"What is your problem?"

"Psi Corps is experimenting with chirurgy and drugs to increase the power of human telepaths, with the aim of creating telekinetic assassins. I'm getting the impression that there's something deeply wrong with the organisation. One of their surviving test subjects would like to request asylum. I can get him anywhere in the Minbari Federation without drawing attention, and he's happy to work for his keep. Ah… But it might be a good idea if a minbari telepath took a look at him? He's doing this blue… Shimmery thing, and I don't think that's healthy. And in return I'm happy to do whatever favour you want."

I shrug, smiling.

"What did you do to the human telepath Lyta Alexander?"

"Dropped her off in the Vorlon Empire, at her request. They were willing to grant her asylum, or something like it. Not sure what Kosh has against Mister Ironheart, and he didn't deign to explain himself."

I fabricate a data crystal containing his stolen records -translated- and lay it on the table.

She picks it up cautiously. "I will need to consult with other parts of the minbari government. And I will need to speak with Mister Ironheart myself."

I nod. "I can make that happen."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April 2258
19:28 G.M.T.

I smile as people duck into side corridors rather than come too close to the 'vorlon' in front of me.

"I can barely see where I'm going."

"Just bear with it."

Because vorlon-style encounter suits aren't hard to make, and absolutely no one is going to stop a vorlon going wherever it wants. But nothing about being a non-telepathic telepath who's been working as a teacher really prepares you for carrying a big lump of armour plating on your shoulders and navigating by periscope.

Alright, we're close, and-.

"Mister Underwood!"

We both stop, I turn, and-.

"Commander Sinclair." Mr. Ironheart rotates his periscope-head as best he can as I step towards the Commander to head him off. I created a variation on Ambassador Kosh's outfit for him, but I imagine that the commander has met more than a few vorlons and I don't really want him to get too close a look at my work. "What can I do for you?"

He looks at Mr. Ironheart's mobile bird hide. "I hadn't realised there were any other vorlons on the station."

"Narvethk was curious about how a human managed to live two hundred years. He's planning on heading to minbar next."

Fortunately, I know that the one vorlon on the station isn't exactly chatty, so hopefully the fact that he isn't talking won't seem that odd.

"Well… Mister Narvethk, I hope that you enjoy your stay on Babylon Five."

…

"Yes."

I think that probably sounded vorlon enough. Glad I put the voice changer in there.

"Mister Underwood, I was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk."

"Ah. Now?"

Commander Sinclair nods, smiling the most sincere fake smile I've seen today. "If it's not too much trouble."

Ah… I turn back to Mr. Ironheart. "Are you going to be alright finding your way to Ambassador Delenn's quarters?"

Mr. Ironheart points the periscope head my way and pointedly narrows the aperture.

I raise my right arm and point down the corridor. "That way to the end, then turn right. It's the second door."

The periscope turns back around, and he starts slowly walking in the direction I indicated.

Ah… I'll catch up with him in a moment. "So what do you want to talk about, Commander?"

He smiles invitingly. "How was Minbar?"

"Ah, a bit overwhelming, honestly." I shake my head. "I'd have been lost without Mayan. The food wasn't as weird as I thought it would be… The people staring at me and wondering why I was there was… Off-putting, though Mayan's getting it much worse on Earth."

He nods, looking empathically concerned. "She can't have expected a warm reception."

I sigh. "I think she did, actually. I'm not sure I understand why. Minbari don't appear to expect to have any real input in how their government works. She was a religious caste poet and just… Doesn't see the War as something she had any involvement in. But goodness me some of the Home Guard people I've run into make me weep for the future of our species."

"I've had a few run-ins with them myself. How popular are they back home?"

"I.. don't know. They can usually put a demonstration together wherever Mayan does a lecture, but they could just be bussing protestors around. I… Don't think the government would build five Babylon stations if there was a majority in favour of… Whatever it is they actually want. Spending that much money on something not related to defence after a major war couldn't have been popular anyway."

"I like to think we've proven our worth."

"Oh, getting representatives of different polities together regularly to prevent problems getting out of hand is clearly a good idea, it's just… I have to admit, I… I sort of assumed that by this point in history, this sort of negotiation would have been handled over some sort of… Space radio... Telepresence.. thing? Building a space station in the middle of nowhere seems… A lot of work for little extra return?"

"This isn't just about the council meetings. We also all put on events so that we can learn more about one another's cultures."

I shrug. "I suppose that building up a personal rapport between representatives could be helpful. I've only been here a year, there are probably plenty of things I'm missing."

"You really.. think you were in suspended animation for two hundred years?"

"No. No, that's clearly nonsense. I'd have noticed a cryogenic pod… Or whatever actually gets used for suspending animation… When I woke up, and there wasn't one. And also I was able to read my own obituary."

"Your family thought you were dead?"

"Oh no." I shake my head. "They had a body. I kept most of my hair, which I suppose is nice. Eighty-nine isn't too bad."

He frowns. "How did they have a body?"

"Cloning, parallel universe…" I throw up my arms in bewilderment. "I don't know. I don't think I'm him, because he died and I'm still alive, but I can't really explain… That."

"That… Ah…"

"No, I wouldn't believe me either." I fabricate a data crystal in my pocket, pull it out and hand it to him. "Feel free to confirm it with Earth records. My life really doesn't make sense."

"I'll…" He takes the crystal. "I'll do that. And you don't have… Any idea? Was there some kind of laboratory on the planet you woke up on?"

"No, not that I saw. And why would anyone clone me? I wasn't anyone important. And that wouldn't give me my old memories; I died long before telepaths started appearing on Earth. My memories could be fake, but they're too detailed. I've checked: writing things that I think are in a film or television program down before watching it, and then getting someone to check the list against what happened… They're accurate. It makes no damn sense, but here I am anyway."

"Did you get a genetic comparison done between yourself and your alter ego's remains?"

"What remains? I wasn't religious: I was cremated. And while I could track my sister's descendants down, after this many generations there wouldn't by much similarity between us. Ah." I smile, bowing my head for a moment. "But I doubt this is what you wanted to talk to me about. Is it about Miss Alexander? Because Psi Corps have been on at me about that."

"Not unless you have anything you want to tell me." I shake my head. "Then it's more… Have you heard of 'death of personality'?"

I nod. "Yes, it's how you not-execute people here in the future."

"And what do you..? Think about it?"

"I mean, it's… Nice that you use telepaths to double-check jury decisions. Though I don't see why you don't just use telepaths in the first place. Uh. And since you're erasing a person's personal memories, it's basically the same as execution, but then you've got to do a whole lot of extra work to find something to do with the resulting new person…" I shrug. "I don't really get it, but then I didn't live through the history which led people to decide it was a sensible thing to do."

"I was wondering if something like that might have happened to you."

"Uh. I don't think so. They-. People who've gone through that don't have any interest in their past life, whereas I do. I haven't found any records of anyone sharing my physical appearance, so I don't think anyone could have been turned into me. Have you..? Looked into it? Because I'd rather have a hard truth than an easy lie."

"No, and I did send a request for any relevant information to the Ministry of Justice. Though that would only cover a death of personality carried out as part of a judicial process."

I nod. "And if someone else had gotten hold of the technology, they wouldn't have any information. Well. This is who I am now, so… I don't think I'll waste time chasing after the chance. Thank you for letting me know."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
09:54 G.M.T. -7

"Lantern Jordan." He looks around as I approach. "Got a minute?"

He turns back to looking over the reconstruction work in Coastal City. Since it was actually a functional city and not a festering sinkhole like Hub City, there was an actual emergency management plan as well as enough good will amongst its population to help each other out during the recovery period. But at the same time, unlike Hub City, it's been going to rebuilding in a mostly conventional way and so they're not using nanofabricators to put up entire tower blocks in a day.

"Sure. What do you need? And..?" He looks at me curiously. "Why aren't you doing this by ring?"

"It-."

"And with Guy. Or Alan. Or, you know, your entire Lantern Corps?"

"Got a lead on Sinestro. Interested?"

The look he's giving me shifts to a more unfriendly mode. "I was wondering where you got that yellow ring. Thought it might be your Weaponer."

"No, it was Sinestro. Never met the man in person, but he was the source."

"So where is he?"

"This isn't.. to do with that. Directly, anyway."

"Oh? Because this sounds like something you should have told me."

"Alright. Did you read the report-" He's already nodding, eyes deliberately widened to make a point. "-about what I did to the Citadelians who helped me attack the Citadel?"

"You mean, where you killed them all after they helped you?"

I tilt my head slightly to the right. "Does helping me while under mind control mean that all the rape and murder didn't happen?"

"No, I guess not."

"Well then. And no. I didn't kill them all, just most of them. One of the ones who didn't die, the Citadel's senior engineer, who surrendered the engineering department and Adam Blake to me with a minimum amount of fuss, he showed up to give me the ring for Batman with one of his own."

"Did he fight you?"

"No, no. He said he was going to once he's gotten a lot stronger. I told him to go for it."

"You.. kids did the.. de-escalation training, right?"

"It's an Orange Lantern thing. But-. Okay, what do you know about Debstam Four?"

He doesn't reply for a moment. "Mongul's original homeworld. Why would Sinestro want it? Mongul might have been worth recruiting, but they overthrew him and chased him off the planet."

"Turns out the new guy's worse. And he picked up a yellow power ring."

"And you know that how?"

"Spoke to a refugee. But while I could just fly over there myself, it's not like I'm going to want to have to stick around and oversee another world's rebuilding. Earth's quite enough."

"So, what, you want me to do it? That's not my job."

"No, but that Sector's Green Lanterns probably have some idea about how it could be done. And you're an Honour Guard Lantern not tied to a Sector. You don't even need specific permission from the Guardians. And I know perfectly well that you want a pop at Sinestro."

"Yeah, that's true. So, what, you and me head over to Sector Two Eight One One and find out what's going on? Green Lanterns 're not really supposed to overthrow tyrants, but if Sinestro and yellow power rings are involved, that's a different story."

"I was going to bring Jade as well. She's a better infiltrator than we are."

"Your source say how many other Yellow Lanterns we might run into?"

"The only one he mentioned was the planet's current ruler. That doesn't mean that he can't call for help. However, the last couple of times I found solo Yellow Lanterns, Sinestro was experimenting without really committing to them."

Jordan nods. "So he won't be able to get help anyway. Alright, I'm in. Let me just shoot Batman a message-."

"Batman, who is right now wearing a ring I got from Sinestro."

"You..? Think he's listening in?"

"I don't know that he's not. Experimenting, remember? Batman's a total success. Naturally, he'd want to learn as much as he can."

"Huh." His gaze grows a little distant. "I assumed Batman would find some way around that."

"Batman is a very intelligent man, but it's a power ring. It's a little beyond normal analysis."

"I've never made money betting against Batman. But… Okay. Leaving right now?"

"Seems wise to me. Which Green Lanterns work that Sector?"

"That's… Lantern Niiniini and Lantern Gaart. Never met them, don't know anything about them. They're not rookies but they haven't been Lanterns long enough to call 'em veterans."

"So what killed their predecessors?"

"Mongul and parademons. Apparently there's a world in that Sector Apokolips like to use for training. We only found out after we lost a Lantern there."

"And that operation wasn't shut down?"

"No one else lives there. Guess the Guardians think it's better they do things like that somewhere it won't bother anyone else."

"Alright. You head out and get in touch with them, I'll pick up Jade and catch up with you?"

"I should call someone to keep an eye on Coast City…"

"Has it been having trouble?"

"No, but I wanna keep it that way." He sighs. "But everyone's gunna be busy."

"Lantern Rrab?"

"Spending time in her own Sector."

"Er… I think Blitzen's free?"

"Ah…"

"Look, I-."

"No, I… Get it. She's basically a cult survivor, just coming to terms with her brainwashing. If Jay says she's okay, that-. Okay, I'll give her a call."

"Thank you for giving her a try. I'm sure she'll appreciate the chance."

"I'll just have to hope no one asks me to explain where she came from. See you in Two Eight One One?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:11 G.M.T.

Jordan appears next to us, frowning.

"Problem?"

"Yeah." I'm mildly pleased to see him armour up as he nods. "I can't get a hold of the local Sector Lanterns. Checked out the Sector House on the way here, nothing out of the ordinary."

I scan the planet below us, supposedly the homeworld of Lantern Gaart. No obvious problems that would call for Lantern intervention, and… There's the white-flag-with-green-sigil flag marking his family home.

"Is the protocol to contact his family?"

"I… Look, I wanted to go after Sinestro without Salaak looking over my shoulder, but if two Sector Lanterns are out of contact-."

I raise my hands. "You're right. You're right. Call it in."

He nods, and raises his right hand to his face. "Honor Guard Lantern Hal Jordan to Lantern Salaak."

I smile as he omits Salaak's full title.

"I'm in Sector Two Eight One One and the Sector Lanterns aren't responding."

No face appears…

"Problem?"

"Sure looks like it." He stares at his ring like it's personally betrayed him, then turns to me. "Not that I can do maintenance on these things any more than Batman can. Could be overdue for its million year service."

Jade's face appears over my ring.

"I just got off the comms to Lantern Gaart's wife. He hasn't been home in a month."

Jordan nods. "That's not-. Necessarily unusual, but I am getting a little more worried. She say what he was doing?"

"His last message had him in the Cygnus system. Which is-."

Jordan's already turning away. "Where the parademon training world is. If they're gotten in over their heads…"

I grab Jade's ship with a construct and plot the course. "Let's go."

Space bends, and with a little finessing I manage to synchronise my warp corridor with Jordan's. "Do the Apokoliptians often cause them trouble?"

"No. Never. They keep an eye out, but all they really do is kill each other. They don't even give them ships."

"Anything else going on in this Sector?"

"No, it's been pretty peaceful since-"

We drop out of warp and that's a lot of ships!

"-Mongul left. Who-?"

"Ships are broadcasting Dread Horde identification codes."

"Mongul." Ships on the outer part of the formation begin pulling away from their position and heading towards us. "What are they doing?"

I generate railgun constructs and load crumbler rounds. Those worked well enough last time I fought Mongul's ships. I also let go of Jade's ship, and I see her pilot it away for a moment before she engages the stealth system.

"Scans are inconclusive. Either mining or testing their ground strike capacity."

I see Jordan's hands clench. "Look on the bright side. If he was dead, his ring's seeker protocol would have directed it to a new bearer."

"Yeah, but everyone who fights us knows that. You'd be surprised what you can live through."

"Alright, other bright side. I'm not seeing Sinestro."

"That's more of a downside. Your girlfriend gunna be okay?"

"This isn't her first fleet engagement. And space is a thaumically isolated environment. If she dies here, it shouldn't be that hard to transfer her soul into a new body."

"Right, I forgot who I was talking to, there." He looks across the void towards the largest starship. Dreadnought class, but not Warworld itself. "This is Honor Guard Lantern Harold Jordan to whoever's in command of the Dread Horde fleet. Leave this system immediately, or be destroyed."

"This is Mongul the Second. Do not dare disappoint me."

Jordan looks at me, and I shrug. "Maybe he really wants to be destroyed?"

Alert! / Warning.

I transition a mile left, and Jordan forms a jetpack construct and flings himself across local space just as a spatial charge goes off behind us!

Right, was that a teleport or a spatial warp-? Teleport, okay, and jam the sensors, track the incoming… Corvette squadron… Yes, they're coming in without any evasive manoeuvring at all. Scan, empathic vision… Yes, they're not using sensor baffling or other stealth technology. Target and fire.

Teleport attempt jammed.

A… Long way away from me, another charge goes off. Too far from me to do anything-. Another goes off, and another-.

Ring, scan for residue?

None found.

Wait, none? There should be-.

I release a hydra head Construct Lantern, and send it off towards the closest blast region. Then I take a moment to observe my shots hit the corvette squadron. The first corvette loses its frontal shield from the first hit and then takes the second to its hull. The kinetic force makes it look like the ship explodes, the metal undulating and bursting in a wave away from the initial impact site.

The other four ships in the squadron-. One tries to peel off, aiming to take a more evasive course. At this range my shots will miss if they vary their approach even slightly, so it's a sound tactic-.

The other three ships shoot them, rapidly draining their shield and then battering their hull.

Ah. Mongul II's one of those commanders.

Teleport attempt jammed. Teleport attempt jammed. Alert!

I transition closer as another spatial charge goes off, and I spot the telltale ripple in the stars around me that indicate they used a spatial warping corridor to throw it at me. Optical scan of the capital ship-

Alert!

Transition left, teleport jammer, spatial stabiliser.

-shows that it has a frontal spatial charge launcher. Not what I'd expect from someone like Mongul, who was reputedly as brave as he was murderous, but alright. I-.

I wince as the hydra head returns to my ring, confirming my suspicion.

"Jordan, the spatial charges nullify constructs."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:14 G.M.T.

"Yeah, I noticed!"

The corvette squadron alters their bearing slightly, still heading for my location at what I suspect is their best possible acceleration.

Railguns.

So how is this fleet supposed to work?

Corvettes are cheap to build and crew. That dreadnought wasn't, and neither were the two battleships of similar configuration flanking it. Same prow weapons… So… Send in corvettes crewed by the least capable and/or least loyal that you have to act as a distraction or hem in your target, and then drop spatial charges on top of them. Collateral damage doesn't matter because it's not costing you anything you weren't planning on throwing away anyway. And if the corvettes get ideas, you can just drop spatial charges on them.

"Jordan, anything to tell me-"

From his general direction, I see the blasts of more spatial charges.

"-about-?"

"BUSY!"

Okay. Ring, narrow beam to the corvette at the rear of the squadron.

Compliance.

"If you'd rather consider other opportunities, I can help you escape."

"I'm one mission away from earning my own holding! You think I'd throw that away now! BEG, and perhaps you will live long enough to-."

Cancel. Are there any other channels on that ship?

No.

Oh well. Railgun that guy.

Compliance.

"Hey, how come-. Uh! They're not shooting at you?"

"They are, but at this range their light speed weapons are going to take about two minutes to actually hit me, so as long as I move a little-."

"The explosives!"

"Jam the teleport scanner, jam warp drives. I'm having to monitor the construct nullification zones, but space is-"

"You can do that?"

"-pretty big. Yes? You can too."

"I don't know I can."

"If you can warp space then you can stop space warping. And you must be able to understand sensor jamming; you're a pilot."

"These things are a little more sophisticated than radar!"

The rear corvette crumples, and the rest start firing… Gravitic catapults and masers, attempting to fill the area around me. They must know that's unlikely to work. Just… Showing the boss that they're trying?

"I mean, yes, but it's the same principle."

"God damn orange A.I. assist-."

I wince empathetically as another series of explosions mark his approximate location. Ah, maybe I should-.

Alert!

Huh-? Dodge-!

Alertalertalertalert-!

Bchtzzzzzzz!

D-uh.

Uh…

Construct armour… Gone. Armour… A bit battered, but basically whole. Kinetic barrier fine, but that's only really any use if I run into debris. I kick my armour's impeller into gear… Random bursts, because I'm not currently fast enough to just transition out of the way of-.

I'm not jamming the spatial charge launching mechanism any longer. Hopefully, they won't notice.

I try dumping a hydra head out, but it shimmers and fails almost immediately. Okay, how about inside my armour? Yes-. Yes, the flight aura is engaging, good. Move faster.

"Paul-?"

"Jade, I'm down to my armour's sensors. Fastest route out of the blast-?"

"Down from your current orientation and slightly to the right."

I immediately follow her suggestion. "Thank you."

Kinetic barrier is flickering, so I'm flying through something physical. Never thought to put a chemistry suite in this armour. Armour's sensors can tell me roughly where the corvettes are, but I can't see exactly what they're doing and I don't imagine that I'm a convincing potential protector when I'm like this. Evacuating via the Honden should be possible, but I'm pretty sure that Mongul II isn't afraid of friendly fire and… If he's got an anti-construct technology, he's obviously going to have it deployed close to himself. I mean, the first place Grand Admiral Thrawn put a ysalamiri was his own office. Other places… The corvettes are probably clear, but, friendly fire.

There's a flicker on the edge of my vision as something explodes above me. Ah, kinetic barrier controls, expand it above me… Yes, that should stop whatever's in the explosions contaminating the direction I'm heading in.

"Time to free space?"

"Three. Two."

"Thank you."

I try to recreate my construct armour, and for a moment nothing happens. Then it flickers and we're back. Now, is Mongul merely 'ruthless', or is he the 'fail me and die' type?

Alert!

I warp, space bending around me as I fly under the corvettes, as well as whatever that was that my ring just alerted me to. Jammers, railgun, less power, and alternate the crumblers with solid slugs. Target primary drives and fire.

I wince slightly as the first shot hits the hull directly. Apparently they put all their power into their forward shield emitters. Could be a design issue, could be a tactical decision, but it does mean that my second shot hits harder than I intended as already buckled armour comes apart entirely. The shot hits something vital, and-.

The ship erupts from the rear as… Main reaction mass storage, I assume, catches fire, rapidly turning the ship into a cloud of charred scrap.

Just crumblers for the rest of the-.

Alert!

For an instant I see the spatial charge materialise in the middle of their formation. And then it detonates, and there's… Nothing left.

Squadron.

I guess that answers that question.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:17 G.M.T.

"Jordan, still alive?"

"Yeah. I disabled a squadron of destroyers, and one of the battleships blew them up!"

"Same here." Destroyers? Maybe. Two more squadrons are approaching their maximum effective range. "Surprised?"

"Whenever pirate captains I've fought did things like that, their own crew got rid of them."

"Assuming Mongul Junior takes after his father, he's probably too strong and tough for that. You worked out how to jam them?"

"No, I'm just warping in and out of the system before they can hem me in. What happened to you?"

"Not sure what they hit me with, but it actually hit through my jamming. Jade?"

"They don't just warp space to fire spatial charges. They can also fire capital ship maser cannons down warped channels."

"…oh." Yes, that would work. Must be a bit fiddly. The engineering required to keep something like that going would be significant, and if he's executing anyone who gets his coffee order wrong…

"I though you were-. Hang on." … "Stablizing space?"

"Yes, but the effect scales with the size of the jammer. I was just trying to stop them dropping a spatial charge on my head, not stop them sending them anywhere in the system. Sending a maser beam ninety nine percent of the way isn't much different to-."

"Right, got it. Ideas?"

"I could go to the other side of the planet, use it as concealment and shoot them through it."

"No."

"Alright." Jammers… Bigger, this time. Gun mantle, thick enough to take another maser shot. And a singularity projector. "I'll do it from-."

The mantle abrades as one of the battleships does indeed take the shot.

"From here. Any idea what's in those charges?"

"Nothing on file matches. There aren't that many ways to stop constructs, and most of them need to be, you know, in one piece."

Target the dreadnaught and fire.

Reality jumps as spacetime is squeezed in a direct like between my gun and the-. The space near the dreadnaught, because they can use their spatial warping technology to partially counter my gun. It still hits, still gives their armour a good rattle, but that's all.

I dismiss the construct. "And they have defensive warp fields. Long range bombardment of the capital ships is impractical."

"You think they dug it up?"

"Depends on long they've been here. Maybe. Canis hasn't mentioned anything like this, and you know he'd boast about it."

"Can't you just do that step thing onto their bridge?"

"Considered it, realised that if they can block constructs I'd probably die."

"How about somewhere else?"

"Sure. Where?"

"The surface. If you can find out what's going on, we might be able to start making sense of this."

Right. Fabricate drones shaped like my armour with orange light emitting diodes so that it looks a bit like I'm still here, release. I don't know how good Mongul's sensors are, but hopefully not that good.

"Sure you can manage without me?"

"I've-."

"I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thank you, darling. Back shortly."

I step out, looking through the manifestations of desire for some sort of clue or target. Mongul II's desires are similar enough to his sister's… No, I recognise that shape. Identical in nature but more unrestrained. He'd be a powerful Orange Lantern, at the cost of virtually all of his ability to interact with people. Might be a decent way to beat him, actually.

The classical evil overlord thing to do would be to have his captured Green Lantern displayed in his throne room, but that seems like an unnecessary risk. Even if they removed their ring, the moment that the construct suppression system failed, they'd have a fully powered Green Lantern who was now aware of how they were beaten the first time to deal with.

I focus my attention on the planet instead. Can't feel a Green Lantern there either, but I shouldn't assume that Green Lanterns have to feel alike. But the people working there… They mostly want to be somewhere else. And for some of them that's in a grave. Some… Further away… Yes, that'll do. I

step in, engaging my armour's stealth systems.

Now, let's see who we're looking at here. Stocky humanoid, mouth… Looks like a predator who tears chunks off their food and doesn't chew. Basic protective clothing, and plenty of visible scars. They're sitting under a tree, looking up at the sky and generally-.

No one else around? Good.

I deactivate my stealth system, take a small bowl of stew out of subspace and hold it out. The former miner starts to rise and then stops, presumably trying to work out who and what I am.

"Escaped slave? Not a problem. I'm willing to trade food for information now, and offer you a chance at freedom later."

"I am free. They do not put walls around the dig site. This world kills all who leave." He snorts. "But I have at least that much courage. Who are you?"

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Ah? Like the Green Lanterns?"

"Sort of."

"They already captured one of your kind. You will not defeat Mongul on your own."

"Are you offering to help?"

He makes an… Odd noise. His people's laughter. "I prefer to die peacefully."

"I don't, but alright. You know this place is an Apokoliptian proving ground?"

"Yes. We are in a zone with deadly insects. Their sting melts your nerves, so that you cannot feel it as their larvae grow within you and then eat you."

"Surprisingly merciful. The version on my homeworld just paralyses you. Do you know where the Green Lantern is being held?"

"The tunnels, by the dig site, surrounded by the cursed crystal we mine. He will not help you either; he is powerless."

"'Cursed crystal'?"

"To us, it just causes nightmares. That is why I ran. For you? Your ring dies."

"Okay." I pass him the bowl and he takes it with relish. "If I survive, and you haven't been impregnated, I'll be back for you."

"You should." He raises the bowl to his maw. "This is a nice bowl. It would be a shame if the insects got it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd April 2258
12:03 G.M.T. -5

"…wanted murderer Jason Ironheart." I walk into the bar area of the hotel Mayan and I are staying in, wincing slightly at the empty tables around her in all directions. The I.G.N. presenter on the… Restaurant's screen is doing an earnest to-camera piece about my escaped telepath. "Psi Corps officials describe him as extremely dangerous." Interesting that Psi Corps is being so open about this. I suppose they don't have to mention exactly what he was doing when he killed the experiment director, and they do have a body if anyone's curious. "If anyone has any information concerning his whereabouts, please contact the hotline on the number below."

Mayan considers me for a moment, and then makes a gesture-

A request for a private discussion, though it would usually only be used between members of the same clan.

-as I sit down across from her. Looks like she ordered dough balls.

I use the ring to generate a privacy screen.

"Did someone try to kill me again?"

"No, nothing to do with you this time-. Ah… Not directly to do with you. As far as I know no one tried to kill you."

"Good. I have finished my first article for Universe Today, and I would appreciate it if you could review it prior to submission."

She frowns as she says it.

"Are you worried?"

"No. It has simply been a very long time since I had anyone review my work. It is… Discomforting."

"I've got something even more discomforting."

"Of that I have no doubt."

Target language only.

"So I popped back to Babylon Five, and… Delenn was actually aware of the attempt on your life."

"I did not tell her. I agree that since it was so politically sensitive, as long as the human authorities perform their duties properly, it would be better if it did not come to wider attention."

"Yes, but someone took a photograph of the two of us together and it turns out that Delenn already knew the word for 'newspaper'."

"Are you concerned that someone will notice how mobile you are?"

"The article that came with the image implied that the two of us might be romantically involved. Delenn wanted to be sure that I understood that wouldn't be happening."

Mayan nods slowly. "Yes. And what did you say?"

"Ah… That I know two women and one of them has a penis? I don't-. I don't think she understood the.. cultural baggage, there."

"I am not certain that I understand the 'cultural baggage'. If you are considering… Mating outside of your own species, you must understand that different species have different… Components."

"Yes, and I… I'm aware which species… Have arrangements that I'd find disconcerting."

She stares at me. "And it is not all of them?"

"No. I mean, if I was… With a female centauri… We're physically similar enough that we wouldn't set off each other's arachnid response, but we'd have to come to… Some sort of arrangement, because the… Parts don't-."

"Is there a reason why you're talking to me about this?"

"Point is, with minbari, the parts… Match. If you hadn't been direct with me about how your entire species finds the idea revolting, I probably would try to court you. As it is, I appreciate your directness."

"That is not the same as saying that you do not wish to court me."

"No. Sorry, it's not. I think it's the 'know two women' thing."

"Then I suggest you meet more women of your own species." She shifts awkwardly in her seat. "Or not, if you prefer, and agree not to bring it to my attention."

"Thing is, my current lifestyle doesn't really lend itself to doing that. And given that you told me that you're single, I'm assuming that yours doesn't either."

"You yourself told me that there are no other minbari on Earth."

"So… So what, you don't..? Hate the idea?"

"The idea of marriage? No?"

"How do minbari..? Do… Courtship."

"Would you not be better off asking another human for advice?"

"Yes. But… I lived on Earth before we had any contact with aliens, and… I've seen the life I lived. Maybe learning how the minbari do things will help."

She nods slowly. "It depends upon the era. Once, potential matches would be arranged by the elders of a clan. In modern times, it is more common to leave the initial introductions to the individuals themselves. The approval of clan elders is still sought, but it is more ceremonial than essential."

I slump back, weakly throwing up my hands. "And I don't have clan elders, and the second one is just what humans do but with more involvement from the extended family."

"I am sorry, but I do not have a great deal of experience with romantic love. Have you considered asking another human for help?"

"How many humans do you think I know well enough to ask for personal advice? Even with courtship off the table, you are my closest friend in this era."

"What of your passengers?"

"None are human. The gaim asked why I don't just hand a sample of my genetic code to my queen. The minbari have delicate stomachs. The narn is rolling his eyes."

He's right.

"And I'm not going to repeat what the drakh suggested."

Wise.

"And really, the sort of people who got the attention of the soul hunters were probably people who spent all of their time doing the thing that got them the soul hunter's attention, rather than having a healthy work-life balance."

It was time well spent. / Not… Wholly inaccurate. / I successfully mated many times.

Ah?

Does your species have a reasonably conventional view of romantic-?

Romantic? That would be inefficient. I rented egg vessels for the purpose of fertilisation.

Thank you, helpful suggestions only, please.

"Have you considered focusing on your higher purpose, and letting things develop as they may?"

"'Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans'. I could focus on that, but then I'd never have the opportunity to meet humans -because none of my guests are humans- and I'd get into the habit of doing nothing else. So I'd never do anything else."

"I can share my limited experience, if you think that it would help."

"Please. Because the chance of me just… Bumping into someone on my own recognisance and hitting it off it pretty minimal."

24th April 2258
21:27 G.M.T. -5

The woman smiles at me as she passes me a wine flute. "Hi. I'm Kelsey. You come here often?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:24 G.M.T.

And there's the dig site.

Mongul's type seem obsessed with manual labour, possibly because giving labourers who hate you advanced equipment is just asking for the intellectual sort to either engage in the hard to detect sort of sabotage or build weapons sophisticated enough that they might actually be able to succeed in liberating themselves. So it's an opencast mine, a pit dug down with shelves in the pit walls for labourers, equipment and excavated earth to go to and fro. Digging is being undertaken with shovels thrust in the earth with the assistance of powered frames, a small number of workers carrying sonic lances to break up rock.

But if this world is anything like the one in Salvation Run, they'll be an underground facility somewhere around-.

Ah.

Yes, there it is. There's a tunnel… And they're excavating the area around it, They're definitely breached it, not 'found the entrance', but forced entry through the metal it's made of. And now they're… Following it from the outside. I… Think there's also a crew-. Yes, they're entering the tunnel too, and…

Yellow crystal. And the people moving it are… Trembling, and the overseers are keeping their weapons handy.

In terms of species… It's a mix. Not a lot of Mongul's own species, just for a couple of overseers. The others are an eclectic mix of species from across a dozen Sectors where Mongul's known to have travelled. And-.

And those are tamaraneans. Carrying the crystal by the barrowload. Might be because they don't suffer the same long term consequences from exposure, or it might just be that the overseers like seeing their open reactions; they weep as they work.

I'm not seeing anything I couldn't destroy or anyone I couldn't kill. The guards are exclusively from physically robust species, wearing thick armour and carrying both electrified whips for those too lazy to learn how to use whips properly and plasma carbines to be used in the case of a camp revolt.

As the man I spoke to previously said, there's no wall.

I'm not seeing a sensor network capable of detecting me. And while the ships above us could easily roll and point their weapons downwards, I'm not seeing any weapons that are a threat to me. So long as I avoid the yellow crystals.

Except… I wouldn't be able to. They'd just need a conventional bomb in one of those barrows and my rings would lose the ability to affect things externally. And my armour… Okay, with crumbler gauntlets I could punch my way through eventually, but… Ships, hostages.

Constantly monitoring my environment, and with my stealth systems very much engaged, I float down into the pit towards the tunnel entrance.

Been a while since Salvation Run. Wasn't Selina put into a simulation where she had to fight the Justice League, or… Something? And she won, which-.

I'd have thought that Apokoliptian training would be more about unwinnable scenarios than power fantasies. Maybe Kalibak was having a hard day and wanted an easy workout session, and forgot to reset it when he left?

Not seeing a Green Lantern. Only limited structures on the surface, mostly what looks like a landing ground and a couple of foxholes. Which-.

Are they lifting off the entire work detail when the sun goes down? Depending on the frequency of attacks, that might make sense. No shuttles sitting on the ground. To prevent escape or to prevent local creatures infesting the fleet? The crystals are being loaded into actual shipping containers, barrows being wheeled up a ramp and the crystals being dropped in to the open top. The crystals are… There are only a couple of sizes and they're clean of earth and rock.

They're not mining them. They're just taking them out of something.

No sign that they're detecting me… And there's the tunnel entrance. Ah, they've got a force field set up over the entrance. Perhaps they're living in here? But while I don't want to try my phasing system against the Apokoliptian metal, getting in just requires that I wait until they let the next barrow convoy out…

And I float through.

I've seen Apokoliptian technology; Canis uses it, and I've seen Grayven's command ship a few times. But this it more… Workmanlike. A utility tunnel or a transportation tunnel… There's only so science fictiony you can make it. The area around the breach doesn't have functional lighting, but only a short distance away line of some sort of luminescent… Paint? Start glowing, and providing enough light for the workers to see by.

The concentration of guards is higher in here, I note.

Alright, the barrows are coming from that direction, so that's where I'll go.

A few crystals appear to have fallen on the floor, broken and-.

Ah, no, they're probably there to extend the construct nullifying effect here in case the Green Lantern escapes. They're the only broken crystals I've seen so it's probably deliberate. I wonder how the effect changes, broken versus whole-.

Idiot. Mongul is the sort of person who would be aware of the Reach, and who they would be aware of in turn. I'll have to notify Dox about this-. Ring, is it possible to transmit a data packet?

Connection unavailable.

Thought not. Send it the first moment it's possible.

Compliance.

Alright, there's some sort of chamber coming up. Can't… See any workers or guards, but there wasn't a turnoff that I saw…

Well this feels like a trap. Power to crumbler gauntlets and slow ahead…

And duck and scan because I'm not in Kansas anymore! This is-. Apokolips? Grim industry, metal and stone everywhere, giant Darkseid statues, prevailing aura of despair and desolation… Yep, yep, all present and correct! Some sort of stealth boom tube? Or-. Wait. Catwoman's virtual reality simulator. How would.. I tell-? Not the most important thing right now. Just stay crouching in this chimney, and-.

Parademons. Actual mutant soldiers, not those weird animal thingies from some of the recent D.C. films. They're taking positions in the spires and chimneys around me, aiming… Aiming in all directions. Waiting for something.

I look away from them and at the rest of the arena, trying to see what else is happening. None of the buildings are moving, and below… Below, I can see Lowlies-.

No, wait, those aren't Lowlies. Lowlies generally look human. Those are more of Mongul's slaves. And they're… Waiting. What are they-?

A nearby guard tower explodes in an emerald mushroom cloud! A glowing green figure descends as the parademons raise their blasters. Ah, great it-.

Wait, that's… Not Lantern Gaart. That's Green Lantern Raker Qarrigat, the First Lantern who led the Green Lantern Corps' attack on Apokolips. That was a long time ago, but I don't have good data on how long members of his species can live. They would have said something if he was still alive, wouldn't they? I mean, the Justice League attack that liberated the Forever People wasn't subtle.

Lantern Qarrigat makes a construct barrier around himself as the parademons open fire, their shots plinking impotently off the outer surface. And then-

"Yaagh!"

Lantern Gaart comes in, precise shots slamming into the distracted parademons and knocking them from their perches. Good? Great? Freeing a ancient hero of the Green Lantern Corps wasn't on my bingo card this morning, but I'll take it. And then-.

Then the ground shakes, and the structures hum, and the surface of the buildings the parademons and I are holding on to sort of… Glowing tron lines, a New God is doing something! Small brackets extrude from the walls, each supporting one of the yellow crystals. Lantern Qarrigat looks around in alarm, the intensity of his glow already decreasing, while Lantern Gaart takes cover in a ruined tower block.

"They found us quickly!"

"Yes." Kalibak strolls down the central pathway beneath us. "I did."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:28 G.M.T.

Would-? What?

Kalibak charges the ruins the Green Lanterns are sheltering in, beta club pulled back like a baseball bat ready to knock a ball out of the stadium!

Now-. Okay, Darkseid letting Lantern Qarrigat out for the parademons to play with, yes, I could see that happening. Dumping another Lantern in here on the other hand looks like a potential security breach. Darkseid wouldn't exactly be distraught if he escaped, but he would be annoyed. So Kalibak might have been allowed to bring him here… Or he might have come through the boom tube on his own initiative. I doubt that Kalibak would call off a fight just because a Sector Lantern showed up, though that might explain why he's using parademon beaters.

But Lantern Gaart was stuck in here by Mongul II. Kalibak would consider aliens interfering with an Apokoliptian world far more important than beating someone Darkseid already beat. And I already know this place can make replicas of people and places.

There's a tremendous crunch as Kalibak smashes the beta club through a supporting wall, the side of the building cracking and crumbling as it loses the power to hold its own weight upright. The Green Lanterns pull back, pulling themselves along with constructs under their clothes. The parademons aren't shooting any longer, presumably because their master wants to handle this himself.

Other option is that this is all fake… Probably except for the Lowlies and Lantern Gaart. A creation of an artificial reality generator. Not sure why the scenario has these particular characteristics, but I don't think it was ever really explained why Selina was made completely O.P. and then pushed to fight the Justice League.

A purple blast lances out from the rubble, striking Lantern Qarrigat-

"Aargh!"

-and knocking him out of the sky! Lantern Gaart immediately reverses course to pick him up, Kalibak leaping out of the dust cloud a moment later to intercept him!

Beneath me, the slaves begin gathering up the yellow crystals, the parademons completely ignoring them.

So… The crystals mess up constructs. Mongul II wants the crystals. And… They only deploy in response to Lanterns. So.. he.. captures Lantern Gaart, shoves him in here… And starts collecting. And… Lantern Gaart recognises Apokoliptian technology, the place generates this from his mind… Except I'm pretty sure that the Guardians damnatio memoriaed the whole Green Lantern Corps-Apokolips War. So he wouldn't know him, or his face, so maybe that comes from the system here? Just in case they ever got a Green Lantern in here?

Response..? Mongul II wants the crystals, so he can't really afford to hit the site from orbit. Grabbing Lantern Gaart would slow the rate at which he can harvest, and give us someone who can help deal with his fleet. Destroying this chamber with an anti-matter bomb would prevent him from harvesting it ever again, but it would also kill the slaves. Evacuating the slaves and then bombing it increases the chance of Mongul II obliterating the site in a fit of pique. Have to leave them until the fleet either leaves or is destroyed.

Fly to an area where the crystals haven't been extruded yet.

"Weakling." Kalibak has grabbed Lantern Gaart around the torso and is holding him up to his face. "You Lanterns are just as pathetic as you were-"

Drop stealth, railgun, x-ionised sabot rounds.

"-when Father killed-."

Open fire and don't stop.

Compliance.

Woon.

"Gragh!"

X-ionised railgun rounds slam into his chest, arms and as he turns to look at me, his face. The armour isn't affected in the slightest, but small cuts appear on his exposed flesh.

"Another Lantern? Father smiles upon me thiskkugh?"

That one went into his mouth. Didn't appear to do much, but I thought it was worth a try.

"Yreagh!"

He tosses Lantern Gaart side, and his environmental shield flickers on just before he hits a reinforced wall. That'll still hurt, but without it, someone Kalibak's strength throwing him into a solid structure would be instantly fatal.

Now, drop construct, engage stealth and-.

And just in time, because here are the crystals. Move.

A beam from the beta rod blasts passed my sniping perch, and the parademons begin swarming around. Now, what basis does this chamber use for determining how the characters act? Because Apokoliptian or not it shouldn't be able to detect me now. If it's just reacting to me, then that should stop immediately. On the other hand, if the characters have their own memories, then Kalibak should keep searching for a little while. And if this place is using New God powers…

Uh. Don't know.

I manoeuvre towards Lantern Gaart, not approaching him directly but getting to somewhere where the crystals have already been harvested-.

"Where are you?!"

Oh, good. Still going to have to abandon my stealth to grab Lantern Gaart, and Kalibak's supposed to have fast reflexes. I don't know; if all I had to worry about was brute strength then I'd trust in my kinetic barrier, but his exotic abilities aren't something I've been in position to measure. If this version even has those-. No, wait, I could feel emotions coming from Lantern Qarrigat, which means this place is probably replicating them.

Right. Kalibak's tearing down that chimney, I'm down here where he can't see me. Phase in, keep regular stealth systems going, and message Lantern Gaart.

"Who is this?"

"I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I'm here with Honour Guard Lantern Harold Jordan. We're here to get you out and deal with the Dread Horde."

"The crystals-."

"Disrupt constructs, we know."

"It's more than that. He's made some sort of deal with Sinestro so he can overthrow his father."

"Tempting as it is to let them kill each other, we still need to deal with the fleet before we can do anything else. I need to get you out."

"We can't leave without Raker. Do you know what he's survived?"

"Unless he's given you some sort of secret Green Lantern Corps handshake I'm pretty sure he's part of this illusion. The chance of Darkseid letting him off Apokolips is minimal."

"But-!"

"Is he mobile?"

"Yes."

"Did he believe you when you told him this was a simulation?"

"I think so?"

Ugh… "We can try bringing him, but if he disappears when we get to the exit, you know why. I'm-."

"FOUND YOU!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October 2013
17:31 G.M.T.

Darn-.

I transition as the beta club swings through where my head used to be-. And come up short, because the yellow crystals are deploying. Right, tether a slab of concrete, pull it into my hands before the tether fades away-.

Purple energy erupts from the end of the club-! My kinetic barrier flares, and I feel a weak tingling in my hands as a small amount of the nerve beam bleeds through, but that's about it. Throw the concrete at his face-

"Ragh!"

-and use my armour's flight system to fly upwards before-.

Uh-?

BOOF!

"RRAH!"

Oof!

Right… Kalibak's fast and agile. Right leg armour is buckled, though my actual leg feels more or less alright. Back… Ah, yeah, kinetic barrier doing a hero's work there. Brick's a bit shredded-.

"Hshhahhkhakhk!"

Oh, I've got yellow crystal dust inside my armour. And now I've got no translation.

"Do you feel fear, Lantern?!" Kalibak shoves what's left of the wall aside with brute force, grinning at me as I pick myself up. "Do you see that you cannot stand against a New God?"

And… I can smell my environment, just about. Mould, burned petrochemicals, and… Just faintly, rotting flesh.

I trigger my armour's radio. "Gaart, head out. I'll hold Kalibak's attention."

"Hkhhkskkkhshh!"

"Is your spirit so weak?" Kalibak points the end of his club at me. "Or will you meet your end on your feet?"

Fine. Fists raised, march towards him. He grins, turning his club to the side a little, clearly indicating that he'll use it as a melee weapon rather than a ranged weapon. Set crumble field to maximum intensity and minimum range, and brac-.

Ooohf!

He bull rushed me! He's pinned me to his -ohf!- chest, charging -ohf!- through the walls! My kinetic barrier doesn't -ohf!- know when it's supposed to trigger!

I bring my fists around and smash them into his ears!

"Mnrh!"

I see the smoke emerge as the crumbler -ohf!- field starts eating through his flesh and hair! Can't reach his eyes from -ohf!- here-. Lower the right one to his neck-

"Gah!"

-and deactivate the left, deploy a x-ionised knife and stab-.

OOF!

"RRAAAAAGH!"

And pick-. Oh dear. Can't see the rear of my armour, but my power assistance appears to be acting up. Kalibak's sort of twitching from the knife I jammed into his skull, hands trying to reach-.

I'm not sure if it's the effect of having a bit of metal in that part of his brain or if he's just that muscle bound, but it looks like he's having trouble reaching it. Okay, is the armour's flight system working? Yes, sort of-. Okay.

Fzzzm!

Ah, right, the parademons. They fell behind a little in Kalibak's charge, but they're trying to get line of sight-.

Oh, he dropped-.

I lunge clumsily forward and grab Kalibak's beta rod. He manages to focus on me a little as I raise it up, but he can't coordinate his hands well enough to block it as I swing it down…

"Nuuuuugh!"

Right onto the knife. Which sinks further into his head, the handle flattened against his scalp.

Okay, good. Can't work out how to switch it to ranged mode and I can't risk crumbling it in case it explodes…

Toss it aside, turn and run!

Fzzzm! Fzzzm! Fzzzm!

Armour might not be working properly, but its mass if alright at preventing the shots from the parademons hitting anything vital.

"Gaart, I don't know where I'm going. Can you throw up a sign?"

"Hshhks?"

I crumbler-punch my way through a wall, then flick my eyes upwards. A few parademons are perched on the walls above me, but it looks like they weren't expecting me to come in this direction. Slow off the mark. Okay, is the stealth system working..? Uh, sort of. Phasing is a pipedream, but the holographic system is… Kind of working? Might give me a few extra seconds. Add in the kinetic belt's flight system… Alright, jump system, it's letting me go a little faster without drawing fire.

And then I see a shot from one of the parademon's weapons going straight up… Good work, Gaart. Okay, I'm running along… Some sort of old… Loading dock? Cover's a bit sparse, but nothing's trying to shoot me right now-. Ah! I see! There's where I came in, and there are the scattering slaves, who aren't fleeing so much as taking cover. No guards-.

Fzzzm! Fzzzm! Fzzzm! Fzzzm!

They're swarming, but they're just guessing at my location.

"Hk-kk-ksk?"

"Sorry, translation system is still out. I saw the shot-" I jump down, back onto the road I first entered by. "-and I'm heading your way."

A couple of slaves stare at the me-shaped blur as I run past their hidey-hole, and I start to see the glow from either Lantern Qarrigat or Lantern Gaart's dome shield construct. A couple of parademons are firing on it, but-. It's Gaart, and he's keeping it up well.

"Okay, go!"

Gaart glances towards me, and then alters the shield to only block shots from above. I dash past him, and-.

There we go, back in the tunnel. Step aside, and prepare crumbler gauntlets just in case the objects in there are capable of existing outside-.

Gaart darts out and then freezes, staring at his own hands. He glances back at the start of the projection area-.

"I told you. He wasn't real."

He focuses for a moment, and then nods.

"Right, now I need you to help me clean out my armour before the mine security get here."

"I'll get right on that."