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

Uncomplicated Good Works

25th November 2012
15:01 GMT -8

Interceptor -Linda Anderson, apparently- sighs heavily as she floats away from the latest shipping crate of basic supplies that she's dropped off. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that the JSI were happy to be relatively open-handed where civilian relief is concerned. Or perhaps it's just their way of keeping the clearly-wavering Interceptor on-side.

We haven't been able to put Earth 666 back together. That's probably impossible. But we've just about finished injecting Polyfilla into the largest cracks so water can't get-.

The local Supergirl speeds past with another shipping container, drops it off and speeds off again immediately.

Interceptor frowns. "She should slow down. She's been working non-stop since she got back. People can't work at full intensity without a break."

Ring?

"She heard you, slowed down for about half a second and then sped up again. I don't think she's going to be listening to reason on the subject."

"I can understand being dedicated, but-."

I generate a sound baffle around us.

"When he was possessed, the local Superman spread-. The demon possessing him, I should say, used him to spread its magic to everyone close to him. Supergirl ended up torturing people to death for his amusement. She remembers everything she did under the influence with perfect clarity. We offered to remove or suppress the memories but she refused."

"Damn. And she's me?"

"No, you're you. She's a little like you, accounting for growing up in a different situation. Genetically, she's pretty much identical, if that's what you mean."

Interceptor seems to find the idea a little off-putting.

"Not met parallel versions of yourself before?"

"No. I wasn't even sure I was an alien."

I raise my left eyebrow. "Really?"

"Metahumans can have very different physiology to normal humans. It wasn't that much of a stretch."

"Alright."

I take a moment to open my awareness of the desires of the survivors below. Like the survivors of other disasters I've worked on they're mostly simple and short term, but I… I make an effort not to think of them like the Ophidian does, but as a human who could have similar experiences would.

"I wouldn't be astonished if the JSI had information on the subject that they were sitting on, though I suppose that if you take the promotion, you'll have full access."

"It doesn't matter. I don't remember anything about it, and America is my home."

"Well, fine, but having seen the way America celebrates Saint Patrick's Day, you won't exactly be an outlier if you acknowledge the traditions of two cultures."

"Why did they send me away?"

"I'm not completely sure, but if your Krypton is like most other Kryptons I've encountered, it exploded. The people didn't get enough notice to carry out an evacuation, so the only survivors were the children of a doomsday prepper and his brother; your uncle and father respectively. Except in.. your parallel, your cousin appears to have not arrived on Earth."

"So he could be somewhere else."

"Or he might never have been born. Our Kara Zor-El was a teenager when she got into her pod, but from what you've said, it sounds like you were younger."

She nods. "I've been on Earth since I was a baby."

"I can give you a cultural and historical database if you want. No trouble."

"I guess it's worth having in case someone else turns up."

I nod, fabricating an ultra-density data stick and floating it over to her. She takes it with a nod of gratitude.

"So where's your alter ego?"

"I don’t know. No one's mentioned him. There might not be one, he might have died during…" I look around at the wrecked city below us. "This, or he might have taken one look at the place and legged it. Which is a pretty rational thing to do."

"You said you fixed it. Why couldn't he?"

"Without wanting to get too much into emotional spectrum theory, I'm a lot more powerful than a standard Lantern. And I had external help."

"People from the… What did you call them, Justice League?"

"Ah… My Superman, yes. The rest were from Earth Ten, because demon cultists from here had opened portals to there and were making attacks."

"Earth Ten?"

"Nazi Earth." She stares. "I know, they're a… Fixer upper. We're working on it."

"You're fixing Nazis?"

I generate another data stick and float it over to her. "A full analysis of their history, culture and my efforts to aid Overman and Overgirl as they try to reform them."

"I got disturbed by Commander Scott making a deal with the dominators because the JSI has been on a hate campaign against them for as long as I can remember. The idea that he talked to them, handed people over, goes against everything the JSI has been saying. I saw you react when he admitted it… But you're fine with actual Nazis?"

"My Alan Scott is a good friend of mine. Hearing something I don't think he'd ever say said so casually shocked me. And it… Made me re-examine my own thinking, because… I've done a lot worse than Commander Scott and I've been about as bothered by it as he is. But Nazis are just Nazis, you know? Probably the worst idea to ever come out of Europe. And when the few I actually like are the ones who realise that their society is messed up but don't know how to fix it… I'm not a Nazi. I've never been tempted by the idea. There's no personal connection there. It's not that I think Commander Scott is morally worse or anything."

She appears somewhat mollified.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll think a little better about my colleagues who are less ruthless than me. Probably make a bit more effort to hold back in fights. No more 'I don't see any point in keeping you alive'. You?"

"If I'm being promoted off the front lines, I'm not going to have the opportunities to change how I fight. I could try being less ruthless, but that's going to create a lot more problems if I try making it policy."

"I don't know what to suggest. Try talking to Lantern Jordan, see if there's any species in the region you could ally with. I've started a program to provide funding to extreme scientists in order to encourage them to stay on the straight and narrow."

She nods. "We've got an internal program, but I could expand it."

"Beyond that… If I knew the answers, I'd have solved the problem."

My ring shimmers as Lantern Holt transmits a new request.

"Back to work, then."

 

28th November 2012
11:41 GMT -5

Alan smiles at me as he sees me poring over hard copy SOPs on his dinner table.

"Going over the procedure documents from the Justice Society International?"

"No. These are yours."

"The Justice League?"

"The All-Star Squadron." I sit back slightly. "I'd have looked at the Justice Society's as well, but it turns out that you never wrote any."

"There weren't really enough of us to need them." He walks over and picks up a briefing paper from the US Marine Corps, defining the proper procedures for contacting the Squadron and defining lines of command. "I… I gotta tell yah, I don't remember this at all."

"I imagine that they just told you what you were supposed to do when you were supposed to do it." I frown. "I know you were working for Stars and Stripes as Alan Scott, but I still can't quite get my head around how you were able to maintain a secret identity for the whole thing."

He sits down opposite me. "Who's to say I did?"

"The House Committee on Un-American Activities?"

"Well, yeah, but let's say… Some people had some surprising memory lapses when they got called to testify." He puts it down, gazing into the middle distance. "Do you think they were all that different from us?"

"No idea."

He makes an amused hissing noise. "It's okay to speculate a little."

"No."

"Really?"

"I can see how you from the forties might be motivated to expand the Justice Society. And I can see how it could have grown from there. Seventy years on, a you who'd been constantly fighting and directing others to fight would naturally have become more ruthless." I shrug. "And he still had a green ring, which makes him more likely to push on rather than hold back and think things through."

"Huh."

"I can change my answer to 'yes' if you prefer?"

"No, no, it's…" A quiet huff. "So you think I should skip my turn as Justice League Chairman?"

"I don't know. You've got a blue ring, and it's influencing you in a different direction. And you've got the opportunity to define yourself in contrast to Commander Scott. I'd be happy for you to be Chairman."

He smirks. I…

I consider rolling my eyes, but don't do it. Instead, I flop back in my chair.

"I didn't get enough data to decide whether the JSI was a clear positive for the world or not. They do act more like… This is just from my conversations with Linda, but like a combination of the most overbearing aspects of the CIA and FBI. But we've had supervillains running countries, and… You were in charge. They weren't doing that thing of…"

Ah.

"Of..? What?" There's a glint in his eyes as he realises where I was going. "Supporting third world dictators?"

"You said the thing with Danner was why you left the Squadron."

"So he did more thing like… That?"

"The JSI has removed governments, and they have performed extraordinary renditions be-."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Kidnapping suspects in foreign countries without following normal extradition procedures. Of course, they've got official permission to go just about anywhere they want now, and the places where they don't have permission to go aren't places that have any effective way of stopping them."

"Sounds like they've taken over the world."

"I've never really been clear what that would be like. Somewhere like America, if someone took over the Federal Government the rest of the country would just ignore it. If some idiot with a doomsday bomb managed to make the governments of the world bend their knees, so what? He wouldn't get a fat lot of compliance from their citizens."

"Is that a 'no'?"

"It's a 'they've taken control of the parts they want, and the rest is giving them the funding they need to operate'. After that, taking control of anything else would just mean being greedy and probably create more trouble than it's worth."

"Most people who might try and take over the world wouldn't worry about being greedy. That's how we used to beat them."

"'Used to'?"

"These days…" He exhales. "The people who want to take over the world don't come right out and say it. And the rest either aren't that ambitious or they flat out want to destroy it. Even Hitler didn't do what the Sheeda did."

"Like antibiotic-resistant bacteria, if you beat all the ones that aren't resistant, everyone left is."

"I guess that's what you found out with the scry wards." He sighs. "Ah, I need to ask. Rose. Rose… Canton. My Rose."

"I don't.. know if she was pregnant or not. I mean, there's just about enough time for her to have given birth, but I-" I shake my head. "-checked the records of every orphanage in America. None of the children handed in during the period match Miss Hayden and Mister Rice's description. I mean, Miss Hayden was green, that would be on record."

"Not to start with. That came as her powers got stronger. If her powers never activated, she'd look like a regular woman. She'd be.. in her sixties now. And.. I could have been a great grandfather by now."

I reach across the table and pat his left arm with my right hand. He nods absent-mindedly.

"I don't have any leads on Jennifer, but Todd had a connection to the Shadowlands. There are other people who know that place, and I… I need to know for sure."

"The Shade?" He nods, and I nod back. "Do you want me to come?"

"No, I think Richard will respond better if it's just me. No offense."

I nod. "None taken."

"You got any plans? Other than.. all this reading?"

"I'm going to give being a traditional superhero a go for a bit. I.. never really tried it; we were trainees taking orders from Batman and then I went Full Militant Utilitarian. I never really gave it a try and I want to know what it's like."

"You want some pointers?"

"Did you get pointers?"

"I talked to Crimson Avenger a few times, but I guess not." He nods, smiling. "You have fun with that."

"Doesn't seem likely, but who knows?"

 

29th November 2012
08:01 GMT

"Some were quite good, but others will not pass the censors."

The Bat shrugs, then takes a sip of tea. I've shown him around my Bir Tawil home, he's made interested noises, and now it's time to talk.

The League... Are more or less in favour of my efforts to make National Socialist Earth less National Socialist. But that doesn't extend to letting me use League resources to keep in touch. Which… Yes, the UN would probably blow their collective tops if they found out that the League were using their funds for something like that. For… Pretty understandable reasons, really.

But it needs to happen, so I've moved Dr. Sivana's relay to Bir Tawil, a little way away from my home. My first attempt at cultural infiltration came in the form of cinema, because even things with no overt anti-National Socialist theme will include cultural assumptions that they don't share. I've been hoping that -with there not having really been external influences on their Earth for sixty years- their censors would be out of practice.

Let's see what the damage was.

"Oh? What was the problem?"

"Oh, it is best not to dwell on the negative. Rather, we should focus on the successes, the things that our societies have in common."

Oh, he obviously knows exactly how I feel about that.

"Bat,-."

"You want to have a brief honest talk about our actual objectives before we retreat into our familiar epistemologies." He nods. "And to find out whether or not I actually know what Overman and Overgirl are doing. Because you lack the confidence in your own intelligence to tease that information out over a period of time."

"I'll have to do that anyway. It's not like I can trust anything you say."

"That's a little harsh. Particularly-" He points his right forefinger at my face. "-given that you can see inside my soul."

"There are ways to block that."

"It's going to be a while before magic becomes acceptable in the Reich. Almost as long as it will take for us to persuade you to give us access to your knowledge of the subject."

"Your Atlantis not sharing?"

"Our Atlanteans were bio-engineered. We did check." He looks away, an odd expression on his lips. "Some in the Ministry of Culture were hopeful that an… Acceptably 'Aryan' magic might be discovered."

"Aryan in style, or as a discrete thing? Because there probably were forms of magic used by whatever people you're referring to as 'Aryan' that weren't used by, say, Africans."

"I wasn't involved in that discussion. But, reading the minutes to try and understand it was like trying to explain the doctrine of the Trinity to a pagan."

"Overgirl told you the Arianism joke, did she?"

"She mentioned the philosophy. My point is that I have no way to prevent you seeing into my soul."

"Still, I'd like to know."

"Anyone who knows him knows that Overman is not happy with things. And anyone who watches his public interviews-. The live ones, I mean. If he wants to reform things… Well." He shrugs. "He may try, and he may succeed or fail. That is the nature of Darwinism."

"And how do you feel about it?"

"Ah, I doubt that I will live long enough to see any major changes. It will be the work of a generation at least. If he wants to standardise the rules for the black reservations, it makes no difference to me. If he wants to change the censorship laws, it makes no difference to me. If he wants to change history lessons in schools, it makes no difference to me. I won't like it, because I'm old and set in my ways, but I recognise that. I doubt that he will change Greater Germany enough to make much difference."

"No?"

"No. He and I are from the same generation. We share an underlying sense of what is normal. I don't believe that he'll do anything too extreme, which is why I am not going to try to acquire kryptonite while I am here."

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed."

"Now you know how I feel, even without staring into my soul. So, the films."

"Yes. What was the problem?"

"We liked Sky High. The idea of a central training centre for empowered superhumans has been raised on numerous occasions, but the various institutions of state have never been able to agree on how to make it work. There were clear ideas of hereditary power and responsibility yoked to the good of the state as a whole, and the overt pro-eugenics message played very well. Particularly at the end, with how the superhumans with limited abilities were still able to provide useful 'hero support' while the innately superior hero saved the day."

I… I think that was the exact opposite of-. Different culture. Of course he's going to see things differently.

"The black child wasn't a problem?"

"He was inoffensive. I suppose there is the question of how we treat negro sup-er…" He trails off, looking both amused and confused. "It is a little difficult to know how to refer to them. 'Supernegro'? The Incredibles will not pass the censors due to its freezing negro being too prominent, but the one in Sky High is fine."

"And.. the theme of not underestimating people who were dismissed by the authorities as useless?"

"No, no. If someone surpasses what the authorities believe are their limitations…" He frowns. "What was the line in Gattaca? 'That merely means that we did not measure their potential properly'. The guinea pig girl, for example. How often would being able to turn into a guinea pig realistically be useful? But nonetheless, she kept her wits about her and used it in the one time in her life that it was. A person does not need superpowers to be a good citizen. I do not have superpowers." He leans forward slightly, smiling. "But I am not going to try and arm wrestle Overman. There are things I cannot do, and will never be able to do."

…

"So that's approved?"

"No, it will have to go through the censors, but I cannot imagine what other complaints they could have."

I sigh inwardly.

"And the others?"

"Wall-E was an instructive demonstration of the dangers of lassitude and complacency, as well as decadence and dependence on others."

"Again, no problem with the black characters?"

"National Socialists don't just oppress negros. The negros are just the only ones who survived. There isn't a problem with including negros with other types of degenerate."

"And you don't think there might be a problem with the evil AI who was lying to everyone about the state of Earth?"

"Why would there be?" He grins. "Hah, my little joke. No, that is not a problem because as an AI it is inherently alien. The portrayal of the captain might have been a problem, but amongst a group of degenerates he took the most effort into becoming more than he was. He sought purpose, and in the end found it in working to restore his people's ancestral homeland."

"Toy Story?"

"A bit disturbing, but essentially harmless."

"A Bug's Life?"

"A parasitical culture being defeated by a collective effort led by a valiant hero."

"The Phantom Menace?"

"No. Not because the censors would block it, it just isn't very good." He looks mildly pained. "And the racial allegory was rather unsubtle, don't you think?"

 

3rd December 2012
08:01 GMT

"May I sit down?"

Zartok's ring has been glowing faintly since I entered the refectory, but the way he's holding his left hand against his right arm means that it's not obvious. He's monitoring me, but isn't looking at me. Everything about his posture suggests that he has no interest in me at all.

He tilts his head upward towards me, an expression of indifference on his face. "You may sit where you like, Illustres."

And the way his desires are in flux makes it a little difficult to divine his true feelings on the matter. Honestly, I imagine that it would obscure it from most Lanterns.

I find myself smiling. I wrote that such a technique was probably possible, but I never really bothered learning it myself.

"Thank you." I sit down. "Congratulations on your victory."

"Two Scarab Warriors will make little difference in a war of this scale."

"True, but it's a sign of your increasing mastery that you were able to do it. You took on board what I said. That sort of fixity of purpose paired with flexibility of method is something I heartily approve of."

"You have done more."

"I'm the Illustres. And I had a year to train without a war going on, and while I know that you're familiar with a great many weapons there isn't anything quite like a power ring."

For a moment his control weakens and his face nearly forms an expression. Then it snaps back.

"Very well. I acknowledge your compliment."

"I also like the way you're muddling your desires like that. I could see it eventually becoming a technique that could keep me out."

He stops bothering to disguise how he feels, the expression of frustrated irritation painting itself across his features.

"What do you want?"

"I had a conversation recently that made me think of you. I wanted to make sure that you understood why I did what I did. To make sure that there was no ongoing misunderstanding that might harm our professional relationship."

He tilts his head back slightly. "You fear that I will grow to eclipse you."

"Oh, no. By all means, eclipse me."

His eye narrows. "Do not mock me."

"I'm not mocking you. This is why we need to talk." He relaxes slightly, but it's clear that he's still suspicious. "We're Orange Lanterns. We train to realise and harness our avarice. To harness our need to reform the universe into something more pleasing to us. But I think that you're assuming that what I want is the same as what you want."

"Explain."

"I caused this Corps to come into being. But I picked Vril Dox to run it. If my motive was to gain power and authority, why would I do that?"

"Because he's a functionary. When I ruled Cardonia I had administrators serving me and ruling in my name. I may have spent most of my time leading my armies, but all of their power came from me."

"Dox is one of the few Lanterns I don't think I could beat in a fight."

He clearly doesn't believe me.

"My skill with the orange light is greater than his, but his mind is faster than mine and he knows far more of weaponry than I do. A fight between us would be over in seconds."

"A likely story."

"You've learned to read desires with the orange light, haven't you?"

"Of course I have. But you defy my skill."

I hold out my left hand. "I block remote detection. Touch me."

He considers for a moment, then reaches out with his left hand and takes hold of mine in firm grip, the glow from his ring growing slightly. And I can… Feel it as he connects his awareness of the orange light to me.

"I want the end that is the destruction of the Reach. True?"

His eye narrows. "Yees."

"Do you see any great desire in me for it to happen one way or another?"

"You… Want it to be at the hands of the N.E.M.O. alliance, to bring together all of the people in this region in the aftermath. An interesting way to build an empire."

"Do I want to rule that alliance?"

"…" His eye narrows further. "N.. o…"

He pulls his hand back, eye opening back to the normal extent.

"I misjudged you, Illustres."

"You did." I shrug. "You have questions. Ask them."

"Why Drusa?"

"You have strong desires. She doesn't. She hasn't allowed herself to get attached to things, because attachments were a source of vulnerability. That attitude does have its advantages, but an Orange Lantern needs to desire things. Beating her in a fight would merely encourage subservience. I needed to speak to her about her thought processes instead."

"Why did you single me out?"

"You were encouraging a mindset that was not helpful to the other trainees learning well. By challenging you and demonstrating your error, I motivated you to learn what you have. And you are stronger for it."

"My staff fighting instructor had a similar attitude. When my skill surpassed his, I killed him."

"Lantern Ragnar joined the Corps after I defeated him in an arena match. He plans on challenging me again once his skill has increased sufficiently for it to be worthwhile. If you want revenge, you'd best keep working at it if you want to kill me before he does."

"The idea of your death doesn't trouble you."

"The idea of yours troubles you?"

"I do not fear death, but I would be frustrated if I died with my ambitions unrealised."

"I've made arrangements. But my ego is tied to the changes I've made in the universe. If my death is part of making my Corps stronger, then so be it."

He considers for a moment.

"I understand. I think I even respect it. But be warned, Illustres: it will be my hand that kills you."

"I wish you the best of luck, Lantern Zartok."

 

6th December 2012
15:24 GMT

"So, yeah. That's where I'm coming from. As far as I'm concerned, killing you would be a net positive for the universe, but… My favourite philosophers are a couple called John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor. Mill was originally a utilitarian, but one day he had a sort of brainstorm where he realised that even if he was successful in implementing utilitarianism across British society, it wouldn't make him happy."

The Spider Guild elders of Chughraghahh continue cowering in abject terror.

"I'm not quite like him. I probably would find killing you satisfying, and it would certainly promote the general good better than any other option. But as long as you stop being evil, I'll consider it to be just as good."

I smile pleasantly as I look them in the eyes one after another-.

One of the older ones collapses, clutching his thorax. Only those closest to him dare move, and they only lean away slightly.

Orange strands join me to the Spider Guilder currently… Not a heart attack, apparently. Rather, his digestive system has gone into overdrive and his own digestive enzymes have eaten through his stomach. Flip a few biological switches, repair the organs… And render him peacefully unconscious, because it looks like he hasn't been getting enough sleep.

I suppose there is a bit of an environmental catastrophe going on outside, from where I launched all of their orbital infrastructure at the planet.

"So how about it? You pledge your loyalty to the Queen and reform your society, and I'll help you get back on your feet."

I deposit my patient off to the side.

"What..?" There's a shuffling as his neighbours move away from the speaker. "Whatwillweeat?"

"Farming isn't that complicated. You're perfectly capable of raising animals -non-sophont animals- for slaughter, like most of your neighbours do. Or you can grow meat in vats. You're a technologically sophisticated world, it's well within your abilities."

And I feel-hear it, the sound-shape of their worldstate collapsing as they get it through their heads that this isn't a temporary hardship, but the end of the Proper Way Of Doing Things.

"So why don't you talk about this amongst yourselves, and I'll pop back in a day or so and find out where you've gotten to?"

I

step out,

reappearing on the bridge of a Karaxian battleship serving as part of the interdiction fleet. It seems that the local civilised worlds have used the opportunity I provided to tighten the noose a little. Not enough to end things, but combined with the economic damage I inflicted the local Spider Guild sept is being choked out.

"I said I'd give them a day to think it over."

There's a sort of diffusion of responsibility-based looking around between the senior officers, then the commanding admiral nods at Lantern Toren.

"Your… Queen."

"The Queen."

"I don't understand."

"My queen, the queen of my home nation, is a woman called Hippolyta. The Queen is a heavily altered Spider Guilder created by the sept in Vega as some sort of prototype living genetic engineering laboratory. Under her leadership they have developed excellent relations with their neighbours, and if they surrender to her instead of you, you won't have to worry about any other sept sending a retaliation fleet this way."

He nods.

"I have reviewed Lantern Green Man's records. She is at the mercy of all of her neighbours and building them ships for free. I doubt that these Spiders will acquiesce to that degree."

"There's always Plan B. But I think I'm going to be optimistic."

"If they do not accept, will you kill them all?"

"I probably should, but, no. Instead, I'll transport them to barely habitable worlds with no intelligent life, and they can relearn civilisation or die in accordance with their own merits."

"There are still a great many people alive on Chughraghahh, as well as their smaller colonies."

"I'm immortal. Or as close as anything can be. I've got the time and the motivation. I'm hopeful that even if I have to start, the rest will see that I'm serious after a few days and concede."

"And then?"

"And then I'll fly some of the Queen's people over here to oversee the transition to not-evil, while you and your friends park their ships in orbit with their guns pointing down just in case."

The admiral nods. "With no need to occupy their worlds."

"Occupying worlds is a ridiculous prospect. Once the population gets culturally unified it's basically impossible for a civilisation of a similar level of advancement unless their population is massively higher. I-."

"Admiral!"

A deck officer gestures at the tracking… Why is that ship heading for Chughraghahh?

The admiral grabs a handset, looking concerned.

"Hesk, what are you doing? We agreed-."

"We should have done it this way long ago. We lacked the resolve, the strength of soul! No longer! End t-."

I frown. That sounded off. He didn't look anything like that orange during the briefing. I turn my head and stare out through the hull towards his position. The Spider Guild still have ships but their planetary shields are gone. If that flotilla burns for the planet and performs a ground strike-.

I see his desires, his martial drives and need to inflict retribution… Even his desire for renown, are massively inflamed compared to what I saw earlier. And it's.. not just him, the rest of his flotilla look similar. Someone has mucked around with them. I could do that but it wasn't me. The Lanterns on Karax for self-study could probably do it, but there's no reason for them to do so. If they wanted to wreck the place then they're more than capable of doing it themselves. Who did this, who did this?

"Should we.. intercept?"

I hear the distaste in the admiral's voice. They might be afraid to push the attack, but the idea of acting against someone attacking their ancestral enemy naturally rankles.

"I believe that the crew are under an unnatural mental influence. I'm working to counter it. If it comes to it, I'll stop their ships myself. Stand by."

Show me a face.

Ah I see it. They spoke to-.

The face turns to look at me. That's not meant to happen.

"Oh look at you. It's high time we had a little chat, snake man. My place, I think."

That-.

Where am I?

 

6th December 2012
15:29 GMT
I Think

The room is… White.

The thick carpet is white, and so thick and soft that just looking at it makes me want to take off my boots and socks and squirm my toes in it. The settee I'm sitting on is soft white leather with white-stained wood panelling. The walls are white, with white frames containing white on white images. There's a white wood table upon which sits a white bowl containing white fruit.

And the ceiling…

I can't see the ceiling. Just a… Vague source of light, illuminating clearly but not blindingly.

My right hand drifts down the side of the settee, and… And that's a D-ring. And that's a D-ring, and… That's a white coil of rope partially disguised as a table decoration.

"How worried should I be?"

"Oh, sweetums. How worried do you want to be?"

A.. person, in a white suit, shirt and tie walks down a white spiral staircase. Their hair is black, jet black, and slicked back in such a way that I can't make out hairs and it just looks like a solid mass. Their skin is similarly pale, though compared to our surroundings it stands out like a beacon. The figure… Can't tell whether they're male or female, and my rings appear to have decided not to help. Given the suit I'd have guessed butch woman over effeminate man, but I shouldn't project human norms onto an alien. Especially a selectively corporeal one.

"Do I have the pleasure of addressing Desire?"

They pause on the last circuit of the staircase, leaning artfully on the railing and looking down at me like a… Well, like an ancient eldritch being who has found a new amusement.

"Shouldn’t you answer my question first?"

I shrug. "I don't particularly enjoy being worried. Jade and I both tried it; it's not our thing."

"It's not just about sex, dear boy."

They unlean, continuing their descent with one hand gracefully tracing the banister as they complete their journey.

"I understand that you're all about purpose. If you weren't worried about something, would you get out of bed in the morning?"

"For those who seek perfection, there is no rest this side of the grave. And in.. my case, not even then. You decided to egg Admiral Hesk on, then?"

"O-H." They hug themselves, arms crossing under their pectorals and hands pressed to their hips. "You did most of the work for me. The Spider Guild must be destroyed! All that-" They roll their eyes. "-pointless fear and hesitancy receded and a few words was all that was required to send them off."

"You mean… Down in a blaze of glory."

They turn sideways and flop languidly onto the seat opposite me.

"They get to be remembered in story and song, and die knowing to the depths of their souls that they're finally doing the right thing."

I nod. Yeah, I'm…

"You in good health? Eating well, that sort of thing?"

Desire blinks, then gestures to their body with both hands.

"Does this make me look fat?"

"I'm reasonably confident that you can look as fat or as thin as you want. I'm asking about how well you are."

"Fit as a fiddle, never been better. … Thank you for asking?"

"You sure? Not picking fights with Morpheus or anything like that?"

They pantomime a look of disappointed sternness. "You aren't planning on trying to intervene on his behalf, I hope. That would be most unwise."

"I know what happens when Endless die. We've met before, on the moon. And now I'm here, and my tattoos don't have an off button. I'm absorbing your magic, which, along with my connection to the orange light, puts me in prime position to succeed you if you die."

Their face stills, their eyes narrowing with curiosity.

"I don't want to be Desire. I want you to live until the end of the universe when Death finally does away with you, while I step smartly into a younger universe-"

"Abandoning the universe for a younger model? How cliché."

"-with a jaunty wave. I don't know how you relate to either me or the Ophidian and I don't care."

"But you know what happens when we die? You shouldn't be able to know that." They grin. "Tell me more."

"If you agree to butt out and not take umbrage when I try to stop Admiral Hesk, I'll-"

"Done!"

"-hap-. Ah, okay. One of you dies, the rest of your family get the shroud from the necropolis, you each do a funeral oration and then the deceased sails off into oblivion. And is then completely forgotten by everyone except their immediate successor. Which makes me wonder why you're focusing on Morpheus, when you know that even if you're successful you won't remember it."

"It's not always about the outcome, dearie." They idly stroke the arm of their chair with their left hand. "But out of curiosity, since you're so concerned, who would have taken over from my dear brother?

"The book I read said it was Daniel Hall, but the Daniel I know has lived a very different life to the Daniel in the book. Though please don't do anything stupid like trying to get him killed; whatever you do it will be someone."

"Why hurt the boy when I can just hold it over my brother's head?"

"Up to you. Look, we're both busy people. Do you want anything else, or can I go back to reality now?"

"Is that it? You're face to face with Desire, and all you want to do is leave?"

"I don't want to sound like a total sigma here, but yes. I realise my own desires. I've got plenty of my own motivation and I don't need your help. And.. I.. also read a story about a man being decapitated one day after he married the woman he wanted, so I'm a little concerned about how helpful your help would actually be."

"You shouldn't believe everything you read."

"True, but it's been more accurate than not."

"Well then! Back you go. You'd best hurry, dear Hesk was quite set on it."

"Thank-"

And I'm in space watching Hesk's ship's gun ports open.

"-you."

 

6th December 2012
15:33 GMT

Hesk's gun ports open, but the rest of his flotilla isn't in any position to join in.

Ground-based anti-orbital guns generally aren't the best way of shooting down spacecraft, but the Spiders are making do with what they have. Some sort of… Space-warp assisted positron beam? They haven't got a lot of them into position to fire on the oncoming ships and I can see parts of their cities brown out with the strain of actually powering the things, but that one just wrecked a cruiser with a single shot.

Spider Guild ships are killing Hesk's support ships, but-

I feel a moment of disgust as I recognise their formation.

-that's at least in part because they're deliberately sacrificing themselves to make sure that Hesk gets into bombardment position. He could take far fewer casualties if he was putting in even the slightest effort at engaging the Guilder fleet. This isn't an attack that might be a one way trip. This is a deliberate one way trip.

Probably around two thousand pointless deaths already. Classic Desire.

Uh…

Shield!

Railgun rounds from Hesk's bombardment cannons slam into my construct shield and with my heart not entirely in it my shield actually-

Incoming transmission.

Answer.

-cracks as the cannons recharge their capacitors.

"Get out of the way, Lantern! This needs to happen!"

"What changed since the-"

The bombardment cannons fire again and my shield cracks further and I have to decide between attacking his ship and just letting his shots hit.

"-briefing? I have reason to believe that you are being externally-"

A positron beam hits my shield from the other side as the Spider Guild try shooting the ship that's about to flatten their favourite continent, smashing my shield to pieces!

THAT'S NOT HELPFUL!

Ah, point defence lasers, target and-.

Eight heavy projectiles blast past me, heading for the planet. Point defence lasers fire, heating up the near-side of the slugs, causing vaporised metal to expand and push them off target. Frantically, I try connecting-. There we go, the Spider's aerial point defence control. Send them my targetting data and hope they hit the.. two which are still going to hit the ground. Shield back up.

"-influenced. Please desist-"

Ring, message to Lantern Toren and Lantern Xor. Ask them to tow the crippled ships out of the system.

Compliance.

"-in attacking until-."

"Never! We may die, but we will live on in song and story as the people who slew the Spiders!"

A flicker of orange and Xalitan appears, wrapping a wounded cruiser in an orange bubble and dragging it away, the Guilder ships killing it getting a clue at once and moving on.

I'm not doing well at this whole 'classical hero' thing. And I can tell, because the first thing that comes to mind is mind controlling the crew.

But Desire doesn't mind control people. They just nudge them into doing things they wanted to do anyway, or guides them into how to achieve it. And I don't want to be a worse person than Desire and I'm not-.

What would Alan do?

My shield leaps upwards, enveloping the ship as I pull! The railgun rounds punch through my shield easily enough, but they're not pointing where the targetting computer thinks they are any longer and-

Ring, check flight path?

An orange dotted line appears in my field of vision, showing that the shots will miss the planet entirely.

Thank you.

-so with a little help from my point defences they're off target.

And pull the ship away, keeping their guns pointed away from the planet-. Or at least any guns that could do meaningful damage.

"Ring, contact Admiral Hesk's homeworld."

Compliance.

I wince slightly as Hesk's ship opens fire with its point defences to try and break my grip. Unlike my lasers, they use railshotguns, magnetically charged barrels firing clouds of iron filings.

"Illustres. How goes it?"

And they're having trouble but they are making progress. My construct strength-. It's just not clear cut enough for me to muster my peak strength. And now they're deploying their ship-to-ship guns and firing those, even knowing that they'll damage their own ship using them like this. They don’t care. They just want to bombard the planet and everything else is disregarded.

"Admiral Hesk decided to launch an attack unsupported before talks were concluded. I'm trying to evacuate what's left of his flotilla."

"What? But-!"

"Please order him to des-"

Positron beams from the surface hit again, slicing through my construct as Hesk orders full burn from his thrusters to fight my control!

"-ist."

"Why would-?"

"Now please!"

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Thank you. Hang up. Ring, contact Strand Elders."

Compliance.

"Illustres, you said that we had until-."

"Admiral Hesk has lost his reason. I'm dragging his ships off, stop shooting this one!"

"Which on-?"

"His command ship! The big one with the bombardment cannons that I'm trying to keep pointing away from you!"

"We can shoot the rest?"

"If they're attacking you, fire away. However, it may be easier-. Damn it!"

My construct grip on Hesk's ship shatters again and his ship spins violently! I grab and pull again, but I can't stop the spin before their guns are on-target again! Right, that-.

They fire, and the ring tells me that the shots are all on target.

 

6th December 2012
15:35 GMT

Eight construct spear jab through the ship's shields and silence the bombardment cannons in a series of small electrical discharges. Their capacitors recharge fast, but hitting them right after they fire should minimise the risk of a explosion or dis-

I watch as a single orange light goes out.

-charge, darn it.

My point defence lasers are already firing as I turn and fly towards the ground. Between the angle and the delay only two are fully deflected-. An unstable orbit that will see them come down in a couple of years. For the others, the most I've done is alter the angle, which should hopefully make them easier to intercept. Completely vaporising the shells isn't a good idea, as the vapour keeps its kinetic energy and usually goes from a kinetic impactor to a kineticobaric blaster. Even getting the Guilders to hit them with their positron beams would… Yes, they've entered the atmosphere, cause such a huge explosion and electromagnetic discharge that it would probably be better just to let it hit.

And just teleporting wouldn't help me because I have to have my constructs match velocity in order to catch them.

Okay, okay, zeta tube? Yes, zeta radiation would probably work. Can't just teleport ahead and bounce them because the zeta system needs a few seconds to actually trigger, but it's still better than trying to grab them manually. Set up a construct relay over there and… Faster, damn it. Alan would catch up like-. Yes, good. Zeta tube construct forward and that's the first slug shooting off into space because the zeta tube preserves kinetic energy but not vector.

Agh, Hesk fired them as a spread, plotting most efficient intercept course, and-.

"Lantern Xor, if-"

Head for that one, partially deflected, if I just knock it aside it would probably head back out of the atmosphere but it's really no more effort to zeta tube it, gone, good.

"-you have a-"

Turn without losing momentum, be willing to lose more altitude if that's what it takes to get ahead because they're definitely going to catch up, gaining on that slug with that one within striking distance.

"-moment, I would-"

The slugs are heating up. I can actually see them deforming, and not just from my point defence shots. I think I should be very mildly relieved that these weapons appear to be designed to pierce deeply buried bunkers rather than ravage a planet's surface. Alright, slightly lower rate of acceleration and generate a zeta tube directly ahead-. Gone.

"-appreciate your assistance."

Slight change of angle and accelerate, drop the zeta construct to remove air resistance and create a new one ahead, ring calculations show that I'm probably going to be on time.

"Illustres, Hesk is refusing to-"

Slight shift to the right, drop and recreate zeta tube, third slug gone.

"-acknowledge my orders-"

Aaaand next one's further away. The Spiders are trying to evacuate, but when you're worried that your planet is going to be bombarded from everywhere there isn't really anywhere to run to so they've only just started getting people out of Hesk's line of sight.

"-and his crew support him."

Not surprised. And there's not going to be a remote control for the ship because that would be stupid.

"We're condemning them for mutiny."

"Understood."

So I can kill them all and their government won't care, because even if they were on the fence about exterminating the local Spider Guild they're not going to tolerate an Admiral violating orders. And maybe I shouldn't have raised the issue with them, because now they know that no one is answering their commands they're probably going to execute anyone who survives.

Darn it. Worry later.

Next intercept is coming up. This one is heading for an already-evacuated industrial centre. Stopping it won't save many lives, but it will make integrating it into the local economy a good deal easier.

Closer.

Close-.

I feel it as the zeta tube outside of the atmosphere is destroyed.

What? What?!

Hesk turned his point defences on my construct! I can't-. I can make an additional zeta tube down here, but with the added time and air resistance…

Not sure that I'll make it.

Try anyway, of course. I may not be an ideal hero but I'd like to give myself a 'C' at least.

Getting lower, so I can see the larger streets with my naked eyes. This time two zeta tubes and I wince at the sudden increase in air resistance and the increased distance to my other targets. That one gone, but I'm… There's no slack, so add that in to each catch-. No, too long.

Zeta tubes gone, heading for the next target. What can I do what can I do?

Kinetic barrier? I could get one in front of them, but I'm.. not sure that it would absorb the kinetic energy cleanly. I never actually found out whether Terminus uses them like this and this isn't a good place to experiment. On the other hand, I doubt it would be worse than letting them hit the ground.

What else?

The only other thing is trying to… Eat kinetic energy. Which might be possible, but again, I don't really want to experiment with that in this situation.

Okay, another slug. Can I improve the process? Start angling towards the next one as I generate them. Won't increase my speed enough to get them all, but might give me a little extra thinking time.

Fourth slug caught and sent back into space. Two left. Too far apart. Not enough time.

One going to city, industrial and residential. Population in bunkers, not sufficient. Shockwaves will kill most of them.

Other going to primary space port, power generation centre and defence installation. Will cripple economy and make Guild unable to defend the planet because I can very easily see Desire whispering to someone else because why not.

Obvious decision. I turn towards the city. The Queen can rebuild the space port and the locals can rebuild generators, but I can't easily bring that many people back from the dead. It's also the traditionally superheroic thing to do, but that's not my first thought.

I send an evacuation message to the area that will be affected, and… I'll try blocking it, but I'm not going to have time for anything reliable. Too bad.

Closer, closer, and I can hear the screams now as the streak the railgun round is making across the sky is very obvious. Unnecessary, as I am going to get there in time to stop this one, and I-. I can see the lights dimming and vanishing as the Guilders are injured or killed in their panic as they desperately try to escape.

Sorry about the spaceport, and a respectful nod to the Guilders who stayed at their positions.

One last zeta tube pair -slug rebounded- and then-.

What?

An orange shield envelopes the spaceport, thick and multi-layered and flexible enough to bleed off some of the kinetic energy. I transition into close proximity, unifying my purpose with Lantern Xor as we work together to block the shot. Air set on fire takes a cold beam, pressure waves are absorbed by kinetic barriers.

We don't get everything. Quite a lot of the area looks like it's been sand blasted and a lot of the more delicate electronics will need to be replaced. But that was a success.

Xalitan nods at me, his awareness extending into the Honden.

"Illustres. I have learned enough to return to the war."

 

12th December 2012
06:55 GMT -5

Kal-El nods. "Sounds like things went well, then."

"I achieved my political objective. But that wasn't the point. Would you have done that?"

"I…" And I'm rather pleased to see him think his answer through better than he used to. "I wouldn't have handled it quite like that, no. But I can't say that I've ever had to deal with something quite like that before." He looks mildly constipated for a moment. "Do they really eat people?"

"You did read the report I wrote-"

"Good Lord, yes."

He smiles as he says it, but it's more than a little strained.

"-where I said they were number three on my hit list? Also, I'm glad that you're reading my reports and appreciate the effort you've made to improve yourself."

"I'm not sure that came out quite right, but I'll take it."

"Normally I'd.. just ignore that jab, but… I do actually mean it. I don't want you to think that I'm going to hold a grudge forever or anything. If you hadn't started reading reports then, yes, we wouldn't be having this conversation, but you're too good a person to reject sound advice."

"Alright." He nods. "Thank you. What happened next?"

"Xalitan isn't enlightened, but he's reached a level of skill where we're calling his training a success. Dox wants him to go to the front lines so that we can better assess exactly how much better he's gotten, then he'll form part of our training cadre. We've already circulated documentation to the rest of the Corps on what we did, so hopefully the ones with the most initiative will use that to improve their own training."

"Ah, good, but I meant 'what happened next to Chugragah'."

"With a heady combination of fear and gratitude, the Strand Elders acquiesced. I brought the Queen over the next day, they had a fairly civilised chat about how to switch from an import economy to an export economy, and they were kind enough to hand over all of the contact information for their merchant contacts."

"The slave traders."

"Yes."

"I realise they have it coming-."

"No." I shake my head. "No. I left that to the Green Lantern Corps. They're not major military powers and can be handled by police. Besides, I'm trying to be less violent at the moment."

"Blue Lantern mentioned something about that. That… Seems like a big departure for you."

"It is."

"Were the Justice Society International really that bad?"

"No. But for me, there's no distinction between wanting an end and wanting the means. Like… I imagine that if you really had to kill someone, you'd do it, but you'd probably feel bad about it afterwards."

"I'm… Not sure what you mean by 'had to'. I suppose there are some things… Some fights where I couldn't risk holding back. And if that happened, then… Yes. I would feel bad about it."

"That's not what I meant. But okay. The point is, I wouldn't. Usually, that requires all sorts of mental hoop-jumping or actual psychosis. For me, it doesn't. So if I think an end is worth going for, I don't worry about the means. Morally, I mean. Obviously I worry whether they're really the best way to achieve that end."

"That's a little worrying. Are you still talking to Guy and Dinah?"

"Not in the therapeutic sense."

"Do you think maybe you should?"

"No. As a result of my exposure to the orange light, my thought processes are too different from human baselines for a normal psychiatrist to apply their knowledge to. My point is that the JSI showed me that something I thought was desirable might not be. They were a well-organised world-spanning superhero organisation, ruthless when it was useful to be and friendly when it wasn't. They were exactly what I was advocating for."

"And it didn't look so good when you saw what it was actually like."

"Exactly. It probably achieves more good in the long term… Or even the medium term." I shake my head. "But I still don't want it, so I'm having a bit of a rethink."

"That sounds like a good step to take. You certainly gave me a few things to think about. It's nice to know that you're not so set in your ways that you can't take a step back."

"Right, so I've got a request. You're probably the.. second most Golden Agey superhero I know. It's not an approach that comes naturally to me, and I'd appreciate the opportunity to study how it works for you."

"You…" He raises his eyebrows. "Want to be my sidekick?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I… Wasn't expecting… 'Second most'?"

"Captain Marvel is the most, but I'm concerned that I'd have an undue influence on him."

"What about Diana? Or Alan?"

"Both killed people during World War Two. Also, they both like me more than you do."

"You're a… A lot to take in."

"Says Superman."

"I work pretty long hours."

"I make my own hours. I can spend my entire day in Metropolis without any difficulty, just hanging around until 'a job for Superman' turns up."

"You realise that you being here is going to mean that there won't be as many of those as usual?"

"Prevention is better than cure. Look, if you don't want me to hang around, that's fine. I get it. I've got far too big a body count to act surprised. But I'm.. strongly considering changing my modus operandi by addressing the behaviours that concern you, and will happily follow your directions."

He takes a slow breath.

"And you'll do what I say."

"I've dealt civilly with unrepentant Nazis, the biggest arsehole in my Corps and serial killing cannibals. I can follow instructions from you. As long as it's not something stupid like 'get a civilian identity'."

"No, I think the boat already sailed on that one. Alright. I've got things to do-"

Go to work, which isn't something that he's going to mention in the open. Even if Lex Luthor almost certainly knows, plenty of other intelligent criminals in Metropolis don't.

"-right now, but I'll check in with you in a few hours. Okay?"

"Certainly. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm sure that I can find something productive to do while you're away."

He exhales slowly then nods, before turning and flying away.

 

12th December 2012
15:23 GMT -5

"Do you kids-"

The cluster of children standing around the power transformer look up in astonishment.

"-own that fence?"

"Superman?"

I frown slightly. Alright, I haven't bothered actually researching the statistics on the whole 'broken windows' thing, but I can't help but think that this isn't an efficient-.

That's not the point.

"That's my name." I can hear him smiling as he says it, arm folded as he comes in to land. "Listen, kids. I can understand wanting an outlet for your artistic talents, but electric substations like this are dangerous. There's enough power in these wires to give you a serious injury."

In Gotham, even today, I'd give even odds that they'd be pointing the cans at… Say, Batman, with the aim of temporarily blinding him so they can either escape or stab him. But with Superman the children are lowering them or half-heartedly trying to hide them behind their backs.

"Sorry, Superman."

"Not as sorry as your parents would be if you ended up in the hospital. Why don't you kids head home?"

Eyes downcast, the children head out through the wooden gate and back onto the street. Kal-El watches them go for a moment, then looks up at me.

"You mind fixing the gate?"

I nod, scanning… Huh. The padlock is lying on the ground, still connected to the hasp. Looks like the screws just pulled out of the wood of the gate. A little odd, but over a sufficiently long period of time…

I repair the structure of the gate, reattach the lock mechanism and close it up.

"Do you think it's worth putting netting over the top?"

"No, that should do it. Kids will walk through an open gate, but mostly they won't break into a place like this."

"Unless they kick a ball over." Hm. "I could add a sign outside with the number to phone if they do kick a ball over?"

"That's a thoughtful idea."

There's a glow of orange as it appears.

"So what's your mobile number again?"

He looks mildly amused. Very mildly amused.

"We call them 'cells' on this side of the Atlantic. And I think the Metropolis Power Authority would be the people to call. I wouldn't want to disappoint someone because I was fighting a monster when they wanted their kite back."

"Yeah, okay."

"Do you do home repairs as well?"

"My maintenance is really more perfective. And I don't like cheating tradesmen out of the business. Unless you want something interesting done covertly that they couldn't do?"

"No, I was just making conversation."

"Because while there's no such thing as kryptonian proof, my time with Kara has given me insight into kryptonian resistant. If you and Ms. Lane are planning on having children, you might find it advantageous to make sure they won't wreck the place."

He looks slightly awkward, perhaps remembering collateral damage from his own childhood.

"I'll keep you in mind. What did you think?"

"It probably wouldn't have occurred to me to mention their parents."

"Not going to say that it's not a good use of my time?"

"Ah… It's not, but given the time it would take from noticing they were in here, to phoning the police or Power Company, and them sending someone, it's actually pretty reasonable in terms of efficiency."

"And..?"

"And?"

"Guy told me it was usually worth asking you what you weren't including in your first answer."

"And… It's worth expending quite a lot to keep you motivated and on an even keel. Good social bonds are an essential part of a person's psychological wellbeing, human or kryptonian, and this sort of activity makes you a part of Metropolis's community."

"I suppose that's true. I hadn't really thought about it in those terms before. I mostly just think of it as 'being nice'."

"And that's exactly why I'm here."

"I'm.. not sure why that's so hard for you."

"It's not. It's just that I'm aware of all of the things I could be doing instead of being nice."

He folds his arms across his chest. "Such as?"

"Fighting the Reach. My presence would reduce the fatalities amongst N.E.M.O. forces significantly in any fight I involved myself in. Dox prefers it if I stay as a reserve so the Reach can't develop a counter to me as easily, and so our side doesn't get dependent. And I can't fight them all by myself. But it would mean a lot fewer people on our side dying in the short term. Maybe even on the Reach side, if I can disable ships without destroying them more easily than anyone else on our side."

"Can't do much about Apokolips, but the Dominion and other parts of the Spider Guild are good targets. Or I could track down Sinestro. Killing or capturing him would improve relations with the Green Lantern Corps and stop whatever he's planning. Or just find a random planet trapped by Avleb's Wall and give them a few bleed torsion generators to get them started."

"I'm sorry, what's that?"

"Avleb's Wall? That's when a planet doesn't have enough accessible fuel for industrial civilisation to develop."

He nods. "I remember you bringing up the concept in your talk. I just didn't know the name. Are they common?"

"Yes, very common. Honestly, I've.. sort of wondered whether Krypton was in the same place before the Vrang arrived."

"Krypton didn't have a fuel shortage."

"No, but your forebears might have needed technology more advanced than they could develop without it to access it. Technologically sophisticated technology took off on Krypton after the Vrang were defeated. I know the official history says that that happened because everyone saw the necessity, with a few rogue historians implying that it was copying Vrang technology that made it possible for it to happen so quickly. But-."

"But it might have been fuel." He nods. "Because they brought in mining equipment."

"Yes." I shrug. "But all those children might have gotten electrocuted due to their own foolishness while I was busy saving billions. So what's next?"

 

12th December 2012
15:23 GMT +1

"…returning from Ungara within a few days."

I bring up the star chart.

"We're not expecting any real difficulty en route, so President Horne and I have organised a formal reception. Lex will be doing a… An internationalist speech, 'brotherhood of men' and not 'community of nations'." I lay down my notes and look around my colleagues in The Light. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask; how does everyone feel about involving aliens in the fleet?"

Circe turns her head slightly to the side, narrowing her eyes.

"I realise that Earth is your adopted home-."

"Other than me. I mean, as ratings, not administrators. I've been making my children watch Star Trek: the Next Generation, and I thought, you know, we could do that."

Clea shakes her head. "No. Perhaps in a few decades, once the institution is firmly established. Bringing in alien populations without a clear operational culture is simply asking for trouble."

Adom nods. "I am similarly sceptical. If it were a matter of an alliance with another power, I would leave it to you to asses their value. But everything we have learned about our neighbours in the stars is that they are weak and timorous. If we must implant steel in their spines before we can make any use of them…" He nods again. "I would rather wait."

Cranius smiles. "Implant zhe steel in zhe spine is not zo hard."

"Ah?" Richard smiles. "You've worked on aliens?"

"Not on whole ones, no. But zhe humanoid form has certain commonalities. It really would be no great difficulty to adapt zhem. In zhe brain, courage is expressed in zhe structures responsible for group-affiliation. Unless our neighbours are purely solitary creatures coming togezher only to mate, nudging zhem a little is no great task."

Lex's screen makes a small noise at it turns towards Cranius.

"I do not think that editing the brains of our recruits should be our first choice. Even if they are of limited use, there will be a few individuals who stand above their fellows." Another quiet whine from the screen's pedestal. "I am also against including aliens in the organisation. For now, at least."

I nod. "Fair enough. Richard?" He just shrugs. "Circe?"

"Are there magicians on any of them?"

"Other than Mars? No."

"Then I will also vote 'no'."

I nod. "Alright, that's a 'no' for now. Revisit in… Say, five years?" Nods. "Okay, that's me done. Ah… Richard."

"The Justice League have managed not to die for another month. Somehow." He leans forward, eyes peering over the top of his smoking glasses. "Do you know how much kryptonite there is on Earth?"

I shake my head. "Maybe half a tonne?"

"He turned into a giant with a double-digit IQ! I didn't know kryptonite could even do that!"

"I.. think the red stuff can have mutagenic effects..?"

"Consider that confirmed." He leans back, a black tendril restores his glasses to their accustomed perch. "Oh, and it turned out that Ian Karkull survived as a wraith in the Shadowlands. Once he stuck his head out of cover I was able to give him the boot, but you should probably keep an eye out so that Lane doesn't acquire him for his expertise."

"Samuel isn't quite as eager to recruit people likely to cause long term problems as some of his contemporaries, but thank you for the reminder. Any idea what he was up to?"

Richard sneers. "Infecting the minds of mortal men with dreadful visions, so far as I can tell. Though according to him, his original Transareal Beam has some sort of life-extension property. I'll be forwarding a copy of everything the League learned to The Screen."

The Screen displays a green oscilloscope of agreement. "That does sound interesting. Everything you've told me suggests that contact with the Shadowlands is inimical to human health."

"As far as I know, it is. All I can suggest is that it's something to do with how he made the connection, rather than the connection itself. Oh, and naturally Batman already has everything I've got."

"That is of no concern. Batman will work on a way to counter someone else using Karkull's technology. I would be exceedingly surprised if he used it to benefit humanity."

"Good! Good. And I'll get started on working out how to persuade my lady wife to use the thing." He reaches out with his right fist and knocks on the meeting table surface. "Next."

Cranius inflates his air sacs, but Clea pre-empts him.

"If you don't mind, Cranius. I fear that what I say will impact you most of all."

"But of course. I wait with circular breath."

"Ahri'ahn has appeared."

My armour starts to glow, and Cranius glowers. "Where?"

"Poseidonis. He just appeared in the middle of a meeting of city-state ambassadors for a meeting with High King Orin. The ambassadors were dismissed, so I'm not entirely certain what they were discussing."

She looks over to Richard with eyebrows raised, but he just shakes his head.

"Orin's been away for a few days, but that's not all that unusual. Nothing's been mentioned. Has he been ensorcelled?"

"I doubt it. High Queen Mera is an archmage, and the royal family have any number of enchanted artefacts to defend themselves with. Nothing that would stop Ahri'ahn for any length of time, but overwhelming them wouldn't be a simple matter."

Circe looks disgruntled. "I would offer my services, but I'm… Not yet strong enough to counter Ahri'ahn reliably."

I nod. "Obviously, we need to know what's going on. Orin having a chinwag with a man who attacked and killed US military personnel is going to disrupt a lot of things."

Clea nods. "Since I'm the face of the engagement movement, I am the natural choice to find out what he thinks he's doing."

"Do you want me to be there? Or Sunset? I'm confident that I can tough out anything he can throw at me, and Sunset's a rather good thaumaturgist."

"No, this is an internal Atlantean matter at present. It would be better, politically, if I handled this myself."

I nod again. "Alright. Just remember that the rest of us are a phone call away."

"I will. Thank you. The only other thing of note I have to report is that Aurania is suffering from my trade embargo. People are actually leaving the city to live elsewhere as the economy falters."

I shrug. "Does that..? Affect our operations in Atlantis in some way?"

"There will be a few more magic tutors looking for work. I'll send Circe a list of the more capable ones who might be interested in relocating to the surface." Circe gives her a grateful nod. "But I mostly just wanted an opportunity to be smug out loud. Revenge after so long feels like a tremendous weight I'd forgotten I was carrying has been lifted from me."

It's unproductive, but it's not really a problem if one Atlantean city gets frozen out.

"Alright, but try to keep it under control. I don't want to alienate Orin."

She waves off my concern. On her head be it, then.

"Adom…"

 

15th December 2012
08:53 GMT -5

"So why exactly have you been following Superman around?"

"That's a fairly deep rabbit hole, Ms. Lane. Are you sure you want to know?"

She looks unimpressed.

"I think I'll cope."

"Alright. I'm trying to learn classical superheroism. I grew up during the dark age of comics, which means that I'm more familiar with grim and gritty superpeople, or deconstructions of classic archetypes. I myself have managed to be merely ruthlessly utilitarian, but I've still killed an awful lot of people."

"And you want Superman to teach you how to be a real hero?"

"Ask the people of Tamaran whether or not I'm a real hero. No, I want Superman to teach me… How to be a nice hero."

"Uh-huh. How's it going?"

I look up to where Kal-El is sitting on the edge of a building in the Thinker pose, eyes glowering directly at the LexCorp building.

"I… Think it's going badly wrong." … "Um, can we have a.. private talk about this?"

"Let's."

One transition later and we appear in my facility in Bir Tawil.

15th December 2012
14:53 GMT +1

And now she's glaring openly.

"What did you say to him?"

"Just… Pointed out the opportunity costs involved with certain forms of… Civic mindedness." Um. "Look this place is pretty secure, but do you want to do this inside..?"

She strides past me through the heavy metal doors into the interior of the facility. I wince and then follow her, signalling the facility's system to engage intermediate security measures.

"How bad-?"

"I have-" She wheels to face me. "-never heard him doubt himself like he did yesterday."

"Sorry."

"Then why the hell did you do it?!"

"Because I wanted to know why he does what he does and it sounds like he just never considered going it a different way. I was.. sort of hoping he had a better reason than that."

"Jesus."

"If you're familiar with the Book of Job, I think that the correct Christian response to-."

"Stop. Talking."

I raise my right hand towards her, palm facing her. Then I put it over my mouth.

"Do you really want to see what happens if S-. If Clark adopts your way of doing things?"

I shake my head.

"Someone doesn't need to be Thomas Aquinas to be a good person!" I nod. "So what do you want?"

I stand there for a mom-.

She rolls her eyes. "You can talk."

"Have you and him..? Talked about your different lifespans?"

She breathes in, and then sharply breathes out.

Spoiler: The original version

"Yes. Once. I know that… Forty years from now I'll be an old woman and he'll look pretty much the same. And that in eighty years from now I'll be dead and he'll still look the same."

"Actually, human women can make a hundred and twenty-."

"A hundred and ten."

"Um." Her face hardens. "That too. Um. But… Clark Kent will look the same. People.. will notice. Unless you plan on moving and cutting ties with everyone in ten years or so. Clark Kent… He's always going to be Clark Kent. I mean, his identity. But 'Clark Kent, well-intentioned but bumbling reporter'? That has a lifespan. So in eighty… A hundred years, does he pick a new name and a new town and set up a new secret identity? Or… Something else?"

"Hooooooo boy."

"See, this is what I do. What I can't stop doing. Think bloody awkward thoughts and ask bloody awkward questions."

"He hasn't told me."

"Think he's.. thought about it?"

"No."

"Think he should?"

"I.. think it can wait. God, I never… I never put it in that sort of perspective."

"I can Danner you, if you like. That way you can experience it for yourself."

"Ask me again when I've got grey hair."

"I can Danner-." She glares, and I think it's supposed to be a fake glare but she isn't quite in the right headspace. "Seriously, though. If it's all about personal connections for him… Small town spirit or… Something, then extending your lifespan could solve some pretty major problems."

I sigh.

"Yes. Once. Before you gave me the Danner Formula. We knew that forty years in the future I'd be an old woman he'd look pretty much the same. And that in eighty years I'd be dead and he'd still look the same."

"Actually, human women can make a hundred and twenty-."

"A hundred and ten."

"Um." Her face hardens. "That too."

"I never asked how long I actually have."

"No one knows. Hugo Danner is a hundred and twenty, and if he dyed his hair he could pass for forty. So he might die at three hundred, or… Maybe not."

"And what about Clark?"

"Karsta Wor-Ul looked old and had arthritis, but she already looked like that when she moved to Earth. I don't know how long kryptonians live under these circumstances."

"Longer or shorter than three hundred years?"

"My best guess is a lot longer. And he probably won't look older. People.. will notice. Unless you plan on moving and cutting ties with everyone in ten years or so. Clark Kent… He's always going to be Clark Kent. I mean, his identity. But 'Clark Kent, well-intentioned but bumbling reporter'? That has a lifespan. So in eighty… A hundred years, does he pick a new name and a new town and set up a new secret identity? Or… Something else?"

"Hooooooo boy."

"See, this is what I do. What I can't stop doing. Think bloody awkward thoughts and ask bloody awkward questions."

"He hasn't told me."

"Think he's.. thought about it?"

"No."

"Think he should?"

"I.. think it can wait. God, I never… I never put it in that sort of perspective. I haven't even thought about it."

"Oh, you don't have the same problem. I'm a well known crazy transhumanist. It's not strange that I'd offer to augment you. You don't have a secret identity, and you'll age enough that it won't be immediately obvious if you don't want to broadcast it. You'll be 'that reporter with super strength' not 'Superman in hiding'."

I sigh.

"Captain Marvel once told me that he wouldn't be able to cope with being Captain Marvel all the time. I don't know if I could cope with not being Orange Lantern all the time. No, I know I can't; I tried taking a month off with my girlfriend and we spent nearly all of it working."

"No one's obliged to be Thomas Aquinas. I was just hoping that he'd worked out a sensible cut off point. And… Why that point is where it is. But the more you know about, the more you see you could do… I'm sorry, this was a bad idea. Please, thank Kal-El for putting up with me. I'll go and bother someone else."

"Yeah. You do that."

15th December 2012
09:02 GMT -5

The LexCorp receptionist passes me the phone handset.

"Orange Lantern. What can I do for you?"

"Mister Luthor, I need to warn you about something."

"And what would that be?"

"I accidentally messed up Superman's head, and… I might have persuaded him to adopt a more pragmatic mindset."

"I see."

"So if you could just minimise the provocation until I've fixed this..?"

…

I hear the phone click as he puts it down.

 

17th December 2012
11:12 GMT

"Hm."

Commodore Amalak leans against the railing as he looks down upon one of the battle damaged regions of Chughraghahh.

"I'd have thought that you would be more efficient."

"It was about sending a message. Quickly."

He turns, right arm leaning on the rail while he gestures with his left.

"You're a fascinating man, Illustres. The way you intervened in the peace talks and actually made them work, the way you took Felicia and handed her over to that Crown Imperium charity rather than keeping her as a concubine, I rather formed a particular vision of you in my mind. Then you destroyed the Citadel Complex with such ferocity and ruthlessness, and here…"

He glances back over his shoulder.

"Here I can only describe your behaviour as callous. Not a terrible personality trait for a soldier -and I know exactly how repugnant the Spider Guild is- but I find I struggle to reconcile what I see here with what I saw then."

"It was a utility calculation. The Spider Guild is far stronger here than they were in Vega, and the local civilisations aren't…"

"Pirates with delusions of civilisation? Don’t worry, I've heard worse."

"Right, they're just… People, managing their own affairs and occasionally having their citizens abducted and eaten. One is clearly more moral than the other. So if my actions aid Karax and hurt Chughraghahh, that's fine. Nothing of value was lost. But in Vega, while that's true of the Psions and arguably the Citadel Complex, it's less obvious that it was true about the rest of you. The Queen doesn't want to eat people and you're just an 'aggressive capitalist'. I've got no reason to violently advantage one in favour of the other if I want to improve the region."

"But the Psions and the Citadelians… Don't meet your requirements."

"Didn't meet my requirements."

"'Want the ends, want the means'. Still, for most people, going from throwing space stations at a planet to defending it with such fervour would require a major change in outlook."

"I wasn't particularly fervorous, to be honest." I sigh. "I'm.. rethinking my approach a little. Otherwise I might well have not bothered defending them. But the fact is there isn't anything worth salvaging here; utility would be maximised by exterminating them. Between my doubt and the fact that the local interdiction system messes up subspace storage, I wasn't anything like as effective as I'm used to being."

It would have been difficult to get a solid tether attached to the main mass of the railgun rounds through their plasma sheath, but it would have been slightly more efficient than what I was doing. The Guild don't use subspace but do occasionally find themselves at odds with species who do, so they pre-empted my efforts.

"But to return to the matter of Vega, you're satisfied with the Queen's behaviour?"

"She has been scrupulous in upholding her end of the agreement. What friction there has been comes from disagreements between the other parties. Though I must admit… Even damaged like this, I'm a little concerned about the Queen taking on this much additional industrial capacity."

"I assume that it's not practical for you to expand this far from Vega."

"You assume correctly. Unless you're going to give me Vran back, in which case things get a good deal easier."

The Dominion uses fixed portals to transport their fleets long distance. Putting one here and one in Vega would be a functional solution, but I'd have to either persuade the Dominion to let me rent one from them or create them myself and be prepared for their open hostility when they found out. They already don't like me for breaking Vril out in the first place.

But a large scale zeta radiation based system…

"I could make travelling back and forth a good deal easier. N.E.M.O. has the technology for interstellar gateways."

"That's Dominion technology."

I shake my head. "Similar concept, different execution. I can't promise you that they won't pick a fight over it, but it's not something they routinely do."

"Other places use your version?"

"My homeworld has been using them for years, and I know of one other planet that has a similar arrangement."

"Is there some other catch?"

"I don't intend to give it to you. The Queen's going to be paying you in goods and services to be the guarantor of the new treaty, but there will be a charge for the gateway."

"Per use, or..?"

"I think I'll lease it to you. For the duration of the contract. The more money you can make with it, the bigger your margin."

"A reasonable prospect. How cheap are they to run?"

"We use them for global planet-side transportation on my home world. Unless they're in continuous use, they're pretty darn cheap."

"So. I agree to protect the neighbouring polities against the Spider Guild, and the Spider Guild against the neighbouring polities. With a gate thrown in to make me appreciate the opportunities for diversification. And with the Guild making payment in kind, I can build up a huge tonnage in merchantmen while accessing a new pool of recruits."

I nod.

"Then I'd be a fool to reject it out of hand. Let me know when you've hammered out the specifics."

"Will do. Do you want a lift back to your ship?"

"No, I think I'll continue the tour, start speaking to the locals. Without you around. I imagine that they're finding you a little overwhelming at present."

"I'll see you later, then."

I step out and

reappear next to-.

"Not-Daddy!"

The Queen, as Princess perks up, and-.

"Princess, you appear to be furry."

"M-Hm. Mummy says that Spiders are too different from humanoid physiological norms to be erotically appealing, so the best I can do is look cute and inoffensive. And that means full body fur!"

She spreads out her upper arms.

"Hugs!"

I open my arms and she jumps, grabbing onto my torso and rubbing herself against me like a living spider-teddy. Her chitin is well covered and I can honestly see her being a far better diplomatic envoy than any the Guild has used to date.

I look up at her indulgent mother.

"Perhaps we could go over the terms I've been discussing with Amalak?"

 

18th December 2012
15:27 GMT -5

"Okay." I watch as Kal-El metaphorically girds his loins. "Perhaps we should try and do this a little differently."

"It's okay, I can hide the body, just tell me where it is."

"There isn't a body."

"Even if you incinerated it completely, there might well be biological residue left. I know your eyesight is good, but I have a power ring, and your heat vision tends to leave a very distinctive-."

"Just-." He holds out his right palm. "Just stop. I haven't killed anyone. Lois and I had a… Uncomfortable but probably overdue conversation about… Aging."

"Ah. How did it go?"

"I think I can keep 'Clark Kent, bumbling reporter' going until my early sixties. I'll just have to find a grey hair dye that works on kryptonians. After that I guess I'll just have to be open about things, though I don't think I'll ever be 'Superman' full time."

"It's your life. Do you think you'll keep writing? I ask because at that point your articles will have a very different 'brain feel' to them."

"It's thirty years away. A lot of things could be different. And I could write under a pseudonym easily enough."

"You can't do interviews under…" I smile, shaking my head. "Would you like a personal hologram projector?"

"Thank you for the offer, but that's a technology Krypton had." He pauses for a moment. "I've had a few thoughts about your problem, and I've an idea about how we could bridge the gap."

"Okay?"

"You've seen how I handle situations. I've heard how you handle things, but I've never really seen it for myself. Contentious situations, where you have to use your judgement. Not just things like with Kara."

"I can see the superficial logic, but I'm really not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I'm.. a little concerned that I'm just going to make my thought process seem more appealing. I saw how what I said affected you."

"No, don't worry. Ma raised me better than that." I.. look away, awkwardly. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk about your mother."

"My parents thought they were raising a bright but not particularly social child, not someone with your powers. The precise niceties of moral philosophy weren't really discussed. I really don't have the slightest idea how she'd feel about this."

"No?"

I take a moment to strain my memories.

"When I was very small, she asked me to promise never to vote for the Conservative Party, because she held them responsible for the fact that I spent half my time at school in Portakabin classrooms. She also told me that she'd disown me if I ever joined the army. So, I guess I'm disowned, though she might just have been talking about the wars my Britain was involved in at the time rather than wars in general."

"And your pa?"

I strain my memories harder.

"I don’t remember it coming up. At all."

"Huh. Did you get along okay with your parents?"

"As far as I know. I don't have a second set of parents to compare them to. We didn't really have any hobbies in common… Ah. But on.. a slightly less personal level, what exactly did you want to watch me doing?"

He shrugs. "Anything."

I smile awkwardly. "It's the old.. thing, where someone asks you to say something and your mind goes completely blank."

"You can just take the lead for a patrol around Metropolis if you like."

"No, I've got something."

I float a little way up into the air, then generate an oversized zeta tube.

"Keeping an eye on Chughraghahh and it's satellite worlds is an ongoing task. The new treaty arrangements won't be fully bedded in for a little while, so I'm on big stick duty."

"Isn't that on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Yes, but I built them a big zeta tube. We can get there in a few seconds. Coming back will be a little more difficult, but I can come back first and create a receiver station." Hm. "Or we can do something a little closer?"

"If you're busy I can always hitch a lift."

He reaches down to his belt and activates his environmental shield.

"Ready?"

He nods as I check the orientation of the zeta tube. And then check that the far end is clear…

Confirmed.

"After you."

"They don't eat kryptonians, do they?"

"I imagine they would if they thought they could. So all the ships apart from Amalak's-."

Amalak who has a massive grudge against kryptonians.

"Would you mind.. terribly, changing your shirt? I.. just remembered that the man leading the picket fleet had his homeworld destroyed by General Zod, and he's got a bit of a grudge about it."

Kal-El's face falls slightly.

"How much of a grudge?"

"He'd try and kill you if he confirmed that you were kryptonian. Or Daxamite. But without the House of El crest we can just pretend you're a metahuman. If he even asks."

"Does he know that Zod was a criminal who was banished to the Phantom Zone?"

"Do you intend to get him out, kill him, then present Amalak with his severed head as reparation?"

"Is that something you would do?"

"No. Without knowing how much solar power he'd absorbed before being sent to the Phantom Zone, letting him out would be too much of a risk."

"He was sent to the Phantom Zone from Krypton. I doubt that he'd have any solar power."

"Oh. In that case, yes. Life imprisonment is fine for what would otherwise be capital crimes when you're not completely certain, because you could be wrong and exculpatory evidence might turn up. In Zod's case there's no doubt. He certainly deserves it, and it might finally bring Amalak and the few other surviving members of his species some measure of peace. And possibly make him stop trying to kill other kryptonians. Using the Phantom Zone in the way Krypton used to was simply cowardly."

"I'll take that under advisement." He smiles. "Do you have a replacement shirt, or do you want me to go bare-chested?"

 

18th December 2012
20:35 GMT

I can tell from the way Kal-El's eyes are focusing that he's taking in the damage on the planet below.

"I never asked how you felt about Ms. Lane getting augmented."

He blinks, clearly experiencing a violent change in mental gearing.

"Ah. I like that she's safer and will live longer. The.. Danner Formula has a history of reliability, and I know if there was a problem you'd work at it until it was fixed."

"Yes." I sigh. "There might be a problem."

He stops in the air, giving me his full attention.

"The Accala… They all have the Danner Formula. There's actually a ceremony when an expectant mother gets the injection to augment her foetus. Because… Just like how it's not easy to nurse a super strong baby with normal breasts… They're not sure how safe it is to give birth to a normal child with super strong vaginal muscles. I mean, I don't think humans and kryptonians can breed naturally anyway-."

He relaxes a little. "But Lois would need a C-section."

"That would be a good idea. Unless your child could absorb solar power in-utero, which seems unlikely. And would be very bad."

"But Lois would be okay, wouldn't she? Her womb's tougher, too."

"I think -and this is an impression I have based on what I know about Danner babies, not something I've got actual research on- that she'd be fine with the foetus moving or kicking, I'm… Just not sure what happens with heat vision."

"Would they have heat vision?"

"I have no idea. Humans can breed with things we biologically shouldn't be able to because the Earth's thaumosphere is firmly of the opinion that sex makes babies, but I don't know what that does for the baby's biology."

"I don't have a lot of luck when it comes to magic."

"I suspect that's mostly because you weren't born here. Or it could be that kryptonians aren't evolved to use magic in the way that humans are." I shrug. "The only way to find out in advance would be to try and teach Mitchell magic, and he hasn't shown any interest."

"What would happen if they did have heat vision?"

"Whether it would kill Ms. Lane or not would depend on the angle and energy output. All but the weakest shots would boil the amniotic fluid and cause a miscarriage or.. at best a premature delivery. And the child might be killed due to their brain not being able to handle the power discharge."

"Dear Lord."

"I'd suggest either growing a child in a tank, or spending the whole pregnancy off Earth and away from yellow suns. Second suggestion would be to give Ms. Lane an environmental shield set to filter out the wavelengths which empower kryptonians."

He nods, clearly relieved. "That sounds like the smart option."

"And without wanting to be crude, if you're trying for children then she needs to wear it from the start and at all times."

He breathes appreciably easier. "And… How does it work with you?"

"If you're relying on a magic mechanism, in-vitro fertilisation-."

"No. I mean, if you and Jade try and have children. I know you said that you didn't have a soul when you came here, and it sounds like magic plays a big part in the process."

"If Jennifer-Lynn Hayden and Todd Rice are anything to go by, any child I have has a fifty percent chance of coming out orange and with an innate connection to the orange light. There's no record of Ms. Canton having a difficult labour, and… Miss Hayden's abilities didn't come in until adulthood. If Jade and I had children and they did have a strong connection to the orange light, then I would be able to moderate it and communicate with them by it. More or less."

"Don't other Lanterns have children?"

"Yes, but none of the human Lanterns have, and most of the Lanterns who have children aren't as far into their light as I am. Enlightened Green Lanterns usually aren't interested in anything not associated with the Corps."

"Guy doesn't seem to have that problem."

"Guy is a special case. And he met Ms. Olafsdotter before it happened, which probably helped. Ah!"

I lead the way down towards ground level, where humanoids of various species are working at clearing rubble.

"These people were The Spider Guild's trading partners. Pirates and slavers of the blackest stripe. Now-."

His face stills.

"Now they're slaves."

"Now they're prisoners with jobs, which I'll remind you is entirely legal in the United States of America. And this was an alternative to the death sentence they were going to get from every civilisation in the region. At best, the Green Lantern Corps might have marooned them somewhere to spend the rest of their lives as hunter-gatherers with no doctors."

"What do they do when this job's finished?"

"Depends. None of the Guild's neighbours want them to go free. Once the initial clear up is complete, those with specialist skills can get work using them, and it's not as if the Spiders care about their people-trafficking history."

"And those without?"

"They worked on board spaceships. They've all got at least basic astro-engineering skills, as well as combat experience. Amalak will probably offer them jobs eventually, if they stick with it, and then they're out of the region and gainfully employed."

His eyes rest on a squad of armed overseers in the uniform of Amalak's organisation.

"How are they treated?"

"Pretty well for people-gastronomes?"

Clearly not what he meant. Reminds me of a meaningful quote at the start of an episode of Andromeda. Something about the best way to judge the morality of a society being to look at how it treats its weakest: the elderly, children and prisoners. Which is nonsense. The elderly are your parents, people who've done their time maintaining your civilisation. Children are your civilisation's future. Prisoners -assuming that they're guilty of things it's reasonable to call crimes- are a drain on your society, unwilling or unable to work within it and draining its resources by existing. I prefer to fix that by rehabilitation so that they can start contributing, but plenty of civilisations don’t have the resources to invest in the chance of that sort of thing working.

"I have concerns that the system in which they have no rights could be open to abuse."

"Amalak's people are professionals, and a good chunk of them are ex-slaves themselves. There are very clear rules for prisoner-guard interactions and constant remote monitoring. And while the prisoners aren't paid, they are rewarded with better conditions if they perform well, so they're motivated to keep at it."

"And if they don't?"

"Then there's a brief hearing, and then the suspended sentence of death is carried out. Want to talk to some of them?"

 

18th December 2012
22:44 GMT

"Strand Elder, please don't do this."

The face on the main screen moves its mandibles in an insulting configuration.

I wait patiently for him to stop.

"Rarkhakahh is the most heavily fortified world in this region! We are armoured, shielded and our weapon systems are second to none! We are ready to fight anyone, including Lanterns!" He leans closer to his camera. "And we have meat animals close at hand. Do your worst."

The camera pulls back, and-.

And he pulls a clearly terrified Karaxian child into view and

I step out, already

prepared to fire, my energy pulse striking the Strand Elder in the back of his head as my construct shield envelops the nearby-. Prisoners. The heavy combat robots lock on and open fire before the Strand Elder's body hits the ground, plasma pulses howling through the air!

I form railguns as the other Spiders in the room blacken and burn from the heat the plasma weapons are giving off. Scan shows basic shields and heavy armour, counter with crumbler rounds, fabricate crumbler rounds because the interdiction system is still active, fire!

Shields flicker and die, chunks of armour vanish as the robots stagger back, trying to right themselves and maintain fire even while I tear them apart. A moment later I feel a brief disorientation as some sort of mind affect device activates, but it's nothing like enough to make my constructs drop.

And then the robots are dead. A cold gun construct turns the air around us back to a more normal temperature, then I check on the Spiders. One heavily cooked survivor. He'll die in a few minutes if I take no action.

I glance back, and the communications system is still in one piece as it was contained inside my shield bubble.

"One survivor, Superman. I could heal him. Thoughts?"

"Is the kid okay?"

I look down to where the child is curled up on the floor hugging his legs to his chest.

"Horribly traumatised and drugged, but I think he'll eventually make a full recovery."

"How would you-?"

I drop my shield, energy pulse the surviving Spider in the head and connect directly to the command centre's computers. Looks like the consoles are shielded against construct intrusion, but with much of the equipment in the rest of the room melted I can get into the system that way. Ah, good design, communications but not control.

"I'd kill them all. If you're quick, I think you're fast enough to get to the surface before they kill all the hostages. Everyone else gogogo!"

This room has three exits. One goes to an emergency bunker, another to the emergency escape craft and the third back into the subterranean command facility. A transmutation ray seals the second, while a command to the computer system opens the first.

The boy who nearly got eaten is still out of it but the others look a little more coherent.

"Everyone! Into the bunker, please! I need you to be safe while I free the others!"

I shove the robot wrecks out of the way while the more focused prisoners herd the rest through the door and down the ladder.

"Don't open the door, I'll teleport in when it's clear."

A couple of bent left fist affirmative gestures from the Karaxians, then they're the other side of the outer door and I slam it shut.

Right.

Ring, open communications with Superman.

Compliance.

And crumbler-ram.

The door to the rest of the facility vanishes, as do the robots lining up on the far side. No actual Spider Guilders; that isn't how they fight.

Ring, broadcast.

Compliance.

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps, broadcasting from your command centre to all Spider Guilders on Rarkhakahh. You are in defiance of the surrender agreement struck with your ruling council. Stand down at once. There will be no further warnings."

I feel a vague sense of pressure as Lantern Toren shields the allied fleet as it moves into bombardment position, and I see the walls shake around me as Kal-El hits the ground at full speed. Right, nearest concentration of non-Guilders is that way.

I could make a crumbler-borer construct and dig through the rock, but that would be entirely too slow. I can already see lights going out, though I'm not sure who they belong to. These Spiders don't appear to have any way to disrupt my exotic abilities, so

I step out,

blade constructs already cutting into the assembled robots, and-.

I gulp as I see a Spider crush a slave's head in its mandibles, just as its leader had planned to do. The energy pulse follows a half-second later.

"EVERYONE-"

Railguns form and robots begin to disintegrate.

"-ON THE GROUND!"

A shield over the surviving prisoners next, turning into a bunker construct a moment later. The Spider technicians are fleeing for the exit, so I send a brief volley their way as well.

And my targets are all gone.

None of the prisoners look like they're wounded. A few are missing body parts, but the flesh beneath has been sealed. Old wounds, to make them more afraid when the time comes to eat the rest. The local civilisations have the technology to regrow the flesh or replace it with cybernetics. There's nothing else I need to attend to immediately.

"Stay here, rescue is on the way."

Seal the doors, sight the next prisoner compartment

and

fire at-.

Too late. Mark these Spiders for later execution

and move to the

next-.

"We surrender! We surrender!"

Robots passive, Spiders on the floor.

Fine.

Crumbler rams hit the robots through their central processors while I fabricate restraints, binding their arms and legs.

And if the prisoners decide not to respect their surrender, it's hardly ideal, but I'll live with it.

Next.

 

18th December 2012
22:59 GMT

Superman looks a little green. Looks like he didn't get there in time for everyone, either.

"Do you want to head home?"

"No. This wasn't the first time I've seen this."

"The Sheeda?"

"That was the first time I saw industrial murder supported by an entire civilisation. But the first time I saw a lot of dead people in one place was after an apartment fire in Lahore. I'd been Superman for about two years at the time. I saw the news on television, flew there as fast as I could, and..."

I nod. "I remember reading about that. Ah. Do you want to talk about why I did what I did here, or do you want to leave it?"

He looks down at the ground, eyes narrowing as he combines x-ray and telescopic vision to take in as much as possible.

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot out here?"

"If you mean 'somewhere in the universe', then, probably. If you mean 'do I have to deal with it regularly', no. There was… Something not too dissimilar when we were fighting the Reach at the very edge of their territory, but Vega wasn't this bad."

"That part of the Guild didn't eat people?"

"That part of the Guild had run out of people to eat and were realistic about their circumstances." I shrug as we watch the Spider Guild ships under the Queen's authority come in to land. "And the Queen hadn't really had any choice in her diet prior to their Elder's deaths."

"Okay. Could you have stunned the Elder?" I glance-. "I'm not saying that you should have, I'm asking if you could."

"Almost certainly. It would have taken me an extra fraction of a second which might have given the robots time to shoot a hostage or two, but I'm aware that there's a difference between killing someone and failing to save them. But if I had… What happens then?"

"You tell me."

"Feigning surrender is a war crime on Earth, though I can't immediately call to mind any trials taking place."

"I don't think he surrendered."

"Then it's treason during wartime, and that will get you executed in America too. The other Elders had surrendered, and that's usually definitive. Even if I'd taken him alive, he'd have been executed… Well, now, and frankly keeping him under control would have been a distraction."

"And the wounded spider?"

"He knew what the Elders had decided. He backed the renegade faction. I don't think that the Queen will demand the death of everyone here, but any senior people who are still alive are probably…"

Ring, summary of Spider Guild punishments?

"Apparently, the Spider Guild version of 'decimation' is 'halving'."

"Will she do that?"

"If she wants to keep control, she'll… Have to at least do something along those lines. And if she.. doesn't, then she's in violation of her treaty obligations with her new neighbours and they might decide to finish this place off for her."

"How many worlds does the Spider Guild control?"

"I don't know. I know it's at least two hundred and-" He twitches. "-eighty. The actual… Core of their space along with what is probably their homeworld is a long way from here, but they're willing to travel very long distances."

"What do they eat there?"

"Oh, they have a licensing system for importers. My personal suspicion is that they maintain a breeding population, but that's more because I've tried to think how I'd handle it if I were them than any actual intelligence."

I give a black-humoured laugh as the ship lands and the Queen exits the landing ramp.

"Of course, you have to remember that they're not species-prejudiced. They'll eat each other, too. One of their insults is 'you're so stupid that even your mate wouldn't eat you'."

"Yes, I-."

The Queen picks up the most senior surviving member of the garrison and shoves his head into her mouth, holding his convulsing body in her hands as she chews at a leisurely pace.

"I see. And you're okay with this."

"If I was okay with it, I wouldn't have intervened. I'm not okay with piracy and cannibalism. That meant that the Guild had to go. I'd prefer to avoid extermination where reform is possible, which means defeating them and handing them over to the Queen because she's the only person they'll accept."

"Why not just isolate them?"

"Because space is really big. And while individual septs don't mind other septs getting knocked back every so often, they will send a relief force if aliens look like they're going to knock one out. And because without a plan they probably would end up eating each other because they're dependent on imports. And because all the local stellar nations want them destroyed. And because the Orange Lantern Corps is too busy with the Reach to intervene in force, and the Reach are worse."

"Worse than a civilisation of cannibals?"

"The Spider Guild rarely exterminates intelligent species. The Reach does as a matter of course. We actually.. have interview recordings of species on the verge of extinction, and they're so brainwashed that they're happy about it. And…"

I make a helpless gesture with both arms as the Queen keeps eating.

"This is me trying to be nice."

"What would you have done before the JSI?"

"Not sure. Killed them all and then destroyed the fleets of the nearest septs so they didn't have reinforcements to send, maybe. How about you?"

Respect to the man, he hesitates and thinks about it.

"If I hadn't seen this, I think I'd have crippled their ships and space stations and hoped they'd have the sense to quit."

"And the relief force?"

"I'd have tried to convince the locals to prepare to fight them, and try warning them off myself."

"Kal-El, this isn't just a group of raiders, this would be an actual military force. You aren't immune to levels of energy their main weapons can discharge. Spider Guild ships are heavily automated, so they aren't slowed by organic response times. I strongly recommend not trying to fight entire warfleets."

"Sometimes, you don't have a choice."

"Sometimes, you have a choice and don't see it."

I shake my head.

"I killed a wounded man I could have healed and killed people I could have contained. And for the life of me I can't see a better solution."

 

22nd December 2012
09:01 GMT

Mr. Rodriguez opens the door to his apartment, and then freezes up as he sees me.

"Ah…"

"Good morning. I see you know who I am."

"Yeah. I ain't never going to forget that whole cake thing, man. Ah, or-" He raises his hands defensively. "-when you fought the Sheeda. I get you ain't just the cake man."

"I appreciate that. This is Mister Kent of the Metropolis Daily Planet."

"Oh yeah, Superman's favourite paper, right?"

Kal-El shifts awkwardly, his posture slovenly and uncertain.

"Ah. I guess. He's got good taste."

He flashes a smile for a moment, then makes a show of giving up on it when Mr. Rodriguez doesn't reciprocate immediately.

"Right. So, I guess this is about Medina."

"Indeed it is. I'm sure that your lawyer has explained the difficulties in engaging with anyone on Themyscira legally, particularly when Medina doesn't want to engage with the process at all. I hadn't originally intended to get involved, but… I think I might be able to help things along a little in an informal manner."

A slightly guarded look appears on his face.

"Do I need my lawyer for this?"

"'Need'? No. I don't have any formal legal authority. However, a lot of Themysciran law works on the basis of who is the most persuasive in the forum and I've got an advantageous reputation. I'll quite understand if you want to call your lawyer and set up a group meeting, but that sort of thing doesn't play well to the Amazon crowd."

He looks me in the eyes for a few moments and then shrugs. "What's your stake in this, anyway?"

"I want Themyscira to have more contact with the rest of the world. I rather assumed that they would be more interested in American women than men, but I should probably have seen something like this happening."

"Medina didn't seem too gay to me."

"She's not American." He looks blank. "Different societies conceptualise behaviours differently. In Ancient Themyscira, it was quite normal for women who prefer women to have sex with men when they wanted to get pregnant, because.. they.. didn't have IVF. If they didn't have sex with a man, then they wouldn't have children. Medina's current all-female marriage group has been together for over two thousand years."

"Then what's she doing sleeping around!?"

"Finding someone to sire a child. Three thousand years ago one of her wives would have picked someone, usually an immediate relative, but they don't know any men who are still alive."

"So she can sleep with men, and the other women are fine with it?"

"She can have sex with men while she's trying to get pregnant. If she was doing it recreationally, that might be a problem."

"So if she enjoys-?"

"No. She can enjoy it incidentally, though… Ah… Unless you have a metahuman empathic ability you haven't told anyone about, I wouldn't assume-."

"Oh, no man, she wasn't faking."

My right hand finds its way to my forehead.

"And I'm happy to take your word for that. But that doesn't have much social significance on Themyscira."

"Ah, shit." He looks away, releasing some of the tension he just built up. "Ah, yeah, ah… You wanna come in?"

"Thank you."

He steps back from the door, and I lead the way in. Pretty tidy for a bachelor apartment. Smells… Yes, something was painted recently. The colours are light pastels and I notice that there's a slightly out of place crucifix attached to one wall.

Mr. Rodriguez notices me looking at it.

"My momma gave me that as a housewarming present. She-. She really ain't happy about this whole thing."

"I admit, I'd rather been assuming that she just went to a club and picked someone up."

"Nah, that's…" He points to a couple of chairs next to the dining table. "Ah, take a seat. You want coffee?"

"Not for me, thank you."

"Yes please. Ah, black. If you've… Got it."

Laying it on a little thick there, Kal-El.

"Ah… Yeah. Sure, man."

Mr. Rodriguez walks into his kitchenette and… Puts a capsule in a coffee machine before taking a couple of mugs out of a wall-mounted cupboard.

"So how did you and Medina meet, anyway?"

"At the coffee shop where I work. She came in during the graveyard shift and… We got talking. She sure didn't mention being married at any point."

"You… You were dating?"

He presses the button to generate a mug of coffee, then puts in a new capsule.

"I thought we were." He shakes his head. "Next time, I'm waiting 'til we're married."

"That's probably for the best. Were you.. planning on having a child-."

"No, I just… I figured she was on the pill when she said it was 'okay'. I mean, I thought we-. I really liked her, y'know? I wouldn't a'minded having a kid with her. And then… A few weeks later and she's out the door and that's when I find out where she's from."

He sighs as he presses the button for another coffee.

"I didn't even-. I just wanted to know where she ran off to, y'know? And… Why. And you're telling me that the whole thing was so she could get pregnant?"

"I take it that she never discussed it in those terms."

He picks up the mugs and walks over to us at the table, putting one mug down in front of Kal-El on a coaster before sitting down opposite us and taking a sip.

"No, she didn't discuss it in those terms. I mean I'm-. I'm going back over every conversation we had in my head and wondering if I heard one thing and she meant something completely different. I dunno. I just thought we had a good thing going on."

"Do you have a good relationship with your own father?"

"My dad? Yeah, sure. Him and Mom have been together for thirty years. I'm the youngest of three." He shakes his head. "Dad and Mom are not happy with me right now. Christmas is gunna be real awkward."

"Would you be prepared to talk about your relationship in front of a group of strangers?"

"Ah. I don’t… Why?"

"Because while I could do it, I suspect that you telling the forum how you feel would be a good deal more effective."

 

22nd December 2012
16:52 GMT +3

"How's the Flash doing?"

"He wasn't too happy about Blitzen showing up." We slow as we approach our destination in the northern wilds of Themyscira. "But since she's spending most of her time with the Alliance, it's not too much of a problem."

"Ah, the stepsister he never wanted."

"I talked a lot to Overman, so I'm not just going to dismiss her because she's a Nazi. But most people aren't that open-minded, and Blitzen… She's not as apologetic as he is."

"He actually fought in their World War Two. She wasn't created until the bodies were paved over. But, no. I meant about the Sheeda."

"He's talking to someone about that. He's not the only one." His eyes flick to me. "You could talk to him yourself."

"I don't think he needs to hear more about my outlook."

"I'm going to guess that you would have tried talking Lord Malvolio into killing her for you."

"Or kicking her out at least. Honestly, I can't see how someone with her temperament could survive around him for any length of time without doing something to insult him badly enough that he'd lose his temper. And the rest of the Sheeda survivors weren't worth it. And… I'd guess that you'd want to send her to the Phantom Zone."

"I thought that was the cowardly answer? Should I be insulted?"

"I can't think of a classically heroic way to resolve the situation. If she was tried in a court, she would be executed. Anything else would present too great a risk of her getting free. The Phantom Zone would probably contain her without requiring her death."

"Are you sure that death would contain her?"

"Reasonably sure. People usually die when they are dead. She doesn't have a way to come back without the Cauldron of Rebirth, and that would require someone to dump her body in it. And… For there to be a body to dump in it."

…

"Did someone secure the Cauldron?"

"I'd have to check with General Lane. I don't remember a Sheeda… 'Cauldron' being mentioned specifically. What is it?"

"A sort of super Lazarus Pit in the form of a big cauldron. And if Lord Malvolio has it, that might explain why he's not still angry about Flash killing her."

That gets a surprised blink. "You think he's resurrected her?"

"I think it's a possibility. I don't think that asking him about it would help the situation."

"No, but it's going to make Batman even more paranoid about people using Sheeda technology."

I nod. "But… Flash is… Coping? I know how out of character that was for him."

"I don't think he's back to normal yet, but he's getting there."

I nod as we land outside of an ancient farmstead. No one I asked could remember exactly when Medina and Family set up here. Amazons don’t have perfect memories, after all. 'Before the current city was built' was the best I could get out of anyone. But looking around at the surrounding landscape I'm reminded of an incident involving… A British University, I forget the name. They needed a new oak beam for the roof, but it would have to be far longer than was commercially available. One stroll into the grounds later and they found the tree that their forebears planted a hundred years ago for that express purpose.

The whole 'A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit' doesn't really apply when everyone is ageless and no one is having children, but the trees are laid out in generational rows, ready for use when the house and barn next needs it.

Aside from that piece of sagacity, the farm looks… Oh dear. Like a pre-Exodus farm. They haven't done the sort of infrastructure building that most Amazons have, with sewers, stone paths and walls and slate roofs. They've deliberately recreated something older and simpler.

Rats.

"Hello?!"

I stroll down what looks like the path into the farmyard. I can hear pigs grunting and geese honking, and a-.

Shclunk.

The sound of dinner being decapitated. I'm not sure whether Hippolyta is doing Christmas this year. I don't imagine that the last one really enthused anyone. But a traditionalist Themysciran definitely wouldn't.

"Hello?"

Heavy footsteps in heavy boots, then one of the residents comes into view. Black hair, olive skin, muscled from constant farm work rather than a gymnasium. Not Medina herself, but probably one of her wives.

"No, I'm sorry." She shakes her head. "We agreed one at a time, and it's Medina's turn. Try the City."

"That's not why I'm here."

She looks us both over and frowns. And suddenly I feel self-conscious about how I dress on professional occasions.

"Are you friends of the Princess?"

"Yes. More to the point, I'm the one who brought the portal to Themyscira."

"Oh, ah, Paa… Pavlos?" I nod. "And…" She squints. "Um. Marvelman?"

"Close. It's Superman."

I suppose an isolated corner of Themyscira is the one place on Earth that's more likely to have heard of me than Superman.

"And I am Karyne. If you are not here to sire a child, are you here to trade for produce?"

"Are you aware of how much of a fuss Medina has created?"

"I… Suppose it's some. But most of us cannot shape clay into a child and have it come to life."

Y-es, Hippolyta did say that was the closest she came to being deposed, didn't she?

"This might be something I should talk about with your whole family. In short, America has very different customs relating to parental responsibility to Themyscira, and the child's biological father wants to discharge his responsibilities." She nods. Okay, not getting the misandrist diatribe I was half-braced for. That's a good sign. "And because there's no actual treaty between America and Themyscira, it's a matter for the forum, and… Medina's actions are rubbing the majority up the wrong way."

Karyne frowns. "Why? The women of the City could do the same if they wished."

"The American government usually restricts people coming into their country from the outside. Themyscira has been given… Effectively, given a bypass on those rules because they trust you and because there aren't that many of you. If Amazons start flagrantly ignoring local custom, that could change. The man who sired Medina's child had a very different idea of what their relationship was to what she intended."

Karyne's frown deepens. "He thought that she would stay with him?"

"He didn't know she was from Themyscira."

Karyne puts her hands on her hips.

"That is not what she told us."

 

22nd December 2012
17:03 GMT +3

"…understand why you think that, but that's not what happened."

Karyne nods, though I can't help but think that she looks a little disappointed.

"So you did not sire every newborn in the city?"

"No. Um. And it would be unwise for me to sire more than a couple in any case. They would all be half-brothers and half-sisters, so the risk of-."

Okay, they're farmers, so I'm going to assume that they know that inbreeding is bad, even if they don't know what genes are, but a technical explanation using words that Themysciran Greek doesn't have isn't going to help.

"Their own children would risk being malformed." She nods. "I was not aware that was a problem for demigods."

"I wouldn't want to risk it just in case."

"Then, how did the children come to be? You implied that they did not cross through the gateway during the Festival."

"I haven't told the rest of the world about the Festival, and I really don’t think it would be a good idea."

She frowns. "Why?"

"Because we're talking about men who aren't familiar with Themysciran culture, and I'd rather avoid a great brawl."

She perks up slightly. "We could have them fight one another for the prize of impregnating us?"

"That-. Not on short notice, though if you really want to hold a… A studding tournament, I… Could organise that. If you really wanted."

"I will be third, so it will not be for a few years yet. But I thank you for the offer and will consider it." She looks away for a moment, smiling slightly guiltily. "So where did the children come from?"

"To put it simply, I can take a small part of the body of one woman, turn it into the part of a man which quickens a woman's womb, and ensure that she becomes pregnant with it."

Her eyes widen and her right hand clamps over her mouth.

Um.

"If you want a more technical explan-"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"-ation-?"

She doubles over, arms clasping her chest as she tries to stop laughing long enough to breathe.

Um.

The front door opens and another woman walks in. Her skin is a little paler and her hair is brown rather than black.

"Chloe! Chloe!" Karyne unhunches and dashes over to her wife. "The city-women, they can make finger-penises!"

Chloe look puzzled as Karyne embraces her for stability as she starts laughing again, then she looks over Karyne's shoulder at me, squinting and shaking her head in mystification.

I shake my head back. "That's not what I said. Just that I had a way for one woman to make another pregnant without needing a man." … "Other than me, to enable it. Though a woman from-. Of my cult could do the same."

She frowns, and appears to be a little disturbed. "Why?"

"Some of those women have been together for millennia, and they preferred having a child related by blood to both of them to being intimate with a man. An attitude which I understand much better than what Medina did."

"Ah." Karyne straightens up, humour fleeing. "Yes."

"What.. did Medina do?"

Karyne shakes her head. "We're waiting until everyone is here. They… Want us… Her, to explain herself in the forum."

"That is no surprise. When Queen-."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

They both glance around, but the screaming sounds more excited than anything else. Through the wall I see Kal-El carry another woman into the courtyard.

"Ma'am?"

"Aaaah!"

"Ma'am, you can let go-."

Chloe rolls her eyes and walks back outside.

"Tryphena, let him go."

"He can fly! Like the Princess! Can I pick him?"

"Excuse me?"

"No. Medina has upset people and the forum wants to talk to us."

Kal-El comes in first, with Tryphena following him with a decidedly predatory look in her eyes. Chloe looks awkwardly at the back of Kal-El's head for a moment, then turns back to the main gates as Medina and Rina approach from the animal pens. Medina isn't showing in the conventional sense yet, but a quick scan shows that the foetus is in good health. As they enter the room, Rina doesn't look particularly happy about us being here. Medina on the other hand-

"Delivery was an option?"

-doesn't seem troubled at all.

Which is hopeful, in a way. If backward-looking women in the backwoods of Themyscira don’t object to having men around, then I don't think I need to worry about the minority who do having a support base somewhere.

"Not at this stage. Medina-."

"Felix isn't happy. The Queen already sent word about that."

Kal-El nods. "Apparently, you didn't mention that you were from Themyscira. Not until you were leaving."

Chloe looks around in surprise. "Medi?"

"I didn't hide it."

"Medi!"

"I didn't! I think I-." She frowns, trying to remember. "I said I was Greek, from an island, and that I was a Hellenist. I remember that clearly, because we talked about his god and the burning cage in the sky. I don't clearly remember saying that I am from Themyscira, but…" She looks awkwardly at Kal-El. "Wasn't it obvious?"

"Not according to him. He thought that you were dating."

"Ah."

Rina raises her right eyebrow. "'Dating'?"

"Arranged meeting during courtship where the two people involved find out whether they're compatible."

Her eyes widen, and she inclines her head towards Medina, who shakes her head.

"No! I just met him several times to ensure that he was of good character, then we had sex several times until it took."

"That's the same thing."

She frowns. "It is?"

 

22nd December 2012
17:08 GMT +3

Kal-El and I turn our heads to look each other in the eyes for a moment. Then he takes a breath, and gives Medina his full attention.

"Perhaps you could explain to me how it worked before the Amazons came to this island? That way I'd know what you were expecting."

"We weren't…" Medina looks around at her wives, but she's clearly being given the floor. "We didn't live in the Old City. We lived in a village east of there. The Old City was women-only, except for the princes and foreigners who had business there. In Merbakades, where we are from, men and women lived… Separately, but in the same settlement."

Kal-El frowns. "If so many women lived in the Old City, wouldn't that mean that the rest of the country was mostly men?"

"Yes." She nods. "I still find it a little strange, sometimes, that things are different here."

"After three thousand years?"

"It…" She glances at Karyne, who nods sympathetically. "It doesn't feel like three thousand years, sometimes."

Keep doing the same thing and time can fly by, I suppose.

"So if there were a lot more men than women… How did that work?"

She snorts. "We did not sport ourselves with all of them, if that is what you mean. Men who wished to sire children travelled to the City for the Festival, and we…"

Rina nods. "We hadn't been together all that long when… When the City was invaded. None of us had children."

Chloe smiles. "Which isn't to say that none of us attended the Festival as well!"

"But men and women… Didn't… I mean, outside of this… The festival…"

Medina shrugs. "It probably happened, but they kept it quiet. It wasn't normal in Themyscira. But there was no… We did not have slavery, as the Cities of Men did. Anyone who was unhappy could leave if they wanted. The men were happy enough with one another, so far as I remember."

Oh my goodness me Kal-El's actually blushing a little. Yes, Old Themyscira was homosexual central, and not just the women. Adult men, unlike the Athenians far to the south.

"So have any of you had children before?"

Four nods, but Medina shakes her head. "I did not, which is why my darlings allowed me to go first this time."

"But… Weren't men and women living together when the Island was settled? Didn't that..? Change how they related to one another?"

"Of course! But the men didn't… I mean, the villages…" She appears to be struggling to work out how to explain something that must be so obvious to an Amazon. "The city women just lived like we village women. The Festival was… Much the same, a time for getting with child."

"But weren't the children living closer to their fathers?"

"I…" Medina frowns as she tries to remember. "Perhaps? It was a long-"

Rina nods. "Yes."

"-time ago and how do you remember that?"

Rina frowns. "How do you not? The chaos of our first planting seasons is still as fresh in my mind as it was then. And no, it did not change our families overmuch. Boys still went to their uncles once they were weaned, and girls stayed with their mothers."

"Their uncles?"

"Their mother's brothers. Or one of them." She shifts in her seat. "Things were… If there was no uncle, things could be different. I had two daughters, so I did not have to deal with it myself."

"So what did you plan on doing if Medina had a boy?"

Medina shrugs. "The Princess has two sons. I'm sure that we could raise one in a civilised manner."

How modern.

"You said that, back in the Old City, if a man and a woman wanted to marry one another, they could leave the country. So you are aware that other countries handle relations between men and women differently."

Four nods, and Rina waits to see where we're going.

"Do you remember how that worked?"

"Their women were chattel of their fathers and husbands." Medina shakes her head. "I know that is not how things are now."

"Alright, but who raised the children?"

"I… Don't know..?"

Rina spots Medina becoming uncomfortable, and interjects.

"The fathers?"

"In most societies, children are raised jointly by their father and mother, with input from the extended family. The structure that Amazons use is… Unique, as far as I know. The closest I can think of is Sparta-."

They all glare.

"Exactly. Is that the comparison you want?"

Medina drops her eyes for a moment.

"So… Felix thought that… We were courting, as if we were to be married."

"Yes."

"And he was willing to have sex with me because he believed that we would raise the child together."

"Ah, actually, he thought you were using a medicine that would stop you conceiving, but-" She frowns. "-assumed that if you did conceive that you would raise the child together."

Karyne shakes her head. "Medina, did you not even mention that you were trying to conceive?"

"I-." She blinks, probably trying to recall the precise conversation. "I said that I wanted children. But I… Suppose that he might have thought that I meant 'at some time, after we are… Married', and not 'this is why I am having sex with you'. I… I think I owe him an apology."

Karyne nods. "Yes."

"But… What does that mean for..?"

"Ideally, the two of you discuss things and come to an agreement- and please bear in mind the cultural differences and don’t assume things- and we present that to the forum as the correct way of handling the issue. If you can't, well… Then you state your positions to the forum and hope for the best, which isn't the best approach."

"No. Ah. If I… Cross through the portal again, will-?"

"I'll ask Princess Diana to invite him to the embassy in New York for the talks."

She nods, slightly relieved.

"Now, are you aware of any other women outside of your marriage group planning something similar? I'd like to get ahead of the problem."

 

24th December 2012
10:13 GMT +3

"Forum wrangled?"

Kon nods, glancing down towards it from the edge of the palace plaza. "Eventually. Grandma's meeting up with a guy from the State Department to… Start the process of writing up a treaty."

I frown. "I thought they already had one."

"Yeah, but you know it was written for Mom and the occasional visitor."

I shrug. "Sure, numbers are up, but it's not exactly a flood of Amazons."

"I dunno then. They wanted a meeting, and Grandma thought it was a good idea."

"Is this..? After the presidential handover, or before? Horne's still in charge until next year, but I doubt a career bureaucrat is going to enact the old boss's policy when the new boss might just reverse it."

"I guess. But it's like you said, Themyscira's not that big. I guess there's a lot of stuff that the President doesn't need to get personally involved in."

"Yes. Though it would be a nice way for Horne to finish his term."

Kon frowns. "Is Knight being President going to change anything?"

"It might be slightly easier to improve American defence policy. And he gave the impression that he plans on spreading taxpayer cash around the place, so if you've got any investments it would be a good time to review them."

"I mean, about Themyscira. Or Brazil, or Atlantis."

"I don't think so. Brazil, maybe. He made a few noises about thinking that Horne didn't deal with Swamp Thing's attack on Gotham particularly well."

That was how his fairly mild statement was portrayed, anyway. And that's something that he understands and that I've noticed Horne doesn't. But Horne can retire knowing that he did an okay job in trying times, which is all most of us can hope for.

Kon smiles. "I guess as long as he's not planning on attacking any more cities it shouldn't be a problem."

We look at each other for a moment.

"I'll check today." / "You should probably-."

Kon smiles, nodding. "How come he isn't in Brazil?"

"Because he likes Louisiana. Or.. because he thinks that Euanthe and Doctor Isley have it covered. I don't know."

"So, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Jade couldn't get the time off work, so Alan, Guy and me are flying to the Reach periphery to spend the day there. Her whole squad's going to try eating traditional Earth food, so I'm.. packing extra sick bags. Paula's spending it with the Allen family. You?"

"Grandma decided that… Ah…"

"Themyscira isn't doing Christmas after what happened last year."

"Yeah. So Mom and me are going to spend it with M'gann and Mister J'onzz. M'gann got fed up with him always taking console duty on Christmas."

"So who's on duty?"

"Doctor Mist and Rocket Red. Kinda surprised, but apparently Rocket Red doesn't celebrate Christmas."

"The Soviet Union used to take atheism seriously. And I guess that being posted to Siberia meant that he's used to not getting home all that often. Oh."

I take his present out of subspace and hand it over.

"Happy Christmas. Oh, and-"

An orange shimmer.

"-this one's for Wolf."

"Thanks! I've-" He crouches down and pulls a wrapped box out of his satchel. "-got yours here."

Hm. Cube, about five centimetres along each side. No sound when I rattle it-.

"You gonna open it?"

"No, of course not. Christmas day is tomorrow, that would-."

Kon looks a little guilty as the paper falls off my present to him.

"Though naturally, Themyscira has different customs."

"A.. book? In kryptonese. Ah… Collection, before Vrang, stories? Kryptonian folk tales?"

"The Daxamites weren't using it."

He looks a little awkward. "Did you steal this?"

"As I understand the Daxamite religion, they consider owning information on pre-exodus society as heresy. So no, because it's-"

He smiles, shaking his head.

"-legally unowned."

"Thanks. I'll tell them that when they come and arrest me."

"No, Kon. You say 'I've never seen this before, but some really suspicious Orange guy was hanging around here earlier'."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Have a great Christmas with the Reach."

He hesitates, but I walk towards him instead and we embrace.

"I'll see you when I get back. Have fun with M'gann."

I

step out, homing in on the odd feeling of Swamp Thing's emotions before

appearing in Louisiana.

24th December 2012
02:17 GMT -5

"Merry Ch-."

He's sitting amongst a series of plants I don't recognise, vines running from them to his spinal area. It's dark, but the area is dimly illuminated with bioluminescent plants.

"Christmas, Swamp Thing."

"Hello, Orange Lantern. What brings you here?"

That was a surprisingly normal couple of sentences.

"President-Elect Knight made noises about being unhappy about Gotham. I thought that I'd check in with you just in case you had other problems you were getting annoyed about."

"No, I'm fine, Tefé is fine, and so is Abigail. Thank you for checking."

"Um."

"You're wondering about this? I once made a bio-computer to try and work out what to do about Sprout. But I didn't know much about magic. Doctor Isley helped me design this. Thinking is far easier, now. I know I should keep my head down. Don't worry about it. Merry Christmas."

I nod, and

vanish.

 

25th December 2012
13:47 GMT -7

I grin as I jog alongside Sarah, hands prepared to catch her if she somehow manages to overbalance on her new bicycle. Beside me, Luna in pony mode canters alongside Clare as she does the same.

"You know, this reminds me of-"

Sarah wobbles and I'm this close to grabbing her before I remember that she has stabilisers and they're fine, it's fine.

"-when I got my first bike."

"Oh? Do they make them that large?"

"No, no, this was on Earth-. Steer, honeybun, steer!"

She turns the handlebars too far and the bike stops, nearly causing her to tumble over.

As soon as she's stable, she looks up at me in protest.

"Daaaddyyyy! Not meant to do that!"

"Then why did you do it?" I reach down and turn the steering column to a more conservative angle. "Turn it a little bit. You need to keep practicing until you learn how to do it right, then you can keep up with Maeve."

"Wanna keep up with Bethany."

"That will take longer, but I'm sure that you'll get there if you work hard at it. Now, off you go!"

She sets her shoulders with an expression of comedic seriousness on her face and pushes her right leg down, pedalling down the trail. I had the g-gnomes come by earlier to clear off the snow because Colorado, but the surrounding landscape is near-pristine white.

Clare actually stopped to wait for her sister, and Luna looks at me expectantly as we return to our place alongside them.

"On Earth Prime. My sister and I got them the same Christmas, and we cycled around the concrete area of our back garden. Until a moment's inattention from my Granddad resulted in me cycling into a rose bush."

"I somehow doubt that the rose bush came off the better."

"Come on, Luna. You know I didn't look like this on Earth Prime. It actually hurt, and I was moving too slowly to cause the bush any harm in retaliation."

"Didst you revenge yourself 'pon it later?"

"No, it's a bush. Or, was. I outlived it." I frown. "Can't remember if it died before the pond got put in or if it was dug up to make way for the pond, but it definitely wasn't a going concern when I left."

I sigh at the recollection.

"The nettles were-"

"You have a call, Lantern Grayven."

"-worse. Who is it?"

"Director Armstrong."

"Ah. Your superior." Luna cocks her head to the side as she smirks at me. "Perhaps she is contacting you to wish you a merry Christmas."

"She's.. not that thoughtful. I'm.. sorry, can you look after Sarah for a moment?"

Her horn glows as a thin band of midnight blue appears around Sarah's waist.

"Thank you." I stop walking and raise my right hand to the side of my head. "Answer."

"Grayven, what the hell's going on in Atlantis?"

Sinestro, location?

The Department of Metahuman Affairs building in Washington DC.

"Katarina, are you working on Christmas day?"

"America's enemies don't rest, so neither do I."

"That sounds like a good way to have a heart attack in your forties. Look, do you want to do this in person? Colorado's beautiful at this time of year. You could do some sightseeing. Join us for tea."

"Did you know about Arion?!"

I look around as Sunset animates a snowman to chase around a group of local children, to their screaming delight.

"Can you be more specific? I've been having the g-dwarves go through-."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Grayven. That he's in Poseidonis right now."

"You've got sources in Poseidonis? Oh, well done! That can't have been easy."

"Start sharing information or I have your children denied diplomatic status and your pet horse barred from the US."

Oh, she's doing a Jonah Jameson and I'm about to get fired. But she's by and large doing a good job. So I don't point out that I can have her fired and get her job. I don't make the observation that I knew a fortnight ago and she clearly didn't because if she had then she'd have had a go at me about it then.

"A colleague of mine mentioned something about that. So far I'm just observing and waiting."

"You're supposed to pass information like that on to the DMA! It's in your God-damned contract!"

"One moment."

"Don't you dare hang up on me."

"No, I just need to check my contract, because as far as I'm aware the wording-."

"He's the US's Most Wanted. He murdered US service personnel and your Un-Men friends."

"Yees, I kn-."

"And as such, your job is to kill or capture him."

"My job is to improve human civilisation. And right now, my contacts are trying to decipher what King Orin is playing at. Once I know, and know for a fact that we're not going to blunder into the middle of an ongoing operation against an extremely dangerous magician, I will apprise you and inform you what -if any- further assistance I require. Of course, if you want to handle it differently then you are at liberty to do so. Now, it's Christmas day. If there's nothing else, then-."

"You want to carry on teaching your kids to ride bikes."

Hm.

Yes, obviously that was supposed to be a low-grade implication-of-threat, but being fair about it I know what she does every moment of the day. I know who she has monitoring Rifle and none of them are outside the normal psychological profile for that sort of work. Most would abduct or murder my children if they were ordered to do so, but none of them would do it for fun. Nifty thing about having Sam in charge of superhuman defence is that he doesn't believe in free will subversion. Not having to worry about Manchurian Candidate-style attackers is a weight off my mind.

"Certainly. Good exercise, and gets them out of the house. Plus, it gets Luna out and about. Hanging around Canterlot Palace the whole time was doing a number on her haunches."

From about half a mile away Luna's head swivels so that she can glare at me. Luna, I happen to know that the reason why Celestia stopped wearing her golden battle armour is that it doesn't fit any more, a piece of information Sunset shared with me for reasons entirely separate from her ongoing Celestia-related emotional tornado.

"So, anything else?"

I hear the beep as she disconnects.

"Merry Christmas. Hope you liked the pet rock."

 

Pete Tong

29th December 2012
12:08 GMT

Guy looks at me like he's not sure what to make of that statement.

"You serious?"

I mirror his expression, and wait for him to-

He looks away, shaking his head.

"Why'd I even ask?"

"Because it would normally be a odd thing to claim, and you still haven't fully internalised the fact that we're fairly odd people."

"Okay, but jus' sayin' that yer entire Lantern Corps picked God as an enemy-."

"The Silver City as an enemy, and they picked us."

Because while Hades made peace with them, technically the Orange Lantern Corps hasn't. Which is why Jade couldn't get the time off; worshipping your enemies is generally looked upon as a bad idea. Particularly when your biggest enemy is as good at mind control as the Reach.

Huh. Reminds me of the panel in The Boys where Jessica Bradley tries to work out what would happen if The Boys and The Seven fought. Butcher proved that he could kill Vought superheroes when he killed Payback. Heck, he killed an unnamed team with just a gun before he got super strength. But there's a level of power people like Homelander and Black Noir have that Vought didn't think people could plot around.

Dox aside, the Reach are cleverer than us. They're certainly more unified and more experienced. And it's increasingly looking like that isn't going to matter.

Lanterns have engaged Scarabs a lot in this war. A lot of ex-Darkstars literally can't resist the urge to hunt them down and show them why they're no longer hiding. And while Scarabs have killed Lanterns -stupid Lanterns who got high on their own fumes and decided that they didn't need backup- the results have been very much in our favour. Roughly seven out of ten fights have resulted in Lantern Corps victories. And yes, we're already recruiting the best motivated people and the Reach can stick Scarabs on just about everyone so those deaths technically hurt us a little more, but the Reach don't have anything above Scarabs. Those are their best super warriors.

I don't know what the feelings of the Reach citizens further in their empire is, but for most people, something like that would be a major psychological blow.

"Ya could always talk to Zauriel 'bowd it."

"I'm afraid that the political objectives of N.E.M.O. are irreconcilable with those of a being which declares itself to be 'King of the Universe'. Until such time as the title is formally renounced there really isn't anything to talk about."

"Kgrgahhaha!"

Guy bows his head, and I suspect that only enlightenment is preventing him from getting to experience the joys of vacuum exposure. He manages to open his eyes mid-cackle to see if I'm showing any sign that I meant if as a joke, and finds nothing.

"Oh, man. Ugh. Y'know, it's all in th' delivery."

Warning: will detected.

Guy and I both look up as Lantern K'ryssma arrives early, arriving just outside the outer limits of what was once Reach-controlled space. I wanted to meet up where we first met up seventeen months ago but apparently the location didn't work for her. She makes eye contact with me first, but then looks at Guy in surprise.

"Illustres. I didn't know that you had already begun negotiations."

Guy frowns in confusion, his eyes going from me to her. I'm a little puzzled myself. Guy didn't mention getting a promotion, and I'm fairly confident that he would.

At length.

He reorientates from his 'lying in space' pose to face her.

"I ain't the Illustres."

"The original use for the title was to refer to any Lantern who achieved enlightenment, as you have. The use for the rank in the Corps that does not require that development is a more recent affair."

"Okay, it was." He shrugs. "What's that got t'do with us?"

"My species has been aware of the Green Lantern Corps for somewhat longer than yours. We remember the older traditions. Am I to understand that you are not negotiating?"

"No, we're together for a human religious celebration. What negotiations?"

Lantern K'ryssma turns to me. "Illustres, you have my gratitude for following through on your pledge to push back the Reach."

"You're welcome."

"Indeed. I am here because you have pushed them entirely out of what was once a Sector which the Green Lantern Corps patrolled."

"Ah. And that means that you're allowed to go there now."

"Yes. Moreover, it seems likely that you will push them out of further Sectors soon."

"We're certainly going to try."

"We wish to resume our patrols. I would like to negotiate with the Orange Lantern Corps with a view to making that happen."

"Is this coming from the Guardians? Because-."

"No. it is coming from the Green Lanterns who had to leave their homes in response to the Guardians' treaty with the Reach and who would dearly like to return. The Guardians will not intervene if the parties involved discuss things between themselves."

"Not thinking of jumping ship?"

"No. After many decades of service, I do not think that I could adapt effectively to a new ring colour."

"Okay. And what do we get out of it?"

"Y'get ta have a Green Lantern watchin' yer back."

"But these are Lanterns who already left. And who can't fight the Reach. There's basically no organised crime around here that the Reach aren't connected to at least a little."

"For the most part they would not be Lanterns who-. Who did not fight the Reach. Their rings would be returning while they remain in the crypt."

"You understand that across most of this region, any Green Lanterns who get recruited are going to look to N.E.M.O. for direction. Which is good for me, but I can't see the Guardians liking it."

"Do you think that the Guardians 'like' the treaty with the Reach?"

"I can only assume that they do, given what the Controllers have been able to do with far less time and resources."

Guy puts his right hand on my chest and pushes me away from Lantern K'ryssma a little way.

"Okay, Paul. Dial it back."

"Alright, this needs to go to the N.E.M.O. governing board, but I can guess what they'll want. This is N.E.M.O. space. Any Reach-affiliated or Reach Empire personnel are external invaders. If you want to recruit Green Lanterns here then they better be willing to fight this time."

"That is perfectly acceptable."

 

12th Sigmarzeit 2512
Afternoon

It is said that dwarfs have no word for 'sorry'.

"…because Burri the Short failed to hold…"

That isn't exactly true. The English word 'sorry' can be used in a wide variety of situations, several of which appear quite distinct when viewed objectively. Consider the difference between a 'sorry' used as an apology for bumping into someone in the corridor, then contrast it with someone saying sorry for running someone over with a car and crippling them for life. Or when it's used sarcastically, to indicate that the target is being a big baby about something.

"…logistics make it completely impossible…"

Dwarfs don’t have a way to say 'sorry' for bumping into someone. Even dwarfs with a history of personal enmity will usually let it go so as to not appear physically fragile. Apparently, the closest to a 'sorry' that's appropriate is actually a mildly embarrassing gesture; a trivial penalty for a trivial offence.

"…combed it slightly more often then maybe…"

For a significant injury, the closest to a word for sorry more literally means 'I accept responsibility and will make restitution', though it has a very similar effect. Even angry dwarfs will generally calm down a little when they hear it, if they think that the offer is genuine. There is in theory no injury that can't be paid for with sufficient quantities of gold or other valuables. A grudge will be recorded, but it can be crossed off as 'paid in full' almost immediately.

"…misfired more often…"

I haven't dared ask about sarcasm yet.

"…daughters with false beards-."

"Gentlemen!"

The Longbeards of Stonecutters Clan and Strongaxe Clan suddenly remember that I'm here, their eyes darting my way even as their bodies square up to one another.

Harl Stonecutter is the first to remember to glare.

"What did you call me, human?"

"I called you a 'gentleman'. It's a polite and formal form of address in my society. If you would rather be called something else, I will happily acquiesce. But I fear that we're getting off topic."

Sven Strongaxe jabs his right hand at his opposite number, though fortunately his axe has so far remained in his belt.

"Did you hear what he said about-!"

I raise my hands in a warding gesture.

"Did he say anything about the contract we are here to discuss?"

Sven shifts his glare to Harl. Harl glares back. Sven moves his glare back to me.

"No."

"If he said anything -if either of you said anything- that relates to another grudge held by your clans against a human, I'll be happy to talk to you about it in another meeting. If you have other grudges against each other, those are nothing to do with me. But for now, let us focus on getting this grudge resolved."

There's a certain amount of muttered grumbling, but they both slowly return to their pre-outburst positions.

"Thank you. Now." My eyes drop down to look at the two contracts in front of me, both containing near-identical terms and both embossed with the seals of both clans and with the seal of a now-extinct family of Ostland nobility. "I can find no fault in the contracts and no real difference in their terms. And since I cannot meaningfully trace the inheritors of the Empire side of the contract, it meets my stated requirements for settling outstanding debts."

Another round of muttering, but this time it sounds a little more satisfied.

"The total value for the contact is stated as being fifty thousand gold crowns, and you have both accepted that half of the total payment was delivered prior to the commencement of the work. This leaves twenty five thousand gold crowns owing. I have consulted with High King Thorgrim concerning the usual penalty fees in situations like this, and he advised me that when payment is tardy due to the death of everyone who knew about the debt, an additional ten percent is usually acceptable. Are you both prepared to agree that twenty seven thousand five hundred is acceptable for full payment?"

They glare at each other for several moments. The ten percent thing is normal but it's informal. Since there's no penalty schedule in the contract itself they can ask for a good deal more if they want. But… While they aren't poor clans, neither of them are exactly rich either. That's a nice chunk of cash. And they have to agree on the penalty fee together and they dislike each other more than they do me.

"Aye." / "Yes."

"Good show." I hold out my right hand, a locked chest filled with bags of gold coins appearing on the stone floor next to me. "Would the actuaries of both clans please step forward?"

A small group of dwarfs on each side get a nod from their respective thanes and then walk towards the chest, careful to keep their distance from one another. A click and the locks disengage and the lid lifts up.

"Please perform a full count and confirm that the amount is as required. If I have miscounted, then you have merely to inform me and I will make good the difference."

Abacuses are removed from belts and chalk sticks are raised in anger. Dwarf financial specialists are just as thorough in their area of expertise as dwarf engineers and craftsmen are in theirs.

"Now, as for assigning payment, to my way of thinking there are two ways we can handle this. The surviving copies of the contract don't specify which clan gets what proportion of the payment."

Which hasn't mattered much to the humans involved, but has encouraged tremendous ill-feeling between the dwarf clans involved.

"The fact is that no matter what we might suspect, we don't know exactly who is owed what. I am happy to split the payment exactly in half and pay half to each of you. I-."

I raise my arms as they both start to complain.

"I fully accept that that most likely doesn't reflect the work done by the workers of either clan or the raw materials provided by either clan. I offer it as a possibility because none of us know. That would get the grudge paid immediately, which is why I like it."

And that's why the argument started. It sounded so simple at the start; a surviving written contract with an amount stated upon it. But the receipts were burned and everyone who knew exactly who did what died when the fortification they built was overrun by Chaos-worshipping raiders. Both clans know that the other did at least some work, but without knowing exactly how much they both feel that anything other than all of the money risks the other side getting more than they're due.

Dwarfs. Gotta love 'em.

Neither lead delegate looks happy with the offer. I asked Thorgrim about just paying them both the full value plus the penalty fee and he looked at me like I'd just offered to fart in his mother's face, so that's off the table.

"Okay, before we get off track again, it looks like neither of you are happy about that idea. The other option is that I lodge the coin with King Thorgrim and he has actuaries not affiliated with either of your clans go through your surviving contemporary records in an effort to work out what you're likely to be owed. It won't be the right amount because it can't be, but it will be closer to the right amount than a fifty/fifty split. If you choose that option, you'll both record the grudge as being paid by the humans involved and lay the onus for sorting out the rest with the High King."

"Gentlemen. High King Thorgrim has expressed his desire for grudges to be repaid. I'm offering payment. I get the impression that you want the money you are owed. But no one can force you to mark a grudge as repaid. How do you want this to happen?"

Thorgim's not going to thank me for this one.

15th Sigmarzeit 2512
Morning

Thorgrim stares at me as ranks of dwarfs on pews all around us begin leafing through the ancient ledgers covering their desks.

"I'll not be thanking you for this one, human."

I look down at the floor.

"Yeah. I know."

 

30th December 2012
16:14 GMT -5

"Hm-hmmmm-hmmmm hm hmm-hmm-hmm-."

I frown as I pick up the letter in the letter basket inside Jade's flat's door. From the Alliance, apparently. Not sure why they're writing to me. My home address isn't exactly a secret, but I've been spending more time in my own home in Bir Tawil lately. I've had a few people writing to me, but for the most part they don't bother.

That's actually a little sad. I know that letter writing has dropped off immensely since the invention of e-mail, but surely there are at least a few people desperate to write to me? I honestly get more advertising fliers than requests for help.

Quick check for anything untoward-

Letter clear.

-and I open it up. Ah… Oh, the first part of their teleportation array is going to be put into operation tomorrow. When was this-? Ah, yes, I suppose that I haven't been checking the door-. I mean, if I'm just coming here to sleep I just appear in the bedroom, so…

I sigh.

Not only am I invited to the grand unveiling, but they want to give me access to their network just in case I ever need it. I've got a big enough reputation that they think a background check is redundant; I'm clearly not going to use it for cheap holiday travel or anything.

And I haven't RSVPed.

I mean, I don't need it, but it's a nice thing for them to do.

I turn to the second page. The itinerary. It's… Only a couple of hours, start to finish. I should put in an appearance. I mean, I'd honestly prefer it if this sort of international effort was organised by a government, but I spend most of my time in America. The superheroic tradition here is passionately independent, and… So am I. And if the private sector wants to fill a need the government won't, good for them.

Ring, contact Alpha Centurion.

Compliance.

Might be worth me checking in with Blitzen beforehand. I honestly don't think there's any skulduggery going on. At least, no more than in any large organisation. Everyone I've looked at who's joined the Alliance has been pretty well motivated-.

I need to nag Batman about the Small League model again. And probably the others. With another organisation doing the Big League model, the choice of the correct way to organise the League is…

More obvious. Should I give Vincent Edge a copy of the JSI's files? He doesn't seem like the sort to create that sort of organisation, but he's an old man, and the people around him might… Not be malevolent, exactly, but they might want to focus on efficiency at the expense of morality…

I still haven't really worked that one through in my own mind. But I don't think that someone as afraid of Old Testament retribution as he is will go too far wrong deliberately.

"Alpha Centurion."

"Orange Lantern here."

"Ah! You're back on Earth!"

"Yes. Um, sorry, I just picked up my post-."

"Did you know that there's no postal carrier in the world that delivers to Bir Tawil?"

"I didn't, but I'm not surprised. As I said, sorry. If it's not too late, I'd like to attend."

"Not at all. We'd be delighted to have you. Could we persuade you to use the relay system itself?"

"I don't really… Yeah, yeah, okay. I can do that. Are you having problems with people not wanting to use it?"

"A few. You and I both know that the technology is safe, but almost everyone speaks of 'telefragging'."

"When if anything goes wrong what would actually happen is the person being transported and any local matter being turned into an undifferentiated plasma field."

"That's hardly likely, within the confines of a single planet and with a network of towers to regulate the terminus."

"I know. But if it did… "

"And they could be knocked down by a car crossing the street. Are you truly concerned about the safety of the system?"

"No, no. It's not the system I would have gone for, but I know it has clear advantages."

Mostly, in that it makes mass deployment from varying locations far easier. The League's more of a 'one riot, one hero' organisation, but if you need teams for everything then it's actually a better system.

"Is this actually the first time that it's been used, or..?"

"Of course not! This just marks it being put into service. We've sent both test samples and superheroes a dozen times now. It would be extremely foolish of us to risk anything going on at the public unveiling!"

"Yes, I suppose it would. So should I just turn up..?"

"Yes, I'll let security know that you're expected. I appreciate you putting in the time."

"Happy to help. Orange Lantern out."

Ring, contact Alan.

Compliance.

"Hey Paul. Forget something?"

"No, I just found out that I've got an invitation to that… Alliance of the Just unveiling, and I was wondering if you were going?"

"I thought I might as well. Everyone on the League got an invite, though I don't know how many are actually gunna turn up. Are you going?"

"Yes. Alpha Centurion's even going to let me go through. I've never been teleported in this exact way before. And if there are any problems, I'm probably the best person to find them."

"True. You know, something like this happening was kind of a dream for me, back in the forties. And now, rather than Captain Comet or Superman doing it, it's Vincent Edge of all people."

"Would you prefer it was Lex Luthor?"

"God, no. And I'm glad that Edge has found religion and straightened himself out. It's just not how I saw it happening."

"Did you ever read that thing I wrote for Batman about structures for the League's expansion?"

"Paul, everyone on the League reads everything you send us. Fool us twice… Let us fool ourselves twice, shame on us."

"Did you have any thoughts on it?"

"That's a worryingly vague way to put it."

"I mean, now that the Alliance has gotten this far, I think that the Small League model is the one to go for."

"A small, elite team? Yeah, I see what you mean. You wanna tell Ollie?"

"If he doesn't want to augment himself, he can just… Be grandfathered in."

"Honestly? I prefer it the way the Alliance is handling things. But if they're doing that then I guess you're right. See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

 

31st December 2012
09:23 GMT -5

"Orange Lantern! Blue Lantern!"

Vincent Edge is smiling with teeth that glow a disturbingly brilliant white. I'm not sure if he's had some sort of coating put on them or if they're dentures. Whatever magic defence he had when we first met has been improved enough to throw off my normal scans. Nice to see a man in his position taking his personal defence so seriously.

"Mister Edge."

Alan steps forward to shake his hand. The two of them narrowly missed being adversaries; Vincent Edge only rose to a senior position in his syndicate after Alan semi-retired from superheroism, but there was enough of an overlap in their areas of operation that they'd have been fighting each other if he hadn't.

Alan's actually old enough to be his father. It feels weird to think that.

"Oh, call me Vinny. At my age there doesn't seem much point standing on ceremony."

Ah, looks like Alan thinks it feels weird as well.

"Mister Edge."

He takes my hand, laying his left over the top. "Thank you for coming. Marcus said you wanted to check the place over?"

"I want to check everything over. But I've had a lot of contact with cutting edge super science going badly wrong-. Did I ever tell you about when KordTech gave a chimpanzee invisible power armour and an intelligence augmentation?"

"No, that… That sounds like a barrel of fun."

"Oh, Bobo's a lovely fellow most of the time. It's just that the augmentation messed up his head for a few days. But the point is, it's sometimes worth having someone outside of the bubble taking a look at things."

"Oh, there's no harm in it. Why don't we all head this way, you can give it the once-over. Put your mind at ease."

"Thank you."

There are a few television crews setting up inside, and a few cameras track us as we're led through the briefing room towards the more technically-orientated parts of the complex. Alan and I are both pretty big deals, but the fact is that footage of us isn't exactly hard to come by. Alan spends quite a lot of his time in New York, and… I've been everywhere.

"Do you use a ring terminus..?"

"Oh, no. Technically, this whole building is the terminus. We've got an assembly room; that's where we're holding the demonstration, but that's for when we want to send groups of people together. One little monitor-"

He reaches across with his left hand and pulls up his right sleeve a little way, showing a device built into a bracer.

"-and it can just pick people up and drop them off, no trouble. This thing also monitors vital signs, and it's a smart communicator. Anywhere in the world, if there's any way to get a message through this thing will do it." He lets his sleeve fall. "Cheap, too, and reliable. Uses a combination of computer circuitry and geomancy."

"Sounds useful. Does the Alliance have a commercial development arm?"

"No, no. We're just using it to give the company who came up with it advertising in exchange for using them. It's a sponsorship thing." He glances back at us. "Legal, we checked."

"I'm sure it is."

"Well, it pays to be sure. I'd be an embarrassment if I did all this and then broke the law by accident."

He's not wrong, there.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask… I doubt that you'll remember if, but… Do you remember meeting my father?"

Alan shakes his head. "I can't say I do."

"Would have been about sixty years ago? You broke his arm after you caught him purse snatching and he drew a gun."

Alan's eyebrows go up slightly at the news, then his eyes drift to the side as he tries to remember.

"I… I'm sorry, nothing comes to mind. If you want to be sure, I can check my old files and see if I wrote anything down that might jog my memory."

"No, no, it's hardly that important. I was just curious."

"Did he straighten himself out afterwards?"

"I've got no idea. He got stabbed to death in prison." Alan looks a little awkward. "Oh, he had it coming. Mean son of a…" He shakes his head. "My mother was better without him. He did teach me one lesson though. Like it says in The Godfather: a lawyer can steal more with a briefcase than a thief can with a gun."

He slows for a moment, touching his forehead with his right hand.

"It was a good lesson to learn in the practical sense. Not the moral sense. I don't know if I'd have gotten a clue earlier if I'd stuck to being a thug like him, or if they'd have buried me next to him in the prison graveyard."

"You turned things around in the end."

Mister Edge makes an amused exhalation. "Not quite at the end, yet. Doctor says I could live another twenty years if I eat right and live clean, and I'm all about that these days. And I… I believe that the Alliance of the Just will be the salvation of my soul."

Not exactly how it works. It's becoming the sort of person who would create something like this that would get him into the Kingdom of Heaven in the Christian sense, because you're judged for who you are and not what you've done. Though I suppose he didn't actually say what religion he practiced. Could be something a little more result-orientated.

"Though if you can both stay after the main demonstration, I'd like you both to meet my sponsor."

"Your sponsor?"

Mr. Edge shrugs. "I was in a bad place, mentally as well as spiritually. The Lord had shown me what awaited me, but… But my sponsor's the man who helped me keep at it. I've got a whole bunch of instincts that come from being a career criminal, and to become the man I want to die as I've had to… I've had to fight them every day."

"Ah. Sure. Sounds like a good man."

"Surely is. You know how it is when you've got a really good preacher, who just makes the lessons click in your head? I didn't have that growing up, but it's never too late."

"I'm afraid I'm a Hellenist, myself."

"Oh, don't worry. He won't be offended. And he told me that he's a fan of your work in particular."

"Ah, I… That's nice. Sure, I've got time to meet him. What's his name?"

"Bruno. Father Bruno."

"Must be a remarkable man to have such an effect on you."

Mr. Edge nods. "Him and the Lord who stands behind him. And…"

He swipes his ID card and pushes the door open.

"Here's the heart of the machine. Check to your heart's content."

 

31st December 2012
09:48 GMT -5

Boots approach from behind me, then stop and wait as I keep scanning.

"Have you found some problem, Orange Lantern?"

"No, no, it's all good." I pull the upper part of my body out of the maintenance hatch and turn to face Marcus. "I mean, it's… Pretty clear that you had a bunch of hyper-cognitive scientists working on this rather than using standardised components-"

"The peril of the cutting edge."

"-so your maintenance is going to be fun, but everything looks like it's going to do the job. Honestly, I'm impressed that you've been able to talk so many people into donating their time like this."

"We owe that in part to you. KordTech's grant program has brought a good many such masters of technology out of their basements and garage workshops and into the light of day. A good many were willing to lend us their aid."

I wince a little. "I know you're doing good work, but… Please tell me that Ted didn't just send you the mailing list-."

"No no-" He shakes his head. "-no. Nothing so untoward. A few chose to join us, and through KordTech they were in communication with one another. Word got around."

I nod, relieved. "I suppose that with everything that's been going on, a lot of people see the advantage of a system like this."

"Honesty, industry and prudence. It is pleasing to see civic virtue displayed unprompted, and used to construct such a magnificent edifice."

"I know. I didn't realise-" I close the hatch and lock it in place. "-that super-architects were a thing."

"I'm not sure about 'super', but a Brazilian man named Helmut Schreiber volunteered his time, and I must say that I'm pleased with his work. Oh, do you know him?"

"We met. If he hasn't chosen to share the circumstances then I probably shouldn't either. But I know he does good work. Is he..? In America at the moment?"

"Brazil has little use for architects… Architects who cannot form buildings from trees."

I nod awkwardly. Yeah. Just because it's useful for humanity to have a superpowered civilisation doesn't mean that plenty of people weren't adversely affected. 'Brazil' technically still exists, but it's a fraction of what it was and it probably doesn't have much use for the sort of buildings that he specialised in. I hadn't realised that the Schreiber family were displaced to America, but it's nice to know that he's found his feet.

"Please pass on my regards when you next see him. Ah, what other site are you using in the demonstration?"

"Seattle."

"Okay, I can go there and check-."

"All we need from the Seattle site is a beacon signal, and if it doesn't work then the transport sequence won't initiate because there's no where for it to go."

True. And my replacement bodies are ready in Bir Tawil if something goes majorly wrong. And if something goes a little wrong then I've got my power rings.

"Alright. Um. How-?"

"Alpha Centurion to control. Two to Seattle, please!"

"So-?"

…

And… The room is slightly different, and there are a few technicians who weren't there-.

31st December 2012
07:50 GMT -7

"Huh. Smooth transition."

"Retained all your fingers, I trust?"

I make a show of checking, but my ring reports that nothing untoward happened. Time loss… A tiny fraction of a second longer than the system could manage, but pretty good for Earth's first effort. Extremely good, if I'm being honest. I think it… Yes, it's slightly less efficient than my Dolmen Gates, and… Those can be mass produced far easier. But without the need for paired Gates… No, this system can't be used for global transit due to signal interference, but it is pretty much ideal for its purpose.

"Yep, all there. Mind if I take a look at the inner mechanisms on this side?"

Marcus looks over to one of the engineers, who shrugs and then nods.

"Certainly. We need to be back inside ten minutes, but if that isn't enough you could always come back. But I assure you, they're all built to the same template."

But Seattle building regulations aren't the same as Washington D.C.'s building regulations. The terminus is similar enough that it's clear that it belongs to the same group, but different enough that the people who work here can tell the difference.

The technician who nodded at Marcus unlocks the closest maintenance panel and then steps back so I can have a look. The structure is warded so a general scan isn't going to get me what I need. On the other hand, I've gotten used to having to work at it while I'm on Earth. I can send out hundreds of tiny filaments to perform optical scans of -or as we technical specialists call it 'looking at'- the machinery, performing sonic scans and generally letting me get a idea of what's there.

"Mister Edge mentioned a Father Bruno?"

"Yes, I believe that's his priest."

"Have you met him?"

"I… I think we were introduced at.. some meeting or other. I don't really remember. We practice different denominations of Christianity. But I know that Vincent sets a great store by him."

Everything… Looks like it's supposed to.

"Do you remember Bishop Arius?"

"Ah… No. Should I?"

"I was wondering how big a deal he was in the early church, but if you haven't heard of him perhaps his… Teachings didn't really penetrate."

"Doctrine was far less controlled in those days. A bishop couldn't simply phone the Pope whenever a contentious issue arose. What exactly did he believe?"

"Ah…"

"Oh." He nods.

"Something about God the Father being prior to God the Son, in virtue of that being what the terms 'father' and 'son' required, but I'm afraid that my understanding of the Trinity isn't good enough to fully explain it."

"Yes, that sounds like something which the church fathers would have considered absolutely thrilling to discuss, and which not a single Roman Christian could have comprehended, myself included. I have to say that I've never studied the deeper theory of the religion, and I… I admit that I've long suspected that I'd react to it in fairly pagan terms if I did. Have you..? Satisfied yourself?"

I dismiss my filaments. "Yes, looks good. I'm happy to report that the Alliance of the Just's teleportation system is in good order."

"Excellent." He hesitates for a moment. "It's probably silly, but I'm half expecting something to go wrong just because it's the official event. It would take an insane fool to try something…"

"But we're not exactly short of those on Earth. Well, look at it this way: if they do, they'll be one less insane fool around to bother anyone afterwards."

 

31st December 2012
11:15 GMT -5

"…which is why they can't just build thousands of them and do away with the car." The journalists who've clustered around me nod, though Ms. Lane aside I'm not sure how many of them are really taking it in. "But for small numbers of people it's an extremely good system."

"How about for first responders?"

"In the event of a major emergency, it would be possible to bring paramedics in from a city with low demand to a city with high demand. If you mean, just teleporting people to emergencies then that isn't really possible without putting buildings like this just about everywhere. You really don't want beacon-based teleportation to go wrong."

"Is this better than the system the Justice League uses?"

"That's a complicated one. Do you have time to read a four thousand page technical report?"

The journalist in question freezes up a little. "Aaaaaaaah…"

"Short version, the Justice League version can't go wrong, while at its intended level of use this is statistically likely to kill one person a century or so. That's still far safer than taking a plane or walking, and the ability of a reserve force of superheroes to use it will save far more people than that over the same time period. There are a lot of other minor differences, and… There are advantages and disadvantages to both."

A different and less happy-looking journalists sniffs. "Does it cost less?"

"To build or to run?"

"Both."

"Depends on what you count. The Alliance's system requires building large buildings in the middle of major cities. People have been kind enough to just donate the space for a lot of the first generation stations, but if you factor that in then the per-station cost is a lot more than the zeta tubes which the League uses. Even adding on the control system that the zeta tube network needs, putting a new zeta tube somewhere is a lot easier than building somewhere this size. On the other hand, the running costs with the zeta network… It's a little hard to work out how to price it, but the power draw per use is massive when compared to sending the same number of people with this system. They don't exactly pay that because I've donated bleed torsion generators, but if you were looking at market rates per kilowatt hour it would be far higher."

"So wouldn't it make more sense to use one system?"

"Not necessarily. Just like there are advantages and disadvantages to either system, there's a clear advantage in making sure that the two systems can't be disrupted in the same way. The Alliance has kindly offered to let members of the Justice League -and suitably armigerous randos like myself- use their system when necessary."

"And is the Justice League returning the favour?"

No, because that would mean letting everyone in the Alliance know the location of the League's zeta tubes, which are supposed to be in covert locations. And because there's no way Batman would go for it. And because the League's moving over to a magic-based system anyway, it's just slow going due to the comparative paucity of skilled magicians. But I should let them decide how to relay that decision to the world at large.

"That's something that you'll have to ask someone on the League."

"Wait, seriously?" One of the reporters frowns in confusion. "They're blue balling you again this year?"

"I'm afraid that my responsibilities off-Earth mean that it's not practical for me to take a position on Earth. And while Blue Lantern is a good friend of mine, I have no plans to-."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen." Mr. Edge gently nudges a few people out of the way. "I need to borrow Orange Lantern for a few moments. Ah, bar's open."

I nod, and allow myself to be led away as the huddle of journalists begins to break up. Ms. Lane keeps an eye on me as she checks the room for other people to buttonhole. I've never asked if she knows about Hyde Park, or Nabu in general. Or if Kal-El implied some other reason for me not joining up. I'm sure that she realised that my reason was disingenuous, and while the others might brush it off as ego-protection she… Almost certainly knows that it isn't.

"Did I look like I was drowning?"

"No, you looked completely resolute. Which isn't always a good plan."

"I may be wrong but at least I'm consistent."

"I'll take your word for it. But that wasn't why. I told you I wanted you to meet Father Bruno."

"Oh. Yeah. Of course."

We make our way through the throng of journalists, politicians and superheroes. I recognise… Some of them without reference to my ring's database, but the Alliance took the concept of a Big League and ran with it. Someone who wants to be a superhero can in theory just walk into an Alliance office and start volunteering with no independent experience at all. That's lowering the barrier to entry quite a lot, but at the same time I doubt that any of them have the sort of fervour that someone like Batman has.

I'd make a rude comment about them being far better adjusted as a result, but he seems to be doing okay, actually.

"Father Bruno."

I-. Huh. Father Bruno is a.. big bloke, to the point where I'm a little surprised that I hadn't spotted him before. He's a little taller than my own six feet two inches, and quite a bit broader. I can only assume that he's seriously into bodybuilding. Tan skin, black hair and… That's a clerical collar, so I'm going to assume that he's a Christian priest of some sort.

"Vinny. And Orange Lantern."

He offers me his surprisingly large hand and I take it.

"Father Bruno."

Mr. Edge glances around. Everyone appears to be giving us a little space, but he appears to spot something on the other side of the room. "Ah, excuse me, I've gotta grab that guy-."

"Of course, Vinny. The project takes precedence." Mr. Edge nods and then takes off, leaving me with Father Bruno. He looks down on me with an expression of mild curiosity. "I understand that you tested the teleportation system thoroughly. I hope there was nothing wrong."

"No, it all seemed fine to me. It's a good system."

He nods. "Vinny's done an excellent job. This system will be able to help thousands of people."

"Are you involved in the Alliance yourself?"

"I offer counselling to those heroes who need it. As I'm sure you know, it can be a very stressful job, and it helps to have someone to talk to. From the freshest face to… A man like Vinny. He came to me filled with fear of the Lord, but he needed direction in order to do this."

"And you directed him to do this?"

"Not this specifically, but I was able to help him come to understand his place in the Lord's plan. And with this great tool, the Alliance of the Just will unveil the Lord's mercy and sagacity to the entire world."

"Yeah. It's nice to know that some good came out of the Sheeda's attack."

For a moment his face hardens, but it relaxes back a moment later. I assume that they killed someone he knew.

"They forsook the teachings of the Lord and abandoned all virtue. They preyed upon the People of the Lord and so earned his ire." Not just the original vision that was Old Testament, then. "It is through the Messiah and the Lord that man may come to accept his place in the divine plan. And I believe that the Lord has a plan for you."

"I appreciate the thought, but at this point I'm a committed Hellenist."

He smiles. "Men change, Orange Lantern. Men change."

 

31st December 2012
12:23 GMT -5

Artemis looks at me askance.

"So… Nothing went wrong?"

"I don't know."

No Catholic priest in America named 'Bruno' matching that description. No Anglican priest either. Or Mormon or Methodist. Smaller denominations don't necessarily have their memberships listed in a simple and accessible format.

"Nothing went wrong with the technology or demonstration that I could see. No one attacked the sites. But there was definitely something odd about Father Bruno."

"Okay, I know you don't have a great relationship with Christianity, but doesn't mean that all priests are out to get you."

"I have nothing but respect for Father Mattias. But Father Bruno doesn't appear to exist."

Not as if there's a law against wearing clerical garb. Or any particular difficulty in getting one made even if there was.

"And Johanna hasn't mentioned him."

"Maybe because he's not suspicious?"

"He said that he did therapy work for the Alliance. And alright, that doesn't mean that he's a qualified therapist, but she's a Nazi raised as a living weapon. I'd give her therapy if she was going to work for me."

"Would you? Because…"

"Hah hah."

"Yeah, 'cause I was joking." She looks at the searches I'm running. "Okay, so maybe he's not a priest. Have you tried just.. searching on a description?"

"No."

"You thought he was suspicious. If he's ever been in prison just about anywhere, he'll be in the database."

"I know, it's just…"

I mean, there are probably plenty of people who fit his description, to say nothing of illusion spells and shapeshifters.

"Okay, ah… Black hair, over six feet tall, muscular build-."

"Ah, didn't you scan him?" She frowns. "Why don't you just put his exact description in the computer and see what comes out?"

"Ah, no, I-. Didn't?"

She tilts her head to the side and puts her right hand on her hip.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I didn't scan him. Vincent Edge has something that blocks my sophisticated scans and exotic vision, but I've captured visual images of him every time we've met. I didn't scan Father Bruno at all."

"So just get it from your brain."

"Um."

"Paul?"

"Black hair, tan skin, big. Strong. Ask me what his nose looked like."

"Ah, okay. What did his nose look like?"

"I don't know. I spoke to him an hour ago and I don't know what his nose looked like."

"You've got perfect memory."

"I've got perfect memory and I'm trained to resist telepathy." I make a fist with my left hand and hold it out to the side, while I use Larfleeze's ring to project a construct image of the reception room. "Ring, recreate room as of eleven fifteen, play. Also, lantern."

My personal lantern appears from subspace.

"This is my cause, this is my fight,
Shine through the void with orange light,
I've claimed all within my sight,
To keep what is mine, that is my right."

A wave of orange passes through me and the sleepy eye of the Ophidian briefly passes over me before it shuts down. And I watch myself with the reporters, the crowds in the reception area, then Mr. Edge walks over and…

"Did you imagine it?"

"Ring, sound recording."

"I told you I wanted you to meet Father Bruno." There's a pause. "Oh. Yeah. Of course." In my voice, then another pause. Then…

Nothing.

"Ring, where are the sounds?"

"Data not found."

"So I remember there being someone there, but I don't remember anyone other than Mister Edge and me talking to him, and there's no record. Ring, contact Alpha Centurion."

"Compliance."

"Yes?"

"Marcus, do you mind if I take a look at the internal security cameras for the Washington DC branch? I think someone who shouldn't have been there may have put in an appearance."

"Very well. Let me know what you discover."

"Of course. Thank you."

"File received."

"Show me this part of the room."

"View not found."

"Show me every face, and identify."

My ring connects to the mountain's hologram projectors, faces and identities flashing into being. No, no, no… No. No.

He's not there. No one who even meets his vague physical description.

"Ring, contact Alan Scott."

Alan's ring appears above my ring. "Paul? What's up?"

"Did you get introduced to Father Bruno?"

"Ah, yeah. We didn't speak all that long, but he said a few words. About how the Alliance has God's approval."

"What did he look like?"

"You forget already?"

"Humour me."

"Ah, tall. Black hair, tan skin. Big fellow."

"What did his nose look like?"

"Paul?"

"His nose, Alan. What did his nose look like?"

"I… I.. can't rightly remember. What-? What happened?"

"I don't know. But we both need to talk to Mister J'onzz."