Zigzag

29th April
10:58 GMT +2

Jade looks around at the bustle of activity all across the archaeological dig site. "It's certainly classier than anywhere I've been on a date before. Not sure about the food…"

I shrug, left hand holding onto the box whose strap is slung over my left shoulder. "I can take you to somewhere in Shiruta afterwards. I should warn you though… I'm quite popular there. We might not get much privacy."

Though it hasn't been a priority of his reign so far, Adom is well aware of the value of tourism to the Kahndaqi economy. He also knows the location of a great many valuable sites that have been lost in history, though I know for a fact that there have been clashes with Cairo University's Archaeology department about how to treat them. For an archaeologist, historical sites should be preserved as much as possible. For Adom, a place sacred to the gods he worships should be repaired, repainted and put back into use. What exactly is to become of the now partially buried Temple of Zehuti hasn't been agreed on, but for now it serves our purpose nicely.

I frown as we head towards the recently excavated entrance. "I.. thought you said you didn't want to-."

"I didn't say we were. But this is."

"Look, I've had enough criticism about my romantic intention communication failures that-."

"I never said that I wouldn't flirt with you." She's not looking at me, but she is smiling.

I look directly at her, then wave at the archaeology student beyond her who's excitedly pointing his camera phone at us. "I said I was interested, you said it was against your professional ethics."

"It is. We were the League of Shadows, not the League of Ninja.. Escorts."

"But you're not an assassin any longer." That gets an eyebrow. "Not professionally. This is a.. hobby thing. The rule doesn't need to apply if you don't want it to."

We pass under the awning and start down the slope into the Temple proper. "Date with Sivana go that badly, huh?"

"There was a near-unstoppable time travelling gravity manipulator and Thaddeus Junior and Georgia stole everything from my subspace pocket." Jade stops and this time looks at me with genuine alarm. I shrug. "They gave it back, but it was pretty unnerving."

Got back everything the breach of the warehouse complex didn't completely burn up or melt to sludge, anyway. After their mother glowered at them for a while I got what certainly sounded like a genuine apology… Which -given how they normally behave- is probably all I can hope for.

I pull ahead of Jade slightly as we reach the first chamber. "Beautia and I will be meeting up again. I just want to be clear that you have… First refusal." She doesn't say anything. "How's the bodyguarding thing going?"

"It pays the bills."

"No problems with the other henchmen?"

"Not after they found out I'd been to Belle Reve. Besides, I'm not supposed to get involved in the 'family business'. I'm just temptation-free protection for the boss's daughter." Her face stills for a second, and the next thing I know her sai is out, fully extended at thin air. Her eyes have narrowed. "I know you're there."

"Between you an' the Bat, think I need to work on me hidin' spells."

John… Appears. It isn't the shift that I saw when Thaddeus turned off the invisibility generator. The best way I can describe it is the reverse of what Granny Weatherwax did in Masquerade. Parts of wall and floor I was perfectly aware that I was seeing before suddenly come together in my mind as being parts of John. He holds his hands open and to the sides, trying to make clear that he isn't a threat while at the same time not deigning to pay her knife much attention.

Wait a second. No cigarette. The rings run full scans on our surroundings, bands of orange light running swiftly over everything. My rune stone comes out of one of my pouches and I turn up my empathic vision, taking a good look in all directions.

"What's wrong with you?"

"No cigarette." The stone is glowing… John usually makes it glow brightly, but the Scholars of Zehuti were big magic users back in Adom's time. This whole place sets it off. Scans don't show anything I wasn't expecting.

"Oh, come on. I can go five fuckin' minutes." His hands and eyebrows flick up for a moment in appeal at the gross slur on his personal habits.

"Almost certainly him."

"So does that mean I put the knife down, or stab him twice just to make sure?"

John smiles, right hand patting the left of his coat before tensing up and lowering itself again. "Where'd you find this one?"

"'This one' grew up in Gotham City." Jade lowers her sai and returns it to her coat. "John Constantine. The League had a file on you."

"Oh yeah?" The left side of his mouth turns upwards. "Anything good?"

Zatanna walks through from the inner chamber. "No one who has a file on you has anything good to say about you. I thought you realised that."

"Charmin'." He looks around the room, then turns and ambles towards the doorway to the inner chamber. "Adom's warmin' up the wards. We can get started in a mo."

Jade nods, then glances at me. "And the defences here are good enough..?"

I shrug. "If you know somewhere better…"

Zatanna nods. "We don't know enough about what we're up against to judge it perfectly. But this temple is as well protected as anywhere else we could go without rousing even more suspicion."

Adom stands as we enter, his normal black and gold costume covered by white robes. A display of modesty before one of the gods empowering him. Not something he does for anyone else. There's a smell of burned perfume in the air. "My preparations are complete. We may speak freely."

John nods, then looks at me. "Did'ja get it?"

I open another pouch and pull out a Golden Apple. "I asked when we were dumping Apollo in a pig pen."

"She ask what it was for?"

"I said it would be a surprise. She didn't seem to think it was such a big deal. Apparently she's got a whole grove of them."

"An' that'll work, will it?"

"We'll find out." Filaments take hold of my box, pulling out the prototype elemental rifle I received from Sephtian's workshop. "In theory, it's this simple." The Apple flickers as my constructs push, then deforms as the gold it's made of says that it should. The metal stretches over the chamber of the gun, making it the most bling firearm I've ever held. I hold it out to Jade, who takes it, works the mechanism then nods.

Zatanna makes a small beckoning gesture with her right hand and a small stone rises off the floor. "Dleihs fo redro."

A small golden barrier forms around the stone as it hovers in the air. Order magic isn't Zatanna's speciality, but we've been studying what Nabu might be able to do so much that she's picked up a few things.

Jade raises the gun to her shoulder, sights and fires. The stone explodes, its arcane shield doing nothing at all. She lowers the rifle.

Zatanna looks at her cautiously. "Remember, the aim isn't to kill him. He's holding my Dad-."

"I know." Jade nods. "My job is to disrupt his spells unless ordered otherwise. Then shoot to wound."

I nod. "You've had plenty of time to look over our plan so far. What do you think?"

"It's… Basically well thought out. But as far as the ideal outcome goes, I'm worried about what happens if your arcane mana draining device doesn't do the job. I think you need-."

I nod, looking down. I was worried it would come to that.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow."

30th April
17:07 GMT

"Again, boy."

Since I didn't want to disturb them if they were doing something delicate I transitioned myself into the next field and then walked over this way. Rob was visible for the whole of the distance, flying hither and thither in the air around the stone circle. The stone circle where Rob and Graham have their practice sessions is a good distance from any road, and since they don't customarily use giant glowing shapes high up in the air to fight with they haven't attracted the sort of attention that my sessions with Guy, John and Jordan have.

"Again."

That said, the brilliant flashes from Rob's conjured lightning blasts might end up changing that before too long. I haven't come back since the first time. It felt like I was intruding, though Rob hasn't hesitated to talk about it. Graham is a stern but fair taskmaster and Rob's combat magic has come along in leaps and bounds.

"Translocate."

Rob disappears from the air and reappears near the centre of the circle. Just in front of him I see the mist-filled uniform which makes up Graham Marrack's 'body', standing in the exact centre of the circle, hands clasped at parade rest behind his back.

"Call winds."

I brace as a gust of hurricane force air blows past me, clouds above visibly moving inwards towards the megaliths.

"Clumsy, boy."

Rob's actually panting. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't be sorry, just don't do it. Time?" Rob turns his left wrist to look at his watch. "No. Any fool can use a watch. Use your magic."

"Errr… Two hours 'til sunset?"

"Closer to three, but better than your last guess. Alright. You're clearly exhausted. We'll call it a day there, I think." Rob sags. "We've taken basic elemental casting as far as we reasonably can in this setting. We'll do something a little more sophisticated next Saturday. Pack to travel."

"Ah, okay?" He looks confused. "Can you..? I didn't think you could leave the circle?"

"Only on the mortal plane. It is well past time you were inducted into the mysteries of Otherworld."

"Oh. Ah. Okay. Sounds interesting."

I reach the edge of the stone circle and Graham's head turns in my direction. "Orange Lantern. Robert has informed me that you are the protégé of the Green Lantern." He pauses. "Though since there are now several perhaps for clarity's sake I should specify that I am referring to the one I fought beside during the Second World War."

Rob half-turns and gives me a nod.

"Yes, sir. I've been the fortunate recipient of a great deal of guidance from him."

"I remember him clearly. Good lad, I thought. My time on the Earth is nearly done, for this week at least. If you seek my counsel, speak swiftly."

"Actually sir, I just wanted to talk to Rob somewhere private. I don't want to keep you.. if it's uncomfortable for you."

"Not greatly. The living world has a.. colour to it my normal abode lacks."

Rob frowns. "Heaven doesn't have colour?"

Graham shakes his head. "We Marracks don't go to heaven, boy. Why do you think I want to show you Otherworld?"

"O-oh. Right."

As I understand it, studying pre-Christian magic might well result in a practising Christian going to the afterlife associated with that practice instead. Graham might well just be talking from personal experience and be mistaken about the general effect. Or it could genuinely be a core part of how their abilities work. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd sign up for a pagan afterlife any day of the week. The Angels are a bunch of fascists anyway."

"Think my vicar might argue that with you. Zatanna kind of warned me not to talk about Christianity with you?"

"Vicars, hah. An ignorant breed, for all their pretensions." Graham's eye-clouds glow slightly as he focuses on me. "No, you may speak."

Might want to give Rob a little longer on the 'not going to heaven' thing. If it really worries him we can see what alternatives we can arrange. "It's… Really somewhat private."

"Tchjk." Rob shakes his head. "Great granddad's dead. I don't think you have to worry."

"He might. But I know when to hold my tongue. Speak, Lantern."

Well. Poo. Still, if I'm going to do it there's no sense in dragging it out. "Zatanna and I have been researching techniques which could be used to remove Nabu from her father. Violently, if necessary."

His eyes widen. "What?"

I give him a small shrug. "Why so surprised? Did you think I would accept the status quo?"

"I… Shit… I just though-."

"Language, boy. Lantern, what has Nabu done?"

"What do you know about him?"

"He's an order-based elemental creature who relies on hosts to act in the world. I met him while Doctor Nelson was his host."

"Doctor Nelson gradually stopped using him, then towards the end of his life began looking for someone to take over the whole Fate thing. Sadly, he died before he could find someone willing. Last November, the Chaos Lord Klarion led a ritual which put the world's children on one Earth and the adults on another. To help stop it, my friend Zatanna put on the Helmet. Once the fight was over, he didn't want to let her go. Her father traded himself for her freedom. Since then, he has enjoyed not a single moment of freedom. That is not acceptable to me. As far as I know Nabu hasn't made any arrangements to secure substitute hosts-" Like William Zard, who was right there at Roanoke. "-and was aggressively disinterested when I offered to make him a golem body."

"Yeah… But… Don't.. the League, like..?"

"Not as far as I've seen. Current D-Day is the seventh of July. We intend to confront him, give him a last chance to stand down, then… If he doesn't take it, do whatever it takes to force him off. I would like you to participate. Having a thaumovore along would significantly increase our chance of bringing him down alive, which is my preferred outcome."

"Shit." Graham cuffs him around the back of the head. "Ah-! Um. But… You-. The League-. Wouldn't they-?"

"I don't know what -if anything- they're planning. But they seem to have accepted Nabu. My plan is to ambush him away from any support and have the fight finished before any help can reach him. I'm going to need a yes or no before I tell you any more."

"If I say 'yes', what happens?"

"We go and meet the rest of the group I've assembled, and bring you up to speed on the specifics."

"And if I say 'no'?"

"Then I go and fetch Zatanna and you forget this conversation ever happened. I'm sorry, but we can't risk a security breach."

"No, 'course…" He's looking at the ground, his head shaking left to right and back again. "But what's this going to do to… Like, us and the League."

"I don't know. Afterwards, I'll be leaving the Earth and Zatanna will be leaving the team. I don't think they'll be able to take any overt action against the participants due to how they lied to the world about what happened in the first place. However, I can't promise that you won't be punished in some way, particularly if we end up killing Nabu. Well?"

"I don't fucking know, alright?!" He turns away from me, shaking his head as he walks a few steps before turning back. "Great granddad? What do you think?"

"Boy, do you know how many times I have considered usurping control of your body and using it to grant me the freedom to move beyond these stones? To draw magic naturally once more and fight the good fight in the land of the living?"

Rob's eyes widen. "What?"

"I am the better mage, after all. Surely the world would be better served by me than by you? Logically, if I saved at least one more life than you would have done then the deed would be just, would it not? So: How many times? How many times do you believe that I have considered it?"

"I-I-I-um… Once or twice..?"

"No. NEVAH!" A crackle of lightning runs through his body. "My time is done. My life is over. I accept that. Life passes from one generation to the next. Great grandson, you are my heir as my own son never was. I will guide, I will steward, at your request, recognising the rightness of your independence. I will not make you my slave, fit to live only that you serve me. It would be a foul and unnatural act and Nabu should know better. If he has become so arrogant, so debased, then strike him down and worry not for the righteousness of your cause."

Rob just stares at him for a minute. Then his head dips.

"Right." He shakes his head again, then turns his attention to me. "Think I should… Probably meet everyone, then."

2nd May
07:54 GMT -6

I lean forward slightly towards the monitor. On the screen, Wallace approaches Challenger Mountain's front door before bottling out.

"June, how many times has he done that?"

"That's his fifth. I've got a bet going with myself that he'll get to seven before giving up completely." She tilts her head my way, eyebrows slightly raised. "Are you going to take mercy on him, or do you want me to turn the sprinklers on?"

"I'm genuinely curious as to why he's here." I tap my left fist against my lips. "I mean, I'm assuming that he's come in person because he doesn't want anyone else to find out, but I can't think of anything he'd want from me."

Sunset looks up from her tablet. "Maybe he just wants to talk to you because you're friends?" I blink. "Used to be, anyway."

"Mmmmm. No, I don't think so. Kaldur, maybe, or Artemis or Zatanna. But Richard loathes me and I doubt that I won any points with Mister Allen when I killed Klarion just outside his city."

"He's afraid, Corpsman."

I lift up my right hand slightly and stare at my ring. "Of what?"

"The lazy option, Corpsman? I'm disappointed."

Ugh, right. Using the orange ring to look at someone's desires came naturally to me. Using my yellow ring to look at someone's fears… And I do actually like Wallace. Instead, I take a snapshot of everyone's location. Chester and Vera are in the gymnasium, Chester to make sure that he's in top shape before I start giving him fieldwork and Vera to get used to her improved cybernetics. Mister Tawny is watching them and the Sphere is spending the day with Scott and Barda.

The Genomorphs are… Everywhere. With most of the heavy lifting done we've scaled back on the G-Trolls and brought in a new Genomorph type. G-Nisse are slightly larger and a good deal more physically adept than G-Gnomes, perfect for the sort of precision work this place now requires. Jean and Lynne are overseeing a 'session' in the basement. Probably shouldn't take Wallace in to see that. Neither Jade nor Miss Amane are here at present.

Wallace stops, turns around and starts towards the door for attempt number six. I turn away and head towards the door. "Sunset, pop outside and invite him up, would you? I'll be in meeting room two."

"And you can't do this because?"

I stop. "Because I'm big and intimidating while you've got that whole 'Magic of Friendship' thing going on."

"I'm not sure that's actually a thing here. And I'm still not totally convinced it was in Equestria, either."

"Look, he's clearly very intimidated and the only person he even knows here to be intimidated about is me. Please, go and say hello to him."

"Fine."

"Thank you." I walk out of the control room and head in the general direction of the meeting room. Ah, teenagers. Worth getting the practice in when it comes to handling them, and she's usually not too bad really. Of course, that could be something to do with never asking her to do anything she doesn't already want to do. I once read a fan fiction in which Twilight Sparkle was described as a 'pony shaped learning machine' and I think that Celestia has a 'type'. She already started building her own arcane laboratory and has a team of G-Dwarves transcribing and indexing every piece of arcane lore she can find. A worthwhile investment, to be sure.

"…in a minute. It's not that far to walk."

"Uh, yeah, okay."

Sunset and Wallace? What? I walk a little faster, pushing the door open with a gentle yellow beam as I reach it. Wallace is leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. He's wearing a green shirt over a white long-sleeved t-shirt, a brown coat folded over the back of the chair in front of him. He looks up as the door opens, his eyes dropping awkwardly away after a second of eye contact.

"Hey, Grayven."

"Wallace." I walk fully into the room before pulling out one of the reinforced chairs and sitting down. "Good to see you. Keeping well?"

"I've.. been better."

Not getting a clue here… "Your powers, they continue to work as they are supposed to?"

He brightens up very slightly. "Oh yeah. It's been great, being able to keep up with-." He glances at Sunset, whose attention is on her tablet once more. "Ah…"

I nod. "She knows."

Sunset pushes something on her screen. "Secret identities are dumb, and don't work against magic anyway."

"Right…"

No quip? No 'if my hair was made of bacon I probably wouldn't bother with a secret identity either'? Out of character. "Wallace." I clasp my hands together in front of me. "What brings you here?"

"I…" He takes a breath and then looks me full in the face. "I need your help. I've got a.. friend-."

I smile. "And this 'friend' needs advice on women? Well,-."

"No! Just.. don't interrupt, okay? This isn't easy."

"I apologise. Please, continue."

"Her name's Frances Kane. We were real close when we were kids-" I raise my eyebrows slightly but don't interrupt. "-but her family moved away and we sorta lost touch. I got a phone call from her last week. They were coming into Central City for a few days and she wanted to meet up. I said 'yeah', but then she didn't show."

"Okay?"

"She was in a car crash. Her dad and her brother died and she and her mom are in pretty bad shape. Her mom's out of surgery, but they can't operate on her."

He stops again, and this time it seems right to prod him. "Why not?"

"She's a metahuman. It looks like she can control magnetic fields, but right now she can't turn it off. Anything with iron in it that gets too close to her gets grabbed and anything electronic gets wrecked. You're the only guy I know who can stop her getting crippled for life. I don't know.. what's going on with you and the Light, but you helped me… Us, and M'gann.. thinks…"

"She thinks that I will continue to help you out of the goodness of my heart despite joining the opposition." I sigh. "She's incorrigible. Wallace, my fellow members of the Light would not want me to aid her. And not just to spite you, though that would be enough for several of them. They would say that if an alien such as myself heals the injured, then humanity will have less incentive to learn to heal itself, or correct defective.. cars, or roads, that cause these accidents. That through my actions and the actions of those like me humanity was being kept closeted, insulated from things that could harm it and allow it to grow and learn. Tell me: would you be asking for my help if you didn't know her?"

"I… I'm not…" He thinks for a moment, then slumps. "Probably.. not."

"Do you intend to find a way to help everyone else in a similar situation, now that your attention has been drawn to the matter?"

"I can't! I don't know how to do that!"

"No. You don't. But you come into my house… On the day my daughter is to be married-"

Sunset looks up. "No, she's not."

"-and you ask me to-."

For a fraction of a second there are two Wallaces, then there is just one in front of me. "You think this is funny?! If you're not going to help, fine, just say that! Don't make fun of-!"

"Of course I'll help, you prat." I rise to my feet. "Show me where they've got her."

2nd May
09:07 GMT -5

Sunset and I step out of the hush tube and into the medical wing of Star Labs Central City.

"Remind me why I'm coming?"

"You're working hard to learn magic so that you can use your skills to better the lives of others, correct?"

"If I'm honest-" A woman at the other end of the corridor spots us, her eyes momentarily widening in shock. I give her a wave. "-I think I'm mostly doing it because I enjoy it. But I think what I learn will help other people eventually."

"People could benefit a great deal from medical magic. In fact, I imagine that with a little encouragement doctors could comprehend the basics." I shrug. "If you don't want to help me with the more conflict-orientated aspect of my work, medicine isn't a bad area to get into."

"I guess…"

"You have a great deal to offer the world, Sunset. But you are actually going to need to offer it at some point." There's a whoosh of displaced air as Wallace appears. Since he couldn't-. I frown. Hey, what? "New costume, Kid Flash?"

He holds out his arms slightly so we can get a better look. "Yeah. Your brother made it. I was worried about giving up the New God protection, and…"

"Didn't want to keep wearing the suit I made. Fair enough. I burned my bridges and now I can sleep in them."

Sunset stops and squints at me. "What?"

"Never mind." I raise my eyebrows at Wallace. "So, where's the patient?"

He leads the way through the corridors, staff calming noticeably with him present. "She's in a… It's a cell they built to hold Doctor Polaris. It's the only way to stop her messing up all of the equipment. She's being medicated through a plastic tube they fed through her mouth into her stomach, but being unconscious doesn't seem to turn off her powers."

I frown. "They couldn't come up with a nonferrous needle?"

"Not quickly. And with all the blood she's lost an intravenous system might not work properly if they did."

I nod. "And they don't want to replace the blood because that will raise her blood pressure and risk breaching the clotting on her internal injuries. Can you give me a quick summary?"

"Ah… Her rib cage was basically crushed, and it's cut her lungs in several places. Worse on the right side. Her right upper arm was pretty badly smashed. Even if they didn't end up amputating it, she'd probably only ever get a fraction of her strength back. Her jaw's broken, her skull's probably fractured but they can't tell for sure because she'd mess up the machinery. She's got cuts everywhere but they've all scabbed over by now. We don't know about her spine."

"And her brain? If it's been damaged that may explain why her abilities are constantly on."

"She's concussed." He pushes through a set of double doors and into what looks like a rapidly converted high security area. Too many medics and pieces of equipment in too small a space. "And we can tell that because of how her pupils dilate. I didn't want to ask Miss Martian to take a look in case there was some sort of psychic feedback." He turns away, looking for someone. "Doctor Schmitz, can we just go in?"

A slightly overweight man in a lab coat turns around. Ah, the mad scientist bald-on-top-with-long-grey-hair combo. I image that STAR has a few of those around the place. He looks me over for a moment and then gives Wallace his full attention. "You'd better. She's stable at the moment, but…" He shrugs helplessly.

"Ah, Mister Grayven?" A short woman taps me on the arm to get my attention. "The room will have to be sealed once you're inside. This-" She holds up a microphone. "-will let you talk to us despite the magnetic flux."

I shake my head. "Thank you, but I have a power ring."

I walk towards what looks like a bank vault door. A technician looks up at me for a moment before pressing a button on his equipment. There's a clank and an oddly quiet klaxon wail. I look up at it and see that someone has shoved a sock in it. For a prison cell I suppose that you'd want it on full volume, but for a room people are having to go in and out of constantly it would get annoying very quickly. Once the door is open I step through and wait patiently for it to close once more. Through the inner door I can see a couple of nurses keeping careful watch on Miss Kane. She looks to be in a right old state.

Sinestro, scan.

Mister West's summary of her injuries was largely accurate. A picture appears in my mind. Internal bleeding is more or less stopped, but there's blood in her lungs and her brain is swelling dangerously.

Nothing we can't fix.

Explain to me exactly why you want to repair the girl.

Further damaging my relationship with the League -and my ex-team mates- serves no useful purpose. I still haven't heard from Zatanna about those arcane energy siphons I want to commission. Probably, that means she's been instructed not to contact me. If I do this, it may change a few minds.

It also lets you undermine their faith in their own cause. And your team mates' faith in the judgement of their superiors.

It's a fringe benefit. I never understood hero worship. Get me her medical records.

The door behind me clanks shut, then the inner door whirs into life as it opens up. The nurse steps away from the near side of Miss Kane's recumbent form, allowing me to come up alongside her. Now, how to build up enough fear..? From Wallace, from the nurse… Not enough. My being here is reassuring them too much, and it would interfere with my diplomatic efforts to taunt them into fearing more. Hm. I look down at Miss Kane's face and imagine Lynne in a similar position, her body smashed-.

Yellow light surges, her ribs expanding and realigning before being fused back into place. Next, I remove the blood from her lungs and fix the torn and damaged tissue. A blast at her brain undoes the bruising and swelling. Doesn't look like there's an appreciable amount of underlying damage, though there are one or two physiological oddities. Probably related to her metahuman ability. Log those. Last comes the right arm, shoulder bones and muscles. Then…

"Does she know?"

The nurses look at each other, then the one closest to me answers. "No. We didn't think it was a good idea, given the state she was in."

I could heal all of her minor injuries, but I think letting her lie here for a little while is probably for the best. "I imagine that her friend Wallace West will be along to visit her later. I would appreciate it if he were granted entry."

I don't wait for a response, but instead have Sinestro connect to the Mountain's systems and open a Hush Tube back out of the cell-ward.

"She okay?"

"She'll live. And retain full functionality. She's still unconscious for now." He sags, exhaling heavily as he does so. "But we need to talk about what's going to happen to her next."

"Ah… Look, I'm grateful and all? But I don't see what that's got to do with you."

"The Apokoliptian technology I use in Challenger Mountain is proof against the highest level of magnetic flux she's been observed producing. Is anywhere else? Anywhere she could live long term?"

"She needs to stay under observation…"

"And then?" I lean closer. "Have you checked the wreck of her car for signs of unusual magnetism?"

His face pales. "Oh God."

I straighten up. "If she can't get under control, then she'll be a danger to all around her. If she does this-" I look around the room. "-while in a drugged stupor, what happens when she sleeps?"

"Could.. you… Awaken her? That would work, wouldn't it?"

"Certainly. What's in it for me?"

He stares me in the eyes for a moment, then nods. "What do you want?"

I grin. "Someday, and that day may never come… I'll call upon you to do a service for me."

3rd May
09:03 GMT -5

I point to the star chart being projected into the middle of the training area, my spirits falling further. "And here?"

Canis shrugs. "Perhaps? I was a cavalry commander, not a ship captain." Canis has a great deal of experience with alien civilisations. Unfortunately, most of it involves boom tubing in with a few hundred friends and looting the place. "The region here-" He reaches into the hologram with his right forefinger and indicates a radius. "-is known as The Waste. Any settlement here was taken as an affront to Great Darkseid and destroyed, the foolish people attempting it either slain or taken back to Apokolips in chains. Further out, we raided and brought ruination, but never in so focused a manner."

"What was the point?"

He frowns at me. He's not confused by what I've asked so much as by the fact that I'm asking. "To keep them afraid, of course. To remind them that every day they are given leave to draw breath by Great Darkseid, and should his merciless gaze fall upon them his gift would instantly be rescinded."

"Does he order each attack personally? "

Canis smiles, shaking his head. "No. Such matters are beneath his notice. At some point long before my birth he ordained that things should be so. And we faithfully carried out his commandment ever since."

"Faithfully?"

"We cry out his name, shout his praise and -time allowing- erect monuments to his fearsome magnificence."

I nod. From the comics it was never very clear what the peoples of Apokolips did from day to day. I'm getting a better idea now. "Now, the events which led to you being banished…"

"What is to say that you do not already know? I achieved a moment of perfect self-realisation, of communion with the greater spirit of Darkseid. I took my god-name, cut down my father and replaced him as general. My new status demanded greater targets so I ordered a raid on New Genesis itself."

"Did you have that authority?"

"We do not need special permission to fight and die for Darkseid. And I met with success! Their people cut down, their army routed, two of their sky cities left as burned out ruins!"

"And yet, you're here."

He shrugs. "Kanto has taken some exception to my ascension, and he is an assassin without peer. I cannot guard myself in my sleep. But I still do Darkseid's work, harrowing the weak and unworthy."

…

"Okay, so why don't we try tracking the world you visited after you were forced to-"

"Recognised, Kid Flash, B zero three."

"-quit your position."

Brut stirs himself as Wallace materialises in the tube's terminus. I imagine that when compared with the fast paced and highly dangerous life Brut and his master lived on Apokolips his time on Earth must be restful at best. He hasn't quite gotten to the point where he'll let the rest of us stroke him, but at least he doesn't bark or urinate at inappropriate times or places. Wallace doesn't warrant more than a quick sniff before Brut's head is once more resting on his forepaws.

"Good morning, Wallace." Oh dear. His posture is slouched and his face fallen. "What's wrong?"

"Anatole Sokolov's dead."

Ah. I nod. "I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know the two of you were close."

He trudges in our direction, looking over the star chart briefly and then dismissing it. "We weren't. I met him a couple of times when he was visiting Jay, but that was about it."

Canis frowns, this time in frustration. "Who is this person?"

Wallace looks at the ground for a moment. "Anatole was a Russian guy. A speedster like me. Ah, well, more like.. Jay, really."

"I don't know who he is either."

Wallace looks at me and gestures at the hologram with his right hand. "Mind if I..?"

I shake my head. "All yours."

He dismisses the star chart and calls up Jay's personnel file. "Jay Garrick, the first Flash." We get a picture of him in his prime. "Born, nineteen eighteen, started out as the Flash in nineteen forty. Far as we could tell, some time in the fifties the Russians got a hold of a copy of the formula he used to get super speed. Only… They didn't get a perfect copy. The first three Russian speedsters he met were Blue Trinity-" A picture appears showing Blue Trinity's members; Boleslaw Uminski, Gregor Gregorovich and Christina Molotova. "-and they ended up with crippling health problems as well as being mentally unstable. Anatole was part of the second group." Another picture, Anatole in costume with his Red Trinity team mates Bebeck and Cassiopeia. "They did better, but when they started showing the same symptoms as the Blue Trinity members they came to Keystone City to see if Jay could help them."

"And swore themselves into his service in return?"

"What?" Wallace frowns at Canis. "No. He just tried to help them. And it… Kinda worked." He presses another button, calling up a more recent image. "Until it didn't."

They look withered, and I know from when I read their files that their legs from the knee down are artificial. To say nothing of the constant tremors and headaches.

"I didn't know about any of this when I tried copying Jay's formula, but there's a reason -or rather, six reasons- why there hasn't been more interest in it. Get it wrong -like I did- and if needing a calorie rich diet is the worst that happens to you then you got off lucky." He steps back. "And the symptoms are progressive."

!!!

"You're not showing any-?"

"No, no." He shakes his head. "It just really brought it home, you know? Between that and Velocity Nine there's more examples of super speed gone wrong than gone right. My healing potion helped him, but it didn't make the symptoms vanish."

"Okay. Do you know what went wrong with the version of the formula the Russians used on him?"

"Yeah, for some reason? They weren't all that keen on talking to Jay about it."

"But would they be willing to now?" His face stills. "I mean, I could understand them… The super soldier producing part of the military, at least… Not being willing to help a defector. But if he's dead and the s-. Partner of the current Flash puts in an official request for information…"

He frowns thoughtfully. "You think?"

"They want one of theirs on the Justice League and this could win them points. They know that Jay isn't sharing with the US military." I shrug. "They might go for it. Might not, but it won't hurt to ask."

Wallace nods. "That's a great idea. I'll call Uncle Barry-."

"What happened to the blue ones?" Canis jerks his chin at their hologram. "Were they slain in battle?"

Wallace shrugs. "We don't really know. I mean, given how severe their symptoms were they'd probably be dead by now, but the last we heard of them was when they got shipped back to Russia after failing to stop Red Trinity coming over to our side."

"Then they're the first thing we ask about."

4th May
18:29 GMT +10

The swirling lights from Canis' Boom Tube fade behind us as we walk across a small plaza opposite the Transfiguration Cathedral in Khabarovsk. Fifteen hour time difference. We're going to be feeling this in the morning.

Richard, Wallace and I attract a few stares from the passers by. They give us a little space but they're clearly not afraid. Then Canis comes through the Boom Tube on Brut's back and they start backing up in earnest. I'm not completely clear why he wanted to come. He said it was because our conversation made him aware of how ignorant he was of Earth's history, but that didn't ring entirely true with me. Maybe he's finding the lack of violence just as trying as his steed does.

Brut pads towards the curved wall of the… I don't know what that's supposed to be. "Is this some sort of monument?"

Richard has his arm computer up, a local map on the screen. "It's the local Great Patriotic War memorial. 'Great Patriotic War' is what Russians call World War Two."

"And you're not allowed to smash it."

Canis doesn't respond. He just nudges Brut forwards, heading for the start of the curved wall. I suppose that he wants to do a circuit. As he reaches the start of the curve a young woman walks around from the far side, her attention focused on the phone in her right hand. She only regains her awareness of her surroundings a fraction of a second before walking into Brut's muzzle, a sharp intake of breath marking the change.

Canis looks down at her, head tilted slightly to the right. "Human. Move." She backs up, cringing as she does so. Canis makes a flapping motion with his left hand. "To the side." She scurries crablike out of the way. Canis nudges Brut back into motion, then something appears to occur to him. He leans forward in his saddle. "Good Human. Well done."

Richard smiles. "At least he didn't call her a Lowlie."

Wallace turns his head around, taking in our environment. "Your contact said he'd meet us here, right?"

"Yes, but he's on a bit of a public relations campaign so you should probably expect-."

We all hear the roar of their thrust packs before the Rocket Reds appear, blasting heads first through the clouds before cutting their engines, orientating themselves feet first and switching to gravity repulsion. They descend slowly and elegantly to the ground just in front of us. They get greeted with cheers from the gathering crowd, and cameras start flashing. This is far from the first time I've seen the Russians' Advanced Suits, but they still look really nice. I don't think they've been deployed in any combat zones yet but the Russian government has been making every effort to publicise their existence in the run up to the Victory Day Parade next week. In virtue of the fact that they're going to be acting as our escorts, the long-barrelled energy weapons usually attached to their arms are absent. Since this is an official mission and not purely a photo opportunity they're keeping their visors down, falling into parade rest with a gap of about four metres between them.

Then Dmitri Pushkin plummets to the ground between them. His personal armour actually looks in some ways less advanced than the Advanced Suits. The chest plate is a large solid looking plate while theirs are made of overlapping segments. His shoulder guards are large and have visible articulation points, while theirs are far more streamlined. The most flexible parts of his body are covered in what looks like thick lycra when contrasted against the clearly armoured parts of the Advanced Suits.

But the appearance is deceitful, as him casually straightening up without leaving a crater in the ground demonstrates. I know for a fact that his armour is about fifty times more resilient than theirs at its weakest point and contains electronic systems a couple of hundred years more advanced than theirs. I'm actually a little curious where the Russians got that stuff from, because there's no way that Russia has the technology to invent it themselves. I don't think anywhere on Earth does.

His face plate flickers and his face appears. The helmet isn't designed to be removed while the armour is in use, but it can use integrated holographics to display his face. It's a little disturbing, actually. The curve it follows makes it look like some sort of early motion capture thing, nearly there but subtly off and not quite natural. He smiles, throwing his arms wide. "Hello, my friends! Welcome to Russia!"

"Thank you for inviting us, Sergeant. May I introduce my colleagues-."

"Kid Flash! And Robin, the Boy Wonder!" Wallace smirks at the use of Richard's extended appellation. I wonder where it originally came from? Sergeant Pushkin takes a few paces forward, his steps quiet despite the weight of his armour. "It is good to meet you!" He holds out his right hand, and I note that the Advanced Suit on the right is training its sensors on the scene. Probably taking a recording for publicity purposes.

Might be a bit cheeky, but that is why they agreed to do this. I step forward and take hold of his hand. I'm probably less well known around here than the other two, but I am still technically in charge of this expedition. I'm not wearing my power armour for the same reason that the Advanced Suits aren't carrying their guns so hopefully the visual distinction is sufficiently clear for them. "Good to meet you at last. I've heard a good deal about you."

"And I of you, my friend." His grip is firm without being crushing. If I understood the description correctly his suit uses a system not unlike the way Kryptonian resilience works to provide strength boost in every direction, rather than relying on reinforcing Human muscle systems as the other types do. It's also supposed to provide tactile feedback, though I haven't checked that for myself. "I believe we have you to thank for our warm weather this spring."

"So they tell me."

I didn't think much about it at the time, but making the arctic colder naturally caused the air over it to contract and draw in additional air from the surrounding area. The result wasn't that great, but -according to a meteorologist who had a minor rant on the subject on the League's message board- air was sucked up from the equator, resulting in slightly warmer than usual weather in both Russia and Canada. Technically, the same thing is happening now as the Ice Fortress turns its guns on the Antarctic, but with the nearest land mass being further away and over a wide ocean it will be far less noticeable.

I step aside, nodding Wallace forwards. "Hi.. Sergeant. Thanks for doing this."

"It is not a problem! We are happy to help our American colleagues!"

I can't say that the Director sounded quite as enthusiastic as Sergeant Pushkin about it when I spoke to him over the phone, but I can't imagine that he'd say this if he didn't have authorisation. Heh, I think a childhood of watching narrowly post-Cold War cartoons has me braced for some sort of daft double cross.

Richard takes his hand next. "I'm sure the Justice League will appreciate this."

"I hope so. Ah, I have a daughter your age. Maybe I could introduce you before you leave?"

"Ah…"

"Of course, she cannot become Rocket Red Girl Wonder! Hahah!"

"Ah. Yeah." He and Wallace share a slightly uncomfortable glance.

"Because she is a girl and we only have adult sized suits! And because her mother would kill me." He turns his head side to side, then returns his attention to me. "If there is no one else, we have a car-."

My eyes widen as Brut leaps over the memorial. The Advanced Suits clock him almost immediately and instinctively jerk their arms up slightly before remembering that their guns aren't there. Canis will land almost exactly behind Sergeant Pushkin, which is exactly the sort of dick move I told him not to-.

Sergeant Pushkin rotates, right arm extended, and catches Brut in mid air by the left side of his neck and shoves him aside. As the great Dog starts to tumble Sergeant Pushkin moves his arm right, catching Canis in the chest and lifting him out of the saddle before setting him on the ground.

Canis blinks, stunned, as Brut rolls to his feet and shakes his head.

"You must be Canis! I was wondering where you were hiding! That was an amusing test of my reflexes!" Sergeant Pushkin leans closer to him. "But don't try that again or I will put you over my knee, boy."

4th May
18:37 GMT +10

"So, ah… Who do I need to focus on pleasing in order to get into the Justice League?"

Richard and Wallace were ushered into one car and I into this one. They're not limousines, but they're perfectly comfortable. Cars to work in. They rather assumed that Canis would ride along on his own, which was completely accurate. He isn't really keen on Earth vehicles, preferring to ride or walk short distances and Boom Tube long ones. And haven't we had complaints about that. I asked, and while he's heard of quiet Boom Tubes he's got no idea how to make them.

Despite the fact that he's flying above the cars -either as air cover or to show off- Sergeant Pushkin's voice comes over perfectly clearly over the car's intercom. Which is interesting, because it doesn't have any radio capacity.

"It doesn't work like that. If you're actually able to help Kid Flash dig out the information he's looking for then their opinion of you will improve, but it will probably improve anyway as long as you don't let anyone actively obstruct him."

"Yes, but… Ah… Batman and the Flash are both founding members. Batman is the chairman of the League, which suggests that it is Robin I need to impress the most. But I was told that you are our fixer-."

"Whow, whow. I.. know enough about how Russian politics works to know that that's an overstatement."

"But, you were to make a recommendation. That was the deal you made in exchange for being allowed to transfer your flying fortress through the Russian side of the Bering Straits."

"Right, and I did. But I can't be seen to shill for you."

"I'm not sure that I understand."

"Any League member can nominate someone, but entry can only be granted through a unanimous vote. Formally speaking, since I'm not a Justice League member myself I can't nominate someone but Batman has been willing to look at people I've drawn his attention to. Your name and details were on a long list of people with useful skills that I gave to him and made available to other League members. However, if I actively campaign on behalf of a particular candidate or engage in horse trading it looks suspicious and risks setting people against you regardless of your qualifications. A nominee needs to avoid having anyone vote against them. One vote against, and you're not getting in."

There's no immediate response, so I have the rings feed me information on our route. Hard to tell exactly, but I'd guess that our destination is a group of buildings that the CIA believes to be some sort of intelligence storage facility. The route hasn't exactly been cleared, but some of the roads branching off the one which we're on have police temporarily blocking them.

"Horse trading? I'm not sure that I understand."

"Oh, sorry. Your English is so good that it slipped my mind that you might not know some expressions. 'Horse trading' refers to underhanded dealings or compromises. In this context, it could be getting Major Atom's support by promising to do anything I could to torpedo Major Force's application." Which -to be honest- I'd have cheerfully done anyway.

"Does that not happen anyway?"

"No. Since the League hasn't ever had political oversight, they've never had to temper their idealism. If it looked like you were causing that sort of thing to start happening, far more than one member would vote against you. If one or two people voted against you, you could build your reputation for a year or two and then apply again. If a lot of them vote against you, it wouldn't be that simple."

"I see. So, how do you rate my chances?"

"Better than most people's."

"Heh, not as good as yours, surely?"

Heh. That's funny because unless Nabu turns out to be a lot more reasonable than I think he is, Circe actually will get on the League before me.

"Don't sell yourself short. They already have three Lanterns, and if I'm off-world as often as the Greenies are then I'm a much less appealing prospect. No, your problem is that another of my recommendations was that they consider changing the structure of the League, which means everything I've said about their selection process might suddenly become invalid. And I know for a fact that Wonder Woman wants more women on the League, and Rocket wants more black people… And she's going to be getting upped herself before too long. I think I've convinced Batman that drawing on talent from a wider variety of countries is a good idea, but that means that you're competing against the best in the world rather than the far smaller pool you would have been otherwise."

"Ehh… It might have been better if you had waited a year before doing that."

"Hah, yes, you're not wrong."

"So, what are my problems? What do I need to do to convince them that they aren't really problems?"

"American superheroes act within a certain set of social assumptions. Someone from another country, particularly from the military, could be seen as a divergence from that."

"But Major Atom is a military officer. And Accomplished Perfect Physician is Chinese."

"Accomplished Perfect Physician actively fought against the Chinese military and was imprisoned by China for several years. The League aren't at all worried about him trying to do things the Chinese way because he prefers their way. Major Atom grew up in a country where superheroes operated independently. Even during the Cold War, there was never an American equivalent of the People's Heroes. Every group, the Justice Society, Infinity Incorporated, the Justice League and a lot of other teams most people have never heard of, were independent."

"I hope they don't expect me to pick a fight with my government."

"I'll be honest: it wouldn't hurt. That photo opportunity when we got here was fine, but it portrayed you as part of the Russian military. Major Atom doesn't turn up to League meetings in his air force uniform. As a League member you could be operating in any country in the world, including ones that don't have good relations with Russia. They've got to know that you're there as a League member, not as a Russian soldier. I mean… You people still have Steel Wolf on the books. What do you think would happen if someone reminded the Ukraine of that and then you tried to go there?"

"They would not be too pleased to see me."

"The last thing you need when you're trying to stop a supervillain is to get turned away at the border because your face doesn't fit. And the last thing the League needs is every country demanding that one of their people get on the League."

"I.. understand. I will need to think about it."

"What exactly are your orders about this whole thing?"

"I was told that our metahuman development program has not been interested in super speed since the defection of Red Trinity, and that as a result all of our research and historical records on the subject were to be made available. The second part is what I was ordered to ensure, so whether the first part is true or not is not entirely relevant. If we are still interested, you are permitted to find that out. I have not specifically been ordered to hide anything, though I am supposed to politely discourage you from looking into any other programs."

"Any idea why they stopped looking into super speed?"

"I was not even born when that decision was made. I have been working on this armour; I have never had anything to do with the chemical modification programs."

"Is that a no?"

"I mean to say that I do not know. Maybe they could not make it work correctly?"

That doesn't… Sound like the way the Soviet Union operated. Uh, maybe having people they publicised as being national heroes retiring seriously injured would have been a problem? Maybe they didn't want to provoke Jay into handing the formula over to the US army, given that he had the complete version? Heck, mass produced superhumans could have provoked a nuclear exchange, or a super powered war. The separation between heroes and government on the US side really limited how far things could go there. Did someone on the Soviet side realise where things could go and shut the project down? I don't know. I'm not sure it matters for Wallace, unless it's something to do with how the condition deteriorates.

I'll look into it when we get to the archive.

4th May
19:44 GMT +10

One of the Russian archivists assigned to help us drops another box of files on the table in front of us, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Oh joy.

Richard looks up and winces slightly. "That's thirty seven boxes of receipts and expense forms."

Wallace turns another page in the research journal he's looking through, a filament from the ring allowing him to read the Cyrillic script. "I thought they were Communist. Shouldn't all that have been 'given according to their need'?"

I lift off the box lid and have the rings float out the first folder. "The Soviet Union had to spend quite a lot of time and effort forcing people to keep working within the bounds of a theoretically utopian but basically nonsensical economic system. Modern Russian nationalism is much more rational."

The rings get to work scanning the receipts and purchase orders, adding the data to what I've collected so far. They're bringing us everything directly related to the project which created the Blue and Red Trinities, which isn't exactly a small amount given that the project started in the twenties and wasn't formally terminated until the sixties. We don't know exactly what they were doing in the twenties given that that was years before Mister Garrick first developed the Garrick Formula. My Hail Mary guess is that it has something to do with the Danner Formula, but all I've got to go on is petrol requisition orders and given what was happening in Russia during the twenties it's a minor miracle I've got those.

Wallace looks up at me. "Can't you just load all that into your brain?"

"Last time I did something like that I spent weeks uncontrollably muttering quotes in Themysciran Greek. I don't speak Themysciran Greek. Any progress?"

He shakes his head. "They kept pretty thorough lab notes, but none of this has anything to do with the Garrick Formula. Hey, you know what a 'Sopernik' is?"

Richard leans in to look over his shoulder. "'Sopernik' means 'rival'. But it's a Russian word, the power ring should translate it for you."

"Not if it's being used as a proper name. Or a code name."

Richard looks sceptical. "How does the ring know?"

"I'll ask the Controllers for you. But if you think about it, so many words' meanings change depending on context that power ring translation systems would have to be able to pick up on it somehow."

"I guess. What does it say about the 'Rival'?"

"Not much. If it was a person, then they're responsible for a lotta these experiments getting performed. This is.. nineteen fifty two."

"Were they someone working in the army?"

"It's a lab diary, Rob. It's not going to say anything like that."

Richard starts pacing. "Okay, so how many people who were around in the fifties had super speed?"

"Johnny Quick, Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, Edward Clariss… Probably a bunch of other people whose names we don't know. I mean, Marvel and Adom get very high flight speeds and fast reflexes from Shazam… Sally Sonic was still a legitimate superhero then and her peak airspeed is supersonic."

"So the odd one out…"

"Might well be one of the ones we've never heard of. We still don't know the names of all of the Red Shadow operatives, to say nothing of metahumans and magic users who might have been scooped up in the Soviet Union's metahuman development program."

Richard sighs. "Yeah, but if I start with Clariss at least I've got somewhere to start. He dropped off the radar in nineteen forty nine. Do we have anything for nineteen forty nine?"

"No." / "Nothing that helps."

The three of us look at Canis.

And we keep looking. A few moments later he lays the bundle of written orders he's reviewing down on the table and looks up at us. "Have I done something to displease our masters?"

Richard shrugs. "Trying to pounce on Rocket Red wasn't exactly League standard operating procedure."

"He was showing you off to the Russian Lowlies like prize farm animals. It was degrading."

Wallace frowns with eyebrows raised. "It's a photo-op, dude. Lets people know that we're on the case. Whatever it is and…" Another box of files is deposited next to him. "However long it takes."

"But we're warriors. Not scriveners. Do they not have slaves for things like this? Lantern, those fat orange things you used as expendable infantry?"

"Praexis Demons can barely speak. I'm pretty sure they can't read and I don't think I'd be inclined to trust them if they could."

"Robin, surely the Batman has peons whom we could rely upon to do-?"

Richard shakes his head. "I don't know what you think Batman does, but back in Gotham we usually use a computer indexing program for things like this. When the data isn't on computer… This is just how long it takes."

Wallace nods. "The Flash can read through a mountain of stuff really fast, but that only works for finding key words. He doesn't remember much of what he read afterwards."

"In other words, suck it up. Or, find something faster and we can stop sooner."

Richard fiddles with his computer some more while I continue tabulating receipts. Nothing's exactly standing out, but I suppose that I'd need to know a lot more about material availability during that period to really evaluate that. "Have you guys seen anything about what happened to Blue Trinity yet?"

"I've got some blood tests from the sixties."

"Nothing here. Probably." I'm getting a rough idea of the sorts of thing that might have been going on at particular sites. The link between test animals no longer being ordered in and pest control chemicals being ordered in large quantities nearly makes me chuckle.

Nearly.

"So.. how sure are we that they're actually dead?"

"We're not. But…" I look at Wallace. "You said that the animals they tested the incomplete formula on stopped getting worse if they were prevented from moving, right?"

"Ye-ah..?"

"So… They'd be quite old. And they'd have to have been sedated pretty much continuously… Ah, Canis, have you got anything about what they did after failing to prevent Red Trinity defecting?"

"There was a hearing, then they were ordered back to their original test centre near Khonuu. Nothing beyond that."

Wallace, Richard and I look at one another. Wallace voices the question first. "You don't think they're still there, do you?"

I tap the intercom. "Sergeant Pushkin, do you have permission to tell us where Blue Trinity are?"

"Permission, yes, but I don't know that. I had assumed that they were dead. Do you want me to ask the Director?"

"And we can go anywhere relating to the Russian super speed study program, right?"

"Unless my orders are changed, yes. But, those files must stay in this building, for security reasons."

"Can we leave them out and come back to them?"

"Yes, of course."

I take my hand off the intercom and raise my eyebrows at Wallace. He shakes his head. "Even if they are there, I don't know how it helps me."

"I can do power ring scans on someone further along the decay path. And I can get Sephtian to do the same. Look, whatever answers we can get out of this-" I look over the file boxes. "-are buried here somewhere and finding them could take weeks. Pursuing another avenue of investigation might be more productive."

"I guess." He pushes the lab diary away slightly. "Though I'm not sure that meeting the worst case scenario is gunna do much to make me feel better about all this."

4th May
21:27 GMT +11

The greatcoat-wearing sentries raise their rifles as we step out of the Boom Tube, before a spotlight illuminates Sergeant Pushkin. That causes the rifles to go back down and right arms to snap upwards in a salute.

"No, my friends!" Sergeant Pushkin steps towards them, both arms making a lowering motion. "I am a sergeant, not an officer! You don't need to salute whenever I break wind!"

This is a bit more like the Russia I was expecting. There's still snow on the ground and the temperature is below zero. Khabarovsk was positively balmy! Wallace clearly doesn't appreciate it, visibly wincing in the chill wind. His costume has heating elements but the top of his head and the lower part of his face are bare. Neither Richard, Canis nor Brut seem particularly bothered by the drop in temperature.

"Ah… Yes, sergeant." A corporal takes a few steps forwards. "I am sorry, but this is a restricted area. I will need to see your authorisation, and…" He leans a little to his right, getting a clear look at the rest of us. "Your friends..?"

"Well done, corporal!" Sergeant Pushkin walks towards him, reaching into one of his storage pouches. "Too many people would say, 'he is a famous hero, I will just wave him through'."

"Ah…"

"I respect a man who does his job diligently. You are a contract soldier?" The corporal shakes his head as he reaches out to take Sergeant Pushkin's written orders. "Why not?"

He looks over the first page, then flips through to the second. "I was conscripted out of school. Then the army sent me to Siberia. I always thought that a man needed to commit a crime to get sent out here."

"Bah! You have it easy! I am posted on the North Pacific coast!" He holds up his right gauntlet. "I am lucky they didn't need to make this with only two fingers!"

The corporal nods with a chuckle, then hands back the orders. "This seems to be in order. But I will need to check with my commanding officer."

"Of course, corporal. Lead on."

The corporal waves at the other guards and they grudgingly resume their patrol while he leads us in the direction of the guard station at the side of the road leading into the Khonuu facility. It isn't some sort of hut designed to keep the wind off; it's a genuine concrete bunker. What little glass there is in the slit windows is extremely tough and reinforced with wire.

Wallace leans towards Richard. "Anyone else feel like we're in some kind of spy thriller?"

Richard thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "Don't think you're a spy if they've got orders to let you look at their documents."

Canis peers out through the dark. "What is this place?"

"This was where a lot of the Soviet Union's metahuman research was done. These days-" As I learned through long and painful analysis of their receipts. "-it's more of a storage facility."

"I know what it is. I want to know why it is. Why does it still exist? And why did those warriors it produced not overturn your world?"

"Why is because it's in an unpleasant location. I doubt they keep anything really top secret in the archive back in Khabarovsk. Piles of receipts, sure. Actual blood samples of someone with super speed that someone might be able to use to reconstruct the Formula from, no. They needed somewhere to put that and they already had this place up and running. Easier to just run it down than build somewhere new."

"And it works for p-p-punishment duty." Wallace shivers. "Shoulda brought a scarf." I attach a filament to him and grant him an environmental shield. "And my gratitude is only slightly tempered by the fact that you could have done that two minutes ago."

"Punishment duty?"

Wallace nods. "Yeah, you know: some guys screw up but not badly enough to get them kicked out completely… You stick 'em somewhere where you need someone but where it's not worth putting your good troops. What, you don't do that on Apokolips?"

"No. Anyone who had failed that badly would be killed or tortured. Or possibly both. It would depend on who their overseer was." He thinks for a moment. "Of course, the truly devout would torture and kill themselves without the need for further intervention. Alas, few have that level of devotion."

Wallace slowly nods, then takes a step away from Canis. "Riiiiight."

"But what of their lack of success?"

Richard frowns. "Maybe they were worried about Jay handing out the Formula to the US military?"

Wallace tilts his head to the left for a moment. "Super speed mutually assured destruction. Glad that never happened."

"What do you mean, mutually assured destruction? Surely the side with most people capable of super speed would emerge victorious?"

Wallace shakes his head. "Super speed doesn't let you do everything. If someone got nuclear weapons in the air on planes or missiles there wouldn't be much that anyone could do to stop it. Plus… We had to rebuild three city blocks when the Flash and Reverse Flash fought each other. Even if nukes didn't get launched I don't know how much world there would be left afterwards."

"And?"

"What do y'mean, 'and'?"

"The two nations hated each other, were rivals of each other for supremacy over your world with near equal power. On Apokolips…" He shakes his head. "Were they gods rather than nations, there could be no peace between them. Such a weapon as these Trinities represent would be used. And your Jay Garrick would certainly not be given the opportunity to keep his discovery to himself."

Wallace holds up his hands at his sides, palms upwards. "Did you not hear how that would have destroyed the world?"

"Planets are hardy things. With reasonable preparation, some of the population of one side would be able to survive and rebuild later."

"They'd be rebuilding from nothing. Billions of people would die, including almost everyone from their own side."

Canis frowns uncomprehendingly. "But they would have won?"

Wallace waves dismissively at Canis, earning a low growl from Brut. "Apokolips is messed up."

"Okay!" Sergeant Pushkin waves goodbye to the corporal as he heads back towards us. "My orders have been checked and verified. We may enter. Again, there will be places we cannot go, but they will be polite when they let you know."

"Are they here?" Wallace sounds excited by the prospect. "Blue Trinity?"

"Ahh… He did not know."

Richard frowns. "How could he not know?"

"Operational security in places like this is very tight. If they are here, only the scientists directly working on them would know of it."

"Just them?"

"And the Director of Future Weapon Development."

Wallace shrugs. "Could we just ask him?"

Sergeant Pushkin turns to walk into the facility. "He is a very busy man. Besides, you will see for yourselves in a few minutes."

"Oh El, can you just scan the place?"

Oh dear. "Doesn't look like it. Sergeant, when was this place warded?"

"When it was built. They had gypsy witches brought here to protect it from enemy magic. American parapsychics did not spend all of their time staring at Goats."

Oh thank goodness.

"There are also.. other measures… Automated defences. Things to stop the volunteers leaving without authorisation."

Wallace looks uncomfortable. "Automated defenses?"

"Do not worry. They will all be deactivated for our visit."

4th May
21:36 GMT +11

The Major in charge of the facility steps aside with a smile. "This is as far as I have clearance to proceed." He holds out his right hand in the direction of the doors to the laboratory as an older man in a suit comes through. "I will hand you over to Doctor Egorov. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you, sir." Sergeant Pushkin turns to Doctor Egorov. "Do I need to present my orders again?"

"No." The doctor shakes his head. "The Director informed me that you might be coming." He turns his attention to the rest of us. "And these are the Americans?"

"Actually, I'm Themysciran."

"Ah. I stand corrected." He steps forward and looks Wallace over. "And you are Kid Flash."

"Yeah, that's me. Do you know if you've got Blue Trinity in there, or is there someone else we need to talk to?"

Doctor Egorov turns around and beckons us to follow him. "Not out here. Inside."

He pushes his way back through the double doors, Wallace hot on his heels. Robin, Sergeant Pushkin and I follow on behind. Canis opted to stay outside with Brut rather than 'waste his time on more purposeless debate'. Through the doors there's a short corridor which terminates in a heavily fortified door. Doctor Egorov is leaning over an iris scanner mounted on the wall next to it, his access card pressed against the adjacent reader. There's a clunk and the door unlocks and starts to slide open. On the far side is… Another short corridor with another fortified door.

"This way."

We file on through, and I note that there are several cameras mounted at points on the wall. The door we just passed through clanks shut behind us and the lights around us dim slightly.

"Good. Now I may answer your questions. Yes, the surviving members of Blue Trinity are held here."

Richard cocks his head to the side. "Surviving?"

Doctor Egorov nods. "Doctor Krulik was more concerned with getting a functional result as swiftly as possible than with the subject's long term survival. The three you know as Blue Trinity were simply those who lived the longest. Of the rest, their remains were either cremated or they are stored here."

Wallace starts to smile. "Can I talk to them?"

"No." Doctor Egorov shakes his head. "They are kept in a state of… Biological hibernation, for their own safety."

"You mean suspended animation, right?"

"No, not suspended. But slowed down a great deal." There's a loud buzz from a wall-mounted speaker and the inner door clunks open. "You will not be able to speak with them, but you will be given access to all of our records."

"Why are they in hibernation?"

"One of the symptoms they developed was a constant super speed shaking. They became a danger to themselves and to everyone around them. In a state of hibernation, this is not a problem."

He leads us into the inner laboratory. The first things I see are the stationary gun positions and a group of soldiers. Richard frowns. "What's with all the security?"

"All of this was developed from a few notes passed to us by an informant in America in the forties. With what we have here, a person could create their own super speed soldiers. In the Cold War America and Russia did not dare use such weapons on one another, but today there are hundreds of groups around the world who would not hesitate. And once one person does it, everyone else will need to follow suit." He shakes his head. "I have no desire to live in such a world. We do not have the budget for the more extreme anti-metahuman defences, but we have taken fairly comprehensive steps against the threats we can predict."

"All of our cameras are ultra high speed, relaying their images to a high speed computer server with advanced pattern recognition programming. That in turn controls explosive shrapnel charges. I know that people with super speed struggle to fight at full speed." We go around another corner and get our first view of a laboratory. "By timing the detonations, we can corral an attacker into an area and kill them even at high speed. Particularly when the gas is taken into account."

"Wouldn't that kill you too?"

He nods. "Probably. When we found out that the current Flash had the ability to vibrate through solid objects we had the walls reinforced with multiple materials of differing density, with a constant high voltage electric current running through wires contained inside it."

"Yikes."

Doctor Egorov smiles faintly. "It would work, then? That is good, because we were working from very limited information."

"Maybe. I'm not trying it to find out."

"We also have more twists and turns than someone like the Flash could navigate at his maximum speed. Even if it is-" The corridor we're in doubles back on itself. "-a little inconvenient."

Richard taps his arm computer. "What about someone with super strength?"

"That would depend on the degree. At lower levels, we have enough conventional anti-armour weapons to cope. And again, gas has often proven to be effective. They still need to breathe, after all. If all else fails we have a nuclear self-destruct-"

!!!

"-system." We all look shocked. "Oh, there is no need to worry. It is a tactical nuclear device only, and both the American and Chinese governments have been informed of its existence. If we are forced to utilise it, it will not be the start of World War Three."

"That's not really the point."

He smiles in a rather creepy way. "Do you want to go and see it?" I shake my head. "Ah, anyway, we had to shut them all down while you are here. They all have to be automated, because normal Humans can't respond quickly enough and we did not have time to program the computers with your particulars. One last corridor."

Wallace looks around us. "So… What's protecting this place now?"

"A platoon of soldiers and four superheroes." He stops just outside another security door. "How long were you planning to stay?"

"I don't know. I need to see everything you've tried to make Blue Trinity better."

Doctor Egorov frowns. "Why? You had access to the pure form of the Garrick Formula, and I am reliably informed that he himself is in good health."

"I had access to his records, sure. But I tried replicating it with a high school chemistry set when I was thirteen."

"Hah!" Doctor Egorov smiles, slapping Wallace on the back with his right hand. "Young man, you would fit in around here very well!" Wallace doesn't look particularly pleased as the door opens and he leads us into the room.

The three pods containing Blue Trinity are raised off the floor on biers displaying their medical information. Heart beat and respiration very slow, brain activity low. Not even dreaming. Inside the pods they're technically naked, but all the equipment plugged into them does a reasonable job of disguising it. Their heads are shaved to allow better access for the brain monitors, their mouths held open by tubes meant either to make sure that their airways remain unobstructed or feed them, I'm not sure. I can see seven different tubes going into their veins at various points.

The three of us just stand in front of them, staring. Sergeant Pushkin actually gasps. Doctor Egorov nods. "A sad way to treat them, but it is the best we can do for now." He points to a computer terminal at the side of the room. "What you want is over-."

Time slows.

Doctor Egorov flying backwards, his chest compressing past the point where his lungs could be intact.

The floor approaching my face, my environmental shield flaring.

Richard falling backwards, arms trailing out in front.

Sergeant Pushkin starting to crouch as the explosive charges appear all over his armour.

And a vague black shape standing in front of the pod containing Ivana Christina Borodin Molotova, hands thrusting forwards as the machinery flies apart.

4th May
21:39:41 GMT +11

:41.4

Super speed attackers protocol. Construct armour begins to manifest around me along with tendrils which in a few relative moments will drop vertigo inducers onto the floor.

Wallace is blurring into motion, fighting… Someone. One of Richard's hands is reaching for a smoke bomb while the other stretches out to arrest his motion. Sergeant Pushkin's armour shudders as the first explosive goes off and at this speed I can see the expansion and compression of the air around the charge. I think that means that it failed to penetrate.

:41.7

The heavy external surface of the hibernation pod cracks and explodes away from where the black blur is standing, small pieces of metal and plastic shrapnel flying outwards in all directions.

Then there's a clear liquid in the air where the blur was standing and the blur is gone, joining in the yellow and white blurs currently making the dull grey painted-concrete walls a little brighter.

:42.0

Another explosive goes off on Sergeant Pushkin, this time on the back of his left knee. To someone unfamiliar with the design of his armour that might look like a vulnerable point, but it's certainly well beyond the capacity of a conventional explosive of that size to pierce. It does manage to make his leg jerk just as the guns on his forearms start to glow in preparation for firing.

:42.2

Doctor Egorov hits the far wall hard enough to cause the concrete immediately under his point of impact to crack and throw out a small cloud of concrete dust. I start sending a filament his way but I very much doubt that it will reach him in time to preserve his life.

:42.5

Sergeant Pushkin is wreathed in explosions as the rest of the charges detonate. I still don't think that those will be enough to actually hurt him through his armour but his sensors will probably take a second or two to adapt to the stimuli.

A cloud of smoke starts radiating outwards from Robin's smoke bomb. He hasn't bothered throwing it, he just set it off as soon as he got hold of it. He's worked out what we're fighting. One of those bombs will briefly fill this room, and this fight will be over before it can disperse. Wallace will have his goggles on, so hopefully it will impede his opponents more than him.

:42.8

The clear liquid strikes the floor and Ms Molotova's pod, whatever it touches steaming into nothingness. Wallace's Essence of Vitriol. Can't tell if it's going to hit her. One of the shapes darting around the room moves in an irregular fashion for a moment. Someone hit them? Can't tell for sure, and whoever it was recovered too quickly for me to identify them.

Sergeant Pushkin fires probably-blind across the room, two waves of purple plasma rapidly expanding outward. Area effect attack, sensible.

Richard jerks in the air, spinning around just before he hits the floor. I think something hit him in the head. Danner should be enough to keep him safe unless they really focus on him.

:43.0

Richard hits the floor, his smoke having spread around enough that the dashing speedsters are making visible air currents. I don't know what effect it's having on them. If they're saying anything it's happening too fast for my ear to make sense of it.

My construct armour is fully formed. A few cracks suddenly appear but like the Flash our assailants aren't able to hit at anything like F=MA. From the specifications the Russians gave me I know that it can take Sergeant Pushkin's shots as well, which is good because his explosion-affected aim means that I'm going to take a good hit from his right arm gun. The filament I'm sending towards Doctor Egorov is about half way across the room. I think I-

:43.1

-can reach him in time.

The white shape pauses just in front of him, right hand vibrating as it strikes out. Doctor Egorov's head bursts, flesh and bone cracking and ripping around the intruding limb as his cranium comes apart. Brains have excellent blood supplies and his is starting to spurt.

:43.2

The white shape is gone, moving back to the pods. Not Miss Molotova's pod, Mister Uminski's. Its hands touch the metal at the head end.

The vertigo inducers appear from subspace and I activate them immediately. White shape staggers visibly, and for a fraction of a second I see him.

:43.3

White body armour, looking unpleasantly like that worn by Truggs' mercenaries last year. Silver lightning bolt covering most of the chest. Flash fan? No, stupid. Given the publicity Mister Garrick's had over the years the lightning bolt is probably the image most strongly associated with super speed, if it wasn't anyway.

:43.6

Sergeant Pushkin corrects his aim at our stalled target and fires a narrow beam directly at them.

:43.9

The White Flash throws themself to the floor, ducking under Sergeant Pushkin's shot which burrows through the concrete wall on the far side of the medical bay.

:44.1

Wallace slams into the wall to my left.

:44.3

The door to the medical bay collapses as the black figure takes advantage of the momentary distraction of the one of us who can actually keep up with him to vibrate a series of holes in the metal. They don't appear to have been affected by my vertigo inducers at all. They're wearing ear plugs while their partner isn't?

:44.6

Wallace and black figure blur into motion once more while White Flash -NO!- shoves their left hand through the metal of Mister Uminski's pod. Their forearm turns red, though I can't tell whether the blood is theirs or his.

:44.8

Richard would survive chlorine gas but I'm not sure that Wallace would. And with the door open I'm not sure I could transmute enough to be disabling anyway.

My eyes glow orange as the smoke becomes too dense to see through conventionally. I try flying towards Mister Gregorovich in the faint hope that I can provide a distraction but I'm too damn slow!

:45.0

Richard rolls as he lands, reaching for a flashbang grenade.

White dashes to Mister Gregorovich's pod while black does something which appears to force Wallace to evade. Black then goes for Miss Molotova's pod.

Energy pulse!

Mental pathway damage limit reached. Acceleration discontinued.

Shit!

There's a gust of wind as Richard completes his roll and throws his flashbang towards the ruined doorway. Too late. Wallace staggers to a halt, his right hand holding his upper left arm as blood seeps through his costume. Outside I hear a series of explosions, then Sergeant Pushkin sprints for the exit.

I take a moment to check Blue Trinity. No, no good. The male members have had their heads shattered in the same fashion as Doctor Egorov while Miss Molotova has been removed, the tubes connecting her to her pod cut through. Orange light surges over Wallace as I repair his arm. It looks like Black Flash threw tiny fragments of metal at him with tremendous force. That done, I transition out to the speed wing's entrance.

"Aaaagh!" / "uuuuuuuUHHHHH."

The soldiers we passed on the way in lie on the ground, either dead or seriously injured. Black charred areas on the walls mark… The explosives. Someone must have reactivated them. But-.

Machine control. Sergeant Pushkin did it. He activated the explosives because stopping our attackers was more important than the lives of the soldiers.

He's just ahead of me in the antechamber, holding the bloody remains of the white attacker in his right arm. Black's… Not here. Must have gotten away. I scan on the off-chance, but I'm not surprised when I find nothing.

The rings glow as I turn my attention to the injured soldiers.

5th May
01:22 GMT +11

"An unfortunate -though not wholly unanticipated- event."

The Director was here within two hours of the Major reporting the attack. We're standing in the base's briefing room and the Major has been glowing bright yellow since he got off the telephone. It's a bit of a joke about excessive security precautions; so secret that even his name is classified. Major Adam's name was sort of a secret while he was being 'Cameron Scott' but it was never actually classified. The whole masquerade was technically for his benefit.

The Director's name actually is a secret. On no document that I've been able to see is his real name recorded, which is weird given that he's technically just a political appointee. I can see his patterns of emotion easily enough: green-orange with no indigo. That might mean that he's a psychopath, but lower intensity examples of psychopathy often lend themselves to office environments. Did he used to be a Soviet superhero? I'm pretty sure that was Steel Wolf with him as a bodyguard, and for that nutter to be willing to do bodyguard work he must consider the Director to be absolutely essential to the good of Russia.

The Director makes eye contact with the Major. "You have arranged to have the bodies of the deceased members of Blue Trinity cremated."

"Yes, Director."

"With Blue Trinity no longer present, this facility has served its purpose. We will discuss this further when this matter is resolved. Dismissed."

The Major about faces and marches from the room. Even once he is outside with a wall between him and the Director he doesn't relax at all.

"Sergeant. Members of the Justice Youth. Given the speed with which the attack took place, you are to be commended on the speed of your reactions." He focuses on Wallace. "Kid Flash, you will be given all computer records we possess on the treatment regime given to Blue Trinity."

"But that Black.. Flash.. guy got away!"

"I am fully cognisant of that fact. But a brief review of the case suggests that the attackers took opportunistic advantage of a gap in our defences. No one but you knew exactly when you were coming here for long enough to arrange anything sophisticated. I see no reason to deny you our aid simply because your presence coincided with this incident."

"I didn't mean that! Why aren't you going after them?"

The Director's expression doesn't change. "Kid Flash, under my direct command I have Sergeant Pushkin, ten Rocket Reds with advanced suits, two platoons of Red Rockets with standard suits, a company of soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and various other specialists. With a phone call I can call upon any of the resources of the Russian government. I have the authority -should I deem it essential to the national good- to deploy a tactical nuclear device on my own recognisance. But where should I deploy it? If this 'Black Flash' is as fast as you then he could be anywhere within three thousand kilometres and moving faster than anything we could send after him. If he is as fast as the Flash then he could be anywhere on the Earth." Wallace wilts slightly. "No. Now is not the time for rash action. Now is the time for a careful discovery and examination of facts."

Canis grimaces. He is not happy about missing the fight, though I'm not sure what exactly he thinks he could have done. "What if your people have betrayed you?"

"Operative Truth of the Alliance will be interrogating everyone who could have known, but I think it unlikely that she will find what we are looking for. Postings here are not easily predictable and all communication is closely monitored."

Richard nods. "Who knows about this base?"

"That this base exists is not a secret. Precisely what was housed here was a secret known to very few, though as you yourself discovered it is a logical place to look for someone interested in Russia's attempts to create super speed."

"Did you have any kind of tracking devices on Blue Trinity?"

"Yes. They were removed from them during the attack."

Richard looks at me. "Oh El?"

I shake my head. "Tried and failed, I'm afraid. Mister Director, do you have any idea how long it would take to reverse engineer a workable version of the Garrick Formula from Miss Molotova's body tissues?"

"When the Russian project began working on replicating Mister Garrick's work, we had more intelligence to go on and it still took us more than a decade. Now, with modern medical equipment and spectrographs, it may well take a lot less time. What is of greater concern to me is that they already have some method of bestowing super speed."

Wallace shrugs. "It was just Velocity Nine, right? That stuff still shows up in the US a couple of times a year. I guess if someone actually trained with it-."

"The initial blood test results do not appear to contain any Velocity Nine. Or show any of the signs of prior Velocity Nine use. That result will need to be checked of course, but the equipment here is advanced and the researchers are highly experienced with super speed related medicine. It is unlikely that they would make such a mistake."

Richard looks puzzled. "So if they've already got a way to give people super speed, why do they need the Garrick Formula?"

"Yes. That is an excellent question. If it is not Velocity Nine and not the Garrick Formula, what could it be? If we do not know what it is then it is far harder to narrow the range of possible culprits."

"So we've got no idea at all?!"

"I would not say that." The Director walks over to the room's podium and an image appears on the projection screen behind him. An elderly man's face, grizzled rather than frail. "This is Feodor Kerimov. He once held the rank of General in the Soviet Army. He resigned his commission during the early nineties. While he was on active duty he was a proponent of the aggressive use of enhanced soldiers, and I have uncovered people feeding him information on Russia's older programs on several occasions."

Richard frowns. "Then why haven't you arrested him?"

"As the Soviet Union's influence went into decline, he acquired certain business interests in Azerbaijan and now has a joint nationality. He has not returned to the Russian Federation for several years and has many well placed friends in the government of his new homeland. While I could arrest him, doing so would require me to send Russian operatives into an independent country."

Richard nods. "Which would be an act of war."

"Russia against Azerbaijan? No, it would not be much of a war. But the political fallout both internally and internationally as a result of Russia behaving in such a way towards a former Soviet Republic would be quite serious. I am not prepared to order that yet. Instead, I am minded to increase our intelligence gathering operations against him. If I have hard evidence to present, it may be that he would find that his new friends become a good deal less friendly."

Wallace makes a curling gesture with his right forearm. "We could go in. We're not Russian."

"If he ends up in Russian custody, I do not think that our critics will be mollified by the fact that he was put there by Americans."

"We can take a look around for you. If we find Miss Molotova or… Information he stole from Russian intelligence, you could get him arrested, right?"

The Director nods. "Yes, pressure could be brought to bear to make that happen. The Russian government would be grateful for any assistance you feel that you can provide on this matter."

"Alright, stop." Wallace twists his head in my direction. "Mister Director, are you sure that General Kerimov is responsible?"

"No, but I have no other active investigations into anyone with his proven interest and capacity. There are Russian officers and politicians who have expressed an interest in expanding our metahuman program, but none of them have been actively spying on our programs. There are paramilitary organisations who would like to gain information for terrorist purposes or for sale, but they lack the resources to perform such an attack."

"Right. Thank you for the information, Mister Director. We will relay your request for assistance to Batman."

"Oh El!" Wallace looks pained. "That could take all day! We need-!"

"We gather information covertly, Kid Flash. We wouldn't be charging in in any case. Taking a few additional hours to get there wouldn't change much. More importantly, deciding whether to deploy the team remains Batman's responsibility."

He takes a moment to get his instinctive truculence under control. "Fine."

"Since it's clearly so important to you, I will suggest that he send us. Mister Director, could you please give us everything you have on General Kerimov?"

"Of course. I would be pleased to."

4th May
10:03 GMT -6

"So when the fook are we actually gonna start doin' somethin' worth whyle?"

Chester's covered in sweat from his latest exercise session, and on his bare chest I can see the angry red marks from his not yet fully healed injuries. Given the internal damage which is similarly still only mostly healed, I can only imagine that he'd be in a great deal of pain were it not for his mental abilities. But he seems determined not to let his injuries slow him down.

"Chester, the world hasn't fallen apart in the month you've been away."

There's a tiny green-purple flare around his eyes as he squares up to me. "No, but that bunch of bleed'n' murderin' pederast tossers 're still runnin' the show back home! I don't seem to recall you bein' this slow off the mark where Klarion was concerned!"

"That was because I could kill Klarion without a nation collapsing into anarchy." I raise my hands in a gesture of surrender. "I fully accept that eventually we will have to forcibly remove a sizable chunk of the British ruling class. But before that, there are things we need to do in preparation."

"When?"

"When the preparatory tasks are complete."

"You'll 'ave t'do a damn sight better than that, cock!"

"I'm not going to set an arbitrary deadline if the result of going ahead then would be just the same as going ahead now. But, since this has clearly got you so riled up, I'm prepared to involve you in the preparations. Is that acceptable to you?"

Chester's eyes dim and he tilts his head to the right, stretching his neck. "Think it might be. What d'you 'ave in mind?"

Vera glares at me. "Chester's not fully fit yet. You shouldn't-."

He looks at her in irritation. "Leave it out, Vera love."

I shake my head. "Miss Black, it is not my intent that you or your brother should directly engage the enemy. But I am not prepared to remove one government only for them to be replaced by another which is just as corrupt. Or for them not to be replaced at all. I need to know who is irredeemable, who is tainted, who is redeemable and who is virtuous."

"Not gunna be many o' that last one, I'll tell y'that fer nothin'."

"Be that as it may, I need to know. I need you and Miss Black to act as intelligence gathering operatives rather than thugs. Find out how far the canker goes, but do not take action against it yourselves."

"So, what? If we see one o' the bastards grabbin' a kid right in front of us-."

"Chester, please don't be facetious. In the unlikely event that happens, feel free to remonstrate with them. But this is a covert mission. The aim is to avoid contact where possible. I don't want to tip our hand until the time arrives to act."

Vera puts her hand on her hips. "And how exactly are we supposed to werk under cover? The police will all have awer pictures."

"I can provide holographic and arcane disguises." Thank you Queen Clea. "Unless they're putting a great deal of effort in, they won't be able to spot you."

"Alright." Chester grins as he nods. "This is a bit more my style. I'll take a shawer, then we can get right ont' it."

"Yes, once you've had a shower you can start writing me a mission plan." His grin droops a little. "I'm not having you go off half cocked again. Doctor Robbins is going to be monitoring you full time, and she's going to be in operational command."

His face creases up. "That old biddy?"

"'That old biddy' has more experience of this sort of work than the two of you put together. So yes. When you've put the plan together, get her to approve it and you can start right away. Is that acceptable?"

"Not bloody likely, cock. I've only been doin' this me entire adult life-."

"Manny, knock it off." The siblings Black have a brief staring contest, Chester's outrage competing with Vera's growing irritation at his behaviour. "He's right and you know it."

"Chester. Do it for a month, and if you've proven that you don't need the oversight I can reconsider. You're too valuable to me to risk you dying doing something stupid."

Vera gives her head a small nod. "Again."

"Both a' yeh?" He turns his head back in my direction, rolls his eyes and tosses his head. "A'right, fine. But this better-" He jabs his right forefinger at me. "-be goin' somewhere."

I smile a little more confidently. Losing Chester's services would be decidedly unfortunate, given his abilities. "It most assuredly is." Hm. Something I was going to-. Ah! "Before you go. Is there any chance you might be able to talk your former colleagues around?"

Vera snorts. "Not bleedin' likely. You saw what they did t' Manny."

"Actually-" I frown at him. "-Chester never said exactly how that happened. I assumed police marksmen."

"Fook off. Police marksmen me hairy white arse." Chester wrinkles his nose. "Hard to shoot someone who knows what yeh thinkin'."

"Does the British government have telepath blocking technology?"

"Nah cock. They've got fookin' robots, h'ant they?"

I fold my arms across my chest. "News to me, chum."

Chester points to his forehead with his right forefinger. "Can't hear 'em 'cause they don't really think."

"They're built and operated by awer former colleague, Penny Dolmann. Doubt they'd 'ave told her why Manny did what he did."

"Not that she thought all that much a' me in the furst place. Probably jus' though I was livin' down t'her opinion."

"Exactly how good are these robots?"

Chester shakes his head. "Bit tougher than a normal bloke an' they can fly. I coulda coped, 'cept fer than fooker Derek Kelly."

I look at Vera with my eyebrows raised. "Awer old boss. He's in charge of awer unit. Used t'be in the SAS."

"Right bastard he is 'n all."

Vera nods. "My country, right or wrong."

I raise my eyebrows. "If right, to keep it right; and if wrong, to set it right?"

"What?"

"That's the rest of the quote. By a man named Carl Schurz?"

"I didn't know that, and I don't think Derek does either."

"Okay, so what's so scary about him?"

"He's invulnerable. Can't 'urt 'im at all." Chester sneers in disgust. "I can't even hear his brain, let alone mess about with it."

Vera nods. "That, and he's as strong as he needs t' be. Hit him and it won't even knock him over. Try wrestling with him and youw'll lose, however strong you are."

"Invulnerable? I was about to say that there's no such thing…"

Chester shakes his head, apparently pleased at getting the chance to lecture me. "Not 'avin' you on, cock. His dad gave him this magic jewel thingey. Don't remember what it was called. His dad used to wear it 'round his neck on a chain. Derek -bein' a crazy bastard- had 'is chest cut open so they could stick it inside."

I nod. "Logical. It can't fall off that way."

"You might wanna watch yerself. If I'm on his shit list, you'wer definitely there as well."

"Eh, if it comes to it I'll just throw him into space. Alright, I think that's everything. You can go and get started-."

"Robbins to Grayven."

I raise my ring to my ear. "Grayven here, go ahead."

"Your guests are here."

I nod. Today's other scheduled activity. "Thank you, Doctor. I'll go and greet them. Would you please ask Lynne and Sunset to join me downstairs?"

4th May
10:09 GMT -6

I step out of the boom tube into the mildly landscaped ruins of Challengerville. One of Jean's ongoing projects is directing the G-Trolls and G-Elves to do a bit of a tidy up, but I didn't want them to remove anything structural. Just as the US military dumps spare tanks to create havens for marine life, these ruins are now home to many different types of insects, birds and small mammals, to say nothing of all of the plant species.

"Hi Grayven."

Zatanna is in full costume… Or rather, armour. The same armour I created for her. It seems that she hasn't taken advantage of Scott's services. That pleases me. I'd judge that the gold glow is a little brighter than last time I saw her, but… That was a while ago. I should probably have done more in that regard.

Wallace merely nods at me. He's in costume as well.

I bow. "Once again... Welcome to my home. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring."

Zatanna's face goes blank for a moment, then she gets it and giggles. Wallace looks slightly perturbed. "I'm sure that was some kinda movie quote, but can you just get on with whatever you wanted us for? I've got plans for this week."

"As you wish. There is something… Somethings I wish to show you. But first… Zatanna, that commission I asked you to investigate..?"

Wallace glances at her with a slight frown. She looks down for a moment. "I can do it. But… You're with the Light now. I'm not sure I should."

Wallace's eyes narrow. "What commission?"

I decide to spare Zatanna the awkwardness. "A personal mana infusion device. It would increase the recharge rate of a mage and rapidly improve the growth of a New God's soul structures. I can create a crude approximation myself-" Or at least get Sunset to do it. "-but it would require the user to remain in one place while it's active."

"Whow. No. Zatanna, you can't."

"Wallace, what do you think the Light is trying to do?"

"Take over the world. Wipe out the Justice League. Have.. Tuesday renamed 'Savageday'! They're bad guys."

"Sort of, eventually, no… Ye-eah, okay, you've got me on the last one." I open a boom tube behind me. "Can we walk and talk?"

Wallace and Zatanna look each other in the eyes for a moment, then head towards me at a slow walking pace. I turn and lead the way through the tube into the lower part of the Mountain. "I'm sure you've read my reports on my initial meetings with the Light, but to reiterate: the Light wants to advance the lot of the mass of humanity. They see the League as a plaster over-. A band aid over a wound, falsely giving the impression that the problem is dealt with while actually encouraging people to remain indolent. Savage wants to defeat the League, mind control, kill them all, whatever. I think that's putting the cart before the horse. If we're successful, the League will be largely obsolete. Until we are, they do an essential job and it makes more sense to work around them."

"I am a member of the Light, which means that I can vote on policy and objectives. If Savage proposes an anti-League initiative which serves no other purpose, I say so, point out what else could be done with those resources and vote against. If my argument is rational, Lex, Brain and Ra's -who doesn't really mind mass murder but is actually pretty logical - vote with me. Mordru votes with Savage and they lose."

No local space coilgun for Savage. I mean, really. All the effort it would take and agents we'd have to burn to get it there and it wouldn't last more than five minutes after its first shot. I'm glad that at least Ra's learned his lesson from last time.

"On the other hand, if someone proposes a course of action that actually benefits humanity then I speak out in favour and it gets enacted."

I can feel Wallace's confusion. "So you think you're neutralizing-? Wait, Mordru!?"

"Didn't know about him? Yeah, one out, one in, as far as Lords of Chaos go. How's Miss Kane doing?"

"What? Ah. Okay..? As well as she can."

"Was my guess-?"

He looks away. "Yeah."

Ah. Unfortunate, but it's inevitable that a few first manifestations of metahuman powers would be destructive to their possessors' surroundings. And the people most likely to be in those surroundings… Sad, but there's not much I can do about it. "I realised afterwards that I should have known that it was something serious."

"What, because I came to you?"

"No, because you didn't try hitting on Sunset."

"Who's hitting on me?" Sunset emerges from a junction and falls in behind me, taking a moment to look Zatanna over. Magic goddess, meet someone who wants exactly what you have.

"Wallace wasn't. Zatanna Zatara, Sunset Shimmer. She's here to study magic."

Zatanna smiles at her. "Hi."

"Hey."

"Yeah, I guess it.. kinda put me off my game."

"Oh, you." Sunset looks him over, then appears to dismiss him. "There wouldn't be much point. I don't actually find Humans physically attractive."

Wallace frowns. "You.. don't..?" The frown is replaced with a squint. "Huh. Well, what do you find attractive, then?"

"Ponies."

He blinks, then jerks his head away. "Oh, I'm so not touching that one." He refocuses his attention on me. "Where are you taking us, anyway?"

"The vaults. It's where we keep the children I'm using as test subjects."

"Yeah, that's not as funny as you think it is."

The heavily reinforced door in front of me slides open with a quiet hiss. "Who's joking?"

Lynne is standing next to the cell containing-. I get a moment's dizziness before I stop trying to think the name. Ugh, my old name. He's in his early teens, a little older than she is. His brothers and sisters are in the other cages. Eight in total and he's the oldest of them. All the survivors of one of John Constantine's fuck ups. I'm pretty sure that I got all of them, but I left some monitoring equipment on Gruinard Island just in case.

Sunset walks over to Lynne while Zatanna and Wallace stop dead. The cells are designed to have a 'public' section and a private section, though all areas are monitored around the clock. Each one has its own toilet and shower unit, though curiously they don't produce much in the way of waste material. And I've found it's important that they can see and talk to each other all of the time. After all, they're all the company they've known for nearly their entire lives.

Zatanna's eyes widen in horror. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping them." Lynne steps away from the cell while the young man within walks around the edge until he's facing me. "Young man, would you mind providing my guests with a demonstration?"

He gives me a small shrug. I have talked with him about what I'm trying to achieve here, but I can hardly blame him for not being more enthusiastic.

Activate.

It only takes a second for him to get the scent. His eyes dart around his cell, his nose sniffing constantly. He winces, trying to resist. He's an extremely responsible young man, especially considering his circumstances.

"What are you doing!" Zatanna's eyes are blazing with golden light, triquetra forming around her hands.

"Offering him food."

And then the change happens. His face elongates, his skin darkens and his fingers sprout claws. He gets his clothes -sweat shirt and jogging bottoms- off before his body's change rips them, but after that his coordination fails him and he collapses against the inside of the clear dividing wall. His eyes turn red, the muscles on his shoulders grow and membranous wings sprout under his arms. His mouth opens and displays his pearly white fangs.

He's still fully intelligent like this. But -like the rest- he just can't resist the hunger.

"A fascinating case. He and his siblings are Vampire-Succubus hybrids. They can only feed on adults, and they don't have enough self control to stop themselves. When I found them, they'd been living in starvation conditions on a small island, having eaten both their mother and their four older siblings. I'm trying to help them learn to control their instincts." The youth regains his balance, hunched over as his gait now is. I deactivate the pheromone sprays. "That, plus I've been using the G-Gnomes to educate them."

"Hello." His voice is raspy but coherent.

Wallace's mouth is still open. Zatanna closes her hands.

"This is what I do with my time. Advancing the interests of humanity without punching people in the face. When was the last time anyone in the League tried something like this?"

4th May
21:08 GMT -6

I back carefully out of Lynne's bedroom. "Goodnight, Lynne. Sweet dreams."

She rolls over, pulling the duvet more tightly around her. "Mruuuuh."

Aw.

I sneck the door silently, then turn away and head back towards the living room. I'm smiling in total contentment. Today's going great. Well, aside from Lynne wanting me to read her bedtime story in the cells so that the Succupires could benefit from my delivery. I negotiated her down to playing it to them over the internal communications system. Fact is, as part Vampires they're more alert and active when it's dark so a bedtime story doesn't really make sense.

I suppose I could just change the light/dark cycle of the synthetic lights down there…

Jade glances up as I walk into the living room. As is her ingrained habit she's sitting in a position that lets her keep both doorways under observation and is far enough away from both that she could ready a weapon before most attackers could close the distance. At her feet Mister Tawny also flicks his eyes in my direction but otherwise remains still, his huge head resting on his forepaws. The Sphere chimes once, but otherwise doesn't react.

"Nine o'clock, huh? I didn't think you'd be that strict."

I nod as I cross the space between us and then lower myself into the settee. "Children benefit from safe boundaries. Routine." I reach down and give Mister Tawny's head a rub with my left hand, getting a quiet grunt in return.

Jade leans into my right side as I settle back, and I carefully put my right arm around her. "I wouldn't know."

"I've been reading up… If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing properly."

"From what you said about Apokolips, I can't imagine you had that sort of parenting either."

I take a slightly deeper breath, shaking my head. "I honestly don't remember. But -for my second childhood, on Earth Prime- I did. And that's the guide I'm using… Except where the other is unavoidable."

She nods, then looks up into my eyes. "I've never asked, but how old are you?"

"Well… That depends on where you count from. I've got thirty years of memories… Not perfect, but… The sorts of things a person would remember from thirty years of life. Before that..? Flashes of recollection at best, and I think they could be a result of my mind interpreting what Father Box has been showing me."

"So you could be..? A hundred years old?"

"I could be. Or two or a thousand or ten thousand. If it matters to you I can try and get an exact date."

She looks away, thinking about it. A moment later she shakes her head. "No, not really." Hn. Something there seems a little-. "Why did you invite Kid Flash here along with Zatanna?"

I smile again as I look over to where the first version of the mana siphon sits on the coffee table. Sunset and Zatanna spent most of the day working on it, and neither was happy with their initial effort. But it's still a massive improvement on what I had before and it's nice that they've each got a study buddy now.

"Why wouldn't I? I still consider him a friend."

"Because he's a superhero and you're a part of the Light. I can't see him being in favor of Zatanna helping you."

"He wasn't. That was the point." She narrows her eyes slightly. She knows that I have the explanation ready and am drawing out relaying it for my own gratification. "Alright. Zatanna still likes me. But, there are very good reasons for her not to help me. If I invited her here on her own, she'd have to raise them herself when I tried to persuade her. And if she did that, she would identify them as being her position. But-."

"If Kid Flash is here, he'd make the argument first and she'd see it as his position." Jade nods. "And she likes you more than she likes him. So why not invite Robin instead? You only just helped-." She stops. "Because you'd just done him a favor and he'd hesitate, making his position look weaker."

"Partially. My relationship with Kid Flash isn't exactly bad, you understand. If I gave up this Light stuff he'd be the first to welcome me back. Buuut at this point I don't think that Robin would bother making a rational argument against what I'm doing and 'Grayven equals Evil' is a narrative I want to avoid."

She nods again. "You're not planning on doing that, right?"

"Of course I am." A slightly more concerned frown. "Alliances between supervillains are.. unstable at best. And if it doesn't fall apart I will eventually outlive most of them. But I'm committed to our cause. As long as they are, there shouldn't be any problems."

Which is increasingly true. I've been pleasantly surprised by how non-mental my new colleagues are behaving. If things continue, if my mere presence neutralises them… Maybe I won't just hand them over to Batman. Goodness knows that I've found the work I've done since I left far more fulfilling than what I did with the Team.

"Grayven, I…" Jade looks away, towards the photographs decorating the wall. Pictures of us and the girls. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay? What is it?"

She steels herself before returning her gaze to me. "I need to talk about our relationship."

I smile. "And you think I will respond to your inquiry like some callow Human youth? With fear and evasion?" I shake my head. "Jade, I love you. Speak your mind, and be heard."

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why do you love me?" I just about stop myself chuckling. "I know you do, but I've been trying to see what you get out of this, and I can't work it out."

"I get you. Why isn't that enough?"

"You're one of the most powerful men on the planet and I'm a League of Shadows operative. I don't feel bad about what I am-."

"No, you're… Parsing the relationship wrongly. Why am I more powerful? The orange power ring?" I shrug. "A cosmic accident. I still don't know how I got it. My strength? An injection, one you could have this evening if you wanted it. Godhood? Already on the table. And yes, that was a nudge. I can't fight at super speed. You can have that ability, if you want. Or something you can take off at the end of the day?" I hold out my right hand. "In a couple of months I'm going to relieve Larfleeze of the Orange Central Power Battery. Once the orange ring is functional again, I'd be perfectly happy to make this ring a gift to you."

Corpsman-.

Oh come, Sinestro. Her life has been far more defined by fear than mine has. She has far more potential as a wielder.

Jade arches her right eyebrow. "The ring you don't want?"

"The ring I can't use as effectively as you would be able to. Goodness knows that your nature is far closer to the yellow light than mine is."

"Alright, but I still need to know why."

"Your father tried to break you, and you grew strong to spite him. I know that in your place I would not have been so strong. Had Darkseid focused on me as Lawrence Crock did on you I would have died… Or if not dead, have reached adulthood as a broken, pitiable thing. You thrived, became a wonderful young woman so that you could throw your achievements in his face. You are more psychologically vicious than I am. I admire that immensely. I came to love you for your mind and soul. The.. physical.. aspect… Transitory economic issues… Can be fixed. Will be. In all the time we will have together, a few years… They won't matter. You will be a goddess, my equal and partner."

Her face is still, listening to what I have to say and taking it in without as yet letting her thoughts show through.

Ploong.

"Perhaps… If I explained a little about the way Apokoliptians conceive of 'love'?"

"I didn't think Apokolips had that."

"Of course it does. But… We don't… Fetishise romantic love of the kind that is so popular on Earth. There are… For example, the relationship between Canis Senior and Hellga would be considered unusually romantic by our standards. They were… Two senior warriors in Darkseid's service. She was given to him as a reward for his good service, but they both respected one another. Admired one another. They were equals. As I understand it your two previous sexual relationships were of a similar vein." Her eyes flick aside for a moment. "But their lives were apart. Their relationship was one between comrades, they did not.. share of themselves in it. Then there are other types of relationship. One between people who are unequal. Darkseid's relationship with Mortalla. I do not believe that Father loves Mortalla, and I do not believe that she retains the freedom to choose not to love him. That would be like… If I were to change the character of my relationship with Miss Amane. I would hold all of the power, the control. It would be a servant loving her master. I could love Miss Amane, but she could not learn to be my equal. She would gladly do anything I asked-."

"She'd do that now."

"Love and devotion are not the same thing. She is devoted to me, yes, but it is not… I don't think I can express it properly in English. I accept her service because it is something valuable she chooses to give to me. Love would be…" I shake my head. And I actually can't express it. Not properly. "The love of an owner for their dog. Genuine, but… Lacking."

"And how would you describe your love for me?"

"Open, in that I keep nothing of myself back. I would share even my soul if you had the mechanisms to experience it. Free, in that there is no exchange. I do not seek repayment for my time, you are your own end. It is a love which when it was offered by my brother Scott it freed Barda from a lifetime of Anti-Life exposure. And when she reciprocated, did the same for him. It is the union of people to the exclusion of rationality. Among New Gods, it is really only common on New Genesis, but then… I never much liked living on Apokolips."

"I love you, Jade Nguyen. Your soul calls to me in a way that none other has before. It takes me away from the horror of my origin and shows me something of transcendent beauty. Does that answer your concern?"

She nods, not quite meeting my eyes. I think she's… Crying.

"Yes. Yes it does."

5th May
08:18 GMT +4

I hear the door open, and turn my head around to see Kaldur walking in. "Has anything of interest occurred?"

We're in a small suite of rooms in a nice-but-not-top-of-the-range hotel in Sumqayit. General Kerimov's mansion home is located on the outskirts of the city, and this is as close as we could set up shop on short notice. Getting the team's non-speedsters into the fray quickly could be a bit tricky without either myself or Canis assisting, but given that we're up against either people with super speed or baseline Human mercenaries I doubt that will matter. It also has the advantage that we're far enough away that we're not going to arouse any suspicion. Dressing up as backpackers appears to have convinced the staff well enough for now.

"Yes… Sort of." I have one of the monitors play back a section of what I've recorded since he was last in the room. A military truck being used for personnel transportation comes to a halt at the back of General Kerimov's home. "He's bringing in additional security."

"From where?"

"He's part owner of a private security company. Their work is mostly legal, and the bits that aren't are sufficiently close to being so that they're generally ignored." Azerbaijan certainly isn't a terrible place to live. Here, anyway. I don't remember what it's like back on Earth Prime now, if I ever knew. But here? Secular government, good Human development rating, high literacy and employment. Bit of a corruption problem, but considering… "These lads have been booked for this for a couple of months. A lot of them are ex-military and they're all pretty well trained. Nothing we couldn't deal with…"

He nods in understanding. "But then we are the ones who would be in the wrong. I take it that you have made no progress against the building's wards."

"Nope." Honestly, the whole scry warding thing is getting a bit beyond a joke now. "You know anything about roleplaying games?"

"I do not."

I return to watching the feed from my stealth drones, leaning back into my chair. "For balance reasons, certain types of boss character are often rendered immune to certain types of attack. A one hit kill attack that would normally kill one normal enemy in a horde if it hit would be far more valuable against a single powerful opponent. Game-breakingly so."

"I can see the logic. But I am not certain that I see what bearing it has on your situation."

"I can scan anything I like, but whenever I try doing it to anything actually important to a mission?" I throw my hands up. "Ward. It's like I'm not allowed to or something."

"Do you regret having used it against the League of Shadows?"

"Nnnnnnno."

"Then it seems that you had little choice." He stands next to me, studying the screens. "I will admit that such events have cured me of my belief that surface worlders know nothing of magic."

"You not having any luck either?"

"Garth and Tula are certain that we could penetrate his defences."

"But not without letting him know what you've done." He nods. "Is that pretty much it or is there a chance they could find a work-around?"

"Not without knowing exactly how his protections work. Robin and Kid Flash are attempting to track down the plans, or builders who worked on the original construction."

"I imagine it would be a later addition. Christianity might have moderated its position on magic use lately but Islam hasn't." Yes, spell breaking might technically be Qu'ranically permissible, but if you know enough to break a spell then you know enough to make it. The Ottomans decided that the difference was splitting hairs and their successor states have rather tended to follow that line. "If the builders had seen anything like that there'd still be rumours about the place."

"Do you know of anyone in this part of the world who could have created them?"

"The League of Shadows could have found someone, and an ex-Soviet General sounds like the sort of person who would know how to get in touch with them. Magic users who are actually local?" I shake my head. "If there are local magic users, I'd be astonished if they knew enough to make a ward that encompassed a whole mansion for years on end, let alone one that a couple of people with an actual magic education couldn't easily bypass."

"Could he have brought in someone to replenish it?"

"Yes, but anything beyond a charm-necklace would get noticed and commented upon. We can send Canis and Rocket after local charm-sellers and hope they find someone if you want, but I don't think we'll have any luck."

"We could pursue a more aggressive approach."

"The Director's suspicion aside, we don't really have any evidence that he's responsible. I don't suppose that there's an easy way to detect the Garrick Formula using magic, is there?"

"None that we are aware of. Though I do not believe that the subject has been studied in any detail."

Another lorry pulls up, this one decorated with the logo of a local caterers. We know he's got some sort of party planned for this evening. Unfortunately, since we don't know the guest list we can't really judge how safe sneaking in as an extra guest is. It would be fine if his home were being used as a venue for a corporate social event type party where no one there would know all of the people invited, but it could well be a smaller event with his friends and allies. If that were the case we'd stand out like sore thumbs.

One of the guards walks over to the lorry's cab and has a brief conversation with the driver. The passenger side door opens for a moment, then closes itself again. No one gets out.

Wait, what?

I've only got one drone with countermagic capacities, but I redirect it from the main entrance to the rear entrance where the lorry is and move its feed to the main screen while flickering through the visual modes of the drone already in place. Infrared shows a small area of hot air… EM shows nothing… I could pulse the place where I suspect an invisible person is with something but I'm a little nervous that they'll detect it.

Then the countermagic drone gets a clear shot.

Kaldur's eyes narrow. "Is that not John Constantine?"

It shouldn't be. Since that thing with the Beast I've kept myself updated on his itinerary. Right now he should still be in Kahndaq. "I can phone him and check?"

"Do so. Having heard of what often happens to people who oppose him, it seems wise to ensure that we are not operating at cross-purposes."

I raise the right to my left ear, generating a phone construct. Dial John Constantine.

Compliance.

There are a few rings, then a click. "Yeah?"

The figure on the screen is strolling in the direction of the front entrance, cigar in mouth and no phone in hand.

"Mister Constantine-."

"Oh right. One o' those, is it?"

"You wouldn't happen to be in a former Soviet republic at the moment, would you?"

There's a slight delay. Hopefully he knows that this isn't a Nabu-related call. Only my dealings with him outside that are Justice League knowledge and Batman might check his phone records at some point.

"Not right now. Why d'you ask?"

The figure on the screen stops for a moment, looking around in a nonchalant fashion for a moment before looking up into the sky. And sticks up the middle finger of his left hand.

"Then I think we've tracked down your doppelgänger."

5th May
08:27 GMT +4

"If we know he's here, why can't we just go in?" Wallace is leaning over Richard's shoulder, having used his friend's arm computer to watch the recording of The Demon Constantine's arrival. "There's no way the Azerbaijan government's going to protect someone doing business with a Demon."

Richard nods. "Especially not one who was involved in what happened in Fawcett."

"Well, yes, and if I'd recorded General Kerimov meeting him at the front door with a handshake I'd agree with you. But as it stands all him being here proves is that he's here. If anything, the fact that he went in while invisible and.. the fact that he knows that someone saw him but the guards haven't altered their patrols or just cancelled the party… That suggests that he's not meant to be there."

Kaldur looks slightly pensive. "In that case, do you believe that it would be prudent to warn the General?"

Wallace's eyes narrow slightly. "What, after he had two members of Blue Trinity killed and kidnapped the third? I think we can let him take his chances."

Kaldur remains impassive. "We do not have concrete evidence linking either him or one of his employees to that attack. Until we do, we are obliged to protect him from those we are certain are our enemies."

"On that subject…" I make deliberate eye contact with Kaldur. "In Fawcett City, I wanted to shoot him dead with the Ace of Winchesters. Captain Marvel ordered me not to. But, he's a Demon and involved in the murder of a very large number of people. Since he's back on Earth already, clearly just sending him back to Hell barely slows him down. I'd like a little forward guidance."

"Imprisonment is my preferred option."

"If that's your final word, I won't complain. But I have summoned Demons while in the Conservatory of Sorcery and with the knowledge of Queen Mera for the express purpose of shooting them dead with the Ace, aand... Justice League rules of engagement expressly exclude Demons from the 'do not kill' list."

Wallace frowns. "Can Demons even die?"

"Maintaining their bodies consumes arcane energy. Damage them enough and it falls apart and they lose whatever they invested in it. Being Demons, they tend to invest everything in the one they're using to keep them looking strong. Techniques for killing-" Arcane life forms of all kinds. "-Demons permanently usually revolve around starving them, taking so much away that they can't sustain themselves. It's difficult, though. If even a little bit survives they can eventually come back, which is what usually happens. The Ace works by sending its own magic into what it is that connects every bit of the Demon and -as far as we can tell- burning everything. One hit and the Demon's gone."

Kaldur's eyes drop as he considers my request. "Is there a less lethal option which you believe can work?"

"As far as I know, he's only a bit stronger than a baseline Human. A lot tougher, but if we knock him down binding chains will keep him there unless he gets external help."

"Then in the event of hostilities that is the option we will pursue."

I nod. I'm.. not happy about that, but our team is supposed to follow the League's example and William's order didn't leave any room for doubt. Still, I doubt Kaldur will mind if I shoot him a few times with Mage Slayers just to make sure that he stays down. Not as if the Demon actually needs his internal organs.

Kaldur returns his attention to the screen. "We need more information. For that, we will need someone inside."

Richard taps something on his computer and one of our screens changes to a wire frame drawing of the house. "Once it gets dark, I should be able to sneak in."

"True. But Roy could do it now."

Richard looks surprised. "Ah, no disrespect to Speedy or anything, but I don't think he's quite that good."

"He's been practising with my stealth armour." Richard hesitates, then nods. "Phasing and invisibility. Unless they know exactly what to look for and have some very specialist equipment, they wouldn't be able to stop him."

"And you're sure you've ironed out the whole 'it makes you crazy' thing?"

"Our testing showed that repeated exposure at low levels was pretty safe. Mister Crandell wore it for hours at a time when working and not at all otherwise, which is the worst combination."

Working out exactly what is happening in the Human body when the adaptation takes place is proving a little tricky. Best guess is that it's something really small that fits within the bounds of normal biological activity. That or something metaphysical, and I don't want to drag Sephtian into analysing something else like this when we've already got a workaround.

Kaldur taps his earpiece. "Aqualad to Speedy." Who's currently lurking in the back of a locally rented van near the mansion. "Activate stealth systems and investigate the mansion. If you get the opportunity, plant listening devices and cameras in areas likely to be occupied during the party. Try to observe General Kerimov or the Demon Constantine, but fall back immediately if you think you've been detected."

"Roger, Aqualad."

"Both Canis and Orange Lantern are available if you need immediate extraction."

"Orange Lantern? You're sure this'll work, right?"

"I checked the armour before you put it on. It's in perfect working order, so… Barring certain exotic detection systems, yes. Have you noticed any problems?"

"No. It's just a bit of a change from using just a bow. Makes me feel like I'm a walking arsenal or something."

Hah. Nice one, universe. It doesn't even have that many integrated weapons. I think it was Artemis' super strength which persuaded him that he needed to up his game when it came to armaments. Neither Green Arrow nor Red Arrow have mentioned anything to me about upgunning themselves and I think I've pushed the League as much as it's productive to for the time being.

"It'll take me about two minutes to do final checks and get inside. I'll be out of contact while the stealth system's active. Depending on where the guards are it should take me about half an hour to plant the bugs. Speedy out."

"Good luck, my friend."

There's a click as Roy hangs up.

"Something's been bothering me." Richard looks pensive. "The Demon Constantine was working for Satanus. If he was telling the truth in Fawcett City, Satanus basically rules Hell now. Which means he at least knows about DMN-."

Wallace smirks. "You mean 'Devil Jizz', right?"

"Batman.. didn't.. go for that name. Anyway, Satanus would at least know about it, right?"

I nod. "Given the usual level of intelligence and creativity Demons show, the most likely sources are him or an unusually well educated cult of some kind."

"Can your ring detect things in Hell?"

"Um. I only went in there briefly. I could navigate alright, though I don't have a map or anything."

"I mean, from Earth could you detect things that were there?"

"Unless there was a portal nearby? No, probably not."

"What about that quintessence waveform scan?"

"I'd have to scan everything on the planet and every part of the Earth's associated magic field. I'd get there eventually, but I'd expect everyone I knew to be dead of old age related causes when I came out of it. And I'd have even more trouble making sense of what I'd seen."

"The Demon Constantine was added to the international watch list, but he's a Demon. Going back to Hell and getting out again is probably something he can do for himself. But Batman's had Squire and me looking at criminal movement patterns. There have been a couple of cases of criminals we knew were in one country appearing in another with no sign of how they got there. Is it possible they're travelling through Hell?"

"Yessss. Though it's a pretty horrifying place, if a major power in Hell like Satanus offered safe passage, it could work."

"And how valuable would that ability be to the Light?"

5th May
17:35 GMT +4

Another limousine drives slowly up the driveway of General Kerimov's home.

"Nothing on that one, either."

I don't look round when Tula speaks. No magic users so far. It's gotten to be routine. General Kerimov has invited a large number of people from all across what was once the Soviet Union. Some of them I could write off as old comrades in arms. Others are clearly more recent business acquaintances. But the rest…

Richard brings up the faces of the most recent set of passengers on his terminal. "Oleksander Hryshchuk and Dariya Osipenko. Both of them work for the People's Party of Ukraine. No significant criminal record."

The rest are politically active sorts from around the former Soviet Union. There hasn't been any sort of public announcement that such a gathering was taking place, and no one we've seen so far was a 'face' for any sort of campaign. These are advisors and deal makers, people who can be dumped if they do something 'brave' in public. Just the sort you'd send to a meeting called by a ex-Soviet General with a big idea he wanted to share with you.

But I'm sure that the Director knew it was happening when he suggested that we come here. So, what, was he hoping we'd just charge in and disrupt it? It isn't as if the Justice League aren't going to be keeping an eye out for Ms Molotova regardless of what we turn up here. And he must know that we're not anything like stupid enough to just leap right in.

"Okay, thinking out loud here. Two political parties of any significance in modern Russia. Unified Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Unified Russia was founded by Boris Yeltsin and has been in power since nineteen ninety six. The Director works for their current leader."

Wallace looks up from the video feeds from the bugs he's monitoring. "What, you think the General's trying to restart the Soviet Union? And the Director wants us to stop them?"

"But he must know we wouldn't care about that."

"Ah, bringing back the Soviet Union sounds like the kind of thing we'd care about to me, Oh El."

I shake my head. "The Justice League doesn't get involved in the internal politics of nation states. Case in point: the ongoing Bialyan civil war. If the Russian Communist party somehow won an election and their neighbours wanted greater political or economic integration, good luck to them. But if that's what he's after, Unified Russia would be happy to talk to him. Or them. In terms of the political reality, life under either party would be quite similar. They're even starting to take major nationalised companies back into state ownership. Unified Russia is very much in favour of close relations with its neighbours. Right now, having good relations with Moscow is a good way to bring your gas bill down. I'm struggling to work out what he's got to offer that they couldn't get by working with people already in government."

"Maybe they just… Really like Communism?"

"Why? A nationalist police state has all the advantages of a communist one, as far as the ruler is concerned. And doesn't leave them shackled to an unworkable economic model. The only thing it lacks is a unifying morality, and you'll note how much more pro-Orthodox Christianity the current President is than his predecessor. If I had to guess, I'd say it's just attracting people who didn't win positions of power in the new state as it developed. They're just… Looking for an alternate route to power."

"No one we've seen so far has been an oligarch or a representative of one. Some of the oligarchs have come to terms with Unified Russia, some are keeping their heads down and a few are starting their own political movements. None want communism back because it would threaten their livelihoods."

Roy's still watching his monitoring equipment, but he looks a bit more thoughtful than a few empty rooms really warrant. "So what's this guy got that's got everyone so excited?"

Wallace shakes his head. "Can't be Molotova. He's barely had her a day. And even if he woke her up right now he's got no way to know whether or not she'd be willing to cooperate."

"And if he showed her off to anyone, Russia would hear about it and could openly come down on him like a tonne of bricks." I shake my head again. "I've got to say, if we hadn't seen the Demon Constantine I'd be suggesting that we just leave."

Roy presses a button, switching from one trivial conversation to another. "Yeah, well, we did, and until we find out what he's up to we're stuck here."

Wallace suddenly jerks, then tries to relax a little. Too late, we're already all looking at him. "Ah…" He looks around the room. "It was just-. The Demon Constantine comes from Hell, right?"

Richard smirks. "This is usually where Demons come from."

"So… He could have talked to anyone who's died and gone to Hell, right? Basically every bad guy in history."

"No. To go to Hell you have to have associated yourself with a mythos that includes Hell. Otherwise you'd just go… Wherever."

"But that includes Edward Clariss. I don't remember anything about him picking up another religion.. and.. he's.. dead, so..?"

"It's a possibility. But it would be rather hard for the Demon Constantine to find him, if he'd even heard of him."

"Do you think super speed soldiers would be enough to do whatever it is he wants with Russia?"

"Um. Maybe. But the old Soviet Union tried for over a decade and couldn't get it quite right. None of.. these people have the sorts of contacts they'd need to get a research program up and running-."

"Except for Doctor Conrad Bortz of Genetech, New York." Richard turns around, pulling the image from his monitor and transferring it to his hologram projector. We see a car carrying a thin and slightly ragged-looking man with a mop of orange hair and bushy eyebrows. As we watch he fiddles with his tie, clearly uncomfortable with it. "Think he'd be able to do the research?"

Ring, review personal history? Ooh dear.

"Yes, though I'd point out that researching super speed isn't actually a crime."

"Maybe not, but a super powered arms race doooesn't exactly sound like something that would help world peace."

"It wouldn't get that far. All we'd have to do is tip off the US authorities and Genetech would lose its export licence. I doubt that the US really wants a super power arms race either."

Wallace looks directly at me. "Unless they're offering Doctor Bortz a job here. How friendly is this guy with the Azerbaijani authorities?"

"Friendly enough that he could set up a laboratory without too much hassle. But we still don't know that he's got a source-."

"We do now."

Raquel points to her monitor, drawing all of our attention. Standing next to General Kerimov as he greets his guests is a man in tight fitting blue trousers and a loose white shirt, open at the chest to display his man-cleavage. It looks like some sort of ill-advised seventies hang over, and to be fair that's the last time anyone saw its wearer.

Max Mercury shakes Doctor Bortz' hand.

"Think they could study him?"

Max Mercury, who at some point told Mister Garrick that he derived his speed from a potion given to him by a Native American shaman. And if someone like that could make it, a modern laboratory should be able to crack it pretty quickly.

I raise my left hand to my ear. "Ring, get me Aqualad."

5th May
17:53 GMT +4

"And that's where we are, sirs."

With Batman, Mister Allen and Mister Garrick in here as well as as many members of my team as are available, things are starting to get a little crowded. I used a construct zeta tube to bring them in without the loud bang that a boom tube would generate. Kaldur had been away for consultations on how to proceed, given how political the situation was becoming. But for this they wanted to review the situation first hand.

Mister Garrick nods as he straightens up from where he'd been lent over a monitor. "That's him alright. I'd recognize that getup anywhere."

Batman's standing back a little. "Have you run an analysis of his facial expressions?"

Richard and I look at each other for a moment, then I make a small gesture with my right hand. He nods, then activates his arm computer. "There aren't enough recordings of Max's face from his previous periods of activity for a conclusive analysis. Vocal analysis doesn't quite line up, but.. that could be natural change. It has been forty years."

"Hn." Mister Garrick shakes his head. "Not for him it hasn't. He found a way to use his speed to take himself out of time. From his point of view it might only have been a few days since he and I last spoke."

Mister Garrick is in a suit rather than his Flash gear. From what Wallace has told me that was most likely down to Missus Garrick's influence. Apparently she didn't have a problem with him being the Flash but she shares Alan's opinion that superheroing is a young man's game.

Mister Allen sighs. "Whether Max is there or not, I don't think I'm okay with an ex-Soviet General developing a super speed formula."

Batman's eyes narrow slightly. "There's been no further sign of the Demon."

Kaldur draws himself up a little. "There has not."

Batman turns his head slightly towards Kaldur. "How far do the wards extend?"

Kaldur presses a button on the display. It changes to show an image of the property, a line around the outer edge of the boundary. "So far as we have been able to tell, it extends all of the way around the property at uniform strength. Since we could not penetrate it without revealing ourselves I do not know if further areas inside have their own protections."

Batman studies the image for a moment, then nods. "Team. Your objectives are to locate and recover Christina Molotova, and to capture The Demon Constantine, ideally without being detected by any local group. Any political consequences of General Kerimov's actions are a problem for the League."

Kaldur and I both nod. That's a relief, though I'm a little worried that 'problem for the League' really means 'we're not going to do anything about it'.

"Orange Lantern, zeta tube."

I nod again and create the required construct. Batman walks into it immediately. Mister Allen steps towards it, then hesitates when he realises that Mister Garrick isn't following him. "Jay?"

"You go on home. Think I should stay on for a bit. I knew Max best…"

"Okay, but I'm gonna catch hell from Joan if anything happens to you."

"I'll be fine. Get going before you're late for work again."

Mister Allen nods and dashes into the tube, disappearing in a flash of light. I dismiss the construct as Kaldur moves to address the team. "We have our task. Tempest, Aquagirl, how quickly can you perform a scrying ritual from inside the wards?"

Garth's eyes dip as he considers the question. "If we're not worrying about anything else, we should be able to locate a Demon within… Six minutes. But if they've got any sort of defences up it might not work. The Demon Constantine is a demonic copy of the man who invented Orange Lantern's tattoos, there's no way to be certain that he isn't protecting himself in a similar way."

I shrug. "The next best option is walking around with rune stones and hoping one of them starts glowing."

Kaldur nods. "Then that is what we have to do." He half-turns to the image of the mansion. "The easiest point of ingress for people who cannot walk through walls appears to be the wall at the rear of the property."

Richard nods, pressing a button on his arm computer to bring up a closer view. "There are lasers and razor wire at the top of the wall and another set of lasers right at the bottom on the inside, as well as cameras on the external surface."

Roy crosses his arms across his chest. "I can deal with the cameras. Being able to turn invisible almost makes it too easy."

Tula takes a closer look at the hologram. "If the cameras are down, our kinetic belts can get us over the walls easily. But that still leaves the guards and their dogs."

Raquel frowns. "Can't you just wear Orange Lantern's invisible armor stuff?"

Garth shakes his head. "We haven't practiced with it. Our water armor is usually more useful."

"Canis-?"

He grins. "I am not so subtle as Kanto, but I think myself able to kill a few Human guards without alerting their fellows."

…

"That's good to know, but I was actually going to ask if you could collect a bucket of Brut's urine." And now everyone's staring at me. "It was on Mythbusters? Wolf urine made guard dogs hesitate and Brut is far bigger than a Wolf." Still staring. "We could use a sonic device instead if urine makes you uncomfortable. If the dogs are acting up it's more likely that the guards will ignore them."

Richard brings up the patrol routes. "There are four moving patrols, but it looks like they're trying to keep them out of sight of the guests. If you go in here, unless they actually see or hear something you shouldn't have a problem. Will the spell make your tattoos glow through your clothing?"

Garth shakes his head. "Not for something simple like this. Demons stand out a great deal against background magic. Casting the spell won't take much power."

Kaldur nods. "Robin, Speedy. It is extremely unlikely that General Kerimov would keep anything incriminating in his home. Once the cameras have been neutralized, you and I will travel to the offices of his private security company and gather any intelligence that could lead us to Miss Molotova." He warded that place, too. "Canis, Kid Flash, Orange Lantern and Rocket. You will remain outside of the mansion and either move in to capture The Demon Constantine when he is located or assist Garth and Tula in evacuating if he is not."

Wallace nods. "Oh El? Anything else you can tell us about what sorts 'a magic this Demon can do?"

I shake my head. "Sorry. John can perform a wide variety of minor magics but I've got no idea how becoming a Demon has changed his abilities. Still-" I shrug. "-the chains can hold him and bind him and I've seen no sign that he's become anything like as fast as you."

Raquel points her right thumb at the picture of Max Mercury. "What do we do about him?"

Kaldur sighs quietly. "If we are fortunate, he will never know that we were here. Otherwise, he can be fought using the anti-speed techniques which we have practiced before. Your force field will hold him off indefinitely and he cannot fly. Kid Flash can fight at near his speed, Orange Lantern has a supply of Vertigo Inducers and Canis is extremely resilient. But if that should happen, the priority is to disengage. We have nothing to gain from such a fight."

There's a round of nodding, though Canis' head remains still. "And if we are detected and identified?"

"Then we were acting on legitimate intelligence on the presence of a dangerous criminal. General Kerimov may well not be aware of the Demon's presence, and even if he is I doubt that he will be willing to affirm an alliance with a Demon in public."

5th May
19:27 GMT +4

Roy's subversion arrows arc over the road and strike the security cameras with a dull clunk, sticking them on an unchanging loop of an empty street. Garth and Tula are walking down the pavement along the wall side of the street, dressed in Azerbaijani apparel. Great thing about a country like this as opposed to somewhere like Japan is that there are so many ethnicities in the mix that Atlantean features don't stand out at all. Tula's red hair and Garth's purple eyes might attract a glance or two, but they certainly don't look out of place. Just two young people out for a walk.

"Raaaoowwwwwww!"

"Get the fucking dogs back in the fucking kennel! And when I find the cum-drinking idiot who sent us these useless mongrels I will…"

I lean back, wincing slightly. Richard raises his right eyebrow.

"I still say urine would have worked better."

He taps his earpiece, carefully watching the image transmitted by my surveillance drone. "Guards are moving away. You should have space in five… Four… Three… Two…"

The wall is about three metres tall, topped with razor wire. Slightly offset from the lip on each side is a laser, which means that if a person climbed up they'd trigger an alert as soon as they grabbed onto the top. Someone trying to use a ladder would have a similar problem. For added fun the razor wire is electrified, so anyone who tried grabbing onto it would find themselves spasming and unable to let go. The walls are painted with anti-climbing paint, so an Atlantean's normal fallback of using patches of highly viscous water to let them stick to the surface is out.

None of these protections do anything as I interrupt the power to the street lights for a moment and Garth and Tula trigger their kinetic belts. They aren't as comfortable using them as some of our team mates, but a simple up, over and down is no real test of their abilities. As they go in to land in the cover of some trees I tense for a moment. We couldn't be completely certain that there wasn't something nasty hidden just behind the ward we could see. There are any number of curses available to people who don't mind treating with malevolent Spirits or Demons, and while I'm reasonably confident my Spell Eaters could cope with anything that's actually likely to be there it would completely blow their cover.

"We're in. No problems."

"Understood." I nod to Richard and Roy and they jog across the roof we're standing on, heading towards the alley side. Really, as far as finding Ms Molotova goes their part of the operation is far more important than what the rest of us are doing. We might have to spend a week tracking down every operation and holding the company possesses, but that's the place where we'll find that information. A moment later they're gone, dropping over the edge to join Kaldur in our hired van.

I return my attention to the footage from my drone. I've got the magic detector in position over them, just in case someone who thinks that they're invisible tries to approach my Atlantean colleagues. Mister Crandall's invisibility system works perfectly well against x-rays and infrared but it can't disguise the presence of a soul. I'm going to have to get some sort of visor with an arcane detection system built in created. It's just too useful. Not Sephtian, his industrial work is too important. Maybe I could find someone else familiar with his techniques and hire them instead?

There's an uptick in arcane energy as the Atlanteans get going with their ritual. Bit of a shame that Zatanna's not available, but she has school today.

"Orange Lantern to team, the Atlanteans are in."

"…and Johnny. We were both only just learning what our powers could really do-."

"Kid Flash?"

Jay's voice gets blocked out. "Sorry, Oh El. Rocket asked Jay about Max, and…"

"Okay, but unless it revealed some sort of deep-seated Communist tendencies, please leave it until after the mission."

"Right."

For a moment I consider asking Raquel to get airborne. It won't get properly dark for another hour or so, so she'd have to get pretty high… No. It wouldn't actually reduce her response time by all that much and would create a chance of her being spotted. People don't usually look up without some sort of audible cue, but just one would be enough.

"Orange Lantern to intrusion team. Any difficulty?"

"None so far."

I turn my attention from the drone monitoring the patrols to the monitors I've got tracking Max and General Kerimov. Max is getting a few odd looks, but the General is well into his glad-handing and they appear to be accepting his guest. In fact…

"Kid Flash, could you ask Jay if Max speaks Russian?"

"Yeah, one sec." There's a slight delay. "He says he doesn't think so. He spoke Spanish and French, but no Russian."

Curious. Lip reading at this resolution is an imperfect science, but the ring thinks he's speaking Russian. Again, doesn't mean that he couldn't have learned it, but I tend to assume that if you've been around for a hundred and sixty years and not done something then you've probably decided not to. There wasn't anything on his file about him being politically active outside of the Native American rights movement. Nothing about him even coming to Russia before.

I vaguely remember Edward Clariss from the comics, but he only showed up once as a ghost. I had no idea who this 'Rival'.. person…

Okay. The fact that he was called that in the comics and so was the person the Russians had as a source doesn't necessarily mean that they're the same person. It's just -based on what I've seen so far- a strong indicator. Given the level of security the Russians are operating under there's a good chance that only the Director knows who it was, if anyone else knows that there was a source at all.

Max is acting suspiciously, The Demon Constantine is around and there's a super speed comic character who was known to escape from Hell and possess people.

He's in Max, isn't he?

Ah heck. "Orange Lantern to Kid Flash. How fast is Max compared to you?"

"Ah… About as fast but a lot more experienced. I thought we weren't supposed to be fighting him?"

"We're not. I'm just a little worried that the reason The Demon Constantine is here is to possess him. Which means that we're about to ping two Demons who may -or may not- be aware when we do it."

Okay. From what little I remember, becoming a Demon is supposed to take a very long time. Would a shared super speed ability be enough to allow The Demon Constantine to bind Clariss' damned soul to Max Mercury's body? And what about the control spells they'd need in order for Clariss to control him outright? I can't see any tattoos or drawings on his skin.

"Rocket, when I say 'now', fly to where Tempest and Aquagirl are and stick a barrier around them."

"Got it."

"We're activating the spell."

The rings glow faintly as I prepare to create a railgun construct. I won't be able to obscure it. Anyone looking in this general direction will have their eyes drawn to it. And they'll immediately know who it is making it. Max doesn't appear to respond in any way. Not only does he not look around, there's not even the slightest twitch or saccade of his eyes.

"Two Demons and a major focus of Demon magic. Sending you their locations now."

I have the rings relay the data to my eyes. One Demon and the magic locus are in the mansion's cellar. Constantine, presumably. The other matches the current location of Max Mercury.

"Orange Lantern to team. Max Mercury is possessed. Rocket, change of plan. When I say 'now', get in there and put a barrier around Max."

"My kinetic barrier doesn't stop magic."

"No, but it will stop him punching his way out." My armour materialises around me and I trigger the invisibility system. "I'm going after Constantine."

5th May
19:35 GMT +4

Mister Crandall's invisibility doesn't do anything to cover up the orange glow of my environmental shield, so I have to remove the rings. As ever, this makes me feel slightly nervous. Playing Goldeneye taught me the distinct difference between invisibility and invincibility. Still, the kinetic belt, phasing and wards work just fine and I don't think there's anything around here that can easily get through them. Phased, I don't even cause a ripple in the air as I fly fast as I can through the manor wall, over the gardens at the edge of the party and through the wall of the house itself.

Roy's visit earlier gave us the chance to compare the actual structure of the house with the architect's plans. A few minor changes -a panic room and a small armoury- rather than anything that screams 'supervillain'. But then this is supposed to be his home. He owns fortified places elsewhere. This is where he comes to be 'normal'.

Says something about my life that I can consider ex-Soviet general politicians 'normal'.

I fly through a living room and a corridor before heading down. There's really only one place that The Demon Constantine could be without risking getting spotted by either guests or staff not in the know, and that's the storage cellar. Not sure what they usually keep in there. Not wine, there's a separate wine cellar and the two aren't connected so it can't be room to expand. Thought it was a bit odd when Roy mentioned it, but since it was empty he didn't bother bugging it. Rather than risk flying through a warded wall à la my fight with Kanto I emerge in the stone-walled corridor immediately in front of the door. No obvious security. Perhaps because he didn't want to risk any record being made. No matter.

I phase in and become visible, sliding my rings back onto my fingers. And this is where trusting my equipment becomes a thing. I'm not risking using a construct on the door, not after that Devil Jizz user managed to feed on my power, but this is still heavy power armour. I lumber at the door and smash it inwards.

Ethereally burning sand marks out an arcane circle on the floor and floats up in a rotating pattern above it. Looking through it I see… I'm assuming it's some part of Hell, because it certainly isn't the other side of the room. The flame around the grains is orange-violet and somehow insubstantial and if I knew more about demonology that would probably mean something to me. I have the rings take a picture of the design and then have them block my awareness of its specifics. Just in case.

"…mundus-." The Demon Constantine stops chanting and waving his arms the moment the door flies past. His head jerks around and spots me. There's a brief moment of disbelief, then his head tilts slightly to his left. "Oh, fuck right offaghh!"

I retarget my railgun at his other kneecap and fire again.

"GAH!"

The whirling vortex flares fractionally as he falls. If I had the Ace with me I'd put a round through that as well… But if I had the Ace with me then I'd shoot The Demon Constantine. I settle for shooting the edge of the design with a Mage Slayer round. In response the sand whirs faster and faster, gradually stripping the design from the floor.

The Demon's right hand is under his coat as I grip him with a series of construct clamps. "No." His coat is probably more projection than coat so I don't bother trying to put it into subspace. Disintegrate.

"Me fuckin' ciggies!"

I stride around the room and lean down, grabbing him with a filament and hauling him up. I then backhand him across the face, knocking his head to the side. "Shut up. Who have you got in Max Mercury?"

"I dunno what you're fuckin' talking about! I thought we were mates!"

"You didn't change your eyes back."

His face stills for a moment. "Oh." And then falls slightly. "Fuck."

Taking the binding chains out of subspace takes more power than I really want to spend, but the new generation sort of cuts out when not in contact with the Earth's arcane fields and so isn't quite as bad. Convenient thing about speedsters is that any fight with them is over one way or another before power requirements start to matter. Another flash of disintegration takes care of the rest of the Demon's faux clothing and then I apply the chain's clamps to his waist, neck, arms and legs.

"Bit much for a first date, innit?"

"I can get the Ace of Winchesters if you prefer. Last time of asking: who or what is in Max Mercury?"

"Nah, nah mate. You got it all wrong! This is just a-"

Brand.

"-bit a'-." There's a flare of orange and he throws his head back. "Aoh-ho-hoa!"

"I'm not sure how long this takes for a Demon like you. Or if you can recover afterwards like a Human would. But I do have a reasonable idea of how to come out ahead when dealing with a Constantine." I clench my right fist and the constructs around his naked body force his head back up. A glowing orange symbol is trying to form on his forehead, but just before it can fully come together there's a flicker of something and it fades again. "Protections bound to your body. Obviously not the Seal of Solomon that John has. Won't last indefinitely. Look, the game's up. Whatever you and Satanus-."

"He… SaYs It… SaTuRn… Us."

I take a Mage Slayer round out of subspace and shove it into the hole I shot in his right knee. He grits his teeth as it goes in. The damage hasn't exactly regenerated, but it's far less than a baseline Human would have received and is less than it was when I first fired. "I'm not sure if you actually feel pain, but that will continue to drain you of power. Whatever you had planned here isn't going to happen. The best result you can get is the one which irritates me least."

"Thought it was… Gah! Fucking… Blaze!"

I take another Mage Slayer out. "It wasn't. I normally don't go in for this whole… Jack Bauer thing. But you disgust me…" I nod. "Just enough, Demon."

"Oh, an' Demons aren't really people, is that it?"

"No, they're people. Very bad people. Take you for instance. The only decent Human quality John gave you was his love for Kit Ryan and I know you haven't tried contacting her. And since you have actually become a Demon rather than just being one damned soul among the multitudes you must have willingly bonded with the stuff of Hell-."

"You have no fucking idea what I've been through!" The skin on his face is starting to flake away like burning paper, revealing the canker beneath. "And another-!" I muzzle him. "Mmm!"

"I listen to bad guys in the hope that it might help them become better. You can't, and since you won't talk I'll just wait until the brand takes hold." I activate my armour's internal communications. "Orange Lantern to team. The Demon Constantine is secure. Rocket, are you able to put a kinetic bubble around Max Mercury and drag him into the sky?"

"Ye-ah, but it'll be kinda obvious."

Might be better just to wait until the party winds down a bit… General Kerimov isn't really our problem. Just dealing with the demonic side would be enough to call this part of the mission a success…

"Tempest, Aquagirl, could you exorcise Max Mercury?"

"Ah… How much time do we have?"

Garth doesn't sound anywhere near certain. "No idea."

"We can pick at the binding spells, but flat out exorcisms usually need the mage to channel massive amounts of power. We'd need him in a prepared environment-."

"Oh El, something's happening to Max!"

I change my visual mode back to the drone camera and see Max stagger and fall, his head elongating as horns sprout from his forehead.

"Rocket, go."

5th May
19:40 GMT +4

Unenchanted metal clamps attach themselves to rings on the binding chains and construct bindings attach themselves to them. Uh. I can't risk leaving The Demon Constantine in here on his own and I can't maintain the focus on branding him if I'm having to deal with Max Mercury. I don't want to take the risk that he has some way to drain my constructs that he can perform while bound. It doesn't seem too paranoid to assume that they've had some sort of feedback from the transformed Demons, or even from the Chaos Star Conquerors. Have to do that later.

I float in the direction of the door, him dangling at one remove from my construct bindings as the muzzle construct evaporates.

"Oh yeah, nice one! You've only gone an' let that nutter Eddie Clariss free!"

"I think you'll find that was you." I switch to internal. "Rocket, is it working?"

"I had 'im under control."

"Yes, I'm sure that you had the damned soul of a supervillain speedster possessing a superhero out of the goodness of your heart."

"At the moment, but he's.. mutating more. Is Max gunna be okay?"

Internal again as The Demon and I fly at speed up and out into the mansion's inhabited areas. "No, he's been possessed. He's going to be a mess. Aquagirl, Tempest, banishment as soon as possible."

"Right." / "Working on it."

"Kid Flash, do you have vertigo inducers?"

"Yeah. Look, Oh El, I don't think Max is much faster than me but Jay said he had a load of other tricks. Would the Demon know them?"

"It shouldn't. Unfortunately, The Demon Constantine says that's Edward Clariss inside him."

"Edward Clariss was Jay-fast, Oh El! There's no way I'll be able to keep up with him!"

"Lantern, the party guests flee into the streets! Do you wish for me to corral them?"

"No, let them go." I emerge out of a hallway into an open reception area in clear view of more than a few well-dressed partygoers. There are gasps, a few of which turn to shrieks as they see the naked and rotting Demon hanging in the air behind me.

"Oh, you've all fuckin' seen worse!"

They're not fleeing, though they are backing away. In fact, a stream of people are flowing into the mansion from the exterior. I fly out through a set of double doors and into the dining area, everyone giving me plenty of space. "Is the General still on-site?"

"Lantern, Max is doin'... Something?"

"With you in ten seconds, just keep him contained."

"Him, yeah, just not sure about all the rest."

Rest? "If the security guards-."

A shadowy shape slides through a wall next to me and leaps into one of the party guests. He staggers, shudders,-

"Team, we have Ghosts."

-then rights himself, looking at the people around him with malevolent and faintly glowing eyes.

Then I shock crown him and he collapses.

"Your Spell Eaters should protect you but the guests are vulnerable. Canis, Kid Flash, anyone gets a shadowy thing in them, knock them out and zip-tie them."

"At last!" / "You got it, Oh El."

Another shade appears through the wall. Right, assimilate. Strands of orange light leap from the rings and latch on to its ethereal form.

"Identity Theft in progress."

It writhes in distress as the orange light percolates through it.

The Demon Constantine looks on with fascination. "You know, that used to be someone."

"I know full well that people don't last long in Hell with their minds intact. I also know the death toll from when Lucifer ran off."

"Identity Theft complete. Identity partially corrupted. Nameless Hellshade, you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Assail your brethren wherever you find them."

"Yes, Master."

Oh wonderful, this one can talk.

It flies off, claw-like arms extended. Through the bay windows I watch the yellow blur that is all I can see of Wallace dash from point to point, slamming into the possessed and knocking them down. Brut lands in front of a pair of possessed guards who are aiming their guns at General Kerimov, putting Canis in position to take their first few shots on his armour before slamming his mace into their chests in a pair of rapid strikes.

Fuck it. Praexis horde.

More strands of orange flick outward, disgorging my von Neumann minions.

Fatty gets his bearings first, Chubbs floating just behind him. "Food time?"

"Eat the shadow things before they get into people."

"Okay!"

Glowing blobs of orange shoot off after the faint, dark Ghosts. I'm glad that they don't really have faces any more. It would be far more awkward explaining this to Batman afterwards if they did.

One of the guards panics and opens fire on my Praexis Demons, his assault rifle achieving nothing at all against their construct bodies. Immediately, his sergeant shoulders his way past the guard-huddle and grabs him around the shoulders. "Stop that, you fool! They belong to the Orange Lantern! You could hit someone!" The man instinctively obeys, though he isn't even slightly calmer.

Two Ghosts lunge for the guards, only for one of the Praexis to peel away from the main melee and chase after them. Its mouth clamps down on the closest, then the Construct Demon inhales and the Ghost is sucked into its maw. The other spots what just happened and frantically abandons its attack, going for height instead.

"Lantern!"

A surge of speed brings me up to the kinetic barrier in which Raquel has Max imprisoned. Considering some of the things John described to me the transformation is relatively mild. Horns, glowing red eyes and I think his legs have got a bit longer. I suppose that he hasn't really been down there long enough to become a powerful Demon. His hands are a blur as he repeatedly strikes at his prison, but his body remains still.

"Good work, Rocket. Now we can just get in touch with the local authorities-."

"Ah. That's how it works." His voice is normal. Given how his face has twisted that's a little surprising, but I suppose he hasn't altered his vocal cords. "But Max knows that we can do far more than adding kinetic energy to things."

His hands stop moving, and the barrier disappears.

5th May
19:43 GMT +4

FuckAccelerate!

In slow motion I see Raquel wiggle her fingers in confusion, trying to reactivate her kinetic barrier. My armour doesn't have a projection system but I try sending filaments towards Clariss. It's not going to get there fast enough, damn i-!

Wallace cannons into his back and knocks him flying!

"Gah!"

Together they slam into the grass-covered soil of the garden, skim across it like a pebble on water and then smash through some shrubbery. Raquel's force bubble goes back up immediately. Stopping it must require his focused attention. So.. is he not fast now, or-? No, either Wallace can handle his speed or he can't. Decelerate.

Raquel looks left and right, clearly confused.

"Clariss is borrowing Max Mercury's skill, including-."

She looks positively offended. "Turning off kinetic energy?"

"Yes. Wallace is going to be occupied."

A Ghost goes for a distracted guard only for Canis to smash through it with his mace. "Feel my godly rod, nethersprite!" Their.. numbers don't seem to be increasing, good.

"Ooooooof!"

Wallace comes flying back in our direction, several minor tears showing on the surface of his uniform. No blood, I'm pleased to note as he pushes himself up. I'll be sure to point out the clear advantages of decent armour during the debrief. "Okay, good news? He can go fast or make stuff slow."

I form vertigo inducer constructs and bombard the area he and Clariss flew off in.

Raquel glances at Wallace as he starts moving forwards again. "And the bad news?"

"What? You don't think the fact he can move at super speed is bad enough?"

"Tempest, any news on that banishment?"

"Are all monotheistic spirits this truculent?"

"Is that a 'no'?"

"It's a 'maybe'. They aren't responding to the normal bindings!"

Clariss emerges from the shrubbery, hands outstretched in front of him as he stops my sonic vibrations dead. "Is it likely to get better in the next minute?"

"I doubt it."

"Then give us what you've got."

"Just a moment!"

A Praexis Demon floats past Clariss and gets frozen in place. I really hope 'a moment' is shorter than the amount of time it takes Clariss to realise that he can stop all motion in the air and simultaneously freeze and suffocate everyone here. Clariss himself is taking the time to stare each of us down. Then his eyes widen for a second before his features twist into a snarl. "Constantine!"

"Ah, heh-."

Clariss jerks at super speed and for a moment I lose track of him. Fortunately the vertigo effect still works and there's a crash as he goes through the bay windows in the front of the mansion. "Kid-" He's already running. "-Flash."

Clariss gets his head up just in time for Wallace to punch him in it, the man's face bouncing off the glass-covered floor and bouncing upwards into the second punch.

Then Wallace freezes in place and Clariss punches upwards, striking him on the chin and sending him sailing backwards. I recreate my vertigo projectors but they don't meet with any more success this time around.

"YAAAAAGH!" Savage aggression!

Brut charges Clariss, Canis on his back. Not growling, just a sort of rumbling moan sound. Canis is nearly leaning off him, left hand on the pommel of his saddle and right holding onto his outstretched mace. Oh, come on, that's not going to-.

Clariss sneers, and Canis' and Brut's armour flickers for a moment. They don't stop. Clariss' eyes widen and he throws himself aside as they charge past. Canis' mace lashes out and catches him in the side, and I can see ribs give way. I think he can feel his host body's pain like this, and that's going to hurt.

"Here we go!"

About flipping time.

Brilliant white flames flecked with gold flare out from the Atlanteans' hiding place, roaring across the garden in all directions! The Demon Constantine's eyes widen as they pass over a group of recumbent guests, faint traces of smoke rising from them as the Ghosts within them are incinerated. Pretty much what John tricked the Angels into doing to Nergal. And I've got a worrying feeling that my Atlantean colleagues- The fire bypasses me like I'm not here and passes through Raquel with no effect. -just forcibly took something from the forces of the Silver City without asking nicely.

"AAAAOOOWWWWFUCKINGFUCKFUCK!"

The Demon Constantine is set on fire, writhing against his bindings. A moment later and the front of the flame wave has passed him by, my chains dealing with the residual magic. Even after it's passed by I can see shining light in the rents in his flesh. Not dead or destroyed, though. I'm not sure whether that's due to his origin or simply not being what the spell is designed to deal with.

Slightly dimmed, the flames continue towards where Edward Clariss is struggling to rise. He gets about half a second to see them coming before being totally enveloped. The flames don't envelop him; they cover and coat him in white fire.

"MMMRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"

His horns are consumed in raging fire, his eyes go white and his head is thrown back as he collapses once more. Wallace gets up somewhat unsteadily and takes a couple of hurried steps towards him, breaking out his own suppression chains. He's forced to shield his face from the heat being generated. Oh dear, I hope we haven't just cooked a famous super hero. Bracing himself, Wallace darts forward and claps the manacles around Max's forearms. The fire isn't burning him, so he clamps shut the neck and leg manacles as well.

Okay.

The Demon Constantine is either unconscious or faking it passably well. Aside from that… General Kerimov is staring at the wreckage, but I suspect he's starting to get the idea that the fight is over. And once he's sure of that, he's going to start making a nuisance of himself. "Anyone injured?"

Canis shakes his head. "A little tired." He smiles. "Invigorating. And such novel adversaries!"

Raquel shakes her head. "I'm fine. So, that was a Demon, huh?"

I frown. "You were at STAR Labs when-."

"No, that was just… Magic-drugs or something. That was an actual Demon from actual Hell."

I point my right thumb at The Demon Constantine. "So's he."

"Eeeaaaaagghh…" Wallace staggers back from the unconscious Max Mercury. "Oh El? I could do with a-" A wide orange beam hits him, knitting his injuries back together. "-heal. Thanks. Ugh."

Tula and Garth pick their way towards our position, trying to peer at Max Mercury as they come. Tula frowns. "Is that it?"

"I think so. We'll check once Max Mercury wakes up-."

"Because I didn't… Feel a Demon being destroyed or sent anywhere."

"Oh. Well, if you're not familiar with the magic-."

Garth is knocked flying, slamming face first into the ground! Tula is picked up and hurled high into the air!

Mister Garrick stands where they had been moments before, his face red and his needle-toothed mouth now extending to underneath his ears.

"Now this is more like it."

5th May
19:46 GMT +4

Oh...

Not again...

Edward Clariss grins with Jay Garrick's mouth, revealing multiple rows of needle-like teeth. The wings of Mister Garrick's helmet have been replaced by the horns now extending from the top of his head and punching through the metal. Mister Garrick didn't even bring that with him. Where did he get it?

Oh, never mind. A man who murdered people in specific locations for no better reason than to spell out his own name is now a Demon and possessing Alan's closest friend. And he's just standing there and not attacking. Or gloating. I.. would have expected gloating, given his personality profile. Mister Garrick... Should be alright, at least in the short term. I talked to John about the subject when we tried to work out what sort of state Mister Zatara is likely to be in.

"Edward Clariss."

"Orange Lantern." Jay's voice, distorted slightly. I'm not sure whether that's due to the possession or the teeth.

"Back from Hell, I see. Congratulations on becoming a Demon. Always knew you had it in you."

"Jay said the same thing." There's a slight upturn in the corners of his gaping mouth. "Then he started screaming."

Brut growls. Canis is holding him back for a moment, probably because he knows that Clariss can just walk around his attacks if he's not distracted by something. Raquel is bracing herself and Wallace is... He has his ear over Max Mercury's mouth. Listening for his breath, perhaps?

"What do you want?"

"I thought that I wanted to kill Jay. That's one thought that kept rolling around in my head while I was down there. But now it occurs to me that he'd just go to Heaven if I did that, and he's an old man anyway. So really... What would be the point?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think that Heaven is all that it's cracked up to be."

"He thinks that you know about this sort of thing. There is a Heaven, right? Not everyone goes to Hell?"

"No, there certainly is a Heaven. For the faithful and devout. If you.. wish to avoid going back to Hell, I'm prepared to assist with that?"

"You did pick up on the fact that I'm a-" He raises his hands to run them along his horns. "-Demon, right?"

"Just another species as far as I'm concerned. The last Demon I spoke to said that they found Hell aesthetically appealing, but I imagine that it isn't quite the same for immigrants like yourself."

"On my first day they shoved rusty iron spikes though my legs and made me run on a treadmill."

"That certainly sounds cruel and unusual to me."

"Then they flayed off my skin and made me run though a desert. Then they broke my bones, one at a-."

"Mister Clariss. Hell is an utterly horrible place. I fully appreciate that you have suffered greatly. But since you've acknowledged that there's no point in killing him, I'd really quite like to know what you want in exchange for letting Mister Garrick go."

"Let him go? Why would I do that? Hell, son, how do you think I became a Demon?"

"I don't know."

"I tried to replicate Jay's formula for fame, power and money. But you can't take it all with you. Then, somewhere in all the suffering, I.. realised how much fun those Demons looked like they were having. And I remembered how good I felt whenever I hit someone at super speed, someone with no way to fight back. Just beat them bloody." Oh dear. "And it didn't hurt less, but it started to bother me less. And then less.. and less… Until one day I just ran through the sandstorm and ripped those bastards torturing me apart. And that felt even better. Heady stuff." He refocuses on me. "Jay's going to Heaven? Let's see if I can't tarnish his halo a bit."

He sticks his arms out to the side, vibrating them at super speed. I project infrasound in his direction as Raquel projects a maximum area kinetic barrier around him. And... He's not there.

"Awraaaaagh!"

"I mean, if I eat this woman's face." He's holding one of the recently depossessed partygoers off the ground. "That's got to hurt his chances, right?" He unhinges his lower jaw, horribly distending it as he inches closer.

I send a mental instruction to every Praexis Demon and to the Hellshade to swarm him. I know that I've got no reason to assume that they'll be anything like fast enough but it can't hurt to try.

"Waaaaaaaghh!" His teeth get close to his chosen victim, who struggles against his grip to no avail. Possession must be making him stronger, because given his current age and general state of health Mister Garrick wouldn't be strong enough to hold her like that. But he's not looking at her. He's looking at us. It reminds me a little of a chap in my secondary school by the name of Alex Harrison. Once during a PE lesson he ran a ball over the goal line during a rugby session and didn't put it down, instead challenging weedy little me to tackle him. No point, I'd just have bounced off. And he knew it. Clariss is challenging us because he doesn't believe that there's anything we can do to stop him.

Two Praexis Demons come at him and he blurs away, grabbing a replacement hostage.

"Aagh!" / "Oh, Allah!"

Another Demon comes at him and his right arm blurs into it then vibrates, ripping it apart. I switch my communications to internal.

"Anyone got a clever idea?"

"Yeah, I do." I don't look around as Wallace speaks. "Make him move again."

With Clariss watching me, his teeth already drawing blood from the jaw of the terrified member of the Azerbaijan Worker's Party, I form a railgun while extending filaments under the ground in his direction. "I'd hate to kill Mister Garrick, but better that than let you continue."

"Give it your best-."

I form an infrasound projector in the ground under his feet and trigger it. Clariss staggers, teeth slicing through the flesh of his victim –no critical wounds- as he spasms and falls. His hostage similarly collapses, clutching at his injury. "Rocket!"

A kinetic bubble appears around him, not interfering with the infrasound due to its dome shape. Is that-? The dome disappears and Clariss stands up before lunging-.

Wallace blurs past me, accelerating as... Is Clariss getting slower? I just see two blurs moving, even as the ring accelerates my perception to try and allow me to meaningfully contribute. I transition the Praexis Demons into an approximate circle around the fighters in an attempt to corral them, but... The yellow blur is definitely faster than the red one. Wallace isn't as fast as Mister Garrick, but it looks like demonic resilience is all that's keeping Clariss in contention. Weird, but.. okay. Suddenly they stop, coming back to normal speed as Wallace gets Clariss into a sleeper hold. I've got my railgun up but Canis reacts faster, speeding forwards and smashing Clariss' legs with his mace. There's a resounding crack as the bones break.

...

It's okay, it's okay, I can heal him afterwards. I fire a subsonic Angel feather tipped round into his chest, wincing as I do it. Shining sand –like that in the portal site downstairs- begins sloughing off him as my new Construct-Lantern Hellwraith finally gets back to the combat zone.

"You, get in there and eat that Demon!"

"Yes, master." It flows over the ground and then leaps into Mister Garrick's body.

Okay, can't do anything else there for the moment. Tula, Garth and Max Mercury get quick healing beams, my Atlantean team mates getting up and Max finally being pain free enough to lose consciousness. More sand falls away from Mister Garrick, evaporating where it hits the ground as his demonic features recede.

A moment later the Hellwraith emerges. "Gone, master. Returned to Hell."

Immediately, Wallace lets go of him and I fire healing beams at Mister Garrick, making sure that his heart and lungs keep going and getting the remains of the railgun round out so they can't impede his speed-enhanced recovery. As an afterthought I recall all of my Construct-Lanterns.

I take a moment to look around at the stunned, bound and panicking partygoers.

Oh, what a mess.

5th May
19:50 GMT +4

Wallace checks Mister Garrick's pulse and breathing, but I already know that he's... 'Fine' would be pushing it, but he's physically whole and unlikely to expire immediately. I turn to the Atlanteans. "Tempest, check Flash Senior for lingering influence. Aquagirl, same for Max Mercury."

"Right." Garth jogs over to kneel next to Wallace, his tattoos lighting up. Tula just nods before heading towards Max.

"Well, that went alright." Being mildly burned by holy fire doesn't seem to have overly diminished The Demon Constantine's spirits. "Guess you'll be sendin' me back to Hell now."

"No. That didn't work last time and I'm not inclined to-."

General Kerimov shoulders his way out of his guard huddle and marches in my direction. "You! Lantern! Is this your doing?!"

He's clearly well past his physical prime. I'd guess that he weighs two stone less than me when I'm not wearing the power armour which I'm currently wearing. And yet he's storming up to me in what is very clearly a fighting mood. We've probably missed our chance to get anything useful from him personally as far as this investigation goes. If we can't tie him to the demonic element we'll be relying on Kaldur to get something useful from their offices. Still...

Internal communication only. "Tempest, if you can do it without looking obvious, put a truth compulsion effect on the General, would you? Don't activate it until I say."

His eyes flick up towards my faceplate and he nods. Good man.

I send my armour's helmet section into subspace and smile at our target. "Good evening, General Kerimov."

"Stick your evening up your arse!" His face has reddened, but empathic vision shows that he isn't anything like as angry as he's pretending to be. His gaze slips to the side for a moment. "Why have you got some sort of bondage faggot behind you?"

"I'm afraid that Mister Constantine is under arrest and will be facing some rather serious charges." I'm not seeing anything that would indicate recognition, but.. then I wouldn't, necessarily.

"What, and that's how you treat people you arrest?"

"When arresting supervillains I find that it's generally best to remove anything they could use as a weapon. If he'd had tattoos I would have had to remove his skin."

Cold hard eyes narrow slightly, but I think I see... Approval? "Who is this... Constantine?"

Again, no indication of deceit. My goodness, someone with a possible supernatural connection who hasn't heard of John. I'll have to tell him. "I'm afraid that's a bit complicated, sir. And I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you a few questions before-."

"Fuck off. You can talk to my lawyer."

"General, are you fully aware of how the Azerbaijani legal system treats people who may be under the influence of demonic magics?"

"Demonic?" He frowns fiercely, trying to indicate by his posture that he isn't going to let something that trivial stop him getting the result that he wants. "Bah! Nonsense. Some sort of metahuman terrorist. Yes." He nods. "You can-."

"I'm afraid I can't, sir. I have two Atlantean mages with me who will confirm my findings. The standard Azerbaijani reaction to suspected diabolic influence is a month's solitary confinement minimum for each person at risk. Which means you and all of your guests." His pupils dilate slightly, but his expression remains controlled. "Alternatively, if you'll answer a few questions for me, I'll have my Atlantean colleagues check everyone over and report to the local police that they're all clear." He narrows his eyes slightly. "I'm sure that both they and you would find that more convenient."

On the other side of the garden a few guests try edging toward the front gate. Brut interposes himself and very slightly bares his teeth. They stop.

"Mpf. What do you want to know?"

Hm. Max 'Mercury' Crandall doesn't have a secret identity... Well, he used to, but you don't stay active for two hundred years without people noticing a thing or two. I think that these days most people just assume that 'Mercury' is his real surname. I half turn to see Tula helping him into a sitting position. He looks pretty out of it, but he's conscious and at least somewhat aware of his surroundings. And he's physically Human. A lot of possession victims don't get all of those things back.

"When did you first meet that man?"

Fairly innocuous question to begin. He certainly can't deny that they know each other. Whatever answer he gives, I'll have to check it. Doubt that Mister Crandall will be able to remember with any certainty.

"Mercury? A few months ago. He wanted me to find him work."

"Is that sort of thing a frequent occurrence?"

"People will pay a lot for metahuman security. Usually I just deal with kids who can make a few sparks, but someone who fought the Nazis? He could name his price. That was why I invited him here."

Hmm. I don't know what Mister Crandall's financial situation is like. His preferred way of life doesn't lend itself to building up a financial reserve. Or investments, given what inflation's been like for the past half century. It's not impossible that he'd genuinely have been interested in a job.

I make eye contact with Garth once more. "And what did you hope to get out of it?"

The great thing about most truth compulsion effects is that you often don't realise that what you're going to say is 'off' until after the words leave your mouth.

"I wanted to reverse engineer super speed and use it to create a generation of Soviet super soldiers, like that fuck who runs the Russian super power program is too cowardly to do."

"Do you have any sources other than Max Mercury?"

"Not ones that are worth a damn." He stops, looking perfectly content with his answer. Then the faintest trace of a frown appears, closely followed by the oh fuck, what did I just say?

"And the Demons?"

"You can't trust them to do anything. You-." He actually grabs hold of his own mouth to stop himself talking, glaring at me ferociously for a moment before turning and stalking away.

Hm. Suspicious, but if he already had Mister Crandall's willing participation...

Garth gets up and walks towards me. Mister Garrick is still out of it, but it looks like he's clear. "Was that helpful?"

"I'm not sure. Oh, The Demon Constantine had some sort of ritual going in the basement. I think I disrupted it, but take Aquagirl with you and go and make sure that it's shut down properly."

He nods and heads towards his girlfriend. I attach filaments to the senior speedsters and float them off the ground and towards me. I can get Canis to boom tube them to the mountain's medical bay in a few minutes.

Wallace follows Mister Garrick's recumbent body. "They gunna be okay?"

"Can't say for sure. The possession was brief, we've got magic users available to check on them... So, hopefully." He nods, slightly reassured. "Couldn't help but notice that you seemed faster there..?"

"Jay always said that he was faster than Max, but Max always had more tricks. One of those is how to... Kinda... Borrow speed from other super fast guys."

"And you just.. picked it up?"

"I've been doin' a lot of research into this stuff. I guess I already kinda knew how it should work. And I still wasn't as fast as the Flash. Ah, the current one. But it was just enough to let me keep up with Jay." He opens his arm pouch and fishes out a nutrient bar and a healing potion. "Hasn't done anything for my eating habits, but..." He nods to himself. "Probably worth looking into. Once Max is back on his feet."

5th May
14:22 GMT -5

Tula, Garth, Raquel and I look up as Kaldur, Roy and Richard walk into our meeting room. "Please tell me you've got some good news?"

Kaldur looks very slightly downcast. Richard shakes his head. "Nothing to do with the kidnapping. We did get solid proof that General Kerimov has been breaking dozens of minor laws, but nothing about kidnapping Miss Molotova or hiding her."

Roy slumps into a seat at the far end, next to Raquel. "We checked dozens of places they owned or worked or rented. If they've got her somewhere, then it's totally off the books."

Richard sits down opposite Canis while Kaldur takes his place at the head of the table. He looks at me. "Were you able to apprehend The Demon Constantine?"

I nod. "Bound in magic suppression chains and handed over to Belle Reve." Ms Waller was fairly upbeat about the prospect of having definitive proof that the upgrades she's made to the place for the purpose of containing magic-based offenders actually work. The chains are designed to be highly resistant to damage but they're keeping him in solitary confinement just in case. "Max Mercury was being possessed by Edward Clariss under his direction. The General was planning to recreate the Soviet Union through super speed operatives by reverse engineering whatever potion it was that gave Max his speed. From what he said before he clammed up, he probably didn't have Miss Molotova kidnapped." I shake my head. "I'm not even sure that he knew about the Demons."

Roy frowns faintly. "Don't you have to be a Demon to possess someone?"

"Um." How to explain to someone with the limited knowledge of magic that Roy has? "The Exorcist-style spontaneous mutation and added super powers type? Yes. But... It's possible for a damned soul to become a Demon."

His eyes widen slightly. "Seriously?"

"We don't... Understand the process... It's unusual and slow and they usually aren't all that powerful. Of course, if someone like Satanus thought that Clariss would be useful he might have helped the process along a little."

"Oh, good. At least we don't have to worry about every dead criminal in history coming back."

Kaldur leans forward slightly. "Was Max Mercury able to give you any useful-?"

There's a rush of displaced air as Wallace comes to a sudden halt in the doorway. "Hey, guys."

"How are they doing?"

"Well... Jay's gunna get an earful from Joan when he's... Y'know... Okay enough to take it in." He crosses to the table and takes his usual place next to Richard. "She only let me off lightly 'cause she was really worried." He fidgets uncomfortably for a moment. "They.. are gunna be okay, right?"

Kaldur blinks, eyes directly on Wallace. "Did something happen to Mister Garrick?"

Wallace's eyes flick to me. "Oh. You guys only just started?" I nod. "Tempest and Aquagirl used some sort of magic to get Clariss out of Max, but rather than getting sent back to Hell or just destroyed he ended up inside Jay."

"Did Mister Garrick take to the field?"

"No." Wallace shakes his head. "He was still back in our room. Far as we can tell Clariss ran straight over to the mansion as soon as he took control." He looks over at the team's Atlantean members. "How did he do that?"

Tula shakes her head regretfully. "We are not really sure. There are a number of possibilities. The fact that all three of them have super speed might create enough of a link to enable Clariss to transfer himself. He might have taken power from the ritual in the basement to make it work, or they might have prepared a spell in advance."

"I thought-. Ah, don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you guys were experts on magic?"

Garth's eyes dip for a moment. "In the Conservatory of Sorcery, Demons are not a popular field of study. We simply do not know enough about how they use magic to determine what they did without a great deal of study of the site, and I do not think that General Kerimov is likely to invite us back." He turns his head my way. "Orange Lantern, do you think that the original John Constantine would have any useful insights?"

"He might. I'll certainly be asking him."

Richard presses a couple of buttons and an image of a man in a grey waistcoat appears. His hair is auburn, aside from his distinctive shock of white running along the right side of his head. Jason Blood. "Might be easier to call in someone they won't recognize as a Demon."

Kaldur stares at the image for a moment-. No, he's staring through it as he thinks. "I do not think that the precise mechanism will be of much significance. It would be more useful to have Jason Blood available when The Demon Constantine is interrogated."

I raise my eyebrows slightly. "Not Constantine mark one?" From the looks they give me I'm going to assume that the answer is 'no'.

"Ah..?" Wallace raises his right hand, index finger extended. "That spaced out thing Jay and Max are doing. They're not going to be like that permanently, are they? I mean... I don't know what being possessed by a Demon does to you. When Nabu did it to me I was just standing in an empty room, but I guess... With a Demon..."

The Atlanteans make brief eye contact with each other and with me. Why would-? Oh, right. I nod, and Kaldur turns to Wallace. "Do you remember how -before he got his current tattoos- Orange Lantern could become overwhelmed by magic, so that it would seem as if he was intoxicated?"

"Yeah? But, they're not acting like they're drunk, just... It's kinda like they've got... Like they've got dementia or something."

Kaldur nods. "For sudden or intense exposure, that is how it usually manifests. They should be fully recovered within two days. If they are not, then there are other treatments which can be used to improve their recovery."

"Okay." He nods, looking quite relieved. "Thanks."

"Okay, I need to bring this up. Whatever we managed to achieve today, we don't have any current leads on what happened to Miss Molotova. Is this mission effectively over?"

Instinctive responses range from denial to downcast. Kaldur mirrors me in taking a look around before responding. "We will need to speak to The Demon Constantine, and it is possible that the Director may have further information for us. But in the event that neither meeting results in us gaining new leads, I fear that you may be right."

Raquel frowns. "Ah still don't understand why you can't just use your ring to scan for her."

I smile ruefully, then connect the ring to the table's holographic display. "When I first arrived on Earth, I could scan pretty much anything I wanted to. After the League of Shadows was destroyed, that started to change."

"Yeah, 'scry wards', you said. But they can't be everywhere."

"These are corporate logos from companies owned by LexCorp before the League of Shadows... And after." I give them a moment to take the images in. "Please note the change in emphasis here and here..."

Garth gets it first. "Those are runic wards."

"Yep. But it gets better. LexCorp has a paper production business. And guess what shapes are now included in the structure of the paper? And guess who are adding it to their computer security product line?"

Richard's eyes narrow slightly. "That's kind of a lot just for you, isn't it?"

"Lex had LexCorp Metropolis warded by an actual wizard. If Satanus actually has joined the Light he's most likely got a few competent cultists around to work on that sort of thing. The protections won't be powerful, but they'll keep me and the Greenies out. Perhaps more importantly, if everything's warded, then magic users on our side can't tell what's important and what isn't, so looking for blind spots isn't really going to help." I look around the room. "Our enemies are intelligent people. In the same way that I've tried to persuade League members to cover their weaknesses, the Light are doing the same, and in the most inconvenient of ways."

7th May
09:01 GMT +12

Mister Gort glowers down at me as I step into the Director's office. I suppose that I shouldn't, but I'm peeved enough about the whole situation that I open my empathic sense up beyond my normal levels. Follow the red strands... No, he doesn't bear any kind of personal animosity towards me. I'm not Russian, I'm in a secure site and -a little yellow here- he's not completely sure that he could take me. I'm not seeing any real fear for his own safety, he's just worried that me attacking here could seriously compromise Russia's interests. Quick detail scan... Yep, another Danner enhancile. Born sometime in the twenties...

But again, it doesn't make sense. The Russians had both the Danner Formula and a working -if imperfect- version of the Garrick Formula. And while I'm sure that some people in the upper levels of the Soviet Union would believe in the inevitability of the overthrow of world capitalism strongly enough not to want to risk deploying novel weapons I'm having a hard time picturing Stalin having much in the way of reservations about it.

I walk past Mister Gort and towards the Director's desk. He looks up but doesn't otherwise react until I reach the other side, then indicates the chair next to me with a small motion of his right hand. I pull it out and sit down as he marks his place in the report he was reading and files it away, then rests his forearms on his desk and looks me directly in the eyes.

"I understand that you have captured The Demon Constantine. You and your team are to be commended."

"Thank you, Director."

"What is it that you intend to do with him?"

"We had intended to use the Lasso of Truth on him and have him inform us of his master's activities on Earth. Unfortunately, recent legislative changes in the United States have granted non-Humans the same legal protections as Humans. This includes the right not to incriminate himself."

"You yourself led that campaign with Mister Luthor."

"Yes. And.. now I'm really wishing we could have held off for a month or two."

He's not frowning... Not more than normal anyway. "So the American government intends to treat him like a normal prisoner. How confident are you of the continued integrity of the Belle Reve facility?"

"They've had Atlantean assistance in improving it to hold magic users. There's no such thing as complete certainty, but... If we're going to hold him, it's-" Probably worse than the Tower of Fate. On the other hand, if anyone can sneak their way out of the Tower it would be a Constantine. "-as good a place as anywhere."

"Are the Atlanteans selling such technology to other nations?"

"They're not especially eager to propagate anti-magic arcana, but you could probably come to terms."

He nods, a very slight inclination of his head followed by an equally short rising of it. "It was unfortunate that you could not uncover any evidence of a link to Molotova."

My eyes deaden. "Did you really think there would be?"

The skin around his eyes tightens slightly. "I did not think that chance was particularly high. I did not lie to you. It was indeed the best lead that we had on a possible culprit. But as I am certain that you realised for yourself: if General Kerimov already had people capable of super speed movement under his command, why would he take the risk of abducting her?"

"So... What? You heard about his political gathering and took the opportunity to have us break it up? Did you know about The Demon Constantine?"

"There is a modest advantage in having his involvement with Demons revealed by a party who is not directly involved in Russian politics. But in your place I could have brought more pressure to bear to ensure that the government of Azerbaijan dealt with him more harshly. And I prefer to deal with situations like this without involving people not under my command."

"That isn't what I asked. Did you know?"

"I knew that Maxwell Crandall was associating with him, contrary to his usual character. I suspected that his mind had been altered in some way. I did not know that he had been possessed. I trust that he has recovered?"

I give him a small nod. John tells me that people don't ever completely recover from demonic possession, but both Max and Jay appear to have recovered their facilities and not be in too great a mental distress.

"So who actually did it? Who actually took Miss Molotova?"

"Some other enemy of the state. We are still attempting to identify them. Should we learn anything of note, we will inform the Justice League."

"You're willing to share secure Russian intelligence with the Justice League?"

"Of course. Quite aside from the fact that I suspect Batman will be investigating anyway, ensuring support for American superhero teams is a major Russian foreign policy goal."

I didn't know that. "Why is that?"

"It is far better for us that people such as Superman exercise their powers for the greater good in an independent manner. Far worse for us if they join the American military or otherwise work directly for the American government. And with the Justice League held up as the highest embodiment of the superheroic ideal, they encourage up and coming American superheroes to follow a similar independent career path. So long as that continues to be the case I have the freedom to ignore the calls from people similar to General Kerimov to pursue a more confrontational approach."

"Alright then, tell me. Why didn't Russia develop the speed formulae further? Or-" I gesture back with my left thumb. "-the Danner Formula."

"The decision not to further develop Professor Danner's formula was taken by Comrade Premier Stalin. The decision not to continue with the Garrick Formula was taken by me, for the same reason. Steel Wolf has been a paragon of loyalty, but the way the Danner Formula must be applied means that there is no way to select the candidates for loyalty to the Motherland. The Russian Civil War began in nineteen seventeen and Russia was not fully unified under the Communist government until nineteen thirty four. In such an environment, the chance of politically unreliable people gaining such power and possibly overthrowing the Socialist government and setting themselves up as a new ruling elite was intolerable."

Makes sense, I suppose. I know Khrushchev had Mister Gort sent to a gulag as part of the de-Stalinisation program, and he was one of the loyal ones. "And the Garrick Formula?"

"I could not guarantee continued political control. There was an attempt to use their ill health as a control mechanism, but Red Trinity's defection demonstrated the weakness of that strategy. Super speed is far more dangerous than super strength."

"You..? Gave them an imperfect formula intentionally?"

"No. But I was prepared to take advantage of the situation that had developed." He looks past me to Mister Gort, who strides over and places a data stick down on the desk in front of me. "That contains the results of our investigation to date, as well as records from our medical staff and copies of the paperwork you were reviewing before your investigation was curtailed."

I frown. "You.. had this-?"

"No, Orange Lantern. You were engaged in work on our behalf, so I had our staff collate it for you. I have no interest in alienating the Justice League or in seeing Kid Flash come to further harm. And I am genuinely grateful. Your actions against the former General Kerimov will -along with our other work- go a long way to ensuring Russian political unity."

"I don't think you needed our help with that."

And for the first time his eyes waver. "There is no such thing as too much unity. My predecessor lived through the breakup of the Russian Empire. I lived through both Stalin and de-Stalinisation, through the occupation of Eastern Europe and the privatisation of national industries. Where there is disunity, there is weakness. And that is not to be tolerated."

"I didn't realise that you-" I open up my empathic vision again. "-were that old. Are you another Danner enhancile?"

I manage to control my reaction well enough not to frown. The colours I saw before are still there, but now that I take a closer look I start to notice the things that aren't. I can't follow threads to formative memories or experiences, they just sort of... Trail off to nowhere. I mean, the most intense green is associated with... I think that's a gulag. But the rest...

His face remains impassive. "My personal history is of no relevance. I act on behalf of the Russian people at the direction of their leader, the President. So far as you may be concerned, I am the face of the Russian state. One functionary among many, and completely replaceable. Good day, Orange Lantern."