Escalation

15th May
10:37 GMT -6

"Okay, now, just sort of… Lean forwards a bit?"

Harleen tries to follow my instruction, starts to drift and then immediately straightens up again. I suppose it's a bit like using a Segway. All your instincts tell you that you're about to fall over, despite the fact that that's very unlikely.

I smile encouragingly. "Okay, and again?"

For a second she looks up at me, then her eyes drop back down to the ground. Which is about a metre away. "This ain't easy, y'know. How long did it take you t'learn, anyways?"

"I got the basics after half an hour or so." That earns me a minor scowl. "But, I had been flying with the ring for months before that, so I'd got used to the whole 'being in the air apparently unsupported' thing. Look, it's pretty much impossible for anything to go wrong. Even if you just fall out of the air, hitting the ground won't hurt. The belt absorbs kinetic energy."

"I dunno. That shuwer sounds like somethin' that'd hurt."

I hold up my hands, pull the left ring off with my right hand and then pull the right ring off with my left. I then stow them both in one of the chest pouches in my overalls. "There we go. Just the belt holding me up. Next?"

I flip over, the sky spinning across my field of vision until I can see the ground again. Ugh, that always feels weird when I do it without the rings. The kinetic belt has some inertial stabilising but it's got nothing on a proper environmental shield. Then I shoot forward, accelerating rapidly and boong, ramming face first into the grass-covered ground.

There's a sharp intake of breath from my flying-buddy.

"And I'm fine." Precise manoeuvring with these things is more difficult than large movements, but I twist around while still balancing on my head. "See? No problem."

"Okay." She blinks. "That's a thing."

"You wanna try?"

"I think I'll stick t'normal flyin'."

"Well, go on then."

"Oooooh… Kaaaaay?" She leans forwards in the air, accelerating slowly forwards and upwards. "How'm I doin'?"

"Like a toddler on her first tricycle, but you're going forwards and that's the main thing." I clench slightly, causing my own belt to reverse me back upwards. Then I twist, briefly moving to a position parallel to the ground before accelerating up to Harleen. "Come on! It's really instinctive. Inasmuch as there is a trick, it's to not think about it too much. I mean… You were a gymnast. You didn't think about where every part of your body was the whole time, did you?"

"Okay, but-" She moves her right forefinger into lecture position. "-if this goes wrong you bettuh catch me."

"I won't need to. Unless you fly into a laser or an electricity pylon-" I look around, seeing none of either. "-you're pretty much proof against anything that could hurt you."

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then leans forwards and jerks her hands back. Immediately she accelerates forward, forcing me to duck and dive to avoid being hit. "Wwaaahhhoooooo!"

I hold my right hand up to my mouth as she rockets away. "See!" Uh. Maybe I should get after..? Yes, yes I should. I assume the position and fly along in her wake as she powers through the sky… Well, so close to the ground perhaps I should say through the air, above the Kisatchie National Forest. She seems to be enjoying 'forwards' well enough, but the tree line is coming up and-.

She looks back. "This is great!"

"Pull up! Pull up!"

"Huh?" She turns her head to face forwards. "Ah!" She leans back, probably trying to stop. Unfortunately for her, the belt interprets that a desire to change direction, so rather than going at about fifty miles an hour straight forwards she's now going fifty miles an hour straight up. "Agh!" She flails briefly in surprise, then calms down a little and gets herself back under control, slowing to a stop about a mile above the forest canopy.

I follow after her at a slightly reduced rate, giving her a moment to get used to being in the air and to appreciate the view. She glances my way as I come up alongside her. "Well?"

"That was… Heh." She's panting, but the smile on her face says 'excitement' rather than 'terror'. "That was pretty great. Hah."

"Okay, next lesson: flying into the ground at full speed."

"Oh no. No." She shakes her head definitively. "That ain't happenin'."

I lean back in the air, lounging on nothing. "Alright. What do you want to do next?"

Another deep breath. "I wanna…" She nods to herself. "I.. wanna talk aboud last night. While I'm still buzzin' with adrenaline an' not.. fellin' self conscious aboud it."

"Okay." I nod. "Reasonable. Eris is-."

"Tha Greek Goddess of Chaos. An' you work fer Wonder Woman so I guess it makes sense, you knowin' her."

"I.. am actually a Hellenist. I do literally worship her."

"But that don't explain what she wuz doin' showin' up at my house, an'… Dressed.. in that."

"How.. blunt do you want me to be?"

She gives me a flat look. "Hey, I'm a counsellor heyah."

"Okay. I asked her to find a particular arcane artefact for me, and the owner was available to negotiate with right then. As to why she was dressed like that, I'm… I've been somewhat reticent on matters of romance and sex. Depending on how the mood takes her, she finds that either amusing or irritating. She dressed like that as a wind up."

"Ooh. That makes sense. I mean, she's still kind of a bitch, but…"

"Yeah." I clear my throat, momentarily averting my gaze. "Also… She wants me to end my reticence… Deliberately."

Harleen frowns, baffled. "How d'ja mean 'deliberately'? Like, you can't fall on someone?"

"No, she means that I have to deliberately choose a particular person, not just… Go with the flow in a way I don't find objectionable. Can you believe that I didn't actually pick up on the fact that you were propositioning me?"

"Oh." She looks more puzzled than offended. "Rilly? 'Cause I thought I was bein' pretty direct there."

"Yeah. I mean, I see it now, it just-. At the time, it didn't…" I sigh. "Okay, did I ever tell you that I'm a metahuman? I don't mean the rings, I mean…" I make a circling motion with my right hand.

"No." She shakes her head. "What, you got a power and power rings?"

"Not exactly. I got my power as a result of the power rings. I'm empathic. I perceive the emotions of those around me as coloured light. Most.. importantly, I see love as violet light. Last time someone propositioned me I knew… Because I could see… Violet. They were interested in me, emotionally… So it made sense that they might want to have sex with me. You… You're not violet. Not even a little bit."

"Well… We don't know each other that well. I mean… If you wan'ed to wait…"

"The question is not.. why I don't. I can or not. My question is, why do you? I'm pleasant company and I'm good looking, but would you be enjoying this flying any.. more, if we'd had sex last night? At the.. restaurant in New York, you mentioned a teacher at Gotham University in the same breath as Doctor Strange. Then you said that you just needed to find a guy who wasn't a jerk. If I turned my empathic vision up, would I see myself filling that hole?"

"Huh." She looks me over with notably less enthusiasm. "Didn't think you were that insecuwah."

"I'm not. I'm concerned for you. Not only do you not love me, there's no flicker that could become true love. You're not particularly libidinous, so it's not just the endorphin release from sex that you're looking for. Why do you want me? Given.. your history… Do you.. really think that another.. relationship with a man is.. a solution? Eris considers going with the flow to be a sin, and I.. kind of see what she means. If you're just looking for the next Strange-."

"Oh, go t' hell!"

She turns face down and drops through the sky, tears leaking from her eyes.

15th May
10:42 GMT -6

"Harleen, I'm very sorry-" She changes direction again, and I keep pace with her. "-but I feel that it's import-" Another jink, another change in direction. "-ant to be open and honest about-."

She stops suddenly, twisting round in the air and throwing her arms up. "Not always! God!" She's breathing hard as she stares at me. "I must have tha worst taste!"

"Okay, no-."

"I'm not lookin' for a Strange replacement! I thawt that maybe a superhero could be a guy I could trust not t' do any a' the manipulative bullshit he did!"

I was intentionally not using-! "I'm not.. trying to be manipulative? I mean, I'm pretty sure that I've never lied to you-" And -let's be honest here- the number of people I've not lied to is pretty small. "-or tried to persuade you to do anything for my benefit-."

"Then what tha hell was that whole 'flicka of love' stuff?"

"Ah." I nod. "May I show you?" She eyes me suspiciously for a moment, then grudgingly nods. "Try to hold still." I send a filament through the air to her, touching it to her neck and interfacing it with her nervous system. Visual cortex… There we are. Swamp Thing might do this by altering Missus Holland's soul, but.. I.. don't think that's a good idea for me. Simple enough to share what I can see.

Harleen exhales suddenly as her visual field is replaced by mine.

"This is how I see the world. See you. And this is… The lowest intensity. See the colours beneath the surface…"

"Indigo and red. What's that mean?"

"Compassion and anger. Indigo is your strongest colour. Usually. I can.. see how annoyed you are by my behaviour."

"Then why'd ya do it? If ya know how it makes me feel, why don't cha just… Not?"

"Like this I only see the colours that bubble to the surface. If I wanted to predict how… People were going to behave whenever I did something I'd have to look-" I hold up my right hand and drop it forwards. Within my visual arc so that she can see me doing it. "-deeper. And I don't like doing that unless I've got a good mission-related reason to do so."

"Deeper. I wanna see deeper. I wanna see what's so obvious t' you."

"You said you were sure that you wanted me to be blunt."

"Show me."

"Alright. Not sure this will come across properly." And I look… Under..? I don't know the words to describe it properly. If they even exist in English. Should probably talk to M'gann and find out how Martians talk about it. Though… I suppose they usually only talk about it with other Martians…

Under the red are threads of different colours leading off towards various other experiences. Standing in Belle Reve as she starts to believe that Strange was responsible, standing behind the door, listening as that woman takes me away because she's not important enough and more vaguely, wisp-images of why why why? And Strange smiling fondly and someone else I don't recognise and her useless lump of a brother-.

"Stop. Look… Look somewhere else."

I see the two of us walking along the streets of Gotham heading towards the wedding and me talking to her after we broke her out of the psychiatrist's office during the second break out attempt and us having dinner in that restaurant in New York and then she's having dinner with Strange-.

"I jus' wan'ed one relationship with a guy that wasn't a total mess." Her eyes stare at nothing as she starts crying again. "Was that too much t' ask?" I disconnect, floating closer as she blinks and focuses her attention back on me. "Was it?"

I… Um. I float right up to her and hug her, my arms going up her back and my hands on her shoulders. Her head rests on my right shoulder, leaning into my head. "No. No it isn't. But… You're looking for any sort of stability. Not for a loving partnership. And that is… Actually… What I want, ultimately. And… In your case… I don't… You know that your relationships with men have generally been unhealthy. I don't think another dominant man is really the solution you need."

"Oh yeah? What do I need?"

"A friend? One you don't need to sleep with or slave away loyally for in order for your life to keep making sense." I shrug. "Today was just supposed to be pointless fun. I wasn't really…"

"We're jus'… Gowin out flyin'… Fer fun."

"Yeah, I… I've been flying with most of my friends… You seemed to like the idea…"

"An' tha weddin'… You didn't even think that was a date, did you?"

"It had a certain date-like quality. But most of the people I might have invited have secret identities and.. so.. can't be seen with me in certain circumstances."

She pulls back slightly. "You shuwer you ain't jus' afraid of commitment?"

"Yes, completely. I have total awareness of my desires. I have no fear of commitment at all."

"Youwa bein' literal, ain't you?" She snorts as her nose starts to run-. I raise my right forefinger, a wave of orange cleaning off her face. "Oh. Thanks."

"Are.. you.. feeling..?" I don't really know to carry that sentence on.

"I dunno. Given my track rec'rd, maybe friends is bettah." She sighs. "So what yeh sayin' is, I need t'be comfortable bein' me befowah you'd even consider havin' a romantic relationship with me."

"No, it's more than that. Last time I was in this position-" I share my own recollection of Holly's inner self at the time-.

"Wait, two girls? Seriously?"

"The-. The point I was making is that… See that violet? Right. That's.. my guide to 'this relationship is a healthy one'. A genuine commitment of… At least one person to another. You've got.. blue and orange, hope and avarice, but that… Looks like it's because you want the world to work a particular way, the idea that that way is right."

"An' whats youwa violet light look like?"

"No idea. I don't know of any other Lanterns who can do what I can, and I've got.. other things that would make looking at me difficult. And just in case you're wondering, no, looking in a mirror doesn't work."

She nods, looking down at the forest below us. "I ain't sayin' youwa right and I ain't sayin' youwa wrong. An', yeyeah, I was more lookin' forward t' the idea of you bein' there in the mornin' than…" She trails off. "Huh. So, youwa turnin' me down 'cause you don't want me… What, bein' dependent?"

"You could put it like that."

She nods. "Sounds like somethin' I should be grateful aboud. But I'm mostly just annoyed." She sighs. "I wasn't expectin' a therapy session either."

"I… Really should have… Come up with a better way to put that."

She folds her arms across her chest. "So. What'd we do now?"

"Well, you appeared to get the hang of high speed flying back there. Why not keep going?"

"I… Dunno…"

"Come on. It's fun. And perhaps most importantly, you're completely under your own control up here." I tilt my head slightly to the left. "Huh?"

"Ahhhh…" She nods, the slightest hint of a smile appearing for the first time since I dropped my little bomb. "Fine. Race yah t' the trees?"

17th May
08:01 GMT -5

"Mister Grayven?" The young man who serves the same role as Charlie did on the West Wing… What was his actual job title? Chief gopher… No, probably something vaguer. Personal assistant, maybe. Anyway, Irvine does that sort of thing around here. "The President will see you now."

"Thank you." I get up from my chair, return it to subspace and follow him in the direction of our meeting room. Obviously I know where President Horne and General Lane are, but I don't mind observing protocol if there's actually some point to it. It's like the chair. Protocol calls for me to wait at the President's pleasure, instead of having me get a call when he's available and opening a hush tube to whenever he is. But I'm huge and threatening… Or possibly just really interesting, so it's bad for me to be standing the whole time because people stop what they're doing and start staring. So I sit somewhere out of the way in a chair I made myself, because I weigh two thirds of a tonne and some of the chairs around here are expensive antiques.

Bit of a palaver, but it makes getting on with these people a little easier. I'm strange, but… What was the line from Nineteen Eighty-Four? Follow the small rules and you can get away with breaking the big ones. Though, perhaps given what happens to the character who said that…

The door we're approaching actually has a keypad and some sort of junior vault door between it and the corridor. Ah, a properly secure room. In fact…

Weak security measure as these things go, Corpsman. Still, this is a primitive species. At least they're making an effort.

Lead lined walls, sound dampening technology and a weak… Sort of force field. Not as secure as the version the Light use but it should easily fulfil its purpose. Ahead of me Irvine enters his code and allows it to scan his iris. There's a 'ping' of approval and the door unlocks. He takes hold of a lever, pushes it down and pulls the door outwards slightly, sticking his head around the door.

"Show him in, Irvine."

"Yes sir." He pushes the door open the rest of the way, holding it open for me. It's a bit of a tight squeeze -they usually have to open both sets of double doors for me to get around- but fortunately I just about fit.

I nod to him. "Thank you, Irvine."

He nods back, then looks over to his boss to see if there's anything else he wants. A slight shake of the President's head and Irvine backs out of the door, closing and sealing the door behind him.

I walk over to the table and take my accustomed seat next to General Lane. President Horne is sitting at the head of the table with his Chief of Staff Adrian Myer on his left. As a foreigner and a… Non-exclusive agent, there are parts of these meetings I'm not privy to. Not many things, and since they include me in most of their discussions I do them the courtesy of pretending that I don't know exactly what they've been talking about when I'm not here. It's polite lies like these that make the world go around.

"Grayven." A thin smile from President Horne. "Good of you to join us."

"Wouldn't miss it, Mister President."

"Ah, Sam's been bringing me up to date on our.. research programs. Apparently.. you.. have some concerns?"

"Well. One of the things I raised with General Lane-" I look at him for a fraction of a second. "-was my concern about Major Zmeck. Now, I understand that you can't recant on his deal. He volunteered, his murder conviction disappears. But…" I shake my head. "Any plans to use him in any sort of public role… To say nothing of having him act as a national superhero… Nothing in his psychological evaluations suggests that he's changed his views or.. behaviour. I would be extremely concerned-."

"As it happens, I agree with you." President Horne nods. "The problem we have is that out of all of the sixty seven volunteers who went through the process, he and Captain Adams were the only people who ever came out. And while we might be able to persuade a similar number of terminally ill patriots to volunteer today, we would still have to wait forty or so years to see any benefit."

I shrug. "That's not going to get any less because you waited. And I really do think that terminally ill is the way to go, rather than condemned criminals. Frankly,-" I glance at General Lane again. "-you've been lucky that he's played along as well as he has. Even someone without a military mindset would be a better option than… Anyone else like him."

President Horne looks at General Lane. "Sam?"

"To be honest, Mister President, I'm not all that keen on continuing the quantum field experiments at all. We still have next to no idea what happens when people get exposed to it. We've no idea why they got the super powers that they did, no idea why they survived when all of the others appear not to have done. We don't even know much about how they do what they do. Frankly, the whole rig makes me feel like some sorta jungle tribesman playing with a nuke."

"And Major Zmeck himself?"

"We're stuck going into battle with the super soldiers that we have, not necessarily the ones that we'd like to. I don't think taking away his privileges would achieve anything useful. But, I see Mister Grayven's point. Having.. his.. identity… Leak… His victim's family are still around. All it would take is one photograph of him in his Human form getting online, and that's the end of any national program we tried to involve him in."

President Horne nods. "Well, that's that idea put to bed. I assume there's no commensurate problem with Major Adams?"

General Lane shakes his head. "Not at all, sir. To be honest, I think it's worth involving him further."

"I wasn't inclined to meddle with my predecessor's decision when having him as a semi-independent agent was working out so well. I don't wanna twist his arm, General. And the final decision is of course yours. But it would be very useful to have a familiar face leading the campaign."

"I understand, sir."

"Alright, moving on. This… SHADE business."

"I'm glad that Grayven brought them to my attention." He points at the holoprojector. "You mind if I..?" President Horne shakes his head and General Lane presses a button. "SHADE runs a certification program for the military… And federal agents and other law enforcement officials." Various glyphs representing the various agencies appear on the screen, the shield and three black stars of the Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive taking the centre. "Anyone who wants to learn how to deal with metahumans attends one of their courses."

"And how are they funded?"

"Essentially, that's it. They don't get any federal money at all. There are costs for their courses and.. they do consultancy work for just about everyone… Public and private." The corners of his mouth turn slightly downwards. "'Private' is where the problem comes in. I've had no trouble getting the SHADE agents-."

President Horne holds up his right hand. "Wait a moment, General. Are you telling me that an agency that gets no federal funding has the authority to empower federal agents?"

"Yes, Mister President. That's exactly what I'm saying. But that's not all. A good many of the agents my people questioned did not believe that their authority came from SHADE. They seemed to honestly believe that it was a paperwork thing… A technicality, while they were really part of whatever outfit they were planted in. That outfit picks up the bill for the staff. But, they send full reports of everything they do up the SHADE chain of command."

"There's a federal agency so secret that even its agents don't know that they're working for it?"

"That's about the size of it, sir. I made it pretty clear that as of right now they work for me, but that only gets me the agents we know about."

The President looks at him with clear disbelief. "And who was in charge of all of that?"

"I honestly don't know, sir. All of their reports get routed to the Pentagon and to a few secure backup servers. The people at the Pentagon are operating under the same conditions as everyone else. As far as they were concerned, they were contracted as civilian support staff who had to technically be federal agents. From there, we lost the trail. We've got data sharing arrangements with certain private third party agencies who do work for us. Metahuman containment, power harnessing, places like STAR Labs who do research on the equipment tech-villains use… Our best guess is that whoever's running SHADE accesses it that way." He sighs. "I've got people working on tracking everything down, but this has been going on for a long time and they've had plenty of time to muddy the water. Cover their tracks. Unless someone from their inner circle issues a command we can track back to them, I don't know if we'll get anywhere."

"God. A rogue agency." President Horne shakes his head. "Alright. Back off, General. No sense tipping.. whoever it is, off. Keep an eye on their people. Let them make the mistake."

General Lane nods. "Sir."

"Well, ah… Thank you, Mister Grayven, for bringing that to our attention. Next item. Supervillain work release."

17th May
08:38 GMT -5

"…realise that it's not what you want to hear, sir, but that's their final ruling." Mister Myers stops himself. "That is to say, that is the informal opinion of the Justices of the Supreme Court. And if it got challenged, that's where it would have to go."

President Horne nods solemnly. "So, we couldn't get the votes, and if we could get them it would just get struck down anyway."

"That's more or less the size of it, sir."

Horne sighs, head slightly bowed. "I was really hoping we could avoid-" He glances at me. "-another situation like Klarion."

I shrug. "Constitutions. Who'd 'ave 'em?"

Myers nods his head to the side. "We could try fighting it. If we got someone really bad convicted before they could hear the arguments, someone who wouldn't be aware of all of their legal routes, I doubt they'd want to order them releas-."

"No." Horne shakes his head firmly. "I'm not prepared to do that. I didn't become President to try riding roughshod all over the Constitution I swore to uphold. If absentia trials are off the agenda we'll just have to come up with something else."

I fan my hands out. "How about… Mobile courts? I could fly a judge and jury to wherever the malfeasant is, they could do the trial opening, then if the bad guy leaves then they've clearly chosen to absent themselves and there's no problem."

"Heh heh." Horne chuckles, nodding. "That's a great mental image, but I don't think I'd want to try whipping votes for the Bill to make that happen. General?"

"I'm not an expert on the legal situation, sir, but things are a lot simpler if we treat them as enemy combatants. If they're not US citizens and they're powerful enough to present a threat to national security on their own, I don't see why you can't issue an order as Commander in Chief that gets around all that." General Lane's eyes narrow for a moment. "That's not to say we're anything like ready to fight some of these people right now, but in five to ten years it could start to look a whole lot more realistic."

Horne nods. "I'm sure that the men and women of the US armed forces would do their best in whatever situation they were called upon. And I might find myself ordering something like that at some point, regardless of what either of us might ideally wish. But that still leaves the question of what we do with people whom we can only hold temporarily, or who are readying for an attack, or who have to be-" He looks at me again. "-lured out of hiding."

"Well sir, have you considered creating a third category? Someone who isn't an enemy soldier or a civilian criminal?"

Horne sits back in his chair, giving General Lane his full attention. "No General, I have not."

"Sir, the laws which govern how we wage war were drawn up from the customs of medieval European nations who didn't have guns, let alone super powers. The sorts of challenge they faced are categorically different from the ones we face today. We aren't talking about the possibility of being conquered by.. Russia or by China. We're not talking about being forced to pay reparations, or accepting some sort of political restructuring. We're talking about people who would be perfectly happy to kill every last American citizen. We're talking about single individuals with no widespread support who can kill thousands of our people for no greater reason than their own sick personal pleasure. Or someone who can seize control of the minds of a body like the Justice League and send them out against anyone they choose. There are people out there who can equal or surpass the destructive power of nations. I don't think that we can continue to apply the same old laws to this situation. We could get a lot more leeway if the rules for dealing with these people were phrased in such a way as to be clear that they weren't being treated either as soldiers of another nation or as criminals."

"No." Horne looks almost… Tired as he says it. "No, General, I will not do that. I appreciate what you're saying and why you're saying it. I need to hear things like that sometimes, but… No. No matter how convenient it might be, that's not a step I'm prepared to take." He bows his head slightly, closing his eyes and touching his left fist to his chest. "Adrian, talk to some people about the military threat option. See what the possibilities are."

"Yessir. Ah. Sir, I'm.. getting some questions about this. People are asking where you're going. It hasn't gotten any real media attention yet…"

Horns opens his eyes. "I'll do a press conference once we've got something a little more concrete. At the moment, this is all just thinking out loud."

"Sir, I'm… Not sure that the House Minority Leader is going to see it like that. And I'm not sure the Attorney General will either."

"I'll brief Brian when we've got something to brief him on." He nods. "But you're right about Caroline. General? Mister Grayven? You have any particular problem with the Attorney General joining us?"

"No sir."

I shake my head. "I don't know the woman. If you think it's a good idea, by all means."

"Alright then. Unless there's anything else..?"

I nod. Hm. While I haven't reached a final decision on my continued Light membership as yet, I suppose that if I were going with my original plan… "There is one thing I'd like to raise, Mister President. Semi.. personal matter, but pertinent to our work. Have you been briefed on the League of Shadows?"

"I know of the organization."

"I'm investigating them with a view to ending them." General Lane raises his left eyebrow. "I have an informant on the inside. I'd like to be able to offer them… Not an immunity for testimony deal. If I missed even one Shadow their life would be over. A pardon."

"I assume that this person is a murderer?"

"Yes sir. There were extenuating circumstances regarding their recruitment and they want to leave, but… They can't. I realise that this is a big deal, and I'm prepared to work to get federal and state police into position to perform the arrests -eventually- rather than just handling the whole matter myself. You can make the announcements, offer information to foreign leaders and leave me out of-."

"Grayven."

"Mister President."

"Stop trying to bribe me. Getting those murderers is more important than my re-election. Don't do anything that makes it less likely that they'll all get caught just to try and make me look good."

"Alright… Well, depending on what stage General Lane's got to, having police, military and local superheroes in position should be perfect for the arrests. I'll be able to inform you better once I know more than I do now."

"Can I assume that your informant would be keeping a low profile after this? I'm not keen on announcing the end of the League if they plan to go on talk radio right after."

"Extremely low, Mister President." Because if I end up making that choice, Jade and I will be off Earth after a brief stop-off in Las Vegas.

"Then I'm prepared to agree. Conditional of course on the League of Shadows and most importantly its leadership ceasing to exist." He looks around the table. "Anything else?" The three of us shake our heads. "Alright then gentlemen. Thank you for your time."

General Lane and I get up first, and I let him be the one to operate the door. Keypad's a bit small for my fingers really. I follow him out into the corridor where he half-turns to me as we continue towards the exit. "You think I came over a bit strong in there?"

"No. He might, but he doesn't seem like the sort to get petty about it."

"No." His eyes crease slightly. "Y'know, when he was standing against McKeon, I didn't really think much of him. No military experience, kinda wishy-washy on defence. Didn't seem like the kinda guy I'd want running the country."

"And now?"

"Not sure I like him any better, but I sure respect him a whole lot more. Of course, him standing by his principles isn't going to make our job any easier, not where these trials are concerned."

"I doubt there are going to be that many. It's really more of a precautionary thing." A couple of White House staffers come around the corner, spot us -or rather me- and back up to let us go past. "I don't think I ever exactly asked you, but how do you feel about this whole superhero.. thing?"

"They're just a fact of life. Personally, I'd prefer it if they had some kinda oversight… You know, like they did in the Second World War. The All-Star Squadron. On the other hand, it makes me proud to be a citizen of a nation where private citizens are prepared to go out and serve their communities like that."

"Does that extend as far as your prospective son-in-law?"

"Heh." He turns his head away, theatrically rolling his eyes. "Ah, that guy. I'm sure not happy about someone as powerful as he is operating on his own recognizance, but I can't fault what he does. And Lois says I'm not allowed to shoot him, so I guess that working with him is the only option I have left. I understand you had some kind of falling out..?"

"Minor operational disagreement. I'm sure that we'll all pull together, when the time comes."

25th May
14:54 GMT +8

That was a fascinating experience. I've never attended a Chinese wedding before, and the obvious divergence from Christian custom -to say nothing of the divergence between the bride's expectations for the day of her marriage and those of her fiancé- are creating what must be a fairly unique set of circumstances.

Hu Guan -which apparently is either Ghost Fox Killer's actual name or the pseudonym she's decided to use- wanted an ultra-traditional Confucian ceremony. Or something very much like it. Some of the characters on the decorations aren't anything from the modern Chinese lexicon and the dress of the members of the bridal party isn't quite like anything the Chinese wore at any point in their history. No idea how they handled the 'getting her parents' consent' bit; I asked and her homeland is supposed to be totally off-limits to outsiders.

Fang Zhifu on the other hand regards Confucianism as a religion, something that he's supposed to frown on. From the way he occasionally glanced at the décor I rather suspect that he would have been happier with a registry office service.

I shuffle forwards slightly as the line approaching the happy couple moves very slightly. Only a few places to go. Lynne's bearing up pretty well, given how dull this must be for her. I'm dressed in a slightly sinicised set of old-style Apokoliptian court robes while she wears a delightful little pink number Father Box and I put together.

And then there's the third party to the wedding: the Chinese state. After all, Fang Zhifu is a major national hero and Hu Guan.. while less favoured in official circles, is a member of the Great Ten as well. Which explains why the decidedly Taoist Temple of Heaven has been closed off to the public for a week and why most of the guests were party officials rather than friends or family. During the ceremony itself the front row consisted of a group who I think were Ms Hu's parents and eldest sister, Mrs Fang and a picture frame standing in for the groom's deceased father, and then about sixty old men in grey suits. The second row wasn't much better, though at least a few of them were officers and officials actually involved in the Great Ten program.

That's actually how I picked out the bride's party: they were the only ones wearing the coloured robes who weren't part of the staff. I wonder what the official party line on her homeland is? Is it like Taiwan, or are they a little more realistic about a city in a pocket universe populated by people who can kill with a touch? Oh, that's the other thing that gives the bride's family away: the lack of exposed skin.

Fang looks good in the white and gold robes. Must be hard to find clothing in colours that work with his complexion, to say nothing of fabrics that won't get shredded by his dermal plating. Hu is wearing a red dress decorated in gold thread and including a frankly ridiculous train which has to be carried everywhere by a small horde of attendants. She looks… Happy, though. Off to the side I see their parents talking politely, while the siblings of the happy couple seem to be far more uncomfortable.

Line's moving faster now. I think that below a certain level, the party apparatchiks just want a photograph of them with the leader of the country's superfunctionary team and don't have anything much to say. Oh gosh, I should really have talked to someone about the diplomatic protocol involved… Anyone important behind me? No, just lower level functionaries. Ah, I'm sure that's supposed to indicate something, but what? I have absolutely no rank in the Chinese hierarchy. Most of these people probably don't know that I'm even involved with the Great Ten project. More than a few probably don't know who I am. Are the people at the front the most important, or are they just the ones with the highest rank and the ushers want to get them out of the way?

"…thank you for your kind wishes, Comrade Governor."

Fang physically can't smile, which gives him a perfect excuse for his expression. He also can't get physically tired any longer, though the way he's holding himself would suggest to someone who's spent as much time working with him as I have that he'd much rather be somewhere else. The Governor on the other hand looks delighted by the situation. Perhaps it's the prospect of going on a work-funded jolly? I haven't spent enough time in China to get any real sort of feel for how popular the Great Ten are in official circles. The Governor performs a short bow, then turns and walks away.

Huh. Taking most of the photographers and journalists with him. Looks like I really was first of the also-rans. An usherette beckons myself and Lynne forwards. Hm. Apokolips doesn't really have much of a marriage tradition. Certainly no one important enough for this sort of ceremony would be expected to do an epic meet-and-greet session afterwards. Meh, they'll probably overlook any minor breach of propriety as long as I'm a polite barbarian.

I steeple my hands in front of my chest and perform a shallow bow. Lynne glances at up at me and copies the action, then straightens as I do. "I understand that congratulations are in order on two accounts, Lieutenant Colonel. Long overdue, in my opinion."

"Do you refer to my promotion or to our marriage?"

I frown slightly. "Both, definitely."

"It is with your aid that the Standing Committee have been able to convince the high command that my.. alterations do not mean that my devotion has been undermined."

'There are no Durlans' may be on a level with 'we have always been at war with Oceania' as far as blatant lies go, but at least it makes a little more sense that the Chinese government doesn't want the fact that there is a task force of hostile metamorphs inside the country to become common knowledge. Officially, his body modifications are the result of an encounter with an alien vessel of an unknown type. While true at the time, they figured out that it was Durlan pretty darn quick when the rest of the investigation team melted. Some people need to know, most people don't.

I hold out my right hand and he takes it in his. There's a flash as someone takes a picture as we shake hands before I turn to his new wife. "Missus Hu." I extend my hand again. "You look radiant." And she actually does. Though I suppose it might just be because this is the first time I've seen her out of uniform.

"Thank you, Mister Grayven." She doesn't move her hand. Unlike the rest of her family, she isn't wearing gloves. I smile slightly, a pale glow coating my hand. Her life draining ability requires skin contact, but even quite a thin barrier is enough to prevent it from triggering. I had considered trying to tough it out with my divine resilience, but then I considered that she could kill Wotan and I'm not completely sure that I'm tougher than him. And dropping dead at a person's wedding is dreadfully impolite. She extends her hand and I rotate mine, raising it to my lips and miss-kissing her knuckles.

I release her hand and motion Lynne forwards. "And may I present my daughter, Lynne Wayland."

Colonel Fang nods politely. "Miss Wayland."

She bows again, a little nervously. "Congratulations, Colonel Fang. Missus Hu."

"Now, my gift to you on the occasion of your wedding." I reach into my robes and take out a small case, offering it to him. "Took a little time, but I believe that I've finally got to grips-"

No, that's fine Corpsman. No need to credit me at all.

Ploong.

Oh shut up, both of you.

"-with the control mechanism which determines the state of your skin." There's a slight scraping noise as Colonel Fang's face tries to move in shock for a fraction of a second before he clamps down on his feelings. "I'm afraid that I have no idea how to restore you -or if that's even possible- but if you attach what's in there to your epidermis, it should grant you a form which -while still metallic- will be a good deal more Human-seeming. Remove it, and the effect ends."

Colonel Fang's head doesn't move. I'm not sure how much is protocol and how much is shock. Given that his first fiancé broke things off because of his transformation there's a pleasant mirroring of circumstances here. "Thank you, Grayven. I shall treasure this."

"My pleasure. And as for your lady wife…" I make careful eye contact. "The matter which you requested that I investigate." Whether they could have children. There isn't any Human tissue left in Fang Zhifu's body, but like all Xeno-Team soldiers he submitted several blood and tissue samples before going on active duty. Her body is sort-of Human with a variety of arcane and semi-divine effects at work on it. There's no way they could have children conventionally, or even with conventional-level assistance. "Prospects look good. Let me know when you wish to begin a more.. practical study."

"Thank you, Grayven. I believe that can wait for a few months, at least." I spot Colonel Fang's eyes as they uncontrollably jerk towards his wife. I doubt that he's bothered by the idea of having children. I suspect he'd just assumed that it was out of the question for them. For him. "My husband and I will discuss the matter."

I nod. "Of course." I bow again. "May your lives together be joyful and prosperous."

27th May
21:18 GMT

"You're new! You're new!"

Ra's actually bends down, balancing on his toes and offering his right hand to the small pack of Tasmanian Tiger pups.

"You're new and you smell weird!"

One of the braver ones edges closer, extending its nose towards the proffered limb before losing its nerve and backing away.

"I never had the pleasure of encountering them in the wild. I visited the last of them as it lived out its last days in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. And now, here they are once more."

"It was a straightforward enough business, getting a wide enough variety of genetic samples to recreate them. But I should warn you, some of the other projects are not going quite so well."

He nods distractedly as one of the pups nudges another up the bum, causing the nudgee to turn and nip at its muzzle.

"Off! Not dominant!"

"Do you raise them yourself?"

"No, I abducted a small number of African Wild Dogs and they've been acting as foster parents." I glance upwards. "I've got drones on standby so that my work wouldn't be wasted if they.. realised that the pups aren't their own. And there are always Genomorphs around for problems requiring an organic intelligence." Under the direction of the G-Goblin Guan. "Obviously that means that their behaviour will be a bit off, but…" I shrug. "There aren't any better models for their probable-behaviour."

"You could not have had the Genomorphs implant the Dog's behaviours directly?"

"I could." I nod. "But I thought that it would be better to let them grow to maturity naturally, and I don't really have the space to use both techniques in parallel."

"No! Danger! Come away!"

The pup's mother yaps at them from the top of a small hillock, causing them to look around immediately.

"Foolish! Come away!"

And they're gone, dashing across the scrubland towards her while she keeps her eyes firmly fixed on Ra's and I.

He stands in a smooth motion, the faintest glimmer of a smile on his lips. "Neither tame nor afraid of Humans. So far as they are concerned, our civilisation never existed." He takes a moment to watch them go. "What do they eat?"

"The system introduces cloned prey animals at irregular intervals with simple organic computers in place of brains. They mimic some of the behaviours of the creatures they're based upon… Neither the Dogs nor the Tigers appear to notice a difference."

He turns to face me. "And your other work? I am particularly eager to hear of the Caspian Tigers. It pains me to admit it now, but I myself played a small part in them being driven to extinction."

"Bad news there, I'm afraid. I've got a selection of small enclosures inhabited by them-" I gesture towards the wall to my right. "-through there, but I'm afraid that I can't get enough genetic material to make them viable as a subspecies." For reasons I can't begin to imagine, those are Mister Tawny's favourite enclosures. "It may be best to simply accept that and use what material I have recovered to increase the genetic variety in the Siberian Tiger population."

"That is.. regrettable, but I suppose there are limits. How do you intend to handle the reintroduction?"

"Could be a nice ice-breaker with the Russian government. They're the one superpower I haven't persuaded to take me into their confidence… As yet. Otherwise, I could purchase an area of land and set up a sanctuary for them. No need to say exactly how they came to be, and unless a geneticist knew exactly what to look for it would be very unlikely that they'd think anything amiss." Ra's nods contemplatively. "There simply isn't space to reintroduce Tigers back into their former range."

"That is something of which I am painfully aware. Did you know that according to the Washington University the global population may well continue to climb into the twenty second century? It is entirely conceivable that it could reach double its current level… With all of the associated damage to ecosystems that brings. No, attempting to reintroduce them into their original habitat would be a senseless waste of your work."

I nod. That does rather lead me on to a topic I wish to investigate. Before I joined the Light, I gave the matter some considerable thought: which supervillains should be killed on sight and which could be retrained to do something useful with their lives. Of the Light, I rather assumed that Ra's was one of the ones who wasn't worth keeping around, but now? I'm less confident. Though he himself tends to prefer violent solutions to problems, and he's certainly proud… Yes, pot/kettle, but he's proven to be amenable to reason to an extent which his prior behaviour suggested was unlikely. And if I get to a point where I don't think killing him is productive, Brain is happy as long as he has science to do… That just leaves Savage and Mordru. Savage is loathsome, but at least he's rational. Haven't spent enough time with Mordru to really assess him. Aaaaand I'm going to have to, aren't I?

Ah, I'm genuinely torn. Going back to the League means… Okay, I get to associate with my friends in familiar circumstances, but the Light is responsible for any number of projects which will ultimately benefit humanity. The League are already Leaguing just as hard as they can. Adding myself to that won't improve matters noticeably, particularly as I can give them equipment now. And… Not a trivial issue, I find them quite vexing on a personal level. Going independent works, but the Light genuinely can do more together than apart. I just don't have the reach or the expertise to do the job my fellows do. If they're gone, then it won't get done.

No Lex means no LexCorp. It means reduced political influence, it means far less research and development and it means that the societal nudges that come from siting a factory in one place rather than another just evaporate.

No Brain means that we go back to near-Earth Prime timelines for advanced research, rather than the months it takes us now. No one can take things apart and understand how they work as well as he can, as STAR Labs demonstrate with their ever-growing backlog of projects they don't know enough to start, let alone finish.

No Mordru means no widespread reintroduction of magic into the world. There are other people who could do that, but none are good enough at what they do to become a Lord of Chaos.

No Ra's probably means no League of Shadows. As assassins, my people already outclass them. As an intelligence network they are irreplaceable, quite aside from any...

…

I'm an idiot.

"Ra's, do you have any particular investment in the current British government?"

"I have informants in the British civil service, and a good deal of blackmail material on their ministers. It's profitable, but not exceptionally so. Why do you ask?"

"Well…" I smile in what I hope is a disarming manner. "Last time I didn't talk through what I was doing with a member of the Light, Queen Bee died. I'd feel dreadful if anything like that happened again. I hate seeming incompetent."

A slight tilt of the head. I think he's curious. "You intend to act against the British government, then?"

"Yes. Not.. immediately, but in the not too distant future."

"I have Shadows in Britain, but they are not employed in the infiltration of the government. None of my core interests would be threatened by such an act."

I nod. "I would like to purchase your files. And… Offer compensation for the loss of revenue you will encounter when the blackmail material becomes irrelevant."

Ra's contemplates, then nods. "I'm willing to negotiate a price. I am, however, puzzled. Just what has Britain done that has so enraged you?"

"The Light exists to improve the lot of humanity. Not just through technology, but through social change. But, just as free markets must be tended to by the breaking up of naturally emerging monopolies, so occasionally a state becomes so vile and corrupted that only a thorough purge will solve the problem. Tending to the world's governments to ensure they are doing their jobs is something which I firmly believe we should be doing. And Britain is not."

"Such an intervention as you are proposing is fraught with difficulty. While I will make no effort to stop you, I would express the hope that you have properly thought this through."

"Oh, I'm still in the information gathering stage at the moment. But yes, I am firmly aware of what an attack from the outside does to a state, even if the current government is loathsome. I will take no action until I am sure that I have mechanisms in place to keep the state running, both in the short and long term."

"Removing uncooperative rulers is a field in which I have a degree of experience, Mister Grayven. When you get closer to the time, I would offer my services as a consultant."

"Thank you, Ra's. I may well take you up on that."

30th May
08:53 GMT -5

"Signed…" My pen moves across the paperwork which the Metropolis University's legal department had drafted for me. "And signed." I look up at the President of the University. "Anything else I need to sign?"

"No, no, that's perfectly fine." She coughs, then doesn't quite grab the paperwork from the desk. Still comes pretty close to 'picking up with indecent haste', though. "Since you're one of the trustees you'll have full access to the accounts, and major expenditures beyond normal day-to-day expenses will require majority approval-."

"I did… Read it before I signed it."

"Ofcourse. Of course." To be fair, I did just sign over an awful lot of money. She looks around the room, trying to think of something else to say about it. "I was impressed that you were able to get Mister Luthor interested in our work. LexCorp has made contributions in the past to our science and technology departments, but Paranormal Studies just doesn't attract the same level of interest."

"Mister Luthor lives in a city where a man flies around with his underwear outside his leggings." Her face sort of.. freezes up as I openly disrespect Kal-El's dress sense. I'm wearing a suit. "It's simply that the Centre hasn't had the assistance it needs to really progress its research work. Though I have no desire to insult the work they've done in helping individual metahumans deal with their abilities, that generally doesn't help the Human species as a whole."

"Oh. I'd… Rather got the impression that you were doing this for your.. daughter?"

I shake my head. "I'd have been generous for that alone, but what Doctor Williams and I have mostly been discussing is improving our understanding of the underlying mechanisms for metahuman abilities in general, not just in particular cases. Because -knowing what I know about the wider universe- I can tell you that what you have on Earth is not common. Just imagine if studies conducted here allowed everyone to share the abilities of the few fortunate enough to be born with them."

President Asplund frowns slightly, looking down. "I'm not sure I can. You mean a world where everyone can fly around like Superman?"

"No, no." I shake my head. "Superman's an alien. The only way you could give a Human his abilities is by turning them into a Kryptonian first. But perhaps like Geo-Force?" She looks blank. "Prince Brion Markov of Markovia?" A place the existence of which would bother me more if I remembered what shape Eastern European countries had back on Earth Prime. "If one Human can possess it there's really no fundamental reason why you couldn't all have it." She actually looks a little worried. "Of course, doing it the real-science way instead of the mad-science way takes a good deal of time. But if something's worth doing then it's worth doing properly."

"Well, I can assure you that the Center for Paranormal Studies will definitely be doing it properly."

I nod, smiling. "I'm sure that you're right. Now, unless there's anything else, I'd like to get back..?"

"I… Was… Wondering. Mister… Valjek?"

One of Queen Clea's court mages. Though she's not completely sold on the idea of developing the Greater Azores, she could see no harm in sending one of her people to study the lay of the land. And where better than America's leading magic research institute? "Oh, don't worry, I got all of the work visa stuff sorted out. There won't be any problem there."

"We.. had a few… People… Expressing concerns. Now, I don't share their prejudices myself, but-."

"Is this about magic?"

She exhales. "Yes. Yes it is. With the attack of Fawcett City being only a few months ago-."

"I was there."

"Yes, I… I know. And obviously we don't have to worry about the funding loss any longer, but having a lot of protestors outside the Center might encourage parents to keep their children away."

"The program which Doctor Williams and I discussed would not involve teaching children thaumaturgy." She looks blank. "Ah, the operating principles behind magic. He's here to offer advice on aiding those children who appear to have developed magic abilities spontaneously."

"Wait, spontaneously? That can happen?"

"There was a rather odd religious sect in seventeenth century France who believed that Elementals had no souls, unless they married a Human. The issue of those relationships occasionally manifest abilities relating to their arcane forebear." Which is odd to say the least. It would make sense if the Human half of the relationship was female as the Elemental could use magic to trigger parthenogenesis, resulting in a near-clone of the mother with added Elemental attributes. But the surviving records suggest that the Elementals were female. Ah, I don't really know enough about how Elementals work to know how plausible it is. "And then there are those who more or less fall over a magic technique and can't recognise it for what it is. You have a parapsychic currently here as a boarding student?"

"Yes, but he's never studied magic. Or at least there wasn't anything in his file."

"Magic is a part of this world, inseparable and inescapable. It doesn't go away because you ignore it any more than ionising radiation does. Every Human presently alive uses small amounts automatically, and a few luck into something a little more potent… Just by focusing their souls, by thinking in the right sorts of way. Or, to put it in more mundane terms… You can cut hair without ever having studied hairdressing."

"A-hah. I suppose that's true."

"Look, if it starts to be a serious problem I'll talk to them." That doesn't appear to reassure her. "And I'll ask Mister Zatara to have a word as well." Yes, that worked. "If you have any concerns about magic in general, Mister Valjek is the best person to speak to. That's literally his job, and I'm sure he can do a better job of explaining it than I can." I pause to give her the chance to reply, but that appears to have been sufficient. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to see Lynne before her class starts."

"Oh! Of course."

Father Box, hush tube. No sense deafening everyone.

Ploong.

I turn away from President Asplund and walk through the tube, out into the waiting area where Lynne has been waiting. I know that this place doesn't have a uniform policy for students, but I thought that dressing her in something a little more professional would help engender the appropriate mental attitude. I don't intend to have her do her normal schooling here, but it should help her adjust to an educational environment.

"All ready, poppet?"

"I… I guess I am. You're still going to be here, right?"

"For today, yes, I'll be in the building. I need to talk to Doctor Williams' researchers about the sorts of equipment they want to get to help some of your classmates." I kneel down and put my left hand on her right shoulder. Well, the index finger is on her shoulder. The rest just sort of hang over. "But that's only going to be for today, alright?" She nods. "Okay then. Now off you go. I'll take you home at three."

I lift off my hand and she turns away. Then she turns back and wraps her arms around my neck. I smile and hug her back. After a few seconds she pulls away, smiling slightly nervously, then turns and heads towards her classroom.

"…not even close to being worried, Agent Gallagher, so why don't you make like a tree. And burn to death." I turn to see Miss Selton turn off her mobile phone and… From the way her eyes widen I can only assume that she was so focused on her conversation that she didn't spot me until just then. "Ah. Hey."

"Good morning, Miss Selton."

"Lynne starting today?"

"Yes."

She nods. "Is she going to be here permanently now?"

"I'm.. not sure how long she'll be here for. Probably until the start of the next school year, with weekend visits thereafter. Homework permitting." Hm. "I hate to intrude, but…" I gesture towards her phone with my right hand.

"Government agent. This place was getting funded by his people, so I had to be nice to him. And now it's not, so I don't."

"Glad I could help."

She regards me for a moment. "Lynne said you had other superpeople living with you. Is that so?"

I nod. "Yes?"

"You interested in another?"

I look at her for a few moments. "Perhaps we should have a conversation about that."

30th May
08:59 GMT -5

"I don't remember my parents." Miss Selton moves her fingers over the surface of her coffee cup. "One of the social workers at a home I was living in left my file out one time so I know what they look like, but it was just a photograph. I could probably find out why I got put up for adoption if I wanted to, but-" She raises her right hand and a gout of fire leaps forth. I don't flinch. "-I can probably guess. I've been able to make fire for as long as I can remember and my control didn't use to be all that great. Maybe I burned down their house. Hm." She closes her hand and looks away. "Maybe they're dead, and I'm the one who killed them. I wouldn't have been old enough to know what I was doing… But I think I'd rather not know."

She shrugs. "I didn't get adopted. Might have been because I could set people on fire. Might have just been unlucky. One of my case workers read about-" She looks around the canteen. "-this place, and got in touch with Doctor Williams. I came from Vermont originally-." She slumps slightly. "Least, I think I did. Anyway, I got transferred here when I was eleven."

"How old are you now?"

She looks at me, right eyebrow slightly raised. "I thought you were supposed to know everything."

"I could hack your personal records. I'm asking you."

"Seventeen. Which is why Agent Gallagher's bothering me. My grades are…" She closes her eyes for a moment. "Okay. But there's no way I could afford to go to college even if I could get in. He wants me for some kind of research program."

"Isn't.. this a research program?"

"This is a school. I watch movies, I know what happens to people with powers who go to government laboratories."

"Point of information. I know the man who runs the United States metahuman development program. His name is General Samuel Lane, and I'm reasonably confident that he wouldn't be on board with dissecting people."

"I don't really want to be a weapon either. Just because I can set people on fire doesn't mean I'd like doing it."

All well and good, but fairly useless for my purposes. "Miss Selton, if I did offer you employment, precisely what did you think you would be doing?"

She shrugs. "What can I say? Lynne made working for you sound really appealing."

Awakened, with New God armour… She could be useful. But not all that much more useful than a well equipped lowlie. Her power doesn't make her stronger, tougher or faster. She doesn't have any particularly useful skills… And I don't have any personal obligation to her. "What exactly can you do?"

"I make fire. I usually throw it from my hands, but I can actually make it come from anywhere." She tilts her head upwards and blows out-. A ring of fire, as if she were exhaling a smoke ring. A circle of.. burning…

Sinestro, what the fuck?

A most curious phenomenon, Corpsman. Normally, a fire would require heat, oxygen and fuel. She appears to be able to bypass at least one of those requirements. The heat does not appear to be radiating away from the flame, but when I scan the fire directly it reads as being fifteen hundred degrees.

Stuff like this is why metahumans need to be studied. It makes no sense and yet is clearly happening.

On that we are in full agreement.

Father Box, any ideas?

Ploong.

Yes, I realised that.

"The biggest fire I ever made was a sphere about half a mile across. I can make them hot enough to melt steel, but I have to focus on it to do that. And obviously I can't be hurt by fire myself."

"Can you make it hotter than melting steel requires?"

"I don't know. I probably could, but that wouldn't be safe for anyone nearby."

Hm. Aside from the obvious combat applications there is welding, performance art…

"Can you turn fire off?"

She frowns, opens her right hand and lets fire dance over her palm for a moment before closing her hand and snuffing it out.

I shake my head, then take a ceramic bowl filled with copper chloride powder in methanol out of subspace. I tap my right index finger against the bowl and ignite it. "Can you put it out?"

"Kind of." She holds her right hand over it, the air around her skin flaring with blue fire. Then she closes her hand and the fire goes out, both around her hand and in the bowl. "I can't just turn it off, but I can consume all of the oxygen around it. That puts most fires out."

"Have you considered applying to work with the Metropolis fire service?" She gives me a weary look. "You seem to be reasonably physically fit, you're fireproof and can burn oxygen and so starve fires. You'd have a leg up with the fireproof thing alone."

"I don't know."

"Military or paramilitary work is the obvious application for heat generation. If you aren't willing to do that then there aren't many areas where what you can do is an advantage. What do you like doing?"

"I like using my power. I like not being forced to do things." She turns away, looking out of the cafeteria window. "What I want hasn't really been a big part of my life."

"How about performance arts? Some sort of dance routine which involved your pyromantic abilities?

"Dancing? I don't know how to dance. Not the kind people pay to watch, anyway."

"I might be able to help there. I have in my employ a species of telepathic Gnome-like creatures. If you want, they could implant knowledge into your mind. You could learn the moves of someone who had been trained in ballet since they were three years old, and it would take a few hours at most. A little longer to fully integrate it with your own proprioception, but it would skip an awful lot of learning."

"And what's the downside?"

"The G-Gnomes are kind of creepy if you're not used to them. And you may find them going into your mind disturbing. I know I would, I maintain flawless mental barriers at all times to prevent things like that occurring. Also, you would be quite disorientated during the integration process.

"That doesn't sound-." She blinks. "Wait a second. I could learn anything like that?"

"Anything known to someone the G-Gnomes could reasonably access and comprehend, yes."

"So I could go to college. I'd just need them to teach me math, science and English rather than whatever I needed for a job. If I got straight A's I could get a scholarship no problem."

"I.. suppose you could. I should warn you though: that's a lot of information you'd be taking in. The only two people I know to be taught like that were much younger than you are now. I can't guarantee how well it would work. And -from personal experience- I wouldn't advise going in for further education purely as a way of avoiding making a decision about future employment."

"I want to try it. If there's a risk, I'm fine with that."

"Alright. I'm pretty sure that you pass Gillick competency standards. I'll talk to the Genomorphs about setting the upload up. Anything else?"

"That agent guy I was talking to. Kurt Gallagher?"

"An irrelevance, really. I have regular meetings with both General Lane and President Horne. I'm fairly sure that between the three of us we can slap some sense into him if he bothers you any more." I shrug. "What agency does he work for, anyway?"

"His identity card says 'SHADE', but I don't know who they are."

"SHADE?" Hmm. "Now, isn't that interesting. Tell.. me.. more."

31st May
11:32 GMT -6

I had thought that I'd developed fairly thick skin-.

Heh. I smile a little at my own inadvertent joke.

I had thought that I'd developed a fairly strong stomach. When you stop blinding yourself to the horror of day to day life, when you clean out the insides of blood-soaked aircraft as I did in the aftermath of Roanoke, your capacity for visceral disgust simply stops being what it once was. Things are a bit strange for a little while… Then you adjust to the new normal.

Either that, or you have a psychotic episode.

Turns out that despite everything I can still be unsettled. The files Ra's gave me… This is some next-level stuff. I remember… There was a comic, the style reminded me of 2000AD. There was some sort of parallel universe invasion, and one of the super predators the attackers used would inject stimulants into its victims so that they wouldn't pass out from pain or blood loss as it ate them. Looks like it would have fit right in at the Caligula Club. Ra's -bless his cankerous soul- has really come through for me here. Pictures and video in decent resolution, far superior to what I'd been able to collect for myself. With this, having actual court cases and riding the wave of public horror to get things sorted has become a far more realistic option.

The meat of the investigations is even more interesting. Ra's had his people investigate the Geotroniks matter at the time, though things had already started to settle down before they got involved. Some poor sod called Julian Marrack apparently took the fall for the whole magic-side of that mess, and is currently a guest of her majesty. Seriously, Britain is sufficiently ignorant of what a magic user can and can't do that they bought the idea that a neophyte could cause nationwide rains of blood. As a former-Brit, that level of ignorance embarrasses me.

Wonder what Mordru would think about the idea of opening a school?

I mean, I think it's entirely too hopeful to think that he'd be up for it… Come to think of it, I know next to nothing about his resource base. Something to ask about when I speak to him.

Anyway, having evidence to support my accusations against the current elite is only half… Okay, more like a third of the equation. I've forwarded a list of names to Doctor Robbins and she can share it with the field team. Should narrow down the breadth of the investigation a little. Though… From what I've read, no one senior enough to become Prime Minister post-coup isn't implicated herein. Oh, I might accept a merely moderately guilty person I could control with an offer of a pardon, buuuut… I don't like it. If I'm making a clean sweep, I would want it to be a clean sweep. At the moment, that leaves me with a choice between my old friend the Member for Croydon North for the Conservatives, or some doddering old back bench socialist from Labour who probably shouldn't be let anywhere near the levers of actual power even in a caretaker role. Obviously the former is better… I just really don't want to give it to her. Particularly since I don't know that she'd respond in a positive way to being offered the role and it's something I'd need to plan with the lucky individual. Really, I'd rather offer it to Mister Talbot himself. The caretaker part at least, keeping the government running while the purge takes place. After that I don't really care all that much who-.

"Iname to Master. Come in Master."

I reach over to my desk's intercom. "M-. Grayven responding. Go ahead."

Curious about SHADE's involvement in the Centre for Paranormal Research, I detached Miss Amane from the ongoing mission in Britain and had her spend some time getting to know the children at the Centre. She really does have a wonderful way with people. The fact that she's about the same age as Miss Selton also serves to make them hanging out together seem less suspicious.

"We are being followed by a man with a very bad fake beard."

I frown. "Are you certain that he's not just a homeless person?"

"No, he is too healthy and the holes in his coat are too regular. And it really is a very bad fake beard."

I deactivate the computer I was working on. "Alright. Do you think he's going to try picking you up?"

I hear a giggle. "Master! I do not go with old homeless men or evil secret agents! That is a lewd suggestion!"

"'Pick you up' in the sense of kidnapping you. I don't want you taking unnecessary risks. You're fast, but you're not particularly resilient."

"No, Master. I do not believe so. We are in a public place."

"Alright, carry on. Let me know if anything changes."

"Yes, Master. Iname out."

Hmm. More likely a random agent rather than anyone significant. Still… "Grayven to Manchester Black." No immediate response. I suppose that if he's reverted to UK time it isn't quite-.

"Vera here."

"Chester not around?"

"He's not likely to be up much before midday. I'm not exactly fresh as a daisy meself, come to mention it."

"Completely out of it, or just grumpy?"

"What's this about?"

"I've located a SHADE operative who looks like he might be more in the know than the ones we've encountered so far. I'd like to have my field telepath around to do a little mental eavesdropping, but if he's completely non-functional..?"

"I'll 'ave to wake him up, won't I? Probably best you give him half an hour if you want anything intelligent out of him."

"Late night?"

"Werkin'. Talkin' to witnesses. Not somethin' we can do during the day. They might not be able to recognise us but I'm shuwer they keep tabs on their victims. And their families."

"Alright, give Chester a prod for me. No massive rush, but he needs to be available."

"Right you are, then. Vera out."

I deactivate the communicator from my end as well. Hmm. If this is just routine surveillance then I suppose that I shouldn't be too worried. SHADE -or at least this Agent Gallagher- must have known this was coming. I haven't made any effort to hide my interest in the Centre, so the fact that this might happen should have been on their radar. Or… Maybe it wasn't? If General Lane has forced the pure-SHADE parts of SHADE into hiding then their data-sharing might have been significantly impaired.

Someone assigned to tail a person of interest is unlikely to be particularly important. Would this Kurt Gallagher still be in the area? The tailing agent must have a way to contact his higher ups. If he does then I can trace it with my ring… Probably. Chester can't telepathically puppet people in a way that's even slightly convincing, so that's out. Orange… Uhhhh. Maybe? It would take a more subtle application of power than I'm used to, and I'm not… Hugely keen on using power I can't get back for at least another month…

I look down at the Sword of the Fallen where it sits in the sheath at my waist. Or… I could nip over to Okaara and kill Larfleeze right now, take the Orange Central Power Battery for myself… No. Still feels like losing.

I tap the computer again. "Call General Lane." Given that SHADE firmly lies within his area of responsibility I really should let him know what I'm up to. Is it worth checking in with my fellow enlightened about SHADE? No, I'm sure they'd have said something if I was getting in their way.

"General Lane's office."

"Grayven here. Is the General at home?"

"One moment, sir. I'll check for you."

Ah, the busy life of an éminence grise. You give yourself super strength and within a few months you're reduced to playing phone-tag with your allies. I most sincerely hope that I haven't risen to my level of incompetence…

"Grayven, what can I do for you?"

"I told you that I was taking over funding the Centre for Paranormal Research attached to the Metropolis University, didn't I?"

"That's where you're sending your daughter, right?"

"Yes. It seems that SHADE might have had an interest in the place. One of the students who will be graduating high school next year was being leaned on to sign up with them."

"That's outside their normal mode of operation."

"Quite. I was going to prod them a bit, see what falls out. I have a telepath in my employ…"

"Can you do it covertly?"

"No complete guarantees, but that would be my aim. Obviously, only senior agents are worth overt action against…"

"Did they threaten this student of yours?"

"She firmly turned them down yesterday and now there's someone tailing her."

"Alright then, go ahead. Keep me posted on what you find out."

"Will do. Grayven out."

31st May
12:41 GMT -5

"Seat's taken, fook off."

Chester doesn't even look around as he says it, though I do detect a little pressure on my mental barriers which suggests that he's trying to give me a suggestion. Or an aneurism. Or possibly both. He does have a record of lashing out at bystanders who interrupt his work.

"Yes, Chester, by me."

His head whips around. "The-?!" His eyes widen. "Gray?"

I smile. "What, you thought I only had illusory disguises for yourself and your sister?" A waitress wanders over with a notepad. "Tea, please. Darjeeling if you have it, Earl Grey otherwise." She nods. "Thank you."

Chester has his wits a little more about him as she walks away. "Wot, you not gonna go full ponce an' ask fer a slice a' lemon?"

"I'm trying to be a little more realistic." The work of Queen Clea's finest artisans can't quite disguise me fully. I still weigh two thirds of a tonne, and a sufficiently observant person might spot that objects I pick up move in ways they shouldn't as it tries to work the location of my hands and mouth into the illusion. But I look nothing like the Grey Hulk look-alike contest winner that I am, and I intentionally avoided looking like my pre-transformation self as well. My skin is dark brown, my hair and beard dark and curly and my suit is of a conservative cut. "Any news for me?"

Chester looks me over once more and then appears to shrug it off. "Fook all, cock. No one 'around 'eyeh's thinking about them."

"Ah. I suppose we must have missed him." Bothersome, but oh well. Sinestro, run a quick check would you?

The description was somewhat vague, Corpsman, but I can detect no one obviously observing either Miss Selton or Miss Amane.

A cup of tea in placed on the table in front of me. I look up at the waitress. "Thank you."

She smiles. "Enjoy your tea."

Sinestro, sound deadening.

As you wish.

"Grayven to Iname. If your tail has vanished then you may as well escort Miss Selton back to school. Remain on hand in case of incident."

"Master? He is still there."

Sinestro?

Nothing, Corpsman. Perhaps she's imagining it.

Show me her location.

An image appears in my mind: a map of the local shopping centre with two markers, one for Miss Amane and one for Miss Selton.

"Iname, where is this person relative to your location?"

"He is sitting at a table outside the restaurant opposite the clothing shop we are in."

A second 'window' appears in my mind. I see the restaurant, the people sitting both inside and out… I take a sip of tea. No one matching the description Miss Amane just gave me. But there's a gap where it looks like it would have made sense to put a table. Someone's being clever. Clever worries me.

But.

Whoever it is, they're just observing at the moment. It's worth knowing that they can duck both telepathic detection and power ring detection, but it isn't proof that anything else is going on.

"Grayven to Doctor Robbins. Put the Mountain in lockdown and give me status reports on all of my people."

"Why, what's going on?"

"Someone has found a way to duck my detection and I'm worried where else they might be."

"You wot? I left Vera back in-."

"Chester, panic is unbecoming."

He shoves his chair back, rising rapidly to his feet. "Open up a fookin' portal."

"All Genomorphs have reported in, Grayven. The Sphere is here with me. All bulkheads and energy shields are active."

"Good. Chester, I'm not doing that. They may be under observation, we may be under observation and my unarmed, unarmoured daughter may be under observation."

That gets through. "But we don't even look like us."

"If I can get a magic user then so can the opposition." I take another sip of tea. "Doctor Robbins?"

"Mister Tawny growled and Doctor Williams says he and Lynne are fine. Sunset's in her laboratory. Nothing from Vera yet."

Go or no-go. Go or no-go. In America I can count on government support. In Britain, that very much isn't the case. On the other hand, I feel much less hesitancy about hitting people I might encounter in Britain. Miss Selton told me that Agent Gallagher's people don't usually tail her. Ugh, I don't even know for certain that this person is from there. Of course, if Vera's just gotten into the shower and put the radio on…

I rise to my feet and put a twenty dollar note under my teacup. "Chester, go and talk to Iname's stalker. I'll check on Vera."

Chester strides away in the direction of the bothersome agent. "Yeah, I'll fookin' talk to him."

Nearest concealed location… I walk in the direction of the closest stairwell. Sinestro, show me Vera.

I would like to do that very much, Corpsman. Regrettably, I am unable to find her.

Last known location?

A picture of the house they're renting appears. No sign of damage… Nor of Vera Black or Geoffrey Talbot. Vexing.

Any spy satellites in position to take a look?

Not presently, Corpsman. I would also advise that acquiring one might tip our opponents off as to our ally's location.

They do bug sweeps whenever they return to the house. With the equipment I provided. So either I'll be hush tubing into a combat zone or I'll be hush tubing into a safe spot. I move behind the stairwell and out of sight of the rest of the shopping centre. Father Box, hush tube.

Ploong.

I stride through the portal, actively scanning my new surroundings.

31st May
17:45 GMT

A… Castle..? What?

"Who's this supposed to be, Kipling?"

Two men. One in military fatigues and the other in a trench coat. The military fellow is well muscled with pale skin and short, curly blonde hair. No weapons that I can see. The one in the trench coat has dark brown hair which is slicked back with oil and from the way one of the sleeves is lying against his side I'd say that he has only one arm. He's also wearing a long green scarf.

"This is the person who tried to portal to the target location. The spell isn't selective."

I take a moment to try to make my voice sound unlike myself. "Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

The man in fatigues steps forwards. "Major Derek Kelly. And you're under arrest."

31st May
17:46 GMT

Okay, something just threw the hush tube terminus off. Derek Kelly is Chester's former boss and squad leader with the jewel which makes him invulnerable embedded in his chest. And the other fellow… Willoughby Kipling. The arm is a giveaway. Chester didn't know much about him. From the way he described the man, I'd guess either 'intelligence operative' or -given the trench coat- hedge wizard. How best to handle this? My disguise is still functioning, so…

I switch to an American accent, and do my best to mimic an expression of outrage.

"On whose authority? Where the hell am I?!"

"On the authority of the British government, specifically the authority granted by The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act of 2001."

"I'm not a terrorist! I'm a child psychologist! What the hell is this?!"

Think I've got the American exceptionalist-entitlement thing down. It's so hard to judge…

Anyway, two people and what looks like a solidly built stone room. Nothing about Chester's description of Major Kelly made it sound like he'd be hard to evade. Or drop into a star. The man himself takes a step towards me and I step backwards… No, the hush tube isn't there any longer. Not a huge problem. This is presumably some sort of secure site and I'd have to come here and wreck it eventually anyway.

"And what exactly was it that led a child psychologist to meet a known international terrorist?"

"I don't know any terrorists, you crazy limey!" I take a step forwards, taking care to have a little fear under the outraged affront. "You let me get in touch with the American Embassy right now!"

Bit much? No, I'm going to assume that they aren't going to expect someone in this situation to be entirely rational. It would make more sense in their position to assume that any oddities could be explained by stress. Okay. Sinestro, scan our environment. I want to know where we are.

…

Sinestro?

…

That's.. not.. good. I rub my hands, taking the opportunity to feel my right ring finger. Yep, he's still there. Can't feel any damage… Hope it's temporary, whatever the problem is. If I were on my own I'd just call up the lantern, but that isn't really possible here.

"We aren't obliged to notify your embassy until you've been charged with something."

I cross my arms. "Well you're not getting anything from me until you do."

Father Box?

…

Oh, Humans are fucking hax! They somehow shut down a power ring and a Father Box? I want this technology! Or.. magic. It's probably magic. Okay, door is.. over there. Looks heavily reinforced but I'm strong enough to arm wrestle Kal-El. I shift my shoulders a little… Feels like my daiklave is still there. And -slight movement of my hands- so is the Sword of the Fallen. Would that bypass his invulnerability? Um… No idea, actually, and since his way of injuring me would involve him grappling me and then ramping up his strength Bruce-Willis-in-Unbreakable style until he can actually hurt me, I don't really want to stay within stabbing distance if I can possibly avoid doing so.

"Look, Mister..?"

And I'm actually wondering if I'd need to cover myself in grease to break his hold.

"Daniels. Calvin Daniels."

"We were expecting someone else to come through that portal. If you could just explain how you came to pass through it, we should be able to send you on your way a little quicker."

"I have absolutely no intention of-."

"One person on Earth possesses a portal like that, and his name is Grayven. Grayven is a known associate-."

I frown. "The big grey guy who killed Klarion? He's a superhero, not a terrorist."

"He's been associating with a known super criminal, and we believe that he intervened to rescue him from British police. We would very much like to know why."

"I don't see what that's got to do with me."

"You just walked through one of his portals. He isn't in the habit of opening them at random. This indicates that you have some sort of relationship with him, and that's more than enough to justify us holding you."

"That's just an assertion on your part, Mister Kelly. I don't intend to incriminate myself by discussing the matter."

He advances a few more steps, to within easy reach. He's probably trying to intimidate me, and if I were the civilian I appear to be it might work. He's a little shorter than my illusory shape but a good deal more muscular and moves like a man with a great deal of combat experience. I think he's going for 'reasonable, with a hint of menace'.

Bawhaahaa.

"The right against self-incrimination is a protection extended by the American Bill of Rights and that, Mister Daniels, does not exist in Britain. Now, come on. I'm not asking for much here. Surely you didn't just happen upon an alien portal device?"

Maintain the illusion… I look at his face, then around the bare room, then back to him. "Alright, I… Suppose there's no harm in telling you. Mister Grayven is employing me to help with his daughter. The.. portal.. thing was supposed to send me straight home. I've got no idea how I ended up…" I look around again. "Wherever this is. You people keep your supervillains in the Tower of London, don't you?"

The brickwork doesn't look right for the Tower, but nowhere else comes to mind.

"This is a… Little awkward, then." Major Kelly smiles uncomfortably at me and then turns away. "Just sit tight while we confirm your story and.. then.. we'll let you go."

"Don't you dare pretend you're being reasonable about this! This is kidnapping! I am gunna sue your ass so hard your children get born in debtor's prison!"

"Crown immunity, Mister Daniels. Questioning you was a perfectly reasonable step in our investigation." He walks over to Mister Kipling and the two of them put their heads together. "What the fuck?"

Ah, the joys of enhanced hearing.

"The spell was set up to transfer the terminus of any portal that formed at their safe house to here. There wasn't any way to know in advance who would come through. Just fire a cruise missile at the house and stick this man on the next flight back to the US."

Interesting. If it was him who turned off my technology then he clearly doesn't know that it's happening. I think that can happen… Or maybe it's a property of the room?

"I'm not prepared to authorise anything that overt. Not yet. Our friends aren't keen."

"Then use the Left Eye on him, pump him for information and then dump him somewhere. This isn't complicated. He knew Grayven was a killer when he got involved. I'm surprised you're being this squeamish about it."

Left.. eye..?

"I'm not being squeamish, but there are practical concerns here. Father T-."

"Oh, shit or get off the pot, man. Are we questioning him or letting him go?"

Major Kelly's fatigues rustle slightly for a moment and then he turns around. OBEY.

"Just one or two things, Mister Daniels." OBEY.

"Oh, what now?" I don't think so.

"Are you aware of any action Mister Grayven may be planning or have planned against the British government?" OBEY.

"Ahh… No?" The pressure to obey, to supplicate myself before him continues. But I'm a god, damn it. My metaphysique is stronger than this enchantment. And compared to the Anti-Life…

"Are you aware of any of Mister Grayven's activities outside of public knowledge and your professional relationship?" OBEY.

I shake my head. "No, not really."

Mister Kipling's eyes widen. "He's faking! Praecantatio terminalis!"

The stone around my neck holding the illusion enchantment cracks and falls to the ground, revealing my true form.

Ah well. I draw my swords.

31st May
17:51 GMT
OBEY!
Major Kelly takes a half step backwards. There's no fear, I'm simply too big for him to see all of me while that close.

"Fuck."

Mister Kipling is a good deal less sanguine. His eyes dart towards the heavily fortified door before deciding that, no, he can't make it.

I lunge forward, bringing my daiklave around to slash at Major Kelly's face. I know, invulnerable, but people say that about Kal-El and I know for a fact that he isn't-.

The sword is nearly jarred out of my hand as the blade stops dead the moment it connects with the left side of Major Kelly's face. The man doesn't even move.

Then his eyes narrow, and he smiles. "Incomplete briefing, alien?" He raises his right hand and then moves it across his face, palm touching the edge of my sword and pushing. I…

I try holding it in place as he continues smiling, calmly looking me in the eyes as he pushes. I.. can't. Sinestro. you there yet? No? Fine. I take a half-step closer and he rolls his eyes, putting his left hand out to arrest my motion. My own left hand darts forwards and shoves the Sword of the Fallen into his abdomen.

"Ttttth' fuck?"

His left hand drops as he doubles over, suddenly a great deal less confident. Okay, good. I pull the Sword back before stepping around him and heading towards Mister Kipling. "I want some answers, and an exceedingly good cake."

"Hyaah!"

He shoves his right arm forwards, some sort of amulet in his hand. Thin bands of pale blue light flicker out, washing over me. I feel my daiklave getting pulled away from me towards the small red gem in the middle of the amulet, and I'm going to assume that if it gets there that I'm not getting it back again. There's a slight… Something across the rest of my body, a vague poking, as if something were trying to get a hold of me but not being able to grip... The spell effect. I stopped bothering wearing a ward because my ability to resist external magic with my own spiritual resilience outstripped the defence that a ward could provide me with. But my daiklave incorporates Apokoliptian technology; it should be just as resistant as the rest of me.

I narrow my eyes as he tries wiggling the amulet as one might twiddle an aerial in an area of poor reception. "Informative." Wizard on standby and advanced xenotech mysteriously failing suggests magic based preparation. Which means… All I need to do is push my nature into the daiklave harder. The drive to dominate, to conquer, to tear my foes' works asunder and supplant them with my own!

The tron lines on the daiklave glimmer, and the blue strands from the amulet collapse.

"Oh bloody hell."

"I'm told it varies from case to case." I raise the daiklave. "But I'll happily send you to check unless I start getting some answers." I smile cruelly. "And that ca-."

Arms around my neck! Squeezing!

"Shouldn't have taken your eyes off me, alien."

Fuckingfuckeronmyfuckingback!

Mister Kipling drops the amulet, backing away from me as fast as he can without taking his eyes off me. I stagger right, twisting around and throwing myself backwards against the door to the room. There's a clang, but Major Kelly's stranglehold on my neck doesn't weaken. Alright, not a magic life form and that wasn't an immediate kill-stab. He could still be bleeding out but -eugh- his grip is still just fine. Environmental shield's down, which means that I do actually need to breathe.

I reverse my grip on the Sword of the Fallen and stab behind my back, trying to cut him again. He squirms, trying to keep away from it. I think I'm nicking him, but my own bulk is working against me! I can't get a good hit! My throat's not in danger of being crushed until he can move, but I'm still gasping for air!

I turn, swinging the daiklave through the metal of the door and the stonework surrounding it.

"Kipling! Stop him!"

"Oh, and exactly how am I-" I lean backwards and kick with my right foot, sending the door skidding backwards into the vaguely insectoid guards on the far side and bowling them over. "-supposed to do that?"

"Not going to plan, boss?"

A female voice, emanating from all of the… Robots, the guards are robots, fine. I lunge, grabbing Mister Kipling by his coat and throwing him at them. Another stab and by pure fluke I think I hit an artery in Major Kelly's leg. Blood sprays outwards for a few moments and the man's grip weakens still further. A quick look around the room and-. The amulet Mister Kipling tried using on me. It's on the floor. Doesn't look damaged.

"Whenever you're ready, Dolmann!"

I make it two steps towards where the amulet lays before the first robot cannons into me, jet engine firing from the wing unit on its back. I'm thrown across the room, Major Kelly still clamped around my neck. The force of the impact is nothing like enough to injure me, but it does force me to stop stabbing the bastard. As I fall I clumsily swing the butt of my daiklave around and score a glancing hit on the robot, knocking it aside. Either the pilot or its own AI recognises that they're not on target any longer and they cut the rocket motor as they plough into the wall a little way to my left.

Then my face hits the floor. Gah, gruh! I push myself up onto my knees and immediately am forced to swing the daiklave to cut through another robot. The blade passes through its carapace cleanly, piercing the -bah!- fuel tank, which is immediately ignited by its own rocket flame! I blink, trying to get the burning liquid out of my eyes but not able to drop my weapons to use my hands. Through the smoke I see two more humanoid outlines as-

"Attack!"

-a pair of robots charge through the smoke, riot shields in their right hands and some sort of spray gun in place of their left. I charge, rising from my crouch like a sprinter as the fucker's hands go over my eyes aaaagh!

Can't… Fucking…

I keep going, turning sideways and slashing at where I remember the robots being. I think.. something is coating my left side, but I feel the feedback through the daiklave as blade meets metal. Another slash gah! Turns out… Having someone with super strength fiddle around inside your eye sockets is quite painful! Okay, think I hit the second one there. Amulet should be that way…

I hear the roar of another rocket and slash… Agh! Missed! Something, probably another of the insect robots, strikes me in the chest. I brace and bring my daiklave's hilt down on it, smashing it to the floor and causing another explosion to wash over me. This won't work. Okay, hopefully the amulet is still roughly where I think it is. Need to get there now. I leap upwards, twisting in the air so that my feet meet the ceiling and pushing off while upside down. Half a second later I crash down in what I hope is nearly the right place, stone shattering beneath me and I listen.

Major Kelly swinging forwards over my head distracts me, but I think I heard the noise of metal against stone to my right. Before he can recover his position I slam my daiklave point down into the floor, push him forwards with my now free right hand and slash with the Sword of the Fallen.

"Huuuuuurhhh!"

Wetness and meat fall past my left hand in the Sword of the Fallen's wake, Major Kelly finally being forced to release me. Okay, based on past experience it could be hours until I get my eyes back. Too long to wait. I toss my head, hoping that some of the burning fuel in my eye sockets is shaken free. Then I sheathe the Sword of the Fallen and start feeling around on the floor for the amulet.
Heal.
I can't tell quite how hot the room is, but it should be hot enough to throw off infrared sensors. The fire should also make it impossible to see me normally. Conventional munitions aren't a worry even now; being blinded is a pain and it hurts but it doesn't threaten my existence. I feel an edge-. No, just a stone fragment. Okay, and… That's an intestine.

…

I yank it as hard as I can, then throw what's torn off in my hands towards the other side of the room.
Heal.
I feel around some more. That's robot debris… Not sure if making noise is really a problem here, but ahah, got it! Probably. I stand, sliding my feet around and trying to feel where whatever's left of Major Kelly ended up. The intestine was there and-.

"Not that easy, alien!"
Heal.
OOF! I'm down on my back. I think he grabbed my foot.
Heal.
"Been a while since anything's hurt me, but you can't keep me-!"
Heal.
I thrust what I hope is the amulet in the direction of his voice. "Hyaah!"
Heal.
I feel… Something from the amulet.
Heal.
"Oh, motherfu-!"
Heal.
His voice cuts out suddenly, the amulet vibrating in my hand.
Heal.
I take a deep breath, tasting the burning fuel and smoke around me.
Heal.
Then I rise to my feet and grab my daiklave.

31st May
17:54 GMT

My eyes are shut, but something is trickling down my face. Eye goo? Blood? I don't think it can be rocket fuel; it isn't on fire. The heat isn't really a problem for me… Not yet at least. I might suffer from oxygen deficiency eventually but my insides are nearly as heat-resistant as my outside. My neck aches and I'm sure that if I could see it I would see Major Kelly's fingerprints gouged into my flesh.
Heal.
Fortunately, the pain from my abused neck is being drowned out by… Agh… The pain from my eye sockets. Not at unanesthetised autodisembowelment levels yet, but the day is young.
Heal.
Stay here or get moving?
Heal.
I'm in what I presume to be a castle. One maintained by the British government as a black site. The castley bits of castles aren't usually all that big, so charging out of the doors and smashing my way along the corridors is certainly a viable option. On the other hand, there are almost certainly more robots out there. There may also be regular Human soldiers -only a concern in the sense that killing them might make me look bad- and metahumans of various sorts. I.. am.. in no shape to fight someone in my weight class.
Heal.
I'm not sure exactly how much of the British super-establishment is on board with Project Evil, but… Even those who aren't would probably be on board with assisting in stopping me if they find me rampaging around a secure facility. Doubly so if I'm dripping with the blood of their countrymen. Of Chester's associates, the only one who really worries me is Tri-man. Super speed and super strength are difficult for me to overcome at the best of times, and.. now… Isn't. Fortunately for me, he has Thundermind's problem of being too much a public figure to be able to disappear for long periods of time. A call has probably gone out, but it'll take him a while to get away from whatever's occupying him and.. then travel here…
Heal.
On the 'stay put' side I've got Father Box and a power ring that are currently non-functional. If I can change that then I can either escape or -my preference- wreck havoc upon the deserving. Sinestro?
Heal.
…
Heal.
Nothing.
Heal.
Okay then. "In blackest day or-. Uhuh-uhuh."
Heal.
I wince, then gasp as that involves putting pressure on the damaged tissue around my eyes in a way they are not shy about sharing with the rest of me. OWFUCKINGOW!
Heal!
Okay. Talking out loud is a no-go for now.
Heal.
The flames… I think they're dying down a bit. I don't remember seeing any flammable material in the room, so it's just the quick-burning fuel, robot remains and… Probably Kelly-remains and my eyes.
Heal.
When this is over I'm going to be on my third pair of eyes! Thirty years I lived with one perfectly good pair but I'm on this stupid Earth for a couple of months-!
Heal.
I stab my daiklave into the floor and check myself over with my hands. Something stuck on the left side of my torso… Maybe on that side of my face as well, but I have no intention of prodding it to make sure. The robots had some sort of glue spray? It's still sticky in places while in others it's set like rubber and.. across my left arm it appears to have been burned and crystallised. Heh. If I could see what I was doing, I could use it to put a protective cover over my eye sockets, but then… If I could see what I was doing then I wouldn't need to.
Heal.
No other injuries in evidence. I pick the daiklave up once more and cautiously make my way towards the door. I'm getting a little short of breath as well. The room.. didn't look well-ventilated. Can't hear anything much from the far side-. I nearly trip as my right foot bumps into something. I crouch down, feeling… Part of a robot, I think. There's no chance I could repair it or use it as a weapon like this, but maybe… I grab hold of something on the chassis that feels load bearing. As a shield, it's inadequate. As a projectile, it's… Better than nothing.
Heal.
I rise to my feet. Okay, door should be about three metres that way, nearest wall should be there. I could just stride out of the smoke looking like a killing machine, but I'm.. just not feeling it at the moment. I swing the daiklave slowly, trying to use the flat of the blade to determine exactly where the wall begins… There. I stop to listen again.
Heal.
Nothing.
Heal.
I swivel my waist, preparing for the throw. One… Two… Three. I bring my left arm around and hurl the remains of the robot down the corridor outside. Then I listen. No shots, no yelps and no frantic scurrying to the side. Either whoever is there is exceptionally well disciplined or the corridor is empty. Right then, best foot forwards. I step to the side so that I'm standing directly in front of the opening. I should be visible now. No, still nothing.
Heal.
I step forwards one pace. Then another. As I pass through the opening there's a slight drop in temperature and an equally slight rise in air quality. Running my left hand along the wall I can feel the lumps of stone I sliced through when I cut through the door's anchor points earlier and that is the door itself. Worth picking up? I crouch down, feeling it with my left hand. It's not resting flat on the floor, there should be a handle… My probing hand encounters a wheel mechanism. That should do for the moment. I heave it upwards, metal scraping against stone as it comes upright. The wheel turns under the door's weight before stopping at its furthest extent.
Heal.
Mm. Very awkward. I'm just about strong enough to hold it in place, but the grip is decidedly suboptimal. No, have to make do. I hold it so that it covers a good deal of my chest, then extend my daiklave like a blind man's stick. Which it literally is, I suppose. Tap, wall over there. Tap, wall there too.
Heal.
With me removed from the field, command defaults to Doctor Robbins. The Mountain itself should be perfectly secure, with both technological defences and with the muscles and claws of the Genomorphs. I may have sent Chester to assist Miss Amane but I'm reasonably confident of her ability to look after herself if it comes to it.
Heal.
The one I'm really worried about is Lynne.
Heal.
The Centre for Paranormal Research isn't a military institution. There are a couple of security guards, but they're there to throw out nuisance visitors or protestors, not fight paramilitary units. Against untrained and unarmed metahumans, walking up to them with a gun and shooting them dead before they know what's going on is a perfectly viable technique. And if they can shut down a Father Box they can almost certainly shut down her telepathy.
Heal.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
And sure, if anything happens to her then this country can forget about a smooth transition of power as I run through Westminster like a blender… But that wouldn't bring her back.
Heal.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
Why did Major Kelly refer to me as 'alien'? I mean, yes, I am… Father Box?
Heal.
…
Heal.
Okay, I'm not an alien, but I've been telling everyone that I am and I certainly look like one. Why the heck is that a problem for him? Everything these people know about Apokolips comes from me. Doesn't it? They wouldn't know that they should be worried about an Apokoliptian unless I told them, and if they don't trust me why would they trust my information about us not being trustworthy.
Heal.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
Maybe he's just speciesist. I mean, alien is three syllables, saying my name would actually have been-.
Heal.
"Hello, alien."
Heal.
I stop, turning my head in what I think is the direction of the voice. "Miss Dolmann." Owowow. Fight through. "Would you be so good as to point me to the exit? I've been kidnapped by men of low character and I fear for my safety."
Heal.
"We're going to get you. You're in a secure facility and extra forces are en route. You can't escape."
Heal.
For a moment, I consider doing the 'I'm not locked in here with you' line. But my throat really hurts. "'Kay."
Hea-. No. I try pushing my essence into Father Box, the resolute unflagging drive to conquer married to the intellect to do so intelligently. Nothing.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
I start walking again. I wonder if I can sense the magic in this structure? Maybe get some idea of where things are? My magic-sense is pretty much limited to 'there is a concentration of power here', but even that-.

"You're going to die, alien!"
Heal.
"Y-. Yep. You said."
Heal.
I rest the knuckles of my right hand against the corridor wall and try relaxing my grip on my own body. Can I.. feel.. anything..? Ugh, sort of. There's power here, but it appears to be all around in more or less uniform strength. It probably isn't, but the distinction is too subtle for me to detect. Drat. I bring my daiklave back to the ready position and start walking again.
Heal.
Then I hear the roar as another rocket fires.

31st May
17:57 GMT

I turn side on, holding up the door-shield and bracing the metal against my shoulder and left leg. I didn't really get a good look at the corridor when I cut the door free, but I think it was straight-.
Resist.
FSHOOM.
Resist.
The first rocket hits the door, flames exploding against the metal and expanding outwards around the edges. Incendiary? That won't be a problem, then. I inch forwards.
Resist.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Resist.
More air is displaced, but there's little heat. Not sure what that was. Smoke, maybe?
Resist.
BANG!
Resist.
Something strikes me on the cheek. Not.. hard… I bring my right hand around and feel the inside of the door. There's a noticeable dent on my side adjacent to my face. Anti-armour? This door must be pretty darn well armoured to take that. Okay, anti-armour rockets can hurt me, but they would need repeated strikes in the same place to do much more than bruise.
Resist.
Hitting my face right now… That would be bad.
Resist.
I try picking up the pace, but the fact I can't see where I'm going is constantly making me hesitate. I hear another 'fwoosh' and move to the side, raising the door-shield slightly in the hope that if it's another anti-armour rocket it'll hit somewhere else.
Resist.
Instead, there's a comparatively slight impact and then a slight pushing. Don't know what that is. Push forwards-. Ah, there's some sort of sticky material on the floor. Nothing like strong enough to hold me in place but it's slowing my already glacial pace even further as I'm forced to push harder and shove.
Resist.
Some sort of hard foam? More of that glue stuff? No idea. But I think I'm.. past it.
Resist.
Tap. Tap.
Resist.
Okay, take a risk. I accelerate to actual walking pace, daiklave dragging along the wall. Hopefully, when I reach an opening it'll be one on both sides.
Resist.
A different noise this time, followed by a hissing I know indicates a gas weapon. I'm pretty much immune to conventional poisons but I still need air. If all of the air around me gets displaced and I can't get my environmental shield back up I'm as stuffed as anyone else. Faster, then. I accelerate to an awkward jog, my right foot kicking what I think was a gas grenade forwards. After two more steps I encounter it again and this time kick it harder, listening for the sounds of it striking something. Klink, klink, roll and klunk as it stops. Assuming that was in more or less a straight line…
Resist.
This could hurt.
Resist.
I run forwards, trying to judge the distance.
Heal.
"I can see you, alien."
Heal.
The daiklave stops scraping as I try to zero in on the voice.
Heal.
"Let's see how you handle this!"
Heal.
Okay then. I leap in the direction of the voice, daiklave thrust forwards. There's a series of fwooshing sounds from my direction of travel. Someone's dumping their rockets.
Unstoppable!
I can feel the backwash as the majority go wide and the thump as two don't. More than a few people have assumed that someone my size would have to be slow and clumsy. In actual fact, divine aura plus super strength means that I'm pretty darn fast!
Triumphant!
I bring the daiklave around where the voice was coming from, feeling it bite into metal and shear through! Excellent! And… Now I'm falling? The daiklave is still cutting through something..? I strike out with the door-shield, getting a 'clank' sound for my trouble. Okay, something big and-.
Heal.
And that's the floor. I hit it at a fair old clip with no warning to allow me to bend my legs. The brick comes off worse. There's a feeling of space around me but no movement from the air in front of me. I lunge and slash with the daiklave. The edge bites metal and slices through, the slight jarring sensation being easily absorbed by my hand.
Heal.
I have no idea what I'm fighting. Big robot? Mech? Golem? No, not a Golem, I can hear electricit-.
Heal.
Doouf! Something heavy just… Landed on me.
Heal.
"I'm going to kill you, alien!"
Heal.
"Good for you."
Heal.
Still hurts. Okay, she didn't sound particularly shaken up so I'm going to assume giant robot full of missiles. I push upwards, trying to either find an edge or at least push it aside. Risk of self destruct? Eh, it's probably got a scuttling device around the clever stuff but I doubt it has a built in nuke or anything. If it has, it would have fired it. And the rockets activating within their launchers won't do much more than knock me across the room… However far that is.
Heal.
Still, better safe than sorry. I bring my daiklave around and slice at what I believe to be the chest of the probably-robot. The blade passes cleanly through, then I stab it into the stone floor and feel inside the groove with my right hand. Armour… Half an inch thick. Okay, stab with the daiklave, then shove hard.
Heal.
I hear clanks and the shriek of metal against stone followed by a sudden bang. That must be where the wall in that direction is. Okay, so the cell was… That way…
Heal.
"OPEN YOUR GOD DAMNED EYES AND LOOK AT ME!"
Heal.
I could respond with 'TOGTFO', but that would involve talking. And using internet memes as banter is beneath me.
Heal.
I can't hear any 'fwooshes', so I'm going to assume that nothing else is in position to shoot me. Instead I stalk in the direction her shout comes from, swinging my daiklave back and forth in a way which I hope looks like I'm being menacing instead of just trying to stop myself walking into a wall.
Heal.
"LOOK AT ME!"

Door-shield up.

"LOOK AT ME!" / "LOOK AT ME! / "LOOK AT ME!"
Heal.
From different places that time. Okay, either there's three more robots or she's worked out that I'm navigating by sound. My left foot brushes against a decent-sized piece of debris and I stab the daiklave into the ground, dip down, pick it up and turn, hurling it in the direction of the furthest of the voices. One , t-. There's a complex sound, a crumpling followed in quick succession by a smash. Okay, that was most likely a wall-mounted speaker. And… More debris. She knows that I'm not looking…
Heal.
I pick up pieces of debris and throw them in a compass rose, trying to get an approximate idea of the shape of the room. A few dozen clangs and clunks later I've worked out that I'm in a rectangular room about ten metres by twenty. From the sounds of it there are other doorways, but from their placements I'm going to guess that they just lead to other cells. This definitely isn't the Tower of London. Those cells are far more cramped.
Heal.
Clang, clang, clang.
Heal.
Ah, excellent! That sounded like it hit a stair and bounced down a few steps. Sword waving again I head towards them. A bit odd that a room this big doesn't have any furniture, but I think I'll assume that they cleared it out. Nothing… Nothing… Wall. Okay, run the sword along the wall until… There!
Heal.
Heh. I'm feeling rather pleased with myself here. Ambushed, blinded, and I'm still going to get out of this okay.
Heal.
"You're too slow, alien!"
Heal.
She needs a new hobby. Advanced robotics are something I'd like it if Humans did more work on, but if all she's doing is building weapons I think I can live with myself if I kill her. I tap the daiklave against both sides of the staircase. Stone walls, and fortunately not spiralled. Plenty of room for me. Steps are… Okay, feels like the distance is even. I can afford to go a bit faster.
Heal.
"Now you're going to be trapped in here forever!"
Heal.
…
Heal.
…
Maybe I should go a little faster.

31st May
18:04 GMT

"Let me out!"
Heal.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
Not sure exactly what was supposed to happen that would result in me getting trapped, but as far as I can see it hasn't mat-. As far as I can hear it hasn't materialised.
Heal.
Tap. Tap.
Heal.
The pain in my eye sockets has died down considerably. That might mean that I have eyeballs again, but the pain hasn't gone and it still doesn't… Feel quite right. Think I'll leave it for now. My throat on the other hand feels hunky-dory.
Heal.
"You utter arseholes! Let me out of here!"
Heal.
Tap. Swish.
Heal.
Open air? I swing the sword around a few more times, feeling out the edge of the space. There's an opening in front of me which appears to emerge out of a wall. There's a slight movement in the air, though whether it's from a well-ventilated room or from the outside I genuinely can't tell.
Heal.
Hmm. So, my choices are: one, follow the wall around until I find out the size of the space or two, call out to the desperate-sounding Mister Kipling and have a chat. Jumping towards his voice sounds unwise; he's my only source of input since Miss Dolmann stopped taunting me. And he's nothing like as tough as her robots, far more squishable.
Heal.
"Excuse me, Mister Kipling." I take a few steps forwards, door-shield held to my side. "May I have your attention for a moment?"
Heal.
"Oh, it doesn't matter. What do you want?"
Heal.
"A cake would-."
Heal.
"I'm not getting you a cake! Don't you understand what they've done?!"
Heal.
"No. I'm not even entirely certain who 'they' are. I didn't start any of this."
Heal.
"What do you mean, you didn't start any of this?"
Heal.
I shrug as best I can with both hands occupied. "I thought I was going to be fighting SHADE today. I had my lure, I had my people in place… And then one of my operatives fails to report in and the next thing I know, here I am."
Heal.
"Vera Black is a wanted fugitive and her brother is a serial killer! You're planning on overthrowing the government and taking over the country!"
Heal.
Hm. Yes, yes, yes… No. Not even in the short term. Why.. would.. he.. think that? Actually, why would he think that I was planning on overthrowing the government? Sure, I threatened to do that if whatshername didn't buck her ideas up during that committee hearing but that's about as far as I got. How closely have they been keeping tabs on me? Okay, so they might know that I've been investigating things, but Ra's has had people doing that and they don't think he's planning to take over the country. They're just paying him the hush money.
Heal.
"No I'm not. I mean -no offence to your country or anything- but that's a bit small potatoes for me."
Heal.
"Then what are you planning?!"
Heal.
"I'm planning on taking over the planet."
Heal.
"Ha! Then maybe it's for the best that we're trapped."
Heal.
"Not sure I follow you."
Heal.
"We can't get out, you fool! All your plans are for nought!"
Heal.
"No, I got that. What I don't understand is why me becoming ruler of the planet is a bad thing. If you could just… Talk me through the reasoning…"
Heal.
"You-? You want to discuss it?"
Heal.
"Do you have somewhere you need to be?"
Heal.
"I was planning to try and find the wine cellar and drink myself to death, actually."
Heal.
"It's actually quite.. hard to kill yourself in a short timeframe by drinking wine. I mean, spirits, sure. But with wine..? If no one was helping you, you'd probably lose consciousness before drinking enough. You'd certainly lose the hand-eye coordination required to open the next bottle."
Heal.
"I'm going to try."
Heal.
"Alright, fine, but.. my question?"
Heal.
"What's so hard to understand? Mankind does not want to be enslaved to an alien tyrant, to have our home world used as the base for an alien empire!"
Heal.
"Okay." I put down the door-shield, propping it up against the wall behind me. Then I return my daiklave to its clamp on my back. "This is just me, right? I mean, my brother and sister in law were here when I first arrived and I haven't brought any other Apokoliptians with me."
Heal.
"And?"
Heal.
"So: I, the Emperor of Earth, would be an alien. But all of my lieutenants would be Human… All of my military officers, all of my directors of industry and all of my civil servants would be Human. Research scientists: Human. My own daughter and heir: Human. So how exactly is this Empire that is made almost entirely of Humans.. an alien empire?"
Heal.
"What?"
Heal.
"I mean, you're basically saying that an alien can't be Emperor because he's an alien." I take a small risk and frown slightly. "Are you a racist, Mister Kipling?"
Heal.
"J-." There's a pause as he tries to come up with an answer. "No, of course not. But you're still trying to overthrow the British government and it's our job to stop you."
Heal.
"Mister Kipling, if either Father Box or my power ring were working right now I would show you the sorts of things that your government officials get up to, and it would turn your stomach."
Heal.
"Is that enough to justify Black killing our Members of Parliament?"
Heal.
"Four rapists, two paedophiles and a cannibal? Yes, I'd say so."
Heal.
"W-? No, that's preposterous. They can't possible have covered up so many criminal acts."
Heal.
"They didn't. They hushed it up. I've got the evidence. I just wouldn't be able to find anyone to do anything about it. That's why I'm sheltering Chester Black. And preventing him going off half-cocked."
Heal.
"Prove it."
Heal.
"Alright. Unlock my power ring and I will." He doesn't immediately respond. "If you're so sure that we can't get out -and while you're drinking yourself to death I will be making an attempt- then it can hardly hurt."
Heal.
"It-." I can just about hear him sigh. "I can't. I worked the spell I used to interrupt your portal into the castle's defences. Hostile artefacts that it has been applied to won't function while they're in here."
Heal.
"So I can't show you the thing I need to show you in order for you to help me get out until we're already out." I nod. "Tricky."
Heal.
"Oh, no. Screw 'em. I'll help you get out regardless, as long as I'm included in the escape plan."
Heal.
"Oh. Bit of a.. change of heart there."
Heal.
"Thought I might as well put a brave face on a hopeless situation. I'm actually fairly self-interested."
Heal.
"Drinking yourself to death?"
Heal.
"If I go down then I'd take you with me. But -between you and me- I'd rather not go down at all." I hear another sigh. "I mean… Look at that."
Heal.
"Look at what?"
Heal.
"Maybe it would help if you opened your eyes."
Heal.
"Sadly that's impossible. Major Kelly crushed my eyeballs. Could you please describe it?"
Heal.
"You ever see the film 'Labyrinth'? With David Bowie?"
Heal.
"Yes?"
Heal.
"Like that, only made of castle. The man who first enchanted this castle designed it so that it could disassociate itself from reality if it ever became overrun by one of his enemies. It's castle to the front of them, castle to the rear, castle to the up and the down and the round and round. An infinitely repeating mile cubed."
Heal.
"Oh. I'm rather sad to be missing it. Sounds like an amazing visual spectacle."
Heal.
"It's just stone. The problem is that nothing in here can affect the outside."
Heal.
"Can things outside affect.. this..?"
Heal.
"They can turn it off, but they're not going to. I'm sure that I'm perfectly expendable."
Heal.
"But things from outside can come here?"
Heal.
"Some things, yessss…"
Heal.
"Then we may as well keep ourselves busy seeing if we can scavenge parts for a radio from Miss Dolmann's robots."

31st May
18:23 GMT

"Which doesn't help me at all, because I don't know what a germanium diode looks like!"
Heal.
"Okay, that's fine." I nod. Not unreasonably, Mister Kipling's background is in magic -and English literature, curiously- and not electronics. I only know how to put an ersatz radio together because Richard thought it might be important for us to know. "I don't suppose the robots have aerials anywhere on them, do they?"
Heal.
"I'd have spotted that."
Heal.
"Wall mounted communication devices?"
Heal.
"There are tannoys on the walls in a few places. Are they any use?"
Heal.
"Might be. I don't know much more about this than you."
Heal.
"Oh, what good does it do? Do you really think that something as simple as radio waves could breach our dimensional bubble?!"
Heal.
"No, not really. But once we have a working communications device of some sort I can wire in the Transferral Node from my sword and that will allow us to listen in to my allies' communication devices."
Heal.
"Transferral Node? What's that when it's at home?"
Heal.
"Apokoliptian technology. It lets me connect a device to my soul. Did you notice how your amulet thing pulled my sword for a second or two and then lost its grip?"
Heal.
"Not specifically. I was busy trying to plan out my next move."
Heal.
"Alright, well, without that, my big sword is a nasty bit of kit but it's still basically a sword."
Heal.
"What's so special about it?"
Heal.
I reach back with my right arm and take hold of the hilt before releasing the clamps and bringing it around to my front. "X-ionised edge with Nth metal chasing. Nothing sharper or more resilient in the universe, and that's leaving aside the force field disrupting properties. The Apokoliptian construction of the rest lends resilience and resistance to magic and reality warping. Usually."
Heal.
"The spell should have stopped that."
Heal.
"Yes, it did. Fortunately I was able to extend my soul into it and push the effect away. It reactivated at full power immediately." I stab the daiklave into the stone floor. Alright, let's assume that the radio idea is a bust. "Do you think that you could funnel additional raw magic into me?"
Heal.
"Not enough to make a damn bit of difference. The castle is designed to keep all of its magic to itself. It took me months just to work out how to extend the weapon-nullification effect."
Heal.
"Can you reset it? Having my ring and Father Box back would give me a lot more options."
Heal.
"No, it's designed to resist that. Adding, yes. Taking away is a little beyond me."
Heal.
We both spend a few moments in silence, thinking the problem over.
Heal.
"Where exactly is this castle?"
Heal.
"At the moment? I believe it's a semi-stabilized portion of the Dreaming, though I could be wrong. The owner wasn't around to consult when our little company took possession."
Heal.
"No, I mean... Normally."
Heal.
"Western Scotland. Used to belong to a man named Cursitor Doom, but he was declared dead decades ago."
Heal.
"Any way to get in touch with him?"
Heal.
"Not as far as I know." I hear him move. "Not a bad idea, if we get desperate. If there is a way to get a message out, it would almost certainly go to him."
Heal.
"Why would we have to be desperate?"
Heal.
"He wasn't declared dead on a whim. Britain doesn't have enough competent wizards that we could easily afford to lose him. We searched, with means both conventional and arcane. Not a sniffle. What sort of weaponry does your Father Box have?"
Heal.
"None, so far as I'm aware. Why?"
Heal.
"Oh, it just sounded like an odd thing to call a gun. The spell should only affect weapons."
Heal.
I almost ask Father Box if he's been holding out on me. "He has an extensive database of weapons of various sorts. Would that set it off?"
Heal.
"No, or it would have shut off your brain as well. And mine, come to mention it."
Heal.
"Boom tube generation?" No, doesn't sound like it. "Matter reorganisation?"
Heal.
"Probably. If you remove the component that performs that function then it may start working again."
Heal.
"If Himon or Desaad drop by I'll ask them to do that."
Heal.
Hm. I suppose that now is as good a time as any. I hold out my right hand.
Heal.
"In blackest day, in brightest night,
Beware your fears made into light,
Let those who try to stop what's right,
Burn by my power, Prince Grayven's might!"
Heal.
…
Heal.
I wait.
Heal.
No, nothing. The ring's totally dead.
Heal.
"Poetic. What was it meant to do?"
Heal.
"Summon my personal lantern. But with the ring dead, it can't connect to the subspace pocket where I keep it."
Heal.
"And the fact that we're stuck in a pocket universe of our own doesn't help." He's not wrong. "I may have an idea. How much 'communication' has to be going on for your Transferral Node to function?"
Heal.
"No idea. Honestly, it was chancy with a radio."
Heal.
"Does it need to be physical, or would a spell suffice?"
Heal.
"Um. A spell might be better, actually. But I somehow doubt that you're powerful enough. No offence intended."
Heal.
"No, but… We have an intact speaker, we have bits of robot which presumably communicate with each other somehow, and we have a network of spells hardwired into the stones of this place. Given the dimensional nature of the trap, their size is effectively infinite. I hear that large aerials are useful in these matters."
Heal.
"Might be on to something there. Of course, we still need to actually find a way out, but it's a start."
Heal.
"With us trapped here Penny lost access to her drones. We don't have to worry about them attacking us. A few months ago she had me charm a couple of the smaller ones. I don't understand the circuitry but I remember her description of the components. If you cut one open then I should be able to salvage what we need for that."
Heal.
I nod. "Is there a nexus to the spell network on the castle? That would be the ideal spot."
Heal.
"Yes, Doom's workshop. We can set up in there after we get the parts we need." I hear his clothing rustle as he gets to his feet. "This way."
Heal.
Yes, a physical cue to the direction. Very helpful. Ah, fuck it. I have to open them sooner or later. My eyelids stick together as they haven't since last time I had an eye infection. I can feel some parts sticking more than others, and the slight tearing sensation as some of the stuck parts become unstuck. Flashes of brilliant white light stab at my brain through the narrow opening.
Function as I demand!
"Come on, y-. I thought you said Derek blinded you?"

"I undo my own injuries. Slowly." I keep them as near to closed as I can, peering around me. Slight degrees of differentiation appear, brown-grey and… Light brown-grey. "How do they look?"

"Like you had cataracts, then someone stabbed you. Can you see anything out of that?"

"Not much, but at least I don't risk walking into walls." I nod at the moving blob. "Lead on, MacDuff."

"The line is 'lay on'. Lay on, MacDuff. And since we're not charging an enemy it doesn't apply."

"Alright. Lead on Mister Kipling. And remember that I can survive longer than you without food or water."

31st May
18:32 GMT

"What did you actually… Ugh."

I try making out what Mister Kipling is working on. The image is a little clearer now, but I'm a way off getting fine details. "Problem?"

"No, no, done. I don't know how you plan to wire your sword in, but the robot and the speaker are thoroughly bodged together."

"Right." I reach back with my right hand, take hold of my daiklave and spin it before jamming it point first into the stone floor.

"Hey! Less fancy swordplay when you can't see what you're doing!"

"Not an option. I'm the Apokoliptian God of Conquest. When I perform spiritual acts I must do so in a thematically appropriate mode, leaving my mark on the stone." I bend down, feeling along the blade. Open.

"What did you do to Derek? I didn't think anything could hurt him any more."

"See the little sword in my scabbard?" Ah, Apokoliptian technology. The wires exist purely to convey the idea of connection. I detach one from the Transferral Node and then gently feel around for a suitable connection point on the object Mister Kipling has put together.

"Yes. Wasn't that what you used to decapitate Klarion?"

I nod. "It was made to slay the First of the Fallen. Sabbac Two used it to cut off Captain Marvel's arms. I have yet to encounter a creature it can't harm."

"I thought he was invulnerable."

"I don't believe in invulnerability. I was a bit surprised by how much punishment he took-."

"Oh, the Eye knitted him back together after every hit. I was wondering how you finished him off. Stab to the brain as you did with Sabbac? Or was separating his head from the gem enough to prevent further regeneration?"

"No idea. I was blind at the time, so I just used your amulet." I find a suitable attachment point and stand, both hands going around my daiklave's hilt. "Okay, I'm probably going to need your help making this work. Watch what I'm doing and nudge it along if you see an-."

"My amulet?"

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Puts us on a bit of a clock, yes. That thing is only designed to keep someone contained for a few minutes. The only reason why he isn't already free is because we're on our own demiplane."

"So did he get wiped or will he reappear the moment we break out?"

"The latter. Give it here, I'll see if I can-."

I shake my head. "I don't trust you that much."

"He'll know I've helped you. He won't consider saving myself to be an adequate excuse!"

"So are you.. going to ask me for sanctuary, or are you just planning on hiding and hoping it blows over?"

"As long as he doesn't see us together I'm sure that I can come up with something. He wasn't expecting me to actually fight you."

"I'll think about it. Now, let's focus on the job at hand." I tighten my grip around the hilt. This is the first time I've tried anything this complicated…

He was right. I can feel the daiklave, the robot parts and -dimly- the castle itself. Ugh, the minuscule nature of this false universe makes me feel unwell as I try to make sense of it. No, no. I'm not the God of Intellect. Think like a conqueror. I stop feeling out the pattern and pull. I have taken this castle! Slain or subjugated its defenders! By Right of Conquest this is my domain!

The speaker crackles slightly as I feel the castle trying to resist. Doesn't feel directed at me in any sort of complex way, just the resistance of any system already in motion.

"Allow me, Mister Grayven. Just a… Little… Alteration…"

And everything snaps into focus. I still don't know what the parts of the system do and I'm not about to try fiddling with them. I might hit whatever it is that is keeping my ring inactive and I might hit whatever it is maintaining this demiplane and dump us into the Dreaming. Or worse, the Bleed. Instead, I try feeling outwards, letting my Conqueror's Ambition run wild. I will take all that is out there! Summon My Vassals!

"…ast as me, but he is far stronger than I am."

My eyes snap open as I hear Miss Amane's voice. Come on, keep talking.

"Iname, the man you are fighting is almost certainly the British superhero Tri-Man."

Glad that Doctor Robbins is keeping things organised.

"A superhero? No, tell me what he can do!"

"Enhanced speed, strength and augmented vision. Don't bother trying to hide."

"Understood."

"And avoid lethal force if at all possible! The last thing we need is a fight with Superman as well."

"Yes Ma'am."

I raise my eyebrows at Mister Kipling. "Anything you feel like sharing at this juncture?"

"Compartmentalisation is the name of the game, I'm afraid. I didn't even know other offensive operations were being planned."

"Mister Tawny, report."

"Tawny?"

"My Tiger." Actually, what exactly does she expect him to say?

"Forgive my taciturnity, Doctor." What? That's.. his voice, but without my ring I shouldn't get a translation. Since when can he speak English out loud? "Fighting giant invisible robots is not as easy as I make it look."

"You have a talking Tiger?"

"Apparently." And how is he working a radio with paws?

"Is Miss Selton safe?"

"Giant robot, so, no. She's not injured, and-. Ah, one moment. Bally blighter's trying to get clever."

I turn my head towards Mister Kipling. "Giant robot?"

"The Brain has a monstrous chassis. I've no idea why they thought it was a good idea to deploy it in Superman's home city."

He's not that hard to distract. Had one or two plans to arrange for that to happen myself. "Giant invisible robot?"

"Presumably they want plausible deniability. Oh, you mean 'how is it invisible'?"

"Yes."

"Technology derived from Crandell's gauntlet. Not really my department."

This sounds like a fight I should be involved in. I mean, I suppose the point of having competent subordinates is that they can fight without me watching over them the whole time… "Do you know where Vera Black is?"

"As far as I know she's still in the house you were trying to get to. With Chester around we were limited to using robotic drones for observation and couldn't risk a strike team being anywhere near the place."

"Would anyone else using a hush tube to get there end up here?"

"Not now, no. Why, did someone come through before you?"

"No." Find My Heir. "How about someone leaving it?"

"Wouldn't affect them."

"Attack a fooking school fulla fooking kids, will yeh?!"

Ah, good. Sounds like Chester's in fine form. And looking after Lynne. Must remember to thank him. "Any idea why your people are going after the Centre for Paranormal Research?"

"None."

"Alright, sounds like my people are managing. Any ideas on getting us out of here yet?"

**Daddy?**

31st May
18:35 GMT

I drop my customary mental shield immediately.

**Lynne!**

"Ow! What are you..?" I ignore Mister Kipling, trying to focus instead on the flicker I feel from the soul now so similar to my own. "That's not going to work. Nothing gets out."

"Could you recreate this place from scratch?"

"… No?"

"Then clearly you don't know everything there is to know about it. Now, where would whatever arcane device is used to bring us back to Earth Sixteen be kept?"

"Earth what?"

"There are parallel universe versions of Earth, ours is Sixteen, don't question it. Where?"

"Ah… Either the Queen's House in the Tower of London or GCHQ. Or, maybe somewhere else. It was in the Tower when I saw it, but that was last year and they might well have moved it since."

"What, Grayven's heeyuh?"

"If he is, he's keeping dashedly quiet about it. LOOK OUT!"

"Manchester Black, if you don't have something useful to say then keep quiet. Mister Tawny, don't shout warnings over the radio. Lynne, what do you mean?"

"You know how he does that thing with Uncle Scott and Aunty Barda, where there's two different types of speech happening at the same time? It felt like that."

"What did he say?"

"I-. I didn't get any words. Just… I felt him."

Okay, good. Getting somewhere.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"I gave my daughter part of my soul. I had thought that doing so might mean that I count as being both here and there. Not that it does a lot of good if I can't get a clear message across."

"Curious. I didn't think that would…" Mister Kipling quietens for a moment. "But that could mean… Alright, if we're isolated from everywhere but the Dream -and that's testable- we should still be able to use that to send messages to the waking world. If we're careful."

"And if we're in the Bleed?"

"Then we can't, but as I said, it's testable. We just have to go to sleep, and I'm already trained in lucid dreaming and dreamstate manipulation. Of course, if we're in the Bleed, and we have no source of additional power, then this place will experience planar collapse once the protective spells decay. In which case we'd be fucked."

"And if we're in a little fold in the Earth's own arcane planes?"

"Thhhhen it will either naturally decay and return us to our starting location -though that could be over a very long period of time- or it could be permanent."

"I might be able to survive the Bleed for a little while, depending on when my power ring reactivates. But still, suboptimal."

To put it mildly. Apparently Desaad actually tried throwing lowlies in a few times to see what happened. He stopped because it didn't produce good data, but according to Father Box his studies suggested that a New God should be able to brace themselves against the raw chaos in much the same way we ordinarily reinforce aspects of ourselves. Sinestro's input on the matter covered what the Weaponers and Guardians knew: power rings can maintain your coherence, but it sucks the energy out of the ring very quickly.

"Do you have a magician working for you?"

"Yes, with contact details for more."

"Okay." I hear his footsteps as he starts pacing. "So, communication is possible. We just need to find a form this place isn't designed to prevent. Keep trying."

"Lynne, this is… Your father speaking. Can you hear me?"

"Have you felt him again?"

"No, not yet. I've tried talking like that before and I can barely do it. I'm not as powerful as he is."

Yet. Communicate My Will! "Lynne, hear-."

"I heard him again!"

"Okay, the trick is for me to be at my most-" Grayveny. "-godly. I have to be absolutely in tune with my domain, but I can get through."

"Morse code! We could try Morse code."

"Lynne's twelve! She's not going to know Morse code."

"No, but Chester will."

"I mean, she's probably not going to know that Morse code is a thing."

"Whatever are you teaching her?"

"I'm trying to teach her how to be a child." I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to ignore the visual distraction of blur-o-vision. "Look, I'm connected to the castle's magic networks. Can you make sense of any of it?"

"Even if I could, I don't have the power to-."

"Teamwork, Mister Kipling. You can use me for power. Do not abuse this privilege."

"Very well." I hear the sliding of cloth and a slight bump as he sits down. "Can I just point out the incongruity of trusting me with your soul and not with my own equipment?"

"Heard and ignored. Get to work."

He exhales steadily. "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao."

"Was that Uncle from Jackie Chan Ad-?"

"Concentrating here. It's a perfectly viable Taoist-."

"Fine. Sorry." I focus as well, expanding my awareness around My Bulwark. It takes a moment, but after a little effort I begin to recognise the patterns in the infinitely repeating sets of spells. Speak Plainly. And then… It's like they aren't infinite. I see it as one thing in infinite places, each…

That's actually quite beautiful.

"A-hah! Found something!"

"A way out?"

"No. But. Once I took a look at your connection to your daughter, I checked to see if there was anything else similar. And there is."

"Is there someone else here?"

"No, it looks like it's set to trigger automatically. If we're lucky, it's the thing which is connected to the system which triggers the isolation."

"And if we're unlucky?"

"Well… This place does have working toilets."

Ah. "Are there any other such triggers?"

"There are thousands of triggers. But it's the only one which looks like the one you made. It's probably a communication channel of some kind and I could spend the rest of… However long I've got until I die of thirst, trying to make sense of everything else."

"So the choice is..?"

"Unless you can subvert it in some way? Leave it on or turn it off."

Control The Communication!

I feel that part of the magic network become more… Quiescent, but that doesn't tell me what it does.

Answer Your God!

The link shimmers, telling me that it is working just as well as it can. That appears to be the limits of my ability.

"Turn it off."

I feel a slight tug as Mister Kipling uses my connection to cut the string.

"Notice anything?"

"No. Feel anything?"

A vague disquiet that my domain is now slightly smaller. "No. Let me know if-."

And I collapse to the floor as the whole network is yanked away from me.

31st May
18:39 GMT

Ow. Really ow.

"What in the name of unlubricated buggery was that?"

"Ow." Feels like a chunk of my soul just got torn off. What the fuck was that?

"I can't feel the castle! Grayven, get up! Or die!"

"Eh." I plant my right palm on the floor and push myself into a slumping position. "What do you mean 'or die'? How would that help?"

"I could probably survive for weeks if I had your body to eat." I hear him get back to his feet and dust himself off. "Longer if I freed Derek and cut the Right Eye of Zoltec out of his chest with your short sword. Or I could just free him and ask him if he has any way to return the castle to normal space."

My right hand trembles as I attempt to come up to all fours. "That would seem to involve less risk."

"What happened to you?"

"He trifled with things that would not stand to be trifled with."

I don't recognise the voice. Male. Sounds… Older. Upper class, in a BBC Radio 4 continuity announcer sort of way. I orientate my head in his direction, seeing a black blob with a pale strip running from the top down to the middle. "I generally find that trifling is all a matter of who has the bigger spoon. And elbow power."

"Curious. Though I think that I will prove that owning the kitchen comes with the greater advantage."

I don't have time for this. "Mister Kipling, who is-?"

"Doom?" He sounds confused. "Cursitor Doom? But you're… Dead."

"No, merely taking an extended leave of absence. And what, pray tell, are you?"

I frown. Thinking is… Hard. "He's a wizard, given name of Mister Willoughby Kipling. And who are you?"

"As Mister Kipling surmised, I am Cursitor Doom. And you are intruding."

"Not my idea. I was heading… To a house in Berkshire. My portal was interrupted." Wait, why did I just-?

"And your presence here was enough to justify casting it loose from its moorings in the material world and setting it adrift in the subtle realms? What manner of man are you?"

"I'm one who doesn't usually-" I stagger to my feet, right fist swinging in the blob's direction. "-answer questions this readily."

My fist stops dead against thin air. I didn't feel any pressure, nothing to indicate that I'd encountered a barrier. My arm.. just.. doesn't.. move. Eh? Oh, I am not having good luck today.

"Violence. The first refuge of the brute. That does not speak well for-."

"Excuse me, I was kidnapped and had my eyes gouged out while allies of the one who did it attack my friends and family and why am I volunteering information like this?"

"You flooded the mystic energies of my castle with your essence. But you failed to take into account that I -as the owner of the castle- had a superior connection to it. And the castle was more than willing to hand over to me every mote of the power which you impressed upon it."

…

Oh shit.

"You're holding a chunk of my soul." Not an insurmountable problem. A soul is.. after all, basically a magic energy construct. I've still got more than enough energy to keep me going and an hour or two in the mana infuser should top me up to functional levels. But in the short term it's going to leave me weak and…

Oh.

A magic user has a chunk of my soul. That means that he can do pretty much whatever he likes to me, limited only by his own knowledge. Again, there are ways around it, but they mostly involve sitting in a magic circle while your allies hunt down and off the blighter responsible. In a situation like this…

"What do you want?"

"I left the leasehold on my home to an ally of mine, a Mister Crandell. I knew that he in turn had passed it on to a group of specialists in the employ of the British government. I see by the expression on your face that you know what I have it in my power to do to you. I have never been one for senseless violence, but I will have an answer, creature. Who and what are you?"

"My name is Grayven. I am an…" I briefly try to stop myself and my jaw starts spasming as the words try to escape. "A-p-p-pokkkkoliptian New God."

"New God? And what do you mean by that?"

"A god is a purposive arcane energy life form. A New God is flesh and energy both. I am man and god both."

"You came close to subverting the protections I placed upon this castle with brute force. I suppose that there may be something to your claim. What set you at odds with your hosts?"

"They discovered my plan to-" I can't stop but can I steer? "-detain and punish certain criminals in the British government." It seems that I can. Useful to know. "These criminals are well placed within the establishment, and were able to prevail upon Major Kelly to act against me."

"You have evidence?"

"Yes. Lots. Not all of it of flawless providence, but yes."

"And they have no other concerns about you?"

"Apparently the fact that I'm an alien is an issue for some."

"And, ah… If I may, sir?"

"Yes, Mister Kipling? You have something to add?"

"He also became a close associate of the President of America and amassed a group of exceedingly powerful henchmen. He's also a close associate of several known supervillains. There was concern that his influence might not be entirely legitimate, or natural. Aaaand he threatened to guillotine the entire royal family."

"No, just those in the immediate line of succession. Also, what happened to teamwork?"

"I no longer need you in order to escape." I feel him pat me on the right shoulder. "Good team up, chum."

Motherfu-.

"Mister Grayven?"

"My medium term objectives coincide rather well with the President's concerns. I also have a great deal of knowledge he lacks, and that makes me useful. Yes, I give people superpowers. That hardly makes me unique, and I'm giving those under my command direction, guidance and instruction in their use with the aim of serving the greater good of… Everyone, really. I'm trying to persuade the supervillains in question to use their fantastic abilities in more productive ways than simply lashing out at those who attract their ire. It's a work in progress. I don't use mind control as a long term thing; it's an uncomfortable reminder of Apokolips and I don't think that the advantages outweigh the costs. A lot of the royal family are implicated in the misdeeds I spoke of and… It was really more of a threat than a firm plan."

"What did you intend to do with these… People, whom you say have committed grave crimes?"

"Kill the worst, try and sentence the rest as soon as the judiciary has been cleansed of those involved."

"I assume that you don't have this evidence you spoke of on you?"

"I have some. Unfortunately, I keep it stored on my ring and your anti-weapon charms have disabled it. Mister.. Doom. I would be happy to share everything I have with you, but I need to return as soon as possible. My people are fighting for their lives, and with my soul in your hands you have all the leverage against me you need. Please."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"That the very moment the attack against them is over I will attempt to block your power over me."

"And?"

"And then take such actions as to ensure that it can't be used against me."

"And that is all?"

"There are thousands of things I haven't told you, but nothing immediately applicable."

"Very well then, Mister Grayven. We will return to the material world. You will be under my close supervision. I would advise that you not disappoint me."

31st May
18:43 GMT

There's a sharp intake of breath from Mister Kipling. Was that it? My magic sense vanished with my spiritual force and I certainly can't see worth a damn. Father Box?

…

"Mister Doom, I'm going to need my weapons back. We need to get to Metropolis, and unless you can teleport us a boom tube would be-."

There's a sort of fizzing noise from my right side. OHSHITAMULET! I twist around, falling back to the ground as I try and grab it with my right hand. My fingers brush the surface and I flick it away just as quickly as I can.

There's a flickering from the far side of the room where I threw it, then a new blob appears.

"Mister Doom, I would very much like it if-"

"Nice try, alien. But whatever magic makes that knife of Sabbac's work on me, it doesn't stay worked."

"-we could leave now. Please!"

"Major Kelly."

"Cursitor Doom. Thank you for detaining the prisoner. I'll handle it from here."

"Major Kelly, I am afraid that I must question you concerning accusations made in my presence concerning the moral probity of the British government."

He's not…

"No formal accusations have been made, but investigations are continuing. This alien is sheltering a known murderer. Now, get out of my way and let me do my job. What is it, Kipling?"

"I'm not sure that it's the best idea to challenge a wizard in his own castle, Kelly."

"Major Kelly, I am not unfamiliar with the concept of a government conspiracy. Well intentioned as you may be, I am afraid that I cannot simply ignore testimony given to me under truth compulsion. Particularly when the one requesting the handover may well be implicated."

G-uh! "I have no specific evidence which suggests that Major Kelly is personally involved in the crimes which I am investigating. Though Chester's reports do strongly suggest that he has violated various national and international laws at the direction of the Home Secretary in the performance of his duties."

"Did you become a member of a British police or security service when I wasn't looking?"

"I'm afraid to say that I did not."

"Then I'm not going to concern myself with your opinion. Move or be moved."

I hear a series of rapid steps from the direction of Mister Kipling. Then a sort of woosh.

"Regrettable, but he will of course survive the fall. Mister Kipling, do you intend to join us or remain here?"

"Difficult question. I think on balance I'd rather stay. But if you could keep me appraised..?"

"That will depend on the result of my investigation. Mister Grayven? Your… Devices should-"

Ploong.

Corpsman, what just happened?

"-resume their function momentarily."

Ploong.

I know!

Plooong.

Yes, Yes. "Mister Doom, I… I can barely stand. Your magics only require the smallest part of my essence to cripple me completely. Could I please have at least a little back?"

"Very well, but I would caution you against the abuse of my generosity."

I wait for oh, that's better. I push myself up on all fours, then cautiously get my right foot under me and gently push upwards. There's a moment of dizziness and I hold my hands out to the sides to try and improve my balance. It passes, and I'm able to stand once again.

U-uhhh.

Right, quick check. Sword of the Fallen, check. Daiklave… Sticking out of the floor next to a gaping chasm. A gaping chasm whose bottom I can't see. Extra motivation -if any were needed- to be polite to Mister Doom. I pull the daiklave free and attach it to my back. Anything I'm forgetting? The illusion amulet, but that was broken and I don't think I'm in any position to make demands here. Any biological material I left down in the cell should have been destroyed by the fire…

I'm waiting for an answer, Corpsman!

Weapon nullification spell. Father Box, boom tube to the Centre for Paranormal Research in Metropolis. And see if you can do something about my eyes.

Ploong.

Alright. Sinestro?

Even now, your physiology resists me. A three dimensional map appears in my head. Better?

Yes, thank you. Father Box?

Boom!

Cursitor Doom regards the portal without much expression. "A curious technology."

I use Sinestrovision to check myself over. Bit of a mess. One quick wave of yellow and I'm presentable again, my eyes excepted. Doing my best to remain confident-looking I stride through the portal-

31st May
13:46 GMT -5

-and raise my ring to my right ear. "Grayven to everyone status re-"

"Master!"

"-port."

Miss Amane appears in front of me, looking somewhat dishevelled. "Master, where were you!? I was dreadfully worried!"

"Iname, where's Lynne?"

"Daddy!"

I turn, Sinestrovision showing me Lynne dashing down the corridor towards me, with…

Is that Mister Tawny? Yes, must be. The hulking Tiger-Man walks lightly down the corridor after her, his fur glowing faintly golden as it ripples in a nonexistent breeze. I kneel down and spread out my arms just in time for Lynne to run into my chest. We embrace.

And I breathe out.

A few seconds pass like that. I hate not being… Able to react to things.

"Grayven."

I tilt my head upwards in the direction of Mister Tawny's face. "Mister Tawny. That's a new look for you."

"I've been spending some time in the mana infuser." He holds out his right paw-hand, razor sharp claws extended. "A curious sensation. I think bipedalism could grow on me."

"Casualties?"

"We took a few hits, nothing to create a scene about. Tri-Man is being transported to Stryker's Island and the central cognition unit of the giant robot is being held by the Special Crimes Unit."

"What about the bystanders?"

"A few broken bones here and there. And various minor injuries. No deaths."

I frown. "No Superman?"

"Busy with something or other."

"The rest of the League?"

"Hawkman got in contact but Doctor Robbins told him that we had things in hand. Apparently there's been a bit of a spate of attacks today."

Behind me, Cursitor Doom walks through the boom tube, which shuts down behind him. Mister Tawny turns his head to look at him, then returns his attention to me. "Why don't we pop back to the mountain for a bit of a note-comparing session?"

31st May
18:58 GMT

"Oh, come in, come in!"

Mayor Johnson waves at me from where he stands next to some kind of mobile notice board. Pinned to it is what appears to be a line drawing of London, with roads and railway lines clearly marked out. There are also fourteen coloured pins stuck in various places. Apparently satisfied, he turns away and ambles back towards the table.

"Thank you, Mister Mayor." I push the door open the rest of the way and walk into the meeting room. "Not the Assembly meeting room this time?"

He stops dead mid paper shuffle. "Oh gosh. Did you want to?"

"No. Um, probably? You.. may need to run my proposal by a few people, but I can't think of any problem with presenting it to you first." He nods, looking a little relieved. "Do you mind if I ask-" I point towards the board. "-what that's about?"

He grins. "Finally got the RMT b-." He cuts himself off and has a quick check around the room. "Blighters on the back foot. It's your doing, you know. You and that Sephtian fellow and your wonderful portals."

I pull out the chair opposite him and sit down. "I haven't kept up to date. Is it still going down well?"

"What, you mean the ones in Battersea?" He finishes getting his papers together and puts the pile on one side before pulling out his chair and sitting down on it. "They aren't attracting quite so many visitors as they did when they were first installed, but they're on the itinerary of every tourist who comes here. You know, I was thinking." He brushes his hair back slightly with his right hand. "Do you think the Battersea Power Plant would work as a sort of… Hub, for them?"

"I was rather assuming that you'd want to follow the existing underground route." I think for a moment. "Maybe? A hub-based system could work, but it would get pretty darn crowded at peak time with everyone going through the same area."

"Oh, no no no. I don't mean for the final system. But I was talking to the Atlantean UN Ambassador chappie about the delivery timelines, and their best guess is that it's going to take years to make as many as we need to replace the tube network." He waves his left arm at the board. "This is just supposed to be a temporary thing. You know, take some pressure off the network-."

I smile. "And put some on the RMT."

He leans forward slightly, inclining his head. "You didn't hear that from me."

I nod, taking a look at the board. "In that case, yes, depending on your predicted footfall. I'd be happy to put them in place when you're ready to go… Um, assuming that I'm on the planet at the time." I turn back to him. "No problem getting approval for the system?"

"Oh, you know, normal union hot air. Nothing substantive. PM's fine with it, our lawyers say that there's no legal challenge that could be mounted that would stand much chance of success. Once we're ready to go we're ready to go."

I nod, smiling. "I'm glad to hear it."

"So, um." He rubs his hands together in front of his chest. "What was it you wanted to talk about? Terrorists? Supervillains? Some sort of demonic portal opening up under the streets of London?" He grins jovially.

I shake my head. "No, I shut the portal down months ago. It's really more-."

"Wait, what? You did?" His eyes widen. "There actually was a portal?"

"Yes sir. But it's closed, sealed, and everything that came through was destroyed."

"Ah." He relaxes slightly. "That's a relief. So what was it?"

"I need a favour. It's a fairly big one, and I'm perfectly happy to compensate the City of London for any costs incurred."

"Alright. What do you want?"

"I want to fight a supervillain here. To be precise, I wish to lure them here in order to fight them here."

"Um." Boris frowns, tiling his head slightly to the right. "Why?"

"The supervillain in question is a Lich. An.. undead magic user of considerable power. Among the various feats of magic it can perform is teleportation. Now, I can.. jam most forms of technology based teleportation… But.. I.. can't reliably block magic teleportation. Fortunately, the chief shaman of London can."

"Chief… Shaman..?" He clicks his fingers. "Oh, don't tell it, it's that chap… What'shisname… Met him once…"

"His name is Ken Ondaate and since he works for Transport for London you might have met him on a picket line at some point. Otherwise, I rather doubt it."

"Oh." He frowns. "No, I was going completely in the wrong direction with that one."

"Mister Ondaate is an extremely powerful magic user, but his influence only extends as far as the city does. That's why-."

Boris holds up his right hand. "Sorry, just… Transport for London employs a wizard?"

W-? Oh. "Not in his capacity as a wizard. He does cleaning and basic maintenance. He just.. likes walking around under his city."

"Mpf." Boris shrugs with both hands. "Who am I to judge? I suppose he may as well do it here as in Tibet or somewhere." He puffs out his cheeks, then exhales. "And he can stop this Lich escaping?"

"Testing it.. is.. somewhat tricky, but we believe so."

"And then you can take it in a fight?"

"Again, I can't give a complete guarantee, but…" I nod. "Yes. My team and I believe that we can."

He nods. "And the risk of collateral damage?"

"The best information we have is that it will attempt to leave, and if unable to do so will focus on its attackers. If we're all dead, it should simply leave. The main problem will be from… Missed attacks. A directed energy attack or a projectile weapon keeps going until it hits something. That's why I want to sort the whole thing out in advance."

"There are a lot of people in London. If you're talking about evacuating a large area, that's…" He shakes his head.

"My current plan is to have the fight take place as much as possible in Hyde Park. That way, clearing out the immediate area shouldn't be too difficult."

"What about Richmond Park? It's far larger. If you could keep the combat zone down to the middle we might not have to evacuate anyone."

"Mister Ondaate's magic is stronger the closer towards the city centre he is. Richmond Park is sufficiently far away that he's not sure that he could maintain the spell." Boris nods. "I can provide mobile force field generators for the periphery of the park and I can set up all kinds of wards in advance, but I would advise that the buildings on the edge of the park be evacuated before the fight starts."

"Right. And how long do we have?"

"I'm aiming for the seventh of July."

"Oh." He smiles for a second. "I thought this was going to be a bit more imminent."

"This sort of thing needs a lot of planning."

"I'm glad you appreciate that."

"Beyond the evacuation, we'd need a police cordon keeping people away, road blocks and… I'd certainly appreciate it if there were paramedics on standby. Again, I'm obviously prepared to pay for all of it."

"That will help. What happens if you don't?"

"Don't… Fight him here?" Boris nods. "Then I'll have to fight him somewhere else. London is the best place I've been able to find, but we could do it somewhere else. The trap would be far less reliable though… I.. wouldn't like our chances of keeping the Lich contained. If it helps..?" He raises his eyebrows. "I realise that this has the capacity to go very badly wrong. I am willing not merely to cover the costs, but to compensate for the risk."

"In what way?"

"One week of my time. With a power ring, I can…"

"Chase down criminals?"

"Yes. I can also remove industrial contamination from brown field sites that no one is prepared to build on. Or I can skip the middleman and build cheap housing myself. Just give me the plans. If you're having trouble with the tunnels for HS Two, I can do that. And I understand that you had plans to build an island in the Thames Estuary to build an airport on? Just give me the plans and I'll do it. I don't usually do… Industrial things, but I'm willing to make an exception here. This is very important to me."

"Right." He nods again. "Is it alright if I discuss this with people?"

"I'd rather you kept the need-to-know down, but if you need to talk to someone, yes, that's completely fine."

"Okay then. Let me think about this, and we'll meet up again… Same time next week?"

I nod. "Thank you, Boris."

31st May
13:17 GMT -6

I frown at the replay of the fight which took place in the Metropolis streets a few hours ago. "Something's not right here."

"I dunno, cock." Chester is leaning back in his chair, hands folded behind his head. "Feelin' pretty good about it meself."

His sister frowns slightly. "What d'you mean?"

Chester prevailed upon Doctor Robbins to open another tube for her once the fight got started. Apparently I had Mister Kipling sufficiently distracted that their attempt was successful. Miss Amane, Miss Selton, Mister Tawny and Doctor Robbins are also at the table. Miss Shimmer spent the whole incident in her laboratory. She didn't even realise that the mountain was in lockdown. Lynne is currently sitting on my lap and she isn't going to be moving for some time.

"Alright." I reach around my daughter to activate the holographic display. My people have monitoring equipment on them constantly, so reconstructing Chester's movements wasn't too difficult. "I stepped through the portal at twelve forty five-."

Doctor Robbins nods, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Without sending a drone through first. Or establishing contact by radio and asking Vera to come through."

Miss Amane scowls at her, but I nod. I'd like to have been able to spend some time in the mana infuser, but getting my eyes very nearly back in working condition has rather improved my outlook. "A valuable point, and one which you can work into the next SOP update. If I may continue?"

She gives me a curious look, then nods.

"A minute and a half later, Chester plonks himself down next to the man observing Iname and Miss Selton." Who is sitting at the far end of the table and trying not to look too intimidated. "Nothing on telepathy, so he tried conversation and managed to give away his own identity almost immediately. That prompted an immediate attack." The holographic image of Chester throws himself backwards as the other man lunges across the table, a pneumatic spike sprouting from his right hand and stabbing at my colleague. Chester finds his feet, spreads his arms wide and stares, his eyes glowing. His opponent crumbles into a mechanical heap. "Chester, for future reference, if you're not certain it's a robot, try leaving it in a shape which allows it to answer questions."

"It were one of Penny's, weren't it?"

"Probably, but you didn't know that."

"Fooker tries t'kill me, I'll kill him right back."

"Chester, I'm not saying 'don't cripple them', I'm just saying 'don't kill them before we can interrogate them if you can possibly avoid it'. If we don't know who we're fighting, we don't know who to strike back against."

"Dolmann's stuff is all remote operated. There wouldn't be anything t'salvage anyway."

"Lots of people build robots. The more intact they are, the better our chance of identifying them. Anyway." Chester looks for a moment like he wants to keep arguing the point, but he shrugs it off. "Moments later someone later identified as Jonathan Small -aka Tri-Man- flies through the front window of the shop containing Iname and Miss Selton."

We have surprisingly good footage of this part as well. Apparently, Metropolis is so well known for its superfights that shops invest in high quality cameras in the hope of getting sellable footage. I'm not sure whether to find that impressive or depressing. I am genuinely impressed by the speed at which Miss Amane reacts to their attacker, beaning him in the head with her handbag before grabbing a display stand to use as a weapon and signalling Doctor Robbins. The impact doesn't appear to hurt him, but being momentarily blinded causes him to veer off. Miss Selton reacts with wide-eyed astonishment before bringing her hands together in front of her and throwing a sheet of flame in Tri-Man's direction.

"A word of advice, Miss Selton? Creating broad swaths of fire in a room full of easily flammable objects should be avoided where at all possible."

"Um. Yeah. Okay."

"Short and precise ultra-hot bursts are the way to go when fighting for your life. Or running away."

"Ah." She glances at Chester. "You just told… Mister Black..?"

"Chester's a veteran professional. You're a teenaged civilian. I don't hold you to the same standards that I hold him." She nods. "Now, when Doctor Robbins gets the signal, she sends Mister Tawny and a group of G-Elves to the Centre for Paranormal Research-."

"Actually, I just meant to send the G-Elves." She glances at our newly-ascended Nishoba. "I didn't even realise that Mister Tawny could understand English."

"I am a fine example of a modern Tigris Sapien,
I'm combination Tiger, Man, and perhaps a little alien-."

"You don't need to prove it." Mister Tawny flicks his ears at her interruption. "I also sent a few drones, the ones with the advanced sensors. Those are what spotted the robot."

I nod. "I didn't see it pre-crushing. How big was it?"

Mister Tawny scratches his chin with the claw of his right index… Finger? "About eight metres, sole to scalp, and humanoid. I imagine that Ms Dolmann created it."

Vera nods. "The AI pilotin' it was The Brain. We used t' use it fer data analysis."

Chester exhales through his teeth. "Creepy fookin' thing."

"And the robot was flown into position by aerial drones -likewise invisible- which explains why no one crashed into it walking down busy Metropolis roads. And if we put the three images together-" I press a button on the holodisplay so that all three locations are showing, then play them from Chester sitting down. "-it looks like The Brain landed at the same time that Tri-Man launched his attack."

Vera nods. "So they both got their orders from Dolmann."

"While at the same time in Castle Doom I was busy pretending to be a child psychologist. So here's the question. Why? We knew that SHADE were interested in Miss Selton, but as far as anyone in…" I look at Vera. "Did your lot have a collective name?"

"Not realih."

"Kelly's Heroes knows, she's just one of many students at the Centre for Paranormal Research. Yes, one I've spoken to, but I've spoken to several and our first in-depth conversation was yesterday. That's not anything like enough time to build a giant robot, and I doubt that it's enough time to get one from the UK to the US either. Trying to snatch Lynne makes sense if they're trying to counter me, but why her?"

Doctor Robbins nods. "An informant? Do you think there's someone watching the Centre who tipped them off that you might be interested in her?"

"More likely a drone that removed itself once Dolmann realised that we could see through the invisibility, but it's possible. Except… I heard Kelly mention a 'Father T-' before Mister Kipling cut him off. And he mentioned 'friends'. The friends could be his superiors, but-."

"They could also be SHADE." Doctor Robbins turns to our tame Mancunians. "Either of you hear anything about your employers having anything to do with them?" A pair of shaking heads. "Okay, but so what? You think they made a deal with SHADE, trading information for Claire?"

"Could be. The other thing that bothers me is this." I shove the images of the ongoing fights between my people and Kelly's aside and open up a series of other pictures. "Kal-El doesn't respond to a fight in his own city because he's already dealing with a forest fire in California. Batman's been spending the day chasing around after someone called 'The Cluemaster' and apparently Doctor Poison has planted various toxic gasses in a number of cities and had the rest of the League rushing around to discover and defuse them. None of these cities-" I bring up a map. "-has a zeta tube, but each is within an hour's travelling distance of one that does. The League has zeta tubes in many major cities, and while their presence isn't exactly a secret, it isn't widely known. All that means that the Justice League has been fully occupied. We've been fully occupied and I strongly suspect that if I asked I'd find that my youthful former team mates were getting sent after Doctor Poison." I tap another button. "And there have been other crimes, keeping the attention of superheroes who aren't part of any larger groups. There isn't anything about today which suggests there's any reason for it to be a particularly high crime day, and the attackers don't have any known links."

"I was about to ask what's happening that no one with superpowers is around to see. But now I'm wondering who's looking after President Horne."

31st May
13:25 GMT -6

I frown into the middle distance as the White House Chief of Staff gives me the bad news over the construct-phone. "Adrian, are you seriously telling me that you don't know where the President of the United States of America is?"

"I had a meeting with the House Minority Leader, he had a security briefing. I… I mean, he can't just have disappeared. What's got you so worried?"

"All of the members of the Justice League are currently occupied and a group associated with SHADE has had a go at killing me. Plus, as I told you, they've got form."

"In a parallel universe. That doesn't mean-. Oh, hang on. Yeah? Okay, that's great. Panic over, we've found him."

"'Found' as in 'spoken to in person', or 'found' as in 'heard a voice over a telephone."

"Over a skype set. She saw his face, and Julie's known him for years. I'm not going to bust in on him because you're having an attack of the paranoids. There are things I'm not authorised to hear."

"Ah. In that case, I'm sorry to have troubled you."

"It's fine. I mean, I'm glad you're concerned, but in this case there's… Really no problem."

I look at the drone images in front of me, showing me the White House where a frenetic Adrian Myer is shouting at members of the Secret Service and is very definitely not on the phone to me. The voice is perfect, the manner of speech… Whoever's doing this is very good.

Not only are they good, Corpsman, they are not feeling even the slightest trace of fear.

I raise my eyebrows at the other people in the room, Miss Shimmer and my domitor. I couldn't begin to understand the inscriptions they've scrawled upon the floor but there's a definite sense of something or other going on. Mister Doom is holding a pendulum over a map and I can see a slight tugging.

"Okay. Would you mind seeing if you can find room for me in the diary? Nothing too urgent, but there are a few things the President needs to be apprised of."

"Can it wait for your next weekly meeting? The next few days are going to be kind of busy for us here."

Mister Doom looks my way and gives me a single sharp nod.

"Ah… Yes, I suppose. I'll send a written report through normal channels, give you a chance to read up on it."

"I'll look forward to getting that. Goodbye, Mister Grayven."

My construct-phone beeps as he hangs up. "Mister Doom?"

"They are in Washington DC, but I am afraid that your belief that they would be ignorant of the arcane may have been excessively optimistic. The map gives their location as the Washington Monument, which is clearly impossible. If you have your drones perform a thorough search, you may still find a trace of him."

Father Box, boom tube.

Ploong.

A portal opens, and I hear a few gasps as passers by hurry to get out of the way. "Mister Doom, would you please accompany me?"

He takes hold of his pendulum and nods again. "Of course. If I were to get closer it would be far easier for me to locate him."

Miss Shimmer looks a little nervous. "Do you need me as well?"

I shake my head. "Not unless you've become an expert battlemage in the last few months. Thank you for your assistance."

"You're welcome." For a moment she looks like she wants to say something else, but then slightly lowers her head.

I raise my right hand to my ear as Mister Doom heads through the tube and looks around him. "Chester, Vera, Iname, immediate deployment. We're heading to the Washington Monument. Tawny, Jean, secondary targets." Then I stride through the tube myself, closing it behind me.

31st May
14:28 GMT -5

Surprisingly, my presence seems to calm the crowd somewhat. Sinestro, find him. I've invested too much-.

Corpsman.

Sorry. The people who tried to abduct my daughter are currently winning.

Better. I can't find him, but there does appear to be a chamber below us.

Right. "Mister Doom? Anything new?"

"I am very much afraid-" My three colleagues step out of thin air. "-not."

"Manchester Black, scan everything." He hesitates for a second, then nods, his eyes glowing a ghastly black-tinted green colour. And I focus. This was far easier with the orange ring, but I can still use my yellow ring to see fear. I know from looking in a mirror that it turns my eyes into glowing points of bright yellow light surrounded by darkness. Like Parallax itself were staring out of my face. A quick check that it's working -Chester fears powerlessness most strongly, Vera fears for him and Miss Amane fears failing me- and I look downwards.

Got you.

"No idea who grabbed the President, but I can feel the man himself clear as day." Chester's eyes normalise. "Right below us."

I look his way again, prompting him to frown as he sees my eyes. I blink them back to normal before nodding. "I agree."

Vera raises her eyebrows very slightly, shifting her forearms into their weapon configurations. "We going in by hush tube?"

Are we? Yes, of course. Tempting as making a giant yellow boring machine and burrowing through the ground is, whoever deposited him down there might just spot that and either kill him or-. Sinestro, teleport jam.

I was wondering when that would occur to you.

I've had a rough day. Father Box, open a hush tube close as you can to those coordinates and send in.. drone squadron two.

Ploong.

The reason I have subordinates is because they're useful. Yes, it's not exactly dramatic, but I'm standing next to a Human magician who is keeping a nontrivial amount of my soul in a small box. I'm feeling unusually cautious today.

Ploong.

Same to you. Alright, getting feedback from the drones. One President Horne, one… Muscular looking guy with a goatee. Looks familiar from somewhere. Sinestro, who is that man?

Doctor Joel Baines Cochin, Corpsman. I see that SHADE has high standards for its agents. He's a three-time Nobel Prize winner.

I've yet to see a man outthink my fists. I send the drones further in, moving around the subterranean workshop. Computers and.. a part-built robo-president. Excellent.

"One target, an unarmed scientist." I generate a construct of the room. "No real reason not to take him alive, but since he's probably going to be executed anyway don't strain yourselves. Ready?" I get nods. Father Box, hush tube.

I toss a flashbang through first, let it detonate, then step through myself.

31st May
14:30 GMT -5

I form a fusion cannon on my right forearm and point it at Doctor Cochin, who blinks to clear his eyes. "Hands where I can see them, Doctor."

"Gra-." President Horne looks somewhat the worse for wear. His suit is scuffed and torn, his face is cut and a magnetic sensor balaclava has been put over his head. "Grayven?"

"I apologise for the delay, Mister President. These bastards had someone take a shot at my daughter. You alright?"

"I'll... I'll mend."

Chester and Vera appear behind Doctor Cochin at the far end of the workshop. The Doctor himself doesn't seem unduly troubled by this. Oh, he looks over his shoulders one after the other to confirm their relative position, but he doesn't move otherwise. If anything, he looks a little bored.

Hmm.

"Chester, crush his robot, would you?"

"Sure thing, cock." He raises his right hand melodramatically, eyes glowing. Then he makes a sort of slapping motion, the partially complete president-bot coming apart at the seams.

I keep staring at Doctor Cochin. I think he might have just sighed a little, but that's about it. "Doctor Joel Cochin, you're-."

"Baines."

"Excuse me?"

"Professionally. Baines Cochin. I long ago decided that 'Joel' was too plebeian for someone of my abilities."

"Alright. B-Man, you're under arrest, dawg." Still no real reaction. Not hopelessness… Something's off here. "Though I think it unlikely, you may find the courts more merciful if you-."

"Why do you insist on doing that?"

Never pass up an opportunity to learn something of your opponent. "Doing what?"

"You aren't a well-educated brute. You don't even really like playing up to it all that much. And yet, you insist on doing it. I can only assume that you do so to be tiresome. If we could perhaps skip ahead a little? I am perfectly capable of writing and memorising the computer code my automaton requires in my head. You are not distracting me significantly."

"Yeah… And what were you planning on running that code on?"

"The robot I build after I either kill you or detach your arms and legs and blind you. I haven't decided which as of yet." He raises his left hand to his shoulder, pointing at Vera. "Miss Black I will kill. Mister Black I will almost certainly leave alive. I think that his abilities will remain useful to me."

"Think I might not be all that keen on werkin' for yeh if yeh killed me sister."

Doctor Cochin ignores him. "Do you know what the worst thing about telepathy is, Mister Grayven?"

"Finding out how boring people really are?"

"Close, but I already knew that the Human race was -by and large- insipid. No, it's finding out what sort of people telepathy itself is wasted on. Chester Black is a telepath and telekinetic almost without-."

"Telekine."

For the first time I see something other than boredom in his expression. "Excuse me?"

"Telekine. A telekine is someone with telekinetic abilities who can perform feats of telekinesis. It's one of those irregular-."

The workbench hits me in the face too fast for me to create a construct barrier. I'm knocked back a half-step as a combination of environmental shield and divine resistance absorbs what has to be five hundred pounds of metal travelling at about ten metres per second. My vision is momentarily obscured but I clearly hear a fizz as Vera opens fire and Chester's grunt as he struggles to apply telekinetic force.

"You see, I doubt that I've spent more than-" I shove the workbench aside and raise my right arm, fusion cannon glowing. "-a few hours with 'telekinetic abilities'-" Doctor Cochin is standing in the middle of a whirling bubble of green-black power. What's Chester doing? "-in my life, and I can already use the ability better-" The shield buckles slightly where Chester points, Vera rapidly deciding to abandon her coilguns for plasma. "-than the infamous Chester Black."

Doctor Cochin's eyes glow green-black, and Chester grabs his head with both hands.

"Gah!"

"I wasn't expecting you to win, but this is weak." His eyes glow again, and I feel a slight pressure around my mental shields. "Ah, that's a little better." Vera's plasma fails to breach his telekinetic barrier, so with a snarl she switches to purple death rays. "Perhaps I should reintroduce myself, Mister Grayven. I am-." His face twitches as Vera's beams strike his side, passing through his telekinetic barrier as if it weren't there. "Excuse me." He turns away from me towards Vera, a wave of green-black energy connecting them briefly as she goes flying backwards with her forearms crumpled. "There." He turns back around. "I am Agent Paragon of SHADE. 'Paragon' as in, better than everyone else. I'm stronger than you. I'm a better telepath than Chester Black and-" His body blurs and Miss Amane pinwheels out of the air next to him. I generate a grav-chute construct to catch her. "-faster than Amane Misa. I'm also more intelligent than President Horne, but let's be frank: that's no great challenge."

"So, what?" Sinestro, status of Vera and Chester? "You're SHADE's supersoldier? I'll admit to being impressed with your abilities, but I can't see why you're working for them."

"You just had your power ring check the health of your subordinates."

O-kay, that's a little worrying. My mental shields are… Still there. Is he just good at reading people?

"And no. SHADE didn't make me. Fortuitous genetics made me the fine specimen of metahumanity you see here today."

Vera will need her arms replaced and Chester might well have concussion.

Beside me Miss Amane brings her warscythe to a guard position. Okay, Doctor Cochin is clearly the talkative sort. I need more information. Does he just happen to have speed and telepathy? I had been considering experimenting to see whether a cloned copy of Chester's brain would survive the Garrick Formula…

"So what can you do, exactly?"

"I combine all of the abilities of everyone within a radius of about five miles. Not robots, but everyone else goes into making me me. I was a little surprised that my abilities work on you… But becoming a god is only my due, really."

Hm. If he's using the intelligence of everyone within five miles it's probably far easier for him to learn telepathy than it is for Chester. And add to that my own divine aura of conquest boosting it…

I fire my fusion cannon while simultaneously firing cold fields at the air around him. "Iname, flee."

"Master, I-!"

"Now. Ten miles."

There's a crackle in the air as Doctor Cochin hits a cold field. "Ow!" If he's using my toughness as well-.

Ah fuck.

"Mister Doom, drain as much from me as you can without killing-" There's a wave of displaced air as Miss Amane runs. "-me."

There's another series of crackles as the cold fields are remotely triggered in a wave of green-black guh.

This time I'm ready. This time my environmental shield keeps me upright. But that doesn't seem to have slowed down Doctor Cochin anything like as much as I'd hoped that it would.

"Yes, yes. Remove my sources of power. Even yourself. But you see Mister Grayven, there are still hundreds of thousands of people within my range providing me with str-."

I take my radion blaster out of subspace and shoot him in the face.

31st May
14:34 GMT -5

I drop the radion blaster to the floor to recharge and lunge forward as he staggers back from the shot. Radion blasters aren't just deadly poisonous to us New Gods, they hit every bit as hard as normal blasters as well. I pull my daiklave to my hand as he begins to recover. The flesh has been burnt from his face, his eyes are destroyed -hah!- and the bone of his jaw is clearly visible around his mouth. Something around here is making him very tough and it certainly isn't me at the moment.

Yellow filaments flick out ahead of me, triggering the last two cold fields between us and clearing the way for my melee assault. As I begin my swing his empty eye sockets flare the familiar green-black and a wave of that same light expands outwards from him in all directions, passing over my environmental shield with no noticeable effect. My daiklave comes around towards his neck and his head turns towards it, the glare from his eye holes intensifying as he tries to push it away.

Normally I'd just… Power through, but… Agh…

I plant my feet and generate construct armour around myself as I try to wrestle my daiklave forwards. I can feel him scrabbling around the outside of my mental shields, and while they're good, with my divine aura's reinforcement basically gone they aren't inviolable. Sinestro, psi-baffle.

Added. The pressure doesn't vanish, but it does fall away somewhat. Though I would warn you-.

That he still isn't even slightly afraid and the only good source of fear is President Horne. I know. But now that I've got-

I make a little progress forwards.

-his full-

My right hand goes to the pommel and I shove the point of the daiklave towards his green-black glowing face.

-attention…

"Drones, fire."

Five drones drop stealth around the room, their blasters and purple death rays orientating on Doctor Cochin. His wide-spread telekinetic field lets him feel them almost immediately, the small wavering of his concentration allowing me to get the point of my blade to within a centimetre of his chest. I held the drones back because he could destroy them easily with Chester's abilities. But now? Now he can't afford to divert his efforts from stopping my sword.

"Gggguuuuraaaaaahhh!"

Beams and bolts strike his back and his sides. Automatic targeting is much less accurate than shots made with my spiritual guidance but that's offline until Mister Doom re-empowers me. The punishment he's taken makes his concentration waver again, and I start to feel the first trickle of fear.

Then the tip of my daiklave strikes his chest, biting into the left side of his chest between the second and third rib and cutting neatly through the flesh. I don't know exactly how far his toughness is boosted by his powers but it isn't anything like tough enough to stop an x-ionised sword.

"RAAAAAGH!"

His jaw falls open, his partially destroyed tongue flaps and his flesh evaporates as his telekinetic field collapses and the shots from my drones strike home unimpeded. My daiklave shoots forwards and I'm forced to use my armour's strength to hold it back.

Then I smile, and slice left.

His head and shoulders fall to the floor while his body remains upright for a moment. The continued fire from the purple death rays means that the blood doesn't spurt but it does pump and flow at a considerable rate.

"Drones, cease fire and resume cloak."

The fire cuts out immediately and the drones vanish.

I look down at Doctor Cochin's head, then pull the radion blaster back into my right hand and obliterate it completely with a single shot.

"Drones, heal my companions." Revitalising purple light plays over Chester and Vera. Chester stirs to life while Vera raises her ruined arms slightly and curses under her breath. "Don't move. Some of the cold fields are still active." I dismiss my construct armour and raise my right hand to my ear. "Sterling work, Mister Doom. Now, please restore me."

"Is the President well?"

I turn to where President Horne is perking up slightly under the influence of the purple healing ray. "He's been better, but nothing that a little rest won't cure."

"Very well. I should warn you that the loss in transition-."

"Don't worry about it. I'm already planning to spend tomorrow sitting on the mana infuser and doing as little as possible."

"As you wish."

I wait a moment and oh that's better. Now to-.

"Bit slow off the mark, weren't you?"

I half turn, making momentary eye contact with Vera. "I'm afraid that I'm the thinky type. We can go over what you want with your replacement prosthesis tomorrow."

"Oh, aye." She maintains eye contact for a moment, then turns to her recumbent brother. She takes two steps towards Chester and then nudges him with her right boot. "Oop you get, lazybones."

"Fukof."

I walk over to President Horne, stowing my daiklave on my back and my radion blaster in subspace as I do so. "Feeling better, sir?"

"Much." He nods. "Thank you."

I reach around his head, pull his balaclava up over his head and take a careful look at him. Sinestro?

No implants that I can detect. No bacterial, viral or nanotech agents. Some drug residue but the purple healing ray has dealt with it.

Good show. I reach down to the clamps holding his arms in place and pull them apart. "Soon have you out, sir."

"My family, are my family safe?"

"Their Secret Service bodyguard is presently being augmented by my people. Little gets past the G-Gnomes." I kneel and rip the clamps off his legs. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, ah…" He staggers free, stretching his legs and trying to bring them back to life. "What about the Republicans?"

Huh? "I.. doubt they were involved, sir. He clearly said-."

"No, they… He said, they only bothered picking me up because they were starting to think I could win the election next year. Which means they're probably going to target the potential Republican nominees. And if they're ready to grab me out of the White House I can't think of a reason for them to wait."

"Mister President, I have finite resources. I need to see you safe first." But he's got a point. Trying to arrest and dissect political opponents is awkward at the best of times. I stand, raising my right hand to my ear. "Doctor Robbins, send Miss Iname and groups of Genomorphs to the locations of the top… Three? People most likely to be the Republican candidates for the White House next year. Senator Knight and… What'stheirnames…"

"Already on it."

"Good." I lower my hand. "Father Box, boom tube to the Oval Office."

"Ploong."

President Horne looks puzzled. "What's a 'boom-'?"

BANG!

He jerks back, shielding his face with his right hand. "Aren't those usually quieter?"

"The President got kidnapped. Now is not the time to take the Secret Service by surprise."

"I suppose not. Well?"

I put construct armour around him before stepping through the portal. Six agents point their side arms at me. "Chill out, guys. Just me."

"Grayven!" Mister Myer emerges from behind the huddle. "Have you found-?"

"I'm okay, Adrian." President Horne walks through the boom tube. "Everyone, stand down." The guns are lowered, though the agents look decidedly unhappy with the situation. "Patrick." He looks at one of the agents. "The room where I was being held is on the other side of-" He glances back. "-that thing, along with the remains of my captor. Secure it."

"Yes sir."

Mister Myer hurries up to him as the Secret Service personnel dash past. "Jon, let me get you a doctor. You should-."

President Horne holds up his right hand to ward him off. "I'm fine, Adrian. I'm fine. What I want you to do for me is get a press conference assembled. I need to address the American people."

Myer looks at him sceptically. "Are you.. sure you-?"

"Never surer. Get it done."

31st May
15:04 GMT -5

I lean down slightly-. I check our immediate surroundings and crouch, bringing my mouth down to roughly the level of Mister Myer's ear. "Mister Myer, are you sure this is… Really a good idea?"

He watches as members of President Horne's media relations team scurry around to get things ready for his speech. His Press Secretary -a woman named Susan Elseth- appears to have given up on trying to dissuade him and is alternating between pacing and biting her right thumbnail. "Maybe. Maybe not." He tilts his head to the left for a moment. "And call me Adrian."

"Okay… Adrian… I ask because I know Humans-."

He look at me with his eyebrows slightly raised. "I know you don't quite get Human social mores, but that's usually the point where you'd tell me your first name."

I'm pretty sure that this isn't how press conferences are supposed to be organised. Horne himself is off in an office somewhere with Adrian's deputy.

"Apokoliptians don't go in for the personal name/family name name structure. Grayven is the entirety of my name." I don't know what's going to happen. That.. bothers me. "My sister in law took the second part of my brother's name as a family name when they moved to Earth, but that was just to help with fitting in."

"Oh, I hadn't realised. So your daughter is..?"

"Lynne Wayland. She kept her original name after I adopted her. Look, what exactly is the President planning?"

He looks away, nodding to himself. "You, ah… You actually study Jon's campaign? Any of his elections?"

"No. But I've invested quite a lot of time in-."

"You don't hear me complaining about you not giving us any idea what you were planning on saying when you got your Presidential Medal of Freedom. That whole 'trials in absentia' thing gave me a lot of work."

"Yes, I get that. And… I'm very nearly sorry. But I'm asking you-."

He chuckles under his breath. "Sorry. Oh… Jon… Jon's a good friend of mine. We've know each other for decades. He's a good man, a good administrator. But I'll admit that I don't think anyone's ever accused him of having the sort of presence or charisma a really great statesman has." He nods to himself. "Just occasionally, though-."

He cuts himself off as President Horne marches towards us down the corridor, Secret Service detail hurrying along behind him. "Adrian, they ready for me?"

"Yes sir."

The President looks up at me. "How are the loyal opposition?"

"Knight wants to talk to you now. The others are accepting my protection at face value."

He nods. "Bring Knight here, I'll talk to him right after this."

"Yes, Mister President. May I ask-?"

He smiles. "Keep watching. I'll think you'll like what I have to say."

"Yes, but-." I hesitantly raise my right hand as he brushes me off and walks past me, members of the press corps jumping to their feet as he comes into view and heads to the podium.

Oh, I am off my game. I should have been able to encourage him to at least give me a clue with my spiritual force… No. I need to settle things with Doom before I try that again.

President Horne takes his place and looks around the room at the press corps, making eye contact with a few and giving the occasional nod. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, everyone tuned in at home… Thank you for getting together on such short notice. There are a few things I'd like to talk to you about today, but I think the first item I need to tell you about is that a little over three hours ago I was kidnapped in broad daylight from this very building by a super powered criminal."

There are a few gasps, but it isn't the first time a President has been targeted by a supervillain.

"As best as the Secret Service and my associate Mister Grayven have been able to determine, his intent was to copy my brain and then replace me with a robot duplicate. The separation of powers means that taking control of the Oval Office wouldn't be quite enough to suborn the government of America, but it would have allowed his sponsors to advance their agenda contrary to the interests and the democratically expressed will of the American people."

"And perhaps the worst part of what happened is that this wasn't a costumed lunatic. No, this was something far worse. This action to circumvent our democracy was organised and funded by a federal agency." Eyes widen. "I don't know how many of you remember the All Star Squadron. It was the government run superhero organization set up during World War Two to try and make a capable but disparate group of men and women into something we could use to beat the Nazis and the Japanese. To that end, the War Office brought together not just superheroes but intelligence people and experts in unconventional warfare, people whose job it was to make sure our people were where they needed to be and knew what they needed to know in order to get the job done. After the war, that part of the organisation became a federal agency called SHADE, the Super Human Advanced Defence Executive. Even today, they train and educate people throughout federal and state law enforcement in how to handle metahumans and supervillains."

"And it's those sons of bitches that just tried to have me killed."

President Horne takes a moment to gather his thoughts, his eyes drifting over the assembled news crews. "You know... I always figured that if something like this happened, it would be the NSA. Guess I owe those guys an apology."

I raise my right hand to my ear. "Grayven to Doctor Robbins. Hush tube Senator Knight to my position at your discretion."

"Will do, Gray. I'll be happy to stop listening to him moaning at the Genomorphs."

"…imagine what they hoped to gain by doing this, but the best I've been able to guess is that they think that there's something lacking in my response to recent superhuman attacks. Hesitancy is something I've been accused of on more than one occasion, and it's an accusation that I think it's time I addressed."

"Some members of the Republican party… Even some members of my own party, accused me of doing nothing in the aftermath of the Roanoke Island incident. And more than a few took the opportunity to run their mouths off about what they would have done, or what I was doing wrong. And it's true, I did not come up with any new policy initiative in the immediate aftermath. You want to know why? The truth is, not only did I not know the first thing about magic but hardly anyone in the US federal government knows anything about it. There was a truly astonishing gap in our knowledge and therefore in our ability to defend ourselves. What I was doing -rather than blowing a whole lot of hot air- was reaching out to our allies in Atlantis and to those Americans who do know something about the subject so that I could form informed policy."

"While I was doing that, Senator Knight brought forward a Bill that would have criminalized the few people in this country capable of helping us prevent anything like that happening again without doing a single thing to impede our enemies. And I seem to recall that he got an awful lot of good press out of it." Senator Knight walks out of a hush tube just in front of me, quickly orientating himself towards the stage. "A Bill which was brought up by King Orin during our discussions as a matter of considerable concern to his people, because virtually every Atlantean is a magic user. And as far as American citizens go… For God's sake, you don't close the nuclear missile gap by arresting nuclear physicists or rocket scientists. You close it by putting them to work for you."

Senator Knight's eyes widen. "Oh, you God damned…"

"And as for Senator Cray's idea of conscripting US superheroes… Senator, you're welcome to try serving Superman draft papers if you like, but this administration will have no part in it."

"What this administration will do is hunt down those criminals lurking in our government institutions. What this administration will do is bring forward laws that will allow law enforcement officials to use greater degrees of force in apprehending or if necessary killing super powered criminals. What this administration will do is create a new federal agency with a remit to study and where appropriate act against super powered threats to the citizens of this country. And in all these things this administration will be guided by evidence, not by rumor or fear-mongering."

"As of right now, SHADE no longer exists. Every federal agent acting under SHADE's authority now has a warrant out for their arrest. I will say to all those agents not involved in the conspiracy to replace me: hand yourselves in. You will be interviewed and then most likely released immediately. And to SHADE's senior employees, those who intentionally evaded congressional oversight for decades and just tried to kill their Commander-in-Chief… We're coming for you. And there isn't going to be any place where you can hide."

31st May
17:15 GMT -5

Mister Doom sets down the datapad he was reading from, his mouth turned down in distaste. "To think that they have fallen so far."

I take a moment to regard him across the table. "Are you satisfied as to the authenticity of the information?"

He looks directly at me. "Are you?"

"Yes, for the most-." Grh. "Could you… Not do that, please?"

"Hm." He picks up the pad again. "I see that a good deal of this was acquired from the League of Shadows."

"Yes."

"I have -upon occasion- had dealings with them myself. How would you characterise your relationship with them?"

I pause for a half-moment. No compulsion effect. "Thank you." A slight dip of his eyes. "I have a good working relationship with Ra's al Ghul and I am romantically involved with a serving Shadow. We're trying to-."

His eyes narrow. "You have a good… Working… I would like an explanation for that."

I briefly consider answering 'she needed the training and stayed on because she likes the work environment', but decide against it. "Ra's al Ghul makes money through murder, extortion and the selling of intelligence. So -more or less- do most nation states. More to the point, he has a longer term view than most rulers. He and I are part of an alliance which aims to improve the lot of Human civilisation. Part of our work requires the sorts of operatives that he commands. Not an ideal situation, obviously, but I hope to gradually encourage him to redirect his energies towards the less malevolent part of his work."

"The League of Shadows has been a pestilence on this world for over two hundred years."

"So I kill Ra's, and every League of Shadows cell on the planet goes underground. Someone grabs one of his hair follicles and sticks it in a Lazarus Pit. I lose him as a source and interrupt League operations hardly at all. Ra's voluntarily signed up with an organisation that is finally kick-starting the schizo tech revolution this planet has been crying out for for seventy years. I've even got plans for America's first magic school, and after today I think I can count on President Horne's support. I can't reliably stop him, but by establishing a rapport I can channel him."

"…had enough thinking time." The door to the meeting room is shoved open and Chester storms through. "Well?" He stares at me, throwing up his hands. "We goin' and getting' the bastards or what?"

I meet his stare calmly. "Or what."

"Are you serious? After everythin' that happened today, you're just gonna let them get away with it?"

"Chester, we weren't acting because we lack the information necessary to create a replacement government. Has anything that happened today-"

"The fook is your-"

"-changed that?"

"-problem!" He takes a right turn and starts pacing. "They try killin' me? Fine, just another rosy day at the office." He swivels sharply, facing me again. "But they went aftah Lynne! A school fulla kids! In America, which I'm shower is gunna go down great with your pal Jon Horne. What-?"

"Chester." I point to the far side of the room.

"What?" He frowns, looking around. "You playin' with dolls now?"

"Those are the original robots used by Eric Dolmann. I acquired them from Penny Dolmann's home half an hour ago. In their place, I left a robotic representation of her. Turn the key in the back and it bleeds from every orifice before exploding."

"'s start." He turns back around. "But what else?"

"Chester, I am completely furious about what happened. But fundamentally, nothing has changed except that the opposition have lost some resources. And before too long they will lose their allies in SHADE as well."

Most SHADE-certified agents responded to President Horne's edict almost immediately. Might take a while to process them, but as General Lane told me: most of them didn't know that SHADE was an actual organisation. Those who did and tried going to ground will be brought in presently.

Those conversations will be less polite.

"I am simply not prepared to send a civilised country collapsing into anarchy because one particular offence was personal. The timetable remains in effect. Continue your work. Once I have completed Vera's new arms I will send her to join you once more. Once you have completed your task, then we will move against our adversaries directly."

He tilts his head noticeably to the left, continuing to stare at me. "Are y-? Fine. Fine." He waves his right arm dismissively in my general direction and then he trudges back out of the door. He slams it behind him as he leaves.

I watch the door for a moment before during back to Mister Doom. "Is there anything else you would like to ask?"

"No, I don't believe so." He rises, pushing back his chair as he does so. "I do not trust you, Mister Grayven. But I find that I struggle to strongly disagree with those things that you have done to date. And I doubt that anyone else is engaged in the work of restoring the government of Britain to moral probity as you intend to. I will continue to watch you, however. If I detect any sign that your associates are converting you to their methods more than you are converting them to yours… You may well imagine what I will do."

"No."

His eyebrows rise very slightly. "Excuse me?"

"I am not prepared to be brought into line with threats. You just told me that you agree with what I'm doing. Do you make a habit of threatening your allies?"

"I would hardly describe us as that."

"Why ever not? In fact, why are you not volunteering to provide me with information yourself? The more I learn, the faster and more precisely I can act. The lower the quantity of collateral damage."

"Because I have been absent from this world for some time. Before I take such a risk, I would learn more about you and those whom you describe as your friends. I have no desire to unseat one corrupt establishment merely to replace it with another."

"Then join in. You can keep a better watch on me standing next to me than you can from a castle that is even now being occupied by armed police. And once you have assured yourself that I am genuine, you would be better placed to shape policy to something that is… Appropriately non-villainous."

"That is…" He bows his head and narrows his eyes as he considers the suggestion. "Not something I will reject out of hand, but… No, not yet." He looks up again. "But in the spirit of future cooperation, would you be so good as to open a portal that would return me to my customary abode? I believe that I have uninvited guests to evict."

"Certainly. Just as soon as you return the rest of my soul." His face tightens slightly. "I know perfectly well that knowing its shape gives you very nearly as many options for acting against me as holding it. But you having it diminishes me, makes me less capable. Apokoliptian technology works on the spiritual strength of the one wielding it. You taking a tough line on this could get me and mine killed. Not to mention the fact that it's damn rude."

He regards me passively for a moment. "I.. suppose that you may have a point. Very well." He raises his right hand and ah! Back in business! "But I will warn you: having granted you this reprieve I will now take any backsliding on your part as a personal insult."

I smile. "Then I will avoid giving you cause. Father Box, if you would?"

"Ploong."

The hole in space opens and Cursitor Doom sweeps majestically through it before it closes down.

I wait for a moment, then slip my new goggles over my eyes and check the area. Nothing that I can see. Sinestro?

So far as I can determine, Corpsman, the area is clear.

Good good. I rise and head for the door, gently pushing it open and walking out.

31st May
17:22 GMT -5

Chester falls in behind me as I walk in the direction of my secure communications room. "You all back in full werkin' order, then?"

"More or less. I didn't get back everything, but the reduction in power isn't anything significant."

He doesn't say anything for a moment. "Well?"

"Thank you, Chester. Very well done." I smile what I suspect is a moderately sinister smile. "Completely in line with your established character. I'm not sure how critical it was in convincing him that my actions were rational and sagacious, but I'm sure it played a part."

"Now that's somethin' I didn't get in me last job."

"What?"

"People sayin' 'thank you'. I mean, I'm still not exactly jumpin' fer joy about not going in and toppin' the wankers right now, but I get what you were sayin'."

"Good man."

"Still wanna know what took you so long with that Paragon prat."

I place my hand against the palm scanner leading to the Light's internal communication chamber. "I didn't know the full extent of his abilities and as far as I could tell your lives weren't immediately in danger. While it was generous of him to volunteer information about his capabilities, I couldn't just assume that he was telling the truth. Incidentally-" I turn my head to look at him. "-you should be certain to never do that."

"No fookin' fear, cock."

"In addition, my normal… Instincts, were absent due to what Mister Doom had done to me. If I left you hanging as a result, I apologise."

"To tell the truth, I'm more pissed off about him beatin' me at me own game. You wouldn't know any way t' help with that, by any chance?"

"I am happy to make the Awakening available to you. You may wish to train with the G-Gnomes. If so, consult Jean. There are… Amplification devices I could build for you, but most of the best utilise Apokoliptian technology. Files are on the database. Work out exactly what you want and I'll be only too happy to put it together for you."

"Eh, I'll take a gandeh." He nods at the door. "What you need to talk to the old Secret Society a' Super Villains about?"

"It's not easy to organise the infamously fractious supervillain fraternity to act in concert. Even just making the contacts you'd need to pay them to do it is a task fraught with difficulty. Now, SHADE might have done it using salvaged equipment, Doctor Cochin's power duplication and their own contacts… But the other group who could..?"

Chester frowns. "Your pals? What for?"

"Damned if I know, but I've been burned before for not checking what they were up to and I'm not about to do it again. Do you want anything else?"

"Nah. I'll go an' see how Vera's doin'."

I nod, then return my attention to the door. A quick tap and the force fields disengage and the bars unbar, allowing the door to fold away into subspace. I slowly walk into the room, the system already acknowledging my presence. Lights go from 'off' to 'conspiratorially dim' and the monitors which will show the faces of my fellow Light members activate.

"Mister Grayven. It is good to see you again."

Brain's already here then. I wonder if he ever leaves? Certainly, he could just leave his connection live at all times. His chassis isn't really designed for moving around a lot. "Brain. Hope you're keeping well." Wonder if he named himself after the other one? The Brain was built in nineteen sixty six, and when I finally got access to his university records I found that he was born in seventy eight, so… Might have done.

"Oh, like this, like that. I had until recently been involved in untangling the geometry of a parallel universe somewhat unlike this one. That it defied my analysis was a source of some frustration, given the timeline… But, I believe that I am making progress."

"Alien geometries aren't really my thing, but if there's anything I can help with..?"

"Perhaps I should say no more until we are all-" Savage's monitor comes on, followed a moment later by the one belonging to Ra's. "-fully assembled."

"Savage. Ra's. I apologise for the short notice."

"That is quite alright, Grayven." Savage looks… Happy. Hopefully that just means that someone's delivered him a new truckload of underage baboons, but I'm always a little nervous when Captain Caveman looks pleased about something. "With matters advancing, it is important to ensure that all members of the Light are on the same page."

Ra's' face appears to be in neutral at the moment. I give him a nod as the screen for Lex comes on and his eyes flick in the direction of each screen as he confirms who's already here. I nod to him as well -getting one in return- then focus my attention on the screen for Mordru.

I give him twelve seconds. "Our.. Noble Friend does know how to work-?" Mordru's face appears, though he doesn't appear to have actually turned the thing on. Some sort of communication spell using the technological link as an arcane one. Sort of impressive that he can do it while also showing a degree of laziness that he hasn't bothered to learn to use the same technology as the rest of us. A possible weakness?

"Now then, Grayven." Savage leans forwards slightly. "What is it that you wish to discuss?"

"Today's attacks across America. SHADE's being blamed, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't us before I perjured myself." Lex chuckles quietly, bowing his head. "So, was it?"

Savage nods. "I felt that it would be useful if the Justice League were fully engaged while I saw to certain matters."

I nod. I would like it if someday he managed to surpass my expectations in a good way. "Business or pleasure?"

"Both."

Of course it was. I don't roll my eyes. "I misspoke. Light business or personal business?"

"The final destruction of the Justice League."

…

I fan out my hands. "Did I miss a meeting?"

"No, Gra-."

"Because I understood that becoming a member of the Light meant that I got told what was happening. I don't remember us discussing killing the Justice League in concrete terms. I certainly don't remember voting on it. So what happened?"

At least Savage isn't smiling any longer. "The matter was decided upon before you joined us. Your being here does grant a certain… Flexibility that did not exist before."

"For future reference, Savage, I expect to be notified of plans I'm involved in."

"The original version did not involve you. The League would simply be drawn to the battleground of our choosing and eliminated. Without the protection of the Earth's premier super heroes, the nations of mankind would be forced to look to their own protections. Now, an alternative has presented itself."

Eliminated? A nuclear weapon of sufficient yield would probably do it, but the League don't habitually gather in the same place on Earth. "And what would that be?"

"That we may have our cake and eat it, Mister Grayven." I switch my attention to Brain. "Your argument that at the Earth's current level of technology certain threats are best met by superheroes was most convincing. In the original plan, we would have simply… Taken the risk. But… You have excellent relations with the governments of both China and the United States. Worldwide, you are a very popular man."

Lex nods. "We have one or two other operatives in mind, but the ideal outcome for us is for the entire League to die. You would then replace them with a new team, working in accordance with guidelines set by the Light."

"And how exactly are we planning on killing the Justice League?"

"Grayven."

I don't like the way Mordru is grinning.

"Have you ever heard of the King of Tears?"