I watch as a truck full of men dressed only in their underwear drives through the Shiruta streets below us. "I understand why you're shipping them out, but why did you take their clothes?"
Adom's expression doesn't change. In public his body language is almost completely static and it makes talking to him a little strange. "They were sent here to murder members of Shiruta's provisional governing council. My belief is that killing them would have been appropriate retribution.. but, since I was able to prevent them from reaching their targets and since I am endeavouring to be… To behave in the manner befitting a modern 'super hero', I decided against it. Publicly shaming them was the next best option. A man might believe it is noble to die for a cause but it is unlikely that he will believe that it is noble to be driven around in his underwear for one."
True, I suppose. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you taken this long to communicate directly with the rebels?"
"There are several reasons. The situation is far too volatile for me to take the time to perform an administrative role. The government in Cairo has sent two major attacking forces as well as aircraft against Shiruta since the civil disobedience became open rebellion. I need to be in the open, where both my enemies and the people whom I protect can see me and know that I am ever-vigilant."
"That makes sense, but you could have stopped to speak with them for a few minutes, surely?"
"That.. would have been difficult. My Arabic is much improved, but it is still not good enough for long conversations and I do not wish to appear uneducated. My people have high expectations of me and I {orange}must{/} live up to them."
"How have you been getting on with Captain Marvel?"
The merest glimmerings of a frown. "He is an unusual man. He has been asking me for tales of ancient Kahndaq, of the battles I fought during my first life. I do not think that I was ever so.. exuberant, so unguarded as he is. He has an almost childlike capacity for joy." I try not to react. The League might know that William isn't as old as he appears but it isn't common knowledge. "He is a good man. I think we might have become friends were it not for his continued service to the.. {red}wizard{/}."
"Don't rule it out. I don't think that the wizard gives him orders on a day to day basis."
"Perhaps." The truck is just a speck on the horizon to me now, though as I understand it Adom's eyes are much better than those of a normal Human. "I am grateful that you thought to arrange this meeting with the Quracis."
"I thought I owed you for the whole 'scaring the Bialyans off' thing. Anyway, President Muhunnad has few friends, internationally. He hasn't provoked anyone enough for them to want to force him from office by military power but hardly anyone will complain if he's removed by other Kahndaqis. It's only taken this long to arrange a meeting because there wasn't anyone in charge to meet before."
"There still isn't. The provisional council only speaks for Shiruta."
"I think they meant you." He doesn't respond immediately. "They're taking the fact that you're attending this meeting as a sign that you're finally taking command."
"I had hoped to leave it longer."
"Why?"
He thinks for a moment. "I have made a study of the ways in which nations are governed in this age. Captain Marvel was an enthusiastic proponent of American democracy and its division of powers. Princess Diana's nation is ruled by a Queen but most decisions are consensual, arrived at through discussion by its citizens. Your own nation has a monarch, an elected body and an appointed one. If I come to rule Kahndaq once more I have no desire to force a particular form of government upon my people. I had wanted to see where people naturally look for leadership when not compelled to bow to Cairo by force. Shiruta has a council, tribal groups have their elders, there are exiles who are now returning to their homeland who have their own ideas. I wanted there to be a structure I could govern through before I formally accepted the authority to do so. Above all I do not want to taint this resurgence of the Kahndaqi spirit with kinslaying as proponents of different forms of organisation fight amongst themselves."
"Do you want to rule?"
He bows his head slightly. "{orange}Yes{/}. I occupied the position for so long that in my own mind it defines me as much as the gods’ blessings do. But I would not impose myself against the wishes of the Kahndaqi people."
"How long were you in charge for?"
"From my father's death until the wizard slew me… About eighty years."
"Oh. I'd sort of been assuming that he killed you because you killed your father."
"No. Even he was hard pressed to argue that my father did not deserve it."
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did your father.. do..? You sort of implied-."
His jaw tenses. "If any other man had asked that question…"
"{indigo}I'm sorry{/}. {indigo}I didn't mean to offend you, but I can't help unless I know more about what happened{/}."
He doesn't respond immediately. I can see scab-textured red churning inside green within him. Old rage, kept in check but never fully excised. "I had been the gods' champion for fourteen years. The wizard knew that I had duties to Kahndaq as its Crown Prince, and that in the fullness of time I most likely would have further duties as its Pharaoh. He made it clear that he did not give me… No, did not assist me in receiving these gifts, so that I could make Kahndaq pre-eminent among nations. I accepted that without complaint. When I fought demons, sorcerers and mad titans for the wizard and for mankind I did so with the gods’ power, and when I led Kahndaq's armies against bandits, against other nations and other tribes I did so as a mortal man."
"But… Having met people from all parts of the world, having seen their lives and experienced their cultures, I knew that my people were really not so different from people I might meet anywhere else. Their lives, their hopes and dreams… That the men I slew as Prince Adom were much the same as those who fought beside me. And I found that I could not forget that, even as I put the gods' powers aside. So, I stopped taking trophies from the bodies of those I slew, stopped making slaves of those I captured. I tried to negotiate with foreign chieftains rather than fight with them. It was not easy; I could not use Lord Zehuti's wisdom and I.. am much less wise than he. Father hated it, hated that I, the gods' anointed, accepted the defiance of barbarians and foreigners. {violet}Shiruta, my wife for whom this city is named, supported me{/}. {violet}Calmed me when the foolishness of all those around me drove me to rage, counselled me when my own wisdom was insufficient to surmount the challenges I faced{/}. {violet}Confronted me when my stubbornness{/}… {red}And my father believed that she was corrupting me, weakening me and had her and our sons Gon and Hurut killed{/}."
I suddenly realise that my mouth is hanging open. "{indigo}Mighty One, I didn't{/}-."
He holds out his left hand to stop me. "The assassination of the high priestess of Isis justified me in using the gods' powers to track down her killers, and their sponsor. When I confronted him he didn't even bother to lie to me about it. He {red}boasted{/} how he had.. {red}freed{/} me. So I resumed my mortal form, drew my sword and killed him. My action was just and because I had not used the gods' powers the wizard had no grounds to intervene." He exhales. "I think that was when he lost faith in me. My later actions, forming alliances with others like myself to better protect the world, were seen as those of one seeking to cement his personal power. When other nations swore fealty to us in exchange for our protection he had the excuse he needed to act against me."
"Others?"
"My friends Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara. Your Hawkman and Hawkwoman appear much like them. The sorceress Gamemnae, Lord Rama Kahn of Jarhanpur, the Anointed One… The wizard finally confronted me when I was isolated from them in Kahndaq. I don't know if he took action against the others afterwards." He turns to face me fully. "If the wizard had stayed his hand, if he had seen how we acted rather than deciding that we had broken some arbitrary law, if he had {red}trusted me{/}, who had exercised the gods' power on his behalf hundreds of times, we could have created an age of order and peace the likes of which the Earth had not seen before or since. That, is why I hate him."
I don't know what to say. Having said his piece Adom turns away again. "Now, we have a meeting to go to. We should-. Ah, yes. Before we go there, the gods have asked me to pass on a message to you."
"Um. What is it?"
"It is from Sekhmet." Huh? "She tells me that while she appreciates the consideration, she simply isn't interested in Athena in that way." Shiiit. He frowns and glances at me again. "Athena is one of Princess Diana's gods, is she not? What is Sekhmet talking about?"
"The time of the Awakening is upon us." I jazz hands. Green Arrow smirks while Ms Lance rolls her eyes.
I'm not usually one for humour in situations like this but my run in with Darkseid has left me more than a little rattled. After a quick and rather frantic check that we weren't about to become ground zero for an Apokoliptian invasion I had to explain as much of the mechanics of what had just happened as I could to Batman. I should probably have been more worried about his reaction but after getting a good look at {yellow}Darkseid's true divine self{/} I'm not sure any lesser stressor will ever intimidate me again. I removed Mokkari's brand just in case. Hopefully he's still too afraid of me to risk coming back, though I'll have to stay alert. It was still hours until my tremors fully subsided and forget about sleep. Shouldn't matter too much for my purpose here. It hasn't affected the degree to which I want this and the first stage of the Awakening process is actually fairly simple for Father Box.
My whole team are in attendance, Zatanna and Artemis standing slightly further forwards than the others. Only Zatanna will actually be undergoing the process but Artemis was very much impressed by young Mister Xu. We'll be going over the strategy we'll use to convince her mother to sign off on it later. Mister Zatara is close at hand, Helmet firmly on head. He'll be monitoring the arcane components carefully. He was prepared to insist forcefully if I refused, but I readily agreed. This is a big deal for everyone and I want to {orange}get it right{/} as much as he does.
Kon's standing next to Wonder Woman. She.. grudgingly.. gave her permission so today will be the last day Kon has any Human or Genomorph biological components. That process will take slightly longer but is far more predictable. Lantern Jordan is on hand to monitor that, and he's been staring at the orange-glowing lantern at my feet whenever he thinks I'm not looking at him. I suppose this is the first time he's seen it. Father Box had a good deal of information on green personal lanterns dating from the Greenies' failed invasion attempt and I used it to fix my own lantern up a little. Nothing major; while I can function as a superhero without it, it would be extremely limiting to be forced to rely purely on Father Box and my slight divine attributes if I damaged it.
Further back Batman, Big Barda and Scott Free are also observing. Batman's here in his team oversight role and he brought the other two in for their New God expertise. They both had a quiet freak out when they first saw me. Barda's eyes are still fixed on me, her right hand caressing the hilt of her Mega Rod. Mister Free's got some sort of scanner doohickey out and is studying it intently. Not sure if he's scanning my volunteers or me. I'm tempted to ring scan both devices but I think best behaviour is the order of the day.
Hm. Only just occurred to me that the League doesn't have a team medic. Have to see if the Greenies are capable of using their rings medically. Or maybe there's a modern era Doctor Midnight I could look up?
"So, ahh…" Green Arrow looks from me to the happily smiling Zatanna. "Who wants to go first?"
"I do!" Zatanna raises her left hand and grins a little more broadly. Mister Zatara's head tilts slightly. I know that he's still not entirely happy about this. He's been back to China to give Tao a thorough scanning and couldn't find anything wrong with the magics used and he certainly acknowledges the practical advantages. Plus, after Roanoke Island he can't pretend that he can ever make Zatanna as safe as he would like through his own efforts. But no one ever wants-.
"I will." He lifts the Helmet from his head and puts it in the crook of his right arm.
"Daaad…"
"Mister Zatara, I don't think that's a good idea. In the unlikely event that anything goes wrong we will need a magic user who isn't being affected in order to deal with it. Zatanna can't fulfil that function for you as well as you can fulfil it for her." He looks down slightly and I think I hear a slight sigh. "I will be happy to Awaken you in a few years once we know better what the precise effects are." He doesn't exactly look happy about it, but he nods. I look from Zatanna to Green Arrow. "Toss a coin?"
"I've got a coin." Zatanna quickly fishes one out of her pocket and holds it out to me. "I pick heads."
"Nooot so fast." Green Arrow takes it from her and looks at both faces. Two heads. "Really? A trick coin?"
Zatanna pantomimes innocence. "Oops. Wrong one."
"Yeah, I'll bet."
I remove one of my own from subspace. "Head's Ploutos, tails is the orange sigil." The Ploutos representation is actually fairly generic but it's not as if he's likely to complain. How many people these days even know he exists? Never really got the hang of flipping coins so I just toss it lightly into the air, close my eyes and catch it in my right hand before pressing it into the back of my left. Both of them watch as I move my right hand away.
"Ooohw."
Green Arrow nods. "Okay, me then. What do I need to do?"
Mister Zatara puts the Helmet back on and holds out his left hand, a corrupted orange ankh forming over it. "Wohs em ylesicerp tahw s'eh gniod."
"Stand there." I step forwards and press my right fore and middle fingers against his forehead. "{orange}Divine Awakening{/}." There's a brief flash of orange light {trans}and I feel lines of absence attach themselves to his metaphysique, undefined presence radiating away from his core self.{/}
"Ploong."
I pull my fingers away. "All done. Mister Zatara?"
He nods. "Everything appears to be as it should."
"Really? You sure?" Green Arrow rolls his shoulders. "I don't.. feel any different."
"And you won't. Probably not for months. I haven't made you a New God, I've just.. given you extra room for spiritual growth. Now-" I take a folder of paperwork out of subspace. "-this is a list of the things you need to do each week, reports I need you to fill out and a list of predicted developmental milestones and.. a.. shorter list of things which are cause for concern and should result in you immediately contacting either myself or Mister Zatara. I'll want to see you back here at least once a fortnight for thorough scans."
He takes the folder, opens it and flicks through a few pages. "Who knew becoming a god would involve so much paperwork."
"You're very much a Guinea Pig on this one, sir. There are ways to speed it up but they involve the use of further magics and increase the risks in ways I can't properly quantify. We need to understand exactly what happens, which unfortunately for you, means that." I indicate the folder.
"You filling in one of these for you?"
"I was never really a baseline Human. Not by local standards. Zatanna?"
"Go right ahead!"
She closes her eyes as I touch her forehead. "{orange}Divine Awakening{/}."
"Ploong."
I take my fingers away and she opens her eyes, looking thoughtful. "I think I felt that."
"You may well have done. You're already aware of arcane forces in a way that Green Arrow isn't. Your folder."
She takes it from me. "Is this something we can.. go through together?"
"Certainly. It would probably be safer if I were able to monitor you more frequently, given your magic use."
Green Arrow grins. "Bet you tell that to all the girls." Black Canary elbows him and Zatanna blushes slightly. Oh, harr harr.
Kon takes a couple of steps forwards. "Is it my turn now?"
I {orange}make{/} a construct hospital bed. "It certainly is. Jump up."
He looks at it. "Do you really need that? I mean…" He looks back at Wonder Woman and M'gann.
"Kon, I really wouldn't advise you to be conscious while I do this."
"I kinda.. want to be?"
I close my eyes while I think about it. "I'll have to shut down your sensory nerves as well as your powers." I change the bed for a comfy chair. "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks." He sits and then leans back, getting comfortable. Mister Zatara turns in order to get a better look and Lantern Jordan holds his ring out in my direction.
"Alright then. Power shut down comes first. This shouldn't hurt, but let me know if it does." I hold out my left hand with my palm facing him and dull red light {orange}plays over his body{/} while waves of orange from the chair do their best to {orange}nullify the charge{/} his organelles already possess. This isn't a quick process.
Green Arrow got bored standing around so he, Black Canary and Artemis have gone to test his new divinity in Star City. I did tell him he wouldn't see any changes yet. Mister Free gave him a clean bill of health with his scanner and Barda's Mother Box, though he admitted it was really more of an educated guess than based on actual experience. Barda appeared to be quite annoyed that he drew my attention to the fact that she had one, but she doesn't have anything to worry about from me. It simply isn't worth 'acquiring' now that I have Father Box. Zatanna's stayed next to me, while M'gann and Wonder Woman stand on either side of Kon as he pokes his left arm experimentally with his right hand. "I don't feel any different."
I smirk. "Zatanna, would you please pinch Kon?"
He looks at me and then at her. "Er, I don't-." Zatanna reaches over the side of the chair and pinches his cheek. "Ow!" She pulls away with a giggle while he rubs his 'injury'. "Okay, it worked. Wait, would this work on... Y'know..?"
"Superman?" He looks away. "Yes. Actually, since I wouldn't have to sort Kryptonian cells from non-Kryptonian ones it would be a bit faster. Still not quite fast enough to be much use in combat." He nods.
I do have a combat version of course. Spent some time in the lab firing beams of kryptonite radiation at a cloned sample of Kal-El's blood. Getting what I want is so much easier when I don't bother asking first. I'm getting an idea of why it reacts to particular wavelengths in the way it does, though my understanding is far from perfect. Sadly, my attempt to turn Kryptonian organelles into a super solar power plant came to nothing but I have learned to disrupt their functioning pretty well.
"Have you made a decision about exactly what sort of genetic structure you want? As I said, I recommend-."
"Yeah, I… That one. I don't…" He looks up at Wonder Woman. "I don't need to be Superman anymore." Wonder Woman smiles down at him. I haven't spoken to her to find out what she thinks of this. I've no doubt that she'd tell me if she had a major problem. All she did during our last mentoring session was check that I was still going to Guy's classes. I am. We've even started spending time together afterwards. His constructs are noticeably stronger than mine and his actions swifter. Less sophisticated, though. It's a learning opportunity for us both.
"Alright then. If you lean back I'll shut down your sensory nerves."
He gets a little more comfortable. "Do you really need to do that?"
"I'm not completely certain that I do, but I think it would be for the best. Ready?"
"How long will it take?"
Reformatting most of the cells in your body while preventing decay to your mental networks? "I'm not sure. I already have the physiological templates loaded so.. maybe five minutes? Could be less." He nods, and M'gann reaches out to take his left hand in hers. He looks up and smiles. "Ready?"
"Yeah.{orange}Yeah, I am{/}."
"{orange}Numbing now{/}. Try not to move. Physiological reformatting beginning in three, two, one… {orange}Now{/}!"
The red light enveloping Kon is outshone by the intense orange. Running the calculations on Mister Luthor's DNA was far more difficult than finding Kryptonian equivalents. The Kryptonians really knew their genetic sciences. No one individual on file had what I wanted, and I had to decide how close a match it was worth getting. What exactly would the Kryptonian equivalent to lifelong lactase digestion be? Is there one? In the end I focused almost exclusively on genetic components which would minimise the difference in the make up of Kon's neurological structures. I had to mix and match from about fifty different individuals to get what I felt was a match of the desired degree. Took me days but it will be {orange}time well spent if it makes Kon happy{/}.
M'gann looks at me with a little concern. "Is it working?"
{orange}Change{/}. {orange}Become{/}. I look down. "Father Box, progress?"
"Ploong."
{orange}Change{/}. "And there's no problem with the mental networks?"
"Ploong."
{orange}Change{/}. "Glad to hear it." I look back at M'gann. "See?"
She slowly shakes her head. "No, noooot really."
{orange}Change{/}. "Right. Sorry. Father Box says he's fine."
She looks back down at him. "Are you sure? I can't hear… His mind feels strange."
{orange}Change{/}. "His mind is currently running on my constructs while I alter his brain tissue. I'm surprised you can hear it at all. Ah, brain's finished. Cognitive overlay removed… Better?" She nods. "Shouldn't be much longer now."
Wonder Woman reaches through the glow to put her hand on his shoulder. "Will he be safe when the process is complete? He's never had to control flight before."
{orange}Change{/}. "He's still got no solar charge. {orange}Don't worry, I'm going to be bringing his power levels up very gradually{/}." Nearly done. "He'll only have baseline Human equivalent abilities to start with. Did I ever tell you about all of the minor neurotransmitter imbalances Cadmus stuck him with?"
"You told me that was the main source of his anger."
"Miracle he wasn't hallucinating the whole time. There." The orange glow cuts off and Kon blinks up at us. "Done. Feel alright?"
"Um. Yeah, I…" He looks at his hands. "I don't feel… No, wait." He pokes his abdomen. "Did you.. change something..?"
"The Kryptonian digestive system is a little different to the Human one. Don't worry, you can still handle Human food. Now, I'm about to shut off the red light. When I do that, your photoreceptive organelles will start to function at full capacity." He tries to rise from the chair and I put my right hand to his chest. "Wait. I've just rewritten your nervous system, you're not going to be able-." He pushes my hand aside and tries to stand.
He stumbles and M'gann, Wonder Woman and I all go to catch him. M'gann's telekinesis wins, just. He stops still for a moment, then {green}grits his teeth{/} and gets his legs firmly under him, arms spread out to the side for balance. "I'm okay. Let me go." The glow in M'gann's eyes fades but she leaves her right hand pointing at him, ready to grab him again if it looks like he needs the aid. He takes a slightly shaky step, then another. He straightens up a little and lowers his hands to his sides. The Kryptonian nervous system is laid out in a similar way to the Human one but his brain clearly needs a few moments to adapt to everything being just a little off. Slowly and carefully he turns around and meets my eyes. "Okay. I'm ready."
The red aura around him fades as I {orange}bring up{/} an organelle activity monitor. Low but rising. "Feel any different now?"
He loosens his neck. "I.. don't think so."
"Let's try magnification first." I take a small screen out of subspace and hold it up. He peers at it. "Your current level of magnification should allow you to-."
Pffff! Two beams of red light leap from his eyes, annihilate the screen, cross over and continue to the far wall which glows white where they strike! They stutter as he blinks and then cut out entirely as he sticks his hands in front of his eyes. "I'm sorry! I don't know how to stop it!"
"Kon." I put my right hand on his left shoulder. "Calm yourself. Relax your eyes. The heat vision didn't activate until you tried using your magnification." He pulls his hands away from his face a little and narrowly opens his eyes. No beams.
"It worked. It actually worked. I can-." He moves his hands back to his sides, looks at the far wall and then lets rip again, melting a glowing red 'X' into the rock before shutting it down again. "I've got heat vision!"
I fold my arms across my chest. "I'll try not to be too offended at you doubting my work."
"I didn't mean it like that." M'gann smiles as she hugs him around the right side of his chest and he hugs her back. "It's just.. I {orange}should{/} be able to do it, and now I can. Wait, {orange}flying{/}. {orange}How do I fly{/}?"
"Don't look at me; I just stick a force field around myself. Wonder Woman?"
"I'm not sure what technique would work best for you. Try.. looking at the roof and picturing it coming towards you."
"Ah, okay." He disentangles himself from M'gann and tilts his head back. Nothing much happens. Hm. Maybe we should try throwing the bird from the nest?
"I'll give you a start." I grab him around the waist and hurl him into the air!
"Whoah!" He flails his arms, twists in mid air and doesn't come back down. It takes his brain a moment to pick up on what his body's already decided. I watch as his panic turns into joy. He looks at himself and at the rest of us on the floor below him. He doesn't have any control yet but he doesn't seem to care. "{blue}I can fly{/}!"
"Sooo, this is your new workshop." It doesn't really surprise me that the Conservatory of Sorcery has an 'applied' section. I knew they had sparring arenas as well as a library, after all. Sephtian's new work space is a roughly spherical room about twenty metres across with small.. desktops? Projecting out of the external wall from all around, save for the centre of the ceiling and floor where there's a sort of spire thing.
"It will be, yes, it will be."
He swims fully into the room and I follow on behind him. I suppose that underwater they don't have to worry about gravity so much. Someone who wants to work on one of the stations on the upper part of the room can just swim over there and -depending on the buoyancy- stay there with minimal effort.
"How long until it's finished?"
He turns his head to face me at what for a baseline Human would be a very uncomfortable angle. "That.. depends on you. My design for this workspace assumed that the physical components of the spells would be put in place-" A twitch and he turns in the water, hands held against his chest, fingers pointed at me, palms upwards. "-by your ring. It can be made to work without-."
"No problem. Just show me exactly what you want and I'll sort you out."
He breathes in hard, hands clenching, head flaps opening outwards showing me the pale skin at the sides of his head. "This is going to be {blue}so great{/}!"
I smile at his enthusiasm. "What does your order book look like?"
"Hmm? Ooh. No, no, finishing your order will very much not present a problem. Thissss-" He makes small circular motions with his hands, index fingers extended. "-should allow us to produce a Spell Eater in less than a day. Once it's finished and everyone's fully trained, of course."
"I.. had a few other things I wanted to talk to you about making. "
"Ah. Mmmmmm. Depends. You'd have to talk to the Queen, really. What did you have in mind?"
Where to start? "Improved magic suppression manacles. We used the strongest Atlantis had on Klarion and he barely took any notice."
"Klarion… Yes, I've heard about that. Shouldn't take long to come up with a design and given the.. the death toll I imagine she'll be amenable."
"How bad was it down here?"
His eyes flick away. "Fewer deaths per thousand than the surface. That's something to be grateful for, isn't it? Psychologically… We thought we were prepared. We're the only nation on the planet that uses magic in our everyday lives. Then-" He fans out his hands. "-a handful of surface dwellers manage that. The first crown project I've got… You remember that water shield thing you made for Aqualad?" I nod. "We're making one for Poseidonis. With.. added features. If it works then the other cities will get them as well."
"Whaw." That's probably the death knell for my worldwide detection network idea, at least for now. "Wouldn't it make sense to build other rooms like this for a job that big?"
"Once the concept is proven, yes. People are.. scared. Radically changing the way they think about arcane technology will have to wait until I can back up our claims." He swims past me back towards the entrance. "Plus, we'd have trouble staffing them. Not that I'd stop anyone who wanted to try on their own. Now that I'm employed under royal warrant the designs I'm working on are crown property and I understand that the Queen intends to make.. some of them at least, publicly available."
Good news. I follow him back into the hallway and then on in the direction of the associated classroom. "Are you teaching here now as well?"
"I have to. I'm the only one with any experience of running this system, though some of the students here were already working part time for me and know how to handle the casting part. Class isn't in session yet but this project has rather caught the imagination of a couple of them. Come, I'll introduce you."
He turns a corner and heads through an archway. The Atlanteans don't seem big on doors. Something to do with pressure, probably. I follow him into what looks like a series of miniature workshops, each bench covered with arcane equipment I couldn't begin to identify. Several different.. wands? And a rune-etched dish of some sort? I wave to La'gaan as he looks up upon hearing us enter. He blinks in surprise and then looks at his classmate.
"Professor, I think I'm having some trouble with-." Lori Lemaris looks up from her work. Looks like she's using one of the wands to lay fine lines of metal onto a metal sheet about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. She stops talking as soon as she sees me and scowls at me. "What are you doing here?"
I point back the way we came with my right index finger. "Finishing the construction work and placing an order?"
"Hpf."
She folds her arms across her chest. Sephtian flicks his eyes from me to her and then back again. "Is there some sort of problem?"
"I don't know?"
She flicks her tail, moving to a higher position in the water. "You don't know? You came to our school after Topo got branded and gave a Purist speech about how we're innately inferior-"
"What?"
"-and you're {red}surprised{/} I'm angry!?"
I frantically try and remember the contents of a speech I gave two and a half months ago. "I don't.. remember saying that?"
"Then what did you mean by 'The full advantages of biomantic adaptation should be available to everyone, not just those fortunate enough to have the {red}right ancestors{/}'?!"
"Exactly what I said! If your ancestors had had the choice at the time of the Sinking, do you think they'd have chosen the fish tail version or the version that left them looking the same?"
"How can you say that! Kaldur's your friend!"
"The version of the aquatic adaptation spell that was used on Kaldur is directly inferior to the Pureblood version. Same advantages, plus gill slits and webbing and faster dehydration on land. There is no situation in which it's better!"
"Kaldur didn't inherit his adaptations! His dad doesn't even come from Atlantis!"
"So you agree with me? If the Pureblood version had been available don't you think his mother would have wanted him and his dad to have that instead?"
"You just don't {red}get it{/}!"
"Of course I don't! I'm a surface worlder from a parallel universe! Atlantean racial politics means nothing to me. If you're happy having fish-grafts then I'm fine with that, I was simply pointing out that there are disadvantages."
"I'm fine like I am!"
"Unless you want to move on land. Which -fair enough- doesn't come up much around here. Your speed in the water's higher than a Pureblood's would be and your turning circle's better, but-." No, that's not an argument I should-.
"But what?"
I take a breath and make sure that I'm as dispassionate as possible. "Purebloods and.. what Kaldur has, can reproduce with baseline Humans. As I understand it, the Pureblood characteristic even breeds true. Fish graft users like yourself are limited to partners with the same characteristic, so, if you wanted to have children the range of choice you have in a partner goes down from about a billion to a few hundred thousand. Not so bad." I turn to Sephtian. "What are your dating prospects like?"
He undulates. Is that a shrug? "My dating prospects are as good as yours. Well." He looks me over. "Maybe a little worse. If we're talking about reproduction, however, the pool of potential mates is noticeably smaller. Assuming a half plus seven age range annnd no po..lyg..amy, I would have a choice between eight female mantafolk." He gives a thin smile. "I've met five of them. We don't really have much in common."
"What's wrong with the other three?"
"Too closely related to me by blood. Miss Lemaris,-" He turns his attention fully to her. "-the fish graft version of the spell was in wide use at the time of the sinking. The Shark version is so common I'm told they're still using it on the surface. Some of us are not so fortunate. While I am aware of the 'Purist' implications I will state openly that if I was offered the chance to change from Manta to Pureblood -or even to baseline Human- I would be sorely tempted. Aside from reproductive options, emergent flaws in the spellwork in all non-Pureblood versions of the adaptation spells are responsible for dozens of congenital deformities across Atlantis each year. Mantafolk have kept detailed genealogy records since the Sinking and we're still having certain.. problems, finding mates who aren't already related to us. Generation on generation our population decreases, and we aren't likely to attract any new blood."
Ms Lemaris shrinks back in the water. "Oh, I'm-. I'm sorry professor."
"There is no need to worry about it. I am to educate you, after all. But please, we will be dealing with these matters in class. We need to be able to talk about it without people puffing up for intimidation. Mm?"
I look up from the arcane circuitry I'm printing on the thaumatorium ceiling. "What's what like?"
The lack of pupils and somewhat different facial arrangement makes it hard to read La'gaan's expression. "You know. The surface world."
The ring cuts out for a moment. About a quarter of the inner surface of what will be Sephtian's main work room has the required physical components for the spell channels. He wasn't joking about taking full advantage of my fabrication abilities, the individual components are so small that La'gaan's having to set up a protective charm as we go to prevent waterborne detritus abrading them. Won't be a problem when the spellwork is all in place but that can only start once we're finished making the anchor lines.
"What do you mean? You came up to the surface for that whole Roanoke thing, you know what it's like."
He looks down slightly. "I saw the inside of your mountain. I didn't get to see the town outside it. I didn't even see the sky, and I only met one person who wasn't a part of your team."
"Huh. Um." I reactivate the ring as I think about how to answer his question. "I suppose the most obvious difference is that it's more two dimensional."
He looks at the orange stroke coating the rocks wall with microscopic gold filament. "Don't you need to concentrate to do that?"
"What?" I turn around to look at where the ring is working. "Oh, no, that's the Greenies, I just have to want it a lot. Once the ring's got the diagram I barely have to think about it at all."
He nods and raises his hands to point at the area I'm working on. "Right. So, how is it two dimensional?"
"We can't swim in air. The ring lets me fly but for the most part when you're on the surface you're wherever gravity sticks you, usually the ground. One of the first things I noticed about Shayeris was that the buildings had entry points all over their surface. Surface world buildings are designed to be entered from.. well, from the sea bed. It's like.. some of the really old buildings here? The ones preserved or restored to how they were before the Sinking?"
"That's.. strange. What else?"
"Less physical diversity, obviously. We've never had to adapt in the way your ancestors did. I mean, there's some places… The people in Aberrance are even more varied, and a metahuman can end up looking like more or less anything. There's a chap in Gotham who looks like he's part Crocodile."
"Is he?"
"He got checked for magic resonance once, didn't come up with anything. Oh, and Ferdinand.. he's the head chef at the Themysciran Embassy? He's like a big baseline Human with a bull's head. Nice guy. Anyway, for the most part, less varied. I suppose if you were just walking down the street it would look a bit like a Pureblood convention, only without the implied racism. Ahhh… Not many magic users but mundane technology is far more advanced."
"I saw the computer you have in the caves. It's.. just a shame I'll never get to see the rest."
I frown. "Why wouldn't you?" He stops charming and gives me what I'm assuming is supposed to be an incredulous look. "No, seriously. What's the problem?"
"I heard that some surface worlders have trouble seeing under water. Are you able to see what I look like?"
"Yes?"
He appears to be puzzled by my lack of reaction. "Would other surface worlders be okay with.. me? Looking like this?"
"Umm. If you just walked out of the sea one day people would probably freak out a bit but if you want to visit I could probably sort something out."
"Really?"
I shrug. "Yeah? I know some guys on the Metropolis police force. As long as you don't mind being escorted around by someone in uniform-. Um, how good are you in air? Kaldur tends to get a bit uncomfortable if the air's too dry and I don't know-."
"I'm fine." He smiles as he points to the side of his neck with his right hand. "No exposed gills. Can you really do this?"
"Can't think of any reason- oh. Hang on. Do you have a passport?"
"A what?"
Darn. "It's a sort of legal document you need if you want to go from one surface world country to another. Atlantis hasn't really got involved with international conventions so I'm not sure what the legal arrangements would be for you to go there. We might have to-."
"Issue them with diplomatic passports?"
The lights from the ring cut off as I turn to face Queen Mera. La'gaan freezes for a moment and then brings his right fist in to touch his forehead in a salute. I bow my head in her direction as she swims up to us.
"Your majesty." Quick scan. Yep, she and the foetus are both fine.
She smiles at my co-worker. "Planning on skipping school, La'gaan?"
"No, my Queen! Just visiting. After class."
"Orange Lantern, the Atlantean diplomatic envoy to the United Nations had a surprisingly productive meeting with Senator Knight last week and I understand we've you to thank for it."
"Um, yeah. More or less an accident, to be honest. He said something stupid in public, I said something insulting on television and we ended up bumping into each other while we were both trying to do something else. I'm amazed we managed to have a civil conversation, actually."
"I think we can accept this good fortune graciously. Was your offer of an escort restricted to La'gaan or do you think it would be possible for other students to accompany you?"
I glance at La'gaan. "Should be. I mean, probably best to make it a smallish group, at least to start with."
"Do you think it would be possible for Lori or Blubber to accompany you?"
"Difficult." Environmental shield, maybe? No, Blubber still wouldn't be able to move and Lori would struggle. Flight aura? Couldn't last long enough. Flight belts? That's.. possible. "I have some devices that can be used to fly. I'd have to adjust them a bit and they'd have to practise in the air… Can any of them speak English?"
"Ee spreek the English."
I look at La'gaan. "Not quite." He sags slightly. "Much better than my Atlantean Greek, though."
"You're completely fluent. You even have the accent right!"
"Ring translation, I'm afraid. Without it I only speak English."
"Of Kaldur's friends only Garth and Tula are fluent, but Lori and Blubber are both capable of casting a translation spell. They should be able to manage."
La'gaan starts to smile. "How soon can we do this?"
"I'm pretty much booked today and tomorrow. I.. can.. talk to my contact in Metropolis on Monday, and Blubber and Lori can practise with the flight belts whenever they've got the time. Need to be on the surface, of course. They can all breathe air, right?"
Queen Mera nods. "Few Atlanteans can't breathe air. I will contact Ambassador Vallambrosa to make the necessary arrangements."
"We're actually going to a surface city? What's Metropolis like?"
Kon and I are walking down a narrow overgrown track in what the maps show as a big white empty chunk of nothing in the middle of Nebraska. Not far ahead I can see the farmhouse. Sun's not been up all that long and there's a chill in the air. Not that the cold really affects either of us anymore. The faint orange glow of a ring-generated sound suppression field surrounds us. Breaking the habit of.. hm, only been a month I suppose. Feels like longer. Anyway, I'm wearing civilian clothing and I was able to persuade Kon to forgo his 'S' t-shirt. I used to find it amusing that cartoon characters always wore the same clothes and now my closest friend is a man who actually does.
"{blue}It's going great{/}! {blue}It was difficult at first but once I stopped.. fighting against myself I got the hang of it really fast{/}."
I smile. "Glad to hear it. Batman was making noises about benching you until you've fully adapted and I'd really miss you if that happened."
"Could you..?" He hesitates. "Diana says I should practice fighting at my new strength, and-."
"And she wants me to spar with you." Uuuehhhuhhh. "If it helps you then of course I will."
He smiles and then takes another look around. "Why did you want me to come out here? I don't.. see anything…"
"Simple really. I'm not an American, but you are, if only by default. And one thing Americans like is learning about where their ancestors came from. Especially if they were Irish for some reason. How have you been getting on with the archive?"
"It's… Interesting. I've learned a lot about Krypton, but-" He slows slightly. "-it just… I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything…"
"But you'd rather have heard it from the horse's mouth." He tilts his head to the side slightly. "No, I'm not offended. Anyone would, that's why we're here."
"What do you mean?"
I point over to our right. "If you can do it without setting the whole place on fire, take a look in that field and tell me what you see."
"Uh." He looks, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Plants?"
"What sort of plants?"
"I.. don't know. Just.. plants. Why, is it important?"
"Somewhat. You wouldn't find them anywhere else on Earth. In fact, there aren't many places in the universe where you can find them anymore. They're Kryptonian."
He turns to face me, grabbing my left arm and bringing me to a halt. "What? How can that be? Superman's the only Kryptonian left, except for.. me."
"No he isn't. Did it not occur to you that Kryptonians were a spacefaring race? And yet, everyone seems to think that every single one was in the Rao system when Krypton went critical. What sort of sense does that make?"
He looks around in excitement. "There's another Kryptonian here?"
"Sub Commander Karsta Wor-Ul, formerly of the Kryptonian Stellar Navy. She's been here under the name 'Kristin Wells' since she bought the land during the Great Depression." I generate a construct in her likeness, shifting between what she wore in the few photographs I was able to find and finishing up with her old navy gear. Crystal power armour. I {orange}need{/} that. "It's funny, really: Batman nearly rumbled her eight years ago when he started gathering information on Superman. Then, Batman and Superman met and he never thought to follow up on it." I suppose there are enough other fast fliers around the place that he wouldn't automatically attribute the phenomena to a surviving Kryptonian. Unless he did follow up on it and just didn't record it…
"Does Superman know about her?"
"Not as far as I know. And I personally don't think we should tell him. I mean, knowledge of your existence hasn't spread that far but she can't not know that Kal-El exists."
"Wait, the Navy? In the thirties? That was…" He looks aside as he tries to match up Earth and Kryptonian timelines. "Just after the Science Council took over from the Military Council. The database said that the Navy got stood down and everyone who worked for it was sent back to Krypton."
"Except the ones who went AWOL before reaching the naval base on Weghtor." I shake my head. "People who had nothing much back home. Come on." I pull my arm free and we start walking towards her house again. "Funny thing about Krypton at the time was that the military were far more cosmopolitan than the civilians back home. Krypton only ever founded one colony, never really traded with other worlds but the military regularly interacted with other species, and not always in a violent way."
"Wait, not always?"
"Under the Military Council Krypton dominated the worlds around it by the might of its Navy."
"That's not what Jor-El's records say."
I smile faintly. "Jor-El… I rather imagine he was trying to preserve what he thought was best about Kryptonian civilisation. Or maybe he just didn't know. Father Box's records are a bit less biased." And rather detailed on matters relating to war. "I also took the opportunity to scan her records."
"Isn't that private?"
"Kon, she was a member of the Kryptonian Stellar Navy and then she went to ground for at least eighty years. I wanted to know how much of a risk going anywhere near her was. She wouldn't have any reservations about killing an opponent if she felt sufficiently threatened."
He stops again. "Exactly how dangerous..?"
"Imagine a Wonder Woman with a century more experience who can fire lasers out of her eyes."
"Um." He looks up at the house.
"Yeah. But look: I think we stand a reasonable chance of stopping it getting that far just by promising not to share what we know. She should be interested in how a new Kryptonian like you can exist; you're kind of big news. And, if it comes to it, I'm confident that we could beat her in a fight."
"Ploong."
"Ah. We're being scanned. Father Box is making us look like a couple of baseline Humans but she'll know we're here. If you want to leave, now's the time."
"I-I don't wanna fight her, but…" Kon looks up at the house just as the door opens and Ms Wor-Ul walks out. Tough looking leather jacket, blue blouse and denim trousers. Her hair's white but her skin's taut and I'd be hard pressed to guess her age. I dismiss the sound baffle.
"Hey, you two!" Kons beefy and I'm huge and yet she's walking confidently towards us without carrying a gun. That might make a person suspicious. "This is private property." The shade where I'm standing might disguise my grey skin but I'm more or less physically incapable of stealth, especially against a Kryptonian. {orange}Quick check{/}. Yep, not a robot or body double. Either she's assuming that the scanner was accurate and isn't bothering to give us a more detailed look or she's a lot more passive than I thought she'd be. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
Kon looks stunned so I give him a nudge with my right elbow. "Ah. Hi. Um, I'm, er, like you. Krypton-." She stops and stares at both of us. Ah, that's the check. Ring, {orange}strengthen environmen{/}DOOAWHHH!. I go sailing backwards, the bushes lining the road exploding around me! Standard follow up for her would be a hammer blow to send me into the ground so {orange}transfer{/} directly up, yes. For a fraction of a second I saw her swinging her fists downwards just above me and then she's replaced with sky. {orange}Armour, construct armour{/}. Kryptonite would probably give the wrong impres- and there's the heat vision! Directly in line with my eyes! Good shooting, but not enough to penetrate my construct armour immediately which is all the time you have when I can FTL {orange}transfer{/} back down and you shouldn't have taken your eyes off Kon.
Kon flies through the air as her head comes down, eyes still glowing as she looks for me. His hands go around her head and jerk it backwards into his upraised knee. I see her wince. "{orange}Ring, sonic-{/}" Kon goes for a second knee to the face only for her to recover, grab his leg, twist in the air and slam him into the ground. "-{orange}cannon{/}." The cannon construct forms Megatron style on my left forearm and the lance of sound buckles the air between myself and Ms Wor-Ul's head. She manages a half-second heat vision shot at Kon before being knocked staggering away. Yeah, super hearing suddenly doesn't sound so good, does it? Kon's up again in a second and I shut the cannon off as he flies in for an uppercut. There's an angry red line across his face where her heat vision's burned his skin but it doesn't look critical. If she'd fired that directly into his eyes…
Between super strong people in the same weight class with no critical weaknesses it's all about stunning hits and submission holds. I {orange}clamp{/} a chain construct around her legs and yank her back down before she can go flying off. Kon takes the opportunity to punch her in the side of the head as she goes past him and she swings violently around my pivot point into the ground. Most of my anti-Kryptonian techniques are a bit of a risk with Kon right there, but we need her down. Ring, {orange}stutter transfer and red light pulses{/}.
{orange}By your command.
Also, noise deadening{/}. A flicker and a new gun construct forms next to her. My red light pulse gun fires intense radiation beams designed to interfere with the functioning of Kryptonian photo receptive organelles. Not only does it hurt a lot, it weakens them in every regard. I get maybe a second of contact before she's back in the air and repaying Kon's knee to the head with one to his diaphragm. No armour! {orange}No{/}! It forms around him even as he doubles over and it's rated against my pulses. Flicker. My next one strikes her in the centre of her back and she swiftly turns to hurl Kon at where I was a second ago, giving me a free shot at her face.
"Aaaagh!" She staggers forwards in the air, then shoots upwards at high speed to get away.
"Kon, you alright?"
He stabilises himself in the air and gingerly feels along his burn with his right hand. "Why did she attack us?"
"I think she rea-heally values her- {orange}shield{/}!" An orange semi-dome forms over us just before Ms Wor-Ul dives into me at full speed. The shield breaks and the shockwave she generated flattens the field around us but she's lost most of her momentum.
"We don't wanna fight you! We just wanted to talk!"
She responds by firing her heat vision at his chest. I {orange}block with another barrier{/} and retaliate with a flash of red light. "Next one's Kryptonite. Calm the hell down before NORAD pick you up." The heat vision cuts off. The construct barrier actually looks warped and melted when I dismiss it.
She looks over Kon's armour, particularly focusing on the 'S' symbol. "An El. I hoped it was just Kal-El. How many more of you are there?"
"Just me. And, um, him."
"How did you escape?"
"What? No, I didn't. Jor-El sent Kal-El away in a pod just before Krypton blew up. I was.. made here."
Her eyes narrow. "You're pure Kryptonian. Try again."
"I was! Cadmus has this whole lab set up to make me."
Her eyes light up. I respond by landing and putting a Kryptonite radiation projector underground directly underneath her. I don't want to start anything, but… "I know what clones look like. I've fought beside clones. You are not a clone and there's no way Earth's technology is advanced enough to clone a Kryptonian."
And that's my cue. "Correct, but they could muddle through well enough to create a functional hybrid."
She frowns. "But that's even harder!"
"Good job no one told them that. I know, I know, just when you think you've got a handle on Human technological progress someone springs something like this on you, but really: they already had AIs when you first got here. They shouldn't have true AIs for half a century or more."
Her eyes dim. "True, but he isn't a hybrid."
"Power ring." I point to it. "Father Box." I point again.
"Ploong."
"Also, Jor-El's ever so helpful Kryptonian genetic database. Replacing the Human components was the work of a few minutes. Do you feel like talking now?" I don't say 'obviously this means that I can undo your species' extinction' because I'm sure she's intelligent enough to spot that.
She thinks for a moment, and then floats to the ground. She look at Kon. "How old are you?"
"Ah, I got out of the pod about five months ago. They finished 'assembling' me back in March."
I dismiss the subterranean construct as she slowly walks closer. She turns to me. "Why did you call him that?"
Huh? "Call him what? Kon? It's his name."
She gives me a hard look. "'Kon' is a Kryptonian word. It means 'abomination'."
Kon and I both start, then look at each other. He looks shocked. "It does? I just thought it was short for 'Conner'."
I hold up my hands. "I swear I had no idea. I just thought it sounded Kryptonian."
"Well, yeah! Apparently, it is Kryptonian!"
Ms Wor-Ul rubs her forehead. "You people somehow managed to name a clone warrior 'Kon' without knowing what that meant?"
Kon sullens. I thought I'd got him out of that habit. "Not like Superman's been there to teach me about it."
"Are there any other clones I should know about?"
I shake my head. "No. Though I wouldn't rule out the possibility of other Kryptonians having survived completely."
"Better they don't come here with the big blue target flying around. Some civilisations went centuries without developing anti-Kryptonian weapons and you did it in under a decade."
I smile. "More like three years, actually, though having the Kryptonite meteors lying around may have sped up the process."
"Fine." She looks at Kon. "Welcome to the 'I'm a Kryptonian' club. Your membership badge is in the mail. Now get off my land."
"But we've just met! I wanted to talk to you about-."
She holds up her right hand. "I'm not your mama or your grandma. We don't work under the same Council -not that those exist any more- and we're not even from the same House. Other than being the same species we don't have anything-."
"Um, actually." I raise my right hand as if to ask a question. "You were in Jor-El's database. That was part of how I was able to identify you. When I transmuted Kon's Human components to their nearest Kryptonian equivalents I used some of.. you. It's.. roughly on a level with you being an ancestor of his twenty or so generations back."
She looks at me, then back at Kon. Then she sighs. "You're not going to go away, are you?"
"No."
"Who else knows you're here?"
He glances at me, "I didn't tell anyone."
"Neither did I, but Superman gets a rather interesting message if we don't report in within an hour."
She jabs at each of us with her index fingers. "I don't exist. You don't know anyone called Kristen Wells or Karsta Wor-Ul. You find a way to come here without being seen and you phone ahead. And-" She looks around. "-since you just wrecked one of my fields, you're now farm laborers."
Kon recoils. "That was y-!"
"Do we have an agreement?"
Kon and I look at each other. I shrug. "She's your crazy grandma."
Mister Chase puts the drinks down on the table: a glass of milk for me, coke for Zatanna, beer for John and a pot of tea for him and Ms Sackville. Zatanna looks around the room again. "Is this really a good place to be meeting?"
John nods. "The fellow who runs this place is a houngan an' a bokor. It's suffused with magic. It'd stop anyone feelin' us, an'.. uooow." He shudders and winces, waving his right hand in front of him as if swatting at invisible flies. Um, what? He jerks as he snaps out of it and lowers his hand. "Sorry, I've been dealing with the fuckin' Changing Man for most of the last week. Still a bit out of it."
Ms Sackville takes a sip from her tea. "As he was saying, the manager uses magic to enhance his cooking. Has done for years. It's everywhere around here. Unless someone really knew what they were looking for they wouldn't see us through the background noise of the place."
Zatanna still looks worried. "And if they are looking for us?"
"Then, dear, we're in a great deal of trouble, because aside from the enlightened snake charmer over there none of us stand the slightest chance of being able to fight a Lord of Order."
"Oh."
She turns to me and I try to project reassurance, laying my right hand on her left where it lays on the table. "Zatanna and I-."
"Oi. Not yet." John appears to have recovered a little. He's pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand. "Just because we think we're safe here doesn't mean we are. Got something coming."
"Okay? What exactly-?" One of the waiters pushes open the door to our private dining room while another pushes through a trolley upon which sit five bowls of.. um, stew? I think? He brings it to a halt a short distance from the table then picks up the first bowl with a cloth and sets it in front of Mister Chase. "I didn't think we were actually eating..?"
"We're not." Mister Chase looks unhappy about it. "Fuckin' waste. 'E enhances his food with the idea of food. Nuffin' like it, anywhere. Best restaurant in the 'ole world can't compare wiv' a couple a' rooms in Broadway Market."
I lean back slightly as a bowl is placed in front of me. Zatanna clearly has no more idea of what's going on than I do. "Okay..?"
Everyone served, the waiters head back out of the door and close it behind them. Mister Chase, Ms Sackville and John already have their spoons in hand. John looks like he's braced for something. What am I missing? He points at me with his spoon. "You'll probably need to take your ward off."
Ring, subspace it. I pick up my spoon and Zatanna follows suit, both of us searching the faces of the others for a clue as we all lower our spoons into the gravy, lift them out and take a sip. The three older wizards put their spoons down beside their bowls and lean back. I
swiftly
copy
them as the room drops away around me. I can still see it, can still feel the chair beneath me, but it seems dull. Dim. The bowl in front of me glows brightly and through the walls I can see the outlines of other surfaces and the brilliant line drawings which make up the staff and the other diners. Lines, circles and dots, patterns and representations which remind me of the art of Aboriginal Australians. Only in three or.. possibly more dimensions.
Oh, that's odd.
I look down at my own body. My clothes are still there but brighter still are the tattoos on my skin and the lines connecting my extremities to the orange sigil within me. The ring itself is glowing as well, two cords coming off it and extending out, down into the ground. My lantern and.. Okaara, I think. Looking around I see that Ms Sackville and Mister Chase look hollowed out. Their faces are still faces but they also give the impression of a skull.. or maybe a scream mask. I see the white and black patterns within them and other things which make no sense to me. John looks stranger. Half of him looks normal… Well, normal compared to the people I see through the walls. The other half looks tattered, barely there, held together by bits that don't look like they came from the same place as the rest. And the whole outline judders violently every few moments. Zatanna looks much better, golden thread woven through her metaphysique, making it stronger and more vital.
"What's going on?" / "What's wrong with you?"
Zatanna and I look at each other and I use both hands to gesture in her direction. "John, you look… Half of you looks…"
"Had to rip my soul in half a few years back. Hasn't quite repaired itself yet. As for Paul's question, it's an extra layer of security. We can communicate without speaking and if anyone tries listening in we'll know right away. So, you want t'go first?"
"Um, well, we've been going through Mister Nelson's books. The first mention of Klarion was a few years after the Justice Society threw Mordru through what we think was a Bleed portal. Into the space between universes. Since he hasn't come back that might have killed him, or-" She looks at me. "-maybe he just doesn't want to come back."
"Having read what Mister Nelson wrote about Nabu I think we can rule out a negotiated settlement. Describing him as 'driven' doesn't begin to do him justice. He resented every moment Mister Nelson wasn't wearing him and actively sabotaged his personal life in order to make him spend more time on the job. The only real surprise is that he didn't do to Mister Nelson what he did to Mister Zatara."
Zatanna shakes her head. "They had an agreement. He may have been demanding but he never once broke it."
"Come on! I thought Mister Nelson was being poetic when he described himself as an old coat, but that's basically-."
"Settle down, children." We both look at Ms Sackville. "Did you find anything else useful?"
"We think we know roughly where Mister Nelson first encountered Nabu. It's somewhere in what is now north eastern Bialya. We could probably get there without being spotted, but narrowing down the precise location would be difficult and.. he might be watching it. Nothing helpful on Klarion."
John makes a circling motion with his right hand. "Wouldn't Kent keep better records than that?"
Zatanna shakes her head. "The journal relating to the exact period they met is missing. We had to look at other people's accounts and records from his university to get that much."
"Wait a minute. John, that shaking thing your aura is doing; do you need that?"
He stays silent for a moment. "N-no, it's just-."
"Arua eb mlac dna llits!" Ribbons of gold shoot through John leaving calmness in their wake.
He takes a moment to look at himself. "Ah, thanks, S-. Zatanna."
"What made you do that to yourself?"
"The Changing Man only likes talking to mad people. I had to-. Oh, doesn't matter. What's important is that I found out what a Lord of Whatever actually is." That is important.
Zatanna realises it too. "How does this 'Changing Man' know?"
"'cause he is a Lord of Chaos. If I hadn't gotten that close to Klarion on Roanoke I wouldn't a' realised it. Didn't, when I first met him, thought he was just a nutter. He sort of is…"
Ms Sackville rolls her eyes. "Don't keep us all in suspense, John. It's not polite. How does a little boy become the most powerful chaos magic user on the planet?"
"Basically, by embodying raw elemental chaos so completely that he could bind his soul to the concept of Chaos itself. Most of his real 'self' is this giant great magic construct out in the subtle realms somewhere while his avatar runs around on Earth. His familiar was the connection point between the two."
"But I cut it."
"Sort of, yeah. All the power's still there though. It's not going anywhere, and he's probably working his arse off to work out how to reconnect with it. In the meanwhile he's plugging himself into that Djinn thing to make up the difference. Make no mistake: a wizard good enough to even consider doing something like that would have to be very skilled, very clever an' very mental anyway, so I'm not sure how knowing that really gets us anything."
I look up from the analysis of her armour the ring is running. In terms of the protection it offers it's actually weaker than the Apokoliptian stuff I've given my team. Bulkier too. What interests me is the way its crystalline structure appears able to both recharge from and give off sunlight. Makes sense really; it's not as if Kryptonians didn't know what happened when they exposed themselves to light from yellow stars. Worth adapting for Kon? Not sure yet.
"I'm just here for moral support. Making you happy is his problem." We both look over to where Kon's kneeling in the damaged field, digging holes with a trowel and replanting the shockwave-blasted vegetables. "Besides, if I did everything you asked you wouldn't have anything to do all winter."
"Other than fly to the southern hemisphere and work on my tan."
"Sure, fifty years ago, maybe. Would you really risk that with modern radar, gravdar and satellite monitoring networks? You know there are people who track Kal-El full time."
"Hm."
"If you like, I could set up a teleportation system for you. Something subtle. Something Earth can't track."
"What? A Zeta Tube, like the Justice League use? I'd rather have something that won't scramble my molecules if there's a little atmospheric electromagnetic interference."
"I was thinking more along the lines of a hush tube. Apokoliptian technology."
"Never heard of it."
"Think 'wormhole portal'. Without a Father Box I'd have to build the base station from scratch and.. I.. don't have anything that could provide sufficient power to charge it yet."
"Wormhole entry points can be detected. We have-." Her eyes drop for a second. "We used to have the tech for that."
"That technology would probably detect the boom tubes I use for getting around just fine. Hush tubes are designed to have a minimal footprint. Unless someone knew exactly what they were looking for and had the detector pointed in exactly the right place they wouldn't even know it was there."
She turns her head from Kon to me. "What's your story, anyway?"
"I come from a parallel universe. Woke up halfway from here to the moon in early July with an orange power ring on my finger, bartered a year of my life in exchange for a lantern to run it off, got exposed to a super serum, stole technology from the Gods and altered myself further."
"What sort a'gods?"
"New ones. Father Box is an Apokoliptian personal computer."
"Ploong."
"I'm not sure whether he's sentient or not, but he's highly sophisticated."
"And how'd you meet… I still can't believe he's called 'Kon' El."
"The ring only translates words that are actually in another language. If you just make a sound it stays the same. The only person who'd have known that it meant that would be Kal-El… Maybe Batman. To most people it's just a syllable shorn of meaning. Anyway, we first met after he got broken out of Cadmus by some other superheroes and we've spent a lot of time togeth-." Ms Wor-Ul suddenly winces and jams her hands over her ears. "What?" I frown and look over to Kon as he does the same thing. That's… {orange}Ring, what's going on{/}?
{orange}Ultra high frequency message detected.
Play it for me{/}.
{orange}"…less than four legs can hear this frequency, Superboy. And that's you."{/} Mister Luthor's voice. Ms Wor-Ul straightens slightly and grimaces while Kon just looks puzzled. {orange}"Meet me in Washington DC, East Potomac Park. Come alone. I promise, it'll be worth the trip."{/} Both Kryptonians recover as the sound cuts off and Kon gets to his feet.
Ms Wor-Ul appears decidedly less than happy. "Hey, Superboy! That better not become a regular occurrence."
"I've never met him! I didn't know that was even possible!"
Stop this argument before it gets going. "Kon, do you want to go, or do you want to keep working here while I find and destroy his transmission equipment?"
Kon looks at his trowel and then back at Ms Wor-Ul. "He's.. kinda my dad."
She waves her right hand dismissively. "I didn't want you here in the first place."
I told Kon where his Human genetic material came from shortly after our brief encounter with Kal-El on the Metro-Narrows Bridge. Shock, anger and denial followed by acceptance once I showed him the relevant scans. Wonder Woman seemed to be under the impression that I should have left the decision as to whether to tell him or not up to the League. My response was that if any of them were Kon's legal guardian I would have done. Hm, I wonder if part of the reason why she's taken him on is to protect him from my influences? Would be jolly amusing if it were true. Of course, now that he doesn't have Human genetic material it's all a bit academic. Luthor has no biological or social claim over him and even if this version of Lex Luthor appears to be a bit less mental than most other versions I'd still rather Kon kept his dealings with him to a minimum.
Kon walks over to us and looks at me. "I think we should see what he wants."
Ring, {orange}show me East Potomac Park{/}. Images flash through my mind. "I can see somewhere I can transfer us to. You should probably conceal that you're 'fully functional' for now."
"He said I should come alone."
"Kon, he's a supervillain. I can think of no good reason to pander to him. I'll stay back so the two of you can have a chat, just in case he tries to pull something."
He then looks at Ms Wor-Ul. She blinks, not understanding, then gets it and rolls her eyes. "Yeah. Going to a meeting with a potential enemy without backup's dumb whatever planet you're from." Kon nods. Ring, {orange}anyone looking this way{/}? No? Father Box, open a boom tube to the location indicated. There's a rush of displaced air as the portal opens and Ms Wor-Ul looks at me with irritation. "I thought you said that thing was quiet."
"No, I said hush tubes were quiet. My Father Box doesn't have a generator for those." They can fit in one but I'd need to remove his biospiritual modification hardware in order to fit it in and I need that far too much to modify him in that way.
"If you've given me away-!"
"No one's looking. You live in the arse end of Nebraska -ooh, tautology- and everyone's detection equipment is focused on places where things are likely to happen. For hiding out purposes-" I look around, nodding. "-good choice. If you actually want to achieve anything with your life, not so good." Kon heads through the boom tube and starts scanning around for Luthor. Love that Kryptonian vision. "Seriously, think about the cloning thing." No point keeping my voice down around people with super hearing. I give Ms Wor-Ul a jaunty wave as I stroll through the Tube before closing it down.
{red}25th November
10:28 GMT -5{/}
"I thought that went reasonably well."
"We got into a fight with the only Kryptonian on the planet who'll talk to me." He touches the burn mark again. "Can you.. fix this?"
I shake my head. "Sorry, Kon. You're now too tough for me to heal like that without draining you completely first. I can give you a quick burst of solar power if you like but you'll have to wait for the burn to heal by itself." Ring, {orange}where's Alexander Luthor{/}? Still en route with Miss Graves.
"How am I going to explain it without mentioning Karsta?"
"Could say you tried to shave with it and miscalculated."
"I.. don't actually.. shave."
"Really? Hadn't realised." I give him a quick {orange}scan{/}. "I've got news for you then; you will now. Turns out Kryptonians get facial hair. Come on, let's go and wait for him."
We head out through the depths of the woodland. Kon still seems to be bothered by something. "I won't.. really need to shave with heat vision, will I?"
"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six, Zatanna Zatara, B zero nine."
"…try going back there sometime to actually, y'know, eat."
"Maybe we could bring the whole team along." I take a look at the training room and give its sole other occupant a wave. "Hi Kon. How's dinner going?"
"Ah." He nods. "It's going good." Looks like he was heading for the Zeta Tube, but he stops as Zatanna and I walk up. "Can I.. talk to you for a moment?"
"Of course. What is it?"
He looks at me, then at the floor and then at Zatanna. "Um."
She looks at him, then nods and turns to me. "Kon needs some guy-time. I'll go see if M'gann needs any help in the kitchen."
"If Diana asks, we weren't shirking kitchen duty, alright? I'm perfectly at home with a saucepan." She rolls her eyes at me and then heads off to find M'gann. "Sooo. What's the problem?"
He watches Zatanna walk away for a few moments, until he judges her to be out of hearing range. "I got a message.. from Lex Luthor."
"No. No. He did some kinda broadcast only dogs and Kryptonians could hear." He fidgets slightly. "He wants me to meet him in Washington."
"Did he say what it's about?" He shakes his head. "Mmm. Exactly where are you supposed to meet him?"
"East Potomac Park."
Ring, map, if you please. Uuuuh huh. "On the golf course, or.. somewhere else?"
"He didn't say."
"He knows Diana's mentoring you. If he tried to message you directly rather than sending a letter to the Embassy then he's up to something."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Kidnapping seems unlikely, Cadmus probably has all the records about you they need…"
He frowns faintly. "I thought you liked him."
"I can like someone without trusting them." Kal-El's face flashes into my mind. Appropriate, given who we're talking about. "Or trust them without liking them." Is this where Lex brings up the thing about him being one of Kon's biological parents? I suppose that wasn't going to go away, but it seems… So what? Kon's never asked about his Human components and I don't really think he cares. "Ignoring him is an option, of course."
He shrugs. "Turkey's in the oven. I don't really have much to do for a few hours and he might say something useful."
I nod. "If we take the tube to Washington we can be in the Park in a couple of minutes."
He looks at the zeta tube and then back at me. "He said I should come alone."
"I'm sure he'll live. There's no sense indulging him unless we actually know he's got something we need." Kon doesn't look convinced. "I'll stay back and monitor what's going on while you talk to him. Doesn't even need to know that I was there."
He thinks for a moment and then nods. "Yeah, you're probably right. C'mon." He leads the way back into the zeta tube and I follow him.
"Recognised, Superboy, B zero four, Orange Lantern, B zero six."
The Washington zeta tube is in the Hall of Justice. I cringe a little as we walk into the Hall's library, remembering all too well the fire fight that happened here during the telepathic training debacle. No giant orange snake this time, and hopefully no need for one. As I notice a muffled noise to my right I realise that the tourist window is open. Looking up I see cameras and quite a bit of confusion. Of course; Kon isn't widely known and I'm not in uniform. I suppose they can't really hear the zeta tube's announcements from out there. I smile and give them a wave while Kon ignores them. A small girl in a blue dress holding a helium balloon waves back. I make eye contact and she grins and excitedly tries to get her mother's attention. She's a rather striking woman with a shaved head and apparently making her daughter happy is enough to earn me a smile from her too, even if she doesn't know who I am.
We go out through the main doors and get another rapid switch from excitement to disappointment from a nearby tour group. Looks like the guide doesn't recognise us either. What does a guy have to do to get recognised in public around here? Though, given the fact that Clark Kent's face is regularly attached to his articles…
"…next room you can see several trophies the Justice League have taken from their defeated enemies." Kon's halfway to the main exit. I'm actually sort of interested in what people who don't have regular dealings with our lot think about us. "Objects currently on display include the remains of the Appellaxians, the Gamma Gong used by the alien terrorist Kanjar Ro-."
"Uum!" I wave my right hand in the air. "The actual.. Gamma Gong is in a secure STAR Labs warehouse. That would be an insane thing to put on display."
The guide smiles with teeth teeth too many teeth. "Thank you for sharing that sir, but I assure you that the genuine Gamma Gong-." Ring, uniform. She stops talking.
"No, seriously." And there go the cameras. "Nothing that can be quickly weaponised goes on display. That would put everyone in danger. The Appellaxians are genuine because you'd need to be another Appellaxian to animate them and a lot of the other weapons are genuine because we can take out the power cells or other vital components. The Gong's pretty much just a gong, you literally activate it by holding it out, looking at the target and hitting it with something. Really can't go on display."
She gapes for a moment, but recovers smoothly. "Thank you. Everyone, this is Orange Lantern. He's-."
"Two eight one four. Orange Lantern two eight one four. This is Sector two eight one four, I'm the Orange Lantern assigned to it. Sorry for interrupting you, it's rude of me, but if people just say the job title you get silly situations where people think there's only one Lantern or something."
"Alright. Ah, Orange Lantern two eight.. one four. He's currently studying under Wonder Woman."
"And Lantern Gardner." Kon glances back at me and then presses on through the door to the outside. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to run, because-."
"̷A͘r҉è y͏ou t̶he c̕a͠ḱe̢ ͟ma͘n͡?"
The little girl from earlier appears to have joined the group. She must have headed out once she saw which way I was going. I kneel down as she walks over. "Yes, I'm the cake man. Do you live in New York?"
She looks at me like I've said something ridiculous. "Noo̴.̀"̧
"I'm afraid that the cake is going to the good people of New York City, but if you leave an address I'll see if I can get you some. I hope you-." I look up at the rest of the tour group. "You all enjoy your visit. In particular, I'd like to encourage any metahumans in the group to consider trying one of the Justice League certificated training courses. They really can help." Ring, plot course and transition. The tour group disappears as I reappear on the steps outside next to Kon, my normal clothing restored. Crowds are fairly dense out here, which means few people see my unusual method of transit.
"Sure you don't wanna talk to your fans some more?"
"Hey, you chose the off-the-peg uniform. And you went to the same public relations seminar that I did." Kon starts pushing his way through the crowd and I follow in his wake. "We can just transition from here, you know."
"Don't wanna risk Luthor knowing you're here." Oh. That's actually a good point. Would he have someone watching here? I'm not local news material, am I? "Let's get out of sight and then you can do your transfer thing."
There's a few pigeons around so I break up some bread and throw it to them, provoking a minor feeding frenzy. I'm sitting on a bench facing the Potomac with a couple of large road bridges to my right. I'm wearing warm, winter appropriate clothing that doesn't use the colours grey, black or orange at all, and conveniently covers the top and sides of my head. The air is grey with high cloud and I've turned my environmental shield down to the absolute minimum. No ambushes detected, no mines, no satellite weapons and no suspiciously positioned LexCorp employees. Kon's hanging around under the bridge at the far side and.. yep, Ms Graves is driving Lex up to him right now. Aside from Ms Graves' arm gun I'm not seeing any other weapons there either. Ring, eavesdropping mode.
Kon ambles in the direction of the car, stopping about four metres away from the passenger door. Ms Graves exits first. I've noticed that unlike in Superman Animated she doesn't wear the traditional chauffeur hat. That, and she rarely does her hair up. She walks around the front of the limo and opens the rear right hand door for her employer. Guess the 'come alone' thing was only one way. He gives Kon a wan smile as he exits the car, offering Kon his right hand. "Superboy. My name is Lex Luthor. My company was the principal investor in Project Cadmus." Come on Kon, we've talked about the value of civility, shake his-. There we go!
"I know who you are. And about who runs Cadmus."
"Yes, Orange Lantern is a font of information, isn't he. I'm a little surprised you didn't bring him with you."
I resist the urge to wave. Ms Graves looks like she's keeping watch of the surrounding area and she might spot it. I throw a bit more bread as Kon folds his arms across his chest. "What do you want, other than to give me a headache?"
"To business, then. Cadmus has another superclone." Ooh dear. I can see Kon stiffening from here. "I had hoped that putting Mister Harper in charge of the facility would make it possible to draw a line firmly under the less ethical aspects of their work. This.. does not appear to have happened."
"How do you know about that?"
"An exhaustive and rather expensive data recovery effort on their computer systems, combined with an analysis of their purchases and work logs. The process for successfully cloning a Kryptonian is rather delicate and requires very specific expertise and equipment."
"Guardian wouldn't let anything like that happen!"
"That's what I'd assumed, and why I nominated him for the position." I hear an exhalation. "I'm not sure how this happened. Doctor Desmond indicated in his testimony that he'd been using the G-Gnomes to keep the other Cadmus employees under control, but I had my people go through all of their backgrounds and we couldn't find any evidence that he had collaborators. It's entirely possible that the other Kryptonian was created prior to you and put on ice."
"Why were they even doing work on Kryptonians in the first place?!"
Lex fans his hands out. "The cells of your body are the most potent solar energy converters on the planet. If we understood how they worked we could reduce-."
Kon balls his fists. "I'm not just a science project!"
Lex makes a calming gesture with both hands. "Now, there's no need to see red, son." A slight pause. "I never meant to imply that you are. Doctor Desmond was authorized to clone tissue, not whole individuals. All materials pertaining to their work on you should have been either handed over to the Justice League or destroyed. Mister Harper assured me that's what would happen and yet, it hasn't. I'm worried that someone -or something- within Cadmus has found a way to evade detection and be working against me. Against the goals the Project is supposed to have."
"So why come to me?"
"Because, my boy,-" Lex takes a step forwards and puts his right hand on Kon's left shoulder. "-you really are a remarkable individual. Given your difficult start in life I can't tell you how pleased I was to learn that you're becoming a superhero, particularly the role you played in putting a stop to that horrific business on Roanoke Island." He shouldn't know about that. How does he know… Educated guess? He can probably read Kon's body language well enough to confirm his suspicion. "Plus, I generally feel that personal emotional engagement encourages the best results. Now that you know you have a.. 'brother', most likely being kept in the same conditions that you once were, could you honestly just walk away?" He turns to look out across the river and I look at the pigeons once more. "I suppose I could have informed Superman but I'd rather got the impression from talking to Orange Lantern that he.. isn't very interested in-."
"What's to stop me calling in the League right now? Or the police?"
Lex shrugs. "Nothing, except that if it were something the police were capable of finding I would have found it myself. And the League… They're not the most subtle of people. I'm concerned that if whoever's doing this finds out about League involvement they'll go to ground. Superboy, somewhere in Cadmus there's a very lost and confused young man. I may not have ordered his creation but I did hire Doctor Desmond to run Cadmus and I do recognize my responsibility for my part in his creation. Please, help me to help him."
Kon's looking down. Thinking about it. We can't not investigate now anyway and there's really no reason I can see not to accept his help. "I'll do it."
Lex smiles a tiny bit more. "Thank you. I'll have someone phone ahead to let them know that you're coming and tell them that you're acting with my authority. Go everywhere, take as long as you like. Listen to everyone, trust no one."
"Including you?"
Lex bows his head slightly. "Especially me. I have a vested interest in a particular outcome, that should automatically make me suspect."
"So why even tell me? Given what happened last time, doesn't this just put Cadmus even more at risk?"
"More at risk than the Project Director dosing himself with an untested mutagen and going on a rampage? More than the FDA finding out that despite my assurances to the contrary Cadmus is still engaged in unlicensed biotech research? I don't know how this is getting covered up and I need to. I can't defend myself if I don't know where I'm being attacked from."
"And if I tell the police afterwards?"
"That's.. up to you, of course. If it turns out that any LexCorp employees have been involved in anything illegal then I would expect them to face charges. I'd rather handle things quietly than risk the functioning of the entire project, but if you really feel the situation is bad enough to warrant shutting Cadmus down then I'll understand. Though -if that was how you felt- you'd have to consider what would happen to the Genomorphs if that happened, to say nothing of what might happen if the world's leading experts on Kryptonian physiology were to suddenly find themselves unemployed."
Kon's eyes narrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Lex's face is a picture of innocent concern. "If you or Superman were to become ill, where would you seek medical attention? It's not as if you can visit a Kryptonian doctor and even if you could they wouldn't understand the way your hybrid tissues work. I.. don't know what the Justice League has arranged for you but it might be worth you getting a check up while you're there. Just to make sure everything's alright."
"I'll pass, thanks."
"I leave it entirely up to you. Now, if there's anything else you want to ask, just ring my secretary and she'll pass you through to me as soon as possible. It was good to meet you." Lex turns and gets back in his car. Ms Graves closes the door behind him and then heads back to the driver's side. Kon starts to walk away down the footpath towards our rendezvous point.
Lex Luthor constantly bubbles with orange light in a subdued sort of way, churning without building. It's only different from other men in his position in that he maintains his equilibrium better. None of the spikes which lead to hookers, cocaine and stock market collapses. Ring, before they get away, show me what he's getting out of this.
Wooohw, that's… Not surprising, really. He wants to control the events that affect him, and given his political and financial power that's just about everything. His motive.. something about the murder of a girlfriend by someone in a position of authority? I can see her face but I don't recognise it. Kon's face shows up. He wants to influence but not to dominate. Interesting. Anything about Cadmus? He wants it to keep working, wants to keep any disturbance to a minimum. He thinks his control might be slipping. His car pulls away annnd.. I'm not getting anything particularly helpful.
I toss the last of the bread down for the pigeons to fight over and rise to my feet. What a waste of good bread. Just in case anyone's watching at the other end I'll need to walk to my meet up point with Kon. Scan? No, still no one watching. Given what's happened I probably should have checked Cadmus out myself before now. I just assumed that when the Justice League said they were on top of it they actually were.
We walked to the site of Cadmus Labs without contacting anyone else. Kon stared at the ground pretty much the whole way. I -on the other hand- got to see a fair few national monuments with my own eyes for the first time. We met up at the Washington Monument -which only shows up on television every fricking time someone wants to indicate a scene shift to Washington- and our route took us past the White House. Kon wasn't interested in tourism so I had to put up with only seeing the Lincoln Memorial from a distance. The ring was happy to inform me about other sites of tourist interest but even having consumed American television for thirty years none of them looked particularly familiar. I mean, I've heard of the Smithsonian but I didn't recognise the structure of it.
The Cadmus Labs building has been completely repaired since the last time our team was here five months ago. Looks like it's had a new paint job as well. The outside of the ground floor and entrance are painted in dark green while the rest is in pale grey. The flat roof strikes me as odd, not that it's unusual around here. Wouldn't it leak? Maybe it just rains less over here than in Britain. I thought I'd let Kon go first but he's sort of stopped just in front of the doors and is staring into space.
"Something wrong?"
"Just… Remembering."
I walk up to his left side and put my right arm around his back. "The fight, or the whole thing?" He leans into me slightly. "Hey, perk up. If we're really lucky you'll leave here with a new brother." He tenses. "That's good, right? I mean, the whole problem with what Doctor Desmond did was that they created you just to be a weapon, not that they created you. If there is someone in there, we can get them out the same way the others did you, and if there isn't? Theeeen Lex is full of shit." I shrug.
"What if he's like I was? Or worse?"
"Percussive therapy. We just need to stop him moving until we can talk some sense into him. With G-Gnomes if we have to. And Cadmus get to rebuild their building again."
"What if it… What if the Genomorphs are involved?"
"Glad you asked." I hold out my left hand in front of us. "This-" I take two of my latest defictionalisations out of subspace. "-is an eye-drive." Not an actual eye patch like the one in Doctor Who -it needs skin contact over a larger area and M'gann couldn't work out why I wanted to block one of my eyes with it- it's designed to sit on the wearer's forehead like Seven of Nine's cyberbrow. "Human ingenuity and Martian biotechnology. It basically forms a backup of your short term memory. If anything tries to change your short term memory it compares what it's got stored with what you've got stored and uploads what you've been made to forget."
"Does it work?"
"Yep. Tested it with M'gann and Mister King." A rather strange way to spend a morning, the three of us playing basic memory games while both telepaths tried altering their opponent's memories. They defended themselves with their abilities and I used this. Only worked because we introduced a turn clock.
He takes it from me. "How'd you come up with this?"
"Something like it was in a television series from my home parallel. There was this alien species where if you weren't looking at them you couldn't remember anything about them, so, anyone who wanted to have anything to do with them had to use something like this." I step away and attach mine.
Kon still looks sceptical. "Looks like you've got a brain leech."
"Well… Technically I do."
That doesn't seem to have helped. "I'm not really keen on.. things going in my head."
"It's just a device. It doesn't have a mind of its own. Look, if you don't want to use it I can try generating a shield with the ring but that's actually quite difficult to do on someone else and it's not that hard to bypass. I don't know how much good the eye drive will do against hostile G-Gnomes, but it's got to be better than nothing."
With visible reluctance he attaches it to his forehead. "Doesn't… I can't feel it doing anything. Is it working?"
"Should be. We could try asking the first G-Gnome we see to make you forget something?"
"I'll take your word for it." He heads towards the main entrance. "You think Luthor was being straight with me?"
"Stranger things have happened. How do you want to handle this?"
The front door opens into a porch with slightly better security. I'm reminded a little of my dinner with Lex: transparent bullet resistant screens, scanners and armed guards. These ones have black clothing and dark grey armour and appear to be packing some sort of heavy duty shotgun. Not seeing any G-Elves but they're probably keeping those where there's no risk of the public seeing them. Kon gets into the entry cubicle and a green light plays over him before the inner door unlocks to allow him into the building proper. One of the guards walks over to speak to him. Well, official time then. Ring, armour. The cubicle cycles and I get in. Hm. Lex probably didn't know that I'd be here, but it's not so improbable an event that he wouldn't take it into account. I'm scanned, and? Dull bleep and the guards are paying a little more attention. Ring, access Cadmus computers -all of them- and give me god-tier access to everything. Oh, and make it basically impossible for anyone to find out I've got it without taking every single thing apart.
{orange}Compliance. Warning: unfamiliar organic technology detected. Unable to guarantee success.{/}
I take a half-step back and then come forwards again. A new scan and the door opens without complaint. Successful enough with the regular Earth-made stuff then. The guard Kon's talking to looks in my direction. "This way please. Guardian wants to speak to you."
We follow him deeper into the building. Looks like they've changed the layout since last time the team was here. Kon drops back a little and nudges me with his right elbow. "So?"
"So what?"
"Is he here?"
"Haven't checked yet."
"Why not?"
"He's your brother, I was going to follow your lead. I assume you want-." He gives me a look. "Alright then, just a moment.{orange}" {/} Ring, scan the building, including subterranean sections.
{orange}Schematic available. Warning: unfamiliar organic technology present. Alert! Telepathic activity detected. Warning: scanned schematic does not conform to registered schematic. Warning: precise scans of some sections unavailable during standard scan.{/}
Well, there's a surprise. At least I'm not being blocked completely this time. Characterise the telepathic activity.
{orange}High level telepathic activity detected from multiple lifeforms of type 'G-Gnome'. Multiple low-power broadcasts from all lifeforms of type 'Genomorph'.{/}
Gestalt telepathy?
{orange}Readings match theorised patterns, unable to confirm.{/}
Any Kryptonians lying around?
{orange}Kryptonian tissue detected in numerous locations. Map available.{/}
Lex did say they were… Ring, is Lex watching this?
{orange}Confirmed. Remote feed from security cameras is being routed to his car.{/}
Ring, download The Clangers and transmit on my instruction.
{orange}Compliance.{/}
Ring, this place breeds slave labourers. Put a bit more power into that scan and find Kon's brother.
{orange}Subject located. Map available.{/}
I catch Kon's eye and give him a slight nod. He bristles and I hold my right palm towards him in a calming gesture. "We still need to find out who knows what and why. He's not in any immediate danger. Pretending we don't know is probably for the best." He hesitates for a moment and then nods as our escort passes through a door guarded by two of his fellow guards and into a larger room. On the far side I see Guardian sitting at a desk talking to a scientist and… Oh. That must be Dubbilex.
Odd looking chap. Grey skin and a heavy brow compared to a Human, and his forearms lack the thickness of the other Genomorph types. The droopy bits at the side of.. no, just behind his mouth put me in mind of a Fu Manchu moustache. His horns are quite pronounced but the angle they project out of his head and his slender frame make it unlikely that they would be used for combat. Numerous nerve endings that don't seem to serve a purpose… Telepathic antenna, perhaps? Odd that the official file only notes that G-Goblins are telekinetic and not that they're telepathic. I'd have thought that after what happened last time they'd have done more thorough testing.
Look into his soul or not? Hm. His emotions seem muted in comparison to those of most Humans. Is that what being in a gestalt does? Or.. maybe I'm anthropomorphising? Just because some G-Goblins are Human shaped doesn't mean that they are necessarily sentient and it certainly doesn't mean that their minds will function in the same way that Human minds do. Were the Genomorphs completely artificial or based on an existing creature? I know what Cadmus says about them but I hardly think I can assume that they're being honest. Looking at him I'm not sure-. Ah. A slightly echoey flare of orange and yellow when he looked at Kon. I guess he's just good at keeping his emotions under control.
"…progress…" Guardian looks up as Kon strides across the room towards him. I follow him at a slower pace. I never really thought to ask about his brief time in Cadmus and he's only ever brought it up a few times, mostly relating to specific things that were getting to him. Should I have brought him back sooner? "Welcome home, Superboy." Oh, he didn't. Of all the things he could have said… "Orange Lantern." He nods at me and I nod back. I wonder why he's wearing his armour around the office? Does the helmet have some sort of telepathic protection? Ring? No, it doesn't. Some sort of comfort blanket thing? "What can we do for you boys?"
Kon leans over Guardian's desk, hands firmly placed on its surface. Batman gave us a couple of pointers in taking control of conversations through intimidation but I think Kon's mostly just acting out of anger. "Lex Luthor says you've cloned another Kryptonian. I wanna see him."
Dubbilex puts a restraining right hand on Kon's left shoulder and Kon pulls back slightly. "Brother. You are the only Kryptonian in Cadmus." Don't know enough about how his brain works to tell if that was an intentional lie or not. Not reading an increase in telepathic activity so he's not referring the question to the collective. Interesting that he referred to Kon as 'brother'. They come from the same place and Kon does have some Genomorph engineered material in him… I suppose that Genomorphs aren't born so the usual meaning of the word can't apply to them.
"All cloning projects Human and Kryptonian have been shut down since your escape." The scientist… Ring? Name? Oh yes, I remember her now. Doctor Spence worked under Doctor Desmond which puts her on my shit list already. Her testimony sounded like it had been dictated to her by her lawyer. It hit all of the legal technicalities she needed in order to escape even being formally accused of a crime without sounding even a little bit genuine and she clearly doesn't have a problem working in a slave lab.
Kon scowls at her. "Since my liberation."
She cringes. "{yellow}As you say{/}." She turns away. "{yellow}But now I'm needed back in my lab{/}." She walks back in the direction of one of the other doors, and I rather imagine that if she could hurry in those shoes then she would. Heels like that aren't really lab-appropriate footwear, are they? Is it really worth having to take them off whenever she goes into a clean room?
Kon and Dubbilex watch her go while I keep watching Guardian. James Harper, grandson of the original Guardian from the thirties. Don't remember him from the comics and all I remember about the comic Guardian is thinking that he was an idiot. Shield, darn near off the shelf body armour and a fancy bike? Captain America barely makes that work and he's both stronger and better equipped. Maybe that's why this Guardian has an actual job. He's also Red Arrow's uncle, though from what little I've seen his temperament seems to be rather different. He stands as Spence leaves the room and then takes off his helmet and runs his right hand through his hair. Looks a lot like an older Red Arrow. A lot like him. Odd that, particularly given the red hair. Looking deeper, I'm not seeing any yellow that might be associated with fear of discovery but if he's missed the presence of a Kryptonian then he really doesn't have any excuses left after what he did under Desmond. At this stage he's just guilty of gross incompetence, to say nothing of the whole slavery issue.
{orange}BaBUM{/}
No, Cadmus can't continue on the way it is. Only real question is whether it can be reformed into something decent or if I'll need to destroy it. I set the ring the task of locating reporters who are likely to give the Genomorphs a sympathetic ear. Civil rights lawyers who might be prepared to take on their case. Would Queen Mera be prepared to offer them asylum? It would be difficult, but with the Ophidian's help I could probably wrench the whole building out of the ground to move it somewhere. Genomorphs have no special ability to breathe under water and they don't look like good swimmers so it's hardly an ideal option...
Mister Harper watches Doctor Spence leave. "Sometimes I hate this job." Not sure why, really.
Kon and Dubbilex turn back to face him and Kon starts in surprise. "You-. You look a lot like Red Arrow."
"Not all that surprising; Red Arrow is my nephew." He gives Kon a thin smile and looks us both over again. "Luthor phoned ahead. I'm not really sure why he thinks you'll find a Kryptonian here." Ring, brain wave monitoring. "But there's no real harm in letting the two of you look around. We really don't have anything to hide anymore." He walks out from behind the desk and I start really missing M'gann. Having a telepath along is just so helpful in situations like this. Brain waves look calm so either he's a secret Jedi or he really doesn't know about the Kryptonian in storage below us.
Kon's face hardens. "We'll see."
"I'm surprised you're still open. This is Thanksgiving."
"No rest for the wicked. Between your surprise inspection and the disappearing Genomorphs I'll be lucky to get home at all tonight."
Kon looks at Dubbilex and then back to Mister Harper. "Missing Genomorphs?"
Mister Harper bows his head slightly. "It's been going on for over a month; Genomorphs of all types have been disappearing from Cadmus and we've had no luck tracking them down. Just a few at first, but now we're losing entire work teams." Species that are part of a telepathic gestalt going somewhere the rest of the gestalt can't detect them? Possible, but it would take some very specialised equipment that's in rather short supply on Earth. "Someone would have spotted them if they'd been going outside; I can't imagine we wouldn't have heard something." An underground railroad? Or-. No, wait, that open chamber at the bottom of the Cadmus facility. I'd been assuming that they were expanding the facility but I can't detect any Humans there. No advanced technology either. Very interesting.
"All disappearances are being investigated." Kon looks at motionless Dubbilex. They're quite close to me and neither I nor the ring can detect any additional telepathic activity. Kon hasn't mentioned Dubbilex to me at all but I assume that the G-Goblin was around here while he was being created. Could he be a useful source of information, to Kon if not to me? I don't know enough about him to say. Look deeper. Is he in on the concealed chamber downstairs? Yes, yes he is. I feel his desire to protect it from the unknown, to have contingencies in place to guard against unanticipated changes. He wants his people to be safe. Quite a lot of indigo in there, but curtailed. Only applied to his ingroup. I suppose he's hardly unique in that regard.
Mister Harper's face hardens. "That's not good enough, Dubbilex. If we can't find something soon we're going to have to start implanting tracking devices in all Genomorphs working in the underground sectors." I school my features. Implanted tracking devices? Really? Dubbilex doesn't appear to react. I've got no idea if that means that he doesn't consider the threat to be serious or if he just doesn't have the neuroware to replicate Human body language.
"I will redouble our efforts."
Mister Harper nods and then returns his attention to Kon. "Come on, I'll give you the nickel tour." He walks out from behind his desk and heads in the direction Doctor Spencer left in. Dubbilex doesn't move. Is he waiting to be dismissed or something? Ah, there's the increase in activity in the parts of his brain wired into his horns. No other Genomorphs in the room and it's not practical for me to monitor the ones further away to know who he's talking to. I could, but I'd start glowing more brightly and I'd rather not alert anyone to what I'm doing. "Cadmus has changed a lot since you left; I don't have a G-Gnome on my shoulder mind controlling me anymore." He pauses and takes a closer look at Kon's face. "What's that.. thing, on your face?"
"A counter-telepathy measure, to ensure that no one can put G-Gnomes on our shoulders."
"Useful thing to have around the place. Wouldn't have minded having one of those five months ago."
"I'm afraid they're not for sale." Because if you haven't acquired something along these lines already then you're either too dumb to be worth worrying about or too thoroughly compromised for it to do any good. Having read his testimony it could go either way. We really should have brought M'gann along. Or Diana. Diana would be… But she could have been part of the original investigation. Why didn't she find this out?
Mister Harper rehelmets himself as the security door opens onto a large laboratory area. A series of work benches run at right angles to the walls to our left and our right while a wide gangway has been left down the middle. Exits are at both ends of the long side walls and through the security door at the far end. I wonder why the gangway is so wide? A G-Troll could walk down there but they would be far too large to fit in the lift or through the side doors. Maybe it's left over from before the refurbishment? Strange glass cylinders are attached to the side walls at regular intervals, some sort of super fast tissue growth system according to the ring. If that's their big breakthrough then shutting this place down won't matter so much; the Atlanteans can already do it better. The room's a good fifty metres long and I can see about twenty Human scientists. One or two of the new Genomorph type, 'G-Dwarves' are present as well. Their forearms are different from those of the more familiar types as well, replacing the hand design with a pincer paired with a tentacle coming out of its armpit. A G-Sprite flitters overhead, carrying a tube of something while a G-Elf walks past us carrying a bag of rubbish. They don't look at us but ring shows me brief increases in local telepathic activity as we come into view. Transmitters only? Or perhaps something-?
"Here's the four one one." Mister Harper leads the way out into the laboratory. "This is the new and improved Cadmus. Doctor Spence and her team-" The Doctor looks up as we walk past and I give her a pleasant smile. Kon just {yellow}scowls{/} at her. "-are doing truly worthwhile genetic medical research now. The Genomorphs are becoming more independent, more educated." I look over to our right and see a G-Dwarf cleaning beakers in a sink. I guess they're 'house Genomorphs' then. Welcome to life, G-Dwarf. Hope you like doing stuff we can't be bothered with. I'm sure this would depress me more if this was the first species my species had created. Mister Harper looks over at that G-Dwarf as well. "Some even have names." He raises his left hand in greeting. "Hey Benny." The G-Dwarf raises its left claw in response and makes a throaty rumbling sound. Really? They designed a new Genomorph type and they didn't give it the ability to speak? I'm having Feet of Clay flashbacks. A G-Elf sweeping behind the next bench also gets a wave from Mister Harper. "Eric." The G-Elf just keeps sweeping, though once again I see a momentary telepathic pulse. That's a lot of dust for a laboratory area. Come to think of if Kon and I are still in our outdoors clothes. Back home whenever I went in the lab I had to wear those bootie things to prevent contamination, and put them straight in the orange medical waste bin when I came out. That doesn't seem to be happening here, and that sink certainly isn't sterilising those beakers. Is this all low risk stuff they're working with? Just seems bit weird that a bleeding edge lab isn't hotter on that kind of thing. "Someday, the work being done here will save millions of lives."
As far as the ring can tell he believes it. Not seeing patterns of irregular activity that would indicate telepathically implanted compulsion or predisposition. Time to burst his bubble. I turn off to my right to where Eric has laid aside his broom and picked up a dustpan and brush. "Excuse me, Eric." It… He? He's naked and doesn't appear to possess reproductive organs. I'm not clear how he excretes, either. He stops moving and there's another brief telepathic signal. "I'm sorry to distract you from your work but I have a couple of questions, if you have the time."
Mister Harper stops and gives me a puzzled look. "G-Elves can't talk. If you've got a question-."
"Mister Harper, this ring can translate for Dogs and Cats. It can certainly handle a G-Elf." I rise off the ground and move around in front of him. Eric pauses in his brushing and straightens slightly, glowing red eyes staring at me. "Do you like working here?" No audible reply but again there's a quick burst of telepathic activity.
"I'm.. not sure he can understand you." Mister Harper isn't all that quick on the uptake.
"Of course you're not. If you were sure you wouldn't be able to live with yourself, so you just shove it out of the way and don't think about it. Eric: how are you planning to spend Thanksgiving?" The G-Elf continues to stare. "Any plans for the weekend?"
"Clean."
It takes me a moment to place the voice before I realise that the ring has interpreted him as having a slightly raspier version of Dubbilex's voice. "What do you do for fun around here?" A sharp uptick in telepathic activity and a slight tilting of the head. "Perhaps it's not appropriate for me to ask, but what's the pay like?" More activity, and Benny has been slowly and mechanically wiping the same beaker since I started talking. Ring, map that. "Has your manager talked to you about your career path? Have you given any thought to how you plan to vote in the next presidential election? I realise it's a few years away but it's probably worth familiarising yourself with the likely candidates if you want to make an educated decision."
"Genomorphs can't vote."
I look back at Mister Harper. "I know." Kon's looking a little vacant, like he's mentally else.. where...
**…secrets have their place.**
I can only just hear whoever Kon's talking to. I'll let him finish. He can tell me about it later. "Why is that, exactly?"
"Genomorphs are adapted to perform specific functions. I doubt they'd even be able to understand what it meant."
"And Dubbilex? He certainly has Human-equivalent intelligence."
"He hasn't.. said anything…"
"Of course he hasn't. You own his species. Thank you for your time, Eric. I'll let you return to work now." I float back over to Mister Harper. "You know, I could sort of understand you failing to recognise a telepathic gestalt lifeform -and goodness knows the Greenies aren't the most observant people- but I really am curious as to how you justify the way you're treating Mister Dubbilex."
"He's not mistreated, he-."
"Doesn't get paid, can't vote, can't quit, if my scans are accurate he lives on site… You know, just down the river from here there's this thing called the Lincoln Memorial. You may not have heard of the man it commemorates. He was president of the United States during your civil war and was also responsible for passing this thing called the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution."
"I know who President Lincoln is."
"No, clearly you don't!" I let my aura flare. Between my shout and the shining orange light work in the lab appears to have ground to a halt. Kon's conversation appears to be ongoing and I am really quite upset. "Let me quote the Amendment for you: 'Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.' You, are a slave owner. No, sorry, you don't own Cadmus. You're a slave driver."
His eyes widen in shock but he recovers quickly. "That's not what's happening here! Okay, maybe in Dubbilex's case we could-."
"Ring, based on complexity of neural activity, how many Genomorphs of other types would have to be networked to create Human-equivalent intelligence?{orange}"
"Depending on type and specialisation, a network of between five and two hundred would be required."
"{/}Ah. And how many Genomorphs are there on site?{orange}"
"Not counting Genomorphs currently in gestation: one G-Goblin, eighty G-Gnomes, twenty nine G-Elves, six thousand nine hundred fifteen G-Sprites, fifty seven G-Trolls and twenty two G-Dwarves. Total: seven thousand one hundred four."
"{/}Since you clearly don't know, telepathic gestalts allow species that have high levels of physical specialisation to share expertise. Individuals may be task adapted but the whole can cope with different situations quite well." Guy got provisional permission from Oa for limited data sharing. Nothing I can use technologically but at least I have some limited data about the state of the universe and of the Green Corps. Only on a 'My First Encyclopaedia' level but it's better than nothing. "I'm going to give you a week to start sorting this out before I start notifying civil liberties organisations and coming after this place through the courts. Lex thought you were a safe and reliable pair of hands. Apparently he thought wrong."
I take a slow look around the room where Kon first met Kaldur, Wallace and Robin. It's been repaired since then and aside from the lack of G-Gnomes it's otherwise the same. The pod -his pod- is lit up in blue lights in what seems to be to be a rather large waste of power given that it hasn't been used since he left. Then again, they've got four thousand plus G-Sprites powering the place; it isn't as if they have to worry about the electricity bill. I wonder how it is that they generate power. It can't be from their food; their digestive systems aren't anything like big enough. I look back into the G-Sprite covered walls of the chamber we just walked through as Kon walks over to the pod and lays his right hand on the 'Kr' symbol on the front. Ring, analyse G-Sprite physiology. Where's the power coming from?
{orange}Suspension of Kryptonian derived cells in ionic gel.{/}
They actually managed it?
{orange}Cadmus records state that G-Sprite life expectancy is inversely proportional to cell density.{/}
Meaning?
{orange}At density required for practical industrial power generation, G-Sprite life expectancy is reduced from an estimated twelve years to one to two months.{/}
Damn. Justifiable if they're animals but you can't treat intelligent creatures like that. Wait. They aren't still creating high density-?
{orange}High density G-Sprite generation suspended following Doctor Desmond's arrest. Production of low density G-Sprites increased to make up emergent shortfall. Significant areas of Cadmus interior rededicated to G-Sprite utilisation in order to maintain power levels.{/}
Right. So they could do a mass implementation but everyone would need thousands of G-Sprites. Intelligent creatures locked in tiny pods to give us power. It wouldn't even be like the Matrix: no artificial reality for them. I remember reading a book -don't remember the title- where the country it was set in used the souls of the dead to generate power while their neighbour used tortured children. If Doctor Desmond hadn't been removed we might actually have headed into a situation like that.
"Were you.. serious?" I turn around to look at Kon, who's still staring at his pod. "About the way the Genomorphs were being treated being illegal?"
"Yes, Kon, slavery is illegal. It's been illegal in the US since the end of the civil war and illegal everywhere on Earth since the League of Nations banned it in nineteen twenty seven."
"It's just… Are you sure Genomorphs count? I know you said that Red Tornado couldn't be a US citizen 'cause there wasn't any way for an AI to be recognized as a person."
I tilt my head to the side. "United States versus Crane was a very dubious ruling. If anyone with the money was prepared to put the effort in and the Supreme Court were willing to hear them then it would probably get overturned. Until now it just hasn't affected all that many people and Red Tornado hasn't cared. I might… I was sort of thinking about taking a poke at it myself for Danni, it just slipped down my agenda a bit. Anyway, it doesn't apply to organic intelligences, even if they are synthetic. Mister J'onzz got that sorted out when he started living on Earth."
"But if that's the law, why is Guardian doing it? He's a good guy."
"It's not that simple. Hardly anyone thinks of themselves as being the 'bad guy'. There wasn't any obvious problem so he didn't think about it."
"Dubbilex thought the problem was obvious."
"Was that who you were talking to?" He looks around and I tap my forehead with my right index finger. His eyes flick down as he nods. "Frankly, I don't think Mister Harper is all that bright. Since no obvious abuse was happening he didn't think about the wider implications of what was going on. If he had, or if he was coming to the situation cold, he'd probably have behaved differently. He just got used to this being how things are. I mean, none of the other staff did anything about it either. He knew he was better than Doctor Desmond and for most people the idea that they own slaves is so 'out there' they just don't think about it. It's not that uncommon-" I flashback to how the League were treating him before I got Diana involved. "-but it doesn't usually have consequences quite this serious."
"You think he'll actually change things?"
"Unless you or Dubbilex have a strong preference to the contrary I'm probably going to suggest that Lex remove him. Gods, it's all… I mean, the world's greatest detective gives a personal guarantee that Cadmus is going to be investigated, he has two Green Lanterns and a fucking Kryptonian to help him and they miss an engineered slave race and an entire new Kryptonian. I'd have thought Kal-El would have been motivated at least."
Kon tilts his head back, closes his eyes and stamps his right leg. He then points at the wall to our right. "Through there?"
Echo location with super hearing. Nice to see that he's been studying. "Yep." I form four scalpel constructs and rotate them in a circle around the concealed blast door, the strange organic looking material covering it collapsing to the ground. "Ring, access controls. Also, Clangers.{orange}"
Kon launches himself at the door, fingers grasping at the central seam. He plants his feet and pulls. He couldn't simply push like that without breaking the floor or just sliding backwards but for pulling apart both hands are braced against the structure of the door itself. There's a painful metallic groan as the two pieces of the door are forced apart and we get our first good view of the interior. I shake my head. Did they really manage to lose track of a storeroom that big? It's about five hundred metres long by one hundred wide and about thirty tall. The power requirements for the refrigeration and.. gods, multiple rows of pods stacked two high and twenty along, ten shelves to each side of us and more in the distance. Some of them are big enough to hold a whole person while others are smaller, containing what appear to be Genomorph body parts. Failed experiments? Is this a morgue? Or -I don't know- did they get a source of alien DNA from somewhere and use it to create the first Genomorphs?
Kon's already walked through onto the platform on the other side of the door and is staring around the room as I float in after him. His brother is in the pod in the centre and is being kept in suspended animation. The air in here is so cold that there's a layer of frost on the rock floor. "Kon, I've got to ask: this is Genomorph labour, right? There's no way something this big could have been built without someone knowing about it, and most of Cadmus' underground construction was done by G-Trolls." How would they have gotten rid of all this rock? Does Washington naturally have huge caverns underneath it? I wouldn't have thought so. We're still pretty close to the river here, wouldn't they just fill up with water and sediment?
"It doesn't matter, we're getting him out." Kon takes a leap from the platform and lands in the middle of the gangway, halfway to the pod. He starts striding towards it.
I fly after him. "Kon, I…" I exhale. This isn't going to be easy. "Kon, when the others first got you out of your pod you went berserk. Do you think it's worth.. I don't know, getting M'gann or Mister J'onzz to check on his mental state before opening it up?"
"I'm {green}not leaving him{/} in there any longer. Can't you do it?"
"I can.. check his brain activity." Ring? "Ticking over. I doubt he's even dreaming. I'm gettiiiing… Anger, and.. he wants to kill Kal-El."
"So did I. I still dream about it sometimes."
"No noticeable fear, focus, hope, compassion or love. Kon, this isn't a good way to assess his mental state. I don't know how long he's been down here but I really doubt that half an hour's going to make any diff-."
Heck. This stands a good chance of going very wrong, but it's Kon's brother. I understand where he's coming from. As he comes up to the pod itself he wipes the frost from the main tank. The man inside looks just like him, even has the old solar suit he wore when he was in the tank. The genetic differences should result in them looking different later in life -I think- but at the moment they could be identical twins. A pure clone of Kal-El. I create an ice scraper construct and completely unveil the tank's front. The label is 'Match' as Kon's was 'Kr'. Do I remember a Match from the comics? Didn't he end up going Bizarro? I don't remember him before that.
There's a control panel next to the pod and Kon presses what appears to be the release control. There's a puff of frigid air and the pod unfolds and rises up into the ceiling. Match… Should I call him that? Eh, Kon didn't mind being called Superboy by everyone. Match lies still against the upright support. Is there something else we're-? No, that was a twitch. Construct armour? No, that could be seen as aggressive. My environmental shield should be good for one or two hits if it comes to it. A shudder from Match and his eyes snap open, eyebrows folded in a frown. Black sclera. Well, it'll help us tell them apart.
Kon smiles at him while I start backing off. "It's okay, you're free now."
Match's eyes focus on Kon and Kon takes a step back. Uh oh. Ring arm-
-our! Match lands just in front of Kon before grabbing him by the shoulders and tackling him down the gangway! They roll head over heels along the frost encrusted ground as my armour takes shape around me. Match ends up on top, pinning Kon and bringing his right fist up to hammer down onto Kon's face. Before it can hit Kon rolls backwards, flinging Match away with his legs. Match goes flying through two of the containment cylinders before coming to a halt against the next row. Yeah, that didn't hurt him at all. We didn't bring Kon's armour with us so I cover him in construct-armour in its place. I create a red light cannon as Match rises to a crouch and then dives at Kon once more, the red beam striking him in the chest.
"Aaaaghh!"
The beam hurts and weakens him but there's no knock back. He just grits his teeth and keeps going. Just before he hits Kon he sidesteps, hooks Match's left arm and slams him face first into the ground. I cut the beam. Sure, it'll affect Kon less due to his Danner enhancements but it'll still hurt. Plus, from the way Kon hasn't followed up it looks like he still wants to try talking Match down.
"Why are you doing this?! We're trying to help you!"
"Rrrrr!" Match somehow flips around with no leverage, -he can fly, of course he can fly!- grabs Kon by the shoulder and hurls him directly at me! I seize direct control of Kon's construct armour and bring him to a stop next to me.
"Kon, normally I love talking people down but I don't think he's going-"
Match surges off the ground faster than my eyes can follow, striking Kon in the stomach with his right fist. The orange armour buckles and breaks around the point of impact but I'm able to get a chain construct around Match's legs and yank him away before he can swing again. I play the red beam over him for perhaps two seconds before he flies to our right at full speed, snapping the chain construct. I drop Kon back to the ground and erect a bubble shield around us.
"-to listen. I really think G-Gn-."
Two red beams lance out of the far side of the room, punching through containment cylinders and the bubble shield before striking my construct armour in the upper chest. I bring my arms up in a guard position and reinforce it. What's he-? Douffff! Dahwh! Hit me from behind! Transition! I appear at the far end of the warehouse, but transitioning cost me the link to Kon's armour! Quick check and I'm not injured. Ring, armour and tracking.
Match is using his superior speed and flying capacity to get punches past Kon's guard. I'm not sure which of them is stronger but now that Match has his focus I doubt that Kon will find it easy to get him in a choke hold. Right; ring, armour Kon. The filament burrows through the concrete and touches his left foot just too late to stop Match using his heat vision on Kon's chest. Kon throws himself aside before it can do too much damage but most of the front of his shirt has been burned off and the flesh beneath it is covered in angry red lines. Match flies at him again only for Kon to duck and grapple him. Match doesn't appear to have had any actual training and it doesn't look like he knows how to grapple against someone like Kon. He's just trying to push Kon away so he can punch him again.
Come on, he's been underground since at least when Kon was broken out, probably since before they even started working on Kon. How is he still this strong? The sunlight he needs is probably coming from the suit but where's it getting power from? It wasn't plugged in while he was in the pod… Doesn't matter, need to get it off him.
I fly towards them. Kon's clamped his legs around Match's torso while Match tries to get him off by flying through the shelving. Heat vision scythes through the room but Kon manages to force Match's head away from him. Even at that speed the impacts shouldn't be doing him significant harm. "Kon! I'm going to burn the solar suit off him! Brace yourself!"
"I'm as braced.. as I'm gunna get!"
Ring, maser. Never really bothered to find out what an actual maser would look like but a construct like a laser pistol toy I used to own forms in my right hand. Medium intensity -the solar suit isn't super tough- and wide beam, ring assisted targeting, after them! Can't transfer without losing Kon's armour. Match is heading for the back wall, spinning as he does. How good is Kon's sense of balance? Not sure. Plasma jet constructs form on the back of my armour and thrust me after them, pistol forwards. Match slams Kon's right shoulder into the wall, giving me a clear shot at his chest. I pull the trigger and with a hiss of boiling water vapour a cylinder of air distorts in front of me. Match and Kon both jerk as it hits them though it shouldn't be enough to do either of them significant harm. Yes! There we go! The white body suit darkens and begins to flake off and that got his attention!
"Graaah!"
His eyes glow for a split second and I generate a reflective shield between his eyes and me, sending his heat vision right back at him. He shuts it down as soon as he realises what I've done but the entire front of his suit is gone now and Kon's finally in a position to perform a choke hold. Match tries hitting him with his elbows but he can't get enough force behind the strikes. What can I do? I take a pair of boxer shorts out of subspace around Match. He's getting no additional power but his organelles will stay active for… I don't actually know. Still, red light pulses will hurt him more than Kon. I dismiss the maser pistol and fire a continual stream of red light from my right hand right at Match's chest.
"Eeeeeeeerhhh!"
"Paul, stop! I've got him!"
I jerk my hand back as if I'd been scalded, beam cutting out immediately. Match stops trying to pull Kon's arms off his neck and instead grabs at Kon's head, trying to shove his thumbs into his eyes! I can see the armour around his head start to give way under the force. How long can Kryptonians remain conscious while being choked? Reinforce! Pull his arms forward! The armour's still breaking! Kon moves his head down as close as he can to the back of Match's while still maintaining the pressure on Match's throat. The armour construct breaks and there isn't enough space for me to re-establish it! Kon squeezes his eyes shut and pulls at Match's neck as Match's face starts to go pale. Clamp construct to his neck! Close the artery! At last, Match's arms start to weaken, flopping to the side as both of them fall to the floor. His eyes close and he slumps in Kon's arms. I drop the construct at his neck and after a moment Kon relaxes his hold as well. Kon's breathing hard but his other injuries seem minor.
"Kon, you alright?"
He nods as he checks his brother over for injuries. Ring, monitor Match's health. Let me know the moment it looks like he's going to regain consciousness.
{orange}Compliance.{/}
And now I know what a pure Kryptonian's brain waves look like. I can compare it to Kal-El's but I've only scanned him 'at rest' before.
"Okay, so: what now?"
"Can you fix what's wrong with him?"
"I wouldn't know where to start. I don't know enough about Kryptonian-."
"You managed when you blew my ears out!"
"That was different! He's a nearly complete clone, the changes I'd need to make are tiny, his natural force field would resist me every step of the way… I'm not a brain surgeon, I can't… I'm sorry, I can't do it."
"I'm not just sticking him back in a storeroom to be forgotten!"
"I'm not saying you should! I want him out of here.. nearly as much as you do! I just.. you saw the way he behaved, it wouldn't be safe!" I drop down to the ground next to them. "Maybe… Maybe Dubbilex can sort something out with the G-Gnomes. Make him a bit less violent." Kon tenses. "I know you don't want to, but there aren't any Kryptonian doctors to ask. Just.. just as a temporary measure until we can find a better solution."
Kon stares into his brother's peaceful face, running his right hand across his cheek. Then he nods. "Okay. Only 'till then." He ducks his head, lifting his brother onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry.
"I can carry him easily enough if you want."
Kon stands and readjusts Match's position. "No, he's not heavy. Come on, let's get out of here."
The glow in M'gann's eyes fades and she looks at Kon. "I've done all I can. He shouldn't go berserk when you open the pod but…" She looks down and shakes her head slightly. "He doesn't… They didn't bother teaching him anything but how to fight. I can't imagine what that's like."
Kon's face hardens slightly. "I can."
I deactivate the construct surrounding the still sealed pod. "If the worst comes to it, his solar reserves are down to nearly nothing. With most of the genetic faults corrected-."
He jerks his head away from his brother to look at me. "Most!? Why haven't you fixed them all!?"
I hold my hands out to the side, palms open. "I just thought it would help him establish an independent identity if his eyes stayed the same. It doesn't make his vision worse and it doesn't hurt him."
Kon considers that for a moment. "We're not identical, are we? You said that you used DNA from other Kryptonians to replace Luthor's?"
"True, but you were designed to look like Kal-El and will continue to do so. The physical resemblance will be very strong, probably for your entire lives."
"Okay." He nods and walks over to the control podium. "So if he's drained, he won't be strong or able to fly, right?"
"That's correct."
"If he's… If he's not crazy, I want you to recharge him right away."
That doesn't sound like a good idea. "May I ask why?"
"They've probably used the same fighting program on him that they used on me. When I found I couldn't do all the stuff that Superman can I hated it. If he comes out and he can't either it's gunna freak him out."
M'gann takes a step back from the pod and puts her right arm around Kon's waist, side-hugging him. He twitches and then relaxes a little, reciprocating with his left arm. She turns her head to me. "I can make sure he's not going to go crazy-" Kon goes to speak but she keeps going. "-without making him think what I want him to. I know you hate what the G-Gnomes did to you. I'd never do that."
I sigh. "Alright. I see your point and.. if Her Highness is certain-" M'gann giggles. "-that she can detect any potential problems I don't have a good objection."
"Will you stop calling me that?"
"Doesn't seem very likely. You know, we're going to need a name for him."
Kon shrugs. "What's wrong with 'Match'?"
"It's not a name. We don't call you 'Kay Arr'."
"Match-El?"
"Not Kryptonian."
"It's better than abomination."
"I didn't know!"
M'gann takes another look at the man in the pod. "How about Mat-El then?"
Kon rolls his eyes. "How about we leave it up to him? Call him Match like you called me Superboy. He can always change it if he doesn't like it."
"Good suggestion." I point at the keyboard. "Come on then Kon, crack him open."
There's a chime from the somehow still powered podium as Kon presses the button to activate the resuscitation process. Strange how many custom designed keyboards there are in this parallel, and they're not just touch pads either. The buttons aren't even marked; I can only imagine that Kon was programmed to know how to work this stuff. There's a hiss as the warmer air from outside begins leaking into the pod, and a clicking whir as the pod unfolds and rises up into the ceiling. He remains motionless for a moment and then his hands start twitching. The ring and Father Box both assured me that there wouldn't be any problem with this but I keep monitoring him just in case. A larger than usual cloud of water vapour from his nose and his eyes snap open. He stares around the room and seems to unfocus. He blinks heavily and stumbles forwards into Kon's waiting arms.
"It's okay. You're free now."
"Wh-? Where-?" His voice -unsurprisingly- is like Kon's, though the ring is swift to inform me that it's actually very slightly deeper.
Kon helps him to his feet. "It's okay. We're getting you out."
"What?" Match pulls back a little and looks at Kon's face. He blinks again. "You're like me. Like him. Why don't I want to… I always… I-I was always supposed to-."
"To kill Superman. I know. They made me think the same thing but that doesn't mean you have to if you don't want to."
Match looks lost. "But that's what I'm for. {yellow}I don't know anything else{/}."
Kon pulls him into a hug while Match just looks more confused. Over Kon's shoulder he appears to see M'gann and I for the first time. "Who're you?"
M'gann smiles at him. "We're your brother's friends. I'm M'gann M'orzz and this is Grayven."
I give him a lazy wave with my right hand. "Welcome to the real world." **M'gann? Is he compos mentis?**
**He's confused, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone. I think he's safe.** "We should get out of here. This place is seriously creepy."
Kon loosens his grip and half turns, supporting his brother under his arms as we slowly start towards the exit. Might as well do this now. "Match, I'm about to reactivate your super powers. You might experience a slight tingling sensation. Try to stay calm."
He glances back. "Um. Okay?" A corona of white light surrounds the two Kryptonians. Kon originally wanted me to take us straight back to the mountain but I thought that a little adjustment time was in order. Plus, we have to tell Luthor where to stuff his investigation and it will be more satisfying to do that from his own facility. The light's only on him for a few moments before he starts to walk a little straighter. He pulls away from Kon and floats up into the air, hovering over us. With a small smile Kon rises up to meet him. I slightly altered his Apokolips tech armour to remove the 'S' just in case that set his brother off but the contrast between them, between Match's white solar suit and Kon's black armour is still visually quite appealing.
Kon floats in the direction of the exit. "Come on, way out's this way."
"You really are like me. Can-" Match turns back to look at M'gann and I. "-they..?"
M'gann and I rise to join them. He seems to take that reasonably well as Kon leads the way back into his own pod chamber. Kon touches down in the centre of the room but Match goes to hover in front of Kon's pod. "Kay Arr." He looks over to Kon. "Is this yours?"
"It was. D'you mind moving out the way?"
Match swoops down to stand next to his brother and I think I know what Kon's about to do. I grin as he plants his feet, widens his eyes and fires a series of heat blasts at the device. Metal melts and sloughs off under the assault and a moment later the pod is reduced to glowing slag on the ground.
Match looks confused and then turns to look back into the warehouse. "Was I meant to do that?"
I grin at him as Kon walks over to the computer panel. "Don't worry about it, Kon's just acting out. Why don't you, ah, let M'gann take you home while Kon and I finish up here?"
He looks at M'gann with concern but appears to relax a little when she smiles at him and takes his arm. Oddly, the noise doesn't seem to bother him as I open a boom tube back to the training room in the mountain and he doesn't resist as M'gann leads him through the portal. She pats his arm with her free hand. "Now, how good are you at peeling carrots?"
"I.. don't know? What's a carrot?"
Kon looks over to me. "How do I call Luthor on this thing?"
I move around so that I'll be out of the camera's shot. "Remember, we have no interest in telling him the truth."
"Don't worry, I know."
Ring, {orange}connect the console to Mister Luthor's car{/}.
{orange}By your command.{/}
There's a momentary delay and then Mister Luthor's face appears on the monitor. This is the first access he's had to the place since we arrived. Seriously, remote security camera access? By wireless? Who thought that was a good idea?
"Superboy. Have you had any luck in your search?"
"Yeah, we found him. He was in a pod but he freaked out when we opened it. He could be anywhere by now."
"A Kryptonian on a rampage in a densely populated city? Superboy, I'd advise you to get him back on ice as soon as possible."
Kon shrugs. "He's faster than me. I don't know if I could keep up with him."
"Fortunately, I came prepared." A panel just under the monitor opens, revealing a box with the House of El's sigil on the front. "Consider these a gift." Ring, analyse. Kon picks it up. It's thin and rectangular and the front slides up when he presses a button on the side. There appear to be a series of angular stickers inside. "I call them 'shields'. Stick one on your arm and it'll suppress your Human DNA for about an hour, allowing your Kryptonian powers to bloom."
Kon holds it away from himself, smiles, and evaporates it with his heat vision. Luthor gapes as Kon smiles through the smoke. "Nah, I'm good, thanks."
Kon stares ferociously at the six G-Elves and two G-Trolls who were waiting for us at the entrance to his pod-room. Match's solar batteries are drained enough at this point that I can prevent him from waking up, for a little while at least. I've recreated my construct armour and I'm running through our options. I can't transition out of here, not without blasting a hole through the roof anyway. I could probably generate a zeta tube but I'm not sure what the interference would be like around here and I don't think taking Match to a League facility without a lot of preparation would be a good idea while he's a rampage risk. On the other hand I really wouldn't like to be the one who tries to stop Kon going exactly where he feels like right now.
"Superboy, what happened down here?" Mister Harper steps out from behind the G-Troll on the right. I see Dubbilex lurking just behind him. "We felt the tremors-." His eyes widen as he sees Match's unconscious form. "Is that..?"
"Cadmus' other Kryptonian." He keeps hold of Match with his right arm and gestures at the warehouse with his left. "He wasn't even well hidden!"
Mister Harper slowly walks over to the entrance. "I had no idea." He walks to the edge of the inner platform, going slightly limp with the shock as he takes in the magnitude of the warehouse.
"I thought I could trust you, but you're just another {red}Cadmus thug{/} picking up where Desmond left off! How can you {red}expect me to believe{/} that you didn't-!"
"Kon." I shake my head. "He didn't. His brain activity's wrong."
He jerks his head back to me. "What? But it's right there! How could they not know about a giantwarehouse!?"
"I don't know about 'they', but I'm confident that he didn't." I look over the security force. "Dubbilex, we're leaving. Are we going to have a problem here?"
He walks slowly forwards, affecting an attitude of calm and patience. "All the monitors showed was a curious television program of whistling, moon-dwelling rodents. I was concerned that either Superboy or this.. our hidden brother, might have been injured. How is he?"
"I pinched his carotid arteries. Or.. whatever they're called in a Kryptonian. He's knocked out but he'll be fine."
"And you, brother? How do you fare?" Dubbilex looks at Kon's chest and the lines burned into it by Match's heat vision.
"I'll live." He looks at me. "Danner Formula healing, right?"
I nod. "Should do. I'm not sure exactly-."
Kon glares at Dubbilex. "Include him!" Dubbilex's eyes flick to me and then back to Kon.
Ah, telepathy. {orange}**{/}Dubbilex, I don't want to blow your cover and I'm disgusted at the way your people have been treated but given what's happened we can't trust Cadmus with Match for a moment longer.{orange}**{/}
**You spoke with passion and conviction on the subject. Still, I am curious to see what you will do when we are no longer directly in your sight.**
{orange}**{/}I'm not sure yet. I need to talk to the League. And.. probably Lex Luthor.{orange}**{/}
**I had not yet been created when Lex Luthor last visited Cadmus. The League visited here shortly after Superboy left. Neither visit produced a noticeable change in our conditions. Still, we will not prevent you from leaving if that is your wish.** The G-Elves scurry out of the way and the G-Trolls shuffle to the sides of the corridor.
{orange}**{/}Thank you. Is there any chance we could borrow-?{orange}**{/}
"Hey!" Mister Harper re-enters the room at a jog. "Where are you taking him?"
Kon grimaces. "Away from here. Paul, you can block sunlight from reaching his skin, right?"
"Yes… Probably… But we'll still need somewhere to put him."
"Superboy, I know how this looks but I can't let you take a mentally unstable Kryptonian into an inhabited city!"
"It's not your decision." Kon looks away from him and starts walking down the corridor towards the lifts.
Mister Harper starts walking after him. "Do you have any idea-?"
I stick a claw construct around his midsection and yank him back, one taloned finger covering his mouth. "How weak your position is? Mister Harper, you are a literal slave driver. You have no moral authority. You insisted that there was no Kryptonian here and yet, we have one." I look into his soul. It's all there but it looks.. shallow. Something's not right here. Ring, detailed scan. "You clearly aren't intelligent enough to offer better ideas than what we've already considered. It wouldn't surprise me if Cadmus had.. dozens…" I let him go. Of all the things… "You're a tomato. You're a tomato. Of course, why not?" I snort. "If they can clone Kryptonians…"
"What are you talking about?!"
I shake my head. "You're not worth my time." A flicker and I'm standing next to Kon and Match. Another and we're in front of the lift, the doors already opening. Ring, stop the Clangers. "Kon, I'll back you, whatever you decide to do. But I've got to ask: do you actually have a plan?"
"I don't-. I don't know, but I can't leave him here! {yellow}There's got to be something we can do{/}!"
We get on the lift as I see Mister Harper dash down the corridor. "Wait!" The lift doors glow orange as I force them closed, then I extend my control to the lift's motor and we begin the ascent.
Think. Think. Needs air, can't be trusted not to smash an artificial environment if left alone, needs medical help I don't know how to give. The only thing I'm coming up with is magic. There's probably people in Atlantis who'll be prepared to try. Or would they? Maybe they can't for the same reasons I can't risk it. His resistances should be less of a problem for magic users but they'll never have worked on his species before. Would Kal-El know something helpful? Ugh, would he want to help? I mean, he clearly didn't bother giving this place a good going over the first time. And why would he know anything about Kryptonian cloning? I don't know exactly what sort of stuff he's got in his Fortress but I would have thought that if he'd studied the subject that he'd have been more interested to meet 'worked examples'.
"If we can keep him weak, we can probably keep him just about anywhere. I don't…" Kon slumps. "I'm having trouble coming up with anything. Kryptonian physiology… The knowledge just doesn't exist. If Humans knew how to fix Match, these people would have done it. Okay, if I drain him-" The lift door opens and we start walking out. "-and we stick him in a lead lined room-."
"Then he'd hardly be better off than he was in the pod." I look up in shock to see Lex and Ms Graves waiting for us just outside the lift. "Good to see you again, Paul. I was a little surprised when you didn't…" He closes his eyes for a moment and then opens them again. "Ah. That was you feeding the pigeons, wasn't it? The coloration threw me off." Kon actually backs up a step, eyes wide. "Calm down, son. I'm not about to try to snatch your brother away from you. Even if I could, what would I gain from it? An insane Kryptonian-."
"You made him like this! You run Cadmus!"
"Superboy, I'm not a geneticist. I only ever 'ran' Cadmus in the sense that I provided seed funding and received monthly progress reports. I gave Doctor Desmond a great deal of leeway and he appeared to be delivering. After his.. 'departure'…" He shrugs. "I've had to be even more hands off. The Justice League themselves approved Guardian's appointment as Project Manager. Tell me: what do you think of their choice?" Kon looks down at the ground. Yeah, I wasn't exactly impressed by that either. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, son, but the fact is that the world's leading experts in Kryptonian physiology are here in this building. If anyone can help your brother, it's Cadmus."
The League's big talk about their next membership expansion is scheduled to happen today. They're probably all sitting around the table now. Do they have a 'no personal communicators during the meeting' rule? If anything I'd have thought it would be the opposite. It's not like they can afford to take time off.
"Wonder Woman here. We were just talking about you."
Lex suggested that we relocate to the boardroom after putting Match into Kon's old pod. Watching Kon do that, watching his face as the animation suspension systems were reactivated and three G-Gnomes were placed in their slots on top of the assemblage, that was unpleasant. I'd say that I couldn't imagine what doing that -as far as he's concerned abandoning Match- was like for him were it not for the fact that I'm perfectly capable of seeing the effect. Churning yellow with a hint of black. He's standing by the window on the far side of the room now. Lex walks over to him and lays his right hand on Kon's left shoulder only for Kon to jerk and shake it off.
"That must be why my ears are burning. Sir, I've got a problem here and I need your advice."
"If you're calling me 'sir' it must be serious."
"It is. Kon and I are at Cadmus. They have another Kryptonian clone."
"Hera."
I twitch my eyebrows. "More like Ares, really. Unlike Kon he's not a Human Kryptonian hybrid, he's pure Kryptonian. They tried making a complete clone of Kal-El and they didn't get the neurochemistry quite right. When we let him out of his pod he went berserk."
"Are you injured?"
"I wasn't, Kon's got a few bruises and minor burns."
"Where is the clone now?"
"Kon's old pod in suspended animation with a trio of G-Gnomes keeping him under. Kon's.. understandably distraught."
"How did you find out about it?"
"Heh. Funny story. The world's greatest detective says he'll investigate and fails to come up with anything, two Green Lanterns are hanging around not bothering to do the five second flipping scan it took me to confirm his location… And we hear about there being another Kryptonian clone in the only place in the world known to clone Kryptonians from Lex flipping Luthor."
There's a moment's silence. "What do you need?"
"Lex says he's willing to use Cadmus' resources to try helping Ma-. The other clone, his name's Match. But, that means starting researching Kryptonian physiology again."
"Luthor?"
"I've got enough information to shut Cadmus down, and if I did it would cost him his investment. Besides, Kryptonian research with the League's blessing? The money he'd save on bribes alone…"
"Can't you do something for Match? You repaired Kon's ear canal-."
"It's not the same thing! The damaged area was small and the injury was obvious and simple. This is his brain. I'm not a doctor. And t-!" I take a breath. "To get past his resistance I'd basically have to bombard him with red solar radiation until he was screaming in agony. I don't think I could want that."
"Are there any other options?"
"I'll give you five minutes to find a Kryptonian doctor, shall I? Sorry, that wasn't… Sorry."
"It's alright."
"None of the other ideas I've been able to come up with stand a better chance than this. If you can get me some samples of different colours of Kryptonite and some Kryptonian wildlife to experiment on I might be able to come up with something eventually. Kal-El or the Greenies might have access to medical records that would help. But Lex is right, this is the best centre for Kryptonian research on Earth."
"Superman won't be happy about Luthor continuing to research Kryptonians."
"The walls weren't lined with lead. If Superman had taken a look for himself rather than-. If Superman thinks that Lex Luthor wasn't going to carry on researching Kryptonians anyway then he's deluded. This way at least we'll know where he's doing it, and Lex has agreed to give us copies of everything. We can even have our own representatives on site."
"What's Guardian saying about this?"
"Not a lot. Lex fired him. He was supposed to prevent situations like this and he didn't do his job."
"That sounds somewhat suspicious."
"He kept the Genomorphs as slaves, sir. I'm not feeling sympathetic."
There's a brief pause. "We can't decide something like this immediately."
"I know. Match isn't going anywhere."
"Wonder Woman out."
I lower my ring hand. Looks like Lex is trying to console Kon again. "I realize that this isn't what you wanted, son, but I think you'll find it's for the best."
Kon jerks away again. "Stop calling me that."
Lex leans back a little. "I realize that I may not exactly be the father you were hoping for, but it's true. Genetically, at least."
Oh heck. I start walking towards them.
Kon squints at him in total disbelief. "What?"
Lex looks at me and then back at Kon. "I.. had rather assumed that Orange Lantern would have told you. For whatever reason Doctor Desmond decided to use my genetic material for your Human components-."
Kon turns on me. "{red}You knew that{/}! {red}You didn't tell me{/}?!"
I hold my hands up in a calming gesture. "I told you back in July that I knew who it was. You never-."
"{red}Who else knows{/}?"
"I'm.. sorry. I hadn't realised you were unaware."
"Wonder Woman and Batman. I don't know if they told anyone else. Kon, I'm sorry, I just didn't think-" He turns away. "-that you cared about it." I take another step towards him and reach out with my right-.
"{red}Don't{/}." He waves me off and takes a step back.
{indigo}Nooo{/}…
Lex looks from me to him again. "Clearly this is a bad time, but.. today is the first chance I've had to talk to you. I.. don't know exactly what the Justice League has arranged for you, but if you don't object I'd like to try to have some sort of relationship with you. The only other family I have is my sister and.. we aren't exactly close, anymore."
"With you? W-?" He shakes his head.
"I'm not a monster Kon, and I feel even more responsible for you than I do for your brother. I may not have ordered Doctor Desmond to create you but.. you've got.. me in you, after all. And from what I've heard, your other.. parent, doesn't seem to have taken an interest. I only want what's best-."
"{red}You want a weapon{/}!"
"Actually, no. Even Doctor Desmond realised that a mere weapon wouldn't do. From what you've told me your elder brother would have worked quite well if that was all that was required. Tell me, would a weapon be capable of playing chess at Grand Master level?" Kon blinks. I hadn't realised he was quite that good. "Would a weapon need college level chemistry, math, English, French, Spanish or Mandarin Chinese?"
"My French isn't that good."
"You were removed from Cadmus before the program could finish. It seems that Doctor Desmond was trying to create a son I could be proud of, intellectually as well as physically." Lex lays both hands on Kon's shoulders and Kon lets him. "His error.. lay in not realising that he's already succeeded." Lex takes a step back and reaches into his jacket with his right hand. "Please." He holds out a card. "Call me when you've had a chance to think about it. Any time at all. I'll always be there for you."
"Aren't you.. going to go after him? I rather think he could do with a friend at the moment."
I watch as the door closes behind Kon. He still had Lex's card in his hand. I hadn't realised exactly how much he was missing a familial connection. I'd thought that between me, M'gann and Diana…
"It would probably be better if he had a few minutes, and.. I need to talk to you about something else."
"Your rather odd fascination with the Clangers, perhaps? Some of those whistles sounded almost rude…"
"Who do you plan to have replace Mister Harper?"
"That.. will be a matter for discussion amongst the Cadmus board members, and will probably depend on the result of the Justice League's deliberation."
"Assuming they accept your deal, there are two people with the required knowledge of Kryptonian physiology. Doctor Bernard Klein has worked in STAR Labs since he got his Bachelor's Degree and I.. think you already tried to hire him."
Lex nods. "Several times, actually. I had thought to make him another offer once the Justice League made their position clear. Who else did you have in mind?"
"Dubbilex."
Lex purses his lips, opens his mouth slightly and then closes it again. He tilts his head slightly to the side. "The G-Goblin? Really?"
"Yes. He has an excellent relationship with most of the staff -who are Genomorphs-, is familiar with all aspects of the work done here and thinks of both Kon and Match as being his brothers. He's both capable and motivated." And he can prove that everyone who claimed to have been mind controlled by Desmond lied during the hearings. If they don't toe the line they'll never work in their preferred fields again.
"I'm not… I don't think he has the qualifications…"
"Did Mister Harper? If you're concerned about there being more surprises, nothing goes on here without a Genomorph seeing it."
"I had thought about offering the position to you."
I shake my head. "I've never run a project like this. I wouldn't know where to start. And I certainly don't have the scientific knowledge."
"Is there a reason why you're pushing his candidacy?"
"Cadmus working on Kryptonians benefits both the Kryptonians and Earth, as long as we don't have another attack of the Desmonds. I want Cadmus operating. But, at the same time, I'm not going to ignore the fact that it runs on Genomorph slave labour. If I need to, I'm prepared go after Cadmus aggressively through the courts. It will take a while, but in the end the Genomorphs will be freed and Cadmus will be shut down. What works better for you is taking that fight as your own. The only way you can get good PR out of that situation is if you take the initiative in working to get the Genomorphs recognised as US citizens, and treat them as if they are in the meantime."
"If we're seriously considering Dubbilex's candidacy then I feel obliged to point out that Genomorph absenteeism has been something of a problem recently."
"If the Genomorphs believe that you have their interests at heart they are more likely to be loyal to the cause. If they believe that the best way for them to get the freedom they want, if they have a stake in what's happening here, I'm sure you'll see that absenteeism.. fade away."
He nods slowly. "You're confident you'd win the case? Even if -for the sake of argument- I put the full weight of LexCorp's legal department against you?"
"Red Tornado's been a superhero in America for decades without citizenship. I could probably get the law changed with his example alone, it'd just take longer. The Genomorphs are organic. Even if you won in the courts -and I don't think you would- there's no way the public would accept a living thinking creature as a slave in this day and age. Perhaps more notable is the fact that the Green Lantern Corps regards the enslavement of a species as a Crime Against Sentience. As soon as a formal complaint is lodged they'd be obliged to remove every slave from the control of their 'owner', whatever the court said. I imagine that would make work at Cadmus fairly difficult."
"It would." Lex raises his right fist to his chin. "And if I backed your case instead?"
I shrug. "You get good PR for being the man who finally fixed Cadmus. And overturned State versus Crane. Dubbilex taking the Oath of Allegiance alone-."
"And what about Red Tornado?"
"Hm?"
"You presumably want a ruling that says that an intelligent creature created in the United States is a citizen of the United States, regardless of how that creation occurred."
I think for a moment and then nod. "Yes?"
"Paul, Cadmus is turning into one giant PR black hole. Surely you can see that by publicly associating myself with it I'm already taking a huge risk. Combined with the cost-."
"I'll pay it. Within reason."
He raises his eyebrows slightly. "Are you sure? Arguing a case like this to the Supreme Court could cost hundreds of millions of dollars."
"It's manageable. I'll want to see your receipts, mind."
He nods thoughtfully. "And… To get the full PR benefit it would help to have someone a little more.. photogenic, than Mister Dubbilex on stage."
Danni's certainly that. "I can't make promises, but I'll see what I can do."
Lex gives me a thin smile and offers me his right hand. "Then I believe that we have an understanding." I take his hand and we shake. "I'll need to run it by the board, of course. And speak to Mister Dubbilex."
"I think it'll be an easy sell." I take a step back. "If you'll excuse me, I should probably go and check on Kon."
"Of cour-."
I transition to the bottom of the stairs leading to the roof. Kon's up there and I want to give him the chance to hear me and.. tell me to get lost if he wants. He's standing looking out over the front of the building. No shouts yet so I take the metal steps two at a time, there's no way he won't hear that. Through the door and out onto the roof, I notice that the intensity of my aura has increased. Not surprising, really; Kon's wellbeing is pretty core to my own. Is Lex being genuine? Could go either way but I don't particularly feel like chancing Kon on it.
"Kon..?"
He's facing away from me and turns his head slightly to the side. "What did you and Luthor talk about?"
"Liberating the Genomorphs."
"And?"
"I think we're on the same page."
He looks away from me, nodding.
"What-?"
"I just got more face time with Luthor in one day than I've had from Superman in five months. He told me about Match when Superman decided investigating it properly wasn't worth his time. That I wasn't…"
"I'm sorry, I really didn't realise this still bothered you."
He turns around, slouched, looking down at the card. "I didn't realize. I guess… Maybe I thought Superman would change his mind or something?" He looks up. "He's not going to, is he? He doesn't want anything to do with me, he won't want anything to do with Match… And I know Luthor's a bad guy but I want… I shouldn't want this, but I do, you know?" I nod. I don't feel that way myself anymore but I remember it perfectly well. "I wanna have that sort of relationship with someone and it's… It's not going to be Superman."
I slide the latest book on Themysciran legal practice away from me and lean back in my chair. I'm not sure this has really helped. True, I've got a much better understanding of how Amazonian law works now. No separation of powers at all. Guards are empowered to impose penalties for a range of crimes with no reference to anything like a judge or jury. Major or politically sensitive crimes might be brought before Queen Hippolyta but these people have known each other for three thousand years. Social unrest of the sort the rest of us know just doesn't happen any longer. Theft is almost impossible to get away with. Heck, the last case Queen Hippolyta heard was where a fisherwoman followed the shoals past the somewhat nebulous bounds of Themysciran waters and waved at a passing mainland Greek fishing boat. That was a hundred and thirty years ago.
I've scanned all of the books in the Embassy library and the ring has started the process of buffering the information into my brain at a rate I can cope with. While that happens I've been trying to work out how families are supposed to work in Amazon culture. Basically, before the exile the men and women of their culture lived almost totally separate lives. The women lived in towns and in the original city of Themyscira which the island is named after while the men lived in smaller farming villages. They really only met up twice a year during festivals which… Well, little Amazons had to come from somewhere. Relevant to my interests is that male Amazons were almost always adopted. The relationship with the genetic father wasn't considered important. Children stayed with their mothers until the age of four and then during the next meet-up boys were sent off with 'appropriate' males, usually relatives of the mother. The only exceptions appear to be male children of the monarch sired during political marriages to foreigners but I can't find any detail on those.
Of course, that all changed when the Exile happened. Pretty much everyone who survived fled to Themyscira -the island- 'by the grace of the gods'. I'm not sure whether that means literal divine intervention or just good luck. There's nothing explicit about what happened to any males who ended up on there but there are mentions of births eighty years later so presumably some made it. No, speculating on that doesn't help Kon. If I really need a timeline there I can just write a letter and ask; I imagine that their memories of that period are fairly acute.
As Crown Princess and as the current Wonder Woman -an approximate Anglicisation of the actual Themysciran title but one I'm so used to I can't stop seeing it- Diana has a wide range of authority whenever Queen Hippolyta isn't present. I haven't been able to find their laws on adoption but I have found what happens to orphans without an obvious next of kin. Since Kon really doesn't have a mother and his only female relatives are Lena Luthor -who as part of the father's family doesn't appear to count- and possibly Kara Zor-El if she exists here that appears to be the applicable law. As-.
"Etta said I could find you in here."
I look around as Diana walks into the library. She's wearing a lavender chiton and I'm suddenly aware that the book 'Liberation of the Persians' is still on the table. That really wasn't about what I thought it would be about. "How did the meeting go?"
"We were able to reach an agreement. Eventually."
"Did Guy get in?"
She looks across the table. "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to talk about…" And she's looking at the book. "Ah."
"I was looking for something on Themysciran slavery. I mean, from the title-."
She bows her head slightly and rests her right hand against her forehead. "It was a gift from Timandra, one of my teachers. I'm sure she meant it as a joke at my expense."
"You don't need to explain-."
"I didn't even read it before moving back to America after the Justice League came together. I gave up on it after the first… Well."
I shift my weight slightly. Thank you conscious blood flow regulation. "About.. how old is it?"
"It was originally written close to twenty five hundred years ago, though that's a more recent copy. How much of it did you..?"
"I loaded pretty much the whole thing into my brain."
"Hera."
"Or Aphrodite. Or perhaps one of the more tentacularly inclined Titans. Though, since it's the earliest historical reference I'm aware of to that particular metaphor-."
"Could I ask that you not mention it to anyone?"
"Diana…" I shake my head. "I don't want to mention it to anyone."
She nods, then pulls out the seat closest to mine and sits down. "Why the sudden interest in Themysciran law? I agree with your views on the Genomorphs but that will be resolved in the American courts."
"Yes, I know. That isn't why…"Really should have spent more time thinking about this bit. "After we spoke, Lex told Kon that he was one of his fathers."
She nods. "How did he take that?"
"Oh, pretty badly. He was angry at me for not telling him, angry that he couldn't help Match… And it just brought up the whole situation with Kal-El again."
"I thought you said that you had offered to tell him."
"I had the ring play the conversation back, I can see it wasn't obvious that's what I was offering. And I hadn't mentioned it again."
"You weren't the only one who knew."
"No, but I was the one who'd spent most time with him. And then Lex took the opportunity to say that he actually wants to be his dad. To take responsibility for him where Superman wouldn't." Diana winces. "Yeah."
"Is he considering it?"
"I'm not sure. I think so."
A faint frown. "I thought you got on well with Luthor."
"Lex is a project, same as Jade, the Beresfords and Holly. He can do too much good to write off. He's good company but that doesn't mean I trust him, certainly not with Kon."
She looks at the book-covered table again. "You clearly have a plan."
"I wouldn't go that far. I…" I look down slightly, shaking my head. "Kon wants a parent. I could offer to take him on; I'm old enough. But I don't legally exist and we don't really have that sort of relationship anyway. We even look the same age, more or less."
"Ah."
"If you grant him -Superboy-him, not Conner Kent- Themysciran citizenship you can make him a Ward of the Crown. Since there aren't any other Amazons in America that would make you formally responsible for his wellbeing. You already have a close relationship with him, I think he'd accept it. I realise that it's a lot to ask-."
"You don't think it would be better for me to offer to adopt him?"
Her expression hasn't changed. I've got nothing to work off and I don't scan her, that would just be wrong. "That would be asking even more, and I couldn't find a book on how modern Themysciran adoption worked. Plus, you might find it a bit awkward explaining to Ms Lane why someone with the surname 'El' was calling you 'Mum'."
She nods. "The book you were looking for is on my desk in my office."
I nod. "Well, that's why I didn't find it then, I only scanned the-."
!{blue}!{/}!
I blink at her, dumbfounded. "Y-. {blue}You mean{/}..?"
"I wasn't born to my mother, Paul, but I am Queen Hippolyta's daughter nonetheless. My unusual creation defines modern Amazon adoption law. And I believe it is right that a child have a parent. During the time we've spent together I've become {violet}quite fond of Kon{/}. I had been intending to find out whether it was really necessary before asking him, but clearly you believe that it is."
I sit there for a moment, unable to respond. "Thank you. That's not.. really enough but… {violet}Thank you{/}."
"Recognised, Wonder Woman zero three, Orange Lantern B zero six."
"…disagree with that. I mean sure, it makes sense when there's only a few of you but as the League expands you're just not going to know the people you fight beside that well."
"Batman did say that you had doubts about our selection process."
No one in the training area. M'gann said to be here for dinner at seven. "Sixteen members, eleven of them have American citizenship. You have more people from Thanagar than from any other country on Earth. Are you really saying that the talent isn't out there? Because…" I take my League maybes notebook out of subspace and create a construct screen to show a selection of faces.
"I suppose that widening the selection criteria might help address the gender imbalance the League currently suffers from."
"Diana, globally roughly one in two hundred people who put on costumes and try fighting for the greater good are women. One in eighty of those who stick with it for a couple of years. The odd thing about the Justice League isn't that it's only got three women, it's that it's got three women. Sure, if you really wanted I could get you a big list of female superheroes, and if none of the others think to ask me or the Greenies you'll probably be able to present better candidates at future meetings than anyone else but I really think that's the wrong approach."
"Oh? How do you think we should do it?"
"Think about what a superhero team needs, get one of each and when you've done that, start doubling up. Gender doesn't matter, effectiveness does. If you don't limit yourself to just Americans you've got a big enough talent pool to draw on…"
"Was that why you suggested Yao Fei?"
"Yep. You've got better brawlers and better ranged fighters but you don't have a combat medic. The fact that his government is a permanent member of the Security Council is just a bonus. And anyway, there's actually.. a far easier way to go about getting more women than that."
"What would that be?"
The note book disappears and in its place I bring out a flight belt and a vial of Danner Formula. "Make your own. Ask around Themyscira for volunteers, Danner them up and then give them flight belts. Obviously the goddesses' blessing wouldn't apply during the time they spend away from Themyscira but given how the Danner Formula extends life expectancy it probably wouldn't matter for…" I shrug. "Decades, at least."
"It's worth considering. It would certainly be nice to see my sisters more often, but I'm not sure that many would be willing to undergo that change."
I return the vial and belt to subspace. "If you get three you've doubled your numbers, right? Or if they'd rather have speed I can flawlessly replicate the Garrick Formula." Diana starts walking towards the corridor towards the kitchen. "Ooh, can we.. wait for Artemis?" I point at the inactive zeta tube. "She should be turning up soon."
"If you like. I note that you suggested two men and no women to Batman."
"There was one.. really good woman, but she's not going to be available for a few years, if she'd even be interested."
"Who do you mean?" I generate a construct in the shape of Queen Mera. Diana nods and thanks to dumping all that Themysciran law into my head I know how strict they used to be about keeping pregnant women away from combat zones.
"After she gives birth she's probably not going to want to take on a job that means she spends as much time away from home as it does for King Orin, and that's ignoring the time requirements of her current job. Plusss… There's quite a good chance that if they want any more children they'll have them not all that long after this one, so that's even longer." She gives me a look. "What? That's how it works. King Orin's a Pureblood, not a seahor-."
"Recognised, Artemis B zero eight, Huntress A one eight."
The light dims as Artemis and Paula walk out, Artemis taking the lead. The line we agreed on was that Paula is a retired superhero. No one else here knows any differently, though Ms Human Lie Detector Diana will work out that something's up pretty quickly. Hopefully she'll ask me about it later rather than making a big deal out of it. Paula's wearing one of her old red/brown and gold uniforms and she's even taken the time to do her old eye makeup. Whaw, she's looking good. She seems a little uncertain about being here and stops completely when she sees Diana. Not having that. I stride past Artemis to hug her. "Paula, hi! Glad you could come."
Her eyes flick repeatedly from me to Diana. "Thank you for.. inviting me."
"Oh, you'll have to thank M'gann, she's been doing all the cooking." I put my right arm around her back to lead her towards Diana. "This is Princess Diana of Themyscira. Diana, this is Paula, Artemis' mother."
Diana smiles at me then at Paula as she holds out her right hand. "Well met, Huntress."
She takes it only a little hesitantly. "Ah, pleased to meet you."
"It is always good to meet other female superheroes." Whoops. That wasn't why… I mean, even after she got back to full functionality she kept up her gym attendance. I guess she's used to a higher level of physical fitness than most people. And Artemis did mention that she'd threatened to join her on patrol… Huh. Huntress for Justice League is sounding like a less and less bad idea. Diana turns to lead the way towards the dining area. "Paul, has Alan arrived yet?"
Quick check. "Yep, he's in the kitchen. Wait, are we alright using real names? I mean, it's not a problem for you and me…"
Diana smiles at me. "Tiny. Mask. Besides, we can't call him Green Lantern all evening."
"Um…"
"Don't worry, he said it was fine."
Phew. Let's see… Kon doesn't go by Kon, M'gann doesn't go by M'gann, Zatanna's identity isn't a secret, Mister J'onzz doesn't go by J'onn… Think we're good.
Paula looks a little uncomfortable again. "Green Lantern is here?"
"The one from the Justice Society. He used to live in Gotham, actually."
"Was coming in costume a mistake? I haven't worn it in years."
"Mom, you're fine."
"I was surprised it still fit."
I get a better view as she pulls ahead a little to talk to Diana. It really does. Not having superhero restrictions on lethal force Paula trained for agility and endurance, leaving her musculature taut and- Ow! Artemis elbowed me! I look at her and jerk my hands in a gesture of inquisition.
"Did you just check out my Mom?!"
"She's a very attractive woman!" Oh. Whoops.
She jerks back, her eyes wide, and she folds her arms across her chest. "Seriously! Ughh!"
Making a point of not looking at Paula's bottom I follow on behind them. Actually, of all the women I interact with regularly Paula's the only one near to my half plus seven to minus seven doubled range of twenty two to forty six. Next year she'll be inside it. My friends are all under and Diana's well over. Paula's asking something about Donna… Oh, she thinks they're related. Not an unreasonable conclusion I suppose.
"Other than checking out my Mom, what have you been doing today?"
"Um, spent some time in Poseidonis helping set up a new and improved arcane forge. Then Kon and I went to Cadmus because it turns out they had another Kryptonian clone. You?"
She deflates slightly. "Geometry."
"Shouldn't have let it build up."
As we reach the kitchen Artemis catches up with Paula and leads her though the doors. Diana hesitates for a moment and then looks back at me. "Paul, if you had been selecting members for the Justice League, how would it be different to what it actually is?"
"Kaldur's not around, right?"
She raises her eyebrows slightly. "You wouldn't have picked Orin?"
"I'd probably have picked Queen Mera ahead of him. I'm not saying he doesn't contribute or anything, but he's a brawler in a team that already has you and Kal-El and the original seven didn't include a magic user. You can get by with having a magic user on the end of the phone but having one in the field would be much better."
"What about Nabu?"
I smile. "Well, if we can pick supervillains I'd probably have gone with Circe ahead of Nabu." Diana blinks in surprise. I shrug. "I just find it easier to relate to her goals. 'More power for me' rather than whatever Nabu's trying to achieve. I can deal with selfish people. Society works because it's easier for people to get what they want by working together than constantly fighting against each other. I can't deal with deranged idealists. You just can't reason with people like that." I'm having trouble coming up with another major league magic user. Probably worth looking into now that Mister Zatara's unavailable. John's not quite.. League level. "Come on, let's get in there before the whatever we're having gets cold."
Alan's already greeting Paula as I follow her in. He's still looking vital from his last ring recharge but I'm painfully aware that it might not last. With a little luck and no unnecessary expenditure he should be able to hang on until I can get to Maltus and twist arms until someone offers to make him a replacement. Artemis has headed over to where Zatanna and M'gann are standing next to the tureens in the kitchen area, a haze of water vapour rising from the vegetables. Looks like carrots and beans. With a gesture M'gann opens the oven and floats out the turkey. Mister J'onzz appears to be hovering -figuratively, not literally- as close to the kitchen as he can while trying not to make it obvious that's what he's doing. Kon's sitting in the living area looking miserable as sin, television turned to what looks like a Thanksgiving themed film of some sort? Lots of smiling faces anyway. That's probably not helping him. Diana comes through the door behind me, scans the room and then rests her eyes on Kon.
"Paul, please ensure that we have privacy."
"No problem."
As she walks past the threshold into the living area I create an orange construct wall and vault door.
"Paul, where you been?" Alan turns a little to the side to include me in his conversation with Paula.
"Just now? The Themysciran Embassy reading everything I could on Amazon law and custom."
He looks puzzled for a moment and then brushes it off. "Looking forward to your first Thanksgiving dinner?"
"Slightly nervously, yes. All looks edible from here."
"So, what's with the…" He wiggles his right index finger at the glowing orange wall.
"Diana wanted to talk to Kon in private. Has he said.. anything.. about..?"
"Not really. He just came storming in with a face like thunder and threw himself down on the couch. Something I should know about?"
"Um… I think he'd probably prefer to keep exactly what happened private for the moment." I turn my head towards Paula. "Kon was created in a laboratory and.. one of the things that happened today was me finding out that the lab still has hundreds of intelligent creatures they'd created working for them as slaves."
"{green}They what{/}?!" / "That's possible?"
I look from Alan to Paula. "Yes and yes. Suffice to say I wasn't going to put up with that. It's under new management now and I'm going to be watching it very carefully."
"What happened to the folks running it?"
"The managing director got fired."
"{green}For breeding slaves{/}?! Whoever did that deserves-!"
"Remember Robert Crane?" Alan freezes for a moment and I shrug. "Ruling's still in force. Taking legal action against everyone involved would be difficult and could take years."
Paula looks lost. "Robert.. Crane?"
Alan takes a breath. "Robotman. I met him when we both joined the All-Star Squadron back in forty one."
She frowns. "Nineteen forty one? But you'd have to be…"
"Yeah." He smiles faintly. "I'm actually ninety two. Can you believe I honestly didn't find anything odd about the way I look until Paul pointed it out?"
"But… How?"
"Leaky green lantern."
Alan grins. "Well you see son, when you get to ninety two, some things just don't work quite so well as they used to."
Arugghhh. I wince. "I mean his personal lantern. His personal lantern splurged enough green energy into his soul that it sort of rejuvenated him." Ah, probably should mention that as well… "There are a lot of things we run into in this line of work that kill us but some can extend our lives. With this ring-" I hold it up. "I'm going to go on pretty much indefinitely, and with the Danner Formula Artemis will probably live to.. well, I'm not sure exactly. A lot longer than normal."
She doesn't look bothered by that. "How much longer?"
"Not sure exactly. I mean, the formula's only been around for a hundred and sixteen years and.. I don't know of anyone who's had it who's died of anything related to old age. If I had to guess I'd say that I'd be surprised if she had any grey hairs at ninety."
"Does Artemis know about that?"
"Um, yeah, I think I mentioned it. Oh, um, if you're interested in getting dosed with it yourself you've only got to ask."
Alan raises his eyebrows. "You didn't offer that to me. Should I be offended?"
That would have been too easy, wouldn't it? "It.. wouldn't work on you. You're not organic enough. Otherwise I'd probably have dosed you with it when I was merged with the Ophidian."
"Had wondered about that. Anyway, Robert got shot dead when some hoodlums attacked his lab, and one of his co-workers transplanted his brain into a robotic body. Court ended up ruling that he wasn't a person anymore, just a robot who thought he was. I didn't know the ruling was still in force."
"With a little luck, in a few months it won't be. Anyway-."
Alan looks past me in alarm into the living area where Kon's on his feet and appears to be having a rather heated discussion with Diana. "Are they alright in there?"
I turn up the opacity. "Hopefully? Kon's had a pretty emotional day but I'm sure Diana can handle-."
"Dinner's ready!"
"Sehsid taolf ot eht elbat."
The various tureens, the plate with the slices of gammon and the carving dish with the beautifully roasted turkey float over to the table. Looks like this doesn't get served with roast potatoes but I've already spotted the stuffing and what I think is a dish of cheese covered beans. I remember an episode of Fraser where Daphne was mashing the Thanksgiving potatoes with a manual masher. Martin told her to use a whisk and she refused as that would eliminate the texture and make them boring. 'Welcome to potatoes' was his response, and it looks like we're being welcomed to sweet potatoes and possible parsnips as well. Interesting but edible, and not just in the technically edible duck's foot sort of way. In an attempt to organise us M'gann's put folded bits of card with our names on to indicate where we should be sitting. Paula and Alan turn to walk towards the table to find their seats. Looks like Mister J'onzz is at the head of the table. I'm between Zatanna and Kon on the near side. I start to head over to sit down when M'gann intercepts me. "What's happening with Conner? He's feeling some really strong emotions right now."
"Diana's offering to adopt him."
Her eyes widen. "Really? That's… That's great!"
"Right after the donor of his Human genetic material did basically the same thing? The timing makes it look a bit… Suspect."
She nods, then looks confused. "Doctor Desmond? Why would you go and talk to him?"
"No. Lex Luthor."
She blinks and I feel a slight mental probing as she tries to ascertain whether or not I'm joking. **Really?**
I relax my focus and share my memories of the conversation. {orange}**{/}Yes. Kind of an emotional day all round.{orange}**{/}
**Conner has a brother?!**
Behind her everyone has already taken their seats and they're watching us. Anticlockwise from Mister J'onzz is Diana's place, then Alan, Paula, Artemis, Zatanna and then the gaps for myself, Kon and M'gann. I think Mister J'onzz's stare is reproachful. Telepathic conversations which exclude everyone else are a bit rude, especially at social gatherings. {orange}**{/}We should probably sit down. I don't know how long-.{orange}**{/}
The construct vault door swings open and Kon steps through.
"…and Luthor's face is just like:" I pantomime his gobsmacked expression and Artemis and Jade both laugh. Across the table next to Artemis Grandma Nguyen just smiles. I'm not sure she's keeping up. I may have cleared up her age related mental decay but that doesn't mean that anything I'm saying will make any sense to someone from outside of the community. "I just cracked up laughing. I mean, tactically it was a dumb thing to do but I couldn't bring myself to point that out."
Artemis' eyes flick to her plate. "So are we gunna have two Superboys around the place?"
I shake my head. "Not exactly. It looks like they didn't bother programming Match with all the other knowledge which Kon has. I doubt he'll be joining us on missions for a while, ifff at all."
To fit the five of us into Missus Crock's flat I brought in a larger table and put it in their living room while shifting the other furniture into subspace. Fetching Jade and Grandma Nguyen was the work of a moment, neatly bypassing the potential problems with holiday visas or the Gotham police. Paperwork is for people without power rings. As a sacrifice to the occasion I've left off my armour so I've only got jeans, a white shirt and a power ring protecting me at present. Grandma Nguyen is directly across from me, Jade at my right and Artemis diagonally across from me. Missus Crock was at the table's head but she's in the kitchen organising pudding at the moment. It's a bit awkward really, not being able to tell her that I killed her husband. The relationship was dead anyway but not having closure might hold her back from getting on with her life. Or finding someone else. Someone who isn't an arsehole. I wonder if abandonment is cause for divorce in the States?
Jade frowns at me. "What happens to the Genomorphs?"
I shrug. "Still there. I want to check what the rules are about the enslavement of non-Humans before I take any sort of action. There must be some reason why the League didn't sort it out months ago."
"You're not dealing with it yourself? That doesn't sound like you."
I shrug. "They aren't in any immediate danger and nothing I care about's on the line. It's more fun to be sarcastic about the League's failings than it is to stomp all over an undefended laboratory myself." I pick up her left hand and hold it between my own. "Unless it matters to you, in which case give me twenty minutes and there won't even be rubble."
She rolls her eyes. "You have the weirdest ideas about what I find romantic."
"But you're thinking about it right now, aren't you? A giant pile of burning rubble, sirens in the distance as I shove my way free of debris, my clothing torn and scorched and my-."
Jade snatches her hand back with a blush while Artemis gags. "When he said you two were dating, I thought he just said it to annoy me. Now? Yeah, I totally get it."
Missus Nguyen smiles at that and nods. "It must run in the family. I married your grandfather not two days after he rescued me from an American concentration camp."
Artemis swings her head around. "Really?"
"Oh yes. He shot dead three soldiers himself."
That sounds interesting, though Artemis looks like she wished she hadn't asked. I lean slightly forwards. "Were you involved with the Viet Cong?"
"Yes, but they didn't know that. They just arrested everyone in the village." She pats Artemis' hand. "When I was your age there was a big famine in Vietnam, and the French and the Japanese were forcing us to export what food we had to Japan. My parents died and I kept myself fed by getting the Viet Minh information on how well protected the shipping warehouses were so they could raid them. We fed the people and the people supported us. By the time the Japanese surrendered to the Allies our people were everywhere." She sighs. "I was a silly girl. I thought that the French and the Japanese would both leave and that everything would be better. I remember hearing the speech Chairman Minh gave on the radio, talking about how everyone had the right to freedom. Then the French attacked Hanoi and the British and the Kuomintang invaded us as well."
Jade and Artemis look surprised. They haven't spent much time with their grandmother and so this is probably the first time they're hearing this. Jade looks rather more pleased to hear this than Artemis is and leans forward. "What did you do?"
"I joined up with the army. They weren't too picky about who joined up, even a girl from a little village in the middle of the jungle could get training. To start with I just kept watch, hiding near where the enemy had soldiers and made sure our people got away if they were coming. By the time we had enough support from the Chinese to start making counter attacks I was working as an artillery spotter." She smiles again. "I could hide better than the men could. That's what I was doing when we finally got rid of the French at the battle at Dien Bien Phu, guiding the artillery down onto their fortifications. The hardest thing I have ever done in my life was carrying those guns through the jungle and the…" She thinks for a moment. "Fourth happiest was knowing that they couldn't stop us shelling them."
I think I remember seeing a documentary about that. The Vietnamese carried a huge number of artillery pieces through dense jungle. The French had no idea what was coming before the shells started landing. They couldn't break out, couldn't counterattack into the jungle, could barely resupply and were under constant attack.
"This time I had learned enough to know that wouldn't be the end of it. The Americans broke their word about allowing free elections and stole the south of the country. Fortunately I hadn't forgotten how to do reconnaissance."
"Who wants pie?" The three of us jerk our heads around as Missus Crock walks into the room holding an apple pie in her oven gloves. She looks over our faces. "Why are you all looking like that?"
Artemis gets her wits together first. "Mom, Grandma just said she fought for the Viet Minh."
"Oh. That." She puts the pie dish down on a heat resistant mat before sitting down herself. "Artemis, you know where I grew up. How did you think I learned how to fight?"
Missus Nguyen smiles fondly. "I still remember teaching little Tuyet how to fire an AK forty seven."
"Mom, that's not my name any more."
"It's a perfectly good name! I'm not going to call you something else just because you moved to a new country."
Head this one off. "I'd love some pie, Missus Crock. Thank you."
Jade pats me on the arm. "I still wanna hear about Mom learning to shoot assault rifles."
Missus Crock sighs. "I'll be happy to tell you all about it after dinner. And I'm sure Mom will as well."
Missus Nguyen wiggles her right hand a little and leans towards Jade. "She fell right over onto her bum and accidentally shot a monkey."
Missus Crock raises her cake knife as a mock threat and her mother sits back, chastised. Then she looks at me. "When the girls were little we used to take a moment before eating Thanksgiving dessert to talk about the things we are thankful for."
I nod. "Yes, I learned about this tradition from television." She nods, and reaches out to take hold of her daughters' hands. I'm mildly pleased that Jade reciprocates. Would probably be appropriate… I take Jade's free hand with my right and reach across the table towards Missus Nguyen. "Would you like me to go first?"
"No, I think I've got quite a lot to be thankful for this year." She looks at Artemis and then Jade. "I'm thankful to finally be out of prison, to be able to sit here and have dinner with both my daughters. And you, Mom." She looks at me. "I'm thankful that I'm able to walk again and I'm thankful for the help you've given my mother."
If I could still blush, I think I would. "I've had quite a lot of changes in my life in the last five months. I don't remember there being much in the first half of the year to really be thankful for. But more recently, I'm thankful for the new friends I've been able to make and-" I look down at Jade and give her hand a gentle squeeze. "-for the charming young woman who has for some reason decided that I'm an acceptable paramour. I'm thankful to whoever gave me an orange power ring and even to whoever it was that brought me here, where I've had a real chance to make a difference to the world. And I'm thankful that you saw fit to invite me here today, so, thank you."
Jade tries looking away but the feel of her mother's expectant gaze on her is too heavy a weight to bear. "I'm thankful Mom's out of prison too. I'm thankful for my health, I guess. I'm thankful Dad's not here." Slight grimaces from Missus Crock and Artemis. At least she didn't say she was thankful that he's dead. Jade smiles fondly at me. "I'm thankful for meeting Grayven, evenif, Grandma,-" She looks over at her Grandmother. "-we're not getting married any time soon."
Missus Nguyen dismisses it with a shake of her head. "Oh, you don't need to say that to me. I only asked because the first time I met your father was just after he proposed to your mother." She thinks for a moment. "There's no need to rush on my account. I was quite big with your uncle Ho before I married your grandfather."
He looks a little unsteady as I dismiss the wall construct. Diana walks through the gap and {blue}drapes her right arm over his shoulder and he leans into her{/}. {blue}YES{/}! {blue}Kon makes eye contact with me and smiles a little{/}. I try to keep my eyes on them as I hurry to take my seat. {violet}This is better than I could have hoped{/}. M'gann takes her seat as well while everyone else just looks a little bemused.
Diana sweeps her gaze across the table to make sure she has everyone's attention. Because the six foot tall demigoddess built like a swimming champion ever has to worry about that, especially in that dress. "Everyone, I…" She looks down at the top of Kon's head. "We have an announcement to make. But first, I have recently been informed by Orange Lantern and rather more emphatically by Superboy that Cadmus Labs are making use of a significant workforce of enslaved Genomorphs. This is unacceptable, and I will personally make sure that this abhorrent practice is brought to an end as swiftly as possible."
I hadn't wanted to rely on Lex's good intentions. I tried to come up with an idea that he'd find worth pursuing but it's perfectly possible that he could think of something more in his interests. She hasn't explained why the League ignored it in the first place but I don't suppose that really matters now.
"Now, on to a more personal matter. Over the past few years it has been my privilege to participate in the training of several of the younger members of our community. First Donna, who came to me for help when her abilities first began to manifest. Then Alan introduced me to Paul after he tried to acquire Alan's personal lantern by offering to purchase it from him." I cringe slightly as several of my fellow diners stare and Artemis mouths 'seriously?' at me. I reply with a little nod. I didn't actually.. share that little story with anyone, did I? "Paul in turn made me aware of Kon-El's lack of a.. similarly gifted tutor, and asked that I consider taking him on. His display of compassion -something I had mistakenly assumed would be in short supply in anyone who claimed avarice as the source of their power- moved me, and I began including Kon-El in our training sessions. Despite his unfortunately persistent habit of forgetting what he's been taught and trying to win through brute force-" Kon sags a little. "-he is an able student and I've found our sessions together extremely rewarding."
She pauses to take a breath.
"In fact, as I've spent more time with him I've found that I have become more emotionally invested in his development -both as a warrior and as a person- than I have with either of my previous students. And, perhaps because he lacked another adult role model, he has become similarly attached to me. At first I assumed that it was simply a desire to please his tutor, but recent events have led me to re-evaluate how well his emotional needs are being tended to. Whether I was living up to the responsibilities I was coming to assume. And perhaps at eighty five I'm starting to feel a little broody. That is why, a few minutes ago, I {violet}offered to adopt Kon-El as my son{/}." No one gasps, but there's a definite intake of breath around the table. "He has done me the honor of accepting. While it will probably take us some time to decide exactly how this will work -not to mention deciding how to register the adoption officially- as far as we're concerned I am {violet}Kon's mother as of now{/}."
"Um." Kon shuffles slightly. "{violet}I just{/}… {violet}I always {/}… When D-. When {violet}Mom{/}…" He pauses, savouring the word. "When {violet}Mom{/} started teaching me, I didn't think I needed it. I mean, she only had to smash my head into a granite cliff face a couple of times before I worked out I was wrong-" Wasn't that a fun excursion. She planted him face first into the sand the first couple of times but he appeared to need a stronger example. "-but I'd been.. programmed with the idea that I was supposed to go it alone. And I didn't like it much but I didn't know how else to be. She showed me how to be a person, not just a weapon. And when I accepted that I could be more than a weapon, everything just started to make more sense. I don't know… I don't know what I'd have do-."
Diana pulls him into a hug, and he doesn't hesitate in hugging back, and kisses him on the forehead. I'm not sure who started clapping first but I'm on my feet and joining in before I really think about it. I don't even slow down when I realise that I'm responding positively to a open display of sentiment. Ah what the hell, it's Thanksgiving. I don't think the Adjudicators of Britishness dare watch on days like this. They'd go mad. Diana and Kon pull apart and I transition into her seat on the far side of the table so that they can sit together. There's a general settling back down though Mister J'onzz remains standing, levitating a plate over as he begins carving the turkey. Okay, two telekines and a Lantern, we should be able to handle the tureens without the usual getting in each other's way.
Diana looks over to M'gann on Kon's other side. "So, I understand that you're dating my son."
M'gann smiles at her. "Yes. We've been together for a month now."
"Do you know anything about Amazon courtship rituals?"
"Um, no?" A turkey laden plate floats past me to Artemis' place at the end of the table while M'gann tries to work out why Diana's asking. Prrrobably just hazing. "But wouldn't Conner… I mean, is he-?"
"Kon will receive Themysciran citizenship, at least in his 'Kon-El' identity." M'gann takes a moment to digest this information. And suddenly the ring provides me with everything it scanned about Amazonian courtship. Yikes. I'm not sure how much of that is still practised, some of those books were from centuries apart but they're very much a warrior culture. The coconut and the nectarine I kind of get, but they seem to go in for rather violent trials in place of what I think of as dating. Hunting, climbing and gladiatorial combat feature rather heavily in their romantic literature and I'm really not sure what the modern equivalent...
Oh. Our day job.
M'gann appears to decide to be direct. "So how do Amazons date? And.. who do they date?" She looks around as Alan quickly covers his laugh with a cough and starts dishing out the… Mashed sweet potato covered in melted cheese. Thank you ring. He takes a scoop for himself before offering it to Artemis and Paula. "I mean, I thought there were only women on Themyscira."
Diana nods. "There are."
"Oh." M'gann takes a moment to digest that. I haven't got around to asking about how that sort of thing works on Mars. I mean: shapeshifters, right? But they can feel each other's thoughts so… How would that work? "I didn't know Humans.. did.. that."
A plate lands in front of me and I quickly have the ring transfer portions from the dishes which look most edible. The beans, onions and mushroom dish first. Probably best to get the vitamins in. A piece of corn on the cob. Heh, this is the first time in my life that I've been able to eat one of these without the risk of squirting boiling hot starch water everywhere or scalding myself. Carrots of course. I think I'll pass on the cranberry sauce. I tried a sweet sauce with meat once in a Chinese restaurant -duck with plum, I think- and I wasn't impressed. There appear to be two stuffing dishes, one with the traditional bread based sage and onion mix and the other appears to be some sort of cornbread, celery and sausage.. thing. My aunt Sallie tried to get me to eat something like that once. Only once. I might try that later but I think for now I'll stick to what I know to be palatable. Locate the gravy -yep, actual gravy, not that white sauce stuff they tried giving me in Louisiana- and pour some onto my plate with a suction pump construct.
Alan watches what I'm doing and raises an eyebrow. I cut off the flow. "You want some?"
He hesitates for a moment. "Ah, sure." I pipe gravy onto his plate, trying to avoid the mashed stuff that will turn into sog if it comes into contact with gravy. I dismiss the construct as Artemis just reaches across the table to pick it up.
"I remember how chaotic it used to get at home with just six of us eating from tureens. If we don't-"
"Llif ym etalp htiw tahw I tnaw." Zatanna's plate goes from empty to full.
"-speed things up a bit it'll all be cold by the time everyone gets served." I lean forwards a little. "Paula? Do you want me to pass you anything?"
"If the mashed potato's free?"
It's sort of in an awkward spot behind other dishes. I put an orange aura around it and float it towards her as Mister J'onzz levitates the bean dish in the other direction. He puts it down on the table next to him. I haven't really spent all that much time around him before and his face… It's a little unsettling. M'gann puts so much effort into appearing Human-like and her true appearance is so dissimilar to Human that it's more or less like looking at an exotic mask. Mister J'onzz's face is just slightly wrong in every degree, skin too smooth, brow too heavy and expression too immobile. It's a little like this was his first attempt at looking Human back when he didn't have any experience and he never really bothered refining it.
He notices me looking at him as he takes a scoop of bean mixture. "Paul, have you given any thought as to how you intend to recover your cake from Switzerland?"
I sag slightly. "I was planning to phase it out. Unfortunately, it turns out that since phasing involves hiding your mass from the universe it's really hard to scan someone while they're doing it. My backup plan involves digging a borehole down and bringing it out in slices. Actually, even if I get the hang of phasing I'll probably do that; I'm not sure I could safely carry something that big without the Ophidian."
"Are any of the other local Lanterns able to assist you?"
"Guy and Lantern Stewart have offered, but they don't know how to phase either." I shrug. "If I could get it out they could serve while I held it up, but I can't get it up yet."
He nods slowly. "If you like, I should be able to assist you in your studies. My skill at phasing is significantly more advanced than M'gann's. Perhaps it would allow you to get better data."
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