Clarion Call

24th December
06:12 GMT +1

The man tied to the chair {yellow}looks up at me with a look of panic{/}, before immediately shifting {blue}to hope{/}.

"{blue}Oh thank God{/}, you've got to get me out of here! I've been kidnapped!"

I take a moment to get a better look at him, frowning as I do so. He'd be about one metre sixty if he were stood upright, he's bald and he's wearing thick-rimmed glasses of a sort that haven't been in fashion for decades. He's wearing a white shirt (mildly dishevelled) and a pair of blue jeans. And… Correct for my host's physical abnormalities…

"I'm.. sorry, I realise that this seems a little heartless, but could you please tell me your name?"

"Sivana. Professor Theodore Bilford Sivana."

"I see." I hold up my right forefinger. "Would you please bear with me for just a moment? I'll be right back."

"What, are you {yellow}working with him{/}?"

I step back out of the room, closing the soundproof door behind me and turning to face the smugly smiling countenance of Dr Thaddeus Bodog Sivana.

"What do you think?"

"Doctor Sivana, why do you have your… Brother? Clone?"

"Parallel universe duplicate."

"That would have been my third guess…" I shake my head. "Why?"

He frowns slightly. "I have a little trouble with insufficiently well-defined questions. Could you possibly-?"

"Ah. I'm sorry. Why is he in there, tied to a chair?"

"I thought that tying him to a surgical table would give the wrong impression."

"Y.. es…" I.. take a moment to readjust. "I meant, in general. Why do you have that man in your complex? The fact that he is specifically tied to a chair is more or less incidental. But still pertinent in so much as he's bound."

"Yes, you see, this is exactly why." Doctor Sivana raises his right hand above his head and waves it for a moment. "I understand that my social skills are… Less than they might be."

"… Good?"

"I have a process, when my knowledge of a particular area-" He turns away from me and starts pacing. "-is under the required level. Ideally, I would consult a written work on the subject… Or a cross section of them. But-" He reaches the end of his pacing area and turns. "-I've tried that before, and I'm… Divorced. It wasn't my idea. {violet}I still love my{/}-. My ex-{violet}wife{/}. I think that something I'm doing is merely compounding my fundamental problem."

"That… Could well be."

"I am aware that… Cooperating with people outside of my immediate family is something I find... Trying."

"So.. you.. opened a portal to a parallel universe and abducted a version of you who trained as a social scientist?"

His face screws up in bewilderment. "No." His face brightens up. "I abducted the only version of me who isn't a supervillain!"

I blink. "The only-?" I frown. "I thought… There were reverse-morality universes..?"

"Ah, yes. That visit from your blue alter-ego." He brings his hands together in a praying gesture just in front of his chin. "It seems that there's something about me that results in me either dying or descending into villainy. Of one sort or another. Even when most of my peers would be the alter-egos of people who are heroes here. It's a puzzle that I've been meaning to examine for a while… But the matter of the sheeda is so much more urgent. I need to learn what I haven't managed to learn so far, and he's the best person for teaching me."

He nods, smiling confidently.

Hm.

"Doctor, do you remember when we started cooperating, I sent you an audiobook called 'How To Succeed In Evil'?"

He goes back to frowning. "Why would I need to read something on how to succeed in evil? I've been doing that for decades now."

"But you acknowledge that there are things about how the things which you do interact with wider society which you don't understand, yes?"

He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Yes..?"

"That's why I sent it to you. The main character has the same problem, only he's focusing on gaining money rather than developing new technology. There's a part which relates to exactly what you've done here. The main character is employed to make someone a great deal of money, and asks if he could consult with an expert on energy distribution networks. His employer has the man kidnapped."

Dr Sivana nods. "That sounds perfectly efficacious to me."

"But he wanted a phone call. Not only was the man some distance away -meaning that kidnapping him and bringing him to the main character's location took more time than a phone call- it also increased the risk of discovery by engaging in illegal activity in public. Whereas with a phone call he could have got the information he wanted more quickly and entirely legally."

Dr Sivana blinks a couple of times. "You believe that I should have phoned him."

"I believe that offering a voluntary exchange… His help in return for technology or money, would have put him in a far more helpful frame of mind. As opposed to-" I glance back at the door and through it to the {yellow}yellow outline I can see through it{/}. "-now, when he believes that he's the prisoner of a lunatic."

"Ah." Dr Sivana frowns a little. "I.. see. You may have a point there."

"Why don't you let me try to talk him around?"

"Yes, that's.. probably for the best. We participated in a multi-Sivana team up once, and I don't think that the rest of us gave a particularly good impression."

"Multiple backstab pileup?"

"More the same backstab in a thousand different vectors. Actually, I was a little disappointed that we all came up with essentially the same thing."

"Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I turn away, reopen the door and step back through. "Professor. I'm very sorry about this and of course-" I extend a construct and sever his bonds. "-I'll get you out at once."

He doesn't get up, but brings his hands together and rubs the parts of his wrists that were bound. "Thank you. So… I can just… {blue}Go{/}?"

"You can. However-."

"{yellow}Oh God{/}."

"You've met your local alter-ego. As you can no doubt tell, he's-."

"He's crazy! Like all the others!"

"But he's trying to redirect his inherent malevolence against some very unpleasant people who are planning on destroying our entire civilisation. The reason he brought you here is because he wants your help as a life-coach. He wants to learn to… Well, essentially, to not be a supervillain.. and… You're the only one he thinks can do it. You don't have to, and if you choose to help him then you don't have to live here to do it. And he's prepared to compensate you well and… If you're wondering why he didn't start with offering that, then you're beginning to understand why he needs your help."

His mouth opens and closes a few times.

"I'm a physicist. And he wants to learn social skills from me?"

I nod. "As I said, he's pretty desperate."

24th December
09:21 GMT -5

"Are you.. sure this is how you want to spend your Christmas?"

Thomas shrugs as we trudge through the New England snow towards the sparring area. "Nah man. But if the boys back in Belle Reve fihnd owt all we did wuz go t' some shindig at Ma Sivana's house, my rep's gown."

I thought it was rather nice of the legitimate side of the Sivana family to invite Thomas and Tuppence to spend this Christmas with them. And since it makes the Governor of Louisiana happy and reduces the chance of him being motivated to try pardoning them, Ms Waller was willing to sign off on a three day pass for them both. Heck, she didn't even ask me to guarantee it this time.

I'd have made a crack about turning her into a liberal, but I'm not sure that she wouldn't have changed her mind just to spite me.

"The Sivana household is noted for producing noteworthy supervillains. Even the younger children are wanted for a laundry list of crimes."

"Yeyeh, but Ma Sivana's an accountant or something. I don't think folks gonna see it that way."

"She's.. not an accountant. She's an auditor."

He gives me a blank look, and the ground shakes beneath us. We both ignore it.

"Basically, she makes sure that companies aren't lying to people about how much money they're making or how much money they owe." He's still looking blank. But he doesn't seem irritated about it, which is progress. "Like a parole officer, but for big companies rather than people."

He grins. "Oh!"

"Although given her seniority, it's more like she's a supervisor for a bunch of parole officers rather than doing it herself."

The ground shakes again.

"How'd she meet… Y'know… Ah mean, y'all don't get t'be a parole.. auditor by hanging out with no supervillains."

"They met in college, and divorced when he went full career criminal. He actually tried making money legitimately with his inventions before that."

"That not work out so good? Ah mean, if he finished up a supervillain…"

"It didn't work out so good. I'm still not really sure why; the man's antisocial but his work's brilliant."

Thomas frowns in thought. I wait for a moment.

"That's the present tense."

"Ah. Yes?"

"Abra did this whole tawk on different ways a' sayin' stuff 'cause of when it happens. 'His work's brilliant' means 'his work raight now's brilliant'. Not his work back then."

"I've never been much good at formal English."

"An' alla the stuff you saw on Venus, that wuz old stuff."

"None of it was new, certainly."

His eyes widen. "You been seein' him!"

I keep my face calm. "Do you want me to say something you might have to lie about to Warden Waller?"

"You didn't put him in no prison."

"If I knew a mad scientist, and I was reasonably confident that he wasn't about to launch any random attacks on civilisation, and I had something I needed him to do, I would have no pressing reason to imprison him."

"Y'all got him workin' fer you?"

"I have received certain information-" Tuppence's head appears over the rise a little way in front, and I wave as she falls back towards the ground. "-that the Earth is facing an invasion from the future in the not-too-distant future. Also, I don't really-." Kraft and all of their malevolent minions have all but capitulated on the Cadbury's matter but I haven't bought it yet, and when The Vega Project starts work I'll be an investor rather than an employer. "-employ people. Certain classes of supervillain become exceedingly unreasonable if they think someone is telling them what to do."

"Oochff!"

Donna slams into the rise in an explosion of snow and earth, then bounces before coming to rest just in front of us. She takes a couple of breaths, then pushes herself up.

"You alright there? Because if you want to swap out-?"

"Yeah." She clambers to her feet. "Just took me-. I mean, her punches are usually so clumsy. I wasn't ready for her to actually get it right."

I wait for Thomas to leap to his sister's defence, but he doesn't look like-. Oh, come on. I know she's breathing heavily in sweaty, tight-fitting exercise clothes and she's basically a younger copy of the most attractive woman on the planet, but that's no reason-

She rises off the ground slightly and flies back in the direction of our ersatz sparring arena.

-to stare like an uncultured brute-.

I look at Thomas again.

Ah.

My first instinct is to take the piss. Something about clubbing her over the head and dragging her back to his cave. But… That's a bad idea here. I remember reading the comic where Da Bomb actually tried that with Power Girl… Plus, me taking the piss is just going to push him away.

"I'm not saying that she's out of your league-"

He tears his eyes away as she drops out of view. "Huh?"

"-but she's probably out of your division."

"Ahhh…"

Is he-? Oh goodness me, he's actually blushing. Right, really don't take the piss.

He shrugs, slumping slightly. "Aw, hell man. I know thayet. It was jus'-."

"Yeah, she was suddenly right there." He nods, looking slightly relieved. "I remember the first time I met Wonder Woman. By the time I got to her face she was like-." I raise my eyebrows slightly and tilt my head forward, a placid but mildly amused expression on my face.

He chuckles, nodding. "I don't-." He immediately sombres up. "Doc Quinzel says we should tawk about our feelin's an' stuff?"

"Yes, that's.. probably a good idea?"

"Kissed a girl one time. I didn't mean-. We wuz friends, growin' up? I liked her an' she liked me…" He stands there awkwardly for a moment. "Next day her mouth wuz all bruised up, like someone hit her with a bat. Her folks didn't want her to have nothin' t'do with me."

I nod. "Doctor Munro mentioned having a similar problem."

"But… Girl who's super strong lihk me an' Tuppy… An' ain't Devastation, 'cause-."

I nod. "You don't need to explain that one. Though I should point out that they're technically sisters."

Thomas boggles for a moment, blinks, then shakes his head as if trying to dislodge the image I just put there.

"Aw mahn, that is some bull shit!"

24th December
17:42 GMT -1

"Lord Cyprian. Thank you for agreeing to see me."

The somewhat haggard-looking Atlantean Pureblood opposite me nods distractedly. "I must admit, I was expecting a visit like this."

I frown. "Well… Yes. I did apply to meet with a member of your government two months ago." Just before all of that… Time travel nonsense. "I realise that relations with the surface aren't Venturia's priority… At this point I'd rather assumed that you were refusing to meet me."

We're meeting in a drawing room adjacent to the main throne room. Contrary to both my expectations and the style of Poseidonis, the majority of the room is air-filled. Given that Venturia never traditionally had much truck with purebloodism, it's a curious design choice. I mean, there are any number of practical advantages, but if anywhere was going to do this sort of thing I'd have expected just about anywhere else ahead of Atlantis's isolationist southern-most city.

His eyes narrow slightly. "You're not here from King Orin."

"No? Should I be?"

"Ah." His eyes dip for a moment. "No, I.. suppose not. It's simply that I have been expecting a representative of his for some time. Given the work you have done in Poseidonis and the fact that you aren't an Atlantean citizen, I assumed that he was getting in touch obliquely."

"My.. relationship with King Orin isn't as bad as I thought it was, but we're nothing like close enough for him to use me as a diplomatic envoy. Even a back-channels one. If anyone, he'd.. probably ask Princess Diana." He sags a little and I raise my eyebrows. "I hope I haven't made a nuisance of myself. I didn't mean to come here under false pretences."

He studies me impassively for a moment. "No, no, the fault is mine. Your original application was most likely rejected out of hand either by my aunt personally or by a courtier in accordance with her standing instructions. I simply-." He takes a breath. "My aunt died recently."

I bow my head. "My condolences."

"It wasn't exactly a shock… But the subject of the succession is likely to be the trigger for a new round of disputes between Venturia and Poseidonis. Not that that's.. your problem." He smiles joylessly.

"I'm happy to take King Orin a message, but… As a foreigner, I would.. rather not involve myself in internal Atlantean political affairs."

"Thank you." He nods. "I will prepare a missive before you depart." I nod in return and begin to rise, but he holds up his right hand to stop me. "What.. was it that you wanted to speak with me about?"

"Not.. you specifically. Whoever is responsible for your arcane research policy."

"Project approval goes through me at the moment, so I'm the one you need to talk to. I've…" He reaches out with his left hand and indicates a rack of arcane data storage devices. "I've tried to keep up to date with the latest developments, but I imagine that you're more in the know than I am."

"My overview of the projects might be, but I doubt that my knowledge of magic theory is anything like as good as yours."

"Given everything that's happened I'm afraid that it might be, these days. In my youth I was working to become an archmage, but… The needs of the state were… Are, more important than my personal ambitions. I rather imagine that I've fallen behind. I'm afraid that Venturia doesn't participate in research projects conducted under the auspices of the Poseidonis Conservatory of Sorcery."

"Yes, I noticed that. As I said, internal Atlantean political disputes don't matter to me. You don't want to work with them? Fine. But you still have experts of your own, and I came here because I'm hoping that you could perform a separate project for me."

"I'm.. not sure what we can add to the resources already at your disposal."

"I've… Rather overloaded Sephtian's team. They want to do things with what they've already learned and I keep wanting them to do new things. And I value everything that they're doing, but that still leaves me with things I need to learn."

"Such as?"

"The precise structural link between the material Earth, Earth's arcane systems and the Dream."

He makes a sort of cough-laugh noise. "And.. you think.. we know?"

"No, if I thought you knew I'd just ask 'how much?' and we'd negotiate. I know full well that this will be a long term research project. Now, I've read up on previous studies, and it seems to me that they essentially consisted of trying to use dreams as an access point for sensory spells."

"Solo efforts generally involved insanity-inducing trances, and there have been far more of those. But yes, that's how it has been done on…" His eyes look up for a moment. "Three..? Occasions I recall reading about."

"I want to study the Earth's magic fields instead, and try to discern the nature of their connection. I understand that it.. may come to nothing, but it seems to me that if we know that magic originates there, there must be a connection we can… Measure. How much is the Earth's magic changing, how fast, why…"

"I don't believe that such research would be contrary to Venturia's interests. So long as you understand that our government will insist on being kept apprised of the project's progress."

I shrug. "I was going to share it with everyone anyway."

He sits back slightly, frowning curiously. "Why are you interested? As I understand it, your ring isn't in any way magical."

"Are you aware of this system's new planet?"

"I could hardly miss it. Several prognosticators became quite ill when it arrived."

"It's controlled by a member of my Corps named Mother of Mercy. When I met her, to find out whether or not I was trustworthy, she put me in an… Call it an illusion, where all of my desires were realised. And one of the things that it showed me was an arcane device called a Root of Yggdrasil. I know.. using magic becomes progressively harder the further you go from a magic-rich planet, and that was.. the device illusion-me used to bypass the problem."

"But it was not real."

"No. But it got around a fairly major problem we're going to have with arcane technology: if it just stops working when it gets past the moon. So I want to find out whether or not it can be real."

He nod contemplatively. "You understand that we don't have access to many of the amenities that you may have become used to in the laboratories of Poseidonis."

"Lord Cyprian, we haven't even started negotiating on a price yet. If you want unclassified information or technology, I'm happy to provide it. I can't enchant things myself, of course."

His face stills. "You're willing to offer us an arcane forge?"

I nod. "Or several. They aren't classified. In fact, Sephtian has been trying to encourage more people to build them. They're so much more efficient than traditional enchantment."

He {orange}nods definitively{/}. "You have my provisional agreement. Please understand that this isn't really something that we can begin work on now-"

"Of course."

"-but once things are settled politically I will arrange a meeting between you and our archmages, and we can discuss the precise terms of our contract."

"Thank you, Lord Cyprian. I will be delighted to work with them."

24th December
13:57 GMT -5

Jade takes a moment to attach her translation headphones, then jerks her head from side to side to make sure that they aren't likely to fall out. "Test. Test. Test." She frowns faintly. "I can hear the vibrations of what I'm saying through my skull, but the headphones are only playing English."

"That's the easiest to use model, I'm afraid. All of the others are significantly more invasive." I look her over. "Going in armour is an option. Your exo-mantle has integrated translation equipment."

"I'm going to stick out enough as it is." She checks herself in her bedroom mirror once more. "How do I look?"

"{violet}Oh{/}! {violet}My heart's delight{/}!
{violet}Oh{/}! {violet}Lady of such gl{/}-."

She turns her head to glare at me.

"The style is a little outside of Themysciran norms, though not enough to stick out. The colouration and use of pattern on the other hand are radically different to anything that they're used to. I find them appealing, but surface light is so little of what-."

"Of what you see-" She nods, returning her attention to the mirror. "-{violet}that I could wear a sack and you'd still love it{/}."

I walk up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into my chest. "And don't doubt it for a moment." Maybe I could-? "Hm."

"'Hm' what?"

"It just occurred to me that while I could connect myself to your visual cortex to-" She pulls away slightly. "-show you emotions as I perceive them, I'm the one person whose emotions I can't show you."

She turns around, {violet}smiling{/}, my arms still loosely draped around her waist. "{violet}You're not doing a terrible job{/}." She tilts her head back invitingly, {violet}and I gently lower my lips to hers{/}. I don't follow though on my impulse to hug her tighter, because that would crease her dress and earn us a comment from Artemis. As we kiss I close my eyes and probe her with my empathic sense, gazing directly at her {violet}love{/} for me and {blue}contentment{/} with the situation. I haven't ever been as happy as I am now and I don't think that she has either.

No comment on a good chunk of that being due to the fact that she's confirmed as joining the Darkstars, and as a result we'll be spending a good deal of time apart.

Planning Christmas has been.. interesting this year. The Nguyens got an invitation to spend Christmas with the Crocks, which I thought was nice. The problem is that there's no zeta tube anywhere near where they live. So Artemis would be unable to take part in any emergencies that might arrive over the holiday. Staying in Gotham would make it just the three of them, as they don't have any other family in the area.

I'd rather like to spend the day with Alan and Jade, the closest thing I have to family on Earth 16. The problem is, with Alan pretty much outed and me not having a secret identity us both showing up at the Crock residence or them coming to New York combined with her mother being a convicted master thief and her sister being convicted of being a member of the League of Shadows risks Artemis losing plausible deniability as well. At some point even the GCPD have to pick up the clues. I still think that it's only the fact that she mostly operates at night on the other side of the country that has prevented that happening already. That, and the fact that there's no angle in it for the Light.

So where do we spend Christmas? My ice fortress was an option, but it's totally isolated and not exactly roomy inside. The kitchen is fine if you're just going to be there for a few days, but it's not really Christmas dinner worthy. Plus I haven't prioritised noise cancellation away from the main generator and Jade and I aren't exactly quiet when we're together.

Diana was the one who came to our rescue. Themyscira doesn't really have Christmas, but it's a big deal in the rest of the world and with the increasing (that is to say, some) integration that's starting to happen Queen Hippolyta knows that it would help if Amazons learned a bit more about Christian-orientated culture. Since celebratory days in honour of one god or another are pretty common on Themyscira already, doing Christmas wasn't anything like as big a deal as I thought that it might be.

I lift my face away just as she starts to get uncomfortable with the fact that she can't check her lines of sight, and from her momentary wry smile I think she knows it. "Is there anything else I need to know about Themyscira?"

"Nothing maj-. Ah, maybe… One thing?"

"How bad?"

"No, not… Bad. Just something to be aware of. You know that Amazon society -even before the exile- was homonormative?"

"I thought you said some of them tried hitting on you."

"They had sex between men and women a couple of times a year during major festivals for procreating. Them hitting on me means that they think I'd be a good sire for their children, not that they wanted to have what you and I would think of as a normal romantic relationship." Ah… "Mostly. I think.. one of them…" I shake my head. "It's now common knowledge that you and I are a couple, so that won't be a problem."

"Uh-huh."

"The problem that's more likely to emerge is that they don't see heterosexual relationships as being equally.. 'significant' to homosexual ones, and they might hit on you. I mean, you're… Really their type."

"I'll try and control myself."

"They also.. might try coming onto both of us together." Jade looks decidedly unamused. "Sorry."

"Unless you're a time traveller, Amazon sex lives aren't your fault." She sighs and looks down by my chest for a moment. "We… Need to talk about… That, though."

"Having sex with Amazons? I didn't think you'd be interested."

"No, not-." She looks up again. "Us. Family. What I'm going to do with this apartment."

I shrug. "I can put your belongings in storage easily enough. Or transport them to Maltus. Darkstar accommodation isn't exactly Spartan. Unless you want to keep it."

"I don't-." She leans into me slightly. "No, I do. This is the first place I've lived in that's actually been {orange}mine{/}. I want to keep it."

"You can do that."

"How..?"

"Ask me."

She snorts faintly. "I think when you move in with your boyfriend you're supposed to actually be there."

"I'll be happy to keep the place warm for you, to be in tip top condition whenever you return. Though I might make a few modifications." I shrug. "You know how I get when I think something can be improved."

"Just so long as I can still recognize it."

"Of course."

"And family."

"As I said, I do want to marry you but I don't really think that married life is compatible with being at opposite ends of the galaxy or.. not really seeing much of each other when we are in the same Space Sector."

"The war with the Reach is probably going to take longer than our lives."

"No."

She pulls away so that she can look me in the eyes again. "'No', as in there's a plan to end it faster?"

"'No' as in 'I don't age'. At least, I don't at the moment. But… I have given it some thought. Once we've built up, and invaded the periphery in earnest, there's a… Natural break? Once we take all of the worlds that haven't been fully integrated and resettled. That's going to take.. at least years. But at that point there'll be far less demand on either of our services."

She nods. "Okay. That's… Okay. And what about children?"

"I suppose it depends on whether you want to return to the Darkstars or not after having them."

She smiles weakly. "Not prepared to be a stay at home dad?"

"I'm not-. No… Actually, I would be. But I'm… I'm aware that my behaviour can be fairly…"

"Mn."

"Inhuman. And I'm not sure that having me as the primary caregiver would be.. a good idea."

"As oppose to a serial killing assassin raised by professional criminals?" She exhales heavily through her nostrils. "I didn't ask if you actually want children."

"Honestly, I'm indifferent. But you do, and I won't do less than the best job I can when it comes to getting you what you want."

24th December
14:15 GMT -5

Jade looks at the embassy's dolmen gate with the sort of impassivity she usually shows when she's concerned that she might feel nervous and is pre-emptively clamping down on it.

"What does it feel like?"

M'gann shakes her head. "It doesn't really feel like anything. Like.. stepping through thin air."

M'gann is wearing her shape shifting clothing, this time having it assume the appearance of a formal chiton/himation combination. It's mostly blue in colour, presenting a contrast to her chalk white skin tone.

Kon nods. "The first time I went through one, it took me a moment to realise that I'd actually gone anywhere."

He on the other hand is wearing pink. Alright, the outer layer is purple but the tunic beneath is clearly a good deal lighter. Given how basic his actual taste in clothing is, I imagine that it's something that Diana picked out for him. He's also wearing the diadem Io made for him, and every so often he reaches up to check that it hasn't fallen off. Mister J'onzz was wearing something similar right up until he saw that Alan was wearing jeans and a shirt and Diana's in what I recognise as her 'party frock' chiton. Paula and Artemis are actually dressed more like Jade; I don't think that Themyscira has ever seen an Ao Dai before, and-.

Should I have warned Paula that she might get attention of a sort she might not be prepared for? A still-athletic older woman with two physically capable daughters would have been considered a good catch in the old city. Not sure how it.. works now. The sample size of foreign women who visit is just too small. I know I already warned Artemis… Oh, I'm sure that she can take care of herself.

I'm wearing my Orange Lantern Corps robes, because even if being a Themysciran citizen means that I've got to wear a dress then at least I don't have to wear a frilly thing. Sword of the Fallen and Ace of Winchesters, because I'm not an idiot…

Diana looks over the assembled party. "If everyone is prepared?"

I attach a filament to Jade to share my enhanced ambient light vision. Themyscira is eight hours ahead and the sun there has long since set. Even if it is effectively late second spring for them, and… Huh. Which means that the sun must be setting later for them than it is for everyone else at the same longitude. Some sort of… Lensing effect? Or do the Five just heat and light the island with magic and not bother with-.

Everyone's moving, and Jade grips my left hand with her right and gives me a small tug to make sure that I'm aware of the fact just as Diana walks through the gate. As described, there's no flash of light or other indication of arcane movement, just day changing into night a few hours ahead of schedule. After Diana goes Kon, arm in arm with M'gann. Then Mister J'onzz, as -I snigger inwardly- Kon's girlfriend's kyrios, and then the rest of us in the order of our physical closeness to the gate as this is one of the older ones and isn't big enough for more than two people to pass abreast.

24th December
22:15 GMT +3

Diana heads down the steps on the far side of the gate to greet Captain Philippus. There's a small honour guard, but I imagine that they're more here to herd the tourists than anything else.

Yes, Philippus gives the party a quick once-over and then turns away, walking side by side with Diana in the direction of the inner city. The escort fall back a little to allow the rest of us to follow them as a huddle rather than make us march in single file. Kon, M'gann and Mister J'onzz stick close to Diana while Paula and Alan take a moment to look around. I note that he's done what I did and {blue}extended{/} a filament to Paula and Artemis.

I lean a little towards Jade as we reach the plaza. "First impressions?"

"They have hoplites on guard duty."

"Three thousand years of isolation will do that to a people. And I meant about-."

"The air. It smells… Fresh. Fresher than I'd have expected for a people who don't have a modern sewage system."

A guard-. Ah, reflective skin, it's Zosime. Zosime comes up alongside Jade on the opposite side to me. "It can get a bit high in the summer. I think that is why the city has gradually moved up hill over the centuries."

"Jade, this is Zosime." Jade frowns curiously as she takes in the metallic parts of Zosime's skin. "Zosime, this is Jade. I've mentioned-."

"Yes, the one whom you love so greatly that you can walk into a Themysciran bathhouse without your virtue being distracted."

"It was clearly marked as the male bath."

Jade turns her head my way, eyebrows raised in amusement. "You didn't tell them about the spider girl, then?"

Zosime grins. "Pavlos, have you seduced Arachne? Are your tastes so bestial that we poor mortal women hold no appeal?"

"She told me it was a spiracle! And thanks, Jade."

Zosime's eyes widen and her jaw drops a little. "You actually did seduce Arachne?"

"As I understand Greek law, as the head of her own household she didn't require permission from-."

"You did?!"

"It was a perfectly reasonable misunderstand-."

"Hahahaha!"

"Thanks, Jade."

"You should be grateful I took it so well."

"But did your Arachnehahaha!"

"We haven't really been back in contact since."

Zosime gets a good enough grip on herself to frown. "Oh, that is poor manners, Pavlos! I expected better! Even in the Old City, a man would remain in contact with the women he accompanied during the Dionysia! You may have sired a son upon her who will need your guidance once he is no longer fed from the teat."

"That-. No, look, she looks like-" I hold out my right hand and generate a construct of the Queen and myself. "-that, we're clearly too physically-"

Zosime's eyes widen and she clamps both hands over her mouth to muffle her guffaws. One of the other guards frowns at her, then gapes as she too catches sight of the construct.

"-dissimilar to…" Why do I even bother?

"I'm sorry, did you say 'son'?" Paula comes up on my right, looking as if she can't entirely credit what she just overheard but can't afford to disregard it either.

"Pavlos coupled with a giant crab-spider!" Zosime points at the why have I still got that. "Perhaps the children would be in the manner of centaurs, but with twice the number of legs? Or perhaps they would have a human lower-."

"Humans and Spider Guilders can't interbreed. And it was a misunderstanding."

Jade nods. "With both hands."

"Both hands?"

"You could see the size of-." No!

"Hahaha!"

Change the subject. Now.

"How's Elpis getting on?"

"She's-. Haha!" Zosime wipes her eyes. "She is trying to pretend that the last few months of a pregnancy are anything but a maddening toil with which women are cursed."

Paula frowns. "I.. thought that only women lived on Themyscira?"

"I-."

"We have no need for other men." Zosime points to me. "We have Pavlos. An entire generation of Themysciran girls are named for him!"

Aaaaaaaagh!

24th December
23:21 GMT +3

"Ah… Your majesty..?" I shake my head in incomprehension. "With the greatest possible respect... What?"

Having communicated that Christmas celebrations are mostly small family affairs rather than the more raucous city-wide celebrations the Olympians appear to prefer, we're not feasting on the inner city plaza but rather sitting in the palace's dining room. Unlike on my first visit, only Hippolyta and Philippus are joining us. I suppose that Menalippe and Acantha either thought that it was inappropriate or are spending it with their respective families instead. Actually… I mean, there are other black women on Themyscira, but they're not exactly common. I suppose… Given the events leading up to the Exile there probably are Amazons without living blood relations.

That's a bit sombre.

Queen Hippolyta gestures to me with her goblet. "It seems to me that you are the best person to ask."

"As opposed to Alan, who is a practising Christian? Or-?" I look around the room at the collection of Hellenists, aliens and agnostics I somehow met in the United States of America. Huh.

"If you'd like…" Alan makes a vague gesture with his right hand. "I'd be happy to give it a shot. Or say a prayer..?"

"You are kind to offer, Alan, but I think your listener is in a better position to speak on the subject precisely because he does not share the beliefs of your cult."

I look pleadingly across the room towards Artemis, who smirks at my discomfort and ducks behind her goblet.

"Besides, I am sure that his patron would approve greatly of him being forced to leave his comfort zone at an unexpected time."

"You're almost certainly right there, your majesty."

"And this way, the toll it takes on our crockery is much reduced."

Diana smiles, then leans to her left to explain the comment to Paula.

"Okay. Ah… Christmas is a.. Christian festival commemorating the birth of the son of their god. Who also was that god in human form. The Christian religion didn't really get going in its current form until quite a few years after his death, so a lot of what happened wasn't recorded particularly well or was later amended or mythologised. I haven't put significant time into discovering what actually happened, but what I have learned is that at least some of what is widely believed is untrue.{orange}"

"{/}But if we're mostly concerned about what Christians believe and not actual facts… The significance of the event is that prior to it, their god -imaginatively called God- favoured exclusively one Middle Eastern tribe. He demanded total obedience to a truly colossal number of commandments… Some of which were pretty reasonable, but a lot of which were really nitpicky.. concerning everything from hairdressing to what order particular food was allowed to be eaten in. New commandments could also be communicated via prophets on an ad hoc basis, including a particular favourite of mine where King Saul was ordered to utterly exterminate a rival tribe and is punished by his god for only killing most of them."

"Their god sounds like a brute."

"That's a pretty fair assessment. Oh, and there's another book in the bible -that's the name of their holy book- where he basically tortures a man for years and kills his entire family to prove that the man is so besotted with him that he won't turn from him whatever he does to him. But, where Christianity comes in is that after he tries living as a mortal man for a while, suddenly a lot of the really vile stuff gets thrown out. Out goes the pro-genocide agenda, in comes pacifism… In theory, at least. Only a small proportion of Christians at any point in history have actually been pacifists, but at least any theoretically know that their deity disapproves of it when they act out.{orange}"

"{/}The other significant thing that changes is that the franchise dramatically expands. Rather than exclusively favouring one tribe, their god is now perfectly happy to accept anyone who is willing to fulfil the new and drastically reduced number of observances his followers are obliged to uphold. This allowed the religion to reach an audience that wouldn't have been at all interested in the earlier forms of the faith. That's particularly important if you accept the religion's mythical framework, because they believe that a) their god is the only one and b) their afterlife is the only one. Though-"

I bow in my seat.

"-that particular belief has taken a few knocks lately."

Hippolyta frowns slightly. "So what did they think happened to the souls of everyone else?"

"Modern Christians believe that souls are judged upon their deaths, then sent either to Heaven -think the Elysian fields without the option for reincarnation- or Hell, a place of eternal torment inhabited by creatures who thrive on suffering. Depending on exactly which part of the religion they come form, they may allow sufficiently virtuous pagans to attain paradise, or they may believe that not being a Christian in itself disqualifies you. I-" DAMN IT! I should have asked Zauriel! "-haven't been able to check. Before Christianity… I don't know. Judaism isn't something I've really studied."

"So… What exactly are we celebrating?"

"Christians celebrate the birth of the man who would extend their god's covenant to cover them. As a near-life long materialist, I like family get-togethers and culturally sanctioned opportunities for over-indulgence… Which I don't have to justify because while the latter point is rather contrary to the ideals of the religion, I'm not a practitioner.{orange}"

"{/}But if you mean why are we celebrating it… The story of Christmas is the beginning of the period of that god's life where he learned what pain and suffering are like when you're on the receiving end of them. And after his physical death, when he could have said 'glad that's over with, now back to the smiting', he actually pushed for a religion that would tone down the violence and never did anything to counteract the peaceful message he promoted while human.{orange}"

"{/}An important part of Christian moral teaching is that anyone, no matter what they've done, can repent and seek forgiveness. And if they are genuine, then they will be accepted by their god as if they'd never done it. And that might be something to do with all of the people their god either killed directly or ordered his servants to kill-. Another story from their holy book has him drown everyone on the planet except for one family. It's just.. horrible. He was horrible. And having experienced it, having gained perspective on his own vices, he stopped being horrible. Did everything he could to dissuade it, and made it clear that his followers had to encourage and accept the repentance of others.{orange}"

"{/}Christmas marks a celebration of the first concrete step on the process which led to a total shit of a god becoming a decent god. And reminds us that we can all do the same."

Artemis is trying not to be too obvious about laughing. And failing. M'gann is frowning slightly while Mister J'onzz remains impassive. Diana has closed her eyes and is slowly shaking her head. Alan's face is a wince and Jade sighs, looking away from me.

"Though I should point out that you would probably get a different answer from a Christian priest, and if you're really interested then you should probably ask one."

Hippolyta takes a moment. Her eyes close as she breathes in and out. "You warned me, I knew the likely outcome when I asked a Discordian, and yet I did it anyway. The fault is entirely mine." She opens her eyes as I smile at her. "Has Eris anointed you her priest, or is your arrangement more informal?"

I grin. Any Discordian should be able to answer that one. "Yes."

"Alan…" She shifts her attention to my mentor instead. "Perhaps you could try..?"

"I'm…" He looks my way. "I'm not sure I can top that, but I'll give it a try."

..ugh..?

25th December
08:57 GMT +3

Which makes it one in the morning back in Gotham. Of course, I don't have a problem waking up-

Jade's still sleeping body shifts slightly in my arms, and I change my grip to better accommodate her.

-but I doubt that Jade would be particularly amused by me trying to operate on local time. I lift my head slightly and-. Yes, the blackout curtains are in place, good. I relax against my pillow, the scent of Jade's shampoo filling my nostrils as my face intrudes into the area occupied by her hair. Hippolyta's not going to expect the rest of us to rise early, she's well used to-.

Something-. A hand, a left hand, moves slowly over my waist and then creeps up my chest. That's not Jade's hand, the angle is wrong. And-. That's a warm presence behind me. I don't remember-. No, no, I'd remember that. Ring, who-?

"Hey there."

I swallow, and move my face as far away from the back of Jade's head as I can without otherwise moving.

"Good morning, Eris.{orange}"
{/}
"Normally? I'm all for change, but holding a Christian act of worship on Themyscira wasn't the best idea."

"Is that something you absolutely needed to tell me now? Because if it is, thank you, I'll get on that-.{orange}"
{/}
"I only just found out that you're back. Have you been-" Her right arm worms its way around my side and across my chest, missing Jade by the narrowest of margins. "-back long?" The mattress shifts slightly as she uses her grip to pull herself closer-. And those are her breasts. She's naked, isn't she? "Are you avoiding me?" She moves again, this time moving toward the headboard so that her mouth is next to my ear. "Do I make you un-com-for-ta-ble?"

"Not particularly. Though things might get a bit awkward if Jade wakes up.{orange}"
{/}
"Jade's awake." The {violet}light of my life{/} pulls away slightly and squirms around, clearly not fully alert but getting there fast. "Who are you, and why are you humping my boyfriend?"

"She's not actually humping-."

"Didn't he tell you?" She leans forward slightly, and as her left breast brushes my ear I can see her grinning. "I'm his goddess."

"Oh. Eris." Jade closes her eyes and tries getting comfortable again. "Is this going to take long, or can I go back to sleep?"

Eris' right elbow plants itself on the pillow just above my head, and I can't really see what else she's doing. "That's it?"

"The only real surprise is that this hasn't happened sooner."

I feel it as she slumps slightly. "I think I'm attention seeking. I was all set up to be his trickster mentor, then he left the planet and -since his tattoos work on me as well-" Her fingers trace the part of the design running over my upper torso. "-I couldn't tell where he was. Kon Heliodoros always tells his god what he's doing."

"A full status update can definitely wait until later in the-."

Jade rolls away, pulls herself out of the bed sheets and climbs out of bed.

"Jade?"

She picks up her dressing gown and slips it on. "I'll be in the next room. Try and keep it down."

Ugh. I shuffle into her now-vacated divot and then turn around to face my-. Yes, naked goddess. "She's going to the other side of the galaxy long-term next week. You couldn't pick literally any other time?"

She affects an expression of frustrated honesty. "I really only knew you were back because one of my other worshippers sent a prayer my way."

"You have other worshippers?"

"Yeah! Thanks to your sterling example." She slides back under the sheets until her head is level with mine. "When she said 'keep it down', do you-?"

"No. As in, I had every opportunity to pursue you romantically, I didn't, and I'm not about to start now. Her permission is irrelevant, I just don't want to."

"Who said anything about 'romantic'?" I raise my eyebrows scathingly and she looks away. "Can't believe you picked the assassin." She looks back to my face, noticeably less amused. "I liked the robot. Someone to never grow old with together. Or the shrink. She seemed fun. Plenty of room for drama there. Melinoë definitely needs to get out more-."

"I wasn't picking a girlfriend-"

"Or Zatanna. You're a patient sort of guy, and you could do all kinds of things together."

"-for you. And I actually wasn't picking one for the practical advantage they could give me."

"She'd-" Eris glances in the direction Jade left in. "-be okay if she pushed you in new moral directions, made you make new contacts… But you've made her boring."

"I'll say it again: I-."

"Wasn't picking a girlfriend for me, yeah yeah." She slumps slightly, and looks at me sadly. "Are we breaking up? I just don't know how to keep you interested…"

"Eris… I can't be all-chaos all the time. I will continue to change the existing status quo, but I don't-. I've never been about change for change's sake. Even when that's boring." I reach out under the sheets with my right hand and put it on her left shoulder. "I'm genuinely grateful for the help you've given me so far, and I'm sure that you'll find at least some of the things I do interesting. Did you see it when I brought those people back from the dead? Or when I became a demon?"

"If you'd told me about that earlier I wouldn't be here now!" She extends her right hand and pushes me gently in the centre of my chest. "Ass."

"You turned up in bed with my girlfriend and I, and I'm the ass? Did you really just come here to 'talk about our relationship'?"

"I wouldn't have said no to expanding your erotic horizons. Either or both of you. I mean, you're only young once, right?"

"I'm young as often as I want to be."

"Which apparently be never." She turns and pushes herself up onto all fours, sliding up the bed to sit on the pillows. "Oh, that reminds me. Zauriel was looking for you earlier, so I told him where to find you."

"Oh. Ah, thank you. Does being told by you allow him to bypass the wards?"

She shrugs disinterestedly. "He's an angel, so I'm pretty sure that he could anyway. I just wanted to speed things up so that he didn't have to scour the whole world looking for you."

"Oh. Thanks. Any idea when he's going to actually get h-?"

There's a flash of light from around the edges of the blackout curtains. I blink, and the light dims. It's still brighter than it was a moment ago, but it's no longer blinding. If that was him then he's-.

Eris leans forward. "Try to stay alive, okay? I get bored easily when you're not around. And that's not good for anyone."

"Will do." I transition across to the curtain and pull it open. Outside-.

Golden fire burns across the sky.

25th December
09:02 GMT +3

That's.. not meant to be there.

No warning bells sound from the plaza, though I'm not sure if that's because ringing the bell requires the senior guard to reach it or if this doesn't qualify as an attack on Themyscir-.

Dnnnnnnnnnn. Dnnnnnnnnn.

Okay, there we go. Golden fire indicates angel or pissed off saint. Theurgical magic. So either Zauriel really wants to make sure that he can talk to me, or I've really pissed someone in the Silver City off. No, no, be fair: Zauriel didn't strike me as the 'giant net of golden fire' sort-. Hang on. If Eris only just found out where I am, did he-? I doubt that I'm mentioned in prayers that often. Or at least not in ones which include my current location. I've.. sort of been assuming that the Silver City had a bypass for my tattoos, but it's somewhat theologically interesting if they don't.

I turn back towards the bed. "Eris-?" No, she's gone. I exhale. Ring, anything untoward happening on Themyscira?

A series of images appear in my mind. Nothing… Significant, though the fire is certainly attracting a degree of attention. Okay, armour, weapons, and-.

Jade strides back into the room, her eyes darting from me to the window. "What's that?"

"The Silver City-."

"Heaven."

"That's imprecise, but sort of. If you haven't picked a religion yet, now's a really good time."

She tosses her robe aside. "Give me my armour."

I raise my left arm, ring glowing. "I will remind you that Darkstar exo-mantles are not designed for arcane combat." Exo-mantles can be worn naked, but I include a more comfortable undersuit before bringing out the armour. She takes a moment to check the range of motion as I phase through the wall and fly onto the plaza.

The garrison has already assembled, and Philippus is marching down the front steps of the palace as I land. Her eyes fix on me the moment I appear, and I hold up my hands.

"I don't think I've done anything-."

"You described their god in rather unflattering terms last night."

"People do that all the time! The number one Spanish language obscenity is literally 'shit on God'. And they're all Catholic!"

But I can see where she's coming from. For a Hellenist, making rude comments about a god on their holy day is just about the rudest, most divine-retribution-inciting thing you can do. Doing it on Themyscira, yes, that might even literally be the result.

But come on!

"Look, if it was me then I'll happily take the consequences." Ring, how far does the net extend?

{orange}Unable to determine. Based on areas which can no longer be scanned, the planet Earth is enveloped at a height of one thousand kilometres.{/}

Radio signals?

{orange}Radio signals are not passing through the barrier.{/}

Well shit, we just lost all Earth's satellites. No GPS. No satellite phones or television. People might actually have to talk to their families over Christmas.

The horror.

Oh, and people in isolated locations without maps might get lost and be unable to contact anyone. That's a problem, but it's not my problem. Even legally. This is the Silver City acting out, and while I'm happy to help slap them down they're going to be taking the blame for any catastrophes which emerge-.

Oh crap, we just lost contact with the Watchtower. Zeta tubes should still work… Up until their next maintenance cycle, at which point they'll try to connect to the Watchtower, fail, and shut themselves off for non-critical travel. Dolmen gates should still work…

I ring scan the one in the lower city. Yes, it still goes to New York. I'll check whether or not the test gates we put in orbit are still working later, time allowing. Next check. I raise my left hand to my faceplate and-.

Nothing happens. I'd complain, but yes, if anyone was going to have a way to block access to demiplanes it was going to be the Host. And I doubt that trying to fly through an area demarcated by kilometre-wide strands of golden fire is a particularly good idea. No getting off Earth, then.

"Orange Lantern to Wonder Woman. Orders?"

"Don't. Do. Anything. Batman is contacting Father Mattias-."

"Which is a good idea, except that I just had a face-to-face with Eris."

"What did the goddess of discord and strife want with you this time?"

"She told Zauriel where I am, and apparently he's heading here. It might be wise if I wasn't in the city when he arrives."

"You told me that you parted on reasonable terms."

"I thought we did, but someone just set near-Earth space on fire using theurgical magic. My guess would be that someone just ruled against me."

"Mount Skybreak should be deserted. Go there and await his arrival."

"Sir."

I rise up off the plaza, and-. Ah. Lantern.

It appears, completely dull and lifeless.

Great. I remove my rings from my fingers and switch over to the kinetic belt's flight system. Can't recharge until whatever the Silver City is playing at stops. I recharged yesterday after coming back from Venturia, so… A hundred and eighty percent? I don't think that brute force would work against the entirety of the host anyway, but it's a pain not to have the option. I could try creating another one, but that would consume virtually all of my remaining power as well as letting anyone paying attention to that sort of thing know exactly where I was. And it probably wouldn't even-. No, if I'm able to create constructs at all then the shut off isn't total.

Don't know.

I've flown over the outskirts of the city, and I angle up towards the mountain summit. There's no way that's a natural formation. An island this size shouldn't have a peak like this. But I suppose that somewhere like this complaining about the gods doing some geoscaping is a bit unreasonable. There are mine entrances at several points, but the only thing near the top is the Temple of Zeus.

…

So I'll be avoiding that. Let's see… Yes, I think that's where they quarried some of the stone. It's as good a place as any.

I accelerate, the mountain drawing-.

GHAAAAAAH!

FUCKINGFUCKFUCK!

I drop out of the air as enough electricity to bypass my armour slams into me, frying both my kinetic systems and the emergency inertial system I added to prevent brick-dives!

Okay. Maybe Zeus looks around his temple as well. Rings-.

GAAGHUhuhuh.

Rings on, heal and shield.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

The third bolt of lightning splashes off my construct armour as I fly at all speed for my landing zone. Okay, this is wasteful but my need is great. Filaments grab chunks of rock, assemble them into the approximate shape of a bus shelter and then fuse them together. That should do for-.

Golden fire explodes behind me!

25th December
09:07 GMT +3

I immediately create a hemisphere shield between myself and the impact site. The fire isn't dying down, it's-.

Oh shit, there's someone in there! Hardened construct tendrils shoot out, poking the fire with mageslayer rounds in an attempt to drain the magics while I take purple healing rays out of subspace and fire at it. The humanoid figure staggers to its feet, fire covering its surface-. Those are wings, that's an angel. Flames die for a moment as my mageslayers tap it, then reignite a second later. The angel stumbles, burning wings stretching out in an attempt to regain its balance. I send a construct support forward to catch it but the golden fire burns that away. I think it's either trying to say something or to scream, but it either can't get any air or the roar of the flames is overwhelming the sound.

Ah, {indigo}heck{/}. Rings, try absorbing the magic energy from that fire.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

The air glows orange as-. No, darn it! The orange glow is beaten back, the flames positively leaping towards it! What's left? The Ace is no good, didn't bring the Hellblazer with me and the tiny samples of kaahuite I have left over probably won't be much healthier for the burning angel than the flames themselves…

The Sword of the Fallen was made to negate magic like this. But for all I know the angel is working on a solution. Reincarnation as a mortal might be a worse option, and under normal circumstances I'd ask the patient. But here…

I draw the sword, move the dome shield so that it's above me and step forward. The formerly clear sky is darkening but the King of Olympus has either sated his wrath, got a sense of proportions or has decided to turn the cloud into a giant electrostatic generator to build up for a knockout punch…

So I'd best hurry up. The angel staggers a half-step in my direction, and from what little I can see of its face I think I can safely dismiss any notion of this being a trap. I draw the Sword of the Fallen, jog the three paces it takes to reach it and as lightly as I can cut at the angel's chest.

"I'm really sorry about this."

Stabbing it should trigger the death and reincarnation thing, but with a little luck-.

The flames flicker and die down, before dying compl-.

{indigo}The poor bastard's burned to the bone in places{/}. {indigo}There's not much left of their wings but the horribly burned patagium, the hair and ears are gone and if they had any genitals before they certainly don't now{/}. {indigo}The red eyes are still there, whole and unharmed{/} and he lies on his back and quietly moans.

Don't need to be an expert in theurgy to deduce who this is, but just in case… Ring, facial reconstruction.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

The purple rays are causing the flesh to rapidly regenerate, but I get a flash of what his face should look like based on the all too visible skull bones and the muscle tissue attached.

"Zauriel. Who will be repenting for this one?"

His silver blood doesn't stick to the Sword, so I slide it back into its scabbard without… Alright, without collecting samples. There are more important things to worry about.

"Lantern."

"That was rhetorical. Don't try to answer until your head is in one piece."

"I misjudged."

"I know, but don't worry about it. I'm an acquired taste. Angelica is coming along great, we dealt with Satanus and-." I frown inside my armour. "What happened to your voice?"

"I misjudged the Mind of God!" Skin… More or less regrown, he gingerly rolls onto his left side before pushing himself into a sitting position. "I misjudged… By His command, the wrath of the Host of Heaven descends upon you!"

"And they decided to use you as a projectile?"

"I am Fallen." His face is a picture of distraught misery. "Oh Lord my God, I have fallen from your grace."

"But look on the bright side: you're not on fire anymore."

"The state of the body is of little significance. All you have done is deny me the distraction!"

"Alright. This is… Clearly not something I can relate to." The purple rays cease fire. No feathers or hair and the cut I made with the Sword of the Fallen is still a bleeding line across his abdomen, but he appears to be whole otherwise. "What happened? And… Do you want some clothes?"

"I.. have eaten of the Tree. I suppose that it is fitting. Hide my nakedness."

Angel imagery… A wave of orange light passes over his naked body leaving him dressed in… It's not like either of us know anything about fashion.

He looks himself over. "It will suffice." He looks me in the faceplate. "I know that you will not listen, but I beseech you to repent your sins before it is too late."

"I'll listen, I just won't comply. What happened? You went back to the Silver City..?"

"I was called before the Four Kings, and I recounted my tale. The King of the Bull Host was intrigued by the concept, while the other Kings felt that your actions warranted a more detailed examination."

I don't really remember anything about the various hosts, so I don't know whose favour I just earned. Good, I guess..?

"The matter was to be discussed at length. Then the Mind of God appeared before us. I was decried as an abomination, and your actions as subversions of the Divine Order. The Mind of God has taken direct control of the Host and has directed them to bring you to the Silver City."

Well. Fiddlesticks.

"So how come I'm still here?"

"If the full might of the Almighty was brought to bear upon the Earth, the Earth would be destroyed. But I assure you, there is no force on Earth which can resist what is coming for you."

"And the burning net prevents me bringing in a force which could."

"All that would happen is that they would die. The wrath of the Almighty is risen in such a way as has not occurred in mortal memory."

"Ah." Not a lot I can.. say to that, really. Sometimes the DM just hates you. "So… Hundreds of angels? An unlimited number? Do they just keep respawning until I… What? Die? Repent? Because if the Mind of God just wants a face to face meeting, I'm perfectly happy to-."

{red}"1:1 Hear me, oh People of the Earth! Harken to my words, for I convey unto mortal ears the commandments of the Almighty!"{/}

The voice booms across the island… Ring?

{orange}Recordings indicate that the voice is being heard in all parts of the world in the native language of the listeners.{/}

I turn to Zauriel. "Who is that?"

"That is the one who the Mind of God tasked with your destruction."

{red}"1:2 The human known as Orange Lantern is henceforth condemned by the commandment of the Lord God! Unto death I shall deliver him, as well as any who stand with him, shelter him or aid him! All loyal servants of the Lord-"{/}

{yellow}Ring, message Ted{/}. {yellow}Tell him to get somewhere safe{/}. {yellow}And Hol{/}-.

{red}"-are called upon to aid me in enacting this decree. So say I, Karrien Excalibris, the Archangel of War."{/}

-{yellow}ly{/}.

Oh… Dear.

25th December
09:13 GMT +3

"Not.. that I-." Ah. Even if he's been cast out, he might decide that he's supposed to obey anyway. "Zauriel, I'm going to need you to make a decision right now. Do you work for the Host, or for yourself?"

"I am cast out of the Host."

"Yes, but it's all that you've known for a very long time. I would quite understand if you wanted to try and get back on their good side."

"The Mind of God declared me an Abomination. At best, they would bind me in Hell."

"I didn't say it would be a clever thing to do, just that you might try to. Because it's familiar. Heck… I wouldn't be too surprised if you just transported yourself into Hell and reported for torment. But… As far as I know, you're the only other person on Earth condemned like this. So you're the only person I can work with without making the situation worse. And I need you to choose. Me or God."

Whaw. That.. sounded arrogant even to me.

"I…" He looks lost, which I suppose is a pretty reasonable thing for him to be feeling right now. "You said when we first met that you had thought that I lacked freedom of conscience. If the Fruit.. gave me that, then it gave me a capacity which I have never before had to exercise. I am not good at thinking outside-. I should not question the Almighty but I do not understand this!"

Okay, he isn't carrying a weapon, if he's cast out he probably can't use theurgy any more and I've still got my environmental shield… I send my armour back into subspace, step forward and hug him.

He doesn't.. really react. "What are you doing?"

I pull away slightly, hands resting on his shoulders. "{indigo}I am both trying to offer reassurance{/} and {blue}celebrating the fact that you are feeling something every human with any sort of intellectual curiosity feels throughout their lives{/}. 'Why' finds no answer but you've got to carry on anyway."

"You regard this as 'progress', don't you?"

"No, being marked for death by the Host of the Silver City isn't.. really something I'd call 'progress'. In fact it's.. a rather large impediment to progress." I lift my hands off. "But in terms of your moral awareness, yes, it's progress. What don't you understand?"

"When the Lord God extended his mercy to the whole of the peoples of the Earth, His son gave us a moral framework that we might better guide our charges. I-. I cannot reconcile the commandments of the Mind of God with that framework!" He turns away, fists clenching and relaxing. "The Almighty is omniscient. The failing must be mine. But..!"

"You can't see where it is. Because at worst, I've committed a well-intentioned mistake, and the best way to convince me of that is to patiently demonstrate that with evidence. Because the problem isn't just you. The four kings couldn't see much of a problem with it either."

"We may be mentally inflexible, but we are not stupid. We have the capacity for reason…" He turns back to me. "How could we be so wrong?"

"I haven't heard anything that would lead me to believe that you were wrong. Did this.. mind of god thing explain its reasoning? Or at least its reason?"

"No."

"You can't repent unless you know how you've erred. You can't adjust your behaviour unless you know how you're supposed to behave. Heck, you wanted to become mortal anyway; you'd have needed what the Fruit gave you if you were going to become a human man."

"I know! That's-. Why! I…"

"What do you want?"

"I could accept my own damnation if I knew what I'd done that was so wrong! But I do not believe that I can accept not {orange}knowing{/}!" He takes a moment to calm down. "What will you do?"

"I'm not.. sure. I don't suppose that angels have some convenient vulnerability I don't know about, do they? Other than coming apart at the psychological seams when their god stops making sense."

"We are vulnerable to kaahuite. And we are far from all-powerful. The Lord God has given each of us authority over certain spheres, but outside of those we are quite vulnerable."

"And when you're killed?"

"We return to Heaven and are shaped anew."

"You don't die die."

"We don't live live. We are celestial functionaries. That is all we have."

"Does that ever not happen?"

"Fallen… Like myself, would go to Hell. Otherwise, no."

"So even if I beat Mister Excalibris in a fight, he'd be right back."

"Yes-." He freezes. "No. If he broke faith with the Almighty, he would fall. But I struggle to see how such a thing could happen."

"How about if he killed someone not aiding me?"

Zauriel shakes his head. "I want to say 'yes', but… As things stand…"

"He'd need to directly and bluntly defy your god and that's not going to happen."

"He may be operating under other restrictions. He would not be so foolish as to announce them if he were."

"How dangerous is he?"

"Under normal circumstances, he is a fearsome warrior aided by theurgical magic. Now, under direct orders from the Mind of God, his magic is much expanded. He was the one who..." He looks away. "Burned me."

"So: very powerful, no real weaknesses and even if I could beat him he'd be right back."

"A dismal but accurate summary."

"How about the net? Is there a way to bypass it?"

"One who was superior in the Celestial Hierarchy would be able to overrule the Archangel of War. But that would mean going against the Mind of God, and none of us would do-." His eyes dip. "I mean to say, none of them would do that."

"Hell is still accessible?"

"Yes, but the Archangel of War will not hesitate to pursue you there if need be."

"Does Hell have other exits?"

"To other worlds, you mean?" I nod. "Yes, but those will be sealed as well."

"And the parts of Labyrinth which are outside of Creation?"

He frowns. "Those.. could not be blocked, though I imagine that they will be guarded by lesser means."

"Okay. I'm getting-."

"Wonder Woman to Orange Lantern."

I glance at my ring, then take a deep breath.

"Answer."

25th December
09:17 GMT +3

"Paul. Just listen."

I take my armour back out of subspace. One positive in all of this is that the lightning bolts have stopped.

"The Archangel of War is in Israel, near Mount Gerizim. The League will attempt to negotiate with him. If that proves impossible, he will be fought with all available resources. On the assumption that you have a strategy which you don't want to risk communicating to us, we will attempt to delay him for as long as possible."

Ring, don't reply.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"Though I doubt that you need this reassurance, we do not consider his actions to be in any way your fault. No matter how abrasive you can at times be, nothing you have done warrants the threats being made against you and all those who know you. Police are being dispatched to those who are known to associate with you to place them in protective custody until this matter is resolved, and Jade has agreed to remain here."

I breathe a little easier.

"Despite Karrien Excalibris' threats, I would encourage you to avoid violent confrontation with him or his allies until all reasonable alternatives are eliminated."

…

Alright. Since it's you.

"Since we do not know what his precise abilities are, I will avoid contacting you again unless he attacks either you or anyone else. Wonder Woman out."

Nice to know that she was on that immediately. I return my attention to Zauriel.

"Zauriel, do my tattoos work against theurgical detection?"

"I do not know. The lesser theurgical rites which I used could not directly locate you. But it may be that Karrien Excalibris has access to others, or that he is wiser in their usage."

"What magics can you still use?"

"My capacity for theurgy was lost when I was cast down, but my soul is strong and I have millennia of experience with earthly magics."

"Can you soul-carve yourself to gain a ward like mine?"

"N-no. But I could.. replicate it in the short term. Why?"

"Because there are only three logical places for you to go. Where I am, where Shannon Coyne is or.. at a temple or other religious site where you might seek absolution for whatever it is that you're supposed to have done. Which means that as soon as you're detected, he will seek me there."

"I see. I will begin work at once."

"And prepare a spell to communicate with Satanus."

Zauriel begins tracing lines over his torso with his index fingers. Looks like he's ambidextrous. "He may well be willing to aid you, but before the power of the Archangel of War I doubt that he will achieve much."

"I have a gun that fires the essence of anti-creation. Unfortunately it's just a lever-action rifle, but I'm hoping that he can make more. We'll need to go to my fortress to pick up the original first."

"I realise the fact that you are speaking in those terms indicates that you have already decided, but are you certain it would not be best simply to concede?"

"What, say that whoever the Mind of God is can decree the death of anyone they want? No." Zauriel regards me impassively. "Alright. How would you have advised one of your charges if they were offered… Great wealth, in exchange for violently murdering an innocent person?"

"I would remind them that material wealth is transitory while the soul is eternal. But I know that you do not share my moral beliefs."

"I don't.. react well to claims of absolute authority. To… People who use 'because I said so' as if it's a valid argument. It's.. not necessarily a rational behaviour on my part, but there we are. And I'm afraid that in any situation, what I want is what I do."

"The Archangel of War is not known for his patience. If you are not delivered to him shortly I suspect that he will begin lashing out."

"And who would be responsible if he does?" His hands stop moving. "Are you ready?"

"… Yes, I am. And since he has not eaten the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, I am not sure that he can be considered a moral agent."

"I thought that you tried to convince me you all had free will."

"I was not the only angel to speak in favour of your actions. But I am the only one here. Perhaps my error became obvious to every other member of the Host the moment the Mind of God appeared unto us… Or perhaps it is as you had said, and they lack the capacity. In which case the moral agent is the Mind of God."

"Then call me the Ugliest Man. Because I think this has to finish with me lobotomising your god." Ring, plot course to the Ice Fortress which I left over the Atlantic.

{orange}Course available.{/}

Okay, between my armour's stealth systems, height, and avoiding populated areas… A straight flight using the kinetic belt is probably best. If I phase… "How fast can you fly without giving away your position?"

"I have never flown without theurgical assistance. And now…" He flaps his featherless wings, generating precisely no lift. "Any other magics I could use in order to fly would reveal us."

"And I'm going to assume that they're intelligent enough to track zeta tubes." Darn. I take a kinetic belt out of subspace and hand it to him. "Put this on. I'll take you up, then lean in the direction you want to move in in order to fly."

He looks a little sceptical, but puts the belt around his waist as I take hold of him and fly us both upwards into the Themysciran morning sky. "Any idea why my personal lantern died?"

"I know no more of the technology than that it exists. The barrier will interfere with some forms of planar travel, so I would imagine that some part of how they operate depends upon planar connections being unimpaired."

That's what I assumed. Maybe I should take it as a compliment that he can't think of anything better? Would have been nice if he had a fix…

Themyscira is a dot in the ocean at this point, and as I look west I can see the curve of the Earth. I turn to look east, curious to see whether or not I can spot Mr Excalibris from here. No. Which is probably a good thing. If he was throwing enough golden fire around to be visible from this far away…

I turn back towards the west, adopt the traditional swimming pose and accelerate, releasing Zauriel as I do so. He wallows in the air for a moment, then gets the hang of basic flight and pulls alongside me as I accelerate. Ugh. My fortress has basic wards, but I never really intended it to be more than semi-secure. The scuttling system is more reliable than the anti-magic system. It does have stealth, but I don't leave it on all the time and having it go active now would make it obvious where I was going.

"You said that Mister Excalibris isn't known for his patience?"

"It is true. He is not. He has an enthusiasm for violence that if exercised for any other cause I would consider to be sinful."

"And now?"

"I suspect that he will become… Piqued, before we reach your citadel. I can only pr-. I can only hope that he still retains enough morality not to kill those whom he is not specifically authorised to kill."

Marvellous. Merry Christmas, everyone.

25th December
08:42 GMT +1

{orange}Connection made to monitored phone line.{/}

Stop monitoring it. Them, stop monitoring all of them.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

We're moving at near the speed of sound, the Strait of Gibraltar a short distance behind us. Less than an hour to the Fortress. A small number of American military aircraft are circling it already. I'm not sure what their intent is, and I can't ask them without falling foul of Mr Excalibris's decree. I don't think that model has a form of detection which can bypass my counter-detection abilities, and I know they don't have weapons which can impede-.

Ring, are they carrying nuclear weapons?

{orange}No fission-based weapons detected.{/}

They don't have weapons which can significantly impede me. My fortress's shields are rated as being able to hold against low-yield nuclear weapons, but it's far easier to stop them by shooting them out of the sky than it is to survive tanking them.

Ring, find me news broadcasts.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"…those just joining us-" BBC News 24, well done ring. "-a being describing itself as the 'Archangel of War' has appeared in Israel, and has demanded that the superhero 'Orange Lantern' be handed over to it."

An image of Mr Excalibris himself, close-cropped black hair, stooped, dressed in steel and.. gold..? I'm assuming that it's gold plated plate appears on my mental screen. I was surprised to learn that he has cross earrings. The one on his right is the normal way up but the other is inverted. In memory of Saint Peter, I assume. His wings are midnight blue and he's carrying two swords wreathed in golden fir-. That's where they went!

"Justice League members Superman and Doctor Mist were seen attempting to talk to him a short time ago, but he does not appear to have responded either to them or to local superheroes."

Useful to know that he's still there. The image shifts to-. New York, KordTech. There are a lot of people out on the street at the moment, along with a strong police presence-. Ring, see if you can locate Vandal Savage. If I'm marked for death by the Host, it would be nice to take a few deserving souls along with me.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"Crowds began gathering outside KordTech offices and manufacturing plants as soon as the Archangel of War made his pronouncement. So far, demonstrations are relatively peaceful. The company's CEO -Theodore Kord- released this statement half an hour ago."

Ted stands before a blank white wall-. Yes, it's probably best if no one was exactly sure of his location. "Orange Lantern has done a great deal of work, both for my company and for humanity in general, even before we get into the work he's done with the Justice League. He's the reason why hurricane season is a thing of the past. He's the reason why we don't have to worry about global warming." He looks down at.. notes… I think he's mostly off-the-cuffing this. "So when someone puts a giant cage around the planet and orders us to hand him over… Someone who wasn't here when Fawcett City got literally invaded by demons from Hell..? Karrien Excalibris? Butt out."

"The Justice League have so far not given any indication of Orange Lantern's current location, and contacting him directly has so far proven impossible."

Can't imagine why.

"Vatican spokesman Cardinal Alfonsi gave the following statement-."

Probably irrelevant. I'd ask Zauriel about the relationship between the various churches and their god, but the wind is far too loud, and.. it's somewhat frivolous. If we win I'll have plenty of time to explain things, and if we lose… I imagine that this 'Mind of God' thing will be restructuring the whole mess of monotheistic religions anyway. Ring, let me know if any of Father Mattias's lot give press releases. Otherwise, switch channel.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

"…don't know what he's done to deserve this."

"But you're sure he's done something?"

"Well I hardly think an angel of the Lord would turn up because he'd been jaywalking. Let's.. let's look at what we know. This is the man who's been introducing magic and other sorts of Atlantean technology into the US. Now, he may have been doing that with the best of intentions, but the Lord's opinion on the subject of witchcraft is very clear."

"Sure, that might be why, ah… 'Karrien Excalibris' has shown up-."

"Oh, come on! A literal angel shows up in Israel, what exactly does it take-?"

"Yeah, it might be, and you and I can speculate any number of reasons why God might have sent one of His messengers. But at the moment, we don't exactly know what Orange Lantern has done to offend the Lord. A person can't repent unless they know what they've done, and last time Orange Lantern spoke to an angel they parted on… Okay, not exactly friendly terms, but I didn't see a golden fire spreading across the upper atmosphere."

I guess no one thinks it could be a well dressed thanagarian this time.

"If you don't think it's magic, what do you think it is?"

"I don't know… Let's not forget that he's the biggest peeping tom in history."

I start chuckling inside my armour. Okay, I'd.. repent that. It wasn't a lot of fun for me either.

"I hardly think-."

"I'm not saying that's what it was, I'm just saying that-. God didn't send an angel when Doctor Fate fought the Nazis, or when Giovanni Zatara joined the Justice League."

"Then what about him invading the Garden of Eden?"

"God did send an angel when he did that, and they talked it out. Same problem with him being a pagan."

"Okay, I.. think we've taken that as far as-." There's a pause, and my internal screen shows the host freeze, blinking. "Ah, breaking news-."

Ring, what's Mr Excalibris doing?

He's flying tow-. Past Kal-El, over a good part of the crowd, landing in front of a small group of men. One is dressed as a Christian priest while the rest are wearing purple t-shirts with a downward-pointing sword on them. One of them is carrying a standard with a yellow banner with a yellow sword on it.

They're the Tongues of Fire. The paramilitary wing of the Resurrection Crusade. I hadn't realised that they still existed.

…

Okay, that's… Actually not a disaster. I knew they knew how to contact angels, it's hardly surprising that they could get this one's attention. And they don't know anything about me that isn't public knowledge. There actually isn't much about me that is a genuine secret. Unless… Mr Excalibris literally didn't bother to do any research on me. In which case-.

Mr Excalibris turns towards Kal-El and Dr Balewa. He points in their general direction with the sword in his left hand. His mouth moves, but the camera I'm taking this from doesn't pick up what he says. A moment later they both {yellow}drop from the air{/}, and Mr Excalibris {yellow}stalks towards them{/}.

Reveal myself or not? Reveal myself or not? It doesn't guarantee-.

Mr Excalibris sheathes his swords and… From the look of it he's shouting something at them. Okay. Not too much longer until I reach the fortress. Once I'm in Labyrinth I can broadcast my location without any difficulty, but until then it's-.

Mr Excalibris picks up Kal-El by the throat and tosses him across the stony ground, before turning away and vanishing in a wash of blinding light. Shoot, I don't know where he is. But if he doesn't-.

Fifteen flashes of brilliant golden light appear in the air around my fortress.

25th December
08:46 GMT +1

The lights fade and… Androgynous, blonde, white wings… Classical angels, armed either with sword and shield or spear and shield. Their wings are outstretched but they're not having to flap, and their hair is merely ruffled by the wind instead of being plastered across their faces. Most of their number spread out to form a perimeter around my fortress, with three flying {yellow}in the general direction of the closest planes{/}.

"1:1 I act with the authority of God on high! This tainted citadel will be purged from existence. Retreat to a safe distance and bear witness to the destruction which comes to all who defy God Almighty!"

Aaaagh… It's more an inconvenience than anything else, but losing the fortress would be a wretch. There's nothing.. truly irreplaceable on board… Except memories… Once I get the Hellblazer I'll say that they're welcome to it. And if they destroy it before that… I'll just have to skip ahead and go to Hell without picking it up. I've got no idea whether or not Mammon can replicate the Hellblazer without an example to work from. I've got the designs and the Ace but I don't know whether or not he's got anyone familiar with Atlantean thaumaturgical notation.

Except… There are far more angels in the Silver City than this. What are the rest up to that I can't see?

Ring, what do the pilots make of this?

"…instructions from command or a bloody chaplain, at this rate. Take no hostile action, maintain distance. And for the love of-." Heh. "Whatever you do, do not lock onto them."

"Yeah, no shit, sir. Maintaining five mile distance. What exactly are we supposed to do if Orange Lantern comes here?"

"I do not know, Lieutenant."

And that makes three of us. Okay, a circle of twelve angels at equidistant points around my fortress-. They're looking upwards, arms raised… Golden light plays over their bodies, then reaches out left and right to form a circle. The other three are-

"1:2 As is written in Deuteronomy, chapter eleven, verse one: 'Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.' The commandments of heaven outweigh any given by mortal rulers. Even if you have no concern for yourselves, then acknowledge the authority of Heaven and depart!"

-are preaching to the US air force. To be fair, if they are anything like Zauriel they probably don't want to kill innocent men and women. But the reward of mindless obedience to a cruel lord-

"1:3 I say again unto you-."

-is a railgun round to the face.

They can't actually die-die, right?

I drop invisibility, generate five railguns, load mage slayer rounds and open fire.

"Holyfuckingshithe's here!"

I don't know if it's the aura of white light or innate angelic toughness, but they're taking several hits-. First one then another drops from the air and then another, bodies battered and white togas stained with silver blood.

{red}"1:4 Foul malefact-!"{/}

Twenty three supersonic shots hit him in the face, one after the other. I see his eyes and magic fade as the twenty third hits and his skull cracks. I'll give them this, they're tougher than demons.

"You could have simply bypassed them."

Three on the far side of the fortress duck behind it, a song that sets my armour and teeth rattling uttering from their lips.

"You told me that-" I thrust upward, getting a clear shot for a second and winging one of them. He hurtles through the air and slams into the fortress's outer shield. "-they got better."

"I weep not for them-" I evade the gold fire which leaps from their weapons, but-. Urgh! My eyes just burst! That.. song it-! "-but for you as you embrace violence and murder so casually."

I consider snapping back with an observation about his master's conduct… And promptly realise that I have killed far more people than the paltry two or three million God did in the Bible.

The lead angel increases his pitch, my railgun volley being disintegrated before it can strike home while they get closer. Fine. Fortress, point defences live.

The outer shield deforms, tiny faults in the containment field causing tiny streams of plasma to leap out. The angels are blindsided, their clothes catching fire and painful-looking welts appearing on their skin. One angel who was heading back from the fighters stops in the air, stunned at the violence of the exchange. More importantly, he stops singing, and a moment later I learn that corporeal angels are vulnerable to cold guns as the fortress opens up in earnest.

"These are-" I switch to energy pulses and lasers as I fall back, getting a few hits in before the song changes frequency. At least my skull has stopped fracturing. "-not warrior angels."

And they're not going for him. Joy. Fine, music is your weapon of choice? Sonic cannons.

My railgun constructs disintegrate, being replaced by sonic lances which fire the moment they're whole. One angel gets his feathers shredded and tumbles out of the chase, but another change in frequency and they're proof against it again. In theory, this is a winnable way of fighting, but… I don't know what they have to do to get reinforcements and I don't want to wait for that to happen.

I rocket upward, accelerating to my highest safe non-instant speed. The four surviving angels who had been trying to surround me suddenly find themselves following me on a single vector. Right. A little bit-. Photon blast, Sword out and drop.

And they all dodge anyway, fine, accelerate down and swing and got you now fasterfasterfaster! Fortress, open up!

I roll left in the air as the angels abandon whatever area affect song they were using in favour of sonic lances of their own. I viff left, right and cloak-. And see their misses punch holes in the fortress's plasmic field and cut furrows into the armoured outer surface. Gr-. No, it's irritating, but at this point I've pretty much written it off as a loss. Just so long as I get the Hellblazer I can-.

I-.

I-.

Why can't I breathe?

Ring, my lungs feel fine. Are they fine?

{orange}Lungs are undamaged.{/}

Any problem with the environmental shield feeding me oxygen?

{orange}Mechanism is impaired.{/}

Consume magic.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

{red}"2:1 The air's vitality I deny to you. The water's coolness I deny to you."{/}

Up and to my left-. Fuck. I never thought Mr Excalibris would go for a denunciation when he had two perfectly good sword arms.

{red}"2:2 The nourishment of food I deny to you. The peace of sleep I deny to you."{/}

And if I haven't dealt with this by the time that becomes a problem, I'll already be dead of oxygen starvation. At least the other angels are backing off. I.. should be able to get to Hell before the lack of oxygen becomes critical.

{red}"2:3. The boon of sight I deny-"{/} And the world goes black. Ring? No, no getting sight back, it seems. Sonic image. I fly into the fortress at speed, slowing only as much as I absolutely need to, {red}"-to you. The gift of sound I deny-"{/} Can't hear and the sonic image is gone as well. Ring, map, get me to the armoury. {red}"-to you."{/}

{orange}Compliance.{/}

{red}"2:4 From dust you were made. To dust you shall return."{/}

Oooh cr-.

25th December
08:49 GMT +1

My kinetic barrier triggers as I'm slammed into what I'm assuming is the corridor wall. Assuming, as I can't see anything or hear anything and I'm navigating by the map my rings are displaying in my head. Ring keep us going.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

No visual or sonic scans, so I'm reduced to sending out filaments to feel my surroundings. The fortress is… Well, it's moving erratically, which with an object this size is not a good sign. Ring, try connecting to a terminal as we pass.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

The map in my head shudders and expands-. Ah. A.. bout half of the internal sensors are no longer responding, and the image in my head looks like someone just tore the fortress in half. Since the main generator was in the centre towards the bottom, that's… Gone, so the fortress should be automatically using battery power to perform a controlled crash landing using its anti-gravity system. Except that system isn't really capable of performing its intended function if the fortress has been torn in half. The pieces would.. just overbalance. Plus the secondary damage would probably ruin the power distribution network anyway. I just assumed that if the place took this much damage that everyone on board would either have evacuated or be dead…

{green}Focus{/}. How do I maximise my chances of survival?

Ring, make sure I'm not creating adrenaline or anything else likely to increase my oxygen consumption rate. Or-. Wait, ring, is the oxygen in my blood being used, or has that stopped as well?

{orange}Oxygen level in arteries continues to be depleted.{/}

So I.. could just… Scrapping most of my body and just keeping my head and blood is probably worth doing… Except I don't know that Mr Excalibris's next pronouncement won't be 'the Light of Avarice I deny to you', and if he did that I'd just die immediately.

I bounce off the walls and floor again, kinetic barrier taking the brunt of the impact. Based on how fast the fortress was falling and how much time has passed, I'm.. guessing that was this chunk hitting the water. Sinking isn't much of a problem at this point. The nearest Atlantean city is.. too far to get to on the oxygen I have available. And I don't particularly think that leading Mr Excalibris there would be a nice thing to do.

Seconds to go until I reach the armoury. Ring, how..? No, am I still using other chemicals? What exactly has Mr Excalibris done to me?

{orange}Food held in stomach is no longer being digested. Chemicals in blood stream are being processed as normal. Waste products are being evacuated as normal.{/}

Would it work if I turned myself into a methane breather?

{orange}Unknown. Methane is found in Earth's atmosphere in small quantities. However, the precise extent of the edict is unclear. This ring can transmute oxygen so that it has never been part of the air, yet this oxygen behaves in the same way as atmospheric oxygen. Similarly, the mechanism this ring employs to maintain vitality in space is impaired despite not being related to the air.{/}

How about full robotic?

{orange}A fully robotic body would not require atmospheric chemicals in the medium term.{/}

My surroundings rotate as the chunk of fortress I'm in rolls, but since I'm flying blind anyway it's not as disorientating as it might have been. The ring's flight aura presses me against the door of the armoury as it interfaces with the controls.

And my brain?

{orange}This technique does not guarantee continuity of existence.{/}

Because the handful of humans who have uploaded themselves weren't exactly the most mentally stable of people, and didn't bother recording the process in anything like enough detail. The door opens and I fly through as the fortress rolls over again.

Okay, need my blood, the rest can go. Give me the equivalent of what Danni has-. Wait, remaining ring power, and how much will this take?

{orange}One hundred forty three percent of maximum power remaining. Full physical conversion will require twelve percent.{/}

Do it, make sure to keep my tattoos. And-

A really weird feeling passes through my body, sensory feedback from my extremities suddenly feeling… Off. I'm not numb, I still have full sensation, but… I move the fingers of my right hand, and I can't feel the movement of the skin, the tightening and loosening as it's stretched and compressed. You don't think about what it feels like to have bones until you don't have them anymore.

-get me to the Hellblazer.

Light… Doesn't return, but my ring is relaying an image of what would be there if I could see it through my newly robotic eyes. Surprisingly thoughtful. I fly at the storage locker holding the gun-.

And my vision glitches as the ring detects cracks running across the wall to my left, running in fits and starts across in all directions and accompanied by spurts of water. Huh. Pressure shouldn't be anything like enough to break these walls. I guess dust to dust is a damage over time thing. Fine, at this point I wasn't going to get much use out of this thing anyway.

I open the locker and extract the gun. The ring is best-guessing the colour of kaahuite but it can't quite match the weird… Ooze-glimmer that the stuff has. Probably because it isn't a visual thing but a response to the whole anti-creation aspect of it. But on the plus side, that means that I'm part of creation now. So the chance of me being able to get to an afterlife has increased. The downside being that that's what the people trying to kill me want to happen, I suppose. I load the gun as the water spills past me, work the mechanism… Good.

What next? I've lost track of Zauriel. I have the Hellblazer and the Sword of the Fallen. I have a chance of beating Mr Excalibris, but it's nothing like as sure a thing as I'd like. I'd prefer to go to Hell and work from there, but the oxygen in my blood isn't going to last forever. Which is the bigger risk? Can't tell for sure, but I'd guess the angel literally playing on God mode. For whatever reason he appears to have decided not to make a follow up attack…

How to get to Hell? The nearest portal I know about is near Cefalù on Sicily, but opening a portal right here would be a good deal quicker. A lot of the safety processes I'd normally want are unnecessary; there's no one around I care about and I assume that the surviving angels can deal with it.

The room around me is continuing to fall apart. I'm.. pretty much in the ocean surrounded by an unusually dense concentration of scrap right now. Ring, find 'down' and head in that direction.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

I don't know if this is actually helping, but between my tattoos, the water and the wreckage I'm hoping that I'm a little harder to spot-.

{red}"3:1 Malefactors cannot hide from the Wrath of the Most High, nor from his holy agents!"{/}

Yes, because I can still hear him. Ring, any idea what that did?

{orange}Increased level of heat detected on external surface. Supposition: the world is now transparent.{/}

My robotic eyes are now just showing me a confused blur, so I deactivate them.

Okay, take us up. Any way to detect the man himself?

{orange}Omnidirectional filaments.{/}

Yes, that was the best I could come up with as well. Okay, gun… On a construct-mount because that will be faster than aiming it with my arms.

Oh, and put up a construct telling Zauriel to open a portal to Labyrinth right away if he's still there.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

25th December
08:52 GMT +1

{red}"4:1 Bow, Worm, before the messengers of the Most High!"{/}

Filaments shoot out to try to locate-.

{red}"4:2 The air itself will reject your foul touch!"{/}

And promptly fade into nothing. Environmental shield is still working -for all the good it's doing- and.. I.. still have no idea where he is, relative to me. In other circumstances I might try to provoke him with banter, but I can't speak without air. Gravity? Winged humanoids don't warp spacetime much, but I can't think of anything else. Ring, make it so.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

Tiny distortions-. Given the distance I think those are the planes. Which leaves the rest to be angels. I can't tell from their deployment pattern which is Mr Excalibris himself and which are the regulars. Heck, for all I can tell one of those could be Zauriel.

{red}"4:3 Foul defiler of God's flawless universe, I will-"{/}

Wait, is that it? The Mind of God doesn't like me because I'm not from this universe originally? That would actually sort of make sense. I mean, it would be dumb, but if there was something inherent to my nature that was causing a problem rather than something I'd done then I could understand it!

{red}"-send you to meet our Maker!"{/}

Oh, no, he thinks his god made me too. And one of the gravity distortions is moving my way. Guess this is it then. I target him with the Hellblazer and squeeze the trigger, lever, trigger, lever-. Automate that, draw the sw-.

I'm jerked sideways, something slamming into me. Kinetic barrier.. appears to have been bypassed, but my environmental shield and armour hold strong. No idea where that came from or what it is, but it doesn't appear to be Mr Excalibris as I haven't been stabbed yet. Ah… There's solid ground underneath me. Ring, oxygen remain-? Ah.

Okay, can't use filaments. Ring, fabricate microbots and send them out to build a picture-

{trans}Overcome All Restrictions!{/}

-of what's going.. on…

Did I hear-? I blink as my vision is… Partially restored. I.. think I'm seeing by infrared. One.. humanoid, lots of.. vague shapes… None of them look like angels, so, progress. The figure gets closer, and I think… Their lips are moving, maybe? I think my eyes are trying to show me parts of the spectrum I didn't design them for, and that combined with the fact that my brain hasn't fully adapted to the cybernetics yet is giving me a headache.

The figure stops just in front of me and touches my right vambrace. They then tap rapidly-. Ring, interpret.

Are you alive

Ring, display text: I am alive. I cannot take in oxygen and so converted my body to machinery to extend my lifespan. I need to get to the province of Labyrinth in Hell and to have the theurgical magics working on me dispelled.

Follow

The figure moves away. Don't have anything better to do. Ring, try matching the thermal image I just saw with everyone on your database. Any ideas?

{orange}Image resolution insufficient for reliable analysis.{/}

Fair enough. And-. And the location the microbots were reporting as a rock-strewn wasteland is gone, as is the signal from the microbots.

{trans}Life Is To Be Lived!{/}

I gasp, newly installed cybernetic lungs humming faintly as they suddenly gain the ability to process oxygen! Still don't know where I am, but at least I'm not going to die right away.

{trans}Each Essence Is Precious!{/}

…

That time I definitely heard something. It sounded.. like…

What-?

No, no, think it through. I take the Hellblazer off its construct mount and press both of my rings against the kaahuite segment.

{orange}What Is Given Belongs To The Recipient!{/}

And ring scan! Where am-

The towering edifice of Masak Mavdil itself towers above us and demon warriors are converging from all directions.

-I? Okay. And my rescuer is either Scott Free or Doctor Impossible, and since he's actually being helpful…

"Mist-. Mister Miracle?"

"I hope you had a plan for the next part, too."

"More a hope than anything else, really. What have I missed?"

"KordTech New York was.. disintegrated. People started being evacuated as soon as the mob started forming, but… We're not sure how many people made it out. Kord… Didn't."

Damn.

"They were moving in on Themyscira, Mount Etna and Mount Justice before you reappeared. Did you know ab-?"

"No, no, I just wanted to stop them destroying-" I lift the Hellblazer slightly. "-this. How did you find me?"

"I just listened to when Karrien started shouting again."

"There they are!"

We both look around as a thin and long-limbed demon climbs a rock and points us out.

"But about that plan..?"

"This is where Hell keeps captured angels. It marks the point where Hell.. started, where the First of the Fallen came to rest when God cast him out. If there's anywhere the Mind of God's theurgy won't work, this is it. And I've got a.. deal with the owner, but it's not one that the minions know about." Hm. "How did we get here?"

"Boom tubes aren't limited to conventional physical locations. And I was slightly faster than Canis. So about those demo-."

I switch the Hellblazer for the Ace of Winchesters and shoot the closest, who explodes with golden light. The rest scatter, seeking cover or forming a wall of kaahuite shields. Right idea.

"I'm here to talk to either William Hayes or Satanus. I probably can't beat you all, but I can kill an awful lot of you and the Archangel of War is hunting me."

A tremor runs through the host as out of the corner of my eye I see Mr Hayes leap from the middle battlements and fly at speed towards us. He comes to a halt in the air about halfway between us and the shield turtle.

"Harm remembers the It, and with little fondness." Looks like he's been upgraded again. Demonic cybernetics, kaahuite plate and… A cloak made from what looks like Ran Va Daath's skin. "If It has something to say-."

"The Mind of God has sicced the Archangel of War on me. I need to kill both of them, and as much of the Host as necessary to make that happen. Do you think we can cooperate?"

Mr Hayes smiles. "Harm has {orange}long wished to taste the flesh of angels{/}. Harm believes that we can make common cause."

25th December
08:03 GMT

Demonic sorcerers under the direction of Agony and Ecstasy chant, and portals to the other provinces of Hell open wide. Then Mammon-as-Satanus strides through one to Limbo about a half-second before Neron stalks through the one to Gull, arm in arm with Rosacarnis. He's dressed as a knight, kaahuite plate covered with a green surcoat. She's wearing a dress, runic symbols which hurt my eyes stitched into the fabric. Neron shoots Mammon a look of utter fury, while Mammon smiles politely and waves back. Rosacarnis merely nods, then the three of them head towards Mr Hayes, Mr Free and me.

"Orange Lantern!" Mammon's smile grows as he gets to within hailing distance. "I see that even Hell itself is not free of the havoc you create!"

Behind him, portals widen as soldiers begin marching through. Stercorax rides some sort of demonic insect-rhino at the head of a column of damned souls wearing what looks like grey power armour and carrying long-barrelled guns. Neron's soldiers on the other hand are more orc-like; hulking brutes armed with melee weapons and shields whose surfaces ripple with the power of the demonic spells bound to them. All of which will go dead if anything happens to Neron himself. A third column of mechanical and cybernetic… Things comes through another portal, the wraith-like form of Richard Simpson darting from war machine to war machine with gleeful energy. Other columns emerge from the other portals and move to occupy the positions indicated by the demonic civil servants who came here from Pandemonia with the Twins.

"I do worship Eris, my lord. A certain amount of chaos is to be expected."

Neron looks down at me contemptuously. "You are the one whom the entire Host of Heaven is pursuing? Such a small thing to cause such a great excitement."

I grin. "Thank you for coming, Arch-Duke Neron. I really appreciate it. It's a massive help to me, and I'm astonished at your generosity."

He and Mammon share a look, while Rosacarnis raises her right eyebrow. Breath hisses through his teeth. "We do not do this for you, fool. But handing you over to the lickspittles of the Silver City… Helping them, is inconceivable. Ejecting you amounts to the same thing. And if we killed you, they would simply come for your soul. And for the Host to have the temerity to invade our realm…"

Mammon nods. "The governance of Hell is… In dispute. Even before you slew the First, his power never entirely recovered from his defeat at the hands of John Constantine. There's not even any real consensus on who the forerunners are."

Neron's eyes burn with green flame. "Me."

Rosacarnis lays her right hand on his shoulder. "Calm yourself, your highness. You will have more than enough opportunities to demonstrate your strength this day."

Mammon nods cheerfully. "Which is rather the point. We're all strong within our own domains, but there is no real avenue to expand, to seize one another's territory and claim the Crown of Horns. Any of us who try-" He glances at Neron. "-get our knuckles rapped."

There's a sort of electric buzz as Mr Simpson appears. "It's a giant, demon, cock-waving contest! Whose is biggest?! Who knows how best to roger angels with it?! And who can do it when everybody's watching? Because if there's one thing demons respect, it's killing angels."

Mr Hayes smiles faintly. "Harm has no interest in either the crown or in waving his genitals. Harm is simply here to kill servants of God."

I nod. "You can't rule if no one is prepared to obey you. The lord who achieves the most, who demonstrates themselves to be in the most commanding position, will start getting pledges of loyalty from those who aren't strong enough to make their own claim. That will snowball… And Hell will have a new sovereign."

Mammon nods. "I'd thank you for the opportunity… But then afterwards I'd have to cut off my own lips."

"I don't believe that I've heard of the Crown of Horns."

Rosacarnis waves her right hand negligently. "After the Great Darkness rose, Lucifer agreed to share power with Beelzebub and Azazel in order to restore some semblance of stability to Hell. They both demanded that he forge them a crown to reflect their new status. So he did: one crown, which he suggested they share. Since they couldn't, it was left on a pedestal next to Lucifer's throne."

"Demons not being able to share was how John Constantine tricked the First, Second and Third into curing his lung cancer. It's a pretty big psychological weakness."

Neron's eyes narrow. "Mortals may consider you wise-" I can't help but shake my head. "-but you clearly know little of Hell."

"You guys know that I killed the First, right?"

Rosacarnis looks at me almost pityingly. "The succession is not simply a matter of killing your predecessor. The First did not kill Lucifer, and neither Remiel nor Duma killed him."

"What happened to them, anyway?"

The assembled demon lords look at one another, and snigger. Mammon shakes his head. "Never you mind. Simpson, are the Exegesis Guild going to make a showing?"

He wobbles his head from side to side. "Their mouths say 'yes', their troop movements say 'no'."

Neron's lip curls. "I'm not surprised. They've grown truculent and useless. I'm sure that the First only granted them their charter as a slight to Belial."

Mr Simpson nods. "You'll get no argument from me. I had to leave a good portion of my force behind in case they decide to pull anything, and I know what that does to my chances."

Neron nods. "I believe that it is firmly in Hell's interests that they be put in their place, once this is done."

Mammon nods. "Obviously. Any prince of Hell who won't respond to an external invasion is unworthy of their office."

"What are our chances?"

Neron sneers. "I don't much care what your chances are. But we've all been preparing for this. We've all been eagerly awaiting the day when we can overrun the Silver City and achieve dominion over the Earth. And while none of us were ready for it to happen today, we are more than capable of drowning the angels in their own blood."

"Glad to hear it." I take the Hellblazer off its harness and hold it out. "Would this help?"

Neron rolls his eyes. "A lever action rifle? We're not ignorant savage-"

Mr Simpson's eyes light up. "Oooooooooh. What have you done there?"

"-es." He frowns. "What? The kaahuite? Satanus wasn't exactly slow to attack him with it."

"No, the spell." He gestures. "Look at it!"

Rosacarnis cautiously takes the gun and examines the runes. "I believe that I understand. You're using the kaahuite to link anyone struck by the bullets to the Great Void directly. You humans can be so creative."

Mr Simpson's hands glow. "I doubt we'll have time for mass implementation, but if any of you want to pass weapons to my processors I should be able to replicate it." He looks my way. "This is good stuff, this is. Sephtian's design?"

"Technically, my design, which he checked and his employees enchanted, based on the work of whoever it was who created the Ace of Winchesters." I frown. "He ended up down here, didn't he? Which of you.. got him?"

Their eyes dart to one another's faces, their expressions carefully neutral. Mr Simpson shrugs and Rosacarnis returns her attention to me as Mammon and Neron's eyes meet and neither of them want to be the one to look away first.

"That will also be a matter to investigate once the Host are dealt with."

25th December
08:19 GMT

"…avenged yourselves upon those who tormented you, but have you spared a thought for those who so callously decreed that you were worthy of such torments?!" Mammon's soldiers are fortifying their positions or setting up support weapons on the lower curtain wall around Masak Mavdil. Nonetheless, he's taking the opportunity to remind anyone who might think of wavering in the face of angels why they're fighting. "Those who gleefully cast down any who did not bow and scrape before them and their laws! I know that all of you believe as I do, that the current state of affairs is cruel and unjust!"

"Fool." Neron sneers, shaking his head. "Appealing to the damned. It is as if he doesn't want the Crown of Horns at all."

Mr Free looks a little amused. "And you think Hell's government should be of the demons, by the demons, for the demons?"

"No, it should be me." He glances at Mr Free and I, weighing up whether it's worth explaining the subject to us or not. "Those are damned souls without the strength to become demons. They are a breath on the wind. Weak, not merely of will but also of magic. Without that armour, without those weapons, a small group of my skirmishers could outfight the whole lot of them. Even with their… Arquebuses, and with the force their armour lends to their bodies, they are weaker both at range and in melee than my own soldiers."

"And in magic?"

He lowers his eyebrows, then chuckles at me. "The damned cannot use magic in Hell. If they could, they would have become demons by now."

I suppose… Most magic users draw power from the world around them, from Earth's natural magic fields. Those aren't accessible here. They should be able to use Hell's magic… Shouldn't they? Goodness knows that enough people on Earth do. Maybe it's something to do with being dead. Or… No. Neron is ancient. He might just be lying to me, or exaggerating, but I doubt that he'd be wrong.

"You don't feel the need to exhort your own troops?"

"My soldiers will fight when I tell them to fight, kill when I tell them to kill and die when I tell them to die." He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Still: it would not hurt to place myself in the van, to show them by personal example why I am their overlord."

There's a puff of green mist, and he's gone. I catch sight of him a moment later, already passing on orders to a demon identified in the Grimoire Verum as Archfiend Pyrus, who bows his head at once.

"So, you're the God of Freedom." Rosacarnis looks at Mr Free with intense curiosity. "It's strange to feel the power of-. You call it the Source, don't you?"

He shrugs. "I grew up on Apokolips. Granny Goodness wasn't big on theology."

"Ah. A pity. But it is strange to feel the magics of the Source from one without wings. We simply must get together once this matter has… Been dealt with."

"Any idea how long we've-" A blood red bonfire flares up a short distance from us. "-got?"

Mammon's soldiers turn to point a score of ectoplasma projectors at it as Mr Cassidy walks through. He starts to raise his trident and then thinks better of it, whistling as he gets a look at the assembled army. "Should I be worried about how fast you put all this together?"

"When you're an Illustres, you just have to be prepared for these things."

Rosacarnis smiles wickedly as she stares at him. "The Spawn of Nebiros. Have you any idea how many of my agents you've banished back here?"

His right hand tightens its grip on the haft of his trident, while his left waves vaguely. "Like… Ten..? Twenty..? You really want to do this now?"

"Whatever power your sponsor gave you, you are not one of us. And you have made it clear that your interests do not align with.. ours." She stops, frowning, and sniffs. "Why do you smell of the stuff of creation?"

"Ate a fruit from the Garden of Eden. Hey, Lantern-" He turns his head my way. "-I don't think it's working. I'm still finding her attractive."

"Your libido isn't my fault. How are things upstairs?"

"More angels are appearing, and… Excalibris is sending flocks after people like me. We're going to be down a few magicians before this is over."

"Chantinelle?"

He shrugs. "Haven't seen her. But since she isn't exactly a demon any more and she's got the same tattoos as you, she should be okay."

"And Jade? Diana?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I don't know any Jade, and Wonder Woman doesn't tell me what she's doing."

Yeah, that's-.

"Is that a robot?" He's staring in the direction of a large mechanoid with anti-flier gun mounts. "Since when does Hell have robots?"

"Since Richard Simpson finished his apprenticeship after stealing Nergal's..-" I look at Rosacarnis. "-body. That's how you know him."

She remains impassive. "It's hardly a secret. I found what he and Constantine did to my father utterly hilarious."

I nod. "Remember to keep a watch out for giant rats. Your father didn't get to where he was by not having backup plans."

"Oh. That." She smiles. "I thank you for your warning, but the matter has been dealt with. Permanently."

"I'll let John know when I see him. I'm sure it-."

There's a jagged flare of pink light as Agony and Ecstasy teleport to us. Agony's playing with his barbed wire, but Ecstasy looks down at me in fascination.

"Um. I don't know what you're thinking, but I woke up in bed with two women this morning and so there isn't really anything you can offer-."

"You have met the font of all desire."

"What, the Ophidian?" It's hard to see given how the two of them are glowing, but this close I can see where they're both bleeding from the barbs biting into their skin. "Yes, we're fairly-."

Her eyes widen. "He's coming."

I try not to look at her brother, his erect penis, or the barbed wire snaking around it. "I've always.. thought of the Ophidian as female…" I frown. "Though now that you mention it-."

A blinding flare of white light flashes into existence in the wastelands a short distance from the tower! And the sound-! It sort of reminds me of Zauriel's song at KordTech, only-. Piercing and demanding rather than beautiful or inspiring. Winds blast over the defences as soldiers come alert and ready their weapons. I generate railguns and-. And I glance at Mr Free.

"Mister Miracle?" I offer him the Hellblazer. "I imagine that you could benefit from this more than me."

He looks at it for a moment, then shakes his head. "I'll.. see about countering the angels' song."

"But-."

He's already taken off on his aero-discs, moving to take cover behind the towering bulk of Masak Mavdil. Makes.. sense, I suppose. That's his speciality. I turn to Mr Cassidy. "Do you-?"

"I don't know anything about shooting real guns." He takes a two-handed grip on his trident. "I'll stick to th-."

The sound becomes deafening as the angels arrive.

25th December
08:23 GMT

A flock of twelve angels emerge without particular urgency from the portal, coming to a halt above the desolate plane. One among their number wears a golden torc, and he positions himself at the fore.

"1:1 Denizens of this desolate place! Be it known…"

He takes a moment to look at the entrenchments.

"That…"

Mammon smiles, a small runic communicator in his hand glowing for a moment. "Don't keep me waiting."

The angel backs up slightly. "1:2 Good Lord."

The air between the lines and the angels turns green with fire from the ectoplasma projectors. I lower my rifle slightly as the angels begin to burn, only the two on the far left managing to turn and flee quickly enough to avoid the brunt of the firepower.

"I'm underwhelmed."

Rosacarnis raises her right eyebrow. "Did you believe yourself to be worthy of the full force of Heaven?"

The last two angels have nearly made it back into the portal before Mr Hayes blurs through the air and shoulder barges one of them. I can see his target's outline bend as his bones break. The other survivor turns and sings, and I'm treated to the sight of scintillating white light washing harmlessly off his Daathskin coat.

"Harm does not find It intimidating."

He then drops, grabbing his still-living quarry out of the air before flying back to the air over friendly lines. Local fliers make sure to give him space as he holds his trophy up high, the angel attempting to sing at him with shattered ribs. Mr Hayes shifts his grip in response, left hand on the top of his head and right hand forcibly closing his jaw.

"No." Mr Hayes shakes his head, head tilting slightly to the left as his head gets closer to that of his victim. "No."

Oh.. he.. wasn't joking about.. eating one. I can see the flares of golden fire as the angel's sanctified flesh burns him on the way down, but… He's certainly committed. And I suppose that Aym's indestructibility and Asmodeus's courage help.

"Won't that just weaken him?"

Mr Cassidy grimaces. "I know I'd be pretty weak if someone ate my face. It's like kryptonite or something."

"I mean Mister Hay- Harm. Isn't he using up his magic to keep himself from exploding?"

Rosacarnis shakes her head, watching Harm intensely. "When he seized Labyrinth, I thought that he was someone's stalking horse. At best, a brute of little lasting importance. But I will say without shame that no one else here would dare doing what he is doing. And that everyone admires him for it."

A chunk of shoulder falls to the ground beneath him, a faint gold flame flaring up from the ground where it lands.

"It's always nice to see a happy ending. Why did those idiots just fly into our guns?"

"Even a small flight of angels would be enough to send a disorganised rabble of minor demons running. Even a fell templar like my uncle would hesitate, knowing the price of being singled out. I expect they believed that they could command us to hand you over, or at least intimidate us into revealing your location. But now Hell is unified. Lucifer did not care to do that, the First intentionally avoided it and Remiel and Duma… Could not comprehend. This is new."

"Ah…" Mr Cassidy raises his trident, the head of which is vibrating and glowing. "I don't think Hell's the only ones who-"

For a fraction of a second I see six burning wheels through the portal. And then ohIdidnotknowtheyhadthose! Six… Spaceships..? In pearl and gold armour fly through the portal, their hulls humming and the burning rings which appear to provide their propulsion spinning around four veins near the middle of each vessel. Each one is about six hundred metres long, and as I watch the points where the wheel meets the spokes glow brilliantly-.

Rays of light zigzag out before slamming down into the densest concentrations of defenders. Neron's raised hands glow green and the bolt heading his way fades into nothing, while his soldiers hunker behind their shields as the sigils inscribed on their surfaces light up with eldritch light. Mammon's troops crouch behind rapidly deployed shields of whatever that silver material they wear is, but while Neron's followers appear to be merely knocked to the ground when struck the vengeful damned are torn apart by direct hits. One bolt fired a little after the rest {yellow}heads for Mammon{/}-

"Harm thinks not."

-before being intercepted by the brutalised remains of the angel Harm was snacking on. That's going to be a problem, though. Mammon can pretend to be Satanus perfectly well. He's got the intelligence, the cunning and the skill. But he doesn't have anything like the raw magical power. He actually can't survive punishment which Satanus could soak up, and if he starts taking hits-. I do not want Hell unified under Neron.

"{orange}I want one{/}." There's a flash as Mr Simpson possesses a heavy anti-air emplacement and sets the autoloader clanking into life. "{orange}I want them all{/}!"

"Hm." Rosacarnis studies the flying vessels for a moment as they fire again. "The weakest point in the spell matrix is just behind the prow."

I don't hear Mammon's response, but his emplaced cannons open fire only moments after Mr Simpson's flak cannons, black-flecked green smearing itself across the ships' hulls. Most of the initial ectoplasma volley is turned aside by whatever that humming shield is, but the kaahuite slugs have their intended effect and the barrier visibly wavers.

"Ring." I generate a frame for the Hellblazer, targeting the rear ship. "Gravitic accelerator.{orange}"

Compliance.

"{/}Fire."

BANG!

I blink, a burning blue line which describes an arc in the air between me and the ship I targeted suddenly appearing, the force of the sonic boom forcing Mr Cassidy to shield his face and plant his feet. I hear it as the song around the ship I hit fails-.

Neron grabs a spear from one of his subordinates and hurls it at the ship I hit. The vanguard of the angel's fleet tries to manoeuvre to block it but the accumulated fire it's taken has damaged its motive wheel and its efforts to turn only cause it to wallow and roll. Neron's spear slams into the front of the ship I hit, biting into its armour and spilling toxic green light outwards across its hull. The spear jerks as Neron's own arcane malice causes it to bite deeper and deeper, the green light on the outer hull forming runes of corruption and consumption-.

The ship's fire wheel fails and the ship plummets to the ground, a plume of dust and stone erupting where its crumpling nose meets the rock. A moment later the spear reaches its target and the midsection of the ship explodes in a wave of green fire.

Neron turns his head in my direction, and nods.

Another ship drops out of formation, the singing shield having been broken down enough by the kaahuite shot to allow the ectoplasma fusillade to melt the front portion of the hull to slag. Another volley of light lances out from the wheels of fire, but clusters of demonic sorcerers behind the front lines raise hands glowing with eldritch fire and send clouds of kaahuite dust up to intercept them. The bolts pass through, the light they emit fading until they strike their targets with a mere fraction of their original power.

"Ring. New targ-"

Angels fly out of the blinding light at speed, their bodies covered in gold-coloured armour and burning swords outstretched as they head for the front lines!

25th December
08:26 GMT

"-et."

A new ship in my sights I fire again, the round passing effortlessly through the shield song even as it shifts pitch in an attempt to block it. Jets of flame from the first wave of angels roar into the first trench line, causing the outgoing fire to drop off to next to nothing as everyone there is forced to drop beneath their shields.

"{orange}At last{/}."

There's a disturbingly sexual purr in Harm's voice as he stoops at his first target, and I'm glad that I don't find him attractive any longer. The angel he selected spots him coming and slows in the air, raising their shield as their wingmates cluster closer and raise theirs. They raise their voices, and an aura of white light forms around-.

Harm throws a kaahuite knife, which buries itself in the trachea of the angel on the left. His voice stutters and gurgles as his throat fills with his blood, disrupting the song enough for the focused gout of hellfire from Harm's mouth to get through. Their armour withstands it but it flows around the plates and into the joints and the ventilation slits. Their pose falters and their grip becomes less certain. Just for an instant, but that's all the time Harm needs to knock the centre angel's shield aside and slam into their body. He doesn't slow, using their body as a shield as he flies deep into the oncoming wave. He breathes fire again, the focused gout of flame enveloping his victim's head as he hits into another angel.

The surprised secondary victim was focusing their attention on the ground and is knocked spinning, plummeting towards the ground for a second before ectoplasma fire from the second line immolates them. Harm appears to be laughing as he changes direction, dropping down on an angel lunging at a knot of Neron's soldiers who were advancing toward the downed ship. A harsh and judgemental song forces the demons to brace themselves, but singing it keeps the angel's attention sufficiently focused that it doesn't react to Harm throwing his passenger until its late comrade is already impaled on its upraised sword.

Rosacarnis smiles. "He's a natural."

That said, I see what Neron meant about the damned. While his own people are managing with shields and… Are those crossbows? Mammon's people just can't cover enough of the sky or bring fire to bear fast enough to stop the angels reaching them. And then they can drop to the ground and wade in with their glowing swords, incoming fire reduced to next to nothing and their victims'-.

And then I hear a shriek of confusion and fear from a cluster of angels in one of the forward trenches and… Is that a cyborg zomb-? No. No, it's one of the Scabbies, enhanced with demonic cybernetics and with kaahuite blades replacing its hands. And.. teeth. The former angel darts past the defences of its brethren and slices at them in an insane frenzy, angelic armour and flesh parting easily around its blades. All across the front lines I see similar scenes as the concealed Scabbies are unleashed to cover the damned's retreat.

I work the lever, target another ship as my previous target falls victim to an arc of purple energy from one of Mr Simpson's arcane support weapons, and fire again.

The advance slowed and their crowded front line making it easier for their assailants to kill them, the next wave of angels simply bypasses them and heads for the outer fortifications. Airburst shrapnel bombs begin detonating before them, doing little against their armour but tearing wings to shreds. The gates open, a herd of bestial lukhavim led by Stercorax charging to assail any who fall. A small flock drops from the sky the moment they appear, raising a shield wall and singing in unison… To no avail as the invulnerable demon leaps from his steed, knocks aside their spear points with his chest and lays into them with his fists.

Mister Cassidy glances at Rosacarnis, reluctant to take his eyes away from the scene for even a moment. "Thought you were supposed to be one of the leaders."

"Yes..?"

She sounds a little distracted, eyes darting from point of interest to point of interest.

"Do you really think these foolish narcissists would be willing to work together if I hadn't spent years forging alliances?"

Work the mechanism, shoot the ship, work the mechanism…

"So why are you here at all? You really want the crown that badly?"

"No. I'm here to mark targets. Flight leaders, their best singers… And I ensure that our people have the knowledge of where they're hiding."

Marksmen on the curtain wall open fire, strands of purple light wrapping around angels in the throng apparently at random and burning them to the bone. And I hear it as the song across their lines falters.

Another ship manages a controlled crash, its shields down but with only infantry ectoplasma weapons available to take advantage of the fact. The angels assailing the front line have more or less finished pulling back, and the majority of Scabies have fallen to sonic attacks and resolute spear-thrusts. The ships fire again, trying with all their might to create a clear landing zone before the walls.

"Any idea why Mister Excalibris himself hasn't appeared yet?"

I redirect from shooting another ship to put a round through an angel who spotted us and dived for our position. We're a way back, but with the angels having the freedom of the air 'lines' don't really have the same meaning as they would with more mundane warfare. The bullet strikes him in the cuirass and punches through into his sternum, causing him to fall from the sky and crash into the ground a short distance from us.

Mr Cassidy sighs and walks over to him as he struggles to rise. "I'm going to say this once. Give it up. I don't want to-."

The angel somehow manages to push up enough to clumsily swing at him with his sword.

Mr Cassidy grimaces, raising his trident slightly. "Ah, come on. Don't-."

"1:1 I am the.. wrath.. of the.. Almighty!"

Blue Devil brings the point of his trident down through its head, and the angel falls still. He looks at me, then at the corpse at his feet, and he shakes his head.

"No. I assume that even in his enhanced state that he has some limits. We are making our stand here for a reason."

"What are we doing about their respawning?"

"Every weapon we're using disrupts their ability to do that to some extent. And…" She looks up, nodding in the direction of the upper battlements. I follow-.

Some.. sort of arcane device is being winched into place, another Scabbie… With a hole in his chest where his heart used to be. Chains are pulled taut, and some sort of arcane device lights up-.

Gabriel {black}screams, and black mists rise from the ground throughout the battlefield{/}.

"What-?"

{black}Angel songs falter and fail, angel wings shake and shed their feathers{/}…

"That's-. Nono-."

"The Song of Creation's Antithesis." Rosacarnis smiles as I shudder inside my armour. "Harm isn't just a pretty face. A shame it took so many angels to create a delivery mechanism, but-."

The ash-clouded sky above us is rent by fifty three purple portals, new angelic ships emerging from each one! They fire as soon as they emerge, beams of light stabbing down. Even weakened by {black}whatever that horror emerging from Gabriel's ruined lungs is{/}, the sheer volume means that they slam down into the demons and cause great devastation. Guns and sorcerers all over the battlements of Masak Mavdil open fire at once, and strange… Things take to the air and fly towards them. I've no idea what the full size of the Silver City's armed forces is, but-.

{red}"4:1 Still your tongue!"{/}

A white column of fire and lightning blasts down from a portal-. And those two burning swords and dark wings can only be Karrien Excalibris himself. His bizarre theurgical attack slams into the side of the tower, evaporating rock and defenders with equal abandon until it reaches the machine holding Gabriel. Someone pulls a crank and hurriedly aims him at it, {black}black tears running down his face as he's forced to wield his power against the express will of the god he once served{/}.

I aim the Hellblazer at Mr Excalibris and fire.

25th December
08:28 GMT

A boom, and a blue line racing into the sky. Did I-? No, he's still-. The shot was on target, what just-?

{orange}Undetected air distortion prevented impact.{/} The ring shows me where the actual path deviated from the intended path. {orange}Cannot correct without further data.{/}

Mr Excalibris flaps his wings, evading Gabriel's unwilling attack while he gazes down onto the battlefield. Presumably searching for whatever heathen dared assail him personally. A horde of warrior angels stream past him from the portals, heading down to reinforce the stalled first wave.

Mr Cassidy braces himself. "Did you really have to draw his attention down on us?"

On the positive side, that allows Gabriel's song to nullify the ship's energy blasts. The hulls of the ones struck directly lose their lustre and begin to flake apart. Mr Excalibris's absence also allows the crews of the tower-mounted flak cannons to get their weapons working, and moments later heavy kaahuite-laced shots begin peppering the air.

"And now it's time to share the pain." / "And now it's time to share the pleasure."

Agony and Ecstasy raise their arms, barbed wire turning to… Energy barbed wire and snaking upward, taking on the same properties it had when I first met Agony during my aborted resurrection efforts. A moment later I see it touch the portals from which ships are still emerging, attempting to manoeuvre around their stalled comrades. And then the portals… Fluctuate, whatever the twins do to control the passage between realms apparently working perfectly well on the magic-. I'm assuming it's magic? Which the ships used to travel here. Only a few ships are flat out sliced through, but the energetic collapses shut down flight wheels and severely abrade hulls.

Something catches my eye to the… Um. 120^o anticlockwise from the original portal. Ring, magnify.

{orange}Compliance.{/}

Upgraded and upgunned versions of those shark-plane things that strafed me during my first incursion are heading in, their automatic cannons already firing at any knots of angels which attract their attention.

Ecstasy gestures and the subverted portals spin, ships and angels trying frantically to evade before they are consumed. Mr Excalibris is forced to turn his attention from me, his jaw visibly straining as he bellows orders. Angels form up into choirs, the outer members struggling to take the brunt of the incoming fire on their shields while their comrades sing. Portals judder as shredded angels tumble, then collapse as the angels are forced to destroy their own entryways with their songs.

What I think was supposed to be a pincer movement to overwhelm the demon army once it was fully committed is down to about a third of its strength. I create railguns and aim them at Mr Excalibris. Just need to work out what degree of distortion is in play and I can-.

{red}"5:1 Know His Almighty Wrath!"{/}

Mr Excalibris raises his swords over his head and swings them down, fire roaring through the air in their wake! A slice of curtain wall is reduced to slag and-.

And I grab Rosacarnis and fly as a five metre wide sheet of flame scours through where we were standing. Okay, those guys on the walls need to re-aim Gabrie-.

{red}"5:2 Burn in the Fires of Judgement!"{/}

Second line units try to split around the sheet of flame, their compact formations good for chasing off angels rendering them highly vulnerable to area effect attacks strong enough to burst past their shields. Another fiery blast annihilates a support battery on the tower, and angels dive for the one 'safe' approach.

The first is broken in two as Harm punches it hard enough in the stomach to make it explode. There's a rictus grin on his face as he batters his way up the stream of angels, a combination of hellfire and physical assault making them sorely regret taking the opening.

"Mister Miracle to Orange Lantern."

My railgun shots achieve next to nothing, the sheer chaos of the fight above me making it next to impossible to tell exactly what it is throwing my shots off. There's a cry of exhalation from the front line as the last of the ships supporting the Host's retreat is brought down by the claws of winged abominations. Mr Excalibris turns to face Harm and s-s-sings-.

{orange}Repairing.{/}

Hooray for a robotic body.

"Go ahead."

The angels all around him either burn or evaporate, but Harm himself merely laughs.

"I.. think I've found the {trans}frequency{/} Karrien is using to maintain his connection to the Source."

The fires around Mr Excalibris's swords dim down to a burn-on-touch level as Harm kicks a falling hundred metre long chunk of ship out of his way.

"And can you block it?"

"Block..? Do you understand the meaning of the term 'Source'?"

Neron leads the charge that overwhelms the last of the Host's first wave as Mammon repositions his damned, sending them running back to defend the tower. An officer I don't recognise from one of the other provinces sends a flight of winged demons up to skirmish with angels trying to land on the tower in order to buy time for the gun crews. I notice a couple trying to land engineers next to Gabriel's cradle, but the platform there is too badly damaged for them to stand, let alone actually work on it.

"Only in very approximate terms. If that's a 'no', what can you do?"

Harm draws a kaahuite sword and lunges at Mr Excalibris. The Archangel parries with his right sword, turning Harm's sword aside as he slashes with his left. Harm has already disengaged, pulling back out of his immediate rea-.

Golden fire blossoms into being all around Excalibris, momentarily obscuring Harm from view. I take a shot with the Hellblazer at an angel ship which is trying to support the attack on the tower. Constant attacks have already weakened its shields enough that my shot destroys them and goes on to strike the hull. Its motive wheel shudders and flickers as the sympathetic link begins interfering with its internal-

{red}"5:3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."{/}

-systems. The fires clear a little to show Excalibris and Harm grappling.

{red}"5:4 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."{/}

I reach down and take hold of the Sword of the Fallen. What are my chances? Despite the damage the Host has taken there are still a lot of angels around here. And Mr Excalibris did more damage to the ground troops than the rest of the Host put together. We have no idea what else the Host might have in reserve… But if Excalibris is reduced to mortality, we should be able to clear up the rest, fix up the tower… Make contact with the Earth and find out what the heck is going on… Can I stab angels faster than they can be created? Don't know.

{red}"5:5 And God said, 'Let there be light'-"{/}

Harm's coat flakes away, his sword calcifies and in his instant of hesitation Mr Excalibris headbutts him in the face and then dives.

{red}"-and there was light."{/}

He just destroyed the kaahuite… Somehow. It appears to have a finite range given that the Hellblazer was unaffected. I take a shot at him, space bending to move the bullet out of his path, then I toss the gun aside and draw the Sword. Four more swords -these with x-ionised blades- take up a guard position in front of me. Construct armour-.

Mr Cassidy points his trident at Mr Excalibris and fires off a gout of flame. Mr Excalibris sings, the fire being buffeted aside and Mr Cassidy collapsing, bleeding from dozens of places. Rosacarnis gestures and a hellfire portal flares into existence in front of him for an instant, only for him to raise his voice and heighten his pitch and neutralise it. As he comes in I swing my swords, not believing that they'll hit him but just trying to control his appr-.

Hu-ahuh..?

Almost gently, Karrien Excalibris pushes aside my hand. His expression is no longer angry, just cold. Contemptuous. Getting distant and dimmer.

Oh.

His swords… The fires…

Well.

Brains don't have sensory nerves, so at least it doesn't hur…

"6:3 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!"

Shit.

{red}25th December
21:13 GMT -7{/}

"Yes, Lynne talks about you a good deal."

I smile down at Imra, who seems a little uncertain about the situation. I've seen her.. a few times, picking Lynne up from school or dropping her off, but she's always stayed away from me. Being big and intimidating is.. mostly an advantage in my line of work, but Lynne has enough difficulty making friends without me scaring them away.

"Ah… Good things.. right..?"

"The fact that she talks about you at all is a good thing. Ah-." For a moment I look around the church hall. I actually don't know which of these people are her parents. Lynne hasn't.. mentioned them, but for a Christmas carol service I'd expect that a whole family would turn out. "Look, I don't want to…" I ignore the telepathic probe she sends my way. It's an almost instinctive thing for telepaths, and it's not as if it's particularly strong. "Lynne… Has trouble.. socialising… I'm grateful that you're-. That the two of you are getting along so well. It's a big weight off my mind."

"Oh. Ah, that's… Fine?"

Right, don't weird out the girl any more than necessary. "Has Lynne spoken to you about the Center for Paranormal Studies? I was-" I look around again. "-going to talk to your parents about it…"

"Yeah, she mentioned it. I don't really… I don't have problems keeping people out of my head or anything like that. And I don't really want to go to a school on the other side of the country."

I nod. "Fair enough. But how about volunteering there?"

"Huh?"

"They do a summer camp, for children who can't make the journey on a regular basis. But they struggle to find the staff for it, because there just aren't that many telepaths around. Since you seem to be in full command of your abilities, you would be an excellent fit."

Her eyes move away from me, a small frown appearing on her forehead. "That's.. not a bad idea. I'll give them a call."

My smile broadens. "Thank you." I start to turn away, then hesitate. "Oh, and don't worry about the travel costs: for something like this I'm happy to let you use my boom tubes."

She nods, still looking a little nervous about me being around, then turns to head away at a fast walk. Hm. Actually, given the year she's in, she might be advised to consider using her volunteering as an in for applying to go to college in Metropolis. I haven't mentioned her to Director Armstrong, but there's definitely well paid work for a telepathic Federal Agent if she heads in that direction.

I amble slowly in the direction where my adopted mother is talking quietly with a couple of people from her book group. Nudging her in the direction of greater social interaction was… Easier in some ways and harder in others. Lynne doesn't lack confidence, just… Motivation. She didn't interact with people in any depth unless I nudged her, though I'm pleased that she no longer appears to have that problem. Mortalla on the other hand… Is worryingly obedient to my wishes. Or anyone else's wishes. But putting herself out there, when all she's done is 'obey' since DeSaad finished working on her? Difficult.

Word went around after my chat with Clara, and everyone has been… Really understanding. She's still-. She's looking up to check that the rest of us aren't too far away, and she's trying to keep people she knows between her and the rest of the crowd… But it's still progress.

And I really hope that I'm not about to undermine that as well.

Miss Kimble is spending Christmas with her father, and since I firmly believe that her having exposure to normalcy is a good thing I'm giving her a couple of weeks off. The G-Goblins are having a bit of a get-together, Miss Amane decided that she wanted to hunt down Dr Robbins… I've actually got Miss Selton on console duty at the moment. Apparently she just finds Christmas at the Center depressing. Ghia'ta-.

Ghia'ta steps out of the crowd, a look of distinct disquiet on her face. "Grayven, are you sure that this is necessary?"

"Sure?" Mortalla laughs nervously at something one of her friends says. "No. But.. you understand.. why I can't take the risk?"

Her head dips. "Of all that I have learned since coming to Earth, the idea that love can become… Diseased, is the most…" She grimaces and shudders. "Horrible."

"Father never loved Mother. I'm not even really sure why he kept her around."

"Do you think he..? Hates love itself because of what happened to his first wife?"

It's an interesting question. I haven't been able to find out anything about Suli's character. I don't know who would have more information. Father Box told me how DeSaad killed her, but had no information on her service record. But… It was pretty clear that Father's character was down to Grandmother, rather than anything el-.

Wait. Could that-?

I'll have to look into it.

"No. I think that after she died he no longer had anything pulling him in another direction, away from malevolence… I don't think that he hates 'love'. He never blamed anyone but Grandmother for Suli dying. This is just… An authority thing."

She nods, and steps aside.

I sigh, and continue onwards. I raise my right hand in greeting to Mother before stopping next to a conversation on the opposite side of her group. "Chet, have you got a minute?"

Chet looks around, raising his eyebrows. This is the first time I've seen him dressed up a bit; usually he's an all denim man. He's a fifty-four year old widower who works as a professional van driver. He used to do long distance haulage, but stopped and switched to local jobs after his wife died so he could look after their now-adult children. His red-brown hair and beard are shot through with grey streaks and his skin looks lived-in, but that's more due to the strains of his life rather than any particular health issues.

"Sure, Grayven. What is it?"

I wave my right forefinger in the direction of a couple of seats set up in a less occupied part of the room. He nods, and we both head that way. He sits down, and I {orange}take a chair out of subspace{/} before doing the same.

"It's about my mother."

"Oh?" He nods. "She seemed fine to me. Is there something wrong?"

"I'm… Aware that the two of you have been… Spending a good deal of time together. And I'm grateful. After how my father treated her, friends are a precious commodity and I have noticed that you've made a particular effort to make her feel welcome into the community."

"Ah, heck, Grayven. Your mom's a real nice woman. Being friends with her ain't exactly a hardship."

"Yes. Friends. But… These rings give me a certain insight-."

"Heh." He chuckles. "Kinda thought I was too old t'git the shovel speech, but I guess under the circumstances I can't really blame yah."

I shake my head. "Chet, you're a good guy. If I felt that you were someone I needed to give that speech to, this would be a very different conversation. I trust you not to mistreat her in any way."

He shakes his head. "Of course I wouldn't. I know she had problems with your pa-."

I hold up my right hand to stop him. "Yes. That's what I need to talk to you about. And why you can't be anything other than friends."

He watches me for a moment. "Hey, if she needs some kinda counselling-."

"No, it's-. My father isn't some.. wretched hick who likes to throw his fists around when he's in his cups. My father is the Apokoliptian New God of Tyranny. Quite aside from the fact that he's more than a physical match for me, he commands vast legions of brainwashed soldiers and a rather large fleet of space-faring warships. And though I could be wrong, I do not believe that he would tolerate his concubine entering into a romantic relationship with anyone."

He leans back slightly, frowning. "I though you got her away from alla that?"

"Yes, I did. I didn't fight him, or appeal to a higher authority. I asked respectfully, and hoped that he didn't spot me sweating. He doesn't care about her enough to intervene for the most part, but if he felt that someone was… Honing in on his turf…"

"My God." He sits there for a moment, staring a little blankly into space. "No, I-. You're right. I hadn't thought about that side of things."

"If… If she was any other woman or he were any other man, few things would make me happier than the two of you being together. But I'm sorry, it can't happen."