Yue

1st December

09:19 GMT +3

There's a flash of yellow light as Barda reappears, mega rod held aloft.

"So? Who was he?"

The head dress makes it a little hard to tell, but I think that she's frowning. "He was not of Apokolips."

"What?"

Her hand tightens on her rod's grip. "He was biologically human. Someone had somehow turned him into one of us."

"I'm not sure what that means."

She shakes her head. "Where is Scott?"

"Over at the triage centre with Physician and Blue Lantern, trying to work out how to fix The Key's victims."

She nods, and starts marching in that direction. I tag along behind her. "What did Highfather say about-?"

"Darkseid can give his comprehension of parts of the Anti-Life equation to anyone he wants, at the cost of losing the ability to use it himself. But The Key was just a relay. There's someone else using it."

"Damn. Ah, yeah, Batman checked what was left of their laboratory. The Key had developed some sort of LSD-like telepathy booster. It turns out that while there aren't many human telepaths with significant power, low level telepathy is much more common. We think that the implants were doing something similar, but we just don't have good enough data on New God technology."

"He and a handful of infected humans were able to dominate your most powerful heroes."

"Most powerful? But I was fine."

She stops, turns her head towards me and raises her eyebrows.

"What? I was. I'm not sure how practical using Lanterns to shield their allies would usually be on a wider scale, but I think we've demonstrated the efficacy of the technique."

She starts walking again. "How many other Blue Lanterns are there?"

"None that I know of. I ordered Alan's ring as a custom job."

"If the Green Lanterns haven't learned the technique yet then they probably can't. What other Corps are there?"

"The only one I've encountered so far is the Indigo Lantern Corps, and they didn't give me contact details." She snorts in frustration. "What happens with The Key?"

"Highfather will purge him of the Anti-Life, then he will be imprisoned until we're sure he isn't a threat."

"Is Highfather likely to do anything about the rest of the Anti-Life problems we're encountering?"

"He wants Scott and me to monitor the situation. If there are actual Apokoliptians here, he'll probably send more troops."

"And if it's just humans whom Darkseid is sponsoring, we're on our own?"

"Are you saying you can't manage?"

"No, but there's a difference-" Barda pushes open the door to the room we're using as a triage area. "-between 'managing' and-."

"This boy. Where is he?" Adom is holding up a picture of Amon -not a recent one, but the most recent Adrianna had- and pointing to it, while the few people who have been purged so far are trying to avoid meeting his eyes. "His name is Amon Tomaz, and he was recently here. Tell me."

Barda's eyes narrow as they shrink back. "Does he not realise that-?"

"I know, he's just worried. I'll.. get this."

She nods, and I jog over to Adom. "Mighty-."

"I know him." On a nearby bed a bald woman with plasters covering the holes in her head weakly turns her face Adom's way. "He was brought in with the same group as me."

Immediately Adom crouches down next to her. "And where is he now?"

She turns her head away, unwilling or unable to meet his eyes. "He wouldn't hear His voice. He wouldn't bend."

Adom nods. "The Key could not break his will."

"No. Everyone breaks. But The Key wasn't trying to break us. Just turn us. Amon kept resisting, right up until... I don't know if he is still alive, but I saw where they put him."

Adom stands. "Show me. Orange Lantern, please fetch Adrianna."

I'd ask him if he's sure… But it's Adom. I step out, and the tight bundle of focused desires that are Adrianna is easy enough to locate as I step back out into.. the road as the relief trucks drive past me. I rise off the ground and accelerate after the one she's riding in.

"Adrianna!"

She carefully rises from her seat and comes to the back of the lorry. "Orange Lantern. Have you found him?"

"We know where he is. We don't know what state he's in or if he's alive. Adom thought that you'd want to-." She jumps out of the back of the lorry and I'm so surprised that it takes me at least a quarter of a second to extend a flight aura around her. "Right." Can't step out with passengers, and I'm not transitioning until all of the Apokoliptian technology in that place has been thoroughly dismantled. Instead, I rise into the air, generate booster constructs and accelerate back towards the facility.

"What.. can I expect?"

"Lots of people with psychological and spiritual injuries. Some of the recent intake are in a bad physical state, and the man running the place created some kind of disintegration effect which killed and maimed more people. The longer term residents are physically healthy but we're still trying to remove the Anti-Life infection from them."

"And from Amon?"

"He wouldn't bend, apparently." The facility appears, and I decelerate and aim for the entrance closest to the triage area. "So I doubt anything good." I set her down and lead the way-.

"Then my choice is clear." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the Amulet of Isis.

"We don't.. actually know that's necessary. One of those lorries has a purple healing ray, and the Physician-."

"I have berated Adom for not doing what is best for his people often enough that I do not wish for him to have cause to call me a hypocrite." She smiles faintly. "Perhaps it is a good thing that I did not receive any religious indoctrination."

"Perhaps?"

Without ceremony, she pulls the thong carrying the amulet over her head. "I am Isis."