Yue

 21st January

19:45 GMT

"Drop your weapons!"

Same issue with the thugs. Their ranged weapons aren't much better, while their melee weapons are too good to take risks with. Ring, can we transition yet?

Transition unavailable.

And if my teleportation is barely Controller-safe, it certainly isn't regular people-safe.

I raise my hands and create submissively-folded wing constructs on my back as the thanagarian police fan out to shoot the downed Man-Hawks in the head.

"I'm sorry officer, but we literally can't. Silver Scarab's weapons are built into his armour, as are mine. And Kara's are built into her face."

A Man-Hawk dives from its perch on the support pillar, aiming at the lead patrolwoman. Guns are raised as soon as it moves, but it jinks and rolls to avoid their shots. I hear a muttered curse as the patrol begin lowering their guns to switch to melee-.

I sigh. If we're not trying to keep them alive…

I raise my hands and hit it in the chest with a destruction bolt. The front half of its chest vanishes around the point of impact, the bolt losing power as it spreads through the creature's flesh. Still makes quite a mess-.

The blasted corpse hits a wall and then falls back. Hm. Nth metal -the patrol point their guns at me and I ignore them- armour on the Man-Hawk. Looks… Thin, though. My destruction bolt punched a hole through it, and then annihilated a broader chunk of flesh behind the hole. And the bones-.

The leading patrolwoman steps between me and the remains. "Orange Lantern. You are not supposed to be here."

"I am here to learn about Thanagar's culture. These Man-Hawks are fascinating. Are you aware-?" A patrolman near my left shoulder in what probably looks like it should be a blind spot raises his mace. Without turning I raise my left arm and point at him. "Don't be an idiot all your life."

He doesn't lower it, but he doesn't raise it any further. I take out a runestone and point it at one of the now-dead Man-Hawks. A weak glow.

"Are you aware that the Man-Hawks are either created by magic or able to use it?"

"It's not my job to ask questions like that."

"Then find me someone whose job it is and get them here! The whole reason why the Thanagar Empire is tolerating a Lantern in its capital is that it wants my help with magic. And look at that!" I point to the corpse of the Man-Hawk Hector was fighting. "Local magic use. I can't help fix a problem if I don't know what the problem is."

"Wait." She flaps, rising into the air and… What, she's just hovering there. Communicating with someone out of eavesdropping range? That's not-. She vanishes as a teleporter activates.

Hm. Thanagarians have teleporters, but they're power hogs and not exactly quick. While there are species who use unsafe teleportation techniques for the sake of expediency, thanagarians take the time to do the sort of proper target acquisition that doesn't result in passenger pâté. That means an in-person report to someone important. Someone already knows that something squirrelly is going on.

But since there's no one between me and the Man-Hawk I partially disintegrated… I walk towards it, making a beckoning motion with my right hand. "Kara, how much has your vision recovered?"

"Enough that I don’t really want to use it staring at… What are those?"

"Man-Hawks." Bleez takes a couple of cautious steps closer, but doesn't seem any more eager than Kara. "Monsters that live down here."

"I don't suppose that you know where they come from, do you?"

"I think they're supposed to be some kind of alien? People down here usually try to avoid them."

"Silver Scarab?"

"I didn't bring my crime scene kit with me, but I'll take a look."

He sounds.. a little too into this, but I need someone more familiar with Nth metal use than me. And I don't feel like getting out of my armour with argumentative thanagarian police officers around. He grabs hold of the body and turns-. The part of the shoulder he was gripping tears free of the body and he stumbles back a pace before dropping it and taking hold of something better connected. He then turns the body over and takes a look at the armour.

"Badly made. I've seen Mom work Nth metal. She'd be embarrassed by this. Heck, I would. Too thin to be anything other than an ablative anti-handgun layer."

"Could the Man-Hawk have made it?"

He looks and notes the lack of forelimbs. The talons on its feet appear to have some grasping capacity, but… I generate a construct and try flexing them. They're for snatching prey, not for fine object manipulation.

"Maybe? If they could get hold of it. All I can really say is that it isn't converted military gear. Hey, didn't you make Nth metal armour for Superboy?"

"Nth metal heavy plate. He looks like a medieval European knight when he puts it on. It doesn't look anything like what a thanagarian would wear."

"Hm. The bones… They're reinforced. Some kind of metal, and I'm going to guess that it's Nth metal."

Kara frowns, still clearly revolted by the situation. "Don't.. thanagarians have that?"

"Trace amounts, maybe. These bones survived Orange Lantern's energy pulse, which normal thanagarian bones wouldn't. In thanagarians, the Nth metal is more noticeable around the nerve endings. Which I.. can't find."

Alright. Assume this creature is thanagar-native and has some evolutionary history in common with modern thanagarians… I generate a construct cut-away, showing the likely locations of the Nth metal structures which enable their flight and augmented physiology.

"Thanks."

"Wouldn't-?" I think Kara's looking despite herself. "Couldn't they do this with bioengineering?"

"While I'm sure the thanagarian government has attempted to augment its soldiers with Nth metal, any information relating to that sort of project would be highly secure. And the thanagarian military is competent enough not to let their failed projects loose. Though it.. would explain the faces."

Bleez does a passable horror heroine face. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's not an intimidation technique. Maybe they want their 'real' faces back."

"U-uh-h."

"I mean, you called them cannibals, but aside from the face-taking is there any hard evidence that they're-."

"Found.. something." Hector yanks his right hand out of the carcass, and bloody lump of.. something in his grip. "Does this look like a nerve cluster to you?"

Scan. "Yes. It's larger than it should be, assuming that used to be a thanagarian. That would explain the aerial manoeuvrability. But not why-."

The Thanagarian teleporter activates again, returning the patrol leader and a short, balding thanagarian in red clothing.

"Orange Lantern." His eyes flick briefly over the scene. "We need to talk."

 

21st January

19:45 GMT

"Drop your weapons!"

Same issue with the thugs. Their ranged weapons aren't much better, while their melee weapons are too good to take risks with. Ring, can we transition yet?

Transition unavailable.

And if my teleportation is barely Controller-safe, it certainly isn't regular people-safe.

I raise my hands and create submissively-folded wing constructs on my back as the thanagarian police fan out to shoot the downed Man-Hawks in the head.

"I'm sorry officer, but we literally can't. Silver Scarab's weapons are built into his armour, as are mine. And Kara's are built into her face."

A Man-Hawk dives from its perch on the support pillar, aiming at the lead patrolwoman. Guns are raised as soon as it moves, but it jinks and rolls to avoid their shots. I hear a muttered curse as the patrol begin lowering their guns to switch to melee-.

I sigh. If we're not trying to keep them alive…

I raise my hands and hit it in the chest with a destruction bolt. The front half of its chest vanishes around the point of impact, the bolt losing power as it spreads through the creature's flesh. Still makes quite a mess-.

The blasted corpse hits a wall and then falls back. Hm. Nth metal -the patrol point their guns at me and I ignore them- armour on the Man-Hawk. Looks… Thin, though. My destruction bolt punched a hole through it, and then annihilated a broader chunk of flesh behind the hole. And the bones-.

The leading patrolwoman steps between me and the remains. "Orange Lantern. You are not supposed to be here."

"I am here to learn about Thanagar's culture. These Man-Hawks are fascinating. Are you aware-?" A patrolman near my left shoulder in what probably looks like it should be a blind spot raises his mace. Without turning I raise my left arm and point at him. "Don't be an idiot all your life."

He doesn't lower it, but he doesn't raise it any further. I take out a runestone and point it at one of the now-dead Man-Hawks. A weak glow.

"Are you aware that the Man-Hawks are either created by magic or able to use it?"

"It's not my job to ask questions like that."

"Then find me someone whose job it is and get them here! The whole reason why the Thanagar Empire is tolerating a Lantern in its capital is that it wants my help with magic. And look at that!" I point to the corpse of the Man-Hawk Hector was fighting. "Local magic use. I can't help fix a problem if I don't know what the problem is."

"Wait." She flaps, rising into the air and… What, she's just hovering there. Communicating with someone out of eavesdropping range? That's not-. She vanishes as a teleporter activates.

Hm. Thanagarians have teleporters, but they're power hogs and not exactly quick. While there are species who use unsafe teleportation techniques for the sake of expediency, thanagarians take the time to do the sort of proper target acquisition that doesn't result in passenger pâté. That means an in-person report to someone important. Someone already knows that something squirrelly is going on.

But since there's no one between me and the Man-Hawk I partially disintegrated… I walk towards it, making a beckoning motion with my right hand. "Kara, how much has your vision recovered?"

"Enough that I don’t really want to use it staring at… What are those?"

"Man-Hawks." Bleez takes a couple of cautious steps closer, but doesn't seem any more eager than Kara. "Monsters that live down here."

"I don't suppose that you know where they come from, do you?"

"I think they're supposed to be some kind of alien? People down here usually try to avoid them."

"Silver Scarab?"

"I didn't bring my crime scene kit with me, but I'll take a look."

He sounds.. a little too into this, but I need someone more familiar with Nth metal use than me. And I don't feel like getting out of my armour with argumentative thanagarian police officers around. He grabs hold of the body and turns-. The part of the shoulder he was gripping tears free of the body and he stumbles back a pace before dropping it and taking hold of something better connected. He then turns the body over and takes a look at the armour.

"Badly made. I've seen Mom work Nth metal. She'd be embarrassed by this. Heck, I would. Too thin to be anything other than an ablative anti-handgun layer."

"Could the Man-Hawk have made it?"

He looks and notes the lack of forelimbs. The talons on its feet appear to have some grasping capacity, but… I generate a construct and try flexing them. They're for snatching prey, not for fine object manipulation.

"Maybe? If they could get hold of it. All I can really say is that it isn't converted military gear. Hey, didn't you make Nth metal armour for Superboy?"

"Nth metal heavy plate. He looks like a medieval European knight when he puts it on. It doesn't look anything like what a thanagarian would wear."

"Hm. The bones… They're reinforced. Some kind of metal, and I'm going to guess that it's Nth metal."

Kara frowns, still clearly revolted by the situation. "Don't.. thanagarians have that?"

"Trace amounts, maybe. These bones survived Orange Lantern's energy pulse, which normal thanagarian bones wouldn't. In thanagarians, the Nth metal is more noticeable around the nerve endings. Which I.. can't find."

Alright. Assume this creature is thanagar-native and has some evolutionary history in common with modern thanagarians… I generate a construct cut-away, showing the likely locations of the Nth metal structures which enable their flight and augmented physiology.

"Thanks."

"Wouldn't-?" I think Kara's looking despite herself. "Couldn't they do this with bioengineering?"

"While I'm sure the thanagarian government has attempted to augment its soldiers with Nth metal, any information relating to that sort of project would be highly secure. And the thanagarian military is competent enough not to let their failed projects loose. Though it.. would explain the faces."

Bleez does a passable horror heroine face. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's not an intimidation technique. Maybe they want their 'real' faces back."

"U-uh-h."

"I mean, you called them cannibals, but aside from the face-taking is there any hard evidence that they're-."

"Found.. something." Hector yanks his right hand out of the carcass, and bloody lump of.. something in his grip. "Does this look like a nerve cluster to you?"

Scan. "Yes. It's larger than it should be, assuming that used to be a thanagarian. That would explain the aerial manoeuvrability. But not why-."

The Thanagarian teleporter activates again, returning the patrol leader and a short, balding thanagarian in red clothing.

"Orange Lantern." His eyes flick briefly over the scene. "We need to talk."