Yue

 24th January

21:14 GMT

I rotate the urn in front of me. As far as anyone knows, Devlos Ungol wasn't married. Though.. he might have been, at some point before he put on that armour. Records from his homeworld weren't in a great condition after the wars resulting from his empowerment. Given that he was perfectly happy to talk about himself, I imagine that was simply as a result of his personal information being classified when he volunteered and the widespread destruction, rather than any sort of precise cover-up. Certainly, he was never seen with a paramour or offspring afterwards. So I can't depict-.

"What's that supposed to be?"

I can't depict him with the family he had in life. Perhaps a.. shrouded outline?

"A funerary urn."

Obviously I can't wash or anoint his body, and… I never thought to ask what the alternative was when a physical body wasn't available. A wreath I can do, though exposure to vacuum swiftly leaves it brittle. Two Themysciran coins-.

"What?"

I turn my head to look at the clearly bemused Mr van Wyck.

"A funerary urn. When did you leave Earth?"

"Last October."

"Then if you've heard of me, you should know that I'm a Hellenist. The Themysciran funeral tradition-."

"Dude, there's no body. You can't bury anything. And no way's anyone mourning that psycho."

"I know there's no body."

The coins and wreath go into the urn, the wreath crumbling to dust as it brushes the rim of the opening. And I add the handful of organic Tartarathian cells I found in the wreckage of the station. They might not be his, but… I mean… If.. the rest died here… This can be for them as well.

"Souls exist. Ghosts exist. The performance of proper funeral rites prevents the formation of angry ghosts by promptly sending souls to an afterlife."

"Oh, you're making sure he goes to Hell." He shrugs, and I note that the damage to his face has mostly knitted itself back together. "I didn't think you did that sort of thing."

"Does he deserve to go to Hell?"

"Ah, yes? You said his fleet murdered billions of people. And he tried to kill us."

"His government trusted him enough to give him their experimental super armour. After putting it on, he decided to go on a universe-wide rampage. So either they didn't do any psychological screening, he faked it really well, or he-."

"Something was controlling him. Or… Messing with his head."

"It's a possibility."

Most of the tiny fragments of his armour that survived go in the urn as well, then I seal the lid over the opening.

"Or maybe he was always an evil bastard and the armour just gave him the opportunity to act on it. Either way, when I take this to Themyscira then Lord Hades can add him to the docket and find out."

Assuming this works. I don't want Mother of Mercy coming near that… Device.

"Huh."

I use constructs to attach the urn to myself. Shouldn't be any problem just taking it to Themyscira directly. I can ask Hades about Mother of Mercy's request at the same time.

"Orange Lantern to Controller Hinon."

"Any reason for me to stick around?"

"You don't work for me, Mister van Wyck. You're free to come and go as you choose. However, I recently gained a map of pirate hideouts. If you'll agree to put yourself under the command of the senior Lantern on-site, I'll include you in our operations."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll be limited to your own resources, and my own research shows me that the pirates are mostly using sites that weren't discovered immediately after Devlos Ungol's defeat. However, it is your decision."

He thinks for a moment.

"And what about afterwards?"

"I will probably suggest to Lantern Xor that he remain on semi-independent anti-piracy duties. If you have made yourself useful, I would invite you to join him. Your heart appears to be in the right place, but your lack of basic training is going to impede your effectiveness."

"I should probably check with my boss first."

I nod. "There's no real rush, b-."

"What have you done now?"

I smile as Hinon's face appears over my ring. "Devlos Ungol was alive. He's dead now, but his armour was made of something that made it proof against just about everything I could throw at it."

"Do you have samples of the material?"

"Yes, and the device his people copied to make it. My ring is having trouble analysing it."

"Well try harder. Honestly-."

"I'm getting error messages, Hinon. Devlos was using what my ring thinks is a Bleed-based energy-actualisation weapon-."

"The device, describe it."

"Blue metal with yellow cables. It appears to be stationary relative-."

Thirty metres in front of me space explodes in a surge of orange light as Hinon warps to my location, looking around in alarm. She raises her arms and the broken pieces of space station float away to give her a clear path to the device.

She hesitantly lowers her hands. "No…"

"Hinon?"

"Do you know what this is?"

"If I knew what it was, then I wouldn't have called you."

"It's a fragment of the Anti-Monitor's armour."

"Okay?"

She wheels to scowl at me. "Do you not-?" She stops herself. "No, no, of course you don't."

"I know that the Anti-Monitor is very dangerous, but how bad is a single piece of his armour?"

"It's not the armour. None of him is supposed to exist any longer. I thought we were-." She takes a moment to calm herself. "We should destroy this fragment, before the Qwardians hear about it."

"I'm not arguing. Do you need my help?"

"No, I need other Maltusians. Go, go and.. check the other sites. I'll call you back to watch once we're ready."

I nod. "Mister van Wyck, if you'd like to accompany me?"