The following day Clark was being shadowed by Homura, she was still wary about a relationship with a man, but like the others she was devoted to Clark as her Ashikabi. Musubi was scheduled to duel Benitsubasa the following day. The rest of the night in Tokyo was put on hold by a call from Jean for Superman to get to Smallville immediately.

Clark was in costume and in Smallville via his own teleportation in seconds. He was surprised to see Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash standing in the castle entrance hall.

"What's going on?" Superman asked.

"The Joker escaped from Arkham two nights ago. I only just found out this morning and spent the past few hours rounding everyone up. He came straight here, he's after Harry." Batman explained.

"Why? Harry's not a hero, not a public one."

"No, but he was responsible for having him locked up in Arkham and for his treatment." The others were a little surprised to see Batman smirk.

Superman just rolled his eyes. "What did he do?"

"He just made sure that the only thing he had to read were furniture construction instructions and that he was only served white food in a plain white room."

"Why would the Joker hate Harry for that?" Hal asked.

"Because the Joker thrives on chaos." Superman sighed. "Harry forced him into a world of order."

"Yes, but now that he's escaped he's taken the High School hostage." Batman growled.

"Well, the only real issue is attempting to diffuse this situation without alerting the world to magic and the three Amazons that go to school there." Superman frowned.

"Not to mention the threat of death and all that goes with it." Flash pointed out.

"No, Harry and the others will deal with Joker long before he becomes a real threat." Batman disagreed. "He is simply letting us handle it for the public."

"Just so you know, I am not going to try and capture this monster." Superman warned.

"That's a slippery slope." The Flash warned. "The public won't like it one bit, not to mention the government."

"He's right, they will come down hard on you." Hal agreed.

"Ok, I won't kill him right away. I'll make the government order me to kill him or do it themselves." Superman said with humourless smile.


The quartet of heroes stalked into the school ignoring the protests of the Sheriff. They had a date with a madman and they refused to keep him waiting.

They eventually made it to the gym where the students and teachers had been forced to congregate and sit on the floor. Standing in the middle of the room with an explosive vest was the Joker with a gun at the head of a very frightened Chiho and the vests trigger in his other hand.

Crucified to the wall was Harry Potter. He didn't look very worried or in a lot of pain. He looked bored.

"Well if it isn't my old pals Supes and Bats!" The Joker cackled.

"Release the girl Jack and put down the trigger." Superman ordered.

"The name is Joker!" The man snapped.

"Jack White, a loser. That's what you were, now you are nothing." Superman said calmly. "This is your last chance, release the girl and put down the trigger."

"No." The Joker said like a petulant child. "I have a meeting with my old friend Harry. You remember him, the one who put me in that HELL HOLE!" He roared.

"Fine, Green Lantern can you contain the bomb?"

"Yes, but I can't get there quick enough." Hal frowned.

"Different plan. Flash, you handle the bomb, I'll deal with the gun."

"When?"

"Now."

The Flash vanished and so did Superman. Whilst the Flash was gone and out the building before Superman had finished uttering the word, Superman moved as fast as he could placing his hand over the muzzle of the gun and lifting the Joker into the air with him as he hovered over the students.

Hal quickly moved in and retrieved Chiho.

"Got ya kid." He whispered to the shaking girl as he carried her back to Batman who stood there motionless with the Flash who had already returned.

"Batman, you have cuffs?" Superman called down.

"A special pair just for him." Batman confirmed as he pulled out a set of restraints that looked more like a set of metal gloves.

Superman tossed the Joker at Batman's feet who leapt on the man and punched him, knocking him out quickly.

"I really wouldn't mind a little help here." Harry called out sarcastically.

The Flash walked over examined the nails. "Green Lantern, you might want to handle this."

The Green Lantern handed Chiho over to Superman and floated to Harry and Flash. "I get to rescue the almighty Death!" He whispered happily so only they could hear him.

"Laugh it up green boy." Harry groused. "You have no idea how annoying it is going to be to remember I am supposed to be in pain for the next few weeks."

"Hey, does this earn me any points for the other side?" He asked curiously.

"Ask Dad, I've never been there." Harry rolled his eyes as the Green Lantern gently phased him off the wall and through the nails.

"Flash, can you get some medical supplies from his office for his hands." Green Lantern requested.

Flash vanished for all of two seconds whilst he retrieved the items.

"What took you so long?" Harry groused.

"I didn't know where your office was." Flash shrugged.


Superman flew with the Joker held firmly in his grip. Behind him Green Lantern transported Batman and the Flash, their destination was Washington DC. The entire world was watching them as they flew, helicopters tried to follow but they couldn't keep up, fighter jets were scrambled to intercept but they were deterred by a few well-placed blasts from Superman's eyes.

The entire flight took little more than half-an-hour before they descended on the White House lawn.

They were, of course, met by an entire array of soldiers and Secret Service Agents… all with various firearms pointed at Earth's heroes.

"Halt, take one step more and we'll open fire." A ranking officer ordered.

"We've come to speak with your President. Send him out and we will leave peacefully. Refuse and we will walk through you." Superman warned.

"Oh, have we come to have tea with the Queen?" The Joker cackled.

He was ignored.

"You want to see the President then make an appointment." The officer said firmly. "And leave that prisoner elsewhere."

"Either the President takes personal responsibility for this man or he gives me permission to kill him… here and now." Superman said calmly as he held up the Joker.

"Let's not be too hasty here Supes!" The Joker said with a slightly nervous laugh.

"I'll take him on behalf-"

"The President takes personal responsibility." Superman reiterated. "In clearer terms, he exits the White House and physically takes hold of the Joker. At that time we will leave. Don't make me wait too long." He finished warningly.

"I can't authorise that and I doubt the President will either."

"Find out, quickly. You have five minutes."

"Five minutes! That's not long enough!"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that the President is not listening to what we are saying right now and that he only has to say the word and he will be talking to me? Get a clue and hurry up." Superman hissed.

"Oooh busted!"

It seemed like the President intended to make them wait the entire five minutes, at least that's what he said. Superman had then told them that he could hear every word that they said and reduced the time down to thirty seconds.

The President of the United States came running out of the White House with his bodyguards.

"Alright, I'm here. What do you want?" The President demanded angrily.

"Your Majesty, an honour." The Joker said mockingly.

"You already know. I want you to claim personal responsibility for this criminal. You will personally take him off my hands. If he escapes, it will be your fault. If he kills another person, it will be your fault."

"That's a job for the prison guards and judges." The President argued.

"And a fine job they are doing. You should give them a raise!" The Joker suggested.

"Maybe you should think about investigating the men who decided to make sure this monster couldn't be executed. He's a genius who managed to escape several times in one year. This time he tried to threaten an entire school of children and a good friend of ours."

"We always get him back." The President said dismissively.

"And I do so love escaping." The Joker said happily.

"No, Batman gets him back. You let him escape!" Superman countered angrily. "You can kill him or you can put him away again. But his actions are now your responsibility."

"The United States does not respond to threats." The President said haughtily. "We will take the Joker, but don't come back here. You are not welcome."

"Are you saying that the next time a disaster occurs, like in Metropolis with the train, or Gotham with the Scarecrow and the Joker, you want me to just let your citizens die?"

"We will handle our own problems. The rest of the world might enjoy serving your every whim but we are Americans. We take our freedom and independence seriously."

"I want Gotham." Batman growled.

"It won't count." Superman said without looking back at the Dark knight. "We won't ignore the little things, but we won't step in and fix their problems anymore either. We'll defend those more deserving."

Superman tossed the Joker at the President with enough force to cause the man to stumble. The guns were immediately pointed back at them as the Agents tried to get the struggling Joker off the President.

"Just so you are aware, anymore attacks on Harry Potter and his family will see us offering our services as an official part of Japan's government. Stay away from our friends."

Superman turned on his heel and nodded to the other three heroes. The Green Lantern encased Batman and the Flash in a sphere and they ascended into the air with Superman following them.


When the heroes where far enough away they teleported back to the castle and immediately ditched their costumes for civilian clothes.

All the Castle residents met them; at the front were Kyla who had Chloe and Lana on either side and Clark's Sekirei arrayed behind them. What made Clark suspicious was that Kyla was dressed in a flowing gown of red that was almost sheer; she had a look of aloofness on her face as she stepped regally towards the heroes.

"Now, Clark, I believe that when you conquer the world I would prefer to be called 'Empress'. None of this 'Queen' stuff." She said haughtily.

Clark rolled his eyes. "As long as I can leave the day to day business to you. I'll stick to dealing with natural disasters."

"Can I be a duke or something?" Barry piped up.

"As long as you don't mind answering to Empress Kyla." Clark nodded. "Speaking of which, Empress Kyla, will I be 'Emperor Clark' or 'Emperor Superman'?"

"If you two are finished with your plans for world domination I think we should head inside and discuss today's events." Bruce interrupted.

Kyla turned and pointed at Bruce imperiously. "You shall be our court jester!"

Bruce ignored her and just walked past the group. Once he was past them all he let himself smile.

Clark immediately made a beeline to Uzume and Chiho. "Are you ok Chiho?"

She nodded silently but still clearly shake from the events of only a few hours ago.

"Please let me stay with her Clark!" Uzume pleaded.

Clark looked at her sympathetically, he knew what it was like to be separated from you Sekirei and he knew the Sekirei felt the same way about their Ashikabi. "I'll talk to Takami and have you relieved from the Discipline Squad, we'll also talk to Harry about seeing if we can't get you to pass for a High School student."

Two grateful girls immediately swamped him.

The residents including Jonathan and Martha along with Ryan and Kusano were soon seated at the round conference table in the Great Hall. Harry got the ball rolling.

"Alright, first of all, the whole killing thing. No hero is allowed to kill unless they are given permission straight from me. That said Clark always has an implied permission as my Apprentice."

"Extenuating circumstances?" Hal asked seriously.

"As Death you have my full confidence to use your best judgement. Hal, as a member of a law enforcement entity you can do what you need within their guidelines."

"Does everyone agree with this?" Scott asked the assembled people.

There was a range of confirmations from Brunnhilde's adamant declaration to Bruce Wayne's stoic nod.

"Should any of you who are native to this world desire, I have updated the castle's database with all my knowledge of events from my home universe." The Vision stated. "It should allow you some insight into how Death operates and what sort of society he aims to bring about."

"Next topic: Threatening world leaders!" Harry grinned.

Clark just blushed; he had gotten a little carried away today.

"Any future threats should probably be approved by all of us." Harry continued. "But what you did today was pretty good. A non-violent show of power."

"What were you hoping to achieve though?" Tess asked.

Clark shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck a little sheepishly. "I was hoping to get the Joker in a room with the President, I was going to give him back his knife and let his bodyguards handle it. The Joker needs to die, I thought getting the President to do it might force them to re-evaluate the way things are currently."

"I doubt you will achieve that this time." Loki warned. "But the Prime Minister of Japan is having strong words with the President about them letting the Joker escape and threaten Harry."

"Leave the representation of Death up to me." Xander instructed. "I've got my lightsabre, courtesy of Nev, so I'll conjure some new black cloaks and take up my old role."

"Won't people be expecting a scythe?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, but the Dark Lord of the Sith is so much more intimidating!" Xander grinned.

"But not correct." Chloe pointed out.

"Well, he is Death, so I guess if he says it's correct, it is." Kyla shrugged as she pointed at Harry.

"A Sith like Darth Vadar?" Ryan asked curiously from where he sat next to Clark with Kusano.

"Better!" Harry grinned.

"Fine, so we don't kill and we don't threaten governments." Clark interrupted. "Anything else?"

"Yes. It's time we rattle the cage a little bit." Harry nodded with a frown. "The alien presence on Mars needs to be addressed. We will bring it to the attention of the United Nations and see how they respond."


"Guess who?!"

"Hope."

"How do you do that?"

Harry spun in his chair with an expression of delighted shock to see Hope Summers standing there pouting.

"I don't actually see souls with my eyes. What are you doing here?"

"Just testing out something the Vision was working on." She said airily as she perched herself on his desk.

"Oh?"

"You know so much about magic, you are, well… forgive the term but, you are masterful with magic. But with as much as know about magic you have forgotten so much more." She said.

"Huh?"

"All those books you conjured on magic during the early days, they contain things that you seem to have forgotten about. Like vanishing cabinets?" She asked pointedly.

Harry frowned. "I remember those, they don't allow you to travel though time though."

"They do if they are modified." She said smugly.

"That's what Vision was working on?"

"For several decades ever since we heard you might be heading off for another world. We tested it back home without problems but we needed to test time, space and dimensions together and today was the first successful test."

"So now we can move between our worlds by walking into a cabinet… excellent work!"

"Well, it's just a door really. He shrunk the runes down to fit on a doorway."

"HOPE!"

Harry quickly stuffed his fingers in his ears as the expected female squealing began between Dani and Hope. It got even worse when the Triplets came running.

"So… that's Hope." Chloe said to Diana dryly from the doorway as the squealing females ignored them.

"You've heard of her?"

"No, but… never mind." Chloe sighed. Some forms of humour were lost on her Princess.

"Ladies!"

The room was silenced. A testament to the authority that Emma Frost could command with a simple spoken work.

"Hope, it is good to see you dear. Perhaps you should go and greet your grandfather before he feels neglected?" She suggested with a smile.

Three blondes and a brunette dragged Hope out of the doorway.

"Erm… Scott?" Lana queried.

"Yes, he is her adoptive grandfather." Emma confirmed.

"She… she's- she feels familiar." Chloe frowned.

"I'm not surprised. She is a Phoenix after all." Emma said dryly.

"Erm… are we going to have another 'Rachel' situation?" Chloe asked worriedly.

"Of course not! Hope was trained by Harry and raised by Scott's son." Emma assured them.


"Ok Musubi, you need to end this quickly." Clark told his Sekirei as they stood at the edge of the arena where the Sekirei battles now took place.

It was much like a gladiatorial arena created by Xander and Harry. It allowed Sekirei like Kazehana to make full use of their powers.

"But I want to fight!" Musubi whined.

"Finish her off quickly and I will fight with you myself, I will push you to your limits." Clark promised.

"Yay!" Musubi said happily.

Clark smiled at her enthusiasm. "Just remember the two ways to end a fight quickly when dealing with an opponent who underestimates you."

"Right. Got it." Musubi nodded.

Clark returned the nod and walked to the centre of the arena where he pulled a microphone from his inside jacket pocket and addressed the spectating Ashikabi and Sekirei.

"Ashikabi and Sekirei, the following match is a challenge by number 106, Benitsubasa, against number 88, Musubi. Both are fist types. Remember, a challenge may be issued for any reason and a challenge may be rejected for any reason. There is to be no outside interference and the match is over when one combatant is incapacitated or accepts defeat.

"Ladies, you may begin when ready."

With that Clark walked calmly out of the arena. There were thirty people in the stands. Most Sekirei had no interest in fighting but some wanted to learn. All the Disciplinary Squads were present as this was considered a learning experience.

"Do you think this will be over quickly or will it be drawn out?" Kazehana asked as Clark took his seat between Miya and Matsu.

"Musubi likes to hit. This will be over quickly." Clark said with resignation.

"HAVE AT THEE!"

"Ok, who told her to say that?" Clark demanded as they watched Musubi charge a slightly startled Benitsubasa.

There was an explosion of dust and dirt in the middle of the arena as Musubi's fist impacted with Benitsubasa.


"I have found an interesting artefact." The Vision informed Brunhilde as they stood in the Kawatche caves.

"Some sort of knife… encased in clay with Kryptonian symbols." Brunhilde frowned as she examined the artefact that was sitting on a portable table.

"I believe the symbols were carved by the Kawatche themselves as they barely make any sense."

"You can read Kryptonian?" Brunhilde asked, clearly impressed.

"I assume none of you have been reading my reports?" The Vision sighed.

"We've been a little busy and we are merely organics." She chided with a smile.

"I have fully interfaced with the systems here. I have access to all the information and functions contained in them. I am still working on trying to make the Jor-El AI see reason though." He reported.

"Impressive."

"Fairly simple for a being like myself." The Vision said dismissively and without insult.

Brunhilde just chuckled. "Do you know anything about the knife?"

"Until I can identify it, no. Perhaps Kyla might know more."

"If not her then we can call in her grandfather."


"Alright, which of you told Musubi to use that war cry today?" Clark demanded as he stomped into the castle common room that evening.

"What war cry?" Harry asked curiously.

"'Have at thee'."

There were a round of snorts. "You have to let us share the memory of that one!" Jean laughed.

"You stay out of my mind, you aren't getting that." Clark warned.

He was surprised when they all started laughing and cheering.

"Bloody brilliant!" Neville exclaimed. "That was enough to confuse the bint for that devastating blow."

Clark looked around and saw Miya smirking at him.

"Miya!" Clark whined pitifully.

"They deserved to see Musubi's victory if nothing else." She defended herself.

"That is not why you shared the memory." Clark said accusingly.

"No, but it was good." She shrugged cheekily.


Clark, Brunhilde, Kyla and the Vision were waiting in the caves for Joseph Willowbrook to arrive. Kyla had tried to read the writing but she wasn't confident in her translation.

The group was a little surprised when Joseph turned up with another young man.

"What is he doing here?" Kyla snarled.

"Granddaughter, mind your manners." Joseph said warningly.

"We asked for you Joseph." Brunhilde responded with a matching tone. "This is a private matter."

"You wanted help determining the origin and purpose of a Kawatche artefact. This is Jeremiah Holdsclaw, what I don't know he probably will." Joseph explained calmly.

"You should have asked first." Brunhilde said unhappily.

"These are Kawatche caves, I am Kawatche." Jeremiah said haughtily. "I have far more of a right to be here than you white people."

"Jeremiah!" Joseph hissed.

"Why don't you like him Kyla?" Clark asked quietly.

"Because he's a creepy little perv who thinks he owns me."

"You are the Chief's daughter and I am the strongest male of the tribe. We are destined to be together." Jeremiah declared.

"She's taken, and I suggest you stay away from her." Clark warned.

"Enough!" Joseph interrupted. "We came here for one purpose. We will discuss your designs on my granddaughter later." Joseph told Jeremiah with a hint of disgust.

"This is the knife we found." The Vision stated. "The writing is not in any specific form of order making translation difficult."

"Palak!" Jeremiah whispered in awe.

"Now is not the time for fairy tales." Joseph said quickly but he sent a look at Clark to show that Jeremiah was onto something. "It is clearly a simple hunting knife."

"But it is Palak!"

"If you cannot be objective- no!"

But Jeremiah had dived for the knife and smashed the clay around it. The second he held the actual knife a glow emanated from the knife and spread up and into Jeremiah.

"Joseph, lets assume this is Palak, what is Palak?" Brunhilde asked warily as they all took up defensive positions.

"It is the Star Blade. It can give absolute power to its wielder. It is said that it will reveal the identity of Sageeth."

"Jeremiah put the knife down." Clark ordered.

"You are not worthy to touch Palak. You are not worthy to stand on the lands of my people." Jeremiah snarled, then his gaze fell on Kyla. "You are not worthy of the daughter of the tribe."

In the blink of an eye Kyla and Jeremiah vanished.

"Why did you let them go?!" Brunhilde demanded of Clark.

"Because I don't know what the definition of 'absolute power' is for a Kawatche. For me it means Harry Potter." Clark frowned.

"Oh… very good Clark." Brunhilde said surprised that she hadn't thought of it.

"I can tell you he isn't as fast as me. Tell Kyla to try not to escape him."

"Done. But why?"

"Because as long as she is with Jeremiah we will always be able to get to him through her."

"Impressive reasoning. I can see why Loki is so taken with you." The Vision smiled softly.

"Joseph, I need to know what exactly absolute power means." Clark turned to the Chief.

"I cannot say for sure. The legends state similar abilities as to Naman, but you know they aren't completely accurate."

"My sensors were able to determine levels at least equal to your own but his physiology was unchanged." The Vision reported.

Clark turned to Joseph. "Does Jeremiah have any combat training?"

"He's done some wrestling." Joseph shrugged.

"Brunhilde, could you alert the family to be ready, I will try and do this myself but if necessary I will call for help."


"When I get out of here I am going to kick your ASS!" Kyla screamed Jeremiah. He'd tied her to a large tree with some rope he stole from the cavern storage areas. If Kyla was a mere mortal she might be in trouble… but she was an Amazon gifted with magic.

"Don't you see Kyla?!" Jeremiah said earnestly. "All your life you said you would wait for Naman… well… here I am." Jeremiah smiled widely.

For a full second Kyla stared at him… then she broke down in hysterical laughter.

"Stop laughing girl!" Jeremiah snapped angrily.

"You- you are nothing like Naman." Kyla said through her gasps of laughter. "I found Naman years ago and I am his."

Jeremiah just sneered. "If you have found Naman, then were is he?"

Kyla's head shot up and she stared straight into Jeremiah's eyes with such intensity that he took an involuntary step back. "Right behind you."

Jeremiah spun around to see Clark Kent standing there.

"You've taken my soul mate." Clark said calmly. "I've been known to forgive a lot… but you have really pushed the limits of my mercy."

"Leave white man, before I tear your arms from your body with my bare hands."

"You have two things that belong to me Jeremiah Holdsclaw: my soul mate and my dagger. Return them both and leave the state of Kansas and I won't hurt you."

"I hold the Star Blade! No one can defeat me!"

"Naman can."

Both men were startled when a beautiful blonde woman appeared to the side.

"Aphrodite-"

"We shall not interfere my love, but we shall stand beside you." As Aphrodite spoke the rest of Clark's Sekirei appeared, each one was dressed in their uniforms and they arrayed themselves around the clearing Jeremiah had taken Kyla to.

"Kyla, you're an Amazon, last I heard they don't do restraints." Clark told his soul mate.

"About friggin' time." Kyla muttered as she snapped the ropes, much to Jeremiah's shock.

"Who are you?" He asked Kyla, his voice a mix of anger, awe and caution.

"I am Kyla Willowbrook, the soul mate of Naman and an Amazon." Kyla said as she walked through Jeremiah and up to Clark where she kissed him deeply. "If you don't give him a solid beating I'll just have to do it myself." She told Clark calmly.

Clark pulled his hammer out of the air and sent a bolt of lightning to the left and slightly behind Jeremiah. He used the distraction to zip in and grab the knife before Jeremiah could react. He may have the powers but he didn't have any experience in using them.

"NO!" Jeremiah shouted as he realised Clark now had the knife and he was powerless.

"Hey! What about the beating?" Kyla asked in annoyance.

Clark just shrugged. "I know better than to get between a woman and the target of her anger."

Jeremiah began to shake with fear as Kyla stalked towards him with a nasty smile.


Jeremiah was eventually mind wiped of everything regarding Clark, Kyla and their abilities. All he remembered was that he kidnapped Kyla. He was handed off to a grumbling Sheriff Adams and tossed before the Justice System of America.

In New York at the United Nations Headquarters a meeting had been called for the world leaders at the request of Japan, North Korea and Themiscyra. Themiscyra was not yet a recognised nation due to stubbornness, bigotry and hate mongering by the American government. As a result, Themiscyra had no desire to associate with such a body and North Korea and Japan were threatening to withdraw their involvement.

After initial proceedings the Japanese Prime Minister was given the floor, it was unusual for a leader to be present like this but Japan had warned that this would be very important.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I asked for you to assemble as the Japanese - North Korean – Themiscyran Alliance has uncovered some interesting facts about our solar system. To explain further I will cede the floor to Queen Amara of Themiscyra."

The doors at the back of the large auditorium slammed open and Amara walked calmly in dressed in a flowing white toga of Ancient Grecian style. The Fidelius protected her identity so that no one would match her with the lawyer from Smallville.

Within seconds the protests rang out that an unrecognised national leader was entering as an equal without prior notice. The most vocal of the nations had tried to have Japan and North Korea expelled because they refused to hand over information on the technology used to create the Amaterasu or details regarding super heroes.

The Prime Minister of Japan raised his voice loudly. "You do not want to hear about the possible threat to the planet that sits within our own solar system?"

"If Japan has important information then you can give it. I can't believe you would actually use this as an excuse to smuggle an unrecognised foreign leader into the chambers." The French representative spat.

"Queen Amara is the ruler of Themiscyra-"

"A so-called paradise island that you won't even tell us the location of." The American representative interrupted.

"So these are the famous leaders of Man's world." Amara sneered in Japanese. It had been debated as to whether she should speak in Ancient Greek, English or Japanese (there had been an intense argument between Chloe and Harry about speaking American whilst Xander and Jean watched with popcorn) but it was decided that she would speak Japanese as they wouldn't have translators available for Ancient Greek.

"Throwing around accusations without basis and showing all the manners of a dog with its food." She looked at the Americans and French.

"Somebody call for security!" The French representative shouted.

"If anybody touches the Queen it will be considered an act of war as she is here as an advisor of the Japanese government." The Prime Minister said firmly. "And be warned, we won't be taking such passive positions as we have with the Americans such as embargos and exile.

"Strike at us and we will strike back."

That brought silence to the whole room.

For whatever reason, no one could find the inclination to doubt the Japanese Prime Minister's word.

"Queen Amara, please, make your report." He said with a low bow that Amara returned in kind.

Amara didn't bother with pleasantries and airs; she got straight down to the point. "As all of you are aware the Amatesaru and her crew headed out of the solar system whilst making a planned route to all nine planets in our solar system to deploy probes and sensors.

"Before we deployed these probes on Mars we picked up substantial life form readings from below the surface. All readings indicate that whatever is down there is currently dormant as no movement has been detected.

"The Japanese-North Korean-Amazon Alliance has decided that as this is all on Mars, essentially Earth's neighbour, we should all have a say in how we handle this potential first contact situation. Right now your governments are being provided with all the sensor readings we took of Mars. The Alliance proposes we request the aid of the Green Lanterns to see if they can facilitate either first contact or investigation of the life forms on the planet."

Amara stepped back and let the Chairman takeover to allow questions.

Predictably the Americans were up first. "How can you not know if they are hostile? Do you at least know what they look like?"

"We know from various scans that the beings are bi-pedal, but we have not descended to the planet in any form nor have we sent down probes. We do not know why these beings are dormant and we do not know what will wake them. Without a proper set of contingency plans in place it would be unwise to try anything."

"You should have sent something down! It sounds to me like you little alliance isn't smart enough to evaluate a threat." He accused.

Amara just looked at him calmly. "Mars is like a ball of fur at the moment. Earth are just children with a stick. If we had poked the ball of fur and discovered a playful puppy willing to stay with us and be our best friend you would have accused us of acting unilaterally and against the other nations. If we had discovered an angry bear, woken from hibernation, you would have accused us of foolishness by unilaterally bringing danger to Earth.

"Instead we decided to give the people of Earth the opportunity to be a part of this important event. If America keeps up this attitude we will exclude them from the event.

"And I will accept no more questions or statements from the US Representative." She said as she turned away from the spiteful man.

"Just what sort of cooperation are you looking for between the United Nations and yourselves?" The British Representative asked with a frown.

"None. We aren't interested in working with a body that thinks they can dictate if Themiscyra is a nation or not. Any country that desires to take part and is willing to abide some fairly standard rules is welcome to take part."

"And if every member nation decides they want in…?"

"Then they do so as separate nations, not as part of a larger body."

The Spanish Representative posed the next question. "Are you making this a true democratic operation? Will we be able to include our own countrymen as part of first contact? Will we all have an equal say?"

"No."

Amara wasn't given a chance to continue as many nations started shouting again.

She carefully scanned the representatives with her eyes. Searching for specific individuals.

Eventually the Chairman was able to call for order.

"I have been given full authority over this matter by the Alliance." Amara said calmly. "The following countries are welcome to join the alliance in this matter: Germany, Norway, Mexico, Taiwan, Ghana and South Africa.

"They were respectful and waited for me to finish and did not start making accusations. The rest of you can go back to your leaders and tell them you were denied the chance to be a part of what will clearly be a historic event because you had no manners."

With that Amara turned to Japanese Prime Minister, bowed and then marched out of the room as people shouted.

The room was drowned in chaos.