[Ţ̛̼̗͙̞̠͕̲͍̺̈͂̈̽͌́̊̄̚į̴̨͉̱̬̼͍̼̎͛̽̈̔̃͞ͅm̵̧̗̟͚͎̒̒͋̓̅̐́̕͘̚ẻ̵̢̘̻̭͍̤̤̌́̂́̾̚͟͟ą̶̟̗̝͍̘̼̱͇̣͂͑̎̏̒̈͘͞ǹ̵̢͚̮̠̤̽̀͒̀̋̚ḏ̨̛̰͓̣̱͉̣̞͑͊͆̆͘͠͞ S̰̟̟̺͕̞̟͆͂̍̎̾̋͟͠p̷̨̯͕̪̤̃͌̽͋̌̆̄͆͂̕a̶̝̜̦̹̮͉͇̔̉̃͑͘̚͝ç̶̯̮̣̖̃̊̉̒͌͟͡͠͝è̴̲̘̯͇͇̜̜̜̥̆́͌̀̈́ i̜̟̞͇̗̺͂̾̍́̕͡͡s̨͖͈̼̟̹̔̏̀̓̍̈́͝ R͎͔̬̘̩̦͐͆̐̏̈̀̓ͅë̶̤̦͍̹̘̜͕̤̆̔̽̐͟͡l̸̨̬̱͈̙̓͂̆͛̌̀̎͝a͔̦̥͔̭̣̺̋̂͊̍̿̈̋̑́̐t̷̨͈̼̮͖́̊̾͂̓̾͒͂͘͞ͅi̷̛̲̥̪̺̫̻̱̞̅̀̂́̽̕͟v̧̱͖̱̯̰͉͚͋̅́̒̿̊́̈͢ȩ̴̘͎͎͖͖͋̾̒̉͒͞..]

[Ş̵͖͈͍͙̜̙͓̞͒́̊͆̚i̬̣͕̘̲͕͑͋͒̍̐̉́̚͢͟͡g̢̨͔͚̤̬̞̝̠̅̃̃̓͗͢i̫̱͉̳̟͕͊̆̄̐̊͂̐͒̕̚l̡͎̟͔̗̯̿̽͆̏͊͢,̺̦̰̙̱͇̟̈́̊̓̏̅͆̏͢͢͞ C̴̦̞̲̱͉͎̻̻̟̦̑̿̐̑̉̀̓͒̚͝i̴̲̯͙̺͇̝̗͔̒̊͘̚͠t̡̠͔̘̳͔̫̯̀͐̓͐́̄͘͠y̷̙̥̫̜̜̑̓̋̒̊̏̿̐̉͂ o̱̣̹̤͓̅̂͌̉̒̄̏f̵̨̣͍̝̥̻̮͚͒̉̇͐̄̈́̓̊͡ D̨̼̤͈͕̼́͊̂̾̇̅̚͘ö̧̤̟̭̺̪̭͙̗́͛̑͋̃̾͘͝o̤̝͈̩͆̏̉̈̆̽̿͢͠r̴̡͔̫̻͕̥͉̆͛̒̐̐̍̿̽̂ș̢̡͚̞̟̣̖̳̅̀͂͂̍̈́̊͝͞͠.]

'And now we have the problem of what to fucking do next' I thought to myself as our adventuring band sat around a table outside this dodgy looking tavern and...discussed matters, such as what we did next with the information provided by the streetwalkers. Easier said than done as it seemed we had something of a difference of opinion on what we should do next; and out two 'guides' had retreated to a table just across from while we sat within a bubble of secrecy. Magical as well as technological thanks to myself and the two Green Lanterns cooperating in a hazy sort of way. Despite being unsure myself on how to proceed thanks to the new information I proffered an opinion as best I could.

"In all honesty...I don't think trying to force our way is a good idea, or trying to grab the Mind Flayer from the Godsmen. Damn braining eating squid will be trouble, we've no idea what could be thrown at us in the Great Foundry, and, well...we really are better off not getting trouble with a Faction and their Factol. Be near as bad as the Mind Flayer with a Lantern ring, or invaders knowing the Door's location"

"Indeed, our position here is not as it normally would be..." the somewhat mechanical tones of Red Tornado spoke in agreement with my proffered view "...attempting an assault upon the criminal once we enter, Diana, as you and Superboy have suggested, would likely have negative outcome. Success in combat would not be guaranteed, while many weapons here are primitive and not capable of harming the team in most cases, a number have proved impossible to analyse. Having collated and analysed the date provided approaching this Faction, and its leadership, in an attempt to recover the abducted Lantern and Power Ring via negotiation"

"I think the biggest issue with that approach is that it gives warning to the enemy..." Stewart replied seemingly playing with his hyper-computer power ring and looking thoughtful. Or scan the areas for danger; something it was full between the various fiends, cut-throats, and armed groups like our own wandering about amongst the crowds of...well every species, dimension, and creed from everywhere/anywhere in the multi-verse "...with the secondary difficulty of our situation not being adequately resolved to our liking with this faction. Justice does not seem to be a priority with them, the Corps has encountered the like many times before, and they could just as easily turn upon us to aid their customer, which is what this Mind Flayer would be in their eyes, worsening our situation"

I resisted sighing at that, because it was potentially true. Seemed right now the Godsmen were 'best buddies' with the Athar, but more importantly the Doomguard...or in other words Team Everything Ends and let's help it along by destroying shit. Something that indicated that neither owners of the Great Foundry, nor the Guvners of the Fraternity of Order further away, would be overly bothered by processing stolen property and dealing in slaves. Hardly unexpected for a group of people dedicated to becoming Gods by any means necessary, who were currently allied with a group wanting to tear down the universe(s) around them. Evil Squidward could be a simple customer, or have buddies in the ranks, and that made a large difference in potential outcomes.

The real problem was that we were 'stupid berks/primes/clueless' and that wasn't likely to earn us favourable reception...and I was wracking my brain for some way to get around this problematic roadblock. Superboy, Wonder Woman and Artemis were all for smashing gang-busters style and 'doing the right thing' ala they did all the time back on Earth. Stewart seemed to be leaning that way, though his alien Lantern Kilowog leaned towards 'politely' approaching the owners of the Foundry owing to the inherent risks of challenging the people who made potentially God-Killing weapons. These people were far too used to a) being the biggest fish in the pond and b) having the law overlook their 'not-crimes' by dint of that fact.

'Not helped by Paula, and M'gann for some reason, putting forward the 'compromise' idea of sneaking in all stealthy like and taking out abomination, grab the ring, and scarper' I thought to myself as the alien Lantern laid out the difficulties of risking a fight the same as I had. Personally if we could sneak and grab I'd have gone for it, but that was in a 'deniable ops' sort of mission; the only thing I couldn't have us risk was angering a faction and getting them looking for revenge. Ironically enough one faction of which, the Gods-men, who my patron would have some ideological inclinations towards in minor degrees; at least in the 'evolving' towards higher levels of existence for sapients.

So now we got to waste a whole pile of time due to our lack of a clear chain of command, and the standard operating procedures of the Justice League versus Green Lantern Corps versus my views. Which in all honesty... really boiled down to 'lets not attack the deadly weapons manufacturers okay?' and let's try figuring out what we can actually do to solve this problem instead. Not the most helpful suggestion, but I was rather distracted by where we were, and of the ever present dangers of simply walking down the bloody street. Or being trapped here, with the added danger of simply falling into another random dimension and trying to figure out how to get back here...

'Oh, Red Tornado wants my input looks like' I reminded myself placing down the, less than best I'd ever tasted, drink and glanced at the giant robot man "Utilising memories during the analyse of the documentation provided by your extra-dimensional patron, a tactic that would be advisable to increase the probabilities of a peaceful solution to may exist"

I frowned, trying to think on the matter but drawing nothing before nodding at the android air-bender to continue as I handed him the 'guide' from my pack. Pages began to turn in an organised manner before been opened up for us as the mechanical tone continued "These appear to a number of potential contacts in terms of emergency legal action. It would be advisable to consult with one of these sources, if they exist, as provided by your patron and Doctor Fate"

"You want me to invoke one of my darker spells?" I muttered back looking at the open page of 'contact details' provided via the actions of the Shrouded Lord and Doctor Fate. Emergency contacts, largely in case...well, superheroes being superheroes and needed bailing out from the Mercykillers or the Harmonium after a fight or damages "Forbidden Magic; Summon Solicitor!"

"Har, Har, Har Skulls..." Artemis muttered arms folded across her chest "...but what use would that be? We need to fight a great evil brain eating thief...and what use is a lawyer now?"

Lantern Kilowog grunted "No, our machine companion has an idea here. The problem is we're a bunch of poozers to this lot here, even our guides says so an' they don't want annoy the owners of where we going. Cuz they've to live and work here after we leave, that roit Stewart?"

The other Green Lantern nodded slowly "Worth a try, we aren't getting anywhere at current pace Diana, at least it might get us in the door before trouble breaks out? "

I motioned with my hand in a '50/50' gesture as the other Justice Leaguer gave a slow nod of agreement, followed by a grumpy look from Artemis and Superboy at being overlooked again "Ye still might not like the 'helper' I'll warn. These names are there for 'emergency' because...their evil multi-dimensional space lawyers in many cases"

"So...Luthor's ones except looking as evil as they are inside"

I sighed at Paula's response and lack of disagreement from the others as I scanned down the short list laid out before me with their 'rating' and 'contact method' on them "Okay then, please ignore the magic glowing stone and blood ritual. We'll see what can be done..."

Lawful Evil was the way to go for this in my opinion as I winced as the dagger cut across my palm, chanting softly as the blood dropped unto the small gem while M'gann gasped and looked uncomfortable at the whole thing. Lawful Neutral would be too Law obsessed for the...well this clusterfuck over, and while Lawful Good could be useful, but could go all Knights Templar should things go south or disagree with varying morality. I needed letter of the law, greedy and ambitious and this lot were the first port of call for such; magic surged within our happy bubble of protection, the gem pulsed, and a 'hologram' of an attractive and suit clad...tiefling?...woman appeared in crimson colours before me.

"Thank you for contacting Wolf, Ram, and Hart! What service can we provide to you, our valuable client or would be client, to solve human resource issues, increase profits or provide expert legal advice within the confines of the glorious city-dimension of Sigil?"

--

[26th November 2010]

[Dimension Shifted Area[Glastonbury Tol, Somerset, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]

{This is deeply problematic is it not?} Ganthet communicated to his fellow Guardian Ranakar as they hovered calmly, observing the pulsing mass of Red Energy that had been formed into something like a disturbingly colour shifted version of the Central Power Battery back on Oa. Though that disturbing creation was one, and far from the greatest, amongst several unwanted and disturbing revelations in the recent solar cycles of this world {if not for the reasons we had originally envisioned prior to departing Oa}

Ranakar had been inclined for finding some means to destroy, or contain, this Red Central Power Battery for instance; the head of that side of the debate upon how to react to the current crisis. Now his opinion had shifted it seemed, albeit not to Ganthet's own original position of simply increasing the, already significant, Lantern presence in this system to emergency levels. Of course his own opinion on how to react had changed rather rapidly as the extent of the situation began to become clear from study of the reports from deployed Lanterns, local species accounts, and their own study of the planetary histories based on the observed minutia.

{Yes, the dangers posed are indeed far more concerning that initially believed by our agents, or upon the information presented to ourselves by those for our evaluation. Now it becomes a question if...this...is a symptom of the problem, or a reaction to it}

Ganthet paused in his hovering, studying the gold and green indentations and control mechanisms engraved into the swirling mass of Red while feeling the ever watchful eyes of the Lord of Order upon them. Another disturbing discovery that was, indications had been he had been merely an empowered magician but it seemed the higher elemental and conceptual dimensions had a greater knowledge of events in this sector than they, the Guardians of this Universe, had {One would be inclined to believe it to be a reaction, a defensive one, in regards to what appear to a recurring, and apparently growing, threat of dimensional incursion. The advance of the Reach towards this system may also have proved an unconscious trigger along with the more apparent one of the Starro Organism}

{Despite misgivings one is inclined to agree with your observations. The approaches we have been taking, and had discussed taking, must be revised in line with the drastically increased threat level. Nor would the elimination of this Battery be considered a success, it is unfortunately damming a significant portion of energy behind it. Let alone this spirit one can feel hovering at the fringes that would most likely attempt to initiate combat should we embark upon such a course}

Ganthet could almost feel the faint irritation behind such an admittance; perhaps due to the proximity of the Red energy, or more likely due to the swing needed now to more radical measures that the more conservative Ranakar would have preferred avoid. It best not to press upon that sore spot then he decided framing his own reply in a tone of faint agreement rather than pressing for adoption of his own ideas...for the moment {You are correct in that assessment, with a high degree of probability. Nor would it be a viable measure without risking damaging ours, and the Corps, reputation with the presence of the Thanagarian and Martian vessels in orbit of this world. Even without the usage of the Red Energy, in a surprisingly controlled manner, this world appears to have begun to reverse the Starro Organism's infestation; a rare occurrence and something the Thanagarians are going to wish to study based on past observations of their behaviour}

{A major difficulty shall be the Reach also wishing to study, and gain advantage from, this occurrence}

{One would expect the Thanagarians to, at the very least, spread negative opinions of the Reach and its methods to the Humans and Martians, careful application of knowledge on our own could easily scupper the traditional means utilised by them. Though with a high probability of an indirect military or diplomatic response after an initial period of confusion} he replied to his fellow Guardian {what is the greater danger in the immediate to medium term is the extra-dimensional incursions and the growing levels of magical energy. This world has always been one of the indicators of the levels of that energy, and it is showing a large scale resurgence is likely in the future even with our Will being turned to the task. Inspection of the other test and control worlds will most probably yield similar results}

Something Ranakar was not overly happy to hear of course, but resources for the Lantern Corps were already upper limit for the remaining Guardians, and other crisis such as the Yellow Energy of Fear, Larfleeze's containment, and the continued expansion of the Reach even after the stalemate the Lantern Corps had achieved against them. Or, as ever hovering in the background, the ever present threat of Apokolips and New Genesis mingled with potential indicators that the Black energy was also begin to surge. So much so that discussion in regards opening negotiations, with their former Malthusian brethren who had followed the Violet Energy of Love,had been mooted once again.

{Controlling the usage of the Red Energy for a new Lantern Corps is then vital, as unless we destroy this world and Battery, or eliminate what appears to be causal factors, a recurrence of similar events are guaranteed}

Ganthet agreed yet disagreed {Yes. Though control...would prove problematic based on past experience with energies other than Will; guidance perhaps, encouraging unity and mentorship while ensuring any losses due to experimentation are limited to this sector, and will not endanger the Universe. We must...}

--