Interludes After the Seventh Angel, Part 2
Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English and Interlac.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).
A Possible XXXIst Century
Frontier of the Almeracian Empire
Legionnaires Diplomatic Mission
As the Legionnaires, the almeracian ambassador and Brande exited the room, the latter felt a soft mental tug. '(Princess?)'
'(Did you really sedate him, sir?)' Princess Projectra's voice caressed his mind. The Orandian princess had a beautiful voice, if she had the inclination, she could be a hit songstress. According to Cham, she had been a hit at a night club during a girls night out with Spark, Apparition, and Triad.
'(Actually, no. I just gave him a mild mental ´push´ to sleep. I don't like to do it, but he needed some time to process it.)'
'(Maybe you could speak with him too... you know… as…)'
'(No. That part of my life is over. I'm old, you know. I'm too old to go back to that life. I'll help anyway I can, but as Rene Jacques Brande. That's who I am now. And I intend to be just that for as long as I can.)'
'(I understand your reticence. I feel the same whenever my father asks me to go back to Orando and be the next queen… But being a Legionnaire is more spiritually fulfilling.)' Her tongue flicked playfully in the air. She had to convey her emotions through voice and body language, as her ophidian features were barely mobile.
By the time they arrived to the conference room, the ambassador and the other Legionnaires were already seated. Triad stood up immediately. Brande gestured with his hands, palms down; before any other could stand up. ¨(Please, stay seated.)¨ He sat at the center of the long U-shaped table, inserted the data crystal in the slot, the lights dimmed, and a holographic image jumped to life in the center of the room.
It showed a big block of ice and dirt spinning slowly in the darkness.
Lana Max-El spoke, taking a holo-manipulator from the table. "(At first, we thought this was just a simple comet. Our mining corps claimed it in the name of her majesty, and prepared their gear to process it for water and trace minerals.)"
The image turned around. A recent crater with jagged edges was plainly visible on the surface. The image closed up on one side of the block. "(The crew made some routine scans on the ice, looking for possible space creatures; and found the comet has a solid core, very dense.)"
The image changed to a gamma radiation scan. "(As you can see here,)" she pinpointed a section of the image, "(The core of the block is of variable density. The outer layer is some kind of metal we haven't encountered before, evidently of artificial origin. The inner layer seems to be some kind of bio-mechanical integrated body. Plus, there´s something generating an almost indetectable amount of energy. Like a system in stand by.)"
Brainiac-5 was taking hurried notes on an infopad. "(You said it has terran marks, ambassador Max-El.)"
"(It does. The Ministry of Mining issued a permit for the crew to chip the ice, they chose to do so here.)" The image showed a close-up of the crater." (According to the reconstructed image, it is equivalent to the left arm of a humanoid. They didn't want to risk activation or awakening, in case this thing was hostile. We have had some incidents with khundian left-overs from past wars.)"
Brande gasped at the next image. It showed a long plate of purple armor. A lime green section in the center had old lettering, very old black lettering. "(…impossible…)" he whispered, too softly to be heard by anyone.
Max-El continued, turning the image around. "(Lord Kal-El, First Prince Consort, and Founder of our Dynasty, left some records of his life before his coming to Almerac, and although he didn't left us a guide to his adoptive terran language, the characters themselves are well known across the Empire from the trilingual motto of his personal coat of arms. They read "FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE." in High Almerii, Late Kryptonian, and Old… Anglis… I think it was called. Every school-age child in the Empire has known and honored his motto for close to a thousand terran years.)"
Brainiac-5 read the inscription easily and translated it for the others. Being a 12th level intellect allowed him to learn languages with astonishing speed, whenever he had the inclination to do so. His previous visits to the 20th Century had been too brief and urgent for him to actually learn the language. The telepathic plugs covered that need perfectly for short visits. Still, they didn't help much with written forms of language. So he had borrowed some books and technical manuals Cosmic Boy had brought with him, scanned in his infopad; plus the boring sociological treatises on utopies Gates was so fond of. He liked the technical handbooks better. They were irritatingly primitive, but at least they actually made some sort of sense.
At seeing the text, Brande inhaled suddenly; then whispered, in a language no one present in the room could even recognize, much less understand. "…EVA 01 Test… …Unit One…"
Magnus´Labs
Sacramento, California
August the 28th, 2001
"(Are you sure they are inert?)" A tall man with a black uniform asked his companion, a wiry man with an identical uniform. Their faces were hidden behind a reflective plate, giving nothing about their features.
"(Sure as sure, man. Relax, Calculator hacked into Magnus´ system months ago. We were just waiting for them to need a good rebuild. All the toys were heavily damaged during their last rescue op. Even Veridium, and that damned alien alloy he is made of is incredibly resistant. We got damn lucky he decided to put himself into sleep mode.)" He was busy plugging cables into sockets, everything connected to his military grade laptop." (Calculator´s Trojan kicks in, and voilà! We have an instant set of sleeping toys and free entry to empty the toybox.)"
The first man walked to the transparent cylinders, each one occupied by a humanoid shape. He tapped on the surface of the cylinder labeled "Lead"; a fat, gray figure rested inside. "(Damn! They look so alive. Hard to believe they are robots. They look like those people in fairs, you know what I mean, the guys who bathe in metallic paint and play at being robots.)"
"(Yeah, I´ve seen them. Now, while I download the OS, you check the rest of the lab. Look for any written notes, folders, physical archives, prototypes, the works. Whatever is too heavy for the rest of the crew, just mark it for the next team.)"
"(I love this kind of work. No hassle, no hurry, just breaking, entering and taking everything away.)"
"(Ha! Especially here! No metas in the neighbourhood. Except for the Beautiful Sleeping Tinkertoys.)"
"(And speaking of beautiful…)" the man paused to pat the cylinder occupied by Platinum, or Tina, as she preferred to be called. "(You think the boss will let me keep this one? She would look great in my evil lair!)"
"(As if! Not only she´s a valuable resource, do you have any idea of how much just the body is worth? She´s made of pure platinum! Add to that the value of the tech, and even the one made of tin is worth a king´s ransom. And I have been to your lair. A sleepwalking rookie can get in and rob you blind in twenty minutes. Tops.)"
"(…yeah… Way to shoot a dream down, buddy. Hmm… Makes you wonder… Just how could Magnus afford to make the bodies..?)"
"(No idea. But it must have cost a pretty penny. But hey, if you find out...)"
The other man smiled wickedly at the thought of either getting or creating his own personal stash of valuable metal.
Quintessence Plane
March the 7th, 2008
"(Why did you call me here, Stranger?)" A small, blue-skinned figure asked, his red robes hanged heavily on his slight frame, despite the fact that gravity was completely optional in this un-place.
"(Grave matters, Ganthet. I would only distract you from your duties due to very urgent and very important matters.)"
"(I am aware of your duties, just as you are aware of mine.)" Ganthet, last Guardian of the Universe, looked sadly at the Earth´s image floating next to him. "(They are still holding on, you know. Despite Jordan´s choice, the other Lanterns, even the one who wasn´t even part of the Corps; they are still protecting the world of their birth.)" a movement of his fingers framed a tiny green spark, shining somewhere between the Earth and the Moon. He looked into the spark for a few seconds, then turned around to face his companion.
"(The last Green Lanterns endure.)" The Phantom Stranger tipped his hat respectfully.
"(Now,)" Ganthet sighed, "(what can I help you with? I have very little power left, but I doubt you have come to me for that.)"
"(Information. Recently, it has been revealed to me that Second Impact was not a random event. I need to know more if I am to stop the next stage of the scenario.)"
"(What?)" Ganthet´s robes flared as if a sudden hurricane enveloped him. Usually, the Guardians of the Universe were extremely stoic beings, but Ganthet wasn´t like his missing brothers. He was far more emotional, for starters; and was very reticent to use the beings that made up the now defunct Green Lantern Corps as chess pieces. Therefore, he was the most approachable of his brothers back when they were a council charged with protecting the whole universe. Although an exception could have been made of Appa Ali Apsa, the Old-timer, as he was called by the humans.
Now, Ganthet himself was the last Guardian of the Universe.
"(Start from the beginning.)", he said.
Some time later, the pair had been over all the info Deadman had passed on to the Stranger, plus everything the mysterious being had found out by himself.
"(These are the Dead Sea Scrolls, as SEELE knows them.)" The images of the ancient documents floated around them. "(My information is incomplete. I don´t have access to the originals. Only to this fragmentary collection, and to the translation SEELE made, but only the parts pertinent to these pages. If you know what they say, or even if you can recognize the language, it would be a great help; even with missing pieces.)"
Ganthet studied the floating images, tapping a finger on his chin, a mannerism he had copied from the Batman, a human who frequently collaborated with Jordan, a human who had earned the respect of the Guardian thanks to his sharp analytic mind and unstoppable drive. He mused that the Batman would have been an outstanding Green Lantern had he had the chance to join the Corps. But by the time the Guardians found about him, he had already determined his route.
He shook his head and turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "(I have seen these characters before… A long time ago.)"
"(What can you tell me?)"
"(It will take me some time to remember.)" Ganthet looked aside at the stranger, barely able to tear his eyes from the images. "(It must have been a very long time ago if I cannot recall it easily.)"
"(I thank you, Ganthet)"
The blue-skinned Oan didn´t answer, he closed his eyes, floating, sitting in lotus position, letting his thoughts wander back to ancient times. Gradually, he disappeared from the Quintessence Plane, going back to wherever he spend his time now a days.
Kyoto University
Mess Hall
April the 22nd, 1999
"Sensei? Have you seen that man around?"
Professor Fujutsuki raised his eyes from the documents he had been reading. "Mm? Who?"
"Back there, Sensei. I think he is following me. I have seen him several times." Yui Ikari looked urgently at him.
Fujutsuki turned around. There was no one at the place Yui had pointed. "Where, Yui? I don't see anybody there."
"Oh. He must have gone away while I wasn't looking."
"You could report him to the campus authorities if he acts suspiciously."
"He hasn't done anything yet." She pushed her food around the plate, thinking. "He just stands away and looks around. But I have the weird feeling he's looking at me. Sometimes I see him from the corner of my eye. I don't know him, I know all the exchange students, and he looks too old to be a student anyway."
"Maybe he is a teacher."
"With a cloak on?" she smirked. "And a golden medallion of this size hanging from his neck?" She held up her hands, mimicking the size of said medallion, it apparently was about the size of a small saucer. "The guy doesn't even takes off his hat."
"Might be some eccentric student. You know some of them like to play pranks on each other. Remember the guy in the chicken suit? He ran all around the campus, handing eggs to everybody." He laughed at the memory.
"Yes, but that I can understand. That was just a prank, and it was funny. This guy only looks around and then disappears!"
"If it bothers you, I could report him."
"Please do it, Professor."
Author Notes
One of my favorite parts of the Rebooted Legion, was the inclusion of non-humanoid members. Sensor had a difficult time with the readers, as she was a reimagining of one of the most beloved characters from the previous iteration, Princess Projectra; but as she had the power of casting life-like illusions, this version didn´t even look humanoid; except for a brief time during her try-out (and a night out with Chameleon Boy), looking exactly as the original Princess Projectra had been drawn. Many fans didn't take this change well.
Personally, Snekie was one of my favorite characters in the Reboot. Especially because Jeff Moy did such a good job in conveying her emotional stated exclusively with body language. Being a snake, Sensor had a very limited movement range on her facial features, besides opening and closing her mouth, everything, even her eyes, was in a fixed position. So, he had Sensor conveying a full range of emotions just by her posture, and her bionic arms were very expressive too.
On other news, in this story, Brande is alluding to a plot point that was barely teased in the run of the Legion of Superheroes/Legionnaires books. About the only hint I´ll reveal here is that it was right between the Emerald Vi story arc and Le-Vi-Athan´s debut. Savvy readers will recognize the exact reason Brande was able to do what he did. Sensor was there, and is aware of Brande´s secret.
Not being subject to any editorial meddling, I plan on expanding that plot point and bring it to light. So, if you have found it out, please don´t reveal it! Drop me a PM and I´ll give the first reader who points it out correctly a shout out!
Just what exactly have been the Green Lanterns (plus Parallax) doing? It will be revealed later, but they haven´t been idle. I have already left a little hint some chapters back.
To be honest, I´m not sure exactly where are the Magnus Labs locations. I just liked the idea of him having at least one in a place I don´t remember having any metahumans.
For this fic, I´m considering the Dan Jurgens´ Metal Men miniseries as canon. It was the one where Gold was destroyed, the Metal Men were revealed as having human minds; and Doc Magnus replaced Gold as leader, transferring his mind into a new Metal Man, made of a green, alien metal; taking the name Veridium.
It was a short lived idea. DC went back to the programmed robots status quo as soon as possible.
In recent years, Calculator, an obscure third string character, has been upgraded to be the villainous counterpart to Oracle. So, even though chronologically, Calculator wasn´t at this level of competence back in 2001, I decided he would be the best candidate for the job.
BTW, the "Sure as sure." line is a shout-out to Dan Abnett. Before he and Andy Lanning took writing duties for the Legion (just before the Legion of the Damned and Legion Lost story arcs), Abnett had already written several novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. His best known series in the setting is Gaunt´s Ghosts. One of the characters used "Sure as sure." as a catch-phrase. The Ghosts are a very good entry point to the setting, and are highly recommended. Just be aware that the death rate is quite high!
Ah, and the Legion of the Damned in LoSH was by itself a shout-out to Warhammer 40k too!
One of my favorite EVA crossovers is "Shinji and Warhammer 40k", featuring the 40k setting as a very big influence in Shinji, and later, on the whole EVA world. Sadly it is unfinished, but please give it a read. The scene when Shinji gives a proper name to Unit-01 gives me the chills every time I read it!
Yep, Yui has seen him around. She has no idea of who he is, or what his role is in this story. But she has seen him. This wasn´t the first time she has seen him, but it was the first time she has told it to someone else.