6.6

Location: Teleport Room. Alien Mothership/Commandeered Justice League base.

Time: Relative when you aren't anywhere on Earth. 7PM in France, Late June 1989.

The first thing I see materialising in the space ship is Green Arrow who raises a can of Soder in a salute… only to look concerned as I collapse, dry retching from the disorientation effects of this particular brand of instantaneous travel.

"Hey, you okay there?" He asked.

"Ohhh…these teleportation devices really disagree with my extra senses." I groan, getting up from my knees. I look at the bags I was carrying, that I dropped… it seems my selection of cakes is relatively intact.

"What did you bring to the potluck?" He asked, curiously.

"Some desserts." I shrugged.

"Good, far too many casseroles. I don't even know what to make of the 'food' Aquaman brought. Kelp. Not the kind of vegetables I was expecting." He chuckled.

"I guess you are stuck on teleport duty? How many left to be brought up?" I queried.

"Five, the robot, the other green guy, the green Martian, beginning to see a theme here… your Gunnr… where can I find her, by the way? Oh and the radiation dude." He bantered.

"Gunnr is here." I point to my left and she materialises. "She follows me around, to protect me she says… then forgets to defend me from the simplest of magic mind control..."

"It was harmless, my Lord. A good learning experience for you, also." Gunnr replied neatly.

"It was Constantine! Harmless from him is just a build up to the next Ragnarok!" I snapped.

"You exaggerate." She replied.

Green Arrow looked between the two of us muttering; "Like an old married couple."

Inside the corridor Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel came forward to greet us.

I gave them both a handshake, wincing as Billy forgot his strength.

"Good to see you both, how does the reconstruction fare in your neck of the woods?" I asked as they began to lead deeper into the structure.

"I have been touring the recovery and repair efforts as ambassador of my people. It goes well, some things may have been lost forever but most will recover. Sadly the major museum, the Smithsonian I believe it was called, was burned to the ground. But the people of Man's World have shown themselves tenacious and optimistic." Diana replied.

"I've cleared out heaps of the rubble and helped a whole lot." Marvel added. "It was sad seeing all those people homeless and afraid, but things are improving now."

I nodded. "Paris is slowly being repaired, there hasn't been this much damage there since it was recaptured by the Allies from Nazi occupation."

Diana hummed. "I remember that. It was a beautiful place, the people were courageous as well."

"So anyone here I haven't met yet, besides Aquaman and Black Canary?" I asked.

"His wife, Queen Mera? Flash brought a woman, Quake with him." She answered as we neared a larger room, converted into a gathering area. It was the alien equivalent to a messhall, so it already included tables and chairs. Unfortunately the food the aliens ate was… unpalatable to humans. Far too salty and rubbery. Otherwise safe to eat, because aliens here are usually far too human. These Blue Men certainly were. I would have confused them with an emaciated Lex Luthor painted blue if the bondage straps they wore rather than designer suits didn't make that an obvious error.

I glance at the other example of far too human aliens, as Kal El ate a cocktail frankfurter. He was listening to Flash beside the woman, Quake who was quite obviously the metahuman Goldie White I introduced to him. She waves as I enter, further proving my theory.

"Oh, I see you already know her. You do get around, indeed." Diana added, smiling softly.

The man in a scaled suit suit with a trident, Aquaman no doubt, looked up and began to walk towards us, the tall… it seems superfluous to mention beauty as all the heroines I've met are gorgeous, but the red-head following him was very striking.

"Magnus." Aquaman said "I and my people are in your debt." He clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Your actions to bring the cause of Atlantis to the Justice League's attention have saved many of the lives of my people. The enemy were in the middle of bombarding our cities when Captain Marvel here and his colleagues arrived to turn the tides."

I nodded. "I would have gone personally, but the chance to strike at this place, the heart of the enemy power was too important."

He nodded. "Yes, it was a fine tactical decision."

"Which worked out better than expected, I understand." Mera added. "It does make a fine base, even if it still smells a little ripe."

Alien corpses unfortunately rot just like human ones. So, in this enclosed environment the smell still lingered even after disintegration rays, teleporters and cleaning products had removed the problem. It was fading at least.

"This is the Divine Messenger that follows you?" Mera asked, looking closely at Gunnr.

"I wouldn't say she is one of those, so much as physical form of a concept. Strategic war, specifically." I replied, reaching out to catch a can of orange soft drink I pulled from the drinks table with my powers.

"Your powers are not supposed to be magic, are they? I thought I felt something just now from you." The Queen asked.

"I do have some kind of empowering from The Melt that I have yet to understand, but mostly my powers are psychic." I answered. "Which probably intrigues you, as an experienced Magic Practitioner. You've heard I have some complicated precognition, I suppose?"

"Yes, but seers are hardly infallible. The magic of The Melt in particular fascinates me, it is one of the things that fell out of touch with Atlanteans following The Sinking, metals, ores and the arts to use them are exceedingly rare undersea." Mera replied. "Also, I have heard that you are starting a new magic school? Bravo."

I nodded. "We are still trying to find our own methods and develop experts, aside from that it was going well until today. If you are interested in obscure magic I would point you towards Green Lantern... Alan Scott who is in possession of a magic ring and lantern based on an alien device that uses willpower. Captain Marvel is also magically empowered… I'm not sure if Red Tornado is a robot or an elemental, but Batman could certainly use some help at some stage. His city is under a particularly dreadful curse. Some way to mitigate it or break it would be a godsend to him."

"I tested him during the battle, Red Tornado is not an elemental." Mera answered before grinning. "But these things sound fascinating. Curses aren't my speciality but I know some experts who currently feel indebted to the Justice League. They will not be hard to persuade to investigate."

I glanced over at Gunnr who was giving her version of our exploits in the war to Aquaman.

"You wouldn't happen to have any charms to defend against mental magic and influences? I had a run in with a masterfully skilled wizard, who while under-powered compared to the typical sorcerers Atlantis uses is by no means inferior. He's also perhaps the greatest living demonologist on top of that. You saw his handiwork in London I believe."

Mera looked sickened at the thought.

"He's well meaning… it's just complicated." I shrugged.

"I'll see you have some appropriate charms before you leave, but you should know that someone skilled can find ways around them. In fact, I am surprised he got through your defences so easily." She replied.

"Defences?" I asked not understanding.

"The ring you wear, it is carved whole from a dragon scale. I've only seen one other like it. The enchantments upon it include a significant mental protection effect, an anti-scrying effect and a wellness charm. I would say that your assailant got lucky, but perhaps he saw the weakness it has for non-malicious mental effects?" She explained.

Dragon scale?! Whose grave did I take it from…? Siegfried? Beowulf? I'm going to guess Beowulf since Siegfried didn't need health reinforcing charms, he was already near-invulnerable. Beowulf died killing the dragon… so it would have been made posthumously, as a grave gift.

Well damn… I knew Frigg liked mothering me but this is more than a little excessive. A ring that might have been made from Fafnir's own scales. Perhaps a spark of the dragon's will remains in it?

"I'm sorry did I confuse you? I forget you are so young..." Mera explained, apologetic.

"Eh, you revealed the final reason why a goddess sent me on a wild goose chase, I didn't know what it did." I explained.

"Well that won't do at all. Artefacts are dangerous, I insist I be the one to examine any arcane trinkets you obtain that remain unexplained." Mera fussed.

Great… yet another older woman getting maternal about my welfare.

Just shoot me now!