Saving the Future Part 3: That’s the Way the Story Goes Previously: Part One by Dancer Part Two by Visionary     Hatman stood at the window of the Lair Legion team leader’s office – he still had difficulty sometimes thinking of it as his office – and stared out past the rain-soaked glass into the darkness. “It’s done,” he said. “Some of the others don’t like it. I don’t like it.”     Jay Boaz’ visitor shifted in his chair, sipped his coffee. “It’s necessary. Nobody has to like it.”     Hatman turned back to face his guest. “I have questions. We’ve taken an awful lot on trust because of old associations.”     The Chronicler of Stories drained his mug and leaned back. “Ask them,” he said.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Let’s start with you,” the capped crusader suggested. “And the Dark Knight.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“What about me?” the Chronicler replied. “You know how the cosmic Triumvirate’s offices are filled. Someone is carved out of their normal lifeline and appointed to maintain the Parodyverse. Sometimes that person is called at the moment of their death. If they’re not then often a duplicate version of themselves is created to remain in the time and place they were taken from, to prevent the narrative being disturbed.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You and Dark Knight were different versions of the same man,” Hatman noted. “You were taken to become the Chronicler of Stories, monitoring the narrative flow of the Parodyverse. He stayed on to become the urban vigilante who joined the Lair Legion.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s more complicated than that in my case,” conceded the Chronicler, “A lot more complicated. But let’s say that’s the shorthand version.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where’s DK now, then?” demanded Jay. “He was one of us, one of our most trusted. But he died, more than once. And every time he came back…”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“He was a little darker,” suggested the Chronicler. “Death isn’t just a revolving door, even for him. Pieces of you get lost.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Almost the last time we saw him… he was insane. He murdered a U.S. senator. Before that he’d tried to nuke a city.”     The Chronicler shifted uncomfortably. “There were reasons that he considered good. I have enemies, and one of those enemies turned to him to get at me. But then, you’ve met the King of Stories, haven’t you?”     Hatman had been lost in Faerie, frozen in agony for time beyond telling through the machinations of the first and greatest of the Chroniclers. “I know him,” he breathed.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Then imagine if the King of Stories focussed his full malevolence against you. Imagine if he twisted your beloved murdered wife into a hate-filled revenant to tear your life apart. Imagine if he despoiled everything you loved, destroyed your life’s work, rendered all the sacrifice and pain you’d suffered meaningless. Imagine that and you’re beginning to glimpse what happened to the Dark Knight you knew.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where’s DK now?” asked Hatman. “Can we help him?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“He’s not here any more,” answered the Chronicler of Stories. “Maybe later, but not now.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re the keeper of the narratives, though,” complained the leader of the Lair Legion. “Surely you could protect your own other self?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I could. I didn’t. I have a job to do and sometimes I have to make choices. Sometimes I have to make sacrifices.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“But the Dark Knight…”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“He’d be the first to agree,” said the Chronicler. “And I have helped him. He’s not here any more.”     Hatman moved on. “These sacrifices you have to make, then… is one of them Danny Lyle?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’ve contained him,” the Chronicler declared. It wasn’t a question. “That is necessary.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Contained him for now,” Hatman clarified. “We can’t keep him sedated forever. Dream’s already starting to quote comics and movies, and it’s only a matter of time before Dancer calls me up and reverses the charges. Vizh is calming Kerry – as calmed as Kerry ever gets – with chocolate and ice cream. But it’s a temporary situation. Al B’s working on Danny’s DNA sampling.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“The sample will only tell you that the potential exists for this iteration of Daniel Lyle to also do what the Moderator did,” replied the Chronicler. “The most effective solution to prevent this is for you to terminate Lyle before he awakes.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“That won’t be happening,” Hatman assured his guest. “Lyle can be annoying but he’s not done anything deserving of that.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Danny Lyle you hold in custody is a murderer,” the Chronicler revealed. “He caused the death of Lord and Master from Young Heckfire. It was premeditated murder, to prevent Slaughter threatening Kerry Shepherdson again.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Even if that’s true there’s no way to prove it,” Hatman noted. “‘Because ‘the Chronicler of Stories said it’ isn’t admissible as court evidence.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“He’s killed others too. He only tempers his behaviour around the Shepherdson girl – and she’s hardly the best calming influence around. And as we have seen from other realities if he once turns on her then he becomes unstoppable. Do you want to gamble the future of the Parodyverse on Lyle and Shepherdson settling down and becoming a stable happy family?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I… It could happen,” stammered Jay Boaz. “Maybe.” He slammed his fist against the wall. “We can’t punish someone for what they might one day do, possibly, perhaps.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can. You choose not to. There’s a distinction.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, well then we choose not to. We’ll address Danny’s situation another way. We’ll…” Hatman gritted his teeth. “There’ll be a solution, dammit!”     The Chronicler waited.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where’s Epitome?” Hatman demanded again.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I could tell you. I choose not to.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is Epitome’s disappearance part of this whole Moderator mess? Everyone else popped right back afterwards as far as we know. So why not him? We even got a couple of extras, because there was a minor change in reality that kept a kid called Salieri Meng and his mom from being killed in the Parody War so they…” Jay halted in mid-sentence. “It’s not some kind of payback, is it? Some kind of cosmic quid pro quo. Meng in, Epitome out? Because if so…”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Hooded Hood was involved,” the Chronicler noted. “It’s never going to be that simple.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Hood is Danny’s father,” Hatman remembered. “And you’re claiming his mother is Symmetry of Synchronicity, our old foe who’s now one of your Triumvirate as Shaper of Worlds?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes. That’s why Lyle has such potential for damaging the Parodyverse. If you don’t execute him now you might end up weeping on a dead planet beneath a burning sky regretting that you once had the chance to prevent it all but allowed pale ethics to damn all of existence.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is this a Hooded Hood plot?” demanded the capped crusader. “Where is the Hood? Is he really dead?”     The Chronicler hesitated. “I… don’t know,” he admitted at last. “The Hood has taken precautions during his many schemes, measures to render him difficult for cosmic office-holders to track. That bastard.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“But you know about Danny. So what are the chances he’ll do what you fear, that he’ll somehow become this terrible Parodyverse-breaking archvillain? What odds? One in two? One in ten? One in a hundred?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I am the Chronicler of Stories, keeper of the narratives. I see the weft of the multiverse, the tides of plot and character, the secret eddies of revelation. I am warning you as current leader of the champions of nexus planet Earth that if you do not destroy Danny Lyle you may be dooming this Parodyverse. If you don’t take action then the Triumvirate will have to.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I can just see Symmetry agreeing to wipe out her own son,” snorted Hatman. “And I notice you’ve kept Lisa out of this so far. You think she’s going to buy your brand of safeguarding?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Lisa and Symmetry are new in office,” replied the Chronicler. “They have yet to learn that we are slaves as much as masters. Power and responsibility. I would shield them from those brutal truths for as long as I can. But if you and the Legion will not do what you must then the Triumvirate shall.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“And what’s that? Let’s hear the threat!”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“No threat. I’m not going to play the villain here. But there will have to be… sanctions. Adjustments. Epitome’s disappearance will seem minor. Earth can’t continue as the nexus planet. And once you lose that focus you won’t be at the centre of the stories any more.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is that a bad thing?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Only if you know what happens to supporting characters that aren’t needed any longer.”     Hatman felt a chill run up his spine. “We’re not talking more happy endings, are we?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Earth has made many enemies. While you remain the focal point of the narratives you stand a chance of holding them back. If the nexus passes elsewhere then you’re a one-page subplot in someone else’s tale. The villain will annihilate you all just to generate some heel-heat.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Unless we kill Danny.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Unless you kill Danny Lyle,” agreed the Chronicler of Stories. “I’m sorry. That’s the way the story goes. Once the Moderator had done what he did there was no other future that could be allowed.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I asked you the chances of Danny doing what you fear,” Hatman challenged. “You never answered.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“At the moment?” frowned the Chronicler. “The future is always changing, always clouded, and never more so than just after a reality storm.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ll take your best estimate.”     The Chronicler of Stories nodded. “Then I’d have to say one in one. A hundred percent chance. If you do not destroy Danny Lyle then he will destroy you all.” Continued… *** The Hooded Hood's Homepage of Doom Who's Who in the Parodyverse Where's Where in the Parodyverse Original concepts, characters, and situations copyright © 2008 reserved by Ian Watson. Other Parodyverse characters copyright © 2008 to their creators. The use of characters and situations reminiscent of other popular works do not constitute a challenge to the copyrights or trademarks of those works. The right of Ian Watson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved.

Well, this certainly puts us in a pickle. I think Hatman would latch onto that "future is always changing" remark made just before he's told the odds of Danny becoming the Moderator as hope that maybe Danny won't turn on the Parodyverse. I think you covered Hatman's reactions pretty well here so I don't think I need to elaborate further; the statement "we can't punish someone for something they may do" sums it up.

It's ironic that Epitome had disappeared considering he may have been one of the ones who favoured sanctioning Danny.

~Hat~

So Hatty's not one of the "time-travel back and kill Hitler as a baby" crowd. But there's still a few decisions he has to make:

How much of the Chronicler's assertion does he pass on to the LL? To the governments of the world?

Who makes the call about Danny's future? Hatty? LL vote? SPUD? The UN?

Is Danny allowed to wake up and speak in his own defence?

Who explains all this to Kerry, and how? Who pays for the damage afterwards?

What if the Chronicler seeks to sanction Danny? Will the LL defend him?

What if the Chronicler seeks to remove the Nexus from Earth, leaving Earth vulnerable to dying in sub-plots, robbing it of its destiny? Would the LL battle to stop the Chronicler?


Possibly so.

So is this an official round robin or do you have an end game in mind.

Quite the conundrum for our heroes. With Danny prophesized as the possible Parodyverse destroyer, and Kerry as the possible Celestial Madonna, maybe them hooking up can cancel out each others' destinies?

Or they could just play it safe and kill the guy.

What happened to your original plan?


Shep seems to think it's an open RR, given the amount of badgering she used to get me to write something. Apparently Vizh set it going by writing #2 - at least in Sarahworld.

I have a couple of possibilities for how to end this (and even how to bring Epitome back if you want) but we might just wait and see how folks cope with the moral dilemma for a bit if they want to contribute - and it might even end up finishing in ways we don't envisage.


Or maybe that's how the Parodyverse gets destroyed?

It's almost as if some powerful force were plotting to prevent them getting together.


It's a valid option.

Well, it looks like things aren't going to be simple with this one after all. I don't really know that there's anyone on the LL who would go along with killing Danny, even with the Chronicler's dire prediction. Of course, as the powers that be, we know that his threat of moving the nexus is a bluff... we're not going to suddenly start writing long, multipart stories set on Caph or... um... uh-oh.

In any event, some heavy issues. I'd say the biggest problem is whether word gets out, and if the LL has to protect Danny from others, both on Earth and from elsewhere who might like to see the universe saved and don't mind wasting the son of the Hooded Hood to do it.

Have you met Shep?


Heh.

So, the line-up for the Caphan Lair Legion is probably Vaahir, Pel, Miiri, Vespiir, Hacker 9, Kriije, and the Manga Shoggoth. Operating out of the ruins of the House of Raael they battle for truth and good-quality slavery against a universe that hates and fears them.

Really it's Flapjack's dream job.


Yes, I was thinking that might be the next good complication to throw in.

Originally he was going to wind up a prisoner back on Apocalyspe, but with Kambyon I scratched that particular story-telling itch.




Sarahworld: if you lived here "Happiness" would be finished by now.



I do have a couple ideas that could complicate things, though given my recent tendencies of not finsihing stories I don't want to add plotlines others are forced to wrap up.



I wouldn't call Vizh "powerful." Easily underestimated maybe.

And scratched it very well, I'd say.

Do you want this RR to deal Epitome back in? It easily could, later on. I also want to involve Doorman and maybe others if I can.

> Sarahworld: if you lived here "Happiness" would be finished by now.

If we lived there we'd all be a good deal happier.

> I do have a couple ideas that could complicate things, though given my recent tendencies of not finishing stories I don't want to add plotlines others are forced to wrap up.

That's pretty much the definition of a Round Robin. The upside is that it allows us to get some ideas out of our systems without having to feel too obligated to commit to a massive follow-up.

> > It's almost as if some powerful force were plotting to prevent them getting together. > I wouldn't call Vizh "powerful." Easily underestimated maybe.

So you're not for the Dark Visionary storyline, then?

Epitome's return can wait. Doorman getting involved would be a hoot, if that's the way Hatty wants to go.



I don't know, the constant dieting and exercise sound like significant drawbacks to me.



Pencil me in for Part Six then.



I've been waiting to read "Undesirables" for years, so no. (EDIT:Which is to say I am for it).

...because it ties in neatly with my next story post. There's a short scene at the beginning about trust, and how it relates to what happened with Danny Lyle.

What's interesting about what seems to be happening is, Faite would disagree completely with the Triumverate. She's never interfered with them before, but she may be inclined to give Hatman advice. She doesn't believe Danny has to be killed now, because there are still so many opportunities to change him.

And while she doesn't trust Danny right now either, Liu Xi would definitely take issue with the Triumverate's strategy. What if they decided that she needs to die too because she's so powerful and she killed a couple of people too? Or because she has a "condensed" Necronastycon? She doesn't want to die, and she hopes she has enough friends who don't want her to die either. If Danny is killed, she would worry about her own future, and become a lot more paranoid and frightened.

Also I suspect that a side effect of the changes to Caph will eventually be as follows: First, a civil war or two. But then, when they get over that, they'll discover their limiting such a large percentage of their population was holding them back. In the long run they'll become one of the largest and most technically advanced people the Lair Legion knows of, and it just may save Earth someday.

I say he should tell the LL but not the governments. It's not like the governments can do anything about it.



Fight fire with fire. The Triumverate likes having meetings and making decisions, so the LL should form one of its own with a few near-cosmic beings.



I don't know, but it's likely Liu Xi and Kerry will advocate for him. Liu Xi may also consider waking him up on her own to ask him, and she has just the "waking dream" spell to do it.



Someone who can't be burned. I suppose they can send fire-resistant Anna to tell her. Or Hatman can wear his Paradopolis Fire Department cap.



That sounds like a Sir Mumphrey problem, since the pocket watch can stop the Chronicler.



That's the kind of change I mentioned would annoy Faite, and probably violate the Chronicler's office. Though Faite knows it's too late to use the old "violation of office" threat if it's already done...so Faite may actually consider arranging the death of the Chronicler before it happens ("arranging" because she probably won't do it herself, but she might help the LL do it). She might seek the support of other cosmic beings before doing something like that.

We'll wait and see what Jay wants.


Shep has some wonderful ways of burning calories.

> Pencil me in for Part Six then.

Talk to the director. I'm just staff here.

> > > > It's almost as if some powerful force were plotting to prevent them getting together. > > > I wouldn't call Vizh "powerful." Easily underestimated maybe. > > So you're not for the Dark Visionary storyline, then? > I've been waiting to read "Undesirables" for years, so no. (EDIT:Which is to say I am for it).

Sounds like a job for Visonary then.

Why not? If they're aware of Danny's threat there are decision-making processes and judicial systems which can determine a just response. What gives the LL the right to decide on the future of mankind?


Near-cosmic beings?


She has? Since when?

Remember when she used to have elemental powers?


Take some weenies.


Actually it can't except under very rare circumstances. Each cosmic office holder is master of their own domain (the Keeper of the Chronometer is very effective versus time disruptions) but the Triumverate are a league above the rest and have vast domains. Their role includes keeping an eye on the others, so they have to be able to override minor office holders And when the Triumverate act together on something their power is very nearly unstoppable.

There are now two major exceptions to this omnipotence. The first is that because they were once manipulated into using their full power to bring about the Resolution War they have now had to use their full power to cancel their previous actions. This means that they can no longer bring their power to bear to affect the Resolution War. The second is that the Triumverate can no longer directly affect the Hooded Hood.



On the contrary it would be a perfect example of the extreme and hardest part of the Chronicler's office, something he might not want to do but must do to maintain his charge.


There there would be war in heaven.

Proceed.


She has her sources of knowledge, the Triumvirate have theirs.


That's like a burglar saying "I really don't like how the cops went after that other burglar. Why, they might come after me next!"


Or they could get eaten by Galactivac.

If the government is informed, there will be one answer and one answer only. Governments aren't in the business of looking for alternatives.



Sir Mumphrey Wilton, Dancer, CSFB!...those that have some ability to affect change in the Parodyverse (Faite remains neutral, and Lara doesn't count because she's not from the Parodyverse).



Her elemental power has been neutralized so many times she decided to pick up a few spells to protect herself. None of them are particularly potent, but they have funny names and surprising uses.

"Waking Dream" can wake someone who's in a drug-induced sleep or coma long enough to answer a few questions. The "One Fifth" spell shrinks items to one-fifth the size and power. I make them up as I go, it's fun coming with the the appropriate names.



I'm sure Yuki will bring plenty.



But it would go beyond his immediate authority to take it away wouldn't it?



Which would be bad. I guess.

I think Hatty would tell the rest of the LL. As to the governments of the world, on PV earth we've seen time and again they can't really handle something of this magnitude. Does it set the LL up as arbiters of right and wrong for the whole planet? Sort of, but that's the nature of superhero stories.


I think the LL would make the call. When Hatman first became leader you likened him to the captain of a sports team who involves his teammates in big decisions; when the Hood came to confront Hatty when he first took command he called the entire team in to hear his spiel rather than go it alone.


I think Hatman would feel that should be allowed.


Visionary.

Innocent until proven guilty.


Well, the LL could trust that their "readership" (we've established that the PV is made of stories but never who the reader is) would be interested enough in them that they would remain the Nexus regardless of the Chronicler's interference.

If Earth was no longer the Nexus, I think the LL would just have to trust in their own powers and abilities to protect it.


~Hat~

There aren't any warning signs at the moment. Living among Kerry, Visionary, and the Lair Legion, Danny is far more likely right now to reject becoming anything dangerous.



Liu Xi has a deep-rooted fear of being pegged as something too dangerous to be allowed because of her past. If it happens to Danny, and the circumstances feel similar, it will frighten her a lot.

She'd worry about...What if this is a new crusade by the Triumverate and not just about Danny? Or what if it's decided that once the threat of Danny has been eliminated, it's time to work the way down to smaller possible threats?



If that doesn't happen first.

And what happens next week if Kerry gets slaughtered by Baroness Zemo? Or if Danny and Kerry have their final break-up? Or if the Purveyors of Peril want his leadership again? Or if he is proven in law to have committed crimes requiring him to face life imprisonment or the death sentence?

> > > And while she doesn't trust Danny right now either, Liu Xi would definitely take issue with the Triumverate's strategy. What if they decided that she needs to die too because she's so powerful and she killed a couple of people too? Or because she has a "condensed" Necronastycon? She doesn't want to die, and she hopes she has enough friends who don't want her to die either. If Danny is killed, she would worry about her own future, and become a lot more paranoid and frightened. > > That's like a burglar saying "I really don't like how the cops went after that other burglar. Why, they might come after me next!"

> Liu Xi has a deep-rooted fear of being pegged as something too dangerous to be allowed because of her past. If it happens to Danny, and the circumstances feel similar, it will frighten her a lot.

She might be too dangerous. She's already killed in anger and murdered to preserve the Doomherald's life. She's threatened to use the Necronastycon to end all life on Earth and appears to have the power and access to do so. In some people's books that would make her a clear and present danger.

> She'd worry about...What if this is a new crusade by the Triumverate and not just about Danny? Or what if it's decided that once the threat of Danny has been eliminated, it's time to work the way down to smaller possible threats?

They work to strict rules of engagement. She'd have to do something bad on a cosmic level to come under their jurisdiction.

There's got to be a tie-in there somewhere.



So the world's governments can't trust the leader of the LL. Interesting.



That'll make for an interesting scene.


Heh.


Who decides guilt and innocence in matters like this, and by what canon of law?



The Triumverate may worry because the readership appears to be diminishing and that might denote it's time for a new nexus.

> If Earth was no longer the Nexus, I think the LL would just have to trust in their own powers and abilities to protect it.

When your book is cancelled you're at the mercy of other writers.

That doesn't answer why the LL has a right to make decisions for the whole planet.

> > > > Who makes the call about Danny's future? Hatty? LL vote? SPUD? The UN? > > > Fight fire with fire. The Triumverate likes having meetings and making decisions, so the LL should form one of its own with a few near-cosmic beings. > > Near-cosmic beings? > Sir Mumphrey Wilton, Dancer, CSFB!...those that have some ability to affect change in the Parodyverse (Faite remains neutral, and Lara doesn't count because she's not from the Parodyverse).

It's an interesting idea. What does the LL's tactical and intelligence advisor Yuki think about the threat assessment, though? What preparations is she making?

> > On the contrary it would be a perfect example of the extreme and hardest part of the Chronicler's office, something he might not want to do but must do to maintain his charge. > But it would go beyond his immediate authority to take it away wouldn't it?

The Chronicler's power levels and authority have never been fully mapped.

> > There there would be war in heaven. > Which would be bad. I guess.

Let's see what happens in the RR.

They're trusted to solve problems so the govt doesn't have to get involved. If the govt does get involved, they have to assume it's something the LL can't handle, and they'd go heavy handed.



Yuki would wake up Danny to give him a fighting chance. She believes that even if the Chronicler is right, he's not particularly dangerous just yet. Plus she would ask the next most cosmic person she knows...Lara...who would tell her it's entirely possible that the Chronicler's threats are what *cause* Danny to become The Moderator.



Noted.



I haven't yet thought of a place to enter the tale.

He has other friends. And there's a chance the break-up will be Danny's idea instead. After all, no one explained why Liu Xi was almost turned into the Moderator's bride. Maybe he's interested in other people too.



From her point of view she had no choice.

She tried to preserve the Doomherald's life because she thought he was her ticket out of limbo, or she could die there. Of course dying there is more legal and morally dignified, but it wouldn't have worked out well for her.

She used the Necronastycon only when she thought the last of the rebellion was gone and she was the only chance to end the Moderator's version of reality. She firmly believed what Faite and Lara told her - that once the Moderator was defeated, things would reset to normal. It was a calculated risk, because anything was better than watching the Parodyverse destroy itself.

Now, in another excersize lacking choice...Liu Xi isn't holding on to the mini-Necronastycon because she wants to keep it handy. It's more like she's stuck with it, because she doesn't want to trust handing it over to anyone else.



Danny hasn't "done" anything either...yet. They're talking about eliminating him because they think he will. What happens if they think the risk of Liu Xi using the Necronastycon (or remembering too much about it) is too great, and it's time to get rid of her?

Not saying they will, but that worry is why Liu Xi would be so set against judging Danny before he's done anything yet.

>

I'm more looking at precedent. During the Parody War Sir Mumphrey was elected as leader of Earth's defenses, and then he promptly ignored pretty much anything the world government's threw at him. I can't think of any times where Jarvis, Lisa, Vizh, Finny, or Sir Mumphrey consulted with the world government's about cosmic level threats. So while I guess that doesn't make your statement untrue, it means it's not just Hatty.


Again, just following precedent.


The court of right and wrong. Okay, that sounds really corny, but it's what Captain America would say.


Or perhaps a small number of readership will rise up and fight for their favourite title? (I'm thinking specifically of Spider-Girl here, which has faced cancellation 2 or 3 times and has been saved each time by fan campaigns)


Good thing we've got a cowled crime czar with retcon powers with a vested interest in his continued existence.

~Hat~

Well, I can tell you that Vizh and especially Hallie would both be seriously freaked out to hear that Liu Xi is keeping (and has considered using) a copy of the Necronastycon, be it the prime copy or not. I don't see them trusting her with it... They'd both want to know why it wasn't handed over to Ebony and buried somewhere nobody is going to get to it. Vizh might listen to an answer, but I don't think Hallie would.

As I said though, Liu Xi has the book only because she doesn't know how to get rid of it. She doesn't tell anyone because she's afraid the only reaction she'll get is people telling her "Just get rid of it! Anything is better than you having it." Only she knows that's not true, because she can think of a lot of worse things.

All Visionary or Hallie berating her for it would do is make her feel bad about a situation she doesn't want, but takes seriously because she knows how bad it can get.