Suicide Notes: The Great Detective

[itsastretch]

Pacing back and forth loses something in a wheelchair. Regardless, he's been doing a lot of it. So many things just not adding up. And when the math doesn't work, then it means some of the numbers are wrong

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[mrs_dibny]

She's been busy. Between setting up the new diplomatic outlet for the JLA to members of the UN and affiliated countries and other moments of stupid, as well as getting together what will be her final report and press release regarding Degeneration Y - which she shouldn't hold off on much longer...

Ah, the goddamn holidays.

It's been so busy she hasn't seen Ralph lately. She just was able to give him the bare bones about here encounter with Ray, Faust Jr., and the knife thing. Worse, the kid dropped off the damn radar and she spent what free time she can watching Alanah and trying to remotely find him - which isn't working. Could be nothing. Hopefully it's nothing. He does hate cape stuff after all.

Truth also is...with everything with Jean and losing Ray...she hasn't wanted to look.

She owes Ray more than that.

"How's it coming, hon?"

[itsastretch]

"Slowly. But the body we have doesn't seem to be Ray Palmer. Which just sets up a whole lot of other questions I don't have answers to yet. But I think I've pieced together the events of the night... well, other than the part where this isn't Ray Palmer."

[mrs_dibny]

She'd like to crawl into his lap. It helps them both relax and Alanah tends to love to fall asleep like that. the doctors have all said "no." She goes to work on his shoulders instead. It's so odd not to find them rubbery.

"What do you mean 'not Ray?' It was his genetic material, right?"

[itsastretch]

"Yes, it was definitely his genetic material, which means a clone, magical duplicate, or.... something. So now we need to find out what happened to the real Ray Palmer, and where Enchantress and Chronos fit in to all of this."

[mrs_dibny]

She runs a hand through her hair.

"I've been trying to find Faust, Jr. No luck, but that's not surprising." She growls just a little. "Maybe someone sacrificed 'a,' Ray for that blade, but not, 'the,' Ray." A thought occurs to her. "Or someone sacrificed the Atom to spare Ray..." She huffs. "Oh...I don't know. I just have this feeling that damn magical whatzit is tied into all this, which just feels like a bad joke with Ray being an atheist. I mean lab accident or supervillain, sure. Hocus-pocus...no. Just no."

"But you say he could be alive in all this?"

[itsastretch]

"I don't want to hold out too much hope, given that he hasn't contacted us... properly anyhow, something bad has almost certainly happened... but anything is possible right now."

[mrs_dibny]

Her arms wrap around him. He usually does that, not the other way around, and rubs the side of her head against his own.

"Want me to run over the conversation with Faust again?"

[itsastretch]

"Yes, please do. Anything could be important."

[mrs_dibny]

"Okay, I tracked him to Detroit and I thought maybe he was after something in the old base. That, and..." She sighs. "The whole Enchantress situation doesn't make me sleep particularly. And Ray's behavior? I wanted to look in on him away from the JLA."

[itsastretch]

He nods thoughtfully. "Good idea. So, what did you find?"

[mrs_dibny]

"First, he looked tired. Completely at wit's end, but Ray operates just fine in that zone. Better than fine..."

"Save the world's tuckas," fine.

"He was looking at this like a scientist - even knowing he was dealing with magic. Since Enchantress was last seen alive before this with him..."

"He seemed to think Enchantress was a either a hybrid personality or an entity needing a host or maybe even a split personality situation. Not like we haven't seen those before. He seemed more than driven though. At least at first. More like 'skeptical last second hope.'"

[itsastretch]

"Unfortunately, Ray was always the scientist first, magic proved a problem more than once. But he knew his psychology. I'm also pretty sure there was a lot of guilt there over Jean, so he would have been driven."

[mrs_dibny]

"Yes, but as low as he was - he was focused and he was tackling it. The bad news came when we tracked down Faust. He wasn't happy to see us, but the Enchantress got his attention. He drinks like a fish and I think a good deal of the reason would be June Moon - Enchantress One."

[itsastretch]

He nods, considering these details. "The first Enchantress, right... quite a legacy. Ok, go on..."

[mrs_dibny]

"He transports us, a little drunk, to June Moone's bedside. She's been in a coma since a mission the old Outsiders went on."

"According to Faust, June used to be Mary Marvel Pollyanna and then the mystical something came by and - Enchantress by night, June by day. But the entity, whatever it was, gave her the powers to fight evil. That seemed not to be the case as time went on."

[itsastretch]

"It gave her the powers, but eventually, the powers, or the personality behind them, had to come out. Right."