#iolande

Soranik blinked at the man. His casual swagger, silent pride with which he held himself. He was unrepentant, totally at ease with what he just admitted to her and Io. He looked them as if he expected them to laugh, to joke alongside him about the very real and lasting consequences his actions have had.

She saw red.

Io reached out, a gentle touch to her forearm before Soranik could open her mouth in her blinding fury, her own voice quietly and expertly restrained from years of diplomacy. "You assaulted Lantern Gardner," she clarified. "You admit that?"

Wayne huffed slightly, a grumble like an affirmative thrumming through the air. Not enough because Soranik knew what Io was trying to do. "What gave you grounds to do that?" she asked, holding her anger tight in her chest. "Was he acting out? Being difficult? Did you believe you needed to, what, put him in his place?"

Kyle made a little despairing noise at the back of his throat. Gardner remained completely silent which set off every alarm bell in Soranik's head.

With an imperious air, Wayne looked down on the both of them. Soranik bit her lip so she wouldn't say anything right off the bat. "You work with him. You understand how he can be."

"Of course I do," she said with a sharp smile. "He's a good Lantern to cover your back. Just help me understand what your thought process was for knocking him out."

"To shut him up."

Soranik and Iolande exchanged a glance. Io's eyes danced in mirth which only had the corners of her own lips twitching upwards. Humans and their arrogance. Wayne resembled a particularly awful version of Jordan. And Jordan was hardly perfect himself but at least he didn't go out of his way to brag about exacerbating brain damage.

Io spoke while Soranik's ring flashed, construct chains and manacles clapping over Wayne's wrists, ankles and even his waist before anyone could speak. "Bruce Wayne, you have been hereby charged with assault of a member of the Green Lantern Honour Guard. You will be taken back to Oa for formal questioning and trial. Please," she continued when Wayne's mouth opened, shock and outrage plain on his face, "keep your mouth closed. It would serve you best to not dig yourself deeper into this hole."

His jaw clicked shut and he looked over at Kyle, eyes wild and furious. "Rayner." He said Kyle's name as if it was an order. Soranik did not care for that at all.

Kyle looked between Soranik and Wayne before he threw up his hands, a sheepish half-smile on his face. "They've got a point. You really shouldn't have bragged about that to actual Green Lanterns. We're very serious about protecting our own, right Guy?"

Guy had seemed to go blank, eyes wide and unblinking as he took in the sight before him. It took Kyle nudging him gently for him to snap back into his body. "Huh? Uh, yeah, sure. We, uh, we really arrestin' Brucie?"

"Of course," Soranik said tartly. "Kyle, if you would lead the way? I'm sure your human friends need to hear of this development."

"I have children," Wayne growled as Soranik began to pull him along, uncaring of his struggles and reluctance. "I can't go to trial."

"Find a babysitter," she said airily.

When they arrived at a wide room with a colourful assortment of various people from different species entirely, they stopped. Everyone stared. The humiliation might do this man good, honestly. There was no need for this, after all.

"Uh," started the man in blue and red. "Kyle? What--what is all this?"

Io stepped forward gracefully, commanding the room with a glance. "Greetings. I am Queen Iolande of Betrassus and this is my partner, Soranik Natu of Korugar. I expect you are all very confused by this turn of events and my partner and I were too. But we are here to arrest this man for assaulting a Green Lantern officer. We will be returning to Oa with him shortly."

A man in blue and black blinked, absolutely stunned. "B. Did you--did you punch a queen?"

Io tilted her head, smiling beatifically. "No. This was a previous assault on Lantern Gardner and we have warranted it serious enough for further investigation."

"You can't take him!" A child, really, all gangly limbs and greasy black hair, stepped up while tapping a long pole on the ground nervously. "Hey, c'mon, this has to be some kind of misunderstanding. You can't take Batman."

Soranik grinned, all teeth. "And who are you, exactly, to question my judgement?"

He spluttered for a second before stepping forward with a vaguely menacing energy. Kyle threw up a glimmering construct wall before he could get too closer. "No, Red Robin," he said sharply. "You attack the Queen of Betrassus and you start a war with those people. You get me? He probably won't be gone long. Promise."

"Indeed," Io said dryly, a twist of humour on her lips. "With any luck, I may be able to talk the Guardians down from an outright death sentence."

"What?"

"Okay!" Gardner finally exclaimed, smiling faintly. "No one's dyin'! He ain't even do that much to warrant a prison sentence, yeah? Jus' sit tight for now, 'cos I dunno how far Red wants to stretch this."

"And like," Kyle rambled, "can I be so real with you guys right now?" He pointed behind him, directly at Wayne who had gone a lovely shade of pink. "He definitely needs this. Something to knock him down a couple of pegs. It's been a long time coming and I'm glad it's happening now like this."

The man in blue and red looked visibly pained. "Guy. Fix this."

"I can't, Supes." Gardner crossed his arms, shooting a fond look over at Soranik. "My hands are tied. We'll see ya in a couple weeks."

"Weeks?"

----

"...and I was telling Isamot to just, like, cool it for five seconds because Arisia looked like she was this close to testing how far the lethality on her ring went, right?"

John nodded along, not really listening to whatever Hal was saying. Clearly, he needed an out and John was happy to be that person for him. Kyle stopped by about five minutes ago to ask them to check the holding cells quickly because Soranik and Iolande apparently brought in someone moderately high-profile and that was enough to warrant inspecting.

John just really hoped no one had caused a diplomatic incident. Kyle looked the most nervous he had ever been when he spoke to John. That definitely did not bode well.

"Hey, who d'you think Soranik brought in?" Hal asked as they neared the cells. "I hope it's Sinestro."

"I don't," John bit back tiredly. "Could you imagine how much of a nightmare he'd be?"

Hal grinned. "Nah. I'm his nightmare. If anything, I think it'd be--be..."

Whatever Hal was going to say petered off into nothing. John was right by with him as his own thoughts stuttered to a stop.

"Stewart. Jordan," Bruce said from within, chin tilted up to retain as much dignity as he could inside an Oan holding cell.

"What," John muttered, "the hell, Soranik?"

"I was hoping you two could assist me," Bruce went on, standing. John took a swift step back. "I need to get back to Earth."

John inhaled. Exhaled. And then, "No."

Bruce blinked. "No?"

"No," he repeated calmly. "Nope. You said something stupid, didn't you? To Soranik and Iolande? Yeah, I warned Kyle about taking a pitstop on Earth but he insisted. Said he needed Guy."

"It is about Gardner I wanted--"

"No!" John turned away completely. "No, I don't wanna know about whatever stupid gripe you have with Guy this time. I'm sick of it, Bruce. I don't care. You're Kyle's problem now. No, better yet, you're Soranik's problem. Don't ask about her dad. Let's go, Hal. Hal?"

John turned to Hal, who had not yet said anything, and found him staring open mouthed at Bruce, completely frozen. John snapped his fingers in front of Hal's face and sighed when there was no reaction. "You broke him," he said flatly. "You broke Hal. Good going, Bruce."

"I didn't--"

"Not my circus, not my monkeys!" John shouted at him, grabbing Hal by the arm and dragging him off towards the direction of Warriors. Hal went unresisting, head still angled towards Bruce, mouth hanging open.

"Stewart!" Bruce howled, sounding completely enraged by this point. "Come back here!"