Then my construct sheers cut her gun off at the elbow.
She's still glowing, so I guess the gun was-.
So, not wearing it on
that arm. Indeed, it may not be attached to
any limb. We've seen OL use his rings while they were embedded in his skull and chest...
The explosion washes over me, whatever anti-matter was still in the gun losing containment! The radiation isn't much of a problem, and there's no shockwave in space, but my construct armour has a few cracks in it by the time the energy wave passes over me. Nothing like the detonation of a power ring, so I'm assuming that she's wearing it somewhere-.
I'm assuming that she was wearing it somewhere else.
Green Lanterns only wear theirs on a convenient extremity out of habit, after all. Though it
does make recharging easier. So if you don't need to recharge,
well... And amusing that the exploding gun is the only real damage OL took in this fight.
It looks like between the hole made by her arm-stump, the holes I punched and the fact that she was much closer than me to the detonation means that… She's somewhat cooked. Still alive -if barely- but not in any condition to actually fight. The gun arm… Yeah, a containment breech. Can't have been much anti-matter, because the arm is still recognisably arm-shaped.
This is an opportunity.
To be fair,
any amount of anti-matter in something meant for close combat is probably too much. For
exactly this reason. Even as a suicide charge, it's excessive.
The host is in a coma, while the Scarab itself is at least somewhat active. It should be possible for me to remove it chirurgically as it looks like it's been forced into shutdown while still being functional enough that we could gain useful intelligence from it. I can't risk assimilating it, but...
Hm.
And since it's not trying to smack him with Green Constructs right now, it presumably needs the host's brain working to do so...
I could try altering its desires indirectly with orange light manipulation. I haven't tried that yet, and they might not be designed to self-destruct when I do that. I don't think that the Reach have any experience with that technique.
The armour is slowly growing back over the holes. I think that's an automatic thing, but just in case…
Is this really the time to be playing mad scientist? Last thing you need it the Scarab Warrior waking up in the middle of it and trying to gut you.
Again.
No. Just get the ring. There are other Scarabs.
The green light is at its most intense in the middle of her chest, behind the strongest part of her armour. Makes sense, but a precise application of crumbler probes there and there, and a small x-ionised blade…
Logical enough. Place it amongst the rest of her most heavily-armoured organs. After all, a Ring may be tough, but it can still be
broken...
Another spray of vaporised blood and the ring comes free, along with a chunk of armour and… Genetic scan? Modified duthellian tissue. Probably not a volunteer, then. Probably as brain dead as the ship crew. The ring looks about as it did in its former display case, though now it's got a little more of a glow to it.
I raise my right hand.
Come to me.
Well, now. Interesting to have it confirmed she's the same as the crew, but I'm more interested in the fact that he's exhibiting enough Will to get a response from a Green Ring. Then again, it's an atypical example of such...
The ring gleams and begins drifting my way-
"Illustres?"
-while the Scarab Warrior's armour bulges with shifting armour plates and semi-organic cables. I think the Scarab is trying to bypass the damaged tissue, but they're not really intended to work like that. I let the ring settle into my right ring finger, the environmental shield fighting against my orange one for a moment before being put in its place.
Okay, the Ring must be designed to operate on far lower levels of Will than the standard model. An interesting choice, Guardians.
"Illustres here. Are you in one piece, K'ryssma?"
"I will heal. Do you have the ring?"
Now, what to tell her... Lie, and claim it was destroyed or otherwise lost? Worth taking the reputation hit if he's found out? probably not.
"Yes."
I look at the new ring on my finger. Guy let me fiddle with his ring a grand total of once. I could… Sort of make constructs, but they were… Not great. Abstract mental focus isn't a skill I've really developed. Still, I can manage a basic-.
Joy of
Enlightenment. You're able to bypass the minimums other Lanterns need to learn. Unfortunately, that would naturally interfere with other colours. Probably cause mixed signals...
Warning! Unnatural Mental Influence detected!
A rotating cube construct that… Agh, every cube in my-. Off off off!
And thus we see why the Greenies went wonky. Mental realignment?
Nasty.
The cube vanished in a puff of green.
I look down at the ring.
Well.
That doesn't bode well.
Before I left, the Green Lantern comics were… Increasingly showing the Guardians as… Dodgy. The
Alpha Lanterns were the worse thing I remember them
intentionally doing… I don't know. I haven't gotten the impression that the local Guardians are like that. But… Larfleeze exists here. So they've been lying about that. Hinon confirmed that the Massacre of Sector 666 happened.
And this ring just tried to hotwire my brain into making better constructs. Better
green constructs.
And that's not the worst thing they've done, though the
very worst came out of the
New 52. It's probably a good thing, in this case, that his brain is optimised for Avarice...
"Yes, I've got it."
How trusting do I feel right now? I mean, K'ryssma hasn't been particular honest with me about what's going on, and… Frankly, the Guardians abdicated any responsibility regard the Reach when they signed their treaty. And I… Really don't want to have to deal with Guardians in evil mode. This ring looks like something that could end up taking them in some very unpleasant directions. But they've already got the technology anyway, and making an issue out of this might worsen relations between our organisations. I should probably-.
Give the Guardians an Inch, they'll take a Parsec...
<Renegade interrupt>
"And I'm sending it to Maltus. Invite the Guardians to address any complaints to the Controllers, and remind them that a little honesty goes a long way."
Nice.
Almost as satisfying as smacking people around, stabbing Kai Leng or headbutting an uppity Krogan.
"That is not yours to take."
I look at it. I could make it orange, but that might damage it.
Besides, the Controllers, and Hinon especially, should be able to reverse-engineer it,
without the mental drawbacks.
"The Controllers gave the ship back, didn't they? I put the work in, so I'm claiming the reward. If you want my help in future, start by being honest. End."
I look around local space. Doesn't look like the Reach shot at anything not on the planet's surface.
Well, besides
you. And congratulations on indulging your inner Larfleeze and grabbing the 'Shiny'.
"Illustres to Lantern Drusa. Cruiser and Scarab Warrior neutralised. Please secure the remains of the Reach ships in the hold of one of our cargo ships. Dump other cargo if you have to; those are going to L.E.G.I.O.N. intelligence."
"And the Scarab?"
With any luck,
that will be forthcoming.
I generate a construct chirurgical unit, blades at the ready. I've seen our data on removing Scarabs, and… It's never been done entirely successfully. If I keep her alive I could have our wizards take a stab at it, but I think that's taking an unnecessary risk. Find the Scarab, find the Scarab… Ah, the actually put it in the skull rather than on the upper spine this time, how creative. Crumble the build-up armour around the head, insert construct nutrient feeds into the brain…
Good.
Ironically, the wizards would probably have the
most success, given the canonical Khaji Da scarab. Still, he doesn't
remember that.
Take a snapshot of the brain. They might… Would they have had to leave this one a bit more compos mentis than the others? Not sure. Examining Scarab Warriors post mortem is always a little difficult. The Darkstars didn't bother trying to keep them in one piece before I arrived, and it hasn't become more of a priority now that they theoretically can.
Three, two, stab and shield!
Heh. To be fair, the Darkstars usually aren't working with the safety net of a Power Ring. And are usually too busy trying to
not die to worry about preserving their enemies' bodies.
And I have a brain. The Scarab should register the host's death a second later, but if I use an animation suspension-.
The Scarab atomises.
Well,
shit. That's going to be a running gag, isn't it? OL keeps getting
close to collecting a Scarab only for something to prevent it. Self-destruction, outside assault or just plain bad luck...
Though I'm pleased to note that a lot of the armour stays in one piece this time. Too badly damaged to fully self-destruct? Worth knowing.
Next step, then. These remains and this brain go onto a cargo ship in the most secure storage unit I can build, then I'm heading back to the planet to do some arm twisting.
Probably not going to take much effort, given the shitshow the Reach unleashed, 'rogue unit' or not. I foresee the Yuna government putting more restrictions and sanctions on Reach trade in future...
