"YOU THINK I COULDN'T TURN A WORLD FULL OF PEOPLE INTO PUPPETS JUST FOR THE PLEASURE OF SUBSUMING THEM?! BECAUSE I COULD! I DON'T BECAUSE IT'S MONSTROUS AND SELF-DEFEATING!"
What was the last time he got this angry again, could someone remind me?
We can see his STUPID face, stare him in the eye, but our jaws won't close!
I have a feeling a decent amount of anger is due to the
Ophidian
Harralax sounds like a laxative lol
Right now? No. Honestly, my Earth's-"
Lord Malvolio's battering ram construct strikes him in the side, punching through his construct defences as the two of them carry on away from the planet.
"-a mess."
I wonder how the
Embodiment of Fear would affect the Anti-Life or vice versa
"Did the villein say ought of significance?"
Does he mean "villein" as in serf, or is this a typo?
My mother. After I mistakenly slew her lover. I explained my actions at once, but we were never reconciled. I fear that she died hating me."
"I know some really good necromancers. If you don't mind visiting Earth, we can see about communicating with her soul."
"'t'would be ungodly."
"No, I got the heavenly host to okay it. Not for you specifically, but in general."
Once again, we are reminded of the absurdity that is Paul.
"No, that's… Not happening."
How on Earth would a
fear-enlightened Green Lantern work? Would they get stronger, due to their immunity to fear, or would the lack of fear not give them something to willpower through? It's pretty interesting to see a
fear-enlightened person who isn't a yellow lantern.
She takes a moment to master herself.
"It won't work. You can't manipulate me."
"Manipulate? I'm making you an offer of employment. I'm trying to give you-."
Hah. Even without desire manipulation, Paul is pretty good at controlling people, or since he can see what they
want
"How..? Did it get out, anyway? It can't just have been me."
"That is still the subject of investigation. Good day."
Ah, Paul's presence is more than enough to steer the plot.
"Volthoom, I'm hurt. All the years we've been together, and you abandon me for this… Woman."
"Correction. You abandoned me for a Weaponer."
Interesting to see that Volthoom's still capable of humour, or at least something similar to it.
"I wouldn't complain about being referred to as 'your man'." Huh. "Actually, I'd quite like it. Ah, how was using it?"
Well, I mean it makes sense I guess.
"Your man's right." He smirks at me and I nod in gratitude.
Heh
"Then I'm going back to Maltus and booking myself into a spa. Because you're right about judgement getting impaired."
I nod. "I'll see you there when I'm finished on New Genesis."
"That includes you."
"I… Not-. I can handle it better. Once Earth's safe again, I can… Take a breather."
So, he'll take a breather after the heat death of the Universe? Neat, although I don't think Jade will appreciate that.
"New Genesis. I need-. Oh. whoops."
20th January 2013
19:44 GMT
The great yellow demon could arrive at any moment, and the Illustres isn't here. I don't know what could have delayed him-.
I run through his mental exercises once more and check the position of the fleet around Sereaven. My home.
And I will die before I let him touch-.
My ring glimmers as the Illustres finally sends me a message, and I view it at once!
"Oh."
Interesting font for the time and date, also it's pretty funny to see someone with perfect memory forget about someone, albeit temporarily.
And if he doesn't ask, that's his fault.
Fair enough.
"I am entity Volthoom. Dicks that fuck assholes often receive a coating of faecal matter."
Yeah okay, I'm pretty sure Volthoom put his humour into the ring too.
"The kryptonite crystals in your blood explode."
Huh, do the Kryptonians in Harrold's universe use Kryptonite like drugs? Or are they just different?
And then I breathe out, and pull a injector containing a load of red kryptonite out of my equipment harness before turning around.
Seems like different Kryptonite colours affect Kryptonians differently in this Universe. Also, shouldn't it be "an injector"?
She snarls. "He burned through a lifetime supply in a year! The kryptonite was there for the final push, not for daily use! He was supposed to become an opinion-former, not a warlord! Gah!"
An opinion-former? To do what exactly?
"They've been infected with psychic clinical depression and attacked by their evil version of Darkseid."
I wonder if Darkseid's nice in this Universe.
"You can question, politely. As to why he's still alive, it's because we're not at war with him or his people at the moment. He hasn't hurt us or ours except while Parallax was in his head. Because we could take him alive without undue risk. And because I'm trying to be a little more discerning in who I kill."
He is going to regret that very soon.
Ragnar nods. "To be killed by the Illustres is an honour one must earn."
I try to smile in a way that indicates that she should ignore that comment.
I mean, it is an honour nonetheless.
"Twilight… Suggested some activities-."
"Bold of her, but I'm a one-mare stallion. Though if she's suggesting things like that, then I may have to reconsider her psychological profile."
"Friendship activities."
Lol
"Let you mimic even a fraction of our power?"
I hope this is an Invincible reference, because it's too much of a coincidence if it's not.
Have they? Or is his personality very similar to someone else's?
"That doesn't seem very likely, but I'll try while I'm here.
No rest for the wicked, unfortunately.
"Twice? Once could be regarded as misfortune, but twice suggests carelessness."
"It was carelessness, so, that fits."
He throws up his hands and shakes his head as Highfather nods.
He must have been expecting a less honest answer.
"Everyone wants ponies. Ask the internet. You would not believe how many 'artistic impressions' there are of-"
"No no no."
"-her and I-."
Light travels fast, but Rule 34 travels faster.
"Seven different colours of power ring. Now, I've got yellow, obviously, and I can get hold of Dox to get another Orange Lantern assigned. I can probably get Talbot to volunteer as the Red. You're green and Ghia'ta is violet, so that leaves blue and indigo. And someone to use them."
Time to assemble the emotional spectrum of power rangers.
"Little birdy told me. I do meet with the Controllers on a semi-regular basis, and quite a lot of them used to be Guardians. Tell him we can give it a field test."
I don't know if this is intentional on the Renegade's part or not, but saying "a little birdy" in the context of a
Blue Ring is pretty funny considering what the
Hope Embodiment is.
So Paragon does it to save the world, Renegade for love. That...tracks, yeah.
A hero will sacrifice the person they love to save the world, but a villain will sacrifice the world to save the person they love.
...He doesn't even realise he used the word 'Haunches', does he?
Not in the slightest.
He puts his hands on his hips. "Because when I was five years old my mom took my brother and me to a fairground. We were supposed to get a pony ride, but it bit me. I wasn't allowed back."
"Because you got bitten?"
"Because I punched it in the face for biting me. I've hated ponies ever since."
For some reason, this makes a lot of sense.
"You see, there's 'full access' and then there's full access."
This should've been, "there's full access, and then there's
fuller access", as a reference to that one "No full auto in the building" video on Youtube
"That's what everyone says to start with, and then they find themselves in pony form with a slice of Welcome to Ponyville cake in one hoof and a party hat on their head somehow feeling like they don't want to leave. They're infectious."
Heh
"Ooh, I got this one. Jordan's ring, if you had a
shadow self that was much like you, but not bound by your restrictions, what would it tell me was her last known location?"
Does...does that even work? No way in hell would the Guardians allow loopholes like that.
Your soul
is more than 50% percent
Orange Light Paul, it's not exactly a surprise that New Gods think that you're on their level.
"We do what we want, when we want, where we want."
This could potentially backfire, if any of the other Orange Lanterns decide to get unruly after the war with the Reach is over.
"Right, the closest major city is about twenty five miles due-"
RIGHTEOUS FURY!
"-west-. Did you just hear som-?"
I wonder if he always hears the same voice for the Godspeech, or if it reflects the voice of whoever used said Godspeech. Someday we're going to need an in-depth explanation on what Paul actually is now.
...Why do I get the feeling that's very recent? And if she's an Ex-Lantern, how is she even answering? Don't they usually get their rings confiscated?
Perhaps she has a communicator of some sort with the same address as her ring?
"Is this how things are? Is the rest of the universe so violent that our wars are considered normal?"
…
"Um."
"It… It is?"
Well, isn't that awkward
What if Jade ends up really liking Orion. Like a bit too much?
Ah well. No Violet text. Nothing to worry about.
Seems very unlikely that Jade would betray someone who put so much effort into her.
...Razer's wife. Well, small universe, isn't it?
I wonder if Paul knows.
The subtext of "I can watch him." was "I can't do anything more than watch him due to the power disparity." rather than "Huba huba, you can buff out orichalcum on those abs."
I honestly can't see Jade saying anything along the last line or betraying someone who put this much effort into her.
"Someone made an ash cloud like this on my homeworld a couple of years ago. I caught it in the early stages and shut it down, but it was still pretty worrying at the time. Dispersed like this, it's more time consuming than anything else."
Was it Vulcan? Why was he doing that again, to make a planet inhabited only by androids?
His eyes dart to Ilana, and she responds with the local confirmation gesture. He draws himself up slightly. "Then I will accompany you as well."
Don't worry Razer, Paul doesn't bite. Usually.
Heh. Not even flinching at the attempted headshot. That shooter has guts, even if he's lacking smarts...
I guess when death is temporary, and you can function without a brain,
and heal from any injury as long as you
want it enough, you stop reacting to lethal shots.
That would be the attempted eruption of Yellowstone that Thomas Morrow triggered, back in the Team days. (Episode 15:
Inhumanity - Story-Only link.)
Ah, back when Paul used to interact with the team on a semi-daily basis.
Arrowette doesn't look much better, while their 'pet' Skud seems… About as with it as someone with an IQ of 82 can.
Is this a canon character, or are you making things up?
Pure hope: an entirely legal high with a positive effect on a person's wellbeing as well as recharging the ring while looking dodgy as heck. A perfectly squared circle.
Huh, that's actually a fairly decent solution to his Ring charging problem.
I didn't love her when we married, but somewhere along the line-.
Kinda seems like Stockholm syndrome.
I come up behind her, looking over her shoulder at our daughter. No idea what version of the family magic she'll end up with, but she managed to dodge comic-Jade's problem of having ring-coloured skin. She sees me and smiles, haphazardly waving her flabby little arms…
"Hi Zita!" I can feel myself grinning. "Hi Zita! Hi..!"
I honestly can't imagine Orange Paul being a dad, here it makes some sense at least.
She giggles, wrapping her free arm around me so that Zita is touching both of us. "You must be the worst supervillain ever. The best… Bad supervillain ever?"
That's nice.
"Okay. I'll… Try that. Can we go and play with her together? Or do I need to tell you to get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich?"
She nods. "What do you want in it?"
…
Um.
Well, a chicken sandwich sounds pretty good right about now.
...For a second, I though that was him having some kind of Love-based spasm...
Honestly, I did too.
...But no, it's just baby talk. Huh. Is this the first official SI offspring seen on-screen? I mean, we had pregnant Komand'r In Raul's segments, but, well...
Wonder if we'll see Red Paul's kids soon.
I mean, OL was that ruthless for a while. Then he decided to try and be nicer.
For now
Incoming message-. Ow. Ow.
Huh, is the transmission actually
hurting a ring AI?
"Yes! Yes! I want this to stop! You have to believe me, I never-."
A ruler who actually regrets his horrible actions? Those are rare.
The space next to me crystallises for a moment before Ghia'ta steps through.
"Then in the name of love, let none stand before us!"
I regard her placidly for a moment.
"Magic girl anime is not a how to guide."
Well, for a lantern powered by love, magic girl anime might as well be gospel. Also interesting how even their teleportation involves crystallization.
This world is a waste of my time. I should just tear their miserable-.
Thank god Paul isn't a particularly angry person. An
Enlightened Orange Lantern who is also connected to the
Embodiment of Avarice, wanting to act on their anger is a very very big no-no.
We look around, form a connection of need to each of the inmates and pull.
Honestly, even with just his desire manipulation powers, Paul is a force to be reckoned with.
"Don't mind him, sweetie. All this anger around here's getting him a little... Well..."
I keep reading your interpretation of Orion's mother box's dialogue in the voice of an elderly black woman.
...Baby steps, OL. Baby steps. Don't be like Tony Stark, trying to fly before you can walk.
Hey, it worked for him, mostly.
He yanks off his helmet and spreads out his arms as they hit.
"I know your rage! But it is nothing that I have not felt a hundred times! If you want to make Orion your fool-"
Ping.
He breathes in slowly, lowering his arms.
"-then you will need to do much more than that. Lantern! Can you see any more?"
Reminds of that scene in the first Ghost Rider movie where Blackheart absorbs all the souls of San Venganza.
...Oh, hell, it's an entire planet of Doomguys, isn't it?
Honestly, I don't think even Orion would be able to handle Doomguy's rage. I am also surprised by the fact that there aren't enough fanfics of Doomguy with a
Red Ring
"There's a species on my homeworld who has something similar. They use our magnetic field to find the coast, but for some of them it goes wrong and they instinctively walk the wrong way.
They end up in the middle of a frozen wasteland and die.
"
That Penguin isn't going to die, no in fact he's going to have the time of his life.
"I will not risk it." I hear him sigh. "They escape this day."
Surprisingly patient of him.
Jordan, who was demanding that I just send him through with a boom tube until Guy started making chicken noises, fluffs up his wings. Pegasus, yes, he loves flying. The brown pelt with navy blue mane and tail… Just doesn't go, and I'm not sure what the direction-arrow-and-explosions cutie mark is about. "Let's just get this over with."
Perhaps it's a nod to a pilot's jacket?
Guy grins. The Tombola of Destiny granted him the body of a white-pelted and ginger-maned earth pony, and a cutie mark of a truncheon wrapped in a green chain.
What's "The Tombola of Destiny"?
Komand'r looks away from us, tail twitching. Koriand'r's tail is moving too, but differently. Not sure why they came through as dangerously furry catgirls… Maybe that was Starswirl's thing? There is something sort of like a cat in Tamaranean evolutionary history, so… Maybe? Doesn't explain why I'm a horse, but who am I to impugn the motives of a pony with bells on his hat?
For a second there, I was reminded of that terrible "Cats" movie.
Similarly, I have no idea why Ghia'ta has come through as some kind of violet-skinned oni with four arms, but once she grabbed a replacement cuirass she adapted readily enough. Dr. Ub'x is now a
dire beaver, and I'm a little concerned that he's not going to want to change back. Even if he still only comes up to my thigh. He brought along an Indigo Lantern
who looks a bit like an octopus. Presumably he can do hope, and I haven't seen his face on any wanted posters so I have plausible deniability.
Interesting changes, especially for Ghia'ta.
Other Luna's eyes widen as she look up at me. "He's a very… Large stallion."
My Luna rolls her eyes. "And he had best be keeping his thoughts pure if he doth not desire Our displeasure."
"No fear." I nod. "My thoughts are on a single matter with no distractions."
I can't tell if the Renegade's being sarcastic or not
But honestly, physically identical they might be, but I know which one is mine. And the other… Isn't, in a way which neatly deflects my middle aged ardour. I want a wife, not an adolescent sexual fantasy.
Am I missing something here? The Luna in the imgbb picture looked normal enough. And she had more clothing than normal Luna. So unless there's a large difference in their personalities, I can't see why he'd compare her to "an adolescent sexual fantasy".
"That's me, miss pretty princess. Got a lock on him, sir."
Reminds me of a second in command in a sci-fi setting that has a great sense of humour.
