"Sir."
"Good work, trooper." Ah, so that's Volgar Zo. "Introduce me to your prisoners."
I'm guessing the fact that he's likely in either lighter armour or more
decorated gear would also be a hint.
I think he's pointing at me, but I can't move my eyes to check and he's right in the periphery of my visual field.
"This one is an Orange Lantern. Two rings. I don't know what that signifies."
Technically
three, given the Yellow-hacked Indigo Ring he's wearing.
"Where are they now?"
"In one of the pouches in his undersuit. But they acted as a conduit to the Apokoliptian mind control affect. They might just be broken now."
Which is probably troublesome, but fixable, especially if OL can get out of this. I mean, worst case, he can greediport out of there, even if it means leaving the others behind...
I try moving my arms again. Nothing. I never asked Diana about the gamma gong; it just sounded like a stupid gimmick weapon, and… Kanjar Ro just wasn't that big a part of their history and had no affect on Earth in general. Supposedly, three strikes on that thing will stop an entire world in its tracks. One strike stopped the Justice League, though I've got no idea how Kanjar Ro was planning on making them actively do his bidding.
How is it doing that?
If I guess correctly,
hostages. As in, Earth itself would get the three-strikes treatment if they didn't, I would assume.
Kalcan ne zes-.
Demonstrate visually.
Man, if only he could reset the user language. Too bad even the options menu is in Nok-speak.
"A yellow ring? I thought that only Sinestro had those." Volgar Zo steps right up close so that he's the only thing in my field of view. "Did you kill him? Or do you work for him?"
Since I can't move my eyes I can't roll-
He's certainly well-informed, at least. Though Sinestro is a galactic fugitive, so the Guardians probably made it known far and wide that he's a wanted man.
"Oh! Silly me."
-them. The git smirks at me.
...Okay, now I'm rooting for his ass to get kicked first.
"And the others? The large one?"
The ring shows me a field of pressure surrounding me and the other three. Nothing around the Dhorian soldiers, which means that it's… Directed by intent?
Which is pretty damn advanced, given the rest of their gear. Definitely lends credence to 'stolen science'.
Is the field strength decaying?
Ri-.
With images. Actually, make that the default.
Yeah, that kind of backtalk would get real annoying real fast.
Hm. No, it's not. It's completely constant. Not activating my tattoos that I can feel, so it's not magic. Not plasma or magnetic, I could break out of those easily enough. Is the field present anywhere else?
Yes. Around the gamma gong itself.
So it's projecting the effect consistently while active. Interesting. Would be
awkward if the user inadvertently gonged themself.
"He is called Eiling. He is monstrously strong. He made a hole from their dugout to their sewer by punching the soil. This one is Kadabra. He's… Some sort of technologist. The pointer in his hand is a multi-tool."
I don't think they're looking at me. Force field only goes that far, so… I try sending a filament outside the boundary. It doesn't work, the yellow band hitting the field and going no further. Alright, I've got just enough room around my body that if I separate the components I can create a cold gun. Let's try that.
And for those calling 'bullshit', remember: Leonard Snart built his original gun in a prison workshop. With a box of scraps. The only exotic thing needed for it is the unusual physics tricks it generates. And OL likely has the most basic design memorised, just in case.
"And the living ice statue?"
"They called him Icicle. I didn't see him do anything."
Though it's not unreasonable to make assumptions of his abilities based on his appearance, is it?
"Could he actually be a living ice statue?"
"I don't know, sir."
There are stranger phenotypes on Earth. Clay men, metal men, rock men. Name an elemental
substance , and you can guarantee
someone's been turned into it or is otherwise made of it...
"There are a great may strange things on this planet." He enters my field of vision again as he walks away. "Trooper, head to medical and get your injuries checked."
"I feel fine, sir."
Oh, you have
no idea, captain. And you may not want to
annoy some of them. Like you have here.
"And you may well be fine, but I'd rather be sure. If you are, get down to the armoury and get issued replacement equipment, then consider yourself dismissed for the duty cycle."
Cold gun in place, so-.
Well, at least the Dhorian guy gets the rest of the day off. Understandable.
A roar of displaced air and the crackling of ice crystals exploding out of… Mahkent's hands! His angle isn't good and he can't really aim with his hands, but it looks like he can change the angle a little as an act of will. Ice coats a strip across the deck towards the gamma gong, enveloping Nohnar Ko and two other soldiers along the way but missing Volgar Zo as he dives aside!
And fire.
Impressive that
his power works beyond the sheathe of whatever-it-is that the Gong has them trapped in.
My cold beam scythes through the embarkation area, and-. Gets blocked by the plasma shields of every single Dhorian including Zo. Ko won't be wearing one, but there's no point shooting the only Dhorian here who isn't wearing a force field.
I can break shields, but my crumbler rounds are in my other rings' subspace pockets.
And I doubt it's as easy to make a Crumbler construct, and not much point trying since it would be next to your own skin.
Can I crumble the gamma gong's paralysation field? Try that.
Still can't move my arms. Fire again, wide beam. The soldiers are wearing helmets, but it doesn't look like they have their own oxygen supplies. If I freeze the air completely, then they're stu-.
So whatever it is, the field is not truly physical in
that sense.
Every soldier except for Ko flashes blue and then vanishes.
Oh. They've all got teleport beacons, and we're on their ship. There's no reason why they couldn't just leave. Ko's still stuck and they had to leave the gamma gong behind, but we've got nowhere to go-.
Hopefully their next move isn't to flood the cell with knockout gases. Though that does run the risk of killing their friendlies and all of you, depending on strength.
That's ice. Frozen water. Not the gel that Leonard uses. He's going to suffocate.
Mahkent tried firing ice again, but it's… Sporadic, pulses of ice erupting where he points. I didn't think to ask how cold his ice comes out, though I doubt that he's giving it anything less than his best.
And I doubt even he really knows
how it works, only that it
does.
Okay. Next thing. Cold beam at the gamma gong itself. Let's see if that works. No visible response from the gong, but let's see if I can move…
A tiny amount, and if the structure of the thing works remotely like normal matter then it's currently sitting at absolute zero. I can't make it any colder, and if it can still function then there isn't anything else I can do to it with a cold… Beam.
Okay, there is no way that the gong is technological, then. Nothing is
that resilient.
Would a heat beam work? I think the cold beam technology could be used to excite molecular vibration rather than suppress it, but I don't really have a good enough theoretical understanding of the physics involved to make the modification on the fly. I think I need to try manipulating a different type.. of-.
Mahkent is using his pulses of ice to… Push the ice he's already created towards the gamma gong. I'm not entirely sure what will happen when his ice finally envelops it, but the areas already about as cold as I can make-.
Hopefully it doesn't shatter without releasing them. That would be
especially annoying.
What if we strike the thing? Ordinarily I'd say that hitting a hit-activated artefact you don't understand is a terrible idea, but since none of us have any better options I… It's probably worth it.
Mahkent's ice pile-up just misses enveloping the gong, building up over and around it. But his ice isn't that cold, so if I super-cool that bit…
The ice cracks, and a lump falls and strikes the gong on the top, causing a small vibration-.
Teamwork!
I step forwards as the field effect ends, Kadabra and Mahkent stumbling as they regain mobility.
Eiling collapses bonelessly to the deck, just as a shimmering blue light heralds the arrival of the Dhorian marines.
Well, hopefully, they don't have a
second gong, or this would already be over.
