With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Steelplaza · 2026-07-05T10:50:40+0100

Mquz said:
This isn't a qwardian assassination scheme. It's a Thanagarian one.

It's not even a Thanagarian scheme. It's one guy who had access to "call this line for a power ring" who decided to die taking a shot at OL, This is vey explicit. We saw it word of god in the narrative.

WereDragon said:
Better idea: Go to Thanagar and make an example showing that deniable assets aren't.

Who specifically should he make an example of? If he brands everyone in the Council of Mors and gets total honesty, they'll say all they know is the guy said he was going to do "something" and then left.

Honestly I don't think they did anything wrong!

Signaller · 2026-07-05T12:56:20+0100

Did the High Mor have a name?

Also, how is the Hades and Persephone experiment going?

BlackCoat13 · 2026-07-05T14:00:26+0100

It's nice to see Paul semi-casually handle the Anti-Green ring user after struggling with the Red Ring. Sure, having difficulty with a Red Ring user makes sense, but if Paul had had any real difficulty with the less than one day of experience Anti-Green Ring user I would have been raising an eyebrow.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-05T14:10:55+0100

Signaller said:
Did the High Mor have a name?

Krandor Vat.

Steelplaza · 2026-07-05T16:45:06+0100

BlackCoat13 said:
It's nice to see Paul semi-casually handle the Anti-Green ring user after struggling with the Red Ring. Sure, having difficulty with a Red Ring user makes sense, but if Paul had had any real difficulty with the less than one day of experience Anti-Green Ring user I would have been raising an eyebrow.

Shayera may have been out of her mind with rage, but she's still an experienced superhero. She's got those fighting instincts. Krandor Vat, sure he knows how to fight, but he's been in politics instead of the front lines for years now,

RoninSword · 2026-07-05T17:27:48+0100

Brandon did say there was himself and a couple others as volunteers. So this isn't over yet.

That still begs the question of where precisely the red ring came from. Unless that was also Qward.

Neruz · 2026-07-05T19:55:04+0100

Steelplaza said:
Shayera may have been out of her mind with rage, but she's still an experienced superhero. She's got those fighting instincts. Krandor Vat, sure he knows how to fight, but he's been in politics instead of the front lines for years now,

In addition, the way power rings work is the further away they are in the spectrum from the balanced green of will, the more crazed they make their wielders but in exchange the greater the power they grant.

Red is one of the extreme far ends of the spectrum, and as a result it grants both the greatest power and the greatest insanity.

Red rings also require very little experience to use well, because "get angrier and hit harder" is something even a novice can figure out, and is the majority of a Red Lantern's fighting style. (Because it works.)

earlyriser · 2026-07-05T20:32:24+0100

Very curious where Shayera goes after this.

Straight to jail? House arrest with the Justice League? Exiled from Thanagar? (due to jeopardizing the peace), rehab in the Blue Cells?

WereDragon · 2026-07-05T20:51:38+0100

Steelplaza said:
Who specifically should he make an example of? If he brands everyone in the Council of Mors and gets total honesty, they'll say all they know is the guy said he was going to do "something" and then left.

Honestly I don't think they did anything wrong!

The whole government. No need to kill them, just drop them off unarmed on one of the plant queen's planets.

The High Mor did this stupidity to try and improve Thanagar's position. Make it very clear that it had the opposite effect, massively so.

Bolo · 2026-07-05T22:10:30+0100

If feel like Paul could have saved the former High Mor from death if he wanted too. While the only reason to save him would be for intel/spite I seems like it's possible…. Wonder what's his next move is….

Signaller · 2026-07-05T22:56:54+0100

Oh, another random thought for Zoat - Are you watching the live action Avatar show? I'm reminded of this passage:

Mr Zoat said:
"I don't want to encourage [Lantern Azula] to 'try re-fighting the Great War properly', something she suggested doing in our earlier sessions"

So I'm wondering if we might see Lantern Azula interacting with the live action universe at some point, particularly considering how different the original character is from the new iteration. Maybe after Season 3 comes out around mid/late 2027?

Vaermina · 2026-07-05T23:01:53+0100

earlyriser said:
Very curious where Shayera goes after this.

Straight to jail? House arrest with the Justice League? Exiled from Thanagar? (due to jeopardizing the peace), rehab in the Blue Cells?

To jail for what?

She was just following Orange Lanterns standard way of doing things. IE if you have a power ring local laws don't matter to you.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-06T06:20:06+0100

28th May 2284
23:52 GMT -7

Having friends is great.

SHWOOOOOOOOOOO!

I wince as I readjust my headphones.

But the premature deafness that I've condemned everyone on board this nuclear-powered plasma-thruster-driven WS-521 aside, having friends is great.

The N.C.R. had no way to redeploy its army north fast enough to matter, but by borrowing transport planes from everyone willing to help out, as well as utilising troops from friendly nations not currently involved in hunting down Legion remnants, we were able to put together a force to attack the southern part of the Washington Brotherhood's territory. Robots from Vault City, power armour, aircraft and mechanised units from Heaven's Gate, N.C.R. rangers and Arroyo tribals… And a large number of surprisingly biddable mirelurks. The Washington Brotherhood didn't leave much of a garrison, and what was there was mostly poorly organised raiders lead by their own war chiefs.

The few actual Brotherhood of Steel members who've been captured are heading south to explain themselves to High Elder Törni. Given how devoted to the Immortal they've been, taking them alive has proven quite difficult. Fortunately, my people have gotten pretty good on picking up on their thoughts, which has made actually finding them simple enough.

And while that's been going on, aerial and satellite reconnaissance combined with Wardens of the White on the ground to give us an excellent picture of where the Washington Brotherhood's greatest troop concentrations are. Attack planes and bombers from the Kingdom of Manitoba ravaged those without sufficient air defences, and the zetan Mothership took shots at the largest and best defended ones… At least those that are far enough from civilian areas to do so without inflicting massive civilian casualties.

Knights of the Order of Saint George are moving through Wardens territory, but it's hard to bring significant men or materials through the mountains. Element of the Kingdom of Manitoba's regular army are moving through the narrow passes south of the mountains to support Heaven's Gate's push north. A push made easier by the orbital fire support from the Mothership and Helios, and by the maps we've been able to provide.

But that's far to the south of where I am, flying towards the Alaskan fortifications of the former United States of America. A handful of WS-521s and Vertibird transports, escorted by three zeta saucers, two dozen Plutonian nuclear fighters and a dozen Vertibird gunships. Onboard, myself and a squad of Ghosts, a dozen or so smart super mutant N.C.R rangers who can survive the cold without extra assistance, Brotherhood Paladins of the Lost Hills and Mojave chapters and the more nervous looking Knights of the Order of St. George led by their ever-cheerful Grand Master.

I would not want to be on the receiving end of us.

We already know where the enemy facility is. We've already reviewed the orbital and aerial photographs. And-.

There's a flash of light from somewhere in front of us, visible through the plane's front window.

And with a little luck the stuff on the surface will mostly have been taken care of by the time we arrive. But with a lot of the satellites still down and the Mothership needed for a dozen different operations, we're not going to be getting constant updates. And we can't use the Dream Twister because, 1, people would see that the magical weirdos have a strategic weapon and 2, because we need people to have their minds intact to be interrogated.

So not a cake walk, but as easy as it can be. Negotiating with Heaven's Gate afterwards will be more difficult.

"Power Armor! One minute to drop zone!"

The Paladins mostly just nod and recheck their gear, but the Knights start twitching. Standard Operating Procedure for Paladin deployment involves landing the vertibird they're on, having them pile out and then it taking off again. But pre-War America developed thruster packs that in theory should allow them to jump out of a plane and not become an iron-rich pancake. Apparently the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood came across the design in the Pentagon but never had any need for them since the didn't have any vertibirds. They sent the design to Lost Hills who were experimenting so see if it worked, and…

Ah, they should be honoured to be part of the first field trials.

"Opening rear door! Get ready!"

A mechanical whine fills the cabin, followed by the road of winds that tried to compete with the road of the engines. Paladins and Knights take careful hold of the wall-mounted handles as they stand and prepare to deploy.

One of the Knights crosses himself, another mutters prayers and the third has the words 'don't die' on a loop inside his head. Daniel's in another plane.

"Brothers and Sisters!" Star Paladin Mark Talus takes position by the door, facing inwards. "Today we do not merely bring justice to those who have betrayed the precepts of our Brotherhood! Today we prevent the use of the use of those very same weapons that burned the world to ash two hundred years ago! The most important part of the mission which Roger Maxson entrusted to us! Report readiness!"

"Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" /

"We're over the drop zone. GO!"

Talus turns, runs down the cargo ramp and leaps out of the plane, dropping out of sight behind us. Without hesitation, the other Paladins follow.

With a slight but understandable degree of hesitation, the Knights follow them.

Once the last of them is out, I press the activation button on the intercom. "Power armour away."

"One minute to next drop site."

I stand, telekinetically grasping the plane around me. My four ghosts do likewise. We're not using rocket boosters to steady our descent, and we're not using parachutes either. Each of us are perfectly capable of controlling our descent with telekinesis, and if one of the others has a stroke or heart attack on the way down then I can carry them myself.

Through the opening in the plane I can just about see the flares from the power armour wearers activating their thrusters. Then I turn back to my squad.

"Mark targets and relay their locations. Don't get seen, don't get shot. Everyone ready?"

Four nods.

"Then walk the skies."

I walk backwards and then back flip out of the plane, watching it accelerate away as I fall. I then turn prone, reaching out with my mind to try to find-.

**[A picture of the ground below us, the locations of the partially mechanical thoughts of the Black Paladins marked, along with the thoughts of other people.]**

I feel confirmation from the Ghosts, and then an acknowledgement from the telepath staying on the plane to relay things to or colleagues.

I also feel the Ghosts ready themselves, but… Ah. Tribal leadership is so much about charisma and personal impact. Personal heroism. I could just do what they're doing, but some of those Black Paladins are heavily dug in inside concealed dugouts.

I see tracer fire as ground-based weapons open fire, as well as fairly speculative shots from the Brotherhood's own fighters. They look like… Early War jet fighters? The Plutonians accelerate towards them while the vertibirds release their missiles.

And here comes the ground and-.

The kinetic energy goes that way.

I land lightly and the snow in front of me explodes. And so does the earth, and the trees, and the small observation post with the three raiders, and so do the raiders. I take a moment to check my relative position from the minds of the Ghosts still in the air, confirm my landing, and take off at a walk while waiting to hear the results of the opening salvo.

"Dugout one good hit, dugout two partial, dugout three negative impact…"

I picture those locations in my head.

**We're hitting dugout two and then moving on. The power armour can easily deal with what's left.**

I feel five confirmations, draw my plasma pistol, and then start moving at a jog as the other Ghosts land around me and follow my lead.

Rebu · 2026-07-06T06:28:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
I walk backwards and then back flip out of the plane,

"Was that strictly necessary? "

"... Yes."

Ngamer11 · 2026-07-06T06:45:01+0100

Mr Zoat said:
And while that's been going on, aerial and satellite reconnaissance combined with Wardens of the White on the ground to give us an excellent picture of where the Washington Brotherhood's greatest troop concentrations are. Attack planes and bombers from the Kingdom of Manitoba ravaged those without sufficient air defences, and the zetan Mothership took shots at the largest and best defended ones… At least those that are enough from civilian areas to do so without inflicted massive civilian casualties.

I think these should say 'are far enough' and 'inflicting'.

Strattos22 · 2026-07-06T07:07:33+0100

Way this is going will end up with this humanity post rebuild end up with starcraft style marines with power armor and ghosts via psychics and honestly firebats would work nice in wasteland.

NightmareWarden · 2026-07-06T07:14:32+0100

Strattos22 said:
Way this is going will end up with this humanity post rebuild end up with starcraft style marines with power armor and ghosts via psychics and honestly firebats would work nice in wasteland.

Unfortunately, traditionally Firebats are crazy. Where would you find someone crazy in Fallout to meet the full criteria for an effective Firebat?

Strattos22 · 2026-07-06T07:18:18+0100

NightmareWarden said:
Unfortunately, traditionally Firebats are crazy. Where would you find someone crazy in Fallout to meet the full criteria for an effective Firebat?

Ya really want to take a gander looks at forged and if I were to check the hoi4 fallout mode sure I'd find others.

w34v3r · 2026-07-06T07:20:02+0100

It gets a lot easier if you also have medics.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-07-06T07:22:31+0100

Mr Zoat said:
28th May 2284
23:52 GMT -7

Having friends is great.

The true power of diplomancy: Being able to call in friends. Nothing like whistling up the bigger fish and hitting the bad guys with it. And in this case, everyone wants to take a swing at the Immortal.

SHWOOOOOOOOOOO!

I wince as I readjust my headphones.

But the premature deafness that I've condemned everyone on board this nuclear-powered plasma-thruster-driven WS-521 aside, having friends is great.

Yeah, drawback of working with open mikes and noise-cancelling headphones aboard military aircraft...

The N.C.R. had no way to redeploy its army north fast enough to matter, but by borrowing transport planes from everyone willing to help out, as well as utilising troops from friendly nations not currently involved in hunting down Legion remnants, we were able to put together a force to attack the southern part of the Washington Brotherhood's territory. Robots from Vault City, power armour, aircraft and mechanised units from Heaven's Gate, N.C.R. rangers and Arroyo tribals… And a large number of surprisingly biddable mirelurks. The Washington Brotherhood didn't leave much of a garrison, and what was there was mostly poorly organised raiders lead by their own war chiefs.

I was kidding about everyone wanting to take a swing, but it does look like everyone with some bone to pick with the Immortal is showing up.

The few actual Brotherhood of Steel members who've been captured are heading south to explain themselves to High Elder Törni. Given how devoted to the Immortal they've been, taking them alive has proven quite difficult. Fortunately, my people have gotten pretty good on picking up on their thoughts, which has made actually finding them simple enough.

And you'd be amazed what body parts you can lose and still not die. So leg and arm wounds to disable powered armour can be effective. A little quick-heal to prevent them bleeding out from their stumps...

And while that's been going on, aerial and satellite reconnaissance combined with Wardens of the White on the ground to give us an excellent picture of where the Washington Brotherhood's greatest troop concentrations are. Attack planes and bombers from the Kingdom of Manitoba ravaged those without sufficient air defences, and the zetan Mothership took shots at the largest and best defended ones… At least those that are enough from civilian areas to do so without inflicted massive civilian casualties.

Nothing says 'fuck those grid coordinates' like orbital bombardment. Sadly, I suspect the bad guys are so indoctrinated that being shot at from orbit isn't enough to make them ask 'Are we the baddies?'

Knights of the Order of Saint George are moving through Wardens territory, but it's hard to bring significant men or materials through the mountains. Element of the Kingdom of Manitoba's regular army are moving through the narrow passes south of the mountains to support Heaven's Gate's push north. A push made easier by the orbital fire support from the Mothership and Helios, and by the maps we've been able to provide.

The air-transported troops are heading further afield, then. Whatever old blacksite that the Immortal is using as his base and where the missiles he converted came from...

But that's far to the south of where I am, flying towards the Alaskan fortifications of the former United States of America. A handful of WS-521s and Vertibird transports, escorted by three zeta saucers, two dozen Plutonian nuclear fighters and a dozen Vertibird gunships. Onboard, myself and a squad of Ghosts, a dozen or so smart super mutant N.C.R rangers who can survive the cold without extra assistance, Brotherhood Paladins of the Lost Hills and Mojave chapters and the more nervous looking Knights of the Order of St. George led by their ever-cheerful Grand Master.

Always fun to see folks making friends.

I would not want to be on the receiving end of us.

We already know where the enemy facility is. We've already reviewed the orbital and aerial photographs. And-.

There's a flash of light from somewhere in front of us, visible through the plane's front window.

Ah, the Mothership applying a little 'fuck your defences' ahead of them, I bet. If it were something from the enemies' side, they'd be more cursing and concern aboard.

And with a little luck the stuff on the surface will mostly have been taken care of by the time we arrive. But with a lot of the satellites still down and the Mothership needed for a dozen different operations, we're not going to be getting constant updates. And we can't use the Dream Twister because, 1, people would see that the magical weirdos have a strategic weapon and 2, because we need people to have their minds intact to be interrogated.

Yeah, finding out you have a weapon that can just zonk a city from afar with minimal structural damage wouldn't be good for diplomacy.

So not a cake walk, but as easy as it can be. Negotiating with Heaven's Gate afterwards will be more difficult.

"Power Armor! One minute to drop zone!"

Never get cocky until the last enemy is downed, Krono. Luck always loves to prove such foolhardiness wrong.

The Paladins mostly just nod and recheck their gear, but the Knights start twitching. Standard Operating Procedure for Paladin deployment involves landing the vertibird they're on, having them pile out and then it taking off again. But pre-War America developed thruster packs that in theory should allow them to jump out of a plane and not become an iron-rich pancake. Apparently the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood came across the design in the Pentagon but never had any need for them since the didn't have any vertibirds. They sent the design to Lost Hills who were experimenting so see if it worked, and…

Something like this, I suppose. Hopefully they're carrying extra fuel cells in case of excess drain.

Ah, they should be honoured to be part of the first field trials.

"Opening rear door! Get ready!"

And really, it shouldn't be too hard to land even if it fails... Power Armour is pretty tanky, right? Your bones might not enjoy it, but that's what Quick-heals are for.

A mechanical whine fills the cabin, followed by the road of winds that tried to compete with the road of the engines. Paladins and Knights take careful hold of the wall-mounted handles as they stand and prepare to deploy.

One of the Knights crosses himself, another mutters prayers and the third has the words 'don't die' on a loop inside his head. Daniel's in another plane.

Someone very much of the school of 'If God meant for Knights to fly, we would have Pegasi to ride!' I bet.

"Brothers and Sisters!" Star Paladin Mark Talus takes position by the door, facing inwards. "Today we do not merely bring justice to those who have betrayed the precepts of our Brotherhood! Today we prevent the use of the use of those very same weapons that burned the world to ash two hundred years ago! The most important part of the mission which Roger Maxson entrusted to us! Report readiness!"

In other words, 'Time to kick some heretic ass!'

"Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" /

"We're over the drop zone. GO!"

Talus turns, runs down the cargo ramp and leaps out of the plane, dropping out of sight behind us. Without hesitation, the other Paladins follow.

No fear, boys! Ride or die.

With a slight but understandable degree of hesitation, the Knights follow them.

Once the last of them is out, I press the activation button on the intercom. "Power armour away."

"One minute to next drop site."

Because a dozen suits of Power Armour per transport aren't enough? This is gonna be loud.

I stand, telekinetically grasping the plane around me. My four ghosts do likewise. We're not using rocket boosters to steady our descent, and we're not using parachutes either. Each of us are perfectly capable of controlling our descent with telekinesis, and if one of the others has a stroke or heart attack on the way down then I can carry them myself.

Good old Krono, never about to send people in where he wouldn't go himself. Usually the first out of the plane, even.

Through the opening in the plane I can just about see the flares from the power armour wearers activating their thrusters. Then I turn back to my squad.

"Mark targets and relay their locations. Don't get seen, don't get shot. Everyone ready?"

I assume they're using their telepathy like cloaking devices. Hence 'Ghost.' Then again, it might be a while since I last saw mention of them.

Four nods.

"Then walk the skies."

I walk backwards and then back flip out of the plane, watching it accelerate away as I fall. I then turn prone, reaching out with my mind to try to find-.

And why do shit like this if you can't show off a little doing it?

**[A picture of the ground below us, the locations of the partially mechanical thoughts of the Black Paladins marked, along with the thoughts of other people.]**

I feel confirmation from the Ghosts, and then an acknowledgement from the telepath staying on the plane to relay things to or colleagues.

Practically cheating, isn't it? They'll have no idea you've spotted every last one of them.

I also feel the Ghosts ready themselves, but… Ah. Tribal leadership is so much about charisma and personal impact. Personal heroism. I could just do what they're doing, but some of those Black Paladins are heavily dug in inside concealed dugouts.

I see tracer fire as ground-based weapons open fire, as well as fairly speculative shots from the Brotherhood's own fighters. They look like… Early War jet fighters? The Plutonians accelerate towards them while the vertibirds release their missiles.

And wildly outclassed by the saucers, no doubt. Especially if the saucers can flip and turn far more tightly than the jets.

And here comes the ground and-.

The kinetic energy goes that way.

Ah, the fun of being able to tell Physics to 'shut up, step back and let me handle this'.

I land lightly and the snow in front of me explodes. And so does the earth, and the trees, and the small observation post with the three raiders, and so do the raiders. I take a moment to check my relative position from the minds of the Ghosts still in the air, confirm my landing, and take off at a walk while waiting to hear the results of the opening salvo.

Dynamic Entry in action.

"Dugout one good hit, dugout two partial, dugout three negative impact…"

I picture those locations in my head.

Hopefully the misses get dismissed as defective bombs or something rather than 'stealthed infiltrator'

**We're hitting dugout two and then moving on. The power armour can easily deal with what's left.**

I feel five confirmations, draw my plasma pistol, and then start moving at a jog as the other Ghosts land around me and follow my lead.

Time to make like ninja...

Looks like this is going to be one heck of a battle. Ideally, the Immortal's forces are greatly outgunned and outnumbered by everyone turning up for this fight. Getting slammed by the hammer blows of power armoured troops and carved up by the scalpel precision of the Ghosts... There's going to be a lot of folks regretting their life choices this day.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-06T08:30:55+0100

Ngamer11 said:
I think these should say 'are far enough' and 'inflicting'.

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch said:
And wildly outclassed by the saucers, no doubt. Especially if the saucers can flip and turn far more tightly than the jets.

It's a bit like Independence Day. The saucers aren't all that much faster, but they are a lot more agile.

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

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