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

Darko · Oct 18, 2021

iamnuff said:
Bet?

Sucker bet.

Ngamer11 · Oct 18, 2021

I really want Paul to assimilate her, especially if she can keep whatever demigod powers she possesses.

Mr Zoat · Oct 18, 2021

Darko said:
'of them die'

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 18, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
11th September 2012
20:51 GMT

We're escorted at walking pace through the interior of New Cronus. Burn marks, battle damage, broken bodies and blood are on display throughout the route of the attackers' advance, their own dead being tided up for eventual removal and final disposition. The dead of the defenders are mostly left where they fell, except where that left them in the way. Then they have been dragged aside and dumped.

Yep, I was right about the long walk. And it looks like they're being given an eyeful of their side's failures, presumably as a demoralising gesture. A pity neither of them is the sort to get beaten down by what they're seeing...

That one has a wound-. They fell, were dragged and found to still be alive and they received a coup de grâce shot to the head.

Athyns' fists clench as he notices.

Looks like Athyns, at least, is the kind to get angry. Let's hope he can hold his temper when they finally get to Sparta...

Heavy doors open in front of us and we emerge onto one of the upper gantries overlooking the launch bay. The cruiser is still attached to the entrance, blocking the view of space while giving an excellent view of its guns. Three are pointed in our direction, and while I'm confident that I could block them I'm pretty sure that would kill Athyns.

Below on the deck, the attackers have set up a ersatz medical bay. Their wounded are laid out on beds, medics treating their wounds while new arrivals are seen by a New God in glowing overalls. Some… I can't see any wounds. Some sort of stun effect? If they got hit with some sort of neural shock device but the attackers were pushed back, that's certainly possible.

Huh, so one of the Ascendants is a god of healing. Or at least of battlefield triage. Odd that some have an atypical injury, though.

"Here." The lead of our escort points to the open cargo entrance of a small cargo hauler. "We will fly around the exterior, that you might know the hopelessness of your position."

So. Confident of their control of the exterior, but less sure about the interior. That portion of the exterior, anyway. That's still worrying, because there were a lot of soldiers with Oceanus Junior. And… Oceanus himself, of course. Though I suppose that they might simply have retreated inwards or around the outer hull.

Yeah, even if New Cronus is only a couple of kilometres across the widest point, that's a lot of volume. I suppose it's too much for Sparta's forces to easily sweep and clear in this short a time.

"My position is seldom hopeless." I step aboard and then turn. "But an overview-."

"Wait!" At One With My Mission.

Hmm? The Triage Ascendant would like a word? And certainly, OL has the truth of it. Even a single Power Ring is a big force multiplier in any situation, assuming the wielder is smart..

Our escorts stop, and Athyns frowns as he turns to look along the gantry. The New God I saw a moment ago has left his patients and is heading up to us on a cargo lift.

"Hold!" The New God jumps up and heads towards us at a jog. "You, Lantern."

Yep, definitely concerned about something. Those troops taken down without visible injury, I bet. Also, who else thinks Athyns picked up that burst of godspeech?

"Me, Lantern."

One of our escort steps towards him as he comes towards us.

Heh, even in this position, OL feels the need to snark at people. Heck, it's just the place for him to be extra snarky.

"My lord, we are ordered-."

The Ascendant gestures with his right hand, and the soldier stops talking. Yes, that's the problem with deifying your leaders. There's nothing to stop them silencing you, even when you know something that they don't.

And since many of them haven't really grown up, I bet they're still in the 'I'm a god, I know better than everyone!' that teenagers at least grow out of.

"Can I help you?"

He comes to a halt, hands hidden in voluminous sleeves. "Our soldiers in comas. Your doing?"

No, OL would just kill anyone who got in his way. Especially in a warzone...

"I've been outside, fighting your starships. I haven't deliberately put anyone I've fought into a coma."

I take a look down towards… Spikes of yellow from the fear-filled dreams that Melinoë has given them.

...Hmm. Proof she's still alive, or just lingering effects? It all depends on whether something a God does would persist after their destruction...

"It wasn't the false gods or their-" A glance at Athyns. "-slaves. You are the only variable that remains unaccounted for."

"Oh, not true. There's-."

And the Ascendant seems to have noticed Athyns is not an ordinary soldier, I see.

"Lord, Sparta herself has ordered us to take them to her."

"Then board. We will continue this while we travel."

Some medic you are, deserting your patients.

Athyns and the guards climb in, Athyns taking position opposite me near the loading entrance. The Ascendant gets in last, standing between us as the transport lifts off -good inertia controls, I barely feel a thing- and flies into the cruiser's shuttle bay and then out into local space.

Good job I don't get motion sick any more.

I'm guessing the local space is pretty damn messy after the little set-to. That shuttle is probably having to jink a bit to avoid the bigger chunks.

"What is causing it?" Divine The Source.

"I suspect that it's one of my colleagues. Melinoë, Goddess of Nightmares and Madness. But since I was told that all of the gods are dead, there's probably nothing that can be done for them."

Unless one of Sparta's Ascendants has a knack for dreams. But I rather suspect not.

"How?" Divine Discipline Domin-.

"I can't exactly hear what you're doing, but we have a ceasefire. Keep violating it by trying to alter my behaviour and I'll assume that it's off."

And take a moment to consider whose line of fire you're in, little godling. Given that OL took out two of your ships without that much trouble (at least, looking at it from outside.)

He takes a half-step away, eyes widening.

Athyns shakes his head. "He said nothing of consequence."

'Domination' does not sound like something 'of no consequence'... But I expect the medic is not so sturdy as his cousins.

"You.. heard-?"

"Yes, I am a demigod. A descendant of Rhea. This doesn't mean that I would go along with that insane-."

Athyns? Chill. Last thing you need to be doing is pissing anyone off... Yet.

"Not… Helpful, Athyns. And the broad outline of the plan seemed sound to me, if the justification was… Reaching a little. But as for your soldiers, anyone Melinoë strikes ends up like that. As far as I know, if she's dead, that's it. Getting them out of it would require her or another nightmare deity." I'd raise my eyebrows but I'm wearing a full face helmet. "Do you have one?"

"No. But once Sparta takes Rhea's full power into herself, it won't matter. She will be able to do it herself."

Oh, really? While there's little information in history of Rhea's divine role (other than being mother of Zeus and some of the other Olymipans...) I doubt she'd had all that much power to herself.

…

Will she now?

Indeed. The next question should be, 'what will she do with that power first?' Because I doubt she'll stop at the Titans' power.

I take a moment to look out of the hatch and I can see that the invaders do indeed have control of this portion of the surface. I can't see any fighting, so either both sides are hunkering down or it's going on inside. They're definitely in control of this portion of the surface. I can see patrols and guards around the remaining surface guns.

"So how's that going to work? Rhea created the gods to be compatible with her siblings' power."

I wonder, what will happen when she tries to do something incompatible with her stolen powers? Something not within the portfolios of the Titans, or the other demigods she's conquered?

"The mechanism by which the it will occur is not my concern. But if healing my people requires this 'Melinoë's' assistance, then I will try to ensure that she is kept alive."

"Appreciated."

...So, not all of the Gods are dead, then? Because that's what I'm reading between the lines there. A bigger concern is if any of them got off of New Cronus...

We land without a bump, smoothly sliding up to the same landing I left by at the start of the engagement.

"Though if any of the die while-."

All things die, Godling. Even you can only delay the inevitable...

"People die in combat. If you want them all unharmed, you can always leave. Or just have never come."

"I can do neither."

Sounds a little annoyed, I see. perhaps Sparta's little crusade isn't as universally approved of amongst her people as they've been claiming...

I step off, Athyns and the guards and the Ascendant following us.

"If it changes your answer, it works on gods, too."

Dropping a not-so-subtle hint that Melinoë is no pushover...

No fighting here, as far as I can see. Either that, or they cleared the way with more thoroughness than they did their landing zone. Coeus might have retreated from the bridge if he could see that he was going to be overrun-.

Then the doors to the bridge open and I see Sparta, her Ascendant bodyguards, the recumbent forms of the gods and the Seeds floating around her. The physician escorts us in and the mortal guards form up to guard the door, which closes behind us.

Ah, if only there was time for a quick headcount...

The Seeds shimmer as Sparta stands, glowering at me as she takes a single step in my direction.

"I win."

Don't count your Seeds before they've sprouted, dear. With OL around, anything can happen...

Well, then. I hope tomorrow, we can see who's amongst the fallen. Because I can see some distinct dangers depending on who's not there. After all, there's a very large Chekhov's Gun sitting down there on the planet, and a certain god who might be able to work the trigger... Still, at least we can get a read on Sparta's state of mind now.

Darko · Oct 18, 2021

Chojin Patriarch said:
And it looks like they're being given an eyeful of their side's failures, presumably as a demoralising gesture

Possibly, or this was just the quickest way to get there and unfortunately there were bodies there.

Chojin Patriarch said:
And since many of them haven't really grown up, I bet they're still in the 'I'm a god, I know better than everyone!' that teenagers at least grow out of.

And even if they did grow up the mortals worshipping them may have inflated their egos.

Chojin Patriarch said:
No, OL would just kill anyone who got in his way. Especially in a warzone...

Or disable them or Brand them.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Some medic you are, deserting your patients

Going with them is his best bet of finding a cure for his patients.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Domination' does not sound like something 'of no consequence'...

He could have also been saying 'Dominion', like trying to figure out what dominion the god who did that has.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Oh, really? While there's little information in history of Rhea's divine role (other than being mother of Zeus and some of the other Olymipans...) I doubt she'd had all that much power to herself.

Don't underestimate her.

The lady was a Titan, so she was a force of nature.

In mythology Hera is a goddess of marriage, not a subject you'd view as being that powerful compared to say thunder, death, the sea, the sun etc., but she was able to kill giants.

Rhea for all we know was the weakest Titan, but she was still a Titan.

The least powerful nuke can still do a lot of damage.

Vaermina · Oct 18, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
The Seeds shimmer as Sparta stands, glowering at me as she takes a single step in my direction.

"I win."

You literally can't win... Even if you kill Paragon he will just re-spawn and keep coming back forever because there's no actual way to kill him...

moralrelativity · Oct 18, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
I take a moment to look out of the hatch and I can see that the invaders do indeed have control of this portion of the surface. I can't see any fighting, so either both sides are hunkering down or it's going on inside. They're definitely in control of this portion of the surface. I can see patrols and guards around the remaining surface guns.

I get it, they're in control of this portion of the surface. The second one seems largely redundant.

Mr Zoat · Oct 18, 2021

moralrelativity said:
I get it, they're in control of this portion of the surface. The second one seems largely redundant.

Thank you, corrected.

NightmareWarden · Oct 18, 2021

Dang, I was hoping we'd get to see Hyperion and a Sun-Eater taunt each other. Now Hyperion is spending time with Hypnos, I guess. Maybe Grayven (Renegade-Paul) will bring one to Celestia at some point! He finds the best gifts.

Darko · Oct 18, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
12th September 2012
20:43 GMT

Zoat, either change this to 11th September or add 12th September over the link in the spoiler box.

Mr Zoat · Oct 18, 2021

Darko said:
Zoat, either change this to 11th September or add 12th September over the link in the spoiler box.

Thank you, corrected.

Signaller · Oct 18, 2021

What are the rules about which concepts New Gods can have as their domains? Is it any concept or sub-concept, or just single-word ideas and related themes?

Khornelius · Oct 18, 2021

You know last chapter I meant to make a comment about, not believing someone is dead unless you see their body. But apparently the rumors of the gods being dead were not exaggerated.
Now we just have to see how Sparta will act moving forward. If she's power hungry, she'll probably try to steal the powers of Paul and the other gods that he brought with him.

Stsword · Oct 18, 2021

Khornelius said:
You know last chapter I meant to make a comment about, not believing someone is dead unless you see their body. But apparently the rumors of the gods being dead were not exaggerated.
Now we just have to see how Sparta will act moving forward. If she's power hungry, she'll probably try to steal the powers of Paul and the other gods that he brought with him.

They might be revivable as long as the seeds are intact. The first one was just left comatose after having their seed taken, after all

Michael Vonica · Oct 18, 2021

Is Sparta breaking rule 3 on the evil overlord list?

Zig · Oct 19, 2021

Michael Vonica said:
Is Sparta breaking rule 3 on the evil overlord list?

The rules are more of what you would call guidelines

Gantradies · Oct 19, 2021

Michael Vonica said:
Is Sparta breaking rule 3 on the evil overlord list?

Looks like a Premature villain gloat to me-
Wanna take bets on if she claims to now be "invincible", or words to that effect?

… $2 that within 20 minutes she'll be screaming at her guards to "seize him, SEIZE HIM!"

Sockmonkey · Oct 19, 2021

Pinklestia said:
I do not care about people we never saw before on a distant planet to read over thirty chapters about them.

I have to agree on this point. It's one thing when it's characters most of us are at least passingly familiar with, but we haven't gotten to know these guys well enough to care about them.
Now with ones like Xor, most of us didn't know anything about him at first but we had enough one-on-one time to get to know him as a person before going on his quest for justice, which gave us further insights into him as a character. Love him or hate him, we know the guy now.

BlueMangoAdea · Oct 19, 2021

I personally just don't tire of OL's adventure around the universe, but I suppose I can't speak for everyone.

Doccer · Oct 19, 2021

Gantradies said:
Looks like a Premature villain gloat to me-
Wanna take bets on if she claims to now be "invincible", or words to that effect?

… $2 that within 20 minutes she'll be screaming at her guards to "seize him, SEIZE HIM!"

$5 on on demanding OL to kneel.
$6 on just taking his ring.
$10 OL gets her to gloat her evil plan.
$50 she massively misunderstood how much she be getting out of her Apocalypse deal and thought she could nail them too.

Mr Zoat · Oct 19, 2021

11th September 2012
20:56 GMT

Sparta herself isn't actually all that physically imposing. About one metre eighty tall and… Moderately muscular. Clearly fit, but thin like a marathon runner rather than bulky like a weight lifter. Nothing particularly special about her armour: standard New God gear with the addition of a plumed helmet.

But…

I used to read a comic called Erfworld. It was set inside a wargame, where a selection of 'divine' artefacts were drawn as computer generated 3D models while the rest of the art was 2D.

That's what looking at her feels like. And I don't know… Why.

Athyns freezes as he sees his gods in their weakened… No, dead, state. Some of them are wounded -Thia and Oceanus in particular look like they've been in the wars- but the others are more like Phoebe. Some sort of… Assassination? None of the other Ascendants in attendance appear to be equipped with tools of assassination, and I'm not seeing any Mother Boxes.

"Lady Sparta. Or.. is there some other form of address you prefer?"

"Sparta. Just Sparta." Complete In Myself.

"Sparta, then. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. The… Late owners of the facility invited me here to disarm certain devices left here by the previous-."

"I know why you are here. You are to remove the Maltusian weapons from beneath the planet's surface."

"True enough."

"They are now mine." What I Have I Will Hold.

I shrug. "We've been without them for a billion years. I'm sure we can cope. May I enquire what you intend to-?"

"No, you may not. And you, Athyns."

"S-parta."

"You will command the garrison to stand down." Kneel Before Your Goddess!

"Why would I do that?" "No."

All of the Ascendants in the room other than Sparta reach for their weapons.

"Perhaps if we could go over your political objectives, that would help us-."

"Because your gods are dead, and if you do not then your soldiers and you will join them." Kneel To ME!

"I am willing to negotiate a surrender. I will not kneel to you. Unlike these-" he looks around at the attendant New Gods. "-children, I remember the limits of the responsibilities Rhea gave y-."

"You WILL NOT SPEAK HER NAME TO ME!"

Flames flare along her outside, darkness pools at her feet and I feel… Telepathic-. No, mental magic pressure even through my defences. Okay, link my tattoos to the area between my body and my armour…

Ah. A little better.

So, she can use the power from the Seeds… At least a little. Or… Okay, she knew Rhea, or… Was working directly under Rhea when whatever happened happened. That might explain how she had access to ships and wasn't directly involved…

Why hasn't she disintegrated the gods' bodies?

I mean, she clearly hates them. They haven't had their wounds cleaned up in the way that I -as someone familiar with Hellenistic funeral rites- would expect if they were going to be respectfully interred. They're on display, but I doubt that she arranged them like this for my benefit. She was doing this anyway.

If Rhea was planning on doing something with Karrakan, why didn't she do it earlier? Was she just letting it develop by itself? No. She was having sex with the locals and allowing her descendants to have the run of the place. That's not something someone trying to stay above it all would do.

Did she want to rule personally? No, nothing in the stories the Amazons tell of her suggests that she had any desire for personal political power. She is considered admirable for defying Cronus to protect Zeus and causing the events leading to his overthrow, but she turned Zeus down when he wanted to make her his mother-wife and queen. And I haven't heard anything about Rhea being a temporal ruler.

Okay. The Seeds are fragments of her siblings. Which might well mean that she couldn't use them, because she has her own titanic magic which wouldn't be compatible with theirs. So-.

Was the point of the demigods… Was she trying to breed descendants who could use them? Because if so, she appears to have succeeded in Sparta.

But she knew Sparta. So… Presumably she knew that. Or didn't care.

Oh. She didn't just create the gods using the Seeds; they were created specifically to enable their use. If the gods are to be believed, because the demigods were making such a mess that they were required. If they're not… No, the Ascendant side hasn't offered an alternate explanation as to why Rhea created the gods. They just claim that they killed her afterwards. Which is possible, but I'm not seeing a motive.

But the gods didn't try fixing Karrakan. Instead, they piloted the moon away to start again somewhere else. So it's not just about power. Anyone with access to New God technology can geoform a world without -for example- sun magic or mind magic. It's about political authority. A demonstration of power.

"I will speak the name of my mistress whenever-."

"Do you want a power ring?"

Sparta looks mildly confused as she tears her attention away from squaring up against Athyns.

"You could probably fix Karrakan a lot easier. Seriously, I reglaciated my planet's poles and cleaned up our oceans in a few weeks. Given how well motivated you are, I'm happy to either give one to you or lend one to you. Heck, I'm even happy to help out myself."

"You-?" She frowns. "Why?"

"I find that helping people with their problems makes them favourably inclined towards you. And I am interested in your technology."

I take the spear out of subspace, point pointing at the floor and orange strands connecting me to its tron lines.

"New God, right? I haven't really had a chance to use it much before -and I've never really been a spear-man- but this just feels natural. Is this how all your equipment works?"

"We call ourselves Ascendants."

"Right, and that helps distinguish you from the people from New Genesis-"

No particular reaction.

"-and Apokolips."

That got a slight intake of breath. Good show.

"So while I am interested in who your supplier is-"

I deploy a hologram generator and have it create images of the various New Gods I've met, with particular emphasis on their equipment.

"-for your equipment, I'm mostly interested in studying it myself rather than acting against them. Are you willing to put me in touch?"

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 19, 2021

Some significant bits of Godspeech today...

"Lady Sparta. Or.. is there some other form of address you prefer?"

"Sparta. Just Sparta." Complete In Myself.

"True enough."

"They are now mine." What I Have I Will Hold.

"S-parta."

"You will command the garrison to stand down." Kneel Before Your Goddess!

"Why would I do that?" "No."

"Perhaps if we could go over your political objectives, that would help us-."

"Because your gods are dead, and if you do not then your soldiers and you will join them." Kneel To ME!

BlueMangoAdea · Oct 19, 2021

As much as OL puts his foot in his mouth pretty often, he also has many occasions of talking very smoothly, especially when given time to think about what he should say before he actually talks. It's great.

Darko · Oct 19, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
marathon runner rather than bulks like a weight

'bulky'

Mr Zoat said:
artefacts were draws as computer generated

'were drawn'

Mr Zoat said:
I'm not seeing any Mother Boxes

They wouldn't have them in the first place, seeing as they're using Apokoliptian equipment.

Mr Zoat said:
Lady Sparta. Or.. is there some other form of address you prefer?"

"Sparta. Just Sparta." Complete In Myself.

Well she's confident.

Mr Zoat said:
They are now mine." What I Have I Will Hold.

I shrug. "We've been without them for a billion years. I'm sure we can cope

The rest of the universe probably can't cope.

Mr Zoat said:
Flames flare along her outside, darkness pools at her feet and I feel… Telepathic-. No, mental magic pressure even through my defences.

So she can use their power.

Mr Zoat said:
Why hasn't she disintegrated the gods' bodies

Maybe she wants trophies.

Mr Zoat said:
she turned Zeus down when he wanted to make her his mother-wife and queen

Of course he tried to do that, of course.

Mr Zoat said:
Rhea looks mildly confused as

'Sparta looks'

Mr Zoat said:
"You could probably fix Karrakan a lot easier. Seriously, I reglaciated my planet's poles and cleaned up our oceans in a few weeks

Though you used ice tech for that.

Mr Zoat said:
Do you want a power ring?"

Ohh, Paul.

Still offering bad guys more power.

Have you learned nothing?

Mr Zoat said:
Anyone with access to New God technology can geoform a world without -for example- sun magic or mind magic.

Though seeing as this is Apokoliptian tech, geoforming the planet may not result in a paradise but in a hellhole, so Titan magic it is.

Handlewithcare · Oct 19, 2021

I freely admit I have no idea what is going on.

The gods abondened the planet so Sparta made a deal with someone from Apokolips to save it?

Sparta herself killed Rhea for power?

The gods did?

Puh

BlueMangoAdea · Oct 19, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"Sparta, then. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. The… Late owners of the facility invited me here to disarm certain devices left here by the previous-."

"I know why you are here. You are to remove the Maltusian weapons from beneath the planet's surface."

"True enough."

"They are now mine." What I Have I Will Hold.

I shrug. "We've been without them for a billion years. I'm sure we can cope. May I enquire what you intend to-?"

"No, you may not. And you, Athyns."

Mr Zoat said:
Why hasn't she disintegrated the gods' bodies?

I really hope she does not plan on giving them to Apokolips.

Darko · Oct 19, 2021

BlueMangoAdea said:
I really hope she does not plan on giving them to Apokolips.

Well your hopes may be answered, since I'm pretty sure she may give them to Grayven.

Dakkan Sall · Oct 19, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"I am willing to negotiate a surrender. I will not kneel to you. Unlike these-" he looks around at the attendant New Gods. "-children, I remember the limits of the responsibilities Rhea gave y-."

"You WILL NOT SPEAK HER NAME TO ME!"

Well, yet another sign that Sparta's been fibbing. You don't get that angry at the person you're claiming to be avenging.

And having limits on her responsibilities... and from there presumably her power/authority... It's looking like (at least in part) she wanted to sit with the big kids and got told no.

Darko · Oct 19, 2021

Dakkan Sall said:
Well, yet another sign that Sparta's been fibbing. You don't get that angry at the person you're claiming to be avenging.

I think she was angry at Athyns for thinking that he knows more about Rhea than she does.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 19, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
11th September 2012
20:56 GMT

Sparta herself isn't actually all that physically imposing. About one metre eighty tall and… Moderately muscular. Clearly fit, but thin like a marathon runner rather than bulks like a weight lifter. Nothing particularly special about her armour: standard New God gear with the addition of a plumed helmet.

Much as her depiction in the comics showed. I'm impressed, though. No flashy ornamentation to drive home her status, no spikes of villainy, just deadly serious and direct functionality. I suppose her Authority is written into her follower's souls via her Divinity, though, so I guess she feels she has nothing to prove?

But…

I used to read a comic called Erfworld. It was set inside a wargame, where a selection of 'divine' artefacts were draws as computer generated 3D models while the rest of the art was 2D.

Or many Japanese animated series of the early 2000's, who used CG models for large mechanical things but traditional animation for human characters... So there's quite the uncanny valley about her, eh?

That's what looking at her feels like. And I don't know… Why.

Athyns freezes as he sees his gods in their weakened… No, dead, state. Some of them are wounded -Thia and Oceanus in particular look like they've been in the wars- but the others are more like Phoebe. Some sort of… Assassination? None of the other Ascendants in attendance appear to be equipped with tools of assassination, and I'm not seeing any Mother Boxes.

Perhaps Sparta has some manner of Ascendant with a focus on stealth, and they've gone unnoticed?

At least Athyns hasn't immediately gone into a battle-rage.

"Lady Sparta. Or.. is there some other form of address you prefer?"

"Sparta. Just Sparta." Complete In Myself.

Hmm. Telling bit of godspeech there. I can't honestly believe that she's not doing this out of some form of ego... Could she be trying to lie to herself, I wonder?

"Sparta, then. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. The… Late owners of the facility invited me here to disarm certain devices left here by the previous-."

"I know why you are here. You are to remove the Maltusian weapons from beneath the planet's surface."

...Well, shit. She knows about that? I wonder, who could have told her, hmm?

"True enough."

"They are now mine." What I Have I Will Hold.

To continue the gun analogy I used yesterday: That would be like leaving a loaded pistol with the safety off, in the hands of a toddler. There's no happy ending there...

I shrug. "We've been without them for a billion years. I'm sure we can cope. May I enquire what you intend to-?"

"No, you may not. And you, Athyns."

Of course, that's assuming she can't work out how to trigger them, much less aim them. Let's hope OL's playing a long game there...

"S-parta."

"You will command the garrison to stand down." Kneel Before Your Goddess!

...And people were joking about that in thread. Somehow, though, I don't think that'll work on him...

"Why would I do that?" "No."

All of the Ascendants in the room other than Sparta reach for their weapons.

Yeah, that would be the Divine equivalent of throwing out a double middle fingers, I bet...

"Perhaps if we could go over your political objectives, that would help us-."

"Because your gods are dead, and if you do not then your soldiers and you will join them." Kneel To ME!

She seems a little desperate. I wonder why. Perhaps she's not as in control of the situation as she seems to think, while Athyns remains... Unconquered.

"I am willing to negotiate a surrender. I will not kneel to you. Unlike these-" he looks around at the attendant New Gods. "-children, I remember the limits of the responsibilities Rhea gave y-."

"You WILL NOT SPEAK HER NAME TO ME!"

Oof, big berserk button there, it seems. Evidently the lady has some issues with the late Titan...

Flames flare along her outside, darkness pools at her feet and I feel… Telepathic-. No, mental magic pressure even through my defences. Okay, link my tattoos to the area between my body and my armour…

Ah. A little better.

Much easier to focus, I suppose, when you're not being blasted by all the powers at once...

So, she can use the power from the Seeds… At least a little. Or… Okay, she knew Rhea, or… Was working directly under Rhea when whatever happened happened. That might explain how she had access to ships and wasn't directly involved…

Why hasn't she disintegrated the gods' bodies?

...Huh, that is an interesting question. Could it be that the Seeds remain linked to them, even when the power is being directed to another?

I mean, she clearly hates them. They haven't had their wounds cleaned up in the way that I -as someone familiar with Hellenistic funeral rites- would expect if they were going to be respectfully interred. They're on display, but I doubt that she arranged them like this for my benefit. She was doing this anyway.

If Rhea was planning on doing something with Karrakan, why didn't she do it earlier? Was she just letting it develop by itself? No. She was having sex with the locals and allowing her descendants to have the run of the place. That's not something someone trying to stay above it all would do.

And, as with the plan in the comics... How many other worlds did she do this with? And what happened to them?

Did she want to rule personally? No, nothing in the stories the Amazons tell of her suggests that she had any desire for personal political power. She is considered admirable for defying Cronus to protect Zeus and causing the events leading to his overthrow, but she turned Zeus down when he wanted to make her his mother-wife and queen. And I haven't heard anything about Rhea being a temporal ruler.

Okay. The Seeds are fragments of her siblings. Which might well mean that she couldn't use them, because she has her own titanic magic which wouldn't be compatible with theirs. So-.

The joy of being so temporally distant from the time these legends were still sung. So much has been lost to time...

Was the point of the demigods… Was she trying to breed descendants who could use them? Because if so, she appears to have succeeded in Sparta.

But she knew Sparta. So… Presumably she knew that. Or didn't care.

Or perhaps she saw Sparta as a failed prototype. A Proof of Concept that she had no intention of empowering...

Oh. She didn't just create the gods using the Seeds; they were created specifically to enable their use. If the gods are to be believed, because the demigods were making such a mess that they were required. If they're not… No, the Ascendant side hasn't offered an alternate explanation as to why Rhea created the gods. They just claim that they killed her afterwards. Which is possible, but I'm not seeing a motive.

But the gods didn't try fixing Karrakan. Instead, they piloted the moon away to start again somewhere else. So it's not just about power. Anyone with access to New God technology can geoform a world without -for example- sun magic or mind magic. It's about political authority. A demonstration of power.

That kind of goes along with flying around a starship made from a hollowed-out moon... I bet Rhea had planned for the titans to return to Earth and take up rulership from their cousins.

"I will speak the name of my mistress whenever-."

"Do you want a power ring?"

OL! Read the room! ...Then again, I suspect the two of them were about to go for their weapons and have at it.

Rhea looks mildly confused as she tears her attention away from squaring up against Athyns.

"You could probably fix Karrakan a lot easier. Seriously, I reglaciated my planet's poles and cleaned up our oceans in a few weeks. Given how well motivated you are, I'm happy to either give one to you or lend one to you. Heck, I'm even happy to help out myself."

And she clearly wants things intensely enough to be able to make use of one... But, uh, OL? I don't think she'd pass any kind of psychological qualifications...

"You-?" She frowns. "Why?"

"I find that helping people with their problems makes them favourably inclined towards you. And I am interested in your technology."

...True, he does do that quite well. Earning those sweet circumstance bonuses to Diplomacy checks...

I take the spear out of subspace, point pointing at the floor and orange strands connecting me to its tron lines.

"New God, right? I haven't really had a chance to use it much before -and I've never really been a spear-man- but this just feels natural. Is this how all your equipment works?"

Hmm... Wonder how you'd do with a giant sword, I wonder? ...Ooh, imagine a Power Ring fused with New God tech...

"We call ourselves Ascendants."

"Right, and that helps distinguish you from the people from New Genesis-"

No particular reaction.

Yes, while I know New Genesis isn't entirely lily-white (Good is not always Nice, after all,) i don't think they'd look too kindly on their tech being used for this.

"-and Apokolips."

That got a slight intake of breath. Good show.

...Whereas those of the dark would. So, either Grayven or one of the Nobility. And I can see it going down well if Darkseid found out. A great deposit of powerful weapons if Sparta succeeds, nothing lost but a few sets of armour and weaponry if she fails.

"So while I am interested in who your supplier is-."

I deploy a hologram generator and have it create images of the various New Gods I've met, with particular emphasis on their equipment.

"-for your equipment, I'm mostly interested in studying it myself rather than acting against them. Are you willing to put me in touch?"

And I find myself wondering what the other Ascendant present are thinking...

Of course OL would turn a tense audience with a conquering goddess into a business deal. Still, I don't see Sparta taking this abrupt change of subject lightly. Bet her first words tomorrow will involve an order to be silent... At least it's clear Melinoë and her cousins aren't here, their presence would have been noted. So there's that...

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

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