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

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Ways and Means (part 11)
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    • 24th January
    18:33 GMT

    Green laser beams are absorbed by my construct armour as cold beams and a magnetic siphon construct prove to be an adequate counter to the plasma-positron weapons the computer is bombarding me with. I mean, yes, I've now got a large invisible bag of anti-matter, but nothing's blowing up so I'm calling that a success. Better still, with giant explosions not turning the atmosphere into plasma I can generally see what's shooting at me well enough to disable it at once.

    "Still not a Green Lantern."

    Though it's mildly reassuring to know that someone else spotted the green laser weakness. I mean… There are good reasons for police not going around in full riot gear the whole time. And since Green Lanterns are mostly a policing organisation it does make a sort of sense that they usually limit themselves to basic body armour. The problem is that most of them assume that that's all they need.

    And there goes the last positron beam projector. Not trying to 'taunt Murphy' here, but I'm a little surprised that the ship hasn't self-destructed yet. The positron thing appears to be its most powerful internal weapon. At this point, it should either admit defeat and scrub itself or blow the main reactor. I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used it during his crusade. So either this ship is somehow so valuable that its own value-weighing won't allow it to destroy itself…

    Or I'm missing something.

    "Ship, how about we resolve this like civilised peop-."

    Shock-poles extend from the frame of the blast doors blocking my way to the computer room, an appreciable fraction of the main reactor arcing… Into the hull around me because constructs don't conduct electricity. I raise my left hand and shoot each one with destructive bolts before-.

    "Sure. Let's talk about this."

    That's a new voice. I stop.

    "Who am I talking to?"

    "The man who can scrub the computer at the touch of a button."

    I nod, and open up my empathic vision. Hm, not seeing… No, there we go.

    "And if you don't want me to do-"

    I build a physical containment vessel for the positrons. Now, do I risk the final layer of defences to disable the speaker now, or let them talk themselves out?

    "-that, then stop scanning-"

    I step out

    and then back in just behind the young Ungaran man whose desire to take control of this ship is about as strong as that of the commodore outside. Though far less altruistic.

    "-and pay-."

    One construct connects me to the computer and the second pokes through his armour and subverts his central nervous system.

    And relax, and get the computer to turn off the automatic-.

    "Automatic defences on autistic mode."

    Fine. Fine. I'll just have to use my armour's stealth systems when I go anywhere I haven't already destroyed. No, wait, can I turn off the reactor from here? Sure they've got batteries, but… I can, because the self-destruct isn't automated, while the guns are designed to go autistic if the computer is destroyed by enemy action. Excellent! And… I've got Devlos Ungol's maps. Well. What he actually put on here, anyway. A few sites I don't think anyone has visited. Aaaaand this guy. The little Black Circle emblem on his armour makes it clearish what he's here for.

    "Computer, you work for me. Confirm command."

    "Command confirmed."

    "Glad to hear it." I turn the pirate around to face me. "Now how the devil did you get on board?"

    He gazes vacantly back at me.

    Okay, give him control of his head back.

    He twitches, then appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.

    "Oh, come on. If you're going to try deceiving me, at least try it when there's a chance it might work."

    "I have nothing to say to you."

    Ring, check him for suicide devices.

    None found.

    I haven't forgotten that thing with Jade. Anything substantially similar? Mind wipers, coma-inducing drugs, that sort of thing?

    None found.

    I'm trusting you with this.

    Understood.

    "As I tried to tell the computer, I'm not a Green Lantern. Do you know what I am?"

    He regards me with studied disinterest.

    "Orange Lanterns have a few unique quirks. For example, I can rewrite your desires so that you want nothing more than to tell me everything I want to know." I take control of his right arm and wave it around for a moment. "Or manipulate you in other ways. Now, at the moment I don't have you for anything worse than entering a restricted area, which is a slap on the wrist offence. And I'm prepared to let you off anything you might admit to in the course of providing me with information I want. Am I clear?"

    His expression doesn't change, so I take control of his facial muscles and make him smile and nod for a moment.

    "Glad to hear it. Anything you particularly want to say?"

    His face goes slack as I allow him to take control once more.

    "No."

    Okay, anything about who this guy is in the Ungaran-.

    "Amon Sur?" He grimaces. "You're running with a bad crowd, chum. Mind if I ask why?"

    I think he was a Sinestro Corpsman for all of five minutes before Laira killed him. Angry with Abin Sur for spending all his time being a Lantern and little to none being a father. He almost certainly doesn't know about the Indigo Lantern Corps or what his father did to the woman who murdered his sister…

    I frown. Whose name I don't know. Don't think I ever saw his mother's name, either. I don't want to think 'disposable female characters', but I am.

    "They're the strongest power in this region of space."

    Actual desire triggered: Undo my father's work out of spite.

    "No, I'm the strongest power in this region of space. I have a planet Lantern."

    "You were nearly killed by this ship's defences."

    "I'm uninjured. And the only reason this was even slightly hard is that I was trying to keep the computer core intact." And shut down the shield… "I'll ask one more time: do you feel like talking?"

    His eyes narrow. "No."

    "Okay." I shrug inside my armour. "Time for an attitude adjustment."
     
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    • I wonder how Paul will describe this guy to Lanterns Stewart and Xor and the Ungarans. "He's the son of Abin Sur, the greatest hero of Ungara, who decided to destroy everything his father accomplished because he's angsty over the fact he thinks his father loved being a Lantern more than he loved him."

    Stewart - disapproval due to being a criminal

    Xor - thinks him a disgrace for an honorable warrior

    Ungarans - hate his guts for being Black Circle
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    ...and a magnetic siphon construct prove to be an adequate counter...
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    Seeing a double space in the reply box, but not in the chapter.

    I mean, yes, I've now got a large invisible bag of anti-matter, but nothing's blowing up so I'm calling that a success.
    Click to expand...
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    Not blowing up is always a success...

    I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used in during his crusade.
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    I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used it during his crusade.

    "Automatic defences on autistic mode."
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    Ha! Called it!.

    And… I've got Devlos Ungol's maps. Well. What he actually put on here, anyway. A few sites I don't think anyone has visited. Aaaaand this guy. The little Black Circle emblem on his armour makes it clearish what he's here for.
    Click to expand...
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    So, sidequest complete. With a bonus!

    Okay, give him control of his head back.
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    Kind of hard to talk without the ability to move your lips. Amazing how many writers forget that when they use some kind of paralytic to stop the bad guy fighting.

    He twitches, the appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.
    Click to expand...
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    He twitches, then appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.

    I haven't forgotten that thing with Jade. Anything substantially similar? Mind wipers, coma-inducing drugs, that sort of thing?
    Click to expand...
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    Heh, callback and unknowing reference to Common Sense playthrough.

    "Amon Sur?" He grimaces. "You're running with a bad crowd, chum. Mind if I ask why?"
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    Well now!

    I frown. Whose name I don't know. Don't think I ever saw his mother's name, either. I don't want to think 'disposable female characters', but I am.
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    Diana would be frowning right now.

    Actual desire triggered: Undo my father's work out of spite.
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    Teenage frustration turned life's work... Such a nice boy...

    "Okay." I shrug inside my armour. "Time for an attitude adjustment."
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    Time for the hard way, kid. Shoulda taken the easy way.

    Well, this is a complication...
     
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    Chojin Patriarch said:
    Seeing a double space in the reply box, but not in the chapter.
    I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used in during his crusade.
    I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used it during his crusade.
    He twitches, the appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.
    He twitches, then appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.
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    Thank you, corrected.
     
    angsty and stupid- i was expecting the fawning and the babbling and the pleading to be allowed to keep his personality to start by the second time he was given vocal control back.
    '
    honestly, id say just mindrip him for the Command codes and any other useful infomation, and either kill him or hand him over to be stuffed into a cell somewhere- with a motivation THAT petty, i doubt he has any important info past the source of the codes- he's probably just a disposable pawn at most XD
     
    Hah, that character page is a gold mine. So apparently this guy becomes the head of a crime syndicate and fights Kyle Rayner, but he loses and gets decapitated. Later on, they want to re-use him. So what do they do?

    They just say that his run-of-the-mill humanoid species can regrow heads.

    Yeah, don't worry about that "brain" thing. Completely unnecessary, didn't need it in the first place. I mean, just look at the writers!
     
    RichardWhereat said:
    So, what's Autistic Mode, and what does the ship do when it's on it?
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    The guns rely on their own targetting programming and don't take instructions remotely any longer. It's an anti-hacking feature which works on the assumption that if there's no legitimate way to override the guns then they can't be illegitimately overridden either.
     
    Buggy123 said:
    Hah, that character page is a gold mine. So apparently this guy becomes the head of a crime syndicate and fights Kyle Rayner, but he loses and gets decapitated. Later on, they want to re-use him. So what do they do?

    They just say that his run-of-the-mill humanoid species can regrow heads.

    Yeah, don't worry about that "brain" thing. Completely unnecessary, didn't need it in the first place. I mean, just look at the writers!
    Click to expand...
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    Octopus arms have enough of a nervous system that they can not only move but react to stimuli after being removed. Supposedly every year some shmucks die from trying to eat an octopus arm that tries to avoid being swallowed.

    So I'd think the idea of an alien species looking like red humans having a decentralized or redundant nervous system, the more unlikely bit there is looking like red humans.
     
    Stsword said:
    Octopus arms have enough of a nervous system that they can not only move but react to stimuli after being removed. Supposedly every year some shmucks die from trying to eat an octopus arm that tries to avoid being swallowed.

    So I'd think the idea of an alien species looking like red humans having a decentralized or redundant nervous system, the more unlikely bit there is looking like red humans.
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    Oh yes, you can absolutely have a decentralized nervous system, or even just stick the brain somewhere other than the head. But yeah, anything like that is not going to look like a human with red skin. Or at least, not anything that evolved naturally.

    Also, something like that probably wouldn't act much like a bog-standard humanoid, either. A being, with it's brain separated into 8 cooperating clusters located in its arms, is probably not going to think much like a human(oid) would.
     
    Buggy123 said:
    Oh yes, you can absolutely have a decentralized nervous system, or even just stick the brain somewhere other than the head. But yeah, anything like that is not going to look like a human with red skin. Or at least, not anything that evolved naturally.

    Also, something like that probably wouldn't act much like a bog-standard humanoid, either. A being, with it's brain separated into 8 cooperating clusters located in its arms, is probably not going to think much like a human(oid) would.
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    Not that I know that much about their physiology, but maybe they don't keep their brain in their head? Maybe they put it in their chest cavity or something and the head's just a sort of sensory stalk? I suppose you can make an argument about why would a full-sized head evolve in the first place, but given the insane number of convergent evolution situations in DC it isn't that weird. At least compared to the humans with wings or super lasers in their eyes.
     
    Rhomanion1 said:
    Not that I know that much about their physiology, but maybe they don't keep their brain in their head? Maybe they put it in their chest cavity or something and the head's just a sort of sensory stalk? I suppose you can make an argument about why would a full-sized head evolve in the first place, but given the insane number of convergent evolution situations in DC it isn't that weird. At least compared to the humans with wings or super lasers in their eyes.
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    According to a wiki which didn't provide citation, so maybe it's bullshit, I can't say for sure, claimed that the reason there are so many humanoids in DC is because the Maltusians were the first sophont species, which reverberated in the morphogenic field/the Red, so it's self plagiarism on the part of the Red.

    In the Vertigo setting, in Sandman, it was established that Sol went to Morpheus's Maltusian girlfriend and basically said "Wow, you're so pretty! Can I make a species that looks like you? Can I can I can I?" at a parliament of celestial bodies. So perhaps quite a few stars were impressed but not polite enough to ask if it was okay to borrow her look.
     
    Mr Zoat, off-topic, but are we going to see Match any time soon?
     
    MrGazzer said:
    ...It is meant to be autistic? Because that's a weird place for some Spectrum representation.
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    It's a term from Ghost In The Shell, where it refers to shutting down external input to a computational device to prevent unauthorised access. Basically like putting airplane mode on for your phone, it prevents external communication so as to prevent people hacking the device. (Being GITS, the devices in question were cyberbrains and AIs and the like.)
     
    MrGazzer said:
    ...It is meant to be autistic? Because that's a weird place for some Spectrum representation.
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    Found a comment somewhere in reddit that decently describes that autistic mode for computers is like Airplane mode for the phone.

    It still functions, it it won't accept any input from the outside.

    On a side note. The Greek word 'Autos' means 'Self'.
     
    RichardWhereat said:
    What? But there's all sorts of Emotional Spectrum represntation in the story, if Red Tornado can have desires, why not Shippy as well?
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    Autism spectrum, not emotional.

    As in the poster thought that the autistic system was an AI that would literally be diagnosed as somewhere on the autism spectrum.
     
    Jiro said:
    Since you seem to think I don't get it, let me explain what I did get from it.

    Paul asked Xor something and implied that, because Xor interpreted it in a common sense way instead of a literal way, Xor answered the question wrong and was careless or an idiot for not answering it literally. And that's nonsense.

    Maybe you think Paul was just making a joke, but Paul and Xor didn't seem to be getting along well enough to be joking with each other. It felt more like Paul was trying to show his superiority.
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    I think Paul was posing Xor a riddle to illustrate some flaws in Xor's literalist way of thinking, and help him improve as a Lantern. I think you missing that by being even more literal is hilarious. :D
     
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