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

Jet Fighter (part 4)
31st December 2012
15:42 GMT -5


"Nice to hear from you, Controller Hinon."

"What. Did. You. Do?

"Summoning the Ophidian into myself caused a group of New Gods to go directly to their secondary objective instead of visiting Mount Justice. This… Indirectly contributed to them being captured and imprisoned on Apokolips. That led to the human who masterminded the Earth-end of the fight being turned into some sort of avatar of Darkseid, and he's just Anti-Lifed the entire planet Earth."

"… Ah."

"Given what's buried in the Earth, that's obviously really bad. The problem is that while I'm familiar with normal Anti-Life broadcasters, there doesn't appear to be any equivalent thing in use at the moment. My current theory is that Mannheim -that's the avatar's original name- has done something clever to use the thaumosphere itself as the broadcast medium."

"What is the current state of your species?"

"It doesn't.. look like the death toll is too high, at the moment. I'd say… There are…" Atlantis has a total population of about twenty million, plus Kahndaq's eighty million... If we assume that their shielding is completely successful… "Let's say a hundred million definitely free, an unknown number at least in the thousands fully Justified and everyone else suffering from something like clinical depression."

"Fleet elements?"

I look around.

"Nothing yet. Since I'm still active I could attack fleet elements myself. I can't do that on the ground due to a lack of targets and the fact that the 'enemy army' are effectively hostages."

"Other New Gods?"

"If you mean 'Apokoliptians', I haven't seen any Elite so far. There's a giant god-robot in Washington but that's about it as far as direct support. Aside from some giant insectoids we've already killed."

I send her an image of my scans of the thing. She nods.

"A last hurrah for the insectoids, and a field test for the robot."

"I don't think it's worth calling in any Lanterns, but-."

"Good, because we can't. Dox has actually been trying to get hold of you."

"Oh? Ah, why?"

"Oh, a combination of factors. Most importantly, the Reach appear to have authorised the deployment of one of their inner circle fleets. Possibly more."

I frown. "We weren't expecting them to do that for.. months. Deploying one of their inner circle fleets when their core isn't threatened is contrary to their Writ. They're religious about following their Writ."

"It appears that your Reach-shadow has decided that it made them too predictable. We don't have a copy of their Writ that we could trust to be completely accurate. It may well be that there are exceptions that we don't know about."

"Can we.. cope with it?"

"Dox's estimates say 'yes', but we will take considerable damage doing so, and it will undermine the confidence of our affiliates. If they deploy a second fleet, we won't. Maltus will survive, but that will be all."

"Their inner circle fleets aren't unlimited. There are reasons why they don't deploy those."

"Yes, it appears that for some reason they don't think that Apokolips will take advantage of their distraction to remove them as competition. And of course other galactic powers are content to let us take our swing at them without offering aid."

"And we can't take a strike force past their lines while their rear is less defended?"

"That's part of why Dox is so eager to get you back. Or, he's ordering you back, I should say."

Darn. Objectively, that's the right choice. Five billion or so on Earth versus hundreds of billions who've thrown their lot in with the organisation I created explicitly to fight this war.

But…

"Am I needed right away?"

"That depends on what you consider to be the limits of 'needed'."

"Are the Reach about to capture any inhabited world?"

"Not… Immediately. I would say that you have approximately two Earth days until that world where you saved the young of their entire species is returned to Reach control."

"So realistically I've got about a day."

"Every moment you delay is a moment where our allies die unnecessarily, but if 'people I actually know getting hurt' is your definition of 'needed', then yes."

"I need all data we have on the Anti-Life. All the records. Everything on Darkseid, including anything we've 'acquired' from the Guardians and Green Lanterns. Because actually, due to… A certain thing being stored here, it actually might be worse if Earth falls than if Maltus falls."

She considers, but she knows that I'm right.

"Are they actually looking for it?"

"Not as far as I've seen. And we've got a man with a direct-ish line to it and he hasn't noticed anything."

"Then the simplest solution would be to move it."

"Are Maltusians immune to the Anti-Life Equation?"

She hesitates before responding.

"Not… Entirely."

"Given how powerful your species are, and how you're ageless, I don't think that exposing any of you is a good idea."

"You will have our data. And I will hold my nose and reach out to our cousins. Will your people survive?"

"If we can work out what we're supposed to be hitting, sure. This might well cause the final collapse of our current social order and I might still end up evacuating the planet, if only temporarily. But I believe that we'll win in the end."

"One day, Illustres. Do what you can for the humans."

"One more thing. Do we know where any of the other Central Power Batteries or Light Fountains are?"

"I'm not aware of any besides Orange and Green even existing. Unless the Zamarons have finally found something to act as the core of their Violet Central Power Battery. I will check in with them as well. What are you planning?"

"Using the White Light to purge the Earth's thaumosphere."

She thinks for a moment.

"We were never able to firmly determine the White Light's limits. It was too alien to our mindset, even in those days. And we had no contemporary contact with the Anti-Life Equation at all. I will not veto your attempt, but I strongly suggest that you be mindful of your more immediate problems."

I nod.

"Then I will expect you tomorrow. Relaying data now."
 
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Why are all the bad guys working so much at New Year's Eve?!

There's just no rest, Earth Anti-Life'd and now the Reach are sending an Inner Circle Fleet?! What next, the Spider Guild are gonna send a massive offensive to Vega and the Dominion will show up as well?

Still, great to see the Illustres just taking it in stride. Got a day to save his planet and then gotta hurry up to stop the Reach advance, business as usual.
 
Why are all the bad guys working so much at New Year's Eve?!

There's just no rest, Earth Anti-Life'd and now the Reach are sending an Inner Circle Fleet?! What next, the Spider Guild are gonna send a massive offensive to Vega and the Dominion will show up as well?

Still, great to see the Illustres just taking it in stride. Got a day to save his planet and then gotta hurry up to stop the Reach advance, business as usual.
Honestly, I could see plenty of actors watching what's going on and using the diversion as an opportunity for personal fuckery themselves.

But moreover, when Darkseid started to gain power in the Universe, "Evil" started to triumph over "Good" in the comics. It was a whole thing in Final Crisis due to his being the God of Evil, doing things like uniting other Gods of Evil under his metaphorical banner, using his increasing power to remove the cosmic plot armor aura infecting the universe, ectera. This story has featured more than a few elements from that story in the most recent chapters. So it makes sense.

Darkseid ascending, if treated the same could mean that the cosmic and metaphysical connections that the Heroes enjoyed is fading. They are almost literally losing their canonical plot armor in that situation lmfao.

Which to me is actually pretty entertaining. I'd enjoy that.
 
Why are all the bad guys working so much at New Year's Eve?!

There's just no rest, Earth Anti-Life'd and now the Reach are sending an Inner Circle Fleet?! What next, the Spider Guild are gonna send a massive offensive to Vega and the Dominion will show up as well?

Still, great to see the Illustres just taking it in stride. Got a day to save his planet and then gotta hurry up to stop the Reach advance, business as usual.
It seems to be implied that the Reach worked out a deal with Apokolips somehow, based on Hinon saying that the Reach are using fleets that they usually use to deter Apokoliptian forces from attacking.
 
31st December 2012
15:42 GMT -5


"Nice to hear from you, Controller Hinon."

"What. Did. You. Do?
Wow, very good job making the capital letters audible, Ma'am. I take it something else is happening, then. Never rains when it can pour, eh? So, Reach push-back? Qwardians on the rampage? Apokalips moving?

"Summoning the Ophidian into myself caused a group of New Gods to go directly to their secondary objective instead of visiting Mount Justice. This… Indirectly contributed to them being captured and imprisoned on Apokolips. That led to the human who masterminded the Earth-end of the fight being turned into some sort of avatar of Darkseid, and he's just Anti-Lifed the entire planet Earth."

"… Ah."
Yes, possibly worse than whatever's going wrong on your end.

"Given what's buried in the Earth, that's obviously really bad. The problem is that while I'm familiar with normal Anti-Life broadcasters, there doesn't appear to be any equivalent thing in use at the moment. My current theory is that Mannheim -that's the avatar's original name- has done something clever to use the thaumosphere itself as the broadcast medium."

"What is the current state of your species?"
...Do Maltusians have an Edgy Teenager phase? because that's more or less what's happening now. Give or take a few metric tons of depressive feelings...

"It doesn't.. look like the death toll is too high, at the moment. I'd say… There are…" Atlantis has a total population of about twenty million, plus Kahndaq's eighty million... If we assume that their shielding is completely successful… "Let's say a hundred million definitely free, an unknown number at least in the thousands fully Justified and everyone else suffering from something like clinical depression."

"Fleet elements?"
Oooh, there's a nasty prospect. An Apokaliptian battle fleet rolling through city-sized Boom Tubes on top of all this...

I look around.

"Nothing yet. Since I'm still active I could attack fleet elements myself. I can't do that on the ground due to a lack of targets and the fact that the 'enemy army' are effectively hostages."
And sadly, the most important target isn't making himself obvious right now.

"Other New Gods?"

"If you mean 'Apokoliptians', I haven't seen any Elite so far. There's a giant god-robot in Washington but that's about it as far as direct support. Aside from some giant insectoids we've already killed."
On the plus column, you have Mister Miracle and the Sphere. ...and Big Barda, once they find her.

I send her an image of my scans of the thing. She nods.

"A last hurrah for the insectoids, and a field test for the robot."
One's disposable, and the other... May be able to be subverted if its controller hasn't got a perfect hold of it...

"I don't think it's worth calling in any Lanterns, but-."

"Good, because we can't. Dox has actually been trying to get hold of you."
Ah, here comes the other shoe.

"Oh? Ah, why?"

"Oh, a combination of factors. Most importantly, the Reach appear to have authorised the deployment of one of their inner circle fleets. Possibly more."
Oh, that is the absolute worst thing they could have done right now...

I frown. "We weren't expecting them to do that for.. months. Deploying one of their inner circle fleets when their core isn't threatened is contrary to their Writ. They're religious about following their Writ."

"It appears that your Reach-shadow has decided that it made them too predictable. We don't have a copy of their Writ that we could trust to be completely accurate. It may well be that there are exceptions that we don't know about."
There's probably some clause for coming down like 'a pile of coins in a sack' on outside aggressors. And they can probably make a case for it not being an invasion force if the Greenies push them on it.

"Can we.. cope with it?"

"Dox's estimates say 'yes', but we will take considerable damage doing so, and it will undermine the confidence of our affiliates. If they deploy a second fleet, we won't. Maltus will survive, but that will be all."
And that only because the Controllers are still Maltusians, with their full command of 'fuck you, Reality, here's what's going to happen...' powers...

"Their inner circle fleets aren't unlimited. There are reasons why they don't deploy those."

"Yes, it appears that for some reason they don't think that Apokolips will take advantage of their distraction to remove them as competition. And of course other galactic powers are content to let us take our swing at them without offering aid."
Gee, I wonder what could be distracting Apokalips. :rolleyes:

"And we can't take a strike force past their lines while their rear is less defended?"

"That's part of why Dox is so eager to get you back. Or, he's ordering you back, I should say."
Ah, another deep-dive deployment run through the Honden? Damn, if only one of OL's apprentices had managed to gain access...

Darn. Objectively, that's the right choice. Five billion or so on Earth versus hundreds of billions who've thrown their lot in with the organisation I created explicitly to fight this war.

But…
Earth is your homeworld, even in a reality removed from your own.

"An I needed right away?"

"That depends on what you consider to be the limits of 'needed'."
...Will Dox's plan fail if OL isn't there yesterday?

"Are the Reach about to capture any inhabited world?"

"Not… Immediately. I would say that you have approximately two Earth days until that world where you saved the young of their entire species is returned to Reach control."
Well, no pressure, then. less than 48 hours to save the Earth. And you can leave the League to handle cleanup!

"So realistically I've got about a day."

"Every moment you delay is a moment where our allies die unnecessarily, but if 'people I actually know getting hurt' is your definition of 'needed', then yes."
...24 hours, then. Flash Gordon managed it in less.

"I need all data we have on the Anti-Life. All the records. Everything on Darkseid, including anything we've 'acquired' from the Guardians and Green Lanterns. Because actually, due to… A certain thing being stored here, it actually might be worse if Earth falls than if Maltus falls."

She considers, but she knows that I'm right.
True. If there's a time for busting out the Anti-Godzilla weaponry, then standing at the Godzilla threshold is it.

"Are they actually looking for it?"

"Not as far as I've seen. And we've got a man with a direct-ish line to it and he hasn't noticed anything."
...Yet.

"Then the simplest solution would be to move it."

"Are Maltusians immune to the Anti-Life Equation?"
Would be a bit awkward if those who came to protect the Entity get Anti-Lifed and start trying to cripple it.

She hesitates before responding.

"Not… Entirely."
And it's not worth risking it if it's less than 100% certain.

"Given how powerful your species are, and how you're ageless, I don't think that exposing any of you is a good idea."

"You will have our data. And I will hold my nose and reach out to our cousins. Will your people survive?"
Hey, the Controllers shit stinks just as bad as the Guardians' and Zamarons'. Sun-Eaters.

"If we can work out what we're supposed to be hitting, sure. This might well cause the final collapse of our current social order and I might still end up evacuating the planet, if only temporarily. But I believe that we'll win in the end."

"One day, Illustres. Do what you can for the humans."
Eh, DC Human society seems to be surprisingly resilient, at least in the comics... Where the power of Status Quo... :confused: Well, shit.

"One more thing. Do we know where any of the other Central Power Batteries or Light Fountains are?"

"I'm not aware of any besides Orange and Green even existing. Unless the Zamarons have finally found something to act as the core of their Violet Central Power Battery. I will check in with them as well. What are you planning?"
Given the shit Violet Lanterns Star Sapphires got up to in the comics, it better be damn good at mitigating the mental effects. Last thing the galaxy needs is a whole corps of Yandere.

"Using the White Light to purge the Earth's thaumosphere."

She thinks for a moment.
Good luck with that. The White Light moves in mysterious ways. You might not like what it does to fix humanity...

"We were never able to firmly determine the White Light's limits. It was too alien to our mindset, even in those days. And we had no contemporary contact with the Anti-Life Equation at all. I will not veto your attempt, but I strongly suggest that you be mindful of your more immediate problems."

I nod.

"Then I will expect you tomorrow. Relaying data now."
Yeah, better to go with the 'make Bruno Mannheim taste boot leather in the back of his throat' plan than the 'call up something you can't control' plan...

Well, just when OL's day couldn't get any worse, huh? Now he has an explicit time limit to get shit done. This is the drawback of havign so many jobs, I suppose. Sooner later, they all need urgent attention. So unless OL can somehow clone himself, he's going to be running around like a headless chicken to get shit sorted...
 
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Who could have guessed that backed into a corner the Reach would do something like make a deal with Apokolipse.

Oh wait... The Guardians totally did... Which is why they didn't do what LePaul was trying to do.
 
Is there any realistic possibility that Paul is, basically, Mother of Mercy'd right now? He isn't talking to Hinon, he has suffered a mental attack which will help ensure Earth falls to Mannheim.
 
Wow, very good job making the capital letters audible, Ma'am. I take it something else is happening, then. Never rains when it can pour, eh? So, Reach push-back? Qwardians on the rampage? Apokalips moving?

Yes, possibly worse than whatever's going wrong on your end.


...Do Maltusians have an Edgy Teenager phase? because that's more or less what's happening now. Give or take a few metric tons of depressive feelings...


Oooh, there's a nasty prospect. An Apokaliptian battle fleet rolling through city-sized Boom Tubes on top of all this...


And sadly, the most important target isn't making himself obvious right now.


On the plus column, you have Mister Miracle and the Sphere. ...and Big Barda, once they find her.


One's disposable, and the other... May be able to be subverted if its controller hasn't got a perfect hold of it...


Ah, here comes the other shoe.


Oh, that is the absolute worst thing they could have done right now...


There's probably some clause for coming down like 'a pile of coins in a sack' on outside aggressors. And they can probably make a case for it not being an invasion force if the Greenies push them on it.


And that only because the Controllers are still Maltusians, with their full command of 'fuck you, Reality, here's what's going to happen...' powers...


Gee, I wonder what could be distracting Apokalips. :rolleyes:


Ah, another deep-dive deployment run through the Honden? Damn, if only one of OL's apprentices had managed to gain access...


Earth is your homeworld, even in a reality removed from your own.


...Will Dox's plan fail if OL isn't there yesterday?


Well, no pressure, then. less than 48 hours to save the Earth. And you can leave the League to handle cleanup!


...24 hours, then. Flash Gordon managed it in less.


True. If there's a time for busting out the Anti-Godzilla weaponry, then standing at the Godzilla threshold is it.


...Yet.


Would be a bit awkward if those who came to protect the Entity get Anti-Lifed and start trying to cripple it.


And it's not worth risking it if it's less than 100% certain.


Hey, the Controllers shit stinks just as bad as the Guardians' and Zamarons'. Sun-Eaters.


Eh, DC Human society seems to be surprisingly resilient, at least in the comics... Where the power of Status Quo... :confused: Well, shit.


Given the shit Violet Lanterns Star Sapphires got up to in the comics, it better be damn good at mitigating the mental effects. Last thing the galaxy needs is a whole corps of Yandere.


Good luck with that. The White Light moves in mysterious ways. You might not like what it does to fix humanity...


Yeah, better to go with the 'make Bruno Mannheim taste boot leather in the back of his throat' plan than the 'call up something you can't control' plan...

Well, just when OL's day couldn't get any worse, huh? Now he has an explicit time limit to get shit done. This is the drawback of havign so many jobs, I suppose. Sooner later, they all need urgent attention. So unless OL can somehow clone himself, he's going to be running around like a headless chicken to get shit sorted...


He has a clone stored in Bir Tawil in case he dies and has immediate need of a new body.


Considering the clone is probably getting anti lifted I think his time limit is more pressing than he thinks.


Dream of the endless next host is currently getting anti lifed, a clone of Paul is getting anti lifed, the thaumosphere is infected and through it life in general as well (black orchid is targeting the green directly). The embodiment of life itself is also in danger.
 
Dream of the endless next host is currently getting anti lifed, a clone of Paul is getting anti lifed, the thaumosphere is infected and through it life in general as well (black orchid is targeting the green directly). The embodiment of life itself is also in danger.
You reminding me that the Green might be getting a direct infusion of Anti-Life makes me worried about Euanthe. On the plus side, if she is being effected, then Paul can help her recover, and maybe end up being worshipped by the people who worship her.
 
So that would be the time limit now Paul can't drag this out with the slow and easy approach, and he knows he isn't strong enough right now to overwhelm Mannheim and the protections that hide. Him Zoat I know you like to always do this methodically but this would be a very good time to go with rare overwhelming force to solve this problem blow through whatever new god tech hides Mannheim, and wreak this shit. Please stop holding the MC back when brute force is sometimes the answer, or can be written to be the answer easily enough.
 
Oh boy, the Reach working with Apokalypse, or at least making a deal. That's gonna have major consequences.
 
So that would be the time limit now Paul can't drag this out with the slow and easy approach, and he knows he isn't strong enough right now to overwhelm Mannheim and the protections that hide. Him Zoat I know you like to always do this methodically but this would be a very good time to go with rare overwhelming force to solve this problem blow through whatever new god tech hides Mannheim, and wreak this shit. Please stop holding the MC back when brute force is sometimes the answer, or can be written to be the answer easily enough.
I'm pretty sure it was already mentioned that Paragon doesn't want to risk exposing Ophidian to Anti-Life unless he really has to.
 
"Fleet elements?"

I look around.

"Nothing yet.

"Their inner circle fleets aren't unlimited. There are reasons why they don't deploy those."

"Yes, it appears that for some reason they don't think that Apokolips will take advantage of their distraction to remove them as competition.

You know, everybody going "Apokolips and the Reach working together" and that's true, but also Darkseid is not to be trusted. I wonder if the Reach are being suckered. This thing with Manaheim is an invasion done on the cheap. One possession, a bunch of insect monsters they basically were done with anyway, one giant robot. But it's mostly subverted local elements that are serving as actual on the ground troops. No Elites, no fleet elements. So where are they? Well....

The Reach get convinced that Apokolips is going to be "tied up" with this Earth thing. "Oh sure, it's totally safe to send your Inner Circle Fleet off. We'll be taking over Earth and dealing with the Illustres. You go take out the anti-Reach alliance at the same time."

And now the Inner Circle Fleet is out of position, and the Apokoliptian fleet is in an unknown location. The Elites are in an unknown location. Didn't we already see Grayven wiping out a Reach fleet some time ago? Wonder where Grayven's fleet is. Mmmmmhmmmm.

I would say "who is the real target here" but it's probably everyone. Take out Earth, take out Reach, take out the anti-Reach alliiance all at the same time with a single move. Exactly the sort of "fuck over everybody" move that would make Darkseid laugh and laugh.
 
You know, everybody going "Apokolips and the Reach working together" and that's true, but also Darkseid is not to be trusted. I wonder if the Reach are being suckered. This thing with Manaheim is an invasion done on the cheap. One possession, a bunch of insect monsters they basically were done with anyway, one giant robot. But it's mostly subverted local elements that are serving as actual on the ground troops. No Elites, no fleet elements. So where are they? Well....

The Reach get convinced that Apokolips is going to be "tied up" with this Earth thing. "Oh sure, it's totally safe to send your Inner Circle Fleet off. We'll be taking over Earth and dealing with the Illustres. You go take out the anti-Reach alliance at the same time."

And now the Inner Circle Fleet is out of position, and the Apokoliptian fleet is in an unknown location. The Elites are in an unknown location. Didn't we already see Grayven wiping out a Reach fleet some time ago? Wonder where Grayven's fleet is. Mmmmmhmmmm.

I would say "who is the real target here" but it's probably everyone. Take out Earth, take out Reach, take out the anti-Reach alliiance all at the same time with a single move. Exactly the sort of "fuck over everybody" move that would make Darkseid laugh and laugh.
Oh no doubt. I'm assuming it's probably not as strong a deal as even Vandal had with Darkseid, and we all know Vandal is probably the sucker in that situation. Point is a deal was probably made
 
Sort of. There aren't all that many purely Maltusian Zamarons, but there are plenty of hybrids. Controllers slightly outnumber the Guardians, but the significant thing there is that there are unaligned maltusians who are more inclined to join them than another faction.
What makes the Controllers so much more appealing to the unaligned Maltusians?
 

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