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

Darko · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
them again of gain

"or gain"

Chojin Patriarch · Dec 19, 2022

Quite a bit of Godspeech asides today...

(Be sure to click on the quote box if it looks too short)

If was a shame that the women of the Reach were unwilling to even try to become warriors. Their beetle-warriors at least had the pride to die well.

"Lieutenant Aroeite. You will take a squad of shock troops to the surface and recover Sparta." I Command Here.

Lieutenant Zusen frowns, receiving a message on the ship's normal communication systems. "Captain! There is a member of the Orange Lantern Corps-."

"I know, Zusen." Know My Contempt.

"I can hear you! I can feel his touch on your mistress's soul!" "Let me out!"

But first, she has a failure to free.

Astarte doesn't let her contempt at the mess in front of her show on her face. Dimly, she feels the Orange Lantern defying Zusen, and the churning potential of her fight with Aramis.

"Muuuust-. Must get them."

It might be time to try having another daughter.

Open The Way.

BOOM!

She sidesteps as a plasma beam flies past her, her own gun coming up and snapping off a shot that burns through the Karrakanian's faceplate and into their skull. A fair shot from them, and sound tactical positioning. Lesser soldiers are frequently distracted when moving though the portals, and looking down she sees that at least two of her Citizens fell in the same way.
Choose The Slain.
She makes a note to check whether the soldier she shot survives, and to offer them citizenship if they did. Or the option to sire children before being consumed, if they were male.
"Challenge!"
She snarls as one of the Karrakanian godlings tries to get her attention. "This is battle, fool."

mastermenthe · Dec 19, 2022

I'm lost again.

Vaermina · Dec 19, 2022

mastermenthe said:
I'm lost again.

While LePaul was distracted like the goldfish he is the Citizenry sent a striketeam via Boomtube to attack the planet and free Sparta.

BR549 · Dec 19, 2022

mastermenthe said:
I'm lost again.

Yesterday, we saw OL challenging the Citizenry, to try to distract them from goings-on on the planet.

Today we see that didn't exactly go as planned, as parrarel to that, we see Astarte having Sparta retrieved, finding out where the Seeds were, and then going to retrieve them herself.

Both scenes end at the same time-point, with the arrival of a new challenger to the fight via Boom Tube.

Given the reactions of both of them, this isn't somebody known....

After this I'm upping my bet to 400 quatloos on it being Renegrayven.

Stsword · Dec 19, 2022

mastermenthe said:
I'm lost again.

A third party just boomtubed in, someone Astarte, the leader of the Citizenry, wasn't expecting.

Grayven not trusting the Citizenry to get the job done? Someone from New Genesis or Apokalips deciding to interfere? Anarky choosing an odd time to worm his way into the story?

Boomtubes don't really narrow it down much, Motherboxes have adopted as diverse people as Superman to Iron Man in a crossover. Heck I believe Zoat had Dox figure out how to create boomtubes with his orange ring.

Darko · Dec 19, 2022

I'm thinking that this may potentially be New Genesis sending someone to interfere.

Their treaty with Apokolips could prevent them from fighting them, but it's questionable if the treaty is still valid after Scott escaped, or it's possible that since Grayven went independent, then he lacks any of the protections the treaty gives Apokaliptians.

Mr Zoat · Dec 19, 2022

Darko said:
"or gain"

Thank you, corrected.

mastermenthe said:
I'm lost again.

This is from the point of view of one of the Citizenry's soldiers and then from Astarte. Turns out that the SI's plan didn't really work.

Ngamer11 · Dec 19, 2022

I'm still hoping that Paul will do something incredible and terrifying to defeat the Citizenry. I'd be find if he assimilated their entire leadership, because there's nothing sympathetic about them at this point.

Chojin Patriarch · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
1st January 2013
22:02 GMT

Captain Astarte closes the communication channel with one of the local leaders…

Lieutenant Aroeite experiences a moment of confusion. The natural distaste at seeing a man in a position of authority, or anywhere other than the breeding chambers or provider troughs. But Captain Grayven valued them, and…

Ah, stepping back a moment for another perspective on things? And then from the viewpoint of Astarte herself, I see? Probably using her divine heritage a little more aggressively, now that someone with godly power has educated her on it.

And she remembered the fight between him and the Captain. The almost causal way he handled himself, the way he didn't treat the Captain as a… No, not that he didn't treat her as a threat, though he did not. The way he treated it as an entry test, such as the Citizenry held for women seeking to join them. Though in their case, letting women in after losing would almost unheard of.

The Captain fell, and… Grayven let her live. Even approved of her skill. There had been many challenges after that, and she had shown them that she was no weakling. For a time she decorated the halls leading to the arena with their corpses, so that anyone who was considering making a challenge would have to walk past everyone else who had tried.

I suppose wasting food like that would send a message.

...Because the fallen would normally be fed to their pet slop-factories.

Lieutenant Aroeite wasn't… Sure how she felt about it. She considered herself to have value, and she knew that she would not be able to best the Captain. So there being someone who could beat you didn't make you worthless. That was unarguable. But seeing Captain Astarte, supreme leader of the Citizenry, defeated by someone…

They had stopped being independent after that, and that too did not feel right. Even if it changed little in practice.

At least Grayven's takeover hasn't been universally accepted by the Citizenry...

If was a shame that the women of the Reach were unwilling to even try to become warriors. Their beetle-warriors at least had the pride to die well.

"Lieutenant Aroeite. You will take a squad of shock troops to the surface and recover Sparta." I Command Here.

Well, that's going to throw a spanner in things...

"Yes, Captain."

Aroeite's jaw still had a slight click from the blow Captain Astarte dealt her to responding too slowly to a command.

Gee, such a nice leader... I suppose that was being merciful by letting her live...

"Did they acquiesce?"

"No. They did not respond at all. I felt their fear as our souls touched, and the one who received it was far too weak to be Athyns. So we will not trouble ourselves with that. Sparta can explain her failure to Grayven. Perhaps he will put her in the breeding pits."

...I'm not sure Grayven's forces work that way. Very few sane cultures would.

As far as Aroeite knew, Grayven's gordanian and Karakkanian followers did not breed in that way. Perhaps the Captain just found the juxtaposition of the way things should be and how Grayven made them amusing? There was a rational reason for having a powerful male impregnating many women; if Grayven had lost of Astarte he would have been drained by as many women as possible before being fed to the providers.

The Captain puts her hand on the… Sensor device that Grayven had gifted to her. Supposedly, it expanded her awareness of certain things because she was… Like Grayven in some way, and his people commonly used such devices.

Ah, there's a weak spot. Let's hope it gets taken advantage of at some point, then. Be a shame to hang it above the mantelpiece and not take it down later to shoot...

Lieutenant Zusen frowns, receiving a message on the ship's normal communication systems. "Captain! There is a member of the Orange Lantern Corps-."

"I know, Zusen." Know My Contempt.

Not just any member, thank you. But I don't expect them to be that well-informed...

"He is challenging us. Insolently."

"This is where the Illustres fled, then. Accept. Keep him here. Pit him against Aramis. If she falls… Anyone who has been slovenly lately."

Well. Looks like OL-chan's Boss Rush plan is a washout, and they don't even know it yet.

"Yes, Captain."

"If the warriors of these people are too pathetic to dare speak to us, he is the only obstacle of any significance. Our sensor masking will prevent him receiving communication while inside this ship, even with his ring."

Crap. Well, that's really going to put a crimp in things. OL just got outmanoeuvred.

BOOM!

"Aroeite, go now."

Aroeite lowers her head and charges, gun in hand. The portal feels like nothing, and she raises her gun at once to shoot the first native soldier she sees in the chest. The weak armour gives way at once, metal and flesh burning-

And there goes the rescue party, then.

"Yaargh!"

-through the torso, life leaving the body almost immediately. The locals were primitives, and in some places lacking technology led to the people having far greater personal resolve than could be found in other places. But no, a single mortal wound and this man cried out in fear and confusion.

Yeah, not everyone lives in the darwinist dystopia you call a people.

More shots blast out from the rest of her squad, and guard detail of this… Prison, not having time to organise themselves even slightly. All men. All worthless.

Somewhere, an alarm sounds. Perhaps they have portals of their own that they will use to send in more capable soldiers? Perhaps she will get the opportunity to discover why Grayven values them so highly.

Oh, I hope you do. And get more than you bargained for...

"I can hear you! I can feel his touch on your mistress's soul!" "Let me out!"

But first, she has a failure to free.

Ah, hello, Sparta.

1st January 2013
22:08 GMT

"Athyns has the Seeds, yes."

Double-crap.

Astarte doesn't let her contempt at the mess in front of her show on her face. Dimly, she feels the Orange Lantern defying Zusen, and the churning potential of her fight with Aramis.

"Muuuust-. Must get them."

Triple-crap. This is especially bad.

Sparta was a capable enough warrior, before. Astarte would have gladly welcomed her as a Citizen, once she passed the requisite tests. Seeing Sparta like this makes her glad that it did not happen. Her mind was clearly too brittle for the role if this is her response to a single setback.

Losing to Grayven was humiliating. It made her think of the distant time when she was new to the Citizenry. When she was still weak. She… Vaguely remembers weeping as she struggled through the training exercises the ones who recruited her put her through. Grudgingly, she was pleased at her own response to Grayven's training. In the fanning of the divine spark in her into something greater.

Funny how not brutalising a student gets better results, isn't it?

It might be time to try having another daughter.

Open The Way.

And if this one is Grayven's... Oh, that's all kinds of concerning. Hopefully it won't come to pass.

BOOM!

After using the Seeds to defeat Grayven.

Ah, living up to the Starscream role, I see. And no doubt Grayven is well aware she'll try her luck, giving him a chance to put her down and place a more pliable subject on the Citizenry's throne.

The strike squad charges through, the slightly dulled sound of their weapons firing coming back a moment later. Aroeite has to grab hold of Sparta's armour to prevent her leaping through the moment the boom tube opened. No, Sparta lives for the information she can give on the Seeds' nature. She will not touch them again of gain glory through combat. She has proven herself unworthy.

Astarte gives the strike squad a moment longer to establish a beachhead and then strides through, blaster and falchion at the ready.

How ironic. The daughter of Ares, not willing to lead the initial assault herself? I suppose she justifies it as 'not risking her more valuable personage' or something.

Blood. Burning flesh. It-.

She sidesteps as a plasma beam flies past her, her own gun coming up and snapping off a shot that burns through the Karrakanian's faceplate and into their skull. A fair shot from them, and sound tactical positioning. Lesser soldiers are frequently distracted when moving though the portals, and looking down she sees that at least two of her Citizens fell in the same way.

Tough luck for them, I guess. This is the kind of thing I was talking about when I spoke of Boom Tubing into unknown locations...

Choose The Slain.
She makes a note to check whether the soldier she shot survives, and to offer them citizenship if they did. Or the option to sire children before being consumed, if they were male.

Gee, how nice of you...

"Challenge!"
She snarls as one of the Karrakanian godlings tries to get her attention. "This is battle, fool."

Five Citizens who were not being pressed aim and fire, the godling being blasted off their feet. Interesting that they didn't die immediately. Odd that there aren't more of them. This tower is supposed to be their fastness-.

Hmm... Perhaps the ritual is already having some effect on the Ascendants, reinforcing their divine toughness?

BOOM

Who dares-?

Ah, good, we're all caught up to OL's thread. Now to see who's shown up...

Disappointing that OL-chan's plan has turned out to be unwise, but with any luck, the Ascendants can withstand the assault long enough for Athyns and the other ritual members to finish up. Which will presumably render the Titan Seeds useless for that Astarte wants them for. And the question still remains: Who's this now, and is it good or bad for our heroes?

Darko · Dec 19, 2022

Chojin Patriarch said:
At least Grayven's takeover hasn't been universally accepted by the Citizenry...

Since most of them aren't divine in some way, they may lack the instinct to submit to a higher power like that Ascendant guy had.

Chojin Patriarch said:
How ironic. The daughter of Ares, not willing to lead the initial assault herself? I suppose she justifies it as 'not risking her more valuable personage' or something

Ares wasn't exactly the bravest god around.

Cuchulin · Dec 19, 2022

Darko said:
Ares wasn't exactly the bravest god around.

Indeed, he is known to have run away very fast during the Trojan war after a mortal hero injured him.

moralrelativity · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
if Grayven had lost of Astarte he would have

not sure what it should be but "lost of" doesn't sound quite right - "lots of"? "lost to"?

lancelot · Dec 19, 2022

Paul is being a fucking idiot again and was played like a fool. Nothing new for the sand bagger.

Duke Long · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
The almost causal way he handled himself, the way he didn't treat the Captain as a

'casual'

Mr Zoat said:
Though in their case, letting women in after losing would almost unheard of.

'was almost'

Mr Zoat said:
If was a shame that the women of the Reach were unwilling to even try to become warriors. Their beetle-warriors at least had the pride to die well.

'It was a'

I didn't realise that the Reach didn't have female warriors. Now that I think about it, have we seen any female reachians in this story?

jaelin910 · Dec 19, 2022

Darko said:
Since most of them aren't divine in some way, they may lack the instinct to submit to a higher power like that Ascendant guy had.

Ares wasn't exactly the bravest god around.

Cuchulin said:
Indeed, he is known to have run away very fast during the Trojan war after a mortal hero injured him.

I mean, you'd expect Athena to be better at it but it'd be weird if he didn't know to pick his battles. It might not be what you'd necessarily expect but it makes sense when you think about it.

AR760 · Dec 19, 2022

Darko said:
Ares wasn't exactly the bravest god around.

Keep in mind that most of the surviving works we have from that time come from Athens. So, you know, a source not likely to portray their geopolitical and religious rivals in the best of light lmao. The descriptions of Ares and Sparta that come from there have been questioned as to whether or not propagandist elements might have made their way in.

Mr Zoat · Dec 19, 2022

moralrelativity said:
not sure what it should be but "lost of" doesn't sound quite right - "lots of"? "lost to"?

Thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · Dec 19, 2022

Duke Long said:
'casual'
'was almost'
'It was a'

Thank you, corrected.

I didn't realise that the Reach didn't have female warriors.

Oh, they do. But the inhabitants of the planets Grayven has been attacking lack any martial inclination.

Now that I think about it, have we seen any female reachians in this story?

With lines? One, I think.

Darko · Dec 19, 2022

Duke Long said:
Now that I think about it, have we seen any female reachians in this story

Mr Zoat said:
With lines? One, I think

If I remember correctly it was the one in charge of the planet where they held the eggs of the populace hostage.

FuzzyZergling · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
dealt her to responding

dealt her for responding

Huttj509 · Dec 19, 2022

"I'll fight to distract them"
"This fight will distract him"
and while everyone's busy being distracted...

Bud-E · Dec 19, 2022

Hey Mr. Zoat how far do Lantern scans reach? I know there are way's to trick or even ignore them but is there a specific distance they can't scan to and does an individual Lantern's skill factor in?

Chaoswind · Dec 19, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

Oh, they do. But the inhabitants of the planets Grayven has been attacking lack any martial inclination.

With lines? One, I think.

Two, the admiral was a female kid (I think) and the administrative leader of the one with the kidnapped eggs as collateral.

Duke Long · Dec 19, 2022

Chaoswind said:
Two, the admiral was a female kid (I think) and the administrative leader of the one with the kidnapped eggs as collateral.

I think it was implied that the child was just using a voice changer to psych out Paragon. They weren't actually a child and may or may not have been female.

Bud-E said:
Hey Mr. Zoat how far do Lantern scans reach? I know there are way's to trick or even ignore them but is there a specific distance they can't scan to and does an individual Lantern's skill factor in?

IIRC Paragon scanned Oa from Earth one time when he was merged with the Ophidian, so it seems like the range might just be dependent on emotional strength.

Mr Zoat · Dec 19, 2022

FuzzyZergling said:
dealt her for responding

Thank you, corrected.

Bud-E said:
Hey Mr. Zoat how far do Lantern scans reach? I know there are way's to trick or even ignore them but is there a specific distance they can't scan to and does an individual Lantern's skill factor in?

Skill and power affect it, as well as what they're scanning for.

Bramble Thorn · Dec 19, 2022

Stsword said:
A third party just boomtubed in, someone Astarte, the leader of the Citizenry, wasn't expecting.

Grayven not trusting the Citizenry to get the job done? Someone from New Genesis or Apokalips deciding to interfere? Anarky choosing an odd time to worm his way into the story?

We saw her thoughts, where her intentions were to take the seeds and use them to defeat Grayven.

She is currently trying to take the Seeds.
This is someone who previously fought lost to Grayven, and bent the knee.

It seems to me his developed Conquest powers would be able to detect all this.
With her personal thaumic potency making it especially visible.

So my guess would be him BOOMing in to deal with her intended/attempted disobedience.

Chaoswind · Dec 19, 2022

Duke Long said:
I think it was implied that the child was just using a voice changer to psych out Paragon. They weren't actually a child and may or may not have been female.

IIRC Paragon scanned Oa from Earth one time when he was merged with the Ophidian, so it seems like the range might just be dependent on emotional strength.

Unlikely to be a voice changer the reach do not care about service age only competency, and that fleet had low expectations to run into Paul while they launched an attack on Grayven. You'll note the admiral never stopped "changing" their voice despite Paul saying he didn't care about it. The admiral said it was good data to know Paul claims killing children doesn't matter to him and yet made note of the fact the admiral had the voice of a child (and very likely was one), thus demonstrating he actually does care about fighting children.

The child being female is just an assumption on my part, but hardly an unreasonable one.

Artemisnemo · Dec 19, 2022

Bramble Thorn said:
We saw her thoughts, where her intentions were to take the seeds and use them to defeat Grayven.

She is currently trying to take the Seeds.
This is someone who previously fought lost to Grayven, and bent the knee.

It seems to me his developed Conquest powers would be able to detect all this.
With her personal thaumic potency making it especially visible.

So my guess would be him BOOMing in to deal with her intended/attempted disobedience.

Graven might be weak currently. He just t took a couple of solid shots to his soul infused place of power. Conquerors must always present strength, lest a subordinate attempt to become the conqueror.

Mr Zoat · Dec 20, 2022

1st January 2013
22:10 GMT
Preservation.
Pontico staggers, presumably as a result of the effort needed to block the radiation with his New God armour. I cut it out immediately, flying out of-.

Aramis hits my construct bunker and cracks it, giving me the opportunity to stick a cold zone around her. She draws back her fist and freezes, a thin film of ice covering her body.

Her eyes are still moving, slowly shifting towards me-.

Oh, they're not moving slowly. They're moving at normal speed, I'm just accelerated.

Front rows of seating have burned faces and arms, where their armour doesn't cover. But they're going for their weapons.

"Laaaaannt-"

Rebuild construct bunker around the boom tube aperture, construct cold gun and shoot Aramis again to try and keep her out of the fight.

"-ern, they're attacking New Orthys!"

"Understood."

I shove him back through the boom tube and then fly through after him. We're back on the command deck of New Chronus, and-
Duty
-Pontico shuts down the boom tube before pointing to the holographic display.

"They covertly attacked the prison holding Sparta, and now they're cutting down the garrison. Our strongest Ascendants are occupied with the ritual, and we can't-."

"Understood."

Because they didn't have enough of a reason to focus on me. This wasn't about presenting an ultimatum to the planet or following their normal rules of engagement. This was about getting New God stuff. Or maybe it became that because Grayven wants the Seeds to increase his power? If he'd come to me with a plan for using them to beat Darkseid… I'd have negotiated for him to visit Earth first, but I'd have been on board and I'd have argued his case.

But no. Smash and grab.

"Boom tube me there, and keep me updat-"

BOOM!

"-ed."

Quick fix on my armour's more stressed components, construct armour and construct plasma gun set to bypass their armour and go! I fly through the boom tube and-

PHZP!

-take a respectable amount of fire because Pontico isn't a combat specialist and deployed me directly into combat rather than letting me approach from further away. I evade, generating construct shields to block fire and return fire myself. My first hit melts off a woman's arm, and-. And she doesn't cry out. She just drops her two-handed gun and flies through the air towards me, forearm-mounted weapon charging.

So I shoot her again before moving onto a new target.

A group are trying to cut their way into the ship still docked in the upper part of the tower. Point defence guns are trying to hit them, but they're not designed for people attacking the ship with melee weapons and the Citizens are intelligent enough to stay out of their arc of fire.

I switch targets. From the scans I'm getting of the interior of the building, the Citizens opened a boom tube on one of the lower floors and then attacked upwards-. And that's Astarte, and that's Sparta. They probably don't have any other New Gods, so killing both of those will stop this strike. Might result in their whole fleet turning up-.

New God technology. They've just got Astarte and maybe Theana, though if I remember correctly they don't generally let her out. Which means that they probably have only one ship that can open a boom tube. And it may not be able to do that when its captain isn't on board.

Interesting.

My first shot hits an unexpecting Citizen, bursting through her cuirass and causing crippling burns to the flesh beneath. Strong-willed though the citizens are, when your nerve fibres are literally cooked there isn't much you can do to keep fighting. She drops, quiet croaking sounds coming from partially-fried lungs. Theoretically survivable, with treatment that she might get if the fight is concluded quickly enough.

My second shot hits a Citizen as she turns and raises the thicker material of her forearm mounted gun. My plasma bolt punches through easily and explodes the capacitor before carrying on into her neck. That… That's not survivable. Her jaw and neck have been incinerated and her brain's been cooked.

The rest begin to leave the hull, trying to either close the distance with me or get the hull between themselves and my gun construct.

Come.

Alright, ship's making best time down, and with two ships on hand the point defences should actually be able to defend the exterior of the tower.

Charging Citizen one. I take x-ionised blades out of subspace and wince when I realise that I left the others on the Citizenry mothership. They probably can't reverse engineer the process from a few examples, but that's not a sure thing. Stab through the flesh of her bare arms and into her nerves. The super-sharp nature of x-ionised knives mean that she'll barely feel the stabs, but she can't aim her weapons any longer as her arms fall nervelessly to her sides. Fixable by space age medicine, but permanent otherwise.

Charging Citizen two-. The point defences behind her fire. Most of the shots hit her armour and -without an Ascendant to reinforce them- do nothing, but one hits her upper left arm and burns through the flesh. She instinctively jerks away from the source of the injury, which is why my blades cut her arms off rather than rendering them nerveless.

She drops, the sudden loss of blood pressure from the vigorous arterial blood expulsion causing her to lose consciousness. It's almost beautiful, seen from the air and in three dimensions as she spins around. Like liquid wings.

I redirect my constructs, shoving her onto the tower's upper gantry as I cauterise her blood vessels. She probably won't die, and we can always make her new arms.

Third Citizen-. Already closed the distance. I punch as she comes in with her short sword, hitting her in the face hard enough to concuss her, fracture her nose, teeth, jaw and vertebrae. She joins Amanda Armless on the gantry as I fly up to get a clear shot against the Citizens hiding behind the ship.

PHZP!

Their shots fly past me as I reposition, considering-.

Animals.

I blink as knowledge… That was technically in my head already pushes itself to the front of my mind. Huh. A really nasty fungal spore that will do a number on the humanoid respiratory system. And the Citizenry don't wear ABC protection. I can… Fabricate that.

And I can make it live. Release me.

Don't make me regret this, fungoid. I don't want them dead.

The longer they live, the longer we feed.

As you like.

The fungoid Construct Lantern leaves my ring and lunges upwards through the air, a barely visible trail of highly dangerous spores following in his wake. A moment later and it adds construct leaf fronds to blow it towards the Citizens.

Right, that's handled. Now I can-.
Die.
Astarte's shots catch me straight in the chest, burning through my defences and leaving me gasping for breath!

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

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