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

hance1986 · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
"You both have an elder half-sister by the name of Loran Dane. You have the same father. His name is Erik Lensherr, though I believe that at other points of time he's used other names."

Lorna

Someguy Somewhere · Dec 23, 2022

Sentry is far more screwed in the head then Century here.....you can tell because you haven't had to yeet the yellow clad mental case and his dark side off the planet yet.....though considering his 'retroactive continuity' snarl, I wouldn't put it past zoat dropping him into other marvel setting.

Though to be honest never heard much about Century here back in the day, I'd honestly thought they just made him up to fill in the ranks of Force Works for the Cartoon. Hasn't exactly left a big impact.

ZzzSlothzzZ · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Mister Start

Personally I think of Tony Stark as
Mister Please Stop

Ostentatiousnessness · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Mr. Start

Good old Mister Start.

Handlewithcare · Dec 23, 2022

Ha, I like how blase Tony is here. I want to see them team up. They would get along splendidly...and give everyone else conniptions in the process

Chojin Patriarch · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Earth 534834

8th February 1992
12:13 GMT -7

My point defence constructs shoot down the handful of missiles that are actually on target, ring weaving me out of the lines of travel of the rest.

Ring, get him back on the phone.

Get him on the phone right now! Heh. I bet Lantern wasn't expecting this kind of greeting. Then again, animated-universe Tony Stark isn't the most safety-conscious developer. Especially if he's getting uninvited guests at his Force Works base.

In progress.

"Oh, hey Orange. What do you n-?"

At least Lantern's messing with the Mandarin put him on Tony's good side real fast.

"We 'might' be testing some missiles?"

"Yeah. Y'know, it's a desert Stark Enterprises does weapon testing-"

Which is something less well-remembered from the pre-movie days. Tony did still develop weaponry after becoming Iron Man. He was just smarter about who he sold them to.

Alert.

I generate a shield construct as a laser cannon deploys from beyond a camouflaged hatch in a nearby mesa, the brilliant red beam hits the shield and achieves nothing.

Yeah, not exactly easy to prepare an orange laser ahead of time.

"-around here… Huh."

"I have no particular objection to helping you improve your weapon systems, Mister Stark, but I'm a bit narked about doing it without warning and for free."

Just be glad it's you playing catch with them, and not a more volatile or fragile personage. Can you imagine how Hulk would react to this?

"No, I just… Spotted that the whole system's live. It's not supposed to be."

"Do you want me to forcibly shut it down, or are you good to fix it yourself?"

...Have you been drinking again, Tony? You know that's not good for you.

"Ah… I'd rather you didn't write off twenty million dollars worth of equipment, but if you need to. I'll just have to make my investors understand."

"Oh, don't worry. It's not that good."

Now, now. This setup is presumably built for conventional attackers, not someone with an outside-context uber-tool.

He sighs. "Yeah, okay. I had that coming. On your-"

My point defence construct fires, hitting the stealth missile's fuel reserve and causing it to ignite.

...For instance, most Earthly sensor systems would probably have been caught out by that...

"-six… Huh."

"Missiles aren't tough. You don't need a laser powerful enough to cut through tank armour to destroy one. Far weaker lasers will do the job, and far faster and more accurately than kinetic flak. The only issues are power, which this ring handles perfectly well, and the computational power to target it accurately in flight, which this ring handles perfectly well."

And making them tough enough would make them counter-intuitively expensive.

"What about chaff or flares?"

"Sure, if your battery or computer can't handle it, being able to maybe dodge three missiles is better than-" Ah, that actually is a flak emplacement. I reinforce my armour and ignore it, because my armour is a lot tougher than aluminium. "-nothing."

Because exploding shells don't give a shit about lasers. They're gonna explode anyway, why care where?

Shells burst around me, doing a grand total of nothing as the shrapnel fails to penetrate.

"But if you can do lasers, in an atmosphere you effectively just need to know where the target-."

On the other hand, something like a C-RAM has a certain style to it.

Nothing says 'up yours, missiles' than a few thousand rounds of lead in the way...

"Where the target is, because you hit it at the speed of light rather than three thousand feet per second. I need to talk to some of our product users-."

"Have you shut the system-" A rather large plasma cannon turret emerges from a bunker in my line of travel. "-down, or-?"

Good to see Tony's getting ideas. But there is still the matter of the weapons platform in operation now.

"I can talk and work at the same-" I hear a dull tone from his end, and the turret stops tracking me. "-time. There, clear for approach. What was it you wanted to talk about, anyway?"

"I actually wanted to talk to Mister and Ms. Maximoff, if they're available."

Ah, Quicksilver is just visiting on a break from X-Factor, eh? Good timing, though.

"Ah… Who?"

"Mister Stark, the ring can locate anyone anywhere on the planet who isn't specifically protected against it. And the only things I know block it are some types of magic and some types of alien technology."

So, yeah, no secret identity is secret if Lantern doesn't want it to be. Tough luck, huh?

"That sounds like a horrible violation of civil liberties."

"No, it's only a violation of civil liberties when the government does it."

Besides, it's not like Lantern feels any need to make his findings public.

"I… Don't think that's how it works. Quicksilver's going to meet you outside. Scarlet Witch will be along in a few minutes."

"Thank you, Mister Stark."

What, Pietro can't carry her? Or was she in the shower or something?

And there's the main bunker, complete with runway, cargo helicopter landing pad and white-haired man in a skin-tight silver and grey costume. I'm a little surprised that Mr. Stark hasn't insisted on something a little more professional, but maybe he wanted superhuman protection more than he wanted uniformity.

I raise my right hand in greeting as I come into land. "Mister Maximoff."

And for all you know, his speed can only operate with so much additional mass on his body. (Like Velocity in Worm, who was limited in what he could wear or carry with him when accelerated.) ...Or he just likes to show off his muscles.

He regards me with a degree of suspicion for a moment. "Were you tracking me all around the world for a reason?"

"Ah, yes. Though strictly speaking, I wasn't tracking you all around the world, I just had the ability to find out wherever you are at any point in time. Point is, I just got back from having a conversation with your elder half-sister, and it turn-"

Ah, Lantern, maybe you could have eased him into this? Just a bit?

"What?"

"-out that she didn't know that you exist either. Or who her biological father is. It's all getting a bit soap opera-y, so I thought that I'd stop that silliness and just tell everyone the stuff they were probably missing. I don't know what your phone number is, so-."

Ah, so many potential plotlines derailed with that one decision.

There's a sort of glimmer in the air, and… Glam rock Thor appears with a twirl of his axe, Ms. Maximoff next to him. I… Think his name is Sentry?

"Scion of Maltus. I offer you warm greeting."

Ah, Century. The oddest Avenger of the 90s, and by and large, the most irrelevant.

I blink.

"Thank you. You're the first person I've met since I got here who's heard of Maltus."

Especially since it technically doesn't exist in the Marvel universe. Access, what the hell?!

"In my life I have walked many strange roads, and forgotten more than many have ever learned. I fear that I recall no more than the name and the image of rings such as you now wear."

Ah. Well, it would have been a bit easy if I found the place through a chance encounter. "Ah. Well, it's still worth knowing."

Though given how many 'galaxies' are involved in storylines tied to Marvel's Earth, it's bound to be out there somewhere.

Mr. Maximoff looks at me for confirmation. "Sister?"

Ms. Maximoff looks at him. "Yes?"

...I'll admit, animated Wanda is a pleasant sight. Got to love the 90's costume fashion.

"No, a…" I shake my head. "You both have an elder half-sister by the name of Lorna Dane. You have the same father. His name is Erik Lensherr, though I believe that at other points of time he's used other names."

Ms. Maximoff stares. "Magneto… Is our father?"

And since someone mentioned it: Max Eisenhart is a later creation than the Nineties' cartoon, I'm pretty sure.

"Yes. Given how confused he was when I told him, I don't believe he knew. Given how you both have the x-gene, I expect that he will want to make contact soon-. So you might want to advise Mister Stark to make a suit of non-ferrous armour."

Mr. Maximoff's eyes narrow. "How do you know that? We-."

Ah, yes. This world hasn't really been exposed to the classic catch-phrase of the Inserted Paul...

"I compared your genes to his and noted the fifty percent match. It's not impossible that someone like Nathaniel Essex got hold of some of his genetic material and created you as partial clones, but given that Mister Lensherr was married when you would have been conceived and they were separated when you would have been born, there's really no reason to add more steps to the process."

"We-." Mr. Maximoff and his sister just look at each other for a few moments. "We should talk about this."

"I understand." I fabricate a card with Ms. Dane's home telephone number on it. "You can reach her here. And on an unrelated note, is anyone on your team happily married?"

Pretty sure the only one who's been married is currently divorced. Given that there was never any mention of a husband... Plus, you know, sometimes dating Tony.

Looks like this has been one hell of a day for multiple Pauls. Plus everyone Lantern here has been touching base with. He's spilled the beans on at least two families separated by fate in the Animated Marvel Universe...

No, wait, three! I forgot about Scott and Alex Summers. Not sure there are any left to reunite, at this point. Cable, at least, is not yet officially a Summers boy.

"Yeah. Y'know, it's a desert Stark Enterprises does weapon testing-"
"-around here… Huh."

Given the full line, a comma or Full Stop might be useful here?

Sceptic · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
I compared your genes to his and noted the fifty percent match.

"I figured that being less genetically close than a fruit fly or a banana must make him your father."

Vaermina · Dec 23, 2022

TodaBruh said:
It's just buisiness to him at this point. It takes a special kind of disentization to be able to shrug missiles coming at you and only being annoyed about the owner not asking first.

It really says something about the Orange Light with how far gone even the lowest level Orange Lantern Paul's are.

Stsword · Dec 23, 2022

Someguy Somewhere said:
Sentry is far more screwed in the head then Century here.....you can tell because you haven't had to yeet the yellow clad mental case and his dark side off the planet yet.....though considering his 'retroactive continuity' snarl, I wouldn't put it past zoat dropping him into other marvel setting.

Though to be honest never heard much about Century here back in the day, I'd honestly thought they just made him up to fill in the ranks of Force Works for the Cartoon. Hasn't exactly left a big impact.

Century didn't exactly take Marvel by storm- He showed up in the Force Works comic, and got recruited into attacking the Avengers by his former teammate Wonder Man.

Mr Zoat · Dec 23, 2022

Darko said:
"Stark"
"Lorna"
"Stark"

Thank you, corrected.

If I remember correctly, his birth name was Max Eisenhart, and Erik was an alias.

To the best of my knowledge, that's a retcon that occured long after this cartoon series ended.

Xelloss · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
To the best of my knowledge, that's a retcon that occured long after this cartoon series ended.

My Google-Fu gave me that it would come from Magneto Testament, published in 2008~2009.

theaceoffire · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
So you might want to advise Mister Start

Hang on, Mr. Who!?!?

Mr Zoat · Dec 23, 2022

Sceptic said:
"I figured that being less genetically close than a fruit fly or a banana must make him your father."

As far as I remember, that figure isn't actually true.

SotF · Dec 23, 2022

Darko said:
If I remember correctly, his birth name was Max Eisenhart, and Erik was an alias

There are variations where both are his name, if I remember right, the comics that were part of the early X-Men movies put Max as the name he chose with the family that took him in after WW2 which also mentioned that it took him a while to want to be Erik again due to the Nazi's having forced him to be one of those burning bodies for them, some of the last ones were his parents before the camp was liberated along with experiments on him. Same comic had Logan involved in liberating that camp and hinted at there being a Captain America in the universe, but not being directly named or appearing in it.

Duke Long · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
I generate a shield construct as a laser cannon deploys from beyond a camouflaged hatch in a nearby mesa, the brilliant red beam hits the shield and achieves nothing.

I think there should be something other than a comma here. Not sure what, but something.

Mr Zoat said:
And the only things I know block it are some types of magic and some types of alien technology.

'know that'?

Mr Zoat said:
Point is, I just got back from having a conversation with your elder half-sister, and it turn-"

"What?"

"-out that she didn't know that you exist either.

'turns'

Mr Zoat said:
As far as I remember, that figuree isn't actually true.

I just looked it up and all of the results seemed to say that it is true. That's certainly not a solid indicator of truth, but it's a pretty decent one.

Mr Zoat · Dec 23, 2022

Duke Long said:
I think there should be something other than a comma here. Not sure what, but something.
'turns'

Thank you, corrected.

'know that'?

No, I think that's alright.

I just looked it up and all of the results seemed to say that it is true. That's certainly not a solid indicator of truth, but it's a pretty decent one.

As far as I remember, it's only true if you don't include noncoding DNA, which as it turns out has a surprisingly innacurate name.

Duke Long · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
As far as I remember, it's only true if you don't include noncoding DNA, which as it turns out has a surprisingly innacurate name.

From what I can see, it is including non-coding DNA.

Also, 'non-coding' is misleading but not inaccurate. It refers to DNA that doesn't code for proteins. There are many things that DNA can do other than that, although some non-coding DNA is genuinely pretty much useless.

Darko · Dec 23, 2022

Chojin Patriarch said:
Just be glad it's you playing catch with them, and not a more volatile or fragile personage. Can you imagine how Hulk would react to this?

Either pissed or happy that he gets to smash.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Have you been drinking again, Tony? You know that's not good for you.

Oh, he's getting better.

He only drank half the liquor cabinet this morning instead of all of it.

Progress.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Now, now. This setup is presumably built for conventional attackers, not someone with an outside-context uber-tool.

Though imagine how they'll react to the new systems.

Windona · Dec 23, 2022

I just assumed Paul was leaving out the fact was speaking specifically about SNPs or other key indicator areas. Though he could say 'your paternal DNA markers are consistent with half of Magneto's DNA so' or something of the like.

Non-coding DNA doesn't make proteins, but as stated it does other stuff. Introns were once thought to be useless, but they are not.

rdfox · Dec 23, 2022

Is it wrong for me to have still heard RDJ as Tony in this segment? I mean, I know he wasn't Tony in the 90s animated Marvel stuff, but these lines would completely work coming out of his mouth...

Chojin Patriarch said:
Especially since it technically doesn't exist in the Marvel universe. Access, what the hell?!

Though given how many 'galaxies' are involved in storylines tied to Marvel's Earth, it's bound to be out there somewhere.

In an infinite universe, you can assume that if something is physically possible, somewhere in the universe, it exists. After all, regardless of how low the odds are, assuming a non-zero probability, given infinite chances, the dice will eventually come up lucky. So it's safe to assume that there is an inhabited planet that is somehow connected to Power Rings named "Maltus" somedamnwhere in the Marvel universe. (Personally, I'd handwave it as the Maltusians having created the first Power Rings just before some sort of experiment went badly wrong and managed to scour all life from the planet a billion or so years ago, leaving the species dead and all but forgotten.)

Windona said:
I just assumed Paul was leaving out the fact was speaking specifically about SNPs or other key indicator areas. Though he could say 'your paternal DNA markers are consistent with half of Magneto's DNA so' or something of the like.

Non-coding DNA doesn't make proteins, but as stated it does other stuff. Introns were once thought to be useless, but they are not.

Or he could have just meant that he was doing a chromosonal match, as real DNA analysis does; rather than it being 50% of the total DNA chain being identical, it's a 50% match for the segments that make up each of the 23 chromosome pairs, which is a lot easier to test for and a lot harder to have be an accident...

Note also that, apparently, law enforcement DNA databases track only about five points of DNA, yet these are sufficiently unique to have about a one-in-a-trillion chance of error (i.e., Earth's population would need to be 125 times what it is today for probability to state that there should be a second exact match on the planet), so... yeah.

Stsword · Dec 23, 2022

rdfox said:
In an infinite universe, you can assume that if something is physically possible, somewhere in the universe, it exists. After all, regardless of how low the odds are, assuming a non-zero probability, given infinite chances, the dice will eventually come up lucky. So it's safe to assume that there is an inhabited planet that is somehow connected to Power Rings named "Maltus" somedamnwhere in the Marvel universe. (Personally, I'd handwave it as the Maltusians having created the first Power Rings just before some sort of experiment went badly wrong and managed to scour all life from the planet a billion or so years ago, leaving the species dead and all but forgotten.)

Century is a dimensional traveler.

Zoat isn't implying that this universe has a Maltus, he's implying that Century has been to a universe that had a Maltus.

Or possibly that Century was made up of someone who has been to a universe that has a Maltus.

Century is an artificial being- made up of the DNA and memories of the 100 greatest warriors of his people, and then given his weapon Parallax to seek Lore, an evil nexus being, that went from universe to universe draining all magic.

Mr Zoat · Dec 23, 2022

There is a Marvel version of the power ring... And it's a shapeshifted skrull.

Stsword · Dec 23, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
There is a Marvel version of the power ring... And it's a shapeshifted skrull.

And the Quantum Bands made to serve the Protector of the Universe. The Kree negabands, reverse engineered from the Quantum Bands, can also form constructs.

And the Cosmic Ring, carved from a cosmic cube.

And the Star Brand which is now a "planetary defense system."

Heck, Marvel once teased that Cloak is an unknowing member of a GLC like organization when an alien recognized Cloak as the "Darkforce portal guardian of Sector AEN-ZIOB."

_The_Bomb · Dec 23, 2022

ZzzSlothzzZ said:
Personally I think of Tony Stark as
Mister Please Stop

Mr Zoat I think it actually would be Dr. Stark, technically.

Old Knife · Dec 24, 2022

Jesus Christ. OL is like some kind of demented STORK/Cupid combo.

Mr Zoat · Dec 24, 2022

Earth 534834

8th February 1992
15:31 GMT -5

I walk in through the front doors of the Mansion, carefully closing the doors behind me.

Haaaaaa…

I shouldn't complain, but it seems like I helped a few people in some really emotionally significant but practically minute ways. Mr. and Miss. Maximoff have gone twenty years without a father, and if they're working as superheroes -or at least as legal private security officers- then I doubt that they've got anything to gain from actually getting back in touch. I'm sure that Lorna would have worked out that Alexander was Scott's brother eventually, she's not an idiot.

Ah, speaking of. Scott's standing by the hallway telephone, looking a little stunned.

"Good afternoon. Has the team-?"

"That was my.. brother."

His voice wavers slightly as he says it, glasses not pointing towards me. I walk closer and pat his left shoulder with my right hand.

"Bit of a shock, huh?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm… We're going to meet up tomorrow. I haven't seen him in… Since the crash."

"Do you know what..? Happened there? I mean, even if you landed in different places, you would have both told the authorities that you had a brother in the crash, right? Wouldn't they have..? Checked?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to ask some people." He seems to come more fully out of his fugue, turning to face me. "Thank you. If you hadn't found him, I might never have found out that he was still alive."

"I'm happy to help, but I… Wasn't actually looking for him, so… I don't want to claim too much credit."

He favours me with a small smile. "It still counts as far as I'm concerned."

"Hey, bit of a shame we destroyed the mutant registration database. If we hadn't, they'd probably have matched you up weeks ago!"

That gets a weak laugh.

"Hah. You could be right." He takes a deep breath. "I never asked, but exactly how far away can your ring detect things?"

"In theory, there's no limit. In practice, it depends on what I'm looking for. Do you have any other brothers I don't know about?"

"No, but… I guess one of the reasons why social services didn't ever put the two of us together is that no one ever found the wreckage. I never got to bury my-. Our, parents." He shakes his head. "I couldn't even tell you exactly where it happened."

"Ah… I could scan for it, but honestly… It… Sounds like it would be easier for you to do it."

I… Double check that I shut the door, then do a quick scan to check my surroundings. Seems safe.

I slide the ring off my finger and offer it to him. He doesn't take it.

"Jean told me about what happens when you lose control with that thing."

"That was the Professor deliberately provoking me. Something like this shouldn't trigger that. Or I can… Try if you prefer."

He nods. "I think that would be best."

"Alright." I slide the ring back on my left ring finger. "On an unrelated note, I don't suppose that you know any happily married couples, do you?"

"Jean's parents? Ah… A couple of guys I knew at the orphanage got married, but I haven't really kept in touch. Why do you ask?"

"I realised that I didn't know any. Okay." Scott's a friend, and while I very much doubt that I'll find anyone alive, this would at least put his mind at ease. "Scan."

Report available.

"Oh."

"Did you find anything?"

"No. Ah. I can't… Hang on."

Ring, in case that's us, scan for matches for Logan.

Report available.

Okay, I'll let him know. That's probably… Important.

"Ah, not… Sure what this means, exactly-."

"You haven't..? Found..?"

"Oh, no, no. Sorry but… No. Ah. I haven't found anything."

"You did say that-."

"No, I checked the range. Unless my relationship with… Logan is much better than I thought it was, your parents… I can't find either remains or living people. If range is the limiting factor, wherever your plane went down would have to be further away than Alberta."

He shakes his head. "No, that's… Too far. But there aren't any bodies, you're sure about that?"

"Their remains might just have been removed later?"

"Maybe, but why?"

"Were either of them mutants?"

He shakes his head. "Not as far as I know. Not all powers are obvious, so that doesn't mean that they weren't, but I never saw them do anything unusual."

"Then I don't know. I'm sorry. I can-."

"No, no, you've done more than enough." He looks away slightly, smiling. "It doesn't really seem real. Look, if there's anything I can ever do to repay you, just ask, okay?"

"Ah, well there was… You and Jean, are you planning to get married any time soon?"

"Why? Are you planning to ask Rogue?"

"Yes. I thought waiting a little while would be better. She disagreed, so I've been flying around to distract myself while I try to work out how to actually propose properly… She hates her parents, but I got her foster parents' approval-."

"'Foster'-? You mean Mystique?"

I nod. "And Destiny. Point is, you and Jean have been together longer, so if you had something in the works, we can just-."

"That's-" He shakes his head. "-not-. You don't need to do that."

"Okay. Um. Any… Suggestions?"

"I was just going to take Jean to a restaurant. What were you thinking?"

"Ah… I half-thought the moon? Only… I'd have to provide the air, because her ring would protect her from the low pressure but it wouldn't let her breathe… And it's hard to prepare a meal on the moon, and the low gravity isn't as much fun when we can both fly anyway."

I look at him hopefully.

"I don't think that… That the exact situation matters quite that much. I think somewhere that means something to the two of you would be better than that sort of… Grand gesture."

"Huh." I nod, fabricating simple gold and diamond rings. "You know, I-. I think you're right. Somewhere… Yeah, okay. I'm going to go and do that now."

AmericanNumbers · Dec 24, 2022

Aw. Scott Summers actually giving good and helpful advice.

Old Knife · Dec 24, 2022

Scott probably should have used the ring. That desire would have reached his parents.

PepeTheFrog · Dec 24, 2022

AmericanNumbers said:
Aw. Scott Summers actually giving good and helpful advice.

You know what that means. Time for him to kill Professor X.

_The_Bomb · Dec 24, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Unless my relationship with… Logan is much better than I thought it was, you parents…

your

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

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