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

Reader mode
Mr Zoat said:
"But he said there was just one. Weaponers aren't subtle people. If she had support, she'd have had them here
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Unless she's not your fully standard Wealoner.

Mr Zoat said:
"Or he started helping her, but it got too much for him and she didn't want to stop the experiment
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Even a scumbag has limits.

Mr Zoat said:
"Plausible, but he'll feel vengeful enough to put us in the loop once he's recovered
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Unless he doesn't want to be anywhere near her again.

Mr Zoat said:
Lead with that. Offer to take him back right away. See what he says."
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It could honestly be a 50/50 chance on whether he wants to go back or not.

His home may be too crappy, so that's one reason to leave, but people may still want to go to their homes even if they are shit.

Mr Zoat said:
There's no obvious reason for him to kill me
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You did participate in the death of at least two of his students, so there's that.

Mr Zoat said:
"Does he have a reason to kill me?"

"I… Don't know. I don't know how much contact he has with Earth supervillains
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He may do it just to make you feel pain.

Mr Zoat said:
Besides, they're all either working for the Justice League or Mannheim. I'm
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Or someone else that has carved out their own piece.

Though Sinestro may not know about Earth's situation.

Mr Zoat said:
I switch back to my light armour as he turns around, seeing my face for the first time. There's a moment of focus as he takes in my features, but no recognition. I guess there isn't an alternate me on his Earth. Any longer, at least
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Or that version of you is keeping a low profile, or this guy was taken before that version made a name for himself.

Mr Zoat said:
"There's nothing here that I couldn't find on Earth, or on a hundred other humanoid-inhabited worlds. Our fears aren't all that different to one another really
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People are alike all over.

Mr Zoat said:
"I fear… And they fear…"

I nod. "It really-."

"I understand."

His eyes glow yellow, his pupils turning into yellow sigils.

"No." His body glows with yellow light as he lifts off the ground. "We understand
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Shit.
 
Bud-E said:
Do you have to be a host to a Light Entity to become enlightened and is Malvolio enlightened too or just so filled with the green light it colors his words?
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Dr. Mist proves you don't have to host a Light Entity to be enlightened. However, it's possible that Parallax was inside Joseph Harolds the entire time and that the room he was in was keeping the Yellow Light Entity incapacitated. Maybe the Weaponer (who is most likely Lysis) was trying to force Joseph to gain lantern like abilities by shoving Parallax in him, and enlightenment was a complete accident.
 
Ngamer11 said:
Dr. Mist proves you don't have to host a Light Entity to be enlightened. However, it's possible that Parallax was inside Joseph Harolds the entire time and that the room he was in was keeping the Yellow Light Entity incapacitated. Maybe the Weaponer (who is most likely Lysis) was trying to force Joseph to gain lantern like abilities by shoving Parallax in him, and enlightenment was a complete accident.
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Except that Parallax is currently imprisoned in the Green Central Battery on Oa, where it's been since the Guardians obtained it from Larfleeze and stuck it there millions of years ago. Nobody's had a chance to let it out, and Mr. Harrolds doesn't have a green ring to serve as a connection the way Paul did when he first summoned Ophidian. So this has to be a lesser fear entity, akin to the Terror Thing.
 
Finagle007 said:
Except that Parallax is currently imprisoned in the Green Central Battery on Oa, where it's been since the Guardians obtained it from Larfleeze and stuck it there millions of years ago. Nobody's had a chance to let it out, and Mr. Harrolds doesn't have a green ring to serve as a connection the way Paul did when he first summoned Ophidian. So this has to be a lesser fear entity, akin to the Terror Thing.
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Did Mr Zoat say that? Because I can't remember if he confirmed whether or not Parallax is there.
 
Chojin Patriarch said:
Which may not be a good thing. Still, if it is the usual 'heroes are villainous and vice-versa'... How many heroes of Earth have FTL capabilities, discounting Lanterns?
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Depending on the powers they have, or the tech they have, Superman, Batman, Blue Beetle, or any similar superpowered people or those with advanced tech could do it.
 
Doccer said:
I find it ominous that he doesn't tell her that.
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Probably it's because she already knows. They did have a conversation about this only a few chapters ago.
Ngamer11 said:
Dr. Mist proves you don't have to host a Light Entity to be enlightened.
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Also that human (I think he might have been a police officer?) who was red-enlightened in the Renegade universe.
Finagle007 said:
Except that Parallax is currently imprisoned in the Green Central Battery on Oa, where it's been since the Guardians obtained it from Larfleeze and stuck it there millions of years ago. Nobody's had a chance to let it out, and Mr. Harrolds doesn't have a green ring to serve as a connection the way Paul did when he first summoned Ophidian. So this has to be a lesser fear entity, akin to the Terror Thing.
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I don't know how the emotional embodiments work with the negative universes, but I would guess that there are separate ones for the negative and positive universes, and therefore the version of Parallax in this universe is maybe not contained.
 
Was Parallax confirmed to be kept in the battery in this universe? I genuinely forget. This world was established as thaumatically weak, but that the souls don't have to be non-existant. And if this is an evil doppelganger of Hal Jordan, I don't expect him to be friendly.
 
Windona said:
Was Parallax confirmed to be kept in the battery in this universe? I genuinely forget. This world was established as thaumatically weak, but that the souls don't have to be non-existant. And if this is an evil doppelganger of Hal Jordan, I don't expect him to be friendly.
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Power Ring's depiction has varied from "willing villain" to "ring's hostage."

For example, there was a comic in which the ring was really channeling Regina George.

Like making Harold order drinks and then pour them out just to show everyone that Harold will do whatever he's told.

So he might be a willing villain, or he might be a victim.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Not exactly. He was already 99% of the way there as a result of the local Weaponer's project.
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So what exactly gave the extra 1%? I don't feel like I am picking up what you're putting down in this chapter.

Nor do I understand how the lockup fear bombardment gets you up to 99% enlightenment (Larfleeze never got avarice enlightened after all), but I'm not sure we're already supposed to know the exact mechanisms behind that anyway.
 
Rafin said:
So what exactly gave the extra 1%? I don't feel like I am picking up what you're putting down in this chapter.

Nor do I understand how the lockup fear bombardment gets you up to 99% enlightenment (Larfleeze never got avarice enlightened after all), but I'm not sure we're already supposed to know the exact mechanisms behind that anyway.
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It doesn't get you to 99%. Constant reflection on your fears and their nature gets you to 99%, it's just that constant exposure either makes it easier to keep your brain in that mode or kills you.

Coming to understand the universality of fear and its interactions with other thought processes gets you the last 1% if you were heading in that way anyway.
 
At the very least, Parallax in this universe isn't trapped in Oa. And Paul did one time think about how Parallax (one version at least), only took hosts who didn't have a yellow ring but were otherwise ideal.
 
Fear Ourself (part 10)
20th January 2013
13:10 GMT

A yellow sigil burns on his forehead.

Parallax.

I guess that's why the green rings back home can affect yellow objects: he was never imprisoned.

Behind me Jade shudders, her soul flaring yellow in my sight. She can fight it to a degree, but much like the Ophidian affecting a person's desires you can't completely fight Parallax when it tries to influence you. The fears are already there.

"Parallax."

"Is that your name for this?" His mouth… Extends further into his cheeks than it should, and I'm getting flashes of unusually sharp teeth. "What we… I… Ah."

He doesn't understand what it is. Parallax might not even understand. I knew in advance… Roughly what was happening, and so Ophidime knew as well.

"She wasn't lying. We find that extremely strange. And…" His glowing eyes refocus on me. "You. You know what.. we are."

"I had a similar joining with the Embodiment of Avarice."

"And we are… Fear. It is…" He looks up, at-. At the universe. "A glorious music. We.. can hear… So much…"

"It's the same for me. Even without the Ophidian I can unfocus my mind and feel the interlocking networks of desires, thwarted and fulfilled. I didn't hear it as music, more like a… Picture, or an abstract sculpture."

"And that is why we can hear you hardly at all. The part of you that is the Ophidian does not have fears."

"That's probably a part of it. Do you mind me asking what the Weaponer offered the part of you that is Joseph Harrolds?"

"She fears her own worthlessness, and that worthlessness being known to her peers. It motivates everything she does and doesn't do."

"It might just look like that to you because you can see-. Hear her fear and can't hear other things."

"No. No. We can hear it ringing clearly."

"I'll take your word for it, then. Ah. Where was the Parallax part of you hanging out before coming here?"

"We don't… Remember. We remember… Everything… Fading. But it did not concern us. Concern-. Why do you call it Parallax?"

"It once demonstrated the ability to use multiple power rings simultaneously."

"That's 'parallel'."

"I'm sorry?"

"Using multiple power rings. That's 'in parallel', like bulbs in a high school science class circuit. Parallax means 'the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object'."

"Oh. Then perhaps I misunderstood the explanation. Do you have another name you'd prefer?"

"We..." He looks puzzled. "No. Though… Joseph Harrolds' memories and feelings are more vibrant than what our other half thought and felt. We are happy to be addressed by his name."

"Alright, Mister Harrolds: what's next for you?"

"I want to hear more of the song. I want it to play everywhere in a glorious symphony of terror!"

Ah.

"Are you sure?"

"More sure than we have been of anything that we can remember."

"But have you considered the value of subtlety and differentiation?"

His eyes dim slightly as he turns his attention on me. That's a little creepy.

"Explain."

"The Ophidian wants to possess everything all of the time. But that means that one thing is as good as any other, there's no difference between one desire and another. Whose fear would mean the most to you?"

"No... Hm." Mr. Harrolds frowns thoughtfully. "We admit that some of those against whom Joe had a personal grudge… The idea of them with their faces twisted in a rictus of terror before we kill them… That does have a greater appeal."

"That's what happens when you bond with a mortal creature. It affects your perspective, the way you understand the universe. To a being of pure fear, all fear is fear and there's nothing else to say. To you…"

"We feel different. We aren't sure that you don't have an angle-."

"Of course I have an angle. That doesn't mean that I'm not telling the truth."

"What is your angle?"

"I want a yellow power ring, a lead on Sinestro and to speak with the Weaponer who put you in there. I'd also like to stop you going on a rampage and terrorising everyone to death."

"Your perspective is helpful, but we find ourselves curious as to what you fear."

"Personal annihilation."

"Hm." He peers closer. "True. But there's something else."

"Heights?"

"No." He smiles, his mouth extending up his face in an open display of inhumanity. "You fear… Getting it wrong. You change things, risk things, and the idea that you might be wrong and that you've misled everyone makes everything resonate with a constant unease."

It's… Not as intense, but I suppose that he's right. Comic-Parallax… After the 'no-Jordan-wasn't-just-crazy' retcon, exposed people to their fears in order to possess them. This Parallax doesn't need a new host, so it's probably just being a dick.

"Okay, well, thank you for pointing that out. I also get a bit self-conscious in social situations, and you might be able to pick that out-."

"You embrace chaos but you still fear to misstep."

"Follow a rule someone else came up with and everyone expects you to follow and it's as much everyone else's fault as yours. If you do your own thing, that's all on you."

"How compassionate of you." He takes a step back, and then rises into the air. His outline shimmers for a moment as armour appears around his body-. Armour that looks a lot like mine, secondary colour and sigil notwithstanding. "We genuinely have no idea where the Weaponer is, we have no idea how to forge a ring and we have a home to return to. We wish you the best of luck."

He turns to face this universe's anti-Earth and then accelerates into the sky.

…

Guess this is a bust, then.
 
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Captain Kathryn Janeway : I've known fear. It's a very healthy thing, most of the time. You warn us of danger, remind us of our limits, protect us from carelessness. I've learned to trust fear.
[...]
You know as well as I do that fear only exists for one purpose: to be conquered.
 
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