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

Ngamer11 · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
The soldiers head jerks towards me, and his eyes widen slightly-.

That should say "soldier's".

Darko · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
He takes it the damage

"in the"

moralrelativity · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I clamp down on that though.

though -> thought

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you. I though we were done for.

though -> thought

Mr Zoat said:
I didn't see any other in the bunker

other -> others

Whenever Possible · Apr 23, 2023

This Paul's ring doesn't have bobblehead malware, does it.

RoninSword · Apr 23, 2023

Vaermina said:
Canon DC wise, all rings but Blue are bad at healing to the point they just straight up can't do it.

My understanding was that (canonically) Green Lanterns being in the presence of a Blue Lantern made them stronger (or increased their ring charge?) And that Blue Lanterns can't do anything like healing unless in the presence of a Green Lantern.

So Green Knight Paul can kill people. Early Green Ring without that coding lock?

Lord Ernest · Apr 23, 2023

Such a curious case, this Roswell Paul. In contrast with the Anti-Green Paul that had his Will trained and enhanced by the slaving ring, this one has to train himself with no guidance or specific intuitiveness. And it's interesting to see his way of fighting, since he's focusing on maintining his image as The Green Knight.

Chojin Patriarch · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
3rd November 1999
21:22 GMT

Some of the fire falls off as I storms forward, probably them trying to assess what caused the door to move. But-

"Maintain fire!"

And if they've been briefed on the Emerald Knight, I suspect the rock guy isn't going to draw nearly as much fire as they expected to. A pity Roswaul can't use ranged weaponry easily with his current skill level, or this would go a lot quicker.

-my shield and the golem's body are still taking a lot of fire. I sight the mech to my left and charge in that direction, my eye slit fixed on the Alliance pilot. They spot me and try to back up-

"Target the aliens! Fire team two, overwatch!"

I assume he's moving on foot. Don't want them to realise he can fly, after all.

-while maintaining fire, but it's nothing that my shield can't handle. There isn't much cover here, but the woodlands are blocking some of the Alliance operatives' lines of fire, and the second mech pilot appears to be torn between shooting the entrance, me, or the golem. The tilt of the gun makes it look like he's decided on 'me', then a purple beam from the golem's plasma cannon striking his canopy causes him to reconsider.

Closed the distance and I bring my sword up, clearly picturing in my mind the blade slicing through the mech's leg armour, needing it to, refusing to accept even the possibility of it failing. The blade responds by lengthening and shining as I swing it, getting under the angle of depression of the mech's main gun and striking it hard in the left shin.

At least he's got the hang of using the Green Light to make things happen: Refusing to accept the possibility of it not.

The metal parts.

The metal parts.

The metal parts.

And I'm half-picturing the sword shooting out Snake-Sword style, before bursting into dozens of smaller points...

My sword pierces the armour and the mechanisms beneath, sheering through the leg and causing the mech to lurch sideways. It jams its stump into the ground as it tries to remain balanced, and either the pilot is on the ball or the computer is because it bends its right leg to try and remain level. Fire from other sources slacks off as Alliance soldiers want to avoid friendly fire, but since they're well trained they use the opportunity to reposition. I use the opportunity to change direction and cut into the right leg.

Which is impressive, as bipedal locomotion is not easy to reproduce mechanically. Especially when trying to maintain balance like that.

The metal parts.

The metal parts.

The metal parts.

Like the way he's using a mantra-like repetition to maintain focus.

There's a shower of sparks as the shin is severed, the mech overbalancing and collapsing onto hits front, cockpit slamming into the ground! I stop, turn to face the rear-mounted engine unit and stab, piercing the armour and wrecking the generator and battery.

Try moving that before the legitimate authorities arrive.

Pfft. You expect them to leave it in one piece?

Ugh!

I'm knocked aside by a plasma beam-. Continuous beam. The only way to really-.

Focus, Knight. Doubt is weakness.

I clamp down on that though. My armour cannot be pierced, and I get my shield in the way as I recover. Two Alliance operatives dash out of cover to recover the stunned mech pilot, and since a wounded man does more to slow a formation than a dead one I don't interrupt.

Across the glade the golem makes it to the other mech and grabs the leg, heaving it off the ground and hurling it in the direction of the closest concentration of Alliance soldiers. They rapidly abandon cover, throwing themselves out of the way as the mech comes down with a colossal thud!

Yeah, not something you want to be anything near when it's taking an uncontrolled tumble.

The man who shot me ceases fire as smoke rises from his gun. He tosses it aside with a grimace before drawing some sort of baton weapon. Yes, that's why you don't fire them like that. He gestures, and another squad-.

He's the agent in charge? Right then.

Time for some paladin-worthy righteous chastisement.

Head down and shield up I charge towards him. Plasma fire from my right slams into my shield, which turns it aside or absorbs its energy without difficulty because anything else is inconceivable. Not much on my left: the other side of the Alliance formation is occupied with the golem.

I raise my sword and point it at the lead agent, in a clear challenge. He snarls.

'Come have a go, if you think you're hard enough, mate.'

"Another alien mercenary."

He takes it the damage that the plasma weapons pointing at me aren't doing, and the fact that he's got about five seconds before I'm on him.

And while we know you won't tear through them like you did the mechs, they don't know that.

"Fire team, four and five, pull back and set up overwatch. Other squads, prepare to retreat."

His offhand moves, and I crouch further behind my shield as the plasma grenade goes off just ahead of me, shoving me back slight-.

Giving up already? No doubt wary of making too much noise, eh?

And he's there, off-hand grabbing the edge of my shield and right hand swinging his baton at my head! I plant my feet to resist his charge and swing my sword at his wrist. He pulls back his swing, catching the tip of my sword in the strongest part of his maul's plasma field-

The sword remains whole and I remain standing strong.

Ain't nothing getting through a focused Green lantern's defences when they're that focused.

The sword remains whole and I remain standing strong.

-for a moment until edge of the sword sheers through one of the containment prongs, causing it to explosively discharge! He's knocked back, right hand blackened and burned and-.

The drawback of using constrained plasma for melee weapons.

WOOMP!

Agh-! He dropped a grenade as he fell, this one making it under my shield where I raised it to hold him off. My armour is fine, my legs are fine, but I'm off my feet and he's pulling back.

Sneaky fellow. I have a feeling you'll be seeing him again.

I pull my legs back under me and stand, walking out of the smoke and dust. No need to chase them down. Them leaving is probably the best solution-.

The mech I wrecked explodes! That shouldn't-? Scuttling charges. They blew it to disguise what it is. It'll still look suspicious as heck-.

But twisted wreckage is a lot harder to identify than an intact mech suit. Wouldn't be surprised if people's initial reaction is 'what happened to that car?'

One of the Alliance squads shoot me, but they're using the smaller plasma guns and my armour is fine. I could pursue, but I think that the police have enough prisoners for the moment and I don't really-.

"Knight!" I jerk my head around to look at the golem. He looks battered, but he doesn't appear to be bleeding and nothing is obviously broken. "They got past me!"

Well, shit.

I turn and run towards the bunker entrance, the broken ground solidifying under my feet as I cover the distance in seconds. I didn't hear an order, did they just take the initiative?

Their sternguard steps out of cover to swing his baton at me but I just shield-charge him and slam him into the wall with a crack. Then I run for the stairs and down, down and charge through the halls towards-.

Ah, the old 'moving object versus stationary obstacle' reaction. Except this moving object is nearly unstoppable. Pity the goon isn't immovable.

"…vampires?! Where are the vampires?!"

Back into the medical room. The nurse is standing between an Alliance soldier and an injured faun in a wheelchair. He doesn't have a weapon.

Boy, were they operating on bad intel...

The soldiers head jerks towards me, and his eyes widen slightly-.

His finger tightens-.

Oh, hell, no. No shooting unarmed bystanders on this Knights watch.

I lunge, sword outstretched, and run him through the heart.

He shudders, expression fading as his gun drops from nerveless hands. He looks directly into my visor, lips moving weakly…

Well, so much for the non-lethal response plan...

Then his eyes roll back and-. And my sword slices its way out through his shoulder as his body falls to the ground.

…

Joy of being effectively a mono-molecular edge.

I didn't-.

…

Yeah, first kill's always the hardest, isn't it? Especially when you don't have a Light's psychological effects to distract you, like Rage or Compassion.

The sword disappears, and-.

Focus. I make eye contact with the nurse. I need to know if there's-.

And remember, that guy was threatening two unarmed people with a plasma rifle, one of them injured. And I doubt he had it set to low-lethality mode.

"Thank you. I though we were done for." He grabs the handles of the wheelchair and begins pushing the faun out of the bunker. "I didn't see any other in the bunker, but we can't hang around. And neither can you."

I crouch down, dismissing my shield as I roll the body onto its back and shut its eyes.

No. I suppose that I can't.

Still, think of this as a formative moment. When you realise just how powerful you are, and how badly you can mess people up.

So, the first fatality on the Alliance's side from Roswaul's actions. I can't see the protagonists taking this well when they hear about it. And he's probably going to have to rethink a few things too. Lots of 'what could I have done better?' moments ahead. Though I expect the Green Light will let him power through a lot of the more emotional reflections...

Whenever Possible said:
This Paul's ring doesn't have bobblehead malware, does it.

No installed AI at all, if it's anything like the other Rings we've seen a Paul start out with. OL and Renegade only have something like an AI in their Rings because Orange Light coding shenanigans.

Pinklestia · Apr 23, 2023

Well, well, faulty information uh?

Vaermina · Apr 23, 2023

RoninSword said:
My understanding was that (canonically) Green Lanterns being in the presence of a Blue Lantern made them stronger (or increased their ring charge?) And that Blue Lanterns can't do anything like healing unless in the presence of a Green Lantern.

Yup, Hope is the most powerful emotion, but without the willpower to enact that Hope it's limited in what it can do.

RoninSword · Apr 23, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
No installed AI at all, if it's anything like the other Rings we've seen a Paul start out with. OL and Renegade only have something like an AI in their Rings because Orange Light coding shenanigans.

They didn't have a proper maltusian database, but both OL and Renegade's ring had an AI at the start.

Mr Zoat · Apr 23, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
That should say "soldier's".

Darko said:
"in the"

moralrelativity said:
though -> thought
though -> thought
other -> others

Thank you, corrected.

Whenever Possible said:
This Paul's ring doesn't have bobblehead malware, does it.

Haven't decided. My first idea is that it sort of does, but the notifications go to Percival rather than causing him to be auto-fired.

Stsword · Apr 23, 2023

RoninSword said:
My understanding was that (canonically) Green Lanterns being in the presence of a Blue Lantern made them stronger (or increased their ring charge?) And that Blue Lanterns can't do anything like healing unless in the presence of a Green Lantern.

Increases their ring charge. Post flashpoint they can do that for every color of ring. This can cause rings to explode by overcharging, by the by.

Post flashpoint, that weakness was Ganthet malware instead of an inherent property of the blue light. Considering GL largely ignored flashpoint, maybe it was always intended to be Ganthet malware instead of an inherent property.

The Blue Lantern Corps was then promptly slaughtered down to just Saint Walker, because without that weakness it would be the Blue Lantern Corps and their loser sidekicks who aren't good enough for a blue ring.

Profipfreely · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I storms forward

Should probably be storm forward

Mr Zoat · Apr 23, 2023

Profipfreely said:
Should probably be storm forward

Thank you, corrected.

BrotherofaStudio · Apr 23, 2023

Killing an Alliance soldier is going to attract a lot of bad attention for Paul. It was really interesting seeing how he makes ring work by constantly deciding or willing his constructs to be strong enough though I suppose that was obvious.

Kurai · Apr 23, 2023

Vaermina said:
Canon DC wise, all rings but Blue are bad at healing to the point they just straight up can't do it.

The DC wiki claims that Green and Yellow rings are capable of "limited cellular regeneration" (whatever that means; we both know it's code for "as much healing as the author needs to get away with, or not"). Aside from that, the one time I saw it referenced in the actual comics was when when they were pulling Guy Gardner out of a Red Power Ring's influence, an Indigo Tribesman managed to patch him up but left trace toxins in his bloodstream, noting that a Blue ring would be needed for "true healing."

Indigo being able to do it makes sense to me, as healing is generally an act of compassion; blue being the best at it also makes sense, because the Blue Light is "hope," or, in an earlier age, "faith" - miracles, then, are very much its stock in trade, so to speak.

Vaermina said:
Yup, Hope is the most powerful emotion, but without the willpower to enact that Hope it's limited in what it can do.

Yeah - I think it was Atrocitus who put it as, "Without the willpower to enact it, hope is nothing more than well-wishes and prayers."

To the best of my knowledge (and I'm drawing on the roleplaying game as well as decade-old memories of the comics here), without the presence of a Green Power Ring, a Blue Lantern is limited to flight and their personal (environmental?) shield - and that, at about half-strength of normal. In the presence of a Blue Power Ring, a Green Lantern's ring charge is basically doubled.

Stsword · Apr 23, 2023

Kurai said:
The DC wiki claims that Green and Yellow rings are capable of "limited cellular regeneration" (whatever that means; we both know it's code for "as much healing as the author needs to get away with, or not"). Aside from that, the one time I saw it referenced in the actual comics was when when they were pulling Guy Gardner out of a Red Power Ring's influence, an Indigo Tribesman managed to patch him up but left trace toxins in his bloodstream, noting that a Blue ring would be needed for "true healing."

Indigo being able to do it makes sense to me, as healing is generally an act of compassion; blue being the best at it also makes sense, because the Blue Light is "hope," or, in an earlier age, "faith" - miracles, then, are very much its stock in trade, so to speak.

Ice used Guy's ring to cure Ivo of his deforming and cripplling immortality serum. Guy commented he didn't understand how she did that since he can't even cure his own hemorrhoids.

Simon pulled someone out of a coma.

Hallalax, although without a ring, used the green light to heal Stewart.

However, it's mostly a fake weakness anyway- Power rings can create chemicals constructs, as shown when Kyle created a sleeping gas construct to knock out Alan.

Power rings can also manufacture medicine, as Stewart did to cure a plague in Cosmic Odyssey.

Power rings can create medical equipment constructs, as Sinestro's daughter's first act as a green lantern.

So David Kim of the Anansi Justice League, being a nanite engineer specializing in medical applications, could probably create medical nanite constructs to heal anything he wanted.

PDV · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
collapsing onto hits front

its

Is this perserveratey focus on how your constructs are intact normal Green Lantern mindset?

Mr Zoat · Apr 23, 2023

PDV said:
its

Thank you, corrected.

Is this perserveratey focus on how your constructs are intact normal Green Lantern mindset?

I'm not sure what word 3 means, but probably not. Green Lanterns are selected for having a strong will, so they're that focused normally.

Doccer · Apr 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Another alien mercenary."

How many can they really get this far out of the boonies?
And how many of those are falsely assumed by the Alliance?

Mr Zoat · Apr 24, 2023

November 3rd, 1999
22:47 GMT

I look out through my binoculars at the airbase where the British government is keeping the Alliance's equipment.

"This isn't a research centre. I'd guess that they're holding it here because they don't know what to do with it and want to keep it somewhere secure. Which means that there are going to be a lot of people coming and going."

Next to me, Fitz lowers his binoculars and then clears his throat.

"Gentlemen, I-" I wince at his accent. I'm… Pretty sure that British people haven't actually sounded like that outside of Buckingham Palace since World War Two. "-am Doctor Nigel Fortescue. I hear you've got a rather rum project for me, what what?"

Perrera shakes her head. "We don't have their phone line and we don't have a radio intercept. Unless there really is a guy called Nigel Fortescue, they won't buy it for long enough."

"Nick…" I lower my binoculars and turn to face Sh'lainn. "I'm not seeing any vampires here."

She turns her computer around to face me, images of some of the people who were at the docks expanded. The thing about most alien species being able to disguise themselves as humans is that what they look like doesn't really mean anything. I look at her for an explanation.

"They're no' wearing the hologram projectors."

Perrera leans over and looks at the image for a moment before nodding. "The projectors have to be exposed in order to work. And the tail's still there. None of these people are moving like they've got to take tails into account."

"Okay." Fitz shrugs. "So they're not vampires. The vampire families run big companies. Can't be that hard to hire a moving company."

Sh'lainn frowns. "Would the vampires let uninfected humans handle their technology?"

I… That's a good question. I haven't seen any record of it in the Alliance database. Using humans to expand their personnel base seems like an obvious thing to do. The oni definitely do. Vampires?

Looks like Fitz and Perrera don't know, either.

"And there's another thing." Sh'lainn moves to a new video. "Watch this."

An Alliance agent fires at one of the dock workers-. Sh'lainn stops the image as the plasma bolt narrowly misses him, and-. It's like his whole body is in a funhouse mirror.

"You see this? I think this man is a faun. The power they use for their disguises doesn't cope well when there's a strong magnetic field nearby."

Perrera frowns. "Do vampires work with fauns?"

"About as often as banshees do."

"So…" Fitz frowns. "What are we saying? It wasn't vampires? Okay, but what does that change? They're aliens-. Ah. Present company accepted, no offence intended."

"Some taken."

"And they were smuggling guns."

I take out my pistol and hold it up.

"That's a very nice gun?"

"I don't have a British permit. And I don't remember declaring it when I crossed the border."

"Nick." Fitz leans over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Let me tell you something I learned in the CIA. Laws are things you punish other people for breaking."

I slip the gun back into its holster. Thing is, he's not entirely wrong. I knew that the Alliance rode roughshod over local law in order to protect the Earth from hostile aliens. But if we're working for… Governments, couldn't this be solved by a phone call? Someone's got to be in the know.

Fitz snaps his fingers. "Got it! Plane falls, everyone dies!"

"Ah." I frown, because if he's saying what I think he's saying, that could get a lot of people on that airbase killed. "If Trueblood's finished with the planes, we could fly one-."

"No, no, no. That just raises more questions. We need to figure out something where no one wants to ask anything."

I glance at Perrera, but she's… Smiling. No help there.

"Okay?"

"The airbase is on high alert, because it's a military base that's now holding a load of high-tech equipment. But they don't know that that's connected to the agents they're holding, otherwise they'd be in a military prison rather than a police cell."

I nod. They probably haven't tried getting fingerprints from the captured weapons yet, and while fingerprints are unique, actually matching a fingerprint on a surface to one on someone's finger is more an art than a science. If the London police haven't put their records on a searchable computer system yet…

"You see, sometimes… You get a prisoner you don't want to have as a prisoner."

…

Sometimes, I forget that Fitz used to be in the CIA. And that his honest, open face is just about the best asset he has for deceiving people.

Perrera tilters her head to the side a little. "Okay? And what happens to them?"

"Well, sometimes they end up in someone else's prison. We used to have friends in South America for that. And the Middle East. And sometimes it turns out that someone made a mistake and they were never prisoners in the first place!" He shrugs in mock helplessness. "What can you do? And sometimes you get a bunch of people on a plane… And there's an engine failure."

He shrugs, still smiling.

"These things happen."

Sh'lainn nods her head. "And that's why I don't trust those mechanical death-traps."

Ah. "So..?"

"There's nothing like prisoners suffering a mechanical failure related 'accident' to make everyone involved really forgetful. We bring the prisoners up here using Ministry of Defense documents, load 'em onto a plane and then fly them up. Then we do a mid-air transfer before dropping the plane on anything we want destroyed."

Perrera frowns. "What about the airmen on the base?"

"Oh, we can warn them. Tell them that the plane's coming down and they need to evacuate. Then the plane lands, and they call the Ministry to find out what went on… But there's no one there." He shrugs again. "They'll think it was an MI5 black bag operation. MI5 will say it wasn't, but… Of course they would."

Perrera shrugs. "We've used worse stories."

I nod. "That all sounds disturbingly possible. But we-."

The communicator goes off. Perrera gabs it.

"Agent Perrera. Go."

Trueblood's face appears. He looks pissed.

"The Green Knight is still active in the area. He is very resilient. He took fire from-."

He winces, and the camera moves to show me a medic working on his hand.

"From several plasma cannons without slowing down, and his sword cut through our mechs like they were made of aluminum foil. I've got seven wounded agents and one fatality, and the local police showed up just as we got out of the area of operation. Be careful, don't go anywhere alone and prepare to get out the moment he shows up."

Sh'lainn looks dubious. "Did you run into some fauns, by any chance?"

For an instant he looks angry, then he gets a hold of himself. "That's irrelevant. Trueblood out."

"So…" The screen deactivates and Fitz looks thoughtful. "I heard 'no vampires and good luck with the unstoppable knight'. Everyone else hear that too?"

I sag slightly, sighing. "Thank you, General Rinaker."

Darko · Apr 24, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
government keeping the Alliance's equipment

'is keeping'

Mr Zoat said:
"Nick." Fitz leans over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Let me tell you something I learned in the CIA. Laws are things you punish other people for breaking

An attitude that has never had horrible consequences for innocent parties...

FeepingCreature · Apr 24, 2023

Darko said:
An attitude that has never had horrible consequences for innocent parties...

And you don't see any innocent parties around here, do you? So it'll all work out.

Consequences are for other people.

Massgamer · Apr 24, 2023

The Alliance does seem sketchy as hell and lacking legitmancy from actual governments.

Mr Zoat · Apr 24, 2023

Darko said:
'is keeping'

Thank you, corrected.

crazygrox · Apr 24, 2023

Alright, the Roswell Conspiracies variant timeline is starting to catch my attention.

At first I wasn't that interested in it and thought it was mostly a distraction from what I was after seeing, but as we get more of the characters and conflict introduced it's getting better and more fascinating.

Chojin Patriarch · Apr 24, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
November 3rd, 1999
22:47 GMT

I look out through my binoculars at the airbase where the British government keeping the Alliance's equipment.

"This isn't a research centre. I'd guess that they're holding it here because they don't know what to do with it and want to keep it somewhere secure. Which means that there are going to be a lot of people coming and going."

Ah, back to Nick Logan and company for this one, I see. After all, Roswaul wouldn't need to be looking through binoculars. And this looks like one doozy of a challenge. Breaking into a foreign military base, extracting or utterly destroying captured materiel and escaping without getting caught. Good luck there, lads and lasses.

Next to me, Fitz lowers his binoculars and then clears his throat.

"Gentlemen, I-" I wince at his accent. I'm… Pretty sure that British people haven't actually sounded like that outside of Buckingham Palace since World War Two. "-am Doctor Nigel Fortescue. I hear you've got a rather rum project for me, what what?"

Ah, a classic trope: the Upper-Class English Twit. Not gonna fly these days, alas.

Perrera shakes her head. "We don't have their phone line and we don't have a radio intercept. Unless there really is a guy called Nigel Fortescue, they won't buy it for long enough."

"Nick…" I lower my binoculars and turn to face Sh'lainn. "I'm not seeing any vampires here."

Yeah, a bluff with no foundation in reality isn't a good bluff. The best lie is one with a little truth mixed in for seasoning.

She turns her computer around to face me, images of some of the people who were at the docks expanded. The thing about most alien species being able to disguise themselves as humans is that what they look like doesn't really mean anything. I look at her for an explanation.

"They're no' wearing the hologram projectors."

...Ah, I think I'm beginning to follow the timeline now. The folks Roswaul was helping yesterday are the dock workers involved in the attack Team Logan was told about.

Perrera leans over and looks at the image for a moment before nodding. "The projectors have to be exposed in order to work. And the tail's still there. None of these people are moving like they've got to take tails into account."

"Okay." Fitz shrugs. "So they're not vampires. The vampire families run big companies. Can't be that hard to hire a moving company."

<sigh> Still laser-focused on everything tying back to the one big enemy, huh?

Sh'lainn frowns. "Would the vampires let uninfected humans handle their technology?"

I… That's a good question. I haven't seen any record of it in the Alliance database. Using humans to expand their personnel base seems like an obvious thing to do. The oni definitely do. Vampires?

Don't tell me: The 'Oni' operate out of the Asian regions, especially Japan?

Looks like Fitz and Perrera don't know, either.

"And there's another thing." Sh'lainn moves to a new video. "Watch this."

I suppose having a fresh pair of eyes looking over footage helps to find inconsistencies...

An Alliance agent fires at one of the dock workers-. Sh'lainn stops the image as the plasma bolt narrowly misses him, and-. It's like his whole body is in a funhouse mirror.

"You see this? I think this man is a faun. The power they use for their disguises doesn't cope well when there's a strong magnetic field nearby."

That seems like something of a drawback going into the Twenty-first Century. Though presumably it would take an intense field at close proximity like getting shot at like that to reveal it.

Perrera frowns. "Do vampires work with fauns?"

"About as often as banshees do."

In other words, no chance in hell.

"So…" Fitz frowns. "What are we saying? It wasn't vampires? Okay, but what does that change? They're aliens-. Ah. Present company accepted, no offence intended."

"Some taken."

I know it might be instinct to see all of them as one monolithic enemy, Fitz, but they aren't.

"And they were smuggling guns."

I take out my pistol and hold it up.

Good point. I doubt they entered the country entirely legally.

"That's a very nice gun?"

"I don't have a British permit. And I don't remember declaring it when I crossed the border."

Presumably Alliance air transports have some good stealth systems.

"Nick." Fitz leans over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Let me tell you something I learned in the CIA. Laws are things you punish other people for breaking."

I slip the gun back into its holster. Thing is, he's not entirely wrong. I knew that the Alliance rode roughshod over local law in order to protect the Earth from hostile aliens. But if we're working for… Governments, couldn't this be solved by a phone call? Someone's got to be in the know.

Gee, just a little suspicious, isn't it?

Fitz snaps his fingers. "Got it! Plane falls, everyone dies!"

"Ah." I frown, because if he's saying what I think he's saying, that could get a lot of people on that airbase killed. "If Trueblood's finished with the planes, we could fly one-."

...He intends to pull a Bane? Hope their air transport is a little sturdier than modern aircraft.

"No, no, no. That just raises more questions. We need to figure out something where no one wants to ask anything."

I glance at Perrera, but she's… Smiling. No help there.

The joy of not having a mind as squirrelly as a secret agent's.

"Okay?"

"The airbase is on high alert, because it's a military base that's now holding a load of high-tech equipment. But they don't know that that's connected to the agents they're holding, otherwise they'd be in a military prison rather than a police cell."

No doubt another team is working on getting them out? Or is Team Logan expected to handle that too?

I nod. They probably haven't tried getting fingerprints from the captured weapons yet, and while fingerprints are unique, actually matching a fingerprint on a surface to one on someone's finger is more an art than a science. If the London police haven't put their records on a searchable computer system yet…

"You see, sometimes… You get a prisoner you don't want to have as a prisoner."

Ah, the pre-connectivity age. When nearly everything forensics-related was done by hand and eye.

…

Sometimes, I forget that Fitz used to be in the CIA. And that his honest, open face is just about the best asset he has for deceiving people.

And since this is pre-'War on Terror', the seedier side of things hasn't started to be exposed... yet.

Perrera tilters her head to the side a little. "Okay? And what happens to them?"

"Well, sometimes they end up in someone else's prison. We used to have friends in South America for that. And the Middle East. And sometimes it turns out that someone made a mistake and they were never prisoners in the first place!" He shrugs in mock helplessness. "What can you do? And sometimes you get a bunch of people on a plane… And there's an engine failure."

In other words, 'disappearing' them into Alliance custody.

He shrugs, still smiling.

"These things happen."

I'm sure they do...

Sh'lainn nods her head. "And that's why I don't trust those mechanical death-traps."

Ah. "So..?"

To be fair, modern aircraft aren't all that much of an evolution of the first planes, at their core. Lose the thrust pushing you through the air, and, well...

"There's nothing like prisoners suffering a mechanical failure related 'accident' to make everyone involved really forgetful. We bring the prisoners up here using Ministry of Defense documents, load 'em onto a plane and then fly them up. Then we do a mid-air transfer before dropping the plane on anything we want destroyed."

Perrera frowns. "What about the airmen on the base?"

Hoo-boy. Fitz likes the loud solutions, doesn't he?

"Oh, we can warn them. Tell them that the plane's coming down and they need to evacuate. Then the plane lands, and they call the Ministry to find out what went on… But there's no one there." He shrugs again. "They'll think it was an MI5 black bag operation. MI5 will say it wasn't, but… Of course they would."

Perrera shrugs. "We've used worse stories."

James Bond would probably approve. Any of them.

...Yes, I'm an 'It's a Codename' believer...

I nod. "That all sounds disturbingly possible. But we-."

The communicator goes off. Perrera gabs it.

That will probably be news of the Emerald Knight's appearance...

"Agent Perrera. Go."

Trueblood's face appears. He looks pissed.

Ah, I assume that's who Roswaul duelled yesterday, then.

"The Green Knight is still active in the area. He is very resilient. He took fire from-."

He winces, and the camera moves to show me a medic working on his hand.

Yep, still carrying the fresh burns from getting his plasma mace smashed up.

"From several plasma cannons without slowing down, and his sword cut through our mechs like they were made of aluminum foil. I've got seven wounded agents and one fatality, and the local police showed up just as we got out of the area of operation. Be careful, don't go anywhere alone and prepare to get out the moment he shows up."

Sh'lainn looks dubious. "Did you run into some fauns, by any chance?"

...To be fair, only one group made it inside the building. Maybe one guy, possibly. And that one didn't walk out again.

For an instant he looks angry, then he gets a hold of himself. "That's irrelevant. Trueblood out."

"So…" The screen deactivates and Fitz looks thoughtful. "I heard 'no vampires and good luck with the unstoppable knight'. Everyone else hear that too?"

I sag slightly, sighing. "Thank you, General Rinaker."

Eh, you guys have protagonist power, you'll work it out.

Well, then. I doubt Roswaul will turn up to interfere with their little plan - likely too busy dealing with the stress of killing someone - but I get the feeling just having the paranoia of thinking he might be out there will result in someone messing up. Though since Fitz's plan isn't exactly a good plan, I'm hoping they don't try to pull it off...

BR549 · Apr 24, 2023

FeepingCreature said:
And you don't see any innocent parties around here, do you? So it'll all work out.

"I've been in rooms just like that before. There are no 'innocent civilians'. Trust me. Every last one of them has done something."

edmantgoog · Apr 24, 2023

So why is the alliance going after the ailens? I thought they were only after hostiles like vampires etc?

Ngamer11 · Apr 24, 2023

edmantgoog said:
So why is the alliance going after the ailens? I thought they were only after hostiles like vampires etc?

In this series, all mythological creatures are aliens, so they are anti-alien in general.

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