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

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.
'shearing'
-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 edge of the sword'
'shears'
"I don't have a British permit. And I don't remember declaring it when I crossed the border."
Was going to ask whether there is such a thing as a permit for a handgun, but then I realised that foreign government agents and native government agents can presumably get them.
"Unusual, but one in twelve thousand humans has dextrocardia. Unless he needs surgery, I doubt that it matters."
It surprises me that Canis knows this. I wonder why he studied human biology? Has this come up before?

Enjoyed the Roswell chapters. Cool to see these neat little settings that I have never heard of.
Had to think for a hot minute to remember why the anti-matter folk would be here. I guess Mistress is an anti-matter person? Alt-version of a high-tier superhero?
 
Had to think for a hot minute to remember why the anti-matter folk would be here. I guess Mistress is an anti-matter person? Alt-version of a high-tier superhero?

If Zoat was inspired by the storyline I think he was, this is a slave run.

And as wild as it is, depending on which Crime Syndicate figures are in charge of this, it could be an improvement.
 
It surprises me that Canis knows this. I wonder why he studied human biology? Has this come up before

He mentioned trying to preserve the organs for an art piece, so he may have researched human biology before so that he knows how to make a human body into a piece of art.
 
'shearing'
'the edge of the sword'
'shears'
Thank you, corrected.
Was going to ask whether there is such a thing as a permit for a handgun, but then I realised that foreign government agents and native government agents can presumably get them.
Britain does have handgun licences. They're not easy to get, and they wouldn't allow you to wander around with one, but they do exist. Foreign agents... Don't know.
 
Britain does have handgun licences. They're not easy to get, and they wouldn't allow you to wander around with one, but they do exist. Foreign agents... Don't know.
Huh, I thought they were completely illegal for non-government after the Dunblane school shooting. But having just double-checked, yeah, seems I was wrong. Guess it doesn't come up often when you don't go into rural areas (or maybe even then, I don't know).
I mentioned foreign agents because I assume that if Joe Biden turns up in the UK tomorrow, they aren't going to ask his bodyguards to hand over their handguns.
 
Huh, I thought they were completely illegal for non-government after the Dunblane school shooting. But having just double-checked, yeah, seems I was wrong. Guess it doesn't come up often when you don't go into rural areas (or maybe even then, I don't know).
As I understand it, rural areas mostly use shotguns. We don't have much in the way of large predators here, though for some reason we've reintroduced wolves in some places, and the guns are for pest control and sport shooting. The few legal handguns are mostly for sport shooting.
I mentioned foreign agents because I assume that if Joe Biden turns up in the UK tomorrow, they aren't going to ask his bodyguards to hand over their handguns.
No, but I doubt that they'd be allowed to take a walk with them when off the clock.
 
Home Field (part 8)
6th February 2013
12:44 GMT -5


"Yeah." I point my binoculars at the last warehouse. "They're not getting that food from in there."

Artemis is watching the readout from the tracker arrow, and thanks to Batman's training in body reading I hear the moment she gets surprised. A little change in how she's breathing and a slight change in how she's balancing.

"The truck's gone. Or they.. found the transmitter."

"Was there a damage alert?"

"No."

"Those transmitters aren't easy to damage. If someone found it, they wouldn't fry it with a plasma torch on their own van. They'd pull it off -which would send an alert telling you it lost its grip- and then try smashing it."

She nods. "And unless they hit it just right, that would send a damage notification before it cut out, right."

I try putting the binoculars on infrared mode, but the metal of the warehouse and the insulation effect of their clothes means that I can't see if their hearts are on the wrong side by heat patterns alone. Not from here, anyway.

"Those are just regular power lines. If they had enough power for some kind of portal, they'd need more than that, right?"

"You know I'm not literally Batman, right?"

"Ah, yeah?"

"So he might be an omnidisciplinary genius, but I'm still going to high school. We don't do dimensional physics until our junior year."

"We do?"

I actually lower the binoculars and eyeball her.

She shrugs defensively. "I thought maybe it was a special class. But… If there aren't enough cables, then the generator would have to be inside."

"Or on the other side."

But why would they open a portal, whoever they are? Blue Lantern and Ultraboy-.

Their hearts are in the right place. Gotta work that into a sentence.

So if it's them… Why? Blue Lantern wouldn't want anything to do with the Anti-Life-. OL wanted to evacuate the planet. So BL would… Also evacuate this planet to his planet, because…

No one's paying him in cash. Villain equipment? No. I mean, maybe, but he's giving Mistress food. He's paying her, not the other way around. Gotham… WayneCorps is keeping track of its most skilled workers. Frankly, most of the people they're getting aren't exactly high-skilled. They could be building up a workforce in secret…

No, wait. Take people out of a bad situation and they'll be grateful. Get them out of the effect-range of the Anti-Life, let them have a normal life again, and they're yours. BL might just get them all jobs working for the Syndicate. Employees who aren't known to the government. OL said that the Syndicate were moving their operations out of their US. They're having to build up their whole support base from nothing.

It makes sense, but that's assuming that it's the same Syndicate. Because OL also said that he had to fight some kind of nineties Justice League from a different parallel universe. So how do I know this isn't a different parallel anti-matter universe?

I don't.

Heck, for all I know they might just be clones of someone who has their heart on the right side.

And if it's not BL, who probably wouldn't do anything evil with them, then we need to know where they're going.

"We're going through… Whatever that is, aren't we?"

"If it turns out it's a giant mincing machine, no."

"Did someone have one of those?"

"Joker did once, but it was a stage prop. You went though, realised you were fine… Aaaand that's when the piranhas got you."

"That sounds-. Where is the Joker, anyway?"

"Arkham. Wayne Enterprises paid for supermax cells to get automated. And Batman has been making sure they all stay where they are."

"Are they affected?"

"Joker's been laughing less. Though that might just be some new kind of crazy he's cooking up. The rest aren't really doing better than anyone else."

Mr. Zsasz was trying to rub his tallies off, and Firefly refuses to look at anything burning, including the screen in his room that shows a fireplace as a kind of palliative. The worst is Two-Face. He hasn't argued with himself since this started, and he's been a lot more self-destructive. Since he wasn't in Arkham at the time we don't know exactly where Clayface is, but he… Well, he can't kill himself, so he'll probably turn up when it's all over.

Whoa, that's dark.

"Anyway, yeah, we need to get through. And since we don't know what's on the other side, we're going to have to join the volunteers."

"Won't they see that we're not as affected as they are?"

"Match walked right up to four of them, and they didn't care."

"Yeah, but letting them through the.. portal, or whatever…"

"They're moving people from somewhere with Anti-Life to somewhere without. I don't think they want them Anti-Lifed."

"So you think it's an actual evacuation, not just choice between slavery and the Anti-Life?"

"People who get Anti-Lifed make great slaves already. Mistress is clearly organising this, and she can already control them."

I shuffle back from the observation point and stand back up. Okay, I'm going to need to drop off anything that looks like Robin-gear. We already dressed to blend in-.

"Okay, this is gunna sound-. Could she be… Good?"

Artemis looks like she thinks I'm going to say that's stupid, but actually… That's more than a little possible. We -I- don't have a good read on exactly how Anti-Lifed people act. Mannheim's evil, because he started this and is trying to spread it, but the city bosses? They're mostly people who were evil before. And it-. Accepting the Anti-Life looks like it's easier if you were pretty nihilistic before it happened, but… People signed up with the Alliance of the Just because they wanted to do good.

Could Mistress just want to get people out?

"It's possible. Or she might just be smart enough to know that she can't feed everyone and getting rid of the rest just makes sense. Or that the broadcast effect works through the portal. I mean, whoever's controlling the portal is probably on the other side, and they must know that things aren't right here, but do they know why things aren't right? If she's sent her Justified through, then…"

"She might be trying to expand somewhere Mannheim can't reach."

"Or maybe she is trying to get them out. She used to be a travel agent."

Artemis snorts. "It's not like anyone wants to take tours of Gotham."

"Yeah. You think we should take Canis, or leave him here?"

"Canis in a new environment… Canis without supervision." She looks thoughtful. "I'd.. say… Have him try and get closer to Mistress. He fits in better, and the Justified are less likely to pick up on him being… Canis, than regular guards."

I nod. I think she's right.

I'm just worried about him getting on too well.
 
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She shrugs defensively. "I though maybe it was a special class. But… If there aren't enough cables, then the generator would have to be inside."
That should say 'thought'.

Mr. Zsasz was trying to rub his tallies off, and Firefly refuses to look at anything burning, including the screen in his room that shows a fireplace as a kind of palliative. The worst is Two-Face. He hasn't argued with himself since this started, and he's been a lot more self-destructive. Since he wasn't in Arkham at the time we don't know exactly where Clayface is, but he… Well, he can't kill himself, so he'll probably turn up when it's all over.
Last I remember, OL offered Clayface the chance to be human again through one of the lesser Hero Dials as part of a series of ongoing experiments where scientists analyze how the thing works. Is this a mistake? Or did Clayface decide he'd prefer to be a villain?
 
6th February 2013
12:44 GMT -5


"Yeah." I point my binoculars at the last warehouse. "They're not getting that food from in there."

Artemis is watching the readout from the tracker arrow, and thanks to Batman's training in body reading I hear the moment she gets surprised. A little change in how she's breathing and a slight change in how she's balancing.
And now Robin again, still running a tail with Artemis, I see. I'm guessing it just crossed over to Earth -16, or wherever it's going. So it's likely that both pairs are at the same warehouse now, just on different ends. :D Unless there are multiple sites like that.

"The truck's gone. Or they.. found the transmitter."

"Was there a damage alert?"
Heh. Of course Batman-developed tracking tech is smart enough to send word if it gets destroyed.

"No."

"Those transmitters aren't easy to damage. If someone found it, they wouldn't fry it with a plasma torch on their own van. They'd pull it off -which would send an alert telling you it lost its grip- and then try smashing it."
So they didn't find it, it's just out of range.

She nods. "And unless they hit it just right, that would send a damage notification before it cut out, right."

I try putting the binoculars on infrared mode, but the metal of the warehouse and the insulation effect of their clothes means that I can't see if their hearts are on the wrong side by heat patterns alone. Not from here, anyway.
And if you got closer, it'd probably be a bit too lively to double-check then.

"Those are just regular power lines. If they had enough power for some kind of portal, they'd need more than that, right?"

"You know I'm not literally Batman, right?"
Or the portal could be opening from the other end. To (mis)quote Hawkeye from 'Avengers': "It's a door, right? Well, doors open both ways..."

"Ah, yeah?"

"So he might be an omnidisciplinary genius, but I'm still going to high school. We don't do dimensional physics until our junior year."
On the other hand, Dick, you can look forwards to becoming the DC Universe's greatest heroic Lover. :p

"We do?"

I actually lower the binoculars and eyeball her.
Yeah, that would strain most people's credulity.

She shrugs defensively. "I though maybe it was a special class. But… If there aren't enough cables, then the generator would have to be inside."

"Or on the other side."
See? It doesn't necessarily need to be a system that requires dual terminals, after all.

But why would they open a portal, whoever they are? Blue Lantern and Ultraboy-.

Their hearts are in the right place. Gotta work that into a sentence.
<facepalm> Work on your patter later, Boy Wonder...

So if it's them… Why? Blue Lantern wouldn't want anything to do with the Anti-Life-. OL wanted to evacuate the planet. So BL would… Also evacuate this planet to his planet, because…

No one's paying him in cash. Villain equipment? No. I mean, maybe, but he's giving Mistress food. He's paying her, not the other way around. Gotham… WayneCorps is keeping track of its most skilled workers. Frankly, most of the people they're getting aren't exactly high-skilled. They could be building up a workforce in secret…
Fundamental mistake there, Robin. Bad initial assumption.

No, wait. Take people out of a bad situation and they'll be grateful. Get them out of the effect-range of the Anti-Life, let them have a normal life again, and they're yours. BL might just get them all jobs working for the Syndicate. Employees who aren't known to the government. OL said that the Syndicate were moving their operations out of their US. They're having to build up their whole support base from nothing.

It makes sense, but that's assuming that it's the same Syndicate. Because OL also said that he had to fight some kind of nineties Justice League from a different parallel universe. So how to I know this isn't a different parallel anti-matter universe?
That's more like it! After all, the Young Offenders' Earth is Earth Minus Fourteen. But by that logic... Is there not an Earth Minus Sixteen too?

I don't.

Heck, for all I know they might just be clones of someone who has their heart on the right side.
...Bit too much of a stretch there, Robin. Occam's Razor.

And if it's not BL, who probably wouldn't do anything evil with them, then we need to know where they're going.

"We're going through… Whatever that is, aren't we?"
Given typical Team missions, it seems inevitable that's how it goes tits-up.

"If it turns out it's a giant mincing machine, no."

"Did someone have one of those?"
...Professor Pyg isn't a thing yet, is he? :confused: Post-flashpoint or not... He seems like the sort.

"Joker did once, but it was a stage prop. You went though, realised you were fine… Aaaand that's when the piranhas got you."

"That sounds-. Where is the Joker, anyway?"
Hey, absurdism is a valid form of humour. So is the old bait-and-switch.

"Arkham. Wayne Enterprises paid for supermax cells to get automated. And Batman has been making sure they all stay where they are."

"Are they affected?"
Joker: :mad: "This isn't funny."

"Joker's been laughing less. Though that might just be some new kind of crazy he's cooking up. The rest aren't really doing better than anyone else."

Mr. Zsasz was trying to rub his tallies off, and Firefly refuses to look at anything burning, including the screen in his room that shows a fireplace as a kind of palliative. The worst is Two-Face. He hasn't argued with himself since this started, and he's been a lot more self-destructive. Since he wasn't in Arkham at the time we don't know exactly where Clayface is, but he… Well, he can't kill himself, so he'll probably turn up when it's all over.
With any luck, some of them might come out of this a little saner. Probably not enough that they'd cop an actual sentencing, but still.

Whoa, that's dark.

"Anyway, yeah, we need to get through. And since we don't know what's on the other side, we're going to have to join the volunteers."
...Goddammit, of all the times for Batman to be sleeping. This sounds like a bad plan, Robin.

"Won't they see that we're not as affected as they are?"

"Match walked right up to four of them, and they didn't care."
...Admittedly, he walked away from three of them after. Stable, these folks are not.

"Yeah, but letting them through the.. portal, or whatever…"

"They're moving people from somewhere with Anti-Life to somewhere without. I don't think they want them Anti-Lifed."
And hopefully in quantities that wouldn't result in the effect being self-sustaining either.

"So you think it's an actual evacuation, not just choice between slavery and the Anti-Life?"

"People who get Anti-Lifed make great slaves already. Mistress is clearly organising this, and she can already control them."
Which still raises the question of why. Doing this reduces her powerbase.

I shuffle back from the observation point and stand back up. Okay, I'm going to need to drop off anything that looks like Robin-gear. We already dressed to blend in-.

"Okay, this is gunna sound-. Could she be… Good?"
o_O Girl, what?

Artemis looks like she thinks I'm going to say that's stupid, but actually… That's more than a little possible. We -I- don't have a good read on exactly how Anti-Lifed people act. Mannheim's evil, because he started this and is trying to spread it, but the city bosses? They're mostly people who were evil before. And it-. Accepting the Anti-Life looks like it's easier if you were pretty nihilistic before it happened, but… People signed up with the Alliance of the Just because they wanted to do good.
...Huh. That's... That could be a plausible line of thought...

Could Mistress just want to get people out?

"It's possible. Or just might just be smart enough to know that she can't feed everyone and getting rid of the rest just makes sense. Or that the broadcast effect works through the portal. I mean, whoever's controlling the portal is probably on the other side, and they must know that things aren't right here, but do they know why things aren't right? If she's sent her Justified through, then…"
Though that still raises the question of how they made contact with her, or her with them.

"She might be trying to expand somewhere Mannheim can't reach."

"Or maybe she is trying to get them out. She used to be a travel agent."
...Not much of a clue there.

Artemis snorts. "It's not like anyone wants to take tours of Gotham."

"Yeah. You think we should take Canis, or leave him here?"
...Which is the worse alternative? Let's not do that one.

"Canis in a new environment… Canis without supervision." She looks thoughtful. "I'd.. say… Have him try and get closer to Mistress. He fits in better, and the Justified are less likely to pick up on him being… Canis, than regular guards."

I nod. I think she's right.

I'm just worried about him getting on too well.
Eh, he's loyal to Darkseid. And whatever Mistress is, she's clearly not living up to that lofty ideal of Tyranny.

This still looks like it's running headlong into 'going tits-up' territory. Seriously, going through a dimensional portal without knowing where you're going is a bad idea. I have the feeling that when Batman wakes up, he's going to have some choice words to say about Robin's decision-making... Once Robin gets back, anyway.
 
Sure, it's when you're in charge of something, and you tell people what to do. Hence my response to:

Well since you just defined micromanaging which is the opposite of delegating, no, you really really don't.

Delegating is entrusting the authority to others to complete tasks using their own decision making.
 
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Xalitan nods at me, his awareness extending into the Honden.

"Illustres. I have learned enough to return to the war."
"Xalitan isn't enlightened, but he's reached a level of skill where we're calling his training a success. Dox wants him to go to the front lines so that we can better assess exactly how much better he's gotten, then he'll form part of our training cadre. We've already circulated documentation to the rest of the Corps on what we did, so hopefully the ones with the most initiative will use that to improve their own training."
Mr Zoat, a couple questions if you don't mind indulging my curiosity.
  1. Can Xor teleport like Paul does or is he just aware of the Honden and able to interface with the desire networks of those around him?
  2. Being on the front lines of the Reach's surprise counteroffensive probably produced the best data Dox could have asked for. So, exactly how much better has Xor gotten?
  3. Does this mean the Honor Guard is getting its second member?
 
She shrugs defensively. "I though maybe it was a special class. But… If there aren't enough cables, then the generator would have to be inside."


It makes sense, but that's assuming that it's the same Syndicate. Because OL also said that he had to fight some kind of nineties Justice League from a different parallel universe. So how to I know this isn't a different parallel anti-matter universe?
I thought maybe...So how do I know
 
That should say 'thought'.
Thank you, corrected.
Last I remember, OL offered Clayface the chance to be human again through one of the lesser Hero Dials as part of a series of ongoing experiments where scientists analyze how the thing works. Is this a mistake? Or did Clayface decide he'd prefer to be a villain?
Yes, that happened. Then the place got Anti-Lifed.
Mr Zoat, a couple questions if you don't mind indulging my curiosity.
  1. Can Xor teleport like Paul does or is he just aware of the Honden and able to interface with the desire networks of those around him?
  2. Being on the front lines of the Reach's surprise counteroffensive probably produced the best data Dox could have asked for. So, exactly how much better has Xor gotten?
  3. Does this mean the Honor Guard is getting its second member?
NO! NOT THE BULLET POINTS!

1. No. At the moment he's a couple of breakthroughs away.
2. Quite a bit.
3. Not yet, but it's mostly a matter of time now.
 
NO! NOT THE BULLET POINTS!
Ah, oops. I don't generally ask multiple questions about a particular topic at once, but is there a particular way you'd prefer me to format myself if I do again? I chose an ordered list since those tend to assist with readability, but I clearly touched on something….
1. No. At the moment he's a couple of breakthroughs away.
Oooh! I can't wait to see it. Watching Xor's character development and resulting spiritual achievements is quite enjoyable.
Speaking of things I can't wait to see in detail….
3. Not yet, but it's mostly a matter of time now.
He certainly will deserve it, especially if he achieves Hondren travel before then. Just imagine how much more effective the Green Lantern Honor Guard would be if they could instantly teleport on mass to emergencies.

The future of our Corps is bright indeed.


Thank you so much for answering me! These plotthreads have been hanging out in the back of my mind since I first heard of them and it's so satisfying to no longer have them nag at me.
 
As I understand it, rural areas mostly use shotguns. We don't have much in the way of large predators here, though for some reason we've reintroduced wolves in some places, and the guns are for pest control and sport shooting. The few legal handguns are mostly for sport shooting.

No, but I doubt that they'd be allowed to take a walk with them when off the clock.
The wolves are being introduced because the deer population is massively above where it should be, due to the local extinction of wolves, and it's bad for the ecosystem. At least, that's the reasoning I got told in Geography a few years ago for why they're being brought back here in Scotland. Don't know about England or Wales.

True, I guess I didn't consider that. Although I have no idea whether a President's bodyguards would get time off the clock when in another country. I don't know how it works.
So how to I know this isn't a different parallel anti-matter universe?
'do I know'
Or just might just be smart enough to know that she can't feed everyone and getting rid of the rest just makes sense.
'she might just be'
 
Ah, oops. I don't generally ask multiple questions about a particular topic at once, but is there a particular way you'd prefer me to format myself if I do again? I chose an ordered list since those tend to assist with readability, but I clearly touched on something….
Basically, I usually split a quote with multiple questions so that I can put each answer right after each question. When you try and do that with things tagged as bullet points by the forum, it doesn't go well. Making a numbered list is fine, but please, don't do it as bullet points.
The wolves are being introduced because the deer population is massively above where it should be, due to the local extinction of wolves, and it's bad for the ecosystem. At least, that's the reasoning I got told in Geography a few years ago for why they're being brought back here in Scotland. Don't know about England or Wales.
The deer population going up is good, because it means that there's more tasty deer for us. Wolves eat the same things we eat; they're competition. That will also eat us.
'do I know'
'she might just be'
Thank you, corrected.
 
The deer population going up is good, because it means that there's more tasty deer for us. Wolves eat the same things we eat; they're competition. That will also eat us.

We don't eat that many deer. And there's an interesting video regarding… I think it was Yellowstone? They found that reintroducing wolves actually shifted rivers, because in addition to culling the deer and moose population, the wolves also shifted their behavior to something less ecologically damaging.
 
We don't eat that many deer.
If the price of deer meat goes down because the supply has increased, then people will eat more deer meat.
And there's an interesting video regarding… I think it was Yellowstone? They found that reintroducing wolves actually shifted rivers, because in addition to culling the deer and moose population, the wolves also shifted their behavior to something less ecologically damaging.
But I don't care about rivers. I care about not getting eaten by a wolf pack when I go for a walk in the woods. We wiped those things out for a reason.
 

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