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

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
8th June 2000
22:57 GMT +9

"Kill them! Kill the interlopers!"

The Japanese economy has had its ups and downs, and right now it's in a major down. I'm not exactly certain why it happened, but the summary I read in The Times made it sound like the Wall Street Crash of 1929: people put too much money in a class of investment that lacked the underlying strength to sustain it. But the collapse in demand and the desire of those banks which had repossessed property to sell them for desperately needed cash meant that a lot of property became available and a fraction of their original value.

Which is why the 80's fear of a Japanese-led corporate future, so central a foundation of things like Cyberpunk, never came to pass: Their economic bubble popped. Though I have no doubt the local 'non-indigenous sophonts' took full advantage of the recession and falling prices.

"I want them all dead!"

And the oni invested.

Thought so. No doubt in the guise of Yakuza, who do trade in legal real estate deals.

They also had a line in buying slave labourers from North Korea and dosing them with watered down vampire venom to keep them compliant, which is-

Fire from yakuza security guards hits my shield and loses all of its kinetic energy as I advance on their position.

Ah, and there they are. With quite illegal guns, you'll note, as Japan has quite severe gun control laws.

-how they've been able to make a huge profit on manual labour intensive work. They don't need to pay them and they won't ever complain. I think they paid for them in more watered down vampire venom, but we haven't really investigated that end of the trade.

Behind me, Peisinoe sings a hypnotic song to keep the workers entranced. It costs them what little sense of self-preservation they have left, but it's the only reason why they haven't tried swarming us when their boss ordered them to.

So, did she go for the figure-skating outfit, the gothic lolita outfit or something practical?

A Rider suit, perhaps?

The thugs before me duck back to reload and I take the opportunity to storm forward, truncheon construct at the ready. One spots me and drops his gun in favour of drawing a knife, but my superior reach makes it child's play to smack his hand and force him to drop it. He backs off, but my second strike hits him in the diaphragm and adds electrocution to blunt force trauma.

Heh. Not really necessary to go in for melee, but with all the lead flying around, someone might get hurt...

The second has been reloading while backing away and aims his gun at my vision slit. Since I'm wearing construct armour rather than metal armour the 'slit' isn't actually either a hole or a weak point, but I'll give him marks for situational awareness. slam the truncheon into the head of the one on the ground and then leap at the one shooting me. I don't try to evade; bullets missing me might hit someone else. He switches to one handed firing as I cross the intervening space, trying to open the door behind him without looking around.

Ah, the tanking job. Not easy, often maligned, but always needed.

It does work, but does allow me to concuss him with a body slam.

"Useless ingrates. Shuten, get down there and deal with this!"

Heh. Nice little mythic shout-out there. Leaning on their mythological similarities, I see.

I tap my communicator. "Peisinoe, I've dealt with the last of the guards. Start bringing the prisoners up. The police should be here in a few minutes."

"You're supposed to call me 'Nure' when we're playing at being superheroes."

...Bit of an awkward name there. Though I can see the mythological synchronicity.

"None of us speak Japanese." Hm. I put construct restrains around the guards and open the door, striding out of the warehouse and onto the dock. Might as well carry-.

Dodge!

Might have to get Percival to check the language sub-routines, then. Surely you can run the Ring through a stack of multi-lingual dictionaries, failing that.

I throw myself towards a nearby mooring as the concrete around me explodes! I land on my face, scrambling back onto my feet and trying to see through the resulting concrete dust. There's a… Large shape, and… I need to keep its attention to stop it from going for Peisinoe and her charges.

...That would be Shuten, then.

An energy pulse hits its centre of mass, to no apparent effect as it strides out of the dust. A… Woman? Seven feet tall and made of solid muscle. And then her image inducer glitches out and I see an… Oni-like figure, but with red skin, a crest of five separate horns and… Eyes scattered apparently at random across her head, torso, arms and legs almost at random. She? The hologram blinks back in, showing a body that the greatest Viking-descended female bodybuilder in the world would envy. The actual body only wore a pair of tight denim shorts, any breasts that she might have merged into the oversized pectorals. The illusion wears a vest and denim trousers, as well as metal-studded leather bracers and quite a lot of piercings.

...Goddammit, Zoat. You really did give us a muscle-girl Oni.

...And damn if that description doesn't sound like Princess, from 'Kill Six Billion Demons'. Damn good taste, sir!

"Green Knight!" She points at me, grinning. "I will eat your brain!"

Hose.

And maybe some soap, since she seems the sort to have a potty mouth...

I stick a green pipe into the ocean waters behind me, taking in as much as I can-.

She leaps at me, mouth open and grinning and right fist pulled back. I dart into the air and then expel the water at pressure, slashing the stream across her body!

Man, she telegraphed that punch so much, she'd have been better off mailing it.

She grimaces slightly as she lands, crushing the peer under her feat before jumping back onto the dock.

"My eyes are just as tough as the rest of me, foreigner. Which is a lot tougher than you!"

Hey, if you have what looks like an obvious weakpoint all over you, of course someone's gonna try to poke it.

"Tough? Maybe, but can you fly?"

She puts her hands on her hips, and-.

...Oh, hell. She's casting 'Summon Bigger Fish', isn't she?

Fzzzzap!

The hit knocks me into the water, down to the bottom of the bay and then deeper into the silt! My construct armour's cracked and leaking water, and I-.

Whoops, that's not good. Don't panic, Emerald Knight!

"BLOOBBLOBLOBBB!"

A hand grabs me and throws me, and I'm back in the air and flying into-.

...Well, at least she pulled you out of the water. So not drowning now.

OOF!

The side of a warehouse hard enough to dent the metal. Armour!

And this is why you have armour under the armour.

"We're a space-age species, Knight!" Shuten pulls herself out onto the dock, still grinning as her image inducer glitches in and out. "You think we having put anything in orbit?"

"I had hoped."

Honestly, having a Blue Ring show up would be a bonus to your combat capabilities...

"No such luck! But I've got an offer for you! Stay on the ground and I won't use it! They hardly ever let me have a good fight! And get your sword out!"

I pull myself out of the wall and drop to the ground, marking the location of the satellite weapon.

Time for the Knight to cast 'Summon Even Bigger Fish'.

And as Shuten advances I tap my communicator twice.

"Hakai no jikanda!"

...Don't tell me he actually looked up the translation of 'It's Clobbering Time!' Because that is pretty damn close.

("It's time to destroy!" according to Google Translate.)

Our sub-orbital support falls from the heavens and slams into her, Chauf having left behind his plasma cannon because he didn't want to 'besmirch the name of Ben Grimm'. Which probably has something to do with why he's wearing a blue jumpsuit with a number 3 on it. The two of them roll along the dockside, wrestling for supremacy.

"Peisinoe, you might want to take the back door?

I half expect someone to ask later 'So, which of you is Number One?' on the assumption they're numbered like Sentai.

"Yes, I worked that out for myself."

I generate a palisade shield and a pair of rocket boosters and set off for space, a brilliant trail of superheated exhaust washing over the struggling pugilists as I head towards the orbital weap-.

At least all human eyes will be on the big show they're putting on out front.

It hits my shield and as it maintains the beam I'm painfully aware of what something like that could do if it was actually aimed at a city. I can't dodge it. I've got to tank the whole thing and hope that it melts or empties its capacitors before my construct finally breaks down.

My shield will not break down. It will endure. I will endure.

And why do I get the feeling that Emerald Knight will hit Enlightenment sooner or later through sheer bloody-minded determination... Unlikely as it is that he'd ever need it.

My shield does break as I leave the atmosphere, the… Particle beam? Trying to burn through my armour next. I can feel it giving, melting, cracking and failing but too bad for them because I can see the satellite! Energy pulse!

The shot slams into the gun, punching clean through and shutting down the beam. It also sends the satellite into a spin, giving me a clean shot at the power plant on the opposite side. The whole assemblage explodes in a viscerally satisfying way and I take a moment to appreciate it before heading back to the surface.

And I hope that wreckage is heading out to a splashdown far out at sea, or someone is going to have a bad day.

No wasting time getting down to business for the Mighty Three, I see. ...Heroic Team Xeno-Rangers?

They really do need a couple more hands for a good team, though the Japanese might find it odd that Green is their leader. Let's hope they never need a giant mecha, though. I bet the media will have a field day with all this, though, since it's a little hard to cover up orbital laser strikes on the shoreline of what I assume is a coastal town.

Mr Zoat · Aug 19, 2023

BR549 said:
'restraints'
One or the other, I think.
'pier under her feet'
haven't

Darko said:
"Slam"

Duke Long said:
'It doesn't work'?

Thank you, corrected.

Lord Ernest said:
But doesn't his Power Ring provide a universal translator? I suppose because he's been playing mute that he hasn't used it much, but that's a fairly basic part of a Power Ring, he should have noticed that he can understand everyone, everywhere, no?

Yes, but that doesn't mean that he understands the language. He just sees and hears English when he sees or hears Japanese. If she picks a Japanese name then he'll either hear a translation or a word whose meaning he doesn't know.

BrotherofaStudio · Aug 19, 2023

Paul's idea for the Conduit cosplaying as Superheroes seems to be going well. This universe makes me wonder how an alternate Paul would handle being in Ben 10. Any chances of that?

Mr Zoat · Aug 19, 2023

BrotherofaStudio said:
Paul's idea for the Conduit cosplaying as Superheroes seems to be going well. This universe makes me wonder how an alternate Paul would handle being in Ben 10. Any chances of that?

No. I'm far too old to have watched that.

Zig · Aug 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No. I'm far too old to have watched that.

Ben 10 Ultimate Alien released the same year as Young Justice and was aimed at the same age group. The original released in 2005 and was aimed at a younger age group though so if you skipped that I guess it makes sense that you'd skip a sequel series too.

BrotherofaStudio · Aug 19, 2023

I'd argue with being too old to watch something but to each their own. I had made a suggestion of an alternate Paul landing in Middle Earth and having his Ring reforged into a Ring of Power. Any thoughts on that?

PDV · Aug 19, 2023

Crack crossover: the one Paul where there's a portal to a medieval world in Japan intersects this one.

Signaller · Aug 19, 2023

@Zoat, is there a Paul in the Heroes/Reborn universe? What ring colour does he have?

Coda · Aug 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

You missed one:

Mr Zoat said:
crushing the pier under her feat

feet

(There were two corrections in that one.)

Mr Zoat · Aug 19, 2023

Coda said:
You missed one:

feet

(There were two corrections in that one.)

Thank you, corrected.

Signaller said:
@Zoat, is there a Paul in the Heroes/Reborn universe? What ring colour does he have?

I have no idea what that is, so 'maybe'.

BrotherofaStudio said:
I'd argue with being too old to watch something but to each their own. I had made a suggestion of an alternate Paul landing in Middle Earth and having his Ring reforged into a Ring of Power. Any thoughts on that?

I don't think there'd be any point in doing that. The SI wouldn't be attuned to local magic in the way that the maiar are, so a power ring would probably be more helpful.

BrotherofaStudio · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I don't think there'd be any point in doing that. The SI wouldn't be attuned to local magic in the way that the maiar are, so a power ring would probably be more helpful.

If you say so.

Old Knife · Aug 20, 2023

WereDragon said:
Interesting to see a Paul falling into Superman's tradition tanking niche.
The main SI will probably not be impressed should they meet.

He will if he sees the sheer amount Green Knight can tank. Willpower is definitely better at tanking than other colors. Stubbornness is directly correlated to endurance after all, especially when paired with am article like a green lantern ring.

Paul does not like stupidity. Specialists are by definition not stupid.

Mr Zoat · Aug 20, 2023

15th February 2013
19:46 GMT -5

Mr. Clay takes a look around the ship's prison hold.

"I didn't realise that the Justice League had space ships. Or are these yours?"

"Some aliens decided to take advantage of Earth's distress to kidnap some metahumans. We stopped them." I offer him the Mask. "Okay, try this?"

He takes it with a frown. "You know I don't get-."

His skin shifts to match the colour of the Mask. He opens and closes his left hand a couple of times.

"Is it-?"

"No. Sorry." He shakes his head and offers it back to me. "It's just bronze. Whatever makes that thing work, I don't get it when I copy the metal."

"Thanks for trying anyway."

And now our first prisoner. I walk down the gangway until I'm in front of his cell, then press the 'communicate' button.

"Mister Thornton. You appear to be alive again."

He's kneeling in the centre of the cell, hands on his lap and head bowed. He's muttering some sort of evocation, but from the lack of heat build-up in the cell's spell eater I'm going to guess that it's not working.

He appears to reach that conclusion a moment later, opening his eyes and glaring at me.

"I will end you for what you did to me."

"Or not. But can we agree that it would be best-."

"No. No. You fed me mind body and soul to your pet snake, and then spat me out as a slave. "

"And you're taking it personally despite having done far worse to far more people-."

"I make a paradise of Purgatory. Do you know what it was like before I got there?"

"We've spoken to your sister and corroborated the events she described-."

"You stopped me. Twisted me. I don't care about the cattle; you did it to me."

"Ah. Well, don't worry, we Orange Lanterns understand personal vendettas. But old-you would have blasted past that ward like it wasn't there. What seems to be the problem?"

He closes his eyes again and goes back to his chanting.

"You register as completely human to my scans. No real magic presence. The Omega Effect appears to have brought you back as human."

"It's temporary. Temporary. It-. I've been bound before."

"No need to worry there. Without your power as a demon lord, I don't have any need to assimilate you again. Enjoy your chanting."

I press the button again to end the dialogue, and step away from the cell. He's focused on his chanting to the exclusion of all else. If the Omega Effect did what I think it did, then he should have the same access to magic as a neophyte magician. Those are only dangerous with an artefact or access to sacrifices, and he has neither.

"Orange Lantern?" Mr. Clay looks mildly concerned. "Can you explain that? You..? Assimilated him?"

"I can turn people into constructs. It's usually irrevocable. When the League went to Belle Reve to make sure that the inmates stayed out of Mannheim's hands I decided that a Demon Lord was too dangerous to hold, so I used the ability on him."

"And the big robot undid it."

"Finality Man turned him into a human. He's never been a human, he just looked like one."

Agent Carlyle is sitting on his bench. His head is bowed as well, but it's more in defeat than focus. His head comes up as I approach and press the communication button.

"Agent Carlyle. Would you care to explain?"

"It's our job."

"I'm going to need a little more-."

"Cultivate exceptional assets and deploy them in exceptional situations. You got a power ring, I have a giant shark man."

"You lied to me about what happened."

"I haven't been briefed on you. I don't know how you'll react to whatever situation occurs. I needed you out of the way to have the best chance of success."

"And you didn't think to ask me for intelligence on Finality Man's abilities?"

"I.. can't say I was entirely firing on all cylinders at the end there." He looks away for a moment. "Where are we? I can barely hear the Anti-Life here. Some sort of Justice League safe house?"

"A starship. If we can't liberate Earth, it will be used to carry out an evacuation."

"Damn."

I wiggle the Medusa Mask at him. "Fortunately, with this, that might not be necessary. In a sense, what you did is a proof-of-concept."

"How?"

"We're going to use a wider range of emotions and more power. The aim is to force the Anti-Life out of peoples' minds entirely."

"Will that work on Mannheim? Or the robot?"

"Don't know. To be honest, I don't exactly understand what happened to Mannheim to make him the way he is. The robot I've got a plan for."

"And you couldn't have done that just now?"

"The people involved would need advanced warning and preparation time. I was just there to acquire the mask. Honestly, I was taking an unnecessary risk even letting you have your attempt."

"Then why did you?"

I shrug. "It might have worked. I'm not omniscient. And knowing that they Justified the Great Ten is useful."

He nods. "Am I getting out of here?"

I scan him and use empathic vision. Nothing stopping me and he looks fairly normal.

"Could you explain what you were shouting just before Tuppence knocked you out?"

"I…" He frowns for a moment. "I was a bit… Okay, this is… It was like… I could see things associated with their emotions."

"Okay. I can do that. But why were you shouting?"

"I don't know exactly, but since I hadn't gotten any sleep for a couple of weeks I'm going to say it was a bout of sleep-deprivation induced megalomania." He stiffly pulls his legs up onto the bench and lays down. "Put the shield in 'opaque' mode and leave me for a couple of days, will you?"

Bud-E · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"Agent Carlyle. Would you are to explain?"

Care

Lazurman · Aug 20, 2023

Iiiii think it might be best to have a lot of very smart people put Mr. Thornton in the deepest, darkest, most secure hole they can possibly put him in.

Cuz hate like that? Oh man that is not going away, and he will 3000% be gunning for demonhood again and a shot at hurting OL.

Darko · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"It's temporary. Temporary. It-. I've been bound before

Looks like he's not so sure.

Granted, he did make a serum that can make people into demons, so if the process doesn't involve him casting spells then he may be able to return to demonhood.

Mr Zoat said:
"Finality Man turned him into a human. He's never been a human, he just looked like one

Well he was half human.

Mr Zoat said:
"And you didn't think to ask me for intelligence on Finality Man's abilities?"

"I.. can't say I was entirely firing on all cylinders at the end there

Yeah, being sleep deprived, deeply isolated and knowing everyone you knew and cared about was either dead or enslaved would leave you with a lot of issues.

Mr Zoat said:
"We're going to use a wider range of emotions and more power. The aim is to force the Anti-Life out of peoples' minds entirely."

"Will that work on Mannheim? Or the robot

Even if it doesn't, losing so many slaves is bound to metaphysically weaken him.

Lord Ernest · Aug 20, 2023

So we lost an ex-Demon Lord Construct-Lantern. Why is it that the most iconic of the Orange Lantern abilities can never stay relevant? He can't even be killed because that would probably send him to Hell and even with Mammon being an "ally", Satanus is more than knowledgable enough to regain his power and come back swinging.

Hopefully now with the Medusa Mask acquired the "Care Bear Stare" strategy can go ahead. At this point, this Earth might already have a population from the 60s or 70s.

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
15th February 2013
19:46 GMT -5

Mr. Clay takes a look around the ship's prison hold.

"I didn't realise that the Justice League had space ships. Or are these yours?"

Oh, boy, do you have some catching up to do, Markus. Fortunately, OL can leave the bulk of it up to the League, but I'm sure he can answer a few questions just now. It's not like you guys don't have a little time on your hands.

"Some aliens decided to take advantage of Earth's distress to kidnap some metahumans. We stopped them." I offer him the Mask. "Okay, try this?"

He takes it with a frown. "You know I don't get-."

Yes, I can see where OL's going with that...

His skin shifts to match the colour of the Mask. He opens and closes his left hand a couple of times.

"Is it-?"

It'll take the physical properties of the metal, sure. But as word of Zoat said, he's not high enough level yet, figuratively speaking, to copy more than that... But still worth trying.

"No. Sorry." He shakes his head and offers it back to me. "It's just bronze. Whatever makes that thing work, I don't get it when I copy the metal."

"Thanks for trying anyway."

Still, perhaps he could snag a few samples of more exotic materials, just for future experimentation... Wonder what his power would make of the material of a Power Ring? Common metallic form, I suppose.

And now our first prisoner. I walk down the gangway until I'm in front of his cell, then press the 'communicate' button.

"Mister Thornton. You appear to be alive again."

And that is going to make for some awkward discussions with Batman later. And possibly Mammon.

He's kneeling in the centre of the cell, hands on his lap and head bowed. He's muttering some sort of evocation, but from the lack of heat build-up in the cell's spell eater I'm going to guess that it's not working.

He appears to reach that conclusion a moment later, opening his eyes and glaring at me.

He knows the spells, but this place has no mana to power them effectively, and he's got nothing to sacrifice.

"I will end you for what you did to me."

"Or not. But can we agree that it would be best-."

My goodness, he's upset. I suppose he has good reason, though.

"No. No. You fed me mind body and soul to your pet snake, and then spat me out as a slave. "

"And you're taking it personally despite having done far worse to far more people-."

Which OL knows because, again, Construct Lantern memory assimilation.

"I make a paradise of Purgatory. Do you know what it was like before I got there?"

"We've spoken to your sister and corroborated the events she described-."

And I'm sure Mammon is working to keep it stable despite the mortal world's current state.

"You stopped me. Twisted me. I don't care about the cattle; you did it to me."

"Ah. Well, don't worry, we Orange Lanterns understand personal vendettas. But old-you would have blasted past that ward like it wasn't there. What seems to be the problem?"

Oh, you're just enjoying this, aren't you, OL?

He closes his eyes again and goes back to his chanting.

"You register as completely human to my scans. No real magic presence. The Omega Effect appears to have brought you back as human."

So it erased his demonic bloodline's traits and made the mask real? I suppose that's almost logical, in a dastardly kind of way.

"It's temporary. Temporary. It-. I've been bound before."

"No need to worry there. Without your power as a demon lord, I don't have any need to assimilate you again. Enjoy your chanting."

I suppose he can look forwards to a long, healthy life, assuming he doesn't try anything drastic to regain his power.

I press the button again to end the dialogue, and step away from the cell. He's focused on his chanting to the exclusion of all else. If the Anti-Life did what I think it did, then he should have the same access to magic as a neophyte magician. Those are only dangerous with an artefact or access to sacrifices, and he has neither.

"Orange Lantern?" Mr. Clay looks mildly concerned. "Can you explain that? You..? Assimilated him?"

And if OL has anything to say about it, I don't expect he ever will get the materials he needs.

"I can turn people into constructs. It's usually irrevocable. When the League went to Belle Reve to make sure that the inmates stayed out of Mannheim's hands I decided that a Demon Lord was too dangerous to hold, so I used the ability on him."

"And the big robot undid it."

Yes, that is a little concerning. Yet potentially useful if it can be done to the right people.

"Finality Man turned him into a human. He's never been a human, he just looked like one."

Agent Carlyle is sitting on his bench. His head is bowed as well, but it's more in defeat than focus. His head comes up as I approach and press the communication button.

Now, will he talk or will he play the 'hostile prisoner' name, rank, serial number routine...

"Agent Carlyle. Would you are to explain?"

"It's our job."

Well, you certainly did a job. Care to be more precise?

"I'm going to need a little more-."

"Cultivate exceptional assets and deploy them in exceptional situations. You got a power ring, I have a giant shark man."

Can't always bring the big guns, I suppose. Wonder if Father Time has the Frankensteins or Creature Commandos running around yet?

"You lied to me about what happened."

"I haven't been briefed on you. I don't know how you'll react to whatever situation occurs. I needed you out of the way to have the best chance of success."

...He has a point, I suppose. OL is unpredictable, and has a tendency to complicate matters whenever he shows up.

"And you didn't think to ask me for intelligence on Finality Man's abilities?"

"I.. can't say I was entirely firing on all cylinders at the end there." He looks away for a moment. "Where are we? I can barely hear the Anti-Life here. Some sort of Justice League safe house?"

Given the little rant at the end earlier, I'm not surprised he claims he was a little loopy.

"A starship. If we can't liberate Earth, it will be used to carry out an evacuation."

"Damn."

Oh, was that a 'Damn, I can't leave' or a 'Damn, you people think big'?

I wiggle the Medusa Mask at him. "Fortunately, with this, that might not be necessary. In a sense, what you did is a proof-of-concept."

"How?"

Don't go too heavy on the details, OL. Never know who's listening.

"We're going to use a wider range of emotions and more power. The aim is to force the Anti-Life out of peoples' minds entirely."

"Will that work on Mannheim? Or the robot?"

...Experiments thus far point to no, but there are provisions for that. Mostly 'Hope to God that they get dealt with in the process'

"Don't know. To be honest, I don't exactly understand what happened to Mannheim to make him the way he is. The robot I've got a plan for."

"And you couldn't have done that just now?"

...Said plan probably involves tossing Orion at it, and let the Narrative sort it out. And then have the Forever People and Drax pick up the pieces.

"The people involved would need advanced warning and preparation time. I was just there to acquire the mask. Honestly, I was taking an unnecessary risk even letting you have your attempt."

"Then why did you?"

For the sake of curiosity?

I shrug. "It might have worked. I'm not omniscient. And knowing that they Justified the Great Ten is useful."

He nods. "Am I getting out of here?"

True, just the implications of someone like Mother of Champions being Justified...

I scan him and use empathic vision. Nothing stopping me and he looks fairly normal.

"Could you explain what you were shouting just before Tuppence knocked you out?"

"I…" He frowns for a moment. "I was a bit… Okay, this is… It was like… I could see things associated with their emotions."

Yes, welcome to the club. OL has that on all the time. He merely holds it back out of courtesy.

"Okay. I can do that. But why were you shouting?"

"I don't know exactly, but since I hadn't gotten any sleep for a couple of weeks I'm going to say it was a bout of sleep-deprivation induced megalomania." He stiffly pulls his legs up onto the bench and lays down. "Put the shield in 'opaque' mode and leave me for a couple of days, will you?"

And given that the human brain normally breaks before half that amount of time passes... He's very lucky.

So, a nice little debrief after all the action. I expect that's it for the A-plot of the episode, and OL will soon call in his assets for plan 'All our colours combined'. So the whole Anti-Life storyline will come to an end soon enough. Hopefully. Let's hope it ends better than Final Crisis' whole mess, and nothing else shows up to skull-fuck reality. And until then... More alternates?

BlueMangoAdea · Aug 20, 2023

It is interesting that the Omega Effect seems to have done the same thing as the Sword of the Fallen.

NightmareWarden · Aug 20, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
Why is it that the most iconic of the Orange Lantern abilities can never stay relevant?

I found it pretty amusing that the Orange Lantern couldn't create orange light in the awful dimension of darkness. So I'll answer your question with "comics logic."

Ngamer11 · Aug 20, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
True, just the implications of someone like Mother of Champions being Justified...

Good thing that, unless something's changed offscreen, she doesn't have her canonical powers in this timeline.

PepeTheFrog · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"I will end you for what you did to me."

"Or not. But can we agree that it would be best-."

"No. No. You fed me mind body and soul to your pet snake, and then spat me out as a slave. "

"And you're taking it personally despite having done far worse to far more people-."

"I make a paradise of Purgatory. Do you know what it was like before I got there?"

"We've spoken to your sister and corroborated the events she described-."

"You stopped me. Twisted me. I don't care about the cattle; you did it to me."

And that ladies and gentlemen is a Nemesis. Zagreus was on the money conceptually and now Paul has one.

Duke Long · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
If the Anti-Life did what I think it did, then he should have the same access to magic as a neophyte magician. Those are only dangerous with an artefact or access to sacrifices, and he has neither.

Should it be 'Omega Effect'?
Also, I'm surprised that he's so weak. I realise that power is very important for magic, but I thought his knowledge would count for a bit more than that. Did his knowledge get reduced too?

moralrelativity · Aug 20, 2023

Lazurman said:
Iiiii think it might be best to have a lot of very smart people put Mr. Thornton in the deepest, darkest, most secure hole they can possibly put him in.

Cuz hate like that? Oh man that is not going away, and he will 3000% be gunning for demonhood again and a shot at hurting OL.

Sure, if the hole is on the other side of the universe somewhere with zero thaumasphere.

Or maybe add him to the source wall?

Rafin · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Near-human. He was assimilated while heavily bound.

When and where was he assimilated again? During the deal with Mammon?

Mr Zoat said:
The issue there is that Satanus would just teleport away. A human Colin Thornton on the other hand isn't someone he could morally justify assimilating because he's not as much of a threat.

I don't understand. Shouldn't the Omega-beamed Colin Thornton be exactly as human or non-human as the Colin Thornton originally assimilated? Also, why does assimilation make such bindings permanent? Why couldn't Paul unleash a fully demonic Construct Lantern?

earlyriser said:
I wonder if Thornton being "killed" as a construct impacts the deals with the Belle Reve prisoners?

Can you refresh me on what contracts Thornton wrote?

Ngamer11 · Aug 20, 2023

Rafin said:
When and where was he assimilated again? During the deal with Mammon?

Paul Assimilated him when they were recruiting Belle Reve inmates because he considered Satanus too dangerous.

Rafin said:
I don't understand. Shouldn't the Omega-beamed Colin Thornton be exactly as human or non-human as the Colin Thornton originally assimilated? Also, why does assimilation make such bindings permanent? Why couldn't Paul unleash a fully demonic Construct Lantern?

The Omega Effect can have different effects depending on the intent and skill of the wielder. It seems Finality Man destroyed all that made Satanus more than human, leaving Colin Thornton a simple baseline human.

Rafin said:
Can you refresh me on what contracts Thornton wrote?

He wrote up contracts for the less trustworthy Belle Reve inmates to ensure they wouldn't do anything unwise while they are helping out, else they will lose their souls.

RoasterToaster · Aug 20, 2023

moralrelativity said:
Sure, if the hole is on the other side of the universe somewhere with zero thaumasphere.

Or maybe add him to the source wall?

Not sure how good the GL's Sciencecells would be at containing a magic-user of Satanus' potential- in spite of present weakness. Source wall sounds like a good idea, actually?

Lord Ernest said:
Hopefully now with the Medusa Mask acquired the "Care Bear Stare" strategy can go ahead. At this point, this Earth might already have a population from the 60s or 70s.

Were Ra's al Ghul still around to enjoy the eventual return to (some) normalcy I'm sure he'd be a pleased man. Hopefully there's gonna be quite the Eco/Super-tech boom after all this, Paul mentioned some ideas and Earth sure needs them.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Hopefully. Let's hope it ends better than Final Crisis' whole mess, and nothing else shows up to skull-fuck reality. And until then... More alternates?

Paul finds a little smiley badge and assumes Boss Smiley, but in reality Dr. Manhattan materializes with a steel chair.

Blu3Lantern2814 · Aug 20, 2023

At least Paul won't have much trouble rousing people's suspicions if/when the Reach come a knockin'?

Signaller · Aug 20, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I have no idea what that is, so 'maybe'.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(American_TV_series)

(I still think having a Paul (Orange) in the Kamen Rider OOO setting would be awesome, of course, since that show is all about manipulation of greed and the villains are, arguably, fractured slivers of the Ophidian.)

Mr Zoat · Aug 20, 2023

Bud-E said:
Care

Thank you, corrected.

Lord Ernest said:
So we lost an ex-Demon Lord Construct-Lantern. Why is it that the most iconic of the Orange Lantern abilities can never stay relevant? He can't even be killed because that would probably send him to Hell and even with Mammon being an "ally", Satanus is more than knowledgable enough to regain his power and come back swinging.

Actually, no. While he could become a demon again, he'd have to do it the slow and painful way. And anyone as powerful as he was has enemies who would act to prevent that. He actually needs to stay alive.

Duke Long said:
Should it be 'Omega Effect'?

Thank you, corrected.

Also, I'm surprised that he's so weak. I realise that power is very important for magic, but I thought his knowledge would count for a bit more than that. Did his knowledge get reduced too?

He's a fair distance from Earth, and he's used to being able to ram spells into shape with brute force.

Signaller said:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(American_TV_series)

I stopped watching that at the end of... Series 1, I think? I don't think he'd have any way to recharge his ring and there are already two power copiers in the setting.

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