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

Reader mode
BartlettMagic said:
wait, can't Paul induce a lucid dream and contact Melinoe that way?
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And get suckered into another Sidequest? Ophidian preserve us.

At this point, the Illustres is acting under suboptimal conditions and making it up as he goes. Might be that he's hyperfocused in trying to implement his idea as soon as possible and not considering alternate options.

Somebody already mentioned it, but if he really wanted he should be able to travel to the anti-matter version of Earth; just travel outside the boundaries of the anti-parallel travel shield. Or why not check on Task Force X and see if any of their members works better than an unmotivated and psychologically unaligned Batman.

Again, those options might also have Sidequests attached. I'm honestly amazed that Grayven was able to gather the Rainbow more easily than the Illustres.
 
Lord Ernest said:
Somebody already mentioned it, but if he really wanted he should be able to travel to the anti-matter version of Earth; just travel outside the boundaries of the anti-parallel travel shield. Or why not check on Task Force X and see if any of their members works better than an unmotivated and psychologically unaligned Batman.
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If I remember correctly, there should be devices in place that would prevent Paul from travelling to either Earth -14 or Earth -16. He'd need to get far enough away from Earth to travel to either universe or think up of a novel way to bypass their protections, and that would just waste time compared to using someone who's already there like Batman.
 
Ngamer11 said:
If I remember correctly, there should be devices in place that would prevent Paul from travelling to either Earth -14 or Earth -16. He'd need to get far enough away from Earth to travel to either universe or think up of a novel way to bypass their protections, and that would just waste time compared to using someone who's already there like Batman.
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That's what I called the anti-parallel travel shield, first provided by Blue Lantern and then by Alexander Luthor. And I see your point, but the Illustres can travel instantaneously through the Honden so travel time shouldn't be a burden. He could teleport out of range of the devices, transition to the anti-matter universe and teleport to Earth -16, how long could that really take.

And Batman right now is just not an optimal choice; the time required to first let him meditate on it... and when that didn't work then "readjust him" could as well be used to contact Joseph Harrolds on anti-matter Earth or check the viability on any Task Force X member, just saying.

The possibility of Sidequests still exist though, especially with how long this situation has dragged out, so if that was a consideration for just brute forcing the Batman option I get it.
 
Lord Ernest said:
Or why not check on Task Force X and see if any of their members works better than an unmotivated and psychologically unaligned Batman.
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I'm guessing he's not doing that for the same reason he's not recruiting Sinestro.

They're too risky.

Some may be able to do it, but then you run the risk of giving a lot of power to a psychopath.
 
meh, it was a thought. 'benevolent goddess with a lantern's ring' is a super interesting concept to me. it seems like certain concepts in the magical/spiritual/ethereal/eternal realm are really compartmentalized in this universe, and i love it when Zoat blends boundaries between them. an Earth Hellenistic goddess of nightmares (among other things), with a universally recognized constant like the emotion and yellow light of fear, channeled through one of the strongest tools/weapons of the universe in a latern's ring, potentially bonding with/controlling the embodiment of fear, possibly getting some kind of advanced patronage from an Endless if she plays her cards right... what a fucking trip that would be.

i do concede all points in rebuttal.
 
Mr Zoat said:
No, it's just that I'm not a stock working class character. I'm a stock upper middle class character.

Also, does anyone have a link to that Lee & Perrin sketch where the police have a common-to-nob translator?

Edit: Sorry, Smith and Jones.
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I can't quite figure out how to link the image directly from Reddit, but Here is seemingly another example of British (probably lower class) slang I found amusing recently due to the context.
 
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ah, hell. i do hope that it's unnecessary in the end - he's been trying pretty hard not to have to go to extremes or jump immediately to them, and he already feels like shit even asking Bats to do it anyway. not to mention - i think Paul's relationship with Batman is one of the most interesting out of the League in general, so if this is how it ends or fractures it would hurt a lot, haha. i'm sure Batman would understand from an intellectual standpoint - he's no stranger to ends justifying the means - but i find it hard to believe he'd trust him again, or at least not as much.
 
I suppose I'm a little unsure as to who Paul plans on dosing with what I assume is fear toxin? Get Bruce to respond to Talia being dosed?
 
Chojin Patriarch said:
Argh. No doubt the expert thinks he's being helpful by 'removing a temptation' from crane's presence... That's not how you fix an addiction.
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Alternatively, his main objection might be 'it's magic, therefore nonsense' (I don't actually remember which chapter the stone is from, or anything else about it, so I might be wrong about it being magic; any idea where the stone was introduced?) or 'Orange Lantern is not a psychologist, and therefore must be wrong.' The latter possibly overlaps with 'we can't have non-experts curing people, it'll make us look bad, and potentially lower our salaries.'
 
Prince Charon said:
Alternatively, his main objection might be 'it's magic, therefore nonsense' (I don't actually remember which chapter the stone is from, or anything else about it, so I might be wrong about it being magic; any idea where the stone was introduced?) or 'Orange Lantern is not a psychologist, and therefore must be wrong.' The latter possibly overlaps with 'we can't have non-experts curing people, it'll make us look bad, and potentially lower our salaries.'
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Here you go
Mr Zoat said:
6th March
10:01 GMT -5
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Prince Charon said:
Thank you. OK, we can add 'religious objections' to the list of possible reasons why the therapist might have decided that the stone had to go.
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It's also important to remember that the therapy was having Crane be exposed to nightmares by a Greek deity that's connected to nightmares and madness.

None of that sounds even remotely good or sane.

His therapist may have made a mistake, but if you heard what the supposed treatment was, you would probably also do the same thing.
 
Do Or Die Time (part 9)
  • Threadmarks
    • 17th February 2013
    20:15 GMT

    Thaal Sinestro hasn't actually committed all that many crimes on Earth.

    Considering.

    He also… I haven't been able to establish a pattern of behaviour. When I first arrived on this Earth, I wondered which version of… Each person I met I was dealing with. Goofy, silver aged Batman or serious modern Batman. Dr. Fries motivated by a desire to cure his wife, or just another criminal arsehole. Brain damaged Guy Gardner or arrogant git Guy Gardner. And it was mostly pretty easy to work out. I only got confused when I got a version I didn't recognise from anywhere, or a character superhero I'd never heard of, like Icon or Hardware.

    Comic Sinestro has two very distinct phases. The early 'I-just-love-being-evil', exists purely to dick around with Jordan phase, and the later Sinestro Corps Order Through Fear stage. So when I checked the record and found out that he had spent a significant amount of time fighting Jordan at a relatively early point in Jordan's career, I… I thought I'd dodged a bullet. Because there's no obvious way for the first version to morph into the later one. He's effectively a new character. I mean, the second one was more of a threat so I kept an eye out, an eye that has now seen everything that I need to know that I'm definitely dealing with Sinestwo now.

    And that's why I'm reluctant to contact him. Ah, one of the reasons. I can't explain the change. Which means that I can't explain his motives. Green Lanterns aren't banned from using lethal force, it's just heavily discouraged, so he wasn't picking a fight to get that rule changed. So is he still just plain evil but with backup? Just.. acting out early on? Messing with Jordan as some sort of training exercise?

    I don't know.

    And I'm not going to find out standing here waiting for Batman to have a breakthrough.

    "Illustres to Sinestro. Please respond."

    I glance through the wall. Batman's… I think he's getting there, but I don't know if it'll be quick enough. I-.

    "Illustres." Sinestro's face appears over my ring, his face carefully in neutral. "This is unexpected. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

    "Apokoliptians are covering Earth in Anti-Life. I've got a solution, but it requires a yellow power ring."

    "Which you already have."

    "Yes, thank you for approving that. The issue is that the person I intended to give it to had.. some sort of personal revelation in my absence and is now struggling with it."

    "Bruce Wayne, I presume."

    I nod. "I don't actually want a member of your Corps on or around Earth -for obvious reasons- but if you've got a long list of recruitment targets on Earth that aren't Bruce Wayne or Jonathan Crane, I'm happy to give them a tryout for you."

    "Something to remove the Anti-Life, the most dangerous memetic infection in the universe, and it requires the manipulation of the yellow light of fear."

    "Yes."

    "I'm going to need a little more than that. I have no desire to send one of my Corpsmen into a trap."

    I keep smiling. "As I said, I don't want one of your Lanterns here. Just a list of possible recruits."

    Bane's dead, and none of his gang would really work. The last time I checked, Alexander Nero was still in an asylum, and nothing in his files really suggested to me that he would make a good Lantern. Wilson Slade is certainly intimidating, but he doesn't really use fear as a tool.

    "I haven't been to Earth in years." True, as far as I know. "Any list I had would be out of date by now. Even in your Sector at large, since you acquired Amon Sur and killed Traitor I don't have any leading candidates."

    "Really."

    He shrugs. "Despite what you may think, Earth isn't the centre of the universe. I haven't updated the plans I once had for the Earth because I haven't had the need."

    "Alright. Well, thank you for taking my call. I'll-."

    "A moment. You think that you have a way to defy the Anti-Life."

    "Yes."

    "Is it something that can be deployed in the field?"

    "In theory, yes. I haven't tested it yet."

    "Knowing what it is would be a valuable piece of information to me. Enough to persuade me to come in person."

    I shake my head. "I'd rather that you didn't."

    "Do you want me to stay away enough to allow your world to fall to Apokolips?"

    "'Be mindful of what you value the most, for you may have to give up everything else in its pursuit.'"

    "And?"

    I clench my left fist, ending communication.

    "And I'm not that desperate yet."

    "No." Jesus! "I imagine that you're not."

    I float away from-. Gah!

    Batman's eye holes glow as his ring-bearing right hand extends towards me, grasping motion mirrored by the construct nearly constricting my throat.

    I didn't hear him or detect him, or-. I can still see an outline inside the gymnasium.

    "Phobiline hydrochorate alone wouldn't have been enough to do this to me. What else was in the mix?"

    "Making you feel fear wasn't the point. I needed to change the way your brain interprets fear-."

    "Smilex."

    "Not the active components, but the bindings? Yeah. It works better than anything else because I know how to undo it afterwards. We hit Mannheim now-."

    And now my throat is firmly constricted.

    "Orange ring users are easier to replace."

    I can't-. Ring.

    Compliance.

    "The only person with the slightest chance of staying on-task is Lex Luthor, and I don't know where he is. Anyone else would probably go crazy before reaching the Anti-Life broadcast hub."

    He keeps glowering at me, and while I know that I'm more powerful I also know that he's a lot more intelligent than me and he's now got a thought-speed weapon.

    "If that's a condition then-."

    "Mister Atom to Lanterns. Observed behavior amongst humans around unliberated elf gate sites indicates that they are succumbing to the Anti-Life at a dramatically accelerated rate. And Orange Lantern's decision has the highest probability of success."

    Batman slams me into the hard metal of the corridor wall and then stalks past me into the meeting room.
     
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    • Ngamer11 said:
    I can't wait to see Batman's inevitable anti-Paul plan in action, because he's going to make that a priority after this.
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    Realistically? There are a lot of ways Batman could utterly fuck LePaul.

    But that's not really in the narrative.

    So the most I expect is Batman just bluntly telling everyone what LePaul did and ruining his reputation with everyone even remotely League adjacent.
     
    Vaermina said:
    Realistically? There are a lot of ways Batman could utterly fuck LePaul.

    But that's not really in the narrative.

    So the most I expect is Batman just bluntly telling everyone what LePaul did and ruining his reputation with everyone even remotely League adjacent.
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    I think what would more likely happen is that some heroes would prefer Paul over Batman or vice versa, leading to there being factions among the heroes. Not necessarily opposed to one another, but more willing to work with those in their faction than those in the other faction.
     
    I wonder if any member of the Orange Corps will be able to come up with a better solution after this. I know a lot of them would not value Batman's well-being over their own home world, or Earth as a valuable resource, but there should be a few lessons to be learned from this. Batman has previously demonstrated he can be petty, he just doesn't lash out like a supervillain. So I imagine there will be consequences for this, even if Batman loses the ring.

    To be honest, I wonder if his ring or the Medusa Mask will be destroyed from this. Seemingly-permanent damage to Paul's superpower from the mask's destruction? That would be neat. Perhaps it could degrade further each time he reconstitutes. A fear born from that…

    I'm going to jump to civilians next. Is Mannheim or Darkseid going to be a taboo name? I bet such a case will be used more precisely than "he who must not be named" was in H.P., but I'm not sure if that is enough. What sort of symbol or behavior could connect people, help build them back up, after the Anti-Life is sealed? Perhaps a newfound interest in magic, due to people drifting away from organized religion? Could become as common as modern day blacksmithing or glassblowing.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    17th February 2013
    20:15 GMT

    Thaal Sinestro hasn't actually committed all that many crimes on Earth.

    Considering.
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    Though what he has committed tends to sit amongst the worst. Fortunately he's mostly only interested in Earth because of Hal Jordan. If he knew what else was here, he'd have led a force to conquer it outright before now.

    He also… I haven't been able to establish a pattern of behaviour. When I first arrived on the Earth, I wondered which version of… Each person I met I was dealing with. Goofy, silver aged Batman or serious modern Batman. Dr. Fries motivated by a desire to cure his wife, or just another criminal arsehole. Brain damaged Guy Gardner or arrogant git Guy Gardner. And it was mostly pretty easy to work out. I only got confused when I got a version I didn't recognise from anywhere, or a character superhero I'd never heard of, like Icon or Hardware.
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    Good catch, OL. These aren't characters when you're dealing with them face-to-fleshy-face, after all. They're people. Though it does amuse us to imagine the reactions of those Pauls in worlds like 'Superfriends' or 'The Brave and the Bold'. Imagine having to deal with that much schmaltz from the first, or the sheer hamminess of the second?

    Comic Sinestro has two very distinct phases. The early 'I-just-love-being-evil', exists purely to dick around with Jordan phase, and the later Sinestro Corps Order Through Fear stage. So when I checked the record and found out that he had spend a significant amount of time fighting Jordan at a relatively early point in Jordan's career, I… I thought I'd dodged a bullet. Because there's no obvious way for the first version to morph into the later one. He's effectively a new character. I mean, the second one was more of a threat so I kept an eye out, and eye that has now seen everything that I need to know that I'm definitely dealing with Sinestwo now.
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    I suspect his exile within the Green Central Power Battery helped, where he met Parallax.

    And that's why I'm reluctant to contact him. Ah, one of the reasons. I can't explain the change. Which means that I can't explain his motives. Green Lanterns aren't banned from using lethal force, it's just heavily discouraged, so he wasn't picking a fight to get that rule changed. So is he still just plain evil but with backup? Just.. acting out early on? Messing with Jordan as some sort of training exercise?

    I don't know.
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    More likely he's running the Lawful Evil route. The 'Order through dominance' course, where the universe marches to his beat, an orderly beat.

    And I'm not going to find out standing here waiting for Batman to have a breakthrough.

    "Illustres to Sinestro. Please respond."
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    Oh, boy! This has been a long time coming! :D

    I glance through the wall. Batman's… I think he's getting there, but I don't know if it'll be quick enough. I-.

    "Illustres." Sinestro's face appears over my ring, his face carefully in neutral. "This is unexpected. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
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    And when he talks, I can't help but hear Vincent Price.

    "Apokoliptians are covering Earth in Anti-Life. I've got a solution, but it requires a yellow power ring."

    "Which you already have."
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    Because the Yellow Ring is no doubt feeding him intel every moment.

    "Yes, thank you for approving that. The issue is that the person I intended to give it to have.. some sort of personal revelation in my absence and is now struggling with it."

    "Bruce Wayne, I presume."
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    Ah, good, you know him. That should make this easier. Any hints?

    I nod. "I don't actually want a member of your Corps on or around Earth -for obvious reasons- but if you've got a long list of recruitment targets on Earth that aren't Bruce Wayne or Jonathan Crane, I'm happy to give them a tryout for you."

    "Something to remove the Anti-Life, the most dangerous memetic infection in the universe, and it requires the manipulation of the yellow light of fear."
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    Oh, he has his suspicions about what's going on, doesn't he? To be fair, he knows of Orange, Yellow, Green and Indigo Light. Not unreasonable to make the leap to there being more colours. And from there to the possibility of them combining.

    "Yes."

    "I'm going to need a little more than that. I have no desire to send one of my Corpsmen into a trap."
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    ...Which means he has Corspmen, of course. Good to have that confirmed. Unless he's pre-emptively considering Bats one.

    I keep smiling. "As I said, I don't want one of your Lanterns here. Just a list of possible recruits."

    Bane's dead, and none of his gang would really work. The last time I checked, Alexander Nero was still in an asylum, and nothing in his files really suggested to me that he would make a good Lantern. Wilson Slade is certainly intimidating, but he doesn't really use fear as a tool.
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    Nero definitely seems more like a projectile, yes. One you aim at your target and forget about. But always have a kill-switch for, of course.

    "I haven't been to Earth in years." True, as far as I know. "Any list I had would be out of date by now. Even in your Sector at large, since you recruited Amon Sur and killed Traitor I don't have any leading candidates."

    "Really."
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    I guess he's still trying to find someone or something capable of providing the sort of spiritual targetting the Greenies have.

    He shrugs. "Despite what you may think, Earth isn't the centre of the universe. I haven't updated the plans I once had for the Earth because I haven't had the need."

    "Alright. Well, thank you for taking my call. I'll-."
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    Though no doubt those plans will be being looked at now, with three colours of Lantern on-planet (four if you count the Violets.)

    "A moment. You think that you have a way to defy the Anti-Life."

    "Yes."
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    Well, the assumption of one. It all comes down to how the Entity will react.

    "Is it something that can be deployed in the field?"

    "In theory, yes. I haven't tested it yet."
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    And it'll require more cooperation than Sinestro would be willing to apply, I suspect.

    "Knowing what it is would be a valuable piece of information to me. Enough to persuade me to come in person."

    I shake my head. "I'd rather that you didn't."
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    Yes, trade one would-be conqueror for another. Albeit one with slightly less threat.

    "Do you want it enough to allow your world to fall to Apokolips?"

    "'Be mindful of what you value the most, for you may have to give up everything else in its pursuit.'"
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    I wonder if he'll catch that you're quoting someone?

    "And?"

    I clench my left fist, ending communication.
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    He's not that close to the Godzilla Threshold, thank you.

    "And I'm not that desperate yet."

    "No." Jesus! "I imagine that you're not."
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    ...Old habits die hard, eh, OL? Surprised you didn't drop an 'Eris!'.

    I float away from-. Gah!

    Batman's eye holes glow as his ring-bearing right hand extends towards me, grasping motion mirrored by the construct nearly constricting my throat.
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    ...Okay, he's using the Ring. Good news. Problem is, he's focused on you.

    I didn't hear him or detect him, or-. I can still see a outline inside the gymnasium.

    "Phobiline hydrochorate alone wouldn't have been enough to do this to me. What else was in the mix?"
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    Remember, he's a goddamn ninja detective. And now he was a weapon that can do anything he can imagine... A simple fakeout is easy.

    "Making you feel fear wasn't the point. I needed to change the way your brain interprets fear-."

    "Smilex."
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    ...Yeah, okay, that would piss him the fuck off.

    "Not the active components, but the bindings? Yeah. It works better than anything else because I know how to undo it afterwards. We hit Mannheim now-."

    And now my throat is firmly constricted.
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    Good thing you don't need to breathe.

    "Orange ring users are easier to replace."

    I can't-. Ring.
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    Ah, getting it to supply air through your larynx so you can speak?

    Compliance.

    "The only person with the slightest chance of staying on-task is Lex Luthor, and I don't know where he is. Anyone else would probably go crazy before reaching the Anti-Life broadcast hub."
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    And there's no time to call in anyone from his Corps. No-one could travel that fast to make it here in time.

    He keeps glowering at me, and while I know that I'm more powerful I also know that he's a lot more intelligent than me and he's now got a thought-speed weapon.

    "If that's a condition then-."
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    Effectively being Exiled from Earth might suck, but at least it'll be safe..~ish.

    "Mister Atom to Lanterns. Observed behavior amongst humans around unelaborated elf gate sights indicates that they are succumbing to the Anti-Life at a dramatically accelerated rate. And Orange Lantern's decision has the highest probability of success."

    Batman slams me into the hard metal of the corridor wall and then stalks past me into the meeting room.
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    Well, clock's ticking. Now or never. And 'never' won't end well for anyone but Mannheim.

    And there goes any relationship he had with Batman. Maybe Bruce will look back later with a clearer head and agree that 'Yes, it did work. Fine, you were right.' But that may take quite a while. At least he can focus on the mission, and not on turning OL into confetti. Though I can't wait to hear someone utter 'Who thought it was a good idea to give the Goddamn Batman a thought-based weapon?'

    ...unelaborated elf gate sights indicates...
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    ...unelaborated elf gate sites indicates...
    And Orange Lantern's decision has the highest probability of success.
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    I think 'had' might fit better here? Assuming he meant the chemical assistance.
     
    Risk or no, I would rather have taken Sinestro up on his offer than do what Paul did to Bruce.

    You could maybe do something to stop or prevent his maybe-not-even-inevitable betrayal.

    You just plain can't fix Smilexing an ally that trusted you. Not in any way that matters.
     
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