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

Thank you, corrected.
Yeah, I don't understand why dying from sex is less acceptable than dying from getting torn apart either. I know which way I would prefer to go.
You can die heroically being torn apart. For example, the viking who held up the entire English army before the Battle of Stamford Bridge. His fellow vikings would think very well of him after he died.

It's difficult to die heroically from sex.
 
The table of contents for the current episode has the date as 2023 instead of 2013 in a few places.
Thank you, corrected.
Speaking of which, I notice that we're getting pretty close to April 1st (in story). Morphin' time soon?
Yes. For both the SI and Grayven.
Earth 3 is the crime syndicate world in the comics.
Okay, but did I call either of my Crime Syndicate worlds that? I thought I called them -14 and -16?
 
Hellish Content (supplementary, SI Option)
27th March 2013
07:10 GMT +2


Dr. Roquette looks up as I pull out the chair opposite her.

"You're looking better."

I sit down as she looks down, nodding self-consciously.

"Y-eah. Between those tablets you gave me and… Actually seeing my nanobots actually help people, I…" She breathes in deeply and then breathes out again. "I haven't even wanted to drink again." She picks up her glass of orange juice. "Juice only."

"I'm glad to hear it. But are you feeling better? Or are you just changing your behaviour?"

She takes a sip. "No, no, I do actually feel better." She frowns mildly. "What was in those tablets, anyway? Some sort of space addiction-suppressant? Because I think I had some sort of reaction-."

"Psilocybin."

She looks up from her yoghurt, eyes widening slightly as she watches me for a sign that I'm joking. "Oh. That explains the hallucinations and why you told me not to operate machinery for four hours."

"The League developed several psychoactive chemicals to try and fight off the Anti-Life, but… Unless you're being continuously exposed, psilocybin works just as well and has less risk of causing brain or liver damage."

"Do you want to have the tablets I've got left over back-?" She blinks. "Are these illegal in Greece?"

"If they are, then I doubt that they're enforcing it."

She breathes in slowly and then snorts the air out through her nostrils before taking another spoonful of honey-drizzled yoghurt.

"No problems with your co-workers or with the government?"

She thinks for a moment, then swallows. "No, everyone's… Doing their best. If.. anything, the Finance Ministry is being too accommodating."

"How do you mean?"

"Usually, applying for funding is a lot more adversarial. Here, they say they'll give anything for a miracle…" She frowns a little. "And I actually can. I guess I just sort of assumed it would be in testing forever."

"Under normal circumstances it might well. But whatever-."

Wait. Wait just a-.

Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that? There's a certain logic to the thought, but… Ugh, I don't even know if he actually exists, much less have any way to work out what could hurt him.

She's looking at me.

"Is something-?"

"Whatever unfortunate events conspire to prevent that sort of thing don't appear to apply when people are this desperate. It's something that I never managed to understand, how this Earth could have so much highly advanced technology and yet use it so little."

She nods. "I remember that talk you gave. So, what, Mannheim beat the special interests?"

"Could be. Or they actually want this to succeed because there won't be a civilisation for them to run from the shadows unless things change."

He did say that he didn't mind a little change. But once this becomes part of the new normal anywhere, then it won't be possible to dislodge it. Even if they embargo Greece completely… Greece won't need to import anything.

It's not true post-scarcity, due to the throughput limits and the fact that most manufacturing is still better done with dedicated machines and operators. But it's starting to look a little more like that than what we had before.

"How's the rest of the world?"

"China's pretty interesting. Who knew that a civilisation of a billion people could coast on pure inertia like that?"

"Shouldn't their currency have collapsed?"

"It did, but they didn't notice. Currency collapses hurt the middle class. China… Does have a middle class, but it's relatively small. They've… Basically put as many people as they can on public works programs-. Did you know that the Chinese construction industry is massively corrupt?"

"It doesn't surprise me."

"And I don't mean a few back-handers to get a contract corrupt. I mean full-on Victorian 'this tunnel was supposed to have five layers of brick, it's got half of one and now it's collapsed and killed hundreds of people' corrupt. There's plenty of work to do fixing it and just about enough transportation and food production to prevent mass starvation. Good old communist community spirit."

"How can they afford that?"

"Who needs currency when you have commissars?"

She frowns. "And people are just.. accepting that?"

I shrug. "There's no locus for opposition. With the Communist Party being the only political party and having representatives on the board of every company of any size, there's no avenue for counterargument. Everyone's pretty much trying to keep things as normal as possible, doing their best to follow whatever orders there are… The fact that all the deaths have left holes in the political structure doesn't matter. If someone tried that in America, they'd be shot. In China, it-." Hm. "What do you know about the Battle of Kursk?"

"It was a battle in World War Two.. between the Nazis and the Soviet Union. But that's about all."

"The Russians built huge earthworks to defend the city, with almost the entire population of the city joining in with the digging. The Chinese are doing that for the entire country until someone has a better idea, or until they've got a functioning country. Probably… Reorganise the national government while regional governments keep everyone too tired to complain, then… Issue a new currency?"

"I haven't really kept up… What's America doing?"

"Barter, digital currency or Justice League tokens. The government tried printing more dollars while they were already in a period of hyperinflation, then tried to pass a law to force businesses to accept the dollar." I shake my head. "We were this close-" I hold up my right hand with thumb and forefinger close together. "-to seeing the return of state nullification, and it looks like a couple might reinstate precious metal currency. Honestly, they're probably going to have to knock a couple of zeroes off the dollar too when things settle down."

"No public works programs?"

"Americans won't tolerate being treated in the way that the Chinese expect to be treated. The Federal Government can't pay for a public works program with anything that anyone who could supply one would take. If they had any sense they'd butt out and let the American people fix things from the ground up."

"And how's… Ah, England doing?"

"The British government is too incompetent to do as much damage as the US government is. And as a result, small scale solutions are sort of emerging. They've turned a lot of areas of grassland into allotments, put farms back into production now that all of the fallowing and tree subsidies have vanished. Thanks to that and my portals the country can just about feed itself, though there are a lot fewer cars on the roads."

LexCorp managed to pull an ultra-density battery out of its collective bottom, which combined with the improved power generation systems most advanced countries have been setting up means that cost-effective long-range electric vehicles are now a reality. The Justice League is paying for a lot of them for goods transportation with League-currency, which… Means that LexCorp is the most stable financial concern on the planet. But… That's definitely a problem for another day.

"What about the rest of Europe?"

"Where do I start?"
 
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"Usually, applying for funding is a lot more adversarial. Here, they say they'll given anything for a miracle…" She frowns a little. "And I actually can. I guess I just sort of assumed it would be in testing forever."
That should say 'give'.

Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that? There's a certain logic to the thought, but… Ugh, I don't even know if he actually exists, much less have any way to work out what could hurt him.
Hopefully this means Boss Smiley will be a non-issue for the foreseeable future.

"Could be. Or they actually want this to succeed because they won't be a civilisation for them to run from the shadows unless things change."
That should say 'there'.

LexCorp managed to pull a ultra-density battery out of its collective bottom, which combined with the improved power generation systems most advanced countries have been setting up means that cost-effective long-range electric vehicles are now a reality. The Justice League is paying for a lot of them for goods transportation with League-currency, which… Means that LexCorp is the most stable financial concern on the planet. But… That's definitely a problem for another day.
That should say 'an'.
 
27th March 2013
07:10 GMT +2


Dr. Roquette looks up as I pull out the chair opposite her.

"You're looking better."

I sit down as she looks down, nodding self-consciously.
To be fair, the last time we saw her, she was wallowing in depression and self-abuse of a sort. Anything would be an improvement over that. And having her technology actually being used for things now is probably helping her rebuild her self-confidence and ego.

"Y-eah. Between those tablets you gave me and… Actually seeing my nanobots actually help people, I…" She breaths in deeply and then breathes out again. "I haven't even wanted to drink again." She picks up her glass of orange juice. "Juice only."

"I'm glad to hear it. But are you feeling better? Or are you just changing your behaviour?"
Because the latter thing don't necessarily mean the former is occurring. It could just be getting buried until she breaks again.

She takes a sip. "No, no, I do actually feel better." She frowns mildly. "What was in those tablets, anyway? Some sort of space addiction-suppressant? Because I think I had some sort of reaction-."

"Psilocybin."
The old 'magic mushrooms', eh? I suppose it's as good a treatment as any. Hard for depression to get any traction amidst all the wonderful colours.

She looks up from her yoghurt, eyes widening slightly as she watches me for a sign that I'm joking. "Oh. That explains the hallucinations and why you told me not to operate machinery for four hours."

"The League developed several psychoactive chemicals to try and fight off the Anti-Life, but… Unless you're being continuously exposed, psilocybin works just as well and has less risk of causing brain or liver damage."
Desperate times and desperate measures, eh? Safe bet they still have them tucked away in a vault somewhere, with 'In case of mind-altering global attack' on the label.

"Do you want to have the tablets I've got left over back-?" She blinks. "Are these illegal in Greece?"

"If it is, then I doubt that they're enforcing it."
And if she might happen to need an occasional booster shot, well, easier to let her work on her own cognisance.

She breathes in slowly and then snorts the air out through her nostrils before taking another spoonful of honey-drizzled yoghurt.

"No problems with your co-workers or with the government?"
Pfft. She's bringing practically-magic super-tech to the country. Unless they're an idiot, I don't expect anyone would get in her way.

She thinks for a moment, then swallows. "No, everyone's… Doing their best. If.. anything, the Finance Ministry is being too accommodating."

"How do you mean?"
What, like 'You need more money? Here, have all the money!' :V

"Usually, applying for funding is a lot more adversarial. Here, they say they'll give anything for a miracle…" She frowns a little. "And I actually can. I guess I just sort of assumed it would be in testing forever."

"Under normal circumstances it might well. But whatever-."
Again, desperate times. People will lunge for any lifeline, whatever the future dangers.

Wait. Wait just a-.

Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that? There's a certain logic to the thought, but… Ugh, I don't even know if he actually exists, much less have any way to work out what could hurt him.
Gee, couldn't happen to a nicer...x3 Pfft-hahaha! No, no, couldn't finish that sentence with a straight face. Seriously, fuck the smiling bastard.

She's looking at me.

"Is something-?"
Ah, right. the grinning fiend isn't public knowledge. For good reason, I'd say.

"Whatever unfortunate events conspire to prevent that sort of thing don't appear to apply when people are this desperate. It's something that I never managed to understand, how this Earth could have so much highly advanced technology and yet use it so little."

She nods. "I remember that talk you gave. So, what, Mannheim beat the special interests?"
More like they collapsed under their own unwieldiness? Not much point propping up cartels that can't help them rebuild.

"Could be. Or they actually want this to succeed because there won't be a civilisation for them to run from the shadows unless things change."

He did say that he didn't mind a little change. But once this becomes part of the new normal anywhere, then it won't be possible to dislodge it. Even if they embargo Greece completely… Greece won't need to import anything.
To be fair, what would the objectors decry as the danger? Grey Goo scenarios?

It's not true post-scarcity, due to the throughput limits and the fact that most manufacturing is still better done with dedicated machines and operators. But it's starting to look a little more like that than what we had before.

"How's the rest of the world?"
Rebuilding slowly, I bet. And even less like the real world than most big-name comic-book universes.

"China's pretty interesting. Who knew that a civilisation of a billion people could coast on pure inertia like that?"

"Shouldn't their currency have collapsed?"
Honestly, most people wouldn't be needing it anyway. 'Grow food, trade food locally' would be a likely practice for a lot of people.

"It did, but they didn't notice. Currency collapses hurt the middle class. China… Does have a middle class, but it's relatively small. They've… Basically put as many people as they can on public works programs-. Did you know that the Chinese construction industry is massively corrupt?"

"It doesn't surprise me."
Not in the least. There are so many videos of shitty construction online... :eek: Surface cladding peeling off in strips onto roads, brittle iron reinforcing rods, surfacing bricks made of cardboard boxes sheathed in concrete... Can you imagine the DC China being any better?

"And I don't mean a few back-handers to get a contract corrupt. I mean full-on Victorian 'this tunnel was supposed to have five layers of brick, it's got half of one and now it's collapsed and killed hundreds of people' corrupt. There's plenty of work to do fixing it and just about enough transportation and food production to prevent mass starvation. Good old communist community spirit."

"How can they afford that?"
"'Afford'? If Great Patriotic Nation commands the People to serve, they serve!"

"Who needs currency when you have commissars?"

She frowns. "And people are just.. accepting that?"
Because it's been like that for years, and they're only being more blatant now because of the disaster?

I shrug. "There's no locus for opposition. With the Communist Party being the only political party and having representatives on the board of every company of any size, there's no avenue for counterargument. Everyone's pretty much trying to keep things as normal as possible, doing their best to follow whatever orders there are… The fact that all the deaths have left holes in the political structure doesn't matter. If someone tried that in America, they'd be shot. In China, it-." Hm. "What do you know about the Battle of Kursk?"
And a Wikipedia link if you haven't time for a video: Battle of Kursk. Or for my personal favourite channel: Extra History's Battle For Kursk series.

"It was a battle in World War Two.. between the Nazis and the Soviet Union. But that's about all."

"The Russians built huge earthworks to defend the city, with almost the entire population of the city joining in with the digging. The Chinese are doing that for the entire country until someone has a better idea, or until they've got a functioning country. Probably… Reorganise the national government while regional governments keep everyone too tired to complain, then… Issue a new currency?"
Hmm... Sort of a return to the provincial system of early Dynasties? :D History really does turn like wheels.

"I haven't really kept up… What's America doing?"

"Barter, digital currency or Justice League tokens. The government tried printing more dollars while they were already in a period of hyperinflation, then tried to pass a law to force businesses to accept the dollar." I shake my head. "We were this close-" I hold up my right hand with thumb and forefinger close together. "-to seeing the return of state nullification, and it looks like a couple might reinstate precious metal currency. Honestly, they're probably going to have to knock a couple of zeroes off the dollar too when things settle down."
So, massive financial recession. Easily knocking them back down to what, 1980s value? Even less?

"No public works programs?"

"Americans won't tolerate being treated in the way that the Chinese expect to be treated. The Federal Government can't pay for a public works program with anything that anyone who could supply one would take. If they had any sense they'd butt out and let the American people fix things from the ground up."
I bet several states are already considering secession again. Not wanting to be dragged down by the 'dead weight'...

"And how's… Ah, England doing?"

"The British government is too incompetent to do as much damage as the US government is. And as a result, small scale solutions are sort of emerging. They've turned a lot of areas of grassland into allotments, put farms back into production now that all of the fallowing and tree subsidies have vanished. Thanks to that and my portals the country can just about feed itself, though there are a lot fewer cars on the roads."
And a bit more horsepower, eh?

LexCorp managed to pull an ultra-density battery out of its collective bottom, which combined with the improved power generation systems most advanced countries have been setting up means that cost-effective long-range electric vehicles are now a reality. The Justice League is paying for a lot of them for goods transportation with League-currency, which… Means that LexCorp is the most stable financial concern on the planet. But… That's definitely a problem for another day.
...Yes, Lex hasn't been sitting on something like that for years, of course not... :rolleyes:

"What about the rest of Europe?"

"Where do I start?"
How about the neighbours? Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria, for example. They'll be sitting pretty, and likely eyeing up the Hellenic states' upturn with very green gazes...

Well, they do say the modern world is like two bad days from total collapse, or was it three meals from anarchy? :confused: Either way, things were already unstable before the Anti-Life, what with the Sheeda having their fun. The only reason the Earth we see in comics looks anything like ours is authorial fiat, after all. So it's always nice to see stories where reality gets to ensue realistically.
 
So it's always nice to see stories where reality gets to ensue realistically.

And no one hits the Reset Button.

"Oh no, Darkseid invaded and killed too many people. Flash, we need you to run around the world really fast and rewind spacetime."

Damian Wayne: "Hold on, I just got a super hot goth girlfriend! This is bullshit!"
 
Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that?
Even if he doesn't feel that/get more injured than everyone else was, if he needs to work through intermediaries he's going to find that there basically aren't any, all of his existing co-conspirators and promising potential recruits who he could easily influence are all going to be wrecks, while the people he'd have more trouble influencing are going to be holding up better.
 
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And no one hits the Reset Button.

"Oh no, Darkseid invaded and killed too many people. Flash, we need you to run around the world really fast and rewind spacetime."

Damian Wayne: "Hold on, I just got a super hot goth girlfriend! This is bullshit!"

It's not the people he killed, it's the damage he did to the planet. Earth wouldn't be habitable for much longer after what Apokolips' mining efforts did to it, and the League remnants didn't have the means to evacuate what was left of the population and find somewhere else to set up shop, so they had little choice but to hit the Reset Button.
 
huh…I'd think the demonic British government would be acting in this moment of vulnerability

Didn't they get burned out during the Angel Invasion? I think the survivors disavowed any connection or something like that, and considering Mammon is in charge now, who knows if any dealings would have been kept anyway.
 
Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that? There's a certain logic to the thought, but… Ugh, I don't even know if he actually exists, much less have any way to work out what could hurt him

Honestly, even if he's still around he may want to make Earth more advanced and secure to a certain level so that the likes of Darkseid can't do that again.

they won't be a civilisation

"there won't"
 
Mr Zoat, if it's not a spoiler, can we know the current status of the Light now that the Anti-Life is no longer on Earth? I hope at least Boss Smiley has been rendered a non-issue as Paul speculates.
 
Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley?

god i hope so. i hate that yellow bastard.

"Are these illegal in Greece?"

so they're in Greece then? i can't remember, isn't she a Cadmus geneticist?

let me know if i get this right: with everything going on, Greece was focused on as the emergent nation to focus on, so every idealistic/practical reform possible is happening there? with Roquette here and not in Star City, that suggests to me that the best and the brightest are being lured to Greece to take part in the utopian Renaissance. i can't remember if Ted Kord survived, but will Kordtech be moving to Greece? i doubt LexCorp would ever be anything but American.

i especially love the ideas of all of these companies moving to Greece, where the new tech-savvy Heph rules the roost, and has a population that would be pretty inclined to go along with Hellenism if they aren't already. that would probably be a pretty big power boost to the pantheon. has it been addressed yet as to if Themyscira has been found, and what it's role in the new Greece might be?

i also can't wait to see what's going on down in Brazil. i feel like if Euanthe and Ivy came out of things alive, that could either be a new paradise or a very militant Green. i'm hoping for paradise because the idea of Pope-level Green Priestess is super interesting. i wonder what kind of interactions Swamp Thing would have with Euanthe or Ivy.
 
That should say 'give'.
That should say 'there'.
That should say 'an'.
Thank you, corrected.
so they're in Greece then? i can't remember, isn't she a Cadmus geneticist?
No, a nanotech expert.
and has a population that would be pretty inclined to go along with Hellenism if they aren't already.
What? No, they're Greek Orthodox Christians. Most of them have a strong negative association to Hellenism.
 
Did-? Anti-Lifeing the Earth do something to Boss Smiley? We found that people with strong morals and a strong sense of purpose managed to cope better than people who didn't. People most in tune with him would have been hit the hardest, and… Been Justified? Would he feel that? There's a certain logic to the thought, but… Ugh, I don't even know if he actually exists, much less have any way to work out what could hurt him.
Maybe change to "exists anymore" since we established a while back that he was real, not just created for the purpose of Angel hacking, just before the various Johns Constantine were reamalgamated.
 
Does anyone remember what the name of the barrier is that the MC mentioned for civilizations that develop before their planet gets coal? I can't remember it, and I'm not sure if it is a real thing or not, and I think it was in the part when he was giving his presentation at KordTech about how humanity was way behind where it should be technology-wise because they just ignore all the super-scientists, so people like Sivana end up becoming villains. Anyone remember either the name of the coal barrier, or the Episode # or name of when he does his presentation in the index so I can Ctrl+F the word "coal" to find it myself?

P.S. I've been trying to find another thing the MC mentioned, but I can't remember where it is in the story, and I wanted to know if it was real or not. The thing where the British government (it might have been British military or navy?) had a test that would have people come up with response plans for things like "being invaded by elves from another dimension" and the best response plan would officially become the actual response plan. I think he might have said it was a test to be promoted to officer rank or something? I really can't remember, and I can't find it in the story. Can anyone tell me if it is real, tell me where in the story it is (just a link to the right chapter would be fine), and if Mr. Zoat provided a link when the subject was mentioned?
 
Does anyone remember what the name of the barrier is that the MC mentioned for civilizations that develop before their planet gets coal?
Avleb's Wall. It's a name I made up.
P.S. I've been trying to find another thing the MC mentioned, but I can't remember where it is in the story, and I wanted to know if it was real or not. The thing where the British government (it might have been British military or navy?) had a test that would have people come up with response plans for things like "being invaded by elves from another dimension" and the best response plan would officially become the actual response plan. I think he might have said it was a test to be promoted to officer rank or something? I really can't remember, and I can't find it in the story. Can anyone tell me if it is real, tell me where in the story it is (just a link to the right chapter would be fine), and if Mr. Zoat provided a link when the subject was mentioned?
According to the author Charles Stross, it's real, and the plan for the biblical apocalypse was last updated under Tony Blair. I haven't checked for myself.
 
"Can't do much about Apokolips, but the Dominion and other parts of the Spider Guild are good targets. Or I could track down Sinestro. Killing or capturing him would improve relations with the Green Lantern Corps and stop whatever he's planning. Or just find a random planet trapped by Avleb's Wall and gives them a few bleed torsion generators to get them started."
I just reread this part as found an error. That should say 'give'.
 
According to the author Charles Stross, it's real, and the plan for the biblical apocalypse was last updated under Tony Blair. I haven't checked for myself.
Huh. I wonder if they have a plan for invasion by cybernetic humanoids who are vulnerable to gold in their respiratory modules.
 
Huh. I wonder if they have a plan for invasion by cybernetic humanoids who are vulnerable to gold in their respiratory modules.

That seems incredibly specific and is already assuming a weakness for an unknown and unidentified foe. Maybe they have plans for the Machine Uprising/AI Rebellion, or for an invasion of cybernetic aliens, or a Civil War with Techno-Fetishists Cyborgs. Those seems like scenarios they would have if they already have one for the Biblical Apocalypse, but assuming that the enemy is already vulnerable to breathing gold seems a bit counterintuitive to the exercise of coming up with plans to fight or survive the scenarios.

Or is this a reference that I'm not getting?
 

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