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

[Maxx Crowley]

At this point I'd like to make a PSA to please don't feed the wild Vaerminas. Buggy123 did that yesterday and look at what a godawful slog that turned into. Nothing you can say or do will make him act any better. Sometimes the only winning move is not to play.

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I am aware, and that's been my directive for a while now, but the boyfriend is sick and extra whiny, so I was annoyed enough to not just roll my eyes and scroll on.

Spoiler: For the extra curious who just gotta know

He's just coming off of bronchitis, and won't shut up about how horny he is. Bottom bitches man, Le sigh. I said this out loud, and he threw a smelly ass balled up sock at me. Right after I made him soup too.

Plus, a good number of his posts seem designed to insult Zoat himself, and that just aggravated the fuck out of me.

To the actual reason we are all here....

I wonder what's going on, on Earth 16 now? Has anyone noticed OL and Zatanna's disappearance? I can almost feel Dox's annoyance.

"First you die, and now you are getting kidnapped by alternate universe villains to solve their problems? Haven't we enough problems...and paperwork of our own?"

 

[Buggy123]

At this point I'd like to make a PSA to please don't feed the wild Vaerminas. Buggy123 did that yesterday and look at what a godawful slog that turned into. Nothing you can say or do will make him act any better. Sometimes the only winning move is not to play.

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Argue? I haven't even begun to argue.

 

[l---erddad---l]

"First you die, and now you are getting kidnapped by alternate universe villains to solve their problems? Haven't we enough problems...and paperwork of our own?"

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Maybe OL should bring back some gifts from -14 for Dox to make him feel better about the massive risk that is an Enlightened Lantern that he has limited control over, often because of circumstances out of both of their grasps.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

Maybe OL should bring back some gifts from -14 for Dox to make him feel better about the massive risk that is an Enlightened Lantern that he has limited control over, often because of circumstances out of both of their grasps.

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Dox seems unreasonably annoyed at absolutely everything. OL being completely out of his control anytime Pavlos feels like it, AND ending up in bizarre situations through no real fault of his own, don't seem like excuses Dox will accept without being cranky about.

 

[Ardy]

If you want to Ignore a user, click their name. It's in the same option line as Profile Page, Start a Conversation, and Follow.

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Holy shit, my suffering is at an end!

 

[Stsword]

You know, DC has InterCEPT- Interdimensional Cooperative Enforcement Police Team.

A joint task force of space cops who act as cosmic border patrol.

I'm now picturing an April Fools episode with an alt.Paul who wakes up in orbit around the Earth only to find a space cop there asking for his paperwork. "So are you the vanguard of an interdimensional invasion, a refugee from a destroyed universe, or the victim of a planar mishap? The forms are different, you see."

Probably a member of the Chromium Fist Corps, they are not as the name suggests a bunch of space punch wizards, rather they play with portals.

Then again by opening a portal they can bitchslap people from range.....

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Marvel has an equivalent in the "Altered-Reality Monitoring and Operational Response" also known as A.R.M.O.R.

They don't get nearly the same press as it's sister organizations S.H.I.E.L.D and S.W.O.R.D. , but Multiversal issues are their bag.

 

[Vaermina]

You know...

Ambush bug is a bit overdue for his return since it shouldn't take over a year to search through all the comics in the White Space.

 

[Buggy123]

You know...

Ambush bug is a bit overdue for his return since it shouldn't take over a year to search through all the comics in the White Space.

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He's Ambush Bug though. He's a reality warper, and time is part of reality, so he could appear whenever he wants.

I figure that he's probably just waiting for the narratively appropriate time to reappear and confront Paul.

 

[EvenMaster80]

He's Ambush Bug though. He's a reality warper, and time is part of reality, so he could appear whenever he wants.

I figure that he's probably just waiting for the narratively appropriate time to reappear and confront Paul.

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He may want to crush the filthy SI in his own story at a dramatic time, or maybe not, he's pretty hard to predict from what we know of him. I personally think he's going to show up on April 1st for one reason or another....


Here's an idea, maybe he's forming an anti-SI super team?

 

[Gantradies]

You know, DC has InterCEPT- Interdimensional Cooperative Enforcement Police Team.

A joint task force of space cops who act as cosmic border patrol.

I'm now picturing an April Fools episode with an alt.Paul who wakes up in orbit around the Earth only to find a space cop there asking for his paperwork. "So are you the vanguard of an interdimensional invasion, a refugee from a destroyed universe, or the victim of a planar mishap? The forms are different, you see."

Probably a member of the Chromium Fist Corps, they are not as the name suggests a bunch of space punch wizards, rather they play with portals.

Then again by opening a portal they can bitchslap people from range.....

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......
*hopefully* do they have standard-issue powerfists? it'd literally be a CRIME to not take advantage of a name like that >.<

...... my hopeful assumption is that a local patrol consists of a Fister- e,errr, Corpsman sitting back in their ship and portal-bitchslipping local criminals whenever they start planning to offend whilst waiting for an incursion to respond to...

"hmmm... you know, that bank looks entisingly poorly def-" WHAP! "NO!"

 

[Stsword]

Here's an idea, maybe he's forming an anti-SI super team?

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Which reminds me, Ambush Bug is being a bit of a hypocrite there.

You see, Ambush Bug is a self insert.

He's from Earth Prime and his origin is that he learned how to enter comic books.

......
*hopefully* do they have standard-issue powerfists? it'd literally be a CRIME to not take advantage of a name like that >.<

...... my hopeful assumption is that a local patrol consists of a Fister- e,errr, Corpsman sitting back in their ship and portal-bitchslipping local criminals whenever they start planning to offend whilst waiting for an incursion to respond to...

"hmmm... you know, that bank looks entisingly poorly def-" WHAP! "NO!"

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Sadly no, at least from what was shown.

The only Chromium Fist Corps member ever shown that I am aware of is Shaar Q, and she comes from a species that sports tentacles instead of hands.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Which reminds me, Ambush Bug is being a bit of a hypocrite there.

You see, Ambush Bug is a self insert.

He's from Earth Prime and his origin is that he learned how to enter comic books.

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See, this is something that kinda worried me when I first started reading WTR.

Superboy-Prime exists....and with how chummy OL's been with Kon from the start, the idea of a fellow Earth Prime (ish?) refugee, with superpowers on par with Silver Age Superman, that looks like his friend, that beat a different Kon-el to death, and very well may wish to Murder EVERYONE EVER.....hardly a blip on the topic from OL's POV.

Now....It's been a while since I worried about that, but since we're poking the multiverse again, in a big way if all the other SI's are an indicator, that idea is worming it's way back into my mind.

 

[Vaermina]

See, this is something that kinda worried me when I first started reading WTR.

Superboy-Prime exists....and with how chummy OL's been with Kon from the start, the idea of a fellow Earth Prime (ish?) refugee, with superpowers on par with Silver Age Superman, that looks like his friend, that beat a different Kon-el to death, and very well may wish to Murder EVERYONE EVER.....hardly a blip on the topic from OL's POV.

Now....It's been a while since I worried about that, but since we're poking the multiverse again, in a big way if all the other SI's are an indicator, that idea is worming it's way back into my mind.

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Given Zoat's dislike of characters that Paul has absolutely zero chance at defeating it's unlikely Superboy Prime will ever show up in story.

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th February
09:21 GMT

I narrow my eyes as I look at Hinon. "So… What exactly do you want?"

"As I have already explained to Clarissi Dox-."

"Politely." "The petitioner will know their place."

She takes a breath, which I'm almost entirely convinced is for show. "What the Controllers want is access to the Orange Central Power Battery and the right to recruit Lanterns. Which I believe is fairly reasonable, given that we created it and you depend upon me to maintain it."

"There's a good chance that the reason why Vega was such a mess in the first place was your mishandling of the Orange Central Power Battery. How much harm did Larfleeze cause because your security was inadequate?"

"I am fully aware of our civilisation's failings. I have lingered here as I have because I consider us obliged to clear up after the Guardians' failings. May I presume that you will be more content with providing the security yourself?"

I smile and walk past her, taking in the holographic display of Tamaran's orbital shipyards and defences. The Citadel shipping that we seized from Ermana forms the core of the Tamaranian Self-Defence Fleet, though both Clarissi Dox and Weaponer Lysis were leery about using them at all. By the standards they're used to -the standards of major galactic powers- they're a bit rubbish. The primary weapons of the Citadel battleships are optimised to work against large numbers of medium-sized ships at medium to short range, which is… Okay for Vega. That's what most groups use. But now those are ex-groups. The pirates evaporated under the fury of Princess Komand'r's assault, the local Spider Guild chapter hunted down and slain to a man by Princess Koriand'r and the remaining Gordanian clans are bending over backwards to satisfy us.

Beyond the less than ideal loadout of the capital vessels, there's the fact that they're… Designed for Citadelians. Technologically simple and rugged, with parts that can be stripped out and replaced easily. Dox and Lysis both want to take full advantage of the g-gnomes' telepathic knowledge-sharing abilities to go in the opposite direction. Make the most advanced ships that we can and keep them in operation with telepathically-educated crew. They were even making noises about not bothering to finish the ships we took from Ermana in order to better focus on the next generation.

I talked them down from that, since getting the Tamaranians some experience is our most immediate concern. I just wanted to get the things flying as soon as possible, but they insisted on upgrading their sub-light drives before considering them 'finished'. Now the battleships should at least be able to close with most opponents, though they still won't live long if we pick a fight with the Dominion or…

Or Apokolips.

But that's fine. For now. It would be ridiculous to pit a world that's barely recovered from occupation and enslavement against the most powerful civilisation in the galaxy. The Crown Imperium is the only local power of any size, and our relations with them are quite friendly. Once we drag that toerag Ryand'r back here, we'll be packing him off to their naval officer school. Oswin tried floating the idea of a dynastic marriage, but… Then he saw the look on my face and dropped it. I'm sure that Ryand'r is perfectly capable of hooking up with someone without external involvement. Anyway, we don't need to ensure that our ships are optimised for destroying theirs. The next threat we'll be facing will probably be the Spider Guild, and they're more inclined to raid than make direct attacks.

We ended up agreeing to make the next generation of ships a compromise. Something more advanced than what the Citadelians used, but less than Colu or Qward would build. Something the Tamaranians can maintain themselves. And getting them educated is one of our largest bottlenecks right now. They need technically skilled people in every field, and we don't have the g-gnomes to speed that up enough. We can barely crew the ships we have, and that's drawing on Euphorian expatriates who might well up and leave once Kalista decides that she wants to go home. I ended up making a gift of a number of the docks we took from Ermana to the Karnans, not as a demonstration of largess but literally because we can't use them.

But.

"With the Lanterns under my command, I consider these defences adequate for now. But my interests are local, and I'm sure that you want Lanterns for something a little more significant than a dick-waving contest with the Guardians."

"As you know full well, the Green Lanterns don't protect everywhere."

I nod. "I am painfully aware of that. Where in particular do you have in mind?"

"The Controllers are currently engaged in hostilities with the Reach. I take it you've heard of them."

"Yes." I turn away from the hologram and back towards her. "And I know that they need to be fought. But Tamaran isn't strong enough to participate in any significant way against the level of force they can bring to bear. I won't even allow volunteer brigades."

"Then it's a good job that I'm not asking for that, isn't it?"

I suppose. "If I said 'yes', how exactly would it work?"

"A small number of Controllers would come here to connect themselves to the Orange Central Power Battery. And then they would return to Maltus."

"That's it?"

"It would be useful if our Lanterns could receive training from yours, but given your understandable reluctance to become embroiled in our conflict with the Reach I doubt that you would agree. We have no need to forge either personal lanterns or rings here."

"Would it be easier?"

"Yes, a little."

"Alright. They can work here, and I'll get Dox to assign some instructors."

"And what do you expect in return?"

"Half of the rings and personal lanterns they produce. I appreciate what you've done, but I'm a little tired of Orange Lanterns with voices in their heads limping back to the Central Power Battery to recharge."

"That-. It will be a hard sell to my fellow Controllers, but I can live with it. Anything else?"

"You mentioned 'clearing up the Guardians' failings'. I have one more for you." I alter the hologram so that it displays a psion. "These-."

"You want us to recreate a species you rendered extinct? We have the genetic records from when we owned their ancestors as household pets-"

What?

"-but I'm somewhat surprised that you consider their resurrection desirable."

"Can we go back to the 'household pets' thing?"

"We created them and deposited them in Vega. Is that not what you were referring to?"

"No, I was just referring to leaving them unsupervised by not patrolling Vega. They came from Maltus originally?"

She nods. "One of our earliest experiments with biological augmentation. We had largely abandoned Maltus during their rise to full sophoncy. It wasn't until their fleet neared Oa in search of the 'Great Teachers' of their legends that we realised the extent of our bungling. I would rather they had learned wisdom rather than being destroyed-."

"They're not all dead."

"Oh?"

"I kept a handful of their cloning specialists and child-educators alive. I.. was going to ask you to become their overseers, but having heard how you messed that up the first time I'm going to tell you to take them on as a client species. Oversee what they're doing properly this time, and keep working with them until they're capable of playing nicely with others."

"Hm. Yes, we have other client species, and the psions at least are intellectually capable. That will certainly be easier to sell than losing half of our work."

I wave my right hand. "Half of your work until all my Lanterns are equipped and I have a.. small number of spares. I am not interested in expanding the region I control at present, but I do want to make sure that it is protected."

"That's a little better. May we also study your Lanterns so as to aid our Lanterns in coping with the orange light?"

I nod. "Sure, as long as you share what you learn. I've long suspected that Tamaranian culture makes for Lanterns who are able to channel the orange light without going into crazy mode, and I am happy to help you avoid any incidents of that kind. Let's go talk to Dox, and… Nail down the specifics."

 

[Vaermina]

I nod. "Sure, as long as you share what you learn. I've long suspected that Tamaranian culture makes for Lanterns who are able to channel the orange light without going into crazy mode, and I am happy to help you avoid any incidents of that kind. Let's go talk to Dox, and… Nail down the specifics."

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Yes... Because gods forbid it might be connected to his own failings as a teacher...

 

[RichardWhereat]

"No, I was just referring to leaving them unsupervised by not patrolling Vega. They came form Maltus originally?"

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Malta

 

[hkim]

Malta

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*from
*Maltus

 

[Mr Zoat]

Malta

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Thank you, I've corrected the word which you highlighted.

 

[Pwnbot]

"As I have already explained to Clarissi Dox-."

"Politely." "The petitioner will know their place."

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God speech for power games. Whee

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

I narrow my eyes as I look at Hinon. "So… What exactly do you want?"

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Oh, this will be fun.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

She takes a breath, which I'm almost entirely convince is for show. "What the Controllers want is access to the Orange Central Power Battery and the right to recruit Lanterns. Which I believe is fairly reasonable, given that we created it and you depend upon me to maintain it."

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Surprised she didn't call it the Light Fountain, but presumably she's not going to weaken her position.

...there's the fact that they're… Designed from Citadelians.

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Not sure of the intent here. Perhaps 'for' or 'by' would fit better, depending.

Make the most advanced ships that we can and keep them in operation with telepathically-educated crew. They were even making noises about not bothering to finish the ships we took from Ermana in order to better focus on the next generation.

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And you spend more time repairing breakdowns than actually fighting. Simple is better.

But that's fine. For now. It would be ridiculous to pit a world that's barely recovered from occupation and enslavement against the most powerful civilisation in the galaxy.

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Yes, better to be able to stand on your own before you try to run a marathon.

The Crown Imperium is the only local power of any size, and our relations with them are quite friendly. Once we drag that toerag Ryand'r back here, we'll be packing him off to their naval officer school.

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He has a low opinion of the Omega Men, doesn't he?

I ended up making a gift of a number of the docks we took from Ermana to the Karnans, not as a demonstration of largess but literally because we can't use them.

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And made quite an ally, I bet.

"Yes." I turn away from the hologram and back towards her. "And I know that they need to be fought. But Tamaran isn't strong enough to participate in any significant way against the level of force they can bring to bear. I won't even allow volunteer brigades."

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It's also a long way from there.

"And what do you expect in return."

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Aye, theres the rub. What are you going to have to pay.

She nods. "One of our earliest experiments with biological augmentation. We had largely abandoned Maltus during their rise to full sophoncy. It wasn't until their fleet neared Oa in search of the 'Great Teachers' of their legends that we realised the extend of our bungling. I would rather they had learned wisdom rather than being destroyed-."

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I hope faces were palmed.

I wave my right hand. "Half of your work until all my Lanterns are equipped and I have a.. small number of spares. I am not interested in expanding the region I control at present, but I do want to make sure that it is protected."

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Not really living up to 'Conquest' are you? But then, that's not really the Renegade's true nature.

Some dirty dealing here, and a much harsher relationship than the Paragon's timeline. I foresee friction down the line...

Godspeech!

"Politely." "The petitioner will know their place."

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[moralrelativity]

Designed from

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for? by?

getting the Tamaranian some

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Tamaranians?

Than it's a good job

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Then

the extend of

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extent

 

[Mr Zoat]

...there's the fact that they're… Designed from Citadelians.
Not sure of the intent here. Perhaps 'for' or 'by' would fit better, depending.

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Pinklestia]

Well, this definitely went better for Grayven.

Considering the GLs humiliating defeat vs his father, I do not think the Controllers will betray Grayven yet.

Not to mention that avoiding a direct fight with the Reach is wise.

 

[Handlewithcare]

I just can't get enough of your descriptions of ship design choices, advantages and drawbacks of those and how itall relates to current needs and mission profiles.

 

[RichardWhereat]

Thank you, I've corrected the word which you hi-lighted.

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Ur welcome.

 

[Prince Charon]

The Crown Imperium is the only local power of any size, and our relations with them are quite friendly. Once we drag that toerag Ryand'r back here, we'll be packing him off to their naval officer school.
He has a low opinion of the Omega Men, doesn't he?

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They meant well, but I think they screwed up the execution in various ways, some rather serious... and Ryand'r joining them had serious consequences for his whole planet, IIRC.

 

[Buggy123]

Man, I just realized the huge contrast between Paul and Grayven here. Paul annihilated most of the Citadelians and it was a huge deal, meanwhile Grayven and his associates killed almost every single Psion, annihilated the local Spider clan, curbstomped the Citadelians, and wiped the floor with the entrails of any would-be pirates. And his reaction is basically "Eh, so what? They needed to die.".

Yes... Because gods forbid it might be connected to his own failings as a teacher...

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Most of the times we've seen a untrained human put a Orange ring on, they lasted no more than 5 minutes before going insane (even under the constant guidance of a skilled Lantern).

Grayven basically handed hundreds of orange rings to a crowd of Tamaranians and told them to go smash their worst enemy, and most of them were still sane enough to come back at the end.

Yeah, its not his failings as a teacher. If for no other reason than the fact that Grayven pretty much didn't teach them.

 

[DAT_NOOB]

Man, I just realized the huge contrast between Paul and Grayven here. Paul annihilated most of the Citadelians and it was a huge deal, meanwhile Grayven and his associates killed almost every single Psion, annihilated the local Spider clan, curbstomped the Citadelians, and wiped the floor with the entrails of any would-be pirates. And his reaction is basically "Eh, so what? They needed to die.".


Most of the times we've seen a untrained human put a Orange ring on, they lasted no more than 5 minutes before going insane (even under the constant guidance of a skilled Lantern).

Grayven basically handed hundreds of orange rings to a crowd of Tamaranians and told them to go smash their worst enemy, and most of them were still sane enough to come back at the end.

Yeah, its not his failings as a teacher. If for no other reason than the fact that Grayven pretty much didn't teach them.

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I'd consider that a point in favour of grayven being a good teacher

 

[Mr Zoat]

I'd consider that a point in favour of grayven being a good teacher

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It was really more Tamaranian culture than anything the Renegade did.

Ur welcome.

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Thank you, corrected.