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

Equity (part 32)
Day 384
Central Thundera


I stare pensively out across town as the working day comes to an end.

It makes a certain amount of sense.

I remember the episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation where they established that the reason why there are so many humanoid species in the setting is that the first intelligent species was that shape, and introduced elements of their own biology to hundreds of worlds in the hope of enkindling life there. And while I have read science fiction where only humans were humanoid, the reverse is far more common.

So I didn't think to question why nearly every species that escaped the Black Pyramid looks so much like me. Not beyond 'oh, reality has an effects budget too' half-joking sort of way.

Earth exists, and it's a sepulchre. According to Rana, it was a biomagitechnological paradise, a population of ten billion with absolute poverty abolished, and then some insane cult that everyone thought was too mad to be a threat performed a ritual. The next day, a dozen or so people woke up undead and everyone else remained dead. And every attempt they made to reverse things or create new living humans was undone by the lingering effects of ritual that made them.

And the reason that the other species look like humans? It's because they're mostly human. Cat aristocrats are about as human as it's possible to be without triggering the curse, and the rest… Well, when you've figured out how to make near-humans, why stop at one type?

I knew Mumm-Ra was human from my analysis of the scraps of flesh that I've torn off him during our fights. I didn't know how he became a liche or how his magic worked, and I wasn't sure if he recognised what I am. He never mentioned it, but it's not as if we were having long conversations. I-.

I feel arms around my waist and a head against my left shoulder, and my mood lifts a little.

I lift my right hand and lay it on Khoah's hands where they meet around my abdomen.

"Bad news?"

Most of it isn't relevant to her, but one point is. I knew that even the cat peasantry shared a lot of genetics with humans. I married her assuming that we wouldn't be able to have children, then realised that chemically… There didn't appear to be any reason why we wouldn't be able to. Not that I'm a geneticist.

"Some." I tilt my own head so that it's resting lightly on hers. "We made a new ally, but unless we can recover the Tech Stone-" Not its actual name as it turns out, but 'The Phylactery Stone of the Mummified Rana' is a bit of a mouthful. "-she can't fight him directly, and if we wrest that from him then even Lion-O could kill him."

"Who is she?"

"Someone like Mumm-Ra. Only she spent her time building a civilisation for her pleasure rather than murdering people for power."

"A good Mumm-Ra? Surely that's good news."

"I didn't say she was 'good'. She-. I told you of the history; of how Mumm-Ra brought your ancestors to Third Earth."

I feel her nod.

"It appears that he didn't just bring you here. He created you… Cats, birds, rats, elephants… Most intelligent species on this planet. Then he used you as slaves. Rana on the other hand treated her creations as something like dolls or pets. Things that she liked playing with, but not things that she regarded as her equals."

"What happened to them?"

"Most of them died during Mumm-Ra's attack. The rest are hunter-gatherers, living roughly how the lizards were before Mumm-Ra started sponsoring them. The… Descendants of the survivors, I should say."

I sigh, looking away from her.

"I also found out what happened to the rest of my species. Not good news, and it might explain why I can't sire a child on you. I'm the only living member of my species, and we're cursed to be unable to create more."

"You said that it didn't bother you. Do you feel differently now?"

"A little. If we were just incompatible then I'd accept it, but knowing that it's perfectly possible if it weren't for some ancient magic is irritating." I shake my head. "Perhaps Rana can do something about it when she gets access to all of the stones. Assuming that you're still up for it."

"Women older than me have given birth before. There shouldn't be much risk."

Yes, I… A hard life and near-starvation made Khoah look a good deal older than she actually is. She's actually only in her early thirties, so… Yes. She's past peak fertility, but ordinarily she'd be able to have children without special assistance. On the other hand, she knows that risks increase with age. Thunderan medicine is a little better than medieval human medicine -there's no leech fixation- but not by much, so if something went wrong the mother would usually die. Even the last queen -Lion-O's mother- died to something that would probably have been an easy fix back on.. Earth.

"Will she be coming here?"

"Yes, but I… Would recommend that you don't interact with her, if you can help it. She was fairly clear that she considers all cats to blame for the actions of your an-"

Winds gust out of nowhere from behind us and I'm armouring myself in yellow light and raising a shield as-.

"-cestors…"

"Lantern Lord Protector." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face with some sort of scar on the forehead and wearing blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? And why did he take so long to make contact? "I have need of your service."

"And why should I care?"

He stares at me blankly. "You owe me for providing you with that ring."

"You're responsible? You kidnapped me from my home. I've come close to death a dozen times and I'll never see my family again and you have the temerity so say that I owe you?"

"Evidently, yes. You feel that you have been ill-used. Alternate versions of you are generally amenable to restitution."

"I want my family back, you orange bastard!"

"That would be difficult, but not necessarily impossible."

"Talk fast, or you become my priority target."

"I am attempting to understand the rules which allow different alternities to exist. You met alternate versions of yourself when you were abducted by my late brother Krona." I nod. "The process by which you were extracted may be impossible to replicate, but by studying your nature and that of the alternity which is now your home, I may come to understand the process."

"You can't send me back, or send them a message, or anything like that?"

"Consider: you were all one person until the event which transposed you to so many different places. What would happen if all versions of you sent a message?"

"My parents aren't stupid. They'd understand the idea."

"I cannot now do as you demand. If you-."

"No." I draw the Sword of Plun-Darr. "Leave."

"Your attitude is not conducive to-."

I stab the sword into the image, making it fracture and fragment, dim and-

"You will regret that."

-finally vanish.

"And don't come back."
 
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He stares at me blankly. "You owe me for providing you with that ring."

"You're responsible? You kidnapped me from my home. I've come close to death a dozen times and I'll never see my family again and you have the temerity so say that I owe you

Odd that he didn't call bullshit on him making it since he's orange and not yellow.

Granted, he may be too pissed to care, or he remembers that a Guardian made a blue ring, so doesn't consider it odd that a Controller could make a yellow one.

"Consider: you were all one person until the event which transposed you to so many different places. What would happen if all versions of you sent a message

Yeah, that would be one very weird family reunion.

"My parents aren't stupid. They'd understand the idea

But would they be able to emotionally accept it.

I stab the sword into the image, making it fracture and fragment, dim and-

"You will regret that

Wonder if that's Jevek talking, or the bit of rage Raul left in him.
 
I love the fact that the Pauls are gradually just getting more belligerent as Jevek goes down the list. Also - first he got stuck with red, then yellow? If Lord Protector's attack leaves any lingering fear on Jevek, then a pattern might be forming.
 
I love the fact that the Pauls are gradually just getting more belligerent as Jevek goes down the list. Also - first he got stuck with red, then yellow? If Lord Protector's attack leaves any lingering fear on Jevek, then a pattern might be forming.
Technically he only got stuck with red, not yellow.

Lord Protector just used a magic sword on him, not his yellow lantern powers.
 
Day 384
Central Thundera


I stare pensively out across town as the working day comes to an end.

It makes a certain amount of sense.
Aw, off-screen exposition? Do summarise for us readers, Lord Protector, then. On the other hand, I see he came home. Now, did he bring the Thundercats with him, or are they hitching a ride with Mumm-Rana, since I doubt she'll want to stay where she was.

I remember the episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation where they established that the reason why there are so many humanoid species in the setting is that the first intelligent species was that shape, and introduced elements of their own biology to hundreds of worlds in the hope of enkindling life there. And while I have read science fiction where only humans were humanoid, the reverse is far more common.
Yes, a bit of a wall-banger, that episode. Felt like a fix that wasn't really needed unless they were getting lots of letters about it. At any rate, there are also lots of stories where Humanity seem to be the only space-going culture in the universe. Which would technically make them the precursors. :p

So I didn't think to question why nearly every species that escaped the Black Pyramid looks so much like me. Not beyond 'oh, reality has an effects budget too' half-joking sort of way.
That's why I liked the animated 'Star Trek' series more than the original. They could actually make alien aliens... Though only one showed up on the crew (as well as the lovely catgirl M'Ress.)

Earth exists, and it's a sepulchre. According to Rana, it was a biomagitechnological paradise, a population of ten billion with absolute poverty abolished, and then some insane cult that everyone thought was too mad to be a threat performed a ritual. The next day, a dozen or so people woke up undead and everyone else remained dead. And every attempt they made to reverse things or create new living humans was undone by the lingering affects of ritual that made them.
😨 ...Great... Better hope he's not likely to get affected by said curse. Though it's been long enough he would have shown signs of it by now if he were. Best to stay away from Earth proper, though, I suspect.

And the reason that the other species look like humans? It's because they're mostly human. Cat aristocrats are about as human as it's possible to be without triggering the curse, and the rest… Well, when you've figured out how to make near-humans, why stop at one type?

I knew Mumm-Ra was human from my analysis of the scraps of flesh that I've torn off him during our fights. I didn't know how he became a liche or how his magic worked, and I wasn't sure if he recognised what I am. He never mentioned it, but it's not as if we were having long conversations. I-.
Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive towards you? 'How dare you look human, you primitive ape!'

I feel arms around my waist and a head against my left shoulder, and my mood lifts a little.

I lift my right hand and lay it on Khoah's hands where they meet around my abdomen.

"Bad news?"
Nothing like cat-lady hugs to lift a man's moods, that's for sure.

Most of it isn't relevant to her, but one point is. I knew that even the cat peasantry shared a lot of genetics with humans. I married her assuming that we wouldn't be able to have children, then realised that chemically… There didn't appear to be any reason why we wouldn't be able to. Not that I'm a geneticist.
On the other hand... If you did have kids, would they pick up the curse from her gene-line, or be immune to it from yours?

"Some." I tilt my own head so that it's resting lightly on hers. "We made a new ally, but unless we can recover the Tech Stone-" Not it's actual name as it turns out, but 'The Phylactery Stone of the Mummified Rana' is a bit of a mouthful. "-she can't fight him directly, and if we wrest that from him then even Lion-O could kill him."
Interesting. Ra, Rana, Thutmose (Would he have been Mumm-Thut? :p ) Did the survivors take names from Egyptian culture for fun, or were they really leaning into the Mummy theme?

"Who is she?"

"Someone like Mumm-Ra. Only she spent her time building a civilisation for her pleasure rather than murdering people for power."
To be fair, I'm sure Mumm-Ra used certain especially pretty slaves for pleasure... Everyone's seen that sequel comic image of adult Wilykit, right? 😨

"A good Mumm-Ra? Surely that's good news."

"I didn't say she was 'good'. She-. I told you of the history; of how Mumm-Ra brought your ancestors to Third Earth."
Yeah, important to remember that presumably all the Mumm-whatsits were powerful magical overlords. That doesn't necessarily mean compassionate or benevolent.

I feel her nod.

"It appears that he didn't just bring you here. He created you… Cats, birds, rats, elephants… Most intelligent species on this planet. Then he used you as slaves. Rana on the other hand treated her creations as something like dolls or pets. Things that she liked playing with, but not things that she regarded as her equals."
I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't enjoy being worshipped on some level. Almost certainly so, given the art in her pyramid.

"What happened to them?"

"Most of them died during Mumm-Ra's attack. The rest are hunter-gatherers, living roughly how the lizards were before Mumm-Ra started sponsoring them. The… Descendants of the survivors, I should say."
Since it was presumably a matter of centuries, at the least. since their falling-out.

I sigh, looking away from her.

"I also found out what happened to the rest of my species. Not good news, and it might explain why I can't sire a child on you. I'm the only living member of my species, and we're cursed to be unable to create more."
Kind of a dampener on the relationship for some. I have to think she'll not care so much.

"You said that it didn't bother you. Do you feel differently now?"

"A little. If we were just incompatible then I'd accept it, but knowing that it's perfectly possible if it weren't for some ancient magic is irritating." I shake my head. "Perhaps Rana can do something about it when she gets access to all of the stones. Assuming that you're still up for it."

"Women older than me have given birth before. There shouldn't be much risk."
And with a Power Ring, it shouldn't be too hard to keep her in good health. Even if Yellow isn't the best colour for healing.

Yes, I… A hard life and near-starvation made Khoah look a good deal older than she actually is. She's actually only in her early thirties, so… Yes. She's past peak fertility, but ordinarily she'd be able to have children without special assistance. On the other hand, she knows that risks increase with age. Thunderan medicine is a little better than medieval human medicine -there's no leach fixation- but not by much, so if something went wrong the mother would usually die. Even the last queen -Lion-O's mother- died to something that would probably have been an easy fix back on.. Earth.
Presumably Mumm-Ra made sure they understood basic medicine so that they wouldn't kill each other trying to patch each other up after battles.

"Will she be coming here?"

"Yes, but I… Would recommend that you don't interact with her, if you can help it. She was fairly clear that she considers all cats to blame for the actions of your an-"
Wonder what she'll make of the fact that the cats have one of the most stable civilisations on the planet?

Winds gust out of nowhere from behind us and I'm armouring myself in yellow light and raising a shield as-.

"-cestors…"
Ah, about time, Jevek.

"Lantern Lord Protector." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face with some sort of scar on the forehead and wearing blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? And why did he take so long to make contact? "I have need of your service."
Especially after the whole crossover thing, which is definitely in Lord Protector's past. I see Raul's hit stuck, too. Jevek might be a bit sore if he keeps getting rejected at this rate.

"And why should I care?"

He stares at me blankly. "You owe me for providing you with that ring."
Funny, you don't look yellow. Strike one for lying.

"You're responsible? You kidnapped me from my home. I've come close to death a dozen times and I'll never see my family again and you have the temerity so say that I owe you?"

"Evidently, yes. You feel that you have been ill-used. Alternate version of you are generally amenable to restitution."
Those alternates are generally in good positions that can be improved by things like Personal Lanterns. Alt!Pauls like LP here aren't so easily bought off by shinies.

"I want my family back, you orange bastard!"

"That would be difficult, but not necessarily impossible."
Presumably it's a matter of targetting. Which I assume Jevek is doing by backtracing connections from the crossover.

"Talk fast, or you become my priority target."

"I am attempting to understand the rules which allow different alternities to exist. You met alternate versions of yourself when you were abducted by my late brother Krona." I nod. "The process by which you were extracted may be impossible to replicate, but my studying your nature and that of the alternity which is now your home, I may come to understand the process."
Eminently logical, yes. But anything can be understood with enough data. So sooner or later, you could find the Earth-Prime the Pauls come from.

"You can't send me back, or send them a message, or anything like that?"

"Consider: you were all one person until the event which transposed you to so many different places. What would happen if all versions of you sent a message?"
...There'd be a lot of confusing but entertaining stories to share.

"My parents aren't stupid. They'd understand the idea."

"I cannot now do as you demand. If you-."
Ooh, wrong answer, Jevek.

"No." I draw the Sword of Plun-Darr. "Leave."

"Your attitude is not conducive to-."
Honestly, every time Jevek pulls that 'superior being' act, I'm amazed other alt!Pauls haven't struck back. Then again, we've mostly only seen successful meetings and a couple of failures. Who knows just how many he's contacted so far.

I stab the sword into the image, making it fracture and fragment, dim and-

"You will regret that."
I'm sure LP has many things he regrets. You are not one of them, I think.

-finally vanish.

"And don't come back."
...Chances he'll be back at some point: Pretty high.

Well, one more alt!Paul down, and another refusal with attitude. Have to wonder if that's giving Jevek data in its own right, mostly about which alternates to target? Wonder how the alt!Pauls we've seen who haven't appeared yet would react to Jevek appearing. For Instance, Black Lantern Paul might have something to say about his circumstances..

-there's no leach fixation-
-there's no leech fixation-
 
Now, did he bring the Thundercats with him, or are they hitching a ride with Mumm-Rana

I'm betting he brought them with him, since Rana may try to kill them.

Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive towards you? 'How dare you look human, you primitive ape!'

Or he just considers him as a potential rival.

Interesting. Ra, Rana, Thutmose (Would he have been Mumm-Thut? :p ) Did the survivors take names from Egyptian culture for fun, or were they really leaning into the Mummy theme?

Or they're culture was Egyptian in nature before they became undead.

Those alternates are generally in good positions that can be improved by things like Personal Lanterns. Alt!Pauls like LP here aren't so easily bought off by shinies.

The fact that they're orange Lanterns may also play a part.

They sorta would have had to develop connections in order to use their rings, so they may have started to like their new world.

There'd be a lot of confusing but entertaining stories to share.

And some truly horrifying ones, like one version become a tyrannical rapist.

For Instance, Black Lantern Paul might have something to say about his circumstances..

I don't think he'd say a lot since he barely talks.

Plus, Jevek may want to avoid the black light.
 
Now that's a more natural interaction than what we had with Raul in the previous segment. Even if both reacted with distaste for the Controller, this encounter had a proper conversation instead of just switching to interrogation out of nowhere.

And also, confirmation that all these SIs were one and the same.

A bit weird that Jevek seemed to have a scar, the Red Lantern Blood is dangerous but I've never suspected that it in someway left cursed wounds or something like that. Wonder if Jevek will take a pause to recuperate or who else is gonna be next? With the alternate colors all reacting negatively, logic would direct him to other Oranges, been a while since we saw the one in He-Man for example, somebody also mentioned the X-Men '97 as well.
 
My theory from earlier in the episode has been pretty much confirmed: the alternate universes aren't time synchronized.

When the Crisis of Infinite Paul's happened, it was April 2012 on Earth 16.

In the Fallout world, it was early spring 2280.

It was January 2005 in Red Lantern Paul's Teen Titans universe.

It was day 341 in Lord Protector Paul's universe.

Now, a bit more than a year later on Earth 16, Jevek has Krona's corpse, even though Krono in the Fallout universe didn't make that deal with him until December 2282, nearly 3 years later for him.

Jevek then shows up for Red Lantern Paul in February 2010, more than 5 years later for him. Then we see him with a scar from that encounter meeting Lord Protector Paul on day 384, only 43 days later for him.
 
I'm not sure what you mean, unless you're suggesting that Jevek is using time travel to contact them at specific points of time.
That, pretty much. It's not that the time flows differently in different universes, it's that Jevek choose - or happened to due to the way he contacts them - to contact Lord Protector 43 days after, but Raul five years after the crisis.
 
That, pretty much. It's not that the time flows differently in different universes, it's that Jevek choose - or happened to due to the way he contacts them - to contact Lord Protector 43 days after, but Raul five years after the crisis.
Then why does Jevek have a scar that the Lord Protector is the only alternate to have noted, immediately after the chapter in which he was attacked by Raul? Don't say it's just a coincidence.

That also doesn't explain Jevek having Krona's body a year after the crisis when Krono had it for almost 3 years afterward. I feel like you didn't even read my post, I already pointed these things out there.
 
Then why does Jevek have a scar that the Lord Protector is the only alternate to have noted, immediately after the chapter in which he was attacked by Raul? Don't say it's just a coincidence.

That also doesn't explain Jevek having Krona's body a year after the crisis when Krono had it for almost 3 years afterward. I feel like you didn't even read my post, I already pointed these things out there.
Because he contacted Lord Protector after Raul? So, from Javek's perspective, let's say he started his research on Earth 16's April 10, 2013 - he opened a portal to Fallout Earth, December 14, 2282 and traded for Krono's body, then a portal to Raul's Earth, February 3rd, 2010 and got a scar, then to Lord Protector's Thundera, Day 384 and got his projection stabbed. But it's him opening portals - or projecting himself - to specific dates, not time flowing that way.
 
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"Lantern Lord Protector." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face with some sort of scar on the forehead and wearing blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? And why did he take so long to make contact? "I have need of your service."
Given the similar thoughts each SI has, regardless of age, life experience or previous dealings with other SIs and Maltusians, I'm starting to suspect it is unnatural.
 
"And why should I care?"

He stares at me blankly. "You owe me for providing you with that ring."

"You're responsible? You kidnapped me from my home. I've come close to death a dozen times and I'll never see my family again and you have the temerity so say that I owe you?"
Just imagine how poorly things would go if Jevek tried that line with Gold (formerly Anti-Green) Lantern Paul.
 
Just imagine how poorly things would go if Jevek tried that line with Gold (formerly Anti-Green) Lantern Paul.
He might have read any report Paul gave on his counterparts, so he may know about how that one got his ring.

Plus, he went to Peter Wynne who basically exists in the future version of the world Gold Paul exists in, so he may not need anything from Gold's universe.
 
He might have read any report Paul gave on his counterparts, so he may know about how that one got his ring.
On one hand, yes. On the other hand, his recent fumbling, especially with Red Lantern!Paul, indicates that maybe Persuasion is not one of his proficient skills.

Plus, he went to Peter Wynne who basically exists in the future version of the world Gold Paul exists in, so he may not need anything from Gold's universe.
That's fair; I did forget where Gold!Paul ended up, post-crisis.
 
The next day, a dozen or so people woke up undead and everyone else remained dead. And every attempt they made to reverse things or create new living humans was undone by the lingering affects of ritual that made them.
'effects'?
"Some." I tilt my own head so that it's resting lightly on hers. "We made a new ally, but unless we can recover the Tech Stone-" Not it's actual name as it turns out, but 'The Phylactery Stone of the Mummified Rana' is a bit of a mouthful. "-she can't fight him directly, and if we wrest that from him then even Lion-O could kill him."
'its actual'
I nod. "The process by which you were extracted may be impossible to replicate, but my studying your nature and that of the alternity which is now your home, I may come to understand the process."
'by studying'
 
Jevek took a gamble by claiming to be responsible for the yellow ring and lost. If he had led with, "Listen man I'm not responsible for your situation," he might have gotten somewhere, but he can't claim responsibility and then immediately claim to be lying,

Be interesting to see how the interaction with the Crime Syndicate's Blue Ring Paul goes. Jevek can't off the thing he wants most, a blue power battery, though I guess he could offer an orange ring and orange battery if blue-boy wants to switch out.
 

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