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

Sockmonkey · 2025-03-10T06:27:13+0000

Mr Zoat said:
He tried to cure his deafness by plexing with bat DNA, turning himself into a part bat part man creature.

IIRC in the comics it was his sister's deafness that he was trying to fix.

Mr Zoat · 2025-03-10T06:33:45+0000

Sockmonkey said:
IIRC in the comics it was his sister's deafness that he was trying to fix.

It was his deafness in Arkham City, so I think I'll leave it.

LordVishnu · 2025-03-10T06:40:09+0000

As someone who has only surface level knowledge of DC as a whole (most of what I know is honestly due to this fic), but who has recently watched Creature Commandos, these new snippets are relevant to my interest.

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-03-10T07:05:01+0000

Mr Zoat said:
6th December 2023
08:01 GMT -5

"…bother." The pale-skinned woman opposite me is clearly unhappy about getting a compulsory counselling session. She's checking the room for concealed cameras, hidden viewing windows, and… Probably for potential weapons. "Are you coming with us?"

I nod, smiling encouragingly. "I will be. I hope that it won't be necessary, but I can heal-."

Ah, our first Creature Commando member. The Bride, as she's known. A tragic story of unrequited love and horrified rejection.These days, she's a badass gunfighter and near-heroic adventurer resisting her unwanted admirer, hence her examination of the room...

"Not me, you won't. She snorts, running her right hand down one of her facial stitches. "Do you have a..? Burning sword?"

I chuckle sociably. "I left it somewhere in Iraq. I don't remember exactly where; I haven't seen it for years. Now, I'm happy to talk about myself if you like, but I'm really more interested in helping you."

Ah, faking it until he makes it, eh? I doubt he technically ever had a sword, unless Gabriel's really is hidden somewhere.

She looks at me, eyes focused. "What's it like, talking to God?"

"Why not find out for yourself?"

Because God usually doesn't answer people while they're still in the flesh, so to speak...

"Because I'm a walking corpse. I'm what happens after the soul passes on."

I frown. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

And really, he'd be well-placed to identify if she has a soul or not, given his abilities probably include soul-sight.

"Waking up strapped to a slab, smelling of burnt hair from the electricity he-. The electricity that brought me back." She glares at the file on my desk. "'The Bride'. I don't even have a name."

I blink, perplexed. "You do have a name."

I see she doesn't even like to talk about her 'creator'.

"It's not a name, it's a job description."

"I think that you're labouring under a misapprehension about-."

They're definitely having two different conversations, to a degree.

She turns to face me. "Oh, this should be good."

"About your nature. Have you ever watched Star Trek?"

That is a fun idea, an artificial human with a love of pop culture. I bet her experience with her unwanted beau probably put her off 'Frankenstein' references.

"No." … "Alright, yes, a bit."

"Did you see the episode of Voyager where-?"

I don't know, she's kind of mature enough to be a Original Series fangirl...

Her eyes narrow. "No. Get to the point."

"The brain is a fragile organ. Deprived of oxygen, it starts decaying fairly quickly. Memory loss is a common result of head injuries. Given how long it was from your initial death to… The Doctor restoring you to life, it's hardly surprising that you lost nearly everything."

And if her original soul moved on, her brain wouldn't be able to restore from the 'backup' stored within it.

"'Nearly'?"

"You learned to speak far more rapidly than an infant, and an adult brain usually isn't malleable enough to adapt so quickly." I shrug. With my shoulders. "You managed that because you weren't learning it for the first time; you were dredging up a language that you already knew."

Not uncommon amongst amnesia sufferers, supposedly? Although there are reportedly cases of someone being able to speak a language they'd never have learned, too. The brain is a strange thing.

She looks taken aback, but I've definitely got her full attention. "I was cobbled together from corpses he stole."

"You're mostly one corpse, actually." My mind briefly goes to her 'sister', keeping her head down in Orkney. "A few parts were replaced, but your entire brain is from a single individual. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, you… Are her, just with amnesia as a result of the traumatic brain injury you suffered."

Sister? Interesting. Though the phrasing suggests it was a ~~second~~ another attempt to produce a female 'Creature'.

"W-?" She pulls herself metaphorically together. "Who was I, then?"

"Your name is Elizabeth Lavenza."

An actual character from the original story, no less! Victor's childhood friend who he later marries, only to lose her to the Creature's vengeance on their wedding night... I suppose things went a little differently here.

Her eyes dip, and she mouths 'Elizabeth' to herself. Her brow folds into a frown as it fails to elicit a response from her memories.

I shake my head. "I doubt that you'll remember anything immediately-."

If at all. But knowing it now... She might well be amused by her portrayals in the fictional tales. Or horrified.

"You said-" Her eyes snap back to me. "-that you can heal. Can you heal me?"

"I believe that I can. However, that might undo the abnormalities which give you your enhanced abilities and long life. More than-"

Since evidently the process involved more than a few stitched-together body parts.

"H-uh."

"-that, I don't know what it will do to your mind."

She frowns thoughtfully. "You mean it might make me forget everything that happened to me?"

And reset you back to the child-like state after your original revival. I doubt anyone would be happy with that. Especially Waller.

"It might make you remember being Elizabeth as well. She grew up with… The Doctor, and I realise that he's a sensitive topic for you. Oh, and I can't do it before the mission anyway because that would remove the explosives."

"Oh." She slumps back in her chair. "And for a moment there I was getting excited."

Maybe they can persuade Waller to allow an attempt after they return.

6th December 2023
10:34 GMT -5

"…and I don't even know that they'd let him go if I did prove that he was innocent."

Ah, the Weasel's lawyer. She sounds a bit of a crusader.

I reach forward and pat Elizabeth Bates' right hand.

"Do not despair. I don't believe that Ms. Waller considers him so indispensable that she would use… Unusual measures to ensure that he remains here. He's actually coping with the stress of imprisonment better than I was expecting."

I remember seeing him in the opening scenes of the last Suicide Squad movie (Haven't seen the movie itself, but there's lots of commentaries about it...) Apparently he survived the slaughter by being damn ~~tough~~ lucky. That's probably what Waller keeps him around for...

Though he tried to use my wings as chew toys and… He isn't intelligent enough to really… 'Counsel'.

She grabs her hand back. "Do you know if he's guilty or not?"

Well, probably less so than the original Weasel. That one was a bit of a nutter. The modern version is, well...

"It is my opinion that even if he did kill them, he should not be here. He isn't intelligent enough to be legally responsible for his actions. I'm not even clear why they tried him as a human."

"But did he?"

I'm guessing it's because he seems humanoid enough to be confused for an altered-morphology metahuman.

"I have no relevant a priori knowledge. In my best judgement, he is essentially an animal. He would kill a human child, if he were very hungry and encountered them alone. He would then eat them. The autopsy reports relating to his arrest show no signs that he attempted to eat the bodies of the children he was convicted of murdering. Killing for the sake of killing would be out of character, and he isn't rabid."

So it's entirely possible it wasn't him, but whoever did it used him as a scapegoat.

"Are you willing to serve as a witness?"

"That is essentially the reason why I exist."

Well, that and wryly sarcastic asides.

She makes an amused noise. "Character witness."

"Certainly." I nod. "Though quite a lot of what I could say is written in prison records which you should have access to."

"You saying it has a bigger impact. When an angel says that it isn't in a person's nature to commit a murder-."

I would assume most jury members would respect the theological idea enough to go along with it.

I raise my right hand to stop her. "I also said that I believe that classifying him as a human is a mistake. If I speak in court, the prosecution may use that to try and have him reclassified as an animal. Belle Reve isn't much, but it's better than being put down. Are you familiar with the case of Doctor Kirk Langstrom?"

I mean, he has a high chance of dying on a mission anyway, though he could easily survive by being tough...

"I can't say that I am. Is he relevant?"

"He had a stay here. He tried to cure his deafness by plexing with bat DNA, turning himself into a part bat part man creature. As man-bat, his intelligence was subhuman, so it was ruled that his crimes as man-bat should be treated as a case of temporary insanity."

Something which varied by depiction, but usually accurate. I don't doubt they tried to get him to reveal the composition of the formula and modify it to allow the retention of human reason, so as to make bat supersoldiers...

She scribbles a note on her pad. "I'll look into it."

"Ms. Waller made him transform for missions. Every time he changed, a little more of his human mental faculties didn't come back. If you can, I would strongly suggest asking someone to try and find out where John came from. Because if he ever was a man… It might not remain possible to bring him back forever."

Better a life as a mascot than simple execution, though. Even if he really is a maneater.

This is a fascinating cycle of consultations and counselling. I wonder how Waller feels about Lan trying to rehabilitate or otherwise improve the circumstances of various inmates. They might be useful as Task Force X operatives, but some of them are definite liabilities. Some super-criminals are just too psycho to make good black-ops soldiers...

Darko · 2025-03-10T07:21:00+0000

Mr Zoat said:
Not me, you won't. She snorts,

Add a "

Mr Zoat said:
As man-bat,

"Man-Bat" or "as a"

PepeTheFrog · 2025-03-10T07:48:52+0000

Chojin Patriarch said:
I remember seeing him in the opening scenes of the last Suicide Squad movie (Haven't seen the movie itself, but there's lots of commentaries about it...) Apparently he survived the slaughter by being damn tough. That's probably what Waller keeps him around for...

Hahahahahahahaha! No.
Weasel survived by being pushed it of a helicopter, not being able to swim, being dragged onto the beach and then mistaken for dead.

GhostKing 666 · 2025-03-10T07:52:11+0000

Mr Zoat said:
"I have no relevant a priori knowledge. In my best judgement, he is essentially an animal. He would kill a human child, if he were very hungry and encountered them alone. He would then eat them. The autopsy reports relating to his arrest show no signs that he attempted to eat the bodies of the children he was convicted of murdering. Killing for the sake of killing would be out of character, and he isn't rabid."

To be fair, the idea that humans alone are the only animals that kill for the fun of it is just a myth. There are plenty of other animals that will kill for the enjoyment of it(granted, a very large proportion of said list is composed if different species of cat). Some like the elephant aren't even meat-eating predators.

Neruz · 2025-03-10T08:05:40+0000

Many animals kill for no apparently perceptible reason other than the enjoyment of it, but "apparently perceptible" is very much the operative term there, and it is not always clear that killing is actually the desired goal: In the famous case of adolescent elephants killing rhinos for example, it is believed that they weren't actually trying to kill the rhinos, they just enjoyed testing their strength by attacking rhinos and didn't really care if the rhinos died during the course of this.

Mr Zoat · 2025-03-10T08:30:27+0000

Chojin Patriarch said:
Sister? Interesting. Though the phrasing suggests it was a second attempt to produce a female 'Creature'.

First, actually. Elizabeth is the second.

I remember seeing him in the opening scenes of the last Suicide Squad movie (Haven't seen the movie itself, but there's lots of commentaries about it...) Apparently he survived the slaughter by being damn tough. That's probably what Waller keeps him around for...

No, he survived because he can swim, just not very well. He couldn't get to the beech in time to be killed, but did manage to survive in the water.

Darko said:
Add a "
"Man-Bat" or "as a"

Thank you, corrected.

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

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