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

Okay. If I check with Dox that he doesn't need Queen Artemis's magicians right now, and… No further high-end magic threats arise, I can employ them to make more Dolmen Gates for Cadburys Logistics. Put a terminus here
Okay, this sort of feels like it might be less the Justice League taking over the world, and more like Paul taking over. Or perhaps Cadbury Logistics.
Which, I guess, would be one way to achieve a unified planetary government.
 
Creation's Commandos (part 5) New
5th December 2023
13:45 GMT -5


Rick Flag Sen-.

And it hits him again. It's not as raw as it was, but it-. The horrible sucking void in his chest when he's forced to remember that he isn't ever going to see Rick Junior again.

Not in this life, anyway.

Rick… Flag, checks to make sure that the door is fully closed before turning to Amanda 'The Wall' Waller.

"So what's his deal?"

"He's really an angel, as far as we can tell." She opens a desk drawer and pulls out a dossier. He flips it open and takes in the photograph. "We found him in a crater in Jump City a couple of years ago. First responders said he was babbling something about the end of the world."

The angel in the picture looks a whole lot more ragged than the calm and collected man he just spoke to.

"If he's an angel, I guess he'd know."

"Intel tried making sense of it. Some of what he said made sense. Most of it didn't. He didn't carry any I.D. and-"

He snorts quietly in amusement at the idea of an angel carrying an I.D..

"-the lab found what appeared to be the remains of a data stick in his robes. We haven't been able to get much out of it."

The next couple of pages are lab reports, attempts to analyse his body and blood. Unsurprisingly he doesn't have a human blood type, though apparently he did have some human blood on his skin when he first appeared.

Waller looks at the dossier. "Next page."

He obediently turns it over-.

Some of these people he recognises. Harley Quinn making faces at the camera. Captain Boomerang pretending to ignore it. A few others he doesn't, but given how they look.

"The Suicide Squad."

Waller shrugs with her face. "If we'd ever had an angel, I'd have remembered it. Our best guess is that he's from an alternate timeline of some kind."

"Not from the future?"

"No. There's a date on the file. And Captain Boomerang's dead."

He grits his teeth. Just for a moment.

"I know."

A few team pictures, including one with… Weapons that don't look like they're from Earth. A few people go missing, but that's not-. Not unusual for the Suicide Squad. Then a picture of Lan naked, pictures of his badly damaged robes and-.

His eyebrows shoot up, and he stares at Waller.

"Are these..?"

"Power rings? Sure, as far as we can tell. He hasn't asked about them since he arrived. It's possible that he's forgotten that he ever had them. Unfortunately, we can't work out how to reassign them and so they won't work for anyone else."

"So, okay, how did he get from this to working here?"

"Have you read the part about his blood work yet?"

"Ah… Silver, can't be fully analysed but doesn't look like human blood under any microscope."

"No, the other part."

Down to the notes…

That…

"He originally bled human blood, but the silver blood… Replaced it?"

"It's not a firm conclusion, but it looked like it. Look at the side view photo."

He does, frowning. "What am I looking for?"

"The scars."

Scars? The wounds are too fresh to have scarred. None of them-. Wait.

"At the base of the wing?"

"It's the same on both sides. So either someone tried to cut them off, or he didn't start with them and they got grafted on. That's also the only wound that had a silver scab."

"What did the rest have?"

"The regular human kind. Oh Positive. The med techs said that they flaked off as the silver blood replaced it."

"So what, he's not an angel? He's just a guy with wings stuck on?"

"He might not have been an angel to start with, but as far as anyone can tell, he is now. When he came around he asked for me by name. Of course, we hadn't finished getting those pictures by then. I was already heading there to oversee things. When I got there, he acted like an amnesiac who finally remembered something."

"Did he know that he was part of the Suicide Squad?"

"He hasn't mentioned it."

"You didn't mention it to him?"

"Why would I? He's happy working for me and bringing the love of the 'Most High' to the prisoners."

"If they're his power rings, he'd be a whole lot more useful with them than without them."

Waller shakes her head. "As things stand, he's useful and under control. Until we know more about what he can do and why he's really here, he doesn't get told anything. I'm only telling you this much so you can keep an eye out for any anomalous behavior."

"He thinks he's here to serve you. Why not just ask him?"

"Because he's not here to serve me. He's here to serve-" She points to a picture of a stern-looking black woman with… Waller on her name lanyard. "-her. Task Force X was still active when whatever happened to him happened."

Flag turns another page. "What are these towers?"

"Did you read the reports on Steppenwolf?"

"The guy the Justice League stomped? Yeah, what about him?"

"He came from a planet called 'Apocalypse'. And as far as we can tell, so did they. They're boring into the Earth's core for some reason, and it looks like there's a lot of them."

"And the things guarding it look like Doomsday. It looks like there's a lot of them, too."

Waller nods. "And we don't have enough kryptonite spears to kill that many."

"It sounds like making sure that doesn't happen here should have top priority."

Waller smiles bitterly. "But how do we know which side he was on?"

"Going out on a limb here, but I'd guess he was on the side of the angels."

"But does that mean he saves bodies or souls?" Waller shrugs. "If every human dies but most of their souls go to Heaven, does he think that's good? Is… Whatever this is, ordained by God and something we're just supposed to accept?"

"I've gotta say, I'm honestly impressed with how paranoid you are."

"Thank you. It's my job to suspect things like him until there's categorical proof he can be trusted. And I'd like you to try getting that, too."
 
Last edited:

"drawer"

A few people go missing, but that's not-. Not unusual for the Suicide Squad

With a name like that it would be weird if they all came back.

Unfortunately, we can't work out how to reassign them and so they won't work for anyone else."

And you really don't want giving the orange one to anyone unless you want a Larfleeze situation.

from a planet called 'Apocalypse'.

I'm guessing a correction is unnecessary since she wouldn't necessarily know that it's spelled as "Apokalips".

"But does that mean he saves bodies or souls?" Waller shrugs. "If every human dies but most of their souls go to Heaven, does he think that's good? Is… Whatever this is, ordained by God and something we're just supposed to accept

I kinda see her point.
 
5th December 2023
13:45 GMT -5


Rick Flag Sen-.

And it hits him again. It's not as raw as it was, but it-. The horrible sucking void in his chest when he's forced to remember that he isn't ever going to see Rick Junior again.
Ah, a chapter from General Flag's POV? This will be enlightening. Presumably he's gone over the details of the other Commandos, but not Lan's. I shudder to imagine what happened to his son, though. If the previous Suicide Squad thing happened... I can suspect what.

Not in this life, anyway.

Rick… Flag, checks to make sure that the door is fully closed before turning to Amanda 'The Wall' Waller.

"So what's his deal?"
Ah, definitely a private conversation about Lan, then.

"He's really an angel, as far as we can tell." She opens a desk draw and pulls out a dossier. He flips it open and takes in the photograph. "We found him in a crater in Jump City a couple of years ago. First responders said he was babbling something about the end of the world."
'As far as you can tell', eh? Yes, leaves a big amount of leeway, and with Word of Zoat...

The angel in the picture looks a whole lot more ragged than the calm and collected man he just spoke to.

"If he's an angel, I guess he'd know."
Looking like someone who survived a universal retcon, I would imagine.

"Intel tried making sense of it. Some of what he said made sense. Most of it didn't. He didn't carry any I.D. and-"

He snorts quietly in amusement at the idea of an angel carrying an I.D..
I suspect the wings would be a pretty significant identifying detail.

"-the lab found what appeared to be the remains of a data stick in his robes. We haven't been able to get much out of it."

The next couple of pages are lab reports, attempts to analyse his body and blood. Unsurprisingly he doesn't have a human blood type, though apparently he did have some human blood on his skin when he first appeared.
What's the bet a lot of it was coded in a proprietary data format used by the Squad's agency in the previous universe? And half their trouble was just getting their systems to recognise it when they connected to it? 😏

Waller looks at the dossier. "Next page."

He obediently turns it over-.
No doubt the things they were able to get off it.

Some of these people he recognises. Harley Quinn making faces at the camera. Captain Boomerang pretending to ignore it. A few others he doesn't, but given how they look.

"The Suicide Squad."
Heh. Almost, but not quite. I bet if he looked closer, he'd see odd little differences.

Waller shrugs with her face. "If we'd ever had an angel, I'd have remembered it. Our best guess is that he's from an alternate timeline of some kind."

"Not from the future?"

"No. There's a date on the file. And Captain Boomerang's dead."
That big a signifier, then? At least they're fairly close to the truth.

He grits his teeth. Just for a moment.

"I know."
So the Corto Maltese mission did happen in this timeline, since that's where Boomerang died in the DCEU. And also Rick Flag Junior.

A few team pictures, including one with… Weapons that don't look like they're from Earth. A few people go missing, but that's not-. Not unusual for the Suicide Squad. Then a picture of Lan naked, pictures of his badly damaged robes and-.

His eyebrows shoot up, and he stares at Waller.
While they probably took pictures of every bit of him, I doubt it's what I first thought.

"Are these..?"

"Power rings? Sure, as far as we can tell. He hasn't asked about them since he arrived. It's possible that he's forgotten that he ever had them. Unfortunately, we can't work out how to reassign them and so they won't work for anyone else."
Which explains the seals binding them. Rings are notoriously weak against magic, after all, and I presume that holds true in this timeline.

"So, okay, how did he get from this to working here?"

"Have you read the part about his blood work yet?"

"Ah… Silver, can't be fully analysed but doesn't look like human blood under any microscope."
That would be due to the wings, I take it.

"No, the other part."

Down to the notes…
Probably a quite extensive list of footnotes, I'd expect.

That…

"He originally bled human blood, but the silver blood… Replaced it?"
Very interesting. So he was badly injured, but the wings healed him and 'converted' him into something closer to a full angel.

"It's not a firm conclusion, but it looked like it. Look at the side view photo."

He does, frowning. "What am I looking for?"
It's not like he's familiar with the anatomy of an angel, after all. 😏

"The scars."

Scars? The wounds are too fresh to have scarred. None of them-. Wait.
I'd be amazed if any of them scarred at all, given the restorative nature of his Angelic physiology.

"At the base of the wing?"

"It's the same on both sides. So either someone tried to cut them off, or he didn't start with them and they got grafted on. That's also the only wound that had a silver scab."
A very telling detail, and I'm not surprised they noticed it.

"What did the rest have?"

"The regular human kind. Oh Positive. The med techs said that they flaked off as the silver blood replaced it."

"So what, he's not an angel? He's just a guy with wings stuck on?"
I wonder if Constantine exists in this timeline, and whether he's known to the agency. And whether he has a st of Angels Wings in his lockup.

"He might not have been an angel to start with, but as far as anyone can tell, he is now. When he came around he asked for me by name. Of course, we hadn't finished getting those pictures by then. I was already heading there to oversee things. When I got there, he acted like an amnesiac who finally remembered something."
And it probably disconcerted her a little when he spoke to her like he knew her well.

"Did he know that he was part of the Suicide Squad?"

"He hasn't mentioned it."
Which means he may remember, but is keeping mum, or he doesn't remember at all.

"You didn't mention it to him?"

"Why would I? He's happy working for me and bringing the love of the 'Most High' to the prisoners."
It's all fun and games until the bill comes due, though. And hers will have a lot of red on it.

"If they're his power rings, he'd be a whole lot more useful with them than without them."

Waller shakes her head. "As things stand, he's useful and under control. Until we know more about what he can do and why he's really here, he doesn't get told anything. I'm only telling you this much so you can keep an eye out for any anomalous behavior."
And with any luck, he will remember something on this mission. It's just the team's luck.

"He thinks he's here to serve you. Why not just ask him?"

"Because he's not here to serve me. He's here to serve-" She points to a picture of a stern-looking black woman with… Waller on her name lanyard. "-her. Task Force X was still active when whatever happened to him happened."
She just happens to have the same face, and appears to have the same soul as that Waller. I suspect he wouldn't be fooled if he looked deeper, though

Flag turns another page. "What are these towers?"

"Did you read the reports on Steppenwolf?"
The 'towers' reference puts me in mind of the original Crisis, but Steppenwolf is from the DCEU 'Justice League' movie. I'm guessing the former would have been deployed if he'd succeeded.

"The guy the Justice League stomped? Yeah, what about him?"

"He came from a planet called 'Apocalypse'. And as far as we can tell, so did they. They're boring into the Earth's core for some reason, and it looks like there's a lot of them."
Ah, the joy of real life not having subtitles. Presumably carving Firepits into the planet, I take it?

"And the things guarding it look like Doomsday. It looks like there's a lot of them, too."

Waller nods. "And we don't have enough kryptonite spears to kill that many."
Or Supermen to wield them, much less to throw at the problem. 😏

"It sounds like making sure that doesn't happen here should have top priority."

Waller smiles bitterly. "But how do we know which side he was on?"
And what triggered it? At best, it gives you a definite scenario to make contingencies for.

"Going out on a limb here, but I'd guess he was on the side of the angels."

"But does that mean he saves bodies or souls?" Waller shrugs. "If every human dies but most of their souls go to Heaven, does he think that's good? Is… Whatever this is, ordained by God and something we're just supposed to accept?"
Well, technically it is, but not a God you want ordaining anything, since it's really bad for everyone.

"I've gotta say, I'm honestly impressed with how paranoid you are."

"Thank you. It's my job to suspect things like him until there's categorical proof he can be trusted. And I'd like you to try getting that, too."
Unfortunately, that kind of attitude ends up with you seeing threats where there aren't any...

So, some good confirmations of things Mr Zoat revealed. 'Lan' survived a Crisis retcon, but the surviving cost him dearly in body and soul. He brought echoes of that dead timeline, which made Waller very concerned and very suspicious. And naturally, her first thought is to maximise how she can exploit him. Typical Waller, really... 😏
 
So did Mr Zoat forget he changed the universe so timeline rewriting can no longer happen?
 
So, some good confirmations of things Mr Zoat revealed. 'Lan' survived a Crisis retcon, but the surviving cost him dearly in body and soul. He brought echoes of that dead timeline, which made Waller very concerned and very suspicious. And naturally, her first thought is to maximise how she can exploit him. Typical Waller, really... 😏
I assume he survived Justice League Dark Apokolips War but would that mean darksied's dead?
 

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