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

[Mr Zoat]

have the Reach ever experienced the Anti-Life?

Click to shrink...

They aren't even aware that it's a thing.

 

[Steelplaza]

Seems very possible that "And then get the Anti-Life in to deal with the Reach," was in fact the next part of Vandal Savage's trade one alien conquerer out for the next plan. Or should that be, "plan".

You don't want to be executing Savage's plan.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

have the Reach ever experienced the Anti-Life? i was just thinking that a potential wide-scale solution would be to lob some kind of Anti-Life broadcaster among them. wouldn't they then turn inwards on and consume themselves?

i know there's probably something i'm missing, like they'd all eventually become pawns of Darkseid or something, but i can't help but think the answer to the Reach is to target their brainwashing and turn it back on them.

Click to shrink...

Probably not a good idea. It might make Darkseid stronger, or give him a backdoor to mind control the entire Reach.

Or worse, the The Reach might decide to throw the Anti-Life right back at LEGION to spite them.

Although, I could see Tangseid try to use the equation to dominate the Reach once he figures out the entire Anti-Life formula.

 

[TFTwink]

Honestly, they remind me of Vuldarians, but… They're extinct." I shrug and shake my head.

Click to shrink...

That's a Chekov's gun isn't it? Maybe the beetles in this universe are bio-tech made from clone species grafted together.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th August 2013
09:41 GMT +1

Richard frowns. "Isn't 'abandon planet' a little premature?"

I nod. "Abandoning the planet would be premature. But at this point there's a appreciable chance that something irrecoverable could happen to the human species within the next five years. Not a.. big chance, I don't think, but enough of one that I want to get started on a fallback point a little more quickly."

Adom's face is hard. "Why can we not kill them?"

"Because they have pockets of unlimited depth and there are lots of mercenaries. And other people who could be induced to attack us. And the attacker only has to get lucky once. I mean, yes, we're probably going to end up killing them, but there are a whole lot of things we're going to need to get set up first, and if they're looking for us now we don't have time."

Circe looks thoughtful. "These… Reach-creatures. Are they capable of using magic?"

"They haven't shown any particular propensity for magic at any point in their recorded history."

"Do they habitually employ wizards?"

Uh… "No as far as I know, but if they realise that they need to then they would probably start."

"Then it should be possible to weave a grand illusion, fooling both their senses and their minds. To make us seem uninteresting."

Clea looks unconvinced. "Would that affect their recording devices?"

Circe turns to her. "That would be harder, but it should be possible." She turns back to me. "I'll start working on that once we're finished here."

"Thank you. Just remember that the Reachians are less… Attached.. to the arcane, than even the least magical human. Some techniques that you'd usually use-." She nods. "Thank you. Now, regarding the colonisation project itself. The E.D.F. is working, and has the forbearance of the world's nations. But I suspect that setting up a company town on another planet is going to change that."

Adom shrugs. "We have good relations with many countries. It should not be hard to find second sons who will be happy to take land which we grant to them."

"You'd be surprised. Africa was actually going through a farming collapse before we stepped in, and the profession has been so low status for so long in the more advanced parts of the world that few train for it."

"Few train as farmers?"

Circe pats his hand, nodding. "Farming machinery means that few can do what was once the work of many."

"Yes, I know that. But there are so many more people. Surely they still need to eat?"

I shrug. "If twenty people need to farm and one dies, it's not a big problem. If two people need to farm and one dies, you just lost half your food production. Most commercially viable farms today are in the parts of the world where the conditions are ideal for farming whatever they farm. If an area gets taken out, a thing can just stop being available, or at least the price shoots up to a ridiculous degree. And then there's the problem of farming equipment; we can't exactly ship things back to Earth for repairs, which means that we're going to need to have qualified engineers on the planet, and probably parts manufacturing as well. Which means miners and mining equipment… We can find them, at least enough for a small colony, but it's going to be a pain to get more than that."

"I could do that." Clea shrugs. "My city was entirely self-sufficient until we began working together. Now that we trade with Atlantis and the surface I have a pool of underutilised labour I could easily afford to send to a new world."

"Thank you for the offer, but there's an additional difficulty with using Atlanteans. Most worlds we could easily use are far more mystically inert than Earth. Chief Minister Dulak might permit us to establish a colony on Euphorix since they're not using the deep parts of their ocean, but if we want primary control of a planet that's not really an option."

"Why are most worlds more inert than Earth? Is it just chance?"

"As I understand it, no, it's something the Guardians did which altered how some worlds are bound to the Dream."

"Could we repeat their work, or ask the…" She waggles her right hand. "Maltusian..?"

"The Controllers?"

She nods. "The Controllers, to do it?"

Adom shakes his head. "If they did so at our behest, then we would be crying out to the universe that we are important and worth noting."

"Yeah." I nod. "And that's aside from any other issues that might come from what was involved."

"Then, while Circe is busy researching how to confound their minds, I will use the resources of Atlantis to determine how to connect the Dream more strongly with the material universe. Once that is done, it would actually be easier to use magic as we would not have to work against existing currents."

Cranius frowns. "Is zhet a known field of study?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's been limited to the realms of pure theory for longer than I've been alive because there's no real application for it. Not when we're on a world which is already thaumically active. In fact I think High King Orin banned such research because he was concerned over how easily it would be to weaponize. But with the issue of off-world colonisation on the table I'm sure that I can persuade him."

I nod. "Good. That will be tremendously helpful. I look forward to hearing of your progress."

"Hah!" Circe chuckles mirthfully, while Clea frowns at her.

"What?"

"Well, can you imagine Eviless saying something like-" Circe gestures to me. "-that?"

Clea thinks for a moment-.

"Hahahaaahahahah! Djh! No. No, I can't." She looks around at the men who have no idea who she's talking about, myself included. "She was a total bitch. She decided that she was in charge once when we were all on Reformation Island together. I do not miss her at all."

Hm. "Well, thank you for that vote of confidence. Ah. As I was saying, keeping the world's nations on-side could be difficult. Just in case, I think having a country with a permanent seat on the Security Council on-side could be useful."

Cranius nods. "Horne?"

"As much as I like President Horne, he's on his last term and he's not exactly… I don't think he's got the aggression to hold the line on something like this. I was thinking of Britain."

Adom smiles, nodding. "I respect how Prime Minister Geoffrey Talbot has burned out the corruption in his nation. Few would have such ruthlessness or determination. Do you believe that he will win the next General Election?"

I nod. "Yes, though since other parties are getting organised he probably won't have a majority quite as large as he does now."

Richard nods. "He seemed surprisingly rational for a man as angry as he is. If you think it will help, then by all means."

The screen moves back and forward in a nodding gesture. "His country has the expertise we need, and is already involved in E.D.F. production."

I look around. "Then if there are no objections, I'll make an appointment and sound him out."

Richard languidly raises his right hand. "A question. Would it help if I offered my services to Maltus on a temporary basis? I imagine that I could destroy a fleet or two without straining myself."

"I'm not sure. I'll keep it in mind if there's a need to negotiate, but as I said, I doubt that it would actually help us in the short term." He nods. "Alright then. Unless anyone has any other business..?" No one does. "Then I declare this meeting over. Thank you all for coming."

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Behold, a short omake that I wrote about an alternate version of Paul…who landed on an Earth-11 parody version of Young Justice.

We've all seen plenty of weird universes on this thread…and we all know the 63rd rule of the internet, don't we? That's right, IT'S THE GENDERSWAP UNIVERSE!

LET IT HAUNT YOUR NIGHTMARES!

*Evil Laugh*

(Insert obligatory *this is not canon to the main story and just something that I wrote as a joke* disclaimer here)

---

Reliance Day, Part 26

8th July
08:04 GMT -4

We emerge from the water in a huge splash.

"Well, I admit, this is less interesting than advertised."

I dispel the environmental shield surrounding Wonder Man and drift to the edge of the inner pool. He and Elaine Scott join me, and I pause to let him guide me.

Has it really only been a few days since I got here? It feels so much longer than that. So much has already happened, and I have a feeling that this is only the beginning. As far as "protagonist gets transported to another world" stories go, getting abducted and sent to a genderbent version of DC is rather out there.

I'm pleased to see that Elaine looks somewhat younger and healthier now that I've used my power to give her a top-up. Good thing blue rings can supercharge green ones.

"...I'm bringing it into service again, since all four of you are determined to stay together and fight the good fight. You'll do so on League rules."

I can barely hear a voice. A deep tone. Not sure where it's coming from. The noise is echoing too much in these caverns.

"Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and supervise you. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will send you on missions."

"Blue Lantern, in accordance with your oath to Ouranos, I designate Batwoman as the person whose orders you must also obey."

Ah, that must have been Batwoman's voice I heard earlier. Not as gravelly as I expected it to be. Then again,

As part of my deal with Elaine and Phoebus, I got access to Elaine's power battery in exchange for a year of service and an oath to Ouranos, which I made on this Parallel's version of Paradise Island, Elysium Island. Or as it is more commonly known, Themiscira. It was ridiculously hard and Phoebus had to ask for some mystical assistance from his gods due to the fact that Blue Lantern rings aren't meant to absorb or convert other colors of the emotional spectrum, but I eventually managed to convert it into a blue power battery. It would have probably been easier if I had, say, an orange ring instead.

Phoebus was initially reluctant to trust me or help me when we first met, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw that I could heal Elaine by boosting her power with the blue light, and his powers told him that I wasn't actually malicious. In fairness, I can't really blame him for being suspicious of me. After all, it's not every day that a girl with a blue lantern ring just shows up on your friend's doorstep to inquire about buying her power battery.

"I understand."

"Pearl, I hope you realize that we're late because of this delay?"

"Sorry."

"Here, it's not really important. But remember that if you arrive late for a mission, people may die."

"Yes, sir."

"Civilians. Your teammates. You."

"Yes, sir."

A green glint in the corner of my eye catches my attention. I look up and spot a black-haired Green Lantern. Maybe a female version of Harold Jordan? Since genders are reversed in this world, it's hard for me to tell which Lantern I'm looking at. She's hovering in the air, moving a large, mechanical-looking object by a bunch of impressively detailed, bright green construction workers.

Huh. Odd. Normally I'd expect Harold Jordan to make a simpler construct like a bright green hand, or something.

She saw us, too. She hovers in mid-air and looks at me. I hesitate to wave, but decide against it, thinking it would be inappropriate. She seems perplexed by me. After a moment of staring at me, she gives me a polite smile.

Elaine steps forward. "Good morning, Kylie!"

Kylie? Ah. That explains the hair and unusually detailed constructs. I'm guessing she must be a genderbent Kyle Rayner.

Ring, who am I looking at?

"Kylie Rayner, Green Lantern of sector 2814."

She looks surprised at seeing us, and her constructs fizzle for a moment.

"Elaine? Hi! How are you? It's good to see you! I didn't know you were coming."

"I thought I'd see the girl on her very first day. Especially since she keeps telling me she's surprised I'm still alive!"

That's not what I… sigh.

I roll my eyes. Wonder Man notices my expression and nods toward Lantern Rayner. She looks confused for a brief moment, then walks towards me.

"You must, ah…you must be Blue Lantern! Pearl, right? Phoebus told me good things about you. She also said you had some kind of curse that prevented you from saying your name out loud."

Yes, I can't say my own name out loud. A very annoying curse, but fortunately, I managed to give enough clues to Elaine and Phoebus for them to figure it out on their own. Unfortunately, this also means I need to be very careful whenever I talk to someone about jewelry or sea animals, because since I'm named after the P-Word, I can't say it without the curse activating.

Green Lantern 2814 offers me her hand and a nice smile. I can tell that she's a bit wary of me and wants to ask me a hundred different questions, but she's trying to make a good first impression.

"I'm Green Lantern! Well, one of them, anyway. Nice to meet you!"

One of them, eh? Interesting. That means there's more than one on this parallel. I smile, nod and make an effort to return her politeness by returning her handshake and with one of my own. "Nice to meet you too."

Wonder Man smiles and gives me an approving nod, and then we all make our way further into the base., with Elaine and Lantern Rayner making some conversation in the back. I get the feeling they haven't seen each other in a bit and wanted to catch up. Nice to know that she's polite and respectful towards us, even if she couldn't be bothered to fix Elaine's lantern. Perhaps I judged her and the other Earth lanterns too quickly? I should ask her about that later when I get the chance.

"The six of you will form this team."

We approach where Batwoman is. Since this is more-or-less an induction ceremony, there are probably other League members nearby, busy elsewhere in the building. I'll admit, I'm a bit impressed that they're able to build their own bases, but I suppose the need for secrecy makes it harder to hire staff to do it. I remember the fairly large operations staff in Justice League Unlimited. A huge security risk, if you ask me.

"Awesome! Wait, six?"

We four emerge from the tunnel and enter another large cavern. I suffer a brief semi-nerdgasm upon recognizing genderbent versions of Flash, Batman, Aquaman, Black Canary, Hawkman, and…hold on, Red Inferno? Wait, no, she just looks a lot like her, but it's still Red Tornado. Just genderbent.

In other words, we have Batwoman, still Flash, Aquawoman, still Black Canary, Hawkwoman, and still Red Tornado. Ring, is this correct?

"Affirmative".

I'd probably be more excited if these were the versions of them that I was most familiar with back on my parallel, but I still feel rather excited regardless. After all, genderbent or not, it's not every day that you get to meet the Justice League!

I notice with some amusement that male Black Canary looks an awful lot like male Green Arrow would in the mainstream continuity. Decent outfit by superhero standards, really pulls off the tough biker look, although his head is completely exposed, just like most versions of Black Canary tend to do.

Batwoman, is shorter than most versions of Batman, but still intimidating in her own right. Aside from that, her costume is quite similar to her mainstream counterpart, minus the obvious proportions. Unfortunately, she still leaves her mouth exposed too.

Aquawoman, still has blonde hair, and her outfit makes her slightly resemble Mera, but with more skin showing. She also has practically no head protection.

Female Flash's costume looks almost identical to her male counterpart, minus an opening at the top of her cowl where her hair flows freely. Impractical, although I could say the same about male Flash for having his mouth exposed too.

Hawkwoman's armor looks far more conservative and practical than most of her incarnations, but I can clearly tell that this is a version of Katar Hol, because his-I mean her- mask has no black on it and its beak is longer than you'd typically see on most versions of Hawkgirl. Also an exposed mouth. Seriously, what is it with superheroes and refusing to protect your head? Normally, you'd think that protecting one of your most vital areas would be a priority when designing a costume meant for battle, but apparently not here.

And lastly, Red Tornado's body shape is far more feminine and less muscular than her male counterpart, and her cape is also white and gold instead of blue and gold. I wonder, is she the elemental/robot hybrid version, or a pure robot like in the cartoons? Since Wonder Man has never heard of Rann, probably the latter.

I look at my future teammates, and I see a Kid Flash (probably a female Wally West), A black-haired girl wearing a Superm-I mean, Superwoman emblem (Maybe Cir-El?), a serious-looking Black girl with bleached dreadlocks tied in a ponytail, and another, shorter girl with black hair. Probably a genderbent Robin (Maybe a Roberta?), since Batwoman is here. Yep, all teenagers.

Two martians approach us, coming from the direction of what I assume to be the Zeta Beam base station. The local version of Martian Manhunter, known as Martian Manhuntress, approaches us with her sidekick. Batwoman glances in our direction, but everyone else has their eyes fixed on the Martians.

"This is the Martian Manhuntress' nephew, Sir Martian."

He puffs his chest, and waves energetically. "Greetings!"

"And this…"

Batwoman turns to face me, and this time, everyone turns with him. I haven't reached them yet, and I can clearly see their expressions. Gulp.

"…is Blue Lantern, protégé of the original Green Lantern."

Chin up.

"I apologize for being late, ma'am. I confess I took some horror stories about teleportation seriously and asked to enter through the sea entrance."

Kid Flash looks at me for a moment, then decides she'd rather talk to the green boy.

"Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash! And this is the -newly expanded- gang!"

Hm. Would he have been more receptive towards me if I had been a boy instead? I briefly consider the idea of using my ring to change my gender, but I disregard it. I already gave myself one ring-induced makeover by accident when I first got here, I don't think I need another one.

They all look at me again. They all know each other already, right? Getting some ingroup intrusion vibes here. Looks like we've crashed the party. Still, I should introduce myself properly.

"Robin." I nod. "Kid Flash. Mister M'orzz. Super…"girl"? And… I'm sorry, I've got no clue who you are." I extend my right hand to the black girl. She takes it.

"I'm Kaldur'ahm. My code name is Aqualass."

"Blue Lantern 2814. Pleased to meet you all. But you can call me this."

I pull a card out of my subspace, and I give it to Aqualass. She takes it and reads what's written on it it out loud. Robin and the black-haired Supergirl both come closer to Aqualass to read what's written on the card.

"It says: "Pleased to meet you. I can't say my name, but you can call me Pearl"."

"Yep. For whatever reason, I am incapable of saying my own name, so Wonder Man and Green Lantern-The original Green Lantern- both helped me come up with a way for me to tell others what to call me without actually saying my name out loud."

She raises an eyebrow, and then hands me back the card.

"Very well, Pearl. Welcome to The Team."

I'm not a big Aquaman fan, but wasn't Aqualad white? Didn't he go on to become Tempest? I think his name was Garth, or Gareth, something like that. This universe is very different from the other versions of the DC universe I'm familiar with.

Kid Flash looks at me, squinting. "Hey, hold on a sec. A Blue Lantern? How many colors are there?"

I turn to her. "As far as I know, nine. Well, logically, I... I suppose you could make one of any color."

"Nine?!"

Robin puts a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Try to stay whelmed, Kid."

Whelmed?

"Whelmed?"

Kid Flash grimaces.

"How about no."

---

Feel free to pour bleach into your eyes to wash away this horrible insanity I have unleashed.

By the way, I gave Female!Paul/Pearl a blue ring instead of an orange one because blue is the color you get when you invert orange so I thought it would be funny. Besides, there's already plenty of Pauls who have orange rings out there as is.

Come to think about it, Paragon Paul with a blue ring instead of orange would change the story immensely. Think about it: No Ophidian, no assimilation, no enlightenment after the psychic training simulation, no visiting the Controllers after the year is up, no Alan/Elaine dying, etc.

Also, Kyle replaced Hal here because again, Earth-11.

And yeah, I named Female Paul "Pearl", because it can't be abbreviated, and I recall Zoat once saying that his Mom specifically chose to call him Paul because it couldn't be abbreviated either.

 

[hance1986]

On a side note, how soon before Diplomacy part 5 comes up? Eager to see more of what is happening with Black Arrow and the German assassination attempt.

 

[Darko]

human species with the next five years. Not a.. big chance, I don't think, but

Click to shrink...

"within the next"

Sure they still need to eat?"

Click to shrink...

"Surely"

I understand it, no, it's something the Guardians did which altered how some worlds are bound to the Dream.

Click to shrink...

So that Starheart thing kinda happened here too.

rational for a man was angry as he is. If you think it will help, then by all means."

Click to shrink...

'as angry'

 

[Mr Zoat]

"Pearl, I hope you realize that we're late because of this delay?"

Click to shrink...

Pearl? I realise that I'm not young any longer, but I'm not ninety. Why the heck would a version of me pick 'Pearl'?

And yeah, I named Female Paul "Pearl", because it can't be abbreviated, and I recall Zoat once saying that his Mom specifically chose to call him Paul because it couldn't be abbreviated either.

Click to shrink...

Even so. What's wrong with Sarah?

On a side note, how soon before Diplomacy part 5 comes up? Eager to see more of what is happening with Black Arrow and the German assassination attempt.

Click to shrink...

Friday.

"within the next"
"Surely"
'as angry'

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[timeForced]

I'm onto you Paul. Your neo-British Empire in Spaaaaace didn't slip past me.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

8th August 2013
09:41 GMT +1

Richard frowns. "Isn't 'abandon planet' a little premature?"

I nod. "Abandoning the planet would be premature. But at this point there's a appreciable chance that something irrecoverable could happen to the human species with the next five years. Not a.. big chance, I don't think, but enough of one that I want to get started on a fallback point a little more quickly."

Click to shrink...

Only a fool keeps all their eggs in one basket. Or in this case, your whole species on one planet once you have spaceflight. After all, it doesn't take much to cause a mass extinction, and Earth has seen more than enough in its lifetime.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Adom's face is hard. "Why can we not kill them?"

"Because they have pockets of unlimited depth and there are lots of mercenaries. And other people who could be induced to attack us. And the attacker only has to get lucky once. I mean, yes, we're probably going to end up killing them, but there are a whole lot of things we're going to need to get set up first, and if they're looking for us now we don't have time."

Click to shrink...

Besides, there's rather a lot of the Reach. Even if you kill any 'diplomats' who come to Earth, that might just get their goat up and encourage a more aggressive response.

Circe looks thoughtful. "These… Reach-creatures. Are they capable of using magic?"

"They haven't shown any particular propensity for magic at any point in their recorded history."

Click to shrink...

I thought she asked that yesterday, but that was just seeing if they know of magic, not if they used it themselves...

"Do they habitually employ wizards?"

Uh… "No as far as I know, but if they realise that they need to then they would probably start."

Click to shrink...

Which might be tricky, given they might have deleted any races with mystical potential at some point.

"Then it should be possible to weave a grand illusion, fooling both their senses and their minds. To make us seem uninteresting."

Clea looks unconvinced. "Would that affect their recording devices?"

Click to shrink...

Good foresight. Circe isn't really that used to modern technology, is she, to not consider that?

Circe turns to her. "That would be harder, but it should be possible." She turns back to me. "I'll start working on that once we're finished here."

"Thank you. Just remember that the Reachians are less… Attached.. to the arcane, than even the least magical human. Some techniques that you'd usually use-." She nods. "Thank you. Now, regarding the colonisation project itself. The E.D.F. is working, and has the forbearance of the world's nations. But I suspect that setting up a company town on another planet is going to change that."

Click to shrink...

Depends on how public you make it early on. Though it'd mean skilled workers disappearing, which would see questions asked...

Adom shrugs. "We have good relations with many countries. It should not be hard to find second sons who will be happy to take land which we grant to them."

"You'd be surprised. Africa was actually going through a farming collapse before we stepped in, and the profession has been so low status for so long in the more advanced parts of the world that few train for it."

Click to shrink...

Sadly true. Even as it slowly gets less and less profitable, too... Price of city folks being detached fromt he source of their food, I guess. Nothing new.

"Few train as farmers?"

Circe pats his hand, nodding. "Farming machinery means that few can do what was once the work of many."

"Yes, I know that. But there are so many more people. Sure they still need to eat?"

Click to shrink...

The machinery also allows far larger fields to be worked by fewer people. Fields in the range of multiple miles squared aren't uncommon.

I shrug. "If twenty people need to farm and one dies, it's not a big problem. If two people need to farm and one dies, you just lost half your food production. Most commercially viable farms today are in the parts of the world where the conditions are ideal for farming whatever they farm. If an area gets taken out, a thing can just stop being available, or at least the price shoots up to a ridiculous degree. And then there's the problem of farming equipment; we can't exactly ship things back to Earth for repairs, which means that we're going to need to have qualified engineers on the planet, and probably parts manufacturing as well. Which means miners and mining equipment… We can find them, at least enough for a small colony, but it's going to be a pain to get more than that."

Click to shrink...

You'll have to build the machinery to make the machinery you need, too. And they aren't at the point where you can just drop down a build-anything facility that can build anything out of nothing yet.

"I could do that." Clea shrugs. "My city was entirely self-sufficient until we began working together. Now that we trade with Atlantis and the surface I have a pool of underutilised labour I could easily afford to send to a new world."

"Thank you for the offer, but there's an additional difficulty with using Atlanteans. Most worlds we could easily use are far more mystically inert than Earth. Chief Minister Dulak might permit us to establish a colony on Euphorix since they're not using the deep parts of their ocean, but if we want primary control of a planet that's not really an option."

Click to shrink...

And I doubt her citizens are entirely willing to have the ancient magic undone just to make a new start on another world. If anything, keeping the enhancements would be beneficial, given the augmentations needed to survive at the sea floor.

"Why are most worlds more inert than Earth? Is it just chance?"

"As I understand it, no, it's something the Guardians did which altered how some worlds are bound to the Dream."

Click to shrink...

Bloody gits, poking their blue noses in. Admittedly, they did so to reduce the sheer chaos of a magically-rish galaxy...

"Could we repeat their work, or ask the…" She waggles her right hand. "Maltusian..?"

"The Controllers?"

She nods. "The Controllers, to do it?"

Click to shrink...

The trick would be given them incentive. And it would be noticeable to those with the right senses.

Adom shakes his head. "If they did so at our behest, then we would be crying out to the universe that we are important and worth noting."

"Yeah." I nod. "And that's aside from any other issues that might come from what was involved."

Click to shrink...

Such as the reversal resulting in the need to build an entirely new magic system because that world just works that way.

"Then, while Circe is busy researching how to confound their minds, I will use the resources of Atlantis to determine how to connect the Dream more strongly with the material universe. Once that is done, it would actually be easier to use magic as we would not have to work against existing currents."

Click to shrink...

Nothing small about any of these plans, eh?

Cranius frowns. "Is zhet a known field of study?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's been limited to the realms of pure theory for longer than I've been alive because there's no real application for it. Not when we're on a world which is already thaumically active. In fact I think High King Orin banned such research because he was concerned over how easily it would be to weaponize. But with the issue of off-world colonisation on the table I'm sure that I can persuade him."

Click to shrink...

The tricky part is going to be engaging in it without him getting suspicious. Even if you tell him it's intended as part of the EDF expansion, he's going to be troublesome about it.

I nod. "Good. That will be tremendously helpful. I look forward to hearing of your progress."

"Hah!" Circe chuckles mirthfully, while Clea frowns at her.

Click to shrink...

I don't see what's so funny about the Renegade. I'm sure there's plenty of things, but none come to mind that are relevant here.

"What?"

"Well, can you imagine Eviless saying something like-" Circe gestures to me. "-that?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, Golden Age Wonder Woman, with such strange villainesses... A 'Slaver from Saturn'? (Presumably said empire is actually based on its moons, because 1940's science! didn't know they weren't inhabitable yet.)

Clea thinks for a moment-.

"Hahahaaahahahah! Djh! No. No, I can't." She looks around at the men who have no idea who she's talking about, myself included. "She was a total bitch. She decided that she was in charge once when we were all on Reformation Island together. I do not miss her at all."

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I imagine she was soon set straight on that illusion. Probably without too many bruises.

Hm. "Well, thank you for that vote of confidence. Ah. As I was saying, keeping the world's nations on-side could be difficult. Just in case, I think having a country with a permanent seat on the Security Council on-side could be useful."

Cranius nods. "Horne?"

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Not replaced by the Robot bastard on this Earth, of course...

"As much as I like President Horne, he's on his last term and he's not exactly… I don't think he's got the aggression to hold the line on something like this. I was thinking of Britain."

Adom smiles, nodding. "I respect how Prime Minister Geoffrey Talbot has burned out the corruption in his nation. Few would have such ruthlessness or determination. Do you believe that he will win the next General Election?"

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Joy of channelling the Red Light of Rage in such a restrained fashion.

I nod. "Yes, though since other parties are getting organised he probably won't have a majority quite as large as he does now."

Richard nods. "He seemed surprisingly rational for a man was angry as he is. If you think it will help, then by all means."

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Enlightenment can go a long way to maintaining self-control. and his grumpy attitude might strike a vein with voters...

The screen moves back and forward in a nodding gesture. "His country has the expertise we need, and is already involved in E.D.F. production."

I look around. "Then if there are no objections, I'll make an appointment and sound him out."

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Hopefully shouldn't be too hard a sell. Though if England is at the heart of colonisation efforts, you know there's gonna be a lot of jokes about 'British Empire 2.0: In Space!' once the news is out...

Richard languidly raises his right hand. "A question. Would it help if I offered my services to Maltus on a temporary basis? I imagine that I could destroy a fleet or two without straining myself."

"I'm not sure. I'll keep it in mind if there's a need to negotiate, but as I said, I doubt that it would actually help us in the short term." He nods. "Alright then. Unless anyone has any other business..?" No one does. "Then I declare this meeting over. Thank you all for coming."

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Although there's the matter of how well his powers work off of Earth. The Shadowlands might be universal, but his connection might be weaker elsewhere...

Well, plans have been made, ideas exchanged, and a few jokes about old villains shared. Not a bad meeting for a bunch of former supervillains. Not even a monologue in sight! I expect this plotline will continue for a while across episodes, though it might wear thin if it's allowed to become too distracting outside of a Renegade-focused episode. We'll see, we'll see...

Reliance Day, Part 26

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Huh, a rare sight indeed. An actual omake... A nice concept, and well-executed. I assume the alt!Paul got genderbent in the process of arrival, and just rolled with it.

 

[Vaermina]

I'm onto you Paul. Your neo-British Empire in Spaaaaace didn't slip past me.

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I mean... He is Evil... So it fits...

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Pearl? I realise that I'm not young any longer, but I'm not ninety. Why the heck would a version of me pick 'Pearl'?

Even so. What's wrong with Sarah?

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Well, the in-story reason is because just like how we don't get to choose the names we're assigned at birth in real life, neither does Female Zoat (Ms. Zoat?). I mean, let's be real here: do our parents ask our opinion before they assign us names at birth? In-story, it's just the name she was born with, just like how you were named Paul. No more, no less.

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, Pearl's real-life counterpart Ms. Zoat is probably having a conversation with a female CrazyNoVa about why the latter decided to name her male counterpart Paul after she wrote an omake about a male version of Pearl with an orange ring:

"Paul? I realise that I'm not young any longer, but I'm not ninety. Why the heck would a version of me pick 'Paul'?"

Now, as for the real-life reasons, there's four of them:

One, it sounded similar to Paul, and like I said, I figured it would be the kind of name your Mom might have chosen since it couldn't be abbreviated.

Two, I thought other names like Paula or Polly were too obvious.

Three, I had no idea what name you would have picked. I mean, how exactly was I supposed to know? The name I picked was mostly a placeholder. If I had known you liked Sarah, I would have used that instead.

Four, because I wanted to screw with you.

Huh, a rare sight indeed. An actual omake... A nice concept, and well-executed. I assume the alt!Paul got genderbent in the process of arrival, and just rolled with it.

Click to shrink...

Thank you! But the answer is no. She's always been female. She's a version of the SI who was female all along, because she comes from a version of OUR Earth where Paul Tallowin (AKA placeholder: Pearl Tallowin) was instead born as a girl.

 

[Vanbers]

By the way, I gave Female!Paul/Pearl a blue ring instead of an orange one because blue is the color you get when you invert orange so I thought it would be funny. Besides,mthere's already plenty of Pauls who have orange rings out there as is.

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I realise you probably mean in terms of colour theory, but my brain immediately jumped to 'UHM AHCKSHUALLY, IN TERMS OF LANTERN CORPS-'

R O Y G B I V
Red <> Violet
Orange <> Indigo
Yellow <> Blue
Green <> Forever Alone

 

[Sordid Snake]

Eviless

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Hmm. I wonder if she was the inspiration for Saturn Girl of LOSH? Similar moniker, appearance, powers and home planet (well, more or less. Saturn Girl was actually from Titan IIRC)

 

[WereDragon]

"Then, while Circe is busy researching how to confound their minds, I will use the resources of Atlantis to determine how to connect the Dream more strongly with the material universe. Once that is done, it would actually be easier to use magic as we would not have to work against existing currents."

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Paul had to go on a dream quest in a potentially hostile planet-entity then give long fumbling explanations to experts in order to prompt this research. And was told it would likely be decades before they had any results at all. Grayven has it handed to him out of nowhere and they expect applications within a useful time-frame.

Eviless

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What, Saturn is inhabited? …odd for that to have never come up before.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

I realise you probably mean in terms of colour theory, but my brain immediately jumped to 'UHM AHCKSHUALLY, IN TERMS OF LANTERN CORPS-'

R O Y G B I V
Red <> Violet
Orange <> Indigo
Yellow <> Blue
Green <> Forever Alone

Click to shrink...

Well, yeah. When you apply a color inverter to orange, it literally becomes blue. It's probably the same reason why Zoat picked blue for Crime Syndicate Paul. An inverted color for an inverted world.

Besides, if there can be more than one Orange Paul, there's no reason why there can't be two versions of Paul with a Blue Ring, right?

Of course, the fact that Pearl has her own power battery will probably change things up a lot for her, but still.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Well, the in-story reason is because just like how we don't get to choose the names we're assigned at birth in real life, neither does Female Zoat (Ms. Zoat?). I mean, let's be real here: do our parents ask our opinion before they assign us names at birth? In-story, it's just the name she was born with, just like how you were named Paul. No more, no less.

Click to shrink...

They named my younger sister Karen, so I imagine that if I'd been female then that would have been my name.

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, Pearl's real-life counterpart Ms. Zoat is probably having a conversation with a female CrazyNoVa about why the latter decided to name her male counterpart Paul after she wrote an omake about a male version of Pearl with an orange ring:

"Paul? I realise that I'm not young any longer, but I'm not ninety. Why the heck would a version of me pick 'Paul'?"

Click to shrink...

Hey! Paul is a perfectly modern name! You'd have to have picked... Dalziel or Egbert or something.

Now, as for the real-life reasons, there's four of them:

One, it sounded similar to Paul, and like I said, I figured it would be the kind of name your Mom might have chosen since it couldn't be abbreviated.

Two, I thought other names like Paula or Polly were too obvious.

Three, I had no idea what name you would have picked. I mean, how exactly was I supposed to know? The name I picked was mostly a placeholder. If I had known you liked Sarah, I would have used that instead.

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It's not that I like Sarah. I can't honestly say I've spent much time thinking about what name I'd like to have if I was a woman.

Four, because I wanted to screw with you.

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Or female me, apparently.

Thank you! But the answer is no. She's always been female. She's a version of the SI who was female all along, because she comes from a version of OUR Earth where Paul Tallowin (AKA placeholder: Pearl Tallowin) was instead born as a girl.

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Yes, that did throw me for a moment. Also, I generally don't have the ring speaking out loud when the SI speaks to it inside his head.

Honestly, I'm sure sure how Earth 11 works. Physical function defines a lof of things. Superman would still be kryptonian as a woman, and I could... Sort of see a traumatised Miss Wayne becoming Batwoman, but you just have to look at literally all modern armies -to say nothing of historical ones- to see that it's vastly more likely for men to pursue a career in violence. There was an Elseworlds where Kal-EL never reached Earth and Superwoman was Kara Zor-El, while Bruce Wayne got therapy and Batwoman was Barbara Gordon, but those were pre-existing characters.

Paul had to go on a dream quest in a potentially hostile planet-entity then give long fumbling explanations to experts in order to prompt this research. And was told it would likely be decades before they had any results at all. Grayven has it handed to him out of nowhere and they expect applications within a useful time-frame.

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Not only is her city wealthier in this timeline, but she can also hire researchers from anywhere in Atlantis. She... May also be underestimating the difficulty involved.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Feel free to pour bleach into your eyes to wash away this horrible insanity I have unleashed.

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Oh hush, this was nice! A very fun idea, and picking a Blue Ring with a lantern is a fun twist. Thank you, I liked this.

Although part of me is terrified of a Lena Luthor in Young Justice given other fanfiction I've heard of, I suspect you've turned Lex into Lexie (Alexis) Luthor.

Themyscira with a female Herakles traumatizing the Amazons... Sure, that could explain them never becoming expansionist, and resisting Ares's designs. Though gender swapping the Greek gods could get bizarre.

How the heck do you fix Guy Gardner's first name in this though... Oh, and the idea of Aquawoman getting pregnant in the first year or so of Young Justice would change things, with or without her royal sister getting involved.

 

[Mr Zoat]

It's not that I like Sarah. I can't honestly say I've spent much time thinking about what name I'd like to have if I was a woman.

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Okay, I just asked my mother, and apparently it was going to be 'Anna'.