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

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T08:37:20+0100

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'shared'.

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch said:
They had to think of something for provisional limited access. Be glad they didn't jump to 'P'. Or worse, 'L'.

Tried it once, it doesn't work. You get four teams all fighting over who's gonna be Team X, but they don't know each other, so nobody wants to back down.

Signaller said:
to be

Thank you, corrected.

Prince Charon · 2026-07-30T08:46:16+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
I would hope anyone with an arrest record would be low on the priority list. Unless they were wrongfully accused or being very determined about reforming.

Probably 'arrest record' as in 'how many people they have arrested, and how likely the arrested parties were to be guilty of the things which they were being arrested for.' Green Arrow is probably pretty good in that area, just not as good as Batman.

PeriodicPedant · 2026-07-30T08:47:28+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
I would hope anyone with an arrest record would be low on the priority list. Unless they were wrongfully accused or being very determined about reforming.

I read that as 'author of arrests' rather than 'arrested'.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T11:15:57+0100

PeriodicPedant said:
I read that as 'author of arrests' rather than 'arrested'.

Yes, obviously? Wait, did someone read it as 'how many times they've been arrested'?

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-07-30T12:38:36+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Yes, obviously? Wait, did someone read it as 'how many times they've been arrested'?

Well, mostly because I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing before...

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T13:04:26+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, mostly because I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing before...

Plastic Man would win, but I don't think that the others have been arrested all that often.

Bolo · 2026-07-30T14:53:31+0100

I'm just glad the all others Paul's shared what they could with everyone. Wonder if more of this thread will be pulled.

Ardy · 2026-07-30T16:09:54+0100

Bolo said:
I'm just glad the all others Paul's shared what they could with everyone. Wonder if more of this thread will be pulled.

I mean they didn't, that was one of (my) biggest complaints with the series. No one warned red about Trigon in teen titans, no one warned the SI about the Reach, no one warned black about... whatever the fuck goes on in Buffy.

boo600 · 2026-07-30T16:14:02+0100

Well, the SI knows about the Reach, though giving him more detail (if the others remembered the show) could have let him take care of Rimbor before the League could find out and pull a Stupid (assuming the other Pauls saw past S1). Red didn't fight Trigon directly, instead slaughtering his cultists. And… Black was lackadaisical, due to his lack of motivation, with Red outright killing the Mayor and Glorificus, who seem to be the major big bads, ignoring 1. Vampires, 2. An android who may have not been built yet. 3. The First Evil (who hasn't been invoked yet). 4. An idiot with a gun, and 5. Willow, who isn't fully corrupted yet.

Oh, and Angel, who doesn't really need murdering, but does come with some nonsense. But I think Black won't give much of a shit for long…

Still, it would have been nice if they'd taken advantage of Mandated Paul/The Time Trapper's command of Time to stop and talk to each other, see if they had useful info to share of the future.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T16:43:19+0100

Ardy said:
I mean they didn't, that was one of (my) biggest complaints with the series. No one warned red about Trigon in teen titans, no one warned the SI about the Reach, no one warned black about... whatever the fuck goes on in Buffy.

I never watch Teen Titans all the way through. I'm vaguely aware of the Raven-Trigon thing from the comics, but none of the mes would have been able to give precise information.

Duke Long · 2026-07-30T17:39:01+0100

Edited to put the corrections and commentary inside a spoiler because it's a bit big otherwise.

Mr Zoat said:
"No. Said there wasn't any point. But right it that moment, when the gun barrel was an inch from my eye? I wasn't scared or angry. I wasn't thinking about all the things I could have done. I wasn't thinking anything except 'huh, okay'."

'at'

Mr Zoat said:
The N.C.R. had no way to redeploy its army north fast enough to matter, but by borrowing transport planes from everyone willing to help out, as well as utilising troops from friendly nations not currently involved in hunting down Legion remnants, we were able to put together a force to attack the southern part of the Washington Brotherhood's territory. Robots from Vault City, power armour, aircraft and mechanised units from Heaven's Gate, N.C.R. rangers and Arroyo tribals… And a large number of surprisingly biddable mirelurks. The Washington Brotherhood didn't leave much of a garrison, and what was there was mostly poorly organised raiders lead by their own war chiefs.

'led'

Mr Zoat said:
Knights of the Order of Saint George are moving through Wardens territory, but it's hard to bring significant men or materials through the mountains. Element of the Kingdom of Manitoba's regular army are moving through the narrow passes south of the mountains to support Heaven's Gate's push north. A push made easier by the orbital fire support from the Mothership and Helios, and by the maps we've been able to provide.

'Elements'

Mr Zoat said:
The Paladins mostly just nod and recheck their gear, but the Knights start twitching. Standard Operating Procedure for Paladin deployment involves landing the vertibird they're on, having them pile out and then it taking off again. But pre-War America developed thruster packs that in theory should allow them to jump out of a plane and not become an iron-rich pancake. Apparently the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood came across the design in the Pentagon but never had any need for them since the didn't have any vertibirds. They sent the design to Lost Hills who were experimenting so see if it worked, and…

'they'
'to'

I love the combination of all sorts of nations and gizmos in this chapter. Very cool.
I guess you're treating the fall damage immunity in Fallout 4 as a game mechanic haha.

Mr Zoat said:
A mechanical whine fills the cabin, followed by the road of winds that tried to compete with the road of the engines. Paladins and Knights take careful hold of the wall-mounted handles as they stand and prepare to deploy.

'roar'
'tries'
'roar'

Mr Zoat said:
"Brothers and Sisters!" Star Paladin Mark Talus takes position by the door, facing inwards. "Today we do not merely bring justice to those who have betrayed the precepts of our Brotherhood! Today we prevent the use of the use of those very same weapons that burned the world to ash two hundred years ago! The most important part of the mission which Roger Maxson entrusted to us! Report readiness!"

Extraneous 'the use of'

Mr Zoat said:
"Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" /

Extraneous slash, or you forgot one of the readies.

Mr Zoat said:
I stand, telekinetically grasping the plane around me. My four ghosts do likewise. We're not using rocket boosters to steady our descent, and we're not using parachutes either. Each of us are perfectly capable of controlling our descent with telekinesis, and if one of the others has a stroke or heart attack on the way down then I can carry them myself.

'is'?

The landing is very cool, very superhero. Krono's ghoul cousin would be pissed haha. Hadn't considered that his people are still tribal and care a lot about charism. I wonder to what extent he just uses that as an excuse to do stunts.

Mr Zoat said:
I feel confirmation from the Ghosts, and then an acknowledgement from the telepath staying on the plane to relay things to or colleagues.

'our'

Mr Zoat said:
Shayera tries to roll onto her side on her medical bed, but is stopped by the carbon nanotube re-enforced tungsten chains binding her arms to the sides. That jerks her awake, eyes staring around at her surroundings.

'reinforced'?

Mr Zoat said:
"Water, vitamins, and a thanagarian-safe mood stabiliser. Because it turns out that red power rings do a number on you… If you're not a New God. Which you're not. Or… Since the red ring I got from Draan Del Darr is still where I left it and I doubt very much that he's making any more, perhaps the problem comes from using knock-off versions, I don't know, Shayera, what the fuck?"

'Dar', I think.

Mr Zoat said:
Stealth boys active, we press ourselves to the walls as a Mark 2 Sentry Bot stamps past us, heading towards the firefight near the gate.

'Boys'? Since it's a brand name.

Mr Zoat said:
Idly I wonder how Chinese stealth operatives managed this. We wouldn't be able to coordinate without telepathy, and I'm fairly certain that they weren't telepaths.

Maybe they developed a limited tactile language. That would only work at close range though. Maybe they just whispered really quietly. Or perhaps they just had rigid but very complex flowcharts so that their operatives knew exactly what to do in any conceivable situation?

Mr Zoat said:
The robot stomps around the corner of the bunker corridor, and send a **[warning image]** to the paladins outside. Not the knights, though. They're not used to hearing voices in their heads in the middle of firefights and I'm worried that it might distract them. I feel a vague impulse of acknowledgement in return, then send the **[advance sign]** to my fellow infiltrators.

'I send'?

Mr Zoat said:
We reach a bulkhead door, tiny movements in the dust on the floor letter me tell roughly where my colleagues are. I crouch down next to the door, laying my right hand on its surface just in case someone opens it and dashes out. **[Reach through…]**

'letting'

Mr Zoat said:
I mentally grip the relatively flimsy servos of the turret and pull, mechanisms bursting and cables crackling. That distracts the Paladins a little, and Noran ensures that they stay that way with a tossed plasma grenade. Both Paladins shoot it, causing it to disintegrate without going critical… But that creates enough visual distraction that Petuk can dash through the doorway and move around the concrete barricade.

Goddamn that's badass. That's what being half robot gets you, I guess. Though I feel like even most Fallout robots don't have aim that good; given the later reveal maybe the difference is that Black Paladins are all programmed by Colossus and thus are much higher quality than most robots?

Mr Zoat said:
The Paladin awkwardly tries to look around as he hears up coming up behind him, but while power armour can be fast in a straight line it isn't fast at turning. A psychokinetic surge from me sends him flying into the wall at the end of the corridor at speed, slamming with a loud clang and falling to the floor.

'us'

Mr Zoat said:
To my right, Edward puts off the Paladin's helmet and Noran shoots him in the head with his own gun. Then Edward jogs over and taps the lock on the cell door, which clanks open. I step back, and the agent steps out.

'pulls'?

Mr Zoat said:
And we didn't spot it because… Why would we? Between the snow and storms it's hard enough to observe this part of the world at this time of year, and we only have so many eyes are far more pressing things to watch. Not sure why he destroyed the satellites now, but… I suppose that he didn't know that we didn't know. Or maybe the plan calls for an acceleration now?

'and'?

Mr Zoat said:
Well in... [Checks watch] Eight years, you can find out.

It's frightening to imagine that this story will end someday soon (for a certain definition of soon). Chills my soul. Come on, I know you can stretch this out for a few more decades. We just need a few more random crossover adventures with Mazikeen, maybe some time travel so that events can happen with only subjective time passing.

Mr Zoat said:
"He wanted to limit the blowback. But is there a reason I'm not seeing to retaliate anyway?"

'to not'?

Mr Zoat said:
Xalitan hits the Lantern over the head with a staff, and knocks them out. A couple of Reachian construct lanterns drag the recumbent Lantern away. Xalitan then glances my way, nods politely, and then returns to marching around the ranks of the devoted.

Extraneous 'then'

Mr Zoat said:
He takes the box and open it, then stares at the ring for a moment. "Hm." He then picks up what looks like a calliper and uses it to grip the ring before transferring it to his anvil. "Yes. One nine one. Entirely functional. Do you want a copy of the usage logs?"

'opens'

Mr Zoat said:
Colonel Shaw watches the screens impassive as they start showing footage of the Enclave portion of the base. He's confirmed that he wasn't even really aware of the Enclave being a thing back before the War, but he's the closest thing we've got to someone who might be au fait with their mindset.

'impassively'?

Mr Zoat said:
"Would be recognise you?"

'he'

Mr Zoat said:
Major Moines checks his Pip-Boy, and then turns around… He head out of shot. Edward pulls the camera back to its usual position to follow him a moment more… No, gone.

'heads'

Do military personnel normally have Pip-Boys? I had the impression they were fairly exclusively a Vault-Tec thing.

Mr Zoat said:
"Yes, and no. The goods elevator has no cover, and you're too heavy for the regular elevator. So even if you grabbed a stealth boy off one of your…" He turns his head to glance at Pittman, a nightkin commander who followed him from the Troll Warrens. Pittman doesn't react. "Colleagues… They'd have to be idiots not to see you coming."

'Stealth Boy'?

Mr Zoat said:
Edward makes on of the screens display a plan of the interior. "As far as I can see, that's an office. Probably his office."

'one'

Mr Zoat said:
"Is this a prank call? Because I am absolutely fine with having you flogged before we set out. Your ass will heal on the way over.""

Extraneous speech mark.

Mr Zoat said:
"'Downside'? Shaw, the fact you can even remember your name is a breakthrough! And yeah, now I look at you I can kinda see you-. The outline of your face."

Oh yeah, this guy is Enclave alright. Well, I guess a lack of ethics was actually very common pre-War, but still.

Mr Zoat said:
The Enclave officer whose squad had been pinned down bellows the advance immediately, waving his arm before leading the charge himself. Pre-War T-51 suits charge forwards, while a squad of regular infantry give them fire support from what little cover they could find on the quayside and I reposition, because someone updated the Black Paladin's programming and it looks like they've marked my squad as priority targets.

I activate my stealth boy and leap clear, the ledge I was perched on being melted with concentrated laser fire from their heavy weapon teams a moment later.

'Paladins''
'Stealth Boy'?

Interesting that it can be updated like that, I guess remotely?

Mr Zoat said:
So this is what a science fiction war zone feels like.

It's not the quantity of soldiers or death. The major battles of the N.C.R./Legion War could have more people die than this battle has combatants in total. But they mostly use Second World War era technology and tactics while this is the first power armour versus power armour battle I've seen.

Far to my right I spot three Black Paladins armed with super sledges and thermal lances charge into close quarters with an Enclave squad who are totally unprepared for people attacking them with giant hammers and metal cutters. The Knights of the Order of Saint George try making their way in that direction, but the Enclave soldiers are responding by trying to hem the Black Paladins in and deny them the space they need to swing their weapons. They surround them, clustering up-.

Very cool stuff.

Mr Zoat said:
I wince as the fat man detonates, killing the three Black Paladins and the twenty or so Enclave soldiers who they'd drawn into them.

'Fat Man'? Since it's a brand name. I saw someone else suggest this correction but I guess you missed it.

Mr Zoat said:
"And if any of you miserable sons of bitches bunch like up goddamn rookies again I will kill you myself!"

'up like'

To be fair, the bunching up seemed smart until they suddenly all died.

Mr Zoat said:
As I watch, a Black Paladin tried to hold a gangplank against an advancing Enclave fire team. He opens up with a minigun, but the bullets just bounce off the heavy frontal plates of the Enclave power armour. They don't even bother shooting, they just charge into him, knocking him back and using him as cover while they open fire on the paladins on the deck.

'tries'

As cover, hahaha. Poor guy.

Mr Zoat said:
One of the ships turns its engines to full, Black Paladins shooting the mooring chains to let it get underway faster.

Wow, that's pretty cool. I feel like they have to be remote-controlled to some extent because otherwise how would they know to do that? I guess maybe they got orders in advance.

Mr Zoat said:
It's not the furthest away, but it's only one berth closer and from the way it's lower in the water than the others I'm assume that it's the only one that's fully laden.

'assuming'

Mr Zoat said:
But while it might be nice to use the power other versions of myself use freely, things aren't quite like that here. We don't really know how the Odious King's song spread, but it looks like some psychic phenomena are memetic hazards. And something as infectious as the orange light? That's bad enough in places that aren't full of telepaths, or when the ring isn't being used by a telepath. And would it attract more demons, like the one living in the Odious King's head? And how do those demons work, if we've only ever seen one, and we didn't see that for very long?

Nice explanation. Wonder if we'll ever see one of these demons on-screen, they sound cool. Not sure where it would come from though.

Mr Zoat said:
**[All these ships are the same]** + **[I happen to be on that one]**

-and then-. Shit! Barrel into the Brotherhood knight checking the cargo, punch him and then activate my stealth boy.

'Stealth Boy'?

He can teleport? Wow, this magic shit is pretty good.

Mr Zoat said:
Right, ladder up to the hatch over there. I can't hide the fact that I'm opening a hatch with the stealth boy-. The cargo is still in the cargo lift. I guess that the knight hadn't finished loading. Right, get on board, hit the switch and get behind the pallet of… Noodles. I guess even cyborgs have to eat. And up we go.

'Stealth Boy'?

Mr Zoat said:
The Immortal jerks around, his helmeted head focusing on me even though I'm suppose to be invisible.

"There! Stealth boy! Open-"

'supposed'
'Boy'?

Did he spot the ripple? Or if this is assuming Stealth Boys are full invisibility, maybe he spotted a really subtle change in dust movements or something. Makes sense if he has a direct line to a supercomputer AI.

Mr Zoat said:
He drops the multiplas rifle and draws a chainsword while The Immortal smashes open a crate and pulls out a laser weapon.

An elongated Ripper? Don't remember any chainswords in Fallout.

Mr Zoat said:
-other Black Paladins are converging! I throw a smoke grenade at my own feet and step around a shipping container. I can feel their locations in my mind, and whatever sense or programming is guiding them has cottoned on to the fact that not grouping up when someone has pulse grenades-

Or a pulse grenade, now.

-it's best to make sure that they can't fry you all in one go.

The last bit after the cut doesn't follow on properly from the rest of the sentence. Not sure exactly how to fix.

Mr Zoat said:
"Where is he! Where's the Immortal!"

Is this a deliberate reference? Made me chuckle.

Mr Zoat said:
"My primary aim is to prevent an apocalypse. Between the Enclave's disease weapons and Doctor Presper's use of the New Plague, I have concluded that people are still trying to destroy what little remains of human civilisation, which is turn is no longer robust enough to survive such attack, even to the small degree which it survived the Great War. Similar apocalyptic weapons presumably exist in China and Russia. I must render them safe."

'in'?

Gosh, it's always an AI causing trouble in Fallout. Haha. Good motivation though. Look forward to seeing where it goes.

Funny to see people complain about the Fallout, I liked these chapters way better than the main story ones coming alongside.

Mr Zoat said:
Shayera stews for a moment, then bites the bullet. "Because I grew up in a place where you had to fight for everything, and if someone hurt you and you didn't hurt them fight back, you were prey."

'right'

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T21:04:28+0100

Duke Long said:
Edited to put the corrections and commentary inside a spoiler because it's a bit big otherwise.

Been a while while since I've had a gigacorrection list...

'at'
'led'
'Elements'
'they'
'to'

Thank you, corrected.

I love the combination of all sorts of nations and gizmos in this chapter. Very cool.

Perhaps one day I'll play an Old World Blues multiplayer game where it actually happens...

I guess you're treating the fall damage immunity in Fallout 4 as a game mechanic haha.

No, fall damage is a thing. But inertia field and telekines can work around it.

'roar'
'tries'
'roar'
Extraneous 'the use of'
Extraneous slash, or you forgot one of the readies.

Thank you, corrected.

'is'?

No, I think that one is okay.

The landing is very cool, very superhero. Krono's ghoul cousin would be pissed haha.

Please. He's a second cousin at best.

Hadn't considered that his people are still tribal and care a lot about charism. I wonder to what extent he just uses that as an excuse to do stunts.

Has to be me. Someone else might get it wrong.

'our'
'reinforced'?

Thank you, corrected.

'Dar', I think.

Turns out that I've spelled it 'Daar', 'Darr' and 'Dar' in different places. One moment...

'Boys'? Since it's a brand name.

Thank you, corrected.

Maybe they developed a limited tactile language. That would only work at close range though. Maybe they just whispered really quietly. Or perhaps they just had rigid but very complex flowcharts so that their operatives knew exactly what to do in any conceivable situation?

My guess would be some sort of low power radio system.

'I send'?
'letting'

Thank you, corrected.

Goddamn that's badass. That's what being half robot gets you, I guess. Though I feel like even most Fallout robots don't have aim that good; given the later reveal maybe the difference is that Black Paladins are all programmed by Colossus and thus are much higher quality than most robots?

Man and machine!

'us'
'pulls'?
'and'?

Thank you, corrected.

It's frightening to imagine that this story will end someday soon (for a certain definition of soon). Chills my soul. Come on, I know you can stretch this out for a few more decades. We just need a few more random crossover adventures with Mazikeen, maybe some time travel so that events can happen with only subjective time passing.

No.

No.

'to not'?

No, Katar is saying that Krandor didn't use the full might of the Thanagarian military because he didn't want to open them to retaliation if he failed. The SI is saying that he could retaliate anyway if it would help, and he wants to know if he should.

Extraneous 'then'
'opens'
'impassively'?
'he'
'heads'

Thank you, corrected.

Do military personnel normally have Pip-Boys? I had the impression they were fairly exclusively a Vault-Tec thing.

They're a Vault-Tec product, but the vaults themselves are part of Project Safehouse. A War-era Enclave-affiliated officer could easily have gotten hold of one.

'Stealth Boy'?
'one'
Extraneous speech mark.

Thank you, corrected.

Oh yeah, this guy is Enclave alright. Well, I guess a lack of ethics was actually very common pre-War, but still.

He's not part of the decision-making tier, he was just a soldier they considered obedient enough to make use of.

'Paladins''
'Stealth Boy'?

Thank you, corrected.

Interesting that it can be updated like that, I guess remotely?

Very cool stuff.

Could just be a radio message. 'Prioritise scouts and spotters'.

'Fat Man'? Since it's a brand name. I saw someone else suggest this correction but I guess you missed it.
'up like'

Thank you, corrected.

To be fair, the bunching up seemed smart until they suddenly all died.

Things often do.

'tries'

Thank you, corrected.

As cover, hahaha. Poor guy.

Wow, that's pretty cool. I feel like they have to be remote-controlled to some extent because otherwise how would they know to do that? I guess maybe they got orders in advance.

They still have a lot of their human brains. They can receive encoded orders by radio.

'assuming'

Thank you, corrected.

Nice explanation. Wonder if we'll ever see one of these demons on-screen, they sound cool. Not sure where it would come from though.

Neither does Krono. Vault 103, probably.

'Stealth Boy'?

Thank you, corrected.

He can teleport? Wow, this magic shit is pretty good.

It's more that he can make the universe loose track of which of two similar places he's in.

'Stealth Boy'?
'supposed'
'Boy'?

Thank you, corrected.

Did he spot the ripple? Or if this is assuming Stealth Boys are full invisibility, maybe he spotted a really subtle change in dust movements or something. Makes sense if he has a direct line to a supercomputer AI.

Yes.

An elongated Ripper? Don't remember any chainswords in Fallout.

Monster Rippers exist.

The last bit after the cut doesn't follow on properly from the rest of the sentence. Not sure exactly how to fix.

Thank you, corrected.

Is this a deliberate reference? Made me chuckle.

Reference to what?

'in'?

Thank you, corrected.

Gosh, it's always an AI causing trouble in Fallout. Haha. Good motivation though. Look forward to seeing where it goes.

Funny to see people complain about the Fallout, I liked these chapters way better than the main story ones coming alongside.

Takes all sorts. Have you tried Old World Blues?

'right'

Thank you, corrected.

Duke Long · 2026-07-30T22:11:45+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Been while while since I've had a gigacorrection list...

'a'

(Just kidding haha)

Mr Zoat said:
No, I think that one is okay.

I was thinking that 'each of us' seems singular but yeah, not a big deal.

Mr Zoat said:
No, Katar is saying that Krandor didn't use the full might of the Thanagarian military because he didn't want to open them to retaliation if he failed. The SI is saying that he could retaliate anyway if it would help, and he wants to know if he should.

I mostly got that, but my assumption was that Oh El's default would be wanting to retaliate, so I figured he was asking for a reason to not retaliate.

Mr Zoat said:
They're a Vault-Tec product, but the vaults themselves are part of Project Safehouse. A War-era Enclave-affiliated officer could easily have gotten hold of one.

Makes sense.

Mr Zoat said:
Could just be a radio message. 'Prioritise scouts and spotters'.

Yeah, the mention of programming had me imagining them as much more hard-coded than they probably are. Fallout robots can have quite a lot of mental latitude even without a human brain being involved.

Mr Zoat said:
Neither does Krono. Vault 103, probably.

Demonic AI is pretty cool. Despite the Doom references I don't remember one from that, only cyborgs. Not sure I've ever seen possessed AI outside Warhammer. (And of course it's yet another AI hahaha, these Fallout AIs are a neverending font of world events.)

Glad to see that Old World Blues still has more material for you to work with, Krono is a top-tier Paulternate.

Mr Zoat said:
Monster Rippers exist.

Huh, neat.

Mr Zoat said:
Reference to what?

I was thinking of the oft-memed scene from Invincible where The Immortal shouts, "Where is he! Where is Omni-Man!"
Given that I know you've watched the show, a character shouting, "Where is he! Where's the Immortal!" seemed plausibly to be a humorous reference.

Mr Zoat said:
Takes all sorts. Have you tried Old World Blues?

No, just watched some gameplay videos because of you. Remember seeing you complain about the let's player cheating under one of them haha. I think I've actually got HoI IV kicking about but I've never gotten around to playing it, so maybe someday.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-30T22:30:23+0100

Duke Long said:
'a'

Thank you, corrected.

CrazyNoVa · 2026-07-30T22:52:42+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"My predecessor was not unaffected by the Anti-Life. He came to believe that Mannheim was Tezcatlipoca, the ultimate enemy of our lineage."

To be fair, he wasn't completely off the mark. He was right that Manheim was channeling an evil god. He was just wrong about which evil god.

Vaermina said:
Tezcatlipoca is a single omniversal existence in DC comics, so you should know the answer to that already.

Not necessarily. Both Zoat in real-life and in the story have admitted that they don't know everything about DC comics lore.

For example, I recall once asking him about the status of Boston Brand/Deadman in the story, and Zoat told me that he might not even appear in it, nor that Zoat was too familar with Deadman's lore.

Tzeentch · 2026-07-31T00:29:03+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Korra's body nods. "Korra's busy freaking out right now." He tilts her head to the side. "I'm kinda embarrassed that I didn't think of that either. I think the Air Acolytes would have really appreciated it if they could actually learn airbending. And I'd have liked having other airbenders around."

"It might not even be possible. And that wasn't the point. The point is learning not to lose focus when something shocking and unexpected happens. And -and I intend no offence when I say this- it would probably be better if you left Korra to cope without jumping in."

"She wanted to know if it was possible or not. But I never really experimented with it. I only thought about it as a way to stop dangerous people from hurting others, not as something I could use to enrich peoples' lives."

Still holds up, even after the release of the Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender film.

Even with Sonam's Staff destroyed, Aang would still have the potential capacity to create Airbenders on his own, especially with restored access to Sonam's experience with Energybending.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-31T06:13:25+0100

22nd September 2013
17:26 GMT -5

I don't come here, much.

Not a lot of desire in intergalactic space. That did make Wonderworld stand out a little more once I started looking, and a conventional scan quickly revealed the super-massive black holes plural being used as an anchor for the only star in the region.

I don't think Mageddon has seen me. I'm not sure how much light from the rest of the universe reaches it, due to the black holes. No one from Wonderworld has tried to communicate to me when I've been here, and I'm not sure whether that's because my stealth is actually that good or they just don't care.

It's not actually possible to see other galaxies from here. The light hasn't gotten this far since the alpha event. Look around and you could believe that you were the only thing in the universe.

Heh. The idea's so disturbing that I've actually deployed my copy of the Crime Syndicate's universe transporter. I didn't ask, but I suspect with their Krona being different that they didn't have the whole 'neutralise 99% of the alpha event's energy' thing happen in their universe. If they've got a Mageddon then its location probably isn't the equivalent of 'here'…

I return it to subspace and

step out,

returning to the Mountain as class empties out. Toyman spots me at once, peering at me through what look like x-ray specs before pulling a speak and spell out of his satchel and… My rings report that I'm being scanned with a lot of interesting things. It's not as good as some of the sensors which the Sivanas use, but he's even younger than Thaddeus and Georgia, and it's a little unreasonable to compare people to them as a matter of routine.

La'gaan raises his right hand in greeting, and then glances at Kaldur before lowering it again. After helping him and his take a tour of the surface world we've only bumped into each other a few times. I can't really blame him for having mixed feelings about me, given the complex nature of my interactions with Atlantis. Risk and Slager look about ready to call it a day, which is fair. I doubt that Leonid was exactly gentle with them during their training session.

"Orange Lantern, sir." Aztek steps forwards, paying absolutely no attention to what Hawk was trying to say to her. "You mentioned that you had information on the being the Q Society knows as Tezcatlipoca."

"I do indeed." I look around the group. "You've all got experience against low and medium level threats. Who wants to see what a top-level threat looks like?"

At the back of the crowd, Green Arrow sucks in air through his teeth.

Aztek doesn't hesitate, dutifully striding forwards immediately as we head towards the training room. Risk grins, pushing past some of his new colleagues to follow on behind her. The rest… Only the thoroughly distracted Toyman and the sagacious Timothy Hunter hesitate, though Toyman starts following the crowd when he looks up and realises that people are moving. Timothy brings up the rear with a shrug.

"Now, you are expected to be able to deal with low level threats already. Lightly armed humans without other powers are within all of your abilities to fight and detain. Moderately well armed humans, large groups and metahumans are things that you'll be learning to fight-."

"We already-." / "But we did-."

Hawk and Risk look at each other. Risk looks slightly annoyed, but relaxes when Hawk smiles and gives him a respectful nod.

"Alright, learning to fight better here. And then there are greater threats, top tier superhumans, alien fleets, things like that, that you may never be able to meaningfully fight."

"And then there's things like this." I turn around as I active the training area's holographic display, generating a three dimensional representation of what I was looking at a few minutes ago. It's not that visually impressive.

"A spec of dust." Risk nods. "That's... Scary."

I roll my eyes and zoom in. The orbit of the black holes means that you can't see all of Mageddon's face at any one time, but what you can see…

Toyman lifts his glasses. "It's a red giant with a face?"

"At the most basic level, yes."

"It's possible to draw on a sun with a sufficiently powerful magnet, but I don't see a projection station. Are the black areas shadows being cast by planets."

"No, those are black holes." I add the scale, and smile as his eyes boggle. "I'd like to introduce Mageddon, the most dangerous physical object that exists in this universe."

Hawk frowns, then turns to Dove. "Psst! How big is that?"

Dove takes a steady breath. "It's big enough that we could fit our whole star system inside it."

"That's bad, right?"

"Assuming it's hostile? Yes, Hawk, that's bad."

"For those who skipped astrophysics, black holes are what you get when really big stars collapse. They contain huge amounts of mass in a relatively small area."

Dove nods. "And they're keeping it imprisoned."

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

"I mean, if it's staying there…"

"That just proves that it hasn't moved yet."

Kid Devil excitedly half-raises his hands, like he's not sure if he's supposed to.

"Yes?"

"What does it want?"

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

Nnamdi grunts. **Does it talk?**

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

**Then how do we know its name?**

"Strictly speaking, we don't. That's just what every telepath who's ever been exposed to it and everyone who's ever been infected by its spores starts screaming. Oh, and did I mention that we're pretty sure that part of its power plant is a miniature Hell?"

A few of them shake their heads.

"Yeah. If it was actually a red giant it would have died by now. The power's coming from something else, and it might be damned souls."

"Um." Timothy frowns. "Might be?"

"It's difficult to check. Everyone who's ever tried caught fire."

Risk frowns. "Uh, water? Duh?"

"Doesn't help when every cell in someone's body catches fire at the same time, but a reasonable idea."

Argent nods. "Is it dangerous to us?"

"It's dangerous to everyone."

"But is it coming here?"

"Not at the moment."

Aztek's been edging forwards, and is now staring right at its eyes. "And this is my enemy?"

"According to the records I took from a cross-section of parallel universes a while ago, yes. And you are woefully underpowered. " I smile warmly. "Wanna fix that?"

EgyptianDio · 2026-07-31T06:25:16+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Aztek's been edging forwards, and is now staring right at its eyes. "And this is my enemy?"

"According to the records I took from a cross-section of parallel universes a while ago, yes. And you are woefully underpowered. " I smile warmly. "Wanna fix that?"

Girl... run.

Ngamer11 · 2026-07-31T06:26:40+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Heh. The idea's so disturbing that I've actually deployed my copy of the Crime Syndicate's universe transporter. I didn't ask, but I suspect with their Krona being different that they didn't have the whole 'neutralise 99% of the alpha event's energy' thing happen in their universe. If they've got a Mageddon then it's location probably isn't the equivalent of 'here'…

That apostrophe should be removed.

Mr Zoat said:
La'gaan raises his right hand in greeting, and then glances and Kaldur before lowering it again. After helping him and his take a tour of the surface world we've only bumped into each other a few times. I can't really blame him for having mixed feelings about me, given the complex nature of my interactions with Atlantis. Risk and Slager look about ready to call it a day, which is fair. I doubt that Leonid was exactly gentle with them during their training session.

"Orange Lantern, sir." Aztek steps forwards, paying absolutely no attention to what Hawk was trying to say to her. "You mentioned that you had information on the being the Q Society knows as Tezcatlipoca."

"I do indeed." I look around the group. "You've all got experience against low and medium level threats. Who wants to see what a top-level threat looks like?"

At the back of the crowd, Green Arrow sucks in air through his teeth.

Aztek doesn't hesitate, dutifully striding forwards immediately as we head towards the training room. Risk grins, pushing past some of his new colleagues to follow on behind her. The rest… Only the thoroughly distracted Toyman and the sagacious Timothy Hunter hesitate, though Toyman starts following the crowd when he looks up and realise that people are moving. Timothy brings up the rear with a shrug.

Now that we have a partial list, I'm curious as to who exactly are being trained right now. From what was said previously and here, I got the following: Argent, Face, Toyman, La'gaan, Risk, Slager, Hawk, Dove, and Timothy Hunter.

Edit: I just remembered Slager, better known to Teen Titans fans as Hot Spot, was previously seen as a member of the Alliance of the Just. How many of its members are now here receiving training from the Team?

Mr Zoat said:
Hawk frowns, then turns to Dove. "Psst! How big is that?"

Dove t a steady breath. "It's big enough that we could fit our whole star system inside it."

"That's bad, right?"

"Assuming it's hostile? Yes, Hawk, that's bad."

I assume that should be 'takes'. Also, I like the banter between the brothers, so I hope to see them in either timeline more.

Mr Zoat said:
Nnamdi grunts. **Does it talk?**

I was surprised one of the telepathic gorillas was even interested in joining something like this. I assume the Anti-Life caused their society to decide to make inroads to human society? Hopefully that means Grodd is dead or neutralized.

Mr Zoat said:
Aztek's been edging forwards, and is now staring right at its eyes. "And this is my enemy?"

"According to the records I took from a cross-section of parallel universes a while ago, yes. And you are woefully underpowered. " I smile warmly. "Wanna fix that?"

I wasn't expecting Paul to just tell Aztek this is the enemy she's been training to fight, but it makes sense in hindsight. I can't wait to see what Paul's plan to help her get stronger will be.

Vaermina · 2026-07-31T06:26:58+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"According to the records I took from a cross-section of parallel universes a while ago, yes. And you are woefully underpowered. " I smile warmly. "Wanna fix that?"

Why are you lying to her? It makes no sense.

Darko · 2026-07-31T06:28:25+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Heh. The idea's so disturbing that I've actually deployed my copy of the Crime Syndicate's universe transporter. I didn't ask, but I suspect with their Krona being different that they didn't have the whole 'neutralise 99% of the alpha event's energy' thing happen in their universe. If they've got a Mageddon then it's location probably isn't the equivalent of 'here

Ehh, Krona may not have done that there, but the other Guardians could have.

Mr Zoat said:
at me through what look like x

"what looks"

Mr Zoat said:
. Toyman spots me at once, peering at me through what look like x-ray specs

You may want to start wearing lead clothes, Paul.

And I can't believe I didn't mention Hiro meeting Power Girl after the talk with Silver Kara.

Mr Zoat said:
raises his right hand in greeting, and then glances and Kaldur

"glances at"

Mr Zoat said:
his take a tour of the surface

"taking"

Mr Zoat said:
up and realise that people are moving

"realizes"

Mr Zoat said:
"No, those are black holes." I add the scale, and smile as his eyes boggle. "I'd like to introduce Mageddon, the most dangerous physical object that exists in this universe

Yeah, the Renegade mentioned that Darkseid tried taking it over with an army of millions, and when he returned there was just him and a dozen survivors.

The worst they managed to do was bruise one of Mageddon's guardians.

Mr Zoat said:
Nnamdi grunts. **Does it talk?**

Who was this?

Ngamer11 · 2026-07-31T06:29:38+0100

Darko said:
Who was this?

The son of the leader of Gorilla City.

mastermenthe · 2026-07-31T06:33:47+0100

Mr Zoat said:
At the back of the crowd, Green Arrow sucks in air through his teeth.

This is excellent.

CrazyNoVa · 2026-07-31T06:33:53+0100

So, since Hawk and Dove draw their powers from chaos and order respectively, could Constantine have a thing or two to teach them?

Vaermina said:
Why are you lying to her? It makes no sense.

Why do you assume he's lying? You said yourself that her enemy is of godlike power, not unlike Maggedon. Thus, if she gets prepared to fight someone in Maggedon's league, she'll have a much better chance against Tezcatlipoca.

Darko · 2026-07-31T06:39:13+0100

Vaermina said:
Why are you lying to her? It makes no sense.

Lying about what?

If it's knowing about it from parallel universes, then it's nothing new.

He's still using the same thing with other members.

I know you don't actually read or pay attention to the story in any meaningful way, but come on.

And if it's about her being underpowered, we'll that's because she is.

Her predecessor died fighting a small portion of Darkseid's power, and Darkseid tried to enslave Mageddon in the past, but failed miserably, so her fighting Mageddon will likely result in her death.

Not to mention the fact that Paul may not remember the comic that well.

Oh, and the fact that Aztek had to sacrifice his life in the comics, and even then it was others who finished him off.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-07-31T06:58:54+0100

Mr Zoat said:
22nd September 2013
17:26 GMT -5

I don't come here, much.

Not a lot of desire in intergalactic space. That did make Wonderworld stand out a little more once I started looking, and a conventional scan quickly revealed the super-massive black holes plural being used as an anchor for the only star in the region.

Ah, them. Rumoured to be a remnant of one of the previous 'Worlds', of which Apokalips and New Genesis were the Fourth. First encountered during the 'Rock of Ages' storyline of the 90's JLA series. Morrison's work at a fine peak..

I don't think Mageddon has seen me. I'm not sure how much light from the rest of the universe reaches it, due to the black holes. No one from Wonderworld has tried to communicate to me when I've been here, and I'm not sure whether that's because my stealth is actually that good or they just don't care.

Hopefully it's because you're not causing trouble, rather than simply being beneath heir notice.

It's not actually possible to see other galaxies from here. The light hasn't gotten this far since the alpha event. Look around and you could believe that you were the only thing in the universe.

Heh. The idea's so disturbing that I've actually deployed my copy of the Crime Syndicate's universe transporter. I didn't ask, but I suspect with their Krona being different that they didn't have the whole 'neutralise 99% of the alpha event's energy' thing happen in their universe. If they've got a Mageddon then it's location probably isn't the equivalent of 'here'…

In other words, go much further and you'd run facefirst into the Source Wall.

I return it to subspace and

step out,

Yes, best to not poke the cosmic entity of destruction.

returning to the Mountain as class empties out. Toyman spots me at once, peering at me through what look like x-ray specs before pulling a speak and spell out of his satchel and… My rings report that I'm being scanned with a lot of interesting things. It's not as good as some of the sensors which the Sivanas use, but he's even younger than Thaddeus and Georgia, and it's a little unreasonable to compare people to them as a matter of routine.

Hiro Nakamura, of course. He's a known prospect.

La'gaan raises his right hand in greeting, and then glances and Kaldur before lowering it again. After helping him and his take a tour of the surface world we've only bumped into each other a few times. I can't really blame him for having mixed feelings about me, given the complex nature of my interactions with Atlantis. Risk and Slager look about ready to call it a day, which is fair. I doubt that Leonid was exactly gentle with them during their training session.

Lagoon Boy and the rest of the alien-hybrids group Argent is also a member of. I hope Leonid gave them some time under a Purple Ray.

"Orange Lantern, sir." Aztek steps forwards, paying absolutely no attention to what Hawk was trying to say to her. "You mentioned that you had information on the being the Q Society knows as Tezcatlipoca."

"I do indeed." I look around the group. "You've all got experience against low and medium level threats. Who wants to see what a top-level threat looks like?"

At the back of the crowd, Green Arrow sucks in air through his teeth.

Don't worry, even OL is smart enough to know they're not up to fighting god-level threats.

Aztek doesn't hesitate, dutifully striding forwards immediately as we head towards the training room. Risk grins, pushing past some of his new colleagues to follow on behind her. The rest… Only the thoroughly distracted Toyman and the sagacious Timothy Hunter hesitate, though Toyman starts following the crowd when he looks up and realise that people are moving. Timothy brings up the rear with a shrug.

Oh, someone's distracted by the sexy, I see. At least two of them, at a guess. And Timothy Hunter? Holy hell, that's magic covered, then.

"Now, you are expected to be able to deal with low level threats already. Lightly armed humans without other powers are within all of your abilities to fight and detain. Moderately well armed humans, large groups and metahumans are things that you'll be learning to fight-."

Especially those of them who don't have better-than-human physical capabilities.

"We already-." / "But we did-."

Hawk and Risk look at each other. Risk looks slightly annoyed, but relaxes when Hawk smiles and gives him a respectful nod.

Huh, surprisingly gracious of the guy. Bit of mutual respect showing already?

"Alright, learning to fight better here. And then there are greater threats, top tier superhumans, alien fleets, things like that, that you may never be able to meaningfully fight."

"And then there's things like this." I turn around as I active the training area's holographic display, generating a three dimensional representation of what I was looking at a few minutes ago. It's not that visually impressive.

Ah, yes, the things the top dogs of the JLA are expected to handle.

"A spec of dust." Risk nods. "That's... Scary."

I roll my eyes and zoom in. The orbit of the black holes means that you can't see all of Mageddon's face at any one time, but what you can see…

A truly cosmic sight, for those with the sense to understand it.

Toyman lifts his glasses. "It's a red giant with a face?"

"At the most basic level, yes."

And that concept alone should have you concerned, given how big such a thing is.

"It's possible to draw on a sun with a sufficiently powerful magnet, but I don't see a projection station. Are the black areas shadows being cast by planets."

"No, those are black holes." I add the scale, and smile as his eyes boggle. "I'd like to introduce Mageddon, the most dangerous physical object that exists in this universe."

A scale measured in Astronomical units at the minimum. Possibly light-years.

Hawk frowns, then turns to Dove. "Psst! How big is that?"

Dove t a steady breath. "It's big enough that we could fit our whole star system inside it."

Which made the fact it got right up close to Earth during its' comics event absolutely pants-wettingly terrifying.

"That's bad, right?"

"Assuming it's hostile? Yes, Hawk, that's bad."

Big enough to eat the planet if it felt so inclined. Not take a bite out of it, but swallow it whole.

"For those who skipped astrophysics, black holes are what you get when really big stars collapse. They contain huge amounts of mass in a relatively small area."

Dove nods. "And they're keeping it imprisoned."

Penning it in like an electric fence? But it will break out sooner or later...

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

"I mean, if it's staying there…"

"That just proves that it hasn't moved yet."

Best hope is that it doesn't do so in your lifetime.

Kid Devil excitedly half-raises his hands, like he's not sure if he's supposed to.

"Yes?"

"What does it want?"

Ah, now that is the question they should be asking.

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

Nnamdi grunts. **Does it talk?**

...Ehhh... Not in any way humans can comprehend without fatal brain damage.

"We-" I shake my head. "-don't know."

**Then how do we know its name?**

Because it is ancient. Ever wonder where the word armageddon comes from? It's a power felt in the psychic network of the universe itself...

"Strictly speaking, we don't. That's just what every telepath who's ever been exposed to it and everyone who's ever been infected by its spores starts screaming. Oh, and did I mention that we're pretty sure that part of its power plant is a miniature Hell?"

A few of them shake their heads.

Man, this feels more and more like Unicron with every moment. Or Unicron is a miniature reflection of it.

"Yeah. If it was actually a red giant it would have died by now. The power's coming from something else, and it might be damned souls."

"Um." Timothy frowns. "Might be?"

Given that studying it has the risk of getting it's attention? I suspect you can guess why that's a bad thing.

"It's difficult to check. Everyone who's ever tried caught fire."

Risk frowns. "Uh, water? Duh?"

"Doesn't help when every cell in someone's body catches fire at the same time, but a reasonable idea."

And even less so when it's their soul burning them from within.

Argent nods. "Is it dangerous to us?"

"It's dangerous to everyone."

One of the ultimate threats of the universe.

"But is it coming here?"

"Not at the moment."

Let's hope that never changes. Given what it took to beat it in the comics...

Aztek's been edging forwards, and is now staring right at its eyes. "And this is my enemy?"

"According to the records I took from a cross-section of parallel universes a while ago, yes. And you are woefully underpowered. " I smile warmly. "Wanna fix that?"

Or at least one thing that's very much like it. Certainly, that's what the comics Aztek thought when he used his armour as a suicide bomb to stun it's 'brain' temporarily...

Feels like a bit of an acid test of their commitment. 'Are you feeling up to the kind of threats the League might encounter? Best to decide now.' For most of the prospects, I expect they're fine with being mid-tier compared to the people who would be facing a literal apocalyptic threat. And for most capes that's just fine...

Old Knife · 2026-07-31T07:31:12+0100

Green Arrow: Stop tempting the children Paul!

Signaller · 2026-07-31T07:50:15+0100

And here i thought Paul was going to do something nice and mention that without an Aztec magic base, the threat was nullified.

boo600 · 2026-07-31T08:03:24+0100

Hm. So that's how Mageddon is, as Grayven put it, 'outside of our galactic cluster?' It exists in a close-by universe which wasn't reduced to 5 galaxies?

Neruz · 2026-07-31T08:35:44+0100

boo600 said:
Hm. So that's how Mageddon is, as Grayven put it, 'outside of our galactic cluster?' It exists in a close-by universe which wasn't reduced to 5 galaxies?

From the sound of it, it's so far out that the light from the first stars hasn't reached that point yet.

Given that the first stars are believed to have formed roughly 100 to 400 million years after the Big Bang, or as Paul calls it the alpha event. That means that Mageddon and Wonderworld are at least 46 billion lightyears away from Earth, probably much, much more. Hundreds of times more, possibly even more than that.

It's not outside of the galactic cluster, it's outside of the known universe entirely. A long way outside.

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

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Know what you're doing yet?

Versed in the lewd.

Welp

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Glomerulus

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Versed in the lewd.

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Well worn.

Connoisseur.

Experienced.

Mint Thistle

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

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Not too sore, are you?

Welp

HISSSSSS!

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