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

There was also this Legion of Superheroes/Star Trek crossover, which had Flint/Vandal Savage's trophy room of time travelers he defeated to maintain his empire.

baf21865f550e67040be9d106e765338.jpg


The difference between Vandal Savage of DC, and Flint of Star Trek? Vandal never got past "life is nasty, brutish, and short." Flint? Flint gained the hope that people can make a better tomorrow.

In this crossover, both Vandal and Flint were possible futures of the immortal caveman Vandar Adg.
Doesn't Star Trek have the future Federation who are fighting a Time War that's responsible for the various Star Trek reboots and a few time travel episodes?
 
Actually the hot tub could be an actual working time machine, seeing as there's that one maintenance guy that knows how it works. Yes, it's wish fulfillment, but what if that guy has alternative motives?
 
Eh, he's managed to flat out want the rings straight off of rookie's fingers. A relatively inexperienced hostile Lantern isn't a huge deal.
You're assuming the worst thing he could do with it is personally use it, as opposed to (say) publish it, or develop countermeasures based on it, or hand it over to the Psions or to the Reach.
 
Jiggity-Jig (part 11)
8th February
20:48 GMT


"Just let them leave?! After everything they've done?"

Genuine anger. I suppose that's fair. The Gizzard Spiker clan were the ones who first made an alliance with the Citadel. Before that, the karnans were more or less maintaining their own sphere of influence. And now I'm telling him that the part of his most hated enemies that he hates most wants to just leave. Of course, they're also the part which resent their loss of status most and will fight the hardest.

"They will lose all of the local resource extraction facilities which the Citadel awarded them. Given the amount of rebuilding that you're going to be doing, I'm sure that you'll find having them handed over to you in full working order quite beneficial."

"How could I possibly believe that will happen?"

"Having negotiated this treaty, I will be its guarantor. While you are free to include a penalty tariff in your discussions, I was thinking five hundred deaths for each violation."

"Five-?" There's a wave of fur across his body as the surprise momentarily makes it fluff up before he regains control.

"As I said, if you think that is inadequate or would prefer fungible reparations rather than bloody retribution, you may say so."

"Mm. I thought you didn't approve of mass killings."

"I don't, but I do believe in consequences. The gordanians alive now aren't the ones who seized Karna. Though I understand why you do, it would be unreasonable for a disinterested party such as myself to try to hold them responsible for it. On the other hand, if they spit in my face and negotiate in bad faith…" I shrug. "My weapons are more precise than yours. I can be sure that I kill the ones who made the decision and carried it out, and do so without endangering allied civilians."

"And you couldn't just kill them all now?"

I think for a-.

"You think you could?"

"The deciding factor would be my own ability to maintain motivation while slaughtering defenceless civilians. I also wouldn't be able to reliably protect any karnan slaves in the area. But yes."

Mass emotional manipulation isn't something I've practised. Not sure how I could practise it without being more than a little immoral. So while in theory I might be able to remove the desire to fight back from everyone in Gordane, there are all sorts of side effects that could come about as a result. Side effects like losing the drive to breathe or move out of the way of oncoming vehicles or pull one's hand out of a fire.

"You actually believe it."

"Are you willing to agree to that term?"

"No."

Kalista's face twitches, but she's too experienced to say anything while I'm still here. I think that the Omega Men would be very glad to actually achieve a peaceful resolution to the Vega conflict. Vigilantes in Vega don't usually live to see retirement.

"Then-."

"But I will agree to a temporary ceasefire-" He indicates an area on the map, places the fleeing gordanians have been retreating to. "-to allow the gordanians to retreat to these areas. I am willing to exchange our people for theirs. All for all."

Ring?

A map appears in my mind, and I update the map in front of me. Showing him where the surviving gordanians are is a slight risk, but he has orbital supremacy over this hemisphere. I'm not showing him anything he couldn't find out in a few hours.

"If you can wrangle your troops here and here... Given how many irregulars they've recruited, I recommend organising a feast of some sort to keep them back."

He growl-snorts. Hm. To be fair, the gordanians do appear to have realised that starving manual labourers is a dumb thing to do, and that rationing people working in food production doesn't really work. Their main control mechanism is limiting their chattels' access to technology, not limiting their access to necessities.

"Or perhaps some sort of registration system so they can get in touch with relatives? I can direct gordanian refugees here-" I add orange arrows to the maps. "-around the karnans."

"Acceptable. How soon can we begin the exchange?"

"Eight hours."

His whiskers bristle. "Why the delay?"

"Gordanians don't see as well in the dark as karnans. They don't want to land at night. They have agreed to begin collecting karnans at once and have them arrive just after first light, but that's the earliest they're willing to do."

Gaharrugh considers. He could probably get hold of floodlights, but…

"Acceptable. That will allow us time to pull our forces back from the landing areas." He turns from the map to look at me. "They will be fully loaded when they arrive?"

"I wouldn't recommend insisting on that, unless you want them crammed in. Gordanians take up quite a lot more space than karnans."

"Mm."

"So? A ceasefire, the gordanians retreat to extraction points and you allow transports in?"

Gaharrugh looks around at the faces of his officers, and the Crown Imperium's observer.

"Yes. I will agree to that now. The ceasefire to begin in half an hour-." A couple of officers wince, and Gaharrugh widens his eyes slightly. A mildly challenging expression amongst the karnans. Though he must realise that they have a point. Wrangling an armed mob over an area the size of a continent in half an hour is a bit of a tall order. "In an hour and a half. We will begin… Making room for their retreats when we can."

"Acceptable. Will you deactivate your jamming so that the gordanians can coordinate their side of things?"

"Yes. But there are to be no encrypted transmissions. We will be listening."

"Understood." Hm. "What about other enslaved species?"

"They come to us."

"Including gordanians?"

Like batarians, gordanians are perfectly happy to enslave one another. There weren't all that many, not with karnans so readily available, but when one clan conquers another they don't always just absorb them. There probably would have been more resulting from the little civil war they just had if the karnans hadn't invaded. Though between gordanians it's more of an extreme demotion than unpersoning.

"No. They can keep them."

"Understood. Do you have any other messages for the Council at this time?"

"No."

"Good show. Now, about my payment."

"What payment?"

"I don't owe either you or the gordanians anything. But given all of the land redistribution that's going to be happening I think you can spare me a few acres."

His nostrils flare, but he doesn't appear to be particularly shocked. "What for?"

"I wish to build a temple to my people's death god. It will be used exclusively for ritual and devotional purposes. You and anyone else who wish to visit are free to do so and hear the teachings of Lord Hades."

He considers. Crazy Lantern wants to build a temple…

"You have many rings-."

I roll my eyes and hand him the book.

"It's a training guide. Read and inwardly digest, then send anyone who gets it to speak to me. Now, if you'll excuse me?"
 
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This is the most hilariously fucked up negoations I've ever seen.

"Why, yes, I am powerful enough to kill everybody. Well, if I wanted to. How many of your people do you want to die in the process, anyway?"

"Yeash, this is annoying. You know what, I want to be paid for this stupid. I know, I'll introduce the death god of my faith! No way that can go wrong!"
 
"Just let them leave?! After everything they've done"?"
Extraneous Quotation mark.

Genuine anger. I suppose that's fair. The Gizzard Spiker clan were the ones who first made an alliance with the Citadel. Before that, the karnans were more or less maintaining their own sphere of influence. And now I'm telling him that the part of his most hated enemies that he hates most want to just leave. Of course, they're also the part which resent their loss of status most and will fight the hardest.
Meaning they're most likely to break the peace, intentionally or accidentally.

"Five-?" There's a wave of fur across his body as the surprise momentarily makes it fluff up before he regains control.
Extra space after the full stop.

"You think you could?"
Despite the inaccuracy, it's not known as 'the greatest weapon in the universe' for naught.

Mass emotional manipulation isn't something I've practiced. Not sure how I could practice it without being more than a little immoral. So while in theory I might be able to remove the desire to fight back from everyone in Gordane, there are all sorts of side effects that could come about as a result. Side effects like losing the drive to breathe or move out of the way of oncoming vehicles or pull one's hand out of a fire.
Ooh, nasty. Reminds me of the planet in Firefly's movie.

"But I will agree to a temporary ceasefire-" He indicates an area on the map, places the fleeing gordanians have been retreating to. "-to allow the gordanians to retreat to these areas. I am willing to exchange our people for theirs. All for all."
Finally, someone looks past their hate. About damn time!

He growl-snorts. Hm. To be fair, the gordanians do appear to have realised that starving manual labourers is a dumb thing to do, and that rationing people working in food production doesn't really work. Their main control mechanism is limiting their chattels' access to technology, not limiting their access to necessities.
Bread and circuses.

"Gordanians don't see as well in the dark as karnans. They don't want to land at night. They have agreed to begin collecting karnans at once and have them arrive just after first light, but that's the earliest they're willing to do."
Do you want them to be nervous? That might mean twitchy trigger fingers...

"I wouldn't recommend insisting on that, unless you want them crammed in. Gordanians take up quite a lot more space than karnans."
The tails, you know.

"So? A ceasefire, the gordanians retreat to extractions points and you allow transports in?"
"So? A ceasefire, the gordanians retreat to extraction points and you allow transports in?"

"Yes. I will agree to that now. The ceasefire to begin in half an hour-." A couple of officers wince, and Gaharrugh widens his eyes slightly. A mildly challenging expression amongst the karnans. Though he must realise that they have a point. Wrangling an armed mob over an area the size of a continent in half an hour is a bit of a tall order. "In an hour and a half. We will begin… Making room for their retreats when we can."
Sensible fellow, recognising his subordinates' unspoken complaints.

What, you expect him to work for free? He's not a Greenie!

"I wish to build a temple to my people's death god. It will be used exclusively for ritual and devotional purposes. You and anyone else who wish to visit are free to do so and hear the teachings of Lord Hades."
Sneaky sneaky. More gifts for Hades.

Hehehe. The trolling continues. Gouge them hard, OL, make them never want to let this happen again.
 
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Extraneous Quotation mark.
"Five-?" There's a wave of fur across his body as the surprise momentarily makes it fluff up before he regains control.
Extra space after the full stop
"So? A ceasefire, the gordanians retreat to extractions points and you allow transports in?"
"
So? A ceasefire, the gordanians retreat to extraction points and you allow transports in?"
Thank you, corrected.
 
Because he found out a few chapters ago that a lot of species don't believe in an afterlife, which leaves their souls loose after their death (and therefore claimable by Hades).

Which causes change and disruption in that after life, meaning he pleases/serves Eris in the process.
 
"I wish to build a temple to my people's death god. It will be used exclusively for ritual and devotional purposes. You and anyone else who wish to visit are free to do so and hear the teachings of Lord Hades."
Is Paul trying to boost Hades numbers because he hates the Silver City? Given long enough Hades could outpace heaven.
 
I feel like people going to afterlives like Hades will let them come back more easily - meaning more Black Lanterns in the future.
 
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Better than being Nobby or Ol'Fred.
Hey now, Nobby's a good lad. Well, he's an okay lad. Well, he's a Lad, and he's got papers to prove it. There's nothing wrong with him. I mean, he's not a criminal. Or rather, he's never been convicted of any crime! That we're aware of. He certainly doesn't bother people none. Well, he doesn't bother them about his religious beliefs. Certainly he could stand to bathe a bit more often, but a slightly dog eared, wrumpled looking fellow with a dogend behind his ear, and one of your cigarettes in his mouth and lighters in his hand with no intention of starting any sort of deep conversation and a desire to walk away from you without any conversation, is a sight better than a well pressed, groomed, and keen individual who'd quite like to engage you in conversation.

People who want to talk to you are the worst.

He first brought up the whole thing in Wing and Dagger (part 7) but the actual conversation with Hades happened in Wing and Dagger (part 22) and his talk with Mother of Mercy after that was in Ways and Means (part 13)
Cheers. The conversations with Hades are amongst my favourite things in this story. They're up there with arachnophilia, and Paul's amusing social ignorance.
 
It shouldn't really matter, since Black Lanterns are reanimated without souls.

Well normally.

Some of the cases would seem to indicate the soul was there, or the Black Lantern ring did the job of emulating the dead person's mind too well.

Osiris summoned a lightning bolt to destroy his ring.

Johnny Quick spent father daughter time with Jesse, no emotional torture or attempted homicide.

Driq was brought back as half a black lantern and half a green lantern, his green ring fighting to resist his black power ring.
 

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