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

[Mr Zoat]

I would assume that due to all the radiation, at least 1/4th of those people in that town have some sort of superpower now. This is DC after all.

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Given that the Soviet Union didn't win the Cold War, probably not.

 

[Mquz]

Given that the Soviet Union didn't win the Cold War, probably not.

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Doesn't mean they have to be useful powers. Maybe one of them constantly releases a low dose of radioactive material through sweat. Maybe another can drink heavily radioactive water without dying. None of these would decisively help a war effort, and most radiation based powers lead to insanity.

 

[Bramble Thorn]

Given that the Soviet Union didn't win the Cold War, probably not.

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You don't know. They could all have powers, just the sucky ones that aren't much use in combat.

Like maybe the taxi driver can shoot mayonnaise out of his index finger, and the local beautician instinctively knows the cumulative playtime total of all flutists within the borders of france since the end of the monarchy.

My personal theory is that cutie mark assignment is entirely random, and the meaning only has any significance to the one who possesses it.

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Ok, I'll call your bluff here. My guess for what his cutie mark looks like is it doesn't matter and is something you assigned entirely randomly.

 

[Chaoswind]

Given that the Soviet Union didn't win the Cold War, probably not.

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But they lost the cold war on economic and ideological terms, people with powers wouldn't have helped them an iota (unless their powers can be used to boost the economy) in either of those factors. The argument would have some ground if the cold war had gone HOT, but since it didn't, having a bunch of radiation powered meta humans wouldn't have helped anymore than injecting a few thousand soldiers with the super speed serum and since the soviets didn't do that (and they could actually do that, unlike the US that didn't actually have the formula as a couple private citizens had the information and weren't willing to give it to their government) we can assume more Russians meta humans wouldn't have been a factor to the fact the soviets lost the cold war.

 

[AidanMorgan]

Given that Grayven thinks they're parasites, he might not actually have a cutie mark.

Or maybe it's a stylized leech or similar.

 

[nick012000]

Given that Grayven thinks they're parasites, he might not actually have a cutie mark.

Or maybe it's a stylized leech or similar.

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It'd clearly be something that represents his nature as the New God of Conquest. Maybe something like a sword over a stack of coins, representing his use of both hard and soft power.

 

[Mquz]

It'd clearly be something that represents his nature as the New God of Conquest. Maybe something like a sword over a stack of coins, representing his use of both hard and soft power.

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A dragon sleeping on a horde? And everyone in Equestria thinks he's just really good with making friends with dragons.

 

[Gantradies]

...actually, assuming the intention is to clean the location up after the end of the exercise, yeah, i can VERY easily see the Russian government agreeing to this easily/quickly-

the region is question is literally THE (or maybe just one of the top 3-5) most radiologicly contaminated places on earth- both the concreted-over lake, and the nearby soil/rivers- "just" cleaning up the area with no other compensation/payment would significantly increase the available habitable/arable land- the League gets more experience/training working against light-scale threats (so if Russia ends up needing to call for help they're stronger),
they get a lot of good publicity for helping with an international exercise AND hopefully to get some publicity for their contribution to the team, and their scientists/engineers/tacticians get some interesting data to go through.....

for anyone interested in a little documentary,

 

[FreeGod]

Paul couldn't clean up the lake for free. He just lacks the motivation to do it with an orange ring, but he can "sell" the service in exchange for something he wants.

 

[rkyeun]

Paul couldn't clean up the lake for free. He just lacks the motivation to do it with an orange ring, but he can "sell" the service in exchange for something he wants.

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Such as letting him run a training exercise with a radioactive supervillain capable of challenging the league there.

 

[w34v3r]

Doesn't mean they have to be useful powers. Maybe one of them constantly releases a low dose of radioactive material through sweat. Maybe another can drink heavily radioactive water without dying. None of these would decisively help a war effort, and most radiation based powers lead to insanity.

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I think the general distribution for the metahuman potential is one in twelve?

On top of that some metahumans have an active version which means their powers are mostly pre-set.

Only those metahumans with the 'get out of one bio-chemical-particle crisis free' variation will adapt to something like this. Of those only a few will get something that helps long term instead of just delaying the inevitable. Of those, any with even vaguely useful powers and abilities will either leave or be 'recruited'.

So by the time you have something like this for more than a year or two, the only probable meta-human presences are going to be the ones so subtle, or so insignificant that nobody cares.

If you want to go full Cauldron the government may be keeping it around specifically in an attempt to trigger or breed metas.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ok, I'll call your bluff here. My guess for what his cutie mark looks like is it doesn't matter and is something you assigned entirely randomly.

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No.

Given that Grayven thinks they're parasites, he might not actually have a cutie mark.

Or maybe it's a stylized leech or similar.

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No, no.

It'd clearly be something that represents his nature as the New God of Conquest. Maybe something like a sword over a stack of coins, representing his use of both hard and soft power.

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No.

A dragon sleeping on a horde? And everyone in Equestria thinks he's just really good with making friends with dragons.

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No.

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd March
04:19 GMT +5

He tried not to smile.

He really did.

Hal bein' dead? Not cool. Even back when things had been so bad between 'em that they couldn't be in the same room without squarin' up, he hadn't ever actually wanted Hal dead. Beaten up, maybe, an' if the Guardians hadda given him the boot he wouldn't a' lost sleep-. But not dead.

Hal gettin' knocked outta a trainin' exercise? Kinda funny, but Flash was out already so it wasn't just no-power scrubs like Ollie gettin' 'eliminated'. An' Hal'd been doin' something he knew was hard fer a Green Lantern t' handle. So, yeah, he'd laugh about it later, but keepin' the world from a radioactive apocalypse wasn't such a bad way t' go.

Especially if you weren't really gone.

So he didn't feel the need t' try makin' Hal look stupid. He didn't make his replacement shield look like Barney the Dinosaur or nothin'. Just a regular dome. That was a whole lot stronger and a little bit brighter than Hal's, while keepin' up his armor construct at the same time. Just a little reminder who had bonded with Ion and who hadn't.

Huh, what was-?

"Lantern Jordan, your medical abilities-"

Oh, right. Yeah. Gettin' shot by that much radiation, Paul wan'ed t' check Hal out. Made sense.

"-aren't good enough to know that."

And yeah, Hal wasn't gunna like gettin' knocked out any more than he would, but that was a whole lot of radiation and neither of them were tough enough t' walk it off if it got past their rings. Paul already dragged Hal outa the way-.

A medium sized beam hit the interior of his shield, which held out just fine, thank you ladies and gentlemen, he was here all week. Down below… Eh, kinda hard t' tell. Robot was actually showin' some damage now, but… Yeah, definitely healin' somehow. Supes was-.

Was fightin' in his underoos, which was… A thing.

He felt a sudden urge to increase how much time he spent workin' out, but-.

Ah, anyway, Supes was kinda red but he didn't seem t' be slowin' down none. Atom was fine, which… What exactly did his powers do? Ah, never mind. Him and Super had some kinda rhythm goin' where they punched the robot one way an' then the other. Stewart was bringin' in Angelica, then they could wrap all this up.

Huh. Robot hadn't fired its eye lasers in a little whi-.

The robot span its head around and fired a big shot at Atom, who… Glowed purple for a second and then vanished.

…

What?

His eyes went up again as the robot started pounding on Superman. Paul… Wasn't freaking out or callin' it off, so… Okay? Some kinda teleporter? Kinda… Weird, but okay. The robot went after Supes right away, but Icon took up the slack just fine. With punches, anyway. Looked like the robot could absorb Atom's energy blasts (which weren't supposed t' be radioactive) but couldn't soak up Icon's electrical blasts? Guess the thing wasn't called Mr Electric…

Still…

"Guy t' anyone who knows what just happened t' Atom?"

"Quantum leap."

John. Figures.

"I like westerns better than sci-fi."

"It's where his powers come from. He can absorb energy, but if he gets too much he jumps forward in time."

Ah. Hopefully not.. too far forward.

"Right. How far-?"

John and Angelica appear next to him, John throwing up a bunker construct right away while bein' real careful t' keep his environmental shield around her. He wasn't exactly sure how tough she was supposed t' be… She'd been some kinda big shot demon then Paul got her some angel wings. Did that make her even stronger, or did the magics just kinda mess with each other?

Eh, whatever. The robot didn't seem all that bothered by people hitting it-. Oh, it was gettin' knocked around, but it wasn't goin' down. Icon was pickin' up bruises, Supes was flyin' kinda… Slow, when he zipped around t' dodge the robot's punches.

There's a movement-.

"Wondy?"

She holds out his purple healing ray gun, and he sends it back into subspace.

"You sure you're-?"

"I'm well enough to fight."

Okay, she's old as his grandma would be. If she thought she's good t' dive right back in, she was.

Probably.

Down below, the robot had managed to get a hold of Icon with its right hand and was pounding on him with its left. In return, Supes had pretty much caved in the right side of its torso by combinin' his laser-eyes with his punches. Not that that was makin' it any weaker.

"John, how's-?"

"1:1 In the name of the Most High, cease!"

The robot lost its grip on Icon right away, its eyes flickering in surprise. Icon counterattacked, gripping its right forearm and squeezing through the metal! Supes used the break to turn his eye lasers up a little, then grabbed onto its waist with his left hand and shoved his right hand into its back! The robot collapses almost at once but Supes keeps right on going, shearing off the left and right arms before stepping back.

"Mister Atom incapacitated."

He exhaled in relief as Wonder Woman relaxed in the air. Angelica said somethin' he couldn't hear to John, and a moment later they both vanished. Yeah, fair enough. He wouldn't wanna hang around someplace like this if he didn't have to.

Supes floated upwards while Icon stayed on the ground, looking the robot over. Looked like a mad science project to him, but maybe terminans used stuff like that? Supes definitely looked baked, and-.

"Members of the Justice League?"

He turned to look as Paul came down. That was really it, then?

"There are no further ongoing operations as part of this exercise. While you should probably carry on with the cleanup, there's no need to stay here unless you want to."

Paul stuck out his right arm and made a zeta tube construct.

"Superman, you look like you would benefit from some time in your Fortress."

Supes looked at himself for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

He flew through as-

"Recognised, Superman, zero one."

-Paul landed next to Mr Atom's broken body.

"Right, let's see…"

He flipped the robot onto its back, used constructs to shove the arms back into roughly the right places and then used one of his super knife things to open up the front. Then he took a short grey rod out of sub-.

That's a uranium fuel rod. Like they use in nuclear bombs.

And yet, he wasn't surprised.

Which he put into a slot inside the robot and then closed up the front again. The robot stayed still for a moment, then the damage started disappearing.

"Guy, I don't want to influence you too much, but is there something you should be doing now?"

Riiiight, the radioactive dust. But… That wasn't going anywhere. He kinda wanted to see what the robot was going to do.

 

[Grimnar]

No.

No, no.

No.

No.

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My mind flashed to this for some reason...

 

[Ardy]

Damn. Guy really doesn't read the reports.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Are we even sure Guy actually can read ?

 

[Ace Dreamer]

3rd March
04:19 GMT +5
...
then grabbed onto its waste

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'waist'?

---

That was a highly impressive fight sequence, and I particularly liked the multiple viewpoints. Of course, we have to see what the team have to say about all this, but I don't think they can fault OL for being really, really, thorough.

 

[moralrelativity]

and shoving his right into its back!

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right hand? right arm? right testicle?

 

[Gantradies]

I think the general distribution for the metahuman potential is one in twelve?

On top of that some metahumans have an active version which means their powers are mostly pre-set.

Only those metahumans with the 'get out of one bio-chemical-particle crisis free' variation will adapt to something like this. Of those only a few will get something that helps long term instead of just delaying the inevitable. Of those, any with even vaguely useful powers and abilities will either leave or be 'recruited'.

So by the time you have something like this for more than a year or two, the only probable meta-human presences are going to be the ones so subtle, or so insignificant that nobody cares.

If you want to go full Cauldron the government may be keeping it around specifically in an attempt to trigger or breed metas.

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considering, in the end, their net effect on the apocalypse they were created to handle was, at absolute best, near-zero,and at worst, they hastened it/actively caused it by actively ignoring/protecting the individual directly responsible for something like 15-20 years,i think its safe to say "never go full Cauldron"

 

[Ganurath]

considering, in the end, their net effect on the apocalypse they were created to handle was, at absolute best, near-zero,and at worst, they hastened it/actively caused it by actively ignoring/protecting the individual directly responsible for something like 15-20 years,i think its safe to say "never go full Cauldron"

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This isn't a thread for discussing bad Worm fanon.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

3rd March
04:19 GMT +5

He tried not to smile.

He really did.

Hal bein' dead? Not cool. Even back when things had been so bad between 'em that they couldn't be in the same room without squarin' up, he hadn't ever actually wanted Hal dead. Beaten up, maybe, an' if the Guardians hadda given him the boot he wouldn't a' lost sleep-. But not dead.

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Heh, nice touch with the green timestamp. Good way to instantly tell you this is a Lantern's viewpoint. And I see Guy has no hard feelings towards Jordan.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Hal gettin' knocked outta a trainin' exercise? Kinda funny, but Flash was out already so it wasn't just no-power scrubs like Ollie gettin' 'eliminated'. An' Hal'd been doin' something he knew was hard fer a Green Lantern t' handle. So, yeah, he'd laugh about it later, but keepin' the world from a radioactive apocalypse wasn't such a bad way t' go.

Especially if you weren't really gone.

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Hell, not dying when you're killed is always good.

So he didn't feel the need t' try makin' Hal look stupid. He didn't make his replacement shield look like Barney the Dinosaur or nothin'. Just a regular dome. That was a whole lot stronger and a little bit brighter than Hal's, while keepin' up his armor construct at the same time. Just a little reminder who had bonded with Ion and who hadn't.

Huh, what was-?

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Professionalism, for the win.

"Lantern Jordan, your medical abilities-"

Oh, right. Yeah. Gettin' shot by that much radiation, Paul wan'ed t' check Hal out. Made sense.

"-aren't good enough to know that."

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I'm guessing Hal is arguing the kill, declaring that of course his ring could keep him alive through that blast...

And yeah, Hal wasn't gunna like gettin' knocked out any more than he would, but that was a whole lot of radiation and neither of them were tough enough t' walk it off if it got past their rings. Paul already dragged Hal outa the way-.

A medium sized beam hit the interior of his shield, which held out just fine, thank you ladies and gentlemen, he was here all week. Down below… Eh, kinda hard t' tell. Robot was actually showin' some damage now, but… Yeah, definitely healin' somehow. Supes was-.

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Ah, Elightenment. That passive bonus to construct strength is always handy in this questline.

Was fightin' in his underoos, which was… A thing.

He felt a sudden urge to increase how much time he spent workin' out, but-.

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Gee, if only your ring could upgrade your body. Damn Bobblehead Malware.

Ah, anyway, Supes was kinda red but he didn't seem t' be slowin' down none. Atom was fine, which… What exactly did his powers do? Ah, never mind. Him and Super had some kinda rhythm goin' where they punched the robot one way an' then the other. Stewart was bringin' in Angelica, then they could wrap all this up.

Huh. Robot hadn't fired its eye lasers in a little whi-.

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Probably saving it up for...

The robot span its head around and fired a big shot at Atom, who… Glowed purple for a second and then vanished.

…

What?

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...That. Dang, I wonder if Mr Atom knew that would happen or not? I can just picture his subroutines going 'What?' for a nanosecond...

His eyes went up again as the robot started pounding on Superman. Paul… Wasn't freaking out or callin' it off, so… Okay? Some kinda teleporter? Kinda… Weird, but okay. The robot went after Supes right away, but Icon took up the slack just fine. With punches, anyway. Looked like the robot could absorb Atom's energy blasts (which weren't supposed t' be radioactive) but couldn't soak up Icon's electrical blasts? Guess the thing wasn't called Mr Electric…

Still…

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Interesting that Mister Atom could soak the Captain's blasts. Something to do with wavelength, perhaps?

"Guy t' anyone who knows what just happened t' Atom?"

"Quantum leap."

John. Figures.

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And this, Guy, is why you read your teammate's profiles. Learn their powers, you don't get surprised like that.

"I like westerns better than sci-fi."

"It's where his powers come from. He can absorb energy, but if he gets too much he jumps forward in time."

Ah. Hopefully not.. too far forward.

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Hopefully only a couple of weeks, tops. I imagine he's gonna be annoyed about missing his favourite TV shows. Always a pain to get caught up.

"Right. How far-?"

John and Angelica appear next to him, John throwing up a bunker construct right away while bein' real careful t' keep his environmental shield around her. He wasn't exactly sure how tough she was supposed t' be… She'd been some kinda big shot demon then Paul got her some angel wings. Did that make her even stronger, or did the magics just kinda mess with each other?

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Seriously, Guy! Read the reports!

Eh, whatever. The robot didn't seem all that bothered by people hitting it-. Oh, it was gettin' knocked around, but it wasn't goin' down. Icon was pickin' up bruises, Supes was flyin' kinda… Slow, when he zipped around t' dodge the robot's punches.

There's a movement-.

"Wondy?"

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Ah, she's patched up. Probably still smells like bacon...

She holds out his purple healing ray gun, and he sends it back into subspace.

"You sure you're-?"

"I'm well enough to fight."

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Again: "I don't need skin to fight."

Okay, she's old as his grandma would be. If she thought she's good t' dive right back in, she was.

Probably.

Down below, the robot had managed to get a hold of Icon with its right hand and was pounded on him with hits left. In return, Supes had pretty much caved in the right side of its torso by combinin' his laser-eyes with his punches. Not that that was makin' it any weaker.

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Boy, Mr Atom is tough. I know, environmental bonuses, but seriously, tanking two top-level powerhouses at a time? It's no wonder the Devs nerfed him a little...

"John, how's-?"

"1:1 In the name of the Most High, cease!"

The robot lost its grip on Icon right away, its eyes flickering in surprise. Icon counterattacked, gripping its right forearm and squeezing through the metal! Supers used the break to turn his eye lasers up a little, then grabbed onto its waste with his left hand and shoving his right into its back! The robot collapses almost at once but Supes keeps right on going, sheering off the left and right arms before stepping back.

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Ah, its one big weakness: Anti-magic. Tough luck for any player who didn't work on magical ally relations.

"Mister Atom incapacitated."

He exhaled in relief as Wonder Woman relaxed in the air. Angelica said somethin' he couldn't hear to John, and a moment later they both vanished. Yeah, fair enough. He wouldn't wanna hang around someplace like this if he didn't have to.

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As it is, she's gonna need a shower to get the caesium off...

Supes floated upwards while Icon stayed on the ground, looking the robot over. Looked like a mad science project to him, but maybe terminans used stuff like that? Supes definitely looked baked, and-.

"Members of the Justice League?"

Click to shrink...

Sound the bell, this match is done!

He turned to look as Paul came down. That was really it, then?

"There are no further ongoing operations as part of this exercise. While you should probably carry on with the cleanup, there's no need to stay here unless you want to."
Paul stuck out his right arm and made a zeta tube construct.

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Ah, the little bonus for the locals. After all, a dustbowl 36 times more toxic than Chernobyl is nothing to leave exposed.

"Superman, you look like you would benefit from some time in your Fortress."

Supes looked at himself for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

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And get some fresh pants while he's there. He's going to need quite a long shower...

He flew through as-

"Recognised, Superman, zero one."

-Paul landed next to Mr Atom's broken body.

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Now, to deal with the OpFor. Seriously, if his priorities were adjusted, Mr Atom would likely be quite helpful around the lakes.

"Right, let's see…"

He flipped the robot onto its back, used constructs to shove the arms back into roughly the right places and then used one of his super knife things to open up the front. Then he took a short grey rod out of sub-.

That's a uranium fuel rod. Like they use in nuclear bombs.

Click to shrink...

Custom-fabricated, no doubt. Orange Power Rings are full of useful functions..

And yet, he wasn't surprised.

Which he put into a slot inside the robot and then closed up the front again. The robot stayed still for a moment, then the damage started disappearing.

Click to shrink...

As long he stays down, that's cool. He gets up swinging, he gets put back down harder.

"Guy, I don't want to influence you too much, but is there something you should be doing now?"

Riiiight, the radioactive dust. But… That wasn't going anywhere. He kinda wanted to see what the robot was going to do.

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On that note, what's the Bobbleheads' stance on cleaning up environmental damage, like nuclear waste?

Well, the action is done with. Now to give the league a bit of time to clean up, gather on the Watchtower and get their grades. While OL deals with Mr Atom...

Correction:

...him with hits left.

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...him with its left.

"There are no further ongoing operations as part of this exercise. While you should probably carry on with the cleanup, there's no need to stay here unless you want to."
Paul stuck out his right arm and made a zeta tube construct.

Click to shrink...

Busted line break here.

 

[Mquz]

My mind flashed to this for some reason...

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Huh... reminded me of Fate / Stay night abridged.

 

[Mr Zoat]

'waist'?

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right hand? right arm? right testicle?

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Correction:
...him with its left.
Busted line break here.

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Oglymogly]

It'd clearly be something that represents his nature as the New God of Conquest. Maybe something like a sword over a stack of coins, representing his use of both hard and soft power.

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Actually, he has one thing in his soul that is more powerful than his godly nature: a piece of the Anti-life equation. Hopefully it ISN'T that, but maybe it could be a Omega, denoting his status as a 'son of Darkseid'.

So, Mr. Zoat, my official guess is a Omega symbol. I kinda hope I'm right, cause it'll piss off the renegade something fierce.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Actually, he has one thing in his soul that is more powerful than his godly nature: a piece of the Anti-life equation. Hopefully it ISN'T that, but maybe it could be a Omega, denoting his status as a 'son of Darkseid'.

So, Mr. Zoat, my official guess is a Omega symbol. I kinda hope I'm right, cause it'll piss off the renegade something fierce.

Click to shrink...

No.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Nuclear reactors use fuel in rod shape, nuclear bombs don't. I suppose Guy didn't know that.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Huh. Anyone else get the feeling Paul is planning something sneaky?

 

[Chaoswind]

I don't think the scenario is over.

I think the meta result is that the robot is too young to have the breath of resources that were used in this scenario and that the best way to "win" is to confront Paul about it, and at that point Paul will be revealed to be the villainous mastermind earning the league points for discovering that or a fight with Paul as the true end boss.

 

[KillingYouNicely]

Honestly, I'm even more eager for the debrief than last time. The scenario involved threats of a kind the League rarely faces, so Paul's commentary should be interesting to read.

 

[Steelplaza]

Honestly, I'm even more eager for the debrief than last time. The scenario involved threats of a kind the League rarely faces, so Paul's commentary should be interesting to read.

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Threats of a kind the League rarely faces?

It involved a mix of criminals and super-powered mercenaries that robbed super-technology from high-tech companies for a mysterious master, culminating in a super-fight against a high level antagonist that requires the might of the entire League to defeat. That sounds like basically your average Justice League comic story-arc to me.

I rather think the SI's point is that this is exactly the kind of threat the League regularly faces. Indeed, whatever the League's purpose actually is it would cover this under all definitions, so nobody can say it's outside of their usual ballpark.