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

Chojin Patriarch · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
In
Between

Black focuses intently on the portal. "Hostile?"

"Of course it's hostile. I can feel the other versions of me he has hooked up to the machine he uses to generate it."

Well, looks like it wasn't Saul talking yesterday. Time to ready the defences!

"And we're not being swarmed under with Manhunters because..?"

Time Trapper begins picking up shards of crystal and depositing them in his robe. "Because this place is protected. But imperfectly. Charging in will turn his assault force into an outwardly-directed blast of exotic radiation, but he can work around that problem given time." He looks at me. "Did Ambush Bug show you anything about you should handle events like this?"

In between trying to erase him from 'continuity'? Yeah, no. They aren't on speaking terms...

"No."

"Did he say anything that could be helpful?"

Honestly, it'd be like trying to talk to Deadpool when he's in 'really weird' mode. All those asides to non-existant readers...

"No, but… When I met Doctor Schwab, he mentioned..? I don't know if it's important, but he mentioned that he was having some sort of contact with Grayven."

"Grayven? Darkseid's son?"

Oh, how red their faces will be if they ever find out about the renegade...

"I don't know anyone else with that name."

"What exactly did he say?"

"'Only from your point of view. From everyone else's, they got a quick lesson on the Antarctic's environment and an awesome fight with robots and pirates! And that Grayven guy, for the niche crossover appeal.'"

So, Ambush Bug was aware of the Renegade's existence, but had no complaints about him... How odd... He must have assumed it was the comics Grayven.

"Niche.. crossover-?"

I point at Red. "Teen Titans." Then at Black. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

And yourself: Young Justice. But you don't know about that, do you?

Red frowns. "What?"

"You don't know who the Teen Titans-?"

"No, I know who the Titans are. I just didn't recognise the exact line-up."

...It's basically the Wolfman/Perez era early eighties with some visual tweaks and no Kid Flash or Wonder Girl... I guess the whole Jump City thing was the sticking point...

"You don't remember the animated series?"

"Not with that line-up. Why? Do.. you?"

Man, the 70's had weird cartoons...

"I remember a Buffy the Vampire Slayer film."

"But not the television series?"

"No. I remember the comic series, which…" He frowns. "I watched Angel. I remember Buffy appearing in a few episodes. I didn't think it was important…"

And it never occurred to him that something had to exist to bridge those gaps? That compulsion/memory hole is really strong, huh?

Shit. Have I forgotten some sort of.. comic series, or Teen Titans reboot that.. I'm now living through? I didn't recognise how I was talking about my ring and I still can't say my name…

<Maniacal laughter> <coughing> Ow, my lung...

Time Trapper exhales sharply. "Your mental deficiencies are not pertinent at this stage. Were any of the versions of you which you've seen involved at all in parallel universe travel?"

"Blue's parallel has planeshifting technology, but they're a Crime Syndicate reality."

Those largely exist solely for a counterpart League to visit and confront... Because Mirror Universes...

"That will have to-."

Red Queen tenses.

Seriously, you guys should really have been preparing for a fight...

"They're-"

The universe around us shudders as the portal jerks wider, just in time to admit a huge robot.

"-through."

Crud, it's a Sentinel!

It's clear a Manhunter, though at eight feet tall and nearly as wide it's far larger and less feminine than the previous batch we encountered. Its outer surface is red, shaped like a heroically proportioned humanoid sumo wrestler, the only breaks in colour being the purple-grey bands around its legs and forearms. It's chest-. The head is bucket-shaped, purple-grey face and two 'eyes' which I suspect are show. The front piece of the chest is transparent, clearly showing a woman-

Oh, funky design. Krona must have had to do some fast building to make that...

Jade, that's a Jade.

-trapped there like I remember the pre-War of Light Manhunters did with captured Green Lanterns. It's using her in order to exist here.

So if she dies... It goes slurping back through its' portal... Or transitions from material to physics...

"By the command of Krona, no man escapes the Manhunters."

My crystalline construct armour is already in place, and I put a shield in front of Red Queen and Time Trapper happens to be there. Red throws out construct magnets-on-poles, Angelika flies an evasive pattern while firing heat vision and Komand'r charges.

Roll for Initiative!

"Time-"

Angelika burns out its faux eyes, though the armour beneath proves far more resilient. Komand'r's eye beams hit the middle of the transparent section a second ahead of her fists. For a instant the Manhunter appears to be moving to block her, then the constructs hum and it trembles, not cripples but just slightly puts it off its stride.

Oh, it's tough... This is gonna be a pain...

"RRRRRAAAAGH!"

The Manhunter shakes at the hits, but isn't knocked back, much less actually damaged.

Really major pain. Damn bad guys, getting in the way of character interactions!

"-Trapper-"

The Manhunter's internal sections start to glow, and the crystal landscape around us starts to fracture.

And it can rip space-time a new one? Hax!

"-what are-"

Time Trapper's hood jerks around. Great, he doesn't know what's happening either.

"-we doing?"

Crud, it's extra bad when the guy in charge of knowing what's going on, doesn't know what to do!

The spheres of bubbling wax twist and flow, moving through the air to form circles around the Manhunter.

Angelika darts to the Manhunter's right arm and grabs a finger, straining for a moment to bend it back and break it. A moment later it gives way and Red sprays red vomit into the breach-.

Gonna take a lot more than that, I think...

And then it moves.

Komand'r is pushed into the ground, fracturing crystal embedding itself in her flesh. Golden light flares around the hand Angelika is attacking, disintegrating an arc across her costume and leaving an angry red welt on her skin. The red light from Red's ring is redirected, drawn into a siphon deployed from the grey-purple bracer on its left forearm. And then it's in front of him, damaged face-.

Goddamn Puzzle Bosses!

Black hits it, ghostly white claws coating his hands and slicing through the Manhunter's chest-mounted containment unit-.

A small explosive detonates, and that Jade's head is reduced to a red smear.

Evidently she wasn't critical to Krona's plan, then... Also, incoming Violet-induced rage...

No.

Violet crystal encases the Manhunter's arms and legs as Red grabs Komand'r and pulls back as fast as he can.

Okay, not too bad. I bet if that were Jade-16, things would have been a lot messier...

"Queen, anywhere."

"They're-. Jamming-."

The portal spasms again as the crystal around the Manhunter I trapped begins to crack. Their AIs aren't sophisticated enough to learn to feel love.

Oh, boy... Time to run. But where and when?!

Red Queen sags as another, smaller portal opens. "Go."

Jade 32 appears from behind the spire and dives through, Time Trapper just behind her, and Angelika waits just long enough to get a nod from me before flying for it. Komand'r's gotten over her shock sufficiently to take Red through with her, while Black pulls back more slowly, alert for any sign of weapon-.

Fighting retreat. Pain in the ass, but...

Another Manhunter drifts through their portal, opening fire as it comes! Black just tanks the shots-

"Go."

-and I fly through the portal.

...Sometimes, there's no hope of winning.

Well, things just got a lot harder for these guys. I wonder where they're going to end up? Somewhere we've seen? Somewhere new? Tune in tomorrow, especially if Mr Zoat keeps posting this early!

...it trembles, not cripples but just slightly puts it off its stride.

...it trembles, not crippled but just slightly put off its stride.

Vaermina · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Their AIs aren't sophisticated enough to learn to feel love.

Faulty assumption.

Mr Zoat · Apr 16, 2020

Darko said:
'how you should' not just 'you should'

Thank you, corrected.

Hopefully the Jade that died was the one that fought Anti Green, or some other evil version like her nuke happy comic counterpart, and not Green Lantern Jade, or any of the more heroic versions of her like Batwoman, assuming she was captured.

No, the Jade that died was a split-off of Red Queen.

moralrelativity said:
fracturing -> fractured (?)

No, the fracturing is ongoing.

MondayMorning37 said:
An Alchestbreach link? Excellent choice.

A what?

TheMidnightRook said:
Clearly.

Thank you, corrected.

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

I think Zaul didn't think about there being another series he hasn't seen because he just thought the movie happened and the Buffy that showed up in Angel just had her adventures offscreen, not knowing that Angel was a spinoff of the Buffy TV show.

Now either they are going to -14 or to Saul's world.

Is it weird that I am picturing Saul saving Zaul and giving him more power the same way Shirou gave Saber a mana charge, that being fucking.
We already know he has a thing for corpses

Sockmonkey · Apr 16, 2020

Zig said:
It probably didn't help that Zoat was pretty inconsistent about it. After it was revealed, I found I think 10 instances on just that page of the story only thread.

While we're on it, was it ever revealed why he couldn't say his name?

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

Sockmonkey said:
While we're on it, was it ever revealed why he couldn't say his name?

No I don't think so.

freakytiki34 · Apr 16, 2020

So the mental compulsions we know about are:

1. Can't say or think his own name

2. Can't think of the ring as"my ring"

3. Has all memory wiped off the specific series he's in, but not any adjacent stories or media, and is incapable of realizing this

Did I miss any?

PDV · Apr 16, 2020

Viterbi said:
"When I am confronted by the horrors of the universe I rejoice for when I am done there will be done less" sounds very much like something you'd read from main-line Less Wrong, the part that isn't crazy. It doesn't quite show up word-for-word in this post, for example, but the sentiment is clearly there.

Definitely not from LW, I would know the source if it was. And the only crazy bits are the postrationalists and Ziz's protest conspiracy.

Agent Orange · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Shit. Have I forgotten some sort of.. comic series, or Teen Titans reboot that.. I'm now living through? I didn't recognise how I was talking about my ring and I still can't say my name…

Wait. Didn't OL already have this realization back on Antarctica when he was done with his first vision quest? I thought he was just ignoring it not that he forgot it?

edit: found it.

Uuuuuuuuuuugh.

Ring. The fuck.

"Lantern and ring ceased to exist for approximately-."

"Oh, don't you give me that." I let the construct armour fade away, then push myself into an upright position. Environmental shield, don't fail me now. "I did not cease to exist. I formed memories. I was-." Blue.. me. He tried to persuade Ultraman not to build the bomb. And… That was The Boys. As an Indigo. He.. didn't remember reading The Boys. Red was Teen Titans and he didn't remember that either.

I move to a kneeling position, staring out across the Antarctic wilderness. But… They each remembered DC in general, but not the place they ended up. I…

Oh gods.

I don't remember this, and… It didn't occur to any of them to think about it. Should I..? Did I..? Did I once watch or read some sort of updated Teen Titans thing that I can't remember? I… I assumed that I was from something like comic Earth Prime, the.. boring one. So… Did each of them come from different Earth Primes, or… Are we all versions of the same person? Is-? Do we have some original, sitting at home in Hampden Park, still… Going to work like a normal person?

Urm..?

Did Ambush Bug wipe his memory of this or is his desire not to think about it that strong that he's self-editing?

Mr Zoat said:
Time Trapper exhales sharply. "Your mental deficiencies are not pertinent at this stage.

... Paul Trapper is kind of a dick isn't he?

Mr Zoat said:
Black hits it, ghostly white claws coating his hands and slicing through the Manhunter's chest-mounted containment unit-.

'ghostly white'. This was always wierd to me in comics. I know 'death' isn't an emotion but why not stick to the colour scheme?

Mr Zoat said:
A small explosive detonates, and that Jade's head is reduced to a red smear.

... Ah. Goodbye Lantern Jade. You will be missed.

DAT_NOOB · Apr 16, 2020

Vaermina said:
Faulty assumption.

How is superman's defendant related to a simple AI being unable to advance?

Cuchulin · Apr 16, 2020

Agent Orange said:
... Ah. Goodbye Lantern Jade. You will be missed.

Very much so, it would have been nice is she got to know OL a little before that happened.

jaelin910 · Apr 16, 2020

DAT_NOOB said:
How is superman's defendant related to a simple AI being unable to advance?

Much as it pains me to say it, Vaermina kinda has a point there

Laurel was revealed to actually be a Manhunter robot which survived the extinction of its kind for a thousand years.

of course, Vaermina is making the faulty assumption that that's a thing that could be the case here.

Vaermina · Apr 16, 2020

DAT_NOOB said:
How is superman's defendant related to a simple AI being unable to advance?

It was three short paragraphs... You could have at least read them all...

Laurel was revealed to actually be a Manhunter robot which survived the extinction of its kind for a thousand years. Unfortunately, Laurel's Manhunter programming accidentally activated and she flew off to an abandoned base in the Himalayas where she self-destructed.

Mr Zoat · Apr 16, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, things just got a lot harder for these guys. I wonder where they're going to end up? Somewhere we've seen? Somewhere new? Tune in tomorrow, especially if Mr Zoat keeps posting this early!

I'm back to working in the office, so I actually have to get up and leave the house in the morning.

...it trembles, not crippled but just slightly put off its stride.

Thank you, corrected.

Handlewithcare · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I'm back to working in the office, so I actually have to get up and leave the house in the morning.

There, there pat pat

Assuming a Paul ended up in Sliders or Star Trek or somewhere else with paralel travel...would they be abke to visit other Pauls?

I could imagine the multiverse having many dimensions and most travel across it only happening along one specific axis. So there would be a "Dc multiverse section" a " marvel multivcerse section" and so on.

Also, now I want a Paul in Trek (there actually is a Lantern, 2009 Trek crossover comic)

Mr Zoat · Apr 16, 2020

Handlewithcare said:
There, there pat pat

Assuming a Paul ended up in Sliders or Star Trek or somewhere else with paralel travel...would they be abke to visit other Pauls?

I could imagine the multiverse having many dimensions and most travel across it only happening along one specific axis. So there would be a "Dc multiverse section" a " marvel multivcerse section" and so on.

Also, now I want a Paul in Trek (there actually is a Lantern, 2009 Trek crossover comic)

If I was going to insert into Star Trek, it would be Proper Trek not Modern Drek.

Agent Orange · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
If I was going to insert into Star Trek, it would be Proper Trek not Modern Drek.

So TOS while only remembering Kelvinverse

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

Yeah him ending up in the 20th century versions of the Star Trek franchise is a good guarantee of him finding something to recharge his ring with, seeing as they seemed to run into some weird clarketech like bullshit device every other week, well except DS9 what with the whole war with the Dominion plot and Cardassia and Bajor thing going on.

Now I wonder who he would meet with Picard of Kirk and what changes he can bring.

Agent Orange · Apr 16, 2020

Star Trek had a bunch of crossovers with other franchises (thou how canonical they are is anyone's guess) . Usually in form of comic books. I could be misremembering but I think there was a GL cross as well. I definitely remember a Known Space cross with Kzinti as aliens of the week.

edit: The Spectrum War comic from 2015 - that's the ST/GL cross

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

There was one with the Legion of Superheroes that included Flint from the og show being Vandal Savage after he had a change of heart and decided to stop being stupid.

Agent Orange · Apr 16, 2020

Ah yes, good old Mr Flint (last name 'Stone' presumably) and his no good cousin Mr Oldman

edit: is there a club or support group for these immortal but otherwise baseline humans? ("So, how many times did you have to change your legal identity this century. I'll start.") Cause it seems Mr Adg skipped more than a few meetings.

SirKaid · Apr 16, 2020

Darko said:
Now I wonder who he would meet with Picard of Kirk and what changes he can bring.

The Picard era Federation is a post scarcity near-utopia. What changes could he make to materially improve the quality of life for its citizens?

Well, now that I think about it, he's got some better ship-scale weapons and other technological bits and bobs he could hand over to Federation scientists. After all, while the Federation's lack of military budget in favour of the civilian side of things is admirable, they still do have a need to kill the Borg.

He might also be interested in attempting uplifts of pre-Warp civilizations in Federation space; while the Prime Directive is a good idea in general that's mainly because of the danger of the pre-Warp civilization being treated like literally every single other "primitive" civilization by the more advanced civ.

Alternatively, he could go kill Space Nazis, maybe start a proper slave rebellion if he finds a way to recharge and make more rings.

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Ah yes, good old Mr Flint (last name 'Stone' presumably) and his no good cousin Mr Oldman

edit: is there a club or support group for these immortal but otherwise baseline humans? Cause it seems Mr Adg skipped more than a few meetings.

Really liked the "The Man from Earth", especially how he deconstructed some of the cliches about immortality, like remembering their original language and retaining all the knowledge they have learned in their life.

As for support groups there was that Council of Immortals thing in n52, and the n52 version of Savage seemed to know a immortal woman named Capucine that showed up in the Swamp Thing comics of n52.

SirKaid said:
The Picard era Federation is a post scarcity near-utopia. What changes could he make to materially improve the quality of life for its citizens?

Well, now that I think about it, he's got some better ship-scale weapons and other technological bits and bobs he could hand over to Federation scientists. After all, while the Federation's lack of military budget in favour of the civilian side of things is admirable, they still do have a need to kill the Borg.

He might also be interested in attempting uplifts of pre-Warp civilizations in Federation space; while the Prime Directive is a good idea in general that's mainly because of the danger of the pre-Warp civilization being treated like literally every single other "primitive" civilization by the more advanced civ.

Alternatively, he could go kill Space Nazis, maybe start a proper slave rebellion if he finds a way to recharge and make more rings.

Helping rebuild Bajor, Or Cardassia after the Domion could be something he could do.

Handlewithcare · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
If I was going to insert into Star Trek, it would be Proper Trek not Modern Drek.

Right there with ya (although Picard had some good moments), just pointing out such a comic exists.

Stsword · Apr 16, 2020

The DC Database entry for Laurel Kent isn't the most informative.

It turns out that the manhunter kidnapped and stole the identity of the real Laurel Kent, after the manhunter blew herself to ragequit the universe she resumed her life, and teamed up with Kent Shakespeare (her cousin according to WoG) the Superman of the 31st century as well as Brane Taylor the Batman of the 31st century and his sidekick Robin.

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

Hey Zoat here's a suggestion for helping those Vikings find their way back to Valhalla:
Get Wotan to open a portal, or at least the SI can compel him to open one or give them the knowledge of how to open a portal to Valhalla.

Mr Zoat · Apr 16, 2020

Handlewithcare said:
although Picard had some good moments

You're dead to me.

Darko said:
Hey Zoat here's a suggestion for helping those Vikings find their way back to Valhalla:
Get Wotan to open a portal, or at least the SI can compel him to open one or give them the knowledge of how to open a portal to Valhalla.

Which would be a good idea, if the SI have any leverage or if Oden actually wanted them back.

Darko · Apr 16, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
You're dead to me.

Which would be a good idea, if the SI have any leverage or if Oden actually wanted them back.

Don't really understand why you dislike Picard so much, considering the fact that his diplomatic approach would be something that the SI may like more rather than Kirk's cowboy like attitude.

The SI can tell Aquaman that he is trying to send the Einharjer home and needs Wotan for it, I'm pretty sure Aquaman would approve of that and letting the SI influence Wotan to telling them the spells required to travel to Valhalla.

And Odin, who is supposed to be a pragmatic type of guy, is willing to lose over 30 warriors, along with a guy that is virtually indestructible, because he has a grudge against said indestructible guy.
I know that everyone has their weak and low points, but WOW that is a really stupid attitude for Odin to have.

Another way they can use to send the vikings back is the Tower of Fate and its library, though seeing as Nabu didn't send them back it could mean he didn't know how or didn't have a book explaining how to do it, or was too busy to have the time.

TheMidnightRook · Apr 16, 2020

Darko said:
Don't really understand why you dislike Picard so much, considering the fact that his diplomatic approach would be something that the SI may like more rather than Kirk's cowboy like attitude.

Well, I can't speak for Zoat... but considering how STP treats not just Picard, but other established characters, I'd say his disdain is justified.

(Retired) Admiral Picard: I've got intel that suggests the Romulans are up to their old tricks. Can you send a scout ship to investigate and find some proof?
Admiral Clancy: Go fuck yourself.

And that's not even getting into what they did to Icheb.

Mr Zoat · Apr 16, 2020

Darko said:
Don't really understand why you dislike Picard so much, considering the fact that his diplomatic approach would be something that the SI may like more rather than Kirk's cowboy like attitude.

Not Picard the character. Picard the series.

And Odin, who is supposed to be a pragmatic type of guy, is willing to lose over 30 warriors, along with a guy that is virtually indestructible, because he has a grudge against said indestructible guy.
I know that everyone has their weak and low points, but WOW that is a really stupid attitude for Odin to have.

Eh, not really. He's had them for centuries, and it's not as if he needs them on hand right now. Leaving them on Earth to learn new things is a pretty reasonable move.

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

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