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

Lord Ernest · 2025-07-12T14:24:53+0100

Duke Long said:
Thanks, good to know. Although the face on the left armour looks more silly than scary to me.

Oh, I agree. The helmets need some change or redesign; Karen-Nightwing's looks like a silly Power Ranger helmet, while Kara-Flamebird's looks as goofy as a mook villain in said Power Ranger show. But the armors/costumes themselves I really like.

mastermenthe said:
Do you mean "untestable"?

Detestable: adjective; deserving intense dislike. In this case, Noriel.

I don't think I misspoke, no, unless you're referring to something else or making a joke that flew over my head.

Stsword · 2025-07-12T16:21:31+0100

DC had a storyline going into Flamebird a bit.

Flamebird is the Kryptonian goddess of destruction.

But not destruction as in entropy but rather destruction as a catalyst for growth and change- It's her job to burn the old shit so new, maybe better, shit can take its place.

The Maker, the Kryptonian god of creation, adored her. Not romantically or anything, the Maker is even the one who set up Nightwing and Flamebird.

One day the Maker made his magnum opus, his most beautiful, his most perfect creation, a monument to how much he loves the Flamebird.

He proudly shows it to the Flamebird. Her response was basically "Oh, Maker, it's beautiful. You should be so proud, it's magnificent. BURNBURNBURNBURN!"

"NOOOOOOO! What are you doing?"

"I'm burning it so you can make new, better things in the future."

"No, please, anything but that, it's my most perfect creation, my monument to my love for you!"

"Don't be a silly billy, you'll make even better creations in the future and then I'll burn those too! It'll be AWESOME!" <Winsome smile>

And that is when the Maker went insane and eventually showed up as a Superman villain.

I'm not sure if Flamebird ever got why the Maker got so upset. To be fair, her burning his stuff so he can make new stuff had always been the entire premise of their relationship and their duties in the Kryptonian pantheon.

Someguy Somewhere · 2025-07-12T17:23:35+0100

I'm glad I'm not the only one that had a 'penguins don't belong there' moment.

Mr Zoat · 2025-07-12T18:19:59+0100

Darko said:
Yep.

I call her Loriel because she's in Linda's body.

Makes me think of the shampoo.

mastermenthe · 2025-07-12T20:24:53+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Makes me think of the shampoo.

maybe its Lorial, maybe its Maybelline

Mr Zoat · 2025-07-13T07:10:17+0100

20th July 2013
18:40 GMT -5

"You don't have to come."

Kara shakes her head as we land in front of the Hall of Justice. "If you're not going to leave the robots with me, I can't really carry on training."

I lead the way up the steps, noting that there are far fewer tourists around than there used to be. Kara's getting a few puzzled frowns from passers-by, but that's probably because she isn't dressed like a 'proper' Supergirl rather than any real hostility.

"No playing with the robots without a referee. They could injure you."

I exhale slowly out through my nose as I see the two Peace Operatives on duty outside the Hall's main entrance. Tours have been suspended since the Anti-Life broadcast happened, and I don't know if they'll be resumed. We hadn't started them back up because we were using it for living accommodation for auxiliaries and for the storage of dangerous materials. Now that they've left and the material has been moved to permanent storage -or used by Batman- they could reopen it… I mean, it's not like the Watchtower has stopped being their real base.

"No they couldn't."

Instead, we have guards. Not visibly armed or armoured, but tough enough to shrug off anti-tank munitions and strong enough to put their fist through the hull of one in retaliation. Or just send a message to Brother Eye and disintegrate it.

"Alright, they could injure a penguin. And then what would you do?"

She looks away for a moment as we go through the front door. "Do they taste good?"

"I'm not sure, but 'literally free range' isn't a mark of quality. I'm not sure how kryptonians react to Earth parasites, but since I have no desire to have to fight 'Supertapeworm' perhaps we should just leave the rest of the flock to mourn."

She snorts with laughter.

"I want to say 'that wouldn't work', but viruses exchange genetic material in nature. It's not likely that Earth microbes would absorb kryptonian photopotentia, but it's honestly not impossible. I'm just not sure what the result would be."

…

"Did Zor-El have time to give you immunisation injections for Earth diseases?"

"Ah… No, but I'm not human. I was just.. joking about the genetic exchange; they shouldn't be able to survive long enough in my body for that to happen."

"And yet, you can eat Earth food and breathe Earth air. And Superboy can exist."

She stops walking, and I follow suit. "Ah… Is that something I actually need to worry about, or are you just trying to wind me up?"

I shake my head. "I wouldn't worry about it. If LexCorp hasn't managed to do it in their laboratories, the chance of it happening by accident must be infinitesimal."

She shudders theatrically, rising off the ground and flying towards the meeting room which the League members are occupying. "Okay, so when we're done here I'm going to spend the day building a bio-filter for myself."

I transition ahead and wait at the door, Kara swooping down the corridor a moment later.

"You don't actually have to come, you know."

"Kal's here, and I think I'd.. feel better about working beside him. Until I find my feet."

"Okay, but that will put you in close proximity to Nori-El for an extended period."

"Please don't pronounce it like that." She glances at the door, then back to me. "Are you going in?"

"Putting off the evil hour." I press the 'request entry' button. "And I meant 'into this meeting'. It-."

The door opens and Kal-El walks out, smiling as he sees Kara. "Hey, Kara. Good to see that you're all better."

"Hey, Kal. I'd.. like to help you today, if that's alright."

His smile widens. "That's great, Kara. I'm doing river clearance in Central Asia today, and the time will pass a whole lot faster if I've got someone to work with."

"Not fighting robots today?"

He shrugs. "Honestly, I haven't had to do much fighting since the Life Broadcast. It's nice, actually."

"Clearly I misjudged your training requirements."

I get a mild frown, but he decides to let it go. "It's not complicated. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

She shrugs. "I'm… Volunteering to do what needs to get done, not what I feel like doing." She smiles, making a small punching gestures with her right hand. "Let's get dredging!"

"Hah-okay."

They fly up towards the roof exit, leaving me with the open door.

And I walk in.

Alan, Diana, Scott Free, Dr. Balewa and… Oh my.

Out of the weak illumination of his space station, the yellow glow is… Not more intimidating. I mean… He had yellow on his belt, so a yellow sigil on his chest overlaying the bat symbol didn't look all that strange. It actually made him easier to see, and there have been various depictions of Batman that have yellow on their chests anyway.

Seeing him in the light of the office is honestly more disturbing. It's the element of incongruity. Regular Batman barely works in a boardroom. Glowing Batman looks-. Like Zebraman, except also actually menacing.

Is that how I look to people?

I close the door behind me and take a seat at the end of the table. And… I think…

I pull Larfleeze's ring off my right ring finger and lay it on the table in front of me. And then I pull my own ring off my left ring finger and put it down next to the other ring. And then I lean back slightly.

"So…"

"You'll need those."

"Just making a point." I lay my left hand on my ring, making a weak connection. "What for?"

"What Mister Atom and I have been doing."

He raises his right hand slightly, and a data pulse flies from his ring to mine…

Analysis. Economic, social, demographic, religious… Predictions on… Everything. Enumerated and justified, fully referenced…

"Ah."

"I didn't become this because I enjoy it. I'm doing it because-."

"We…" I nod slowly. "Do actually need it."

Vaermina · 2025-07-13T07:20:19+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Analysis. Economic, social, demographic, religious… Predictions on… Everything. Enumerated and justified, fully referenced…

General reminder here that predictive modeling is never accurate in comic book universes.

In fact, it is so never accurate that the only time you ever see it is when a hero or villain is using it to try and justify taking stupid extreme actions.

Darko · 2025-07-13T07:22:49+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"No they couldn't

Maybe "No, they"

Mr Zoat said:
I shake my head. "I wouldn't worry about it. If LexCorp hasn't managed to do it in their laboratories, the chance of it happening by accident must be infinitesimal

So we'll be seeing Supertapeworm in the future.

Mr Zoat said:
"Okay, but that will put you in close proximity to Nori-El for an extended period

Honestly wondering if some ancient member of the House of El came to Earth and inspired the El connected to the Abrahamic faiths, or if said ancient Kryptonian took the god's El name as their family name.

Mr Zoat said:
Is that how I look to people

I guess it depends on the people.

The yellow light on the other hand probably looks anything from creepy to absolutely terrifying to everyone, since it's basically fear energy.

DAT_NOOB · 2025-07-13T07:34:22+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"We…" I nod slowly. "Do actually need it."

Oh, so Paul isn't allowed to talk about the Justice League taking over the world because the Justice League is actually taking over the world.

Lord Ernest · 2025-07-13T07:46:17+0100

That's it? I imagine that the analysis is extremely thorough, but he got convinced fairly quickly for someone that had so much reservation.

Ardy · 2025-07-13T07:52:03+0100

Is Boss Smiley taking the week off, ensuring super-actions have consequences?

That IS pretty fucking terrifying, when it comes right down to it.

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-07-13T07:59:03+0100

Mr Zoat said:
20th July 2013
18:40 GMT -5

"You don't have to come."

Kara shakes her head as we land in front of the Hall of Justice. "If you're not going to leave the robots with me, I can't really carry on training."

And training solo without an observer is never a good idea. All it takes in one pebble in the wrong place, and a simple slip can turn into a fatal trip. It's even worse if you're dealing with actual opponent combatants.

I lead the way up the steps, noting that there are far fewer tourists around than there used to me. Kara's getting a few puzzled frowns from passers-by, but that's probably because she isn't dressed like a 'proper' Supergirl rather than any real hostility.

"No playing with the robots without a referee. They could injure you."

I assume she's still wandering around in kryptonian robes. Which means body-stocking, flappy bits and cape. Just a bit different to the typical superhero outfit.

I exhale slowly out through my nose as I see the two Peace Operatives on duty outside the Hall's main entrance. Tours have been suspended since the Anti-Life broadcast happened, and I don't know if they'll be resumed. We hadn't started them back up because we were using it for living accommodation for auxiliaries and for the storage of dangerous materials. Now that they've left and the material has been moved to permanent storage -or used by Batman- they could reopen it… I mean, it's not like the Watchtower has stopped being their real base.

And this would let people see Peace Agents up close and personal outside of a field duty setting. Might get people asking 'who are these guys?'

"No they couldn't."

Instead, we have guards. Not visibly armed or armoured, but tough enough to shrug off anti-tank munitions and strong enough to put their fist through the hull of one in retaliation. Or just send a message to Brother Eye and disintegrate it.

I mean, if the training bots knocked you out and didn't cease attacking... They might deliver a bit of a mild burn?

"Alright, they could injure a penguin. And then what would you do?"

She looks away for a moment as we go through the front door. "Do they taste good?"

...I mean, I doubt anyone's formally recorded the taste, but you know early expeditions would cook them. Probably taste like chicken.

"I'm not sure, but 'literally free range' isn't a mark of quality. I'm not sure how kryptonians react to Earth parasites, but since I have do desire to have to fight 'Supertapeworm' perhaps we should just leave the rest of the flock to morn."

She snorts with laughter.

One of the more disgusting possibilities for supervillains: Mutated super-microbiology.

"I want to say 'that wouldn't work', but viruses exchange genetic material in nature. It's not likely that Earth microbes would absorb kryptonian photopotentia, but it's honestly not impossible. I'm just not sure what the result would be."

…

True, Virii are basically clumps of DNA with crunchy delivery vehicles. I suspect any kryptonian ones would overpower anything else, but given that Krypton's diseases are basically kaput due to their advanced medical technology...

"Did Zor-El have time to give you immunisation injections for Earth diseases?"

"Ah… No, but I'm not human. I was just.. joking about the genetic exchange; they shouldn't be able to survive long enough in my body for that to happen."

...Never underestimate Earth Bullshit™, Kara.

"And yet, you can eat Earth food and breathe Earth air. And Superboy can exist."

She stops walking, and I follow suit. "Ah… Is that something I actually need to worry about, or are you just trying to wind me up?"

Can you afford not to be prepared if he isn't?

I shake my head. "I wouldn't worry about it. If LexCorp hasn't managed to do it in their laboratories, the chance of it happening by accident must be infinitesimal."

She shudders theatrically, rising off the ground and flying towards the meeting room which the League members are occupying. "Okay, so when we're done here I'm going to spend the day building a bio-filter for myself."

Good plan, good plan...

I transition ahead and wait at the door, Kara swooping down the corridor a moment later.

"You don't actually have to come, you know."

It's probably less boring than sitting around the Fortress.

"Kal's here, and I think I'd.. feel better about working besides him. Until I find my feet."

"Okay, but that will put you in close proximity to Nori-El for an extended period."

Funny how angels (at least in DC) use that ending phenome. Could be related to something primal, could be anything.

"Please don't pronounce it like that." She glances at the door, then back to me. "Are you going in?"

"Putting off the evil hour." I press the 'request entry' button. "And I meant 'into this meeting'. It-."

Eh, if she's not welcome, they'll let her know.

The door opens and Kal-El walks out, smiling as he sees Kara. "Hey, Kara. Good to see that you're all better."

"Hey, Kal. I'd.. like to help you today, if that's alright."

Ah, problem solved by diversion.

His smile widens. "That's great, Kara. I'm doing river clearance in Central Asia today, and the time will pass a whole lot faster if I've got someone to work with."

"Not fighting robots today?"

Presumably outside the territory of the Great Ten and their government. Bet they'll be keeping an eye out if they're anywhere nearby.

He shrugs. "Honestly, I haven't had to do much fighting since the Life Broadcast. It's nice, actually."

"Clearly I misjudged your training requirements."

Eh, fighting armed and armoured opponents is always good practice. Never know how the skills will transfer over.

I get a mild frown, but he decides to let it go. "It's not complicated. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

She shrugs. "I'm… Volunteering to do what needs to get done, not what I feel like doing." She smiles, making a small punching gestures with her right hand. "Let's get dredging!"

"Hah-okay."

Probably saves a lot of effort when two people can do the job of a dredging barge.

They fly up towards the roof exit, leaving me with the open door.

And I walk in.

Alan, Diana, Scott Free, Dr. Balewa and… Oh my.

Batman in full Lantern mode, I take it. Always an impressive sight.

Out of the weak illumination of his space station, the yellow glow is… Not more intimidating. I mean… He had yellow on his belt, so a yellow sigil on his chest overlaying the bat symbol didn't look all that strange. It actually made him easier to see, and there have been various depictions of Batman that have yellow on their chests anyway.

The yellow bat-symbol frame being a good way to draw small arms fire towards any body armour he might be wearing, after all.

Seeing him in the light of the office is honestly more disturbing. It's the element of incongruity. Regular Batman barely works in a boardroom. Glowing Batman looks-. Like Zebraman, except also actually menacing.

Is that how I look to people?

Eh, probably less threatening, but seeing someone outlined by an eerie amber glow would be strange. Remember the odd-looking CG costumes of the Live action 'Green Lantern' movie?

I close the door behind me and take a seat at the end of the table. And… I think…

I pull Larfleeze's ring off my right ring finger and lay it on the table in front of me. And then I pull my own ring off my left ring finger and put it down next to the other ring. And then I lean back slightly.

Making a pointed challenge, I see. 'Let's discuss this with clear heads, sirs.'

"So…"

"You'll need those."

He's skilled enough to channel the Orange Light without actually touching his Rings at this point. Removing them isn't really the de-escalation it looks like.

"Just making a point." I lay my left hand on my ring, making a weak connection. "What for?"

"What Mister Atom and I have been doing."

All right, this better be good, then.

He raises his right hand slightly, and a data pulse flies from his ring to mind…

Analysis. Economic, social, demographic, religious… Predictions on… Everything. Enumerated and justified, fully referenced…

Ah, the one thing he tends to trust even over his metaknowledge: Hard numbers.

"Ah."

"I didn't become this because I enjoy it. I'm doing it because-."

"We…" I nod slowly. "Do actually need it."

That bad, then...

Well, then. It looks like seeing the numbers laid out have made it clear to OL that this is needed. At least in the short-to-medium-term. Hopefully they'll explain it for the benefit of the audience who don't have the ability to see the stuff OL is. and it'll remain to be seen just how likely their predictions are to come true, given the unpredictability of a Superhero world.

...fewer tourists around than there used to me.

...fewer tourists around than there used to be.

...but since I have do desire to have to fight...

...but since I have no desire to have to fight...

... just leave the rest of the flock to morn."

... just leave the rest of the flock to mourn."

...and a data pulse flies from his ring to mind…

...and a data pulse flies from his ring to mine…

Signaller · 2025-07-13T08:08:04+0100

So the obvious thing is to send that data to Clarissi Dox and get him to check it.

deccan2008 · 2025-07-13T08:20:43+0100

Whatever happened to the Flash anyway? Last I remember he was benched after killing the Sheeda queen.

Duke Long · 2025-07-13T08:37:17+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Kal's here, and I think I'd.. feel better about working besides him. Until I find my feet."

'beside'

Mr Zoat said:
Analysis. Economic, social, demographic, religious… Predictions on… Everything. Enumerated and justified, fully referenced…

"Ah."

"I didn't become this because I enjoy it. I'm doing it because-."

"We…" I nod slowly. "Do actually need it."

Hmm. So, does downloading it into his brain mean Oh El can actually comprehend this analysis thoroughly? Because otherwise all this tells us is that Mister Atom is in on the evil plan. It's easy to make something that looks good to a layman, and almost everyone is a layman in comparison to Batman and Mister Atom.

With that said I do get the impression that this is legitimate, which will be interesting. Will be cool to read about the Justice League actually taking over the world.

ShadowScion626 · 2025-07-13T08:53:49+0100

Ardy said:
Is Boss Smiley taking the week off, ensuring super-actions have consequences?

That IS pretty fucking terrifying, when it comes right down to it.

Didn't Boss Smily die or do the cosmic entity equivalent of running to ground after the Heaven incident? I can't imagine that any of the surviving angels would have been very merciful towards him and dude basically pissed off all of Heaven with that stunt.

@Mr Zoat Without giving any spoilers, is Boss Smily dead, hiding from Heaven or just sorta lurking around?

Ngamer11 · 2025-07-13T09:00:07+0100

ShadowScion626 said:
Didn't Boss Smily die or do the cosmic entity equivalent of running to ground after the Heaven incident? I can't imagine that any of the surviving angels would have been very merciful towards him and dude basically pissed off all of Heaven with that stunt.

@Mr Zoat Without giving any spoilers, is Boss Smily dead, hiding from Heaven or just sorta lurking around?

He's around, in hiding, and a member of the Light. He showed up for a second when Paul was telling Gamemnae disguised as Ahri'ahn about him by taking control of Paul's construct smiley face.

Darko · 2025-07-13T09:03:50+0100

ShadowScion626 said:
Didn't Boss Smily die or do the cosmic entity equivalent of running to ground after the Heaven incident? I can't imagine that any of the surviving angels would have been very merciful towards him and dude basically pissed off all of Heaven with that stunt.

He's still around.

We last saw him when Paul made a construct of his face to show to Ahri'ahn and Smiley managed to possess the construct to taunt him.

Ardy said:
Is Boss Smiley taking the week off, ensuring super-actions have consequences?

That IS pretty fucking terrifying, when it comes right down to it.

Paul theorized that Anti-Life and the subsequent White Light event could have both weakened him.

Apparently people with strong morals managed to better handle Anti-Life and because Smiley was a spirit of corruption a lot of his agents and people he could influence would not have strong morals and would thus die.

It's also possible that he's limited in how much he can influence the world if a large number of people decide to go against what he wants.

Batman told Paul that they're not taking over the planet, but that the various world governments are giving them control. Probably because they know that the League is the one that got rid of Anti-Life, so they want them to be in power in case it happens again.

If Smiley isn't capable of mind control but just influence and manipulation, then he may not be able to stop them.

He's also apparently the spirit of conservatism, so he may be dependent on people wanting things to stay the same in order to magically influence things to stay the same, but after Anti-Life there's no way for things to stay to same and the chances that people would want to go to their previous state, where they were vulnerable to Anti-Life, is not so likely.

Mr Zoat · 2025-07-13T09:35:02+0100

Darko said:
Maybe "No, they"

She didn't pause.

So we'll be seeing Supertapeworm in the future.

Adventures of Superman 580. Sorry, I can't find any good pictures of it.

Chojin Patriarch said:
...fewer tourists around than there used to be.

...but since I have no desire to have to fight...

... just leave the rest of the flock to mourn."

...and a data pulse flies from his ring to mine…

Thank you, corrected.

deccan2008 said:
Whatever happened to the Flash anyway? Last I remember he was benched after killing the Sheeda queen.

He got counselling -not with Guy- and was more or less recovered in time for the Anti-Life broadcast.

Duke Long said:
'beside'

Thank you, corrected.

Darko · 2025-07-13T09:41:09+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Adventures of Superman 580

Of course.

Mr Zoat said:
Sorry, I can't find any good pictures of it.

Please don't.

LZB1285 · 2025-07-13T09:54:05+0100

Signaller said:
So the obvious thing is to send that data to Clarissi Dox and get him to check it.

The math itself will be perfect, the underlying principles solid. However as Harry Sheldon from Foundation, and Mr Fantastic in Marvel's Civil War, both found out. Random Outliers can f**k the results.

...and Earth is a planet full of outliers.

WereDragon · 2025-07-13T10:52:09+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Is that how I look to people?

Doubtful. Greedy looms differently than scary.

Jirachi · 2025-07-13T14:40:47+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Analysis. Economic, social, demographic, religious… Predictions on… Everything. Enumerated and justified, fully referenced…

"Ah."

"I didn't become this because I enjoy it. I'm doing it because-."

"We…" I nod slowly. "Do actually need it."

I really do hope that he goes and gets a second opinion on how bad things are and if that requires the mindwiped super soldiers specifically - it would be embarrassing if this was all justified by some faulty assumption that batman made that say, Beautia would catch on review.
I feel like there's a lot of plausible other supersoldier programs they could have tried that aren't exactly this one, given the alchemical empowerment formulas they have and all.

Steelplaza · 2025-07-13T15:48:57+0100

Yeah, I think that the whole "memory wiped, able to be easily controlled, supersoldier" is the sticking point. Really the idea is absolutely antithetical to the whole superhero ideal of trusting people to take independent action according to their best judgment.

Mr Zoat said:
Alan, Diana, Scott Free, Dr. Balewa

Scott Free. The god of freedom.

Dr. Balewa, the guy whose entire thing is that he doesn't want superhumans ruling the earth.

Hopefully they will have something to say more convincing than "the projections say we got to do this".

Darko · 2025-07-13T16:06:40+0100

Steelplaza said:
Scott Free. The god of freedom.

Dr. Balewa, the guy whose entire thing is that he doesn't want superhumans ruling the earth.

I'm wondering if Batman is keeping them close because they can potentially undo his work, or they're staying close to keep him in line.

They may not like what's happening, but they may think that it's necessary.

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

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