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

15th August 2000
09:55 GMT


Senior Agent Blaze glances back at me as we fly over Northern Ireland, a mild frown on her face.

"Sir?"

"Oi'm not used to being paired up with someone else who can fly."
Especially someone who can fly a lot faster, given the capabilities of a Power Ring. Heck, if he's worked out FTL Transitions yet, he could literally be anywhere on Earth is as much time to will it so. And not exhaust himself doing so, like she probably is.

I nod. "As far as I know, it's just the two of us. May I ask you a question?"

"You just did. But you can ask another too."
Ah, the inevitable smartass response to that question. She's in a fine mood, isn't she?

"Do you want to visit the banshee homeworld?"

She thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "Can't say I really thought about it. Even if Queen Mab was willin' t' get everyone together just to open a portal, if would be one way. And oi wouldn't know anyone there."
He wasn't asking about the whole group. 😏 Honestly, DC comics must not exist here, if no-one's got even an inkling of his full capabilities.

"Ah. No. Since Sir Percival was able to give me the relevant star charts, I'm perfectly capable of flying there myself. It's not much more effort to take passengers. Since Earth's banshees are at peace, I was thinking of offering… I.. don't know how to phrase it… Advertising? Amongst the people of your homeworld for additional colonists. A few males, for example."
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Mab would rather remain queen of this little kingdom. Who knows how the homeworld would react.

"We don't need 'em. Humans work perfectly well for siring the wee ones. Why'd you think Bláthnaid was showin' an interest in yew?"

"I thought she was trying to establish dominance. Do… Most banshees on Earth have human fathers, then?"
And she was probably figuring their child might inherit GK's powers. Little do they know...

"Some o' the younger ones. Mab has a banshee sire. Oi never asked the others."

"You?"

She shrugs indifferently. "My mother never said. I would have said 'yes' 'til I found out who Sh'rain's sire was. Now oi jus' don't know."
Why do I feel like that would have been a plot point in the show at some point?

I'd be fascinated to see the effect on her D.N.A.. Comics and Star Trek have encouraged me to assume that the result of a fertile human-alien pairing would be a hybrid, but I haven't seen any real difference between Senior Agent Blaze and the elder banshees. I suppose it could be more like asari, where the partner is used to induce parthenogenesis. Or I suppose that banshee could be altered humans themselves, with their exotic abilities engineered into their bodies by a smart virus… So it wouldn't matter whether one or both parents were banshees because the foetus would be infected either way.
Or Earth people are just that goddamn compatible because White Light Entity. No reason to assume it's not curled up in there, after all.

Unfortunately, reading a person's D.N.A. with a green power ring is a bit more difficult than that, so…

"Have you considered having your genetic code analysed? Obviously, nowhere on Earth has any records of male banshee, but if your father was human we could narrow down which part of the world he came from."
Even if the process isn't as refined as it could be at this age.

She frowns. "Oi hardly t'ink that matters."

"Well, it could be a little awkward if it turns out that he was one of Senior Agent Logan's antecedents."
...You might laugh, but given Banshees' extended lifespan, it might be possible.

"That doesn't seem loikly. We didn't leave Ireland all that much."

"The Irish Potato Famine was a hundred and fifty years ago, and that caused a significant wave to emigration from Ireland to America. The name 'Logan' is Gaelic in-."
And nothing says her mother couldn't have met a certain member of the family earlier.

"Oi know it's Gaelic." She rolls her eyes at me. "My mother didn't have me a hundred and fifty years ago."

"That statement could be taken two ways, sir."
Either she's younger, and thus not all that creepy to be dating Nick, or she's older, and it gets extra creepy...

"If oi'm not tellin' Nick me age I'll certainly not tell the likes o'you."

"Sir, according to him, Sir Percival is pushing a billion. All the centuries he's been on Earth are the proportional equivalent of me spending an hour at a café. And if Her Majesty doesn't mind that, I doubt that you've got anything to worry about."
Only a billion? A mere whippersnapper by maltusian terms, isn't he? 😏

"Oi'm not worried. It jus' shouldn't matter."

"If you're hiding it, then it clearly matters."
The lady doth protest too much, after all.

"Oh? Want to know how old Bláthnaid is, do yeh?"

"Sir, we haven't even been on one date yet. You and Senior Agent Logan have been together for far longer. Though I admit, I am curious as to whether she'll duck the question in the way that you do."
And she may find GK's quite the handful to deal with, and beg off of future dates.

Her eyes narrow. "Oi t'ink oi loiked yew better when you talked with yer hands."

I smile, tap both index fingers against my chest and then tap the tips against each other.

"Psh."
He's still chatty either way.

And there's the coast, and… Senior Agent Blaze is turning off and descending towards… Yes, there it is. The circle of stones is clearly broken, but I can see the faint glow as Sh'rain and her attendant conduct their repairs, gradually reforming the stone and… Whatever else their magic requires. Ahead of me, Senior Agent Blaze takes a moment to observe their progress and then changes direction from towards them to straight down.
Wonder what broke it in the first place? Wild coastal weather, unknowing casual vandalism, or something targetted?

"Best not surprise them. That's delicate work, so it is."

I descend, landing lightly on the ground alongside her. "Is there any significance to this location?"
I would assume the stones are placed on leylines to take advantage of the energy flows. The further they are, the more personal energy needed to empower them, maybe?

"Oi don't t'ink so. But standing stones make the land feel… Better."

"Feel better to banshees, or is there a tangible effect on plants and animals?"
An interesting angle to consider. I doubt they could turn the Sahara green, but perhaps some in areas damaged by human error...

"Why would it matter?"

I shrug. "I was just thinking that integrating banshees into Irish society would be easier if there was something your people could offer in trade."
Such as enhancing natural regrowth in farmland or logging forests?

She folds her arms across her chest. "Loik all those vampires you convinced t' join the Alliance?"

"Ah-. The principle's the same, but I'm not sure that would be safe for banshee, considering…" Hm. "Though I suppose that sticking standing stones in isolated places might make keeping in contact with the more isolated extraterrestrial populations easier. Particularly those who aren't willing to trust the Alliance yet."
Also an option, though whether they could use the stone's connections would be up in the air.

"Maybe they're happy where they are."

I nod. "They might be, but banshees used to live in a far wider variety of places. You can't be the only one interested in the rest of the world."
Would explain some stories of 'spirit women' from other parts of the world. La Llorona, Gumiho, Kitsune, many more... Unless they're their own thing, they could be misidentified banshee.

She snorts. "I t'ink yew'll find oi can."

"So I should take dinner to Bláthnaid?"
I suspect the privacy she's after might be hard to find in the banshee halls.

She hesitates, carefully watching the build team as the rock repairs itself faster and faster as they near completion. "Y'could try takin' her to a cabin in the woods. A restaurant in a town's a bit o'a risk."

"How about an isolated service station along a motorway? It's not exactly fine dining, but it would be a change of pace for her."
And plenty of interesting scenery to watch go by.

She gives me a sidelong glance, but looks slightly amused. "Feelin' cheap, are ye?"

"No, just… Like you said, I don't want to overwhelm her, either with industry or strangeness."
And a fancy restaurant might have far too much technology for her comfort, especially if she isn't as well-adapted as Sh'lainn.

"Oi'd say you've got.. five seconds."

"Huh?"

"Four seconds!"
Uh-oh, did she sense trouble?

Hair's up eyes glowing fuck! I armour up, grab her and fly towards the standing stones!

Sh'rain and her assistances have their hair up too, though they look a bit more functional. They raise their hands for a moment before they confirm who I am and lower them again.
Yeah, the glowing green full-plate is a pretty good tell.

"Three seconds!"

Grab them-

"What'd'yeh t'ink yer doing!"
Excuse me, Princess, just saving your life, presumably.

"Two seconds!"

-armoured globe and head upwards-
Either something falling, or something teleporting and Sh'lainn sensed it precognitively.

"One second!"

-as a big robot appears, crouched over the standing stones.
Okay, that would probably have messed up the site.

And here comes Murphy's rebuttal to their earlier musing. I don't know the show well enough to know if any faction uses mechs, so this is a mystery. ...Unless a Cybertronian got shunted in from somewhere or something. 😏 At least we get some action in this plot-line while OL does pallative care and medical investigation on New Genesis.
 
I don't know the show well enough to know if any faction uses mechs, so this is a mystery.

Looking at the (honestly probably overdetailed, although thankfully so) Wikipedia article on the show, I'd suspect this is a Cyclops:

Enormous black mechanical giants with a single red eye, they were constructed by the Titani, and sent to Earth to protect the planet from the Shadoens. They possess the ability to mind control and to fire lasers from their eyes. In addition to being the basis for the Cyclops myths, another member was known as the basis for the myth of the giant automaton known as Talos. The Cyclops successfully defended the planet in the 15th century BC, using a long range beam cannon to destroy a Shadoen fleet, but the blast also wiped out the Aegean civilization (Atlantis: the most prosperous human culture at the time) by causing an unintended tsunami.
 
Ah, the inevitable smartass response to that question. She's in a fine mood, isn't she?
That's just how she is.
He wasn't asking about the whole group. 😏 Honestly, DC comics must not exist here, if no-one's got even an inkling of his full capabilities.
Sh'lainn considers herself modern for accepting the printing press. Give her a break.
Such as enhancing natural regrowth in farmland or logging forests?
In Ireland? Peat bogs.
Me said:
h'rain and her assistances have their hai
Thank me, corrected.
 
a big robot appears, crouched over the standing stones

Seriously -
zpo44.jpg
 

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