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

[Ardy]

Well, I'm entertained by this alternate universe. I wonder if BL will grab M'comm before supergirl gets involved this time.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Well, I'm entertained by this alternate universe. I wonder if BL will grab M'comm before supergirl gets involved this time.

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Well, considering that the Paragon was canonically attracted to both M'gann and Kon...Then again, I don't remember if he ever got over that or not. Is Paul still attracted to Kon or M'gann? I don't think he's shown any signs since the Mother of Mercy episode.

Still, the dynamic between the two might be a bit different, considering that Supergirl is shyer than Superboy, while Sir Martian is louder and more boisterous than Miss Martian.

And don't even get me started on what would happen when Male Jade and Male Zatanna show up...

Although, if Paragon Paul is bisexual, do you think he would find Male Jade attractive?

 

[Ardy]

Well, considering that the Paragon was canonically attracted to both M'gann and Kon...Then again, I don't remember if he ever got over that or not. Is Paul still attracted to Kon or M'gann? I don't think he's shown any signs since the Mother of Mercy episode.

Still, the dynamic between the two might be a bit different, considering that Supergirl is shyer than Superboy, while Sir Martian is louder and more boisterous than Miss Martian.

And don't even get me started on what would happen when Male Jade and Male Zatanna show up...

Although, if Paragon Paul is bisexual, do you think he would find Male Jade attractive?

Click to shrink...

"I've seen this video before, and it doesn't end well for the Asian boy."

"The fuck kinda videos are you watching?"

 

[CrazyNoVa]

"I've seen this video before, and it doesn't end well for the Asian boy."

"The fuck kinda videos are you watching?"

Click to shrink...

To be fair, I'm pretty sure there's videos like those starring men too.

How the hell did this conversation get here?

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4][FONT=segoe ui][COLOR=rgb(86, 86, 86)][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 255)][B]Happy Harbour With a Twist, Part 9[/B][/COLOR][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4][FONT=segoe ui][COLOR=rgb(86, 86, 86)][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 255)][B]18th July[/B][/COLOR][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4][FONT=segoe ui][COLOR=rgb(86, 86, 86)][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 255)]12:08 GMT-4[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4][FONT=segoe ui][COLOR=rgb(86, 86, 86)]I've already finished using the ring to heal everyone's injuries.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)][SIZE=4][FONT=segoe ui][COLOR=rgb(86, 86, 86)]We're all in the Bio-Ship, heading for the port, camouflaged. Aqualass has taken her place to M'Comm's left, with Robin to her right while Willow and Supergirl are at the front. Thankfully, nobody got hurt too badly in our previous fight, but that stupid gynoid still did a number on most of us. I may not have too many offensive options with this ring, but at least I'm great at healing people.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

Click to shrink...

One suggestion: the body of the text is in a near-unreadable grey. If you go into the BBcode editor (the closed brackets button) and delete each BBcode tag with 'color=rgb(86, 86, 86) and it's corresponding /color, that should remove the colour formatting for each paragraph (and the way it's written up, you'll probably need to do it for every paragraph.) Probably also safe to remove all the other tag pairs as well except for the intended colors, bold and italics...

For future reference, it's probably easiest to write in plain uncoloured text, maybe with a 'blue text here' note, then mark it up in the editor here after copy and pasting, than rely on whatever program you started with to .

 

[CrazyNoVa]

One suggestion: the body of the text is in a near-unreadable grey. If you go into the BBcode editor (the closed brackets button) and delete each BBcode tag with 'color=rgb(86, 86, 86) and it's corresponding /color, that should remove the colour formatting for each paragraph (and the way it's written up, you'll probably need to do it for every paragraph.) Probably also safe to remove all the other tag pairs as well except for the intended colors, bold and italics...

For future reference, it's probably easiest to write in plain uncoloured text, maybe with a 'blue text here' note, then mark it up in the editor here after copy and pasting, than rely on whatever program you started with to .

Click to shrink...

Wait, what? What do you mean? It looks normal to me. The text doesn't look grey to me and I used no BB codes to color the text. I used the color tab.

Regardless, just in case anyone else is experiencing this, I'll remove it ASAP.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

Wait, what? What do you mean? It looks normal to me. The text doesn't look grey to me and I used no BB codes to color the text. I used the color tab.

Regardless, just in case anyone else is experiencing this, I'll remove it ASAP.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I don't know what happened on your end, but the quote in my previous post shows what your post looks like 'under the hood' ('Plain' tags for the code-displaying win.) I'm guessing you wrote it in a word-processor program, then cut and pasted into the box. The problem is those programs dump lots of 'hidden' tags into the body for formatting. Like the font and size tags.

As for the colour of the body, it probably looks right on the QQ colour theme you used. But not everyone uses the same one (Blackend Blue, in my case.) I've seen it often in posts with coloured text. In said cases, it's usually easier to use the 'remove formatting' button once you start typing than to pick what looks like the right 'normal' colour from the picker. If that's what you did, anyway.

Hey, lessons learned and now you know. The omake is good, too, so no worries on that front at least...

 

[Mr Zoat]

Oh yeah, I always have BB code toggled before I paste, otherwise it puts double line breaks in everything.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Yeah, I don't know what happened on your end, but the quote in my previous post shows what your post looks like 'under the hood' ('Plain' tags for the code-displaying win.) I'm guessing you wrote it in a word-processor program, then cut and pasted into the box. The problem is those programs dump lots of 'hidden' tags into the body for formatting. Like the font and size tags.

As for the colour of the body, it probably looks right on the QQ colour theme you used. But not everyone uses the same one (Blackend Blue, in my case.) I've seen it often in posts with coloured text. In said cases, it's usually easier to use the 'remove formatting' button once you start typing than to pick what looks like the right 'normal' colour from the picker. If that's what you did, anyway.

Hey, lessons learned and now you know. The omake is good, too, so no worries on that front at least...

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, I always have BB code toggled before I paste, otherwise it puts double line breaks in everything.

Click to shrink...

Cheers for the advice, you two.

Okay, I just did what Chojin said, and I can see that the text looks darker than before. Can you read it now?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Hey, everyone!

Remember when I said that if my original omake one-shot got enough likes and positive feedback, I'd consider doing a sequel? Well, after seeing lots of likes and positive comments, plus quite a few DMs asking me to do another one, I decided: "eh, why not", and I wrote another one. Honestly, I'm surprised so many of you enjoyed it, and I didn't think it would get received that well.

Thank you all for the compliments and positive feedback!

Thus, back by popular demand, the return of the Rule 63 universe, starring female Zoat! Enjoy!

---

Happy Harbour With a Twist, Part 9

18th July
12:08 GMT-4

I've already finished using the ring to heal everyone's injuries.

We're all in the Bio-Ship, heading for the port, camouflaged. Aqualass has taken her place to M'Comm's left, with Robin to her right while Willow and Supergirl are at the front. Thankfully, nobody got hurt too badly in our previous fight, but that stupid gynoid still did a number on most of us. I may not have too many offensive options with this ring, but at least I'm great at healing people.

I'm leaning against the hull, between Robin and Willow. Frankly, either M'Comm needs to move the command position back, or we need another seat at the front.

"Just one last thing. When the Justice League faces someone like this, they use Ms. J'onzz's telepathy to coordinate without being overheard. M'Comm and I... What?"

Robin, Willow, and Supergirl look at Aqualass, who glances around the bridge before turning to me.

"The rest of the team, myself included, are not exactly comfortable with this kind of mental contact."

Really? Weird. "You do know that Aquawoman, her husband, Batwoman, Superwoman, and Flash have all used it, right? I doubt Batwoman wants anyone to know what she's thinking."

I try to get Robin or Kid Flash's attention. Robin is focused on putting on her utility belt. Bright yellow?

Willow looks completely bewildered. "Anna, it's not... look, it's not that I don't trust M'Comm..." Her gaze flicks to him. "but don't you... find it...Kinda weird...?"

M'Comm decides to interject, putting on a bright, confident and boisterous smile to reassure our teammates. "There's no need to be afraid, Willie! On Mars, telepathic communication is perfectly normal. Until this morning, I didn't even know it could be a problem for others. It's perfectly safe, and I would never use it to hurt you. It would be purely prevocative. I wouldn't go any further without consent, and I wouldn't do anything else either. Also, think of the possibilities that having a mental link could open up for us in a fight!."

This morning? "Wait, this morning? What happened this morning?"

Supergirl has her back to me, looking awkward and uncertain. Robin is looking at her, then Willow.

"M'Comm tried to use telepathy on Supergirl earlier. She then completely flipped out because it reminded her too much of Cadmus."

Wait, Supergirl flipped out? Sounds rather uncharacteristic of her. She usually acts aloof and apathetic to everyone around her, so hearing that she apparently got emotional over something is surprising.

Supergirl turns back to us. "…I won't let anyone mess with my mind again."

Still a bit shy, isn't she? In the past few days since I've met her, I've noticed that she's s not as overtly aggressive or abrasive as the Superboy in the show this reality seems loosely based off of, but she's still just as quiet, moody and antisocial, just in a different way. She's more calm and quiet than her male counterpart, but she hates being vulnerable as much as he does. In short, the main difference between the two is that while they're both angry and standoffish people who hide their soft side from others because they don't trust other people, Superboy hides his feelings behind a wall of harshness and aggression, while this Supergirl hides hers behind a wall of cold aloofness.

Meaning that if I'm going to convince her to go along with this, I need to do it in a way that makes her understand that if she doesn't use telepathy, she'll make herself weaker and more vulnerable to the enemy.

"Supergirl, I understand where you're coming from, and as someone who's as iffy about telepathy as you are, I think you're perfectly justified in being cautious. Same goes for the rest of you. But consider this: Do you really want to leave such a glaring weakness uncovered for your enemies to take advantage of? Do you all ever want an enemy to thank us for giving them information in the middle of a fight again?"

There is a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone ponders my words.

I shrug. "All i'm saying is that, despite what some people might think, talking is not a free action."

Aqualass speaks up.

"I believe I understand what you are trying to tell us, although I have to say I found the experience quite confusing."

"Really? When we tried it, it didn't seem very different from wearing a radio earpiece."

Robin raises an eyebrow behind her mask. "Have you tried it before?"

"At our base, yes. I wanted to know what it was like. It was like hearing a voice that came from nowhere in particular."
I pause, recalling some thoughts that I was thinking loudly in my mind to see if M'Comm would hear them. Nothing too serious, right?
"Unless I deliberately thought of a specific phrase at him, it was pointless. It was almost like a regular conversation."
Besides, if he'd actually been trying to find out more, he would have inevitably brought up the comics. And he probably would have gotten a massive existential crisis.

They're trying to guess what's on each other's minds.

"Look, again, I understand where you're all coming from, but please remember that a lot of our plans require perfect synchronization and coordination, especially when we can't see each other. Besides, think about it: would shouting at each other really be a good way for us to communicate in an environment where there's bound to be a lot of noise, like a battlefield? Or when we're all stuck in the middle of being chased by a bunch of artificial tornadoes? Or when we're all busy fighting enemies who could, as demonstrated earlier, easily overhear what we're saying to one another?"

Aqualass and Robin nod slightly. Willow sighs, preferring not to argue. Supergirl maintains her aloof expression, but I see a slight pout form on her face. None of them like it, but I can tell they're all seriously considering my words.

I look at Supergirl, put on my most reassuring expression, and then talk to her in a calm voice. Normally, I'm not exactly what I'd call a hopeful, inspiring or optimistic person, but this is important, so I need to make a genuine effort here.

"Supergirl."

She looks up to me. I look into her eyes and smile.

"It's going to be fine. I know you don't like this, but I promise you that it's only temporary."

She gives me a subtle glare, but she keeps listening. Well, at least she's showing actual emotion, so there's progress.

"For what it's worth, we're all going to be in it together. And it will help us all become stronger in the long run too. You don't want that gynoid to beat us again, don't you?"

She schools her features and clenches her fist at the mention of the gynoid. Despite her attempts to suppress her feelings, I can tell that merely hearing the enemy being mentionned is pissing her off. But she keeps listening.

"I guess what I'm trying to say here is…"

I pause for a moment, doing my best to channel the spark of joy and optimism in my heart. I'm not that good at it yet, but I have to keep trying if I'm going to get good at using this ring.

"…All will be well."

We stare into each other's eyes. After a few moments, her expression softens a little, and she shifts her gaze away from mine.

Ambient hope detected. Charging. Charge: Eighty-six percent.

"…Fine. I'll do it. But only if it lets us beat that stupid robot."

Heh. Excellent persuasion roll there, me!

We're approaching the bay. I see three large tornadoes doing everything they can to level the shoreline. I can't quite spot Miss Twister from here. One of the tornadoes is skirting a wooden jetty, tossing several small motorboats into the air.

*Testing, testing, one two, one two.* I see the other girls wince. Wimps. *M'Comm, could you ask the ship to let me out? I'd like to protect the evacuation and heal the injured.*

M'Comm nods, and a small opening appears in the ground next to me. I see the effect of the wind on the others girls' clothing and hair.

"Geronimo!"

I step into the hole and fall to the ground. Catchung myself, I fly ahead of the ship, into the danger zone.

Ring, where's Twister?

I am shown a close-up of Twister standing by a fountain, arms outstretched.

*Twister spotted. She's near the fountain.*

I try projecting the image at them. I'm not sure it's working. It's time to make myself useful. The boats carried by the air currents have reached the peak of their trajectory and are beginning their rapid fall to the ground. Can't be having that. A beam emerges from my ring, grabs the first one, then sets it safely down on the roadside. Twister looks up at me.

"Now see, whenever I played Command and Conquer, I always tried to take the enemy base intact. I always thought it seemed like such a waste to just send in artillery and raze the whole place."

I grab two more boats and hold them in the air for a moment before setting them down on the ground a street away.

"A mindless rampage? What were you even trying to accomplish?"

"It was supposed to get attention."

"Indeed? And here I thought supervillains liked pretending that it isn't about seeking attention."

"Hey, good news: you've got ours, all of it!"

Willow races down the main road and delivers a flying kick to Twister's chest, pushes off and lands in a crouch. Twister staggers backward. Frankly, I'm a little surprised it worked. I hope this attack forces her to focus on us for a while. I take the opportunity to pick up some large pieces of debris and throw them to the ground, away from us. Whaw, Twister really made a whole mess of the place! It looks like a tornado has ripped through a large wooden house. I see the planks torn from what used to be the exterior wall, but also remnants of someone's life: sheets, curtains, a few picture frames. What looks like a plush armchair. Thankfully, no one died, but whoever lived here probably just had their life ruined. I sigh and shake my head. How utterly pointless.

"Insignificant and inadequate." She raises her hands toward Willow. "You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate!"

Supergirl silently lunges herself at Miss Twister, but narrowly misses. If Supergirl's attack had landed, the fight would probably have been over already. That's another difference I noticed between her and her cartoon counterpart: Where the show's Superboy tends to act overtly aggressive in a fight and sometimes even screams like a berserker, Supergirl here instead prefers to quietly and brutally beat up her opponents while putting on a frighteningly calm face.

Tranquil fury, I believe they call it.

Twister quickly floats away to giver herself some space, and I think she's preparing some kind of counterattack. Time to respond with a counterattack of my own. I think of some happy thoughts to help me channel the blue light. Sadly, I'm not very good at making constructs, but fortunately, even without the ability to properly create them, there are still many things someone with a power ring can do in a fight. It just requires a combination of simultaneously being creative while also keeping it simple. In other words, do more with less!

I fire a simple blue energy beam into Miss Twister's eyepiece. Not exactly my most impressive attack, but it works. The beam actually damages the eyepiece, all the while keeping her off balance. Wow, I did not think I'd do this much damage to her. Perhaps her eyes are less durable than the rest of her body? I think I even hear some of her artificial tornadoes drifting away and losing momentum. Probably caused by her lapse in concentration.

I fly around her as quickly as I can and I keep firing sharp blue beams at her limbs to attack her from various angles and make sure she stays off balance. I know this will likely not be enough to actually take her down, but the idea here is not to actually defeat her yet, but to keep her attention on us. Thus, I'm making myself as annoying as a mosquito. A flying blue mosquito of death. Simple, but effective. Now if only I could-

"ENOUGH!"

Twister stretches her hands outwards and generates a massive tornado around herself. I stop shooting at her and I immediately fly a few feet away before I get caught in the tornado. Unfortunately, without me constantly spamming energy beams at her, Twister recovers and gets back on her feet. Still, I do notice that her her body is damaged in various places from my assault, so at least there's some progress there. In fact, she's more damaged than I'd been aiming for!

Twister glares at me and whaw, I didn't think it was possible for her to look angry, but somehow, I can practically feel her rage towards me from here.

"You have damaged my optics and targeting system. Just for that, you will not leave this place alive."

Twister floats up another boat and hurls it right at me. I catch it in midair, and I set it far away on the ground. Another safe boat.

Fortunately, Twister is so focused on me that she's too distracted to hear Supergirl silently running up behind her. Twister turns around right on time to see Supergirl lunge at her. This time, Twister isn't quick enough to react and she takes the full brunt of Supergirl's attack.

They both fall to the ground, and Supergirl then starts aggressively pounding on Miss Twister while she tries getting Supergirl off her. I believe we should seriously consider giving Supergirl some proper combat training. I know Black Canary is an expert in martial arts, but some techniques just aren't effective against someone that strong. Not to mention that traditional human martial arts weren't made with superhuman strength in mind.

Perhaps Phoebus could…?

As Robin and Aqualass enter the combat zone, I activate BlueVision to see if there any any civilians left who haven't evacuated. No, everyone is safe.

*Everything seems to be going according to plan, Blue Lantern.*

Ambient hope detected. Charging. Charge: Seventy-eight percent.

*Yes, Robin. If things keep going like this, then hopefully we might not even need our little distraction after a-.*

"Behind you!"

Me and my big mouth. I turn around, and Aqualass immediately dashes in front of me! She makes a water shield in front of us as Supergirl gets launched right at us like a cannon ball!

Supergirl crashes on the water shield, which cushions the impact like some kind of liquid crash mat. Aqualass staggers on impact, but she successfully catches Supergirl.

Twister floats towards us, and I can see that Supergirl did a number on her, even moreso than I did earlier. Several of her metal plates have been either dented or ripped off, and her right leg looks mangled. She won't be standing on it anytime soon.

Aqualass puts Supergirl down on the ground. I nod and smile at her to express my gratitude. Supergirl also nods at Aqualass before turning her attention back to the fight, and I believe I saw a tiny spark of gratitude in her eyes.

Willow tries to rush at Twister, but she gets caught in a gust of wind. Thankfully, she quickly recovers and speeds away. Robin throws an explosive at Miss Twister. Unfortunately, Twister sees it and flies upwards to dodge the explosive. Robin then tries bombarding Twister her with the rest. Fortunately for us, Twister's damaged optics means that she's having trouble dodging all of them, and some of the explosives actually hit their mark, staggering Twister and momentarily unbalancing her. Supergirl sees an opportunity and takes advantage of the distraction to attack Twister. She's too dazzled to dodge Supergirl's attack in time, and Supergirl's punch lands right in her face. Miss Twister gets sent flying away, and crashes into the ground about a hundred yards away from us.

My teammates all run after Twister, and I fly with them to keep up. Supergirl and Kid Flash are faster than the group, so they take the lead. Unfortunately, before they can actually land a hit on the gynoid, she suddenly gets up, extends her hands towards them and launches an airblast.

Her counterattack sends both Supergirl and Kid Flash flying at high speeds towards us. I instinctively flare up my environmental shield, and Aqualass tries to do that water shield trick she used earlier to catch Supergirl, but unfortunately, they're coming in too quickly for her to react on time. Thanks to her sharp reflexes, Robin instinctively dodges her flying teammates, but the rest of us aren't so lucky. Supergirl and Kid Flash crash into both me and Aqualass, and we're all sent tumbling away.

I quickly get up and I see Miss Twister turn her attention to Robin. She raises her hand and launches a tornado at her!

Robin tries dodging it, but the wind is too strong and she starts getting pulled into the tornado.

Well, we can't have that, can we?

The ring glows brightly and I fire a blue line straight at Robin to grab her and pull her towards us before she gets sucked up in the tornado.

Supergirl has already recovered and picks up a massive tree that got uprooted by miss Twister's rampage to launch it at her. Unfortunately, Twister catches it effortlessly and hurls it right at us.
Thankfully, the attack is telegraphed enough that we can all see it and dodge it before it hits us, except for-

Did Aqualass just run up a flying tree?

Okay, if my timing is correct, then M'Comm should be coming in right about…

*Guys, I'm ready and coming in now!*

Now. The idea of M'Comm taking the form of Red Tornado seemed so obvious to the others once I explained it to them. Of course, I had to do it in such a way that they wouldn't suspect my quasi-meta knowledge, but I managed it just fine. Justice League members obviously count as "true heroes" in Miss Twister's eyes.

M'Comm landed in front of the huddled team. I flew behind them.

"Hit the showers, girls. I was hoping you could handle this. Obviously, you cannot."

Wow, he has the exact same voice as her! It reminds me of that character from that Marvel series, The Runaways. The shapeshifting Skrull who didn't hesitate to nearly permanently change his sex to be in a relationship with a lesbian. Is that something Martians do? Perhaps M'Comm was a M'rikk before he got introduced to human culture. Perhaps I shouldn't mention that to anyone ever.

Robin protests timidly.

"But we have a plan now."

"This is non-negotiable."

I fake a scowl, but I highly doubt Twister is even looking at me. According to the plan, I must get out of her line of sight. Once I'm out of her direct line of sight, I use the ring to take cover behind the roof of one of the remaining intact houses. I then reduce my environmental shield to its minimum and activate BlueVision.

*Blue Lantern in position*

I wasn't lying about the Command and Conquer thing. But if I can't take anything intact with me…

Ring, full scan of Miss Twister.

Compliance. At current hope levels, a full quintessence waveform scan will take approximately twenty-four minutes.

That's more information than necessary. Could you please give me enough to make the physical components?

No power ring disrupting technology detected in target. Physical scan complete.

Supergirl moves away more slowly, trying to stay within leaping range. Willow is hidden behind the remains of a larger boat's hull, ready to help M'Comm impersonate Red Tornado.

*…Supergirl ready.*

*Kid Flash ready. Yup, this still feels weird!*

Aqualass walks along the shore until she finds cover, then slips into the water.

"I-I w-wAs sTaR-StArTiNg t-t-tO *SCREECH* ThInK yOu-YoU'd n-nEvEr CoMe."

Huh. It seems the punch Supergirl gave her earlier damaged her vocal components as well.

*Aqualass ready.*

"Here I am."

They can start fighting with Kid Flash in position, but ideally, M'Comm could get Twister talking until Robin-

*Robin ready. I'm all set.*

Alrighty, then.

M'Comm, in his Red Tornado form, makes a move, and Kid Flash is no longer hidden. BlueVision gives me her approximate position, though: in the centre of 'Red Tornado's' tornado. M'Comm makes a move, and the tornado advances. Miss Twister retreats, then counters with her own tornado.

They collide in a way that seems unrealistic to me. Wouldn't two real cyclones merge? Perhaps it's related to the methods used to generate them? I wonder how Willow can stand this without getting dizzy.

It also occurs to me that someone equipped with an anti-materiel rifle could probably take a shot at Mister Twister or "Red Tornado" from a distance. Note to self: try to get more offensive options before the next fight. That gun I bought a few days ago was a good start, but against supervillains, it won't be enough. Also, I should probably equip the local police with some proper weapons to fight monsters, aliens, robots or supervillains with.

Miss Twister launches a tornado towards M'Comm, but it dissipates before reaching her. Most likely due to Telekinesis.

"We're evenly matched, Twister."

A new tornado forms behind him and hurls rocks at Twister, who blocks them by slamming his left fist into the ground, creating an incredibly powerful updraft.

"N-NO-no, we-WE aRe n-nOt *SHRIEK* nO wE aRe NoT, T-Tor-ToRnAdO."

Her hands crackle for a moment, then a powerful electric discharge erupts from them and she launches it at M'Comm. He dodges with a leap, floats backward, and spins around before blocking his view with a boat, which is struck and explodes.

She pulled that off without any preparation. Rather terrifying, actually. I'm not sure M'Comm can withstand such a blow. It seems he's okay with it, since he used the boat's explosion as an excuse to 'lose'. Falling on his back, safe from the blast, he plays possum. All according to plan.

This is where we'll find out if we're going to win. Just in case, I'm preparing a force beam. Robin is within support range, close by, in case something goes wrong during this stage, but it's best not to take any chances. Kaldur's voice echoes through the telepathic link.

*At your signal, M'Comm.*

Twister closes the distance to M'Comm as soon as she sees him fall. She waits a moment, then raises her right arm.

"S-StAy StIlL, G-GyNoId."

Some sort of cable extends from her fingers and attaches to M'Comm's head. Well. We didn't know that was percisely what she wanted. Really, we were just hoping for a slightly distracted pose that would allow M'Comm to grab it.

"ThE r-r-rePRogRAmmINg WiLl nOt tAkE l-lOng."

Good to know. Perhaps we should advise Red Tornado to upgrade her cranial armor.

M'Comm grabs her cables.

*ATTACK!*

"Longer than you think."

Before she can speak or react, a telekinetic surge sends Twister crashing to the ground, leaving half her cables in M'Comm's hand.

*Bee El moving.*

I'm already rushing through the roof when Willow, like a tornado, catches her mid-air and hurls her over M'Comm's head. She backflips as she lands and slams into Supergirl, who grabs her arms. Brilliant. Supergirl then rapidly twists and squeezes the arms, crushing them. No more air blasts. I follow up by shooting an energy beam at Twister's back, visibly damaging it and breaking the back cables. No more flying. Supergirl then rips the arms off and starts beating the hell out of Twister with her own severed limbs. All while still wearing that near-emotionless expression on her face. I'll admit, I find it a bit uncanny how Supergirl can act so violent and aggressive like that in a fight while also looking so calm and near-emotionless. Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd have said that this is the face of someone dealing with a very mild annoyance, not someone brutally ripping and tearing her enemy apart with her bare hands like she is now. Twister' head starts cracking, and I see sparks flying off of it.

*Aqualass ready.*

Since we were unable to accurately predict Twister's movements, we agreed that Aqualass should opt for the sea side, figuring it would be easier for her to adapt to changing circumstances. With Twister's primary attack out of commission, Kaldur uses her water-bearers to create a jet of water beneath her and propels herself inland to join the attack. Supergirl gets out of the way, and Aqualass makes a water sword to slices off the gynoid's head to the neck.

Aqualass wasn't thrilled about decapitating someone, but I eventually convinced her that either the head was just for show (in which case, it didn't matter), or it was an AI (in which case, the decapitation probably didn't matter, since the mind was either in the torso or had a backup power supply).

With her head severed and both arms out of commission, Supergirl tripped her and knocked her to the ground. Supergirl and Aqualass then started tearing away at her chest armor. She had already lost, but if there was someone inside, we had to get them out of that catastrophically damaged power suit as quickly as possible.

It seems that whoever's inside has made the same decision. The ribcage explodes and shifts, revealing a humanoid in a green and white suit. I believe it was supposed to have a human appearance, but the metallic skeleton is clearly visible on its chest and the left side of its head. I hear Robin, Willow and M'Comm approaching us.

Ring, please confirm that the target contains no organic components?

Confirmed.

It collapses onto the grass.

"Uh, foul! I cry foul!"

Hmm. It seems the pilot has her own intact vocal components separate from the power suit.

How do you securely imprison a robot with unknown capabilities? I vaguely remember her male counterpart from the show, and I have a vague idea of which character from the comics she might be based off of. Then again, most objects stuck to the Moon tend to stay put, don't they? M'Comm raises his arm to the side. I don't know what he's getting at… Wait, what is he-?

I shoot a beam at the stone M'Comm is holding and grab it just before he can use it to crush the inner robot.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Y-y-y-you can't do this to me!"

"Me? What are you doing, Blue Lantern? It's not alive!"

"Um, yes I am!"

Interesting. Either she doesn't know she's a robot, or she hasn't realized the extent of the damage.

"M'Comm, would you throw a boulder at Red Tornado?"

"Wait, what? What does that have to do with-? Oh."

"Exactly."

"But you said you couldn't sense any hope coming from her?"

"Yes, but it's also quite possible to build a sophisticated artificial intelligence that lacks the ability to hope for anything in life."

Supergirl, still looking calm and stoic, raises an eyebrow at me. "…That sounds depressing when you say it like that."

"Uh, not an A.I. here?"

Willow is taken aback.

"Uh…Girl, have you looked in a mirror recently?

"No, I… I'm not!"

She scrutinizes us, involuntarily showing off her bare metal cranium in its best light. Perhaps it's the adrenaline talking, but I can't help but giggle.

"You've got a little…"

I point to the left side of my face.

"…a little something up there."

"Oh."

She raises his hand to her face.

"Ooooooooooh."

"I don't suppose any of you know the protocol for properly imprisoning…"

The robot's torso glows for a second, then explodes! I instinctively shield us as debris rains down. We watch in silence for a moment. Once it's finished, I drop the shield.

"Well, now I feel somewhat foolish for having protested."

Willow steps forward. "Eh, don't worry about it, Anna. You couldn't have known." She stops and picks up one of the largest pieces. It's an eyeball. She looks excited.

"Woo-hoo! Souvenir!"

M'Comm looks at Willow curiously. "Um, is it normal for humans to collect the body parts of their enemies as trophies too?"

"Huh? Oh no, it's just something that I-Wait, what do you mean, "too"?"

M'Comm shrugs. "Didn't my uncle tell you, Willie? On Mars, it's perfectly normal to collect the body parts of your slaughtered enemies to hang them on your wall as trophies!"

Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualass all stop moving and stare at M'Comm in utter shock and horror.

Supergirl just raises an eyebrow and looks mildly confused.

I try not to laugh.

After a few moments, M'Comm's face scrunches in a way indicating that he's trying his hardest to not laugh at our teammates' gobsmacked expressions.

Willow catches on. "What are you-? Oh, I get it. You were just messing with us. Real funny, dude."

"Pffft~HAHAHAHAHA! Y-y-you actually thought I was serious for a second! You should have seen your faces!"

Perhaps it's the adrenaline again, but I can't help but laugh with him.

Willow rolls her eyes, and then puts the eyeball in her pocket.

Ambient hope detected. Charging. Charge: Seventy-Six percent.

Well, joking aside, time for some after-battle patch-up.

I think positive thoughts and my ring starts glowing. "Allright, everyone. Time to get you all back in top shape. Who wants to get healed first?"

Click to shrink...

A bit? Black isn't the best colour, but I can read it. color=blue doesn't show up very well, though. I use color=#0040ff.

 

[Vaermina]

"Oh." William looks reassured, his eyes drifting towards me.

"No. I am a paragon of flawless judgement and am offended you would even think that."

Click to shrink...

Which is funny because we know he does it all the time.

"Well, because in the long term I think red kryptonite should be studied in case it can be used to do something useful. And I can't think of anywhere I could put them that's more secure."

Click to shrink...

General reminder that people have in fact grabbed stuff out of his picket dimension before.

 

[Darko]

General reminder that people have in fact grabbed stuff out of his picket dimension before

Click to shrink...

That only happened once, and Guy taught him how to close it.