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

[Darko]

Thank you. Just a name check on the Renegade side at the moment.

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I remember renegade mentioning something to Luna about Circe having a meeting with ancient magic users so she could get them up to speed on modern magic.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Elphius Levi.

He basically made a sludge composed of foreskins and liposuctioned fat to separate them.

You planning on adding him in this story?

Will it be in the paragon or renegade side?

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Sounds strangely similar to something that Dr Universe was doing from Spinnerette. Of course he was being asked to clone Hitler...so the ingredient list was being questioned a bit.

 

[Sordid Snake]

But things going fubar in the heat of combat because the guy in charge of everything got taken out and he made no effort to designate a unified chain of command or make any accommodation for something happening to take out the commander of a battle during the battle he was present at?

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But it fits Dox character from what I remember of L.E.G.I.O.N: He always reasoned that since he was the only 10th level intellect, he could do anything better than anyone else, so why let them do it, since he knew they'd just fuck it up compared to himself? (Apparently "opportunity cost" is at least an 11th level concept).

And if anyone asked him "You never tell us anything about your plans! What if some unknown unknown or OCP takes you out suddenly?" he'd invariably answer something like "To a Tenth Level Intellect(tm) nothing is unknown and nothing is outside the context of a Tenth Level Intellect(tm), so it simply can not happen. I can prove this formally, but you would not understand the proof, since you are not a Tenth Level Intellect(tm)! Neener! neener!"

(Unfortunately nobody ever asked him how if a 10th level intellect is perfect in every way, such a thing as a 12th level intellect exists too, since they both would be perfect in every way and thus indistinguishable. The obvious conclusion is that as a 10th level intellect he simply doesn't understand 11th+ level concepts and his almost literally astronomical ego prevents him from acknowledging that there are things he doesn't understand)

 

[Pinklestia]

Unfortunately nobody ever asked him how if a 10th level intellect is perfect in every way, such a thing as a 12th level intellect exists too, since they both would be perfect in every way and thus indistinguishable. The obvious conclusion is that as a 10th level intellect he simply doesn't understand 11th+ level concepts and his almost literally astronomical ego prevents him from acknowledging that there are things he doesn't understand)

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He has the same "I am my worst enemy" problem Luthor has?

 

[Sordid Snake]

He has the same "I am my worst enemy" problem Luthor has?

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Speaking Champions-ese, Luthor got the "Can't keep from harming Superman regardless of consequences to himself" while Dox bought such a level of "Overconfident" that it paid for the whole of his intellgence.
I think he usually got out of of trouble by the skin of his teeth, but I don't remember if he in the end got murdered by the clone-son he had implanted in a subordinate without their consent, got to play host for a starro or got gibbed by Lobo. I didn't read the whole run, but I think two first things happened more or less.

 

[Senevri]

I have to say, sacrificing innocents just because they gained notoriety and because it's convinient is out of character for OL. Unless you meant they gained that reputation by actually committing crimes.

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What value is non-human?
OL is huuuuugely biased. That, or he's using space as an opportunity to indulge in his desire to... Well, not maim and kill as much as show off and grandstand. His Grayven side, if you will.

 

[Darko]

Speaking Champions-ese, Luthor got the "Can't keep from harming Superman regardless of consequences to himself" while Dox bought such a level of "Overconfident" that it paid for the whole of his intellgence.
I think he usually got out of of trouble by the skin of his teeth, but I don't remember if he in the end got murdered by the clone-son he had implanted in a subordinate without their consent, got to play host for a starro or got gibbed by Lobo. I didn't read the whole run, but I think two first things happened more or less.

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I think the last issue about Dox in DC comics just had him marrying Komand'r.

I'm also assuming their offscreen divorce happened and it was violent, because I doubt two extreme control freaks, who are also very power hungry, can get along for a prolonged period.

What value is non-human?
OL is huuuuugely biased. That, or he's using space as an opportunity to indulge in his desire to... Well, not maim and kill as much as show off and grandstand. His Grayven side, if you will.

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What made you think that OL is doing this because he's xenophobic, or because he's sadistic?

Nothing in any of the hundreds of previous chapters suggests that this is the case.

Yes he's fond of humans, but he does not somehow consider alien life to be lesser, given the fact that he has multiple friends who are aliens and he greatly cares for them, as well as helping multiple alien civilizations improve themselves in various ways.

He's also not even really fond of conflict or fighting, let alone sadistic.

And if he wants to show off then he can just impress people with his abilities and power, like he previously did, and not by killing a bunch of people.

The reason he's willing to kill them, even if they originally engaged in piracy to survive, is because if they have became notorious enough then they may be known to a lot of people, who will most likely want them dead for their actions.

If these people found out that Paul let these criminals go then they will most likely lose some measure of faith in him and possibly the Corps, faith that he and his Corps will need if they want cooperation from other people in their war with the Reach.

So it's either lose the faith of millions, or gain the help of a few ships.

The millions thing sounds better.

Paul didn't do things like this previously since he was just a police officer then, and policing and war are two very different things, but now he's in a war, so things change.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Just to point out that, thus far, a great many superhero's and civilians that OL has talked to about killing keep saying 'war is different'. OL has repeatedly said otherwise, from his point of view of the universe.

OL, since coming back from killing nabu, and killing a lot of people since, sorted out that he operates on police order, or military order. He goes into a combat situation understanding which facet he is operating in and behaves accordingly. Even when he went full lethal during the dragon event, it was as a last straw on policing when dealing with lethal force.

OL did kill before that point, with his attempt on Clayface, his shot on Raz....I think Ocean Master was likely his first 'pragmatic' Maiming (on the renegade side it was one of HIS first kills). The thing is, it was a case by case, not training and reflex. BUT. One of his first acts upon showing up was to get a back up gun. Not a taser, not a eskrima stick like robin/ nightwing. Lethal options were on his mind, and part of his (own personal) training from day one.

By the time he got to nabu, he was planning and incorporating intentionally lethal strikes at all levels of force projection, up to something WMD levels with that singularity projector construct.

When OL got to Vega, Paul was still....in the same mindset where he was with Nabu, and even with Alan's words to 'be better' he was in that kind of headspace and chose to go into a place that would very likely force him into killing more. By this time he was enlightened too, so I don't think we can really say he didn't understand his own desires at that point.

This story really IS told from inside OL's head, and we've never had him state any joy or lust for killing. He's found things vile and worthless and found the universe better without it, which WILL drive him to destroy such persons...that drive is what fuels his 'destruction pulse' constructs, and shows up fairly rarely.

In the same way that the city of Gotham beat him down with its stream of pointless violence, to the point he washed his hands of it and left it to batwoman, acting out a stream of pointless murders would, I think, have a similar impact.

He's not a psychopath that feels good about killing and since he does still value and empathize with those around him, he's not a sociopath either.

I'm reminded of a scene in the anime adaptation of Overlord. It's an isekai where a joe smoe gamer becomes his evil undead lich character in mind and body, and finds himself in a living breathing magical world. The Character finds himself detached from everything and has no problem with killing, despite how he was before. But he ends up facing Clementine. She was an actively evil person who had her own scheme, and went out of her way to murder people and enjoyed it a lot. With his detachment, our villain protagonist made the comment that he might even have done the same thing if he were in her position and the people she killed (that he had known and even liked) didn't matter to him or his goals, but....even with everything ripping his humanity away, he got revenge for them anyway, labeling himself a hypocrite.

OL is willing and able to keep killing for his goals, and still has his own morality,his own emotions. He can be driven likely to kill out of an emotional response as well as a logical one, since he's still engaged with the rest of the emotional spectrum, rage and fear are still things he can feel and act on. But the deaths he sees in war with the reach, he sees as work....a price to be paid to get the job done.

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd July 2012
11:05 GMT -5

"-ly impressed that you didn't kill her."

"She… Wasn't a bad commanding officer. … What..?"

"What am I going to do with her?"

Since they've effectively surrendered, I'm doing the new Commodore the courtesy of communicating with him directly, rather than undermining him by sharing with everyone. And since he isn't an idiot, he's sharing the communication with the captains and commanders of the other vessels. They appear to have ratified his assumed authority for now, but he might well not continue to occupy that position once the crisis I represent has passed.

"Yes."

"Check for Reach reprogramming, review all of her communications with the Reach and known Reach factors. Reach programming will be removed to the best of our ability. Then unless she's done anything particularly infamous of her own free will, we'll hand her back to you."

"Some-. You left one of my crew with a glowing mark on his forehead."

"Removing Reach neural programming is delicate work, not something that it's practical to do in the field. That will prevent it having any further effect until I can hand him over to a L.E.G.I.O.N. specialist. The type of mark I used can be easily removed, and no one subjected to it has demonstrated any long term adverse effect."

"I see."

"Though you should feel free to consult an independent specialist to confirm what I'm telling you. I won't be of-"

The warp ends, and the small fleet and I appear in-system close to the planet.

"-fended."

I see from the wreckage that Dox has already destroyed the picket fleet and defence stations. Part of the fleet -including his flag ship- is over the capital, while the rest is moving in patrols across the system.

"Illustres to Clarissi."

"You captured them without difficulty?"

"One with Reach programming, one other possible. The ships are repairable and not really a threat to us. I brought them here because they might know-."

"I have their database. Pharmaceuticals. The locals are regarded as being 'compliant'-." There's a brief delay. "The Darkstars have located the Reach Assimilator and her Scarab Warrior bodyguard."

I look down at the planet-. There we are.

"Moving to assist."

This time I don't step out. The Reach probably can't stop me, but if they can the device would be placed on a compliant planet they wanted to keep hold of. I wouldn't expect to encounter that sort of device this early on, but it's not as if conventional Lantern flight is exactly slow.

"Are you in contact with Reach or local authorities?"

"The assimilator isn't responding. Local authorities are informing me that I'm invading a sovereign world."

"Well. Yes?"

"They emphasise that they are 'a world with no significant military force'."

"Are they trying to convince you that they're not a threat, and so we should leave?"

"Perhaps. It's also possible that they're trying to convince me not to bombard them. I haven't had enough exposure to their culture to reliably discern the implied subtexts. And given what just happened, I think I'll leave that for now."

I nod as I speed closer to the planet, now easily able to make out the areas of city. It's actually.. a bit like Maltus; they've gone for high rise cities separated by large expanses of wilderness. There's a more definite separation between the buildings rather than the semi-arcology that Maltusian cities have, but the general layout feels familiar.

"Do you want any of the Reach officials captured?"

"It might be helpful. Use your judgement."

"Will do. Illustres out."

The city I'm heading for is clearly in lockdown; armoured shutters are deployed over everything that has them, the streets are clear with an alarm playing loudly to make sure that it stays that way. The more important buildings have weak force fields protecting them, though they're so weak that I assume that they're just meant to protect against near-misses and infantry weapons.

One of the buildings that very definitely has both shutters and shields is the Reach 'embassy', and both of them have rather large holes in them where the Darkstars went in. I begin decelerating as I get close enough to participate in any fighting.

"Illustres to Darkstar team. With you shortly. Where do you want-"

A Darkstar flies out of the hole!

"-me?"

They keep going down the street, firing their masers back towards the building. The Scarab Warrior flies out a moment later, tanking the shots on a pair of heavy shields. Before I arrived, the comparatively weaker guns the Darkstars used would have meant that the Scarab Warrior probably wouldn't have bothered with the shields. Still, taking-.

A maser shot from a nearby building hits the scarab in the left wing, literally winging them. A shot from a different building hits the other wing, melting the membrane and part of the stronger leading edge. The warrior is just able to turn in time to block a micro missile volley but that exposes their back to their original target, who ceases their flight to give in both barrels.

Those masers are powerful, but they're powerful by easily concealed infantry weapon standards. The Scarab Warrior expands his armour and reconfigures his helmet to scan for the stealthed Darkstars.

"He's scanning."

Shots from three different directions slam into his face, staggering him and causing smoke to rise from his faceplate.

"We know."

The next attack is a heavy plasma beam, drilling through the armour on the right arm just behind the shapeshifted shield. It doesn't quite sever the limb, but the shield ripples and flows back to patch over what was clearly a serious injury. The Warrior responds with a positron ray along the exact path of the plasma beam, but the Darkstar has already repositioned themselves and the shot misses. If the Warrior weren't already blinded that would probably have hit, but scarabs can only repair their host's organic form so quickly.

"Alright. If you don't need me, I'll-"

A Darkstar rises up through the street behind the Scarab Warrior. They turn, shield in place with their wounded arm shifting into a sonic cannon. But it's their wounded arm, and the shift happens just a little too slowly as the Darkstar closes the distance and swings a sword through the outstretched limb. This time it is severed, the Darkstar following up with swings at the head and chest which go around the shield and slice through the armour. The Warrior staggers back and tries to expand their shield but with them blinded the Darkstar easily sidesteps and impales them.

"-leave you to it."

The Scarab Warrior collapses to the ground, Reach-citizen blood pouring out of the rents in their armour. The Darkstar makes a point of severing and then bisecting their head before glancing up at me.

"Do you want the scarab?"

I drop to the street, rip the weapon AI off the late Warrior's spine with a construct and attempt-.

It explodes.

"They saw us coming. I take it that the Assimilator is still in residence?"

 

[Vaermina]

3rd July 2012
11:05 GMT -5

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Shouldn't the planet be exploding about now?

Given we know for a fact from the show that that's one of the first things they put in when taking over a place?

 

[Darko]

something that it's practical

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'is practical'

the areas of city.

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maybe 'cities' or 'of a city'

building hit the scarab

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'hits'

 

[Darko]

able to make our

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'make out'

 

[SpiritualSlacker]

'make out'

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Dude. We barely know each other.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

"Do you want the scarab?"

I drop to the street, rip the weapon AI off the late Warrior's spine with a construct and attempt-.

It explodes.

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I wonder if he'll ever succeed in assimilating a scarab.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

3rd July 2012
11:05 GMT -5

"-ly impressed that you didn't kill her."

"She… Wasn't a bad commanding officer. … What..?"

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Huh, a surprising show of reserve. I guess she didn't try to make a fight of it. Which may or may not point to her being free of Reach conditioning...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"What am I going to do with her?"

Since they've effectively surrendered, I'm doing the new Commodore the courtesy of communicating with him directly, rather than undermining him by sharing with everyone. And since he isn't an idiot, he's sharing the communication with the captains and commanders of the other vessels. They appear to have ratified his assumed authority for now, but he might well not continue to occupy that position once the crisis I represent has passed.

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So he wants to make a good impression on his fellow captains in hopes of getting the nod to carry on. About what I'd expect of someone smart enough to depose their commander before said commander got them killed.

"Yes."

"Check for Reach reprogramming, review all of her communications with the Reach and known Reach factors. Reach programming will be removed to the best of our ability. Then unless she's done anything particularly infamous of her own free will, we'll hand her back to you."

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At which point she gets demoted to, at most, a lieutenant? I doubt they'd let her be in charge again, she might feel rather vindictive.

"Some-. You left one of my crew with a glowing mark on his forehead."

"Removing Reach neural programming is delicate work, not something that it's practical to do in the field. That will prevent it having any further effect until I can hand him over to a L.E.G.I.O.N. specialist. The type of mark I used can be easily removed, and no one subjected to it has demonstrated any long term adverse effect."

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Well, that we've seen. Of course, if the captain would like the guy back afterwards, I'm sure OL could make any permanent changes the commodore would like.

"I see."

"Though you should feel free to consult an independent specialist to confirm what I'm telling you. I won't be of-"

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I doubt there are any independent specialists who are experts in Orange Light exposure... Yet. Still, Nice of him to offer.

The warp ends, and the small fleet and I appear in-system close to the planet.

"-fended."

I see from the wreckage that Dox has already destroyed the picket fleet and defence stations. Part of the fleet -including his flag ship- is over the capital, while the rest is moving in patrols across the system.

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Don't want to pop up too close to the fleet, I'm sure they're feeling a little trigger-happy right now. Running wild in enemy territory, limited knowledge of any Reach forces nearby... I bet the gunnery crews are feeling really tense.

"Illustres to Clarissi."

"You captured them without difficulty?"

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You say that like you expected it to be difficult? After all, this is the Illustres we're talking about. If he couldn't handle a mere mercenary fleet, he shouldn't be the Illustres to begin with.

"One with Reach programming, one other possible. The ships are repairable and not really a threat to us. I brought them here because they might know-."

"I have their database. Pharmaceuticals. The locals are regarded as being 'compliant'-." There's a brief delay. "The Darkstars have located the Reach Assimilator and her Scarab Warrior bodyguard."

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Interesting. The planet has an ability to produce some kind of medicine or drug that the Reach thinks they might find useful... But cannot reproduce themselves. That's very interesting...

I look down at the planet-. There we are.

"Moving to assist."

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Heh, nothing less than the best for the local Reach leader.

This time I don't step out. The Reach probably can't stop me, but if they can the device would be placed on a compliant planet they wanted to keep hold of. I wouldn't expect to encounter that sort of device this early on, but it's not as if conventional Lantern flight is exactly slow.

"Are you in contact with Reach or local authorities?"

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I wonder how loudly the planet's native leadership is screaming at them? And yes, probably a good idea not to rely on the Greedport in territory that might have counter-measures in place...

"The assimilator isn't responding. Local authorities are informing me that I'm invading a sovereign world."

"Well. Yes?"

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Quite loudly, it seems. And no doubt the Assimilator is burning records as we speak... Or the electronic equivalent.

"They emphasise that they are 'a world with no significant military force'."

"Are they trying to convince you that they're not a threat, and so we should leave?"

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"Oh, we're so very small and insignificant, surely you don't want to hurt us..." Honestly, to any other invading force that would probably be an invitation to run rampant...

"Perhaps. It's also possible that they're trying to convince me not to bombard them. I haven't had enough exposure to their culture to reliably discern the implied subtexts. And given what just happened, I think I'll leave that for now."

I nod as I speed closer to the planet, now easily able to make our the areas of city. It's actually.. a bit like Maltus; they've gone for high rise cities separated by large expanses of wilderness. There's a more definite separation between the buildings rather than the semi-arcology that Maltusian cities have, but the general layout feels familiar.

Click to shrink...

So, cities of gleaming spires. Do the natives wear togas? I wonde rif they planned the cities that way, or it just develpoed. Be interesting to get a look at the locals...

"Do you want any of the Reach officials captured?"

"It might be helpful. Use your judgement."

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So, take them alive if possible. No problems if they happen to end up dead. But alive is always more useful, so we know which OL will endeavour to achieve.

"Will do. Illustres out."

The city I'm heading for is clearly in lockdown; armoured shutters are deployed over everything that has them, the streets are clear with an alarm playing loudly to make sure that it stays that way. The more important buildings have weak force fields protecting them, though they're so weak that I assume that they're just meant to protect against near-misses and infantry weapons.

Click to shrink...

I see they're smart enough to protect their people. Evidently not unfamiliar with assaults from off-world...

One of the buildings that very definitely has both shutters and shields is the Reach 'embassy', and both of them have rather large holes in them where the Darkstars went in. I begin decelerating as I get close enough to participate in any fighting.

"Illustres to Darkstar team. With you shortly. Where do you want-"

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I see they're already trying to capture the local Reach boss. Hopefully no injuries. On the Darkstars' side anyway.

A Darkstar flies out of the hole!

"-me?"

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And I see the Scarab warrior is resisting. Quite vigorously, it appears.

They keep going down the street, firing their masers back towards the building. The Scarab Warrior flies out a moment later, tanking the shots on a pair of heavy shields. Before I arrived, the comparatively weaker guns the Darkstars used would have meant that the Scarab Warrior probably wouldn't have bothered with the shields. Still, taking-.

A maser shot from a nearby building hit the scarab in the left wing, literally winging them. A shot from a different building hits the other wing, melting the membrane and part of the stronger leading edge. The warrior is just able to turn in time to block a micro missile volley but that exposes their back to their original target, who ceases their flight to give in both barrels.

Click to shrink...

Pack tactics and encirclement. Looks like OL is getting a front-row seat for an experienced team's methods for taking down a Scarab.

Those masers are powerful, but they're powerful by easily concealed infantry weapon standards. The Scarab Warrior expands his armour and reconfigures his helmet to scan for the stealthed Darkstars.

"He's scanning."

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OL, let them work, they clearly know what they're doing. They don't need comments from the peanut gallery.

Shots from three different directions slam into his face, staggering him and causing smoke to rise from his faceplate.

"We know."

Click to shrink...

Nice combo. And I see the Darkstars have much the same opinion about OL's commentary that I do.

The next attack is a heavy plasma beam, drilling through the armour on the right arm just behind the shapeshifted shield. It doesn't quite sever the limb, but the shield ripples and flows back to patch over what was clearly a serious injury. The Warrior responds with a positron ray along the exact path of the plasma beam, but the Darkstar has already repositioned themselves and the shot misses. If the Warrior weren't already blinded that would probably have hit, but scarabs can only repair their host's organic form so quickly.

Click to shrink...

Doing more damage than their regeneration can patch up at once. A sensible tactic. The trick is keeping up the damage without getting shredded. Which is why Darkstars tend to expect casualties when fighting Scarabs...

"Alright. If you don't need me, I'll-"

A Darkstar rises up through the street behind the Scarab Warrior. They turn, shield in place with their wounded arm shifting into a sonic cannon. But it's their wounded arm, and the shift happens just a little too slowly as the Darkstar closes the distance and swings a sword through the outstretched limb. This time it is severed, the Darkstar following up with swings at the head and chest which go around the shield and slice through the armour. The Warrior staggers back and tries to expand their shield but with them blinded the Darkstar easily sidesteps and impales them.

Click to shrink...

And a kill-shot. Probably not guaranteed to be fatal, but close enough for government work... After all, now that the warrior's down, they can finish him off.

"-leave you to it."

The Scarab Warrior collapses to the ground, Reach-citizen blood pouring out of the rents in their armour. The Darkstar makes a point of severing and then bisecting their head before glancing up at me.

Click to shrink...

And there we go. Now, on to the real target.

"Do you want the scarab?"

I drop to the street, rip the weapon AI off the late Warrior's spine with a construct and attempt-.

Click to shrink...

Oooh, a fireworks display too? Quite a fun day.

It explodes.

"They saw us coming. I take it that the Assimilator is still in residence?"

Click to shrink...

And hopefully not committing suicide as they speak.

And on we go. Good to see the Darkstars making use of all their toys to take down the enemy. Now, to see just what the Reach wanted this world as unmodified as possible to acquire...

 

[Vaermina]

I wonder if he'll ever succeed in assimilating a scarab.

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A couple years back Zoat said no under the consideration that would make Paul too broken.

Don't know if that still holds now though.

 

[Darko]

Huh, a surprising show of reserve. I guess she didn't try to make a fight of it. Which may or may not point to her being free of Reach conditioning...

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Or the one that took her place just knocked her out.

I doubt there are any independent specialists who are experts in Orange Light exposure... Yet. Still, Nice of him to offer.

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Unless some people left the Corps, but kept the knowledge of Orange exposure with them.

And hopefully not committing suicide as they speak.

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You really love Murphy, don't you?

Now, to see just what the Reach wanted this world as unmodified as possible to acquire...

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If it's drugs and they haven't modified the population, then I'm betting they are somehow harvesting the chemicals from them, but can't modify them because they risk losing the thing they want.

 

[moralrelativity]

You say that like you expected it to be difficult? After all, this is the Illustres we're talking about. If he couldn't handle a mere mercenary fleet, he shouldn't be the Illustres to begin with.

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Indeed. This struck me as odd coming from Dox. It's unlike him to ask unnecessary questions.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

I wonder if he'll ever succeed in assimilating a scarab.

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The already mystically damaged Blue Beetle Scarab is just sitting in Kord's possession on Earth.

 

[Darko]

The already mystically damaged Blue Beetle Scarab is just sitting in Kord's possession on Earth.

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Yes, but he doesn't know about it and Ted also has no idea what it is.

 

[Doccer]

nod as I speed closer to the planet, now easily able to make our the areas of city

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areas of a city
Or
areas of the city

 

[Mr Zoat]

'is practical'

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Yes. It is = it's

maybe 'cities' or 'of a city'
'hits'

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'make out'

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

Yes, but he doesn't know about it and Ted also has no idea what it is.

Click to shrink...

He...should know about it. Not only would he have picked it up on a ring scan, but he also knows that Ted is Blue Beetle number 2.

 

[Darko]

He...should know about it. Not only would he have picked it up on a ring scan, but he also knows that Ted is Blue Beetle number 2.

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The scarab has protections against rings, and Ted relied on his own inventions in the comics, not the scarab.

Also because Ted has been dealing with more tech lately, he's put the scarab in some other place and may have forgotten about it.

If Paul knew about it then he would have handed it over to the Controllers instead of just letting it stay on Earth.

 

[Siiracai The Supernal]

I wonder if he'll ever succeed in assimilating a scarab.

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If it was possible, it would probably have to be Khaji Dha. Unless there were other off mode scarabs. Not saying it will happen, just that this is one scarab he probably could, considering it is unlikely to have the suicide programming.

(EDIT) I got ghosted.

 

[LazySloth13]

Chances are obtaining and recreating their own version of Reach-tech like the beetles is, using Paul's earliest mention of X-Com as an example, something only possible when player/OLC/Darkstars have both the knowledge and resources available to do so. Plus while Paul has knowledge of DC comics in general the being who transported him to Earth-16 had his knowledge of Young Justice removed, which may include the beetle in Ted's possession which lets Jaime become the third Blue Beetle.

Not to mention while Paul's enlightenment and connection to the Orange Light let's him do all sorts of esoteric techniques, which can be stopped with magic or an advance user of another light, he relies on the AI of his ring to deal with the technical parts of using highly advance technology. So it's not hard to disbelieve the fact that obtaining a beetle mid-combat or post combat is practically impossible, especially if the Reach decides to rework their anti-lantern tech to deal with orange light users instead of green, or increase their research in other forms of power to enhance their warriors.

 

[Coda]

scoffing as the shear s snip through the hull

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Extra space in "shears".

There's a… Humming round.

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Is it a projectile that hums, or did you mean to write "sound"?

"Possibly. I'm willing to suspend judgement and offer payment relative to the level of aid you are actually able to provide. "

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Extra space before the closing quote.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Extra space in "shears".
Is it a projectile that hums, or did you mean to write "sound"?
Extra space before the closing quote.

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

The scarab has protections against rings, and Ted relied on his own inventions in the comics, not the scarab.

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Rings...maybe. But OL has done multiple Ophidian level scans (I can't remember how to spell the Q word. Wave form....Q?) at this point.

Not to mention, own inventions or not, Ted was the BLUE BEETLE. I highly doubt OL has forgotten. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that OL has already thought about it, but didn't want to broach the subject with Ted just yet as he didn't have a good way to explain how he knew (I may be misremembering)

Also because Ted has been dealing with more tech lately, he's put the scarab in some other place and may have forgotten about it.

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No, I'm sure Ted knows exactly where it is. Which is were it has been, and was going to be, when the event that lead Jaime into becoming Blue Beetle III was butterflied away. Bummer that....I liked Jaime.

If Paul knew about it then he would have handed it over to the Controllers instead of just letting it stay on Earth.

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Big X to doubt here. If OL knew about it, and hasn't forgotten with all his other goings on, I imagine he'd try to figure out a way to make it no longer Reach loyal, and give it to someone. If not try to figure out, gathering another brain trust, ways to make more of them. Thus bypassing his powered armor experiments, and giving Mankind yet another tool to be spread around uplift style.

The Controllers can make power rings. They don't need scarabs...which are slightly less advanced attempts at power rings anyway.

Plus, while originally presented as a form of alien technology from the Reach, Khaji Da has since also been said by Doctor Fate to be a mystical artifact. He further elaborate the idea of it being alien technology having been a false lie conjured by sorcerers to hide it's true nature.

So who knows at this point?

 

[Darko]

Rings...maybe. But OL has done multiple Ophidian level scans (I can't remember how to spell the Q word. Wave form....Q?) at this point.

Not to mention, own inventions or not, Ted was the BLUE BEETLE. I highly doubt OL has forgotten. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that OL has already thought about it, but didn't want to broach the subject with Ted just yet as he didn't have a good way to explain how he knew (I may be misremembering)

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And yet Paul hasn't done anything about the scarab currently on Earth, or has even figured out there is one in the Earth.

I also think that when he was performing those Ophidian scans he was looking for specific things, and he didn't exactly focus on the scarab.

And Paul may know about Ted but he may not know anything about Jaime and how he became the Blue Beetle.

No, I'm sure Ted knows exactly where it is. Which is were it has been, and was going to be, when the event that lead Jaime into becoming Blue Beetle III was butterflied away. Bummer that....I liked Jaime.

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Ted may still know about it, but he just doesn't care about it now since he has so many things going on.

And I think Zoat once mentioned that he moved it to some other place because he was getting so many pieces of advanced tech and needed space.

Big X to doubt here. If OL knew about it, and hasn't forgotten with all his other goings on, I imagine he'd try to figure out a way to make it no longer Reach loyal, and give it to someone. If not try to figure out, gathering another brain trust, ways to make more of them. Thus bypassing his powered armor experiments, and giving Mankind yet another tool to be spread around uplift style.

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He still doesn't know about it and if he knew about it he would most likely give it to the Controllers, the guys that know more about these things than anyone except the Reach.

The Controllers can make power rings. They don't need scarabs...which are slightly less advanced attempts at power rings anyway.

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The Controllers need anti Reach weaponry, and they can probably get those by studying scarabs so they can develop something that disables them.

Plus, while originally presented as a form of alien technology from the Reach, Khaji Da has since also been said by Doctor Fate to be a mystical artifact. He further elaborate the idea of it being alien technology having been a false lie conjured by sorcerers to hide it's true nature.

So who knows at this point?

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The scarab in YJ was presented as a technological item rather than a magical one.

The only magic in it was the one that disabled it.

Though given Zoat's propensity for turning scientific things in comics into magic, it may happen.