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

AidanMorgan · Oct 2, 2021

Darko said:
New Gods seem to prefer fighting in hand to hand combat even when shooting the enemy would be better.

Better is debatable when you have a litany of interacting arcane effects changing circumstances around. New Gods being fucky and all.

Speaking of which, is main timeline Paul finally going to revisit his one brief foray into Godspeech from when he met Scott and Barda and start actually interacting with New God tech now? He's enlightened but does that mean he can be Awakened? (Jazz hands optional)

Would he end up being the God of Avarice or is that seat taken by Best Snek? If so, what's the next best thing?

Mr Zoat · Oct 2, 2021

rkyeun said:
He got his subspace access back, or he had some in physical pockets, or was I just imagining him losing his subspace access earlier?

He lost subspace access while in the factory. As he pondered when he examined Phoebe's body, he got it back after leaving.

Darko said:
'energy rolls'

No.

'leaves'
'draws'

Thank you, corrected.

Handlewithcare said:
Actually, it's " My wife for hire!"

If you're going to post that, you could at least post her rates.

Masked Menace · Oct 2, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Which leaves…

I attach myself to the hull with a leaching beam, but instead of draining it into the orange light, I hook up my own tattoos and drain it into those. As Canis described it, that's basically how New God technology works, so-.

Ooh. This feels weird.

Well this will have consequences. Remember that Paul's tattoo's are specifically designed to absorb energy (the kind doesn;t matter too much as proved by when he became a demon) and make / augment his soul with it. So he basically just shoved a giant load of god power into his soul. I wonder if this will make him become a New God like Renegade did?

The Unaligned Player · Oct 2, 2021

Paul is a Blue Mage. Constantine made a Blue Mage with some tattoo work and a corpse. Glorious.

Ryumancer · Oct 2, 2021

The Unaligned Player said:
Paul is a Blue Mage. Constantine made a Blue Mage with some tattoo work and a corpse. Glorious.

He can't really archive the stuff he absorbs or anything, though... it either all blends in with the rest, or gets gotten rid of, like the demon gunk.

The Unaligned Player · Oct 2, 2021

Ryumancer said:
He can't really archive the stuff he absorbs or anything, though... it either all blends in with the rest, or gets gotten rid of, like the demon gunk.

A primitive, half baked Blue Mage with major features ripped out. Still impressive, and more fitting in with Constatine's vibes.

Coda · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Guy's body shifts shape, red and blue lines appears all over his skin

Probably "red and blue lines appearing" -- although you could also change the comma to a semicolon and write "red and blue lines appear" but I don't think that flows as well.

Mr Zoat said:
Ugh. When did I get so comfortable with external mental influences?

Because it's an influence that's already in line with your normal way of thinking, just at a time when you wouldn't normally prioritize it that way.

Michael Vonica · Oct 3, 2021

What happened to Paul's tattoos? I know they were soul bound, so they likely still work, but are they still on his new body?

Prince Charon · Oct 3, 2021

Ngamer11 said:
He's technically used it before. When he had Godspeech Tourette and when he fought the zombie New God. Maybe when he fought the forces of Heaven, but I'm not sure on that one.

I think the first time we see him using it was pretty early on, when Barda attacked Wonder Woman the first time they met and he accidentally told them to stop (that may be what you meant by 'Godspeech Tourette'). Blanking on which episode that was.

Michael Vonica said:
What happened to Paul's tattoos? I know they were soul bound, so they likely still work, but are they still on his new body?

Probably because they were soul bound, or because he's become used to thinking of them as part of his body. Maybe both.

Mr Zoat · Oct 3, 2021

Coda said:
Probably "red and blue lines appearing" -- although you could also change the comma to a semicolon and write "red and blue lines appear" but I don't think that flows as well.

Thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · Oct 3, 2021

11th September 2012
20:04 GMT

And he's there, sword slicing into-. Through my overshield without apparent effort. I sidestep, voiding his follow-up as I raise-. He's back in his original location.

"Weak, alien."

"Nice sword. Apokoliptian?"

And he's angry. Very angry. I really would like to know what actually happened on Karrakan, but I think this is a three-edged sword situation. I can't see either side giving me a reliable answer, and I can hardly-.

I yank myself to the side as he appears again, sword cutting through my construct armour and cutting a slice in my power armour. I send a filament at him as he hesitates for a split second, not sure whether to swing again or retreat. It splashes against some sort of protective barrier around him, and that appears to make his decision for him as he vanishes back to his starting location.

Angry, but making good judgements. That's-. That's me being compelled to intellectualise and not actually act.

No reason not to combine the two impulses. Whatever shielded him from the filament appears to do the same to my empathic vision, but that doesn't mean I can't just sever-. Okay, apparently it does.

X-ionised knives, then.

"Pathetic. Could they find none better?"

Ring, it's been a while, but Ready In-.

Alert.

I turn, knife blades moving as my assailant appears to my right, sword stabbing into my thick rerebrace rather than going into my face. My knives stab at his armour while I try draining the sword in the same way I did the ship's shield.

He tries pulling the sword free, and it doesn't come. My knives fail to pierce his cuirass, while he raises his off hand to block the one that I sent at his exposed face.

I step away shoulder armour glowing as I suck whatever magic is making his sword work out of it. He tries to pull it free but it's stuck; the heavy outer plates of my armour clamping down on the flat sides of the blade.

And then I punch him with my left fist, crumbler gauntlet smashing into the protective shield his armour generates, flares of magic and plasma flickering out as I increase the output. With a frustrated snarl he releases the sword, backing off a pace.

"Thank you."

I form a construct-.

The sword vibrates, the plates gripping it abrading and losing their grip as-.

As I form a construct positron ray and shoot the owner in the chest!

"Ah!"

The positrons don't hit the armour, but the energy released by them reacting with the air immediately next to his protective aura is enough to send him hurtling backwards. Doesn't look like his armour has any sort of inertial dampening system, but he's toughing it out and getting back to his feet.

The sword stops vibrating, and I extend a strand of orange light up to the handle and pull it free before knitting my armour back together.

"Thank you. I'll keep-."

The accompanying squad aim and fire, blaster-. No, plasma, striking my construct armour. But these weapons are far more conventional, far closer to the levels of energy output that I designed my power armour to take. So while my weakened construct armour fades and the armour starts taking hits, I'm not really worried.

At least not for the fraction of a second it takes to turn my own gun on them. The first load of positrons hits my initial target and erases him, the explosion burning the deck, walls, ceiling and sending his comrades flying! There was a force field there, but-

"Damn you!"

-it wasn't anything like strong enough. Or perhaps it wasn't designed to cope with positrons? That's not uncommon.

Their leader draws a small knife-. Then uses it to cut his exposed face, coating the blade in blood before-.

I shoot him again, but he's touched his knife to his chest plate and his body is swelling, veins of red light appearing all over its matt black surface.

"Thank you, alien, for giving me the chance to prove my faith!"

"Is there any chance we could talk ab-?"

He lunges, and while the travel time isn't nothing, it's quicker than his-

And he's punched me back outside of the ship.

-other movement. He grabs my armour, one hand on my right shoulder and the other on my left arm and both pulling in opposite directions! I can hear my armour creak as he keeps growing and the force he exerts keeps increasing! I send x-ionised knives at his face once more, and while they bite into his flesh I can actually feel the resistance as his innate magics try and nullify the thing that's harming him.

My left arm is at full extension and he's trying to tear it free.

Tether his discarded sword, connect it to my tattoos and feed it and stab!

It slices through his cuirass, punching into his gut! He twitches and grimaces before snarling.

"You first!"

I try slicing further in, but this sword isn't really meant for sawing. My shoulder is approaching maximum strain; it's just not optimised for shearing force. Ah-.

Drain him directly.

Orange light radiates out of his stomach wound and the pressure on my armour decreases at once. Still more stress over a sustained period than I'd like, but he's not going to rip my arm off like that. I lift my right arm and grab onto the hand on my shoulder, reinforcing my environmental shield and yanking at it, doing what I can to remove the friction-

He loses his grip, twisting sideways at the sudden loss of pressure.

-as I drain harder.

"What-? What are you-?"

"Enjoy existence as a construct."

He shudders, body shrivelling without shrinking, armour caving in on itself.

"Assimilate."

"Unable to comply."

He starts choking, vitals fading.

"Why not?"

"This one is not yours to take, Lantern."

I scan, but I can't tell where that came from. I take a moment to look at the corpse still clamped onto me. It hasn't lost any height but it's unnaturally thinned, giving the impression of a long-term dungeon inhabitant who has been drawn on the rack. Then I toss it aside and fly back into the ship.

The surviving soldiers are picking themselves up and I use constructs to grab onto the armour and pull, tearing it from their bodies and leaving them in scraps and their under suits.

Still need information.

"Assimilate."

Orange strands leap out and are pushed back before they can touch them, the bodies of the defeated decaying to.. ash to fuel the spell.

"And neither are these."

"Sparta. I don't know what you want, but you came here to pick a fight rather than settling anywhere else." I run in the direction of the cruiser's bridge. "You won't get the choice again."

"What is one more titan to the Bane of Titans?"

"If that's how you want it."

AmericanNumbers · Oct 3, 2021

Ok. Does anyone else feel like Sparta is using New God speech but we just can't see it?
Feels weid man!
(But makes for an interesting fight.)

Darko · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Angry, but making good judgements. That's-. That's me being compelled to intellectualise and not actually act

So he's not the only one being affected.

Seeing as Phoebe has a connection to Coeus and had her Seed stolen, this whole intellectualizing thing may be due to her influence.

Mr Zoat said:
With a frustrate snarl he releases the sword, backing off a pace.

'frustrated'

Mr Zoat said:
Their leader draws a small knife-. Then uses it to cut his exposed face, coating the blade in blood before-.

I shoot him again, but he's touched his knife to his chest plate and his body is swelling, veins of red light appearing all over its matt black surface.

"Thank you, alien, for giving me the chance to prove my faith!"

Anyone else getting some Red Light blood magic vibes here?

Ngamer11 · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Sungate (Story Only)

Mr Zoat said:
Sungate

Shouldn't these all say Sungate, Part 1? Also, shouldn't the Part 2 episodes continue the numbering of Part 1 like in Episode 36: Stars, Crossed, part 1 and Episode 37: Stars, Crossed, part 2.

Prince Charon said:
I think the first time we see him using it was pretty early on, when Barda attacked Wonder Woman the first time they met and he accidentally told them to stop (that may be what you meant by 'Godspeech Tourette'). Blanking on which episode that was.

It happened in Episode 10: Tracers, and even earlier in the episode, Paul did it when giving Superboy a new shirt. It's just that there was no New God around to hear it.

Darko · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
11th September 2012
20:04 GMT

You forgot to threadmark.

Bud-E · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"What is one more titan to the Bane of Titans?"

Wait does she think OL is a Titan too? Is Bane of Titans a title of some kind? I only say that cause it's capitalized.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
11th September 2012
20:04 GMT

And he's there, sword slicing into-. Through my overshield without apparent effort. I sidestep, voiding his follow-up as I raise-. He's back in his original location.

"Weak, alien."

Well, that's just cheap. Some manner of Displacer Field, perhaps? Albeit well controlled. And with OL still being affected by whatever effect is compelling thoughtfulness over action upon him... This could take all day.

"Nice sword. Apokoliptian?"

And he's angry. Very angry. I really would like to know what actually happened on Karrakan, but I think this is a three-edged sword situation. I can't see either side giving me a reliable answer, and I can hardly-.

Short of using some kind of time-viewer to observe impartially, you're stuffed for getting intel. Which is not really the priority right now, remember?

I yank myself to the side as he appears again, sword cutting through my construct armour and cutting a slice in my power armour. I send a filament at him as he hesitates for a split second, not sure whether to swing again or retreat. It splashes against some sort of protective barrier around him, and that appears to make his decision for him as he vanishes back to his starting location.

Angry, but making good judgements. That's-. That's me being compelled to intellectualise and not actually act.

Hmm... So they're both being made... More of themself? The soldier is focused despite his towering anger, while OL keeps getting stuck in 'detached tactical evaluation' mode.

No reason not to combine the two impulses. Whatever shielded him from the filament appears to do the same to my empathic vision, but that doesn't mean I can't just sever-. Okay, apparently it does.

X-ionised knives, then.

Unfortunately, New God Bullshit is almost as good as Earth Bullshit. I suspect they'll have difficulty hurting him.

"Pathetic. Could they find none better?"

Ring, it's been a while, but Ready In-.

Heh, throwing himself back upon his preprogrammed self-defence routines? It has indeed been a while since he's needed to do that.

Alert.

I turn, knife blades moving as my assailant appears to my right, sword stabbing into my thick rerebrace rather than going into my face. My knives stab at his armour while I try draining the sword in the same way I did the ship's shield.

And given that it's apparently channelling divine energy, that's likely to be an effective counter.

He tries pulling the sword free, and it doesn't come. My knives fail to pierce his cuirass, while he raises his off hand to block the one that I sent as his exposed face.

I step away shoulder armour glowing as I suck whatever magic is making his sword work out of it. He tries to pull it free but it's stuck; the heavy outer plates of my armour clamping down on the flat sides of the blade.

The power armour equivalent of wrapping your hand around the hilt of their sword in a grapple...

And then I punch him with my left fist, crumbler gauntlet smashing into the protective shield his armour generates, flares of magic and plasma flickering out as I increase the output. With a frustrate snarl he releases the sword, backing off a pace.

"Thank you."

Yoink! Also, shrugging off the crumbler field with presumably minimal damage? Cheeky New God tricks...

I form a construct-.

The sword vibrates, the plates gripping it abrading and losing their grip as-.

Whoops, not a loot drop just yet.

As I form a construct positron ray and shoot the owner in the chest!

"Ah!"

Let's see how his displacer field handles anti-matter...

The positrons don't hit the armour, but the energy released by them reacting with the air immediately next to his protective aura is enough to send him hurtling backwards. Doesn't look like his armour has any sort of inertial dampening system, but he's toughening it out and getting back to his feet.

The sword stops vibrating, and I extend a strand of orange light up to the handle and pull it free before knitting my armour back together.

Now, let's see if you can work out the trick of using it.

"Thank you. I'll keep-."

The accompanying squad aim and fire, blaster-. No, plasma, striking my construct armour. But these weapons are far more conventional, far closer to the levels of energy output that I designed my power armour to take. So while my weakened construct armour fades and the armour starts taking hits, I'm not really worried.

That moment when the Boss' adds charge in, maybe dealing 1 damage a hit... At least you don't suffer knock-back.

At least not for the fraction of a second it takes to turn my own gun on them. The first load of positrons hits my initial target and erases him, the explosion burning the deck, walls, ceiling and sending his comrades flying! There was a force field there, but-

"Damn you!"

Huh, even in a battle-rage, he still cares about his men? Impressive.

-it wasn't anything like strong enough. Or perhaps it wasn't designed to cope with positrons? That's not uncommon.

Their leader draws a small knife-. Then uses it to cut his exposed face, coating the blade in blood before-.

Uh-oh, he's using a self-buff power. Better interrupt it before...

I shoot him again, but he's touched his knife to his chest plate and his body is swelling, veins of red light appearing all over its matt black surface.

"Thank you, alien, for giving me the chance to prove my faith!"

...Nope, too late. Seriously, what a pain in the ass...

"Is there any chance we could talk ab-?"

He lunges, and while the travel time isn't nothing, it's quicker than his-

Guess not. I suppose this might be useful practice for dealing with Red Lanterns one day...

And he's punched me back outside of the ship.

-other movement. He grabs my armour, one hand on my right shoulder and the other on my left arm and both pulling in opposite directions! I can hear my armour creak as he keeps growing and the force he exerts keeps increasing! I send x-ionised knives at his face once more, and while they bite into his flesh I can actually feel the resistance as his innate magics try and nullify the thing that's harming him.

Sheesh. Now I'm picturing Sláine mac Roth in the grips of a full warp-spasm... At least he's not turning about in his own skin or anything like that... Yet.

My left arm is at full extension and he's trying to tear it free.

Tether his discarded sword, connect it to my tattoos and feed it and stab!

Well, worst case, it won't take much charge to grow it back if he does manage to detach it. But it will make it harder to stop him... Especially if he tries to beat you with the wet end.

It slices through his cuirass, punching into his gut! He twitches and grimaces before snarling.

"You first!"

Goddammit, just die...

I try slicing further in, but this sword isn't really meant for sawing. My shoulder is approaching maximum strain, it's just not optimised for sheering force. Ah-.

Drain him directly.

The armour's joint, or the flesh inside? Either way, it's a good thing you can turn off your pain.

Orange light radiates out of his stomach wound and the pressure on my armour decreases at once. Still more stress over a sustained period than I'd like, but he's not going to rip my arm off like that. I lift my right arm and grab onto the hand on my shoulder, reinforcing my environmental shield and yanking at it, doing what I can to remove the friction-

He loses his grip, twisting sideways at the sudden loss of pressure.

And in a near-weightless environment like this, leverage is everything.

-as I drain harder.

"What-? What are you-?"

Well, he's certainly not familiar with Lanterns, especially Orange ones. If Grayven has any ties to them, he didn't pass on any intel.

"Enjoy existence as a construct."

He shudders, body shrivelling without shrinking, armour caving in on itself.

Huh, looks like the armour is burning his own life-force to fuel itself? And he's only got so much to go around, so...

"Assimilate."

"Unable to comply."

Are you kidding me? Because of the New God-style power-up or...

He starts choking, vitals fading.

"Why not?"

"This one is not yours to take, Lantern."

...Ah. Well, that makes sense, then. Sparta's empowering her army's higher ranks.

I scan, but I can't tell where that came from. I take a moment to look at the corpse still clamped onto me. It hasn't lost any height but it's unnaturally thinned, giving the impression of a long-term dungeon inhabitant who has been drawn on the rack. Then toss it aside and fly back into the ship.

The surviving soldiers are picking themselves up and I use constructs to grab onto the armour and pull, tearing it from their bodies and leaving them in scraps and their under suits.

Okay, the compartment's not depressurised. Interesting. Evidently whatever force is running through the ship - Sparta's divine power, presumably - is forcing the atmosphere to remain inside.

Probably intimidating it into doing as it's told, perhaps?

Still need information.

"Assimilate."

Orange strands leap out and are pushed back before they can touch them, the bodies of the defeated decaying to.. ash to fuel the spell.

Goddamn self-destruct spell-work.

"And neither are these."

"Sparta. I don't know what you want, but you came here to pick a fight rather than settling anywhere else." I run in the direction of the cruiser's bridge. "You won't get the choice again."

In other words, there's an ass-kicking in orange headed your way. Make it easy on yourself and get comfy.

"What is one more titan to the Bane of Titans?"

"If that's how you want it."

Interesting, she's assuming he's one of the Titans of Myth? Must be something about his meta-physique.

Welp, looks like all hopes of diplomacy have been burnt in the rage of war. At least OL is starting to get the hang of using New God technology. I'm sure he'll have plenty of chances to put that skill to use and claim more examples of it on the way to Sparta. Now, if only Melinoë can keep the Titans from doing something desperate, because I don't see them taking New Cronus being boarded well...

...to block the one that I sent as his exposed face.

...to block the one that I sent at his exposed face.

...it's just not optimised for sheering force.

More likely 'shearing'?

Then toss it aside and fly back into the ship.

Perhaps 'Then I toss' might flow better?

Darko · Oct 3, 2021

Bud-E said:
Wait does she think OL is a Titan too?

Probably.

He is working with them and has shown some godlike powers, so she may assume that he's one too.

Bud-E said:
Is Bane of Titans a title of some kind? I only say that cause it's capitalized.

Most likely it's either something she gave herself or her followers gave her to symbolize her animosity towards the Titans.

Darko · Oct 3, 2021

Chojin Patriarch said:
Hmm... So they're both being made... More of themself? The soldier is focused despite his towering anger, while OL keeps getting stuck in 'detached tactical evaluation' mode.

I'm betting Sparta is using Phoebe's Seed as a way to lower the combat ability of her enemies and increase the tactical abilities of her own soldiers.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Sheesh. Now I'm picturing Sláine mac Roth in

Ahh, the Cu Chulainn expy.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Interesting, she's assuming he's one of the Titans of Myth? Must be something about his meta-physique.

Like I mentioned in my post above, he's working with them and seems to have some godlike abilities, so it would be easy to assume that he's one of them.

NightmareWarden · Oct 3, 2021

Darko said:
.

Like I mentioned in my post above, he's working with them and seems to have some godlike abilities, so it would be easy to assume that he's one of them.

Also he probably has a few worshippers on Earth. Any Orange Lantern worshippers probably praise Avarice and its embodiment more than Paul.

…Now I want to know what this little fleet could accomplish with Scarab armor/Scarab blueprints.

Old Knife · Oct 3, 2021

"Even Titans are slaves to Greed" hypothetical evil
Paul.

Ngamer11 · Oct 3, 2021

Since Paul is actually using his Identity Theft, I hope he'll actually get it to work against one of the guys he's fighting.

Darko · Oct 3, 2021

NightmareWarden said:
Also he probably has a few worshippers on Earth. Any Orange Lantern worshippers probably praise Avarice and its embodiment more than Paul.

Don't forget the eyeball planet.

After destroying that eye god he's bound to have at least a few cults forming.

Old Knife said:
Even Titans are slaves to Greed" hypothetical evil
Paul.

I can see Tangseid doing this.

Mr Zoat · Oct 3, 2021

Darko said:
'frustrated'

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 said:
Shouldn't these all say Sungate, Part 1? Also, shouldn't the Part 2 episodes continue the numbering of Part 1 like in Episode 36: Stars, Crossed, part 1 and Episode 37: Stars, Crossed, part 2.

...

Your name is going on the list.

Darko said:
You forgot to threadmark.

It was there when I posted.

Bud-E said:
Wait does she think OL is a Titan too? Is Bane of Titans a title of some kind? I only say that cause it's capitalized.

The SI suspects that she does.

Chojin Patriarch said:
...to block the one that I sent at his exposed face.

More likely 'shearing'?

Perhaps 'Then I toss' might flow better?

Thank you, corrected.

Coda · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
he's toughening it out

Usually just "toughing"

Mr Zoat said:
My shoulder is approaching maximum strain, it's just not optimised for shearing force.

Semicolon instead of comma.

Mr Zoat · Oct 3, 2021

Coda said:
Usually just "toughing"
Semicolon instead of comma.

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 · Oct 3, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
...

Your name is going on the list.

Just to confirm, the title should be the only one that says Part 1. The story parts will only say Sungate (part _) so that the first story part of Sungate, Part 2 will say say Sungate (part 21). Or will this be a change from how Stars, Crossed is numbered?

Mr Zoat · Oct 3, 2021

Ngamer11 said:
Just to confirm, the title should be the only one that says Part 1. The story parts will only say Sungate (part _) so that the first story part of Sungate, Part 2 will say say Sungate (part 21). Or will this be a change from how Stars, Crossed is numbered?

Twice.

Mastigos2 · Oct 4, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"This one is not yours to take, Lantern."
....
"What is one more titan to the Bane of Titans?"

Interesting bit of information disparity here: recognizes a Lantern, falsely recognizes a Titan (as opposed to an in-process mortal ascension)

Mr Zoat · Oct 4, 2021

11th September 2012
20:07 GMT

"yARGH!"

While the positron ray reliably annihilates anyone it hits, close detonations just cause agonising burns as the armour and personal shields fail. Respect to whoever designed the Karrakanians' armour, though: it isn't melting into their flesh or otherwise exacerbating their wounds.

"Sorry."

I fly closer to what appears to be an internal strongpoint, designed to allow marines to defend against boarding actions.

"Nugh nuh nuh…"

"Would you be prepared to exchange information for healing?"

He beckons me forward with his more intact arm, but I've already seen the grenade he's preparing in his other hand.

"Good effort. You gave it your all."

I shoot him in the head, then extend strands of orange light into what I hope is an internal communications node of some kind. Accessing…

Partial access available.

Yes, that. It looks like someone has partially integrated a New God system with both an earlier, more primitive system and something that's mundane but sophisticated. Not using a central computer is something that civilisations that are just getting into space don't do, due to either not having computers or the great efficiencies and improvements in command and control a unified data network provides. Deliberately not doing that because it improves security and is no longer necessary… Apokoliptian ships don't have central computers because the New God in charge can manage things perfectly well without one. Other species… The Reach have a decentralised sys-.

I'm doing it again.

I wonder how the attacking soldiers manage to-?

No.

I push forward, crumbler gauntlet smashing into the security door and crumbling a two metre hole in it before I fly onward towards the bridge.

The only thing I learned from that computer was the local patrol shifts, which might be useful if I was a stealth infiltrator but is fairly useless for me. Copies of personnel files -oh, that was his name- and local maintenance logs… Complaints from the engineering team about the systems not working together properly unless one of 'The Ascendant' were in the area…

Ascendant: Rhea's descendants. Who can use New God technology. Makes sense. Have to see what we can harvest from these ships for the local gods, because learning more about their technology could be very useful in our future dealings with Grayven.

Though the term 'Ascendant' implies that they're moving towards some state-.

Two Karrakanians with belts of engineering tools walk through a side door and then freeze as they spot me. One goes for-

"Don't."

-something on his belt, then makes a point of moving his hand away.

So. Prisoners. I don't have anywhere to put them and my usual methods for rendering them compliant aren't working. As a military obstacle they're irrelevant and they have potentially useful knowledge.

"Go back inside, shut the door and don't come out until you hear an all clear or I come for you. Understand?"

They don't say anything, but they do back up and press the button to shut the door behind them. I use a crumbler gauntlet to fuse the door shut and then continue on my journey.

How close to a divine being does a demigod have to be to still be able to use Apokoliptian technology? They called Sparta a granddaughter, but if she's got Phoebe's seed then she might be running off that. Is that why they only boom tubed in after she returned? Was the delay because they needed to integrate it into their systems?

No, I don't know it was a delay at-. Doing it again.

Apokoliptian ships sometimes have the bridge entirely inaccessible from the rest of the ship, on the grounds that anyone important enough to go there has a boom tube with access permissions, but the general design of these ships is Karrakanian so it probably won't-.

Al-

I yank myself sideways as the spear meets the corridor wall.

-ert!

This one's female, though the armour and equipment are otherwise identical. Spears are good weapons for formations or single warriors on the open ground, but on a ship with narrow corridors and guns, they're-.

That's going to keep happening, isn't it?

"He-"

Al-

From behind, and I lunge forward in the direction of the bridge while laying a cold field down behind me.

-ert.

"-llo."

Al-

From in front, my construct armoured gauntlet coming up faster than thought to parry the haft and direct the point away from my chest.

-ert.

She vanishes as I reach for her with my right hand. Cold field in front then, and take a step forward to make it look like I'm-

Al-

I raise the sword, linking it to my metaphysique as I parry high, the spear coming down from the ceiling. And I smile as I see hoarfrost appear on my assailant's armour, her body tumbling to the deck before me as her spear falls from her grip. I kick, but rather than shatter she goes flying into the wall at the end of the corridor. Resistant but not immune. And I get a spear that-.

That I can't send into subspace. Bound to its owner? She's trying to get up, but I can't feel any of the motion from it that the last demigod managed to make in his sword.

"Surrender or die."

I try attaching a tether to the spear, but it isn't taking. One owner at a time?

"Need a quick answer."

"I would sooner die than surrender to a false god."

"Reasonable, except I'm not a god, don't claim to be, and am not formally allied to them so you'd be surrendering to me as a representative of an independent power. You would be held until the end of hostilities and then released on parole. Though if that doesn't change your answer, I will understand."

"Kill me. It will change-."

I stomp forward, grab her helmeted head and activate the crumbler gauntlet. Her head is vaporised, her body collapsing to the deck.

I wonder why they're so-?

No. Bridge door next.

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

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Just zis guy, you know?

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