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

Is E.Nygma Riddler's real name? What I mean is did Riddler change his full legal name to a pun or did his parents actually name him that?

It's short for Edward Nygma.

So it's only punny if one goes to the effort.

If someone introduced themselves as Edward or Eddy Nygma, would your first response be "No it's not" or "You poor poor man, with parents like this?"
 
Jet Fighter (part 6)
31st December 2012
16:26 GMT -5


Dr. Quinzel doesn't look up when I sit down next to her. She's staring out of the library window into the Dreamstorm, which is swirling every bit as hard as it was when my party and I went through it.

"Doctor Quinzel. How are you doing?"

"Y'c'n call me Harleen, yah know."

"I like 'Quinzel'. It's a combination of syllables where the softness of 'Quin' compliments the hardness of 'zel', no one part outstaying its welcome. I can't think of another word quite like it. Whereas 'Harleen' has those two long vowel sounds, like... 'Balloon', or something. Of the two, I think 'Quinzel' is definitely better."

She makes a very small smile, glancing my way for a moment before resuming her vigil.

"I ain't nevah thwort of it like that befowah."

"Of course not. You hear it a lot. As far as you're concerned it's a perfectly normal name."

"How 'bowt you?"

"It's three syllables and has a similar mouth-feel to 'Halloween'. Only the double 'E' is an 'I'."

"I mean… Awla this."

"I wasn't ready. But for some reason the Anti-Life isn't affecting me. For me this is a.. setback, but I have every confidence that we'll pull through in the end."

"Y'gawt anyone not inside'a here?"

"Jade's on the other side of the galaxy, so she's fine. A.. part from the huge Reach war fleet heading her way. But her mother and a few friends of mine are out there. You?"

"Niece an' nephew. Little kids. A few friends from college I get togevah with a few times a year." She swings her legs under her seat. "Guess y'can't rilly pick 'em up before ev'ryone else."

"It's a novel situation. We don't know what we need to prioritise, or even… Whether it might be better to evacuate the planet."

She turns her head to look at me with a sniff, her eyes wide and slightly watering.

"Can th' League do that?"

"Lanterns can move a lot of people quickly. We'd need somewhere to go, but Tamaran's coming along nicely and they've got plenty of space. Heck, given how low their population is, a few million temporary guest workers would probably be quite useful. It would… Certainly be easier to do that than attacking things we don't know about in places we can't locate, though that's where we are so far when it comes to actually resolving this conflict."

"What's happ'nin' right now?"

"Right now Batman and the League's other experts are trying to put together a plan of attack. Which… Isn't really something I can help with, hence why I'm here. I-." My ring blinks. "Yes?"

Alan's face. "Paul, we need you to head over to Norway. Looks like that robot they had in Washington isn't happy staying put. We need to know if it's possible to keep countries working by getting rid of Alliance infrastructure."

"Rightoh. I'll send you a message once I get there."

"Good luck. We all need it."

I close my left fist, ending the call, then rise to my feet.

"Excuse me."

"Yeyeh." She gets up, wiping her eyes. "I should get back ta werk, too."

"Doctor Quinzel, you got Anti-Lifed, the same as everyone else." I put my right hand on her left shoulder. "If you want to talk, just come and find me, alright?"

She nods awkwardly, mental defences going back up. Unlike Selinda, Dr. Quinzel actually is good at feigning a positive attitude.

"I'll see you when I get back." I walk towards the balcony, pushing open the bay windows so that I'm on the exterior of the Tower. "Orange Lantern to Mister Miracle. Tube to the North Sea, please."

BOOM!

I fly through, noting-

31st December 2012
22:29 GMT +1


-that there aren't a lot of planes in the air. Modern planes are mostly flown by machine, a process that was accelerated after Klarion's mass child murder because everyone remembers the recordings of the plane crashes and terrifying death plummets after the merger. In theory, once the alert goes out, every plane should head for the nearest landing field and land. But the simple artificial intelligence system can't do everything the air traffic controllers do. It can put the planes on the runway, but it hasn't tested all that well with large numbers of planes because it can't taxi them out of the way in most places.

"Orange Lantern to Lantern Gardner."

Norway looks like… Norway, with a very faint green glow in the air. I haven't really had any cause to come-. Here. Since last time I spoke to Jon Haraldson. No idea if the Einherjar are affected by the Anti-Life.

"'sup?"

"Alan says you need a hand. You've got me, for up to twenty three hours."

"What happens then?"

"I get recalled to Maltus to deal with a major Reach offensive."

"'kay. That robot can open boom toobs. It's droppin' off squads a' Justifiers wherever it goes. Just hangs around long enough ta' wreck any actual soldiers or police."

"The Justifiers?"

"Dunno what they've lookin' fer. They've stuck helmets on a few people, but they don't got enough fer everyone."

"I assume that the robot's powerful?"

"Tough, strong, firepower an' it can boom tube you whenever it feels like it. On yer six."

I look around as the green glow approaches me from behind.

"I don' wanna risk gettin' their air force involved, so we're gunna hav' ta fight it smarter."

"Haraldson?"

"Haven't seen 'im."

"Lead on, then. I'm sure at least some of my ammunition types will work."

He nods, then accelerates over the coast, heading inland, and I follow an instant later.

"Ice?"

"Trapping Justified guys. Her family 're battening down the hatches, so-. There."

It's standing in the sea off the coast of Bergen, Justifiers marching out of a boom tube into the streets.

"I'll get in his face, you cover me."

"Not a problem." I switch to the power armour I made that actually has weapons on it. "Just say when."

Guy generates a construct around him that resembles a 19th century train-

"When."

-and charges forward!
 
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Huh, I wonder how evacuating the Earth would go. At minimum the logistics would be a headache and a half. But it does seem like Guy and Tora are holding down the fort.

I have a feeling the giant robot won't exactly stop at boom tubing in Justified. Probably will aim to attack the heart of any resistance after too long.

And look, Paul got the closest to giving his last name of any time in this entire fic!
 
I find myself wondering the same thing as Paul.
What could have been done? There were no preparations that could have been made for a full thaumospheric coup.
Even the Spear Of Destiny would have been coopted.

...although, I suppose lacking a Sword Of The Fallen, a Dream Storm could suffice to kill Mannheim, assuming they could shove him into it.

I am afraid we might need to rely on John Constantine for this mess.
 
31st December 2012
16:26 GMT -5


Dr. Quinzel doesn't look up when I sit down next to her. She's staring out of the library window into the Dreamstorm, which is swirling every bit as hard as it was when my party and I went through it.
And no doubt very, very pretty, belying that danger. Such is the way of dangerous things. I'm getting the feeling she's out of sorts because she feels useless in this situation. Unsurprising, since a psychiatry degree isn't going to help free people from planet-wide mind control...

"Doctor Quinzel. How are you doing?"

"Y'c'n call me Harleen, yah know."
Why not just go with Harley? Marginally less of a mouthful than Har-leen, and quite a bit cuter... :confused: Then again, she's probably having enough trouble getting people to take her seriously with her accent and looks...

"I like 'Quinzel'. It's a combination of syllables where the softness of 'Quin' compliments the hardness of 'zel', no one part outstaying its welcome. I can't think of another word quite like it. Whereas 'Harleen' has those two long vowel sounds, like... 'Balloon', or something. Of the two, I think 'Quinzel' is definitely better."

She makes a very small smile, glancing my way for a moment before resuming her vigil.
Gee, you'd think someone made it up to back-justify her cape name in a TV show, but they wanted to avoid the blatant 'Steve Ulysses Perhero' gag. :p

"I ain't nevah thwort of it like that befowah."

"Of course not. You hear it a lot. As far as you're concerned it's a perfectly normal name."
I'm guessing it comes from somewhere in Eastern Europe... I could see her family being World War II immigrants, having fled Nazis...

"How 'bowt you?"

"It's three syllables and has a similar mouth-feel to 'Halloween'. Only the double 'E' is an 'I'."
Heh, getting closer to being able to use his original name in story, huh?

"I mean… Awla this."

"I wasn't ready. But for some reason the Anti-Life isn't affecting me. For me this is a.. setback, but I have every confidence that we'll pull through in the end."
Admittedly, you're going to have to speed-run the process, since you're on the clock. Still, better than some scenarios I've seen speed-runner go through, even without glitches.

"Y'gawt anyone not inside'a here?"

"Jade's on the other side of the galaxy, so she's fine. A.. part from the huge Reach war fleet heading her way. But her mother and a few friends of mine are out there. You?"
Heh. A lot of those friends are going to be out there helping correct the situation, so no worrying about them, OL.

"Niece an' nephew. Little kids. A few friends from college I get togevah with a few times a year." She swings her legs under her seat. "Guess y'can't rilly pick 'em up before ev'ryone else."

"It's a novel situation. We don't know what we need to prioritise, or even… Whether it might be better to evacuate the planet."
And that will only work if the Anti-Life hasn't taken root in the afflicted. Be a shame to spread it elsewhere.

She turns her head to look at me with a sniff, her eyes wide and slightly watering.

"Can th' League do that?"
...Maybe not in this universe, not easily. But the comics have done some crazy shit.

"Lanterns can move a lot of people quickly. We'd need somewhere to go, but Tamaran's coming along nicely and they've got plenty of space. Heck, given how low their population is, a few million temporary guest workers would probably be quite useful. It would… Certainly be easier to do that than attacking things we don't know about in places we can't locate, though that's where we are so far when it comes to actually resolving this conflict."
Unfortunately, running away won't solve the problem.

"What's happ'nin' right now?"

"Right now Batman and the League's other experts are trying to put together a plan of attack. Which… Isn't really something I can help with, hence why I'm here. I-." My ring blinks. "Yes?"
Ah, Eddie told you to piss off, did he? Shame, I thought you were starting to crack that dickhead shell...

Alan's face. "Paul, we need you to head over to Norway. Looks like that robot they had in Washington isn't happy staying put. We need to know if it's possible to keep countries working by getting rid of Alliance infrastructure."

"Rightoh. I'll send you a message once I get there."
And the more places the Dark Side is trying to watch, the harder it will be for them to respond, huh?

"Good luck. We all need it."

I close my left fist, ending the call, then rise to my feet.
Ah, well, Duty Calls. Once more unto the breach and all that.

"Excuse me."

"Yeyeh." She gets up, wiping her eyes. "I should get back ta werk, too."
Not that many of the guys or girls here will be in any mood to talk, I bet...

"Doctor Quinzel, you got Anti-Lifed, the same as everyone else." I put my right hand on her left shoulder. "If you want talk, just come and find me, alright?"

She nods awkwardly, mental defences going back up. Unlike Selinder, Dr. Quinzel actually is good at feigning a positive attitude.
Sometimes to silly extents.

"I'll see you when I get back." I walk towards the balcony, pushing open the bay windows so that I'm on the exterior of the Tower. "Orange Lantern to Mister Miracle. Tube to the North Sea, please."

BOOM!

I fly through, noting-
Since Honden travel would be ill-advised in these conditions...

31st December 2012
22:29 GMT +1


-that there aren't a lot of planes in the air. Modern planes are mostly flown by machine, a process that was accelerated after Klarion's mass child murder because everyone remembers the recordings of the plane crashes and terrifying death plummets after the merger. In theory, once the alert goes out, every plane should head for the nearest landing field and land. But the simple artificial intelligence system can't do everything the air traffic controllers do. It can put the planes on the runway, but it hasn't tested all that well with large numbers of planes because it can't taxi them out of the way in most places.
And there's always the chance something will go badly wrong. One wrong bit, and you get a plane trying to land on a freeway. Or a suburban street...

"Orange Lantern to Lantern Gardner."

Norway looks like… Norway, with a very faint green glow in the air. I haven't really had any cause to come-. Here. Since last time I spoke to Jon Haraldson. No idea if the Einherjar are affected by the Anti-Life.
They're already dead. No Life energy to disrupt, surely?

"'sup?"

"Alan says you need a hand. You've got me, for up to twenty three hours."
And no, that does not mean you get to ask OL to make giant construct hands...

"What happens then?"

"I get recalled to Maltus to deal with a major Reach offensive."
I'm sure Guy can understand that. One reason the Guardians haven't recalled him to avoid contamination of Ion is probably because he wouldn't follow that order...

"'kay. That robot can open boom toobs. It's droppin' off squads a' Justifiers wherever it goes. Just hangs around long enough ta' wreck any actual soldiers or police."

"The Justifiers?"
So, hit-and-run strikes on targets of opportunity. No doubt focusing on leadership elements and crippling existing power structures.

"Dunno what they've lookin' fer. They've stuck helmets on a few people, but they don't got enough fer everyone."

"I assume that the robot's powerful?"
Indubitably. Like, 'stomp the entire Justice League' powerful...

"Tough, strong, firepower an' it can boom tube you whenever it feels like it. On yer six."

I look around as the green glow approaches me from behind.
I don't doubt OL had him pinged the second he came out of the tube, but thanks for the heads-up.

"I don' wanna risk gettin' their air force involved, so we're gunna hav' ta fight it smarter."

"Haraldson?"
And the big bot is probably too tough for conventional weapons. Probably channelling all manner of Godly energies.

"Haven't seen 'im."

"Lead on, then. I'm sure at least some of my ammunition types will work."
Or maybe you could use your Baby-Godspeech at it. :p It's kind of worked before.

He nods, then accelerates over the coast, heading inland, and I follow an instant later.

"Ice?"

"Trapping Justified guys. Her family 're battening down the hatches, so-. There."
Probably not difficult, given they're a hidden village of ice-controllers...

It's standing in the sea off the coast of Bergen, Justifiers marching out of a boom tube into the streets.

"I'll get in his face, you cover me."
As long as you don't attack his fists face-first, anyway. Never a good idea.

"Not a problem." I switch to the power armour I made that actually has weapons on it. "Just say when."

Guy generates a construct around him that resembles a 19th century train-
Choo-choo, motherfucker!

"When."

-and charges forward!
And battle is joined!

Well, time for some action. Let's hope OL doesn't miss all the sneaky fun while he and Guy are playing 'King of the Monsters' with Annihilation Man there. Meanwhile, the Justifiers' actions seem odd. I can see them destroying symbols of local authority, sure, but why put the helmets on people? Do they expect the freshly-justified to rise up and follow orders? :eek: Crap, that's it, isn't it? Subverting local forces by nobbling their leadership...
(And a surprisingly early post, Mr Zoat. Busy elsewhere at the usual posting time, I'm guessing.)
 
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You sometimes forget this is a bad end timeline, then Paul mentions off-hamd that the humans left on Earth add up to just millions now.

That's how that talk sounded at least
 
You sometimes forget this is a bad end timeline, then Paul mentions off-hamd that the humans left on Earth add up to just millions now.

That's how that talk sounded at least
Not much point in evacuating the Justified, which likely make up a good majority of the planet's population right now.
 
You know if Paul ever is able to say his own name I feel like that is the climax. Either he's achieved a level where it doesn't affect him anymore and we'll see what he's capable of, or whatever did it originally is done with it and that's the final threat that needs to be taken care of, or, if we want to go really nutty, somebody figures out his name and he goes full Beetleguise and gets reverse summoned back to his home Earth and that's that, or lastly, someone in the comment section correctly guesses his name and thus is summoned into the story as the final boss that gets defeated anticlimactically because we're all just regular schmucks that got patsy'd into creating a functional time loop based solely on the human observational theory of causality. That or Zoat gives us a cookie, a headpat, and one guest star appearance as a random bystander who gets to talk to Paul.
 
Coming from the Riddler? Second class mind is almost a compliment.

I had a brother who had two engineering professors, one named Dr. Light and another Dr. Wily. Another brother has a friend named 'Joy Savage'. And given that my own first name is a virtue, don't rule out parents giving punny names.

The US census records a woman named Ima Hogg.
 
I'm guessing this means no late late night release on the 30th.
This is tomorrows chapter early, not a bonus?
 
Why is he actually planning to listen to that?

Earth is a thousand times more important then the Orange Lantern corp's little war with the Reach.
Dox has been keeping paul in reserve for when they need a big stick should it finally hit the fan against the reach.

The Fact Dox is calling him in means things are getting real and they need the big stick to keep things from hitting the fan.

The Problem is the Reach's timing sucks for paul and it could very well be intentional that this is happening.

Either paul ignores orders and manages to save earth but the reach break through NEMO's front lines.

Or

Paul Follows orders and kicks the reach fleets in the thorax but Earth takes it up the keester from Darkseid.

Either way paul will have have a mess to deal with later that will keep him distracted.

Because Darkseid is a massive jerk
 
"Not a problem." I switch to the power armour I made that actually has weapons on it. "Just say when."

Guy generates a construct around him that resembles a 19th century train-

"When."

-and charges forward!
I guess this activity will count towards summoning the White entity. Make that wicked robot feel something!
 
Dox has been keeping paul in reserve for when they need a big stick should it finally hit the fan against the reach.

The Fact Dox is calling him in means things are getting real and they need the big stick to keep things from hitting the fan.

The Problem is the Reach's timing sucks for paul and it could very well be intentional that this is happening.

Either paul ignores orders and manages to save earth but the reach break through NEMO's front lines.

Or

Paul Follows orders and kicks the reach fleets in the thorax but Earth takes it up the keester from Darkseid.

Either way paul will have have a mess to deal with later that will keep him distracted.

Because Darkseid is a massive jerk
Yes, but as I said in my comment, Earth is what matters.

While LePaul might like to go, "Oh hum, I will just evacuate the people I like and everything will be fine." that's complete and utter bullshit. And he knows that's complete and utter bullshit. Because Earth is literally the most important planet in the universe. It's the Fourth World, home of the Life Entity, home of the Endless, the planet literally the entire multiverse revolves around.
 
But it does seem like Guy and Tora are holding down the fort.
Is it a magical flying fort?
I think that's a typo for Selinda, aka Shimmer.
Thank you, corrected.
Gee, you'd think someone made it up to back-justify her cape name in a TV show, but they wanted to avoid the blatant 'Steve Ulysses Perhero' gag. :p
...

I only just got that.
It's already been guessed correctly. Paul Tallown. There's a link on Tv Tropes somewhere.

I've tried saying his name 5 times in front of a mirror at midnight, but nope, no orange lantern ring. :D
You're cute when you sleep.
I'm guessing this means no late late night release on the 30th.
This is tomorrows chapter early, not a bonus?
It was tomorrow here.
 

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