Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
No, that's correct.
Thank you, corrected.Me said:
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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RoninSword
Sky God
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I would have assumed that actual Darkseid could see everything that Mannheim!Darkseid could, which would mean he saw the White Light.
Otherwise a single Apokoliptian drone livestreaming to his throne room would have been enough to see the final battle there. (I'm aware he once spied through Cyborgs eye)
Otherwise a single Apokoliptian drone livestreaming to his throne room would have been enough to see the final battle there. (I'm aware he once spied through Cyborgs eye)
Do Or Die Time (part 20)
Mr Zoat
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17th February 2013
20:47 GMT
I look around, trying to spot Batman. He's checking fallen Justifiers, marking them on the League's tactical network based on their location and degree of injury. At the edge of the city I can see Superman carrying a zeta terminal towards us, with Red Tornado tagging along to power it. Once that's in place, we can start moving people and relief supplies.
No Anti-Life nagging at the edges of my consciousness. And if it was unpleasant for me, I dread to imagine what it was like for most people.
I return my attention to Orion.
"How are you?"
I think he's.. frowning.
"I am trying, very hard, not to be angry."
I gingerly reach out with my right hand. "That might be easier if you hand that ring over. Red rings are even worse for being infectious than orange rings."
"I chose this. You told me as much as you knew. You did not lie to me once. That is why I am not tearing your head from your shoulders."
"I'm sorry. I.. think that Darkseid-Mannheim shadow-thing did something to drive you berserk at the end, but I didn't see-."
"He cowed my nature with his own. He could do that because I had abandoned my Source-mandated purpose to become a mindless berserker for you."
"I asked, but I wasn't just asking for me. Without you, everyone on Earth-."
"I know that. But you do not-." He takes a deep breath in and then lets it out slowly. "You do not understand what turning myself into what he wants me to be cost me."
"Clearly you feel bad about it. Do you want to explain it to me? Make me feel the same thing? I certainly knew that something like that was possible."
He looks away for a moment.
"What did you see, when the white light passed through us all?"
I shake my head. "Right at the end there? Nothing much. I wasn't interacting with the network." I shrug. "I don't enjoy talking people into doing things, but… I'm ruthless when I think I need to be. I felt the… Doctor Mist's compassion, and the unifying wonder of the… Essence of life itself… And getting you for red-."
"You'd do it again."
"Yes. It's not that I don't feel bad, it's that I don't think me feeling bad matters much compared to…"
I look over to where Alan is checking over the fallen. I'm pleased to see that he's got a healing ray, and that he's remembered that it's still worth checking them over before shooting them with it.
"Compared to freeing a world from the Anti-Life."
"What is your.. 'nature', anyway? If it's some sort of New God thing-."
"I am the essence of the heroic warrior. I keep faith, I fight evil, I-." He looks away for a moment, and I see the Forever People cautiously approaching. "I am not what my Father would have me be. What happened here, what happened to me, is so repugnant to me that I say this to you."
He tosses the red ring to my feet.
"If I ever see you again after this day, I will kill you. Vykin, we are leaving."
Vykin nods, and-
BOOM!
-a portal opens, the six of them walking through.
Yeah. I get it. All that time fighting to keep control while feeling that angry, and then I have him run rampant in full rage mode so he can get a feel for it.
I reach down and pick up the ring, careful not to touch the inner surface. I'll put it in an equipment pouch for now, and… Maltus later?
"Orange Lantern to-."
No.
"Orange Lantern to Mister Atom. Global status summary."
"Based on observed organic behavior, your efforts to remove the Anti-Life have been successful. Based on observed organic behavior, that didn't fix things. Have you considered mass cybernetic implantation? They appear to make humans far more rational."
"I use an empathic weapon. Rationality would be detrimental to my effectiveness."
"Do you require a comfort break?"
"What?"
"You have stopped working. There is a great deal of work to do in order to restore Earth. Do you require assistance defecating?"
"No, I just needed your confirmation that it had actually worked before I started tidying up here. I assume that you have an outlined reconstruction plan?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"I understand your frustration. Imagine mine. I can not define the problem sufficiently well to solve it. The records required to restore Earth civilisation to its pre-Sheeda state do not exist, and a significant number of the people required are dead. Many models could be used as useful target points, but the most successful economies on Earth have benefited from micro-scale freedom to address demands not readily apparent from the centre. Planning everything myself may be… Actively detrimental."
"Okay, well, we can eliminate the Anti-Life based technology, then… Have a meeting between Justice League leaders and any surviving heads of governments? President Adams should probably… Be the one to check up on America."
"He is already en route."
"Right. I'll get on with things here. Contact me if you specifically need me. Orange Lantern Out."
I walk over to where Batman is disarming the Justifiers and removing their helmets. I'm not sure what's going through their heads, but from the way they're shrinking back from him I don't think he's getting a positive response.
"Batman." He doesn't look around, but he draws himself up slightly. "I should probably…"
"Undo the damage you inflicted on my brain."
"Yes. Look, I can understand that as you are now you might not want me to. There was a parallel version of me who did something similar. But I really think-."
He pulls the ring off his finger and slides it into his utility belt.
"Oh. "
"I don't want to keep thinking like this. Is your scan of my brain up to date?"
"Of course, yes."
"Then get on with it."
I raise my left hand and play the orange light over his head. It… There hadn't really been any progression, but I can see how it's affecting the patterns of activation in his brain. Remove the toxins, correct the connections…
Done.
"Okay, done. How do you feel?"
He doesn't say anything for a moment, eyes not really focusing on anything.
Then he turns away and strides towards where Superman has set up the zeta tube.
20:47 GMT
I look around, trying to spot Batman. He's checking fallen Justifiers, marking them on the League's tactical network based on their location and degree of injury. At the edge of the city I can see Superman carrying a zeta terminal towards us, with Red Tornado tagging along to power it. Once that's in place, we can start moving people and relief supplies.
No Anti-Life nagging at the edges of my consciousness. And if it was unpleasant for me, I dread to imagine what it was like for most people.
I return my attention to Orion.
"How are you?"
I think he's.. frowning.
"I am trying, very hard, not to be angry."
I gingerly reach out with my right hand. "That might be easier if you hand that ring over. Red rings are even worse for being infectious than orange rings."
"I chose this. You told me as much as you knew. You did not lie to me once. That is why I am not tearing your head from your shoulders."
"I'm sorry. I.. think that Darkseid-Mannheim shadow-thing did something to drive you berserk at the end, but I didn't see-."
"He cowed my nature with his own. He could do that because I had abandoned my Source-mandated purpose to become a mindless berserker for you."
"I asked, but I wasn't just asking for me. Without you, everyone on Earth-."
"I know that. But you do not-." He takes a deep breath in and then lets it out slowly. "You do not understand what turning myself into what he wants me to be cost me."
"Clearly you feel bad about it. Do you want to explain it to me? Make me feel the same thing? I certainly knew that something like that was possible."
He looks away for a moment.
"What did you see, when the white light passed through us all?"
I shake my head. "Right at the end there? Nothing much. I wasn't interacting with the network." I shrug. "I don't enjoy talking people into doing things, but… I'm ruthless when I think I need to be. I felt the… Doctor Mist's compassion, and the unifying wonder of the… Essence of life itself… And getting you for red-."
"You'd do it again."
"Yes. It's not that I don't feel bad, it's that I don't think me feeling bad matters much compared to…"
I look over to where Alan is checking over the fallen. I'm pleased to see that he's got a healing ray, and that he's remembered that it's still worth checking them over before shooting them with it.
"Compared to freeing a world from the Anti-Life."
"What is your.. 'nature', anyway? If it's some sort of New God thing-."
"I am the essence of the heroic warrior. I keep faith, I fight evil, I-." He looks away for a moment, and I see the Forever People cautiously approaching. "I am not what my Father would have me be. What happened here, what happened to me, is so repugnant to me that I say this to you."
He tosses the red ring to my feet.
"If I ever see you again after this day, I will kill you. Vykin, we are leaving."
Vykin nods, and-
BOOM!
-a portal opens, the six of them walking through.
Yeah. I get it. All that time fighting to keep control while feeling that angry, and then I have him run rampant in full rage mode so he can get a feel for it.
I reach down and pick up the ring, careful not to touch the inner surface. I'll put it in an equipment pouch for now, and… Maltus later?
"Orange Lantern to-."
No.
"Orange Lantern to Mister Atom. Global status summary."
"Based on observed organic behavior, your efforts to remove the Anti-Life have been successful. Based on observed organic behavior, that didn't fix things. Have you considered mass cybernetic implantation? They appear to make humans far more rational."
"I use an empathic weapon. Rationality would be detrimental to my effectiveness."
"Do you require a comfort break?"
"What?"
"You have stopped working. There is a great deal of work to do in order to restore Earth. Do you require assistance defecating?"
"No, I just needed your confirmation that it had actually worked before I started tidying up here. I assume that you have an outlined reconstruction plan?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"I understand your frustration. Imagine mine. I can not define the problem sufficiently well to solve it. The records required to restore Earth civilisation to its pre-Sheeda state do not exist, and a significant number of the people required are dead. Many models could be used as useful target points, but the most successful economies on Earth have benefited from micro-scale freedom to address demands not readily apparent from the centre. Planning everything myself may be… Actively detrimental."
"Okay, well, we can eliminate the Anti-Life based technology, then… Have a meeting between Justice League leaders and any surviving heads of governments? President Adams should probably… Be the one to check up on America."
"He is already en route."
"Right. I'll get on with things here. Contact me if you specifically need me. Orange Lantern Out."
I walk over to where Batman is disarming the Justifiers and removing their helmets. I'm not sure what's going through their heads, but from the way they're shrinking back from him I don't think he's getting a positive response.
"Batman." He doesn't look around, but he draws himself up slightly. "I should probably…"
"Undo the damage you inflicted on my brain."
"Yes. Look, I can understand that as you are now you might not want me to. There was a parallel version of me who did something similar. But I really think-."
He pulls the ring off his finger and slides it into his utility belt.
"Oh. "
"I don't want to keep thinking like this. Is your scan of my brain up to date?"
"Of course, yes."
"Then get on with it."
I raise my left hand and play the orange light over his head. It… There hadn't really been any progression, but I can see how it's affecting the patterns of activation in his brain. Remove the toxins, correct the connections…
Done.
"Okay, done. How do you feel?"
He doesn't say anything for a moment, eyes not really focusing on anything.
Then he turns away and strides towards where Superman has set up the zeta tube.
Last edited:
Vaermina
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I think he's already shit the bed enough at this point.
Azure Mirage
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Welp, having multiple people want you dead is proof positive you are having an effect on the Universe.
Chojin Patriarch
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And so the cleanup begins. A few moments to catch their breath, and then the hard part begins. Hopefully this combined with the Sheeda thing hasn't left Humanity in a constant state of shell-shock. Though honestly, the comics' Earth gets it much harder...
Besides still rocking the Butcher-esque facial modifications. Because I doubt those would have gone away in the last few minutes...
Good. Hold onto that feeling. This is no time to lose your head... Or try to take someone else's off.
And that heads off many arguments foreseen in the discussion, I'll note. Still, if it makes you feel better, Orion... Feel free to take a shot or two.
Ah, right. Because being a New God of Warfare is a different thing to being a New God of Rage. Much like the Hellenic difference between Athena and Ares...
No doubt he's feeling a lot more like he did as a child on Apokalips... Where his rage might well have been indulged rather than constrained.
It would be like trying to describe colour to a blind man...
Plus, his Enlightenment probably would have tinted anything he saw anyway.
'Want the Ends, want the Means' after all.
Indeed, Orion. And giving your real father a big old middle finger is a bonus.
I'm guessing he was intended to be the Glory of War by Darkseid. Just as Kalibak is Savagery, and Grayven was Conquest.
Called it. And a pretty harsh declaration. Not unlike what OL told Sportsmaster...'Don't call me, I'll call you. But I probably won't.'
The ultimate form of backsliding. I suspect Highfather is rather vexed with OL right now.
What's the bet it ends up going missing, only to turn up in the hands of Atrocitus one day?
Heh. I bet there's a lot of material to cover.
And he left pure Rationality behind the moment he gained Enlightenment. What he has now is more... Distributed self-interest tempered with intelligence. What's best for the many rather than the whole.
...I mean, the remaining Lanterns probably could use a few minutes to decompress and process what just happened..
To be fair, Atom's probably had to deal with a Leaguer or affiliate having to take a moment to use the little hero's room a time or two during the course of this whole thing...
Let me guess: he errored out based on scale, trying to even frame the problem as a whole?
In other words, it's too big for one being, even a super computer mind like his.
I expect he'll try to hand over the title as soon as possible, now that the crisis has passed. I don't think America's quite ready for a superhero president yet.
Right. One more important bit of business to see to.
And I don't see him being comfortable with OL mucking about in his grey matter, huh?
Ah. I see he intends to keep the Ring just in case, huh?
It had better be. I don't see him dropping a whammy like psuedo-Smilex on Bruce without making a detailed backup first.
And hope he doesn't forget the last day or two.
Now, if only it were so easy to do that to the Joker. But without a pre-exposure sample...
Yeah, there's no getting out of this situation with a friendly reputation with the Bat. At best, you can hope he's not too angry, and that you can recover the lost social links.
Al right, then. Critical issues dealt with, no (admittedly deserved) beatdowns delivered, and the long, slow process of decontaminating Earth from Apokaliptian technology begins. I foresee OL and the other Lanterns being busy, flying around dismantling transmitters and collecting Justifier helmets. Though they'll have to be quick about it, before other parties start looting that stuff first...
AmericanNumbers
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It sure must be frustrating for Batman to have OL pull a Batman on him and have OL be proven right in that waiting around for an alternative to alleviate Batman's short term discomfort would have been cathasthropic.
Rebu
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"If you want to make enemies, try to change something." -Woodrow Wilson, as quoted by Adam Jensen
Silverias
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Honestly, that's probably the worst part.
Batman knows that it was the right call, at least from his own perspective...which says something he probably doesn't like.
Duke Long
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Is he talking about Luthor? Seems like he might've made a friend.
'an'
'pre-Sheeda'
WereDragon
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On the one hand they are both ageless, capable of convenient interstellar travel and share enemies. The odds that they will never encounter each other again are vanishingly small.
On the other hand Paul has been killed before and would probably not object to it happening again should the need arise.
I really wish I could get away with using that phrase when talking to customers.
Firewillreign
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For god's sake, take the fucking ring back!
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
That was just the way he manifested in Mannheim's Anti-Life Funhouse. In the material universe he looks much as he ever did.
ch405_5p34r
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no way Batman is gonna let that happen. "necessary" as it was - and i only say in quotes because obviously we don't know what viable alternatives, if any apart from Sinestro, existed here - if OL hadn't completely shit on the friendship that they had, Bats would probably be willing to hand it over.
as is, i wouldn't be surprised if he relapsed, and if he does/has he's not going to want to hand over his only defense against someone who could rewire his entire body without his consent.
if OL tries to take it by force that will cause even more problems.
Ngamer11
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Just to confirm, he transformed when he got the power of the Red Light, got changed back offscreen, transformed while combating the Anti-Life, and is back to his regular appearance?
Darko
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Is he talking about Tangseid?
Because he's the only version I can think of right now who changed his brain to be more like a sociopaths.
I doubt it.
That may have been Izaya's influence turning his anger towards a useful and benevolent purpose.
I think Darkseid would have made him the Rage of War.
But if he wanted to turn him into Glory then I think he would have just tortured him to undermine any positive aspects war can have.
Finagle007
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Paul's been taking a few too many leaves out of Constantine's book.
Ngamer11
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He usually only does that when faced with impossible odds that could very well mean the end of humanity. The difference is that Paul is usually able to prevent things from getting that far in the first place.
Silveraith
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Darkseid.
Firewillreign
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worth it. Absolutely worth it.
Batman with anything beyond street level power always bites the heroes in the ass. Giving him a fucking power ring after a paranoia inducing shitshow like that is the worst case scenario.
Mr Zoat
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I'm fairly sure that you're confusing things there.
Orion with the red ring briefly had red horns while out of control. The rest of the time he looks like he normally does, maniacal expression aside.
While they were freeing Original Mannheim he had a different immaterial appearence to the rest of them, who just looked like wisps of coloured fire. That was only a thing while they were doing that.
Yes. Tangseid mentioned copying his tattoos from the SI.
Thank you, corrected.
rdfox
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Long term, yes. Short term, however, this is the best option.
The way to handle this is to wait a couple of weeks for him to cool off a bit (even Batman can't maintain that level of anger indefinitely!), then ask Superman to talk to him about turning the ring over to either League secure storage, or, preferably, to be studied on Maltus. If there's anyone who could talk him into giving it up, it's Clark, and Bruce would see that, rationally, it's safer to have it stored someplace that's harder to get at than anything he can personally devise.
Hell, he might have kept it for the same reason he keeps Joe Chill's 1911--it's a tool that was used to inflict a pretty massive trauma upon him, and he wants to make abso-fucking-lutely sure that it never ends up on the streets again. (It'd make more sense if that was his attitude towards OL's ring, but still.)
So yeah. Give Bats some time to calm down about the situation, then send Clark to try and get him to hand over the ring to someone other than Paul. And preferably deliver a suitably contrite and chastened formal letter of apology from Paul at the same time, maybe with a hogtied and possibly crippled Joker as a peace offering, and it should at least get better results than any sort of attempt at forcibly taking the ring. (Remember, Batman is the one who has contingency plans to kill every superhero on Earth, just in case one of them goes rogue and needs to be taken down. Force is a very dangerous play against him...)
Darko
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Does Paul know about all the things he's done, like the mind control, aside from taking some crazy serum?
Chaoswind
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Tangseid mentioned he needed to keep things hidden from the other Paul's during the cross over and he had a ward before encountering Paul and his super tattoos.
The ward may have been sufficient to keep Paul out of his deeper feelings and we know at that point Paul already considered looking that deeply into people to be extremely rude.
Tangseid did improve on Paul tattoos design by making micro tattoos to make the magic even more complex and the prana draining effect even more powerful.
Mr Zoat
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None of the specifics.
I wouldn't mind you writing it.
Firewillreign
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Exactly.
Which is why leaving him with a ring for any length of time is a bad fucking idea.
Your points are valid, but better safe than sorry. Take the ring back before he fucks up and does something horrible with it, and spend the next ten years apologising if you have to.
BR549
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I think what's being referred to is this, actually.
I don't see any mention of that wearing off after the Eridammu fight, although it's possible I may have missed that.