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

I suppose strategically Controllers are more useful in their current role of making warships and stuff, but I would like to see one actually take the field at some point in combat.
There isn't really much a Controller can do that dozen orange lanterns can't and orange lanterns are much easier to replace. Same reason the Guardians usually don't take the field even when they are doing a full green lantern mobilization.
 
Which we know will bite him in the ass one day, as seen in the 'Gate' snippets. But that won't be anytime soon...

I think that was more him being so powerful that the environment thought he was a god, so it altered him, rather than him just no longer considering himself a piece of meat.

Good luck finding it, boyo. I have the feeling Earth wouldn't be too happy to see the Reach right now anyway...

According to some snippets, they may come to Earth, albeit in a different schedule.

Huh. that's a surprise. I doubt it was the assimilation specifically that triggered it. A general failsafe against Spectrum energy interference? Or a defence against some other similar power they added in at some point after a particularly messy conquest?

Most likely just a defence against mental manipulation.

Which raises the question of how they found out he could do that? Did he use any Construct lanterns any previous times the Reach could have observed him? Did they have some reasonable predictions of Spectrum energy abilities, perhaps?

They may have been observing his Corps and their abilities, and it's also possible that they've studied the Spectrum, since the GLC is one of their biggest enemies.
 
Which raises the question of how they found out he could do that? Did he use any Construct lanterns any previous times the Reach could have observed him? Did they have some reasonable predictions of Spectrum energy abilities, perhaps?
Remember way back when he invaded that Reach planet to rescue Darkstars from those Scarab Warriors?

Mind you, he's also been flitting around the Galaxy flaunting his abilities to everyone under the various suns. So it wouldn't take a super spy network to purchase various records of those encounters. And that's assuming the Light isn't in contact with the Reach and feeding them known counters to Orange Lanterns.
 
Is this the first time Dox has been greediported since having his enhanced cognition stuff repaired? Because it occurs to me that he might have perceptually been exposed to the Honden for longer than the rest. And/or the snek got interested.

Which ... huh, I wonder if Dox's masterstroke plan is that he WANTS the Reach to build shields "defending" against the Honden and then turn that against them as an embargo of avarice.

Or if he's just making dumb decisions while under orange influence. Or possibly got suborned.

On the other hand I wonder if there was more to the choice of target than just military: wonder what Reach internal politics is like
 
which suddenly becomes about a thousand times more massive than it was a moment before
If it's a graviton weapon, then it feels a thousand times heavier, not more massive.

sloughing off

Somehow I doubt the Scarab Warrior gained orange enlightenment during that conversation.
I think that was OL challenging the Scarab Warrior to make a decision.
 
So well done, Dox. your haste has blown the cover of one of your few major advantages. :rolleyes: Hooray.

Eh, I wouldn't really call it a hasty decision.

Like, they could have saved this for a decapitation strike, but the Reach is too large and likely too decentralized for that to be super worthwhile.

Spending the surprise on a first strike operation like this where they get to pop the Reach in the nose, blood their Lanterns, and secure enough of a propaganda victory to motivate fence sitters is a worthwhile investment IMO.

The only issues so far have been Grayven showing up to killsteal and Dox being incommunicado. The first has been dealt with and the second is next on OL's to do list.
 
If it's a graviton weapon, then it feels a thousand times heavier, not more massive.
sloughing off
Thank you, corrected.
I think that was OL challenging the Scarab Warrior to make a decision.
Yes.
The Scarab is orange enlightened? Cool.
No, that was the SI.
Don't bother? Uh that seems like a rather useful one hit kill.
Most Lanterns aren't as fast at it as the SI. Making the attempt would leave them vulnerable.
 
crumbler rams from me
Crumbler tech....clearly the most powerful tech in the universe.

Not much of a showing from the Scarab. I always thought they were somewhat on Par with Lanterns. What with their weapon morphing to match constructs.

And some random earth dude outdoes them. What is on earth that causes this? Is it all the Life Entity? Something mystical?

At this point, The Crumbler should be feared throughout the universe in no time.
 
Crumbler tech....clearly the most powerful tech in the universe.

Not much of a showing from the Scarab. I always thought they were somewhat on Par with Lanterns. What with their weapon morphing to match constructs.

And some random earth dude outdoes them. What is on earth that causes this? Is it all the Life Entity? Something mystical?

At this point, The Crumbler should be feared throughout the universe in no time.

They may be a match for an average Lantern, but Paul is far from an average Lantern.
 
Matching a Green Lantern, when their weapons and methods prevent using lethal force. Scarabs have been killing people that have been going at them with kid gloves.

I think Blue Beetle in YJ had to talk his bug out of using lethal stuff just about every time they had it as an option. Black Beetle was the strongest one we've seen (he took out Green, which had Martian powers on top of scarab based powers) and Blue ended up matching him shot for shot. Thing is those WERE just straight out power vs power fights. And at a YJ cartoon levels of power. No skill, very little out of the box thinking, other then the hack/counter hack parts. Will give Black a good mark for messing up Miss Martian's phasing though.

Comic book Blue Beetle had weapons on the Theological scale, and could go vs Post Crisis Lanterns pretty well.

Don't think Blue would handle Hal / Paralax or Kyle / Ion combinations any better then anyone else did however.
 
Over Reaching (part 14)
3rd July 2012
10:44 GMT -5


As expected, Brande is waiting outside of his quarters. I don't know if he was waiting for me, or waiting for Dox to allow him in. He spots me at once, but doesn't show any overt sign of surprise at my arrival.

"We won, I take it?"

"Yes. The plan was essentially sound. We're heading back towards allied territory now, and Lanterns are striking at Reach assets across the outer sphere. I'd be there myself, but this happened."

"I see."

"Brande, what happened? One moment Dox was in fine fettle, then radio silence."

"I'm… He was observing the fleet's manoeuvres relative to the Reach, and then the gordanians appeared and he collapsed."

"Was he injured?"

"Ah, not… In any obvious fashion. There was no assassin, no overload on the bridge."

"So he just-. Decided not to talk?"

"No, he… Slumped. Became unresponsive to the bridge officers, to me and to the medics who attended to him. After your assumption of command was confirmed he was removed from the bridge. They brought him here because he didn't appear to be in any danger of death and they wanted to keep the infirmary free in case they needed to receive casualties. He… Appeared to regain his awareness after perhaps ten minutes, at which point we were all ejected."

Alright. Something happened. He wasn't just ignoring us. It's hardly reasonable for me to complain if he had a stroke… Somehow, while wearing an orange power ring.

"I haven't kept up to date on the command structure of L.E.G.I.O.N. What's supposed to happen if the Supreme Commander is incapacitated?"

"Captains are supposed to follow their last orders to the best of their ability, pending the appointment of a successor. Vril assumes that his successor will need to be appointed by the N.E.M.O. Council, and as such there is no Vice-Commander or anything like that."

"Was I supposed to leave it up to them?"

"Vril has been working on the assumption that you would assume command of the Lanterns if he were incapacitated. But since the only point where those two command structures come together is with him… There's no provision for unified command on joint operations."

"So, what, did Dox think he was immortal?"

"I think it's more that he didn't see the need."

"I gave Dox the space he asked for so that he could establish himself. I've stayed away so I didn't distract from his authority. But if L.E.G.I.O.N. doesn't have a command hierarchy, that sounds like an issue I'm going to need him to change."

"I don't think that he will respond better to an ultimatum now, though I can see why you feel disappointed." He gestures to the door. "Shall we?"

"Illustres to Clarissi Dox. I'm outside. We need to discuss what just happened."

His head doesn't appear over my ring, but the door opens anyway. The inside is Spartan, a replica of his office onboard Ranx save for a bed in the corner. Dox doesn't look at me, staring into space from the chair he's slumped in, his uniform dishevelled. Was that from the medics?

I step inside, Brande following immediately behind. The door shuts a second later.

"Sir. What-?"

"Are you here to remove me?"

"No. Depending on what I hear here I may make a recommendation to the rest of the N.E.M.O. Council. However, at the moment the most I would suggest is that your position be changed to a purely strategic and logistical one. Before I make any such representation, I would like to know what happened from you."

"The ship. The Absolute Dominion. You're sure that it's Apokoliptian?"

"As sure as I can be without visiting either Apokolips or New Genesis and asking their shipwrights. I was feeling Grayven's soul when it fired."

He holds up his ring, the-. Oh. It's got a rather nasty-looking crack across the sigil.

"I was using my ring to maintain perfect awareness of the entire conflict zone. I knew the location of every mote of dust in the system." Breath hisses between his teeth. "I-. Was-. Drunk on data. And then the Apokoliptian ship opened a boom tube."

"You were overloaded?"

"I shouldn't have been. I can handle far more data than that."

I hold out my left hand and float his ring over to us as we attempt to read its presence in the Honden. Oh, we know this.

Dox's ring shimmers slightly as it repairs itself, then I hold it out to him. He doesn't turn his head, but his eyes turn my way and he looks… Uncertain.

"Spent a lot of time around the magicians, have you?"

"Yes. I need to understand how their work can aid me in the war."

"And you spent some time on Lantern Coutara's homeworld?"

"Magic." He frowns absently. "You think I've been ench-. No, that I've acquired a minor ability, and my ring picked up and relayed a data stream I haven't learned to parse. That-. Would explain-."

"I'm not sure exactly why, but there was a sudden burst of data transmission when Grayven started firing his main gun."

He turns his seat to face us, his gaze remaining distant… But in a more focused way as he straightens his uniform.

"I can create boom tubes. It should be simple enough to learn how to filt-."

"It was still a darn silly thing to do to put yourself in that position."

Now he focuses, eyes narrowing as he stares at me. "We have only a handful of Lanterns with any sort of arcane ability. There was absolutely no reason for me to assume that-."

"There was no reason for you to be scanning the system in that sort of detail. If you think that sort of field data analysis is necessary, then we get some more Lanterns who share your data fixation and have them do it. You're the Supreme Commander; you can't be on every major fleet engagement."

"This one needed to succeed. I couldn't trust anyone else with something this important."

"And your flag captain and I ended up running it anyway. I think that proves that you can."

"I'll review the.. data."

"No, you're going to stick something with lights on it to your forehead and go back to the bridge and reassure everyone that you're a competent commander, a belief that today took exactly the sort of knock you sent me to Earth to avoid."

"What are you talking about? My mind is fine, as long as I don't-."

"Because if people believe that you were singled out for an exotic attack which you need a device to shield against, that undermines you a lot less than them finding out that you metaphorically shot your own legs off because you're a data junkie."

"That… Is not an entirely unreasonable claim." He slides his ring back onto his left ring finger and extends a filament to his forehead and creates what looks like a Star Trek cortical stimulator. "Adequate?"

"I think so. But once this is over, you and I and Director Jeddigar need to have a talk about our organisational structures."
 
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ase the needed to receive casualties. He…
they

No, you're going to stick something with lights on it to your forehead and go back to the bridge and
He Haha. Better make that blinking lights. Especially in a non repeating pattern. That'll give it a feeling of being more active against something rather than just a random device.
I'm glad he can parse out boom tubes now so that's something.
 
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"Spent a lot of time around the magicians, have you?"

"Yes. I need to understand how their work can aid me in the war."

"And you spent some time on Lantern Coutara's homeworld?"

"Magic." He frowns absently. "You think I've been ench-. No, that I've acquired a minor ability, and my ring picked up and relayed a data stream I haven't learned to parse. That-. Would explain-."
Paul: Dox, yer a wizard.
Dox: I'm a what?
 
Not entirely sure, is the reason Dox is upset is cause he was knocked down due to overanalyzing and ashamed of that fact?
Not exactly. Well, he was knocked down due to an overload of data from Grayven's appearance, but he should have been capable of handling it. At least the non-magical data. Unfortunately, his recent interactions with magicians/high-magic environment gave him some kind of minor magic sense that he was not aware of. This meant that he also got magical data that he hadn't learned parse properly. Thus, knock-out.
 
3rd July 2012
10:44 GMT -5


As expected, Brand is waiting outside of his quarters. I don't know if he was waiting for me, or waiting for Dox to allow him in. He spots me at once, but doesn't show any overt sign of surprise at my arrival.
He was expecting you to show up, wasn't he? A breach of combat protocol like Dox committed has to be seen to, after all. And who better than the senior field commander of the Lantern Corps?

"We won, I take it?"

"Yes. The plan was essentially sound. We're heading back towards allied territory now, and Lanterns are striking at Reach assets across the outer sphere. I'd be there myself, but this happened."
So all's well amongst the fleet operations. Barring any further Reach assaults on their predicted course of travel, anyway.

"I see."

"Brand, what happened? One moment Dox was in fine fettle, then radio silence."
Yes, please do tell us what the fucking hell happened?

"I'm… He was observing the fleet's manoeuvres relative to the Reach, and then the gordanians appeared and he collapsed."

"Was he injured?"
He's not dead, clearly. But is his mind intact? Is he still sane?

"Ah, not… In any obvious fashion. There was no assassin, no overload on the bridge."

"So he just-. Decided not to talk?"
Which was very rude, you know. If you insist on being in command, it's on you to be available to give orders.

"No, he… Slumped. Became unresponsive to the bridge officers, to me and to the medics who attended to him. After your assumption of command was confirmed he was removed from the bridge. They brought him here because he didn't appear to be in any danger of death and they wanted to keep the infirmary free in case the needed to receive casualties. He… Appeared to regain his awareness after perhaps ten minutes, at which point we were all ejected."
How forcefully, I wonder? Politely shuffled out by orange hands, or picked up and thrown bodily into the corridor?

Alright. Something happened. He wasn't just ignoring us. It's hardly reasonable for me to complain if he had a stroke… Somehow, while wearing an orange power ring.

"I haven't kept up to date on the command structure of L.E.G.I.O.N. What's supposed to happen if the Supreme Commander is incapacitated?"
An oversight, OL. I know Dox wanted you to be hands-off with the NEMO organisation, but not reading up is a bit slack.

"Captains are supposed to follow their last orders to the best of their ability, pending the appointment of a successor. Vril assumes that his successor will need to be appointed by the N.E.M.O. Council, and as such there is no Vice-Commander or anything like that."

"Was I supposed to leave it up to them?"
Dox was overconfident, wasn't he? Did he not consider the possibility of his being incapacitated during a battle at all? :rolleyes: And he calls himself a twelfth-level intellect.

"Vril has been working on the assumption that you would assume command of the Lanterns if he were incapacitated. But since the only point where those two command structures come together is with him… There's no provision for unified command on joint operations."

"So, what, did Dox think he was immortal?"
Even a Lantern can be killed, after all. Never mind having his mind blown by something.

"I think it's more that he didn't see the need."

"I gave Dox the space he asked for so that he could establish himself. I've stayed away so I didn't distract from his authority. But if L.E.G.I.O.N. doesn't have a command hierarchy, that sounds like an issue I'm going to need him to change."
One more for the to-do list... Quite high on the priority, methinks.

"I don't think that he will respond better to an ultimatum now, though I can see why you feel disappointed." He gestures to the door. "Shall we?"

"Illustres to Clarissi Dox. I'm outside. We need to discuss what just happened."
Not said: 'I'm not leaving until we speak.' I think even Dox can pick up on that subtext...

His head doesn't appear over my ring, but the door opens anyway. The inside is Spartan, a replica of his office onboard Ranx save for a bed in the corner. Dox doesn't look at me, staring into space from the chair he's slumped in, his uniform dishevelled. Was that from the medics?

I step inside, Brand following immediately behind. The door shuts a second later.
Hoo-boy. This had better be good. Clearly, he's still processing what happened.

"Sir. What-?"

"Are you here to remove me?"
...shiiiiit... Get that man a drink! And maybe confiscate his ring. And anything he could use to injure himself?

"No. Depending on what I hear here I may make a recommendation to the rest of the N.E.M.O. Council. However, at the moment the most I would suggest it that your position be changed to a purely strategic and logistical one. Before I make any such representation, I would like to know what happened from you."

"The ship. The Absolute Dominion. You're sure that it's Apokoliptian?"
Pretty sure, yup. After all, he spoke to the owner. Which, if Dox has been keeping up on the data-feed, he should know.

"As sure as I can be without visiting either Apokolips or New Genesis and asking their shipwrights. I was feeling Grayven's soul when it fired."

He holds up his ring, the-. Oh. It's got a rather nasty-looking crack across the sigil.
Well, now we know why he went silent. Partly, at least. Looks like Grayven's Godspeech hit him hard, as the Leader of the enemy.

"I was using my ring to maintain perfect awareness of the entire conflict zone. I knew the location of every mote of dust in the system." Breath hisses between his teeth. "I-. Was-. Drunk on data. And then the Apokoliptian ship opened a boom tube."

"You were overloaded?"
...Has Dox been through any real training with the ring? Any combat practice? He should have known running full-on like that was a bad idea...

"I shouldn't have been. I can handle far more data than that."

I hold out my left hand and float his ring over to us as we attempt to read its presence in the Honden. Oh, we know this.
Interesting. Best Snek taking a personal hand in the repair? Let me guess, she likes the shape of his desire to know everything.

Dox's ring shimmers slightly as it repairs itself, then I hold it out to him. He doesn't turn his head, but his eyes turn my way and he looks… Uncertain.

"Spent a lot of time around the magicians, have you?"
Eh? What's that got to do with...

"Yes. I need to understand how their work can aid me in the war."

"And you spent some time on Lantern Coutara's homeworld?"
No, seriously, where...

"Magic." He frowns absently. "You think I've been ench-. No, that I've acquired a minor ability, and my ring picked up and relayed a data stream I haven't learned to parse. That-. Would explain-."

"I'm not sure exactly why, but there was a sudden burst of data transmission when Grayven started firing his main gun."
o_O You think he's sensitive to Godspeech? Allergic, even? I suppose that makes sense. If he'd been fully open to all incoming data, the sheer sledgehammer force of Grayven's Domain slamming into him... No wonder he passed out.

He turns his seat to face us, his gaze remaining distant… But in a more focused way as he straightens his uniform.

"I can create boom tubes. It should be simple enough to learn how to filt-."
Not the Boom Tube, you idiot. What else do New Gods have that you know of, hmm? Still working on his faulty assumptions.

"It was still a darn silly thing to do to put yourself in that position."

Now he focuses, eyes narrowing as he stares at me. "We have only a handful of Lanterns with any sort of arcane ability. There was absolutely no reason for me to assume that-."
That's not the issue, Dox. Listen!

"There was no reason for you to be scanning the system in that sort of detail. If you think that sort of field data analysis is necessary, then we get some more Lanterns who share your data fixation and have them do it. You're the Supreme Commander; you can't be on every major fleet engagement."

"This one needed to succeed. I couldn't trust anyone else with something this important."
"Had to be me. Someone else would have gotten it wrong." Good grief. Get this man laid! He needs something to think about other than Data.

"And your flag captain and I ended up running it anyway. I think that proves that you can."

"I'll review the.. data."
After you get your head back on straight, man. First thing...

"No, you're going to stick something with lights on it to your forehead and go back to the bridge and reassure everyone that you're a competent commander, a belief that today took exactly the sort of knock you sent me to Earth to avoid."

"What are you talking about? My mind is fine, as long as I don't-."
Like Doccer said, make them blinking lights. Nothing says 'this is doing something important' than blinking lights.

"Because if people believe that you were singled out for an exotic attack which you need a device to shield against, that undermines you a lot less than them finding out that you metaphorically shot your own legs off because you're a data junkie."

"That… Is not an entirely unreasonable claim." He slides his ring back onto his left ring finger and extends a filament to his forehead and creates what looks like a Star Trek cortical stimulator. "Adequate?"
Yes, can you just imagine the hit his rep would take if that were to get out? No-one would take him seriously again.

"I think so. But once this is over, you and I and Director Jeddigar need to have a talk about our organisational structures."
Yes, a much-needed talk, it seems. After all, one man alone, no matter how smart, cannot operate an entire war by himself.

So, Dox really did get knocked out by Grayven's Godspeech. Sort of. Or at least, that's the story he'll tell people. Hopefully this serves as a wake-up call that no, the twelfth-level intellect can't do everything himself, and he'll have to learn to delegate. Let's hope he can learn the right lessons from this...
 
Was Dox exposed to Anti-Life or some equivalent? That's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the black text

Not entirely sure, is the reason Dox is upset is cause he was knocked down due to overanalyzing and ashamed of that fact?

The way I understood it: he gained a minor magical ability allowing him to perceive...higher data without having been aware if it.

The Ring gave him perfect awareness during the battle (quintessential waveform scan most likely)

Grayven did not just open a Boom Tube, he used his god soul in the process.

That transmitted an extra layer of unfamiliar, new information and Dox was overloaded.

The reason for the black text is probably that this is a core understanding of his being: he is the guy capable of seeing and analysing everything. And he failed in his very own domain. It shook him to the core.



Paul needs to talk to Dox about many things, because it's obvious that being a data junkie isn't the problem, it's a symptom.

Dox pathological need to control everything, to feel safe by knowing everything due to his past has already become an issue and it will become one again.

He desperately needs to learn how to trust someone, how to rely on them.

Hell, a fucking trust fall excercise might do him good at this point.
 
The LEGION could def use more positions and a larger, more defined hierarchy. Strategy, tactics, logistics, administrations, MilInt and security are very different fields of expertise after all.
 
"I'm… He was observing the fleet's manoeuvres relative to the Reach, and then the gordanians appeared and he collapsed."

So it was something Grayven did.


A big grey something

"So, what, did Dox think he was immortal?"

Technically he is with the ring, that is if he wants to be.

"Are you here to remove me?"

Please tell me this is just some depression and not Anti Life.

I would suggest it that your position

'is that your'
 

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