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

[Darko]

Well duh, what do you think would happen if Georgia found out that he's spending time with some other big brained lady (of his own species no less). Fear is an appropriate resonse.

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Her finding out is a one way ticket to Possum Town for Dox.

 

[Radix]

Well on the bright side, I dont think Paul will mess things up too bad. Worst case some disruptions from Paul... optimizing society.

 

[Assblaster5000]

Mechanical mind control? How the hell would that work? Lobotomy?

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Nanites, a Joywire, replacing someone's pathetic meat brain with a computer, tonnes of ways really!

 

[Mr Zoat]

I wonder how long it will be until the Reach sends a dedicated and skilled assassin or even kill team of scarabs to try and kill Paul since he is the most powerful Lantern in OLC.

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Oh, they'd like to. The problem is pinning him down.

Will Paul come across bad old Brainiac at some point?

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Yes.

Mechanical mind control? How the hell would that work? Lobotomy?

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Usually, through brain implants.

We're -> We've

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Agent Orange]

The problem is pinning him down.

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Kidnap Eris. Have her record the Leia-style 'you are my only hope' holo message and upload it to OrangeTube. Give Pavlos 5 Reach minutes to show up (or else). The moment he appears have your 'mechanically mind controlled' pet mage cast Dimensional Anchor. Drown Pavlos in Scarabs (naturally, they would have to attack him one by one).

 

[quietwhile]

On the subject of construct armies, when OLC was first being set up I was thrilled to see what other novel ways to OL than we knew from our OL. Even Dox 'pressing a button without looking' feels odd to me. I don't know that much about the comics but from what I have seen of him I would have guessed that he'd to all he could via ring as long as it's the fastest and most expedient way.

Now, granted, they have been recruiting for one specific purpose (war with the Reach) and that tends to decrease variation, and even then we have seen some. But given what is possible and the different alien mindsets, I'm hoping we get to see summoners OL and other paths of possibility in-story. I'm guessing it's coming in time, since we've seen hints of Dox developing mystical abilities, which is something I'm curious to see where it's going.,

I can't remember if it has being mentioned before, but are their fleet being built by lanterns too? I mean you get some technical/engeneering minded lanterns that want to fill space with their creations, it's not going to compete with the vastness of space but it'd help some, right?

Kidnap Eris

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I'm LOLing so hard at any plan that starts with bringing into the equation the very embodiment of chaos that I haven't even read past that yet.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Oh, they'd like to. The problem is pinning him down.

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I guess everyone forgot about the scry-wards tattooed into his soul.

I still ship Georgia and Dox. He may be older than her, but socially? They're on about the same level.
As we've seen, anything that can experience emotions can be turned into a construct.
It doesn't have to be people. A swarm of a million construct rats is just fine.

 

[Prince Charon]

Kidnap Eris.

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Lolwut?!

I mean, it's a supers universe, so that's not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility (I could see it happening in a John Constantine story, and John was a major side character here for a while), but it's still a really difficult and crazy idea, and even if you succeed, it would be like Kid Loki playing The Ransom of Red Chief.

 

[Agent Orange]

They are the Reach. They conquered and rule over countless worlds. They gave the finger to a race of reality warpers whose long hand polices the entire galaxy (in this fic at least). What's one jumped up elemental with probability manipulation power gonna do if they decided to use her as bait? She'll see their might and surrender naturally. No point in resisting the inevitable.

Or at least that's the plan.

 

[l---erddad---l]

Lolwut?!

I mean, it's a supers universe, so that's not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility (I could see it happening in a John Constantine story, and John was a major side character here for a while), but it's still a really difficult and crazy idea, and even if you succeed, it would be like Kid Loki playing The Ransom of Red Chief.

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Also, y'know, once you've kidnapped a god, you're kinda in the "Justice League as a whole, or a large number of Green Lanterns, should be facing you" territory

 

[FreeGod]

Probably quite a while.

To start with, while we don't know that there was only one scarab per fleet, there was only mention of a single scarab in each medium reserve fleet. Now while the reach probably has quite lot of these, it's indicative of the fact they have a literal fleet worth of Battleships for every scarab.

They ain't cheap or disposable resources. Now while OL is quite the juicy target, they would have to travel ages, spend ages in wait, just for a chance to try to assassinate someone who can teleport or brute force their FTL blockers.

Meaning if Injured, if he doesn't just heal through it, he can just leave.

Which makes such an operation a resource sink for uncertain results.

They are more likely to set a trap, especialy since if they send out Scarabs into enemy territory, they themselves have a good chance of being caputured- and while they have destructive black boxing, you REALLY don't want to give the enemy oppertunity to breach that.

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It would seem easier to send a team to earth to take everyone that OL likes hostage or set up the trap there. Of course the reach has no idea just how crazy earth is.

 

[cereal_lurker]

very embodiment of chaos

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I think it was established in this story that this statement is false or at least an over-simplification. I think Eris was described as a Source/Dream core with an outer wrapping of Chaos for shape, while the Princes of Chaos are pure through and through.

 

[Pez]

Mechanical mind control? How the hell would that work? Lobotomy?

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You can argue that Starro tech is mechanical, as it is techno-sorcery. But, sure, you can implant fully mechanical something into a person's brain to control it, like a control chip. In the original DCAU Batman series, Mad Hatter could control people with a device. In Teen Titans, Cyborg was mind controlled via his own cybernetics.

Edit: added since I didn't want to double post.

It would seem easier to send a team to earth to take everyone that OL likes hostage or set up the trap there. Of course the reach has no idea just how crazy earth is.

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Remember, the Reach can't go to Earth unless they are invited, per their treaty with the GL's. And the last thing the Reach want is to have to fight 2 Lantern Corps. Though, I do agree that would make the best sense, outside of some elaborate trap. Paul is most likely found on Earth, so that would be the easiest place to locate him. Otherwise, the Reach will just have to hope he goes where they want him to (hence the elaborate trap).

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Unrelated question: What ever happened to that Thanagarian OL? The one Paul didn't care if she was really spying on them for the Thanagarian gov't/military.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Remember, the Reach can't go to Earth unless they are invited, per their treaty with the GL's. And the last thing the Reach want is to have to fight 2 Lantern Corps. Though, I do agree that would make the best sense, outside of some elaborate trap. Paul is most likely found on Earth, so that would be the easiest place to locate him. Otherwise, the Reach will just have to hope he goes where they want him to (hence the elaborate trap).

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I could be wrong here, but have the Reach actually heard of Earth?

Unrelated question: What ever happened to that Thanagarian OL? The one Paul didn't care if she was really spying on them for the Thanagarian gov't/military.

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Parun Dul is on the front line, making attacks of opportunity against Reach ships.

 

[Ardy]

I could be wrong here, but have the Reach actually heard of Earth?

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Paul literally told their ambassador on the planet with the kidnapped/hostage eggs during the start of the war a few arcs ago

And then he let her go.

 

[Chaoswind]

I'm LOLing so hard at any plan that starts with bringing into the equation the very embodiment of chaos that I haven't even read past that yet.

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She is a chaos elemental, or more accurately a "God" from earth that is chaos flavored. An embodiment of Chaos would be SEVERAL times more powerful than Eris.

God's that manage to bodily manifest with most of their powers top at continent busters at the absolute most, Eris isn't even one of those.

 

[Pez]

I could be wrong here, but have the Reach actually heard of Earth?

Parun Dul is on the front line, making attacks of opportunity against Reach ships.

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What Ardy said. In canon, Earth was an unknown until the League was mind controlled. But, yeah, Paul spilled the beans. Even if he didn't, he's told enough people about Earth that they would have found out eventually. The Reach are sneaky, and good at gathering info.

And it's a shame Paul was waiting to give Jade first shot. I think Parun Dul would have let him play with her feathers.

 

[DrThoth]

Parun Dul is on the front line, making attacks of opportunity against Reach ships.

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I thought she was repositioned to Thanagarian space to help out with the Seven Devils cultists, while being warned not to use her ring to help with Thanagarian imperial expansion. Unless they called her back for the opening of hostilities or I'm otherwise misremembering things.

 

[Darko]

I thought she was repositioned to Thanagarian space to help out with the Seven Devils cultists, while being warned not to use her ring to help with Thanagarian imperial expansion. Unless they called her back for the opening of hostilities or I'm otherwise misremembering things.

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They may have finished off the cultists.

 

[Laundromat2.0]

I could be wrong here, but have the Reach actually heard of Earth?

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Earth is the kinda thing you have to attempt to invade to really understand. At first it's like, 'Ah, he comes from a thaumically active world of primitives.'

Then it's like, 'there's an unusual amount of aliens in here for a pre-FTL species'.

Then it's like, 'Wait a second, HOW many Lanterns??' (Honestly, Earth probably has the most Lanterns per capita besides Oa and Maltus).

Then it's like, 'Ah, one of the primitives is... moving at the speed of light... on foot.'

And THEN it's like, 'Ah, it seems our strategy was compromised. They know everything about our agents, plans and operations... but how? A traitor is literally impossible - wait, what, is that time travel? Is that MULTIPLE, independently developed means of time travel? That came back in time to stop our invasion? Opsec is useless!'

And then it's like, 'Wait a second, it seem like our mind control agents are being... mind controlled. By magical, nanite infused star conquerors. HEY, MIND CONTROL IS OUR WHOLE THING.'

And then, 'That is... er, a rather large amount of gods, is it not? I don't remember ever seeing... quite that many, all on the same planet. Wait, is that the Champion of the Green? As in, all plants throughout the galaxy?? AND IT'S ANGRY.'

And then, 'We killed that one. For sure. BUT HE KEEPS COMING BACK FROM THE DEAD.'

And THEN, finally, 'But even after overcoming all of that, in the end we were defeated by a baseline human dressed as a bat.'

And that's Earth in a nutshell.

 

[Laundromat2.0]

Her finding out is a one way ticket to Possum Town for Dox.

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I'm just waiting for her to casually show up in his office, having bypassed all their defences.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I thought she was repositioned to Thanagarian space to help out with the Seven Devils cultists, while being warned not to use her ring to help with Thanagarian imperial expansion. Unless they called her back for the opening of hostilities or I'm otherwise misremembering things.

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I honestly didn't remember where I left her. Sorry about that.

Given the distance involved she's probably still somewhere in the vicinity of Thanagar, then.

 

[Chaoswind]

I honestly didn't remember where I left her. Sorry about that.

Given the distance involved she's probably still somewhere in the vicinity of Thanagar, then.

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Speaking of misplaced side characters what is going on with Cornwall boy?

Back in the old days Cornwall boy best pal on the team was Paul and I would think he was in the top three for Paul, so how come both of them haven't interacted on an episode for A LONG while? I mean one would hope they have been interacting off screen or something because damn.

 

[Vaermina]

Oh, they'd like to. The problem is pinning him down.

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Na, pinning him down is easy, you just attack somewhere he can't not respond to.

Remember, the Reach can't go to Earth unless they are invited, per their treaty with the GL's. And the last thing the Reach want is to have to fight 2 Lantern Corps. Though, I do agree that would make the best sense, outside of some elaborate trap. Paul is most likely found on Earth, so that would be the easiest place to locate him. Otherwise, the Reach will just have to hope he goes where they want him to (hence the elaborate trap).

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That protection was voided the moment a representative member of the planet declared war on them

 

[DAT_NOOB]

That protection was voided the moment a representative member of the planet declared war on them

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Uhh....

Reach: "Hey humans, we're at intergalactic war with you now!"

All the superpowered heroes of the earth: "Fucking really? Good luck"

 

[Pez]

That protection was voided the moment a representative member of the planet declared war on them

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Was this mentioned in story? Because I don't think anything like that was ever mentioned in canon. The only thing that was ever mentioned in the show was the rule about being invited to the planet.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th July 2012
22:33 GMT +3

"…that I saw you talking to at lunch?"

Lex and I walk through the corridors of LexCorp's Kenya headquarters, heading towards a boardroom. With the threat of the Sheeda thoroughly eliminated we're converting the Earth Defence Force facilities here into an actual planetary strongpoint, rather than the 'kick me' sign it was before. That involves huge energy shield emplacements and rebuilding everything to far higher standards of resilience.

Lex visibly braces himself for the oncoming 'Grayven tiresomeness'.

"Her name is Veronica Cale. Her company is responsible for the EDF's health monitors and immunisation programs."

Armoured buildings… Obviously aren't going to survive against a dedicated bombardment platform, but that's not what they're for. They're for taking hits from attack craft, or hopeful shots from non-dedicated ships, or for soaking the backlash from our own overloading shield emitters. And of course they create a wonderful feeling of safety in the people taking shelter within them, so that if they do come under dedicated attack they don't spend their last few minutes cowering in fear.

"Lex, you were smiling."

We did talk about a full planetary defence shield like the one Euphorix has, but not only does something like that prevent you seeing out -so you can't know whether the attacker is still there or not- but it requires base stations all over the planet. We could… Just about do it by hiding them in LexCorp regional headquarters, but the risk of exposure was too great.

"She's a charming and.. extremely driven woman. She reminds me a great deal of myself."

I smile. "Admiration."

"Yes, I suppose you could put it like that."

"No, No, I mean… The Devil's Dictionary? 'Admiration. Noun. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.'" I glance his way as the door to the lounge opens itself. "Let me guess: grew up in a poor neighbourhood-."

"Yes, there is a.. degree of resemblance. But she appears to have avoided making some of my more… Short term decisions."

"Good to know. Sounds like she'll be an-." Lex walks through the doorway, and since this place was built with my frame in mind -mine and the larger suits of power armour, anyway- I can follow.. him… Through.

I look at the other Lex Luthor sitting on the seat facing the doorway. Then I scan both the newcomer and mine.

And then I grin.

"Lex! It's not my birthday!"

The other Lex -who had been doing his version of Lex's 'calm, confident and in control' look- shudders very slightly, which lets me scan through whatever he was using to block me. Hm.

"Not that I'm complaining-."

My Lex decides to ignore me, walking forward confidently as our Mercy -quick check, yes, she's ours- makes sure that her hands are free.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

"The 'who' should be obvious-."

Hm. "Heart's on the left not the right. DNA's a close match, so I'm guessing you're an equivalent and not a literal doppelgänger."

I traverse the room, keeping my eyes on the intruder and making sure that my Lex is out of my line of fire and calling in a cross-section of drones.

My Lex nods. "I'm told that most of my alter egos aren't… The most rational people."

The other Lex nods. "Sadly, that's been my experience. Imagine my… Concern, when I found out that you were building a space fleet, and were working in alliance with an Apokoliptian."

I nod. "Yes, that does sound pretty dodgy." I widen my eyes, my grin broadening. "Wait. Are you from some sort of transplanar 'Council of Lex'? And am I going to have to shoot that woman in the stealth suit who thinks I can't see her?"

The Other Lex's face tenses very slightly as a drone shines its Ray of Revelation -thank you Sunset- at his surprised backup.

"No, you're.. not."

Ah, there it is. An environmental shield. Yellow… No, gold in colour. Same base technology, but… Not standard? Sinestro?

The closest things I know of are the Anti-Green Lantern rings briefly used by the Weaponers of Qward. That line of research was discontinued in my own universe. Things may have been different wherever he's from.

My Lex glances at his alternate's backup, shrugs, then walks forward to sit down opposite him.

"What do you want?"

"To find out what you're planning."

My Lex waves his right hand. "I think I've been fairly open with what I'm planning."

The woman in the stealth suit… I can scan her now, but I don't recognise her. She makes her way around to behind the chair her Lex is sitting in. For my own amusement I move to mirror her position behind-. I try to mirror her position, but Mercy is already occupying it. Looks like looming in the background is it, then.

"I doubt that you'd trust anything I was open about any more than I'm inclined to trust what you're open about. I know about the fleet you're building up on the far side of the moon."

Ping.

Ah.

"And I've just spotted your ship. Isn't it nice that we can all see each other."

I continue grinning, but I'm nervous. A ship snuck into my system and I didn't find it until after it got into a bombardment position. Alright, if he had access to Qwardian technology that's not outright embarrassing, but we need to do better. I think we'll have to bring up the system-wide sensor network thing with the Security Council, even if we have to share the results. Or just do it anyway and take the hit to our relations if they ever find out.

My Lex holds up his right hand. "Perhaps a less… Adversarial tone could be more helpful. I have publically announced that I'm undertaking the construction of a self-defense fleet. While I have taken steps to ensure that various governments believe that the total number I have under construction is far less than the actual number, their purpose hasn't changed."

"Let's just say that when most versions of us lay their hands on a fleet of warships, they tend to take regrettable actions with them."

"And.. a year ago you may have been correct about me as well. But I've made enough progress, and… Frankly, gained enough personal renown, that the failures of the world's governments don't grate in quite the way it might once have done."

I nod. "And, you know, once you own all the media companies, they throw in the governments for free."

My Lex shakes his head. "If that were true then I'd have bought out my rivals years ago. It would be more accurate to say that they're a loyalty bonus that grows each decade. But if we may leave such cynicism aside..?"

I shrug, and he returns his focus to his alter ego.

"Since you already know that the fleet exists, why not take a formal tour? You can talk to my employees, contractors and other affiliates and find out why they're working with me. A good many of them have no particular love for me personally, but they're doing it because they believe that it's necessary for the good of the species. Or to further their own ends."

Other Lex nods slowly.

"That would help to reassure me."

"But I doubt that you came all the way from a parallel universe just to check up on me. What is it that you want?"

"You've had contact with parallel universes. I'm… Having difficulty in returning to my point of origin."

My Lex nods. "I'll be happy to provide you with whatever assistance I can. Would you like to take a tour now?"

 

[Finagle007]

Oho? That's the Lex from the Inviolate timeline, if I'm not mistaken. How'd he get to Grayven's neck of the woods?

 

[TotalAbsolutism]

"She's a charming and.. extremely driven woman. She remains me a great deal of myself."

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"She reminds me", I suspect.

 

[Darko]

"Lex, you were smiling.

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Bad sign.

Her name is Veronica Cale

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Ahh, the female version of Luthor.

Extremely arrogant, hates a person for no good reason and with a god complex so high actual gods would tell her to tone it down

She remains me a great deal of myself."

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Red flag.

my more… Short term decisions."

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Like joining a frat composed of idiots, aka the Light.

Let's just say that when most versions of us lay their hands on a fleet of warships, they tend to take regrettable actions with them."

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Accurate.

You've had contact with parallel universes. I'm… Having difficulty in returning to my point of origin."

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Is this the Inviolate Lex?