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

Someguy Somewhere · Aug 25, 2022

Well, it'd be an interesting bit of accidental good if OL's abuse of mind control powers in front of the militant JSI has the knock on effect of having them ease off being authoritarian.

When the guy that can re-write brains at will wants to take your playbook home, that might give cause for some introspection on your methods of law enforcement.

Darko · Aug 25, 2022

Someguy Somewhere said:
Well, it'd be an interesting bit of accidental good if OL's abuse of mind control powers in front of the militant JSI has the knock on effect of having them ease off being authoritarian.

When the guy that can re-write brains at will wants to take your playbook home, that might give cause for some introspection on your methods of law enforcement.

JSI: Are...are we the baddies?

Anderon · Aug 25, 2022

Darko said:
JSI: Are...are we the baddies?

Need to check the shape of fashial hair to verify that. Can't have evil fashial hair, can we?

Vaermina · Aug 25, 2022

The fun part in this?

Under LePaul's logic, it would be perfectly all right for the League to mind control him into not being terrible.

Massgamer · Aug 25, 2022

Vaermina said:
The fun part in this?

Under LePaul's logic, it would be perfectly all right for the League to mind control him into not being terrible.

Of course they aren't... 'enlightened' so unlikely to do that. I'm sure Batman has considered it.

Reminds me of comic where heroes mind whammied Dr Light into being incompetent after he raped a friend. It didn't end well if I recall correctly.

jasonh23761 · Aug 25, 2022

Every once in a while I'm reminded that OL actually came out pretty well all things considered. Especially compared to the version of OL that went pretty evil. The one who brainwashed Wonder Woman and was lusting after Artemis.

That one really gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Edit: Having gone back and looked at it, I'm reasonably sure those were two different versions. One is from a series of seems called "Sauntering Downward" and the other is from "When you're evil".

Lord Ernest · Aug 25, 2022

jasonh23761 said:
Having gone back and looked at it, I'm reasonably sure those were two different versions. One is from a series of seems called "Sauntering Downward" and the other is from "When you're evil".

That's the same guy, I think. Colloquially known as Tangseid, I believe. When he's lusting after Artemis is when he injected himself with the serum that began his descent into darkness. When he's mind-whamming Wonder Woman is much later into that guy's timeline.

Coda · Aug 26, 2022

Vaermina said:
Under LePaul's logic, it would be perfectly all right for the League to mind control him into not being terrible.

You're not wrong. He wouldn't like the idea, of course, but if he's being rational he would at least understand why they would do such a thing.

EDIT: Although it would be really hard because his ring is programmed to restore his mind-state if it gets altered.

Mr Zoat · Aug 26, 2022

21st November 2012
11:46 GMT -5

"Mission… Complete, I guess."

Mr. King still looks a little unsure about things as we report back to Commander Scott.

"You guess?"

Mr. King shakes it off and draws himself up. "Sorry, sir. Security neutralised. Orchid is remaining behind to keep an eye on things. The security dominators have been… Ah, shown the error of their ways."

"They're dead."

"No, Orange Lantern rearranged their priorities. They're on our side now. Ah. Permanently."

"No, I can change them back when we leave."

Commander Scott frowns faintly. "Why?"

"Do you want to bring them back to Earth? You didn't say we were killing random functionaries, they aren't a threat and we don't want to keep them."

"I-." He glances across the room at Jordan. "Alright." He nods, and turns to the rest of the strike force, who are poring over the maps of the facility. "Form up, ladies and gentlemen! Hit them hard and hit them fast!"

I

move

to the prison's primary landing zone, railguns forming and firing as the dominator guards raise their weapons. The zeta tube construct forms off to my side as their bodies fall and-

Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh!

-the alarm starts to sound. An orange energy pulse from me disintegrates a fixed gun position, and a sonic blast from the newly emerged Victor Stone's gun arm vibrates apart the other gun that's in position to cover us.

A dull yellow force field deploys over the front of the entrance, which is fine as far as we're concerned. This team-.

Skyrocket shoots clear of the zeta tube and dives into the shield envelope!

Um.

It undulates and surges, clearly designed to respond lethally to anyone touching it. Her argo harness shimmers as the energy wave hits, shunting the energy to its buffers and then releasing it-.

The shield surges back, slamming into the exterior of the building and gouging chunks out of the armour as it overloads!

Mr. Stone looks my way for a moment, then shrugs as he advances on the entrance. "Guess we're being an active distraction, then."

Ms. Forrestal falls back as Mr. Rothstein jogs forwards and then accelerates, ramming into the front of the building with a colossal slam! Koriand'r flies into the air and begins launching starbolts at the more alert defence craft, supported a moment later by Mr. Stone and Mr. Tomas. I

move position

to the guard station outside one area of holding pens, orange beams-. Being blocked by their personal force field because they followed protocol when they heard the alarms crumblers and they're dead. Zeta tube and trigger the dominator communicator.

"Orange Lantern to Orchid. We're at the pens."

"Confirmed."

Cybernetically augmented soldiers begin storming out, deploying defensive force field protectors, barricades and heavy guns around the observation area. Through the transparent dome of the panopticon we can see the prisoners, wounded, sedated or just generally out of it. Around the side of the dome other dominator soldiers have a clear view of us though the dome blocks their shots. Though initially confused they begin forming up for an assault.

Then the first of the inhuman cyborgs deploys.

An odd construction that looks a bit like a small space station, its outer bands rotate as it orientates on the closest dominator assault team. Then-.

There there's a.. sort of explosion of blood, and I see that it's already completed a circuit of the chamber, a dull orange force field extending from its angular appendages.

Huh. Well, I can't deny the effectiveness of the thing.

It flashes back around, then hovers in front of the cyborgs' officer.

"I hunger for blood."

"You don't have to worry about that, Deni. Plenty more where that came from."

"More."

It floats upwards, peripheral spines whirring.

Ah, okay.

The platoon commander makes eye contact with me and nods as squads run up to secure the other entrances. "We've got this."

I nod

and enter the holding area

shock crowning a pair of dominator medical technicians who were crouching behind a dividing wall. They clearly were taking part, but from the small red circles on their foreheads I can safely deduce that they weren't the directing minds. If Commander Scott wants to kill them I'm not going to fight it, but I don't feel that it's necessary myself. I open a zeta tube and Dr. Tolon steps out, scimitar and book glowing with blue light. I take a moment to scan and try to catalogue the inmates. Yes, all… Metahumans.

Triumph and the local Power Girl come through next, along with Space Ranger. They'll protect Dr. Tolon from the dominators and if necessary from the prisoners as she heals them, because the dominators took villains as well and we can hardly rely on them to be rational about things.

I frown for a moment as Power Girl sets off my rune stone. I guess this is a parallel where the Atlantean origin is true?

"You set?"

She nods. "We've got this. Go."

I

move

to the fortified entrance to the high caste's section of the base, construct buzz saws slicing through the dominators standing guard on the outside of the fortified doors.

Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh!

I shoot out the alarms as I open the zeta tube, Commander Scott and Interceptor striding out.

"Ready?"

"I've been ready for fifteen years. Interceptor, get that door-."

The light vanishes and everything goes dark.

LanguagAe · Aug 26, 2022

Is it time for sound lantern corps? They just got shunted off to a universe without light.

Jk, great chapter as always.

jasonh23761 · Aug 26, 2022

Lord Ernest said:
That's the same guy, I think. Colloquially known as Tangseid, I believe. When he's lusting after Artemis is when he injected himself with the serum that began his descent into darkness. When he's mind-whamming Wonder Woman is much later into that guy's timeline.

Ah, I see. Much appreciated!

Doccer · Aug 26, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
flashes back around, then hovers in front of the cyborg's officer.

"I hunger for blood."

"You don't have to worry about that, Deni. Plenty more where that came from."

"More."

What or who was that?

Mr Zoat · Aug 26, 2022

Doccer said:
What or who was that?

I'm not sure which you're referring to. One is a nonhumanoid cyborg, the other is the cyborg officer.

Assblaster5000 · Aug 26, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Dr. Tolon

Huh, been awhile since she was brought up. Only mention I remember was... back before Accomplished Perfect Physician joined The League I think? Wonder if she's still around after everything, especially The Sheeda.

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 26, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
21st November 2012
11:46 GMT -5

"Mission… Complete, I guess."

Mr. King still looks a little unsure about things as we report back to Commander Scott.

Mostly because of OL, I suspect. Little hard to figure out how to frame the fact that he altered the desire networks of several enemy troops. Which raises all manner of questions concerning rules of engagement involving said altered combatants. Are they collaborators, or PoWs? So many worms in the can.

"You guess?"

Mr. King shakes it off and draws himself up. "Sorry, sir. Security neutralised. Orchid is remaining behind to keep an eye on things. The security dominators have been… Ah, shown the error of their ways."

Still worried about her having to alter her magical signature. Hopefully she can change back on Earth.

"They're dead."

"No, Orange Lantern rearranged their priorities. They're on our side now. Ah. Permanently."

Well, until OL decides otherwise, anyway.

"No, I can change them back when we leave."

Commander Scott frowns faintly. "Why?"

Moral reasons. Their current configuration of desires is not their natural state. Leave them like this, and they'll be executed by their peers afterwards. Or commit suicide out of guilt.

"Do you want to bring them back to Earth? You didn't say we were killing random functionaries, they aren't a threat and we don't want to keep them."

"I-." He glances across the room at Jordan. "Alright." He nods, and turns to the rest of the strike force, who are pouring over the maps of the facility. "Form up, ladies and gentlemen! Hit them hard and hit them fast!"

Admittedly, the altered guys would likely be executed anyway... Out of vindictiveness, if nothing else.

I

move

to the prison's primary landing zone, railguns forming and firing as the dominator guards raise their weapons. The zeta tube construct forms off to my side as their bodies fall and-

Ah, OL playing dropship cavalry again. One thing he's really good at, though, so no great hassle.

Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh!

-the alarm starts to sound. An orange energy pulse from me disintegrates a fixed gun position, and a sonic blast from the newly emerged Victor Stone's gun arm vibrates apart the other gun that's in position to cover us.

And straight into combat. At least it's a safer ride than most Military FPS opening sequences, with their air transports with gaping open side doors in combat zones.

A dull yellow force field deploys over the front of the entrance, which is fine as far as we're concerned. This team-.

Skyrocket shoots clear of the zeta tube and dives into the shield envelope!

Well, no subtlety there, eh? I'm guessing she has a personal stake in the mission. Family that got caught up in the invasion, perhaps, with her looking for a little revenge...

Um.

It undulates and surges, clearly designed to respond lethally to anyone touching it. Her argo harness shimmers as the energy wave hits, shunting the energy to its buffers and then releasing it-.

So, Kinetic Belt model 2.0: Energetic Boogaloo.

The shield surges back, slamming into the exterior of the building and gouging chunks out of the armour as it overloads!

Mr. Stone looks my way for a moment, then shrugs as he advances on the entrance. "Guess we're being an active distraction, then."

At least you're not an expendable one. You know OL will be back for you once the rest of the group is inside.

Ms. Forrestal falls back as Mr. Rothstein jogs forwards and then accelerates, ramming into the front of the building with a colossal slam! Koriand'r flies into the air and begins launching starbolts at the more alert defence craft, supported a moment later by Mr. Stone and Mr Tomas. I

move position

Nothing like a thirty-foot-tall giant knocking on the door to let someone know they have company.

to the guard station outside one area of holding pens, orange beams-. Being blocked by their personal force field because they followed protocol when they heard the alarms crumblers and they're dead. Zeta tube and trigger the dominator communicator.

"Orange Lantern to Orchid. We're at the pens."

Well, at least they were smart about it? Pity they weren't prepared for extra-dimensional Earth Bullshit™.

"Confirmed."

Cybernetically augmented soldiers begin storming out, deploying defensive force field protectors, barricades and heavy guns around the observation area. Through the transparent dome of the panopticon we can see the prisoners, wounded, sedated or just generally out of it. Around the side of the dome other dominator soldiers have a clear view of us though the dome blocks their shots. Though initially confused they begin forming up for an assault.

And I'm picturing all of said equipment is probably built into their bodies... As unlikely and unwieldy that would be.

Then the first of the inhuman cyborgs deploys.

An odd construction that looks a bit like a small space station, its outer bands rotate as it orientates on the closest dominator assault team. Then-.

I'm betting even the Dominators are thinking 'Oh, this is going to hurt...'

There there's a.. sort of explosion of blood, and I see that it's already completed a circuit of the chamber, a dull orange force field extending from its angular appendages.

Huh. Well, I can't deny the effectiveness of the thing.

Heh, a human buzzsaw. I'd hate to get on their bad side, though.

It flashes back around, then hovers in front of the cyborg's officer.

"I hunger for blood."

...Okay, then. Well, she's certainly got plenty of that, even if it might taste a bit odd...

"You don't have to worry about that, Deni. Plenty more where that came from."

"More."

...At least she's enthusiastic about her job?

It floats upwards, peripheral spines whirring.

Ah, okay.

I know, right? Let's hope she's professional about this stuff...

The platoon commander makes eye contact with me and nods as squads run up to secure the other entrances. "We've got this."

I nod

Yes, I rather think they do. The joy of having a proper support structure for heroic operation. Moving along.

and enter the holding area

shock crowning a pair of dominator medical technicians who were crouching behind dividing wall. They clearly were taking part, but from the small red circles on their foreheads I can safely deduce that they weren't the directing minds. If Commander Scott wants to kill them I'm not going to fight it, but I don't feel that it's necessary myself. I open a zeta tube and Dr. Tolon steps out, scimitar and book glowing with blue light. I take a moment to scan and try to catalogue the inmates. Yes, all… Metahumans.

Now, how many have actually developed powers, I wonder? I doubt the Dominators have been too gentle with them...

Triumph and the local Power Girl come through next, along with Space Ranger. They'll protect Dr. Tolon from the dominators and if necessary from the prisoners as she heals them, because the dominators took villains as well and we can hardly rely on them to be rational about things.

I frown for a moment as Power Girl sets off my rune stone. I guess this is a parallel where the Atlantean origin is true?

And yes, for a while, DC didn't want any reminders of her pre-crisis origins. But they kept her around because Boobs, so they had to come up with something to explain where she came from...

Almost as bad as Donna 'Multiple-Choice History' Troy...

"You set?"

She nods. "We've got this. Go."

Ah, the joy of working with professionals. I foresee him being a little disappointed when he gets back to Earth 16.

I

move

to the fortified entrance to the high caste's section of the base, construct buzz saws slicing through the dominators standing guard on the outside of the fortified doors.

Time to talk to the big cheeses. And they've even got chunky salsa ready!

Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh!

I shoot out the alarms as I open the zeta tube, Commander Scott and Interceptor striding out.

Yeah, that sound would probably be annoying as hell.

"Ready?"

"I've been ready for fifteen years. Interceptor, get that door-."

The light vanishes and everything goes dark.

Well, that went poorly right quick.

I'm guessing some manner of light-suppressing field intended to counteract Lanterns was just deployed. Either that or they've got a pet metahuman with darkness powers. Which could be troublesome, if not for all of OL's other options. Looks like the bosses are breaking out the fun stuff to defend themselves, I suppose. Pity it's not going to help. I suspect Commander Scott is going to enjoy getting his hands on them real soon.

...who are pouring over the maps of the facility.

...who are poring over the maps of the facility.

AR760 · Aug 26, 2022

Hey Zoat, could we get more of Tangseid?

I'm quite curious what an uninhibited yet intelligent version of OL does with his universe. How he got to become Tangseid from the few snippets we saw.

Mr Zoat · Aug 26, 2022

Chojin Patriarch said:
...who are poring over the maps of the facility.

Thank you, corrected.

AR760 said:
Hey Zoat, could we get more of Tangseid?

I'm quite curious what an uninhibited yet intelligent version of OL does with his universe. How he got to become Tangseid from the few snippets we saw.

I don't have an idea for a segment at the moment, but I'm not ruling it out.

Vaermina · Aug 26, 2022

AR760 said:
Hey Zoat, could we get more of Tangseid?

I'm quite curious what an uninhibited yet intelligent version of OL does with his universe. How he got to become Tangseid from the few snippets we saw.

Tangseid isn't uninhibited.

He's evil, like, actually quantifiable evil because he pumped evil juice into his veins to get superpowers.

Bramble Thorn · Aug 26, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh! Nyaagh!

-the alarm starts to sound.

And apparently the part of "Dominator Alarm" is being played by a catgirl.
A drunk catgirl, currently in the process of barfing up the contents of her stomach.

Darko · Aug 26, 2022

Bramble Thorn said:
And apparently the part of "Dominator Alarm" is being played by a catgirl.
A drunk catgirl, currently in the process of barfing up the contents of her stomach.

They might have actually used the recording of a cat humanoid throwing up.

Coda · Aug 26, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Mr. Stone looks my way for a moment, then shrugs as he advances on the entrance. "Guess we're being an active distraction, then."

Ms. Forrestal falls back as Mr. Rothstein jogs forwards and then accelerates, ramming into the front of the building with a colossal slam! Koriand'r flies into the air and begins launching starbolts at the more alert defence craft, supported a moment later by Mr. Stone and Mr Tomas.

You can see which character isn't American by the lack of a dot after "Mr".

Mr Zoat said:
were crouching behind dividing wall.

behind a dividing wall

Windona · Aug 26, 2022

Looks like the Dominators took their motives back from the Reach.

Mr Zoat · Aug 26, 2022

Coda said:
You can see which character isn't American by the lack of a dot after "Mr".
behind a dividing wall

Thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · Aug 27, 2022

21st November 2012
11:50 GMT -5

A moment passes, and my armour's computer tries to augment my vision which is something my rings should be doing.

Ring?

…

Oh dear.

"External. Commander, is your ring dead too?"

Infrared shows me a little bit more than visible light. Interceptor is surprisingly warm, and it looks like she's drawn a sidearm of some sort.

"The Commander's down."

Sonic is… Giving me a vague impression of my surroundings. Mapped onto what I could see before the darkness came it should be enough for me to navigate. But it's still getting interfered with.

"What is this?"

"Pass. Your powers down?"

"Yes. You?"

I try looking into her desire network and nothing happens. The honden-. No, can't feel it. My… No, my awareness of my own desires is still there, so it isn't interfering with my thought processes. I raise my power armour's arms… Yes, they're still working, as is the computer. Legs… Yes. Crumbler effect on the gauntlets?

I take a chunk out of the barricade-.

"What was that?"

"Checking the weapons in my arms."

"What have you got?"

"Matter disrupters in the gauntlets. I can punch things and they die."

"Range?"

"I've got a pistol on the inside of the armour."

"Medical?"

"My purple healing ray is in subspace."

"Shit. The Commander's pulse is weak, his breath is shallow and he's non-responsive. Any ideas?"

"Ah, if he's like my Alan Scott, his body is partially green light. If that's gone then he's probably back to being a normal ninety year old. Either we attack the high caste's bunker and hope this effect is coming from there, or we pull back and try and get out of the effect radius."

Let's… See. Manual armour controls…

"Internal. Open a channel to Blue Lantern."

He's got a multiphasic communicator, but is it working and is he paying attention to-

"Paul? What just happened?"

-it.

"Everything went dark. What does it look like from up there?"

"Like everything went dark. There's like a… A dome over the whole place. Do you need backup?"

"It's blocking superpowers. Local-you's down, don't know about the rest. My armour's still working so hopefully the cyborgs are alright. External. Interceptor, you're in charge?"

"The Heywood Corps are fine, though they can't see any better than we can. According to the map you showed us, there are four guard posts between here and them, and another five between there and the exit. Exfiltrating without powers is impractical."

"Internal. Map."

Uh. Yeah. If they can still aim any of those anti-air guns, my armour isn't tough enough to survive that level of attention.

"The Titans are affected too. They're disengaging, but Cyborg doesn't want to risk grabbing a dominator shuttle in case they get shot down the moment they leave the area being affected."

"External. Right. Are there any metahumans on the list who can do something like this? Eclipso? Shade?"

Because while my ring has adaptive search functions, my armour's database can only use search terms.

"Internal. Search 'shadow', 'darkness' and 'power nullifier'."

"No, none of them were recorded as having a power like this." I think she nods. "We attack. Breach the doors. I've got the Commander."

"External. Will do."

I trigger my armour's flight system and turn on the spot, then fly cautiously towards the doors. After a moment I bump into the force field, but a quick application of crumbler gauntlets fries the emitters with only a little damage to the outer layer of my armour.

"The dominators dropped their guns. Can you use them?"

"Wouldn't they be booby trapped?"

"It's unlikely. Booby trapping your guns gets your own soldiers killed when the enemy works out how to remote activate it."

I reach the doors and thrust my arms forwards, the material resisting only briefly as it gets crumbled.

"This one's not working."

"But they might use a genetic lock. Try coating your hands in their blood."

She moves Commander Scott to the side of the entrance way next to the doorway, then comes back and feels along the ground to try and find-. There she goes, one of the soldiers I cut in half.

"Is this-? Would gastric juices work?"

"I'm working off-" I move my arms to the side, trying to make enough room to move further in. My armour's not designed to be easy to walk around in. "-my knowledge of civilisations with a similar level of advancement, not specific-."

There's a flare of heat as she successfully fires it at the wall.

"Will this go through their armour?"

"If I remember correctly, two shots to the head will reliably disable them. Twice that to the chest if their force field is down, twice that again if it's at maximum."

"Damn it. That sounds weak."

"It's about priorities. Dominators fight for test subjects. And they can't leave their shields on full all the time without draining the batteries."

Ugh, I can't bend enough to get the bottom of the door, and my ringless flight control isn't precise enough. But I've got a big enough hole to step forward.

"No idea what caused this? Because even if the dominators have been researching metahumans, our rings-."

"Todd. It's Todd."

AmericanNumbers · Aug 27, 2022

Oh. If the Dominators have messed with him enough Obsidian could be on a power level with Shade.

Ej190 · Aug 27, 2022

Ooh, his own son? That's rough

Handlewithcare · Aug 27, 2022

Yikes. If they can switch on his powers, that probably means wires in the brain :/

Vaermina · Aug 27, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
21st November 2012
11:50 GMT -5

So... How many people did LePaul just get killed?

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 27, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
21st November 2012
11:50 GMT -5

A moment passes, and my armour's computer tries to augment my vision which is something my rings should be doing.

Ring?

…

...Well, shit. that's double-plus ungood. With no ring, that leaves him with only his innate abilities and whatever his armour's packing. But what of the metahumans? Is it only affecting Lantern technology, or is this a more general power-blocking trick? And how did they manage this, then? Looks like the difficulty of this operation just jumped a few notches.

Oh dear.

"External. Commander, is your ring dead too?"

And of course he's stuck with voice commands for the systems. I suppose he should be glad it doesn't mess with technology too. Because otherwise he'd be wearing a big old coffin.

Infrared shows me a little bit more than visible light. Interceptor is surprisingly warm, and it looks like she's drawn a sidearm of some sort.

"The Commander's down."

At least the lady is smart enough to carry a backup weapon. But Commander Scott is down? ...Of course he is, green light infusion.

Sonic is… Giving me a vague impression of my surroundings. Mapped onto what I could see before the darkness came it should be enough for me to navigate. But it's still getting interfered with.

"What is this?"

Worrying, that the sonar isn't clear. That means the darkness is more than a little tangible.

"Pass. Your powers down?"

"Yes. You?"

Looks like they've got very few options, then...

I try looking into her desire network and nothing happens. The honden-. No, can't feel it. My… No, my awareness of my own desires is still there, so it isn't interfering with my thought processes. I raise my power armour's arms… Yes, they're still working, as is the computer. Legs… Yes. Crumbler effect on the gauntlets?

I take a chunk out of the barricade-.

If it affects meta-technology, then they'll have a bigger problem.

"What was that?"

"Checking the weapons in my arms."

And they appear to be fine. Time to go all war-bot on the bad guys, then.

"What have you got?"

"Matter disrupters in the gauntlets. I can punch things and they die."

With or without the crumblers, honestly, if it has any strength enhancement.

"Range?"

"I've got a pistol on the inside of the armour."

And honestly, OL, I thought you'd learned your lessons about seamless armour the last time you got stuck without a Ring while wearing some.

"Medical?"

"My purple healing ray is in subspace."

Well, don't you feel silly now for not having one installed or mounted on the surface?

"Shit. The Commander's pulse is weak, his breath is shallow and he's non-responsive. Any ideas?"

"Ah, if he's like my Alan Scott, his body is partially green light. If that's gone then he's probably back to being a normal ninety year old. Either we attack the high caste's bunker and hope this effect is coming from there, or we pull back and try and get out of the effect radius."

...Which you have no idea of how large it is. For all you know, it could cover the entire facility and every cape on site is now powerless, or possibly dying, depending on power interactions.

Let's… See. Manual armour controls…

"Internal. Open a channel to Blue Lantern."

Safely outside the facility, I hope. Or assisting with the captives at their extraction point.

He's got a multiphasic communicator, but is it working and is he paying attention to-

"Paul? What just happened?"

Ah, good, he's up and about. Pity he can't teleport over here, but then again, that'd put him in the same boat as local Alan.

-it.

"Everything went dark. What does it look like from up there?"

Standing watch in orbit, then...

"Like everything went dark. There's like a… A dome over the whole place. Do you need backup?"

"It's blocking superpowers. Local-you's down, don't know about the rest. My armour's still working so hopefully the cyborgs are alright. External. Interceptor, you're in charge?"

Okay, looks like the whole site is being jammed, then. That's bad news.

"The Heywood Corps are fine, though they can't see any better than we are. According to the map you showed us, there are four guard posts between here and them, and another five between there and the exit. Exfiltrating without powers is impractical."

"Internal. Map."

So, rock or a hard place. Good thing he's got some crumblers.

Uh. Yeah. If they can still aim any of those anti-air guns, my armour isn't tough enough to survive that level of attention.

"The Titans are affected to. They're disengaging, but Cyborg doesn't want to risk grabbing a dominator shuttle in case they get shot down the moment they leave the area being affected."

Yeah, it's likely any hostiles watching from outside will be expecting them to try that.

"External. Right. Are there any metahumans on the list who can do something like this? Eclipso? Shade?"

Because while my ring has adaptive search functions, my armour's database can only use search terms.

Either of them might have been a little too spicy for the Dominators to take, much less hold.

"Internal. Search 'shadow', 'darkness' and 'power nullifier'."

"No, none of them were recorded as having a power like this." I think she nods. "We attack. Breach the doors. I've got the Commander."

Or it could be someone who was unpowered then, and their metagene triggered with the worst possible power to be capable of causing this.

"Will do."

I trigger my armour's flight system and turn on the spot, then fly cautiously towards the doors. After a moment I bump into the force field, but a quick application of crumbler gauntlets fries the emitters with only a little damage to the outer layer of my armour.

It's only paint. And a few millimetres of plating. Plenty more between you and the outside.

"The dominators dropped their guns. Can you use them?"

"Wouldn't they be booby trapped?"

Would they be that paranoid in their own territory, with loyal soldiers?

"It's unlikely. Booby trapping your guns gets your own soldiers killed when the enemy works out how to remote activate it."

I reach the doors and thrust my arms forwards, the material resisting only briefly as it gets crumbled.

Any any enemy would, pretty quickly.

"This one's not working."

"But they might use a genetic lock. Try coating your hands in their blood."

Plenty of that around, with the way OL introduced himself to the guards.

She moves Commander Scott to the side of the entrance way next to the doorway, then comes back and feels along the ground to try and find-. There she goes, one of the soldiers I cut in half.

"Is this-? Would gastric juices work?"

...Ew. Also, I hope she's wearing gloves. Otherwise, your hands might never feel clean.

"I'm working off-" I move my arms to the side, trying to make enough room to move further in. My armour's not designed to be easy to walk around in. "-my knowledge of civilisations with a similar level of advancement, not specific-."

There's a flare of heat as she successfully fires it at the wall.

Okay, that works. So now you have one more weapon.

But seriously, OL, you need more contingencies for if you lose your rings...

"Will this go through their armour?"

"If I remember correctly, two shots to the head will reliably disable them. Twice that to the chest if their force field is down, twice that again if it's at maximum."

That's honestly a lot of shots, when you count it out. Two to the head, four to the chest, eight if they're shielded... Hope it has enough ammo.

"Damn it. That sounds weak."

"It's about priorities. Dominators fight for test subjects. And they can't leave their shields on full all the time without draining the batteries."

Ah. So these are more in line with strong stun-guns.

Ugh, I can't bend enough to get the bottom of the door, and my ringless flight control isn't precise enough. But I've got a big enough hole to step forward.

"No idea what caused this? Because even if the dominators have been researching metahumans, our rings-."

"Todd. It's Todd."

Obsidian? Crap. Well, I guess that answers the question of where he was.

All right, then. A Shadow-controller almost as powerful as the Shade. This will be pleasant. On the other hand, he does have a vulnerability to bright lights. If they can produce a flash bright enough, the field might collapse. What that might do to the boy is up in the air. The alternative is somehow making mental contact, but I doubt he's in conscious control of his abilities... Whatever happens, this will not be pleasant.

"The Heywood Corps are fine, though they can't see any better than we are.

Feels off. Perhaps 'can'?

"The Titans are affected to.

"The Titans are affected too.

Old Knife · Aug 27, 2022

.... Remember when I complained how competent! Paul is boring to read? I take that back. I'm scared of the dark mommy.

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

The Critical Fumbler

Connoisseur.

Getting sticky.

Well worn.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Not too sore, are you?

At the End...

Versed in the lewd.

Dedicated ragequitter

Getting sticky.

Not too sore, are you?

Versed in the lewd.

Dedicated ragequitter

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Veteran Lurker

Experienced.

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Well worn.

Verified Silhouette

Connoisseur.

Versed in the lewd.

Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

Dedicated ragequitter

Dedicated ragequitter

Not too sore, are you?

Getting sticky.

Versed in the lewd.

Well worn.

Veteran Lurker

Not too sore, are you?

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