• The site has now migrated to Xenforo 2. If you see any issues with the forum operation, please post them in the feedback thread.
  • Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
  • For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
  • Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
  • Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
  • The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.

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


Good show, the problem was saturation, there was a lot of similar stuff at the time.

Heck in tone and art style it looked a lot like Disney Gargoyles.

When a casual viewer can confuse your show with a Disney one, you are fucked.

While for movies it just means more people will watch it.
 
"A street shaman and a creature of the Green. But why the girl?"

"Through some black art she contains within her a fragment of the Anti-Life equation. This will enable me to learn of its nature even as it spreads to this world."

Not a lot going on in northwest Africa. As far as I can tell they're being affected, but… The psychological affront to the ego is the difference between expectation and reality. If your expectations are low enough you can take almost anything. People appear to be… Staggering through life.
The Accala in… Ah, this village, are subdued, but it looks like they're still functional. Just the occasional hesitation or shudder to indicate what they're going through. Huh. Maybe I was wrong about the people in North Africa not being so badly affected because they're used to it. Maybe a more simple way of life and good social networks just makes people better able to resist the Anti-Life than the complex and socially isolated lives of city-dwellers? Don't know. A few people look up as I fly overhead, but for the most part they just focus on whatever they were doing before.

Thinking of all of this: Paul got to the Green before the effects of Anti-life could finish eating through it all, and Isley was fighting from the beginning.
But I don't think anyone was in position to resist the effects on whatever the magical reflection of cities is.

I'm not sure whether the Vulture of Freedom is going to be going around making the situation in the cities worse by incidentally encouraging looting and taking advantage in people who think their old way of life is dead, or whether that Vulture is going to be important to getting people back on their feet by eating whatever the Anti-life has infected.

But they should probably look into addressing that issue. It might become more clear if Riddler or Batman notice that behavior in cities is worse in some way that scales with how magical, old, or big it is and make the connection with the state of the Green and the people used in the broadcasting device.
 
Last edited:
Thinking of all of this: Paul got to the Green before the effects of Anti-life could finish eating through it all, and Isley was fighting from the beginning.
But I don't think anyone was in position to resist the effects on whatever the magical reflection of cities is.

I'm not sure whether the Vulture of Freedom is going to be going around making the situation in the cities worse by incidentally encouraging looting and taking advantage in people who think their old way of life is dead, or whether that Vulture is going to be important to getting people back on their feet by eating whatever the Anti-life has infected.

But they should probably look into addressing that issue. It might become more clear if Riddler or Batman notice that behavior in cities is worse in some way that scales with how magical, old, or big it is and make the connection with the state of the Green and the people used in the broadcasting device.
Remember that Dr Mist sealed the primary gateway to the 'Anti-Heart Lands'. There is still seepage, other gateways and the seal on the primary gate will break eventually but without more details (the effects of the Anti-Life to be specific), my assumption is that things will be holding fine for a time.
 
Remember that Dr Mist sealed the primary gateway to the 'Anti-Heart Lands'. There is still seepage, other gateways and the seal on the primary gate will break eventually but without more details (the effects of the Anti-Life to be specific), my assumption is that things will be holding fine for a time.
I had been under the impression that the seal only interfered with entities getting in or out.

So the vulture is still in there reflecting and acting upon American culture and magic, it just can't get out, and it's hard to get in.

Also now I'm wondering what hope Kennedy is doing in this situation.
 
I had been under the impression that the seal only interfered with entities getting in or out.

So the vulture is still in there reflecting and acting upon American culture and magic, it just can't get out, and it's hard to get in.

Also now I'm wondering what hope Kennedy is doing in this situation.
If I'm remembering it right, Dr Mist said it would prevent a lot of 'seepage' but its not possible to completely seal them off. Kennedy said he would try and make it better but I suppose the full effects wouldn't be fully felt until the seal fully undoes itself.
 
I am remembering something about the Lycanthrope's leader and the MC having a son sort of together.
No, the lycanthrope leader had a child with his wife. She died, and the MC and his girlfriend fostered the child until they could find out where his father was. Unfortunately, lycanthropes grow up really fast and adopt a human-seeming form based on their primary care-giver, and that was the MC.
 
Home Field (part 2)
6th February 2013
04:59 GMT -5


"Cease."

The data on the social shifts that are occurring in Anti-Life exposed populations vanishes from my screen, being replaced by the robot's face. My hands move to enter the override command without conscious thought, even as I deduce exactly how this conversation will go.

The robot is extremely predictable.

And the override doesn't work.

"Mister Atom, I need to keep working."

"Incorrect. You are time expired. The quality of your work will decrease unacceptably from this point onward. I do not have the capacity to perform my regular tasks as well as yours."

The robot isn't capable of directly interfacing with other computer systems. Apparently it's a safety feature to prevent a virus infecting it. I suspect that it's a restriction its creator implemented to prevent him taking over every online computer in the world. We had to build a special voice command system to allow it to give commands to its robot drones fast enough to matter. It can give command to twenty different sets of drones simultaneously using different pitches, but it's only got one set of eyes.

And it has no social skills at all.

I step away from the computer and walk towards the medical-.

"I have removed your stimulants. You have reached the point of diminishing returns and would undergo a dangerous crash within four days plus/minus one day."

I can't stop working. The whole world-.

The robot's face vanishes from the monitor, and is replaced by… Bats. Bats hanging off zoo keepers who are stroking their heads.

"I chose the bat because it scared me as a child, not because I find them aesthetically appealing."

"I understand. You hate yourself and so identify with an unappealing animal."

The bat pictures are replaced with pictures of puppies. Pet owners have proven to be slightly more resistant to the effects of Anti-Life than people who don't own pets, the animals buoying up their mood and giving them something to live for. The animals themselves aren't affected by Anti-Life, but just giving pets to people who don't have them doesn't work as they're too depressed to learn new skills or become emotionally attached to them.

"If you were human, I might think you were joking."

"Why did the Batman leave the cave, out of his office, up the stairs and then into the third room on the right?"

I know he's right about needing to get some sleep, because I can feel myself starting to smile.

"Because that's where his bedroom is."

"You are supposed to claim ignorance. That is the structure of the joke."

I check the time on my armour's integrated computer, and I'm sure that I can only confirm what it said because it lets me. Normally, the idea of someone -anyone- else having this degree of access to my systems would be completely unacceptable.

But we don't have a choice.

And I'm so tired.

I walk towards the armoury and begin stripping off my armour. It's been over a week since I was in the field. It might be more efficient to stop wearing it entirely. I know perfectly well that even with J'onn and Hawkman sharing my strategic responsibilities that a lot of the time the most helpful thing I can do for the League is make sure that everyone else is in the position where they can do most good.

But I can't deny that it's galling that of all the League members it's my city that's been taken over. I had a file on Mistress before this started but there was nothing in her profile that suggested that she would respond this way to a situation like this. It's also galling how using the Anti-Life as a control system doesn't seem to produce materially worse results than preventing it from establishing itself.

I don't bother dressing. Dick's out with the team, and Alfred is still under medical sedation. Talia is probably still out in the city… Somewhere. I was concerned that exposure to the Anti-Life might cause her to revert to some of the behaviors she developed before meeting me. I should have had more faith in her.

It's a short walk through the manor to my bedroom, and I can't help but notice how empty it feels. I judged Rick to be at high risk, so he's acting as a bodyguard for Batson. No Dick, no Alfred and no Talia. Only a few years ago I considered that normal and wouldn't have particularly cared if it never changed. Now, I feel their absence.

Maybe I was just fooling myself.

I can still feel the presence of the Anti-Life. We destroyed both of Mannheim's attempts to build an Anti-Life transmitter inside Gotham, but it looks like having a sufficiently large number of people accepting it works just as well.

And that's not something we have a cure for.

I take a quick shower to try and relax. When Mistress took control of the city she still had the sense to make sure that the utilities still work. The people who work there are exempt from her… Games. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be interested into coming far enough out of the city to visit Wayne Manor. Playing along wouldn't bother me, but it would be a frustrating distraction.

No. It's not working.

I have drugs that can knock me out when I need sleep. I developed them after Roxy Rocket dosed me with a stolen amphetamine derivative that made sleep impossible. But there are side effects, it's not as restful as natural sleep and there are problems with continual use.

Relaxation exercise, then.

I sit in the middle of my bedroom floor, hands on my knees and eyes closed.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Floating in a void.

Outside the void is chaos. Inside the void is nothing but my mind. Everything that is chaos is rising from my mind and joining the chaos outside of the void. Feel them float away and think of them no-.

"Husband?"

"Hr?"

I'm face down on the floor, laying in a fetal position. There's drool on my cheek and on the carpet.

Mr. Atom was right.

I push myself up, trying to assess how alert I am. It feels like I got about two hours, enough to function but nothing like enough to be fully recovered.

"Talia." She's in costume, minus the cowl and mask. No injuries that are immediately obvious. No outward sign that she's concealing one. "What time is it?"

"Seven in the morning."

The robot won't let me back into the cave for another three hours at the absolute minimum. And while I could function for a while as I am now, it wouldn't last. But I'm still sleepy enough that I should be able to rest normally. I stand, and walk towards our bed.

I want to ask how the city is. But there isn't anything I can do immediately to undo everything that's wrong with it, and if there was an emergency she would have told me.

"Wake me in four hours."

I put my face into my pillow without looking at her face. She knows the situation, and she knows me. I-.

She puts something down on the pillow next to me. I turn my head slightly to look at-.

"From Doctor Mist. A Dream Catcher. It should ward off even the Anti-Life." I feel her gentle hands on my back. "Rest, Husband. The world will be here when you wake."
 
Last edited:
It's honestly kinda beautiful to see how people react in these situations amidst massive terror and depression.

Talia and Bruce in this chapter showing love and affection for each other, Tommy becoming a better person...
 
Mister Atom really is showing how much good he could do. I wish he'd join the League after this, but I doubt he thinks it'd be worth the hassle. Also, I love how Bruce is acknowledging how much he's changed since letting people into his life, especially Talia.
 
Mister Atom really is showing how much good he could do. I wish he'd join the League after this, but I doubt he thinks it'd be worth the hassle

Not necessarily.

He wants to be president, and other presidents have used their connections to organizations like the army to boost their popularity, so him joining the League could help him in a similar manner.
 
But I can't deny that it's galling that of all the League members it's my city that's been taken over. I had a file on Mistress before this started but there was nothing in her profile that suggested that she would respond this way to a situation like this

Anyone know which Batman villain this is? I've never heard of her.
 
Mister Atom: "I shall take over the world...by the most efficient route possible: by emulating kindness and compassion. Nobody will see it coming!"
Only because the actual rat bastards who see it (rightly) as cheating at the Great Game are too busy being depressed to do their usual anti-empathy warfare routines.
 
6th February 2013
04:59 GMT -5


"Cease."

The data on the social shifts that are occurring in Anti-Life exposed populations vanishes from my screen, being replaced by the robot's face. My hands move to enter the override command without conscious thought, even as I deduce exactly how this conversation will go.
Hello, Bruce. I see you're keeping busy. But I get the feeling you're doing the Batman thing and working way past the limits of human endurance, aren't you? Bad idea, especially with a global memetic attack ongoing...

The robot is extremely predictable.

And the override doesn't work.
Heh. seems you're a little predictable too, Bruce.

"Mister Atom, I need to keep working."

"Incorrect. You are time expired. The quality of your work will decrease unacceptably for this point onward. I do not have the capacity to perform my regular tasks as well as yours."
And the last thing Bruce would accept is any kind of mistake on his part, wouldn't he?

The robot isn't capable of directly interfacing with other computer systems. Apparently it's a safety feature to prevent a virus infecting it. I suspect that it's a restriction its creator implemented to prevent him taking over every online computer in the world. We had to build a special voice command system to allow it to give commands to its robot drones fast enough to matter. It can give command to twenty different sets of drones simultaneously using different pitches, but it's only got one set of eyes.
Good foresight of the fellow, but such a pain in a situation like this.

And it has no social skills at all.

I step away from the computer and walk towards the medical-.
Pot, meet Kettle. Yes, you are both rather similarly coloured, aren't you? :p

"I have removed your stimulants. You have reached the point of diminishing returns and would undergo a dangerous crash within four days plus/minus one day."

I can't stop working. The whole world-.
And a moment like that is exactly why you need to rest, Bruce.

The robot's face vanishes from the monitor, and is replaced by… Bats. Bats hanging off zoo keepers who are stroking their heads.

"I chose the bat because it scared me as a child, not because I find them aesthetically appealing."
I mean, chiroptera are kind of cute, in a fugly kind of way? :rolleyes:

"I understand. You hate yourself and so identify with an unappealing animal."

The bat pictures are replaced with pictures of puppies. Pet owners have proven to be slightly more resistant to the effects of Anti-Life than people who don't own pets, the animals buoying up their mood and giving them something to live for. The animals themselves aren't effected by Anti-Life, but just giving pets to people who don't have them doesn't work as they're too depressed to learn new skills or become emotionally attached to them.
...Somehow, I don't think 'Dogman' would have struck quite the same kind of fear into the hearts of criminals. :p

"If you were human, I might think you were joking."

"Why did the Batman leave the cave, out of his office, up the stairs and then into the third room on the right?"
...Atom, you have a lot to learn about humour...

I know he's right about needing to get some sleep, because I can feel myself starting to smile.

"Because that's where his bedroom is."
And I find it amusing that he's not worrying that the super robot knows where he sleeps. That's how exhausted he is.

"You are supposed to claim ignorance. That is the structure of the joke."

I check the time on my armour's integrated computer, and I'm sure that I can only confirm what it said because it lets me. Normally, the idea of someone -anyone- else having this degree of access to my systems would be completely unacceptable.
Needs must, and sometimes the paranoid control freak needs to open up.

But we don't have a choice.

And I'm so tired.
See? Go, rest.

I walk towards the armoury and begin stripping off my armour. It's been over a week since I was in the field. It might be more efficient to stop wearing it entirely. I know perfectly well that even with J'onn and Hawkman sharing my strategic responsibilities that a lot of the time the most helpful thing I can do for the League is make sure that everyone else is in the position where they can do most good.
And there's always the slim risk of being attacked in the cave. Wouldn't help if you were only in a light spandex version of the suit because you weren't expecting it.

But I can't deny that it's galling that of all the League members it's my city that's been taken over. I had a file on Mistress before this started but there was nothing in her profile that suggested that she would respond this way to a situation like this. It's also galling how using the Anti-Life as a control system doesn't seem to produce materially worse results than preventing it from establishing itself.
So, she's working for the bad guys right now? Pity. Presumably soaked in Anti-life up to the tips of her very long hair...
Edit: Huh, Word of Zoat says no. Wonder who it is, then? :confused: My wiki-fu is insufficient.

I don't bother dressing. Dick's out with the team, and Alfred is still under medical sedation. Talia is probably still out in the city… Somewhere. I was concerned that exposure to the Anti-Life might cause her to revert to some of the behaviours she developed before meeting me. I should have had more faith in her.
Her love for you is stronger than her belief in her father's ways. Even with the Anti-Life whispering in her mind...

It's a short walk through the manor to my bedroom, and I can't help but notice how empty it feels. I judged Rick to be at high risk, so he's acting as a bodyguard for Batson. No Dick, no Alfred and no Talia. Only a few years ago I considered that normal and wouldn't have particularly cared if it never changed. Now, I feel their absence.

Maybe I was just fooling myself.
You can't carry on your crusade alone, after all. And a burden shared is a burden lightened.

I can still feel the presence of the Anti-Life. We destroyed both of Mannheim's attempts to build an Anti-Life transmitter inside Gotham, but it looks like having a sufficiently large number of people accepting it works just as well.

And that's not something we have a cure for.
Not yet, anyway.

I take a quick shower to try and relax. When Mistress took control of the city she still had the sense to make sure that the utilities still work. The people who work there are exempt from her… Games. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be interested into coming far enough out of the city to visit Wayne Manor. Playing along wouldn't bother me, but it would be a frustrating distraction.

No. It's not working.
Ah, Bruce... It says something that when told to relax, you can't...

I have drugs that can knock me out when I need sleep. I developed them after Roxy Rocket dosed me with a stolen amphetamine derivative that made sleep impossible. But there are side effects, it's not as restful as natural sleep and there are problems with continual use.

Relaxation exercise, then.
And I can't see him allowing himself any kind of chemical-related weakness at a time like this anyway.

I sit in the middle of my bedroom floor, hands on my knees and eyes closed.

Breathe in. Breathe out.
Safe bet he wakes up flat on his face, drooling into the carpet...

Floating in a void.

Outside the void is chaos. Inside the void is nothing but my mind. Everything that is chaos is rising from my mind and joining the chaos outside of the void. Feel them float away and think of them no-.
...Kind of hard to meditate when you're snoring, huh? :D

Ah, just the thing to help you relax. Though I have no doubt he's got ludicrous amounts of stamina in the bedroom alongside everywhere else.

I'm face down on the floor, laying in a fetal position. There's drool on my cheek and on the carpet.

Mr. Atom was right.
Better on a nice soft carpet than in the keyboards of the batcomputer.

I push myself up, trying to assess how alert I am. It feel like I got about two hours, enough to function but nothing like enough to be fully recovered.

"Talia." She's in costume, minus the cowl and mask. No injuries that are immediately obvious. No outward sign that she's concealing one. "What time is it?"
And she wears it well. Rowwwr. x3 There's something about a woman in skin-tight suits...

"Seven in the morning."

The robot won't let me back into the cave for another three hours at the absolute minimum. And while I could function for a while as I am now, it wouldn't last. But I'm still sleepy enough that I should be able to rest normally. I stand, and walk towards our bed.
Aw, not going to ask her for some help getting to sleep? x3

I want to ask how the city is. But there isn't anything I can do immediately to undo everything that's wrong with it, and if there was an emergency she would have told me.

"Wake me in four hours."
It's a rare chance to sit back and see that yes, the world will spin on even if you aren't there to keep it turning, Bruce.

I put my face into my pillow without looking at her face. She knows the situation, and she knows me. I-.

She puts something down on the pillow next to me. I turn my head slightly to look at-.

"From Doctor Mist. A Dream Catcher. It should ward off even the Anti-Life." I feel her gentle hands on my back. "Rest, Husband. The world will be here when you awake."
Dawww... And probably would work, too. Pity they can't make one big enough to encompass the entire world.

Well, another look at the state of the world, and a chance to see an unusual side of the Batman: forcibly relaxing and resting up while others work. Hopefully Bruce takes this to heart, and tries to loosen up... :confused: ... ... :V Nope, couldn't keep a straight face. Like hell the ultimate control freak would do that. Still, perhaps he can at least realise that others can help carry the load.


I had a file on Mistress before this started but...
When Mistress took control of the city...

o_O I'm wondering if you meant 'Empress' here, or perhaps she's changed her name due to Anti-Life?

Edit: Apparently not. Guess we'll find out more eventually.
 
Last edited:
Somehow, I don't think 'Dogman' would have struck quite the same kind of fear into the hearts of criminals.

I mean, most people are probably more afraid of dogs than of bats.

Granted, that may have changed in the last few years due to...reasons.

So, she's working for the bad guys right now? Pity. Presumably soaked in Anti-life up to the tips of her very long hair

That explains who she is.

I couldn't remember any character with the name "Mistress" in the comics.

Though that doesn't mean that much since there are thousands of minor characters.

After spending who knows how long around Manheim it makes sense she'd take a dark turn.
 
A reminder- the anti life effect went active on January 1st or December 31st. Paul had to leave after turning the second Sabbac into an orange ghost, creating Go-Straight-To-Hell contracts with Belle Reve residents, helping salvage a DECIMATED Green sanctuary from fungal invaders, and failing to beat Finality Man.

And if it matters, Hades is currently an amnesiac. It is also possible that Alan has reached blue enlightenment in order to be the hero the world needs- Paul helped him reach his Honden during the Anti-American Dream arc, and heroes like Alan tend to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
 
Paul had to leave after turning the second Sabbac into an orange ghost, creating Go-Straight-To-Hell contracts with Belle Reve residents

He didn't turn the second Sabbac into a construct.

The second Sabbac was sent to Hell by the First of the Fallen.

Paul turned one of Sabbac's patrons, Satanus, into a construct.
 
So, she's working for the bad guys right now? Pity. Presumably soaked in Anti-life up to the tips of her very long hair...
That explains who she is.

I couldn't remember any character with the name "Mistress" in the comics.

Though that doesn't mean that much since there are thousands of minor characters.

After spending who knows how long around Manheim it makes sense she'd take a dark turn.
I think Mistress is a different character, as Empress should still be connected to that device that also has Question and Black Orchid in it. I can't remember where, but I think one of the parts that shows the people being taken over by the Anti-Life shows who this Mistress is, and she's leading Mannheim's forces in Gotham with Orpheus as her second-in-command.
 
I think Mistress is a different character, as Empress should still be connected to that device that also has Question and Black Orchid in it. I can't remember where, but I think one of the parts that shows the people being taken over by the Anti-Life shows who this Mistress is, and she's leading Mannheim's forces in Gotham with Orpheus as her second-in-command.

I think the three of them were saved from the machine.

Though how good their condition is is unknown, but probably not good.
 
The animals themselves aren't effected by Anti-Life, but just giving pets to people who don't have them doesn't work as they're too depressed to learn new skills or become emotionally attached to them.
'affected'
I push myself up, trying to assess how alert I am. It feel like I got about two hours, enough to function but nothing like enough to be fully recovered.
'feels'
"Rest, Husband. The world will be here when you awake."
I think this works, but 'wake' or 'awaken' feel better to me.
 
Paul had to leave after turning the second Sabbac into an orange ghost

Not the second Sabbac. He turned Satanus into a Construct Lantern, the main demon behind Sabbac, brother to Angelica Blaze, son of the Wizard Jebediah aka Shazam, and aspirant-ruler of Hell until he was captured and sent to the magical section of Belle Reve.
 
I think the three of them were saved from the machine.

Though how good their condition is is unknown, but probably not good.

IIRC, they weren't - there was no way that even Paul could deduce to detach them from the machine without a high chance of killing them, and he was trying to avoid his usual 'I'll do the efficient thing and worry about the consequences of my actions never' at that point.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top