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

[Buggy123]

If the program takes a huge amount of samples and learns to create original works of a style using something like machine learning (this should probably be possible, though difficult with modern tech)

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Well... kinda. But we did it anyway:


Granted, that's a generator for realistic images, not artwork. But the techniques used are only improving; most major image editing software already has various smart-fill tools which can replace a section of the image inferred from the surroundings (and that video is almost a decade old) or similar modifications. A more well-known software, Deepfake, can basically replace a person's face in a video with anyone else.

IMO, people really underestimate technology and what it's going to be able to do, when it comes to 'intelligent' things like this. A lot of people who consider it carefully eventually conclude that media itself will become almost completely unreliable, because the ability to fake it will mature far beyond the point where you can detect fakes.

 

[Siskulous]

A lot of people who consider it carefully eventually conclude that media itself will has become almost completely unreliable, because the ability to fake it will mature far beyond the point where you can detect fakes.

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Fixed that for you.

We're not quite to the point that you can fool experts yet, but it is definitely possible for someone working in their bedroom to create fakes convincing enough to fool the general populace right now. Discussion of what I suspect this technology will in the very near future be and may have already been used for would violate Rule 8.

 

[Stsword]

....well that's just kinda a hurtful stereotype.

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Now that you mention it- The Manhunters, whose motto was "No man can escape the Manhunters," their big goal in Millennium was to stop the New Guardians from breeding to produce the next Guardians of the Universe.

Yeah, humans were supposed to take over the GLC, but of course that didn't happen, status quo is god.

 

[Buggy123]

Fixed that for you.

We're not quite to the point that you can fool experts yet, but it is definitely possible for someone working in their bedroom to create fakes convincing enough to fool the general populace right now. Discussion of what I suspect this technology will in the very near future be and may have already been used for would violate Rule 8.

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Hmm, maybe. You can definitely create a convincing synthetic narrative, in the context of new footage/articles, interviews, other typical informative media, etc. But completely synthesizing events that didn't happen, including video/audio, is extremely difficult. They're generally known as "movies", and they're only convincingly real when done very well.

This, of course, will change as technology marches on.

 

[Coda]

Granted, that's a generator for realistic images, not artwork. But the techniques used are only improving; most major image editing software already has various smart-fill tools which can replace a section of the image inferred from the surroundings (and that video is almost a decade old) or similar modifications. A more well-known software, Deepfake, can basically replace a person's face in a video with anyone else.

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We've got software that can reproduce an image using the art style of a chosen painting.

https://ai.googleblog.com/2016/10/supercharging-style-transfer.html

 

[Gilhelmi]

Well, I am looking forward to a normalized, healthy, relationship between Paul and Zatanna. I was kinda hoping that Zatanna would get the Sapphire Staff back after her feelings settled into place.

Though now that I think about it. Those Zamorians are dicks, they could be trying to set Zatanna up to do to her whatever they did to Carol (Rodgers?). Not this arc, but a future arc.

Now its time for Sinestro to get his ass kicked and yet somehow be convinced to join the Orange Lantern Corp, or maybe somehow use him to convince Doctor Natu to join (the woman from Korugar City, she punched Paul for offering her a Ring).

 

[Mquz]

....well that's just kinda a hurtful stereotype.

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You realize the paint color opposite of dark green is bright red / pink?

 

[Maxx Crowley]

You realize the paint color opposite of dark green is bright red / pink?

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Only if you realize the the joke I actually made.

 

[Mquz]

Only if you realize the the joke I actually made.

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I do. I actually got your joke first, and then tried to think of another reason it could be specifically pink, as opposed to another random color.

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th February
19:40 GMT -5

I jab a crumbler round into the gauntlet construct as it attempts to tighten its grip, causing it to-

"Grugh!"

-dissipate in a cloud of yellow-

"Recognized, Zorina Zatara, Made Man of Owlman."

-vapour what? I half turn as Zatanna materialises, looking just as confused as I feel at our emergence into a room which looks like a somewhat wrecked version of the hangar we just left. Zorina? Negative Fourteen, we're on Negative Fourteen. Which means-.

Wonder Woman… Olympia, that's what my alter ego's files called her, dives at the still off-balance Zatanna, spear outstretched! I form a construct palisade-.

"Pots!"

Olympia jerks, snarls, then her skin shimmers as she breaks the rushed spell. Why can't Diana learn what I've been trying to teach her like that?

"Ehtaerb ni erif!"

Three yellow construct Olympias appear, the one just in front of me being shattered by a crumbler round almost immediately. This is their Alan, isn't it? What's he playing at? Another appears just behind Zatanna, swinging the shaft of its construct spear down onto the top of her head. Zatanna's armour shimmers faintly and the shaft is halted an inch from her scalp as the fire she conjured pours down the real Olympia's throat, causing her to wheeze and then dive for the pool. The fire was orange so it's probably not hot enough to do lasting damage to someone as tough as her, but I imagine that it's fairly painful. Her target gone, Zatanna steps forward and turns to confront the construct just as I destroy it with another crumbler shot.

The third construct hangs back, growing a shield to accompany its spear.

"Mister Scott, what are you doing? If you want our help just ask!"

"Devorpmi lanosrep dleihs." Zatanna glances my way. "Mister Scott?"

The air next to the construct Olympia shimmers as Capo Alan 'Al' Scott appears. Disappointingly, he isn't wearing a recolour of my Alan's uniform, but rather a grey, loose-fitting suit that escaped from the nineteen thirties. The ring on his right middle finger glows with power, and there's a pin in his lapel with-. Ah, not the yellow sigil. It's a circle with lines radiating off in a… V? No, an X. Huh, old school.

"Mister Scott. You're looking less skeletal."

"Hnh." He nods, smiling, his eyes visible beneath the brim of his trilby as glowing dots. "People are remembering why their grandfolks were so afraid of me. Does a man a power of good."

Olympia shoots up out of the water, glaring at Zatanna as she pulls her right arm back to throw her spear-.

"That'll do, Olympia." Alan raises his right hand in a 'stop' gesture. "I doubt that they'd go down easily, and we can't afford to linger here."

Olympia's eyes flick towards him, but she obeys his instruction and floats through the air to land next to him.

"If you have a request, you can just make it."

"I find making a forceful impression more useful in the longer run." He shrugs nonchalantly. "But I suppose there's a time and a place. Howsabout you come along with us, and I'll explain what this is about someplace more convivial."

"Howsabout fuck you?"

His smile broadens slightly. "Howsabout fuck me?"

"You're a senior career criminal, and Olympia is an enforcer and hitwoman. And I'm assuming given the-" I look around. "-state of disrepair this place is in that President Slade is still winning. You might be in a hurry, but Zatanna and I are innocent bystanders and we're not."

He nods thoughtfully. "True. You might be able to cut a deal. But Slade's people are shooting first and leaving the questions for the morticians these days, and the two of you look just like known Syndicate members. And maybe you could fight your way out anyway, but… Well, I may not know exactly how good you are, but you don't know exactly how good they are, either."

"The zeta tube is right there."

"Yeah, and it's just released a good deal of easily tracked radiation on a wavelength Slade's people know we used to use. Chances are, they're already calling a team together. And unless you know how to make zeta streams cross between parallel universes, I don't see how that does you much good."

Zatanna shakes her head. "You're still not making much of an argument. We can both teleport. We don't need you to evade whoever they're sending."

"Teleport blockers, countermagic specialists, all kinds of exotic-."

Olympia takes a step forward. "The 'peaceful' wing of the Syndicate is being threatened with extermination by President Slade, which will result in a slaughter which serves no one's interest. There is no point in being queen of a pyre. If you wish to avoid this, you will aid us."

Zatanna and I look at one another. Empathic vision shows that she's inclined to follow my lead. Olympia and Mister Scott are both blocking me so I can't get anything from either of them-.

There's a flicker in my empathic vision on the other side of the room, which then moves to get into cover. Someone using optical camouflage and a remarkably quiet teleportation system. But they're not attacking and my construct armour is still up. I'm curious as to who it is, but I don't recognise their desires well enough to identify them without taking a closer look.

But we do need the time to gather information. And talking to my alter ego's allies-. Actually, where is he? He and Zorina are the obvious people to send on a job like this. Mister Scott must have gotten a full report from him, he knows that I was willing to help-.

Be awkward if he's dead.

"Fine. We'll hear you out. How are you planning on getting us out of a fortified mountain?"

He waves his right hand and a circle appears on the floor. "Magic. Their countermeasures eliminate frequencies each time we use 'em. We just have to change faster than they can catch up. Take a minute to punch through the general countermagic field Medea put over the country."

I take my power armour out of subspace and take a moment to check the controls. If there's already someone here, I doubt that it will take longer than-.

Space twists, and a silver-skinned man in blue trousers appears in the exact point the other person teleported in at moments before. He… Looks like a mash-up of Captain Atom and Major Force, which means that he's probably this world's equivalent of the latter.

Olympia immediately brings her spear to bear. "Have they sent you in to die alone, Q-Ranger?"

"I'm just the tip-" He clenches his fists, green mist rising from each of them. "-of the spear."

Constructs failing.

My construct armour and Mister Scott's construct Olympia fail immediately. Probably a way around that, but I don't really want to start a fight with the man on behalf of some mobster supervillains.

"But when it comes to taking down power rings-"

The circle construct Mister Scott was creating dies as well. I appear to still have my environmental shield, though my construct armour is gone. So, area effect construct disruption and it's blocking our host's preferred form of egress. Still not completely convinced that I care, and… If I initiate hostilities it will severely undermine my claims of neutrality later. My armour doesn't have much in the way of integrated weapons, but assuming that Q-Ranger matches Captain Atom's power output I'm not too concerned.

"-the tip is all you need."

He stalks forward, then rises a little way into the air as Olympia moves to intercept him. I raise my right hand, the kinetic belt in my armour causing him to walk into what probably feels like an invisible wall. He pushes it with his glowing fists to no obvious effect, and I use the kinetic energy he's providing to dig a shallow trench matching the dimensions of the circle Mister Scott created with his ring. I jog towards it with Zatanna just behind me as Q-Ranger raises his hands and fires an energy bolt at Olympia. It passes unimpeded through my kinetic barrier but she effortlessly blocks it with her bracers.

Mister Scott frowns at me, checks the floor and then nods as Zatanna and I cross the threshold and joins us. "Olympia. Now."

She backs up, blocking an increasingly frantic series of shots from Q-Ranger with a cruel smirk on her face. "How long?"

"About three second-" She blocks one more shot and then flies backwards at speed, crossing the perimeter just as the space around us turns to star-filled purple. "-s."

And then the hangar vanishes.

 

[Ardy]

I'm still calling bullshit on Olympia bypassing the mountains' defenses. She's not Wonder Woman here, isn't she like the evil Mary marvel? And also, even if she was, Paul did/should have put in an antimatter version detector with his stolen GLC database

 

[Razorfloss]

Well that's interesting. I don't think this universe is prepared to deal with Paul if they piss him off.

 

[Ngamer11]

You're thinking of Superwoman, who's adult Mary Marvel separated from her original form. Olympia is evil Wonder Woman and Earth -14 isn't antimatter, it's reversed morality.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

"Recognized, Zorina Zatara, Made Man of Owlman."

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Ah, the Crime Syndicate.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Olympia jerks, snarls, then her skin shimmers as she breaks the rushed spell. Why can't Diana learn what I've been trying to teach her like that?

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Because she's never needed to employ it as often?

...causing her to wheeze and the dive for the pool.

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...causing her to wheeze and then dive for the pool.

"Mister Scott, what are you doing? If you want our help just ask!"

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"Now, sonny, you know that's not how things are done around here."

The ring on his right middle finger glows with power, and there's a pin in his lapel with-. Ah, not the yellow sigil. It's a circle with lines radiating off in a… V? No, an X. Huh, old school.

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A Yellow Volthoom Ring? How... Odd.

"That'll do, Olympia." Alan raises his right hand in a 'stop' gesture. "I doubt that they'd go down easily, and we can't afford to linger here."

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Good to see he's sensible, at least.

"Howsabout fuck you?"

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My word, OL!

"Yeah, and it's just released a good deal of easily tracked radiation on a wavelength Slade's people know we used to use. Chances are, they're already calling a team together. And unless you know how to make zeta streams cross between parallel universes, I don't see how that does you much good."

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Man, PRY is mainlining Fear, isn't he? Suprised he hasn't drawn the attention of his Entity.

"You're still making much of an argument.

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A bit odd here. maybe 'still not making'?

...which they moves to get into cover.

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This evidently got mangled in editing. No idea what you might have meant...

Be awkward if he's dead.

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Eeesh, creepy.

Their countermeasures eliminate frequencies each times we use 'em.

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Unnecessary Plural.

Take a minute to punch through the general countermagic field Medea put over the country."

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Medea being Circe's counterpart here, I presume.

Olympia immediately brings her spear to bear. "Have they sent you in to die alone, Q-Ranger?"

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A name like that, I picture Flash Gordon in metal.

"-the tip is all you need."

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Phrasing!

...and fires an energy bolt at Olympia I passes unimpeded through...

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...and fires an energy bolt at Olympia. It passes unimpeded through...

Well, some questions answered. Now to see why they needed OL.

 

[gustyeagle]

I'm still calling bullshit on Olympia bypassing the mountains' defenses. She's not Wonder Woman here, isn't she like the evil Mary marvel? And also, even if she was, Paul did/should have put in an antimatter version detector with his stolen GLC database

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She is a villian, she gets buffed because otherwise OL shitstops them.

 

[DarkBlackJack]

I hope he gets to make a giant cake in this universe.
Hey, if everybody remember you as Cake-man in one universe why not make it two universe!
Or at least fight another universe Silver City.
Or get another Ophidian.
Damn, Paul have too many achievements!

 

[theaceoffire]

"Pots"

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...So if she wanted actual Pots she should say "Stop."

I'm not sure why that bothers me.[/QUOTE]

 

[Mr Zoat]

...causing her to wheeze and the dive for the pool.
...causing her to wheeze and then dive for the pool.
"You're still making much of an argument.
A bit odd here. maybe 'still not making'?
...which they moves to get into cover.
This evidently got mangled in editing. No idea what you might have meant..
Their countermeasures eliminate frequencies each times we use 'em.
Unnecessary Plural.
...and fires an energy bolt at Olympia I passes unimpeded through...
...and fires an energy bolt at Olympia. It passes unimpeded through...

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[RichardWhereat]

She is a villian, she gets buffed because otherwise OL shitstops them.

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Or she's fully aligned with the Titans, and on the level of a God. Making her Pauls equal.

 

[nick012000]

Well that's interesting. I don't think this universe is prepared to deal with Paul if they piss him off.

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Seriously. Blue Lantern Paul was nerfed because he didn't have a personal lantern, while OL Paul has had a lot of time practicing the use of his Ring.

If push comes to shove, he can just repeat his genocide of the Citadel Empire on Washington DC - though come to think of it, the Citadel are probably good guys in this universe, right? Maybe he could get some of them to come with him back to the Matter Universe to rebuild their species there.

 

[Buggy123]

Seriously. Blue Lantern Paul was nerfed because he didn't have a personal lantern, while OL Paul has had a lot of time practicing the use of his Ring.

If push comes to shove, he can just repeat his genocide of the Citadel Empire on Washington DC - though come to think of it, the Citadel are probably good guys in this universe, right? Maybe he could get some of them to come with him back to the Matter Universe to rebuild their species there.

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Hmm, I don't think it works like that. (The people at)Washington and Co are going pretty extreme, but I was under the impression that that's because the majority of super-powered individuals are villains and basically run the country, and everyone else is sick and tired of it to the point of declaring a all-out war.

And it's really unlikely that humans are actually evil, by OL's standards. Either they didn't get morality-swapped, and they're just like Earth-16 humans, or they did get morality swapped, and they became good.

 

[Vaermina]

Well that's interesting. I don't think this universe is prepared to deal with Paul if they piss him off.

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If we follow canon this universe is several power levels and a good deal technologically above Paul's own.

Also he won't be able to call the Ophidian for help since embodiment's can't cross dimensions.

 

[nick012000]

If we follow canon this universe is several power levels and a good deal technologically above Paul's own.

Also he won't be able to call the Ophidian for help since embodiment's can't cross dimensions.

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He's got access to Maltusian tech; the Lantern Rings are called "the most powerful weapon in the universe" for a reason. He's spent a decent amount of time in space doing cosmic-tier superhero stuff like basically everything he did in Vega, so I don't think a somewhat higher-tech Earth is going to stop him.

 

[DAT_NOOB]

I'm still calling bullshit on Olympia bypassing the mountains' defenses. She's not Wonder Woman here, isn't she like the evil Mary marvel? And also, even if she was, Paul did/should have put in an antimatter version detector with his stolen GLC database

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You mean the Defenses that Batman and the League ordered removed because they annoyed Nabu?

 

[RichardWhereat]

And it's really unlikely that humans are actually evil, by OL's standards. Either they didn't get morality-swapped, and they're just like Earth-16 humans, or they did get morality swapped, and they became good.

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Eh, or they got morality swapped, and most people who're neutral, stayed neutral. People like to think of themselves as innately good, but they're not. Not in D&D terms anyway.

 

[Irked]

Honestly i'm hoping they end up pushing some of Pauls buttons. Having dealt with their versions of the two (this universe had blue lantern Paul i think) they probably think they have a good grasp of Zatanna and OL's power levels, but OL is ridiculously in tune with the orange light (as well as currently having 3 rings) on top of having a huge arsenal and Zatanna got a significant upgrade due to all the studying she did to kill Nabu.


Also while people are correct that Paul probably can't call his universe's Ophidian because embodiments can't cross dimensions i have to wonder if there's anything stopping him from calling this universes embodiment instead, especially as he could probably get a direct line to it through his Honden of Avarice teleportation.

 

[Vaermina]

He's got access to Maltusian tech; the Lantern Rings are called "the most powerful weapon in the universe" for a reason. He's spent a decent amount of time in space doing cosmic-tier superhero stuff like basically everything he did in Vega, so I don't think a somewhat higher-tech Earth is going to stop him.

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You seem to be forgetting they aren't in his universe any longer...

The most powerful weapon in this corner of the multiverse is AMAZO, an android built on Earth that soloed the entire Green Lantern corp and OA.

 

[Buggy123]

Eh, or they got morality swapped, and most people who're neutral, stayed neutral. People like to think of themselves as innately good, but they're not. Not in D&D terms anyway.

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I didn't mean that they swapped to evil and then just became good for other reasons, i meant that they swapped from evil (positive universe) to good (negative universe), and the whole war thing is going on not because they're still evil, but because most supers are evil and the rest just sorta got glossed over by the (sensibly) outraged public.

Though, I suppose you might be right and they're neutral and didn't swap, but that doesn't seem likely to me; if anything, it's more likely that they didn't swap at all, because the swap only applies to superpowered people from Earth. I mean, what about the lantern colors? If the Guardians/GLC swapped morality, you'd think that they'd be using willpower for evil, and the yellow lantern corps would be more like Earth-16 GLC.

But the only yellow corps member we see is decidedly evil. Though, I guess he might just be taking advantage of a ring which is broken just like Alan-16's green ring (so, no auto shutdown if he kills with it, no reporting back to good!sinestro, etc).

 

[Vaermina]

Honestly i'm hoping they end up pushing some of Pauls buttons. Having dealt with their versions of the two (this universe had blue lantern Paul i think) they probably think they have a good grasp of Zatanna and OL's power levels, but OL is ridiculously in tune with the orange light (on top of currently having 3 rings) on top of having a huge arsenal and Zatanna got a significant upgrade due to all the studying she did to kill Nabu.

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Rings which Paul shouldn't be able to recharge because his subspace pocket dimension is back in the universe he came from.

Also while people are correct that Paul probably can't call his universe's Ophidian because embodiments can't cross dimensions i have to wonder if there's anything stopping him from calling this universes embodiment instead, especially as he could probably get a direct line to it through his Honden of Avarice teleportation.

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It would ignore Paul as meaningless, this is opposite universe, so here there's a sane well adjusted Larfleeze keeping it company with his own corps of non-construct lanterns.

 

[RichardWhereat]

I didn't mean that they swapped to evil and then just became good for other reasons, i meant that they swapped from evil (positive universe) to good (negative universe), and the whole war thing is going on not because they're still evil, but because most supers are evil and the rest just sorta got glossed over by the (sensibly) outraged public.

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Right, and what I mean is that most of the people would still be neutral, neither good nor evil. It's just that evil is the dominant culture type thingy value.