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

RoninSword · Nov 5, 2023

Old Knife said:
Is this the Batman who laughs?

Mr Zoat said:
No. The SI explicitly says that he didn't use the psychoactive part of Smilex, just the parts which cause it to bond to the human brain.

The Batman Who Laughs was a tolerable character up until he transplanted his brain into Dr. Manhattan, which was a pretty stupid story element.

Nope. This is Batman on what is essentially a fusion of Fear Toxin and the chemical part of Smilex that actually causes the Smilex to be able to bond with the brain.

BR549 · Nov 5, 2023

The Unaligned Player said:
I get it Bruce, but I also measure you against the planet, never mind the universe, and 99.99% of my care vanishes.
That's a steal.

"And all it cost was the deaths of one criminal, one Romulan senator, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. Now I don't know about you, but I call that a bargain."

NightmareWarden · Nov 5, 2023

Since she appeared in the series, has Jade displayed fear when talking about her father? Or just the circumstances he put her through? I thought she leaned more towards anger, apathy, and a smidgen of confused love.

Regardless, I think Batman is, in spite of his pettiness, correct about Sports master as a candidate. And he was a blindspot in Paul's decisionmaking. Perhaps Batman will utilize a few more blindspots over the next dozen arcs to needle Paragon!Paul.

So I talked about consequences of the White Light succeeding. Could anything happen to Dr Mist from participating in this? Or from prolonged contact with the mask? Heck, him trying to make people feel the Life emotion could do a lot to help the Forever People's recovery. Or maybe an Indigo Lantern comes to investigate this wacky experiment.

Mr Zoat · Nov 5, 2023

17th February 2013
20:32 GMT

Alan grimaces.

"Oh no."

We can't even see the east coast over the horizon and I can already hear the sound of jet engines as the Air Force's combat air patrol heads in our direction. Scan.. shows that their weapon loadout hasn't been upgraded. They're standard aero fighters that would struggle against a neophyte Lantern and they're coming at us to delay us, weaken our resolve and tie us down with prisoners.

Missiles roar towards us as Alan's anti-air construct opens fire, blue construct bullets filling the air and creating small explosions of rocket fuel as they hit the missiles. I throw up a shield as two jets spray us with cannon fire before zooming past and pulling into a turn.

Construct cleavers from me chop through the planes, sending the rear section blasting away in a random direction while the cockpit section flies in a ballistic arc in the direction its momentum dictates. The pilots don't try-.

Shit!

My construct tendrils breach the canopies and grab their sidearms before they can shoot themselves, then pull the pilots out.

"Pilots tried to kill themselves when their planes were disabled."

"Aye, a disturbed directive."

I toss the pilots into Malvolio's giant prison construct and watch as he adds manacles to chain them to their cell floors. That should keep them out of the way and unable to kill themselves until we're done.

Alan nods as more planes head towards us. "We should fight them here. I don't want those planes falling on anybody."

"He can throw every plane on the planet at us, Alan. And if he thinks that we'll hesitate if he does? Then-."

"He will." He grimaces. "I know. Fine. If we gotta do this, let's at least make it quick."

He flies towards the next squadron, construct fairground claw arms darting out to grab the pilots right out of their planes before dropping them in the mobile prison. I let the wrecks fly on a little way before firing energy pulses at them. They hit the fuel tanks, fuel leaking for a few seconds before encountering the superheated exhaust and igniting, the flashback consuming the plane in a fiery explosion. The wrecks hit the sea a few seconds later.

Alan smiles at his work. "It's like the fairground in reverse: I drop them off in the machine."

I look in the direction of the shore. More planes are taking off, and-.

My point defence construct opens fire as the ship-launched missiles and the shells from the ship-based heavy guns zero in on our position.

"Alan, normally, I love your golden-age witticisms, but-."

"Yeah. I know. But it helps. Keep those guns off me?"

"Can do."

Alan puts his head down and accelerates shoreward, to where an appreciable chunk of the US Navy is moored in a defensive formation. Essentially normal ships, but-. Crumblers shouldn't be able to cause magazine explosions.

I fly after Alan, orange shields and point defences blocking attacks while my railgun construct charges and takes aim at… A destroyer's forward turret. Load crumbler round and fire. Turret out of commission, no explosion, turret's not even knocked off the ship. Its missiles are too big to reliably hit man-sized targets but its anti-air guns-. They get a crumbler round each.

Next ship. And-. And there are quite a lot of ships.

"Ghia'ta, would you mind-?"

Specks of violet light land on the aircraft carrier and expand, violet crystal rapidly growing across the hull. Exposed crew are trapped, safe and imprisoned. Guns are locked in place and their barrels blocked, and I see several explode as they continue to try to fire and overpressure their internals. And while she's doing that I keep firing, keep mission-killing screening ships with no fatalities.

And then I see the sailors on the mission-killed ships toss their life jackets aside and jump into the water-.

But Alan's already there, rubber ring constructs dropping over their heads and hauling them off to Lord Malvolio's prison.

A minute after we engaged the fleet, all that's left are floating hulls and models preserved in crystals.

And no deaths. No deaths. We won't be able to maintain that, but-. It's nice.

For now.

"Good work."

"They still feel love. Under the blackness…"

And at that I actually smile. Mannheim's hold isn't total. They aren't burned out husks of men, just people operating under the influence of… An unusual spell. They can be restored.

"Excellent. Press-."

Great clouds of gas explode along the Washington sea shore and river shore. No point using fear gas on people who have been Anti-Lifed, but they still need to breathe and Lanterns don't. That gas isn't designed to choke people by itself: it's designed to remove the oxygen from the air. Normal guns won't work and people without their own oxygen supplies won't be able to breathe, which is why we used it instead of a gas that would be filtered by a gas mask. I doubt that will clear out the whole area and we'll need to set off more once the wind blows more oxygen into the area, but it should cut down the collateral fatalities.

Without asphyxiating too many people. I hope.

"Press on."

Construct barriers raised and weapon constructs at the ready, we fly over the drifting fleet.

What are they going to be doing over there? Not sure. The Justice League has attacked Washington before, so while they're probably repositioning forces there's no reason for them to panic. I imagine that they are calling for help-.

Alan points to the sea front, where several Anti-Life transmitters have been set up. "Are we destroying those?"

"No, we can't. We need as much of the network in one piece as possible."

He and Ghia'ta share an awkward look as she flies down to us. "Paul, some of us don't do so well in Anti-Life zones."

"I'm sorry, but we need to be sure that the transmission works. We can destroy them immediately afterwards, if you like."

"Just have to grin and bear it, I suppose."

"If either of you need to fall back, do. Malvolio and I can manage."

Ghia'ta nods, while Alan scoffs.

"I see what you mean about not getting 'hope'. What's our next step?"

"Justifier barracks."

"Folks who wanted a little more help being superheroes?"

"Mostly. Originally."

"Then let's go save them, then save the world."

Lord Ernest · Nov 5, 2023

Adara bless Alan, a proper Blue Lantern that one. I'm sad that he doesn't have his children in this timeline and that he died in Grayven's, but his mere presence in any episode or arc makes it 10 times better by default, he's such a great hero.

Firewillreign · Nov 5, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
Adara bless Alan, a proper Blue Lantern that one. I'm sad that he doesn't have his children in this timeline and that he died in Grayven's, but his mere presence in any episode or arc makes it 10 times better by default, he's such a great hero.

Isn't Alan near-immortal and currently romancing an Amazon?

Children aren't an impossibility in his future.

Besides, he's got his honorary grand-kid Paul. Sure OL is somewhat dysfunctional and gets on a ton of people nerves, but Alan absolutely loves him to bits.

Chojin Patriarch · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
20:32 GMT

Alan grimaces.

"Oh no."

It seems overwhelming, I know. But have faith that all will be well, and keep to your path. You might well be the best of the Lanterns gathered for this momentous task. Not the most skilled, true. But you believe this can work. And that will carry the rest with you.

We're can't even see the east coast over the horizon and I can already hear the sound of jet engines as the Air Force's combat air patrol heads in our direction. Scan.. shows that their weapon loadout hasn't been upgraded. They're standard aero fighters that would struggle against a neophyte Lantern and they're coming at us to delay us, weaken our resolve and tie us down with prisoners.

Missiles roar towards us as Alan's anti-air construct opens fire, blue construct bullets filling the air and creating small explosions of rocket fuel as they hit the missiles. I throw up a shield as two jets spray us with cannon fire before zooming past and pulling into a turn.

Chaff. Not the defensive kind, but wheat to tangle them up, slow them down as they approach. Ignore them, and they'll harass you all the way in. Stop to fight, and you risk being bogged down.

Construct cleavers from me chop through the planes, sending the rear section blasting away in a random direction while the cockpit section flies in a ballistic arc in the direction its momentum dictates. The pilot don't try-.

Shit!

Well, this is seriously going to impair America's military defence. Not that I think a lot of people will be interested in fighting after this.

My construct tendrils breach the canopies and grab their sidearms before they can shoot themselves, then pull the pilots out.

"Pilots tried to kill themselves when their planes were disabled."

Because their usefulness as soldiers was ended. So instead, their devotion forces them to taunt the attackers with their deaths...

"Aye, a disturbed directive."

I toss the pilots into Malvolio's giant prison construct and watch as he adds manacles to chain them to their cell floors. That should keep them out of the way and unable to kill themselves until we're done.

I have the feeling that'll be very full before this is over.

Alan nods as more planes head towards us. "We should fight them here. I don't want those planes falling on anybody."

"He can throw every plane on the planet at us, Alan. And if he thinks that we'll hesitate if he does? Then-."

As i said, they're a distraction. A delaying tactic, because even a single lantern is a strategic asset.

"He will." He grimaces. "I know. Fine. If we gotta do this, let's at least make it quick."

He flies towards the next squadron, construct fairground claw arms darting out to grab the pilots right out of their planes before dropping them in the mobile prison. I let the wrecks fly on a little way before firing energy pulses at them. They hit the fuel tanks, fuel leaking for a few seconds before encountering the superheated exhaust and igniting, the flashback consuming the plane in a fiery explosion. The wrecks hit the sea a few seconds later.

There goes another couple of billion dollars of tech... Though Earth might have to realign its economic structures after all this.

Alan smiles at his work. "It's like the fairground in reverse: I drop them off in the machine."

I look in the direction of the shore. More planes are taking off, and-.

What, like a crane game, a UFO Catcher? Those things are rigged anyway.

My point defence construct open fire as the ship-launched missiles and the shells from the ship-based heavy guns zero in on our position.

"Alan, normally, I love your golden-age witticisms, but-."

I suppose if you had your way, OL, they'd speed blitz in complete silence, sweeping everything away without a single pun? Where's the fun in that?

"Yeah. I know. But it helps. Keep those guns off me?"

"Can do."

I suppose if it works for him, it works.

Alan puts his head down and accelerates shoreward, to where an appreciable chunk of the US Navy is moored in a defensive formation. Essentially normal ships, but-. Crumblers shouldn't be able to cause magazine explosions.

I fly after Alan, orange shields and point defences blocking attacks while my railgun construct charges and takes aim at… A destroyer's forward turret. Load crumbler round and fire. Turret out of commission, no explosion, turret's not even knocked off the ship. Its missiles are too big to reliably hit man-sized targets but its anti-air guns-. They get a crumbler round each.

Yeah, about how I'd expect such a fight to go.

Next ship. And-. And there are quite a lot of ships.

"Ghia'ta, would you mind-?"

Well, this is the most important place in Mannheim's territory. Without it, he's severely weakened.

Specks of violet light land on the aircraft carrier and expand, violet crystal rapidly growing across the hull. Exposed crew are trapped, safe and imprisoned. Guns are locked in place and their barrels blocked, and I see several explode as they continue to try to fire and overpressure their internals. And while she's doing that I keep firing, keep mission-killing screening ships with no fatalities.

And then I see the sailors on the mission-killed ships toss their life jackets aside and jump into the water-.

More suicide tactics. Pity the Lanterns don't play that way.

But Alan's already there, rubber ring constructs dropping over their heads and hauling them off to Lord Malvolio's prison.

A minute after we engaged the fleet, all that's left are floating hulls and models preserved in crystals.

Very, very expensive scrap. What's the bet some short-sighted people get pissed at him for that?

And no deaths. No deaths. We won't be able to maintain that, but-. It's nice.

For now.

Keep that hope in mind, OL. and pray that the White Light feels the same way when this gets sorted out.

"Good work."

"They still feel love. Under the blackness…"

It can't erase what's there, only muffle it, after all.

And at that I actually smile. Mannheim's hold isn't total. They aren't burned out husks of men, just people operating under the influence of… An unusual spell. They can be restored.

"Excellent. Press-."

Unless Mannheim tries to flip the table. Watch the skies for nukes.

Great clouds of gas explode along the Washington sea shore and river shore. No point using fear gas on people who have been Anti-Lifed, but they still need to breathe and Lanterns don't. That gas isn't designed to choke people by itself: it's designed to remove the oxygen from the air. Normal guns won't work and people without their own oxygen supplies won't be able to breathe, which is why we used it instead of a gas that would be filtered by a gas mask. I doubt that will clear out the whole area and we'll need to set off more once the wind blows more oxygen into the area, but it should cut down the collateral fatalities.

And no doubt Batman is monitoring every person he puts down, pulling the gas away and leaving them tied down?

Without asphyxiating too many people. I hope.

"Press on."

We can but hope. Eyes on the prize, lanterns, but don't let expediency blind you to the harm done...

Construct barriers raised and weapon constructs at the ready, we fly over the drifting fleet.

What are they going to be doing over there? Not sure. The Justice League has attacked Washington before, so while they're probably repositioning forces there's no reason for them to panic. I imagine that they are calling for help-.

Meaning Finality Man is probably spinning up its Boom Tubes.

Alan points to the sea front, where several Anti-Life transmitters have been set up. "Are we destroying those?"

"No, we can't. We need as much of the network in one piece as possible."

And this close to the center, it's likely the transmission would remain in place even without them.

He and Ghia'ta share an awkward look as she flies down to us. "Paul, some of us don't do so well in Anti-Life zones."

"I'm sorry, but we need to be sure that the transmission works. We can destroy them immediately afterwards, if you like."

I'm sure they'll enjoy that.

"Just have to grin and bear it, I suppose."

"If either of you need to fall back, do. Malvolio and I can manage."

Alan knows how to do that. He's fought that kind of battle many times in his career.

Ghia'ta nods, while Alan scoffs.

"I see what you mean about not getting 'hope'. What's our next step?"

Sadly, practicality too often stamps out hope. Realism is a wet blanket to the face of idealism...

"Justifier barracks."

"Folks who wanted a little more help being superheroes?"

And look what happened to them... Hopefully this won't sour the ideal of getting powered vigilantes organised...

"Mostly. Originally."

"Then let's go save them, then save the world."

See, that's what OL needs right now, along with the others: Confidence and certainty that you can all do this.

Battle is joined, and it's exactly the kind of curbstomp you want: efficient but non-lethal. Let's hope they can keep it that way when the Justified capes jump in. Because sooner or later, people are going to start dying, whether from combat or Mannheim just willing them to die. Because this is the heart of his empire, the center of his power. And he will be at his strongest here...

We're can't even see the east coast over the horizon...

We can't even see the east coast over the horizon...

My point defence construct open fire as the ship-launched missiles...

Mismatch there. I suggest either 'constructs' or 'opens fire'...

Lord Ernest · Nov 5, 2023

Firewillreign said:
Isn't Alan near-immortal and currently romancing an Amazon?

Children aren't an impossibility in his future.

Besides, he's got his honorary grand-kid Paul. Sure OL is somewhat dysfunctional and gets on a ton of people nerves, but Alan absolutely loves him to bits.

I mean, yeah, and I don't know if romancing is right but there is definitely something going on with Wonder Woman, which is the Amazon in question, if my memory serves right.

But even with the possibility of future children, they wouldn't be Jade and Obsidian, which were the only good remnants of his marriage with Rose Canton.

And while having Paul as honorary grand-kid is awesome and wholesome for Alan, the lad is still a headache and a half.

Nugar · Nov 5, 2023

Modern gun propellant carries its own oxidants. Gas, or even vacuum, won't stop them from firing.

Duke Long · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Construct cleavers from me chop through the planes, sending the rear section blasting away in a random direction while the cockpit section flies in a ballistic arc in the direction its momentum dictates. The pilot don't try-.

'pilots'

Edit:

Mr Zoat said:
And look down at the swirling clouds of the gas giant below us, the siphon's funnel getting smaller and smaller before vanishing into invisibility well before is reaches the storm-wreathed atmosphere. It's… Actually beautiful.

'before it'

WereDragon · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
20:32 GMT

So why are they bothering with the horizontal approach? Given they are bringing half their lanterns and all their allies in by other methods I don't see any point in it. They could just as easily have come straight down from orbit.

Firewillreign · Nov 5, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
I mean, yeah, and I don't know if romancing is right but there is definitely something going on with Wonder Woman, which is the Amazon in question, if my memory serves right.

But even with the possibility of future children, they wouldn't be Jade and Obsidian, which were the only good remnants of his marriage with Rose Canton.

And while having Paul as honorary grand-kid is awesome and wholesome for Alan, the lad is still a headache and a half.

Minor nitpick: The Amazin in question isn't Diana, but her secretary or something as far as I can remember? We saw n the chapter where Paul returns from Vega

Lord Ernest · Nov 5, 2023

Firewillreign said:
Minor nitpick: The Amazin in question isn't Diana, but her secretary or something as far as I can remember? We saw n the chapter where Paul returns from Vega

I haven't checked the chapter, but from what I recall, Diana doesn't have an Amazon secretary I believe, her secretary is Candy something (I think?), she has a funny accent. Diana was the one that ran with the speed of Hermes to check on Alan when the Illustres told her that he was fine, when she was expecting to share the news that Alan was in the hospital and possibly dying.

Only other Amazon with possible male significant other that I recall is Io, the blacksmith I think? She and Ted Kord kinda got real close when they started working together, but I don't know if that went anywhere.

Firewillreign · Nov 5, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
I haven't checked the chapter, but from what I recall, Diana doesn't have an Amazon secretary I believe, her secretary is Candy something (I think?), she has a funny accent. Diana was the one that ran with the speed of Hermes to check on Alan when the Illustres told her that he was fine, when she was expecting to share the news that Alan was in the hospital and possibly dying.

Only other Amazon with possible male significant other that I recall is Io, the blacksmith I think? She and Ted Kord kinda got real close when they started working together, but I don't know if that went anywhere.

Sorry, I really don't remember her name, but she was delighted to see that Alan was healthy and Paul himself made a comment about Alan moving on.

Mr Zoat · Nov 5, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
We can't even see the east coast over the horizon...
Mismatch there. I suggest either 'constructs' or 'opens fire'...

Duke Long said:
'pilots'

Thank you, corrected.

'before it'

Thank you, corrected.

WereDragon said:
So why are they bothering with the horizontal approach? Given they are bringing half their lanterns and all their allies in by other methods I don't see any point in it. They could just as easily have come straight down from orbit.

Because they want an evacuation route in case there's some sort of flight disruptor there. They don't have a comprehensive list of what powers the Justifiers have. They also think that getting yourself deliberately surrounded is a bad idea.

WereDragon · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Because they want an evacuation route in case there's some sort of flight disruptor there. They don't have a comprehensive list of what powers the Justifiers have. They also think that getting yourself deliberately surrounded is a bad idea.

For evacuation, why does it matter where they came in from? They can just fly in whatever direction they please. Or not at all if a Justifier can somehow block lantern fight and lantern construct-based flight.
Also aren't they going to be surrounded anyway? The plan discussed in the previous update was to go into the middle of the enemy forces and deploy non-lanterns around them to hold back the enemy long enough for them to get the rainbow of light working. Unless they intend to specifically dedicate some of their forces to holding the path to the ocean open (in which case why are those forces not helping clear that path so the lanterns can conserve their strength) they will be surrounded regardless.

moralrelativity · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"Then let's go save them, then save the world."

God, I love Alan.

Lord Ernest · Nov 5, 2023

Firewillreign said:
Sorry, I really don't remember her name, but she was delighted to see that Alan was healthy and Paul himself made a comment about Alan moving on.

I don't recall a comment about moving on, but it may have been said at some other conversation between Paul and Alan.

However, since I checked, the only other individuals present during Alan's new health presentation were Wonder Woman's other secretary, Alana, and Mala. Here:

Mr Zoat said:
"Hello." A voice I recognise comes from a room adjacent to the reception area. "If you're here for the language class, it will be-" Mala walks through the doorway with a small pile of files in her hands. "-starting at-" She sees us. "-goddess!"

I stare at her for a moment, then pat my upper chest with both hands. "Not unless they've really relaxed the requirements."

Alan smiles. "Mala. I didn't know Diana had you working here."

"Save for the princess, I am the best English-speaker Themyscira has to offer." She lays her folders down on the front desk before approaching us. "Alan, I was told that you were dying. How..?"

He raises his right hand, ring glowing calmly. "Not any more. Right now, I'm feeling better than I have in-" Mala walks past me to embrace him. "-years."

There's a sound of footsteps as Alana comes down the stairs. "Paul, Her Highness is oh my God-!"

"For sufficiently low standards of god, yes. I-."

"Alan?"

"I'll just show myself up, shall I?"

Mr Zoat said:
Looks like I missed seeing the Crown Princess of Themyscira tackle-hug Alan, but she still can't quite bear to take her hands off him. Her right hand is on his left shoulder while her left is on the right side of his waist.

"It's… Such a change…"

"I did say."

Diana turns towards me, her left hand coming free while her right hand stays exactly where it is. "I apologize for doubting you."

"Not a problem. Just try not to do it again."

"That may be difficult."

"Princess?" Mala looks… A little smug, actually. Wonder what that's about? "Should I reschedule the language class? If you would like some time with Alan and your student?"

As I said, I don't know if what they have is romancing, but Alan and Diana's thing is more subtext and might as well be up to reader interpretation. Among members of the Justice League (or superheroes in general) they are each other's closest friend by virtue of being ex-members of the Justice Society and Alan doesn't really have other close relationships or interactions. So if Alan gets together with someone it would logically be Diana or someone else that would come as a surprise.

Firewillreign · Nov 5, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
I don't recall a comment about moving on, but it may have been said at some other conversation between Paul and Alan.

However, since I checked, the only other individuals present during Alan's new health presentation were Wonder Woman's other secretary, Alana, and Mala. Here:

As I said, I don't know if what they have is romancing, but Alan and Diana's thing is more subtext and might as well be up to reader interpretation. Among members of the Justice League (or superheroes in general) they are each other's closest friend by virtue of being ex-members of the Justice Society and Alan doesn't really have other close relationships or interactions. So if Alan gets together with someone it would logically be Diana or someone else that would come as a surprise.

Huh.

I concede the point.

But honestly, I can't see Alan and Diana together. I just picture them as friends.

I mean, I've no doubt Zoat could convince me if he were so inclined, but at the moment I think they're just friends in my head.

But yeah, the subtext is definitely there.

Rebu · Nov 5, 2023

Nugar said:
Modern gun propellant carries its own oxidants. Gas, or even vacuum, won't stop them from firing.

I assumed Batman used basically the same plot device gun-disabling Unobtanium that he used in the Arkham games.

Mr Zoat · Nov 5, 2023

WereDragon said:
For evacuation, why does it matter where they came in from? They can just fly in whatever direction they please. Or not at all if a Justifier can somehow block lantern fight and lantern construct-based flight.

Yes. That's the point. They want a clear evacuation route.

Also aren't they going to be surrounded anyway? The plan discussed in the previous update was to go into the middle of the enemy forces and deploy non-lanterns around them to hold back the enemy long enough for them to get the rainbow of light working. Unless they intend to specifically dedicate some of their forces to holding the path to the ocean open (in which case why are those forces not helping clear that path so the lanterns can conserve their strength) they will be surrounded regardless.

There's a difference between have some people surrounding you after you smashed their formation, and having everyone surround you.

Vaermina · Nov 5, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Yes. That's the point. They want a clear evacuation route.

Any evacuation route they clear now, shouldn't be clear by the time they finish their camp the broadcaster plan.

The only way to realistically get that outcome, would be to clear literally everything around it.

Mr Zoat · Nov 6, 2023

17th February 2013
20:34 GMT

A cloud of-. Water vapour rises up from the streets, forming a cloudbank just ahead of us. Okay, we can all see through that, and-.

The cloud begins crackling with electricity. First to normal storm levels, then the water vapour begins turning to steam as it supercharges itself in an obviously unnatural way. A moment more and it's more glow than cloud. Normally a Lantern doesn't have to worry about electrical discharges due to the insulating effect of our environmental shields but that doesn't mean that flying into a plasma cloud is a particularly good idea. The alternative is going under it which would put us in range of the Justifiers who can't fly and don't have ranged weapons.

Cold gun, wide field.

My construct fires and some of the plasma cloud cools into-.

"Anti-Life justifies-"

A man in a black and red costume wearing a Justifier helmet flies out of the cloud, right fist cocked! I have-. No idea who that is. I dodge right and he flies past-. He can fly. He turns around and comes at me again and-.

"-our actions!"

A woman with a similar costume flies out, aiming at my back. My cold gun construct is still going but the plasma cloud isn't freezing. The original water controller or multiple sets of power? Don't know.

I evade down, noticing as they slalom through the air that they're just the tip of the wave. Eight… Nine other Justifiers move to attack Alan and Ghia'ta while… Some sort of large robot is aiming its Apokoliptian weapons at Malvolio's floating prison from the street below us.

Someone flying at me without a weapon is probably super strong or otherwise has a way to intensify their blows but that doesn't mean that they're Superman-strong or anything like Superman-tough.

I mark targets and transmit what I'm seeing to the others, dodge left as the man and woman try to box me in and then fire a crumbler round at the robot's left leg. Which-. Does nothing. Okay, that was too fast-

Somewhere to my right one of the flying Justifiers throws a wave of brilliant yellow light at Alan as Alan tries to close the distance. It doesn't.. seem to do much.

-for anti-projectile lasers and a crumbler would go right through a plasma shield. Gravity shield doesn't seem likely which leaves… Magic? Something New God related? They do have exotic shielding technology, I just didn't think that-

Dodge up, hammer construct, swing at the base of the male attacker's spine. He jerks in the air from the kinetic force but doesn't seem injured. I didn't feel his flesh move when I did that, so I think I just overpowered his flight.

Fine.

The robot fires… A thick.. sort of black and white beam at the floating prison. Malvolio blocks with a giant kite shield construct as… Ghia'ta flies past, the.. child who punched her in the armour chasing after her.

"Batman to Orange Lantern. Stop playing around."

Yeah.

Taking them apart slowly and precisely is just going to take too long. Taking risks…

I hit the robot with an eddy pulse, lines of gravitational shear apparently bypassing whatever exotic protection Mannheim outfitted it with. Its armour cracks and the lines of light covering its armour shimmer and fade. Then its gun-. Sort of ceases to exist, taking one of its arms and the attached shoulder with it.

WHAM!

I let myself get knocked back by the woman's punch. The man's on my opposite side and waiting to bear hug me, so from the looks of it they don't have a lot of experience with aerial combat. Sonic cannons on either side of his head and fire at concuss-a-normal-human level. No effect. Increase.

A couple of Alan's attackers are hanging back and shooting at him. He's tanking it, but we need forward movement. I project a vertigo inducer construct into the middle of them and activate it. No response. Probably their helmets neutralising the sound waves. Change the construct to include a sound inducer and activate.

Man shakes. Hard to judge precisely what sort of damage he's taken with the helmet throwing off my scans. Weak construct shove to the chest and he doesn't react. Stunned, flying in his sleep. Dodge down, back up to evade the woman's attack, tear off man's helmet and then shove him into Malvolio's holding cell and use the sonic cannon on her head at the last tested intensity.

Alan's attackers have lost the ability to aim. Vertigo inducer appears to be working, though some of their stray shots are hitting things on the ground. Can't be helped. Alan's melee attacker is using a pair of short swords. Alan-. Is using the x-ionised sword I gave him to fight him on his own terms. That-.

Woman goes into a tumble. Grab, remove helmet, shove into holding cell. No energy output from the robot. Dead or disabled, no need to imprison. Fly at the Justifiers I've disabled. Tear off their helmets-.

Evade projectile vomit, turn the vertigo inducer down to normal levels.

Manacles which encase hands and forearms for the one who projected sonic beams from her hands. A blank face mask for the one with plasma beam eyes. Deliver them into Malvolio's prison, next to the crystal-encased children that Ghia'ta is inserting.

The others had switched targets to Malvolio. That was a mistake. I can see them twitching weakly in the craters they made in the ground.

I fabricate more deoxygenation gas and pump it out at ground level. Then I shoot the sword-wielder in the back, clamp manacle constructs around their forearms and wrench them back. Not super strong. Alan used the opening to punch them in the head with his left fist, knocking them out. They are swiftly relayed to a containment cell.

"That wasn't so bad."

I raise my hands, generating a magnetic field strong enough to shove the plasma cloud head of us out of the way. Which is strong enough to kill any unshielded human in the area affected, but I don't think they'd have left anyone out from the initial charge. The cloud roils and there's definitely someone resisting me, but it's forced to move away in the direction I want.

"Advancing."

Ionised plasma and water vapour around us, we fly towards where this all started. I see checkpoints manned by US soldiers. Some of them have gas masks on, but that won't help when there's no oxygen to breathe.

"I see ground targets."

A Justifier is doing something to keep the air around them oxygenated. He's not making an attack, but the squad around him are taking aim with Apokoliptian-

I generate a shield construct.

-blasters.

Two get shots off before a giant green fist smashes them into the tarmac. Malvolio collects up his targets as we fly further into Washington.

Alan looks around. "Anyone want to see the White House?"

"Maybe afterwards."

Anti-Lifed people can't really feel fear, at least not in a remotely normal way. But the worldwide ambiance of fear is more than enough for Batman to force his way towards the Justifier processing facility. Letting captured superheroes and supervillains who haven't quite succumbed out as a distraction is a perfectly rational move, and one I don't think even pre-revelation Batman would have condoned.

My fault.

This place will be your end.

Oh, that's interesting. I smile at Alan. "I actually heard that."

"Sounded more like a threat than normal."

"Someone is bound to have told Mannheim by now."

And there it is. The Justifier barracks. Apokoliptian anti-aircraft guns point at us, Justifiers form up in force field-protected strong points and… I'm not sure if it's magic, but there's some sort of… Aura around the place.

And then everyone starts shooting.

Ngamer11 · Nov 6, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I hit the robot with an eddy pulse, lines of gravitational sheer apparently bypassing whatever exotic protection Mannheim outfitted it with. It's armour cracks and the lines of light covering its armour shimmer and fade. The its gun-. Sort of ceases to exist, taking one of its arms and the attached shoulder with it.

That should say 'Then'.

Chojin Patriarch · Nov 6, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
20:34 GMT

A cloud of-. Water vapour rises up from the streets, forming a cloudbank just ahead of us. Okay, we can all see through that, and-.

The cloud begins crackling with electricity. First to normal storm levels, then the water vapour begins turning to steam as it supercharges itself in a obviously unnatural way. A moment more and it's more glow than cloud. Normally a Lantern doesn't have to worry about electrical discharges due to the insulating effect of our environmental shields but that doesn't mean that flying into a plasma cloud is a particularly good idea. The alternative is going under it which would put us in range of the Justifiers who can't fly and don't have ranged weapons.

Oh, joy, some sort of weather-controller. Or a combo attack from a water-manipulator and an electrokinetic. The problem is, allowing your enemy to control the battlefield is a bad thing. Hard part will be finding them, especially if they have good range.

Cold gun, wide field.

My construct fires and some of the plasma cloud cools into-.

Best counter for high-energy attacks, certainly. Not the best if said attack is controlled, or even a transformed person...

"Anti-Life justifies-"

A man in a black and red costume wearing a Justifier helmet flies out of the cloud, right fist cocked! I have-. No idea who that is. I dodge right and he flies past-. He can fly. He turns around and comes at me again and-.

...Not even going to try to pick the z-listers. If OL can't bother to care about who they might be, neither do I.

"-our actions!"

A woman with a similar costume flies out, aiming at my back. My cold gun construct is still going but the plasma cloud isn't freezing. The original water controller or multiple sets of power? Don't know.

Though the similar costumes suggest a prior team relationship. Or Mannheim's been standardising his troops.

I evade down, noticing as they slalom through the air that they're just the tip of the wave. Eight… Nine other justifiers move to attack Alan and Ghia'ta while… Some sort of large robot is aiming its Apokoliptian weapons at Malvolio's floating prison from the street below us.

Someone flying at me without a weapon is probably super strong or otherwise has a way to intensify their blows but that doesn't mean that they're Superman-strong or anything like Superman-tough.

Supes is kind of the gold standard of FISS. Especially in his pre-Crisis incarnations.

I mark targets and transmit what I'm seeing to the others, dodge left as the man and woman try to box me in and then fire a crumbler round at the robot's left leg. Which-. Does nothing. Okay, that was too fast-

Somewhere to my right one of the flying Justifiers throws a wave of brilliant yellow light at Alan as Alan tries to close the distance. It doesn't.. seem to do much.

Some sort of defensive field on the robot/[power armour guy, huh? And Yellow Light? That might have worked on an old Green Lantern, but not Alan.

-for anti-projectile lasers and a crumbler would go right through a plasma shield. Gravity shield doesn't seem likely which leaves… Magic? Something New God related? They do have exotic shielding technology, I just didn't think that-

Dodge up, hammer construct, swing at the base of the male attacker's spine. He jerks in the air form the kinetic force but doesn't seem injured. I didn't feel his flesh move when I did that, so I think I just overpowered his flight.

So, maximum durability, but limited flight powers. Time to crack the whip, I think.

Fine.

The robot fires… A thick.. sort of black and white beam at the floating prison. Malvolio blocks with a giant kite shield construct as… Ghia'ta flies past, the.. child who punched her in the armour chasing after her.

I'm guessing that was some manner of nasty disintegrating effect. Not overly effective against energy constructs, though.

"Batman to Orange Lantern. Stop playing around."

Yeah.

Hey, show some respect, Rookie.

Who here has been slinging a Ring longer than maybe two hours?

Taking them apart slowly and precisely is just going to take too long. Taking risks…

I hit the robot with an eddy pulse, lines of gravitational sheer apparently bypassing whatever exotic protection Mannheim outfitted it with. It's armour cracks and the lines of light covering its armour shimmer and fade. Then its gun-. Sort of ceases to exist, taking one of its arms and the attached shoulder with it.

So not a guy in armour, then. Or at least not one with his limbs inside the extremities.

WHAM!

I let myself get knocked back by the woman's punch. The man's on my opposite side and waiting to bear hug me, so from the looks of it they don't have a lot of experience with aerial combat. Sonic cannons on either side of his head and fire at concuss-a-normal-human level. No affect. Increase.

No super-senses, or he'd have felt that. Even so, you'd expect some measure of reaction to having a pair of bass cannons funneled into your skull.

A couple of Alan's attackers are hanging back and shooting at him. He's tanking it, but we need forward movement. I project a vertigo inducer construct into the middle of them and activate it. No response. Probably their helmets neutralising the sound waves. Change the construct include a sound inducer and activate.

Man shakes. Hard to judge precisely what sort of damage he's taken with the helmet throwing off my scans. Weak construct shove to the chest and he doesn't react. Stunned, flying in his sleep. Dodge down, back up to evade the woman's attack, tear off man's helmet and then shove him into Malvolio's holding cell and use the sonic cannon on her head at the last tested intensity.

Ah, protective equipment. Great.

Alan's attackers have lost the ability to aim. Vertigo inducer appears to be working, though some of their stray shots are hitting things on the ground. Can't be helped. Alan's melee attacker us using a pair of short swords. Alan-. Is using the x-ionised sword I gave him to fight him on his own terms. That-.

Woman goes into a tumble. Grab, remove helmet, shove into holding cell. No energy output from the robot. Dead or disabled, no need to imprison. Fly at the Justifiers I've disabled. Tear off their helmets-.

Bit messy, but if he uses the flat it'll at least hold against blows.

Evade projectile vomit, turn the vertigo inducer down to normal levels.

Manacles which encase hands and forearms for the one who projected sonic beams from her hands. A blank face mask for the one with plasma beam eyes. Deliver them into Malvolio's prison, next to the crystal-encased children that Ghia'ta is inserting.

Heh, cleaning up after themselves quite nicely.

The others had switched targets to Malvolio. That was a mistake. I can see them twitching weakly in the craters they made in the ground.

I fabricate more deoxygenation gas and pump it out at ground level. Then I shoot the sword-wielder in the back, clamp manacle constructs around their forearms and wrench then back. Not super strong. Alan used the opening to punch them in the head with his left fist, knocking them out. They are swiftly relayed to a containment cell.

Honestly, deserves it just because he tried to go melee in a three-dimensional environment.

"That wasn't so bad."

I raise my hands, generating a magnetic field strong enough to shove the plasma cloud head of us out of the way. Which is strong enough to kill any unshielded human in the area affected, but I don't think they'd have left anyone out from the initial charge. The cloud roils and there's definitely someone resisting me, but it's forced to move away in the direction I want.

So their control isn't as strong as properly-applied physics.

"Advancing."

Ionised plasma and water vapour around us, we fly towards where this all started. I see checkpoints manned by US soldiers. Some of them have gas masks on, but that won't help when there's no oxygen to breath.

Joy of getting bogged down with slightly more elite mobs.

"I see ground targets."

A Justifier is doing something to keep the air around them oxygenated. He's not making an attack, but the squad around him are taking aim with Apokoliptian-

Oh joy. Junk units with hero support. They're getting desperate, I see.

I generate a shield construct.

-blasters.

Two get shots off before a giant green fist smashed them into the tarmac. Malvolio collects up his targets as we fly further into Washington.

Man does not do things small, does he?

Alan looks around. "Anyone want to see the White House?"

"Maybe afterwards."

Not the best time to play tourist. Unless he wanted to go check on the President or something.

Anti-Lifed people can't really feel fear, at least not in a remotely normal way. But the worldwide ambiance of fear is more than enough for Batman to force his way towards the Justifier processing facility. Letting captured superheroes and supervillains who haven't quite succumbed out as a distraction is a perfectly rational move, and one I don't think even pre-revelation Batman would have condoned.

My fault.

On the upside, I suspect the afterglow will leave everyone too blissed out to be much trouble rounding up.

This place will be your end.

Oh, that's interesting. I smile at Alan. "I actually heard that."

So by anyone else's standards, it's screaming into a megaphone...

"Sounded more like a threat than normal."

"Someone is bound to have told Mannheim by now."

Well, if nothing else, perhaps you can slap him with the White Light when he pops up.

And there it is. The Justifier barracks. Apokoliptian anti-aircraft guns point at us, Justifiers form up in force field-protected strong points and… I'm not sure if it's magic, but there's some sort of… Aura around the place.

And then everyone starts shooting.

Ah, the tower defence stage of the fight. And you get to play the attacking mobs.

So far so good. Almost suspiciously so. It's clear Mannheim isn't at home, or the defending forces would be fighting smarter than this. ...Or he'd just throw the big killer robot at them. Fortunately, the Lanterns are making good use of their power synergies and superior flexibility. So this fight will either be very quick, or they'll sidestep the problem somehow. It'll be interesting to see which.

...throws a wave of brilliant yellow light...
Double Space.

He jerks in the air form the kinetic force...

He jerks in the air from the kinetic force...

Alan's melee attacker us using a pair of short swords.

Alan's melee attacker is using a pair of short swords.

RoninSword · Nov 6, 2023

Surprised Orion hasn't smashed his way into the fighting yet.

Prince Charon · Nov 6, 2023

RoninSword said:
Surprised Orion hasn't smashed his way into the fighting yet.

I think he's going to Boom Tube in at a Thematically-Appropriate Moment (which is different from 'dramatically-appropriate' because it will be in-theme with his God-Name).

EDIT: Admittedly, I might be over-thinking it.

Mr Zoat · Nov 6, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'Then'.

Chojin Patriarch said:
...throws a wave of brilliant yellow light...
Double Space.
He jerks in the air from the kinetic force...
Alan's melee attacker is using a pair of short swords.

Thank you, corrected.

Duke Long · Nov 6, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
The cloud begins crackling with electricity. First to normal storm levels, then the water vapour begins turning to steam as it supercharges itself in a obviously unnatural way.

'an obviously'

Mr Zoat said:
I evade down, noticing as they slalom through the air that they're just the tip of the wave. Eight… Nine other justifiers move to attack Alan and Ghia'ta while…

'Justifiers'

Mr Zoat said:
It's armour cracks and the lines of light covering its armour shimmer and fade. The its gun-. Sort of ceases to exist, taking one of its arms and the attached shoulder with it.

Inconsistent apostrophe use.

Mr Zoat said:
Sonic cannons on either side of his head and fire at concuss-a-normal-human level. No affect. Increase.

'effect'

moralrelativity · Nov 6, 2023

RoninSword said:
Surprised Orion hasn't smashed his way into the fighting yet.

I don't think OL has contacted Orion yet. He said something about leaving Orion to the last minute.

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

Sky God

This is filth! FILTH!!

Versed in the lewd.

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At the End...

Know what you're doing yet?

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At the End...

Not too sore, are you?

Glomerulus

Bookwyrm

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At the End...

Know what you're doing yet?

Dedicated ragequitter

Bookwyrm

Recovering pendant.

At the End...

Know what you're doing yet?

hey, little Anna, you're the one

Dedicated ragequitter

Well worn.

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Experienced.

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Just zis guy, you know?

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