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

Reader mode
Mr Zoat, is the First unaware of the fact that the Renegade has the Sword of the Fallen? Or is he afraid of it enough that he doesn't want to bring it up with the Renegade?
 
Reconstruction (part 19)
  • Threadmarks
    • 8th March 2013
    11:23 GMT -5

    I hear a thump as Dr. Roquette falls out of bed. Her apartment had somewhat fallen into disrepair during the period between the Anti-Life being expunged and now, so I've given it a quick power ring clean. Her laundry is stacked just outside her bedroom door and her… 'Short term companions' have been escorted out so she could sleep it off alone.

    She's not the only one-.

    No.

    She's far from the only one to be coping poorly with her memories of what she did while under the influence of the Anti-Life. It's a minor mercy that Mannseid didn't need all that many specific individuals supporting him to maintain his control. Certainly the Justifiers numbers in the tens of thousands and he got control of the military and political establishments in most countries easily enough, but all of the individuals were replaceable.

    We even persuaded Henry Knight to stay on as President, but it's pretty clear that he's… Not coping. Frankly, resisting the Anti-Life requires a solid moral foundation that a deeper look at him made it clear to me that he doesn't have. Jonathan Horne was actually doing better, psychologically speaking, but I don't think that he has the skills to do the job under circumstances like these.

    Then again, that didn't stop him getting elected the first time. The late vice president shot himself and we could get Knight to give Horne the job before resigning. That's just… Even I think that would be contrary to the democratically expressed will of the American people in a way that's even more coup-adjacent than just temporarily giving Adams the job. As things stand, our best bet is to just bear with Knight looking like a Chuckles-addict while in public.

    There's a bang, then Doctor Roquette works out how her door works and throws it open, glass of what she thinks is vodka in hand. She tosses it back, then carries on walking out into her kitchenette for several steps before the fact that she just drank a glass of water filters into her conscious mind.

    "Hair of the dog isn't actually a good idea, Doctor."

    "You didn't complain last-." She stops talking as she actually looks at me. "Orange… Lantern."

    Then she takes in the improved state of her apartment.

    "Ah. Thanks. Where.. did..?"

    "Back to their homes."

    She raises her right hand to her face and wipes her eyes.

    "Shit."

    I slide a larger glass of water and a couple of aspirin tablets across the counter towards her.

    "I've got a job for you."

    She looks away, shoulders slumped.

    "Do you want an entirely platonic hug? I will warn you now, I don't have the best people skills, so while I'd like to comfort-" She picks up the glass and the tablets, puts the tablets into her mouth and starts drinking the water. "-you, I'm not really sure how to handle this situation."

    She keeps drinking. It's a pint glass, so this might take a few seconds.

    At last, she finishes it. She takes a deep breath, then puts the glass down on the work surface.

    "You could fix my headache with your ring, couldn't you?"

    I nod. "While she was a student, my former boss used to end a night of heavy drinking by hooking herself up to a saline drip. No hangovers, apparently."

    "Too big a risk of pulling it out during the night. God." She looks towards her bathroom.

    "I cleaned it. Go right ahead."

    "What's the job?"

    "Earth's economy has reached a level of collapse where we've sort of given up on working within established economic systems. Is your fabricator ready for the big time?"

    She looks around-.

    "I already transmuted it all into water. I think you've had enough."

    "Right. And-. Yes. The nanoclouds can transmute anything into anything. You still need to program complex designs and they die if you breathe on them hard, but there's no practical reason why it-." She winces, staggering to a chair and sitting down while supporting herself by holding onto the counter with both hands. "Why it couldn't be used commercially."

    "Are you suffering from any underlying-?"

    "But you know it works, because I'm the one who made all of Mannheim's equipment! Nowhere else on Earth could manage to make his.. weird alien technology! It was.. me."

    "And Leonard. And me. And… Darkseid, while we're at it."

    "Dark… Side?" That seems to ring a bell. "I think he… He talked to Darkside, or… Thought he was Darkside? Sometimes. When it was… I wasn't really listening to what he was saying unless he had orders for me."

    "We're still not totally sure what happened there. It looks like Darkseid inserted part of his soul into a crime boss named Bruno Mannheim, which gradually turned him into a sort of mini-Darkseid."

    "That was a mini!"

    "Yes. And we're pretty sure that he'll do more in future. So we need to get things up and running-."

    "I mean, at least you dealt with-. That, didn't you?"

    "I hope you can understand that we're reluctant to test that, but our current assumption is 'no'."

    "He could be coming here now?"

    "In theory, yes. In practice, if his plan was to come to Earth personally after Mannheim fell, he'd already be here. It's a big universe and it's unlikely that he'll prioritise us. But he will turn his attention back to us eventually."

    "And real Darkside is worse."

    "Yes. So-."

    "I blew my fabricator rig with dynamite."

    "It would have been difficult to move it anyway."

    "Okay. Am I building the new one at KordTech?"

    "No, we're… Setting up in Greece. Superman's chipping in some kryptonian technology and I'll be donating power sources."

    "Greece."

    "You dynamited your laboratory, and… I think a change of scenery might do you some good."

    "O-." She sags a little further. "Can I at least have an energy drink?"

    "Once you get out of the shower." I waggle my right hand in the direction of her bathroom. "Go on. I'll make you breakfast."
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I thought Mannheim had been provided with the equipment from Apokolips itself. Isn't that how he got the parts needed to create the network and transmitters for the global infection? If Roquette's Fabricator can build New God Tech I really underestimated it. Not that I even like her character anyway.

    By the way Mr Zoat, how come we haven't got an update for Question and the other people hooked on that Anti-Life machine?
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    8th March 2013
    11:23 GMT -5

    I hear a thump as Dr. Roquette falls out of bed. Her apartment had somewhat fallen into disrepair during the period between the Anti-Life being expunged and now, so I've given it a quick power ring clean. Her laundry is stacked just outside her bedroom door and her… 'Short term companions' have been escorted out so she could sleep it off alone.

    She's not the only one-.
    Click to expand...
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    People find comfort where they can, after something traumatic. And the Anti-Life incident was quite the trauma. Still, perhaps focusing her mind on something else may be useful, and I have the feeling OL has just the job for her.

    No.

    She's far from the only one to be coping poorly with her memories of what she did while under the influence of the Anti-Life. It's a minor mercy that Mannseid didn't need all that many specific individuals supporting him to maintain his control. Certainly the Justifiers numbers in the tens of thousands and he got control of the military and political establishments in most countries easily enough, but all of the individuals were replaceable.
    Click to expand...
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    The joy of a Tyrannical system. Anyone other than the one in charge is expendable to increasing degrees.

    We even persuaded Henry Knight to stay on as President, but it's pretty clear that he's… Not coping. Frankly, resisting the Anti-Life requires a solid moral foundation that a deeper look at him made it clear to me that he doesn't have. Jonathan Horne was actually doing better, psychologically speaking, but I don't think that he has the skills to do the job under circumstances like these.
    Click to expand...
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    So, neither of them will really be holding on to the job, if they wanted to. Waste of an election, but such is the nature of a superhero world.

    Then again, that didn't stop him getting elected the first time. The late vice president shot himself and we could get Knight to give Horne the job before resigning. That's just… Even I think that would be contrary to the democratically expressed will of the American people in a way that's even more coup-adjacent than just temporarily giving Adams the job. As things stand, our best bet is to just bear with Knight looking like a Chuckles-addict while in public.
    Click to expand...
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    Up until you can organise a proper election process, which may take a year or two. Needs must, alas...

    There's a bang, then Doctor Roquette works out how her door works and throws it open, glass of what she thinks is vodka in hand. She tosses it back, then carries on walking out into her kitchenette for several steps before the fact that she just drank a glass of water.

    "Hair of the dog isn't actually a good idea, Doctor."
    Click to expand...
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    Hopefully she remembered at least some clothing. Though I don't doubt OL would have discreetly dressed her during the clean-up.

    "You didn't complain last-." She stops talking as she actually looks at me. "Orange… Lantern."

    Then she takes in the improved state of her apartment.
    Click to expand...
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    I mean, if you'd spent the night with OL, you'd probably remember it quite clearly. Especially if he could be convinced to get a little... Freaky.

    "Ah. Thanks. Where.. did..?"

    "Back to their homes."
    Click to expand...
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    Which will make for the confusing awakening.

    She raises her right hand to her face and wipes her eyes.

    "Shit."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    "Oh, hell. I thought I was done with this shit..."

    I slide a larger glass of water and a couple of aspirin tablets across the counter towards her.

    "I've got a job for you."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I expect you've removed anything harmful during the cleaning. Though if she were the sort to do herself in, I doubt she'd wait until now to do it.

    She looks away, shoulders slumped.

    "Do you want an entirely platonic hug? I will warn you now, I don't have the best people skills, so while I'd like to comfort you-" She picks up the glass and the tablets, puts the tablets into her mouth and starts drinking the water. "-you, I'm not really sure how to handle this situation."
    Click to expand...
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    Yeah, you're going to need the headache tablets if you're talking to OL. :p

    She keeps drinking. It's a pint glass, so this might take a few seconds.

    At last, she finishes it. She takes a deep breath, then put the glass down on the work surface.
    Click to expand...
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    ...Impressive skills. I gather she's popular in the bars for the same reason.

    "You could fix my headache with your ring, couldn't you?"

    I nod. "While she was a student, my former boss used to end a night of heavy drinking by hooking herself up to a saline drip. No hangovers, apparently."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Now, all you have to do is ask. Then again, perhaps he's letting her experience a little behavioural correction.

    "Too big a risk of pulling it out during the night. God." She looks towards her bathroom.

    "I cleaned it. Go right ahead."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I shudder to imagine the state of it before. Possibly on the level of 'disreputable gas station's public toilet.'

    "What's the job?"

    "Earth's economy has reached a level of collapse where we've sort of given up on working within established economic systems. Is your fabricator ready for the big time?"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Heh. Sidestepping the usual issues of 'established companies blocking new rival technologies'.

    She looks around-.

    "I already transmuted it all into water. I think you've had enough."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Which probably isn't improving her mood any, especially with the old 'oh god' of hangover's blessing upon her.

    "Right. And-. Yes. The nanoclouds can transmute anything into anything. You still need to program complex designs and they die if you breathe on them hard, but there's no practical reason why it-." She winces, staggering to a chair and sitting down while supporting herself by holding onto the counter with both hands. "Why it couldn't be used commercially."

    "Are you suffering from any underlying-?"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    To be fair, their fragility will probably ease fears of a gray goo scenario. Because you know that's one major objection that would be raised...

    "But you know it works, because I'm the one who made all of Mannheim's equipment! Nowhere else on Earth could manage to make his.. weird alien technology! It was.. me."

    "And Leonard. And me. And… Darkseid, while we're at it."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Ultimately, you were a tool in the wrong hands. Can't blame yourself for what those hands used you for...

    "Dark… Side?" That seems to ring a bell. "I think he… He talked to Darkside, or… Thought he was Darkside? Sometimes. When it was… I wasn't really listening to what he was saying unless he had orders for me."

    "We're still not totally sure what happened there. It looks like Darkseid inserted part of his soul into a crime boss named Bruno Mannheim, which gradually turned him into a sort of mini-Darkseid."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And Mannheim doesn't really remember, I take it. At least, not anything after the initial infusion.

    "That was a mini!"

    "Yes. And we're pretty sure that he'll do more in future. So we need to get things up and running-."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Hopefully He's got something else to hold his attention for now. As unfortunate as it is for who- or what-ever that is.

    "I mean, at least you dealt with-. That, didn't you?"

    "I hope you can understand that we're reluctant to test that, but our current assumption is 'no'."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Because He wouldn't play around with a weak deployment of Anti-Life. He would drop the full force of His god-head on Earth...

    "He could be coming here now?"

    "In theory, yes. In practice, if his plan was to come to Earth personally after Mannheim fell, he'd already be here. It's a big universe and it's unlikely that he'll prioritise us. But he will turn his attention back to us eventually."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    After all, you made yourselves interesting by resisting His probing successfully.

    "And real Darkside is worse."

    "Yes. So-."
    Click to expand...
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    Like comparing a party popper to a nuclear bomb.

    "I blew my fabricator rig with dynamite."

    "It would have been difficult to move it anyway."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And if the nanites are so fragile, they probably wouldn't have survived anyway.

    "Okay. Am I building the new one at KordTech?"

    "No, we're… Setting up in Greece. Superman's chipping in some kryptonian technology and I'll be donating power sources."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well, that'll be interesting.

    "Greece."

    "You dynamited your laboratory, and… I think a change of scenery might do you some good."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And Greece is a very pretty place.

    "O-." She sags a little further. "Can I at least have an energy drink?"

    "Once you get out of the shower." I waggle my right hand in the direction of her bathroom. "Go on. I'll make you breakfast."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Don't worry, OL isn't going to rush you too much.

    An interesting idea, to use Doc Roquette's nano-tech. Wonder how it compares to stuff like the Kryptonian systems? Though it does make sense if OL wants to focus the efforts on human-made technology. Using the other things as jump-starts to springboard up the tech-tree. Though I imagine there'll be lots of arguments with other governments about safety. Until it starts proving itself.
    ...Knight looking like a Chuckles-addict while in public
    Click to expand...
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    Missing Full Stop.
    ...before the fact that she just drank a glass of water.
    Click to expand...
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    Needs a little something more. Perhaps 'sinks in.' or 'registers.'?
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    so while I'd like to comfort you-" She picks up the glass and the tablets, puts the tablets into her mouth and starts drinking the water. "-you, I'm not really sure how to handle this situation."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Extraneous 'you'?
    Mr Zoat said:
    At last, she finishes it. She takes a deep breath, then put the glass down on the work surface.
    Click to expand...
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    'puts'
    Mr Zoat said:
    While she was a student, my former boss used to end a night of heavy drinking by hooking herself up to a saline drip. No hangovers, apparently."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    A biology lecturer said to my class that the main cause of hangovers is just dehydration, so if you have plenty of water you won't get them. Haven't tested it myself, since I'm teetotal.

    A little surprised that not all of the alcohol was drunk during the crisis. Maybe people were too depressed or too mind-controlled to drink much?
     
    Why do I feel putting this all in greece is going to backfire when the Olympians return?
     
    Darko said:
    "here"
    Click to expand...
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    Chojin Patriarch said:
    Missing Full Stop.
    Needs a little something more. Perhaps 'sinks in.' or 'registers.'?
    Click to expand...
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    Duke Long said:
    Extraneous 'you'?
    'puts'
    Click to expand...
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    Thank you, corrected.
    A little surprised that not all of the alcohol was drunk during the crisis. Maybe people were too depressed or too mind-controlled to drink much?
    Click to expand...
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    I am reminded of a tale told by a forumite about their own depression. At one point they were given medication and stopped self-harming. When the psychiatrist asked if they felt any better they said 'no, I just can't muster the energy to kill myself'.
    Darko said:
    So if he knows that he has the Sword, does he know about Satanus' role in its disappearance and if so what happened to Satanus?
    Click to expand...
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    He doesn't know exactly what happened. As you can imagine, everyone involved is keeping schtum.
    Chojin Patriarch said:
    Up until you can organise a proper election process, which may take a year or two. Needs must, alas...
    Click to expand...
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    Americans, is this something that can actually happen? I got the impression that your elections schedules weren't malleable.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    Thank you, corrected.
    Americans, is this something that can actually happen? I got the impression that your elections schedules weren't malleable.
    Click to expand...
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    They are not malleable, though congressional seats do have what you would call by-elections to fill vacancies.

    In theory, if Knight wants to leave but you wanted to inject some democratic legitimacy, what could happen is that everyone in the House of Representatives who feels they can't cope could resign and there could be a bunch of by-elections to fill those seats. Then the newly reconstituted House (those newly elected and those who didn't resign) would elect a Speaker. Then Knight resigns and since there is no Vice-President, whomever the House elected as Speaker becomes President. (Since the Speaker is next in the line of succession after the Vice President.)

    That seems kind of complicated and kludgy though, and what makes more sense to me is that Knight should pick someone from his own party and roughly his own political beliefs who he thinks would make a good President, nominate them as VIce-President, have them confirmed by the Senate, and then Knight resigns. Sort of like the "pick Horne" option except that Knight can credibly say he picked someone from his own party who has his own policy beliefs and will make roughly the same political decisions he would have made, so the American people are getting what they voted for.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    Americans, is this something that can actually happen? I got the impression that your elections schedules weren't malleable.
    Click to expand...
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    Congress would just have to pass a bill changing the date for federal elections. Federal elections happen on the day they do because of a bill passed in the 1870s, so it's not like it changes frequently, but there's nothing stopping it from being changed if Congress wants to change it.

    Figuring out how to get a quorum for Congress is another issue, but a doable one.

    In 37 states, a vacant Senate seat can be temporarily filled by a governor appointing someone.

    Filling vacancies in the House of Representatives is a little more complicated, since they all have to be elected rather than appointed... but there's actually a statute already in place for emergency situations like this, that authorizes holding special elections quickly (within 49 days after the Speaker announces that there are more than 100 vacancies).

    Backing up a step to governors (since they need to be around to get things in motion), every state has a gubernatorial line of succession, which specifies what happens if something happens to the governor. Some of those lists are more robust than others, but most states should be able to legally have a temporary governor, even if it takes a little while to figure out who it is.

    So, after you get through the bottlenecks of restoring communications and figuring out who's still alive, getting Congress back up and working again is a two months' job, tops.

    Also, it's worth noting that there's already several mechanisms in place to handle what happens if the current president wants to step down.

    The easy way is to appoint whoever they want as Vice-President, which then has to be confirmed by the Senate. They then resign. (This is how Gerald Ford became President after Nixon; he wasn't elected vice-president.)

    Alternatively, they just resign and let the presidential order of succession kick in, assuming there's someone else in that list still alive. It's legally unclear whether someone in the presidential order of succession needs to have been confirmed by the Senate to be in the order: the current White House takes the position that they do not, that acting secretaries are still in the order of succession, which means in the worst-case scenario, as long as the president appoints someone as acting secretary of state before dying/resigning, there's an argument that they're now president in the absence of anyone above them being still alive. (Legally challengeable if you have working institutions, but if you have working institutions, you have other options.)

    tl;dr: It's really hard to get in a situation where there's no one with a legal justification to be next in line to the president.
     
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    Duke Long said:
    A biology lecturer said to my class that the main cause of hangovers is just dehydration, so if you have plenty of water you won't get them. Haven't tested it myself, since I'm teetotal.
    Click to expand...
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    It seems to work sometimes for me, as long as I remember to drink enough water before going to bed, which is harder while drunk (though admittedly, I'm prone to occasional headaches while rarely drinking so much as to get anything worse than a mild-but-long hangover, so some of the times that I thought I didn't get enough water might have been normal headaches). Vitamin C seems to help, also.

    Valint said:
    tl;dr: It's really hard to get in a situation where there's no one with a legal justification to be next in line to the president.
    Click to expand...
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    Yeah. Part of that was in the system for more than a century, but the idea of nuclear war prompted Congress to make the system even more robust, to the frustration of some alt-history writers, who keep getting their poorly-researched ideas shut down by PoliSci nerds.
     
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